bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tumor Sidedness and Enriched Gene Groups for Efficacy of First-line Cetuximab Treatment in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Sunakawa Yu , Mogushi Kaoru , Lenz Heinz-Josef , Zhang Wu , Tsuji Akihito , Takahashi Takehiro , Denda Tadamichi , Shimada Ken , Kochi Mitsugu , Nakamura Masato , Kotaka Masahito , Segawa Yoshihiko , Tanioka Hiroaki , Negoro Yuji , Moran Miriana , Astrow Stephanie H. , Hsiang Jack , Stephens Craig , Fujii Masashi , Ichikawa Wataru
Published: October 2018

Molecular differences in tumor locations may contribute to the sidedness-specific response to cetuximab in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). We investigated genes associated with the response to cetuximab treatment depending on tumor sidedness. Our study included 77 patients with mCRC (13/63, right/left) with KRAS exon 2 wild-type tumors from phase II trials of first-line therapy with cetuximab. Expression levels of 2,551 genes were measured in tissue samples by HTG EdgeSeq Oncology Biomarker Panel. Univariate Cox regression analysis using log2 values of counts per million (CPM) was conducted in each sidedness to assess associations with clinical outcomes, and to define the optimal cut-off point for clinically significant genes. In addition, a gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to identify significant gene pathways in each sidedness. Sixty-nine patients were assessable for gene expression data. Overexpression of BECN1 [log2(CPM) ≥ 6.8] was associated with favorable survival, regardless of tumor sidedness. High expression of NOTCH1 [log2(CPM) ≥ 7.5] predicted significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS; median 14.7 vs. 11.1 months, HR 0.43, P = 0.01) and overall survival (OS; median 42.8 vs. 26.5 months, HR 0.35, P = 0.01) in left side but not in right side. The GSEA showed that regulation of DNA replication gene set correlated with favorable survival in the left, whereas the subcellular component and leukocyte migration gene sets were associated with good survival in the right. In conclusion, genes contributing to the efficacy of cetuximab treatment may differ according to the sidedness in mCRC. NOTCH1 may potentially discriminate favorable responders to cetuximab in patients with left-sided tumors.
Oxygen Regulation in Development: Lessons from Embryogenesis towards Tissue Engineering
Authors: Fathollahipour Shahrzad , Patil Pritam S. , Leipzig Nic D.
Published: October 2018

Oxygen is a vital source of energy necessary to sustain and complete embryonic development. Not only is oxygen the driving force for many cellular functions and metabolism, but it is also involved in regulating stem cell fate, morphogenesis, and organogenesis. Low oxygen levels are the naturally preferred microenvironment for most processes during early development and mainly drive proliferation. Later on, more oxygen and also nutrients are needed for organogenesis and morphogenesis. Therefore, it is critical to maintain oxygen levels within a narrow range as required during development. Modulating oxygen tensions is performed via oxygen homeostasis mainly through the function of hypoxia-inducible factors. Through the function of these factors, oxygen levels are sensed and regulated in different tissues, starting from their embryonic state to adult development. To be able to mimic this process in a tissue engineering setting, it is important to understand the role and levels of oxygen in each developmental stage, from embryonic stem cell differentiation to organogenesis and morphogenesis. Taking lessons from native tissue microenvironments, researchers have explored approaches to control oxygen tensions such as hemoglobin-based, perfluorocarbon-based, and oxygen-generating biomaterials, within synthetic tissue engineering scaffolds and organoids, with the aim of overcoming insufficient or nonuniform oxygen levels and nutrient supply.
Inflammation in Diabetic Kidney Disease
Authors: Pérez-Morales Rosa E. , del Pino María Dolores , Valdivielso José Manuel , Ortiz Alberto , Mora-Fernández Carmen , Navarro-González Juan F.
Published: October 2018

Background: Diabetes is a growing public health problem. Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the most prevalent chronic renal disease and the major cause of end-stage renal failure worldwide, predominantly due to the increase of Type 2 diabetes associated with obesity. The intimate mechanisms leading to the development and progression of renal injury in DKD are not well understood, but current knowledge indicates that its pathogenesis is multifactorial, where the immune response and inflammation appear to be relevant factors. Summary: This review summarizes the role of relevant inflammatory molecules and pathways that participate in the development of DKD. Likewise, we focused on the new therapeutic approaches based on anti-inflammatory effects of different drugs. Key Messages: This new pathogenic perspective of DKD as an inflammatory condition leads to novel horizons, such as the potential role of inflammatory signaling pathways and their downstream products as emerging biomarkers and promising therapeutic targets.
Dynamic properties of simulated brain network models and empirical resting-state data
Authors: Kashyap Amrit , Keilholz Shella
Published: October 2018

