bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Cognitive Status on Elder Food Choice and Meal Service Satisfaction
Authors: Crogan Neva L. , Short Robert , Dupler Alice E. , Heaton Grace
Published: October 2012

Background:

This article describes the testing of a new nursing home food delivery system that empowers elders to choose the foods they want to eat and gives them an active voice in menu development.

Methods:

Using a 2-group, repeated measures design, 61 elderly residents from 2 eastern Washington nursing homes were recruited to participate in a 6-month study. Outcome measures included food and meal service satisfaction, body weight, serum prealbumin, and food intake.

Results:

Serum prealbumin levels and body weight increased post intervention for treatment group residents. Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scores were not associated with the changes in serum prealbumin, body weight, or food intake.

Discussion:

The MMSE scores did not influence the resident’s ability to actively participate in the rate the food process or choose the foods they liked and preferred to eat. Cognitive impaired older adults experienced weight gain similarly to higher functioning elderly individuals.
Epidermis instructs skin homing receptor expression in human T cells
Authors: McCully Michelle L. , Ladell Kristin , Hakobyan Svetlana , Mansel Robert E. , Price David A. , Moser Bernhard
Published: October 2012

The localization of memory T cells to human skin is essential for long-term immune surveillance and the maintenance of barrier integrity. Although the mechanisms controlling memory T-cell migration to peripheral tissues are poorly understood, the current paradigm includes the localized secretion of “imprinting” signals from tissue-resident dendritic cells in the draining lymph nodes. Here we show that CCR8 expression by newly activated naive T cells is regulated by skin-specific factor(s) derived primarily from epidermal keratinocytes, thereby providing a mechanism for the preferential expression of CCR8 by skin-resident memory T cells. Importantly, no such effects were observed after coculture with primary cells from skin-unrelated epithelia, including mesothelium and small intestine. The keratinocyte-derived CCR8-inducing factor(s) were soluble, and independent of vitamins A and D. Furthermore, the induction of CCR8 under these conditions correlated with an increase in cutaneous lymphocyte-associated antigen expression. Our findings challenge current tissue homing paradigms, especially those involving CCR10, and emphasize the importance of steady-state epidermis rather than tissue-resident dendritic cells in controlling the localization of memory T cells within human skin.
The split personality of regulatory T cells in HIV infection
Authors: Chevalier Mathieu F. , Weiss Laurence
Published: October 2012

Natural regulatory T cells (Tregs) participate in responses to various chronic infections including HIV. HIV infection is associated with a progressive CD4 lymphopenia and defective HIV-specific CD8 responses known to play a key role in the control of viral replication. Persistent immune activation is a hallmark of HIV infection and is involved in disease progression independent of viral load. The consequences of Treg expansion, observed in HIV infection, could be either beneficial, by suppressing generalized T-cell activation, or detrimental, by weakening HIV-specific responses and thus contributing to viral persistence. The resulting balance between Tregs contrasting outcomes might have critical implications in pathogenesis. Topics covered in this review include HIV-induced alterations of Tregs, Treg cell dynamics in blood and tissues, Treg-suppressive function, and the relationship between Tregs and immune activation. This review also provides a focus on the role of CD39+ Tregs and other regulatory cell subsets. All these issues will be explored in different situations including acute and chronic infection, antiretroviral treatment-mediated viral control, and spontaneous viral control. Results must be interpreted with regard to both the Treg definition used in context and to the setting of the disease in an attempt to draw clearer conclusions from the apparently conflicting results.
Expression of Shigella flexneri gluQ-rs gene is linked to dksAand controlled by a transcriptional terminator
Authors: Caballero Valeria C , Toledo Viviana P , Maturana Cristian , Fisher Carolyn R , Payne Shelley M , Salazar Juan Carlos
Published: October 2012

Background

Glutamyl queuosine-tRNAAsp synthetase (GluQ-RS) is a paralog of the catalytic domain of glutamyl-tRNA synthetase and catalyzes the formation of glutamyl-queuosine on the wobble position of tRNAAsp. Here we analyze the transcription of its gene in Shigella flexneri, where it is found downstream of dksA, which encodes a transcriptional regulator involved in stress responses.

Results

The genomic organization, dksA-gluQ-rs, is conserved in more than 40 bacterial species. RT-PCR assays show co-transcription of both genes without a significant change in transcript levels during growth of S. flexneri. However, mRNA levels of the intergenic region changed during growth, increasing at stationary phase, indicating an additional level of control over the expression of gluQ-rs gene. Transcriptional fusions with lacZ as a reporter gene only produced β-galactosidase activity when the constructs included the dksA promoter, indicating that gluQ-rs do not have a separate promoter. Using bioinformatics, we identified a putative transcriptional terminator between dksA and gluQ-rs. Deletion or alteration of the predicted terminator resulted in increased expression of the lacZ reporter compared with cells containing the wild type terminator sequence. Analysis of the phenotype of a gluQ-rs mutant suggested that it may play a role in some stress responses, since growth of the mutant was impaired in the presence of osmolytes.

