bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Minimal Clinically Important Differences and Substantial Clinical Benefit in Patient-Reported Outcome Measures after Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation
Authors: Ogura Takahiro , Ackermann Jakob , Barbieri Mestriner Alexandre , Merkely Gergo , Gomoll Andreas H. 
Published: September 2018

Objective We sought to determine the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and substantial clinical benefit (SCB) associated with the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) Subjective Knee Evaluation Form, Lysholm, and Short Form–12 (SF-12) after autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI). Design Ninety-two patients with satisfaction surveys at a minimum of 2 years postoperatively and at least 1 repeated patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) were analysed. The MCID was determined using 4 anchor-based methods: average change, mean change, minimally detectable change, and the optimal cutoff point for receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. If an anchor-based method was not applicable, standard deviation–based and effect size–based estimates were used. SCB was determined using ROC curve analysis. Results The 4 anchor-based methods provided a range of MCID values for each PROM (11-18.8 for the KOOS pain, 9.2-17.3 for the KOOS activities of daily living, 12.5-18.6 for the KOOS sport/recreation, 12.8-19.6 for the KOOS quality of life, 10.8-16.4 for the IKDC, and 6.2-8.2 for the SF-12 physical component summary). Using the 2 distribution-based methods, the following MCID value ranges were obtained: KOOS symptom, 3.6 to 8.4; the Lysholm, 4.2 to 10.5; and the SF-12 mental component summary, 1.9 to 4.6. SCB was 30 for the KOOS sport/recreation and 34.4 for the IKDC, which most accurately predict substantial improvement. No significant association was noted between SCB achievement and the baseline PROMs. Conclusion The MCID and SCB determined in our study will allow interpretation of the effects of treatment in clinical practice and trials. Given the varied MCID values in this study, standardisation of the most appropriate calculation methods is warranted.
Same‐day colon capsule endoscopy is a viable means to assess unexplored colonic segments after incomplete colonoscopy in selected patients
Authors: Hussey Mary , Holleran Grainne , Stack Roisin , Moran Neil , Tersaruolo Claudio , McNamara Deirdre 
Published: September 2018

BackgroundSame‐day colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) immediately following incomplete optical colonoscopy (OC) would have a number of advantages for patients, while also presenting unique procedural challenges including the effect of sedation on capsule propulsion and patient tolerance of protracted preparation and fasting.AimThe aim of this article is to prospectively assess the efficacy of same‐day CCE after incomplete OC in an unselected patient cohort.MethodsThis was an observational, prospective, single‐centre study of CCE post‐incomplete colonoscopies. Patients with an incomplete OC for any reason other than obstruction or inadequate bowel preparation were recruited. CCE was performed after a minimum of a one‐hour fast. Once the patient was fully alert, intravenous metoclopramide was administered after capsule ingestion when possible, and a standard CCE booster protocol was then followed. Relevant clinical information was recorded. CCE completion rates, findings and their impact, and adverse events were noted.ResultsFifty patients were recruited, mean age = 57 years and 66% (n = 32) were female. Seventy‐six per cent (n = 38) of CCEs were complete; however, full colonic views were obtained in 84% (n = 42) of cases. Patients > 50 years of age were five times more likely to have an incomplete CCE and there was also a trend towards known comorbidities associated with hypomobility having reduced excretion rates. Overall diagnostic yield for CCE in the unexplored segments was 74% (n = 37), with 26% (n = 13) of patients requiring significant changes in management based on CCE findings. The overall incremental yield was 38%. CCE findings were normal 26% (n = 13), polyps 38% (n = 19), inflammation 22% (n = 11), diverticular disease 25 (n = 12), angiodysplasia 3% (n = 1) and cancer 3% (n = 1). Significant small bowel findings were found in three (6%) cases, including Crohn's disease and a neuroendocrine tumour. A major adverse event occurred in one patient (2%), related to capsule retention.ConclusionSame‐day CCE is a viable alternative means to assess unexplored segments of the colon after incomplete OC in selected patients.
Live imaging of developing mouse retinal slices
Authors: Barrasso Anthony P. , Wang Shang , Tong Xuefei , Christiansen Audrey E. , Larina Irina V. , Poché Ross A. 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
Background
Ex vivo, whole-mount explant culture of the rodent retina has proved to be a valuable approach for studying retinal development. In a limited number of recent studies, this method has been coupled to live fluorescent microscopy with the goal of directly observing dynamic cellular events. However, retinal tissue thickness imposes significant technical limitations. To obtain 3-dimensional images with high quality axial resolution, investigators are restricted to specific areas of the retina and require microscopes, such as 2-photon, with a higher level of depth penetrance. Here, we report a retinal live imaging method that is more amenable to a wider array of imaging systems and does not compromise resolution of retinal cross-sectional area.

