bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Time to Molt
Authors: Thompson Heather M.
Published: September 2011

A nongrowing tracheal system limits oxygen availability to internal tissues, thereby regulating molting cycles in insects.
Safety incidents in family medicine
Authors: O'Beirne Maeve , Sterling Pam D , Zwicker Karen , Hebert Philip , Norton Peter G
Published: September 2011

Objective

To discuss the characteristics of incidents reported to the Medical Safety in Community Practice (MSCP) safety learning system.

Methods

Members of family physician offices in the Alberta Health Services—Calgary zone, confidentially reported patient safety incidents via web or fax from September 2007 to August 2010. The incident reporting form contained both open-ended and closed questions. Incidents were reviewed for their characteristics.

Results

A total of 19 family practices participated in MSCP. A total of 264 useable reports were collected. Reporting was higher when practices first joined and then decreased. There was an average of 1.4 reports per month. Physicians submitted the majority of reports. Physicians and nurses were more likely to report an incident than office staff. The vast majority of reported incidents were judged to have‘virtually certain evidence of preventability’ (93%). Harm was associated with 50% of incidents. Only 1% of the incidents had a severe impact. The top four types of incidents reported were documentation (41.4%), medication (29.7%), clinical administration (18.7%) and clinical process (17.5%).

Conclusion

MSCP has developed and implemented the first safety learning system in Canada for family practice. All clinic members were encouraged to submit reports, but most of the incidents were reported by physicians. The vast majority of incidents reported were preventable with limited severity. The most frequently reported types of incidents fell into the categories of documentation and medication. The low reporting rates suggest that for family practices incident reporting may not be the most effective method to determine the types and frequency of incidents in family medicine.
The role of an open-space CCTV system in limiting alcohol-related assault injuries in a late-night entertainment precinct in a tropical Queensland city, Australia
Authors: Pointing Shane , Hayes-Jonkers Charmaine , Bohanna India , Clough Alan
Published: September 2011

Closed circuit television (CCTV) systems which incorporate real-time communication links between camera room operators and on-the-ground security may limit injuries resulting from alcohol-related assault. This pilot study examined CCTV footage and operator records of security responses for two periods totalling 22 days in 2010–2011 when 30 alcohol-related assaults were recorded. Semistructured discussions were conducted with camera room operators during 18 h of observation. Camera operators were proactive, efficiently directing street security to assault incidents. The system intervened in 40% (n=12) of alcohol-related assaults, limiting possible injury. This included three incidents judged as potentially preventable. A further five (17%) assault incidents were also judged as potentially preventable, while 43% (n=13) happened too quickly for intervention. Case studies describe security intervention in each category. Further research is recommended, particularly to evaluate the effects on preventing injuries through targeted awareness training to improve responsiveness and enhance the preventative capacity of similar CCTV systems.
THEORY OF THE ISOTOPE EFFECT AND SUPERCONDUCTING TRANSITION TEMPERATURE IN HIGH-Tc OXIDES
Authors: BECHLAGHEM A. , BOURBIE D.
Published: September 2011

Analytical expressions for the superconducting transition temperature Tc and the isotope coefficient α have been obtained for the case where the Fermi level is close to the van Hove singularity. In this approach, we consider two interactions, the first related to the phonons and the second relevant to the magnetic excitations. Our result shows that the isotope coefficient α decreases with the superconducting transition temperature Tc in qualitative agreement with experimental data.
GROWTH AND STABILITY OF ULTRA-THIN Pb FILMS ON Pb/Si(111)-α-√3 × √3
Authors: LI WEN-JUAN , SUN YU-JIE , ZHU XIE-GANG , WANG GUANG , ZHANG YAN-FENG , JIA JIN-FENG , MA XUCUN , CHEN XI , XUE QI-KUN
Published: September 2011

Ultra-thin Pb films with magic thicknesses of 2 monolayer (ML), 4 ML and 6 ML were prepared of atomically flat on the substrate of Si (111)-α-√3 × √3 (or SIC phase) at 145 K. Their surface morphologies and stability were studied by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and temperature-dependent angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We found that the well ordered SIC interface can lower the diffusion barrier and enhance the interface charge transfer, leading to different critical thickness compared to Pb / Si (111)-7 × 7 grown under same conditions. Enhanced thermal expansion coefficients were also observed in ultra-thin Pb films at low temperature.
COMPUTATIONAL CONTACT MECHANICS BASED ON THE rp-VERSION OF THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
Authors: FRANKE DAVID , RANK ERNST , DÜSTER ALEXANDER
Published: September 2011

