bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Admission Systolic Blood Pressure Predicts the Number of Blood Pressure Medications at Discharge in Patients With Primary Intracerebral Hemorrhage
Authors: Khawaja Ayaz M. , Shiue Harn , Boehme Amelia K. , Albright Karen C. , Venkatraman Anand , Kumar Gyanendra , Lyerly Michael J. , Hays-Shapshak Angela , Mirza Maira , Gropen Toby I. , Harrigan Mark R.
Published: February 2018

Background:

Control of systolic blood pressure (SBP) after primary intracerebral hemorrhage improves outcomes. Factors determining the number of blood pressure medications (BPM) required for goal SBP<160 mm Hg at discharge are unknown. We hypothesized that higher admission-SBPs require a greater number of BPM for goal discharge-SBP<160 mm Hg, and investigated factors influencing this goal.

Materials and Methods:

We conducted a retrospective review of 288 patients who presented with primary intracerebral hemorrhage. Admission-SBP was obtained. Primary outcome was the number of BPM at discharge. Comparison was made between patients presenting with and without a history of hypertension, and patients discharged on <3 and ≥3 BPM.

Results:

Patients with hypertension history had a higher median admission-SBP compared with those without (180 vs. 157 mm Hg, P=0.0001). In total, 133 of 288 (46.2%) patients were discharged on <3 BPM; 155/288 (53.8%) were discharged on ≥3 BPM. Hypertension history (P<0.0001) and admission-SBP (P<0.0001) predicted the number of BPM at discharge. In patients without hypertension history, every 10 mm Hg increase in SBP resulted in an absolute increase of 0.5 BPM at discharge (P=0.0011), whereas in those with hypertension, the absolute increase was 1.3 BPM (P=0.0012). In comparison with patients discharged on <3 BPM, patients discharged on ≥3 BPM were more likely to have a higher median admission-SBP, be younger in age, belong to the African-American race, have a history of diabetes, have higher median admission–National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and modified Rankin Scale of 4 to 5 at discharge.

Conclusions:

An understanding of the factors influencing BPM at discharge may help clinicians better optimize blood pressure control both before and after discharge.
Youth Victims of Violence Report Worse Quality of Life Than Youth With Chronic Diseases
Authors: Levas Michael N. , Melzer-Lange Marlene , Tarima Sergey , Beverung Lauren M. , Panepinto Julie
Published: February 2018

Objectives

Measuring health-related quality of life (HRQOL) provides the patient's perspective of his/her well-being and offers a unique outcome measure to demonstrate the impact of violence on the victim. To date, no study has described HRQOL in youth victims of violence in the United States. The purpose of this study was to describe HRQOL in youth victims of violence as compared with healthy youth and youth with chronic disease.

Methods

We conducted an exploratory cross-sectional study of the HRQOL of victims of violence aged 8 to 18 years. Descriptive statistics were reported for participant and injury demographics. One sample t tests were used to compare the sample population's HRQOL to known HRQOL of healthy populations and specific disease populations.

Results

Fifty-eight victims of violence participated in the study. Youth victims of violence had significantly worse mean HRQOL scores (mean, 71.4) compared with healthy youth in overall functioning (mean, 83.9), P < 0.001. Youth victims of violence reported worse psychosocial (mean, 67.6), emotional (mean, 62.9), and school (mean, 63.8) functioning than youth with obesity (mean, 72.1, 68.6, 75.0, respectively) and cancer (mean, 72.1, 72.2, 68.3, respectively). Mean Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System T scores for youth victims of violence were significantly worse in anxiety (T = 51.9) and depression (T = 52.4) compared with youth with obesity (T = 48.3, 49.2), cancer (T = 47.7, 47.6), and sickle cell disease (T = 43, 44).

Conclusions

Youth victims of violence suffer significant impairment in HRQOL compared with healthy populations and youth with specific disease burdens. Future studies into violence prevention effectiveness should use HRQOL as a comparative outcome measure to better tailor post injury management and interventions.
Sudden Onset of Severe Cervical Pain in an Adolescent Girl
Authors: Ayres Pereira Harry Leite Maria Isabel Bento , Alves Sérgio Azevedo Ferreira , Reinas Rui Paulo Vicente , Rodrigues Marta Gomes , Garrido Ana Sofia Martins das Neves , da Cunha Otília Peixoto , Rodrigues Joana Sofia Oliveira , Santos Poças Maria de Fátima Oliveira , Resende Martins Mário António Leite
Published: February 2018

A previously healthy 13-year-old girl presented with a 9-day history of acute onset severe neck pain associated with limited range of movement. Medical evaluation at day 2 was suggestive of muscle contracture, and she was discharged home with diazepam, antiinflammatory agents, and rest; however, she returned because of progressive clinical worsening with left arm distal paresthesia and paralysis since day 3. There was no history of trauma or other systemic complaints, and her familial medical history was unremarkable.

