bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Functional improvement in hand strength and dexterity after surgical treatment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy: a prospective quantitative study
Authors: Cole Tyler S. , Almefty Kaith K. , Godzik Jakub , Muma Amy H. , Hlubek Randall J. , Martinez-del-Campo Eduardo , Theodore Nicholas , Kakarla U. Kumar , Turner Jay D. 
Published: February 2020

OBJECTIVECervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is the primary cause of adult spinal cord dysfunction. Diminished hand strength and reduced dexterity associated with CSM contribute to disability. Here, the authors investigated the impact of CSM severity on hand function using quantitative testing and evaluated the response to surgical intervention.METHODSThirty-three patients undergoing surgical treatment of CSM were prospectively enrolled in the study. An occupational therapist conducted 3 functional hand tests: 1) palmar dynamometry to measure grip strength, 2) hydraulic pinch gauge test to measure pinch strength, and 3) 9-hole peg test (9-HPT) to evaluate upper extremity dexterity. Tests were performed preoperatively and 6–8 weeks postoperatively. Test results were expressed as 1) a percentile relative to age- and sex-stratified norms and 2) achievement of a minimum clinically important (MCI) difference. Patients were stratified into groups (mild, moderate, and severe myelopathy) based on their modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) score. The severity of stenosis on preoperative MRI was graded by three independent physicians using the Kang classification.RESULTSThe primary presenting symptoms were neck pain (33%), numbness (21%), imbalance (12%), and upper extremity weakness (12%). Among the 33 patients, 61% (20) underwent anterior approach decompression, with a mean (SD) of 2.9 (1.5) levels treated. At baseline, patients with moderate and low mJOA scores (indicating more severe myelopathy) had lower preoperative pinch (p < 0.001) and grip (p = 0.01) strength than those with high mJOA scores/mild myelopathy. Postoperative improvement was observed in all hand function domains except pinch strength in the nondominant hand, with MCI differences at 6 weeks ranging from 33% of patients in dominant-hand strength tests to 73% of patients in nondominant-hand dexterity tests. Patients with moderate baseline mJOA scores were more likely to have MCI improvement in dominant grip strength (58.3%) than those with low mJOA scores/severe myelopathy (30%) and high mJOA scores/mild myelopathy (9%, p = 0.04). Dexterity in the dominant hand as measured by the 9-HPT ranged from < 1 in patients with cord signal change to 15.9 in patients with subarachnoid effacement only (p = 0.03).CONCLUSIONSPatients with CSM achieved significant improvement in strength and dexterity postoperatively. Baseline strength measures correlated best with the preoperative mJOA score; baseline dexterity correlated best with the severity of stenosis on MRI. The majority of patients experienced MCI improvements in dexterity. Baseline pinch strength correlated with postoperative mJOA MCI improvement, and patients with moderate baseline mJOA scores were the most likely to have improvement in dominant grip strength postoperatively.
Cortical stimulation mapping for localization of visual and auditory language in pediatric epilepsy patients
Authors: Muh Carrie R. , Chou Naomi D. , Rahimpour Shervin , Komisarow Jordan M. , Spears Tracy G. , Fuchs Herbert E. , Serafini Sandra , Grant Gerald A. 
Published: February 2020

OBJECTIVETo determine resection margins near eloquent tissue, electrical cortical stimulation (ECS) mapping is often used with visual naming tasks. In recent years, auditory naming tasks have been found to provide a more comprehensive map. Differences in modality-specific language sites have been found in adult patients, but there is a paucity of research on ECS language studies in pediatric patients. The goals of this study were to evaluate word-finding distinctions between visual and auditory modalities and identify which cortical subregions most often contain critical language function in a pediatric population.METHODSTwenty-one pediatric patients with epilepsy or temporal lobe pathology underwent ECS mapping using visual (n = 21) and auditory (n = 14) tasks. Fisher’s exact test was used to determine whether the frequency of errors in the stimulated trials was greater than the patient’s baseline error rate for each tested modality and subregion.RESULTSWhile the medial superior temporal gyrus was a common language site for both visual and auditory language (43.8% and 46.2% of patients, respectively), other subregions showed significant differences between modalities, and there was significant variability between patients. Visual language was more likely to be located in the anterior temporal lobe than was auditory language. The pediatric patients exhibited fewer parietal language sites and a larger range of sites overall than did adult patients in previously published studies.CONCLUSIONSThere was no single area critical for language in more than 50% of patients tested in either modality for which more than 1 patient was tested (n > 1), affirming that language function is plastic in the setting of dominant-hemisphere pathology. The high rates of language function throughout the left frontal, temporal, and anterior parietal regions with few areas of overlap between modalities suggest that ECS mapping with both visual and auditory testing is necessary to obtain a comprehensive language map prior to epileptic focus or tumor resection.
Predictors of surgical treatment in children with tethered fibrofatty filum terminale
Authors: Kashlan Osama N. , Wilkinson D. Andrew , Morgenstern Hal , Khalsa Siri S. , Maher Cormac O. 
Published: February 2020

