bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Association Between Scope of Practice Regulations and Nurse Practitioner Prescribing of Buprenorphine After the 2016 Opioid Bill
Authors: Nguyen Thuy , Muench Ulrike , Andraka-Christou Barbara , Simon Kosali , Bradford W. David , Spetz Joanne
Published: April 2021

This article examines the relationship between federal regulations, state scope-of-practice regulations on nurse practitioners (NPs), and buprenorphine prescribing patterns using pharmacy claims data from Optum’s deidentified Clinformatics Data Mart between January 2015 and September 2018. The county-level proportion of patients filling prescriptions written by NPs was low even after the 2016 Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), 2.7% in states that did not require physician oversight of NPs, and 1.1% in states that did. While analyses in rural counties showed higher rates of buprenorphine prescriptions written by NPs, rates were still considerably low: 3.7% in states with less restrictive regulations and 1.1% in other states. These results indicate that less restrictive scope-of-practice regulations are associated with greater NP prescribing following CARA. The small magnitude of the changes indicates that federal attempts to expand treatment access through CARA have been limited.
Making a Spectacle of Oneself in the Academy Using the H-Index: From Becoming an Artificial Person to Laughing at Absurdities
Authors: Sparkes Andrew C.
Published: April 2021

This article offers autoethnographic insights into the consequences of making a spectacle of oneself in the audit culture of the academy. Spectacle 1 explores my experiences of using the h-index as part of an annual salary review and how this made me feel like an artificial person. Spectacle 2 shows how, at a conference, I used laughter to expose some absurdities of the h-index and felt better for doing so. Stories that tell different truths about ourselves in combination with the corporeality of laughter, I suggest, can assist us to re-attune ourselves and resist the process of becoming artificial persons.
Incidence of hypersensitivity reactions in patients on H1-receptor antagonists receiving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy
Authors: Barrett Christine , Park Seon Jo , Edmondson Lindsay , Monga Dulabh
Published: April 2021

Objective

This study determined the incidence of hypersensitivity reactions in patients receiving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy while on H1-receptor antagonists (H1RAs). Prophylaxis for patients receiving oxaliplatin is not currently recommended. H1RAs are used for the treatment of reactions; however, prophylactic H1RAs have not been well-studied.

Methods

This retrospective chart review included patients with solid tumor malignancies who received H1RAs while on oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy between August 1, 2016 and October 31, 2019.

Results

Of fifty-one patients, there were four hypersensitivity reactions (8%), most of which were mild, occurred within 60 minutes of the start of the infusion, and did not result in an interruption in treatment. One severe reaction occurred, which required discontinuation of therapy. Forty-two patients (82%) were able to receive at least 9 cycles of oxaliplatin without a reported reaction.

Conclusion

In this observational study, the incidence rate of hypersensitivity reactions in patients receiving oxaliplatin while on H1RAs was lower than reported in previous literature. Most reactions were mild, and patients were able to continue oxaliplatin-based therapy. With future, randomized controlled trials, H1RAs may prove to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of hypersensitivity reactions related to oxaliplatin.
Treatment outcomes among human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive breast cancer patients: A systematic review
Authors: Degu Amsalu , Yussuf Asha
Published: April 2021

Background

The incidence of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER 2) positive breast cancers is rapidly rising worldwide. Although there have been many studies on HER 2 breast cancer treatment and management in recent years, there is a lack of comprehensive reports on the treatment outcomes and disparities within the available literature. Hence, this review aimed to determine the treatment outcomes and their associated factors among patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Methods

A computer-based systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, and Google scholar databases of articles published from 2000 to 2020. The following key terms (HER 2 positive breast cancer, predictor, determinant, associated factor) and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms (breast neoplasms, treatment outcome, and risk factors) were used to search the English language published articles.

Results

In most studies, trastuzumab was the most commonly used treatment regimen used in combination with chemotherapeutic agents. Generally, most of the studies (15 studies) showed that the overall survival outcome was relatively higher after treatment among HER2 positive breast cancer patients. Nonetheless, two studies showed that the absence of significant change in the overall survival despite adequate treatment was given to the study participants. In addition, three studies demonstrated a partial response after treating HER2-positive breast cancer patients.

Conclusion

Generally, the overall survival outcome was relatively higher after treatment among HER2 positive breast cancer patients. The addition of trastuzumab in most of the studies has shown improvement in the overall survival and the disease-free survival rate of the study patients.
The Association between ADHD and the Severity of COVID-19 Infection
Authors: Merzon Eugene , Weiss Margaret D. , Cortese Samuele , Rotem Ann , Schneider Tzipporah , Craig Stephanie G. , Vinker Shlomo , Golan Cohen Avivit , Green Ilan , Ashkenazi Shai , Weizman Abraham , Manor Iris
Published: April 2021

Objective:

Patients with ADHD are at increased risk of acquiring COVID-19. The present study assessed the possibility that ADHD also increases the risk of severe COVID-19 infection.

