bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Low‐Value Prostate Cancer Screening Among Older Men Within the Veterans Health Administration
Authors: Radomski Thomas R. , Huang Yan , Park Seo Young , Sileanu Florentina E. , Thorpe Carolyn T. , Thorpe Joshua M. , Fine Michael J. , Gellad Walid F. 
Published: July 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVESProstate‐specific antigen (PSA) screening can be of low value in older adults. Our objective was to quantify the prevalence and variation of low‐value PSA screening across the Veterans Health Administration (VA), which has instituted programs to reduce low‐value care.DESIGNRetrospective cohort.SETTINGVA administrative data, 2014 to 2015.PARTICIPANTSNational random sample (N = 214 480) of male veterans, aged 75 years or older.MEASUREMENTSWe defined PSA screening in men aged 75 years or older without a history of prostate cancer as low value, per established definitions in Medicare. We calculated screening rates overall and by VA Medical Center (VAMC), adjusting for patient and VAMC‐level factors. We characterized variation across VAMCs using the adjusted median odds ratio (OR) and compared the adjusted OR of screening between VAMCs in different deciles of low‐value screening rates. In separate sensitivity analyses, we assessed screening in veterans at greatest risk of 1‐year mortality and among veterans after excluding those who underwent prostatectomy, had a prior PSA elevation, or had a clinical indication for testing.RESULTSOverall, 37 867 (17.7%) of veterans underwent low‐value PSA screening (VAMC range = 3.3%‐38.2%). The adjusted median OR was 1.88, meaning the median odds of screening would increase by 88% were a veteran to transfer his care to a VAMC with higher screening rates. Veterans at VAMCs in the top decile had an adjusted OR of 12.9 (95% confidence interval = 11.0‐15.2) compared to those veterans in the lowest decile. Among veterans with the greatest mortality risk (n = 23 377), 3496 (15.0%) underwent screening (VAMC range = 1.7%‐46.3%). After excluding veterans with a prior prostatectomy, PSA elevation, or a potential clinical indication, 31 556 (14.7%) underwent screening (VAMC range = 2.0%‐49.9%).CONCLUSIONSIn a national cohort of older veterans, more than one in six received low‐value PSA screening, with greater than 10‐fold variation across VAMCs and high rates of screening among those with the greatest mortality risk. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:1922–1927, 2019
Social conflict and agrarian change inUganda's countryside
Authors: Martiniello Giuliano 
Published: July 2019

AbstractIn this paper, I explore the significance of Giovanni Arrighi's scholarship about the dynamics of capitalist accumulation and transformation in Africa and other “hostile” environments for critical agrarian studies. Specifically, I examine the relevance of his work for the analysis of multiple trajectories of agrarian change and social conflict in Uganda's countryside. By adopting synchronic and diachronic perspectives, the analysis here unveils the geographically uneven nature of transformation in the agrarian social structure in two distinct regions in Uganda: Buganda and Acholi. This complementarity allows us to grasp continuities and discontinuities in the processes of agrarian change and in the social struggles over the production and appropriation of surplus value in the longue durée. I argue that the agrarian social structure and the associated dynamics and forms of social conflict in the two regions massively diverged during the colonial period, while partially converging in the current era of neoliberal restructuring.
Labour reserves and surplus populations: Northern Ghana and the Eastern Cape of South Africa
Authors: Scully Ben , Britwum Akua Opokua 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThis article is focused on the political economy of two of Africa's “labour reserve” regions, northern Ghana and the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The majority of residents in these regions are taken as paradigmatic examples of “surplus populations.” They exemplify a main feature that has been used to theorize the concept of surplus populations today, namely, that their labour is surplus to the needs of capital accumulation. We follow the method of Arrighi and Piselli, tracing the political economic transformations of these regions from the turn of the 20th century until the present in order to ground the concept of surplus population in a specific historical context. We argue that it is limiting to think about these populations' utility or uselessness only in relation to capital. To understand the political implications of “surplus populations,” we must think about the interrelation between the political and economic roles that they play and how these developed within specific historical contexts.
Creating places through language rules: A historical and ethnographic perspective on the “Rule of Irish”
Authors: Petit Cahill Kevin 
Published: July 2019