Physical examination revealed left cervical and paravertebral tenderness on palpation with severe limitation of cervical and trunk movements; neurologic examination revealed left forearm and hand weakness and paralysis (grade II/V) with thenarhypothenar atrophy. Laboratory studies including coagulation profile were normal. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an epidural hematoma from C4-T1 without underlying cause apparent on magnetic resonance angiography. On day 12, she underwent C3–7 laminotomy with laminoplasty and complete drainage of the hematoma. After 5 months of follow-up, she displays no neurological deficits. The spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma is a rare neurosurgical emergency in children. It usually presents acutely with neurologic deficits, but the initial presentation may be atypical or insidious, delaying diagnosis and intervention. Definitive diagnosis is made by magnetic resonance imaging and implies a high index of suspicion. Surgical drainage of the hematoma is the mainstay of treatment with favorable prognosis even in cases with a delayed diagnosis.
Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus in Childhood
Authors: Guarino Stefano , Diplomatico Mario , Marotta Rosaria , Pecoraro Anna , Furlan Daniela , Cerrone Lorenzo , Miraglia del Giudice Emanuele , Polito Cesare , La Manna Angela , Marzuillo Pierluigi
Published: February 2018

Patients affected by nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) can present with hypernatremic dehydration, and first-line rehydration schemes are completely different from those largely applied in usual conditions determining a mild to severe hypovolemic dehydration/shock. In reporting the case of a patient affected by NDI and presenting with severe dehydration triggered by acute pharyngotonsillitis and vomiting, we want to underline the difficulties in managing this condition. Restoring the free-water plasma amount in patients affected by NDI may not be easy, but some key points can help in the first line management of these patients: (1) hypernatremic dehydration should always be suspected; (2) even in presence of severe dehydration, skin turgor may be normal and therefore the skinfold recoll should not be considered in the dehydration assessment; (3) decreased thirst is an important red flag for dehydration; (4) if an incontinent patient with NDI appears to be dehydrated, it is important to place the urethral catheter to accurately measure urine output and to be guided in parenteral fluid administration; (5) if the intravenous route is necessary, the more appropriate fluid replenishment is 5% dextrose in water with an infusion rate that should slightly exceed the urine output; (6) the 0.9% NaCl solution (10 mL/kg) should only be used to restore the volemia in a shocked NDI patient; and (7) it could be useful to stop indomethacin administration until complete restoration of hydration status to avoid a possible worsening of a potential prerenal acute renal failure.
Comparison Between Isotropic 3-Dimensional Fat-Suppressed T2-Weighted Fast Spin Echo (FSE) and Conventional 2-Dimensional Fat-Suppressed Proton-Weighted FSE Shoulder Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 3-T in Patients With Shoulder Pain
Authors: Horiuchi Saya , Nozaki Taiki , Tasaki Atsushi , Ohde Sachiko , Deshpande Gautam A. , Starkey Jay , Hara Takeshi , Kitamura Nobuto , Yoshioka Hiroshi
Published: February 2018

Objective

The aims of this study were to compare isotropic 3-dimensional fat-suppressed T2-weighted fast spin echo (FSE) imaging (T2FS) with 2-dimensional fat-suppressed proton-density–weighted FSE imaging (2D-PDFS) and evaluate feasibility of isotropic 3-dimensional FSE shoulder imaging at 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods

Seventy-eight patients who underwent shoulder MRI were evaluated. Three-dimensional T2FS and 2D-PDFS were qualitatively graded for delineation of anatomic structures. In quantitative analysis, mean relative signal intensity and relative signal contrast between each structure of the shoulder were compared.

Results

Three-dimensional T2FS showed significantly higher scores for rotator cuff (P = 0.020), lower scores for bone (P < 0.001), and higher relative contrast of rotator cuff to fluid (P < 0.001) and labrum to fluid (P < 0.001) in comparison with 2D-PDFS. No significant difference in relative signal intensity of the rotator cuff, labrum, joint fluid, cartilage, and bone marrow was demonstrated.

Conclusions

Isotropic 3-dimensional FSE MRI has similar image quality and diagnostic performance to conventional 2-dimensional sequence in evaluation of the rotator cuff.
Living With Liver Cirrhosis
Authors: Fagerström Carola , Frisman Gunilla Hollman
Published: February 2018

Liver cirrhosis is a chronic liver disease. Patients with liver cirrhosis need to manage the symptoms of the disease and possible complications. Symptoms due to ascites, encephalopathy, and/or varices are hard to manage and live with. Self-care is necessary for coping with the symptoms and for improving the patient's life situation. The aim of this study was to explore the areas of life situation and self-care among patients suffering from liver cirrhosis with complications. Interviews with patients with liver cirrhosis (n = 13), seven women and six men (46–70 years), were performed. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. The experience of the patient's life situation was described from two aspects: vulnerability and reflection on life. Vulnerability was expressed as symptom experience, feelings of loneliness, preconceptions, and limits in daily life. In reflection on life, the patients expressed acceptance and sadness. Self-care dealt with (a) being responsible by observing symptoms and signs; (b) adhering to treatment, prescription, and advice; and (c) the need for more understanding of and information about the disease. When caring for patients with liver cirrhosis, it is important to identify symptoms and feelings and help patients individually to maintain health through self-care.
Short-term Preoperative Diet Decreases Bleeding After Partial Hepatectomy
Authors: Barth Richard J. , Mills Jeannine B. , Suriawinata Arief A. , Putra Juan , Tosteson Tor D. , Axelrod David , Freeman Richard , Whalen Giles F. , LaFemina Jennifer , Tarczewski Susan M. , Kinlaw William B.
Published: February 2018

Background:

Our previous case series suggested that a 1-week, low-calorie and low-fat diet was associated with decreased intraoperative blood loss in patients undergoing liver surgery.

