bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal Associations of Sensory and Cognitive Functioning: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach
Authors: de la Fuente Javier , Hjelmborg Jacob , Wod Mette , de la Torre-Luque Alejandro , Caballero Francisco Félix , Christensen Kaare , Ayuso-Mateos José Luis 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Objectives
Although visual and hearing impairments have been found to be associated with cognitive decline in the old age, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unclear. This study aimed at assessing the predictive role of visual and hearing difficulties on subsequent cognitive functioning.

Method
From the cohort of the first (2002) and fifth waves (2010) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), 3,508 individuals aged 60 and older were included in the study. Five self-reported visual and hearing functioning items were used to assess sensory functioning at baseline. Cognition was assessed 8 years later by means of four measured tests covering immediate and delayed recall, verbal fluency, and processing speed. A Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes approach was used to assess the longitudinal associations of visual and hearing functioning with cognitive difficulties. A multigroup longitudinal measurement invariance was used to estimate latent change in cognitive difficulties across groups of participants presenting either visual, hearing, or dual sensory impairment (i.e., those reporting difficulties in both visual and hearing functioning items).

Results
Visual (β = 0.140, p < .001) and hearing (β = 0.115, p < .001) difficulties predicted cognitive difficulties 8 years later. The latent increase in cognitive difficulties was steeper in people with visual impairment (d = 0.52, p < .001), hearing impairment (d = 0.50, p < .001), and dual-sensory impairment (d = 0.68, p < .001) than those non-impaired (d = 0.12, p < .001).

Discussion
Visual and hearing difficulties were identified as predictors of subsequent cognitive decline in the old age. Interventions to prevent visual and hearing difficulties may have a substantial impact to slow down subsequent age-related cognitive decline.
A spectral interpolation scheme on the unit sphere based on the nodes of spherical Lissajous curves
Authors: Erb Wolfgang 
Published: December 2018

AbstractFor sampling values along spherical Lissajous curves we establish a spectral interpolation and quadrature scheme on the sphere. We provide a mathematical analysis of spherical Lissajous curves and study the characteristic properties of their intersection points. Based on a discrete orthogonality structure we are able to prove the unisolvence of the interpolation problem. As basis functions for the interpolation space we use a parity-modified double Fourier basis on the sphere that allows us to implement the interpolation scheme in an efficient way. We further show that the numerical condition number of the interpolation scheme displays a logarithmic growth. As an application, we use the developed interpolation algorithm to estimate the rotation of an object based on measurements at the spherical Lissajous nodes.
High quality of care did not imply increased hospital spending— nationwide cohort study among hip fracture patients
Authors: Kristensen Pia Kjær , Søgaard Rikke , Thillemann Theis Muncholm , Søballe Kjeld , Johnsen Søren Paaske 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Objective
To examine whether fulfilment of process performance measures reflecting national guidelines is associated with in-hospital costs among hip fracture patients.

Design
Nationwide, population-based follow-up study.

Setting
Public hospitals in Denmark.

Participants
A total of 20 458 patients 65 years or older admitted with a hip fracture between 2010 and 2013.

Intervention
Quality of care defined as fulfilment of process performance measures reflecting recommendations from national clinical guidelines, which previously have been shown to be associated with lower mortality and readmission risk. The measures included systematic pain assessment; mobilisation within 24 h post-operatively; assessment of basic mobility before admission and discharge; and receiving a rehabilitation programme before discharge, anti-osteoporotic medication and fall prevention.

Main outcome measures
Total costs defined as the sum of hospital costs used for treating the individual patients according to the Danish Reference Cost Database.

Results
Within the index admission, fulfilling 50 to >75% of the performance measures was associated with lower adjusted costs (EUR 2643) than was fulfilling 0–50% of these measures (EUR 3544). The lower costs were mainly due to savings on further treatment and fewer bed days. Mobilisation within 24 h after surgery and assessment for need of anti-osteoporotic medication were associated with the largest cost differences, corresponding to adjusted cost differences of EUR 3030 and EUR 3538, respectively. The cost difference was lower when all costs related to hospitalisation within the first year were considered.