In this paper we present an rp-adaptive discretization strategy to perform unilateral two-dimensional (2D) mechanical contact simulations by combining the r- and p-versions of the finite element method (FEM). The p-version leaves the finite element mesh unchanged and increases the shape function's polynomial degree in order to obtain convergence toward the exact solution of the underlying mathematical model. The r-method relocates nodes of an existing FE-mesh to improve the discretization of a given problem without introducing additional degrees of freedom, therefore, keeping the problem size fixed. The rp-version, which is a combination of the two aforementioned methods, is used in our study to move a node of the FE-mesh to the end of the contact zone to account for the loss of regularity that arises due to the change from contact to noncontact along the edge. It will be shown that highly accurate results can be obtained by using high-order (p) finite elements in combination with the penalty method and a relocation (r) of element nodes.
LOCAL STRONG SOLUTION TO THE COMPRESSIBLE MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC FLOW WITH LARGE DATA
Authors: LI XIAOLI , SU NING , WANG DEHUA
Published: September 2011

The three-dimensional compressible magnetohydrodynamic isentropic flow with zero magnetic diffusivity is studied in this paper. The vanishing magnetic diffusivity causes significant difficulties due to the loss of dissipation of the magnetic field. The existence and uniqueness of local-in-time strong solutions with large initial data is established. Strong solutions have weaker regularity than classical solutions. A generalized Lax–Milgram theorem and a Schauder–Tychonoff-type fixed-point argument are applied on conjunction with novel techniques and estimates for strong solutions.
Supporting region-of-interest cropping through constrained compression
Authors: Feng Wu-Chi , Dang Thanh , Kassebaum John , Bauman Tim
Published: September 2011

The ability to create super high-resolution video is becoming relative easy to do either through a single high-definition video camera or panoramic video that automatically stitches multiple views together. As an example of the former, the motion picture industry now has 6000 × 4000 pixel full-rate video cameras available. This means that supporting region-of-interest cropping will become more important in the future. In this article, we propose a mechanism to support region-of-interest adaptation of stored video. The proposed approach creates a compression-compliant stream (e.g., MPEG-2), while still allowing it to be cropped. Fortunately, video standards like MPEG-2 specify the format of a compliant stream, and not the algorithm to get there. As a result, there is an opportunity to allow system researchers and implementers ways to optimize for applications. We show various fundamental tradeoffs that are made in order to support region-of-interest cropping with super high-resolution video which we received from a local motion-picture firm.
FabScalar
Authors: Choudhary Niket K. , Wadhavkar Salil V. , Shah Tanmay A. , Mayukh Hiran , Gandhi Jayneel , Dwiel Brandon H. , Navada Sandeep , Najaf-abadi Hashem H. , Rotenberg Eric
Published: September 2011

A growing body of work has compiled a strong case for the single-ISA heterogeneous multi-core paradigm. A single-ISA heterogeneous multi-core provides multiple, differently-designed superscalar core types that can streamline the execution of diverse programs and program phases. No prior research has addressed the 'Achilles' heel of this paradigm: design and verification effort is multiplied by the number of different core types.

This work frames superscalar processors in a canonical form, so that it becomes feasible to quickly design many cores that differ in the three major superscalar dimensions: superscalar width, pipeline depth, and sizes of structures for extracting instruction-level parallelism (ILP). From this idea, we develop a toolset, called FabScalar, for automatically composing the synthesizable register-transfer-level (RTL) designs of arbitrary cores within a canonical superscalar template. The template defines canonical pipeline stages and interfaces among them. A Canonical Pipeline Stage Library (CPSL) provides many implementations of each canonical pipeline stage, that differ in their superscalar width and depth of sub-pipelining. An RTL generation tool uses the template and CPSL to automatically generate an overall core of desired configuration. Validation experiments are performed along three fronts to evaluate the quality of RTL designs generated by FabScalar: functional and performance (instructions-per-cycle (IPC)) validation, timing validation (cycle time), and confirmation of suitability for standard ASIC flows. With FabScalar, a chip with many different superscalar core types is conceivable.
CRIB
Authors: Gunadi Erika , Lipasti Mikko H.
Published: September 2011

Conventional high-performance processors utilize register renaming and complex broadcast-based scheduling logic to steer instructions into a small number of heavily-pipelined execution lanes. This requires multiple complex structures and repeated dependency resolution, imposing a significant dynamic power overhead. This paper advocates in-place execution of instructions, a power-saving, pipeline-free approach that consolidates rename, issue, and bypass logic into one structure---the CRIB---while simultaneously eliminating the need for a multiported register file, instead storing architected state in a simple rank of latches. CRIB achieves the high IPC of an out-of-order machine while keeping the execution core clean, simple, and low power. The datapath within a CRIB structure is purely combinational, eliminating most of the clocked elements in the core while keeping a fully synchronous yet high-frequency design. Experimental results match the IPC and cycle time of a baseline out-of-order design while reducing dynamic energy consumption by more than 60% in affected structures.
FlexBulk
Authors: Agarwal Rishi , Torrellas Josep
Published: September 2011

Blocked-execution multiprocessor architectures continuously run atomic blocks of instructions --- also called
Chunks
. Such architectures can boost both performance and software productivity, and enable unique compiler optimization opportunities. Unfortunately, they are handicapped in that, if they use large chunks to minimize chunk-commit overhead and to enable more compiler optimization, inter-thread data conflicts may lead to frequent chunk squashes.

