bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Recommendations for the use of pegylated interferon‐α in the treatment of classical myeloproliferative neoplasms
Authors: Forsyth Cecily J. , Chan Wai‐Hoong , Grigg Andrew P. , Cook Nathalie C. , Lane Steven W. , Burbury Kate L. , Perkins Andrew C. , Ross David M. 
Published: November 2018

AbstractThe classical myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) are uncommon clonal haemopoietic malignancies characterised by excessive production of mature blood cells. Clinically, they are associated with thrombosis, haemorrhage, varying degrees of constitutional disturbance and a risk of progression to myelofibrosis or acute myeloid leukaemia. Many of the disease manifestations may be ameliorated by treatment with interferon‐α (IFN), but its use in Australian MPN patients has been limited due to the inconvenience of frequent injections and side‐effects. The pegylated form of IFN is a long‐acting preparation, which is better tolerated, and its Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme listing is likely to lead to increased usage. We review the literature on risks and benefits of IFN treatment for MPN, suggest criteria for patient selection in each of these diseases and discuss strategies to manage the side‐effects of pegylated IFN.
Characteristics and outcomes of oncology unit patients requiring admission to an Australian intensive care unit
Authors: Tan Aaron C. , Jacques Sarah K. , Oatley Meredith , Guminski Alexander D. 
Published: November 2018

AbstractBackgroundPatients with advanced malignancies have historically been considered poor candidates for admission to the intensive care unit (ICU); however, prognosis is continually improving, and requirements for ICU access are increasing.AimTo understand the characteristics and outcomes of oncology unit patients admitted to an Australian ICU and identify potential prognostic factors.MethodsA single‐centre, retrospective, cohort study conducted at a tertiary public hospital with a quaternary ICU in Sydney, Australia. All patients admitted under the medical oncology team requiring ICU admission between June 2014 and June 2016 were evaluated. Clinical outcomes were determined including mortality, ICU requirements (ventilation, dialysis, vasopressors, infection) and prognostic scores (Acute Physiologic and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score).ResultsThere were 96 patients with mean age 61 years, 58% were male and 76% had metastatic disease. Most were receiving palliative treatment (89%), with recent chemotherapy (43%), immunotherapy (10%) and other therapies (5%). Of the 10 patients with recent immunotherapy, three (all with melanoma) required ICU admission due to immunotoxicity; 13% were admitted due to an oncological emergency. Mean APACHE II score was 17 (standard deviation (SD) 5.33), mean SOFA score was 3.99 (SD 2.70), ICU mortality was 5% and hospital mortality was 22%. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, cancer stage, infection during ICU admission, intracranial mass effect on ICU admission and SOFA score were associated with 30‐day mortality.ConclusionOur patient population had good short‐term survival outcomes despite most receiving palliative treatment. Cancer patients can achieve positive outcomes after ICU admission, and appropriate selection of patients is crucial.
Relationship between perceived problem‐solving skills and academic performance of novice learners in introductory programming courses
Authors: Veerasamy Ashok Kumar , D'Souza Daryl , Lindén Rolf , Laakso Mikko‐Jussi 
Published: November 2018

AbstractPast research has shown that student problem‐solving skills may be used to determine student final exam performance. This study reports on the relationship between student perceived problem‐solving skills and academic performance in introductory programming, in formative and summative programming assessment tasks. We found that the more effective problem solvers achieved better final exam scores. There was no significant difference in formative assessment performances between effective and poor problem solvers. It is also possible to categorize students on the basis of problem‐solving skills, in order to exploit opportunities to improve learning around constructivist learning theory. Finally, our study identified transferability skills and the study may be extended to identify the impact of problem solving transfer skills on student problem solving for programming.
Kes Sesi: A mobile game designed to improve kindergarteners' recognition of letter sounds
Authors: Samur Yavuz 
Published: November 2018