Conclusions
These findings indicate that high quality of care does not imply higher hospital spending and may be associated with cost savings.
Business services and the financing of global production networks: the case of global law firms in Southeast Asia
Authors: Faulconbridge James R 
Published: December 2018

AbstractFinancial and business services (FABSs) as intermediaries play a significant role in global production networks (GPNs). Yet, the mechanisms through which they influence the activities of lead and supplier firms in GPNs have received little in-depth attention. This article addresses the shortcoming and examines how global legal business services configure the financial discipline of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Southeast Asia. It documents the way FABS articulate financial imperatives and encourages the reproduction of ‘global financial architectures’. It also shows, however, that temporal dynamics and spatial specificities in the power relations between FABS and TNCs generate variegated financial configurations. Southeast Asian TNCs adopt and adapt in ways that serve their interests. This implies that the governance effects of FABS have important temporal and spatial contingencies that need to be accounted for in analyses of GPNs.
“To Board & Nurse a Stranger”: Poverty, Disability, and Community in Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts
Authors: Daen Laurel 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
In 1786, Betty Trifle, a woman the townspeople described as “furiously insane,” arrived in Uxbridge, MA. Lacking family, property, town settlement, and the “wherewithall to support herself,” the Uxbridge selectmen arranged for Trifle to be boarded with local residents Nathan and Nancy Tyler. For the next twenty-three years, the Tylers and other townspeople housed, clothed, fed, and nursed Trifle—sending receipts for their expenses and labor to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which issued them annual disbursements.
Trifle’s experience of poverty and disability was not unusual in eighteenth-century Massachusetts nor was the town-provided but state-funded care she received. Drawing on nearly two thousand requests for reimbursement from townspeople and selectmen to the Massachusetts General Court between 1786 and 1799, this paper recovers the extensive system of boarding sick and disabled “strangers,” or people without settlement rights, in the homes of town residents—a method of poor relief that historians have almost entirely overlooked.
Accounts of the intimate caregiving and receiving relationships between boarders and hosts—which often continued for years and bridged racial, ethnic, and social divides—suggest that the bounds of eighteenth-century Massachusetts communities were flexible and capacious in ways that scholars have not fully recognized. At the same time, the labor associated with nursing ailing nonresidents laid bare the hierarchies of gender, race, class, and ability within these communities, corroborating scholarship on the gendered and racialized dynamics of care. Lodging arrangements that bound strangers and residents together depended on the unrecognized and uncompensated work of women.
Fibroblast growth factor-23 promotes rhythm alterations and contractile dysfunction in adult ventricular cardiomyocytes
Authors: Navarro-García José Alberto , Delgado Carmen , Fernández-Velasco María , Val-Blasco Almudena , Rodríguez-Sánchez Elena , Aceves-Ripoll Jennifer , Gómez-Hurtado Nieves , Bada-Bosch Teresa , Mérida-Herrero Evangelina , Hernández Eduardo , Praga Manuel , Salguero Rafael , Solís Jorge , Arribas Fernando , Delgado Juan F , Bueno Héctor , Kuro-O Makoto , Ruilope Luis Miguel , Ruiz-Hurtado Gema 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Background
Cardiac dysfunction and arrhythmia are common and onerous cardiovascular events in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, especially those on dialysis. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-23 is a phosphate-regulating hormone whose levels dramatically increase as renal function declines. Beyond its role in phosphorus homeostasis, FGF-23 may elicit a direct effect on the heart. Whether FGF-23 modulates ventricular cardiac rhythm is unknown, prompting us to study its role on excitation–contraction (EC) coupling.

Methods
We examined FGF-23 in vitro actions on EC coupling in adult rat native ventricular cardiomyocytes using patch clamp and confocal microscopy and in vivo actions on cardiac rhythm using electrocardiogram.

