bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multiple myeloma: Looking beyond standards
Authors: Kaul Esha , Sharma Sanjeev
Published: April 2016

Multiple myeloma has been regarded as an incurable disease with frequent relapses. The diagnostic criteria have been revised multiple times to include early stage of the disease where treatment can be effective and can prolong the survival. Newer diagnostic criteria for myeloma have incorporated ≥60% plasma cells in the bone marrow and serum free light chain ratio (involved to uninvolved free light chains) of ≥100. The role of positron emission tomography-computed tomography scans has been recognized, and it has been increasingly utilized upfront in the management of multiple myeloma. Role of minimal residual disease monitoring has been studied in multiple trials and will in near future guide the treatment. Autologous stem cell transplant is still the preferred consolidation therapy after initial three or four drug induction. With the use of novel drugs combinations and with emerging treatment options the standard of care of myeloma patients will change.
Analysis of the influence of environmental parameters on methane flux from floodplains and lakes in the Abobral River, Pantanal, Brazil
Authors: Da Silva Marcelo Gomes , Alvalá Plínio Carlos , Marani Luciano , Ferreira Willian José
Published: April 2016

This study evaluates the influence of physical and chemical characteristics of the water column in the processes that result in methane emissions in the Pantanal. Two surveys were conducted in 2009 and 2010, corresponding to the drought and flood seasons, respectively. The CH4 fluxes were determined using the static chamber technique. Environmental variables, such as depth, water temperature, pH, redox potential, dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solids were also measured. Diffusive and bubble flux presented an average value of 11.1 ± 13.5 mg CH4 m-2 d-1 e 275.9 ± 348.5 mg CH4 m-2 d-1, which is a value near those observed in other tropical flooded regions. Statistical t-tests have shown significant differences between drought and flood seasons (p ≤ 0.05). Diffusive fluxes represented about 87% of the total fluxes measured in drought. During the flood season there were more instances of bubble fluxes (77%). Statistical analysis (correlation and Principal Components Analysis) indicate that physical and chemical characteristics could affect methane fluxes. Diffusive fluxes correlated mainly with pH, redox potential and dissolved oxygen, which is in accordance with the increase of organic matter during flooding. Bubble fluxes measured during the drought season correlated mainly with water depth and temperature, pH and redox potential, which is an indication of an environment to suitable to the formation and liberation of the bubbles from sediment.
Bacteriological analysis of horticultural irrigation water
Authors: Souza Silva Ákylla Fernanda , Lima Camila Ananias de , Florencio Queiroz José Jeyvson , Luna de Araújo Jácome Paula Regina , Jácome Júnior Agenor Tavares
Published: April 2016

This study analyzed the quality of water used for the irrigation of five crops based upon microorganism indicators of fecal contamination (group coliforms) and contamination by organic material (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) in both the water and in the irrigated food. The study also verified the decrease in the activity of these microorganisms by heterotrophic bacterial count before and after treatment with three different sanitizers. The presence of coliform (NMP > 1600) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was observed in both the irrigation water and in the irrigated food, and the coefficient of variation (R2) revealed a strong correlation between the rates of contamination of the water and food. All of the sanitizers evaluated reduced the bacterial load of the food, especially sanitization with vinegar at 200 ppm, which, in addition to greatly reducing food contamination, is also considered a low-cost and toxicologically safe product, and therefore may be indicated for this purpose. Thus, the use of poor quality water in the irrigation of vegetables may directly contribute to food contamination, with serious implications for the health of consumers.
Contamination of semiarid potiguar reservoirs by harmful bacteria
Authors: Do Nascimento Ermeton Duarte , Maia Claudio Marcio de Medeiros , Araújo Magnólia Fernandes Florêncio de
Published: April 2016

Water contamination in the semi-arid section of Northeast Brazil is a current concern for the country’s researchers, since this region is considered one of the poorest in Brazil and the water in these locations is a primary vehicle for disease transmission. We collected physical and chemical data as well as water samples from four semiarid potiguar reservoirs during the dry and rainy seasons of 2013 and 2014. These samples were prepared in a laboratory at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and their physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics were evaluated. The procedures of microbial isolation and identification followed the Standard Methods for Examinations of Water and Wastewater. Then Vitek II system (Bio-Merieux®) was used to identify the microbial specimens and we calculated the frequency of specimens’ occurrence. Altogether, 168 bacteria were isolated and identified; 97% were Gram-negative and only 3% were Gram-positive. Within the Gram negatives, 73.2% were identified as belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family and, in general terms, the most constant genera in the water reservoirs were Vibrio and Aeromonas. Among the Enterobacteriaceae family, the species Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae complex and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most frequent. There was no statistical difference between the number or morphotype groups found in the periods, p=0.255 and p=0.237, respectively. The analyzed data indicate possible contamination of these water reservoirs by human and/or animal fecal material.
Selection of priority areas for payment of environmental services: an analysis at the watershed level
Authors: Rosa Fernando Salles , Tonello Kelly Cristina , Lourenço Roberto Wagner
Published: April 2016