OBJECTIVEThickened or fatty filum terminale is an occult lesion that can cause tethered cord syndrome requiring surgical untethering. This study’s objectives were to estimate the incidence of tethered fibrofatty filum terminale (TFFT) in a large insured pediatric population, identify predictors of surgery among those TFFT patients, and assess a diagnostic algorithm.METHODSTFFT was defined according to the ICD-9-CM code for cord tethering (742.59), after excluding codes for diastematomyelia, lipomyelomeningocele, terminal myelocystocele, meningocele, and myelomeningocele. Utilizing the Optum Insight database for 2001–2014, the authors identified pediatric patients (< 21 years) in the US who were diagnosed with a tethered cord and estimated the TFFT incidence rates in that source population and the surgical untethering probability among TFFT patients over the 14-year period. Logistic regression was used to estimate the effects (adjusted OR and 95% CI) of age at diagnosis, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score, diagnosis of Chiari malformation type I, diagnosis of syrinx, and the probability of surgery by US census region. Lastly, to evaluate their algorithm for identifying TFFT from ICD-9 codes, the authors estimated its positive predictive value (PPV) among 50 children who were diagnosed at their institution and met the ICD-9-CM criteria.RESULTSThere were 3218 diagnoses of TFFT, with 482 of these pediatric patients undergoing tethered cord release during the study period. The estimated incidence rate was 12.0 per 100,000/year (95% CI 11.6–12.4 per 100,000/year). The incidence rate was slightly higher in females than in males (12.7 vs 11.4 per 100,000/year). The probability of surgery in the total pediatric TFFT population was 15.0% (95% CI 13.8%–16.2%) and was greater in children with a syrinx (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.6–3.0), children 7–11 years of age at diagnosis versus < 1 year (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1–2.0), CCI score ≥ 3 versus 0 (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.4–3.8), and residents of the Western vs Northeastern US (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.6–3.5). In the authors’ own institution’s database, the PPV of TFFT was 35/50 (70.0%, 95% CI 57.3%–82.7%) for identifying tethered cord due to fibrofatty filum terminale among childhood positives.CONCLUSIONSPatients with comorbidities or an associated syrinx showed a higher risk of untethering procedures for TFFT. Also, surgery was appreciably more frequent in the Western US. These findings signify the need for a collaborative prospective cohort study of long-term outcomes for TFFT patients with and without surgery to determine which patients should have surgery.
Contamination Level, Ecological Risk, and Source Identification of Heavy Metals in the Hyporheic Zone of the Weihe River, China
Authors: Ahamad Muhammad Irfan , Song Jinxi , Sun Haotian , Wang Xinxin , Mehmood Muhammad Sajid , Sajid Muhammad , Su Ping , Khan Asif Jamal 
Published: February 2020

The sediment pollution caused by different metals has attracted a great deal of attention because of the toxicity, persistence, and bio-accumulation. This study focuses on heavy metals in the hyporheic sediment of the Weihe River, China. Contamination levels of metals were examined by using “geo-accumulation index, enrichment factor, and contamination factor” while ecological risk of metals were determined by “potential ecological risk and risk index”. The pollutant accumulation of metals ranked as follows: “manganese (Mn) > chromium (Cr) > zinc (Zn) > copper (Cu) > nickel (Ni) > arsenic (As) > lead (Pb)”. The geo-accumulation index identified arsenic as class 1 (uncontaminated to moderate contamination), whereas Cu, Cr, Ni, Zn, Pb, and Mn were classified as class 0 (uncontaminated). According to the enrichment factor, arsenic originated through anthropogenic activities and Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb were mainly controlled by natural sources. The contamination factor elucidated that sediments were moderately polluted by (As, Cr, Cu, Zn, Mn, and Pb), whereas Ni slightly contaminated the sediments of the Weihe River. All metals posed a low ecological risk in the study area. The risk index revealed that contribution of arsenic (53.43 %) was higher than half of the total risk.
New approaches in health communication: a research exposure
Authors: de-Aguilera-Moyano Miguel , Pindado-Pindado Julián 
Published: February 2020

This paper examines the most significant contributions in health communication on adolescents and young people developed inside the positivist and interpretativist com-municative currents. Analyzing the results obtained by both models, a new investigati-ve approach is required, which would focus on the risk understood as a symptom of uncertain times dominated by a multitude of symbolic mediated resources and as an essential ingredient to youth culture and their lifestyle.
En este trabajo se examinan algunas de las aportaciones más significativas en relación con la comunicación y la salud en el ámbito juvenil desarrolladas al amparo de las gran¬des corrientes comunicativas, la positivista y la interpretativa. A partir de los logros obte¬nidos por ambos modelos se plantea la necesidad de un nuevo enfoque investigador que reflexione sobre el riesgo, entendido éste como síntoma de un tiempo de incerti-dumbre dominado por un sinfín de recursos simbólicos mediados y como un ingrediente esencial a la cultura juvenil y los estilos de vida que lleva aparejados.
Communication, health and adolescents
Authors: Muriel-Fernández Rafael , Blanco-Aguilar Javier 
Published: February 2020

