bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Renal dysfunction in cardiovascular diseases and its consequences
Authors: Deferrari Giacomo , Cipriani Adriano , La Porta Edoardo 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIt is well known that the heart and kidney and their synergy is essential for hemodynamic homeostasis. Since the early XIX century it has been recognized that cardiovascular and renal diseases frequently coexist. In the nephrological field, while it is well accepted that renal diseases favor the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, it is not always realized that cardiovascular diseases induce or aggravate renal dysfunctions, in this way further deteriorating cardiac function and creating a vicious circle. In the same clinical field, the role of venous congestion in the pathogenesis of renal dysfunction is at times overlooked. This review carefully quantifies the prevalence of chronic and acute kidney abnormalities in cardiovascular diseases, mainly heart failure, regardless of ejection fraction, and the consequences of renal abnormalities on both organs, making cardiovascular diseases a major risk factor for kidney diseases. In addition, with regard to pathophysiological aspects, we attempt to substantiate the major role of fluid overload and venous congestion, including renal venous hypertension, in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic renal dysfunction occurring in heart failure. Furthermore, we describe therapeutic principles to counteract the major pathophysiological abnormalities in heart failure complicated by renal dysfunction. Finally, we underline that the mild transient worsening of renal function after decongestive therapy is not usually associated with adverse prognosis. Accordingly, the coexistence of cardiovascular and renal diseases inevitably means mediating between preserving renal function and improving cardiac activity to reach a better outcome.
Seismic Vulnerability Analysis of a Coupled Tank-Piping System by Means of Hybrid Simulation and Acoustic Emission
Authors: Sayginer O. , di Filippo R. , Lecoq A. , Marino A. , Bursi O.S. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIn order to shed light on the seismic response of complex industrial plants, advanced finite element models should take into account both multicomponents and relevant coupling effects. These models are usually computationally expensive and rely on significant computational resources. Moreover, the relationships between seismic action, system response and relevant damage levels are often characterized by a high level of nonlinearity, which requires a solid background of experimental data. Vulnerability and reliability analyses both depend on the adoption of a significant number of seismic waveforms that are generally not available when seismic risk evaluation is strictly site-specific. In addition, detection of most vulnerable components, i.e., pipe bends and welding points, is an important step to prevent leakage events. In order to handle these issues, a methodology based on a stochastic seismic ground motion model, hybrid simulation and acoustic emission is presented in this paper. The seismic model is able to generate synthetic ground motions coherent with site-specific analysis. In greater detail, the system is composed of a steel slender tank, i.e., the numerical substructure, and a piping network connected through a bolted flange joint, i.e., the physical substructure. Moreover, to monitor the seismic performance of the pipeline and harness the use of sensor technology, acoustic emission sensors are placed through the pipeline. Thus, real-time acoustic emission signals of the system under study are acquired using acoustic emission sensors. Moreover, in addition to seismic events, also a severe monotonic loading is exerted on the physical substructure. As a result, deformation levels of each critical component were investigated; and the processing of acoustic emission signals provided a more in-depth view of the damage of the analysed components.
Prognostic value of screening instrument based on the Dutch national VMS guidelines for older patients in the emergency department
Authors: Snijders B. M. G. , Emmelot-Vonk M. H. , Souwer E. T. D. , Kaasjager H. A. H. , van den Bos F. 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
Purpose
It is important to identify which older patients attending the emergency department are at risk of adverse outcomes to introduce preventive interventions. This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of a shortened screening instrument based on the Dutch national Safety Management System [Veiligheidsmanagementsysteem (VMS)] guidelines for adverse outcomes in older emergency department patients.

Methods
A cohort study was performed including patients aged 70 years or older who visited the emergency department. Adverse outcomes included hospital admission, return emergency department visits within 30 days, and 90-day mortality. The prognostic value of the VMS-score was assessed for these adverse events and, in addition, a prediction model was developed for 90-day mortality.

Results
A high VMS-score was independently associated with an increased risk of hospital admission [OR 2.26 (95% CI 1.32–3.86)] and 90-day mortality [HR 2.48 (95% CI 1.31–4.71)]. The individual VMS-questions regarding history of delirium and help in activities of daily living were associated with these outcomes as well. A prediction model for 90-day mortality was developed and showed satisfactory calibration and good discrimination [AUC 0.80 (95% CI 0.72–0.87)]. A cut-off point that selected 30% of patients at the highest risk yielded a sensitivity of 67.4%, a specificity of 75.3%, a positive predictive value of 28.5%, and a negative predictive value of 94.1%.

