bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Normal development of the fetal spinal canal and spinal cord at T12 on 3.0-T MRI
Authors: Miao Mingming , Lin Xiangtao , Zhang Zhonghe , Zhao Hui 
Published: August 2018

Background The studies that described the dimensions of the normal fetal thoracic spinal canal and spinal cord on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are scarce. Purpose To determine the normal appearance of the fetal spinal canal and spinal cord at T12 across different gestational ages using 3.0-T MRI. Material and Methods The spines of 43 normal human fetuses, aged 15–40 weeks, were scanned by 3.0-T MRI. All specimens were scanned using a GE 3.0-T MRI scanner. Imaging of the T12 vertebrae was performed in the coronal, sagittal, and axial planes. The anterior-posterior (AP) diameter, width, and cross-sectional area of the spinal canal and spinal cord at T12 were measured. The influence of gestational age on these parameters was investigated with a scatter plot and linear regression analysis using Pearson correlation coefficient. Results The normal morphology of the fetal vertebra at T12 can be clearly showed by MRI; the spinal canal appeared circular, while the spinal cord was ellipsoid. Linear regression analysis showed a significant positive correlation between the AP diameter, width, and cross-sectional area of the spinal canal at T12 and gestational age. Conclusion Postmortem MRI is a reliable method for understanding the growth dynamics of the spinal canal and spinal cord at T12. Findings from this study would benefit the prenatal diagnosis of congenital malformations by MRI.
Time course of diffusion tensor imaging metrics in the chronic spinal cord compression rat model
Authors: Zheng Weipeng , Xu Fangtian , Chen Haoyi , Wang Ning , Xiao Wende , Liang YingJie , Wen Shifeng 
Published: August 2018

Background Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides information about water molecule diffusion in spinal cord. Purpose This study was aimed to investigate DTI changes in the different stages of compressive spinal cord induced by water-absorbing material implantation. Material and Methods The spinal cord compression was administered over the fourth cervical vertebral level in rat. Rat models were divided into five subgroups according to compression stages: sham group, group A: three-day compression rat models; group B: 12-day compression rat models; group C: 20-day compression rat models; group D: 60-day compression rat models. DTI including fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in the compressive spinal cord were collected. The relationship between the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scores and DTI metrics was further explored. Results Compared with the sham group, BBB scoring of rat model showed a decreased tendency from group A ( P < 0.05) to group B ( P < 0.05). Then the motor function of rat model hindlimbs was recovered in some degree from group C ( P < 0.05) to group D ( P < 0.05) but had significant motor defects when compared with the normal level ( P < 0.05). The DTI metrics results revealed that chronic spinal cord compression resulted in lower FA value and higher ADC value at the compressive spinal cord level assessed at all four time-points ( P < 0.05). DTI metrics also showed a close correlation with motor function ( P < 0.05). Conclusion DTI is an optimal pre-clinical imaging tool to reflect locomotor performance and pathological status of compressive spinal cord epicenter in chronic spinal cord compression rat model.
Whole spine localizers of magnetic resonance imaging detect unexpected vertebral fractures
Authors: Kaniewska Malwina , de Beus Johannes Maria , Ahlhelm Frank , Mameghani Alexander , Eid Karim , Kubik-Huch Rahel A , Anderson Suzanne E 
Published: August 2018

Background Whole spine localizers (WS-loc) of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are performed for enumeration of the vertebrae but they can be also used for the evaluation of the spine. Purpose To assess the accuracy of fracture detection using WS-locs of MRI and compare the findings with standard high-resolution short tau inversion recovery (STIR) sequences, and to determine whether the review of WS-locs is useful and if additional information can be gained by assessing the thoracic spine section of the WS-locs. Material and Methods A total of 298 magnetic resonance (MR) examinations of the lumbar spine with WS-locs were evaluated. Two independent readers reviewed the images. In case of fracture detection, further characterization of the fracture was performed. To assess inter-reader agreement, unweighted Cohen’s kappa with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and Phi coefficients were calculated. Results The study sample included 187 female and 111 male patients (age range = 65–94 years; median age = 75.0 years). The WS-locs detected 42 fractures of the lumbar spine and 36 of the thoracic spine. Inter-reader agreement for fracture detection in the lumbar and thoracic spine was strong (K = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.78–0.95, Phi = 0.87, and K = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.79–0.96, Phi = 0.88, respectively). Conclusion WS-locs from MR examinations of the lumbar spine provide a good diagnostic tool for the detection and evaluation of unsuspected vertebral fractures. WS-locs show strong inter-reader agreement for fracture detection in the thoracic and lumbar spine.
Cost-effectiveness analysis of erenumab for the preventive treatment of episodic and chronic migraine: Results from the US societal and payer perspectives
Authors: Sussman Matthew , Benner Jennifer , Neumann Peter , Menzin Joseph 
Published: August 2018