Results
Mouse retinal slice cultures were prepared and standard, inverted confocal microscopy was used to generate movies with high quality resolution of retinal cross-sections. To illustrate the ability of this method to capture discrete, physiologically relevant events during retinal development, we imaged the dynamics of the Fucci cell cycle reporter in both wild type and Cyclin D1 mutant retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) undergoing interkinetic nuclear migration (INM). Like previously reported for the zebrafish, mouse RPCs in G1 phase migrated stochastically and exhibited overall basal drift during development. In contrast, mouse RPCs in G2 phase displayed directed, apical migration toward the ventricular zone prior to mitosis. We also determined that Cyclin D1 knockout RPCs in G2 exhibited a slower apical velocity as compared to wild type. These data are consistent with previous IdU/BrdU window labeling experiments on Cyclin D1 knockout RPCs indicating an elongated cell cycle. Finally, to illustrate the ability to monitor retinal neuron differentiation, we imaged early postnatal horizontal cells (HCs). Time lapse movies uncovered specific HC neurite dynamics consistent with previously published data showing an instructive role for transient vertical neurites in HC mosaic formation.

Conclusions
We have detailed a straightforward method to image mouse retinal slice culture preparations that, due to its relative ease, extends live retinal imaging capabilities to a more diverse group of scientists. We have also shown that, by using a slice technique, we can achieve excellent lateral resolution, which is advantageous for capturing intracellular dynamics and overall cell movements during retinal development and differentiation.
Cone beam computed tomography in endodontics: the missing link?
Authors: Rosen Eyal , Tsesis Igor 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) has become a popular diagnostic method in endodontics. However, recently published data provides a glance into possible missing links regarding the efficacy of CBCT and its use to support the endodontic clinical decision-making process.
Intravaginal Testosterone Improves Sexual Satisfaction and Vaginal Symptoms Associated With Aromatase Inhibitors
Authors: Davis Susan R , Robinson Penelope J , Jane Fiona , White Shane , White Michelle , Bell Robin J 
Published: September 2018

Abstract

Context
Intravaginal testosterone (IVT) is a potential treatment of vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) associated with aromatase inhibitor (AI) use.

Objective
To investigate the effects of IVT on sexual satisfaction, vaginal symptoms, and urinary incontinence (UI) associated with AI use.

Design
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Setting
Academic clinical research center.

Participants
Postmenopausal women taking an AI with VVA symptoms.

Intervention
IVT cream (300 μg per dose) or identical placebo, self-administered daily for 2 weeks and then thrice weekly for 24 weeks.

Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary outcome was the change in the sexual satisfaction score on the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Secondary outcomes included vaginal symptoms and responses to the Profile of Female Sexual Function, the Female Sexual Distress Scale–Revised (FSDS-R), and the Questionnaire for UI Diagnosis. Serum sex steroids were measured.

Results
A total of 44 women were randomly assigned and 37 provided evaluable data, (mean age 56.4 years, SD 8.8 years). At 26 weeks, the mean between-group difference in the baseline-adjusted change in FSFI satisfaction scores was significantly greater for the IVT group than the placebo group (mean difference 0.73 units; 95% CI, 0.02 to 1.43; P = 0.043). IVT cream resulted in significant improvements, compared with placebo, in FSDS-R scores (P = 0.02), sexual concerns (P &lt; 0.001), sexual responsiveness (P &lt; 0.001), vaginal dryness (P = 0.009), and dyspareunia (P = 0.014). Serum sex steroid levels did not change. Few women had UI symptoms, with no treatment effect.