Brain network models (BNMs) have become a promising theoretical framework for simulating signals that are representative of whole-brain activity such as resting-state fMRI. However, it has been difficult to compare the complex brain activity obtained from simulations to empirical data. Previous studies have used simple metrics to characterize coordination between regions such as functional connectivity. We extend this by applying various different dynamic analysis tools that are currently used to understand empirical resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) to the simulated data. We show that certain properties correspond to the structural connectivity input that is shared between the models, and certain dynamic properties relate more to the mathematical description of the brain network model. We conclude that the dynamic properties that explicitly examine patterns of signal as a function of time rather than spatial coordination between different brain regions in the rs-fMRI signal seem to provide the largest contrasts between different BNMs and the unknown empirical dynamical system. Our results will be useful in constraining and developing more realistic simulations of whole-brain activity.
Centralized and distributed cognitive task processing in the human connectome
Authors: Amico Enrico , Arenas Alex , Goñi Joaquín
Published: October 2018

A key question in modern neuroscience is how cognitive changes in a human brain can be quantified and captured by functional connectivity (FC). A systematic approach to measure pairwise functional distance at different brain states is lacking. This would provide a straightforward way to quantify differences in cognitive processing across tasks; also, it would help in relating these differences in task-based FCs to the underlying structural network. Here we propose a framework, based on the concept of Jensen-Shannon divergence, to map the task-rest connectivity distance between tasks and resting-state FC. We show how this information theoretical measure allows for quantifying connectivity changes in distributed and centralized processing in functional networks. We study resting state and seven tasks from the Human Connectome Project dataset to obtain the most distant links across tasks. We investigate how these changes are associated with different functional brain networks, and use the proposed measure to infer changes in the information-processing regimes. Furthermore, we show how the FC distance from resting state is shaped by structural connectivity, and to what extent this relationship depends on the task. This framework provides a well-grounded mathematical quantification of connectivity changes associated with cognitive processing in large-scale brain networks.
Five new species of the spider genus Khorata Huber, 2005 (Araneae: Pholcidae) from Vietnam
Authors: NIE LEI , YAO ZHIYUAN , PHAM DINH-SAC , LI SHUQIANG
Published: October 2018

Five new species of the genus Khorata Huber, 2005 are reported from Vietnam: Khorata bachma Yao & Li sp. nov. (Thua Thien-Hue), K. cucphuong Yao & Li sp. nov. (Ninh Binh), K. vinhphuc Yao & Li sp. nov. (Vinh Phuc), K. palace Yao & Li sp. nov. (Ninh Binh) and K. quangbinh Yao & Li sp. nov. (Quang Binh). Type material is deposited in the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IZCAS) in Beijing, China.
Kribiodorum Kieffer (= Stelechomyia Reiss) (Diptera: Chironomidae) extends into the Oriental region: three new species and expanded diagnoses
Authors: CRANSTON PETER S.
Published: October 2018

Kribiodorum Kieffer, an otherwise North American and African genus of Chironomini (Diptera: Chironomidae), extends to the Oriental region through two new species. An adult male and female of Kribiodorum malicky sp. n. is newly described from Thailand, and from Brunei (Borneo) a pharate male and the pupa of Kribiodorum belalong sp. n. is described. Additionally, from Namibia (s.w. Africa) a 'manuscript' taxon is described formally with co-authorship of the late Arthur Harrison as Kribiodorum kunene sp. n. Males of the new species and the sole new pupa conform substantially to generic diagnoses based on the North American Kribiodorum perpulchrum (Mitchell). Examination of specimens of African Kribiodorum pulchrum Kieffer and N. American K. perpulchrum confirms their morphological similarity and reaffirms the junior synonymy of Stelechomyia Reiss designated for the North American species. Kribiodorum expands the number of genera of Chironomidae with African and Asian representatives, although unusual in its absence from Australia yet presence in the Nearctic.
A first survey of Cretaceous thrips from Burmese amber including the establishment of a new family of Tubulifera (Insecta: Thysanoptera)
Authors: ULITZKA MANFRED R.
Published: October 2018

Burmite, a Cretaceous amber coming from the north of Myanmar, is known to preserve a great diversity of fossil arthropods, particularly insects. Many inclusions of different taxa in several insect orders have been well analysed, but this is the first study focussed on the Thysanoptera found in Burmite. In the sub-order Terebrantia, family Merothripidae, Myanmarothrips pankowskiorum gen. n., sp. n. is recognized in various amber samples from a total of 34 females but only one male. In the sub-order Tubulifera, Rohrthrips burmiticus sp. n. is based on a single female with a tubular tenth abdominal segment. This is an exceptionally well-preserved specimen, and details of the mouth parts indicate that the gnathal apparatus of modern Tubulifera was already developed in the Cretaceous. Due to plesiomorphic characters with respect to extant Tubulifera, the genus Rohrthrips is transferred to Rohrthripidae fam. n., and this family is clearly differentiated from extant Phlaeothripidae.
Daily Precipitation Fields Modeling across the Great Lakes Region (Canada) by Using the CFSR Reanalysis
Authors: Khedhaouiria Dikra , Mailhot Alain , Favre Anne-Catherine
Published: October 2018

