bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Tai Chi for Reducing Dual-task Gait Variability, a Potential Mediator of Fall Risk in Parkinson’s Disease: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Vergara-Diaz Gloria , Osypiuk Kamila , Hausdorff Jeffrey M , Bonato Paolo , Gow Brian J , Miranda Jose GV , Sudarsky Lewis R , Tarsy Daniel , Fox Michael D , Gardiner Paula , Thomas Cathi A , Macklin Eric A , Wayne Peter M 
Published: May 2018

Objectives To assess the feasibility and inform design features of a fully powered randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the effects of Tai Chi (TC) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and to select outcomes most responsive to TC assessed during off-medication states. Design Two-arm, wait-list controlled RCT. Settings Tertiary care hospital. Subjects Thirty-two subjects aged 40–75 diagnosed with idiopathic PD within 10 years. Interventions Six-month TC intervention added to usual care (UC) versus UC alone. Outcome Measures Primary outcomes were feasibility-related (recruitment rate, adherence, and compliance). Change in dual-task (DT) gait stride-time variability (STV) from baseline to 6 months was defined, a priori, as the clinical outcome measure of primary interest. Other outcomes included: PD motor symptom progression (Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale [UPDRS]), PD-related quality of life (PDQ-39), executive function (Trail Making Test), balance confidence (Activity-Specific Balance Confidence Scale, ABC), and Timed Up and Go test (TUG). All clinical assessments were made in the off-state for PD medications. Results Thirty-two subjects were enrolled into 3 sequential cohorts over 417 days at an average rate of 0.08 subjects per day. Seventy-five percent (12/16) in the TC group vs 94% (15/16) in the UC group completed the primary 6-month follow-up assessment. Mean TC exposure hours overall: 52. No AEs occurred during or as a direct result of TC exercise. Statistically nonsignificant improvements were observed in the TC group at 6 months in DT gait STV (TC [20.1%] vs UC [−0.1%] group [effect size 0.49; P = .47]), ABC, TUG, and PDQ-39. UPDRS progression was modest and very similar in TC and UC groups. Conclusions Conducting an RCT of TC for PD is feasible, though measures to improve recruitment and adherence rates are needed. DT gait STV is a sensitive and logical outcome for evaluating the combined cognitive-motor effects of TC in PD.
A reinvestigation of holotype wadalite from Tadano, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Authors: Banno Yasuyuki , Bunno Michiaki , Tsukimura Katsuhiro 
Published: May 2018

ABSTRACTA reinvestigation of the type specimen of wadalite, ideally Ca12Al10Si4O32Cl6, from Tadano, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, reveals that it has well-defined chemical sector zoning. The mineral occurs in skarn xenoliths in two-pyroxene andesite and forms tris-tetrahedral crystals up to 1 mm in size. The mineral is cubic,I¯43d, witha= 12.009(2) Å,V= 1731.8(8) Å3andZ= 2. The zoning is divided into two sectors, {21¯1} and {211}, on the basis of back-scattered-electron images. The {21¯1} sector is more enriched in Fe3+, Si, Mg and Cl, and depleted in Al than the {211} sector. The empirical formulae yielded by the averaged compositions for the {21¯1} and {211} sectors are: Ca12.01(Al7.88$\hbox{Fe}_{{\rm 0}{\rm. 99}}^{{\rm 3 +}} $Si4.51Mg0.56Ti0.05)Σ13.99O32.22Cl5.55and Ca12.05(Al8.42$\hbox{Fe}_{{\rm 0}{\rm. 85}}^{{\rm 3 +}} $Si4.20Mg0.44Ti0.04)Σ13.95O32.19Cl5.38, respectively. Compositional variations in the wadalite grains suggest that the Si contents are controlled mainly by the substitutionT(Al,Fe3+) +W□ ↔TSi +W(Cl,F). The presence of sector zoning suggests that the wadalite grew during rapid non-equilibrium crystallization.
Wrightite, K2Al2O(AsO4)2, a new oxo-orthoarsenate from the Second scoria cone, Northern Breakthrough, Great Fissure eruption, Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka peninsula, Russia
Authors: Shablinskii Andrey P. , Filatov Stanislav K. , Vergasova Lidyua P. , Avdontseva Eugeniya Yu. , Moskaleva Svetlana V. 
Published: May 2018