Conclusion
IVT significantly improved sexual satisfaction and reduced dyspareunia in postmenopausal women on AI therapy. The low reporting of UI among women on AI therapy merits further investigation.
A Tale of Two Marats: On the Abhorrence of Verticality, from Laissez-Faire to Neoliberalism
Authors: Reber Dierdra 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
This essay traces a conceptual through-line from the twenty-first century crisis of democratic institutionality, explained as an effect of contemporary neoliberalism, back to the eighteenth-century discursive origins of free-market capitalism. On both ends of this temporal bridge, we find an emphasis on the radical horizontalization of political subjectivity and power against perceived hierarchies of institutional control. The discourse of laissez-faire—and sometime democratic—horizontalization turns on affect as an organizing principle (i.e., morality, sentiment, emotion) and locates control within the self as one entity among equals; verticality, in contrast, is linked to rationality and locates control in an asymmetrical relationship of superiority and inferiority that is decried as tyranny. I offer a comparatist interpretation of these concepts in aesthetic play in Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat (1793) alongside Vik Muniz's Marat/Tião as depicted in the documentary film Waste Land (2010) as evidence of the epistemological continuity between the laissez-faire and neoliberal political landscapes of the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries, respectively. The takeaways from this temporal through-line are the possibility that the twenty-first-century symptoms of institutional crisis are the ultimate epistemological expression of affectively inflected horizontal laissez-faire culture and that the reach of this epistemological paradigm extends far beyond political structure and into the deepest cultural imaginings of self and world.
The Abstract, the Concrete, and the Labor of the Novel
Authors: Sauri Emilio 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
What might it mean to conceive of a work of art not simply as a mirror held up to society but as a means to visualize the abstract functions that make society look the way it does? And what can this tell us about the novel's social, political, and artistic potential today? To raise these questions, of course, is to presume that society exists and that works of art are still possible in a situation in which neither of these claims is self-evident, as suggested by recent tendencies within literary studies associated with “postcritique.” Nevertheless, it is this situation that the novelist Yuri Herrera and the photographer Alejandro Cartagena both aim to address within the context of Mexico, where neoliberalism's virtually seamless identification of development with the free market has precipitated the sense of a present from which the future has all but vanished. Rather than merely reflect this state of affairs, Herrera offers a sense of how the contemporary novel departs from this perspective, by taking up a version of the problem that Cartagena's photography similarly attempts to resolve—namely, how to make visible the abstract in the concrete.
Something Extraordinary Keeps Happening: J. G. Ballard's Enclave World
Authors: Hart Matthew 
Published: September 2018

AbstractThis essay considers a late novel sequence by the British speculative fiction writer J. G. Ballard (1930–2009). Although Ballard is often celebrated as a great iconoclast, there is arguably no postwar novelist with a more recognizable style. The essay analyzes Cocaine Nights (1996), Super-Cannes (2000), Millennium People (2003), and Kingdom Come (2006) as a programmatic fictional project. It identifies five key formal and thematic elements of the late sequence, paying particular attention to the question of setting. In Ballard's late fictions, the gated enclave figures as a privileged spatial agent within the diegesis; the central quality of these enclaves is that they are at once ordinary and extraordinary—set off from any shared social fabric and representative of general psychic and material qualities. Methodologically, the essay begins with critical description, following the grain of Ballard's late novels to show how their plots, themes, and characters relate to their settings. The essay then explores Ballard's autocritical explanation of his mature fiction as a belated response to his childhood in the extraterritorial International Settlement of Shanghai, drawing on his autobiographies as well as new research in his personal manuscripts, now collected at the British Library. Any full exploration of the late novels' autocritical energies must go beyond the project of critical description, which by itself produces a historically flat and argumentatively recursive account of Ballard's extraordinary literary accomplishment.
From a Distance: Teju Cole, World Literature, and the Limits of Connection
Authors: Saint Lily 
Published: September 2018