AbstractIn seeking to understand the political projects underlying pedagogical choices, this article studies the reasons for and situated dynamics of the implementation of the “Rule of Irish” (orRiail na Gaeilge), which prohibits the use of English in Irish immersion language camps (“summer colleges”) set in Ireland's officially designated Irish‐speaking regions, theGaeltacht. Despite the great difficulty imposing this rule on learners represents, its implantation has remained unquestioned since the development of the first summer colleges at the beginning of the 20th century. Combining ethnographic observations, the study of press articles published between 1901 and 1916, and the analysis of contemporary language policies, I show that the implementation ofRiail na Gaeilgeaims to provide students with an experience of the monolingual Irish place that the Gaeltacht has long been popularly and officially imagined as being.Riail na Gaeilgeis thus not just a pedagogical tool but it also has a social function of consecrating the Gaeltacht as Irish‐speaking Ireland. The article traces how the Gaeltacht was created and has been maintained throughRiail na Gaeilgeand explores the political reasons underlying this institutionalization.
Relationship of serum leptin concentration with pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism and cholestatic disease in dogs
Authors: Lee S. , Kweon O.‐K. , Kim W. H. 
Published: July 2019

ObjectivesTo measure serum leptin concentration in dogs with pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism and varying degrees of cholestatic disease and determine whether serum levels differed between dogs with pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism and those with gall bladder mucocoele.Materials and MethodsClient‐owned healthy dogs (n=20), dogs diagnosed with gall bladder mucocoele (n=20) and dogs diagnosed with pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism (n=60) were enrolled. Only dogs of normal body condition score were included. Dogs with pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism were divided into three groups according to the severity of cholestatic disease: normal gall bladder (n=20), cholestasis (n=20) and gall bladder mucocoele (n=20). Serum leptin levels were measured using sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay.ResultsSerum concentrations of leptin were similar between dogs with gall bladder mucocoele and those with pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism accompanied by gall bladder mucocoele; these concentrations were significantly higher than those in healthy control dogs. In dogs with pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism, circulating leptin concentration significantly increased with the severity of cholestasis: higher in the cholestasis group than the normal gall bladder group and higher in the gall bladder mucocoele group than the cholestasis group.Clinical SignificanceElevated circulating leptin concentration was associated with canine pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism and gall bladder mucocoele. Homeostatic imbalance of leptin concentration might be associated with severity of cholestatic disease in pituitary‐dependent hyperadrenocorticism.
Ecological context influences scent‐marking behavior in the giant panda
Authors: Zhou W. , Nie Y. , Swaisgood R. R. , Li Y. , Liu D. , Wei F. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractSignal detection theory predicts that animals should select scent‐marking sites in a way that maximizes their probability of detection by target receivers. Many studies have been conducted with a focus on signaling behavior and function. Yet, the role of the environment in structuring scent‐mark patterns is poorly known. We studied the giant panda, a solitary species that relies heavily on chemosignaling for communication through depositing urine and anogential gland secretions (AGS) on trees, to determine how environmental factors influence scent deposition strategies. Using a combination of sign surveys, camera trapping, and gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, we conducted a comparative study of giant panda scent marking in two reserves, Wanglang and Foping, in China. The two reserves differed with regard to prevalence of tree species that differed in bark roughness, diameter at breast height (DBH), and moss status. For urine‐marking pandas selected large, mossy trees with very rough bark trees, whereas AGS marking was used preferentially on rough‐barked moss‐free trees in both reserves. Both AGS and urine contained more volatile than nonvolatile constituents and urine had higher relative abundance of volatiles than AGS, indicating urine likely has a larger signal range and shorter signal persistence than AGS. Urine marking was significantly more prevalent in Wanglang, which contains more rough‐barked, moss covered, and higher DBH trees favored for urine marking, than in Foping. Thus, habitat features appear to constrain pandas’ use of different types of marking, potentially altering how the communication system functions in different ecological contexts. Our study underscores the importance of future study evaluating environmental influences on chemosignaling behavior.
Is it possible to feel at home in a patient room in an intensive care unit? Reflections on environmental aspects in technology‐dense environments
Authors: Andersson Morgan , Fridh Isabell , Lindahl Berit 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThis paper focuses on the patient's perspective and the philosophical underpinnings that support what might be considered optimal for the future design of the intensive care unit (ICU) patient room. It also addresses the question of whether the aspects that support at‐homeness are applicable to ICU patient rooms. The concept of “at‐homeness” in ICUs is strongly related to privacy and control of space and territory. This study investigates whether the sense of at‐homeness can be created in an ICU, when one or more patients share a room. From an interdisciplinary perspective, we critically reflect on various aspects associated with conflicts surrounding the use of ICU patient rooms. Thus, from an architectural and a caring perspective, the significance of space and personal territory in ICU patient rooms is emphasized. Recommendations for further research are suggested. In conclusion, privacy and control are deemed to be essential factors in the stimulation of recovery processes and the promotion of well‐being in situations involving severe illness or life‐threatening conditions.
Conceptual Innovation, Function First
Authors: Simion Mona , Kelp Christoph 
Published: July 2019