This paper deals with the use of communication as a strategy in public health programmes aimed at adolescents. It is based on widely developed programmes in Andalucia, which allows a reflection on the power communication has, either in terms of information or formation, to reinforce the healthy coexistence of a diversity of young people in a society of adult power.
Este texto, sobre el sentido de la comunicación como estrategia en los programas de salud pública, orientada hacia la convivencia con y entre los jóvenes, surge del desarrollo de programas ya consolidados en la realidad de Andalucía, con una trayectoria suficiente para sustentar una reflexión sobre la dimensión que tiene la comunicación, en términos unas veces de información y otras de formación, para potenciar la convivencia saludable de los jóvenes en una sociedad de poder adulto.
Communication and public health from adolescents’ point of view
Authors: Coronado-Morón José-María , López-García José-María 
Published: February 2020

This paper presents a study about the young, the use they do of mass media and the relationship they keep with health. Among other contributions, it is to be highlighted that the voice of young people can be heard in this article which, with the use of methodological triangulation, offers a rich information about how adolescents contact the media and interpret its messages.
Este artículo presenta un estudio sobre los jóvenes, su uso de los medios de comunicación y la relación que jóvenes y medios guardan con la salud. Entre otras aportaciones destacamos, en especial, el que aquí pueda oírse la voz de los jóvenes que, mediante el empleo de la triangulación metodológica, ofrecen una rica información sobre cómo se relacionan con los medios e interpretan sus mensajes.
Media, identities and communication. A community radio experience with native wichí people
Authors: Huergo Jorge-A. , Morawicki Kevin , Ferreyra Lourdes 
Published: February 2020

This paper shows the impact experienced by the creation of a community radio station. We reduce some aspects related to the production of bilingual programmes. The major part of this production was under-taken by young people of the wichi community. This article synthesises the most important aspects related to the production of the bilingual programmes. By means of this participative process, we facilitate the ability of the aborigenes to develop their identity and the intercultural dialogue of great importance in the context of globalisation.
El artículo presenta algunos de los impactos producidos por la experiencia de creación de una radio comunitaria wichí, en Formosa (Argentina). Se sintetizan aspectos relacionados con la producción radiofónica bilingüe protagonizada por los jóvenes wichí. Se abordan los modos en que un medio comunitario, como espacio de comunicación, provoca procesos relacionados con las identidades aborígenes y con el diálogo intercultural, de singular significación en tiempos de globalización.
Telepsychodrama and school education: a teachers´talk
Authors: Dupas-Penteado Heloísa 
Published: February 2020

The telepsychodrama is a new cultural product. It comes from research that links Moreno´s ideas to the current TV and VCR technological resources. The paper results from this research. It investigates pedagogic properties of telepsychodrama in school teaching situations. This teaching resource presents, in the collective life of spontaneous preocesses, possibilities of overcoming difficulties experimented and outlined by the youth.
El telepsicodrama es un producto cultural nuevo, basado em las investigaciones que surgen de las ideas de Moreno, aplicadas a los actuales recursos de las tecnologías audiovisuales del vídeo y la televisión. El presente artículo se centra en investigar las principales propiedades pedagógicas del telepsicodrama en situaciones escolares cotidianas de enseñanza. En este contexto didáctico, este recurso se nos presenta en la vivencia colectiva de los procesos de espontaneidad, las posibilidades de superación de las dificuldades experimentadas y apuntadas por los jóvenes, etc.
A strategic approach for bottleneck identification in make-to-order environments: A drum-buffer-rope action research based case study
Authors: Lizarralde Aiastui Aitor , Apaolaza Perez de Eulate Unai , Mediavilla Guisasola Miguel 
Published: February 2020