Objectives To assess the cost-effectiveness of erenumab 140 mg (“erenumab”) for the prophylactic treatment of episodic migraine and chronic migraine. Study design A hybrid Monte Carlo patient simulation and Markov cohort model was constructed to compare erenumab to no preventive treatment or onabotulinumtoxinA among adult ( ≥ 18 years) patients with episodic migraine and chronic migraine who failed prior preventive therapy from the US societal and payer perspectives. Methods Patients entered the model one at a time and were assigned to a post-treatment monthly migraine day category based on baseline monthly migraine days and treatment effect. Using monthly cycles, patients were followed for 2 years and accumulated costs and utilities associated with their post-treatment monthly migraine days. The primary outcome included the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio presented as cost per quality-adjusted life year gained. Results With an annual drug price of erenumab of $6900, treatment with erenumab in the societal perspective ranges from a dominant strategy versus no preventive treatment among chronic migraine patients to an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $122,167 versus no preventive treatment among episodic migraine patients. When excluding indirect costs (i.e. payer perspective), the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios are cost-effective among chronic migraine patients ($23,079 and $65,720 versus no preventive treatment and onabotulinumtoxinA, respectively), but not among episodic migraine patients ($180,012 versus no preventive treatment). Model results were sensitive to changes in monthly migraine days, health utilities, and treatment costs. Conclusion The use of erenumab may be a cost-effective approach to preventing monthly migraine days among patients with chronic migraine versus onabotulinumtoxinA and no preventive treatment in the societal and payer perspectives, but is less likely to offer good value for money for those with episodic migraine, unless lost productivity costs are considered.
Successful desensitization of a patient with cetuximab hypersensitivity: A case report
Authors: Solduzian Mohammad , Anvari Saeed , Taghvaye Masoumi Hamidreza , Shahi Farhad , Jahangard-Rafsanjani Zahra 
Published: August 2018

Background Severe hypersensitivity reaction is a dangerous adverse drug reaction in patients receiving cetuximab. It requires drug discontinuation and medical management. Case description A 48-year-old man, previously diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer, was admitted for therapy continuation. During the first infusion of cetuximab, the patient experienced acute signs of hypersensitivity reactions. The treatment team decided to administer cetuximab employing the desensitization protocol. Conclusions This study reports a severe hypersensitivity reaction to cetuximab in an adult patient with colorectal cancer. This patient was successfully managed with a new safe and rapid desensitization protocol.
Peptide Hp(2–20) accelerates healing of TNBS‐induced colitis in the rat
Authors: Gravina AG , Prevete N , Tuccillo C , De Musis C , Romano L , Federico A , de Paulis A , D’Argenio G , Romano M 
Published: August 2018