Conclusions

The results presented here, show that the expression of gluQ-rs depends on the dksA promoter, and strongly suggest the presence and the functionality of a transcriptional terminator regulating its expression. Also, the results indicate a link between glutamyl-queuosine synthesis and stress response in Shigella flexneri.
Identification of wild soybean miRNAs and their target genes responsive to aluminum stress
Authors: Zeng Qiao-Ying , Yang Cun-Yi , Ma Qi-Bin , Li Xiu-Ping , Dong Wen-Wen , Nian Hai
Published: October 2012

Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important regulatory roles in development and stress response in plants. Wild soybean (Glycine soja) has undergone long-term natural selection and may have evolved special mechanisms to survive stress conditions as a result. However, little information about miRNAs especially miRNAs responsive to aluminum (Al) stress is available in wild soybean.

Results

Two small RNA libraries and two degradome libraries were constructed from the roots of Al-treated and Al-free G. soja seedlings. For miRNA identification, a total of 7,287,655 and 7,035,914 clean reads in Al-treated and Al-free small RNAs libraries, respectively, were generated, and 97 known miRNAs and 31 novel miRNAs were identified. In addition, 49 p3 or p5 strands of known miRNAs were found. Among all the identified miRNAs, the expressions of 30 miRNAs were responsive to Al stress. Through degradome sequencing, 86 genes were identified as targets of the known miRNAs and five genes were found to be the targets of the novel miRNAs obtained in this study. Gene ontology (GO) annotations of target transcripts indicated that 52 target genes cleaved by conserved miRNA families might play roles in the regulation of transcription. Additionally, some genes, such as those for the auxin response factor (ARF), domain-containing disease resistance protein (NB-ARC), leucine-rich repeat and toll/interleukin-1 receptor-like protein (LRR-TIR) domain protein, cation transporting ATPase, Myb transcription factors, and the no apical meristem (NAM) protein, that are known to be responsive to stress, were found to be cleaved under Al stress conditions.

Conclusions

A number of miRNAs and their targets were detected in wild soybean. Some of them that were responsive to biotic and abiotic stresses were regulated by Al stress. These findings provide valuable information to understand the function of miRNAs in Al tolerance.
Haemoglobinuria among children with severe malaria attending tertiary care in Ibadan, Nigeria
Authors: Ajetunmobi Wasiu A , Orimadegun Adebola E , Brown Biobele J , Afolabi Nathaniel K , Olabiyi Folorunso A , Anetor John I , Omokhodion Samuel , Osinusi Kikelomo , Akinbami Felix O , Shokunbi Wuraola A , Sodeinde Olugbemiro , Fernandez-Reyes Delmiro
Published: October 2012

Background

Haemoglobinuria is one of the manifestations of severe malaria and results from severe intravascular haemolysis. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency has been implicated in its aetiology. Haemoglobinuria may be associated with severe anaemia and, less frequently, acute renal failure.

Methods

A prospective case-control study was carried out to determine the incidence of haemoglobinuria as confirmed by dipstick urinalysis, microscopy and spectrophotometric measurement, among children with severe malaria. A total of 251 children presenting at the Children’s Emergency Ward with severe malaria were recruited over a period of 21 months. The G6PD status and the outcomes of severe malaria in children with and without haemoglobinuria was studied with respect to renal failure, the recurrence of haemoglobinuria and blood pressure changes over a three-month follow-up period.

Results

It was found that the incidence of haemoglobinuria among children with severe malaria is 19.1%. Children <5 years constituted 76.8% of all the study patients. Patients with haemoglobinuria had median age of 52.5 months, which was significantly higher than 35 months in patients without haemoglobinuria (p=0.001). Although, haemaglobinuria was commoner among boys (54.2%) than girls (45.8%), the difference was not statistically significant. There were no significant differences between children with and without haemoglobinuria regarding their nutritional status or parasite densities. Among the clinical features of the study patients, only jaundice was significantly associated with haemoglobinuria (p=0.0001). Renal failure occurred in three out of 48 children with haemoglobinuria and in none of the 203 without. There was not recurrence of haemoglobinuria in the follow-up period. At discharge, blood pressure was elevated in six children (one previously haemoglobinuric), but all returned to normal within the follow-up period.

Conclusions

Haemoglobinuria was a prominent feature of severe malaria and it was significantly associated with jaundice at presentation. Haemoglobinuria was commoner in older children than younger children but not related to sex. G6PD deficiency was not an independent predictor of the occurrence or outcome of haemoglobinuria. Blood pressure was not affected by haemoglobinuria on admission nor during follow-up.
Ezrin overexpression predicts the poor prognosis of gastric adenocarcinoma
Authors: Jin Jingchun , Jin Tiefeng , Quan Meiling , Piao Yingshi , Lin Zhenhua
Published: October 2012

Background

Ezrin is a cytoskeletal protein that is involved in tumor growth and invasion. It has been suggested that Ezrin expression plays an important role in tumor metastasis. This study is aimed to investigate the clinicopathological significance of Ezrin overexpression in gastric adenocarcinomas.