In this study, we selected priority areas for conservation of water resources to support programs for environmental services (PSA) payment. The proposal will be used for the implementation of the PSA pilot project in the watershed of the Murundu, Ibiúna-SP, to support PSA public policy to foster sustainability. To do so, land use information layers, vegetative cover and slope were organized in a GIS environment in order to allow through cross tabulation the selection of priorities to generate a thematic map. From this map, we performed qualitative and a quantitative analysis, as well as priority setting ranges. The tools used have shown to be useful in supporting decision-making and research and public policy in PSA, focusing on increasing the governance of water resources. It is clear that remuneration for “standing forest" definitely represents the major prospect in the watershed of the river’s Murundu, as well as the possibility of converting monetary values of the payment into other forms of support to providers of the service according to their priorities.
Effect of purmorphamine on the mRNA expression of Sonic Hedgehog signaling downstream molecules in ovine embryo
Authors: Nadri Parisa , Ansari-Mahyari Saeid , Zahmatkesh Azadeh
Published: April 2016

Abstract. Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) is a signaling pathway mediated through a receptor system which seems to have effects on oocyte maturation and embryonic development. Purmorphamine is an SHH agonist that performs a crucial role in the regulation of the activity of SHH receptors and downstream transcription factors. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of purmorphamine on the mRNA expression of SHH signaling downstream molecules (Patched1, Glioma-Associated Oncogene1, Smoothened, Histone Deacetylase1, Histone Deacetylase2 and Histone Deacetylase3) in ovine two-cell embryo. Ovaries were obtained from a slaughterhouse, and cumulus–oocyte complexes were aspirated and cultured in maturation media containing 0, 250 or 500 ng mL−1 purmorphamine. Then, oocytes were fertilized and cultured in a CR1 culture medium and after 24 h, two-cell embryos were collected for RNA extraction. Gene expression was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results indicated that in 250 ng mL−1 purmorphamine, Smo, Ptch1 and Hdac3 expression reduced, Hdac1 expression increased, and Gli1 and Hdac2 expression levels did not change. In 500 ng mL−1 purmorphamine, Gli1 and Smo transcripts increased, while Ptch1, Hdac2 and Hdac3 transcripts decreased. Regarding to the presence of SHH signaling molecules in two-cell embryos and their response to purmorphamine, it can be suggested that SHH signaling is probably active before embryonic genome activation in ovine embryos.
Interferences in photolytic NO2 measurements: explanation for an apparent missing oxidant?
Authors: Reed Chris , Evans Mathew J. , Di Carlo Piero , Lee James D. , Carpenter Lucy J.
Published: April 2016

Abstract. Measurement of NO2 at low concentrations (tens of ppts) is non-trivial. A variety of techniques exist, with the conversion of NO2 into NO followed by chemiluminescent detection of NO being prevalent. Historically this conversion has used a catalytic approach (molybdenum); however, this has been plagued with interferences. More recently, photolytic conversion based on UV-LED irradiation of a reaction cell has been used. Although this appears to be robust there have been a range of observations in low-NOx environments which have measured higher NO2 concentrations than might be expected from steady-state analysis of simultaneously measured NO, O3, jNO2, etc. A range of explanations exist in the literature, most of which focus on an unknown and unmeasured “compound X” that is able to convert NO to NO2 selectively. Here we explore in the laboratory the interference on the photolytic NO2 measurements from the thermal decomposition of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) within the photolysis cell. We find that approximately 5 % of the PAN decomposes within the instrument, providing a potentially significant interference. We parameterize the decomposition in terms of the temperature of the light source, the ambient temperature, and a mixing timescale ( ∼ 0.4 s for our instrument) and expand the parametric analysis to other atmospheric compounds that decompose readily to NO2 (HO2NO2, N2O5, CH3O2NO2, IONO2, BrONO2, higher PANs). We apply these parameters to the output of a global atmospheric model (GEOS-Chem) to investigate the global impact of this interference on (1) the NO2 measurements and (2) the NO2 : NO ratio, i.e. the Leighton relationship. We find that there are significant interferences in cold regions with low NOx concentrations such as the Antarctic, the remote Southern Hemisphere, and the upper troposphere. Although this interference is likely instrument-specific, the thermal decomposition to NO2 within the instrument's photolysis cell could give an at least partial explanation for the anomalously high NO2 that has been reported in remote regions. The interference can be minimized by better instrument characterization, coupled to instrumental designs which reduce the heating within the cell, thus simplifying interpretation of data from remote locations.
Long-range transport and mixing of aerosol sources during the 2013 North American biomass burning episode: analysis of multiple lidar observations in the western Mediterranean basin
Authors: Ancellet Gerard , Pelon Jacques , Totems Julien , Chazette Patrick , Bazureau Ariane , Sicard Michaël , Di Iorio Tatiana , Dulac Francois , Mallet Marc
Published: April 2016