In this paper, we present automatic techniques to form chunks in these architectures to minimize the cycles lost to squashes. We start by characterizing the operations that frequently cause squashes. We call them Squash Hazards. We then propose squash-removing algorithms tailored to these
Squash Hazards
. We also describe a software framework called
FlexBulk
that profiles the code and transforms it following these algorithms. We evaluate FlexBulk on 16-threaded PARSEC and SPLASH-2 codes running on a simulated machine. The results show that, with 17,000-instruction chunks, FlexBulk eliminates, on average, over 90% of the squash cycles in the applications. As a result, compared to a baseline execution with 2,000-instruction chunks as in previous work, the applications run on average 1.43x faster.
Rebound
Authors: Agarwal Rishi , Garg Pranav , Torrellas Josep
Published: September 2011

As we move to large manycores, the hardware-based
global
check-pointing schemes that have been proposed for small shared-memory machines do not scale. Scalability barriers include global operations, work lost to global rollback, and inefficiencies in imbalanced or I/O-intensive loads. Scalable checkpointing requires tracking inter-thread dependences and building the checkpoint and rollback operations around dynamic groups of communicating processors.

To address this problem, this paper introduces
Rebound
, the first hardware-based scheme for
coordinated local
checkpointing in multiprocessors with directory based cache coherence. Rebound leverages the transactions of a directory protocol to track inter-thread dependences. In addition, it boosts checkpointing efficiency by: (i) delaying the writeback of data to safe memory at checkpoints, (ii) supporting operation with multiple checkpoints, and (iii) optimizing checkpointing at barrier synchronization. Finally, Rebound introduces distributed algorithms for checkpointing and rollback sets of processors. Simulations of parallel programs with up to 64 threads show that Rebound is scalable and has very low overhead. For 64 processors, its average performance overhead is only 2%, compared to 15% for global checkpointing.
i-NVMM
Authors: Chhabra Siddhartha , Solihin Yan
Published: September 2011

Emerging technologies for building non-volatile main memory (NVMM) systems suffer from a security vulnerability where information lingers on long after the system is powered down, enabling an attacker with physical access to the system to extract sensitive information off the memory. The goal of this study is to find a solution for such a security vulnerability. We introduce i-NVMM, a data privacy protection scheme for NVMM, where the main memory is encrypted incrementally, i.e. different data in the main memory is encrypted at different times depending on whether the data is predicted to still be useful to the processor. The motivation behind incremental encryption is the observation that the working set of an application is much smaller than its resident set. By identifying the working set and encrypting remaining part of the resident set, i-NVMM can keep the majority of the main memory encrypted at all times without penalizing performance by much. Our experiments demonstrate promising results. i-NVMM keeps 78% of the main memory encrypted across SPEC2006 benchmarks, yet only incurs 3.7% execution time overhead, and has a negligible impact on the write endurance of NVMM, all achieved with a relatively simple hardware support in the memory module.
Crafting a usable microkernel, processor, and I/O system with strict and provable information flow security
Authors: Tiwari Mohit , Oberg Jason K. , Li Xun , Valamehr Jonathan , Levin Timothy , Hardekopf Ben , Kastner Ryan , Chong Frederic T. , Sherwood Timothy
Published: September 2011

High assurance systems used in avionics, medical implants, and cryptographic devices often rely on a small trusted base of hardware and software to manage the rest of the system. Crafting the core of such a system in a way that achieves flexibility, security, and performance requires a careful balancing act. Simple static primitives with hard partitions of space and time are easier to analyze formally, but strict approaches to the problem at the hardware level have been extremely restrictive, failing to allow even the simplest of dynamic behaviors to be expressed.

Our approach to this problem is to construct a minimal but configurable
architectural skeleton
. This skeleton couples a critical slice of the low level hardware implementation with a microkernel in a way that allows information flow properties of the entire construction to be statically verified all the way down to its gate-level implementation. This strict structure is then made usable by a runtime system that delivers more traditional services (e.g. communication interfaces and long-living contexts) in a way that is decoupled from the information flow properties of the skeleton. To test the viability of this approach we design, test, and statically verify the information-flow security of a hardware/software system complete with support for unbounded operation, inter-process communication, pipelined operation, and I/O with traditional devices. The resulting system is provably sound even when adversaries are allowed to execute arbitrary code on the machine, yet is flexible enough to allow caching, pipelining, and other common case optimizations.
An abacus turn model for time/space-efficient reconfigurable routing
Authors: Fu Binzhang , Han Yinhe , Ma Jun , Li Huawei , Li Xiaowei
Published: September 2011

Applications' traffic tends to be bursty and the location of hot-spot nodes moves as time goes by. This will significantly aggregate the blocking problem of wormhole-routed Network-on-Chip (NoC). Most of state-of-the-art traffic balancing solutions are based on fully adaptive routing algorithms which may introduce large time/space overhead to routers. Partially adaptive routing algorithms, on the other hand, are time/space efficient, but lack of even or sufficient routing adaptiveness. Reconfigurable routing algorithms could provide on-demand routing adaptiveness for reducing blocking, but most of them are off-line solutions due to the lack of a practical model to dynamically generate deadlock-free routing algorithms.