Conclusion
The shortened VMS-based screening instrument showed to be of good prognostic value for hospitalization and 90-day mortality. The prediction model for mortality showed promising results and will be further validated and optimized.
The Emotion of Self-Reflexive Anxiety
Authors: TIETJEN RUTH REBECCA 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIn this article, I provide an analysis of the widespread, intellectually fascinating, and existentially challenging phenomenon of self-reflexive anxiety in which we feel threatened by what or who we are (or have been or will become). I focus on those cases in which we take an event or action whose possible occurrence we attribute to ourselves to be expressive or constitutive of our identity. As I argue, depending on the kind of event we are dealing with, our descriptive self-conception, our self-esteem, or our evaluative self-conception are at stake. In all cases, we are confronted with a dialectic between self and other, activity and passivity inherent in our personhood or even in our agency. I demonstrate how my analysis is not only of intrinsic value, but it can also help us in achieving a better understanding of self-reflexive emotions in general and ‘traditional’ self-reflexive emotions like shame in particular.
Value Constitutionalism in the European Union
Authors: Schorkopf Frank 
Published: September 2020

AbstractEuropean constitutional thinking is still alive and is being shaped by the European Court of Justice into a value constitutionalism. Not only the Treaties, but also constitutional principles derived from EU law, are the common standard of review. Autonomy and constitutionality merge. In the light of this situation the Federal Constitutional Court’s PPSP-judgment with its insistence on limitations of competences and on democratic self-determination appears outdated. However, for the time being, Member States agreed to cooperate in a treaty based political union and do not have a consensus on a “good order” in organized Europe. The Court should abstain from the temptation to operate with values because presumably it would not be able to achieve the substantiation and the creation of a value hierarchy with the necessary acceptance.
Karlsruhe’s Lochner Moment? A Rational Choice Perspective on the German Federal Constitutional Court’s Relationship to the CJEU After the PSPP Decision
Authors: Petersen Niels 
Published: September 2020

AbstractOn May 5, 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court issued the PSPP decision, sending shock waves through the European Union. This contribution analyzes the consequences of the PSPP decision for the future relationship between the German FCC and the CJEU and for European integration as a whole. The article consists of four parts. First, I will provide some context and model the interaction between domestic and international courts from a rational choice perspective. Second, I will recapitulate some core aspects of the relationship between the German Federal Constitutional Court and the CJEU in particular. I argue that the relationship between both courts had evolved into a strategic equilibrium in which it was costly not to respect the decision of the other party. The third section then looks for reasons why Karlsruhe nevertheless deviated from this equilibrium despite the significant costs involved. The fourth section, finally, considers the way ahead and analyzes what possible consequences for the future relationship between the Federal Constitutional Court and the CJEU.
Effect of temperature and/or sweetness of beverages on body composition in rats
Authors: Ragi M. E. , El-Helou N. , El-Mallah C. , Eid A. , Obeid O. A. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractSweetened beverages are mainly consumed cold and various processes are activated in response to external temperature variations. However, the effect of internal temperature variations through the ingestion of cold beverages is far from clear. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of beverage temperature on body composition. Sprague–Dawley rats (5–6-week-old males) had free access to food and beverage for 8 weeks. Energy intake, body weight and body composition were monitored. In Expt 1, two groups of rats (n 9) consumed water at room temperature (NW about 22°C) or cold (CW about 4°C). In Expt 2, rats were offered room-temperature (N) or cold (C) sweetened water (10 % sucrose CSu (n 7) and NSu (n 8); or 0·05 % acesulfame K CAk (n 6) and NAk (n 8)) for 12 h, followed by plain water. Our results show that in Expt 1, CW had higher lean body mass (P < 0·001) and lower body fat gain (P = 0·004) as compared with NW. In Expt 2, body weight (P = 0·013) and fat (P ≤ 0·001) gains were higher in the non-energetic sweetened groups, while lean body mass was not affected by the type of sweeteners or temperature. In conclusion, cold water ingestion improved lean body mass gain and decreased fat gain because of increased energy expenditure, while non-energetic sweetener (acesulfame K) increased body fat gain due to improved energy efficiency. Internal cold exposure failed to increase energy intake in contrast to that of external cold exposure.
Mobile Robotic Sensors for Environmental Monitoring using Gaussian Markov Random Field
Authors: Nguyen Linh , Kodagoda Sarath , Ranasinghe Ravindra , Dissanayake Gamini 
Published: September 2020