Methods

Ezrin protein expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in 26 normal gastric mucosa, 32 dysplasia, and 277 gastric adenocarcinomas. The relationship between Ezrin expression and the clinicopathological features of gastric cancers was analyzed. In addition, a gastric cancer cell line, MKN-1, was also used for immunofluorescence staining to evaluate the distribution of Ezrin protein.

Results

Ezrin protein located in the cytoplasm and/or membrane in the migrating gastric cancer cells, and it mainly concentrated at the protrusion site; however, only cytoplasmic distribution was observed in the non-migrating cancer cells by immunofluorescence staining. The positive rate of Ezrin protein expression was significantly higher in gastric adenocarcinoma and dysplasia compared with that in the normal gastric mucosa. Moreover, expression frequency of Ezrin protein increased significantly in lymph node metastasis and late clinical stages. Consistently, strong expression of Ezrin was significantly correlated with poor prognosis of gastric cancer.

Conclusion

The detection of Ezrin expression can be used as the marker for early diagnosis and prognosis of gastric adenocarcinoma.

Virtual Slides

The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/2303598677653946
Taking on “Best Practices”
Authors: Irvine Colin
Published: October 2012

After establishing how and why managerialism has simplified and thus corrupted the concept of “best practices,” this essay draws on a literary critical theory to explore ways professors and administrators alike might engage in complex, scholarly discussions about the learning that occurs in and out of classrooms on college campuses.
Sports and the Life of the Mind
Authors: Dannen Catherine Gubernatis
Published: October 2012

This article argues that popular sports media (such as websites, TV shows, and tweets) can be used in the freshman composition classroom to introduce students to academic argument and to encourage them to reimagine their own writing styles. Because sportswriters, broadcasters, and analysts frequently try to persuade someone of something, the intellectual operations that take place in many types of sports writing make them vibrant examples of academic argument. Asking students to read—and ultimately learn—from sports writing, which is often written in a personal, humorous, and experimental style, inspires students to revisit their own writing style and can teach them about the relationship between form and content. Specifically, Gubernatis Dannen uses David Foster Wallace’s essay “Roger Federer as Religious Experience” to demonstrate relationships between content and prose style strategies. For many students, thinking about sports and sports writing opens up larger possibilities of thinking and writing in college.
Quintilian in New Orleans
Authors: McBride Ryan K.
Published: October 2012

This article presents the curricular and service-learning realities of a program that launches middle school debate teams in New Orleans public schools. By leaning on classical rhetoric in the writing classroom, McBride’s classes learn fundamentals of debate and rhetoric that prepare undergraduates to coach debate teams in middle schools where more than 95 percent of the students qualify for free or assisted lunches. Class conversations about Quintilian, Plato, and Aristotle prepare undergraduates to meet the middle school debaters “where they are” in the sense that they can evaluate where they are as orators and push them to greater heights. This service-learning course gives his Tulane students a new reason to care about what they read and write about, while simultaneously advancing Tulane’s dedication to service-learning and community outreach.
Activation of the PTHRP/adenylate cyclase pathway promotes differentiation of rat XEN cells into parietal endoderm, whereas Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotes differentiation into visceral endoderm
Authors: Chuykin Ilya , Schulz Herbert , Guan Kaomei , Bader Michael
Published: October 2012

During early mammalian development, primitive endoderm (PrE) is specified and segregated away from the pluripotent epiblast. At a later developmental stage, PrE forms motile parietal endoderm (PE) lying proximal to the trophectoderm, and visceral endoderm (VE) that contacts the developing epiblast and extraembryonic ectoderm. Mouse extraembryonic endoderm (XEN) cells were isolated and became widely used to study signals governing lineage specification. Rat XEN cell lines have also been derived, but were distinguished from mouse by expression of SSEA1 and Oct4. We showed here that rat XEN cells grown in the presence of a GSK3 inhibitor or overexpressing β-catenin exhibited enhanced formation of cell contacts and decreased motility. Rat XEN cells treated with BMP4 revealed similar morphological changes. Furthermore, we observed that rat XEN cells cultured with GSK3 inhibitor formed adhesion and tight junctions, and acquired bottom-top polarity, indicating the formation of VE cells. In contrast, forskolin, an activator of the cAMP pathway, induced the disruption of cell contacts in rat XEN cells. Treatment with forskolin induced PE formation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in rat XEN cells. Using microarray and real-time PCR assays, we found that VE versus PE formation of rat XEN cells was correlated with change in expression levels of VE or PE marker genes. Similar to forskolin, EMT was prompted upon treatment of rat XEN cells with recombinant parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTHRP), an activator of the cAMP pathway in vivo. Taken together, our data suggest that rat XEN cells are PrE-like cells. The activation of Wnt or BMP4 pathways in rat XEN cells leads to the acquisition of VE characteristics, whereas the activation of the PTHRP/cAMP pathway leads to EMT and the formation of PE.
Shox2regulates progression through chondrogenesis in the mouse proximal limb
Authors: Bobick Brent E. , Cobb John
Published: October 2012