Abstract. Long-range transport of biomass burning (BB) aerosols between North America and the Mediterranean region took place in June 2013. A large number of ground-based and airborne lidar measurements were deployed in the western Mediterranean during the Chemistry-AeRosol Mediterranean EXperiment (ChArMEx) intensive observation period. A detailed analysis of the potential North American aerosol sources is conducted including the assessment of their transport to Europe using forward simulations of the FLEXPART Lagrangian particle dispersion model initialized using satellite observations by MODIS and CALIOP. The three-dimensional structure of the aerosol distribution in the ChArMEx domain observed by the ground-based lidars (Minorca, Barcelona and Lampedusa), a Falcon-20 aircraft flight and three CALIOP tracks, agrees very well with the model simulation of the three major sources considered in this work: Canadian and Colorado fires, a dust storm from western US and the contribution of Saharan dust streamers advected from the North Atlantic trade wind region into the westerlies region. Four aerosol types were identified using the optical properties of the observed aerosol layers (aerosol depolarization ratio, lidar ratio) and the transport model analysis of the contribution of each aerosol source: (i) pure BB layer, (ii) weakly dusty BB, (iii) significant mixture of BB and dust transported from the trade wind region, and (iv) the outflow of Saharan dust by the subtropical jet and not mixed with BB aerosol. The contribution of the Canadian fires is the major aerosol source during this episode while mixing of dust and BB is only significant at an altitude above 5 km. The mixing corresponds to a 20–30 % dust contribution in the total aerosol backscatter. The comparison with the MODIS aerosol optical depth horizontal distribution during this episode over the western Mediterranean Sea shows that the Canadian fire contributions were as large as the direct northward dust outflow from Sahara.
Observation of atmospheric peroxides during Wangdu Campaign 2014 at a rural site in the North China Plain
Authors: Wang Yin , Chen Zhongming , Wu Qinqin , Liang Hao , Huang Liubin , Li Huan , Lu Keding , Wu Yusheng , Dong Huabin , Zeng Limin , Zhang Yuanhang
Published: April 2016

Abstract. Measurements of atmospheric peroxides were made during Wangdu Campaign 2014 at Wangdu, a rural site in the North China Plain (NCP) in summer 2014. The predominant peroxides were detected to be hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), methyl hydroperoxide (MHP) and peroxyacetic acid (PAA). The observed H2O2 reached up to 11.3 ppbv, which was the highest value compared with previous observations in China at summer time. A box model simulation based on the Master Chemical Mechanism and constrained by the simultaneous observations of physical parameters and chemical species was performed to explore the chemical budget of atmospheric peroxides. Photochemical oxidation of alkenes was found to be the major secondary formation pathway of atmospheric peroxides, while contributions from alkanes and aromatics were of minor importance. The comparison of modelled and measured peroxide concentrations revealed an underestimation during biomass burning events and an overestimation on haze days, which were ascribed to the direct production of peroxides from biomass burning and the heterogeneous uptake of peroxides by aerosols, respectively. The strengths of the primary emissions from biomass burning were on the same order of the known secondary production rates of atmospheric peroxides during the biomass burning events. The heterogeneous process on aerosol particles was suggested to be the predominant sink for atmospheric peroxides. The atmospheric lifetime of peroxides on haze days in summer in the NCP was about 2–3 hours, which is in good agreement with the laboratory studies. Further comprehensive investigations are necessary to better understand the impact of biomass burning and heterogeneous uptake on the concentration of peroxides in the atmosphere.
Simple Process-Led Algorithms for Simulating Habitats (SPLASH v.1.0): Robust Indices of Radiation, Evapotranspiration and Plant-Available Moisture
Authors: Davis Tyler W. , Prentice I. Colin , Stocker Benjamin D. , Whitely Rhys J. , Wang Han , Evans Bradley J. , Gallego-Sala Angela V. , Sykes Martin T. , Cramer Wolfgang
Published: April 2016

Abstract. Bioclimatic indices for use in studies of ecosystem function, species distribution, and vegetation dynamics under changing climate scenarios depend on estimates of surface fluxes and other quantities, such as radiation, evapotranspiration and soil moisture, for which direct observations are sparse. These quantities can be derived indirectly from meteorological variables, such as air temperature, precipitation and cloudiness. Here we present a consolidated set of Simple Process-Led Algorithms for Simulating Habitats (SPLASH) allowing robust approximations of key quantities at ecologically relevant time scales. We specify equations, derivations, simplifications and assumptions for the estimation of daily and monthly quantities of top-of-the-atmosphere solar radiation, net surface radiation, photosynthetic photon flux density, evapotranspiration (potential, equilibrium and actual), condensation, soil moisture, and runoff, based on analysis of their relationship to fundamental climatic drivers. SPLASH, as presented here, is designed for application at discrete locations; however, the same methodology can naturally be applied to spatial grids. The climatic drivers include a minimum of three meteorological inputs: precipitation, air temperature, and either fraction of bright sunshine hours or fractional cloud cover. Indices, such as the moisture index, the climatic water deficit, and the Priestley-Taylor coefficient, are also defined. The SPLASH code is transcribed in C++, FORTRAN, Python, and R. One year of results from a specific location are provided to exemplify the daily and monthly model outputs, following a two-year spin-up of soil moisture content.
3-D radiative transfer in large-eddy simulations – experiences coupling the TenStream solver to the UCLA-LES
Authors: Jakub Fabian , Mayer Bernhard
Published: April 2016