Background and aimsHp(2–20), a Helicobacter pylori‐derived peptide interacting with N‐formyl peptide receptors (FPRs), accelerates the healing of gastric injury in rats. Whether Hp(2–20) affects the recovery of inflamed colonic mucosa is unknown. We evaluated whether Hp(2–20) accelerated the healing of 2,4,6‐trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)‐induced colitis and explored the mechanism(s) underlying any such effect.MethodsFifteen rats underwent rectal administration of Hp(2–20) 250–500 µg/kg/day, or of its control peptide Hp1 for 10 days, following induction of colitis with TNBS. Macroscopic and histological damage was quantified using predetermined injury scores. FPR1, COX‐2, TNF‐α, TGF‐β, HB‐EGF and tissue transglutaminase (t‐TG) messenger RNA (mRNA) expression in colonic tissue was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction; FPR1, TNF‐α and COX‐2 protein levels by Western blotting.Results(1) Hp(2–20) accelerated healing of TNBS‐induced colitis compared to controls consistently with the expression of FPRs in colonic mucosa; (2) TNBS upregulated mRNA mucosal expression of COX‐2, TNF‐α, TGF‐β, HB‐EGF and t‐TG and (3) this, with the exception of HB‐EGF, was significantly counteracted by Hp(2–20).ConclusionsHp(2–20), an FPR agonist, accelerates the healing of TNBS‐induced colitis in the rat. This effect is associated with a significant reduction in colonic tissue levels of COX‐2, TGF‐β, TNF‐α and t‐TG. We postulate that FPR‐dependent pathways may be involved in the repair of inflamed colonic mucosa.
Meperidine for patients expected to have poor tolerance to esophagogastroduodenoscopy: A double‐blind, randomized, controlled study
Authors: Tseng Chih-Wei , Koo Malcolm , Tseng Kuo-Chih , Hsieh Yu-Hsi 
Published: August 2018

BackgroundAnxious patients and those with poor tolerance to previous esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) usually have poor tolerance for EGD.AimsTo investigate the effect of meperidine on these patients during EGD.MethodsA total of 110 patients undergoing diagnostic EGD were randomized to receive either meperidine (n = 55) or placebo (n = 55) before EGD. The primary outcome was patient discomfort scores during esophageal intubation.ResultsPatients in the meperidine group reported less discomfort during esophageal intubation (median score of 5.0 and interquartile range (IQR) 1.5–7.0) compared with the control (median score of 6.0, IQR 5.0–8.5, P = .003). Patients in the meperidine group had better tolerance during the procedure (median score of 2 (IQR 1.0–3.0) versus 3 (IQR 1.0–4.0), P = .048), and the endoscopists reported higher overall satisfaction scores (median score of 9 (IQR 7.0–9.0) versus 8 (IQR 7.0–9.0), P = .043). There was significantly less increase in heart rate and blood pressure during the procedure in the meperidine group than in the placebo group (23 bpm (IQR 9–32) versus 30 bpm (IQR 18–52); P = .006); (7 mmHg (IQR 1–14) versus 18 mmHg (IQR 2–30); P = .008). Connect‐the‐numbers test showed comparable results before and after EGD between the two groups.ConclusionFor patients expected to have poor tolerance during EGD, meperidine reduced discomfort, decreased cardiovascular distress, and improved endoscopist satisfaction, without adverse effects on their psychomotor function after the procedure.
A data-driven amplitude variation with offset inversion method via learned dictionaries and sparse representation
Authors: She Bin , Wang Yaojun , Liang Jiandong , Liu Zhining , Song Chengyun , Hu Guangmin 
Published: August 2018

Amplitude variation with offset (AVO) inversion is a typical ill-posed inverse problem. To obtain a stable and unique solution, regularization techniques relying on mathematical models from prior information are commonly used in conventional AVO inversion methods (hence the name model-driven methods). Due to the difference between prior information and the actual geology, these methods often have difficulty achieving satisfactory accuracy and resolution. We have developed a novel data-driven inversion method for the AVO inversion problem. This method can effectively extract useful knowledge from well-log data, including sparse dictionaries of elastic parameters and sparse representation of subsurface model parameters. Lateral continuity of subsurface geology allows for the approximation of model parameters for a work area using the learned dictionaries. Instead of particular mathematical models, a sparse representation is used to constrain the inverse problem. Because no assumption is made about the model parameters, we consider this a data-driven method. The general process of the algorithm is as follows: (1) using well-log data as the training samples to learn the sparse dictionary of each elastic parameter, (2) imposing a sparse representation constraint on the objective function, making the elastic parameters be sparsely represented over the learned dictionary, and (3) solving the objective function by applying a coordinate-descent algorithm. Tests on several synthetic examples and field data demonstrate that our algorithm is effective in improving the resolution and accuracy of solutions and is adaptable to various geologies.
Induced polarization response of porous media with metallic particles — Part 8: Influence of temperature and salinity
Authors: Revil André , Coperey Antoine , Mao Deqiang , Abdulsamad Feras , Ghorbani Ahmad , Rossi Magali , Gasquet Dominique 
Published: August 2018

