bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Dialectal variation of the preterit and imperfect
Authors: Delgado-Díaz Gibran 
Published: August 2018

Abstract
This investigation examines the use of the pretérito and imperfecto forms in Puerto Rican and Buenos Aires Spanish. These dialects were chosen because the pretérito can express a perfect event in Buenos Aires Spanish while this use has not been documented in Puerto Rican Spanish. This may cause differences in the use of these forms. The main goal of this investigation was to contrast the linguistic predictors in both dialects in order to determine if there are dialectal differences and if they are due to different grammaticalization pathways. The results indicate that there are some differences between the Spanish spoken by Puerto Ricans and that of the Argentines of Buenos Aires. Among the results, it was found that these two dialects had different predictors for the pretérito and imperfecto. These results show preliminary evidence that indicates that these dialects follow different grammaticalization paths.
El significado de las preposiciones españolas a través de la gramática cognitiva
Authors: Simón Francisco Romo 
Published: August 2018

Resumen
El presente artículo constituye un estudio exploratorio sobre la aplicación de los conceptos analíticos, descriptivos y representacionales de la gramática cognitiva a una categoría lingüística todavía inexplorada mediante esta aproximación: las preposiciones. La propia definición del sistema preposicional español y el de las partículas que lo componen resulta un tema controvertido que ha derivado en definiciones ambiguas y confusas sinonimias que se apoyan en listas con decenas de usos distintos para explicar los valores de una única partícula. Ante esta situación, proponemos la aplicación de los conceptos teóricos y las herramientas descriptivas de la gramática cognitiva para avanzar hacia una definición operativa y unificada de todos los valores semánticos de cada preposición. En el caso concreto de este artículo, utilizaremos este modelo para establecer una propuesta de proto-escena para la preposición a.
A learner-based approach of applying online reading to improve learner autonomy and lexical knowledge
Authors: Teng (Mark) Feng 
Published: August 2018

AbstractThis study investigated a learner-based approach of applying online reading to improve learner autonomy and lexical knowledge. Learner autonomy was operationalized as learners’ self-initiation and self-regulation. A total of 90 students at a Chinese university were divided equally into three groups. Participants in the Experimental Group One (EG1) read online after receiving a package of nine hourly sessions in metacognitive strategy training. Participants in the Experimental Group Two (EG2) read online without receiving any strategy training. Participants in the Control Group (CG) only read printed versions of the target materials. Students in the EG1 outperformed those in the other two groups in terms of their ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate reading. Planning became the most exercised skill, followed by evaluating and monitoring. A significant difference between EG2 and CG with respect to their abilities was not detected. Students in the EG1 also improved the most in lexical knowledge, and although students in the EG2 showed higher lexical knowledge scores than those in the CG, the difference was not significant. In addition, improvements in lexical knowledge were maintained best by EG1 on a delayed test. Overall, this study suggests that providing students with metacognitive strategy training for online reading is an effective approach.
Exploring strong and weak EFL readers’ strategy use after a reading strategy and extensive reading instructional intervention
Authors: Shih Ying-Chun , Reynolds Barry Lee 
Published: August 2018

Abstract
After 16 weeks of extensive reading and reading strategy instruction in an English as a Foreign Language class (n = 52) at a junior college in Taiwan, three weak and three strong second language readers were recruited to investigate reading strategy use. Strategies were inferred from verbal reports gained through a think aloud methodology as participants read a text equivalent to those encountered during regular classroom instruction. Results indicated strong readers used more global strategies than weak readers. Strong readers had a more diverse reading strategy repertoire while weak readers tended to lean towards the use of a single strategy. In addition, strong readers tended to combine strategies. These and other results are discussed in terms of the translation-based reading instruction currently dominating Taiwanese secondary school classrooms. Suggestions are also provided on how classroom English teachers should implement reading strategy training in the English language classroom.
An investigation into the plurilingual profile of the newly arrived students at the Melilla Campus of the University of
Granada
Authors: Cortina-Pérez Beatriz , Gallardo-Vigil Miguel Ángel , Jiménez-Jiménez M. Ángeles , López-Vallejo M. Ángeles , Molina-García M. José , Rico-Martín Ana M. 
Published: August 2018

Abstract
University students need to have ability in more than one language in order to foster the transmission of knowledge and research,
and so consolidating a multilingual Higher Education. In the context of Melilla (University of Granada), this requirement is added
to the plurilingualism in the city (a large majority of the population is bilingual in Spanish and Tamazight). This investigation
aims at describing the plurilingual reality of first-year students, as well as the different socio-linguistic variables that could
account for results. Data obtained in several tests and questionnaires, with 206 subjects, determine that a clearly plurilingual
profile exists among the participants, although the great challenge is centred on reaching communicative competence in a foreign
language sufficient to become independent users.
News comments on facebook – a systemic functional linguistic analysis of moves and appraisal language in reader-reader interaction
Authors: Tran Giang Hoai , Ngo Xuan Minh 
Published: August 2018