Abstract. The recently developed 3-D TenStream radiative transfer solver was integrated into the University of California, Los Angeles large-eddy simulation (UCLA-LES) cloud-resolving model. This work documents the overall performance of the TenStream solver as well as the technical challenges of migrating from 1-D schemes to 3-D schemes. In particular the employed Monte Carlo spectral integration needed to be reexamined in conjunction with 3-D radiative transfer. Despite the fact that the spectral sampling has to be performed uniformly over the whole domain, we find that the Monte Carlo spectral integration remains valid. To understand the performance characteristics of the coupled TenStream solver, we conducted weak as well as strong-scaling experiments. In this context, we investigate two matrix preconditioner: geometric algebraic multigrid preconditioning (GAMG) and block Jacobi incomplete LU (ILU) factorization and find that algebraic multigrid preconditioning performs well for complex scenes and highly parallelized simulations. The TenStream solver is tested for up to 4096 cores and shows a parallel scaling efficiency of 80–90 % on various supercomputers. Compared to the widely employed 1-D delta-Eddington two-stream solver, the computational costs for the radiative transfer solver alone increases by a factor of 5–10.
Streamflow recession patterns can help unravel the role of climate and humans in landscape co-evolution
Authors: Bogaart Patrick W. , van der Velde Ype , Lyon Steve W. , Dekker Stefan C.
Published: April 2016

Abstract. Traditionally, long-term predictions of river discharges and their extremes include constant relationships between landscape properties and model parameters. However, due to the co-evolution of many landscape properties more sophisticated methods are necessary to quantify future landscape–hydrological model relationships. As a first step towards such an approach we use the Brutsaert and Nieber (1977) analysis method to characterize streamflow recession behaviour of  ≈  200 Swedish catchments within the context of global change and landscape co-evolution. Results suggest that the Brutsaert–Nieber parameters are strongly linked to the climate, soil, land use, and their interdependencies. Many catchments show a trend towards more non-linear behaviour, meaning not only faster initial recession but also slower recession towards base flow. This trend has been found to be independent from climate change. Instead, we suggest that land cover change, both natural (restoration of natural soil profiles in forested areas) and anthropogenic (reforestation and optimized water management), is probably responsible. Both change types are characterised by system adaptation and change, towards more optimal ecohydrological conditions, suggesting landscape co-evolution is at play. Given the observed magnitudes of recession changes during the past 50 years, predictions of future river discharge critically need to include the effects of landscape co-evolution. The interconnections between the controls of land cover and climate on river recession behaviour, as we have quantified in this paper, provide first-order handles to do so.
Community Based Early Warning Systems for flood risk mitigation in Nepal
Authors: Smith Paul J. , Brown Sarah , Dugar Sumit
Published: April 2016

Abstract. This paper focuses on the use of Community Based Early Warning Systems for flood risk mitigation in Nepal. The first part of the work outlines the evolution and current status of these community based systems. A significant ongoing challenge faced by Community Based Early Warning Systems in Nepal is the short lead times available for early warning. The second part of the paper therefore focuses on the development of a robust operational flood forecasting methodology for use by the Department for Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Government of Nepal to compliment the community based systems. The resulting methodology uses data based physically interpretable time series models and data assimilation to generate probabilistic forecasts. The paper concludes with an example application to a flood prone catchment (Karnali Basin) in western Nepal.
A geological model for the management of subsurface data in the urban environment of Barcelona city
Authors: Vázquez-Suñé Enric , Marazuela Miguel Ángel , Velasco Violeta , Diviu Marc , Pérez-Estaún Andrés , Alvarez-Marrón Joaquina
Published: April 2016

Abstract. The overdevelopment of cities since the industrial revolution has shown the need to incorporate a sound geological knowledge in the management of required subsurface infrastructures and in the assessment of increasingly needed groundwater resources. Also, the scarcity of outcrops and the technical difficulty to conduct underground exploration in urban areas highlights the importance of implementing efficient management plans that deal with the legacy of heterogeneous subsurface information. To deal with these difficulties, a methodology has been proposed to integrate all the available spatiotemporal data into a comprehensive spatial database and a set of tools that facilitates the analysis and processing of the existing and newly added data for the city of Barcelona (NE Spain). Here we present the resulting actual subsurface 3D geological model that incorporates and articulates all the information stored in the database. The methodology applied to Barcelona city benefited from a good collaboration between administrative bodies and researchers that enabled the realization of a comprehensive geological database despite logistic difficulties. Currently, the public administration and also private sectors, both benefit from the geological understanding acquired in the Barcelona city. For example, when preparing the hydrogeological models used in groundwater assessment plans. The methodology further facilitates the continuous incorporation of new data for the implementation and sustainable management of urban groundwater and also contributes to significantly reduce the costs of new infrastructures.
Constraining variable density of ice shelves using wide-angle radar measurements
Authors: Drews Reinhard , Brown Joel , Matsuoka Kenichi , Witrant Emmanuel , Philippe Morgane , Hubbard Bryn , Pattyn Frank
Published: April 2016