Objective:

The current study evaluates the effect of this diet in a randomized controlled trial.

Methods:

We randomly assigned 60 patients with a body mass index ≥25 kg/m2 to no special diet or an 800-kcal, 20 g fat, and 70 g protein diet for 1 week before liver resection. Surgeons were blinded to diet assignment. Hepatic glycogen stores were evaluated using periodic acid Schiff (PAS) stains.

Results:

Ninety four percent of the patients complied with the diet. The diet group consumed fewer daily total calories (807 vs 1968 kcal, P < 0.001) and fat (21 vs 86 g, P < 0.001) than the no diet group. Intraoperative blood loss was less in the diet group: mean blood loss 452 vs 863 mL (P = 0.021). There was a trend towards decreased transfusion in the diet group (138 vs 322 mL, P = 0.06). The surgeon judged the liver to be easier to manipulate in the diet group: 1.86 versus 2.90, P = 0.004. Complication rate (20% vs 17%), length of stay (median 5 vs 4 days) and mortality did not differ between groups. There was no difference in hepatic steatosis between groups. There was less glycogen in hepatocytes in the diet group (PAS stain score 1.61 vs 2.46, P < 0.0001).

Conclusions:

A short-course, low-fat, and low-calorie diet significantly decreases bleeding and makes the liver easier to manipulate in hepatic surgery.
Information Priorities for Deciding on Treatment of Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Authors: Gerjevic Kristen A. , Erekson Elisabeth , Strohbehn Kris , Jacobs Kathryn A. , Hanissian Paul D. , Aarts Johanna W.
Published: February 2018

Objective

The objective of this study was to elicit information priorities from women considering treatment for pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

Study Design

This is a cross-sectional study of women before and after treatment of stage II or higher POP. Women were recruited either at the conclusion of their initial evaluation (before treatment) or at postoperative or pessary maintenance visits (after treatment). Women completed a written survey that used a Likert scale to rank potentially frequently asked questions (FAQs) that could be important information to use in decision making for POP.

Results

Among the 100 women surveyed, 32 women wanted to pursue surgical options and 18 women wanted to pursue nonsurgical treatment options in the before treatment group. In the after treatment group, 35 women had undergone surgery and 15 women were using a pessary.

Overall, women ranked FAQs about treatment success (overall Likert score, 1.11±0.35), quality of life after treatment (1.18±0.41), and complications and side effects (1.20±0.57) as the most important information when making a decision. Women were least concerned with FAQs regarding cost (2.39±1.48), impact on sexual function (2.21±1.4), and impact on hormones (2.20±1.27).

Conclusions

Women with POP identified the most important FAQs related to treatment success and complications, quality of life, and understanding how the treatment works. This information will be used to develop a comprehensive decision aid for women considering treatment options for POP.
Same-Day Discharge After Robotic-Assisted Sacrocolpopexy
Authors: Kisby Cassandra K. , Polin Michael R. , Visco Anthony G. , Siddiqui Nazema Y.
Published: February 2018

Objective

The aim of the study was to compare unplanned postoperative encounters in women discharged same day versus later after robotic-assisted sacrocolpopexy (RA-SCP).

Methods

This is a retrospective cohort study of women who underwent RA-SCP at a tertiary care center January 2013 to September 2015. Women were divided into 2 cohorts based on their day of discharge: (1) same day or (2) postoperative day 1 (POD ≥ 1) or later. Our primary outcome was unplanned provider visits (clinic, urgent care, emergency department, or hospital readmission) during the 6 weeks after surgery. Secondary outcomes included unplanned postdischarge nurse or physician phone calls. Logistic regression models were created to control for potential confounders.

Results

Two hundred seventy-two women were included; 80 underwent same-day discharge versus 192 discharged POD 1 or later (187 on POD 1, 5 on POD 2). Women discharged same day were older (61.3 vs 58.5 years, P < 0.05), more likely to have a start time before noon (85% vs 67.6%, P < 0.01), received less intraoperative intravenous fluids (1153 mL vs 1536 mL, P < 0.01), had shorter procedures (237 vs 256 minutes, P < 0.01), and spent more time in the postanesthesia care unit (213 vs 158 minutes, P < 0.01). There were no differences in unplanned provider visits between women discharged same day versus later (18.8% vs 27.6%, P = 0.12). No differences were observed in unplanned clinic visits, emergency department visits, or readmissions. In logistic regression models, unplanned provider visits (odds ratio = 0.35, 95% confidence interval = 0.30–1.54) and phone calls (odds ratio = 0.69, 95% confidence interval = 0.54–2.58) were not significantly different between groups.