In this paper, we propose the abacus-turn-model (AbTM) for designing time/space-efficient reconfigurable wormhole routing algorithms. Unlike the original turn model, AbTM exploits dynamic communication patterns in applications to reduce the routing latency and chip area requirements. We apply forbidden turns dynamically to preserve deadlock-free operations. Our AbTM routing architecture has two distinct advantages: First, the AbTM leads to a new router architecture without adding virtual channels and routing table. This reconfigurable architecture updates the routing path once the communication pattern changes, and always provides full adaptiveness to hot-spot directions to reduce network blocking. Secondly, the reconfiguration scheme has a good scalability because all operations are carried out between neighbors. We demonstrate these advantages through extensive simulation experiments. The experimental results are indeed encouraging and prove its applicability with scalable performance in large-scale NoC applications.
A case for globally shared-medium on-chip interconnect
Authors: Carpenter Aaron , Hu Jianyun , Xu Jie , Huang Michael , Wu Hui
Published: September 2011

As microprocessor chips integrate a growing number of cores, the issue of interconnection becomes more important for overall system performance and efficiency. Compared to traditional distributed shared-memory architecture, chip-multiprocessors offer a different set of design constraints and opportunities. As a result, a conventional packet-relay multiprocessor interconnect architecture is a valid, but not necessarily optimal, design point. For example, the advantage of off-the-shelf interconnect and the
in-field
scalability of the interconnect are less important in a chip-multiprocessor. On the other hand, even with worsening wire delays,packet switching represents a non-trivial component of overall latency.

In this paper, we show that with straight forward optimizations, the traffic between different cores can be kept relatively low. This in turn allows simple shared-medium interconnects to be built using communication circuits driving transmission lines. This architecture offers extremely low latencies and can support a large number of cores without the need for packet switching, eliminating costly routers.
The impact of memory subsystem resource sharing on datacenter applications
Authors: Tang Lingjia , Mars Jason , Vachharajani Neil , Hundt Robert , Soffa Mary Lou
Published: September 2011

In this paper we study the impact of sharing memory resources on five Google datacenter applications:
a web search engine, bigtable, content analyzer, image stitching
, and
protocol buffer
. While prior work has found neither positive nor negative effects from cache sharing across the PARSEC benchmark suite, we find that across these datacenter applications, there is both a sizable benefit and a potential degradation from improperly sharing resources. There are four main contributions of this paper. First, we present a study of the importance of thread-to-core mapping for applications in the datacenter as threads can be mapped to share or to not share caches and bus bandwidth. Second, we investigate the impact of co-locating threads from multiple applications with diverse memory behavior and discover that the best mapping for a given application changes de- pending on its co-runner. Third, we investigate the application characteristics that impact performance in the various thread-to-core mapping scenarios. Finally, we present both a heuristics-based and an adaptive approach to arrive at good thread-to-core decisions in the datacenter. We observe performance swings of up to 25% for web search, and 40% for other key applications, simply based on how application threads are mapped to cores. By employing our adaptive thread to core mapper the performance of the datacenter applications presented in this work improved by up to 22% over status quo thread-to-core mapping and performs within 3% of optimal.
Growth Impairment and Nutritional Deficiencies in a Cow's Milk-Allergic Infant Fed by Unmodified Donkey's Milk
Authors: D'Auria Enza , Mandelli Marzia , Ballista Patrizia , Di Dio Francesco , Giovannini Marcello
Published: September 2011

We report a case of growth impairment and nutritional deficiencies in a five-month infant fed by unmodified donkey's milk. We discuss the energy and macronutrient daily intake from donkey's milk and the nutritional consequences that can occur if this kind of milk is used unmodified in the first year of life.
Data-Driven Compensation for Flow Cytometry of Solid Tissues
Authors: Rodijnen Nickolaas Maria van , Pieters Math , Hoop Sjack , Nap Marius
Published: September 2011

Propidium Iodide is a fluorochrome that is used to measure the DNA content of individual cells, taken from solid tissues, with a flow cytometer. Compensation for spectral cross-over of this fluorochrome still leads to compensation results that are depending on operator experience. We present a data-driven compensation (DDC) algorithm that is designed to automatically compensate combined DNA phenotype flow cytometry acquisitions. The generated compensation values of the DDC algorithm are validated by comparison with manually determined compensation values. The results show that (1) compensation of two-color flow cytometry leads to comparable results using either manual compensation or the DDC method; (2) DDC can calculate sample-specific compensation trace lines; (3) the effects of two different approaches to calculate compensation values can be visualized within one sample. We conclude that the DDC algorithm contributes to the standardization of compensation for spectral cross-over in flow cytometry of solid tissues.
Conjoined Twins in a Triplet Pregnancy: A Case Report
Authors: Shepherd Lynn J. , Smith Graeme N.
Published: September 2011