ABSTRACTThe new mineral wrightite, K2Al2O(AsO4)2, was found in 1983 at a fumarole on the Second scoria cone, Northern Breakthrough, Great Fissure eruption, Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka peninsula, Russia, where it occurs as light yellow aggregates of transparent tabular crystals, with an average size of 0.05 mm × 0.03 mm × 0.005 mm. Wrightite is orthorhombic, space group Pnma, with the unit-cell parameters a = 8.230(5), b = 5.555(4), c = 17.584(1) Å, V = 803.9(6) Å3 and Z = 4 (from powder data). The empirical formula is (K1.69Na0.38)Σ2.07(Al1.80Fe0.24)Σ2.04As1.96O9. The crystal structure (R1 = 0.043) consists of Al2O(AsO4)2 layers in the ab plane with clusters of edge-sharing AlO6 octahedra. Each layer contains two independent isolated AsO4 tetrahedra and two AlO6 octahedra. AlO6 octahedra are linked by edges, forming zigzag chains along the b axis inside the Al–As layer. Eight- and six-coordinated K atoms are located in the interlayer space between Al2O(AsO4)2 layers. The mineral is biaxial (−), α =1.679(2), β =1.685(2), γ (calc.) =1.687; 2V(meas.) = 62(10)° (λ = 589 nm). The strongest lines in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern [d,Å(I)(hkl)] are: 8.77(36)(002); 4.458(17)(111); 4.010(19)(201,013); 3.875(19)(104) and 2.972(100)(015). The mineral was named in honour of Adrian Carl Wright, Emeritus Professor at the University of Reading, UK.
Multiplex Gene Profiling of Cell-Free DNA in Patients With Metastatic Melanoma for Monitoring Disease
Authors: Lin Selena Y. , Huang Sharon K. , Huynh Kelly T. , Salomon Matthew P. , Chang Shu-Ching , Marzese Diego M. , Lanman Richard B. , Talasaz AmirAli , Hoon Dave S.B. 
Published: May 2018

Purpose Hotspot blood cell-free DNA (cfDNA) biomarker assays have limited utility in profiling tumor heterogeneity and burden and in capturing regional metastasis with low disease burden in patients with melanoma. We investigated the utility of a sensitive 54–cancer gene digital next-generation sequencing approach targeting blood cfDNA single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and copy number amplification for monitoring disease in patients with melanoma with regional or distant organ metastasis (DOM). Patients and Methods A total of 142 blood samples were evaluated by digital next-generation sequencing across two patient cohorts. Cohort 1 contained 44 patients with stage II, III, or IV disease with matched tumor DNA at the time of surgery or DOM. Cohort 2 consisted of 12 overlapping patients who were longitudinally monitored after complete lymph node dissection to DOM. Results In cohort 1, cfDNA SNVs were detected in 75% of patients. Tumor-cfDNA somatic SNV concordance was 85% at a variant allele fraction of ≥ 0.5%. An SNV load (number of unique SNVs detected) of greater than two SNVs and an SNV burden (total cumulative SNV VAF) of > 0.5% were significantly associated with worse overall survival ( P < .05) in stage IV patients. In cohort 2, 98 longitudinal blood samples along with matched regional and distant metastases from 12 stage III patients were analyzed before complete lymph node dissection and throughout disease progression. cfDNA SNV levels correlated with tumor burden ( P = .019), enabled earlier detection of recurrence compared with radiologic imaging ( P < .01), captured tumor heterogeneity, and identified increasing SNVs levels before recurrence. Conclusion This study demonstrates significant utility for cfDNA profiling in patients with melanoma with regional and/or distant metastasis for earlier detection of recurrence and progression and in capturing tumor evolution and heterogeneity, thus impacting how patients with melanoma are monitored.
Effects of Molecular Heterogeneity on Survival of Patients With BRAFV600-Mutated Melanoma Treated With Vemurafenib With or Without Cobimetinib in the coBRIM Study
Authors: Wongchenko Matthew J. , Ribas Antoni , Ascierto Paolo A. , Dréno Brigitte , Maria di Giacomo Anna , Garbe Claus , Chang Ilsung , Hsu Jessie , Rooney Isabelle , Lu William , Koeppen Hartmut , Larkin James , Yan Yibing , McArthur Grant A. 
Published: May 2018