In humans, loss of SHOX gene function is responsible for the mesomelic short stature characteristic of Turner syndrome, Leri-Weill dyschondrosteosis, and Langer dysplasia. In a mouse model of SHOX deficiency, Prrx1-Cre-driven limb-specific deletion of the paralogous gene Shox2 results in severe rhizomelia. In this study, we show that Col2a1-Cre-driven deletion of Shox2 in developing chondrocytes also results in shortening of the stylopodial skeleton (i.e. humerus, femur) and that this rhizomelia is due to precocious chondrocyte maturation and hypertrophy. We demonstrate, using the micromass culture model system, that increased BMP activity triggers accelerated maturation and hypertrophy in Col2a1-Cre Shox2 mutant chondrocytes and we confirm in vivo that elevated transcript levels and expanded expression domains of Bmp2 and 4 are associated with premature formation of the hypertrophic zone in mutant humeri. In micromass cultures of Prrx1-Cre Shox2 mutant limb cells, we find that Shox2 deletion in undifferentiated mesenchymal cells results in increased BMP activity that enhances early chondrogenesis, but is insufficient to provoke chondrocyte maturation and hypertrophy. Similarly, shRNA-mediated Shox2 knockdown in multipotent C3H10T1/2 cells and primary mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells results in spontaneous chondrogenesis in the absence of chondrostimulation, but again fails to induce progression through the later stages of chondrogenic differentiation. Importantly, exogenous BMP supplementation can overcome the block to maturation and hypertrophy caused by Shox2 depletion prior to overt chondrogenesis. Thus, we provide evidence that Shox2 regulates progression through chondrogenesis at two distinct stages – the onset of early differentiation and the transition to maturation and hypertrophy.
Factors shaping the ontogeny of vocal signals in a wild parrot
Authors: Berg Karl S. , Beissinger Steven R. , Bradbury Jack W.
Published: October 2012

Parrots rely heavily on vocal signals to maintain their social and mobile lifestyles. We studied vocal ontogeny in nests of wild green-rumped parrotlets (Forpus passerinus) in Venezuela. We identified three successive phases of vocal signaling that corresponded closely to three independently derived phases of physiological development. For each ontogenetic phase, we characterized the relative importance of anatomical constraints, motor skills necessary for responding to specific contexts of the immediate environment, and the learning of signals that are necessary for adult forms of communication. We observed shifts in the relative importance of these three factors as individuals progressed from one stage to the next; there was no single fixed ratio of factors that applied across the entire ontogenetic sequence. The earliest vocalizations were short in duration as predicted from physical constraints and under-developed motor control. Calls became longer and frequency modulated during intermediate nestling ages in line with motor skills required for competitive begging. In the week before fledging, calls drastically shortened in accordance with the flight-constrained short durations of adult contact calls. The latter constraints were made evident by the demonstrated links between wing-assisted incline running, a widespread prelude to avian flight, just before the shift from long duration begging calls to short duration contact calls. At least in this species, the shifting emphases of factors at different ontogenetic stages precluded the morphing of the intermediate stage begging calls into adult contact calls; as shown in a prior study (Berg et al. 2012), the latter are influenced by sample templates provided by parents.
Stripe and Network Formation of Particle Arrays Fabricated by Convective Self-assembly
Authors: Sakamoto Ryuichi , Hataguchi Yoshiki , Kimura Ryosuke , Tsuchiya Katsumi , Mori Yasushige
Published: October 2012

Films of silica-particle arrays patterned in stripes and networks were prepared with the aid of convective self-assembly: a simple technique for ordering particles into two- or three-dimensional arrays. With this technique, stripe- and network-patterned films were fabricated by periodically dragging a small volume of colloidal silica suspension on a substrate with a low contact angle for the suspension used. The network and stripe structures could be controlled by changing the particle concentration and withdrawal distance.
Human periprostatic white adipose tissue is rich in stromal progenitor cells and a potential source of prostate tumor stroma
Authors: Ribeiro Ricardo , Monteiro Cátia , Silvestre Ricardo , Castela Ângela , Coutinho Helena , Fraga Avelino , Príncipe Paulo , Lobato Carlos , Costa Carla , Cordeiro-da-Silva Anabela , Lopes José Manuel , Lopes Carlos , Medeiros Rui
Published: October 2012

