bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Use of VEPs as electrodiagnostic biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment
Authors: Yamasaki Takao 
Published: March 2020

AbstractAlzheimer's disease (AD) and its precursor, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), are characterized by early onset of visuospatial impairment along with memory impairment and disorientation. Based on these clinical features, I hypothesized that visual impairment might be a candidate biomarker for early electrodiagnosis of MCI. Therefore, I have been focusing on the application of visual evoked potentials (VEPs) as a non‐invasive, simple, and objective method for evaluating visual impairment in MCI patients. In this review, I first outline the concept of the human visual system. Second, I briefly mention the basic technology of VEPs. Then, I describe the previous VEP studies on AD and MCI. These VEP studies have reported that the lower‐level visual pathways are less likely to be involved in AD and MCI, whereas the higher‐level visual streams frequently show VEP abnormalities. Finally, I introduce my new VEP techniques for examining visual impairment in MCI. VEPs with multimodal visual stimuli (especially, optic flow motion) are useful for distinguishing MCI patients from non‐impaired individuals. It may also be feasible to discriminate the type of dementia responsible for MCI. From this review, I stress that VEPs are plausible biomarkers for the early electrodiagnosis of MCI.
Three‐year observation of children 12 to 35 months old with untreated intermittent exotropia
Authors: Cotter Susan A , Mohney Brian G , Chandler Danielle L , Holmes Jonathan M , Wallace David K , Melia B Michele , Wu Rui , Kraker Raymond T , Superstein Rosanne , Crouch Eric R , Paysse Evelyn A ,   the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group
Published: March 2020

AbstractPurposeTo describe the clinical course of untreated intermittent exotropia (IXT) in children 12–35 months of age followed for 3 years.MethodsWe enrolled 97 children 12–35 months of age with previously untreated IXT who had been randomly assigned to the observation arm of a randomised trial of short‐term occlusion versus observation. Participants were observed unless deterioration criteria were met at a follow‐up visit occurring at 3 months, 6 months, and 6‐month intervals thereafter for 3 years. The primary outcome was deterioration of the IXT by 3 years, defined as (1) a constant exotropia ≥10 prism dioptres (∆) at distance and near (i.e., motor deterioration) or (2) treatment prescribed despite not having met motor deterioration. The primary analysis used the Kaplan‐Meier method to determine the cumulative proportion of participants meeting deterioration by three years and 95% confidence interval (CI).ResultsThe cumulative probability of deterioration by 3 years was 28% (95% CI = 20%–39%). Of the 24 participants meeting the primary outcome of deterioration, seven met motor deterioration and 17 were prescribed treatment without meeting motor deterioration. The cumulative probability of motor deterioration by 3 years was 10% (95% CI = 5%–19%).ConclusionsGiven the modest rate of motor deterioration over three years, watchful waiting may be a reasonable management approach in 12‐ to 35‐month‐old children with IXT. To confirm this recommendation would require a long‐term randomised trial of immediate treatment versus observation followed by deferred treatment if needed.
Relationship Between Time to Surgical Debridement and the Incidence of Infection in Patients with Open Tibial Fractures
Authors: Li Jie , Wang Qian , Lu Yao , Feng Quan , He Xiao , Li, MD Zhong , Zhang Kun 
Published: March 2020

ObjectiveTo analyze the relationship between the length from injury to first debridement (LFITFD) of open tibial fractures and perioperative infection, and explore independent risk factors related to infection.MethodsThis retrospective study focused on 215 clinical patients with open tibial fractures who were admitted from January 2012 to January 2017. According to the time from injury to the operation, the patients were categorized into four groups: LFITFD ≤ 6 h, 6 < LFITFD ≤ 12 h, 12 < LFITFD≤24 h, and (LFITFD > 24 h). Infection risk factors were screened by univariate analysis, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine independent risk factors.ResultsThe infection rates of four groups were 9.2%, 9.5%, 11.1%, and 10.5% with six of 65, nine of 95, four of 36, and two of 19 patients being infected, respectively. There was no statistical significance between the four groups. The infection rates among fractures of different Gustilo–Anderson classifications were as follows. Of 62 cases of type I fractures, two were infected, and the infection rate was 3.2%. Among those with type II fractures, eight were infected, and the infection rate was 8.2%. Three of 26 cases of type IIIA fracture were infected, yielding an infection rate of 11.5%, seven of 25 cases of type III B fracture were infected (28% infection rate), and one of four cases of type III C fracture was infected (25% infection rate). There was a statistically significant difference between the five groups. Multivariate regression analysis showed that smoking, combined diabetes, surgical time, and fracture Gustilo–Anderson classification were independent risk factors for perioperative infection of open tibial fractures, and the difference in time from injury to first debridement was not related to infection.ConclusionThe incidence of perioperative infection in patients with open tibial fractures has little to do with the time of the first debridement, which is mainly related to the level of the fracture's Gustilo–Anderson classification. At the same time, smoking is prohibited before the operation, the patient's blood glucose is managed, and the debridement operation time is minimized conducive to reducing the incidence of infection.
Scoping review of fire safety behaviors among high‐rise occupants: Implications for public health nursing
Authors: Glauberman Gary 
Published: March 2020

AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of this review was to identify gaps in the research literature regarding high‐rise (HR) building occupant fire safety behaviors. Findings from this review will inform further development of the role of public health nurses (PHNs) in promoting population‐based strategies to enhance HR occupant fire safety.Design and SampleThe search included peer‐reviewed English language articles published after 2001 describing fire safety behaviors among HR building occupants in the United States.ResultsFourteen articles were included in the final review. Twelve articles reported exclusively on commercial HR building fire safety; two reported on both the residential and commercial HR building fire safety; 10 reported on events related to the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) towers. Various factors influenced HR occupants' fire safety behaviors, including knowledge about building fire safety features and emergency plans, participation in drills, and organizational emergency preparedness. People with mobility impairments required special considerations. Two theoretical models explaining HR occupants' fire safety behaviors were identified.ConclusionsGaps in the research literature exist regarding residential HR occupant fire safety behaviors. Further research regarding ways that PHNs are currently engaged in this important public health issue should be further explored.
The South African Financial Cycle and its Relation to Household Deleveraging
Authors: Bosch Adél , Koch Steven F. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThis paper considers the extent to which South African households have deleveraged, since the global financial crisis of 2007/2008. We extend the official South African Reserve Bank business cycle methodology to date financial cycles, from which we identify the peaks and troughs of the South African financial cycle going back to 1966. Our composite financial cycle index peaks in April 1974, January 1984 and May 2007; it has bottomed out in July 1979 and February 1999. Thus, we still await the trough. We further compare and contrast the deleveraging process in the current downward phase to the experiences from previous financial cycles. We find that the average period of the financial cycle in South Africa is much longer (approximately 17.3 years) than that of the business cycle (approximately 5.8 years), and that deleveraging has not yet matched the degree of deleveraging seen in previous downward phases. Our results suggest that further deleveraging is necessary, before we can expect to turn the financial corner.
Skin capillary extraction technique based on independent component analysis and Frangi filter using videomicroscopy
Authors: Oharazawa Akihiko , Ogino Masaki , Sugahara Masaru , Tanahashi Masanori 
Published: March 2020

AbstractBackgroundVideomicroscopy can be used to observe skin capillaries easily and non‐invasively. In this study, we develop an algorithm that can handle skin regions by combining color component separation methods as pre‐processing based on blood vessel extraction filtering.Materials and MethodsImages of skin on the inner upper arm were acquired using videomicroscopy. An algorithm using independent component analysis (ICA) and the Frangi filter was constructed, and capillary regions were extracted. The capillary blood vessel extraction images were compared with ground truth to verify accuracy. An evaluation of the physiological responses of skin exposed to carbon dioxide (CO2) water, local heating, and methyl nicotinate was performed to test blood vessels with different mechanisms of action and layer depth.ResultsBased on a comparison with ground truth images, a Dice coefficient of 0.82 was calculated. In examining physiological responses to stimuli on the skin, it was found that exposure to CO2 for 2 minutes significantly increased the capillary area compared with the steady state.ConclusionAn algorithm to extract capillaries from skin images using ICA and the Frangi filter method was proposed. Results suggest that this algorithm can quantitatively analyze physiological changes in capillaries on the skin surface.
Bayesian statistics in the classroom: Introducing shrinkage with basketball statistics and the internet movie database
Authors: Berg Arthur 
Published: March 2020