SUMMARYThis paper addresses the issue of monitoring spatial environmental phenomena of interest utilizing information collected by a network of mobile, wireless, and noisy sensors that can take discrete measurements as they navigate through the environment. It is proposed to employ Gaussian Markov random field (GMRF) represented on an irregular discrete lattice by using the stochastic partial differential equations method to model the physical spatial field. It then derives a GMRF-based approach to effectively predict the field at unmeasured locations, given available observations, in both centralized and distributed manners. Furthermore, a novel but efficient optimality criterion is then proposed to design centralized and distributed adaptive sampling strategies for the mobile robotic sensors to find the most informative sampling paths in taking future measurements. By taking advantage of conditional independence property in the GMRF, the adaptive sampling optimization problem is proven to be resolved in a deterministic time. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is compared and demonstrated using pre-published data sets with appealing results.
Exploring Chinese college chamber music education: a case study of students’ conceptions
Authors: Feng Chiao-Ting 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine the learning situation of Chinese students’ studying chamber music in universities. Therefore, students’ perspectives on learning chamber music were the main focus of this study. The study begins with a comprehensive description by educators of current Chinese college chamber music education and then details students’ cognition of and behaviour towards chamber music education. The survey participants (N= 23) were all music performance majors who had taken chamber music courses in one average-ranked Chinese university. Demographic data regarding students’ chamber music background, actual practical problems in classes, students’ expectations of their chamber music education and the relationship between practice and learning chamber music were collected. The results indicated that students all possessed positive and assertive attitudes towards learning chamber music and believed in the necessity and value of establishing chamber music education in Chinese universities.
Music across the waves: an international comparative examination of the Irish generalist and the American specialist models of music education from the teacher’s perspective
Authors: Gubbins Edmond 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe structure, implementation and operation of music education at the primary level differs depending on the legislation of the education system within which the school operates. An inquiry-based project was completed over a 10-week period, with the overall aim of gaining an understanding of current teacher practice within music education in both Ireland and the United States. This article examines the Irish generalist and the American specialist models of music education from the teacher’s perspective. The overarching question guiding this research was ‘How is music education realised in Irish and American schools at the primary/elementary level?’. The project sought to investigate the specific challenges of both the generalist and specialist models to ascertain if one educational context might inform the other. Teacher surveys, teacher interviews, curriculum artefacts, expert interviews and contemporary literature around the topic were utilised as data sources to assimilate music educators’ perceived experiences of implementing their respective music curricula. Drawing from the data gathered, coded and quantitively and qualitatively analysed, two contrasting vignette-style stories are presented. A brief discussion follows that compares both models, highlighting some of their relative advantages and drawbacks.
Epidemiology of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli infection in Minnesota, 2016–2017
Authors: Buuck S. , Smith K. , Fowler R. C. , Cebelinski E. , Lappi V. , Boxrud D. , Medus C. 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a well-established cause of traveller's diarrhoea and occasional domestic foodborne illness outbreaks in the USA. Although ETEC are not detected by conventional stool culture methods used in clinical laboratories, syndromic culture-independent diagnostic tests (CIDTs) capable of detecting ETEC have become increasingly prevalent in the last decade. This study describes the epidemiology of ETEC infections reported to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) during 2016–2017. ETEC-positive stool specimens were submitted to MDH to confirm the presence of ETEC DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Cases were interviewed to ascertain illness and exposures. Contemporaneous Salmonella cases were used as a comparison group in a case-case comparison analysis of risk factors. Of 222 ETEC-positive specimens received by MDH, 108 (49%) were concordant by PCR. ETEC was the sixth most frequently reported bacterial enteric pathogen among a subset of CIDT-positive specimens. Sixty-nine (64%) laboratory-confirmed cases had an additional pathogen codetected with ETEC, including enteroaggregative E. coli (n = 40) and enteropathogenic E. coli (n = 39). Although travel is a risk factor for ETEC infection, only 43% of cases travelled internationally, providing evidence for ETEC as an underestimated source of domestically acquired enteric illness in the USA.
Trends in the availability of the vulture-toxic drug, diclofenac, and other NSAIDs in South Asia, as revealed by covert pharmacy surveys
Authors: GALLIGAN TOBY H. , MALLORD JOHN W. , PRAKASH VIBHU M. , BHUSAL KRISHNA P. , ALAM A. B. M. SAROWAR , ANTHONY FERGUS M. , DAVE RUCHI , DUBE ALKA , SHASTRI KARTIK , KUMAR YOGESH , PRAKASH NIKITA , RANADE SACHIN , SHRINGARPURE ROHAN , CHAPAGAIN DEVENDRA , CHAUDHARY ISHWARY P. , JOSHI ANKIT B. , PAUDEL KHADANANDA , KABIR TARIK , AHMED SAKIB , AZMIRI KAZI Z. , CUTHBERT RICHARD J. , BOWDEN CHRISTOPHER G. R. , GREEN RHYS E. 
Published: September 2020