A body of growing evidence now implicates white adipose tissue as a relevant source of stromal progenitor cells recruited to the tumor microenvironment to form supportive tumor stroma. While the role of periprostatic (PP) adipose tissue in prostate cancer progression has been barely appreciated, we sought to determine the progenitor cell population in PP adipose tissue and the association with prostate cancer. We isolated and characterized CD31−CD34+CD45−CD146−progenitor cells (adipose-derived stem cells [ASC]) in paired samples of PP and preperitoneal visceral adipose tissue from prostate tissue and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of prostate cancer and nodular prostatic hyperplasia patients. ASC were quantified by flow cytometry and confirmed through target gene expression. Here we show a significantly higher amount of ASC in PP than in visceral adipose tissue, independent of body mass index and prostatic disease. In the prostate, ASC are increased in cancer compared with prostatic nodular hyperplasia patients. Concordantly, adipsin gene ( CFD) expression, which is known to be up-regulated in adipose stem cells, was overexpressed in PP adipose tissue, in the prostate of cancer patients and in prostate CD31−CD34+CD45−CD146−sorted cells. ASC were found at higher levels in the blood of prostate cancer patients simultaneously overweight/obese. Present findings indicate that PP adipose tissue is a reservoir of progenitor cells with the potential to migrate towards prostate tumors, although its clinical significance merits further evaluation.
Does collaborative research enhance the integration of research, policy and practice? The case of the Dutch Health Broker Partnership
Authors: Krebbekx Willemijn , Harting Janneke , Stronks Karien
Published: October 2012

Objectives:

A gap between health services research and practice has been identified: research findings often do not find their way into practice. Our objective was to explore the potential of collaborative research to bridge this gap in one specific area, health promotion, and to determine factors that influence the development of theory-based practice and practice-based theory.

Methods:

This was investigated in an exploratory single-case study. First, we designed an analytical framework for collaborative research. Next, we used this framework to analyse developments in the Dutch Health Broker Partnership, which involved researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Data consisted of transcripts of the meetings of the Partnership over an 18-month period, as well as interviews with its 13 members.

Results:

The development of theory-based practice and practice-based theory failed to progress beyond the initial stages, although practitioners’ actions did become more comprehensive and researchers’ thinking became more influenced by practical limitations and local contexts. The heterogeneity of the Partnership facilitated as well as impeded the progress of these developments.

Conclusions:

Although collaborative research may serve as a tool to narrow the gap between research and practice, discussing the collaborative process and partner heterogeneity among the partners at the outset may be a necessary prerequisite to achieving the full potential of any partnership, which is limited by the ambivalent influence of partner heterogeneity. Collaborative research may, therefore, additionally benefit from continuous cross-domain orchestration and boundary work.
Local cooling effect on perforation rates comparing the 980–1470 nm laser wavelengths used with endovenous laser ablation: double blind in vitro experimental study
Authors: Tarhan I A , Dumantepe M , Yurdakul I , Kehlibar T , Ozler A
Published: October 2012

Objective

Endovenous laser treatment (EVLA) is fast gaining acceptance as an alternative to open surgery for the treatment of saphenous vein incompetence. The method of action of these techniques is based on heat, making tumescence anaesthesia necessity. Heat-induced complications may occur with inadequate application of tumescent anaesthesia. Our hypothesis was, local cooling effect of tumescent anaesthesia on tunica adventitia might be kept undamaged from disruption due to the thermal injury.

Methods

We experimented with two popular laser wavelengths (980 and 1470 nm) and with two different thermal media (+4 and +24°C) in vitro for perforation. Twenty different 12 cm length vein pieces were numbered randomly to set up four groups of the experiment. Endovenous laser procedures were applied in same manner in a unique design test tube with same energy density per pieces on same duration (10 W/second) (linear endovenous energy density 60 J/cm). Procedure video was recorded for macroscopic perforations. All postprocedure vein segments were examined microscopically.

Results

Activities of both wavelengths were much better in cold medium ( P < 0.05). Cold tumescent anaesthesia reduces the bleeding complication rate. But the performance of 1470 nm laser was better than that of 980 nm in cold environment ( P = 0.0136).

Conclusions

It can be commented that reducing the ambient temperature is more beneficial than modifying the laser wavelength on perforation rates. Therefore we suppose tumescent anaesthesia temperature is effective on perforation independently from the wavelengths or type of the laser fibre.
Bendamustine and Rituximab (BR) Regimen for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Authors: Lee Jessica N. , Waddell J. Aubrey , Solimando Dominic A.
Published: October 2012

The complexity of cancer chemotherapy requires pharmacists be familiar with the complicated regimens and highly toxic agents used. This column reviews various issues related to preparation, dispensing, and administration of antineoplastic therapy, and the agents, both commercially available and investigational, used to treat malignant diseases.
Evaluation of the Impact of Computerized Prescriber Order Entry on Medication Use System Performance at an Academic Medical Center
Authors: Dow Jordan , Brummond Philip , Cesarz Joseph , Ludwig Brad , Rough Steve
Published: October 2012

Purpose

To evaluate the impact of computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) on 3 elements of medication use system performance: inpatient medication override dispense rates from automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs), medication first-dose turnaround time (TAT), and pharmacist perception of the medication orders management process.

Methods

A pre-post intervention trial design was used to assess each of the 3 medication use system elements. The intervention was CPOE implementation. The ADC override outcomes evaluated were the total number of overrides and the presence of appropriate documentation for each override. One week random samples of override data from the pre-CPOE and post-CPOE time periods were analyzed. The medication TAT outcomes studied were mean time from order entry by the prescriber to time of order verification and mean time from order entry by the prescriber to time of medication administration. Electronically collected data post CPOE were compared to manually collected data pre CPOE. The primary pharmacist perception outcome assessed was overall satisfaction with the medication orders management process. The pre- and post-CPOE data were collected through an electronic survey conducted after CPOE implementation.