Background. Conjoined twins are a rare complication of monozygotic twinning and are associated with high perinatal mortality.Case. Here we present a case of conjoined twins in a triplet pregnancy diagnosed at 13 of weeks gestation. With the aid of 3D ultrasound and MRI images, the parents were counseled regarding the management options, including continuation of pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, or selective fetocide. They chose selective fetocide of the conjoined twins and went on to deliver the remaining triplet at term.Conclusion. This case represents to our knowledge the only MRI images of conjoined twins in a triplet pregnancy and demonstrates how 3D imaging can be used to better counsel patients about management options.
Creating a Perioperative Glycemic Control Program
Authors: Alexanian Sara M. , McDonnell Marie E. , Akhtar Shamsuddin
Published: September 2011

Hyperglycemia in the surgical population is a recognized risk factor for postoperative complications; however, there is little literature to date regarding the management of hyperglycemia in the perioperative period. Here, we detail the strategies that our institutions have employed to identify and treat hyperglycemia in patients with diabetes who present for surgery. Our approach focuses on the recognition of hyperglycemia and metabolic abnormalities, control of glucose levels via insulin infusion when needed, monitoring for hypoglycemia and a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach that provides standardized recommendations for patients at all points in care as they transition from the preoperative clinic into the operating room, and then into the hospital.
Apoptosis Modulation as a Promising Target for Treatment of Systemic Sclerosis
Authors: Chabaud Stéphane , Moulin Véronique J.
Published: September 2011

Diffuse systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a fatal autoimmune disease characterized by an excessive ECM deposition inducing a loss of function of skin and internal organs. Apoptosis is a key mechanism involved in all the stages of the disease: vascular damage, immune dysfunction, and fibrosis. The purpose of this paper is to gather new findings in apoptosis related to SSc, to highlight relations between apoptosis and fibrosis, and to identify new therapeutic targets.
Growth Behaviors of ZnO Nanorods Grown with the Sn-Based Bilayer Catalyst-Covered Substrates
Authors: Kuo Dong-Hau , Chang Bo-Jie
Published: September 2011

The growth of ZnO nanorods performed at 700°C with the mixture of Zn and ZnO as the Zn source was investigated by having the catalysts in bilayer configurations of Sn (top)/Au (bottom), Sn/Al, Sn/Ni, and Sn/In. These catalyst layers were preannealed at 700°C or 850°C in a gas mixture of argon and hydrogen. The variations in the process parameters are to give the modulations in growing ZnO rods for the purpose of investigating the growth behaviors. The results show that the different compositions and configurations of bilayer catalysts can lead to different reactions and interdiffusions or in different kinetic performance, which will produce different sizes and states of catalyst templates for growing different sizes of the ZnO rods. The small-diameter ZnO nanorods with a hexagonal cross-section at the size of 70–150 nm were obtained from the Sn/Ni catalyst systems preannealed at 850°C.
Detector of Optical Vortices as the Main Element of the System of Data Transfer: Principles of Operation, Numerical Model, and Influence of Noise and Atmospheric Turbulence
Authors: Aksenov Valerii , Izmailov Igor , Kanev Feodor , Poizner Boris
Published: September 2011

The method is proposed of optical vortex topological charge detection along with a design of a corresponding detector. The developed technique is based on measurements of light field intensity. Mathematical model simulating performance of the detector is described in the paper, and results of numerical experiments are presented which illustrate recognition of a vortex in a turbulent medium and in the presence of amplitude and phase noise in the registered radiation. Influence of shifts of the system optical axis on precision of registration is also considered in the paper.
S100A8 and S100A9: New Insights into Their Roles in Malignancy
Authors: Srikrishna Geetha
Published: September 2011

Recent studies have highlighted key roles played by non-neoplastic host cells of the tumor microenvironment, and by secreted factors from tumor and host cells, in promoting malignancy. In this regard, damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecules such as S100A8 and S100A9, with well-known functions in inflammation, have been increasingly recognized not only as markers, but also as new candidates with important roles in modulating tumor growth and metastasis. This review focuses on our current understanding of the pro- and anti-tumorigenic functions of S100A8 and S100A9. Elucidating molecular pathways mediated by these proteins promises to provide potential novel targets for the development of cancer therapeutics and to establish valid biomarkers to identify early stages of tumor progression.
Contested sovereignties: Indigenous law, violence and state effects in postwar Guatemala
Authors: Sieder Rachel
Published: September 2011