Results
Compared with vehicle treatment, FGF-23 induced a significant decrease in rat cardiomyocyte contraction, L-type Ca2+ current, systolic Ca2+ transients and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) load and SR Ca2+-adenosine triphosphatase 2a pump activity. FGF-23 induced pro-arrhythmogenic activity in vitro and in vivo as automatic cardiomyocyte extracontractions and premature ventricular contractions. Diastolic spontaneous Ca2+ leak (sparks and waves) was significantly increased by FGF-23 via the calmodulin kinase type II (CaMKII)-dependent pathway related to hyperphosphorylation of ryanodine receptors at the CaMKII site Ser2814. Both contraction dysfunction and spontaneous pro-arrhythmic Ca2+ events induced by FGF-23 were blocked by soluble Klotho (sKlotho).

Conclusions
Our results show that FGF-23 reduces contractility and enhances arrhythmogenicity through intracellular Ca2+ mishandling. Blocking its actions on the heart by improving sKlotho bioavailability may enhance cardiac function and reduce arrhythmic events frequently observed in ESRD.
Procalcitonin-Guided Antibiotic Therapy Reduces Antibiotic Use for Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in a United States Medical Center: Results of a Clinical Trial
Authors: Townsend Jennifer , Adams Victoria , Galiatsatos Panagis , Pearse David , Pantle Hardin , Masterson Mary , Kisuule Flora , Jacob Elsen , Kiruthi Catherine , Ortiz Paul , Agbanlog Albert , Jurao Robert , Stern Sam , Nayak Seema , Melgar Michael , Sama Jacob , Irwin Jillian , Mazidi Cyrus , Psoter Kevin , McKenzie Robin 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Background
European trials using procalcitonin (PCT)-guided antibiotic therapy for patients with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) have demonstrated significant reductions in antibiotic use without increasing adverse outcomes. Few studies have examined PCT for LRTIs in the United States.

Methods
In this study, we evaluated whether a PCT algorithm would reduce antibiotic exposure in patients with LRTI in a US hospital. We conducted a controlled pre-post trial comparing an intervention group of PCT-guided antibiotic therapy to a control group of usual care. Consecutive patients admitted to medicine services and receiving antibiotics for LRTI were enrolled in the intervention. Providers were encouraged to discontinue antibiotics according to a PCT algorithm. Control patients were similar patients admitted before the intervention.

Results
The primary endpoint was median antibiotic duration. Overall adverse outcomes at 30 days comprised death, transfer to an intensive care unit, antibiotic side effects, Clostridium difficile infection, disease-specific complications, and post-discharge antibiotic prescription for LRTI. One hundred seventy-four intervention patients and 200 controls were enrolled. Providers complied with the PCT algorithm in 75% of encounters. Procalcitonin-guided therapy reduced median antibiotic duration for pneumonia from 7 days to 6 (P = .045) and acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) from 4 days to 3 (P = .01). There was no difference in the rate of adverse outcomes in the PCT and control groups.

Conclusions
A PCT-guided algorithm safely reduced the duration of antibiotics for treating LRTI. Utilization of a PCT algorithm may aid antibiotic stewardship efforts.
This clinical trial was a single-center, controlled, pre-post study of PCT-guided antibiotic therapy for LRTI. The intervention (incorporation of PCT-guided algorithms) started on April 1, 2017: the preintervention (control group) comprised patients admitted from November 1, 2016 to April 16, 2017, and the postintervention group comprised patients admitted from April 17, 2017 to November 29, 2017 (Supplementary Figure 1). The study comprised patients admitted to the internal medicine services to a medical ward, the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), or the Progressive Care Unit (PCU) “step down unit”. The registration data for the trails are in the ClinicalTrials.gov database, number NCT0310910.
Utility of Cement Augmentation via Percutaneous Fenestrated Pedicle Screws for Stabilization of Cancer-Related Spinal Instability
Authors: Barzilai Ori , McLaughlin Lily , Lis Eric , Reiner Anne S , Bilsky Mark H , Laufer Ilya 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Cancer patients experience pathological fractures and the typical poor bone quality frequently complicates stabilization. Methods for overcoming screw failure include utilization of fenestrated screws that permit the injection of bone cement into the vertebral body to augment fixation.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of cement augmentation via fenestrated screws.