Conclusions

Same-day discharge after RA-SCP is safe and does not result in increased health care utilization (provider visits or postoperative phone calls).
State-dependent judgement bias in
Drosophila
: evidence for evolutionarily primitive affective processes
Authors: Deakin Amanda , Mendl Michael , Browne William J. , Paul Elizabeth S. , Hodge James J. L.
Published: February 2018

Affective states influence decision-making under ambiguity in humans and other animals. Individuals in a negative state tend to interpret ambiguous cues more negatively than individuals in a positive state. We demonstrate that the fruit fly,
Drosophila melanogaster
, also exhibits state-dependent changes in cue interpretation.
Drosophila
were trained on a Go/Go task to approach a positive (P) odour associated with a sugar reward and actively avoid a negative (N) odour associated with shock. Trained flies were then either shaken to induce a purported negative state or left undisturbed (control), and given a choice between: air or P; air or N; air or ambiguous odour (1 : 1 blend of P : N). Shaken flies were significantly less likely to approach the ambiguous odour than control flies. This ‘judgement bias’ may be mediated by changes in neural activity that reflect evolutionarily primitive affective states. We cannot say whether such states are consciously experienced, but use of this model organism's versatile experimental tool kit may facilitate elucidation of their neural and genetic basis.
Model-based estimation of superinfection prevalence from limited datasets
Authors: Reeves Daniel B. , Magaret Amalia S. , Greninger Alex L. , Johnston Christine , Schiffer Joshua T.
Published: February 2018

Humans can be infected sequentially by different strains of the same virus. Estimating the prevalence of so-called ‘superinfection’ for a particular pathogen is vital because superinfection implies a failure of immunologic memory against a given virus despite past exposure, which may signal challenges for future vaccine development. Increasingly, viral deep sequencing and phylogenetic inference can discriminate distinct strains within a host. Yet, a population-level study may misrepresent the true prevalence of superinfection for several reasons. First, certain infections such as herpes simplex virus (HSV-2) only reactivate single strains, making multiple samples necessary to detect superinfection. Second, the number of samples collected in a study may be fewer than the actual number of independently acquired strains within a single person. Third, detecting strains that are relatively less abundant can be difficult, even for other infections such as HIV-1 where deep sequencing may identify multiple strains simultaneously. Here we develop a model of superinfection inspired by ecology. We define an infected individual's richness as the number of infecting strains and use ecological evenness to quantify the relative strain abundances. The model uses an EM methodology to infer the true prevalence of superinfection from limited clinical datasets. Simulation studies with known true prevalence are used to contrast our EM method to a standard (naive) calculation. While varying richness, evenness and sampling we quantify the accuracy and precision of our method. The EM method outperforms in all cases, particularly when sampling is low, and richness or unevenness is high. Here, sensitivity to our assumptions about clinical data is considered. The simulation studies also provide insight into optimal study designs; estimates of prevalence improve equally by enrolling more participants or gathering more samples per person. Finally, we apply our method to data from published studies of HSV-2 and HIV-1 superinfection.
On the homogenization of the acoustic wave propagation in perforated ducts of finite length for an inviscid and a viscous model
Authors: Semin Adrien , Schmidt Kersten
Published: February 2018

The direct numerical simulation of the acoustic wave propagation in multiperforated absorbers with hundreds or thousands of tiny openings would result in a huge number of basis functions to resolve the microstructure. One is, however, primarily interested in effective and so homogenized transmission and absorption properties and how they are influenced by microstructure and its endpoints. For this, we introduce the surface homogenization that asymptotically decomposes the solution in a macroscopic part, a boundary layer corrector close to the interface and a near-field part close to its ends. The effective transmission and absorption properties are expressed by transmission conditions for the macroscopic solution on an infinitely thin interface and corner conditions at its endpoints to ensure the correct singular behaviour, which are intrinsic to the microstructure. We study and give details on the computation of the effective parameters for an inviscid and a viscous model and show their dependence on geometrical properties of the microstructure for the example of Helmholtz equation. Numerical experiments indicate that with the obtained macroscopic solution representation one can achieve an high accuracy for low and high porosities as well as for viscous boundary conditions while using only a small number of basis functions.
Modelling resonant arrays of the Helmholtz type in the time domain
Authors: Maurel Agnès , Marigo Jean-Jacques , Mercier Jean-François , Pham Kim
Published: February 2018