We have investigated the influence of temperature and salinity upon the spectral induced polarization of 10 samples including rocks with their mineralization (galena, chalcopyrite) plus sand mixed with semiconductors such as magnetite grains, graphite, and pyrite cubes of two different sizes. Measurements are made in a temperature-controlled bath with a high-precision impedance meter and using NaCl solutions. We cover the temperature range 5°C−50°C and the frequency range [Formula: see text] to 45 kHz. For one large pyrite cube, we also investigated six salinities from 0.1 to [Formula: see text] (at 25°C, NaCl) and three salinities for graphite. The spectra are fitted with a Cole-Cole complex parametric conductivity model for which we provide a physical meaning to the four Cole-Cole parameters. As expected, the Cole-Cole exponent and the chargeability are independent of the temperature and salinity. The instantaneous and steady state (direct current [DC]) conductivities depend on the salinity and temperature. This temperature dependence can be fitted with an Arrhenius law (combining the Stokes-Einstein and Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann equations) with an activation energy in the range of [Formula: see text]. This activation energy is the same as for the bulk pore-water conductivity demonstrating the control by the background electrolyte of these quantities, as expected. The instantaneous and DC conductivities depend on the salinity in a predictable way. The Cole-Cole relaxation time decreases with the temperature and decreases with the salinity. This behavior can be modeled with an Arrhenius law with an apparent activation energy of [Formula: see text]. A finite-element model is used further to analyze the mechanisms of polarization, and it can reproduce the temperature and salinity dependencies observed in the laboratory.
Into the Morass: Chesnutt, Antinormativity, and the Queer Politics of Early Jim Crow Literature
Authors: Griffiths Timothy Marshall 
Published: August 2018

AbstractIn this essay I discuss how Charles W. Chesnutt’s The House behind the Cedars—through the tropology of spatialization, illustrations of expansive human intimacy, and indictments of the triangulation of antinormatively gendered and sexed bodies as political capital—intervened in sexual respectability politics in the African American uplift culture of the post-Reconstruction era. In doing so I argue that Chesnutt consecrated the “noble strivings” of sexually antinormative African Americans while simultaneously illustrating the way overdetermined sexual identity politics, especially those in the naturalist literary tradition, diminished black life. With Chesnutt as my starting point, I recommend a return to early Jim Crow novels—particularly those written between the years 1900 and 1905—to suggest their progenitorial role regarding recent turns in queer theory and queer of color critique. In doing so I take steps toward a literary genealogy of queer US sex politics that runs from Plessy v. Ferguson and early Jim Crow, into modernism, and down through women of color feminism of the late 1980s before its formal or academic consecration in contemporary US queer theory. I do this to emphasize an important but still-developing ethic in contemporary queer literary studies: the need to center the study of queer representation and politics on more than homosexuality and especially on blackness.
The Race of Machines: Blackness and Prosthetics in Early American Science Fiction
Authors: Evans Taylor 
Published: August 2018

Abstract
The steam man is a trope of early US science fiction, one inaugurated by the first dime novel Edisonade, Edward Ellis’s 1868 story The Steam Man of the Prairies. Focusing on early steam man stories as well as the historical origin of the trope—Zadoc Dederick’s 1868 invention, dubbed the Newark Steam Man—this essay argues that the course of US science fiction and US technology more generally was shaped by the racial discourses of the Reconstruction. Coming on the heels of the Civil War, the steam man stories, like Dederick’s patent, drew on extant black caricatures to explicitly racialize their central invention, vividly illustrating the afterlife of slavery at the birth of America’s machine culture.
Langston Hughes’s Constructivist Poetics
Authors: Grogan Kristin 
Published: August 2018

AbstractThis essay explores the relationship between Langston Hughes’s 1930s poetry and the Soviet avant-garde theater. It argues that the constructivist theater provides an aesthetic framework through which to read Hughes’s radical poetry. Often read as an artistic failure, Hughes’s 1930s verse—especially his 1938 pamphlet A New Song—represents, I suggest, a formal response to shifting ideologies of poetic labor, namely, an effort to disentangle poetry from capitalist individualism and align it with proletarian collective labor. I argue that Hughes’s socialist poems represent an attempt to refigure poetic labor as a collective act, and I explore the implications that this has for the survival of the lyric poem and lyric modes of address. This article devotes sustained attention to a long-neglected period of Hughes’s career and provides a new reading of the Soviet avant-garde’s influence on US culture in the early twentieth century. Ultimately, it shows that these concerns and tensions are relevant to a broader arc of African American poetic history, from the twentieth century to the poetry of the present day.
Houses of Contention:Tar BabyandEssence
Authors: Edmunds Susan 
Published: August 2018