Purpose The treatment of advanced BRAFV600-mutated melanomas with BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) has improved survival, but the efficacy of BRAFi varies among individuals and the development of acquired resistance to BRAFi through reactivation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling is common. We performed an exploratory, retrospective analysis to investigate the effects of BRAFV600 allelic balance, coexisting oncogene mutations, cell proliferation signaling levels, and loss of PTEN expression on progression-free survival (PFS) in patients in the phase III coBRIM study, which compared the combination of the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib with the BRAFi vemurafenib versus vemurafenib as monotherapy. Methods Baseline tumor samples from the intention-to-treat population were analyzed by targeted deep sequencing at a median coverage of 3,600× and by immunohistochemistry for cell proliferation markers, BRAFV600E, and PTEN. The association of these biomarkers with PFS was assessed by Cox proportional hazards modeling. Gene expression in relation to loss of PTEN was profiled by RNA sequencing in 205 patient samples and 42 BRAFV600-mutated melanoma cell lines. Results Neither BRAFV600 allelic balance nor coexisting mutations in the RAS/RAF/RTK pathway affected PFS in either treatment group. Increased baseline MAPK signaling and cell proliferation did not affect PFS in patients treated with cobimetinib combined with vemurafenib. PTEN loss was associated with reduced PFS in patients treated with vemurafenib alone but not in patients treated with cobimetinib combined with vemurafenib. Conclusion Deeper inhibition of the MAPK pathway through targeting of both MEK and BRAF may override the effects of tumor heterogeneity and improve PFS in all patients with advanced BRAFV600 melanoma.
Cacicas, Escribanos, and Landholders: Indigenous Women’s Late Colonial Mexican Texts, 1703–1832
Authors: Melton-Villanueva Miriam 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
Indigenous escribanos, notaries, based in the western part of what is now Mexico State, lived in small highland towns within the regions of Jilotepec and Metepec and wrote the documents studied here. They wrote the land sales, testaments, financial instruments, and powers of attorney for the women featured in this article. Their records described a cross-section of women participating in the civic work of their communities; identified cacicas, women of position in northern small towns (Jilotepec region) in the late colonial eighteenth-century; and showed the proportion of Nahua women who controlled land in southern small towns (Metepec region) within the extant early nineteenth-century testamentary record. Further, language data from these women’s records serve to restore local meanings of land and society. Taken together, the evidence disputes the narrative of decline and indicates escribanos, indigenous male officials, acknowledged and fostered women’s status and autonomy.
Peruvian Cocaine Tangles: Arrests and Assertions of Innocence in Ayacucho's Drug Trade, 1976–1981
Authors: Heilman Jaymie Patricia 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
Arrests for participation in the global cocaine trade surged in Peru during the 1970s. This article uses court cases to explore complaints in Ayacucho of wrongful arrests in the cocaine trade, examining claims of innocence, false confessions under torture, and police and judicial misconduct between 1976 and 1981. What emerges is a picture of abuse and lives upended by the cocaine trade's repression, often on dubious grounds. Ayacucho police routinely tortured during interrogations, engaging in the kinds of violence that became systematic during counterinsurgent warfare against the Shining Path and its presumed supporters. These cases reveal that many Ayacuchanos profoundly distrusted their police and court systems. That was especially true for impoverished—and predominantly rural and indigenous—men and women who could not afford lawyers or bribes. Ayacuchanos' devastating experiences of cocaine repression fueled anger toward the police, which Shining Path militants capitalized on early in their armed struggle.
Acts of Meditative Mind in “The Ruined Cottage”
Authors: Budick Sanford 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe poetic work of “The Ruined Cottage” is carried out by acts of the “meditative mind” that Armytage identifies early in the poem (l. 81). The history of interpretation of the poem has been sorely vexed by Armytage’s closing statement, “I turned away / And walked along my way in happiness” (ll. 524–25). Far from standing alone, Armytage’s statement flows immediately from his repeated identification of a kind of “meditation” (l. 524). Contrary to Wordsworth’s later disclaimers, he learned much about this activity of meditative mind from Kant’s theories of the sublime. Edmund Husserl’s deepenings of aspects of these Kantian theories are apt for understanding what Wordsworth saw in Kant and what he achieved in “The Ruined Cottage,” going even beyond Kant—and Husserl as well. Wordsworth’s meditative activity produces, in practice, the distinctive consciousness—encompassing a difficult happiness—that is this poem’s greatest achievement. Coleridge, who was well aware of this achievement but resisted acknowledging it, provides important suggestions for locating it substantively, most specifically in Wordsworth’s Kantian engagement with Milton’s poetry.
The Effects of Exercise, Aspirin, and Celecoxib in an Atherogenic Environment
Authors: GRIMM HEATHER , KRETZSCHMAR JAN , COOK MARC D. , BROWN MICHAEL D. 
Published: May 2018