We present a model based on a two-scale asymptotic analysis for resonant arrays of the Helmholtz type, with resonators open at a single extremity (standard resonators) or open at both extremities (double-sided resonators). The effective behaviour of such arrays is that of a homogeneous anisotropic slab replacing the cavity region, associated with transmission, or jump, conditions for the acoustic pressure and for the normal velocity across the region of the necks. The coefficients entering in the effective wave equation are simply related to the fraction of air in the periodic cell of the array. Those entering in the jump conditions are related to near field effects in the vicinity of the necks and they encapsulate the effects of their geometry. The effective problem, which accounts for the coupling of the resonators with the surrounding air, is written in the time domain which allows us to question the equation of energy conservation. This is of practical importance if the numerical implementations of the effective problem in the time domain is sought.
Strong linkages between depth, longevity and demographic stability across marine sessile species
Authors: Montero-Serra I. , Linares C. , Doak D. F. , Ledoux J. B. , Garrabou J.
Published: February 2018

Understanding the role of the environment in shaping the evolution of life histories remains a major challenge in ecology and evolution. We synthesize longevity patterns of marine sessile species and find strong positive relationships between depth and maximum lifespan across multiple sessile marine taxa, including corals, bivalves, sponges and macroalgae. Using long-term demographic data on marine sessile and terrestrial plant species, we show that extreme longevity leads to strongly dampened population dynamics. We also used detailed analyses of Mediterranean red coral, with a maximum lifespan of 532 years, to explore the life-history patterns of long-lived taxa and the vulnerability to external mortality sources that these characteristics can create. Depth-related environmental gradients—including light, food availability, temperature and disturbance intensity—drive highly predictable distributions of life histories that, in turn, have predictable ecological consequences for the dynamics of natural populations.
Human echolocators adjust loudness and number of clicks for detection of reflectors at various azimuth angles
Authors: Thaler L. , De Vos R. , Kish D. , Antoniou M. , Baker C. , Hornikx M.
Published: February 2018

In bats it has been shown that they adjust their emissions to situational demands. Here we report similar findings for human echolocation. We asked eight blind expert echolocators to detect reflectors positioned at various azimuth angles. The same 17.5 cm diameter circular reflector placed at 100 cm distance at 0°, 45° or 90° with respect to straight ahead was detected with 100% accuracy, but performance dropped to approximately 80% when it was placed at 135° (i.e. somewhat behind) and to chance levels (50%) when placed at 180° (i.e. right behind). This can be explained based on poorer target ensonification owing to the beam pattern of human mouth clicks. Importantly, analyses of sound recordings show that echolocators increased loudness and numbers of clicks for reflectors at farther angles. Echolocators were able to reliably detect reflectors when level differences between echo and emission were as low as −27 dB, which is much lower than expected based on previous work. Increasing intensity and numbers of clicks improves signal-to-noise ratio and in this way compensates for weaker target reflections. Our results are, to our knowledge, the first to show that human echolocation experts adjust their emissions to improve sensory sampling. An implication from our findings is that human echolocators accumulate information from multiple samples.
Microbiomes of North American Triatominae: the grounds for Chagas disease epidemiology
Authors: Rodríguez-Ruano Sonia M. , Škochová Veronika , Rego Ryan O. M. , Schmidt Justin O. , Roachell Walter , Hypša Václav , Nováková Eva
Published: February 2018

Abstarct

Insect microbiomes influence many fundamental host traits, including functions of practical significance such as their capacity as vectors to transmit parasites and pathogens. The knowledge on the diversity and development of the gut microbiomes in various blood feeding insects is thus crucial not only for theoretical purposes, but also for the development of better disease control strategies. In Triatominae (Heteroptera: Reduviidae), the blood feeding vectors of Chagas disease in South America and parts of North America, the investigation of the microbiomes is in its infancy. The few studies done on microbiomes of South American Triatominae species indicate a relatively low taxonomic diversity and a high host specificity. We designed a comparative survey to serve several purposes: I) to obtain a better insight into the overall microbiome diversity in different species, II) to check the long term stability of the interspecific differences, III) to describe the ontogenetic changes of the microbiome, and IV) to determine the potential correlation between microbiome composition and presence in the vector gut ofTrypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. Using 16S amplicons of two abundant species from the southern US, and four laboratory reared colonies, we showed that the microbiome composition is determined by host species, rather than locality or environment. The OTUs (Operational Taxonomic Units) determination confirms a low microbiome diversity, with 12-17 main OTUs detected in wild populations ofT. sanguisugaandT. protracta. Among the dominant bacterial taxa areAcinetobacterandProteiniphilumbut also the symbiotic bacteriumArsenophonus triatominarum, previously believed to only live intracellularly. The possibility of ontogenic microbiome changes was evaluated in all six developmental stages and faeces of the laboratory reared modelRhodnius prolixus. We detected considerable changes along the host’s ontogeny, including clear trends in the abundance variation of the three dominant bacteria, namelyEnterococcus,AcinetobacterandArsenophonus. Finally, we screened the samples for the presence ofT. cruzi. Comparing the parasite presence with the microbiome composition, we assessed the possible significance of the latter in the epidemiology of the disease. Particularly, we found a trend towards more diverse microbiomes inT. cruzipositiveT. protractaspecimens.
Optimized real time QPCR assays for detection and quantification of Fusarium and Microdochium species involved in wheat head blight as defined by MIQE guidelines
Authors: Sonia Elbelt , Dorothée Siou , Sandrine Gelisse , Corinne Cruaud , Christian Lannou , Marc Henri Lebrun , Valérie Laval
Published: February 2018