Results

Following the implementation of CPOE, the relative number of medication override dispenses decreased by 58%, but documentation worsened by 73%. The mean time from order entry to order verification improved by 76%, and the mean TAT for intravenous antibiotics improved by 31%. Pharmacist overall satisfaction with the medication orders management process improved by 23%.

Conclusion

The implementation of CPOE resulted in improvement in each of the 3 medication use system elements assessed.
Lucinactant
Authors: Cada Dennis J. , Demaris Kendra , Levien Terri L. , Baker Danial E.
Published: October 2012

Each month, subscribers to The Formulary Monograph Service receive 5 to 6 well-documented monographs on drugs that are newly released or are in late phase 3 trials. The monographs are targeted to Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committees. Subscribers also receive monthly 1-page summary monographs on agents that are useful for agendas and pharmacy/nursing in-services. A comprehensive target drug utilization evaluation/medication use evaluation (DUE/MUE) is also provided each month. With a subscription, the monographs are sent in print and are also available on-line. Monographs can be customized to meet the needs of a facility. Subscribers to The Formulary Monograph Service also receive access to a pharmacy bulletin board, The Formulary Information Exchange (The F.I.X.). All topics pertinent to clinical and hospital pharmacy are discussed on The F.I.X. A drug class review is now published monthly with The Formulary Monograph Service. Through the cooperation of The Formulary, Hospital Pharmacy publishes selected reviews in this column. For more information about The Formulary Monograph Service or The F.I.X., call The Formulary at 800-322-4349. The October 2012 monograph topics are on aclidinium bromide, carfilzomib, phentermine/topiramate, lixisenatide, and odanacatib. The DUE/MUE is on aclidinium bromide.
Peculiarities of phase diagrams of reactive liquid–liquid systems
Authors: Toikka Maria , Toikka Alexander
Published: October 2012

The goal of this work is to consider some peculiarities of heterogeneous systems with chemical interactions. The main task is to analyze the features of liquid–liquid (LL) phase diagrams of the systems with equilibrium and nonequilibrium chemical reaction in solution. The consideration of topology of these phase diagrams should include additional elements, such as stoichiometric lines, chemical equilibrium (CE), and isoaffinity manifolds (i.e., curves, surfaces, or hypersurfaces of constant affinity). The thermodynamic conditions of mutual disposition of LL tie-lines, isoaffinity, and stoichiometric lines in ternary system are presented in the paper. Quaternary mixtures are discussed with the use of our experimental data on the solubility in the systems with ethyl acetate and n-propyl acetate synthesis reactions. The binodal and CE surfaces in these systems are presented. The opportunity of simultaneous LL and CE is discussed. The special aim is to consider the critical surfaces in these systems: the examples are presented on the basis of our experimental data.
A brief guide to polymer nomenclature (IUPAC Technical Report)
Authors: Hiorns R. C. , Boucher R. J. , Duhlev R. , Hellwich Karl-Heinz , Hodge Philip , Jenkins Aubrey D. , Jones Richard G. , Kahovec Jaroslav , Moad Graeme , Ober C. K. , Smith D. W. , Stepto Robert F. T. , Vairon J.-P. , Vohlídal Jiří
Published: October 2012

The universal adoption of an agreed nomenclature has never been more important for the description of chemical structures in publishing and online searching. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) make similar recommendations. The main points are shown here with references to original documents. Further details can be found in the IUPAC Purple Book.
The Laboratory and the New Oral Anticoagulants
Authors: Tripodi Armando
Published: October 2012

BACKGROUND

The new oral anticoagulants (NOAs) dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban have proved effective and safe when used in clinical trials, without a need to adjust the dose in response to laboratory testing. This demonstrated efficacy does not necessarily mean that the laboratory, considered the mainstay for the management of the old anticoagulants, will no longer play a role in treatment with NOAs.

CONTENT

Laboratories are involved in the management of anticoagulants in 2 ways. The first, monitoring, implies laboratory testing to assess the drug's effect and to adjust the dosage to maintain anticoagulation within the therapeutic interval. This consideration applies to the old drugs. The second way, measurement, implies laboratory evaluations of drug effect to determine whether patients are under- or over-anticoagulated, information that can be useful for decision-making in special circumstances. The latter applies to NOAs.