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Optimal vascular function is a hallmark of cardiovascular health. Specifically, the balance of vasoconstricting and vasodilating substances is recognized as a marker of vascular health. One of the greatest challenges to vascular health and vasodilatory balance is tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα)-mediated inflammation. Uncovering effective strategies that maintain a vascular environment that is more vasodilatory and antithrombotic in the face of an inflammatory challenge is favorable.

Purpose
To test the ability of various antithrombotic and provasodilatory treatments, as well as combinations thereof, to prevent unfavorable changes in markers of endothelial dysfunction in human umbilical vein endothelial cells when presented with an inflammatory challenge.

Methods
Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were pretreated with exercise-like levels of laminar shear stress (LSS), aspirin, celecoxib, and their combination before a TNFα challenge. Western blot analysis as well as colorimetric assays were used to determine levels of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and prostacyclin (6-keto PGF1α)/thromboxane (TXB2) metabolite ratio, respectively.

Results
Neither aspirin nor celecoxib were effective in preventing TNFα-induced reduction in eNOS. Further, aspirin was unable to maintain baseline levels of prostacyclin/thromboxane ratio in the face of the inflammatory challenge. Laminar shear stress, aspirin/LSS combination, and celecoxib/LSS combination were all able to prevent TNFα-induced alterations in eNOS levels and prostacyclin/thromboxane ratio.