Method:

We assessed 1,870 COVID-19 positive patients, aged 5 to 60 years, registered in the database of Leumit Health Services (LHS, Israel), February to -June 2020, of whom 231 with ADHD. Logistic regression analysis models evaluated the association between ADHD and the dependent variables of being symptomatic/referral to hospitalization, controlling for demographic and medical variables.

Results:

Age, male sex, and BMI were confirmed to be significant risk factors for increased COVID-19 severity. ADHD was found to be associated with increased severity of COVID-19 symptoms ( OR = 1.81, 95% CI [1.29, 2.52], p < .05) and referral to hospitalization ( OR =1.93, 95% CI [1.06, 3.51], p = .03).

Conclusion:

ADHD is associated with poorer outcomes in COVID-19 infection.
Increased space-parallelism via time-simultaneous Newton-multigrid methods for nonstationary nonlinear PDE problems
Authors: Dünnebacke Jonas , Turek Stefan , Lohmann Christoph , Sokolov Andriy , Zajac Peter
Published: April 2021

We discuss how “parallel-in-space & simultaneous-in-time” Newton-multigrid approaches can be designed which improve the scaling behavior of the spatial parallelism by reducing the latency costs. The idea is to solve many time steps at once and therefore solving fewer but larger systems. These large systems are reordered and interpreted as a space-only problem leading to multigrid algorithm with semi-coarsening in space and line smoothing in time direction. The smoother is further improved by embedding it as a preconditioner in a Krylov subspace method. As a prototypical application, we concentrate on scalar partial differential equations (PDEs) with up to many thousands of time steps which are discretized in time, resp., space by finite difference, resp., finite element methods. For linear PDEs, the resulting method is closely related to multigrid waveform relaxation and its theoretical framework. In our parabolic test problems the numerical behavior of this multigrid approach is robust w.r.t. the spatial and temporal grid size and the number of simultaneously treated time steps. Moreover, we illustrate how corresponding time-simultaneous fixed-point and Newton-type solvers can be derived for nonlinear nonstationary problems that require the described solution of linearized problems in each outer nonlinear step. As the main result, we are able to generate much larger problem sizes to be treated by a large number of cores so that the combination of the robustly scaling multigrid solvers together with a larger degree of parallelism allows a faster solution procedure for nonstationary problems.
A runtime based comparison of highly tuned lattice Boltzmann and finite difference solvers
Authors: Wichmann Karl-Robert , Kronbichler Martin , Löhner Rainald , Wall Wolfgang A
Published: April 2021

The aim of this work is a fair and unbiased comparison of a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) against a finite difference method (FDM) for the simulation of fluid flows. Rather than reporting metrics such as floating point operation rates or memory throughput, our work considers the engineering quest of reaching a desired solution quality with the least computational effort. The specific lattice Boltzmann and finite difference methods selected here are of a very basic nature to emphasize the influence of the fundamentally different approaches. To minimize the skew in the measurements, complex boundary condition schemes and further advanced techniques are avoided and instead both methods are fully explicit, weakly compressible approaches. Due to the highly optimized nature of both codes, different sets of restrictions are imposed by either method. Using the common set of features, two relatively simple test cases in terms of a duct flow and the flow in a lid driven cavity are considered and are tuned to perform optimally with both approaches. As a third test case, a transient flow around a square cylinder is used to demonstrate the applicability to engineering oriented settings and in a temporal domain. The performance of the two methods is found to be very similar with no full advantage for any of the approaches. Overall a tendency toward better performance of the LBM at larger target errors and for indirect benchmark quantities, such as lift and drag, is observed, while the FDM excels at smaller target errors and direct comparisons of velocity and pressure profiles to analytical solutions. Other factors such as the difficulty of setting consistent boundary conditions in the LBM or the effect of stabilization in the FDM are likely to be the most important criteria when searching for a very fast flow solver for practical applications.
Ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous catheters insertion in patient with difficult vascular access: Short axis/out-of-plane versus long axis/in-plane, a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Privitera Daniele , Mazzone Annamaria , Pierotti Federico , Airoldi Chiara , Galazzi Alessandro , Geraneo Annalisa , Cozzi Mattia , Mora Garrido Raquel , Vailati Paolo , Scaglioni Roberta , Capsoni Nicolò , Ganassin Emanuele Carlo , Salinaro Gianluca , Scala Cristina Grazia Rita , Dal Molin Alberto
Published: April 2021

Purpose:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of successful peripheral cannulation between short-axis and long-axis ultrasound guided techniques.

