bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Association of subcutaneous and visceral fat with circulating microRNAs in a middle-aged Japanese population
Authors: Munetsuna Eiji , Yamada Hiroya , Ando Yoshitaka , Yamazaki Mirai , Tsuboi Yoshiki , Kondo Mari , Mizuno Genki , Ishikawa Hiroaki , Sugimoto Keiko , Osakabe Keisuke , Ichino Naohiro , Ohashi Koji , Hamajima Nobuyuki , Suzuki Koji
Published: May 2018

Purpose

It has been demonstrated that circulating microRNA profiles are affected by physiological conditions. Several studies have demonstrated that microRNAs play important roles in the regulation of adiposity. However, few have investigated the relationship between circulating microRNAs and obesity, which has become a major public health problem worldwide. This study investigated the association between circulating microRNAs and obesity in a Japanese population.

Methods

Obesity parameters, such as subcutaneous and visceral fat adipose tissue, body fat percentage, and body mass index were assessed in a cross-sectional sample of 526 participants who attended health examinations in Yakumo, Japan. In addition, five circulating microRNAs (miR-20a, -21, -27a, -103a, and -320), which are involved in adipocyte proliferation and differentiation, were quantified using real-time polymerase chain reaction amplification.

Results

We compared the circulating microRNA concentrations in a percentile greater than 75th (high) with below the value (low) of subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral fat adipose tissue, body mass index, and per cent body fat. For visceral fat adipose tissue, significant decrease in miR-320 expression was observed in high group. Also, for body mass index, significant change of miR-20a, -27a, 103a, and 320 expression level was observed in high group. Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that circulating levels of some microRNA such as miR-27a were significantly associated with subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral fat adipose tissue, and body mass index.

Conclusions

Our findings support the need for further studies to determine whether such changes are consistent across different populations and whether the identified microRNAs may represent novel biomarkers to predict the susceptibility and progression of obesity-related disorders.
‘Rooted mobilities’ in young people’s narratives of the future: A peripheral case
Authors: Cuzzocrea Valentina
Published: May 2018

Youth research recognises that the struggles typical of the transition to adulthood can no longer be assumed to occur ‘at home’. However, few investigations have focused on how the imagination of mobility shapes that which is not home yet but which may later become so. To address this lacuna, this article engages with how the imagination of the future of young people is entrenched with ‘motility’, namely, the possibility for a type of movement that arises out of a specific relationship with one’s current context. Focusing on Sardinian youth, the article problematises the strong mobility orientation which can occur through the unfolding of an imagined continuous ‘lived’ relationship with Sardinia. The author calls this ‘rooted mobility’. The article discusses the limits that accompany such mobility, and the potential for social action that emerges, framing narratives of the future within the conditions of peripherality in which young Sardinians live. The article draws on 341 essays on the topic of the future collected from students in their penultimate year of school.
Introducing electrical engineering through characterization of a handheld moisture meter: A research experience case study
Authors: Freeborn Todd J , Damond Jada
Published: May 2018

Concepts from electrical engineering can be introduced to nonmajor engineering students through lectures, laboratories, or even research experiences. Often the purpose of introducing nonmajors to these concepts is to highlight that engineering problems are not limited to skills from only a single discipline as well as improve their ability to communicate and collaborate with other disciplines. This case study discusses the experience of introducing a nonmajor undergraduate student to electrical engineering through an undergraduate research project at The University of Alabama investigating the electrical properties of bamboo, which required the characterization of a portable moisture meter. These exercises were successful at improving the student’s confidence and proficiency with electrical test equipment, highlighting the limitations of test equipment, and applying concepts of resistance to a real-world application that overlaps electrical, chemical, and biological disciplines. While this exercise was a component of an undergraduate research experience, similar exercises could be easily integrated into electrical engineering laboratories for nonelectrical engineering majors to introduce and reinforce concepts from electrical engineering using a multidisciplinary application.
Need for information in a representative sample of outpatients with schizophrenia disorders
Authors: Andrade Mário César Rezende , Slade Mike , Bandeira Marina , Evans-Lacko Sara , Martin Denise , Andreoli Sérgio Baxter
Published: May 2018

Background:

Providing adequate information and involving patients in treatment have become an essential component of mental health care. Despite this, research regarding the extent to which this need has been met in clinical services is still scarce.

Aims:

To investigate the need for information about psychiatric condition and treatment among outpatients with schizophrenia disorders and how this need is associated with service use, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

Methods:

Need for information about condition and treatment, using the corresponding domain in the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN), in a representative sample of 401 schizophrenia outpatients in Santos, Brazil was assessed. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to investigate the association of information as a reported need and as an unmet need with service use variables, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

Results:

Need for information was reported by 214 (53.4%) patients, being met in 101 (25.2%) and unmet in 113 (28.2%). Hierarchical regression indicated a significant association of a reported need with higher age of onset, family monitoring medication use last year and lower education level, which was only associated with an unmet need.