AbstractCan we engineer conceptual change? While a positive answer to this question would be exciting news for philosophy, there has been a growing number of pessimistic voices in the literature. This paper resists this trend. Its central aim is to argue not only that conceptual engineering is possible but also that it is not even distinctively hard. In order to achieve this, we will develop a novel approach to conceptual engineering that has two key components. First, it proposes a reorientation of the conceptual engineering project away from fixing conceptual defects and towards bringing about conceptual innovation. Second, it offers a new account of when conceptual engineering is successful in terms of etiological functions. We then turn to the reasons that have motivated various forms of pessimism about conceptual engineering and show that, on our novel approach, none of them stands up to scrutiny.
Interventionist Explanation and the Problem of Single Variable Boundary Constraints
Authors: Wilhelm Isaac 
Published: July 2019

AbstractAccording to Interventionism, explanations cite invariant relations which hold among multiple variables. Interventionism incorrectly implies, however, that many common scientific explanations—which cite single‐variable boundary constraints—are not actually explanatory. So I propose a different account of explanation, similar in spirit to Interventionism, which gets those cases of scientific explanation right.
Interspecific variation across angiosperms in globalDNAmethylation: phylogeny, ecology and plant features in tropical and Mediterranean communities
Authors: Alonso Conchita , Medrano Mónica , Pérez Ricardo , Canto Azucena , Parra‐Tabla Víctor , Herrera Carlos M. 
Published: July 2019

SummaryThe interspecific range of epigenetic variation and the degree to which differences between angiosperm species are related to geography, evolutionary history, ecological settings or species‐specific traits, remain essentially unexplored. Genome‐wide globalDNAcytosine methylation is a tractable ‘epiphenotypic’ feature suitable for exploring these relationships.Global cytosine methylation was estimated in 279 species from two distant, ecologically disparate geographical regions: Mediterranean Spain and tropical México. At each region, four distinct plant communities were analyzed.Global methylation spanned a 10‐fold range among species (4.8–42.2%). Interspecific differences were related to evolutionary trajectories, as denoted by a strong phylogenetic signal. Genomes of tropical species were on average less methylated than those of Mediterranean ones. Woody plants have genomes with lower methylation than perennial herbs, and genomes of widespread species were less methylated than those of species with restricted geographical distribution.The eight communities studied exhibited broad and overlapping interspecific variances in global cytosine methylation and only two of them differed in average methylation. Altogether, our broad taxonomic survey supported global methylation as a plant ‘epiphenotypic’ trait largely associated with species evolutionary history, genome size, range size and woodiness. Additional studies are required for better understanding the environmental components underlying local and geographical variation.
Are avoidance diets still warranted in children with atopic dermatitis?
Authors: Eigenmann Philippe A. , Beyer Kirsten , Lack Gideon , Muraro Antonella , Ong Peck Y. , Sicherer Scott H. , Sampson Hugh A. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractNearly 40% of children with moderate‐to‐severe atopic dermatitis (AD) have IgE‐mediated food allergy (FA). This clinical observation has been extensively documented by experimental data linking skin inflammation in AD to FA, as well as by food challenges reproducing symptoms and avoidance diets improving AD. Although food avoidance may improve AD, avoidance diets do not cure AD, may even have detrimental effects such as progression to immediate‐type allergy including anaphylactic reactions, and may significantly reduce the quality of life of the patient and the family. AD care should focus upon optimal medical management, rather than dietary elimination. Food allergy testing is primarily indicated when immediate‐type allergic reactions are a concern. In recalcitrant AD, if food is being considered a possible chronic trigger, a limited panel of foods may be tested. An avoidance diet is only indicated in patients clearly identified as food allergic by an appropriate diagnostic food challenge, and after adequately informing the family of the limited benefits, and possible harms of an elimination diet.
Interventional Pain Treatments in the Management of Oncologic Patients With Thoracic Spinal Tumor–Related Pain: A Case Series
Authors: Rispoli Leia , Rakesh Neal , Shah Rita , Gulati Amitabh 
Published: July 2019