Reanalyses, generated by numerical weather prediction methods assimilating past observations, provide consistent and continuous meteorological fields for a specific period. In regard to precipitation, reanalyses cannot be used as a climate proxy of the observed precipitation, as biases and scale mismatches exist between the datasets. In the present study, a stochastic model output statistics (SMOS) approach combined with meta-Gaussian spatiotemporal random fields was employed to cope with these caveats. The SMOS is based on the generalized linear model (GLM) and the vector generalized linear model (VGLM) frameworks to model the precipitation occurrence and intensity, respectively. Both models use the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) precipitation as covariate and were locally calibrated at 173 sites across the Great Lakes region. Combined with meta-Gaussian random fields, the GLM and VGLM models allowed for the generation of spatially coherent daily precipitation fields across the region. The results indicated that the approach corrected systematic biases and provided an accurate spatiotemporal structure of daily precipitation. Performances of selected precipitation indicators from the joint Commission for Climatology (CCl)/CLIVAR/JCOMM Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) were good and were systematically improved when compared to CFSR.
The Growth and Saturation of Submesoscale Instabilities in the Presence of a Barotropic Jet
Authors: Stamper Megan A. , Taylor John R. , Fox-Kemper Baylor
Published: October 2018

Motivated by recent observations of submesoscales in the Southern Ocean, we use nonlinear numerical simulations and a linear stability analysis to examine the influence of a barotropic jet on submesoscale instabilities at an isolated front. Simulations of the nonhydrostatic Boussinesq equations with a strong barotropic jet (approximately matching the observed conditions) show that submesoscale disturbances and strong vertical velocities are confined to a small region near the initial frontal location. In contrast, without a barotropic jet, submesoscale eddies propagate to the edges of the computational domain and smear the mean frontal structure. Several intermediate jet strengths are also considered. A linear stability analysis reveals that the barotropic jet has a modest influence on the growth rate of linear disturbances to the initial conditions, with at most a ~20% reduction in the growth rate of the most unstable mode. On the other hand, a basic state formed by averaging the flow at the end of the simulation with a strong barotropic jet is linearly stable, suggesting that nonlinear processes modify the mean flow and stabilize the front.
The NCAR–FAA Snow Machine: An Artificial Snow-Generation System
Authors: Landolt Scott D. , Rasmussen Roy M. , Hills Alan J. , Underwood Warren , Knight Charles A. , Jachcik Albert , Schwartz Andrew
Published: October 2018

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) developed an artificial snow-generation system designed to operate in a laboratory cold chamber for testing aircraft anti-icing fluids under controlled conditions. Flakes of ice are produced by shaving an ice cylinder with a rotating carbide bit; the resulting artificial snow is dispersed by turbulent airflows and falls approximately 2.5 m to the bottom of the device. The resulting fine ice shavings mimic snow in size, distribution, fall velocity, density, and liquid water equivalent (LWE) snowfall rate. The LWE snowfall rate can be controlled using either a mass balance or a precipitation gauge, which measures the snowfall accumulation over time, from which the computer derives the LWE rate. LWE snowfall rates are calculated every 6 s, and the rate the ice cylinder is fed into the carbide bit is continually adjusted to ensure that the LWE snowfall rate matches a user-selected value. The system has been used to generate LWE snowfall rates ranging from 0 to 10 mm h−1 at temperatures from −2 to −30°C and densities of approximately 0.1–0.5 g cm−3. Comparisons of the snow-machine fluid tests with the outdoor fluid tests have shown that the snow machine can mimic natural outdoor rates under a broad range of conditions.
Comparing the Hedging Effectiveness of Weather Derivatives Based on Remotely Sensed Vegetation Health Indices and Meteorological Indices
Authors: Möllmann Johannes , Buchholz Matthias , Musshoff Oliver
Published: October 2018

Weather derivatives are considered a promising agricultural risk management tool. Station-based meteorological indices typically provide the data underlying these instruments. However, the main shortcoming of these weather derivatives is an imperfect correlation between the weather index and the yield of the insured crop, called basis risk. This paper considers three available remotely sensed vegetation health (VH) indices, namely, the vegetation condition index (VCI), the temperature condition index (TCI), and the vegetation health index (VHI), as indices for weather derivatives in a German case study. We investigated the correlation and period of highest correlation with winter wheat yield. Moreover, we analyzed whether the use of remotely sensed VH indices for weather derivatives can reduce basis risk and thus improve the performance of weather derivatives. The two commonly used meteorological indices, precipitation and temperature sums, were employed as benchmarks. Quantile regression and index value simulation were used for the design and pricing of the weather derivatives. The analysis for the selected farms and corresponding counties in northeastern Germany revealed that, on average, the VHI resulted in the highest correlation with winter wheat yield, and VHI-based weather derivatives were also superior in terms of the hedging effectiveness. The total periods of the highest correlations ranged from the beginning of April to the end of July. VHI- and VCI-based weather derivatives led to statistically significant reductions of basis risk, compared to the benchmarks. Our results indicate that the VHI-based weather derivatives can be useful alternatives to meteorological indices, especially in regions with sparser weather station networks.
Mapping Discourses of Climate Change Adaptation in the United Kingdom
Authors: Cotton Matthew , Stevens Emma
Published: October 2018