Conclusion:

Information was a commonly reported need and which was often unmet, showing no significant association with service use. Greater attention should be given by mental health services to information provision.
Public officials’ liability: a case study on Poland
Authors: Chaba Dawid
Published: May 2018

Performing the role of a public official entails the necessity of accepting a certain responsibility. This results from the fact that officials handle various tasks of great significance to both the state and its citizens. The duties should be carried out in a professional, upright and lawful manner. Otherwise, it is essential to hold public officials responsible and bring them to justice. This article will focus on the basic issues concerning one particular type of responsibility, which is a financial liability for a serious breach of the law. A particular emphasis will be put on the specification of the subjective and objective scope of the said responsibility.

Points for practitioners

The research provides public administration practitioners with a comprehensive understanding of issues related to the liability of administration employees for serious breaches of the law. Officials should be aware that the tasks they perform should be carried out thoroughly and in accordance with the law due to their significance to the state and citizens. Otherwise, it is necessary to hold officials accountable and liable. The article demonstrates how the regulations are practically implemented in the Polish legal system, whether officials are held liable and various relevant issues.
What do foster families and social workers think about children’s contact with birth parents? A focus group analysis
Authors: Fuentes María J , Bernedo Isabel M , Salas María D , García-Martín Miguel A
Published: May 2018

This study analyzes the opinions of foster families and social workers regarding the benefits and problems associated with contact visits. Data were gathered through two focus groups, comprising social workers and foster carers, respectively. Both groups agreed that visits were useful for maintaining foster children’s attachment to their birth family, for enhancing their psychological wellbeing and for helping them to understand the real situation of their birth family. Regarding difficulties, the two groups highlighted problems of coordination between social workers and foster families, as well as a lack of support and preparation for foster carers, children, and birth families.
Lethal phlegmonous colitis
Authors: Gilbert John D , Byard Roger W
Published: May 2018

A 52-year-old man died soon after admission to hospital with a severe metabolic acidosis and likely sepsis. He had a past history of alcohol abuse with withdrawal seizures. An abdominal computed tomography scan showed thickened bowel loops but no obvious ischaemic changes, and a blood culture yielded a pure growth of Escherichia coli. At autopsy, the liver showed well-established micro-nodular cirrhosis with steatosis. The peritoneal cavity contained 200 mL of turbid yellow-brown fluid, and the caecum and ascending colon were unusually thickened. Microscopy of the caecum and ascending colon showed oedema, with a florid submucosal acute inflammatory infiltrate and large numbers of rod-shaped bacilli typical of phlegmonous colitis. This rare acute infectious condition predominately involves the caecum and ascending colon and is associated with liver cirrhosis. It should therefore always be considered at autopsy in individuals with cirrhosis, with careful examination and microscopic sampling of the caecum and proximal ascending colon, including ancillary blood/fluid bacterial cultures if the condition is suspected based on the macroscopic findings and/or history.
The doctor, negligence and causation: A lawyer’s exposition to doctors, scientists and lawyers
Authors: Samuels Alec
Published: May 2018

The brief history of causation in medicine and science. The law. Setting the scene. Negligence but no causation. Duty to warn. Prognosis. Loss of opportunity. Consecutive negligence. Indivisible injury. Unknown culprits. Obstetrics. The European Court of Justice. The future.
Youth, Reinventive Institutions and the Moral Politics of Future-Making in Postcolonial Africa
Authors: McGee Darragh
Published: May 2018

This article examines the biopolitical footprint of a new wave of non-governmental organization (NGO) interventions which conjoin the futures of youth with that of the nation, and which thereby seek to naturalize an institutional sovereignty over moral temporalities of future-making. By inverting the political onto the personal, these unorthodox interventions challenge extant sociological constructs of development, and further affirm the salience of an ethnographic turn in NGO scholarship. To this end, I trace the quotidian coordinates of such a moral politics out of the Right to Dream Academy, Ghana, which serves as a prototype for NGO interventions concerned not solely with locating the ontological limits of self-transformation but in redeploying such limits to address Africa’s development crises. Opening up novel theoretical directions for NGO scholarship, I propose an extension of the concept of the reinventive institution, positing a sociologically informed reframing of NGO interventions connected to interdisciplinary work on youth, morality and futurity.
Paradigm or paradox? The ‘cumbersome impasse’ of the participatory turn in Brazilian urban planning
Authors: Friendly Abigail , Stiphany Kristine
Published: May 2018

The Brazilian urban reform movement expanded citizen participation in decision-making processes through a policy environment motivated by a right to the city (RTC), a collective development strategy for political transformation. Yet recent events evidence that social exclusion and spatial segregation remain dominant features of the Brazilian city. These contradictions have led planning scholars and practitioners to grapple with misalignment between the reform movement’s paradigmatic goals and its paradoxical failures. We build upon this genre of thinking to assess critical areas of paradigm and paradox in Brazilian planning – insurgent urbanism, informality and knowledge – each of which is rooted in the lesser-understood concept of autogestão for improving the equity of land division through urban planning.1 Although not all inclusive of the issues faced by Brazilian cities, these three categories were selected for best representing how Brazil’s participatory turn established a range of paradigmatic and paradoxical conditions that can help us to understand cities in Brazil and beyond and might better leverage autogestão in the future.
Trust-Building in a Patient Forum: The Interplay of Professional and Personal Expertise
Authors: Bakke Abigail
Published: May 2018