In order to better understand the Fusarium head blight disease, reliable real-time PCR assays for detection and quantification of fungal species belonging to the Fusarium and Microdochium genus are needed. Specific qPCR assays were developed for nine of those species. All criteria required for reproducing the assays are presented. The assays were species specific and allow quantification of at least 5 pg of fungal DNA and detection of 0.5 pg of fungal DNA per PCR reaction. Moreover we showed that the quantification performances of the tests were not altered in the presence of DNA of closely related species in the sample. The assays were tested on field samples and have been already used in greenhouse experiments.
Pervasive transcription-dependent chromatin remodeling influences the replication initiation program
Authors: Soudet Julien , Kaur Jatinder , Stutz Françoise
Published: February 2018

In Eukaryotic organisms, replication initiation follows a temporal program. Among the parameters that regulate this program in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, chromatin structure has been at the center of attention without considering the contribution of transcription. Here, we revisit the replication initiation program in the light of pervasive transcription. We find that noncoding RNA transcription termination in the vicinity of replication origins or ARS (Autonomously Replicating Sequences) maximizes replication initiation by restricting transcriptional readthrough into ARS. Consistently, high natural nascent transcription correlates with low ARS efficiency and late replication timing. High readthrough transcription is also linked to chromatin features such as high levels of H3K36me3 and deacetylated nucleosomes. Moreover, forcing ARS readthrough transcription promotes these histone modifications. Finally, replication initiation defects induced by increased transcriptional readthrough are partially rescued in the absence of H3K36 methylation. Altogether, these observations indicate that natural pervasive transcription into ARS influences replication initiation through chromatin remodeling.
Rare variant pathogenicity triage and inclusion of synonymous variants improves analysis of disease associations
Authors: Dershem Ridge , Metpally Raghu P.R. , Jeffreys Kirk , Krishnamurthy Sarathbabu , Smelser Diane T. , Carey David J. , Hershfinkel Michal , Robishaw Janet D. , Breitwieser Gerda E.
Published: February 2018

Many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) lack common variants that lead to reproducible genome-wide disease associations. Here we used rare variant approaches to assess the disease associations of 85 orphan or understudied GPCRs in an unselected cohort of 51,289 individuals. Rare loss-of-function variants, missense variants predicted to be pathogenic or likely pathogenic, and a subset of rare synonymous variants were used as independent data sets for sequence kernel association testing (SKAT). Strong, phenome-wide disease associations shared by two or more variant categories were found for 39% of the GPCRs. Validating the bioinformatics and SKAT analyses, functional characterization of rare missense and synonymous variants of GPR39, a Family A GPCR, showed altered expression and/or Zn2+-mediated signaling for members of both variant classes. Results support the utility of rare variant analyses for identifying disease associations for genes that lack common variants, while also highlighting the functional importance of rare synonymous variants.

Author summary

Rare variant approaches have emerged as a viable way to identify disease associations for genes without clinically important common variants. Rare synonymous variants are generally considered benign. We demonstrate that rare synonymous variants represent a potentially important dataset for deriving disease associations, here applied to analysis of a set of orphan or understudied GPCRs. Synonymous variants yielded disease associations in common with loss-of-function or missense variants in the same gene. We rationalize their associations with disease by confirming their impact on expression and agonist activation of a representative example, GPR39. This study highlights the importance of rare synonymous variants in human physiology, and argues for their routine inclusion in any comprehensive analysis of genomic variants as potential causes of disease.
Cognitive behaviour therapy for low self-esteem in a person with a learning disability: a case study
Authors: Evans Lauren , Allez Kate
Published: February 2018

Purpose

Low self-esteem is common in people with learning disabilities. There is limited research examining the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) focused on low self-esteem within this client group. The purpose of this paper is to add to the limited evidence by describing the use of CBT focused on low self-esteem for a person with a learning disability in the context of emotion regulation difficulties.

Design/methodology/approach

An individual case study design was used, with repeated quantitative measures to monitor progress during weekly individual psychology sessions.

Findings

There was a reduction in the client’s feelings of anger and an increase in their self-esteem.

Research limitations/implications

Further studies and follow-up would determine longevity of benefits. The inclusion of distress tolerance techniques may have impacted on the findings and limits the conclusions that can be drawn about the impact of CBT focused on low self-esteem.

Originality/value

This case study could make a small contribution to the evidence base for the effectiveness of CBT-based treatments for low self-esteem in people with learning disabilities, which is an under-researched area.
Managing employees with chronic illness
Authors: Singh Maninder , James P.S. , Ganguli Shirshendu
Published: February 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify future directions for human resource managers to provide work accommodations to chronically ill employees.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors researched empirical studies in management, occupational health journals, and reports on chronically ill employees.

Findings

The paper provides research-based practical insights for human resource practitioners to deal with the growing number of chronically ill employees.