AbstractThis essay argues that Essence magazine provides a crucial intertext for understanding Toni Morrison’s engagement in Tar Baby with the political debates that surrounded the “Black Is Beautiful” slogan in the black power era and her use of the Tar Baby story to dramatize and interpret those debates. Tar Baby responds to early scandals at the magazine spurred by white capitalist investment in the “Black Is Beautiful” slogan as well as the magazine’s coverage of a splintering black liberation movement, its Caribbean travel features, and its shifting assessments of affirmative action, white feminism, and domestic violence. Throughout, the novel uses the Tar Baby story to link the “Black Is Beautiful” slogan not with an emancipatory politics but instead with New World histories that have constituted racial blackness in and through division and that position black women to become scapegoats for the failure to achieve racial unity in the face of white domination.
The Acute Effect of a Single Exhaustive Sprint Exercise Session on Post-Exercise Fat Oxidation Rate
Authors: Aslankeser Zübeyde , Balcı Şükrü Serdar 
Published: August 2018

Abstract
It is well known that substrate oxidation rates are increased by exercise. The present study had two main objectives: firstly, to examine the effect of a single exhaustive exercise session on post-exercise substrate oxidation and energy expenditure; and secondly, to determine the differences between athletes and non-athletes.
Material and methods: Eighteen healthy male athletes (mean ± SD age; 19.38 ± 2.26 years, VO2max; 60.57 ± 3.90 ml · kg-1 · min-1, n = 8) and non-athletes (age; 20.30 ± 1.26 years, VO2max; 44.97 ± 5.43 ml · kg-1 ·min-1, n = 10) volunteered to participate in the study. After an overnight fast, subjects performed a single sprint exercise session on a cycle ergometer with individual loads (0.075 kg per body weight) until volitional exhaustion. Energy expenditure (EE) and the substrate oxidation rate were measured at rest and during the post-exercise recovery period using indirect calorimetry. Results: Exhaustive exercise significantly increased post-exercise fat oxidation, energy expenditure and contribution of fat to EE (p < 0.05). Also, it significantly decreased post-exercise carbohydrate (CHO) oxidation and the contribution of CHO to EE (p < 0.05). However, the changes in the substrate oxidation rate and EE after the exercise test were not different between the groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The study results suggest that a single short-duration exhaustive exercise session causes a higher fat oxidation rate during recovery than at rest, whereas training status did not affect this situation
Enhancing the predictability of least-squares collocation through the integration with least-squares-support vector machine
Authors: Elshambaky Hossam Talaat 
Published: August 2018

Abstract
Least-squares collocation (LSC) is a crucial mathematical tool for solving many geodetic problems. It has the capability to adjust, filter, and predict unknown quantities that affect many geodetic applications. Hence, this study aims to enhance the predictability property of LSC through applying soft computing techniques in the stage of describing the covariance function. Soft computing techniques include the support vector machine (SVM), least-squares-support vector machine (LS-SVM), and artificial neural network (ANN). A real geodetic case study is used to predict a national geoid from the EGM2008 global geoid model in Egypt. A comparison study between parametric and soft computing techniques was performed to assess the LSC predictability accuracy. We found that the predictability accuracy increased when using soft computing techniques in the range of 10.2 %–27.7 % and 8.2 %–29.8 % based on the mean square error and the mean error terms, respectively, compared with the parametric models. The LS-SVM achieved the highest accuracy among the soft computing techniques. In addition, we found that the integration between the LS-SVM with LSC exhibits an accuracy of 20 % and 25 % higher than using LS-SVM independently as a predicting tool, based on the mean square error and mean error terms, respectively. Consequently, the LS-SVM integrated with LSC is recommended for enhanced predictability in geodetic applications.