This article analyzes the efforts of organized indigenous peoples to exercise their own forms of law and justice within the context of social violence and impunity that characterizes postwar Guatemala. Through an ethnographic exploration of alternative justice practices in the region of Santa Cruz del Quiché, it aims to contribute to discussions around the ‘anthropology of the state’. Specifically, the article describes some of the different phenomena or social forces that compete to exercise sovereignty in the region and reflects on what these reveal about the nature of the contemporary state in Guatemala.
Distributed Actuation Requirements of Piezoelectric Structures Under Servoconstraints
Authors: Seigler T.M. , Ghasemi A.H. , Salehian A.
Published: September 2011

This article is concerned with the analysis of actuation requirements for dynamic shape control of a piezoelectric structure. A general procedure is given for determining the distributed actuation input required to satisfy a partially specified displacement field for a generic piezoelectric shell structure. It is shown that under certain conditions, a servoconstraint that defines a finite number algebraic relations on the motion of the material points of the structure can be satisfied in steady state by an equivalent number of independent actuators. Application examples are developed to demonstrate application of the theory and its potential usefulness in the analysis and design of advanced engineering structures.
The ‘‘Ahmadinejad effect’’ and ‘‘pre-emptive’’ duties and rights
Authors: Moghaddam Fathali M
Published: September 2011

Globalization has made possible the Ahmadinejad effect, where minor actors on the world stage can rise to prominence and solidify their power base at home by posing realistic threats to the security of even distant lands. The case of Ahmadinejad, as with Saddam Hussein before, raises the issue of pre-emptive duties (and rights), what is owed to others toward upholding rights that could be threatened sometime in the future. Pre-emptive duties and rights are given importance based on psychological assumptions about how people would behave if certain conditions were to come about. For example, checks and balances in the United States constitution are intended to prevent the concentration of power, on the assumption, supported by recent psychological research, that ‘‘power corrupts.’’ The concentration of power in the United States at the global level, and in the executive branch of the American government during the presidency of George W. Bush, seems to reflect this demonstrated tendency.
Use of Priming-Based Interventions to Facilitate Psychological Health
Authors: Shalev Idit , Bargh John A.
Published: September 2011

Whereas traditional psychological interventions have been conceptualized in terms of deliberate readiness for change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983), emerging findings from social psychology suggest that regulation of behavior can operate independently of conscious selection and guidance (Bargh & Morsella, 2010). This evidence has come from studies using priming techniques based on activation of relevant mental representations by external environmental stimuli (Bargh & Chartrand, 2000). Research on automatic interpersonal processes has shown that feeling of social warmth (Bargh & Shalev, 2011; Williams & Bargh, 2008a) and the regulation of maladaptive emotions (Williams, Bargh, Nocera, & Gray, 2009), for example, can be induced nonconsciously by physical sensations, visual images or semantic concepts. Interventions based on the procedure of priming could be administered by multiple providers and communication devises to regulate emotional states, increase adherence to treatment instructions, or activate mind-sets that facilitate adaptive functioning. Integrating the methodology of priming and clinical intervention could both contribute to treatment delivery and enrich our understanding of change processes. We conclude that the use of supplementary priming-based interventions to facilitate and disseminate psychological change should be encouraged.
Comparative Assessment of Patient Satisfaction With Obstetric Sonography Between Missionary and Government Hospitals in Southeastern Nigeria
Authors: Udoh Benjamin Effiong , Eze Joseph Chukwuma , Okeji Mark Chukwudi
Published: September 2011

Patient satisfaction with obstetric sonography may indicate the quality of services rendered in the sonographic suite. A comparative assessment of the quality of services between government and missionary hospitals in southeastern Nigeria is not known. The aim of this study was to compare the satisfaction rating during obstetric sonography between government and missionary hospitals in Nigeria. Seven hundred pregnant mothers who had obstetric sonography at least twice in both missionary and government hospitals were recruited for the study between January and June 2010. Questionnaires completed by patients were designed to obtain information on demographic variables, as well as patient satisfaction ratings of some indices of satisfaction that the sonographer and the managers of health institutions could modulate. The variables were friendliness of sonographers with the patients, patient waiting time, patient comfort within the waiting area and in the scanning suits, patient safety, sonographer-patient communication, and protection of patient privacy. Patients undergoing obstetric sonography were moderately satisfied with the services rendered to them in missionary hospitals but moderately dissatisfied with the services in government hospitals.
Mucin granule-associated proteins in human bronchial epithelial cells: the airway goblet cell "granulome"
Authors: Raiford Kimberly L , Park Joungjoa , Lin Ko-Wei , Fang Shijing , Crews Anne L , Adler Kenneth B
Published: September 2011

Background

Excess mucus in the airways leads to obstruction in diseases such as chronic bronchitis, asthma, and cystic fibrosis. Mucins, the highly glycosolated protein components of mucus, are stored in membrane-bound granules housed in the cytoplasm of airway epithelial "goblet" cells until they are secreted into the airway lumen via an exocytotic process. Precise mechanism(s) of mucin secretion, including the specific proteins involved in the process, have yet to be elucidated. Previously, we have shown that the Myristoylated Alanine-Rich C Kinase Substrate (MARCKS) protein regulates mucin secretion by orchestrating translocation of mucin granules from the cytosol to the plasma membrane, where the granules dock, fuse and release their contents into the airway lumen. Associated with MARCKS in this process are chaperone (Heat Shock Protein 70 [HSP70], Cysteine string protein [CSP]) and cytoskeletal (actin, myosin) proteins. However, additional granule-associated proteins that may be involved in secretion have not yet been elucidated.