Practical implications

The paper highlights solutions for human resource managers to create an inclusive workplace for employees with chronic illness.

Originality/value

The authors identified effective human resource and health practices for chronically ill employees, which would help to increase their productivity.
Community-based replica management in distributed systems
Authors: Nosrati Masoud , Fazlali Mahmood
Published: February 2018

Purpose

One of the techniques for improving the performance of distributed systems is data replication, wherein new replicas are created to provide more accessibility, fault tolerance and lower access cost of the data. In this paper, the authors propose a community-based solution for the management of data replication, based on the graph model of communication latency between computing and storage nodes. Communities are the clusters of nodes that the communication latency between the nodes are minimum values. The purpose of this study if to, by using this method, minimize the latency and access cost of the data.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used the Louvain algorithm for finding the best communities. In the proposed algorithm, by requesting a file according to the nodes of each community, the cost of accessing the file located out of the applicant’s community was calculated and the results were accumulated. On exceeding the accumulated costs from a specified threshold, a new replica of the file was created in the applicant’s community. Besides, the number of replicas of each file should be limited to prevent the system from creating useless and redundant data.

Findings

To evaluate the method, four metrics were introduced and measured, including communication latency, response time, data access cost and data redundancy. The results indicated acceptable improvement in all of them.

Originality/value

So far, this is the first research that aims at managing the replicas via community detection algorithms. It opens many opportunities for further studies in this area.
Minimal implications base for social network analysis
Authors: Raissa Paula , Dias Sérgio , Song Mark , Zárate Luis
Published: February 2018

Purpose

Currently, social network (SN) analysis is focused on the discovery of activity and social relationship patterns. Usually, these relationships are not easily and completely observed. Therefore, it is relevant to discover substructures and potential behavior patterns in SN. Recently, formal concept analysis (FCA) has been applied for this purpose. FCA is a concept analysis theory that identifies concept structures within a data set. The representation of SN patterns through implication rules based on FCA enables the identification of relevant substructures that cannot be easily identified. The authors’ approach considers a minimum and irreducible set of implication rules (stem base) to represent the complete set of data (activity in the network). Applying this to an SN is of interest because it can represent all the relationships using a reduced form. So, the purpose of this paper is to represent social networks through the steam base.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors’ approach permits to analyze two-mode networks by transforming access activities of SN into a formal context. From this context, it can be extracted to a minimal set of implications applying the NextClosure algorithm, which is based on the closed sets theory that provides to extract a complete, minimal and non-redundant set of implications. Based on the minimal set, the authors analyzed the relationships between premises and their respective conclusions to find basic user behaviors.

Findings

The experiments pointed out that implications, represented as a complex network, enable the identification and visualization of minimal substructures, which could not be found in two-mode network representation. The results also indicated that relations among premises and conclusions represent navigation behavior of SN functionalities. This approach enables to analyze the following behaviors: conservative, transitive, main functionalities and access time. The results also demonstrated that the relations between premises and conclusions represented the navigation behavior based on the functionalities of SN. The authors applied their approach for an SN for a relationship to explore the minimal access patterns of navigation.

Originality/value

The authors present an FCA-based approach to obtain the minimal set of implications capable of representing the minimum structure of the users’ behavior in an SN. The paper defines and analyzes three types of rules that form the sets of implications. These types of rules define substructures of the network, the capacity of generation users’ behaviors, transitive behavior and conservative capacity when the temporal aspect is considered.
Implementation and evaluation of an ambient intelligence testbed
Authors: Bylykbashi Kevin , Spaho Evjola , Obukata Ryoichiro , Ozera Kosuke , Liu Yi , Barolli Leonard
Published: February 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this work is to implement an ambient intelligence (AmI) testbed to improve human sleeping conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

The implemented testbed is composed of the sensor node, sink node and actor node. As sensor node, the authors use a microwave sensor module (MSM) called DC6M4JN3000, which emits microwaves in the direction of a human or animal subject. These microwaves reflect back off the surface of the subject and change slightly in accordance with movements of the subject’s heart and lungs. As sink node, the authors use Raspberry Pi 3 Model B computers. In the sink node, the data are processed and then clustered by the k-means clustering algorithm. Then, the result is sent to the actor node (Reidan Shiki PAD module), which can be used for cooling and heating the bed.

Findings

The authors carried out simulations and experiments. Based on the simulation results, it was found that the room lighting, humidity and temperature have different effects on humans during sleeping. The best performance is shown when LIG parameter is 10 units, HUM parameter is 50 and TEM parameter is 25. Based on experimental results, it was found that the implemented AmI testbed has a good effect on humans during sleeping.

Research limitations/implications

For simulations, three input parameters were considered. However, new parameters that affect human sleeping conditions also need to be investigated. Further, the experiments were carried out for one person. More extensive experiments with multiple people are needed to have a better evaluation.