AbstractBackgroundAdvanced tumors of the thoracic spine are difficult to treat and can lead to complex pain syndromes. Following conventional oncologic treatments, pharmacologic therapy may be insufficient to manage pain. Minimally invasive interventional procedures offer alternatives to treat malignant thoracic spinal pain.MethodsThirteen patients with metastatic disease and poorly controlled thoracic axial and/or radicular pain were identified via a retrospective chart review. Patients were either treated with radiation, surgery, chemotherapy, or a combination of these. Then, the patients were organized into groups based on their diagnoses, anatomical disease locations, symptoms, prior treatments, and interventional pain procedures offered.ResultsAll cases of intercostal nerve, costotransverse junction, erector spinae plane, and paravertebral blocks resulted in pain relief without any reported complications. A patient who received a thoracic epidural injection had a complete resolution of pain when combined with radiation therapy 2 weeks after the injection. One patient who underwent repeat thoracic epidural injections eventually had an intrathecal pump placement, resulting in reduced opioid usage. Finally, 1 patient who received a thoracic medial branch block with a relief of thoracic axial pain reported greater pain relief with a medial branch nerve cryoablation.ConclusionWe propose a treatment algorithm to manage patients with thoracic spinal tumor–related pain. Interventional thoracic axial procedures may be safe and efficacious pain treatments for patients with cancer.
A dynamic yet vulnerable pipeline: Integration and coordination of hydraulic traits across whole plants
Authors: McCulloh Katherine A. , Domec Jean‐Christophe , Johnson Daniel M. , Smith Duncan D. , Meinzer Frederick C. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThe vast majority of measurements in the field of plant hydraulics have been on small‐diameter branches from woody species. These measurements have provided considerable insight into plant functioning, but our understanding of plant physiology and ecology would benefit from a broader view, because branch hydraulic properties are influenced by many factors. Here, we discuss the influence that other components of the hydraulic network have on branch vulnerability to embolism propagation. We also modelled the impact of changes in the ratio of root‐to‐leaf areas and soil texture on vulnerability to hydraulic failure along the soil‐to‐leaf continuum and showed that hydraulic function is better maintained through changes in root vulnerability and root‐to‐leaf area ratio than in branch vulnerability. Differences among species in the stringency with which they regulate leaf water potential and in reliance on stored water to buffer changes in water potential also affect the need to construct embolism resistant branches. Many approaches, such as measurements on fine roots, small individuals, combining sap flow and psychrometry techniques, and modelling efforts, could vastly improve our understanding of whole‐plant hydraulic functioning. A better understanding of how traits are coordinated across the whole plant will improve predictions for plant function under future climate conditions.
Examining the item response process to personality measures in high‐stakes situations: Issues of measurement validity and predictive validity
Authors: Zhang Bo , Cao Mengyang , Tay Louis , Luo Jing , Drasgow Fritz 
Published: July 2019

AbstractWe conducted two experimental studies with between‐subjects and within‐subjects designs to investigate the item response process for personality measures administered in high‐ versus low‐stakes situations. Apart from assessing measurement validity of the item response process, we examined predictive validity; that is, whether or not different response models entail differential selection outcomes. We found that ideal point response models fit slightly better than dominance response models across high‐ versus low‐stakes situations in both studies. Additionally, fitting ideal point models to the data led to fewer items displaying differential item functioning compared to fitting dominance models. We also identified several items that functioned as intermediate items in both the faking and honest conditions when ideal point models were fitted, suggesting that ideal point model is “theoretically” more suitable across these contexts for personality inventories. However, the use of different response models (dominance vs. ideal point) did not have any substantial impact on the validity of personality measures in high‐stakes situations, or the effectiveness of selection decisions such as mean performance or percent of fakers selected. These findings are significant in that although prior research supports the importance and use of ideal point models for measuring personality, we find that in the case of personality faking, though ideal point models seem to have slightly better measurement validity, the use of dominance models may be adequate with no loss to predictive validity.
Paediatric donation after circulatory determined death heart transplantation using donor normothermic regional perfusion and ex situ heart perfusion: A case report
Authors: Khushnood Abbas , Butt Tanveer A. , Jungschleger Jerome , Henderson Paul , Smith Jonathan H. , De Rita Fabrizio , Nassar Mohamed , Page Aravinda , Messer Simon , Large Stephen , Dark John H. , Parry Gareth , Reinhardt Zdenka , Hasan Asif 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThis is a report of a unique DCD paediatric heart transplant whereby normothermic regional perfusion was used to assess DCD heart function after death followed by ex situ heart perfusion of the graft during transportation from donor to recipient hospitals. The DCD donor was a 9‐year‐old boy weighing 84 kg. The recipient was 7‐year‐old boy with failing Fontan circulation and weighed 23 kg. It was an ABO‐compatible heart transplantation. The DCD heart was reperfused and assessed using normothermic regional perfusion followed by portable ex situ heart perfusion during transportation. The orthotopic heart transplantation was successful with good graft function and no evidence of rejection on endomyocardial biopsy at 30 days post‐transplant. At 1‐year follow‐up, excellent graft function is maintained, and he is attending school with a good quality of life. DCD heart transplantation in children is a promising solution to reducing paediatric waiting times. The case demonstrates the feasibility of using normothermic regional perfusion in the donor and ex situ heart perfusion during graft transportation. This combination allowed a functional assessment whilst minimizing warm ischaemia resulting in a successful outcome. More research and long‐term follow‐up are needed in order to benefit from the huge potential that paediatric DCD heart transplantation has to offer.