Methods

Here, we isolated mucin granules and granule membranes from primary cultures of well differentiated human bronchial epithelial cells utilizing a novel technique of immuno-isolation, based on the presence of the calcium activated chloride channel hCLCA1 (the human ortholog of murine Gob-5) on the granule membranes, and verified via Western blotting and co-immunoprecipitation that MARCKS, HSP70, CSP and hCLCA1 were present on the granule membranes and associated with each other. We then subjected the isolated granules/membranes to liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify other granule associated proteins.

Results

A number of additional cytoskeletal (e.g. Myosin Vc) and regulatory proteins (e.g. Protein phosphatase 4) associated with the granules and could play a role in secretion were discovered. This is the first description of the airway goblet cell "granulome."
Carbohydrate-active enzymes from pigmented Bacilli: a genomic approach to assess carbohydrate utilization and degradation
Authors: Manzo Nicola , D'Apuzzo Enrica , Coutinho Pedro M , Cutting Simon M , Henrissat Bernard , Ricca Ezio
Published: September 2011

Background

Spore-forming Bacilli are Gram-positive bacteria commonly found in a variety of natural habitats, including soil, water and the gastro-intestinal (GI)-tract of animals. Isolates of various Bacillus species produce pigments, mostly carotenoids, with a putative protective role against UV irradiation and oxygen-reactive forms.

Results

We report the annotation of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) of two pigmented Bacilli isolated from the human GI-tract and belonging to the Bacillus indicus and B. firmus species. A high number of glycoside hydrolases (GHs) and carbohydrate binding modules (CBMs) were found in both isolates. A detailed analysis of CAZyme families, was performed and supported by growth data. Carbohydrates able to support growth as the sole carbon source negatively effected carotenoid formation in rich medium, suggesting that a catabolite repression-like mechanism controls carotenoid biosynthesis in both Bacilli. Experimental results on biofilm formation confirmed genomic data on the potentials of B. indicus HU36 to produce a levan-based biofilm, while mucin-binding and -degradation experiments supported genomic data suggesting the ability of both Bacilli to degrade mammalian glycans.

Conclusions

CAZy analyses of the genomes of the two pigmented Bacilli, compared to other Bacillus species and validated by experimental data on carbohydrate utilization, biofilm formation and mucin degradation, suggests that the two pigmented Bacilli are adapted to the intestinal environment and are suited to grow in and colonize the human gut.
Localization of DIR1 at the tissue, cellular and subcellular levels during Systemic Acquired Resistance in Arabidopsisusing DIR1:GUS and DIR1:EGFP reporters
Authors: Champigny Marc J , Shearer Heather , Mohammad Asif , Haines Karen , Neumann Melody , Thilmony Roger , He Sheng Yang , Fobert Pierre , Dengler Nancy , Cameron Robin K
Published: September 2011

Background

Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) is an induced resistance response to pathogens, characterized by the translocation of a long-distance signal from induced leaves to distant tissues to prime them for increased resistance to future infection. DEFECTIVE in INDUCED RESISTANCE 1 (DIR1) has been hypothesized to chaperone a small signaling molecule to distant tissues during SAR in Arabidopsis.

Results

DIR1 promoter:DIR1-GUS/dir1-1 lines were constructed to examine DIR1 expression. DIR1 is expressed in seedlings, flowers and ubiquitously in untreated or mock-inoculated mature leaf cells, including phloem sieve elements and companion cells. Inoculation of leaves with SAR-inducing avirulent or virulent Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato (Pst) resulted in Type III Secretion System-dependent suppression of DIR1 expression in leaf cells. Transient expression of fluorescent fusion proteins in tobacco and intercellular washing fluid experiments indicated that DIR1's ER signal sequence targets it for secretion to the cell wall. However, DIR1 expressed without a signal sequence rescued the dir1-1 SAR defect, suggesting that a cytosolic pool of DIR1 is important for the SAR response.

Conclusions

Although expression of DIR1 decreases during SAR induction, the protein localizes to all living cell types of the vasculature, including companion cells and sieve elements, and therefore DIR1 is well situated to participate in long-distance signaling during SAR.
An examination of cancer-related fatigue through proposed diagnostic criteria in a sample of cancer patients in Taiwan
Authors: Yeh En-Tien , Lau Shu-Chuen , Su Wei-Ju , Tsai Duu-Jian , Tu Ying-Yueh , Lai Yuen-Liang
Published: September 2011

Background

Fatigue among cancer patients has often been reported in the literature; however, great variations have been documented, ranging from 15% to 90%, probably due to the lack of a widely accepted definition and established diagnostic criteria for cancer-related fatigue. The objective of this study was to evaluate the proposed International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (10th revision) (ICD-10) criteria in a sample of cancer patients from a medical center and a regional teaching hospital in northern Taiwan. More accurate prevalence estimates of CRF may result in improved diagnoses and management of one of the most common symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment.