Online discussion forums for patients offer the benefits of community but the risks of misinformation. A physician-moderated forum may help to mitigate this tension. How do both the professional expertise of a physician moderator and the personal, experiential expertise of patients contribute to trust in a forum? A rhetorical analysis of a year of postings in an online Parkinson’s community reveals that both forms of expertise were trusted, demonstrating the possibility for them to complement each other. This study illustrates the broader ways trust is established in patient communities and offers implications for technical communicators as forum designers or moderators.
Adolescent fertility rates in a rural community in north-western Zambia: a retrospective study
Authors: Jere Mwansa
Published: May 2018

Adolescent fertility rate is defined as the number of births per 1000 in women aged 15–19 years. These rates are highest in sub-Saharan Africa. National data from Zambia suggest the rate has declined from 179.6 in 1960 to 87.9 in 2015.

A retrospective study was performed at Chitokoloki Mission Hospital using the hospital delivery registers during January 2008 to December 2015. In this period, 945 (20.81%) births were to adolescent mothers. As morbidity is significant in this vulnerable group, strategies to reduce pregnancy rates among these young girls is much-needed.
Poor-Led Social Movements and Global Justice
Authors: Deveaux Monique
Published: May 2018

Political philosophers’ prescriptions for poverty alleviation have overlooked the importance of social movements led by, and for, the poor in the global South. I argue that these movements are normatively and politically significant for poverty reduction strategies and global justice generally. While often excluded from formal political processes, organized poor communities nonetheless lay the groundwork for more radical, pro-poor forms of change through their grassroots resistance and organizing. Poor-led social movements politicize poverty by insisting that, fundamentally, it is caused by social relations of power that exploit and subordinate poor populations. These movements and their organizations also develop the collective capabilities of poor communities in ways that help them to contest the structures and processes that perpetuate their needs deprivation. I illustrate these contributions through a discussion of the Landless Rural Worker’s Movement in Brazil (the MST), a poor mobilization organization in Bangladesh (Nijera Kori), and the slum and pavement dweller movement in India. Global justice theorizing about poverty cannot just “add on” the contributions of such struggles to existing analyses of, and remedies for, poverty, however; rather, we will need to shift to a relational approach to poverty in order to see the vital importance of organized poor communities to transformative, poor-centered poverty reduction.
Measuring the practice of engagement in public administration
Authors: Neely Stephen R , Coggburn Jerrell D , Phelps-Hillen Johanna
Published: May 2018

Following recent calls for greater synergies between public administration's (PA)’s academic and practitioner communities, this paper examines the prevalence and use of engaged teaching and faculty practices in Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA)-affiliated schools. Results are reported from a survey of PA academic program leaders that includes specific practices – such as the use of service-learning pedagogies, teaching-cases, and faculty–practitioner exchange programs – suggested in the literature. While anecdotal evidence suggests that these practices promote connectedness between PA’s scholarly and practitioner communities, little is known empirically about how widely they are employed or how their use differs across faculty cohorts and institutional settings. This study attempts to address that gap, providing both empirical context and a baseline against which future studies can be compared.
US Ethnic Group Differences in Family Member Support for People With Diabetes in the 2nd Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN2) Study
Authors: Peyrot Mark , Egede Leonard , Funnell Martha , Hsu William , Ruggiero Laurie , Stuckey Heather
Published: May 2018

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to describe the perceptions of family members (FM) and people with diabetes (PWD) regarding the frequency and helpfulness of FM support for PWD, including differences among US ethnic groups.

Methods

The US 2nd Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs (DAWN2) substudy was a survey of independent samples of 238 adult FM and 540 adult PWD. Outcome measures included ratings by FM and PWD of the frequency and perceived helpfulness of 7 FM support behaviors and composite scores for frequency and helpfulness.

Results

Ratings of individual FM support behaviors were strongly correlated between FM and PWD but significantly different among behaviors. FM and PWD reported most frequent support for listening, assisting, and doing activities with PWD and reporting PWD was doing poorly least frequently. Both groups reported listening, assisting, and reporting PWD was doing well as most helpful; reporting PWD was doing poorly was least helpful. PWD rated support and helpfulness of most behaviors lower than FM. Composite measures of support frequency and helpfulness were strongly correlated for both FM and PWD. Ethnic minority PWD and FM reported most support behaviors as more frequent and more helpful than non-Hispanic white Americans.