SummaryThis article promotes Bayesian intuition by introducing the concept of shrinkage with some motivational examples involving basketball statistics of Rudy Gobert and movie rankings from the Internet Movie Database. Supplementary and fully automated R code is provided to allow students to explore shrinkage in this dataset on their own. The content is targeted at the first‐year undergraduate level. Students with prior exposure to R would most benefit from the supplementary R code.
Anchoring Utterances
Authors: Clark Herbert H. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractFor people to communicate with each other, they must tie, oranchor, each of their utterances to the speaker, addressees, place, time, display, and purpose of that utterance. Doing this takes coordination. Producers mustindexeach of these entities for their addressees, and addressees mustidentifyeach of the entities the producers are indexing. When people are face to face, they have a battery of resources for doing this—speech, gestures of all kinds, and interactive strategies. But when addressees are separated from producers in space, time, or worlds, as on the telephone or in print, the available resources are more limited. The problem is that research on comprehension, production, and communication has often ignored, disguised, or distorted anchoring. As a result, accounts of these processes are often incomplete, misleading, or incorrect.
The influence of the soil management systems on aboveground and seed bank weed communities in olive orchards
Authors: Carpio Antonio J. , Lora Ángel , Martín‐Consuegra Enriqueta , Sánchez‐Cuesta Rafael , Tortosa Francisco S. , Castro Jesús 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThe biodiversity of farmed landscapes is, in the context of agricultural intensification, a key aspect with regard to improving the sustainability of agroecosystems. Olive groves are undergoing rapid changes because of the spread of intensive farming systems, which may have negative environmental impacts. This paper reports a survey on the aboveground flora and seed banks in five olive groves located in Andalusia (Southern Spain). In this study, the following three management systems have been compared: no‐tillage, with the mowing of spontaneous weedy vegetation; no‐tillage, with the mowing of planted cover crops (Poaceae); and conventional tillage practices. Results showed that coverage and an abundance of vegetation are favored by spontaneous weedy vegetation with mowing management, while the richness of aboveground species was affected by landscape diversity and the presence of edges, which increases the richness and diversity of aboveground flora species in olive groves. Seed bank composition showed a low relationship with aboveground flora in the three cover crop management systems. The multivariate analysis performed pointed to those seed species that have a major influence on the aboveground flora communities of each of the three agricultural systems. The seed bank was clearly impoverished in terms of both abundance and species richness after the long‐term conventional tillage practices. We conclude that the intensive long‐term conventional tillage dramatically reduces weed communities in olive orchards and the subsequent ecosystem services provided by them.
Ni+ and He+ Implantation Effects on the Hardness and Microstructure of Heat-Treated X750 Superalloy
Authors: Tawfeeq Maisaa N. , Klassen Robert J. 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Nickel and Helium ion implantation-induced hardening and microstructural evolution of X750 in the heat-treated (HT) and solution annealed (SA) conditions were investigated using nano-indentation hardness testing and electron microscopy (scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)). Irradiation crystal damage up to ψ = 5 dpa was invoked with Ni+ implantation while He+ implantation up to CHe = 5000 appm was performed on samples the HT and SA conditions. The X750 alloy displayed generally increasing hardness with increasing Ni+ implantation damage but a perturbation in the trend occurred when ψ ≤ 0.5 dpa, and the hardness dropped by about 30% and 2% for the HT and the SA samples, respectively. TEM analysis indicated that this softening was associated with disordering and dissolution of the γ′ strengthening phase. The hardening behavior observed at higher implantation damage (ψ = 1 dpa) resulted in reformation of Al/Ti-rich regions within the microstructure phase. The hardness of the X750 increased continuously with increasing implanted He+ up to CHe = 1000 appm. This was associated with the formation of helium bubbles as observed by TEM. Slight drop in hardness in the HT condition at CHe = 5000 appm indicated that high levels of He+ implantation destabilize the γ′ precipitates as was confirmed with TEM observed disappearance of γ′ super-lattice reflections.
Postexercise Hypotension After Muscle Power Training Session in Older Adults With Hypertension
Authors: Machado Filho José , Machado Carlos Leonardo Figueiredo , Tanaka Hirofumi , Ferrari Rodrigo 
Published: March 2020

The aim of the present study was to determine the acute effects of a muscle power training (PT) session on arterial blood pressure (BP) in older adults with hypertension. Thirteen participants (64 ± 4 years) with essential hypertension were randomly assigned to a PT session and control session without exercise. During PT, the participants performed three sets of eight repetitions at 50% of the one-repetition maximum tests. The concentric phase during each repetition was performed as fast as possible. The systolic BP (post-15 min: −1.7 ± 1.8 mmHg [p = .048; d = 0.22]; post-30 min: −3.6 ± 1.7 mmHg [p = .010; d = 0.48]; post-45 min: −3.3 ± 1.3 mmHg [p = .002; d = 0.42]; post-60 min: −3.9 ± 1.7 mmHg [p = .003; d = 0.49]) and diastolic BP (post-15 min: −1.5 ± 1.5 mmHg [p = .053; d = 0.20]; post-30 min: −2.2 ± 1.7 mmHg [p = .001; d = 0.29]; post-45 min: −2.0 ± 2.0 mmHg [p = .001; d = 0.27]; post-60 min: −2.0 ± 1.3 mmHg [p < .001; d = 0.26]) reductions were observed at all times after the PT session, compared with the preexercise and control session. PT is an effective strategy to acutely reduce BP in older patients with essential hypertension.
Endotracheal tube fixation time: a comparison of three fixation methods in a military field scenario
Authors: Epstein Danny , Strashewsky R , Furer A , Tsur A M , Chen J , Lehavi A 
Published: March 2020