Methods:

A single-center, two-arm randomized controlled, intention-to-treat, open-label study was conducted at the Emergency Department, between August and November 2020. Patients requiring a peripheral intravenous catheter insertion and identified as having a difficult intravascular access, were enrolled and followed for up to 96 h. The primary endpoint was the correct placement of the peripheral intravenous catheter. The secondary endpoints were number of venipunctures, intra-procedural pain, local complications, and positive blood return during the follow up.

Results:

A total of 283 patients were enrolled: 141 subjects were randomized to the short-axis and 142 to the long-axis group. Success rate was 96.45% (135/141; 95% CI, 91.92%–98.84%) in the short-axis group compared with 92.25% (132/142; 95% CI, 86.56%–96.07%) in the long-axis group ( p = 0.126). No significant differences were found in terms of intraprocedural pain and local complications. Higher rate of positive blood return at 72 h [3/17 long-axis, 14/17 short-axis ( p = 0.005)] and 96 h [1/10 long-axis, 9/10 short-axis 96 h, ( p = 0.022)] was found for the short-axis group.

Conclusions:

No differences were found between short-axis and long-axis techniques in terms of success rate, intraprocedural pain, and local complications. Despite this, a slightly higher success rate, a lower number of venipunctures, and a higher rate of positive blood return at 72 and 96 h together with an easier ultrasound technique could suggest a short-axis approach.
Real-World Outcomes and Clinical Predictors of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Monotherapy in Advanced Lung Cancer
Authors: Zhang Shijia , Pease Daniel F , Kulkarni Amit A , Kumar Manoj , Shanley Ryan M , Xu Beibei , Joshi Shilvi P , Patel Manish R
Published: April 2021

Background:

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have changed the treatment paradigm of advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerance of ICIs in a real-world patient population and to investigate the predictive factors associated with survival outcomes.

Methods:

Medical records of patients with advanced lung cancer who started ICI monotherapy were reviewed for data collection. Treatment outcomes included objective response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) were assessed. Multiple Cox regression models were fit to investigate the predictive factors for survival outcomes.

Results:

We included 220 patients (median 66.5 years). Seventy-nine (35.9%) patients had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance-status (PS) score ⩾2. Median follow-up was 11.4 months. In NSCLC, median PFS was 3.8 months (4.7 months for first line and 3.7 months for subsequent line). Median OS was 12.4 months (15.6 months for first line therapy and 11.5 months for subsequent line). In SCLC, median PFS was 1.8 months, and median OS was 4.6 months. A quarter of patients developed irAEs. There was 1 disease flare among 17 patients with pre-existing autoimmune diseases. ECOG PS of 0 to 1 and body mass index (BMI) ⩾ 25 kg/m2 (but not occurrence of irAE) were independently associated with improved OS in NSCLC, with a hazard ratio of 0.41 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.29-0.59) and 0.62 (95% CI, 0.44-0.87), respectively.

Conclusions:

The clinical benefit of ICIs appears to persist in a real-world population of relatively older age, including those with poor PS and pre-existing autoimmune diseases. ECOG PS of 0 to 1 and BMI ⩾ 25 kg/m2 were independently associated with improved OS.
A necessary evil? The rise of online exam proctoring in Australian universities
Authors: Selwyn Neil , O’Neill Chris , Smith Gavin , Andrejevic Mark , Gu Xin
Published: April 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the rapid but sometimes controversial take-up of ‘online examination proctoring’ systems by universities keen to maintain their assessment schedules during times of campus closure. Following the theoretical tradition of media ‘domestication’, this article examines the mainstream adoption of different online proctoring systems in Australian higher education during the first year of the pandemic. Through analysis of interviews, documents, news, social media and marketing materials, the article examines the ‘appropriation’, ‘objectification’, incorporation’ and ‘conversion’ of proctoring technology from the perspective of commercial providers, university authorities, university staff and student groups. This raises a number of critical issues underpinning the adoption of this exam surveillance technology – not least the surrender of control to commercial providers, the hidden labour required to sustain ‘automated’ systems and the increased vulnerabilities of ‘remote’ studying.
Infrastructure finance, late development, and China’s reshaping of international credit governance
Authors: Chen Muyang
Published: April 2021

How is the rise of China affecting international governance? This paper examines the domain of infrastructure finance by focusing on China’s two policy banks, which are the main creditors of China’s overseas infrastructure projects. While the incumbent international credit regimes led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) distinguish development-oriented aid from commercially oriented export credits, emerging late-developed economies blur this dichotomy by largely funding development projects with state-backed export credits. The way China alters the OECD’s credit governance, this paper argues, demonstrates both the generality of late development and the peculiarity of “Chinese” development. Rather than directly subsidizing firms’ international business with the state’s fiscal revenue, policy banks financialized host country’s state-owned and state-coordinated assets using various market instruments. By doing so, they gave Chinese firms a comparative advantage in the markets of less developed regions, allowing them to undertake projects that firms from advanced industrial countries cannot. This financing mechanism has reshaped the international development regime by transforming the dominant means of credit allocation from state-led aid-giving to market-based exchange, and rewritten the liberal rules of the international export credit regime by financing the developing world in a both statist and liberalist manner. As a result, China has built a paralleled regime in regions insufficiently covered by the existing financial schemes of incumbent credit regimes.
Does party ambivalence decrease voter turnout? A global analysis
Authors: Çakır Semih
Published: April 2021