Conclusions

FM more frequently engage in the support behaviors they view as most helpful, but PWD perceive support to be less frequent and less helpful than FM. FM support differs across ethnic groups, with ethnic minorities reporting higher support frequency and helpfulness. Diabetes care providers should consider ethnic group differences in FM support for PWD.
“How to Do Things With Words”: Mechanisms Bridging Language and Action in Management Research
Authors: Lockwood Christi , Giorgi Simona , Glynn Mary Ann
Published: May 2018

We review the past quarter century of literature linking language and action in management research published from 1993 through 2017. Different from recent in-depth reviews that focus narrowly on particular forms that words take, we look across these different kinds of word assemblages to uncover broad themes and mechanisms that link words with action outcomes in organizational settings. Classifying common conceptual approaches and prominent outcomes, we systematize and synthesize existing work on how to do things with words, identifying points of tension or contradiction as well as consistencies or overlaps across areas of research and methodologies. In addition, we go beyond typologies of how words are constructed to unearth how words function in the service of action; in so doing, we articulate three underlying mechanisms that connect words to action—resonance, enactment, and power—and discuss each. We end with a discussion of promising avenues for future research.
Relocation and Network Turnover in Later Life: How Distance Moved and Functional Health Are Linked to a Changing Social Convoy
Authors: Badawy Philip J. , Schafer Markus H. , Sun Haosen
Published: May 2018

Life-course transitions among older adults often produce a reshuffling of social network members. Moving is a common experience for U.S. seniors, but relatively little is known about how core networks change amid the relocation process. Drawing on longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, the present study examines how late-life moving is associated with changes to network size and the loss and gain of particular network members. We find that when older adults undertake a long-distance move, they tend to add more family to their core network—yet this is moderated by their initial level of functional health. Long-distance moves are also associated with losing nonkin members from the core network. These empirical patterns are interpreted in light of developmental perspectives on late-life relocation, continuity theory, and the social convoy model.
From New to Neo-Europe: Titus redivivus
Authors: Cinpoeş Nicoleta
Published: May 2018

The ‘dramatic rise’ of Titus Andronicus ‘among critics and directors’ in the 1990s was primarily linked to ‘the growth of feminist Shakespeare criticism’.1 Its recent stage popularity, however, lies in its responses to the new geopolitical realities and the shifting physical and mental borders of the European Union. This article examines four European productions of Titus Andronicus in their engagement with political change, migration, rising nationalism and xenophobia, which, I argue, refocus attention onto this play’s position in the Shakespeare canon.
The global politics of human rights: From human rights to human dignity?
Authors: Regilme Salvador Santino F
Published: May 2018

This review essay highlights the limitations and possibilities of a global human rights order based on analysis of five recently published books about human rights. The main argument states that reform of the global human rights order requires not only a shift to a more emancipatory notion of human dignity but also an emphasis on global justice and material compensation within and between the Global North and Global South. Human dignity, in this essay, embraces all types of human rights claims, ranging from political rights to socio-economic rights, among many others. The essay proposes a three-pronged reform of international human rights: (1) a shift from Western human rights to the more inclusive and pluralist notion of human dignity; (2) the promotion of global justice by rewriting the rules of global economic governance; and (3) mandatory political education on human rights and human dignity.
STP Position Paper: Recommended Best Practices for Sampling, Processing, and Analysis of the Peripheral Nervous System (Nerves and Somatic and Autonomic Ganglia) during Nonclinical Toxicity Studies
Authors: Bolon Brad , Krinke Georg , Butt Mark T. , Rao Deepa B. , Pardo Ingrid D. , Jortner Bernard S. , Garman Robert H. , Jensen Karl , Andrews-Jones Lydia , Morrison James P. , Sharma Alok K. , Thibodeau Michael S.
Published: May 2018

Peripheral nervous system (PNS) toxicity is surveyed inconsistently in nonclinical general toxicity studies. These Society of Toxicologic Pathology “best practice” recommendations are designed to ensure consistent, efficient, and effective sampling, processing, and evaluation of PNS tissues for four different situations encountered during nonclinical general toxicity (screening) and dedicated neurotoxicity studies. For toxicity studies where neurotoxicity is unknown or not anticipated (situation 1), PNS evaluation may be limited to one sensorimotor spinal nerve. If somatic PNS neurotoxicity is suspected (situation 2), analysis minimally should include three spinal nerves, multiple dorsal root ganglia, and a trigeminal ganglion. If autonomic PNS neuropathy is suspected (situation 3), parasympathetic and sympathetic ganglia should be assessed. For dedicated neurotoxicity studies where a neurotoxic effect is expected (situation 4), PNS sampling follows the strategy for situations 2 and/or 3, as dictated by functional or other compound/target-specific data. For all situations, bilateral sampling with unilateral processing is acceptable. For situations 1–3, PNS is processed conventionally (immersion in buffered formalin, paraffin embedding, and hematoxylin and eosin staining). For situation 4 (and situations 2 and 3 if resources and timing permit), perfusion fixation with methanol-free fixative is recommended. Where PNS neurotoxicity is suspected or likely, at least one (situations 2 and 3) or two (situation 4) nerve cross sections should be postfixed with glutaraldehyde and osmium before hard plastic resin embedding; soft plastic embedding is not a suitable substitute for hard plastic. Special methods may be used if warranted to further characterize PNS findings. Initial PNS analysis should be informed, not masked (“blinded”). Institutions may adapt these recommendations to fit their specific programmatic requirements but may need to explain in project documentation the rationale for their chosen PNS sampling, processing, and evaluation strategy.
Head and Neck Cancer Patients: Rates, Reasons, and Risk Factors for 30‐Day Unplanned Readmission
Authors: Ghiam Michael K. , Langerman Alexander , Sargi Zoukaa , Rohde Sarah
Published: May 2018

Objective

To analyze rates, risk factors, and complications for 30‐day readmission among head and neck cancer (HNC) patients.