SummaryThe catastrophic declines of three species of ‘Critically Endangered’ Gyps vultures in South Asia were caused by unintentional poisoning by the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac. Despite a ban on its veterinary use in 2006 (India, Nepal, Pakistan) and 2010 (Bangladesh), residues of diclofenac have continued to be found in cattle carcasses and in dead wild vultures. Another NSAID, meloxicam, has been shown to be safe to vultures. From 2012 to 2018, we undertook covert surveys of pharmacies in India, Nepal and Bangladesh to investigate the availability and prevalence of NSAIDs for the treatment of livestock. The purpose of the study was to establish whether diclofenac continued to be sold for veterinary use, whether the availability of meloxicam had increased and to determine which other veterinary NSAIDs were available. The availability of diclofenac declined in all three countries, virtually disappearing from pharmacies in Nepal and Bangladesh, highlighting the advances made in these two countries to reduce this threat to vultures. In India, diclofenac still accounted for 10–46% of all NSAIDs offered for sale for livestock treatment in 2017, suggesting weak enforcement of existing regulations and a continued high risk to vultures. Availability of meloxicam increased in all countries and was the most common veterinary NSAID in Nepal (89.9% in 2017). Although the most widely available NSAID in India in 2017, meloxicam accounted for only 32% of products offered for sale. In Bangladesh, meloxicam was less commonly available than the vulture-toxic NSAID ketoprofen (28% and 66%, respectively, in 2018), despite the partial government ban on ketoprofen in 2016. Eleven different NSAIDs were recorded, several of which are known or suspected to be toxic to vultures. Conservation priorities should include awareness raising, stricter implementation of current bans, bans on other vulture-toxic veterinary NSAIDs, especially aceclofenac and nimesulide, and safety-testing of other NSAIDs on Gyps vultures to identify safe and toxic drugs.
Susceptibility of Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) to herbicides in accessions collected from the North Carolina Coastal Plain
Authors: Mahoney Denis J. , Jordan David L. , Roma-Burgos Nilda , Jennings Katherine M. , Leon Ramon G. , Vann Matthew C. , Everman Wesley J. , Cahoon Charles W. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractPalmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) populations resistant to acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides and glyphosate are fairly common throughout the state of North Carolina (NC). This has led farm managers to rely more heavily on herbicides with other sites of action (SOA) for A. palmeri control, especially protoporphyrinogen oxidase and glutamine synthetase inhibitors. In the fall of 2016, seeds from A. palmeri populations were collected from the NC Coastal Plain, the state’s most prominent agricultural region. In separate experiments, plants with 2 to 4 leaves from the 110 populations were treated with field use rates of glyphosate, glufosinate-ammonium, fomesafen, mesotrione, or thifensulfuron-methyl. Percent visible control and survival were evaluated 3 wk after treatment. Survival frequencies were highest following glyphosate (99%) or thifensulfuron-methyl (96%) treatment. Known mutations conferring resistance to ALS inhibitors were found in populations surviving thifensulfuron-methyl application (Ala-122-Ser, Pro-197-Ser, Trp-574-Leu, and/or Ser-653-Asn), in addition to a new mutation (Ala-282-Asp) that requires further investigation. Forty-two populations had survivors after mesotrione application, with one population having 17% survival. Four populations survived fomesafen treatment, while none survived glufosinate. Dose–response studies showed an increase in fomesafen needed to kill 50% of two populations (LD50); however, these rates were far below the field use rate (less than 5 g ha−1). In two populations following mesotrione dose–response studies, a 2.4- to 3.3-fold increase was noted, with LD90 values approaching the field use rate (72.8 and 89.8 g ha−1). Screening of the progeny of individuals surviving mesotrione confirmed the presence of resistance alleles, as there were a higher number of survivors at the 1X rate compared with the parent population, confirming resistance to mesotrione. These data suggest A. palmeri resistant to chemistries other than glyphosate and thifensulfuron-methyl are present in NC, which highlights the need for weed management approaches to mitigate the evolution and spread of herbicide-resistant populations.