The concept of adaptation is becoming part of mainstream public discourse on climate change. Yet the diversity, complexity, and novelty of the adaptation concept itself leads to interpretive flexibility, differing public understanding of (and engagement with) adaptation strategies, and hence differentiated policy responses. The boundary work of communicative practices and public understanding of the adaptation concept therefore requires empirical analysis in different cases and contexts. This study employs Q-methodology (a combined quantitative–qualitative social research method) to reveal the typologies of perspectives that emerge around the adaptation concept among a diverse group of citizen-stakeholders in the United Kingdom. Four such typologies are identified under the labels 1) top-down climate action, 2) collective action on climate change, 3) optimistic, values-focused adaptation, and 4) adaptation skepticism. The division between these perspectives reveals a perceived “responsibility gap” between the governmental–institutional and/or individual–community levels. Across the emergent discourses we find a consensual call for a multisector, multiscalar, and multistakeholder-led approach that posits adaptation as a contemporary, intragenerational problem, with a strong emphasis upon managing extreme weather events, and not as an abstract future problem. By attending to these public discourses in climate policy, this presents a potential means to lessen such a responsibility gap.
The Transmission of Energy-Saving Behaviors in the Family: A Multilevel Approach to the Assessment of Aggregated and Single Energy-Saving Actions of Parents and Adolescents
Authors: Wallis Hannah , Klöckner Christian
Published: October 2018

The present article examines the transmission of energy-saving behaviors in the family on two levels. We investigated the extent to which energy-saving performance differed between adolescents in relation to parental behavior on an aggregated level but also across single behaviors within adolescents. Furthermore, we investigated whether social context (e.g., private areas in a household) interfered with one of the basic mechanisms assumed for this transmission (observation). Correlations between 13 self-reported single energy-saving behaviors from 264 adolescents and their respective parents ( N = 554) were analyzed by combining a path analysis with a multilevel approach. There were strong significant correlations between parents’ and adolescents’ energy-saving behaviors, mediated by adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ behavior. The congruence between parents’ self-reports and adolescents’ perceptions was lower in private contexts than in shared social contexts in the household. This indicates that differentiated investigations with single behaviors and a focus on the social context (e.g., observability) are needed in transmission research.
Sober Regrets and Shared Risk Taking: Navigating Intoxicated Consent and Rape in the Courtroom
Authors: Clough Amanda
Published: October 2018

The difficulty with accusations of rape when a victim is voluntarily intoxicated has long prevailed in the courtroom. How and where to draw the line of being legally capable to consent has been debated in several cases and by many academics. This article will discuss this dilemma and how it may be solved.
Teaching Race in U.S. History: Examining Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in a Multicultural Urban High School
Authors: Martell Christopher C.
Published: October 2018

In this interpretative case study, the researcher examined the beliefs and practices of three self-identifying culturally relevant social studies teachers related to their teaching of U.S. history at a racially and ethnically diverse urban high school. The teachers displayed beliefs and practices that were aligned with the core criteria of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), while also centering their U.S. history classrooms on race and racism. However, the teachers described and exhibited CRP through three different models: exchanging, discovering, and challenging. Despite these differences, the students reported a positive response to their teacher’s use of CRP.
La victoire d’André Jarlan : la naissance d’une affaire pendant la dictature militaire chilienne
Authors: Cortés Alexis
Published: October 2018

André Jarlan was a French priest murdered by the Chilean police during a protest against the dictatorship in the working-class neighbourhood of La Victoria. In this article, I will show how the Jarlan case can be framed in what the sociology of Luc Boltanski calls affaire. The Jarlan case, through the denunciation of the murder, contributed to develop a generalisation of the critique of the dictatorship, giving visibility to other crimes and allowing the re-humanization of its victims. This case shows that the critical capacities of people and the claim for justice can be mobilized with success even in an unfavourable situation such as a dictatorship. The condition of the victim (a priest), the accuser (the Catholic Church), the executioner (the dictatorship), and the cause (the pobladores) are the elements that will give exemplarity to this case that morally defeats the Chilean dictatorship.
Screening of toxoplasmosis in cancer patients: a concern
Authors: Abdoli Amir , Barati Mohammad , Pirestani Majid , Dalimi Abdolhossein
Published: October 2018

Toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic infectious disease in immunocompromised patients, including cancer patients, whose detection is by molecular and serological methods. A total of 106 blood samples from patients with different types of cancer were evaluated for anti- Toxoplasma gondii IgG and IgM antibodies by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the parasite DNA by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These were detected in 41.51% (44/106) and 0.94% (1/106), respectively, but T. gondii IgM antibody was not detected at all. These results suggest that the screening of toxoplasmosis should be considered more routinely in cancer patients.
The Old Testament in Colossians: A Response to Paul Foster
Authors: Beale G.K.
Published: October 2018

This article is a response to Paul Foster’s recent critiques of the attempts made by Christopher Beetham, Gordon D. Fee and myself (= BFB) to discern allusions and echoes in Colossians (Foster’s ﬁrst critique was published in this journal). Due to the differences he ﬁnds in our results, Foster argues that there is no conscious use of the OT within the book. He believes that the methodology used by us and our conclusions are unfalsiﬁable, since we have a subjective reader-response approach. After explaining the question of OT references in Colossians, this article lays some brief groundwork on the nature of allusions and echoes, especially as Beetham and I view them. The majority of the essay then provides a response to Foster, who, it is argued, appears to misrepresent the data of how allusions and echoes are recognized by different scholars. Furthermore, there are certain fundamental interpretive misconceptions in the manner he unfolds his argument for the lack of OT allusions and echoes in Colossians.
Two Types of Critical Theological Interpretation
Authors: Morgan Robert
Published: October 2018

This article challenges a part of the introductory chapter of Biblical Truths in which Dale Martin rejects the nineteenth- and twentieth-century project called New Testament theology, contrasting it with his alternative theological use of the Bible. That contested discipline’s characteristic combination of biblical scholarship with the often unspoken religious aims of the interpreters distinguishes it from the explicit theological interpretation of Barth, Martin, the ‘biblical theology movement’ and most Christian readings of scripture. The latter has priority in churches, but both types are needed for scripture to be a source and norm of faith and theology, and the former is therefore prominent in theological education.
The political theology of populism and the case of the Front National
Authors: Bergem Ingeborg M. , Bergem Ragnar M.
Published: October 2018

In this article, we investigate the political theology of populism and look at the case of the Front National (FN). Considering the writings of Carl Schmitt and Ernesto Laclau, we trace the logical core of Schmitt’s political theology and show how it is integrated into theories of the political and Laclau’s theory of populism. We argue that the theologico-political core of populism is the simultaneous disavowal and imposition of mediation and that this stance leads to an increasing formalism. Looking at the discourse of the FN on the notion of laïcité, we find that this theologico-political structure explains how the party is able to link traditionally left- and right-wing motives in its discourse. Finally, we show how in FN’s discourse, the formalist tendency of populism, which Laclau has theoretically explicated, has become overt and must be understood as part of politics, not as a universal and tran-historical logic of the political. This suggests, we argue pace Laclau, that we ought to consider both the discourse of FN and the theoretical concepts of the political or of populism, as results of one of the same historical processes which has led them to affirm their common and uninterrogated assumption: the theologico-political principle and its disavowal of the possibility of metaphysical and political mediation.
Recognizing freedom
Authors: McIntyre Katharine M.
Published: October 2018

Domination as opposed to what? Michel Foucault’s works on power and subject formation uncover the subtle ways in which disciplinary power structures create opportunities for domination. Yet Foucault says little about the forms of freedom that we should prefer. I argue that the proper opposite of Foucauldian domination is a version of the concept of social freedom found in contemporary recognition theory. I establish that Foucault implicitly commits himself to an ontological concept of recognition in which the subject is constituted by acts that affirm particular qualities. On the basis of this ontological commitment, there is room for Foucault to endorse an ethical concept of recognition as well, in which the subject’s freedom is bound to a variety of forms of institutional and interpersonal recognition. Finally, Foucauldian insights regarding the potentially dominating tendencies of genuine acts of recognition lead to helpful modifications of the concept of social freedom.
Refinement, Reduction, and Replacement (3R) Strategies in Preclinical Testing of Medical Devices
Authors: Hampshire Victoria A. , Gilbert Samuel H.
Published: October 2018

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health (FDA/CDRH) has recently published several in vivo test guidance documents that mention refinements, reductions, or replacement animal testing strategies to facilitate the leveraging of data from large animal safety tests for conventional rodent testing. In response to the recently enacted Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act Section 907, which facilitates expedited access to novel therapies commonly described as Breakthrough Therapy Designation, FDA/CDRH has discussed efficient regulatory strategies for first-in-human investigation, including early feasibility study guidance. Large gains in humane care and translational research could also be attained by examples in FDA’s Guidance for the Use of International Organization for Standardization 10993-1, which states that large animal safety studies may be considered as replacement rodent tests if the scientific principles, methods, and end points (SPME) are considered and applied. This article discusses SPME for the replacement of conventional rodent testing by the inclusion and integration of clinical, diagnostic, and pathologic data obtained from well-designed large animal studies. The recommendations include consideration for study designs that utilize methods for an overall more comprehensive interrogation of animal systems.
Language Use and Children’s BMI Growth among Second-Generation Immigrants in the United Kingdom
Authors: Giunti Sara , Oncini Filippo
Published: October 2018