AbstractThis essay challenges recent theories of world literature that argue that the global anglophone novel, in particular, instantiates empathic, ethical connection across and beyond nation-states. Taking cues from Teju Cole's Open City, it understands the urge to connect as a psychological logic of compensation that operates in cosmopolitan readers to keep less pleasant feelings such as guilt, depression, futility, or isolation at bay. Cole's work interrogates the imperative to always connect, intimating all the while certain possibilities for distance as a mode of relationality. The role Cole accords storytelling lies less in its power to forge international contact zones or imagined communities than in its caution against a facile instrumentalism equating knowing with social transformation. Instead, Open City juxtaposes the urge for harmonious cross-cultural connection with a conscious critique of that very desire.
Plurality in Question: Zimbabwe and the Agonistic African Novel
Authors: Jackson Jeanne-Marie 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
This essay argues for a structuralist approach to reading the recurrence of formal, geographic, and epistemological schisms in the Zimbabwean novel from the 1970s through today. The essay makes this claim within a wider context of plurality's fetishization in African literary studies and postcolonial theory. Whereas the postcolonial-cum-global field tends to prioritize categorical expansiveness and dissolution in African writing, equating structural and conceptual more-than-oneness with pluralism of a clearly political expression, “Plurality in Question” suggests that a robust pluralist practice in fact demands categorical delineation and opposition. In this way, Zimbabwean writers' frequent reliance on binary oppositions becomes the starting point for theorizing an argumentative novel form, which responds to but may not directly reflect the antipluralist commitments of lived imperial and/or nationalist politics. In the context of African literature specifically, the essay also offers a new through-line connecting key liberation-era fiction (e.g., Charles Mungoshi, Dambudzo Marechera) with some of its current transnational successor texts (e.g., NoViolet Bulawayo, Christopher Mlalazi).
Come Yew In!
Authors: Floyd Simon 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
Come Yew In! was a collaboration between Norfolk writers, artists and amateur researchers, actors and crew who helped create a free, inclusive outdoor variety show that was staged in a number of open spaces Norwich in the Summer of 2017. Its main aim was to help the people of Norwich to appreciate and celebrate the long history of the contribution that incomers have made to our city. Drawing inspiration from an extensive programme of research conducted by a team of volunteers working with Anglia Ruskin University, Come Yew In! proved to be a high-paced historical and contemporary pastiche combining original dance, song, comedy, audience participation and personal testimony. Participants came from a local theatre company the Common Lot and ta Norwich-based charity New Routes, who support the integration of modern-day migrants to the city. The project was fully funded and supported by contributions from the Norwich Freemen’s Charity, Norwich City Council, Norwich Arts Centre, The Common Lot and Anglia Ruskin University.
Gestão de riscos em cadeia de suprimentos: aplicação em uma distribuidora de gás canalizado
Authors: De Oliveira Ana Camila Rodrigues , E Silva Liane Márcia Freitas , Leite Maria Silene Alexandre 
Published: September 2018

O objetivo deste artigo é identificar, avaliar e priorizar os riscos existentes em uma empresa pertencente a uma cadeia de suprimentos de gás natural canalizado no Estado da Paraíba. A relevância deste trabalho relaciona-se ao fato de que as interrupções em cadeias de suprimentos podem gerar perdas financeiras, elevação dos custos, redução da qualidade do produto e/ou serviço oferecido e perda de reputação. Para alcançar o objetivo proposto, utilizou-se um instrumento de pesquisa construído a partir de uma ampla revisão da literatura. Como resultado, observou-se que o risco de preço é prioritário, uma vez que possui alta probabilidade de ocorrência e pode impactar de forma severa na organização. Tal risco ocorre devido às variações no preço das matérias-primas e às variações no preço do produto final ao cliente. Por fim, a pesquisa sugere estratégias de mitigação para os riscos críticos com a finalidade de assegurar a continuidade dos negócios. No entanto, os riscos que não foram considerados como prioritários não devem ser ignorados, uma vez que novos riscos surgem ao longo do tempo e os riscos existentes podem evoluir.
Preanalytical stability of [-2]proPSA in whole blood stored at room temperature before separation of serum and plasma: implications to Phi determination
Authors: Dittadi Ruggero , Fabricio Aline S.C. , Rainato Giulia , Peroni Edoardo , Di Tonno Fulvio , Vezzù Beatrice , Mazzariol Chiara , Squarcina Elisa , Tammone Laura , Gion Massimo 
Published: September 2018