Methods

Retrospective review of administrative records from Vizient (Irving, Texas) Clinical Data Base/Resource Manager on HNC patients who underwent a head and neck surgical procedure from January 2013 through September 2015 at 176 academic and community medical centers.

Results

Of the 18,121 patients included in the study, 2502 patients were readmitted within 30 days (13.8%). Mean time to readmission was 11 ± 8.2 days. Cancer of the hypopharynx, oropharynx, pharynx, and larynx all had higher odds of readmission compared to oral cavity (odds ratio [OR], 1.8, 1.7, 1.6, and 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4‐2.2, 1.4‐1.9, 1.2‐2.3, and 1.3‐1.7, respectively). Consistent with this, flap procedures and laryngectomy had the highest odds of readmission (OR, 1.4 and 1.3; 95% CI, 1.3‐1.6 and 1.0‐1.5 vs glossectomy, respectively). The most common surgical causes for readmission were postoperative infection (17.6%) and surgical wound dehiscence (16.8%), which most commonly presented on postdischarge days 4 to 5. Acute cardiac events occurred in up to 15.4% of patients depending on complexity of surgery. Dysphagia and electrolyte disturbances were common (15.8% and 15.4%, respectively); patients with these complications typically presented earlier, between days 3 and 4.

Discussion

Patients with HNC are at high risk of readmission. The cancer subsite and procedure significantly influenced the risk, rate, and reason for readmission.

Implications for Practice

Findings from this study can help quality improvement and patient safety administrators develop interventions that uniquely target HNC populations.
Characteristics of Nasal Septal Cartilage–Derived Progenitor Cells during Prolonged Cultivation
Authors: Kim Do Hyun , Lim Jung Yeon , Kim Sung Won , Lee WeonSun , Park Sang Hi , Kwon Mi Yeon , Park Sun Hwa , Lim Mi Hyun , Back Sang A , Yun Byeong Gon , Jeun Jung Ho , Hwang Se Hwan
Published: May 2018

Objective

To produce alternate cell sources for tissue regeneration, human nasal septal cartilage–derived progenitor cells (NSPs) were tested to identify whether these cells meet the criteria of cartilage progenitor cells. We also evaluated the effects of prolonged cultivation on the characteristics of NSPs.

Study Design

In vitro study.

Setting

Academic research laboratory.

Methods

NSPs were isolated from discarded human nasal septal cartilage. NSPs were cultured for 10 passages. The expression of septal progenitor cell surface markers was assessed by fluorescence‐activated cell sorting. Cell proliferation was measured with a cell‐counting kit. Cytokine secretion was analyzed with multiplex immunoassays. Chondrogenic differentiation of NSPs without differentiation induction was analyzed with type II collagen immunohistochemistry. Cartilage‐specific protein expression was evaluated by Western blotting. Under osteo‐ and adipodifferentiation media, 2 lineage differentiation potentials were evaluated by histology and gene expression analysis.

Results

Surface epitope analysis revealed that NSPs are positive for mesenchymal stem cells markers and negative for hematopoietic cell markers. Cultured NSPs showed sufficient cell expansion and chondrogenic potential, as demonstrated by immunostaining and expression of cartilage‐specific protein. IL‐6, IL‐8, and transforming growth factor ß were secreted by over 200 pg/mL. The osteo‐ and adipodifferentiation potentials of NSPs were identified by histology and specific gene expression. The aforementioned characteristics were not influenced by prolonged cultivation.

Conclusion

NSPs represent an initial step toward creating a cell source from surgically discarded tissue that may prove useful in cartilage regeneration.
Measuring English language proficiency across subgroups: Using score equity assessment to evaluate test fairness
Authors: Yoo Hanwook , Manna Venessa F. , Monfils Lora F. , Oh Hyeon-Joo
Published: May 2018

This study illustrates the use of score equity assessment (SEA) for evaluating the fairness of reported test scores from assessments intended for test takers from diverse cultural, linguistic, and educational backgrounds, using a workplace English proficiency test. Subgroups were defined by test-taker background characteristics that research has shown to be associated with performance on language tests. The characteristics studied included gender, age, educational background, language exposure, and previous experience with the assessment. Overall, the empirical results indicated that the statistical and psychometric methods used in producing test scores were not strongly influenced by the subgroups of test takers from which the scores were derived. This result provides evidence in support of the comparability and meaning of test scores across the various test-taker groups studied. This example may encourage language testing programs to incorporate SEA analyses to provide evidence to inform the validity and fairness of reported scores for all groups of test takers.
The efficacy comparison of citalopram, fluoxetine, and placebo on motor recovery after ischemic stroke: a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized controlled trial
Authors: Asadollahi Marjan , Ramezani Mahtab , Khanmoradi Ziba , Karimialavijeh Ehsan
Published: May 2018

Objective:

The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of oral citalopram, compared with fluoxetine and a placebo, in patients with post-stroke motor disabilities.