This research note analyzes the relationship between language use and children’s Body Mass Index (BMI) growth in the United Kingdom. Making use of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), we assess whether the main language spoken in the household explains BMI divergences between immigrants’ and natives’ children. We provide evidence that the integration process hampers BMI growth and therefore exerts a small protective effect: male children living in English-speaking households gain weight slower than those with less integrated parents. However, the protective effect applies only to sons from higher social origins.
Effects of meal replacement therapy on metabolic outcomes in Thai patients with type 2 diabetes: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Boonyavarakul Apussanee , Leelawattana Rattana , Pongchaiyakul Chatlert , Buranapin Supawan , Phanachet Pariya , Pramyothin Pornpoj
Published: October 2018

Background:

A meal replacement (MR) with a low glycemic index (GI) is possibly beneficial for glycemic control. However, the effects of MR on diabetes mellitus have not been studied among Thai patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Aim:

To compare metabolic outcomes between T2DM patients receiving the new MR formula (ONCE PRO) and normal controlled diets.

Methods:

A multicenter, open-labeled, randomized controlled trial was conducted. Eligible patients received either ONCE PRO for one meal daily with controlled diets or only controlled diets for 3 months. The differences in metabolic profile between the baseline and end point of each group and between groups were measured.

Results:

110 participants were enrolled; the mean difference and standard deviation in hemoglobin A1C (HbA1c) (%) from baseline were –0.21 ± 0.78 ( p = 0.060) and –0.27 ± 0.60 ( p = 0.001) in the MR and control groups, respectively; however, there was no significant difference between groups ( p = 0.637). Patients consuming a MR instead of breakfast had a significant decrease in HbA1c ( p = 0.040). Body weight (BW) and body mass index (BMI) were significantly reduced in both groups. There were no significant change in waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol and triglycerides. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was significantly decreased in the MR group compared with the control group ( p = 0.049).

Conclusions:

Short-term conventional diet control and the low-GI MR product were associated with a decreased BW and BMI. Changes in the other metabolic outcomes, HbA1c, total cholesterol and triglycerides, were comparable despite ONCE PRO as the MR having a better effect on LDL-C lowering.
Inducing jealousy and intimate partner violence among young adults
Authors: Kaufman-Parks Angela M. , Longmore Monica A. , Giordano Peggy C. , Manning Wendy D.
Published: October 2018

Jealousy has been linked to a number of deleterious relationship outcomes; yet, few studies have explored the broader ways in which inducing jealousy affects intimate relationships. Using data on 892 young adults from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study, we examined correlates and consequences of intentionally inducing jealousy in intimate relationships. Results indicated that factors both unique and internal to the intimate dyad and those external to the intimate relationship were associated with jealousy-inducing behaviors. Dyadic factors included verbal conflict and partners’ infidelity and controlling behaviors, and external factors included childhood experiences of parent–child physical aggression. Jealousy induction was associated with experiences of partner violence after accounting for familial background, relationship, and sociodemographic factors. We discuss potential mechanisms linking these relationship dynamics and provide suggestions for future research.
Post-treatment maturation of medulloblastoma in children: two cases and a literature review
Authors: Wu Xuanxuan , Zhou Yudong , Li Lusheng , Liang Ping , Zhai Xuan
Published: October 2018

We herein report two cases of post-treatment maturation of medulloblastoma (MB). We also conducted a literature review to summarize the clinical and pathologic features of MB maturation. From January 1992 to February 2017, 52 patients with MB underwent surgical resection followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Tumor cell maturation was identified in two patients who underwent a second surgery. We conducted a systematic search of PubMed and identified six such cases. In both of our patients, the pathologic type was MB with extensive nodularity (MBEN). Both patients underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The tumor differentiated to gangliocytoma in both patients. In the overall analysis that also included the six cases identified in the literature, the pathologic types were classic MB (n=1), desmoplastic/nodular MB (n=2), MBEN (n=3), and unclassified MB (n=2). MB differentiated into the following types: gangliocytoma (n=2), ganglioglioma (n=1), melanocyte (n=1), neuronal differentiation (n=2), and classic MB (n=1). Desmoplastic/nodular MB and MBEN can differentiate into less malignant cells types after radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Maturation of MB may be affected radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Cystoid macular oedema and iris-fixated intraocular lens treated with intraocular lens exchange: A case series and review
Authors: Massa Horace F. , Gobej Iona , Jacquier Paul , Jonescu-Cuypers Christian , Le Quoy Olivier
Published: October 2018