IntroductionEndotracheal intubation is required in many emergency, trauma and prehospital scenarios. Endotracheal tube (ETT) fixation must be stable and quick to apply to enable rapid evacuation and patient transport. This study compares performance times of three common ETT securement techniques which are practical for out-of-hospital and combat scenarios.MethodsWe compared the time required by military medics to complete ETT fixation in three techniques—fixation of a wide gauze roll wrapped twice around the head and tied twice around the ETT (GR), using a Thomas Tube Holder (TH) and using a pre-tied non-adhesive tape (PT). 300 military medics were randomised to apply one technique each on a manikin, and time to completion was recorded.Results300 ETTs were successfully fixated by 300 military medics. Median times to complete ETT fixation by PT and TH techniques were 24 s (IQR (19 to 31) and (IQR 20 to 33), respectively). Both were significantly shorter to apply than the GR technique, with a median time of 57 s (IQR 47 to 81), p<0.001.ConclusionsIn time critical situations such as combat, severe trauma, mass casualties and whenever rapid evacuation might improve the clinical outcome, using a faster fixation technique such as Thomas Tube Holder or a pre-tied non-adhesive tape might enable faster evacuation than the use of traditional endotracheal tube fixation techniques.
Unmet needs and opportunities for improving care for patients with advanced lung cancer on targeted therapies: a qualitative study
Authors: Al Achkar Morhaf , Marchand Lucille , Thompson Matthew , Chow Laura Q M , Revere Debra , Baldwin Laura-Mae 
Published: March 2020

ObjectiveLung cancer is increasingly recognised as a heterogeneous disease. Recent advances with targeted therapies for lung cancer with oncogenic mutations have greatly improved the prognosis for this subset of patients, yet little is known about their experiences. This study aimed to identify the needs and explore the healthcare experiences of these advanced patients with oncogenic mutation driven lung cancer.DesignQualitative interviews with patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with oncogenic alterations in anaplastic lymphoma kinase, epidermal growth factor receptor or c-ros oncogene 1.SettingsPatients were recruited from online lung cancer support groups within the USA. Interviews were conducted remotely or in person, transcribed verbatim and analysed using an iterative inductive and deductive process.ParticipantsWe included 39 patients (11 males and 28 females) with a median age of 48.ResultsTwo primary theme categories emerged: patients' unmet needs and improving healthcare experiences. Unmet needs are related to patients’ desire to view their disease as a chronic illness, aspire to live a meaningful existence without financial devastation, desire for understanding along with emotional support and needing help with practical matters. Improving healthcare experiences involved patients’ desire to trust the expertise of clinical providers, receive reliable care and be treated holistically and as informed partners.ConclusionsPatients with lung cancer with oncogenic mutations live uncharted experiences. Targeted therapy brings hope, but uncertainty is daunting. Patients grapple with the meaning and purpose of their lives while day-to-day obligations remain challenging. Healthcare teams are instrumental in their care experiences, and patients desire providers who are up-to-date on advances in the field and treat them as whole persons.
Modelling the household cost of paediatric malaria treatment in a rural county in Kenya: do non-user fee payments matter? A partial cost of illness analysis
Authors: Kodhiambo Maurice Onditi , Oyugi Julius Otieno , Amugune Beatrice Kagai 
Published: March 2020

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to develop an econometric model for the cost of treatment of paediatric malaria from a patient perspective in a resource scarce rural setting of Homa Bay County, Kenya. We sought to investigate the main contributors as well as the contribution of non-user fee payments to the total household cost of care. Costs were measured from a patient perspective.DesignThe study was conducted as a health facility based cross sectional survey targeting paediatric patients.SettingThe study was conducted in 13 health facilities ranging from level II to level V in Homa Bay County which is in the Eastern shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya. This is a malaria endemic area.ParticipantsWe enrolled 254 inpatient children (139 males and 115 females) all of whom participated up to the end of this study.Primary outcome measureThe primary outcome measure was the cost of pediatric malaria care borne by the patient. This was measured by asking exiting caregivers to estimate the cost of various items contributing to their total expenditure on care seeking.ResultsA total of 254 respondents who consented from 13 public government health facilities were interviewed. Age, number of days spent at the health facility, being treated at a level V facility, medical officer prescribing and seeking initial treatment from a retail shop were found significant predictors of cost.ConclusionHigher level health facilities in Homa Bay County, where the more specialised medical workers are stationed, are more costly hence barring the poorest from obtaining quality paediatric malaria care from here. Waiving user fees alone may not be sufficient to guarantee access to care by patients due to unofficial fees and non-user fees expenditures.