ABSTRACT
Many news publishers have integrated their news on Facebook to attract wider readership. On this popular social networking site, online news readers can contribute their comments to the news post and interact with their fellow readers. This form of user-generated contents has attracted increasing scholarship and raised concerns over the salient conflict and incivility in its language, the low quality of polarized argumentation, and the complex interaction among news commenters. To contribute to the current lack of in-depth qualitative description of such reader-reader interaction, the current study explores the types of communicative moves performed by Facebook users in their news comments, the patterning of those moves, and the attitudinal language used to realize such moves. Based on the two Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) frameworks of speech functions and appraisal for a close analysis of the moves and attitudinal lexis in Facebook news readers’ comments to one news article, the research has shown that exchanges of Facebook news comments developed in different directions with varying levels and complex patterns of support and confrontation between interactants as well as different appraisal language use. Besides substantiating the existing description of online news readers’ interaction, the paper argues that the SFL frameworks of conversation analysis are helpful for understanding CMC but more updated descriptions and a more visual approach to presentation of findings are needed to make the frameworks more relevant for online interactive discourses.
Inferring gene expression networks with hubs using a degree weighted Lasso approach
Authors: Sulaimanov Nurgazy , Kumar Sunil , Burdet Frédéric , Ibberson Mark , Pagni Marco , Koeppl Heinz 
Published: August 2018

AbstractMotivationGenome-scale gene networks contain regulatory genes called hubs that have many interaction partners. These genes usually play an essential role in gene regulation and cellular processes. Despite recent advancements in high-throughput technology, inferring gene networks with hub genes from high-dimensional data still remains a challenging problem. Novel statistical network inference methods are needed for efficient and accurate reconstruction of hub networks from high-dimensional data.ResultsTo address this challenge we propose DW-Lasso, a degree weighted Lasso (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) method which infers gene networks with hubs efficiently under the low sample size setting. Our network reconstruction approach is formulated as a two stage procedure: first, the degree of networks is estimated iteratively, and second, the gene regulatory network is reconstructed using degree information. A useful property of the proposed method is that it naturally favors the accumulation of neighbors around hub genes and thereby helps in accurate modeling of the high-throughput data under the assumption that the underlying network exhibits hub structure. In a simulation study, we demonstrate good predictive performance of the proposed method in comparison to traditional Lasso type methods in inferring hub and scale-free graphs. We show the effectiveness of our method in an application to microarray data of Escherichia coli and RNA sequencing data of Kidney Clear Cell Carcinoma from The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets.Availability and implementationUnder the GNU General Public Licence at https://cran.r-project.org/package=DWLasso.Supplementary informationSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Frailty Phenotype and Deficit Accumulation Frailty Index in Predicting Recovery After Transcatheter and Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement
Authors: Shi Sandra , Afilalo Jonathan , Lipsitz Lewis A , Popma Jeffrey J , Khabbaz Kamal R , Laham Roger J , Guibone Kim , Grodstein Francine , Lux Eliah , Kim Dae Hyun 
Published: August 2018

Abstract

Background
Frailty phenotype and deficit-accumulation frailty index (FI) are widely used measures of frailty. Their performance in predicting recovery after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has not been compared.

Methods
Patients undergoing SAVR (n = 91) or TAVR (n = 137) at an academic medical center were prospectively assessed for frailty phenotype and FI. Outcomes were death or poor recovery, defined as a decline in ability to perform 22 daily activities and New York Heart Association class 3 or 4 at 6 months after surgery. The predictive ability of frailty phenotype versus FI and their additive value to a traditional surgical risk model were evaluated using C-statistics, net reclassification improvement (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement.

Results
TAVR patients had higher prevalence of phenotypic frailty (85% vs 38%, p < .001) and greater mean FI (0.37 vs 0.24, p < .001) than SAVR patients. In the overall cohort, FI had a higher C-statistic than frailty phenotype (0.74 vs 0.63, p = .01) for predicting death or poor recovery. Adding FI to the traditional model improved prediction (NRI, 26.4%, p = .02; integrated discrimination improvement, 7.7%, p < .001), while adding phenotypic frailty did not (NRI, 4.0%, p = .70; integrated discrimination improvement, 1.6%, p = .08). The additive value of FI was evident in TAVR patients (NRI, 42.8%, p < .01) but not in SAVR patients (NRI, 25.0%, p = .29). Phenotypic frailty did not add significantly in either TAVR (NRI, 6.8%, p = .26) or SAVR patients (NRI, 25.0%, p = .29).