Abstract. The thickness of ice shelves, a basic parameter for mass balance estimates, is typically inferred using hydrostatic equilibrium, for which knowledge of the depth-averaged density is essential. The densification from snow to ice depends on a number of local factors (e.g., temperature and surface mass balance) causing spatial and temporal variations in density–depth profiles. However, direct measurements of firn density are sparse, requiring substantial logistical effort. Here, we infer density from radio-wave propagation speed using ground-based wide-angle radar data sets (10 MHz) collected at five sites on Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf (RBIS), Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. We reconstruct depth to internal reflectors, local ice thickness, and firn-air content using a novel algorithm that includes traveltime inversion and ray tracing with a prescribed shape of the depth–density relationship. For the particular case of an ice-shelf channel, where ice thickness and surface slope change substantially over a few kilometers, the radar data suggest that firn inside the channel is about 5 % denser than outside the channel. Although this density difference is at the detection limit of the radar, it is consistent with a similar density anomaly reconstructed from optical televiewing, which reveals that the firn inside the channel is 4.7 % denser than that outside the channel. Hydrostatic ice thickness calculations used for determining basal melt rates should account for the denser firn in ice-shelf channels. The radar method presented here is robust and can easily be adapted to different radar frequencies and data-acquisition geometries.
Potential genesis and implications of calcium nitrate in Antarctic snow
Authors: Mahalinganathan Kanthanathan , Thamban Meloth
Published: April 2016

Abstract. Among the large variety of particulates in the atmosphere, calcic mineral dust particles have highly reactive surfaces that undergo heterogeneous reactions with atmospheric acids contiguously. The association between nssCa2+, an important proxy indicator of mineral dust, and NO3−, a dominant anion in the Antarctic snowpack, was analysed. A total of 41 snow cores ( ∼  1 m each) that represent snow deposited during 2008–2009 were studied along coastal–inland transects from two different regions in East Antarctica – the Princess Elizabeth Land (PEL) and central Dronning Maud Land (cDML). Correlation statistics showed a strong association (at 99 % significance level) between NO3− and nssCa2+ at the near-coastal sections of both PEL (r  =  0.74) and cDML (r  =  0.82) transects. Similarly, a strong association between these ions was also observed in snow deposits at the inland sections of PEL (r  =  0.73) and cDML (r  =  0.84). Such systematic associations between nssCa2+ and NO3− are attributed to the interaction between calcic mineral dust and nitric acid in the atmosphere, leading to the formation of calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2) aerosol. Principal component analysis revealed common transport and depositional processes for nssCa2+ and NO3− both in PEL and cDML. Forward- and back-trajectory analyses using HYSPLIT model v. 4 revealed that southern South America (SSA) was an important dust-emitting source to the study region, aided by the westerlies. Particle size distribution showed that over 90 % of the dust was in the range  <  4 µm, indicating that these dust particles reached the Antarctic region via long-range transport from the SSA region. We propose that the association between nssCa2+ and NO3− occurs during the long-range transport due to the formation of Ca(NO3)2 rather than to local neutralisation processes. However, the influence of local dust sources from the nunataks in cDML and the contribution of high sea salt in coastal PEL evidently mask such association in the mountainous and coastal regions respectively. Ionic balance calculations showed that 70–75 % of NO3− in the coastal sections was associated with nssCa2+ (to form Ca(NO3)2). However, in the inland sections, 50–55 % of NO3− was present as HNO3. The study indicates that the input of dust-bound NO3− contributes a significant fraction of the total NO3− deposited in coastal Antarctic snow.
Long-Term Efficacy and Safety of Intravitreal Dexamethasone Implant for the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema
Authors: Matonti Frederic , Pommier Stephan , Meyer Franck , Hajjar Christian , Merite Pierre Yves , Parrat Eric , Rouhette Herve , Rebollo Olivier , Guigou Sebastien
Published: April 2016

Purpose

To evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of the dexamethasone intravitreal implant Ozurdex® in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME).

Methods

This was a retrospective noncomparative study. A total of 23 patients with DME followed for at least 12 months were included. All patients were treated with at least 2 Ozurdex® injections for the treatment of DME. Best-corrected visual acuity, central retinal thickness, intraocular pressure (IOP), and cataract progression were recorded over 12 months.