METHODS
A retrospective chart review of patients with neoplastic spinal instability who underwent percutaneous instrumented stabilization with cement augmentation using fenestrated pedicle screws. Patient demographic and treatment data and intraoperative and postoperative complications were evaluated by chart review and radiographic evaluation. Prospectively collected patient reported outcomes (PRO) were evaluated at short (2- <6 mo) and long term (6-12 mo).

RESULTS
Cement augmentation was performed in 216 fenestrated pedicle screws in 53 patients. Three patients required reoperation. One patient had an asymptomatic screw fracture at 6 mo postoperatively that did not require intervention. No cases of lucency around the pedicle screws, rod fractures, or cement extravasation into the spinal canal were observed. Eight cases of asymptomatic, radiographically-detected venous extravasation were found. Systemic complications included a pulmonary cement embolism, a lower extremity deep vein thrombosis, and a postoperative mortality secondary to pulmonary failure from widespread metastatic pulmonary infiltration. Significant improvement in PRO measures was found in short- and long-term analysis.

CONCLUSION
Cement augmentation of pedicle screws is an effective method to enhance the durability of spinal constructs in the cancer population. Risks include cement extravasation into draining blood vessels, but risk of clinically significant extravasation appears to be exceedingly low.
ASSESSMENT OF THE ABSORBED DOSES IN THE ORGANS IN CASE OF RADIATION EMERGENCY WITH THE SEALED GAMMA-SOURCES
Authors: Golikov V 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
The majority of the radiation accidents with early acute clinical effects were associated with the orphan sources used in industrial and medical facilities. These accidents involved members of general public, who were entirely unaware of the exposure to the radiation. In such situations, the exposure commonly occurs when the source is in contact with a body of a victim, primarily located in pockets of clothing or in hands. In this research, the average absorbed doses in internal organs, skin and tissues close to the source were assessed using the phantom modeling of contact human exposure by the sealed 192Ir, 137Cs and 60Co gamma sources. The results allow estimating the RBE-weighted absorbed dose values in organs and tissues to assess the possibility and severity of deterministic medical effects caused by the exposure and to compare them with the reference levels established by IAEA for performing the protective and medical actions.
Anomalous Bodily Maps of Emotions in Schizophrenia
Authors: Torregrossa Lénie J , Snodgress Matthew A , Hong Seok Jin , Nichols Heathman S , Glerean Enrico , Nummenmaa Lauri , Park Sohee 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Objective
Embodied emotions arise from interoceptive and somatosensory processes, and are essential to the development of a stable sense of self. Emotional embodiment is therefore inherently interwoven with our sense of bodily self-awareness, and allows us to navigate complex social situations. Given that the core feature of schizophrenia (SZ) is characterized by the presence of bodily self-disturbances and social-emotional deficits, we hypothesized that embodiment of emotion would be disrupted in SZ.

Method
Twenty-six medicated individuals with SZ and 26 demographically matched controls used a computerized topographical mapping tool (“EmBODY”) to indicate on a body outline where they felt bodily sensations while experiencing an emotion. There were 13 different emotions plus a neutral state. The resulting bodily maps of emotions were quantitatively compared between groups using linear discriminant analysis and similarity scores.

Results
Bodily maps of emotions were anomalous in SZ as indicated by indistinguishable maps across different emotions. Relative to the control group, patients reported less discrete and less clear bodily sensations across emotions. In particular, bodily maps for low-arousal emotions were atypical in comparison with healthy controls.