Does party ambivalence, that is, simultaneously evaluating positively more than one political party, decrease turnout? The extant literature on this question is limited to the American case, and findings are rather mixed. Using the data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project, this paper provides a first large-scale comparative analysis of the ambivalence-turnout nexus in 46 countries. Based on two different ambivalence measures, I show that party ambivalence is more prevalent in multiparty systems and that a substantial portion of citizens are ambivalent. Moreover, ambivalence, on average, reduces turnout by at least 4.5 percentage points across countries. Importantly, however, this is not the case for every country. Whether ambivalence decreases voter turnout is conditioned by macro-level factors. More specifically, ambivalence tends to dampen turnout in (1) polarized contexts, (2) parliamentary systems, (3) voluntary voting countries, and (4) less fragmented systems.
Teachers’ perceptions of a lesson study intervention as professional development in physical education
Authors: Slingerland Menno , Borghouts Lars , Laurijssens Sara , Eijck Bregje van Dijk-van , Remmers Teun , Weeldenburg Gwen
Published: April 2021

Although continuous professional development (CPD) is a key strategy for physical education (PE) teachers to update skills and knowledge in order to provide the best possible education to students, various concerns have been voiced regarding the effectiveness and feasibility of CPD in the context of PE. One approach to CPD that seems promising in this respect is lesson study, which is a form of collaborative, teacher-led and inquiry-based professional learning. This study reports on teachers’ experiences with lesson study and was specifically aimed at teachers’ perceptions of what was learned through lesson study and how this was done. Ten PE departments (35 teachers) followed a workshop on the topic of the need-supportive teaching of games which was followed by multiple lesson study cycles. Questionnaires and focus group interviews provided insight into teachers’ experiences. Overall, participating PE teachers appreciated lesson study as CPD, especially valuing the collaborative and practice-oriented approach. As lesson study allows for professional experimentation this enabled teachers to transfer new knowledge and ideas into their own specific educational contexts. Nevertheless, results also indicated that in its current form and especially within existing school structures, lesson study might be too demanding in terms of time and resources. Only if schools are willing to make the required investments could lesson study be expected to reach its full potential.
Mindfulness and intergroup bias: A systematic review
Authors: Oyler Danielle L. , Price-Blackshear Mollie A. , Pratscher Steven D. , Bettencourt B. Ann
Published: April 2021

People’s proclivity for favoring their ingroups over outgroups has negative consequences for individuals, groups, and societies. Social psychologists have explored a variety of techniques to reduce these intergroup biases. Emerging research suggests that mindfulness may be effective for this purpose. Mindfulness is defined as present-moment attention and awareness with an accepting attitude, and it is often cultivated through meditation. Our systematic review of the mindfulness-intergroup literature suggests that, across the heterogeneity of paradigms, mindfulness attenuates intergroup bias. Supporting this supposition, for all studies in the current review, regardless of operationalization of mindfulness (i.e., mindfulness-based intervention, brief mindfulness induction, expert meditators, dispositional mindfulness), the overall effect size was g = +.29 ( k-number of studies = 36; 95% CI [0.20, 0.39]; Z = 5.94, p < .0001), suggesting a small but significant effect of mindfulness on improved levels of intergroup bias. In the current work, we review the eligible studies and their findings in detail and conclude by discussing critical issues and implications for future research.
Myth and meaning: ‘Corbynism’ and the interpretation of political leadership
Authors: Pike Karl , Diamond Patrick
Published: April 2021

In its contribution to the study of political leadership, this article provides a distinctive analytical lens: political myth understood as meanings which animate a leadership project. Heavily constitutive of political leadership at a particular moment in time, political myths are important for understanding the resilience of a leadership project and the judgements of its actors. We demonstrate a way of applying this concept through an analysis of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership from 2015 to 2020 and the identification of four key elements of the ‘Corbyn myth’: a ‘mould-breaking’ stance on policy, a return to class politics for Labour, heralding a ‘left wave’ sweeping the world, and the moral and political repudiation of the Iraq War. Each element clearly emphasises the explicit rejection of New Labour. Our analysis provides a holistic account of the Corbyn project with greater specificity about the meanings attached to Corbyn’s leadership by supporters.
The Impact of Policy Shift from In-kind Transfers to Direct Cash Transfers on Paddy Production: Evidence from Mahaweli H System in Sri Lanka
Authors: Perera Sumudu , Rathnayake Ananda , Fernando Janaka , Navaratne Thilani , Rajapakshe Dilan
Published: April 2021