This series of case reports describes six eyes from five patients that underwent intraocular lens (IOL) exchange with scleral-fixated IOLs for cystoid macular oedema associated with iris-fixated IOLs between 2005 and 2015. Macular oedema was assessed using ocular coherence tomography (OCT). The six eyes in this series were treated by IOL removal and implantation of a scleral -sutured IOL with four points of fixation in the sulcus. Visual acuity improved in all six eyes. On OCT, macular oedema resolved after 3 months in all eyes. There were no surgical complications from the IOL exchange. One eye had a pupilloplasty and another had a diaphragm IOL to treat a major iris impairment from prior surgeries. The cause of cystoid macular oedema in these cases remains controversial but has been well recognized in eyes with iris-sutured IOLs. The absence of sutures with posterior fixation of an iris claw IOL prevents progressive corneal endothelial cell loss but does not prevent macular oedema, even in vitrectomized eyes. In conclusion, macular oedema resolved and visual acuity improved after implant exchange with a secondary scleral-fixated IOL in these cases. This procedure should be considered as a solution to persistent symptomatic cystoid macular oedema from an iris-fixated implant.
Primary sphenoid lymphoma: Focus on imaging
Authors: Facchinelli Davide , Boninsegna Enrico , Barillari Marco , Mansueto Giancarlo , Krampera Mauro , Veneri Dino
Published: October 2018

Primary lymphoma of the sphenoid is an extremely rare pathology, therefore it is difficult to hypothesize and the imaging characteristics are not well-known. Here we report the imaging features in computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scan of a 44-year-old patient who presented with severe headache. CT and MRI showed a sphenoid sinus mass that suggested rhinopharyngeal lesion or a chordoma. However, biopsy from the mass histologically proved it to be Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and PET examinations revealed increased fluorodeoxyglucose uptake around the sphenoid bone and multiple spinal lesions.
The Impact of Dual Diagnosis on Drug Court Failure
Authors: Zettler Haley R.
Published: October 2018

There is limited research investigating the relationship between dual diagnosis and drug court outcomes. The current study examines the relationship between dual diagnosis and drug court failure by specific failure type. Utilizing data from a large urban drug court in the Southwestern United States, the study finds mixed results regarding the impact of dual diagnosis on drug court failure. Specifically, while there was no evidence that dual diagnosis predicted overall success/failure, dual diagnosis significantly increased the odds of serious program failure (e.g., new offense, absconding, revocation). In contrast, dual diagnosis significantly decreased the odds of less serious failure (e.g., rule violation, relapse).
Revealed competition between cluster organizations: An exploratory analysis of the European life sciences sector
Authors: Karreman Bas , Burger Martijn J. , van Eenennaam Fred
Published: October 2018

Extant cluster policy research has largely ignored the particular role that cluster organizations play in reifying cluster policies in practice. Based on a survey of 163 cluster organizations in the European life sciences sector, this study explores the heterogeneity of cluster organizations in geographic space and examines whether and where revealed competition – defined as the combined overlap in service offerings, sub-sectoral focus and funding sources – between life science cluster organizations within European regions is most apparent. The findings indicate that the degree of functional and sectoral substitutability of cluster organizations differs substantially across Europe, though some regions, particularly in Spain, Denmark, France and Estonia, are more prone to revealed competition.
The local labour building the international community: Precarious work within humanitarian spaces
Authors: Pascucci Elisa
Published: October 2018

Recent research has highlighted the relevance of spaces of international aid and development as sites where global politics materializes. However, the position of local aid workers within these spaces remains less explored. Drawing on fieldwork with humanitarian professionals employed in responses to the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan and Lebanon, this paper theorizes the salience of labour and precarity in the geographies of contemporary humanitarian aid. The ethnographically informed argument is built through three main points: (1) unemployment and insecurity among locally recruited humanitarian staff; (2) the forms of care and affective labour that the aid sector mobilizes; and (3) racialized and classed relations within humanitarian spaces. I argue that the differential precarities experienced by aid workers reproduce a porous and contested ‘local vs international’ divide. While challenged by the ‘new inclusions’ brought about by the global expansion of the aid industry, this divide perpetuates entrenched exclusions and hierarchies, raising ethico-political concerns about the presumptions of abstract universality inherent to humanitarianism.
Parking Is for People: A History of Public Parking in Washington, D.C. (and Implications for Transportation Design Today)
Authors: Westrom Ryan J. , Shaheen Chris , Schwartzman Rebecca
Published: October 2018

The history and etymology of “parking” track a shift in meaning from a military term associated with lining up wagons to a public parklike space adjacent to a roadway to its current meaning as car storage. Parking thus historically had nothing to do with cars, predating their invention, and this unique history continues to evolve in the context of Washington, D.C. This paper seeks to trace this little-known history through historical research, as well as document the various plans that established public parking in the District of Columbia and then track its transition to the typical current meaning as car storage. Tracing the evolution of parking and connecting it to current work promoting green space and walkability could bring about a renaissance of public parking in its previous meaning, highlighting its story, and have implications for the significance and design of public space not just in the District but across the world.
A Kalman Filter-Based Queue Length Estimation Method with Low-Penetration Mobile Sensor Data at Signalized Intersections
Authors: Yin Juyuan , Sun Jian , Tang Keshuang
Published: October 2018