Results

From baseline, the mean decrease in central retinal thickness was 315.9 µm at the 12th month and the mean best-corrected visual acuity improvement from baseline was 8.7 letters. Ozurdex® is administered via the extended release system Novadur®. Its efficacy extends beyond 4 months with a single injection and permits allows good stabilization until the 12th month, with 2.13 injections during this period. An increase in IOP was observed in 13.1% of patients and all were managed using topical IOP-lowering medications. No glaucoma or cataract surgery was necessary, and no endophthalmitis was reported.

Conclusions

In real-life clinical practice, Ozurdex® has anatomical and functional effectiveness for the treatment of DME. Side effects were rare and manageable in our practice.
Pelvic Orientation for Total HIP Arthroplasty in Lateral Decubitus: Can it be Accurately Measured?
Authors: Sykes Alice M. , Hill Janet C. , Orr John F. , Gill Harinderjit S. , Salazar Jose J. , Humphreys Lee D. , Beverland David E.
Published: April 2016

Introduction

During total hip arthroplasty (THA), accurately predicting acetabular cup orientation remains a key challenge, in great part because of uncertainty about pelvic orientation. This pilot study aimed to develop and validate a technique to measure pelvic orientation; establish its accuracy in the location of anatomical landmarks and subsequently; investigate if limb movement during a simulated surgical procedure alters pelvic orientation.

Methods

The developed technique measured 3-D orientation of an isolated Sawbone pelvis, it was then implemented to measure pelvic orientation in lateral decubitus with post-THA patients (n = 20) using a motion capture system.

Results

Orientation of the isolated Sawbone pelvis was accurately measured, demonstrated by high correlations with angular data from a coordinate measurement machine; R-squared values close to 1 for all pelvic axes. When applied to volunteer subjects, largest movements occurred about the longitudinal pelvic axis; internal and external pelvic rotation. Rotations about the anteroposterior axis, which directly affect inclination angles, showed >75% of participants had movement within ±5° of neutral, 0°.

Conclusions

The technique accurately measured orientation of the isolated bony pelvis. This was not the case in a simulated theatre environment. Soft tissue landmarks were difficult to palpate repeatedly. These findings have direct clinical relevance, landmark registration in lateral decubitus is a potential source of error, contributing here to large ranges in measured movement. Surgeons must be aware that present techniques using bony landmarks to reference pelvic orientation for cup implantation, both computer-based and mechanical, may not be sufficiently accurate.
First Report of Cytokine Removal using CytoSorb® in Severe Noninfectious Inflammatory Syndrome after Liver Transplantation
Authors: Tomescu Dana R. , Dima Simona Olimpia , Ungureanu Daniela , Popescu Mihai , Tulbure Dan , Popescu Irinel
Published: April 2016

Introduction

Emergency transplantation of a donor liver that is not matched for the major blood antigens can produce marked immune-mediated cytokine release that can cause donor graft loss. Control of the inflammatory response may be a key element in treatment.

Methods

We present the case of a 46-year-old man with primary graft nonfunction after liver transplantation who underwent emergency retransplantation with an ABO-incompatible graft. A severe inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) was noted in the perioperioperative period of retransplantation. The patient was successfully treated for this condition with a new hemoadsorption column (CytoSorb®), in combination with continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) throughout the intraoperative and early postoperative period.

Results

During and after each treatment a significant and rapid decrease of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines was observed, especially for interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10 and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1). Reduction of cytokines was associated with normalization of cardiac output and systemic vascular resistance, and improved liver function.

Conclusions

We believe this is the first case in which hemoadsorptionin combination with CVVH has been used to manage SIRS in a patient with primary graft nonfunction undergoing emergency retransplantation.
Autoimmune Hepatitis: An Uncommon Presentation of Thymoma
Authors: Mendogni Paolo , Rosso Lorenzo , Tosi Davide , Palleschi Alessandro , Righi Ilaria , Minonzio Francesca , Fusco Nicola , Nosotti Mario
Published: April 2016

Purpose

In a substantial proportion of patients with thymoma, many different types of paraneoplastic syndromes are observed. The association between thymoma and autoimmune liver diseases, however, has been found in very few cases.

Methods

We report the case of a 31-year-old man affected by autoimmune hepatitis associated with myasthenia gravis and thymoma, successfully treated with extended thymectomy.

Results

The patient is free from neoplastic and hepatic disease 4 years after surgery. Eighteen months after thymectomy, an exacerbation of hepatitis was successfully treated with steroids.