In 2016, the Sri Lankan government introduced a policy change related to fertilizer subsidy by converting the in-kind transfer into a direct cash transfer. This research article analyses the consequences of this policy change on the paddy production from economics perspective. The analysis uses national-level data from 1961 to 2013 and farm-level data collected in 2016. Macro-level findings manifest that the use of fertilizer significantly increases the paddy production in Sri Lanka. It was also identified that the cash amount granted under the direct cash transfer policy is not equivalent to the in-kind transfer programme. As a result, paddy production is expected to decline under the direct cash transfer programme when compared to the material subsidy scheme. However, this is against the preference of economists on direct cash transfers over in-kind transfers. The findings reveal that direct cash transfers increase the paddy production under two conditions: (a) when rational farmers effectively utilize the cash grants to optimize their production inputs; and (b) an equivalent amount of in-kind transfer is provided as direct cash transfer. Hence, direct cash transfers are not always better than in-kind transfers; it is better when in-kind transfer is compensated with an equivalent amount of cash transfer.

JEL: A1, B1, B2, C1, C5, D6, N5
Airbnb and the paradox of the body: The biopolitical management of hosts in four tourist towns in New Zealand
Authors: Pennell Stella
Published: April 2021

Airbnb is emblematic of a set of business practices commonly known as ‘the sharing economy’. It is a disruptive business model of homestay accommodation that has exploited conditions of growing precarity of work since 2008. Work precarity is particularly evident in regional tourist areas in New Zealand, which historically experience seasonal, part-time work and low wages. Airbnb draws specifically on the rhetoric of micro-entrepreneurism, with focus on individual freedom and choice: appealing concepts for those experiencing precarity. This article challenges the rhetoric of Airbnb and investigates notions of home, authenticity and hospitality that are reconceptualized under a specific regime of digital biopolitics. Drawing on research conducted in four regional tourist towns in New Zealand this article analyses the biopolitical interpellations that impact hosts’ subjectivities as entities in motion and considers the ways that the rationalities of Airbnb’s algorithms modulate the embodied behaviours of its hosts.
The use of ‘my side telling’ during history taking in psychiatric consultations
Authors: Yao Xueli
Published: April 2021

Using the method of conversation analysis, this article examines an interactional practice through which psychiatric practitioners exhibit knowledge about their patients’ problems, symptoms, or experiences in psychiatric outpatient consultations. This practice is referred to as ‘my side telling’. The data were from audio recordings of 55 psychiatric outpatient visits to four psychiatrists in China. In the data, the psychiatrists employ ‘my side telling’ within larger sequences of talk where psychiatrists solicit their patients to elaborate on their problems or experiences, treating prior answers of the patients as unsatisfactory. Based on empirical study of the data, it is argued that ‘my side telling’ in psychiatry is not merely used to elicit information. Rather, through facing patients with facts or evidence which the psychiatrists got from other sources, it acquires a confrontative function and may be employed as a tool to test the patients’ sense of reality and willingness to talk about their experiences. Thus, it is shown to work towards assessing patients for possible psychiatric conditions and forming diagnostic hypotheses. I further argue that ‘my side telling’ allows the psychiatrists to achieve a balance between respecting the patients’ rights to report their own experiences and influencing the directions in which the information is reported.
How the public understands news media trust: An open-ended approach
Authors: Knudsen Erik , Dahlberg Stefan , Iversen Magnus H , Johannesson Mikael P , Nygaard Silje
Published: April 2021

Despite the central role that ordinary citizens play as ‘trustors’ (i.e. the actor that places trust) in the literature on news media trust, prior quantitative studies have paid little attention to how ordinary citizens understand and define news media trust. Here, trust tends to be studied from a researcher-defined – rather than an audience-defined – perspective. To address this gap, we investigate how the public describes news media trust in their own words by asking them directly. We analyse 1500 written responses collected through a Norwegian online probability-based survey, here using a semisupervised quantitative text analysis technique called structural topic modelling (STM). We find that citizens’ own understanding of news media trust can be categorised into four distinct topics that, in some instances, are comparable to academic and professional discourse. We show that citizens’ written descriptions of news media trust vary by many of the same variables that prior research has found to be important predictors of levels of trust. Respondents’ written descriptions of news media trust vary by education and satisfaction with democracy but not other known predictors of trust, such as ideological self-placement and political preferences.
Willing but wary: Australian women experts’ attitudes to engaging with the news media
Authors: Shine Kathryn
Published: April 2021