Measurements of the effect of NOAs are indicated in several situations: (a) patients with adverse events (i.e., thrombotic/hemorrhagic), particularly those who present with overdosage owing to excessive drug intake or decreased clearance; (b) patients undergoing surgical procedures for ensuring that no residual drug remains in the circulation; (c) patients requiring anticoagulation reversal because of life-threatening hemorrhage; (d) patients with renal insufficiency, who are likely to accumulate the drug in the circulation; (e) patients with liver failure, because NOAs are metabolized by the liver; (f) patients taking other drugs that might increase/decrease the effects of NOAs via drug–drug interactions. The choice of tests is based on such characteristics as availability, linearity of the dose–response curve, standardization, and responsiveness to increasing drug dosage. Practitioners need to be aware that NOAs can interfere with the measurement of common hemostasis parameters.
A performance ethics of the 'real' abortive body: The case of Aliza Shvarts and 'Untitled [Senior Thesis], 2008'
Authors: Hagen Lisa Hall
Published: October 2012

In 2008 Aliza Shvarts, a senior at Yale University, proposed and executed a thesis project for her undergraduate art major. She artificially inseminated herself repeatedly over the course of nine months, then self-induced a miscarriage on the 28th day of her cycle using herbal abortifacients.
She planned to project video of her miscarriages (filmed alone in a bathtub) onto the sides of a large cube, with blood from the miscarriages suspended under its surface. When word spread on the nature of her project, Shvarts was faced with a powerful furore from Yale, the media and the national
public. 'Untitled [Senior Thesis], 2008' was never shown in public. This article considers how realness and visibility can define a performance ethics of the abortive body. Performing an abortion narrative within the confines of traditional performance does not necessarily provoke any discussion
of ethical performance. However, by bringing in her own body and the question of 'realness', Shvarts's piece entered that realm. She disrupted perceptions of ethics in performance by enacting a bodily speech that took for its language a process normatively defined within a cultural code of
moral permissibility.
Notes on Fran: The Ethical Camp and Mute Elegiac of Fran Lebowitz
Authors: Scott Laurence
Published: October 2012

This article considers the public intellectual Fran Lebowitz as a performer located within a camp tradition, exploring how her performance challenges notions of public and private in contemporary American culture and in so doing offers a queer alternative to dominant formulations of
the public sphere. Lebowitz combines the theatricality of traditional camp with ethical seriousness in her public, performed identity as self-appointed judge of contemporary American life. At the same time, in the ironic gap between the verbosity of her identity as public speaker and her own
paralysed literary output, Lebowitz enacts a tacit elegy to a 'lost public' of New York artists and their equally decimated audience. The links between her highly publicized writer's block and the impact of AIDS on the New York cultural scene suggest ways in which Lebowitz queers the elegiac
mode by presenting a frustrated silence running parallel to her virtuosic verbal fluency. This analysis of Lebowitz's public persona returns continually to the ethical and aesthetic implications of a mode of performance that simultaneously invites democratic engagement while repelling notions
of community grounded in the pollution of civic space with private concerns.
REVIEWS
Authors: Lease Bryce , O'Brien Cormac , Anderson Michael P. , Baron Michelle R.
Published: October 2012

FEMINIST VISIONS AND QUEER FUTURES IN POSTCOLONIAL DRAMA: COMMUNITY, KINSHIP, AND CITIZENSHIP, KANIKA BATRA (2011) Abingdon: Routledge, 178 pp., ISBN: 978-0-415-87591, hbk, £85

THE DRAMA OF MARRIAGE: GAY PLAYWRIGHTS/STRAIGHT UNIONS FROM OSCAR WILDE TO THE PRESENT, JOHN M. CLUM
(2011) Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 230 pp., ISBN: 9780230338401, hbk, £55.00

CHANGED FOR GOOD: A FEMINIST HISTORY OF THE BROADWAY MUSICAL, STACY WOLF (2011) New York: Oxford University Press, 306 pp., ISBN 978-0-19-537824-5, pbk, $24.95

QUEER POLITICAL
PERFORMANCE AND PROTEST, BENJAMIN SHEPARD (2010) New York and London: Routledge, 308 pp., ISBN 978-0-415-96096-0, hbk, £80
Centrifuge Modeling of Seismic Loading on Tunnels in Sand
Authors: Lanzano Giovanni , Bilotta Emilio , Russo Gianpiero , Silvestri Francesco , Madabhushi S. P. Gopal
Published: October 2012

The purpose of the work is to provide an experimental benchmark on the seismic behavior of tunnels, with the final aim of calibrating numerical and analytical design methods. A series of plane-strain centrifuge tests with dynamic loading on a model tunnel was, therefore, carried out at the Schofield Centre of the Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED). Four samples of dry uniform fine sand were prepared at two different densities, in which an aluminum-alloy tube was installed at two different depths. The tube was instrumented with strain gauges to measure hoop forces and bending moments at significant locations. To monitor the amplification of ground motion from the base to the surface, vertical arrays of accelerometers were placed in the soil model and along the box. The instrumentation also included linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) that measured the soil surface settlement during all test phases. The test procedure and the results are described in this paper, showing the evolution of both accelerations and internal forces along the tunnel lining during the model earthquakes.
Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Suffusion on Physical and Geomechanic Characteristics of Sandy Soils
Authors: Xiao Ming , Shwiyhat Nathan
Published: October 2012