AbstractLearning letters is an important area of language learning, conducive to the beginning of reading and writing. Indeed, today's generation prefers to learn through digital games rather than through formal teaching processes. Inspired by this need, the researcher designed this study (a) to test the effectiveness of an instructional digital game, “Kes Sesi,” designed to teach letter recognition skills and (b) to briefly present its instructional development process, which was based on the ADDIE model. This was a quasi‐experimental study with two treatment groups and a control group involving 87 kindergarteners. Treatment groups played the game for 12–6 weeks for learning, 6 weeks for practice. The control group continued with its regular class activities. One treatment group played the game based on predefined sound categorization, the other without any categorization. A test on children's sound recognition abilities was administered three times as a pretest, a midtest, and a posttest. The treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group. The game enhanced the kindergarteners' ability to practice uncategorized content while it enhanced their ability to learn categorized content. The results are promising in that Kes Sesi can be useful in self‐supported learning contexts with little adult input and with minimum outside interference.
Comparison of automated clinical and research blood pressure measurements: Implications for clinical practice and trial design
Authors: Tang Olive , Juraschek Stephen P. , Appel Lawrence J. , Cooper Lisa A. , Charleston Jeanne , Boonyasai Romsai T. , Carson Kathryn A. , Yeh Hsin‐Chieh , Miller Edgar R. 
Published: November 2018

Discrepancies between clinic and research blood pressure (BP) measurements lead to uncertainties in translating hypertension management guidelines into practice. We assessed the concordance between standardized automated clinic BP, from a primary care clinic, and research BP, from a randomized trial conducted at the same site. Mean single‐visit clinic BP was higher by 4.4/3.8 mm Hg (P = 0.007/<0.001). Concordance in systolic BP (SBP) improved with closer proximity of measurements (difference = 2.5 mm Hg, P = 0.21 for visits within 7 days), but not averaging across multiple visits (difference =5.1(9.2) mm Hg; P < 0.001). This discrepancy was greater among female participants. Clinic‐based difference in SBP between two visits was more variable than research‐based change (SD = 19.6 vs 14.0; P = 0.002); a 2‐arm trial using clinic measurements would need 95% more participants to achieve comparable power. Implementation of a bundled standardization intervention decreased discrepancies between clinic and research BP, compared to prior reports. However, clinic measurements remained higher and more variable, suggesting treatment to research‐based targets may lead to overtreatment and using clinic BP approximately halves power in trials.
The relationship between phospholipids and insulin resistance: From clinical to experimental studies
Authors: Chang Wenguang , Hatch Grant M. , Wang Yu , Yu Fei , Wang Man 
Published: November 2018

AbstractInsulin resistance induced by high‐fat diet and impropriate life style is a major contributor to the pathogenesis of metabolic disease. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Recent studies in metabolic dysfunction have extended this beyond simply elevated cholesterol and triglycerides levels and have identified a key role for lipid metabolism. For example, altered phospholipid metabolism has now become central in the pathogenesis of metabolic disease. In this review, we discuss the association between insulin sensitivity and phospholipid metabolism and highlight the most significant discoveries generated over the last several decades. Finally, we summarize the current knowledge surrounding the molecular mechanisms related to phospholipids and insulin resistance and provide new insight for future research into their relationship.
Assessment of water and energy use at process level in the U.S. beef packing industry: Case study in a typical U.S. large‐size plant
Authors: Li Shaobin , Ziara Rami M. M. , Dvorak Bruce , Subbiah Jeyamkondan 
Published: November 2018