Numerous quantitative studies from around the world have found that women are under-represented as sources in news content. This study aims to add to the existing quantitative research by describing female experts’ attitudes about being interviewed as news sources, and their experiences of interacting with journalists. It reports the findings of semi-structured interviews with 30 Australian female academic experts from a broad range of disciplines. Almost all of the women experts in the group were willing to be interviewed by a journalist, and reported that their experiences with the news media had generally been positive. However, they referred to various factors that may act as deterrents. These included a lack of confidence, a reluctance to appear on camera, time constraints and a lack of understanding about how the news media operates. This research provides valuable insights for journalists and editors, and outlines recommendations about how to encourage female participation in the news.
Modelling changes over time in a multivariate paired comparison: An application to window display design
Authors: Grand Alexandra , Dittrich Regina
Published: April 2021

This article proposes an alternative method of making comparative judgements in multivariate paired comparisons (PCs) where judgements about change are made directly by comparing an object at two time points for each of a series of attributes. The application deals with the design of shop window displays where products should be arranged by teams of vocational students according to aesthetic principles (attributes).

The photos of the students’ window displays at time 1 (before feedback) and at time 2 (after feedback) were compared by judging each attribute as to whether it was fulfilled better at time 1 or at time 2. An advantage of this PC approach over an alternative of a scoring system is the possibility to assess even subtle changes of various aspects of attractiveness, which cannot easily be measured using a score. To analyse these data, we used earlier work which developed both a multivariate PC pattern model for multi-attribute data and a PC model over time and defined a multivariate PC model of changes (MPCC). The model can be fitted as a non-standard Poisson log-linear model and provides estimates of change for the three attributes for time 2 and we were able to check for possible interaction effects between these attributes.
What is the relationship between people with dementia and their caregiver’s illness perceptions post-diagnosis and the impact on help-seeking behaviour? A systematic review
Authors: Gregg Jane E , Simpson Jane , Nilforooshan Ramin , Perez-Algorta Guillermo
Published: April 2021

Background: As the number of people with dementia increases, more families will be affected by the daily challenges of providing effective support, given its current incurable status. Once individuals are diagnosed with dementia, the earlier they access support, the more effective the outcome. However, once people receive a diagnosis, how they make sense of their dementia can impact on their help-seeking intentions. Exploring the illness beliefs of people with dementia and their caregivers and this relationship to help seeking may identify how best to facilitate early support.

Aims: To systematically obtain and critically review relevant studies on the relationship between illness perceptions and help seeking of people with dementia and their caregivers.

Method: A systematic search was conducted and included both quantitative and qualitative studies. The initial search was conducted in October 2018, with an adjacent search conducted in April 2020.

Findings: A total of 14 articles met the inclusion criteria. Conceptually, the studies examined the association of illness perceptions and help-seeking post-diagnosis and revealed that people living with dementia and their caregivers sought help when symptoms became severe. Components of illness perceptions revealed that lack of knowledge, cultural beliefs, complexity of the healthcare system, threat to independence and acceptance were identified as major factors for delaying help seeking.

Conclusion: Although research interest in the area of illness perceptions and their impact on help seeking for dementia is increasing, further work is needed to understand this area, particularly regarding the influence of the relationship between the person with dementia and their caregiver.
The size of the fight in the dog: The role of teams’ active human capital resources within the human capital-task performance relationship
Authors: Tuncdogan Aybars , Dogan Ismail Cagri , Barca Mehmet
Published: April 2021

The management literature has been investigating teams’ human capital resources as a predictor of their task performance. However, our knowledge regarding the precise structure of the human capital-performance relationship, as well as the resource orchestrator role managers play in this relationship, remains limited. In this study, we relax the assumption that human capital resources are used effectively, and conceptually extend the human capital resources construct by distinguishing between gross and active human capital resources. Doing so both helps to better understand the human capital-performance link and clarify the exact role that managers play in this link. Using 98 teams’ data over 2 years (5492 sets of player-level data aggregated to 196 sets of team-level data) from European Big Five football (soccer) leagues, we test our predictions. Our study has implications for the human capital literature as well as for the resource-based view literature on organisational slack.
Passing a Mechanical Aortic Valve With a Short Tip Dilator to Facilitate Aortic Arch Endovascular Branched Repair
Authors: Konstantinou Nikolaos , Peterss Sven , Stana Jan , Rantner Barbara , Banafsche Ramin , Pichlmaier Maximilian , Tsilimparis Nikolaos
Published: April 2021

Purpose

To present a novel technique to successfully cross a mechanical aortic valve prosthesis.