Originality/value

In this research work, a new fuzzy-based system was implemented to improve human sleeping conditions. The authors presented three new input parameters to evaluate the output (sleeping condition). The authors implemented and evaluated a testbed and showed that the implemented AmI testbed has a good effect on humans during sleeping, thus improving their quality of life (QoL).
A global database and “state of the field” review of research into ecosystem engineering by land animals
Authors: Coggan Nicole V. , Hayward Matthew W. , Gibb Heloise
Published: February 2018

Ecosystem engineers have been widely studied for terrestrial systems, but global trends in research encompassing the range of taxa and functions have not previously been synthesised.

We reviewed contemporary understanding of engineer fauna in terrestrial habitats and assessed the methods used to document patterns and processes, asking: (a) which species act as ecosystem engineers and with whom do they interact? (b) What are the impacts of ecosystem engineers in terrestrial habitats and how are they distributed? (c) What are the primary methods used to examine engineer effects and how have these developed over time? We considered the strengths, weaknesses and gaps in knowledge related to each of these questions and suggested a conceptual framework to delineate “significant impacts” of engineering interactions for all terrestrial animals.

We collected peer‐reviewed publications examining ecosystem engineer impacts and created a database of engineer species to assess experimental approaches and any additional covariates that influenced the magnitude of engineer impacts.

One hundred and twenty‐two species from 28 orders were identified as ecosystem engineers, performing five ecological functions. Burrowing mammals were the most researched group (27%). Half of all studies occurred in dry/arid habitats. Mensurative studies comparing sites with and without engineers (80%) were more common than manipulative studies (20%). These provided a broad framework for predicting engineer impacts upon abundance and species diversity. However, the roles of confounding factors, processes driving these patterns and the consequences of experimentally adjusting variables, such as engineer density, have been neglected. True spatial and temporal replication has also been limited, particularly for emerging studies of engineer reintroductions.

Climate change and habitat modification will challenge the roles that engineers play in regulating ecosystems, and these will become important avenues for future research. We recommend future studies include simulation of engineer effects and experimental manipulation of engineer densities to determine the potential for ecological cascades through trophic and engineering pathways due to functional decline. We also recommend improving knowledge of long‐term engineering effects and replication of engineer reintroductions across landscapes to better understand how large‐scale ecological gradients alter the magnitude of engineering impacts.
2‐Tridecanone impacts surface‐associated bacterial behaviours and hinders plant–bacteria interactions
Authors: López‐Lara Isabel M. , Nogales Joaquina , Pech‐Canul Ángel , Calatrava‐Morales Nieves , Bernabéu‐Roda Lydia M. , Durán Paloma , Cuéllar Virginia , Olivares José , Alvarez Laura , Palenzuela‐Bretones Diana , Romero Manuel , Heeb Stephan , Cámara Miguel , Geiger Otto , Soto María J.
Published: February 2018

Surface motility and biofilm formation are behaviours which enable bacteria to infect their hosts and are controlled by different chemical signals. In the plant symbiotic alpha‐proteobacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, the lack of long‐chain fatty acyl‐coenzyme A synthetase activity (FadD) leads to increased surface motility, defects in biofilm development and impaired root colonization. In this study, analyses of lipid extracts and volatiles revealed that a fadD mutant accumulates 2‐tridecanone (2‐TDC), a methylketone (MK) known as a natural insecticide. Application of pure 2‐TDC to the wild‐type strain phenocopies the free‐living and symbiotic behaviours of the fadD mutant. Structural features of the MK determine its ability to promote S. meliloti surface translocation, which is mainly mediated by a flagella‐independent motility. Transcriptomic analyses showed that 2‐TDC induces differential expression of iron uptake, redox and stress‐related genes. Interestingly, this MK also influences surface motility and impairs biofilm formation in plant and animal pathogenic bacteria. Moreover, 2‐TDC not only hampers alfalfa nodulation but also the development of tomato bacterial speck disease. This work assigns a new role to 2‐TDC as an infochemical that affects important bacterial traits and hampers plant–bacteria interactions by interfering with microbial colonization of plant tissues.
Blockholder Exit Threats and Financial Reporting Quality
Authors: Dou Yiwei , Hope Ole‐Kristian , Thomas Wayne B. , Zou Youli
Published: February 2018

Recent theoretical and empirical studies suggest that blockholders (shareholders with ownership ≥ 5 percent) exert governance through the threat of exit. Blockholders have strong incentives to gather private information and sell their shares when managers are perceived to underperform. To prevent blockholders from selling their shares and the firm from suffering a stock price decline, managers align their actions with the interests of shareholders. As a result of the greater manager‐shareholder alignment, managers' actions are more likely to be in shareholders' best interest, and consequently there is less need for managers to manipulate earnings. Consistent with these predictions from economic theory, we find evidence that as exit threat increases, firms have higher financial reporting quality. Theory also predicts that the impact of blockholders' exit threat on financial reporting quality (FRQ) should increase as the manager's wealth is tied more closely to the stock price, and this is what we find. Our study contributes to the research on the impact of shareholders on FRQ and to an emerging literature on the impact of blockholders in financial markets. Blockholders play an important role in managers' reporting outcomes through their actions as informed investors.