Conclusions

To the authors’ knowledge, only 7 cases of myasthenia gravis associated with thymoma and autoimmune hepatitis have been reported in the English-language literature. The exact role of thymoma in immune-mediated hepatitis is unclear. It seems likely that thymoma-associated T-cell abnormalities, due to the presence of thymoma, may have a role in the development of this rare clinical triad of autoimmune hepatitis, thymoma and myasthenia gravis.
“The Lightning of My Being”: The Byronic Struggle and Apotheosis of John Proctor
Authors: Lorenz Matt
Published: April 2016

Though some view John Proctor, the protagonist of Arthur Miller's Salem drama, The Crucible, as a modern example of the tragic hero, this article considers whether he bears an equal or greater resemblance to the Byronic hero, a character type with a more diverse and complicated heritage than commentators typically recognize. In particular, I examine Proctor's resemblance to three Byronic types—the Gothic Villain, the Noble Outlaw, and the Prometheus figure—with the aim of highlighting Byronic features of Proctor's heroism that Miller would have encountered on the page, stage or screen, even if he had never read Byron.
Translating Lady Philosophy: Chaucer and the Boethian Corpus of Cambridge, University Library MS Ii. 3. 21
Authors: Nielsen Melinda E.
Published: April 2016

The fifteenth-century Boethian compilation, Cambridge University Library MS Ii. 3. 21, brings together major interpretive strands concerning why Lady Philosophy, the dialogue's authoritative figure, is represented as a woman. Working within the commentary tradition, Chaucer's Boece presents Philosophy's “norisschynge” of Boethius as the defining characteristic of Philosophy's authority, and the fullest expression of all three of her roles as teacher, doctor, and wet-nurse. In so doing, Chaucer treats translation into “our dames tonge” as inextricably feminine and pedagogical.
Multi-Dimensional Reading in Two Manuscripts of Troilus and Criseyde
Authors: Baechle Sarah
Published: April 2016

The Latin source glosses in Cambridge, St. John's College MS L. i (J) and Cambridge, University Library MS Gg. 4. 27 (Gg)—two fifteenth-century manuscripts of Troilus and Criseyde—are, despite their probable Chaucerian origin, infrequently discussed by scholars of Chaucer's works, and still less frequently thought to hold interpretive significance. Yet, these glosses, like their counterparts in the Canterbury Tales, demonstrate a complex hermeneutic of ambiguity that promotes multiple, at times competing, interpretations of the English verse. This article traces the links between the Troilus and Canterbury Tales glosses, charting the evolution of this Chaucerian marginal hermeneutic. It reads the glosses in J and Gg as an experimental early step toward the more elaborate marginal apparatus in the Canterbury Tales, one that demonstrates the same potential for richly intertextual interpretive ambiguity.
Buttery Flies: On the Alien Permanence of the InvAsian Irony of Permanent Aliens
Authors: Lee Kyoo
Published: April 2016

This piece revisits this old Asian American trope, “the perpetual foreigner-stranger over there and here,” by showing how and why irony, “invAsian” irony in particular, becomes the constant in the cultural ontology and phenomenology of Asian Americana, where the Asian American subject still figures as encroaching builder or unbuilding resident, a transfigurative threat to the narrative coherence of the nationalist US imaginary. These particularly “InvAsian,”1 dangerous and honorary “CauASIAN,” characters—however outdated and yellowing they may seem in the year 2015—still seem real enough; they are downwardly mobile noodle delivery men or upwardly mobile medical overachievers, riding up and down on the Great Chain of American Being, except that they are not laterally mobile, for they are still a little too strange, stupidly or smartly. So, the alien permanence of the “invAsian” irony of permanent aliens: how does this diehard cliché of fascination and fear, this contradictory object of condescension and condemnation, exist or subsist? The economized, i.e., selective and “invested”2 performance and mobilization of ethnoracial stereotypes captures the invAsian irony of America, which mirrors the deeper and wider Euro-American irony of identitarian anxieties over mythologized reality or territorialized origin. America, come on, really, where is your originality from?
Postcolonial Ambivalence and Phenomenological Ambiguity: Towards Recognizing Asian American Women's Agency
Authors: Lee Emily S.
Published: April 2016

Homi Bhabha brings attention to the figure of the postcolonial metropolitan subject—a third world subject who resides in the first world. Bhabha describes the experiences of the “colonial” subject as ambivalently split. As much as his work is insightful, Bhabha's descriptions of the daily life of postcolonial metropolitan subjects as split and doubled is problematic. His analysis lends only to the possibility of these splittings/doublings as schizophrenically wholly arising. His analysis cannot account for the agonistic moments when the colonial subject is caught in not knowing, and in developing understanding about present circumstances.

A framework with an account of context and horizons, such as in phenomenology, can better depict the experiences of the postcolonial metropolitan subject. Maurice Merleau-Ponty follows a gestaltian contact with the world, which advances that the “most basic unit of experience is that of figure-on-a-background.” One perceives the figure/theme because of and within the background/horizon. In this horizonal framework, human experiences are ambiguously open.