Conclusions
Deficit-accumulation FI provides better prediction of death or poor recovery than frailty phenotype in older patients undergoing SAVR and TAVR.
Comorbidity Subgroups Among Medicare Beneficiaries Seeking Health Care for Musculoskeletal Pain
Authors: Lentz Trevor A , Marlow Nicole M , Beneciuk Jason M , Fillingim Roger B , George Steven Z 
Published: August 2018

AbstractBackgroundTreatment of musculoskeletal pain in older adults may be more effective if it incorporates integrated management of comorbid health conditions. The purpose of this study was to define empirically derived comorbidity subgroups among Medicare beneficiaries with an index condition of osteoarthritis (OA) or low back pain (LBP) as a precursor to the development of comorbidity-specific pain treatment pathways.MethodsThis study included Medicare beneficiaries participating in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) and seeking care for OA (n = 723) or LBP (n = 617) with data available for 3 years after entry into the survey. We identified 30 comorbidity diagnoses using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnostic codes in claims data during beneficiaries’ first year in the survey. Latent class analysis defined comorbidity subgroups, and posterior probabilities were used to assign subgroup classification. Self-reported disability was compared over three consecutive years for each subgroup.ResultsWe identified similar comorbidity subgroups for OA and LBP. The subgroups included (range of percent prevalence) low comorbidity (47.6%–54.4%), nonvascular (21.8%–28.6%), diabetes (12.2%–15.0%), renal disease with complicated hypertension (5.5%–5.8%), and complex cardiac disease/high comorbidity (3.3%–5.8%). OA and LBP subgroups with more complex comorbidity burden generally demonstrated higher disability over 3 years.ConclusionsFive comorbidity subgroups were identified, with a large proportion of older adults classified into the subgroup defined by a low probability of most comorbidities. These findings provide direction for the development of pain treatment pathways that are tailored to address common comorbidity profiles among older adults.
Matrix decompositions using sub-Gaussian random matrices
Authors: Aizenbud Yariv , Averbuch Amir 
Published: August 2018

Abstract
In recent years, several algorithms which approximate matrix decomposition have been developed. These algorithms are based on metric conservation features for linear spaces of random projection types. We present a new algorithm, which achieves with high probability a rank-$r$ singular value decomposition (SVD) approximation of an $n \times n$ matrix and derive an error bound that does not depend on the first $r$ singular values. Although the algorithm has an asymptotic complexity similar to state-of-the-art algorithms and the proven error bound is not as tight as the state-of-the-art bound, experiments show that the proposed algorithm is faster in practice while providing the same error rates as those of the state-of-the-art algorithms. We also show that an i.i.d. sub-Gaussian matrix with large probability of having null entries is metric conserving. This result is used in the SVD approximation algorithm, as well as to improve the performance of a previously proposed approximated LU decomposition algorithm.
Efficacy of Pharmacotherapy for Smoking Cessation in Adolescent Smokers: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Myung Seung-Kwon , Park Joo-Young 
Published: August 2018

Abstract

Introduction
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation among adolescent smokers by using a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Methods
PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched from the inception to January 20, 2018. We included RCTs of pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation among adolescent smokers aged less than 20 years. Data were pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis. The primary outcome measures were a smoking abstinence rate and its relative risk (RR) at the longest follow-up period in each study validated by biochemical markers.

Results
Among a total of 1035 articles searched, nine RCTs, which involved 1188 adolescent smokers aged 12–20 years with 627 in the intervention group and 561 in the control group, were included in the final analysis. In the random-effects meta-analysis of all the nine trials, pharmacotherapy showed a increased abstinence rate (RR = 1.62; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08 to 2.44, I2 = 0.0%), compared with the control group. Subgroup meta-analyses by follow-up period showed an increased abstinence rate at 4 weeks (RR = 1.87; 95% CI = 1.22 to 2.87; n = 4) and a nonsignificantly increased abstinence rate during the longer term follow-up periods at 8, 12, 24, and 52 weeks.

Conclusions
The current meta-analysis suggests that pharmacotherapy can be considered as an aid for smoking cessation in the short-term period among adolescent smokers. However, further large RCTs are warranted to determine its long-term efficacy and safety.