AbstractFood processing industries consume intensive water and energy to produce food products. However, their water and energy data are scarce and require for good measurement approaches. This study presents data collection and analysis of process‐level water and energy use in a large‐size U.S. beef packing plant through a combined use of portable and in‐line meters and theoretical calculations. The kill floor and plant cleaning are the primary water users, accounting for 28.7 and 24.0%, respectively. The refrigeration compressor system is the largest user of electricity, consuming 24.5% of plant‐wide electricity. Heating of water for plant cleaning and food safety purposes is the largest thermal energy use in summer (81%) and second‐largest in winter (49.7%), with unit heating values of 625 and 666 MJ/ton live cattle weight in the summer and winter, respectively. Twice as much thermal energy is used in the winter than summer due to space heating requirements. A regression analysis found that as outdoor temperatures increased, a slight water use increase and larger energy use decrease were observed.Practical applicationsCurrently available data on water and energy use in the U.S. beef packing industry are scarce, thus limiting the ability to develop new water and energy efficient technologies and policies based on an understanding of the current baseline operations. The current study conducts a detailed assessment of water and energy use at process level to enhance the understanding of the food‐energy‐water nexus in the beef processing industry, where limited data are available. Engineers can apply this case study as an example to share with their clients seeking to collect and analyze data with the goal of identifying water and energy conservation approaches. These results will inform beef processing researchers as they design novel technologies with that may result in improved water and energy efficiencies.
Thrombocytopenia: A prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma patients with portal vein tumor thrombus after hepatectomy
Authors: Cheng Yu‐Qiang , Wang Kang , Zhang Xiu‐Ping , Wei Xu‐Biao , Jiang Ya‐Bo , Hu Yi‐Ren , Mao Fei‐Fei , Guo Wei‐Xing , Shi Jie , Cheng Shu‐Qun 
Published: November 2018

AbstractBackground and AimPortal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) predicts a poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Platelets (PLTs) play an important role in HCC progression and metastasis. However, the relationship between PLTs and PVTT remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the value of PLT counts in the prognosis of HCC patients with PVTT after hepatectomy.MethodsFrom January 2002 to December 2012, 694 HCC patients with PVTT after hepatectomy were evaluated. The patients were divided into the thrombocytopenia group (PLT < 100 × 109/L), the normal group, and the thrombocytosis group (PLT > 300 × 109/L) based on the preoperative PLT level. A propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used.ResultsBefore the PSM, PVTT patients with thrombocytopenia exhibited longer recurrence‐free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with those with normal PLT counts (both P < 0.001) or thrombocytosis (P = 0.008 and P = 0.046). For the thrombocytopenia group and the normal group, the 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐year RFS values were 30.0%, 17.6%, and 15.7% and were 10.8%, 6.6%, and 5.8% (P < 0.001), respectively; the 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐year OS values were 61.9%, 37.9%, and 31.2% and were 38.3%, 23.3%, and 16.0% (P < 0.001), respectively. After the PSM, the median survival time was 16.6 versus 8.6 months (P < 0.002) in the two groups. A subgroup analysis revealed that thrombocytopenia is associated with improved OS in those with type I PVTT (P = 0.021) or type II PVTT (P = 0.029).ConclusionAccording to the PSM, preoperative thrombocytopenia predicts an increased RFS and OS in HCC patients with PVTT after hepatectomy.
Global Economic Divergence and Portfolio Capital Flows to Emerging Markets
Authors: MANDALINCI ZEYYAD , MUMTAZ HAROON 
Published: November 2018

AbstractThis paper studies the role of global and regional variations in economic activity and policy in developed world in driving portfolio capital flows (PCFs) to emerging markets (EMs). Results suggest that PCFs to EMs depend mainly on economic activity at the global level and monetary policy in America and Asia, positively on the former and negatively on the latters. PCFs are procyclical with respect to global activity, but countercyclical to regional activity. In aggregate, regional variations contribute more than global variations. This implies that economic divergence in the developed world can have significant effects on EMs via PCFs.
Evaluation of cherry cultivar susceptibility to bacterial canker and leaf spot disease
Authors: Iličić Renata , Balaž Jelica , Ognjanov Vladislav , Jošić Dragana , Vlajić Slobodan , Ljubojević Mirjana , Popović Tatjana 
Published: November 2018