Queue length estimation is of great importance for signal performance measures and signal optimization. With the development of connected vehicle technology and mobile internet technology, using mobile sensor data instead of fixed detector data to estimate queue length has become a significant research topic. This study proposes a queue length estimation method using low-penetration mobile sensor data as the only input. The proposed method is based on the combination of Kalman Filtering and shockwave theory. The critical points are identified from raw spatiotemporal points and allocated to different cycles for subsequent estimation. To apply the Kalman Filter, a state-space model with two state variables and the system noise determined by queue-forming acceleration is established, which can characterize the stochastic property of queue forming. The Kalman Filter with joining points as measurement input recursively estimates real-time queue lengths; on the other hand, queue-discharging waves are estimated with a line fitted to leaving points. By calculating the crossing point of the queue-forming wave and the queue-discharging wave of a cycle, the maximum queue length is also estimated. A case study with DiDi mobile sensor data and ground truth maximum queue lengths at Huanggang-Fuzhong intersection, Shenzhen, China, shows that the mean absolute percentage error is only 11.2%. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis shows that the proposed estimation method achieves much better performance than the classical linear regression method, especially in extremely low penetration rates.
Crowdsourcing Incident Information for Emergency Response using Open Data Sources in Smart Cities
Authors: Zuo Fan , Kurkcu Abdullah , Ozbay Kaan , Gao Jingqin
Published: October 2018

Emergency events affect human security and safety as well as the integrity of the local infrastructure. Emergency response officials are required to make decisions using limited information and time. During emergency events, people post updates to social media networks, such as tweets, containing information about their status, help requests, incident reports, and other useful information. In this research project, the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model is used to automatically classify incident-related tweets and incident types using Twitter data. Unlike the previous social media information models proposed in the related literature, the LDA is an unsupervised learning model which can be utilized directly without prior knowledge and preparation for data in order to save time during emergencies. Twitter data including messages and geolocation information during two recent events in New York City, the Chelsea explosion and Hurricane Sandy, are used as two case studies to test the accuracy of the LDA model for extracting incident-related tweets and labeling them by incident type. Results showed that the model could extract emergency events and classify them for both small and large-scale events, and the model’s hyper-parameters can be shared in a similar language environment to save model training time. Furthermore, the list of keywords generated by the model can be used as prior knowledge for emergency event classification and training of supervised classification models such as support vector machine and recurrent neural network.
Modeling Framework and Implementation of Activity- and Agent-Based Simulation: An Application to the Greater Boston Area
Authors: Viegas de Lima Isabel , Danaf Mazen , Akkinepally Arun , De Azevedo Carlos Lima , Ben-Akiva Moshe
Published: October 2018

This paper presents a utility-maximizing approach to agent-based modeling with an application to the Greater Boston Area (GBA). It leverages day activity schedules (DAS) to create a framework for representing travel demand in an individual’s day. DAS are composed of a sequence of stops that make up home-based tours with activity purposes, intermediate stops, and subtours. The framework introduced in this paper includes three levels: (1) the Day Pattern Level, which determines if an individual will travel and, if so, what types of primary activities and intermediate stops they will do; (2) the Tour Level, which models the mode, destination, and time-of-day of the different primary activities; and (3) the Intermediate Stop Level, which generates intermediate stops. The models are estimated for the GBA using the 2010 Massachusetts Travel Survey (MTS). They are then implemented in SimMobility, the agent-based, activity-based, multimodal simulator. It run in a microsimulation using a Synthetic Population. Produced results are consistent with the MTS. Compared with similar activity-based approaches, the proposed framework allows for more flexibility in modeling a wide range of activity and travel patterns.
Systemic therapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma: Review of the current literature
Authors: Zerdes Ioannis , Tolia Maria , Tsoukalas Nikolaos , Mitsis Michail , Kardamakis Dimitrios , Pistevou-Gombaki Kyriaki , Tsekeris Perikles , Kyrgias George
Published: October 2018

Introduction:

Renal cell carcinoma represents a neoplasm with usually aggressive behavior. Due to its nature, it is often diagnosed in an advanced stage or when metastatic dissemination has been occurred. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the current management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma and briefly discuss the potential new therapeutic strategies for this disease.

Methods:

Review of the literature was performed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane, and EMBASE and we included English articles up to February 2018.

Results:

Over the past years, many efforts have been made in the context of confronting metastatic disease and led to the introduction of targeted therapies. More available agent options, including various tyrosine kinase inhibitors and mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors, can be served nowadays as the first-, second-, and third-line therapy in the metastatic setting of the disease providing better outcomes.

Discussion:

Moreover, regarding the recent advances in the field of cancer immunotherapy, the landscape of metastatic renal cell carcinoma management is being shaped toward novel immunotherapeutic interventions alone or in combination with other types of therapy.