Technique

A 55-year-old female patient with genetically verified Marfan syndrome presented with a 5-cm anastomotic aneurysm of the proximal aortic arch after previous ascending aortic replacement due to a type A aortic dissection in 2007. The patient also underwent mechanical aortic valve replacement in 1991. A 3-stage hybrid repair was planned. The first 2 steps included debranching of the supra-aortic vessels. In the third procedure, a custom-made double branched endovascular stent-graft with a short 35-mm introducer tip was implanted. The mechanical valve was passed with the tip of the dilator on the lateral site of the leaflet, without destructing the valve and with only mild symptoms of aortic insufficiency, as one leaflet continued to work. This allowed the implantation of the stent-graft directly distally of the coronary arteries. Postoperative computed tomography angiography showed no endoleaks and patent coronary and supra-aortic vessels.

Conclusion

Passing a mechanical aortic valve prosthesis at the proper position is feasible and allows adequate endovascular treatment in complex arch anatomy. However, caution should be taken during positioning of the endovascular graft as the tip may potentially damage the valve prosthesis.
Assessing How a Transplant Hospitality House for Patients and Families Can Promote Wellbeing
Authors: Giordano Talia C. , Weinstock Jan L. , Campbell Jennifer W.
Published: April 2021

Patients and caregivers face increasingly complex and unique challenges when they travel to distant hospitals for transplant care. They can find themselves in a strange city managing hospital stays and outpatient appointments, requiring lodging, food, transportation, financial assistance, and emotional support. Those unable to overcome these logistical challenges may lose access to lifesaving treatment. Transplant specific hospitality houses have emerged to support patients who travel long distances from home to seek care, though little is known about the impact of such programs. Can a transplant hospitality house impact opportunities for family-centered care, perceptions of physiological and physical security, and perceptions of belonging and esteem? Can their contributions also be linked to perceived positive health outcomes and what aspects of a transplant hospitality house are most significant for a patient’s and caregiver’s health journey? One transplant hospitality house investigated these questions with 71 participating in focus groups or key stakeholder interviews: transplant patients and caregivers, transplant hospital social workers, volunteers, financial contributors, board members, and staff. The findings suggest that while patients and caregivers were dependent and deeply grateful for the lodging and amenities that met their basic needs, it was the contact and support from other patients and caregivers at the transplant hospitality house that had the most profound positive impact on patient and family attitudes, outlooks, and perceived well-being.
PSD-95 protects the pancreas against pathological damage through p38 MAPK signaling pathway in acute pancreatitis
Authors: Guo Yinan , Hu Weikai , Wang Xueyan , Li Chunyun , Cui Tianyu , Liu Ruixia , He Junqi , Yin Chenghong
Published: April 2021

Acute pancreatitis is one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal disorder-related hospitalizations, yet its pathogenesis remains to be fully elucidated. Postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95) is closely associated with tissue inflammation and injury. We aimed to investigate the expression of PSD-95 in pancreatic acinar cells, and its function in regulating the inflammatory response and pancreatic pathological damage in acute pancreatitis. A mouse model of edematous acute pancreatitis was induced with caerulein and lipopolysaccharide in C57BL/6 mice. Tat-N-dimer was injected to inhibit the PSD-95 activity separately, or simultaneously with SB203580, inhibitor of p38 MAPK phosphorylation. Rat pancreatic acinar cells AR42J were cultured with 1 μM caerulein to build a cell model of acute pancreatitis. PSD-95-knockdown and negative control cell lines were constructed by lentiviral transfection of AR42J cells. Paraffin-embedded pancreatic tissue samples were processed for routine HE staining to evaluate the pathological changes of human and mouse pancreatic tissues. Serum amylase and inflammatory cytokine levels were detected with specific ELISA kits. Immunofluorescence, immunohistochemical, Western-blot, and qRT-PCR were used to detect the expression levels of PSD-95, p38, and phosphorylated p38. Our findings showed that PSD-95 is expressed in the pancreatic tissues of humans, C57BL/6 mice, and AR42J cells, primarily in the cytoplasm. PSD-95 expression increased at 2 h, reaching the peak at 6 h in mice and 12 h in AR42J cells. IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α increased within 2 h of disease induction. The pancreatic histopathologic score was greater in the PSD-95 inhibition group compared with the control ( P < 0.05), while it was lesser when phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was inhibited compared with the PSD-95 inhibition group ( P < 0.05). Moreover, phosphorylation of p38 MAPK increased statistically after PSD-95 knocked-down. In conclusion, PSD-95 effectively influences the pathological damage of the pancreas in acute pancreatitis by affecting the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK.
Promoting Occupational Therapy Mental Health Research: Proceedings From the 2017 AOTF Mental Health Planning Grant Collective
Authors: Gutman Sharon A.
Published: April 2021