This paper reports the measured effects of suffusion, a type of internal erosion, on the physical and geo-mechanical properties of soils including permeability, volume change, compressive strength, and soil grains gradation. A poorly graded river sand with the addition of 10 % kaolinite clay was used to create three gap-graded soils and an unaltered poorly graded “original soil.” Testing was performed using a modified triaxial apparatus that permits seepage through compacted specimens and allows collection of effluent and eroded soils. The specimens, 5.1 cm in diameter and 10.2 cm in length, were monitored for changes in volume and permeability during the suffusion tests. After erosion, the specimens were compressed using the consolidated-undrained (CU) test. The collected effluent samples were dried to determine the erosion rate and eroded soil particle gradations with respect to effluent volume. Companion control specimens were tested without erosion. The results revealed that suffusion may affect some physical and geo-mechanical properties of soils. Permeability reduction was generally observed in all soils, indicating fine grains migration and clogging within the specimens. The three gap-graded soils each exhibited a greater degree of internal erosion (suffusion), permeability reduction, and volume change than the original soil. The experimental setup and testing protocol also provided a feasible methodology for further research on the effects of suffusion on the physical and geo-mechanical properties of soils. Limitations of this research and future research recommendations on this topic are provided at the end of this paper.
An Assessment of Resilient Modulus Testing: Internal and External Deflection Measurements
Authors: Camargo Felipe , Benson Craig , Edil Tuncer
Published: October 2012

The long-term pavement performance (LTPP) resilient modulus test protocol specifies the use of external linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) to measure the material’s response, whereas the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) requires input for resilient modulus based on the test results using internal LVDTs. Given this discrepancy of data, the relationship between resilient modulus determined from internal and external measurements was studied for a variety of materials using the NCHRP Project 1- 37A resilient modulus test protocol and recording deformation data both with internal and external LVDTs. Resilient moduli determined from internal deformation measurements shows to be higher than those from external measurements, whereas the ratio of external to internal resilient modulus decreases with increasing internal resilient modulus because of an increasing effect of machine compliance as specimens become stiffer. Furthermore, the relationship between internal and external resilient modulus depends on the material type.
The Nonlinear Coupled Response of Single and Group Piles under Various Horizontal Excitations: Experimental and Theoretical Study
Authors: Manna Bappaditya , Baidya Dilip Kumar
Published: October 2012

Dynamic response characteristics of reinforced concrete single piles and 2 × 2 group piles subjected to varying levels of horizontal harmonic excitation are investigated by both experimental and analytical study. Two different types of coupled vibration tests, namely, type 1—horizontal exciting force above the center of gravity (c.g.), and type 2—horizontal exciting force below the c.g. of the pile cap-loading system, are conducted in the field. The tests are conducted for different eccentricities to determine the frequency-amplitude response of piles for horizontal and rocking motion separately. The influence of excitation intensity, static load on pile, spacing of piles in group, and different contact condition of pile cap with soil on the coupled dynamic response of piles are reported. The measured responses of type 1 and type 2 are compared with the results obtained by the continuum approach of Novak with nonlinear solution. For nonlinear analysis, the boundary zone concept, which accounts for yielding of soil around the pile, is incorporated into the linear elastic-based model and the allowance is made for the separation between the pile and soil. A reasonable match between the measured and predicted response by nonlinear analysis has been observed after introducing appropriate boundary zone parameters and soil–pile separation length. The differences between the dynamic characteristics of piles for coupled vibration type 1 and type 2 in terms of frequency response curves for amplitude, stiffness, and damping constants are also discussed.
Designing of Group Sampling Plans Based on Gamma-Poisson Distribution
Authors: Aslam Muhammad , Balamurali Saminathan , Jun Chi-Hyuck , Ahmad Munir , Rasool Mujahid
Published: October 2012

Acceptance sampling is an important tool for pressuring a producer to increase the quality of his or her products for consumers’ use. In this paper, a group acceptance sampling plan is developed in which the number of nonconforming items follows a Poisson model and the fraction nonconforming has a gamma prior. The methodology and tables are presented for the design of the proposed plan. The design parameters of the proposed plan are determined using the two-point approach on the operating characteristic curve such that the specified producer’s and consumer’s risks should be satisfied. The results are also explained with examples.
Investigation on the Flammability of Diverse Cast PA6 Semi-Finished Products
Authors: Andó M. , Czigány T. , Kalácska G.
Published: October 2012

Cast PA6 (magnesium–polyamide 6 (MgPA6)) compounds produced using a magnesium catalysis are presently replacing other polyamides in semi-finished engineering products. Because of this increased use, the flammability of MgPA6 containing montmorillonite, graphite, carbon black, and a plasticizer is investigated. In these studies, we observed that the presence of montmorillonite deteriorates rather than improves the flame-retardant properties of MgPA6. We also noted that the presence of a plasticizer enhances the dripping tendency and consequently the burning rate of PA6 in the UL 94 Test for Flammability of Plastic Materials. In addition, the presence of carbon black reduces the fire performance of the resin while graphite improves the UL 94 classification of PA6 to a V-2.