Design:

A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted between January 2015 and January 2016.

Setting:

The neurology department of a university-affiliated urban hospital in Tehran, Iran.

Subjects:

Ninety adult patients with acute ischemic stroke, hemiplegia, or hemiparesis and a Fugl-Meyer Motor Scale score of below 55 were included.

Interventions:

Participants were randomly allocated to one of three groups: Group A received 20 mg PO of fluoxetine daily, Group B received 20 mg PO of citalopram daily, and Group C received a placebo PO The duration of the therapy was 90 days. In addition to the medications, all of the participants received physiotherapy.

Main measures:

Functional status at 90 days, which was measured by the Fugl-Meyer Motor Scale score.

Results:

The initial mean (SD) Fugl-Meyer Motor Scale scores for the placebo, fluoxetine, and citalopram groups were 18.2 (11.42), 20.08 (14.53), and 17.07 (14.92), respectively. After 90 days, the scores were 27.96 (18.71) for the placebo group, 52.42 (26.24) for the fluoxetine group, and 50.89 (27.17) for the citalopram group. Compared with the placebo group, the mean Fugl-Meyer Motor Scale scores showed significant increases in the fluoxetine and citalopram groups ( P = 0.001).

Conclusion:

There was no significant difference between citalopram and fluoxetine in facilitating post-stroke motor recovery in ischemic stroke patients. However, compared with a placebo, both drugs improved post-stroke motor function.
The effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with group exercise treatment in subjects with chronic low back pain: a pilot randomized control trial
Authors: Straudi Sofia , Buja Sergio , Baroni Andrea , Pavarelli Claudia , Pranovi Giulia , Fregni Felipe , Basaglia Nino
Published: May 2018

Objective:

To test the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in addition to group exercise on non-specific chronic low back pain.

Design:

Double-blinded randomized control trial.

Subjects:

Patients with non-specific chronic low back pain.

Methods:

A total of 35 subjects were recruited and allocated to real- or sham-tDCS followed by a group exercise protocol. Each patient underwent five sessions of brain stimulation followed by 10 sessions of group exercise. Subjects were evaluated before and after tDCS, after group exercise and one month after the combined treatment. Outcome measures were Visual Analog Scale for pain intensity, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, EuroQuol-5 Dimension and Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

Results:

Significant between-group difference in pain intensity (−27.7 ± 30.4 mm in real-tDCS group compared to −2.2 ± 30.1 mm in sham-tDCS group) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (−4.9 ± 4.2 in real-tDCS group compared to −1.1 ± 2.7 in sham-tDCS group) was found one month after the combined treatment ( P < 0.05).

Conclusion:

Our results showed that real-tDCS can induce significant larger effects on pain and psychological well-being, compared to sham-tDCS, when it is associated with a group exercise program. The effects were observed mostly in the follow-up.
Effects of lorazepam on saccadic eye movements: the role of sex, task characteristics and baseline traits
Authors: Ettinger Ulrich , Meyhöfer Inga , Mehta Mitul A , Kumari Veena , Corr Philip J , Williams Steven CR , Perkins Adam M
Published: May 2018

Background:

Saccadic eye movements are controlled by a network of parietal, frontal, striatal, cerebellar and brainstem regions. The saccadic peak velocity is an established biomarker of benzodiazepine effects, with benzodiazepines reliably reducing the peak velocity.

Aims:

In this study, we aimed to replicate the effects of benzodiazepines on peak velocity and we investigated effects on previously less studied measures of saccades. We also explored the roles of sex, task characteristics and the baseline variables age, intelligence and trait anxiety in these effects.

Method:

Healthy adults ( N = 34) performed a horizontal step prosaccade task under 1 mg lorazepam, 2 mg lorazepam and placebo in a double-blind, within-subjects design.

Results:

We replicated the dose-dependent reduction in peak velocity with lorazepam and showed that this effect is stronger for saccades to targets at smaller eccentricities. We also demonstrated that this effect is independent of sex and other baseline variables. Lorazepam effects were widespread, however, occurring on mean and variability measures of most saccadic variables. Additionally, there were sex-dependent lorazepam effects on spatial consistency of saccades, indicating more adverse effects in females.