AbstractIn this study, the susceptibility of different sweet (19) and sour cherry (3) cultivars (cvs.) to the bacterial pathogens Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and P. s. pv. morsprunorum race 1 causing bacterial canker (sensu stricto) and leaf spot was evaluated. Susceptibility to bacterial canker was examined by artificial inoculations of 1‐year‐old rooted trees, which revealed susceptibility of all cvs. to both P. syringae pathovars. Susceptibility level differed among cvs.; sweet cherry cvs. Katalin, Linda, Summit, New Star and Bigarreau Burlat were highly susceptible, sour cherry cvs. Érdi bôtermô and sweet cherry Drogan's Yellow, Carmen, Germersdorfer and Noir de Meched were susceptible. Sour cherry cvs. Španska and Újfehértói fürtös, as well as sweet cherry cv. Rita were found to be less susceptible to bacterial canker. Susceptibility to bacterial leaf spot disease was evaluated on naturally infected (field conditions) and artificially inoculated leaves (laboratory conditions). Severe symptoms of bacterial spot with shot hole appearance were observed in cherry leaves at the beginning of May under field conditions. In all collected leaf samples, presence of P. s. pv. morsprunorum race 1 was determined. Sweet cherries Valery Chkalov, Summit, Bigarreau Burlat and New Star were highly susceptible to this bacterium. No symptoms of bacterial spot were found on sweet cherries Solomary gomboly, Linda, Germersdorfer, Hedelfinger, Katalin, Margit, Carmen, Aida, Sunburst, Alex, Peter, Rita and Kavics and sour cherry Érdi bôtermô. In laboratory conditions, susceptibility of the tested cvs. varied and mostly depended on the inoculation method. Nonetheless, sweet cherry cvs. Carmen and Margit and sour cherry Érdi bôtermô exhibited a certain level of resistance.
The evolution of abdominal microbiomes in fungus‐growing ants
Authors: Sapountzis Panagiotis , Nash David R. , Schiøtt Morten , Boomsma Jacobus J. 
Published: November 2018

AbstractThe attine ants are a monophyletic lineage that switched to fungus farming ca. 55–60 MYA. They have become a model for the study of complex symbioses after additional fungal and bacterial symbionts were discovered, but their abdominal endosymbiotic bacteria remain largely unknown. Here, we present a comparative microbiome analysis of endosymbiotic bacteria spanning the entire phylogenetic tree. We show that, across 17 representative sympatric species from eight genera sampled in Panama, abdominal microbiomes are dominated by Mollicutes, α‐ and γ‐Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Bacterial abundances increase from basal to crown branches in the phylogeny reflecting a shift towards putative specialized and abundant abdominal microbiota after the ants domesticated gongylidia‐bearing cultivars, but before the origin of industrial‐scale farming based on leaf‐cutting herbivory. This transition coincided with the ancestral single colonization event of Central/North America ca. 20 MYA, documented in a recent phylogenomic study showing that almost the entire crown group of the higher attine ants, including the leaf‐cutting ants, evolved there and not in South America. Several bacterial species are located in gut tissues or abdominal organs of the evolutionarily derived, but not the basal attine ants. The composition of abdominal microbiomes appears to be affected by the presence/absence of defensive antibiotic‐producing actinobacterial biofilms on the worker ants' cuticle, but the significance of this association remains unclear. The patterns of diversity, abundance and sensitivity of the abdominal microbiomes that we obtained explore novel territory in the comparative analysis of attine fungus farming symbioses and raise new questions for further in‐depth research.
Photo‐Fenton and Riboflavin‐photosensitized Processes of the Isoxaflutole Herbicide
Authors: Gatica Eduardo , Possetto David , Reynoso Agustina , Natera José , Miskoski Sandra , De Gerónimo Eduardo , Bregliani Mabel , Pajares Adriana , Massad Walter A. 
Published: November 2018