The openness in the horizon of the gestaltian framework better accounts for the conditions Bhabha refers to as splitting. The ambivalence can be understood not simply as conundrums that defy understanding but as ambiguous moments for expanding, developing, and growing.
“I am not living next door to no zombie”: Posthumans and Prejudice
Authors: Cox Damian , Levine Michael
Published: April 2016

Posthumanist film and television is both a vehicle for reflection on discrimination and prejudice and a means of gratifying in fantasy deeply imbedded human impulses towards prejudice. Discrimination lies at the heart of posthuman narratives whenever the posthuman coalesces around an identifiable group in conflict with humans. We first introduce the idea of prejudice as a form of psychological defense, contrasting it with other accounts of prejudice in the philosophical literature. We then apply this notion to number of posthumanist film and television narratives. An adequate account of prejudice tells us about posthumanism in film—the significance of posthumanist thinking, speculation and fantasy. It helps account for the proliferation of television series and films about people who—being at one time dead, still dead or partially dead, or only sometimes dead, or have powers and appetites we do not have—are borderline creatures: not fully us, but still near to us.
Beyond “De Rerum Naturâ, Esqr.”: Lucretius, Poe, and John Mason Good
Authors: Moreland Sean
Published: April 2016

Scholars have previously noted Poe's passing references to the long didactic poem De Rerum Natura by the Roman poet Lucretius (ca. 99 BCE–55 BCE). This article asserts much greater significance to Poe's reception of this poem, particularly via a largely overlooked 1805 edition translated and annotated by the English writer John Mason Good (1764–1827). Careful comparative examination reveals the profound degree to which Poe's writings draw on Good's interpretations both in his version of The Nature of Things and his later work of natural theology, Book of Nature.
“Enta Omri, You Are My Life”: Embracing the Arab Self in André Aciman’s Harvard Square
Authors: Zonana Joyce
Published: April 2016

In most of his previous fiction and nonfiction writing, André Aciman constructs himself as a permanent exile, challenging Ammiel Alcalay’s claim that the Levantine Jewish experience gives the lie to the “modern myth of the Jew as pariah, outsider and wanderer.” Yet in his recent novel Harvard Square, Aciman approaches an affirmation of a very different kind of Levantine Jewish identity, exploring what Alcalay has called “the relationship of the Jew to the Arab within him- or herself” (28), and suggesting the possibility of a genuine homecoming for the Levantine Jewish self. Through his portrayal of the conflicted friendship between a diffident Egyptian-Jewish Harvard graduate student and a voluble, undocumented Tunisian cab driver, Aciman explores how his Jewish narrator, seeking to “pass” in America, simultaneously embraces and rejects his Arab double. In a counter-factual, hypothetical move at the conclusion of his narrative, the narrator confesses his love for the double, though the fact remains that he has, in truth, rejected and abandoned him.
After the Revolution to the War on Terror: Iranian Jewish American Literature in the United States
Authors: Mirakhor Leah
Published: April 2016

The essay examines the sometimes synchronistic relationships in Iranian Jewish American literature between reading practices, aesthetics, and politics from the Iran hostage crisis to the War on Terror. As such, Mirakhor describes key features of this canon (its articulations of an imaginary homeland, struggles with assimilation, and belonging neither here nor there as Iranian Jews), as well as its relationship to the larger canons of Middle Eastern/Arab diasporic literatures and American literatures. Examining the works of writers such as Gina Nahai and Roya Hakakian, as well as the Bravo TV series The Shahs of Sunset, Mirakhor critiques the political and ideological dangers of neo-Orientalist and neoliberal rhetorical practices, as well as revealing some of the untethered possibilities in creating more multifaceted, nuanced articulations of “Iranian” and “Jewish” in the United States in the twenty-first century.
Lead exposure of Bangladeshi women at childbearing age: Does mother's education reduce fetal risk factors?
Authors: Neelotpol Sharmind , Hia Raksa Andalib
Published: April 2016

Lead is one of the oldest toxins existing in the environment that can affect almost all organs of the body without any noticeable symptom. Depending on its concentration in the body, lead may cause lower IQ level, autism, abnormal pregnancy outcome, abortion, and increased involvement in crime. As lead can cross the placental barrier and affect the fetus, pregnant women, fetuses, and children are more vulnerable to lead poisoning because of rapid bone mobilization and neurodevelopment. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the awareness of lead exposure among Bangladeshi women of childbearing age on the basis of their educational level. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the participants comprising both less-educated (n = 62) and more-educated (n = 52) women. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version20), and relevant statistical techniques were used to draw the results. The findings showed highly significant differences between the two groups in relation to economic condition, lifestyle, residential location, use of traditional cosmetics, and food habit (p < 0.0001). Although the more-educated women claimed that they were aware of the harmful effects of lead, as opposed to the less-educated women not being aware (p < 0.0001), they failed to substantiate their claim because this was not reflected in their everyday practices as revealed by the ‘previous birth outcome records’ of their fetuses. This indicated that their knowledge or awareness of lead, particularly its sources and detrimental effects, remained superficial, and their educational background had no statistically significant difference with respect to the awareness of lead toxicity (p = 0.103). Given that a mother's exposure to lead can directly affect her fetus, this study bears high significance, as the results imply that if women are aware of the sources of lead and the consequences of lead poisoning, the body burden of lead could be reduced in the next generation, which, in turn, would have a high economic impact.