Conclusions:

We conclude that saccadic peak velocity is a sensitive and robust biomarker of benzodiazepine effects. However, lorazepam has pronounced effects also on other parameters of horizontal saccades. Sex-dependent drug effects on spatial consistency may reflect cerebellar mechanisms, given the role of the cerebellum in saccadic spatial accuracy.
Front-Presented Looming Sound Selectively Alters the Perceived Size of a Visual Looming Object
Authors: Yamasaki Daiki , Miyoshi Kiyofumi , Altmann Christian F. , Ashida Hiroshi
Published: May 2018

In spite of accumulating evidence for the spatial rule governing cross-modal interaction according to the spatial consistency of stimuli, it is still unclear whether 3D spatial consistency (i.e., front/rear of the body) of stimuli also regulates audiovisual interaction. We investigated how sounds with increasing/decreasing intensity (looming/receding sound) presented from the front and rear space of the body impact the size perception of a dynamic visual object. Participants performed a size-matching task (Experiments 1 and 2) and a size adjustment task (Experiment 3) of visual stimuli with increasing/decreasing diameter, while being exposed to a front- or rear-presented sound with increasing/decreasing intensity. Throughout these experiments, we demonstrated that only the front-presented looming sound caused overestimation of the spatially consistent looming visual stimulus in size, but not of the spatially inconsistent and the receding visual stimulus. The receding sound had no significant effect on vision. Our results revealed that looming sound alters dynamic visual size perception depending on the consistency in the approaching quality and the front–rear spatial location of audiovisual stimuli, suggesting that the human brain differently processes audiovisual inputs based on their 3D spatial consistency. This selective interaction between looming signals should contribute to faster detection of approaching threats. Our findings extend the spatial rule governing audiovisual interaction into 3D space.
Aging and the Visual Perception of Motion Direction: Solving the Aperture Problem
Authors: Shain Lindsey M. , Norman J. Farley
Published: May 2018

An experiment required younger and older adults to estimate coherent visual motion direction from multiple motion signals, where each motion signal was locally ambiguous with respect to the true direction of pattern motion. Thus, accurate performance required the successful integration of motion signals across space (i.e., accurate performance required solution of the aperture problem) . The observers viewed arrays of either 64 or 9 moving line segments; because these lines moved behind apertures, their individual local motions were ambiguous with respect to direction (i.e., were subject to the aperture problem). Following 2.4 seconds of pattern motion on each trial (true motion directions ranged over the entire range of 360° in the fronto-parallel plane), the observers estimated the coherent direction of motion. There was an effect of direction, such that cardinal directions of pattern motion were judged with less error than oblique directions. In addition, a large effect of aging occurred—The average absolute errors of the older observers were 46% and 30.4% higher in magnitude than those exhibited by the younger observers for the 64 and 9 aperture conditions, respectively. Finally, the observers’ precision markedly deteriorated as the number of apertures was reduced from 64 to 9.
Experimental analysis of constant-amplitude fatigue properties in 6156 (Al-Mg-Si) sheet aluminum alloy
Authors: Alexopoulos Nikolaos D , Migklis Evangelos , Myriounis Dimitrios
Published: May 2018

Fatigue mechanical behavior of wrought aluminum alloy (Al-Mg-Si) 6156 at T4 temper is experimentally investigated. Constant-amplitude fatigue tests, at fixed stress ratio R = 0.1, were carried out, and the respective stress–life diagram was constructed and compared against the competitive 6xxx aluminum alloys, for example, 6082 and 6061. Fatigue endurance limit of AA6156 was found to be approximately 155 ± 5 MPa, that is, almost 30% below yield stress Rp of the material. AA6156 presents almost 50% higher fatigue life in the high-cycle fatigue area and approximately 20% higher fatigue endurance limit, when compared with other 6xxx series aluminum alloys. Significant work hardening was induced due to fatigue and was experimentally validated by the measurements of residual stiffness of fatigue loops as well as of absorbed energy per fatigue loop. Work-hardening exponent was essentially decreased by almost 25% from the first fatigue cycles and up to 10% of fatigue life. Fracture surfaces of specimens loaded at applied stresses close to fatigue endurance limit exhibited signs of coarse voids due to the formed precipitates at the matrix. The fracture mechanism was a mixture of transgranunal and intergranular fracture for the fatigue specimens tested at higher applied fatigue loadings.
Effect of Filler on the Aging Potential of Asphalt Mixtures
Authors: Recasens Rodrigo Miró , Martínez Adriana , Jiménez Felix Pérez , Bianchetto Hugo
Published: May 2018

In this work, the effect that filler has on the aging of bitumen was analyzed but with the filler being incorporated by volume, not by weight. The Universal de Caracterización de Ligantes method was used as the process of accelerated aging, and a new direct tensile test was used to determine the toughness of the aged mixture and, thus, to assess the effect the filler has. All tests performed for this paper have shown the protective effect of the fillers used. The new direct tensile test developed by the Road Research Laboratory of the Technical University of Catalonia allows observation of how an increase in filler produces an increase in the breaking load and a decrease in the maximum deformation: the hydrated lime tends to stiffen the mixture less and make it less brittle than does calcium carbonate. To minimize the effect of aging on bitumen, the filler content proposed must be 20% or 30% less than the content recommended in conditions where there is no aging, so that when the mixture ages, the mastic is able to build up the maximum energy possible.
Inverse Gas–Liquid Chromatography Study of Asphalt Composition and Oxidative Aging
Authors: Kim Sang-Soo , Robertson Raymond R. , Branthaver Jan F.
Published: May 2018