Although occupational therapists were once integrally involved in mental health practice, the percentage of therapists presently working in this clinical area is low. In 2017, the American Occupational Therapy Foundation convened a planning grant collective (PGC) to generate research to support populations with serious mental health challenges. The PGC’s primary mission was to identify key research areas in which occupational therapists and colleagues could work collaboratively to demonstrate evidence for occupational therapy services supporting mental health community participation. Participants included 21 members from six professions and three program officers from federal funding establishments. The PGC identified seven overarching research concepts, three broad areas of research inquiry, and eight possible studies addressing occupational therapy’s contribution to research promoting community participation and health outcomes for people with mental illness. This article provides a summary of the PGC proceedings so that researchers can collaboratively implement identified research topics.
Being a Leader and Doing Leadership: The Cross-domain Impact of Family and Friends on Leader Identity and Leader Behaviors at Work
Authors: Palanski Michael E. , Thomas Jane S. , Hammond Michelle M. , Lester Gretchen V. , Clapp-Smith Rachel
Published: April 2021

This research presents a cross-domain exploration of leader identity. Drawing from theory about multidomain leader development and leader identity social processes, we examine how endorsement as a leader by those internal and external to work can impact an individual's own self-internalized sense of identity as a leader at work. Specifically, we examine how the collective endorsement of one's leader identity by family and friends in addition to work colleagues (managers, peers, and direct reports) influences the individual’s own self-internalized sense of identity as a leader at work. We also examine the relationship of the individual’s self-internalized sense of identity as a leader at work to enacted transformational leadership and contingent reward behaviors as rated by colleagues in the work domain. Data from a multisource and multidomain 360° evaluation of 256 leaders by 3,255 raters in the United States and Ireland provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior: A Moderated Mediational Model of Its Transmission From Managers to Employees
Authors: Nguyen Canh M. , Zhang Lu , Morand David
Published: April 2021

This study explores the psychological mechanism underlying and the boundary conditions affecting the relationship between managers’ unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) and subordinates’ willingness to engage in UPB. Drawing upon social learning and social cognitive theories, employee moral disengagement was predicted to mediate the relationship between managers’ UPB and employees’ UPB willingness; in addition, the moderating roles of both leader–member exchange and ethical relativism were investigated within this relationship. The results, based on 29 managers and 200 subordinates in Vietnam, supported the proposed mediation model. The findings further indicated that leader–member exchange augmented the positive relationship between managers’ UPB and employee moral disengagement, whereas employee ethical relativism weakened the positive relationship between moral disengagement and employees’ UPB willingness. By elucidating the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions, our findings offer an empirical basis for considering managers’ UPB as a critical antecedent to employees’ willingness to engage in UPB and also inform effective intervention approaches for organizations to constrain UPB.
Resource scheduling based on routing tree and detection matrix for Internet of things
Authors: Bai Hongying , Zhang Xiaotong , Liu Yuxin , Xie Yingdong
Published: April 2021

Effective scheduling of limited communication resources is one of the critical methods for data transmission in the Internet of things. However, the time slot utilization rate of many existing resource scheduling methods of Internet of things is not high. This article proposes a new efficient resource scheduling based on routing tree and detection matrix for Internet of things. In heterogeneous Internet of things, according to the different working modes and functions, the nodes are divided into Internet of things devices, routing nodes, and base station. We use time slot multiplexing to improve the time slot utilization of continuous transmission in Internet of things. First, the time slot allocation table in a round is obtained by the time slot scheduling based on the routing tree. Then, the collision matrix and the transmission matrix are established based on the time slot allocation table in a round. Finally, the minimum time slot scheduling in continuous rounds is determined based on the routing tree and the detection matrix. The experimental results show that the resource scheduling based on routing tree and detection matrix effectively improves the utilization of time slots and improves the throughput of the Internet of things.
A new polar alignment algorithm based on the Huber estimation filter with the aid of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
Authors: Zhao Bin , Zeng Qinghua , Liu Jianye , Gao Chunlei , Zhao Tianyu
Published: April 2021

For aircrafts equipped with BeiDou Navigation Satellite System/Strapdown Inertial Navigation System integrated navigation system, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System information can be used to achieve autonomous alignment. However, due to the complex polar environment and multipath effect, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System measurement noise often exhibits a non-Gaussian distribution that will severely degrade the estimation accuracy of standard Kalman filter. To address this problem, a new polar alignment algorithm based on the Huber estimation filter is proposed in this article. Considering the special geographical conditions in the polar regions, the dynamic model and the measurement model of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System/Strapdown Inertial Navigation System integrated alignment system in the grid frame are derived in this article. The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System measurement noise characteristics in the polar regions are analyzed and heavy-tailed characteristics are simulated, respectively. Since the estimation accuracy of standard Kalman filter can be severely degraded under non-Gaussian noise, a Kalman filter based on the Huber estimation is designed combining grid navigation system and generalized maximum likelihood estimation. The simulation and experiment results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has better robustness under non-Gaussian noise, and it is effective in the polar regions. By employing the proposed algorithm, the rapidity and accuracy of the alignment process can be improved.