Purpose: This study is focused on integrating a strategic perspective for bottleneck selection and exploitation according to the DBR methodology. The researchers developed a systematic process of four steps for the implementation of the first two steps of TOC-DBR in Make-to-Order production systems. This process was derived from the seminal work from Goldratt, introduced key insights from Resource Based View (RBV) and Practice Based View (PBV) strategic perspectives and included original contributions from the authors in understanding what purpose should be fulfilled, what decisions should be made and how the four steps should be applied.Design/methodology/approach: Given the practical nature of the research project, action research (AR) is an appropriate methodological approach, since AR aims to contribute to academic research while helping solve real-world problems.Findings: The proposed systematic process has been successfully tested in the field on a Make To Order case company. Thus, it has been answered the research question regarding systematically selecting a bottleneck and exploiting it to enhance the competitive advantage/firm performance. In fact, the new way of selecting and exploiting its bottleneck improved the results of the company, in particular business turnover and profitability. Additionally, the research process complied with the necessary criteria to assure the research quality required for AR.Originality/value: The key contributions within the systematic process (on Make-to-Order companies) are two: (1) the criteria to select the bottleneck, far beyond a load versus capacity perspective (i.e., providing a strategic perspective that was inspired by the main concepts from the Resource Based View regarding the contribution of strategic resources to sustain competitive position) and (2) the detailed discussion on how to exploit the bottleneck, which was aligned with the Practice Based View and recognised that practices could also provide superior performance to organisations.
Analytical review on competitive priorities for operations under manufacturing firms
Authors: M Prabhu , T Nambirajan , Abdullah Nabaz Nawzad 
Published: February 2020

Purpose: To developed and introduced a measurement scale that may be useful to assess the competitive priorities practices in the manufacturing industries. The objective is to investigate the competitive priorities domains’ implementation and its defining measurement items emphasizing manufacturing industries in the Union Territory of Puducherry.Design/methodology/approach: The essential information has been gathered from 350 manufacturing firms by utilizing very much stretchered polls; most part of the data was gathered from best dimension working people like Operations Managers, General Managers and Directors. For analyzing the data the researchers used SPSS and LISREL 8.72 software packages. To find out the result the researchers applied Confirmatory Factor Analysis in this research work.Findings: From the six domains analyzed the result shows that Delivery plays an important role as it occupies the first rank among the domains in competitive priority. Next to Delivery, the majority of the firms fasten more importance to Quality as it ranks second. Cost is ranked as third, while Know-how is ranked as fourth, Flexibility is ranked as fifth and Customer Focus is ranked as sixth.Practical implications: Based on the existing recommendations on scale development literature, authors developed the measurement scale. This measurement scale is helpful for both academicians and practitioners. In this research work authors used the measurement scale to measure the competitive priorities domains.Originality/value: The research paper explains about the manufacturing industries situated in Union Territory of Puducherry. The researchers developed the measurement instrument of competitive priorities practices based on six domains namely quality, cost, delivery, flexibility, customer focus, and know-how. This research work gives innovative literature by recommendations and validating a measurement scale for the competitive priorities. The result reveals that the manufacturing enterprises in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
The challenge of simulating the sensitivity of the Amazonian cloud microstructure to cloud condensation nuclei number concentrations
Authors: Polonik Pascal , Knote Christoph , Zinner Tobias , Ewald Florian , Kölling Tobias , Mayer Bernhard , Andreae Meinrat O. , Jurkat-Witschas Tina , Klimach Thomas , Mahnke Christoph , Molleker Sergej , Pöhlker Christopher , Pöhlker Mira L. , Pöschl Ulrich , Rosenfeld Daniel , Voigt Christiane , Weigel Ralf , Wendisch Manfred 
Published: February 2020

Abstract. The realistic representation of aerosol–cloud interactions is of primary
importance for accurate climate model projections. The investigation of these interactions in strongly contrasting clean and polluted atmospheric conditions
in the Amazon region has been one of the motivations for several field
campaigns, including the airborne “Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Convective Cloud Systems–Cloud Processes of the Main Precipitation Systems in Brazil: A Contribution to Cloud Resolving Modeling and to the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) (ACRIDICON-CHUVA)” campaign based in Manaus, Brazil, in September 2014.
In this work we combine in situ and remotely sensed aerosol, cloud, and
atmospheric radiation data collected during ACRIDICON-CHUVA with regional,
online-coupled chemistry-transport simulations to evaluate the model's ability
to represent the indirect effects of biomass burning aerosol on cloud
microphysical and optical properties (droplet number concentration and effective radius). We found agreement between the modeled and observed median cloud droplet number
concentration (CDNC) for low values of CDNC, i.e., low levels of pollution. In
general, a linear relationship between modeled and observed CDNC with a slope
of 0.3 was found, which implies a systematic underestimation of modeled CDNC
when compared to measurements. Variability in cloud condensation nuclei (CCN)
number concentrations was also underestimated, and cloud droplet effective radii
(reff) were overestimated by the model. Modeled effective radius
profiles began to saturate around 500 CCN cm−3 at cloud base,
indicating an upper limit for the model sensitivity well below CCN
concentrations reached during the burning season in the Amazon Basin. Additional
CCN emitted from local fires did not cause a notable change in modeled cloud
droplet effective radii. Finally, we also evaluate a parameterization of CDNC at
cloud base using more readily available cloud microphysical properties, showing
that we are able to derive CDNC at cloud base from cloud-side remote-sensing
observations.