The chemical composition of an asphalt binder significantly affects oxidative aging and interactions with both aggregate and binder modifiers. In turn, it may cause premature asphalt pavement failures through fatigue cracking, moisture damage, or other failure mechanisms. Analytical chemical procedures, such as ion exchange chromatography, are time-consuming and cost prohibitive as routine tests. Inverse gas–liquid chromatography (IGLC) is a relatively faster and simpler technique that provides the chemical composition and polarity characteristics of asphalt samples. In IGLC, asphalt is used as the liquid substrate on an inert support in a GLC column and is characterized by measuring the retention behavior of selected test compounds that possess different functional groups. The interaction behaviors between seven test compounds and 19 unaged and GLC column–aged asphalt samples were determined and compared with functional group concentrations presented in the asphalts and in a nonaqueous potentiometric titration study. It was found that the retention behaviors of the test compounds are strongly related to the types and concentrations of functional groups in the asphalt. For unaged asphalts, the retention behavior of strongly basic test compounds is highly correlated with the concentration of acidic functional groups in asphalts. The retention behavior of phenol with oxidatively aged asphalts is highly correlated with the concentration of sulfoxide, one of the major products of asphalt oxidation.
Evaluation of Low-Temperature Properties and the Fragility of Asphalt Binders with Non-Arrhenius Viscosity–Temperature Dependence
Authors: Zhai Huachun , Salomon Delmar
Published: May 2018

Rotational viscosities of different asphalt binders were determined at temperatures between 80°C and 185°C. Viscosity–temperature dependence of asphalt binders was described with the use of the Vogel–Tammann–Fulcher (VTF) and the William–Landel–Ferry (WLF) equations. The Vogel temperature ( Tv) and the glass transition temperature ( Tg) for different asphalt binders were determined by fitting experimental values of viscosity at different temperatures with these two equations. For asphalt binders, the difference between Tv and Tg was about 40K. Effects of asphaltenes, aging, chemical modification, and polymer content on these temperatures were evaluated. As asphaltene content increased, both temperatures, Tv and Tg, increased. Different polymers showed different effects on these temperatures. The values of Tv and Tg were correlated with the critical cracking temperature ( Tcr) determined through use of a bending beam rheometer and a direct tension tester. The results suggested that the correlations between Tv, Tg, and Tcr could be used to determine Tcr from the rotational viscosity results tested at high temperature. With simple rotational measurements, a quick estimation of Tcr of asphalt binders could be obtained. Liquid fragility theory was also used to study Tg of asphalt binders. Parameters determined with the VTF and WLF equations indicated that asphalt binders behaved as fragile liquids because of their non-Arrhenius behavior in the temperature range studied.
The Worst of All Worlds
Authors: Eidlin Eric
Published: May 2018

Los Angeles, California, is generally considered the archetypal sprawling metropolis. Yet traditional measures equate sprawl with low population density, and Los Angeles is among the densest and thereby the least sprawling cities in the United States. How can this apparent paradox be explained? This paper argues that the answer lies in the fact that Los Angeles exhibits a comparatively even distribution of population throughout its urbanized area. As a result, the city suffers from many consequences of high population density, including extreme traffic congestion, poor air quality, and high housing prices, while offering its residents few benefits that typically accompany this density, including fast and effective public transit, vibrant street life, and tightly knit urban neighborhoods. The city's unique combination of high average population density with little differentiation in the distribution of population might best be characterized as dense sprawl, a condition that embodies the worst of urban and suburban worlds. This paper uses Gini coefficients to illustrate variation in population density and then considers a number of indicators–-most relating either to the provision of transportation infrastructure or to travel behavior–-that demonstrate the effects of low-variation population distribution on the quality of urban life in Los Angeles. This approach offers researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in Los Angeles and in smaller cities that are evolving in similar ways a useful and user-friendly tool for identifying, explaining, measuring, and addressing the most problematic aspects of sprawl.
Employer Valuations of Employee Commuting Time
Authors: Luskin David M. , Chandrasekaran Aswin
Published: May 2018

A recently completed survey of office tenants in North Dallas, Texas, presented respondents with two hypothetical situations, each combining a temporary increase in commuting time with a temporary reduction in office rent. Respondents were asked whether the overall effect on their business would be positive, negative, or neutral. Although hypothetical, the questions were also topical. The respondents were all in the vicinity of a major highway project, the Dallas High Five Interchange, the construction of which has caused delays for some travelers. Econometric analysis of the survey responses provided estimates of the cost these office tenants attach to a temporary increase in the commuting time of their employees. This paper explains the derivation of these estimates and provides other findings relevant to their interpretation. The paper also motivates analysis by explaining how estimates of this sort can promote public awareness of the costs and benefits of highway projects.