AbstractThe proherbicide Isoxaflutole (IXF) hydrolyzes spontaneously to diketonitrile (DKN) a phytotoxic compound with herbicidal activity. In this work, the sensitized degradation of IXF using Riboflavin (Rf), a typical environmentally friendly sensitizer, Fenton and photo‐Fenton processes has been studied. The results indicate that only the photo‐Fenton process produces a significant degradation of the IXF. Photolysis experiments of IXF sensitized by Riboflavin is not a meaningful process, IXF quenches the Rf excited triplet (3Rf*) state with a quenching rate constant of 1.5 · 107 m−1 s−1 and no reaction is observed with the species O2(1Δg) or generated from 3Rf*. The Fenton reaction produces no changes in the IXF concentration. While the photo‐Fenton process of the IXF, under typical conditions, it produces a degradation of 99% and a mineralization to CO2 and H2O of 88%. A rate constant value of 1.0 × 109 m−1 s−1 was determined for the reaction between IXF and HO˙. The photo‐Fenton process degradation products were identified by UHPLC‐MS/MS analysis.
When Do Natural Resources Harm Fiscal Health? Evidence from the United States
Authors: Carr Douglas A. , Fails Matthew D. 
Published: November 2018

Do natural resources have harmful economic consequences? This question is central to the interdisciplinary “resource curse” literature, but important questions remain unanswered. At the same time, the discovery of new resource deposits around the world and technological developments that enable greater resource extraction make understanding the dynamics of the resource curse even more pressing. This article addresses these issues by focusing on the relationship between resource abundance and fiscal outcomes, which we argue more accurately reflects the causal mechanisms emphasized in existing research than aggregate economic outcomes like increases in gross domestic product per capita. We describe a variety of hypotheses linking resource abundance to fiscal health, including how political and institutional factors can either mitigate or exacerbate the effect of resource wealth, and test these arguments using state‐level data from the United States encompassing the years 1992‐2014. This focus on subnational variation helps minimize some of the limitations of the cross‐country comparisons that have dominated the prior literature. Our regression results suggest that, contrary to the most pessimistic theories, resource wealth is often associated with stronger fiscal performance at the state level. However, a number of factors, including levels of political polarization, legislative term limits, and lower wage growth, negate these benefits.Related Articles:
Khodr, Hiba. 2014. “.” Politics & Policy 42 (): 271‐310. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12068

Day, Jonathan, and Keith Boeckelman. 2012. “.” Politics & Policy 40 (): 320‐338. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00347.x

Prier, Eric, and Kevin Wagner. 2009. “.” Politics & Policy 37 (): 101‐125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00163.x
Using sparse categorical principal components to estimate asset indices: new methods with an application to rural southeast asia
Authors: Merola Giovanni Maria , Baulch Bob 
Published: November 2018

AbstractAsset indices have been used since the late 1990s to measure wealth in developing countries. We extend the standard methodology for estimating asset indices using principal component analysis in two ways: by introducing constraints that force the indices to have increasing value as the number of assets owned increases, and by estimating sparse indices with a few key assets. This is achieved by combining categorical and sparse principal component analysis. We also apply this methodology to the estimation of per capita level asset indices. Using household survey data from northwest Vietnam and northeast Laos, we show that the resulting asset indices improve the prediction and ranking of income both at household and per capita level.
The unstudied reference neighborhood: Towards a critical theory of empirical neighborhood studies
Authors: Howell Junia 
Published: November 2018

AbstractEthnographic and quantitative studies of urban neighborhoods have played an essential role in contrasting deeply held stereotypes, highlighting systemic injustices, and shaping federal urban policy. However, the majority of these studies focus on a small slice of the most marginalized urban neighborhoods, leaving much unknown about the vast majority of communities and how to address persisting inequality. This piece examines these empirical and theoretical shortcomings and proposes integrating critical theory into empirical studies of neighborhoods. This new theoretical approach has implications not only for how scholars conduct their research but also for how this research is applied in public policy. Suggestions for future studies and policy are discussed.