Implications
In this meta-analysis of nine RCTs with 1188 adolescent smokers aged 12–20 years, pharmacotherapy showed an increased abstinence rate, compared with the control group. In the subgroup meta-analyses by follow-up period, it showed the increased abstinence rate at 4 weeks and no efficacy on abstinence during the longer term follow-up periods up to 52 weeks. Further large RCTs are warranted to determine the long-term efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy in adolescent smokers.
The independent role of deprivation in abdominal obesity beyond income poverty. A population-based household survey in Chinese adults
Authors: Chung Gary Ka-Ki , Chung Roger Yat-Nork , Chan Dicken Cheong-Chun , Lai Francisco Tsz-Tsun , Wong Hung , Lau Maggie Ka-Wai , Wong Samuel Yeung-Shan , Yeoh Eng-Kiong 
Published: August 2018

AbstractBackgroundIndividual-level deprivation takes into account the non-monetary aspects of poverty that neither income poverty nor socio-economic factors could fully capture; however, it has rarely been considered in existing studies on social inequality in obesity. Therefore, we examined the associations of deprivation, beyond income poverty, with both general and abdominal obesity.MethodsA territory-wide two-stage stratified random sample of 2282 community-dwelling Hong Kong adults was surveyed via face-to-face household interviews between 2014 and 2015. Deprivation was assessed by a Deprivation Index specific to the Hong Kong population. General obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2, while abdominal obesity was defined as waist circumference (WC) ≥ 90 cm/80 cm for male/female. Multivariable binary logistic regressions were performed.ResultsDeprivation was independently associated with abdominal obesity (odds ratios (OR) = 1.68; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.27–2.22); however, no significant association was found with general obesity (OR=1.03; CI: 0.77–1.38). After additional adjustment for BMI, deprivation remained strongly associated with abdominal obesity (OR=2.00; CI: 1.41–2.83); and after further adjustment for WC, deprivation had a marginal inverse association with general obesity (OR=0.72; CI: 0.51–1.01).ConclusionsDeprivation is an important risk factor of abdominal obesity and plays a critical role in capturing the preferential abdominal fat deposition beyond income poverty.
Is There a Safe Level for Recording Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential? Evidence From Cochlear and Hearing Function Tests
Authors: Singh Niraj Kumar , Keloth Nainitha Kizhake , Sinha Sachchidanand 
Published: August 2018

Objective:
There is a growing concern among the scientific community about the possible detrimental effects of signal levels used for eliciting vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) on hearing. A few recent studies showed temporary reduction in amplitude of otoacoustic emissions (OAE) after VEMP administration. Nonetheless, these studies used higher stimulus levels (133 and 130 dB peak equivalent sound pressure level [pe SPL]) than the ones often used (120 to 125 dB pe SPL) for clinical recording of VEMP. Therefore, it is not known whether these lower levels also have similar detrimental impact on hearing function. Hence, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of 500 Hz tone burst presented at 125 dB pe SPL on hearing functions.

Design:
True experimental design, with an experimental and a control group, was used in this study. The study included 60 individuals with normal auditory and vestibular system. Of them, 30 underwent unilateral VEMP recording (group I) while the remaining 30 did not undergo VEMP testing (group II). Selection of participants to the groups was random. Pre- and post-VEMP assessments included pure-tone audiometry (250 to 16,000 Hz), distortion product OAE, and subjective symptoms. To simulate the time taken for VEMP testing in group I, participants in group II underwent these tests twice with a gap of 15 minutes.

Results:
No participant experienced any subjective symptom after VEMP testing. There was no significant interear and intergroup difference in pure-tone thresholds and distortion product OAE amplitude before and after VEMP recording (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the response rate of cervical VEMP was 100% at stimulus intensity of 125 dB pe SPL.

Conclusions:
Use of 500 Hz tone burst at 125 dB pe SPL does not cause any temporary or permanent changes in cochlear function and hearing, yet produces 100% response rate of cervical VEMP in normal-hearing young adults. Therefore, 125 dB pe SPL of 500 Hz tone burst is recommended as safe level for obtaining cervical VEMP without significantly losing out on its response rate, at least in normal-hearing young adults.
Muscle disease in scleroderma
Authors: Paik Julie J. 
Published: August 2018

Purpose of review
This review discusses the most updated literature of muscle disease in scleroderma in the past year.

Recent findings
In the past year, two studies have highlighted that fibrosis is a prevalent histopathologic feature in muscle biopsies of patients with scleroderma muscle disease. In addition, microangiopathy was a common co-feature on muscle biopsies. A fibrosing myopathy, or fibrosis predominance on muscle histopathology, is associated with a unique clinical phenotype in patients with scleroderma. When compared with those with an inflammatory myopathy, patients with a fibrosing myopathy tend to have diffuse scleroderma, lower muscle enzymes, nonirritable myopathy, and elevated cardiac enzymes. These patients are also reported to have a higher risk of cardiopulmonary complications and cardiac death when compared with those with an inflammatory myopathy.

Summary
Although there are clear cases of overlap myositis, it is clear that muscle disease in scleroderma is being redefined, and it is crucial to start recognizing that the muscle is an organ that can directly be affected by scleroderma. Fibrosis can occur early in scleroderma muscle disease, and a unique histologic subtype of muscle disease, fibrosing myopathy, is associated with a higher risk of mortality.