Abstract

Background
[-2]proPSA seems to outperform free/total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ratio in prostate cancer diagnosis. However, [-2]proPSA stability remains an underestimated issue. We examined [-2]proPSA stability over time in whole blood before separation of serum and plasma and its implications for prostate health index (Phi) determination. Total PSA (tPSA) and free PSA (fPSA) stabilities were also assessed.

Methods
Blood was drawn from 26 patients and separated in two tubes for plasma (K2EDTA and K2EDTA plus protease inhibitors – P100) and one for serum (clot activator plus gel separator). Tubes were stored at room temperature before centrifugation 1, 3 and 5 h for serum and EDTA plasma or 1 and 5 h for P100 plasma. To investigate the influence of gel separator on markers’ stability, blood was collected from 10 patients in three types of tubes to obtain serum: tubes with clot activator plus gel separator, with silica particles or glass tubes. Biomarkers were assayed with chemiluminescent immunoassays.

Results
[-2]proPSA and Phi levels significantly and progressively increased over time in serum (+4.81% and +8.2% at 3 h; +12.03% and +14.91% at 5 h, respectively, vs. 1 h; p<0.001). Conversely, [-2]proPSA levels did not change in plasma (EDTA or P100). tPSA levels did not change over time in serum or plasma, whereas fPSA decreased in serum. All markers were higher in plasma than in serum at any time point. This difference did not seem to be attributable to the use of gel for serum preparation.

Conclusions
EDTA prevented spurious in vitro modifications in PSA-related isoforms, confirming that a stabilized blood sample is a prerequisite for [-2]proPSA measurement and Phi determination.
Synthesis of fluorine-containing phthalocyanines and investigation of the photophysical and photochemical properties of the metal-free and zinc phthalocyanines
Authors: Çelenk Kaya Elif , Ersoy Sibel , Durmuş Mahmut , Kantekin Halit 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
4-(3-(Trifluoromethyl)benzylthio)phthalonitrile (1) was synthesized. Metal-free phthalocyanine 2, zinc(II) phthalocyanine 3 and cobalt(II) phthalocyanine 4 were synthesized starting with dinitrile compound 1. Photodynamic therapy properties of 2 and 3 were studied.
Dehydroepiandrosterone and/or its metabolites: possible androgen receptor antagonistic effects on digitized mammographic breast density in normal breast tissue of postmenopausal women
Authors: Lundström Eva , Carlström Kjell , Naessen Sabine , Söderqvist Gunnar 
Published: September 2018

Abstract

Background
Androgens, notably testosterone inhibit breast cell proliferation and negative correlations between free testosterone (fT) and breast cell proliferation as well as mammographic density have been described. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is reported to be a partial androgen antagonist in breast tumor cells in vitro. Our aim was to investigate if circulating DHEA had any effects on the association between circulating fT and mammographic density in vivo in the normal postmenopausal breast.

Methods
We measured visual and digitized mammographic density and serum DHEA, testosterone, sex-hormone-binding globulin and calculated fT in 84 healthy untreated postmenopausal women.

Results
Significant negative correlations between fT and both visual and digitized mammographic density were strengthened when the median DHEA level decreased from 10.2 to 8.6 nmol/L. Thereafter, correlations became weaker again probably due to decreasing fT levels and/or sample size. There were no correlations between mammographic density and DHEA, at any of the DHEA concentration ranges studied. Serum levels of fT and DHEA were positively correlated.

Conclusion
Our findings demonstrate that circulating DHEA and/or its metabolites counteract the inhibitory action of fT on mammographic breast density.