Methods

Since self-reporting from patients is the most effective and efficient method to measure fatigue, the ICD-10 criteria for fatigue were used. The ICD-10 criteria questionnaire was translated into Chinese and was approved by experts. Patients were recruited from outpatient palliative and oncology clinics and from palliative and oncology inpatient units.

Results

Of the 265 cancer patients that were interviewed between 21 October 2008 and 28 October 2009, 228 (86%) reported having at least 2 weeks of fatigue in the past month, and further evaluation with the ICD-10 criteria showed that 132 (49.8%) had cancer-related fatigue. Internal consistency was very good, which was indicated by a Cronbach alpha of 0.843.

Conclusion

The prevalence of diagnosable CRF in the patients in this sample, of whom most were under palliative treatment, was 49.8%, which was probably somewhat lower than in some of the previous reports that have used less-strict criteria. In addition, among the various criteria of the proposed diagnostic criteria, the most frequently reported symptoms in our sample populations were regarding sleep disturbance and physical factors. Although they will require further replication in other samples, these formal diagnostic criteria can serve as a step toward a common language and a better understanding of the severity range of CRF.
Evaluation of antiaggregatory activity of flavonoid aglycone series
Authors: Bojić Mirza , Debeljak Željko , Tomičić Maja , Medić-Šarić Marica , Tomić Siniša
Published: September 2011

Background

Among natural compounds, present in every day diet, flavonoids have shown beneficial effect in prevention of cardiovascular diseases that can be attributed, at least partially to the described antiaggregatory activity i.e. antiplatelet effects of flavonoids. Due to the ever increasing pharmacological interest in antiplatelet agents a systematic experimental evaluation of large flavonoid series is needed.

Methods

A set of thirty flavonoid aglycones has been selected for the evaluation. All measurements of aggregation were done under standardized and firmly controlled in vitro conditions. The whole blood samples, multiple platelet functional analyzer and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) as a weak agonist of aggregation were selected for this purpose.

Results

The results were expressed as minimal concentration of flavonoid that can significantly lower the platelet aggregation compared to the corresponding untreated sample (minimal antiaggregatory concentration - MINaAC). All analyzed flavonoids exhibited antiaggregatory activity MINaAC ranging from 0.119 μM to 122 μM, while the most potent representatives were 3,6-dihydroxyflavone (0.119 μM) and syringetin (0.119 μM).

Conclusions

Measurable antiplatelet activity established at submicromolar flavonoid concentrations suggests that even a dietary consumption of some flavonoids can make an impact on in vivo aggregation of platelets. These findings also point out a therapeutical potential of some flavonoids.
Whole genome characterization of non-tissue culture adapted HRSV strains in severely infected children
Authors: Kumaria Rajni , Iyer Laxmi Ravi , Hibberd Martin L , Simões Eric AF , Sugrue Richard J
Published: September 2011

Background

Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is the most important virus causing lower respiratory infection in young children. The complete genetic characterization of RSV clinical strains is a prerequisite for understanding HRSV infection in the clinical context. Current information about the genetic structure of the HRSV genome has largely been obtained using tissue culture adapted viruses. During tissue culture adaptation genetic changes can be introduced into the virus genome, which may obscure subtle variations in the genetic structure of different RSV strains.

Methods

In this study we describe a novel Sanger sequencing strategy which allowed the complete genetic characterisation of 14 clinical HRSV strains. The viruses were sequenced directly in the nasal washes of severely hospitalized children, and without prior passage of the viruses in tissue culture.

Results

The analysis of nucleotide sequences suggested that vRNA length is a variable factor among primary strains, while the phylogenetic analysis suggests selective pressure for change. The G gene showed the greatest sequence variation (2-6.4%), while small hydrophobic protein and matrix genes were completely conserved across all clinical strains studied. A number of sequence changes in the F, L, M2-1 and M2-2 genes were observed that have not been described in laboratory isolates. The gene junction regions showed more sequence variability, and in particular the intergenic regions showed a highest level of sequence variation. Although the clinical strains grew slower than the HRSVA2 virus isolate in tissue culture, the HRSVA2 isolate and clinical strains formed similar virus structures such as virus filaments and inclusion bodies in infected cells; supporting the clinical relevance of these virus structures.

Conclusion

This is the first report to describe the complete genetic characterization of HRSV clinical strains that have been sequenced directly from clinical material. The presence of novel substitutions and deletions in the vRNA of clinical strains emphasize the importance of genomic characterization of non-tissue culture adapted primary strains.