Conclusions
Effective strategies to maintain a healthy endothelium, and therefore resistance vessel health, need to include exercise-levels of shear stress to be effective.
Improving TRANS4D’s model for vertical crustal velocities in Western CONUS
Authors: Snay Richard A. , Saleh Jarir , Pearson Chris F. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe “Transformations in Four Dimensions” (TRANS4D) software was developed to enable geospatial professionals and others to transform 3-D positional coordinates referred to one date to corresponding positional coordinates referred to another date. For this purpose, TRANS4D incorporates 3-D crustal velocity models for most of the United States and Canada. In this report, an improved model for the vertical velocity field of that part of the conterminous United States that resides west of longitude 107°W is introduced. A new estimation process was employed so that this newer velocity field would have a spatial resolution of 0.0625° × 0.0625° in latitude and longitude, whereas the spatial resolution of TRANS4D’s previous model for this area was 0.25° × 0.25°. The realized improvements benefited from the inclusion of repeated geodetic data at approximately 1300 new locations and from the longer time spans of repeated geodetic data at other locations. After removing that part of the current vertical velocity field due to the glacial isostatic adjustment associated with the Last Glacial Maximum, features of the remaining vertical velocity field are discussed in terms of ongoing geophysical processes. These processes include subduction in the Pacific Northwest, uplift along the San Andreas Fault System, and subsidence due to groundwater extraction in California’s Central Valley. They also include uplift within both the Yellowstone Caldera and the Long Valley Caldera, uplift near Hebgen Lake in Montana, and subsidence near Lassen Peak Volcano in California.
A Continuous-Time Distributed Algorithm for Solving a Class of Decomposable Nonconvex Quadratic Programming
Authors: Zhao Yan , Liu Qingshan 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
In this paper, a continuous-time distributed algorithm is presented to solve a class of decomposable quadratic programming problems. In the quadratic programming, even if the objective function is nonconvex, the algorithm can still perform well under an extra condition combining with the objective, constraint and coupling matrices. Inspired by recent advances in distributed optimization, the proposed continuous-time algorithm described by multi-agent network with consensus is designed and analyzed. In the network, each agent only accesses the local information of its own and from its neighbors, then all the agents in a connected network cooperatively find the optimal solution with consensus.
Event-Triggered Cluster Consensus of Leader-Following Linear Multi-Agent Systems
Authors: Xu Bin , He Wangli 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
This paper is concerned with cluster consensus of linear multi-agent systems via a distributed event-triggered control scheme. Assume that agents can be split into several clusters and a leader is associated with each cluster. Sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the realization of cluster consensus by a feasible event-triggered controller if the network topology of each cluster has a directed spanning tree and the couplings within each cluster are sufficiently strong. Further, positive inner-event time intervals are ensured for the proposed event-triggered strategy to avoid Zeno behaviors. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Neighbors through Imperial Eyes: Depicting Babylonia in the Assyrian Campaign Reliefs
Authors: Seymour Michael 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
The Neo-Assyrian campaign reliefs are rich sources for understanding Assyrian ideas of empire, geography, and Assyria’s relationship to the wider world. They are also exceptions: the format of the later Assyrian campaign reliefs is in several respects so unusual in ancient Near Eastern art as to demand explanation. Not the least of the campaign reliefs’ unusual qualities is the extensive and often detailed depiction of foreign landscapes and people. This paper examines one instance of this phenomenon: the particular case of depictions of Babylonia and the far south in Assyrian campaign reliefs. Studies of the textual sources have done much to draw out the complex cultural and political relationship between Assyria and Babylonia in the eighth, seventh, and sixth centuries B.C., revealing tensions between an identification with the cities of the south and their venerable temples on the one hand, and the undeniable political and strategic problems posed by Babylonian rebellions against Assyrian rule on the other. It is argued that the campaign reliefs attempt to resolve this tension by presenting conquest and pacification as accomplished facts, and Babylonia’s abundance as an Assyrian imperial possession. It is also suggested that one function of the reliefs was to process historical victories into a larger, ahistorical image of Assyrian imperial success.
The Impact of Culture on Parental Perceptions about Autism Spectrum Disorders: Striving for Culturally Competent Practices
Authors: Barrio Brenda L. , Hsiao Yun-Ju , Prishker Nydia , Terry Callie 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
Despite the increasing number of children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds in the United States, limited research exists synthesizing what is known about the prevalence and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in these communities. Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are disproportionately diagnosed with ASD and, there is a need for practitioners and educators to be culturally competent at addressing challenges and practices related to ASD for children and youth. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature related to parental perspectives on ASD, in children from a wide range of culturally diverse backgrounds to provide information and resources to practitioners about the importance to strive for cultural competence in practice-related work.
Illusory Gains from Privatizing Social Security when Reform is Politically Unstable
Authors: Bielecki Marcin , Makarski Krzysztof , Tyrowicz Joanna 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
With compulsory funded public social security systems, pension savings constitute a large stock of assets. In this paper we consider an economy populated by overlapping generations, which may decide about abolishing the funded system and replacing it with the pay-as-you-go scheme (i.e. unprivatizing the pension system). We compare politically stable as well as politically unstable reforms and show that even if the funded system is overall welfare enhancing, the cohort distribution of benefits along the transition path may turn privatizing social security politically unsustainable.
HPLC – Quality by Design Approach for Simultaneous Detection of Torsemide, Spironolactone and Their Degradant Impurities
Authors: Bihola Unnati , Prajapati Prajesh , Agrawal Y. K. 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
A simple, highly robust (quality by design (QbD) approach), precise and accurate method using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry has been established for the simultaneous separation, identification and quantitation of a Torsemide (TOR), spironolactone (SPI) and their degradant impurities. The chromatographic separations of drugs and impurities were achieved on a inertsil ODS-3 µm C18, 150 mm × 4.6 mm, while the isocratic elution using a ternary mobile phase mixture of methanol, acetonitrile and water (5:3:2 v/v/v) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min was adopted for achieving optimum separations. The quantitation of torsemide and spironolactone was accomplished by UV detection at 254 nm and identification of the degradants were done by comparing identical mass in mass spectrometer. The recoveries of the torsemide and spironolactone were obtained higher than 98 % with good validation parameters; linearity (r2>0.994), LOD and LOQ was 10 and 33 ng for TOR and 75 and 248 ng for SPI respectively. The quality by design (QbD) approach has been successfully utilized to prove the method is robust even deliberate changes in critical parameters.