Conclusions
Anomalous and undifferentiated mapping of embodied emotions in SZ could lead to deficits in linking bodily sensations to conceptual categories of emotions. Disrupted emotional embodiment could also contribute to poor social functioning. Abnormal bodily sensations of emotions might therefore be a promising target for future psychosocial interventions.
Political Polarization and Long-Term Change in Public Support for Environmental Spending
Authors: Johnson Erik W , Schwadel Philip 
Published: December 2018

Abstract
Public support for environmental protection has evinced declines in recent years that are widely attributed to growing antipathy among self-identified Republicans. Fractures in what was long considered broad and enduring support for the environment in the United States have called attention to the broader socio-political context in which individual opinion on the environment is formed, and especially the role of political parties and their leaders in shaping opinion. Empirical analyses of environmental support, however, remain strongly focused on individual-level correlates of support. We apply recent methodological advances in age-period-cohort models to scrutinize changes in Americans’ willingness to pay more for environmental protection between 1973 and 2014. Analyses distinguish the importance of individual traits, such as political identification, from cohort and especially period-based fluctuations that result from changing economic and political conditions. Individual-level covariate results are reflective of previous research on environmental opinion (e.g., age is negatively and education positively associated with environmental support). We further find that political context across time periods matters as much as, and interacts with, individual political affiliation to influence support for the environment. Americans of all political stripes demonstrate decreases in support for environmental spending during Democratic presidential administrations and during difficult economic times. Declines during Democratic presidencies are especially pronounced among Republicans. Analyses also highlight parallels between the high levels of political polarization in environmental support found at the end of the Obama Presidency and the end of the Carter era.
Naturalizing pollution: a critical social science view on the link between potash mining and salinization in the Llobregat river basin, northeast Spain
Authors: Gorostiza Santiago , Saurí David 
Published: December 2018

The scientific literature distinguishes between primary or natural and secondary or human-induced salinization. Assessing this distinction is of vital importance to assign liabilities and responsibilities in pollution cases and for designing the best policy and management actions. In this context, actors interested in downplaying the role of certain drivers of human-induced salinization can attempt to neglect its importance by referring to natural salinization, in a similar fashion to other pollution and health-related cases, from tobacco smoke to climate change. Potash mining, which has experienced continued growth during the last decades and is a significant contributor to salinization, is prone to originate such controversies because natural salinization from the saline geological catch can be mixed with salinization produced by mining waste such as brines and mine tailings, thus obscuring the distinction between causes. By reviewing the long-standing social and environmental conflict caused by potash mining in a region of Mediterranean climate—the Llobregat river basin—in this article, we highlight the importance of the impacts of salinization on human health and provide a critical social science perspective on salinization processes.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects’.
A combined in silico, in vitro and clinical approach to characterise novel pathogenic missense variants in PRPF31 in retinitis pigmentosa
Authors: Wheway Gabrielle , Nazlamova Liliya , Meshad Nervine , Hunt Samantha , Jackson Nicola , Churchill Amanda 
Published: December 2018

AbstractAt least six different proteins of the spliceosome, including PRPF3, PRPF4, PRPF6, PRPF8, PRPF31 and SNRNP200, are mutated in autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP). These proteins have recently been shown to localise to the base of the connecting cilium of the retinal photoreceptor cells, elucidating this form of RP as a retinal ciliopathy. In the case of loss-of-function variants in these genes, pathogenicity can easily be ascribed. In the case of missense variants, this is more challenging. Furthermore, the exact molecular mechanism of disease in this form of RP remains poorly understood.In this paper we take advantage of the recently published cryo EM-resolved structure of the entire human spliceosome, to predict the effect of a novel missense variant in one component of the spliceosome; PRPF31, found in a patient attending the genetics eye clinic at Bristol Eye Hospital. Monoallelic variants in PRPF31 are a common cause of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP) with incomplete penetrance. We use in vitro studies to confirm pathogenicity of this novel variant PRPF31 c.341T>A, p.Ile114Asn.This work demonstrates how in silico modelling of structural effects of missense variants on cryo-EM resolved protein complexes can contribute to predicting pathogenicity of novel variants, in combination with in vitro and clinical studies. It is currently a considerable challenge to assign pathogenic status to missense variants in these proteins.