bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Interdependence between osteoprotegerin and active von Willebrand factor in long-term cardiovascular mortality prediction in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention
Authors: Siller-Matula Jolanta M. , Lang Irene M. , Schoergenhofer Christian , Roest Mark , Jilma Bernd 
Published: July 2017

SummaryThe interdependence of the predictive accuracy of serum osteoprotegerin (OPG) and von Willebrand factor (vWF) levels for long-term cardiovascular outcomes has not been investigated so far. This was a prospective observational cohort study in 361 patients with coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Baseline levels of OPG, vWF, active vWF (act vWF) and ristocetin cofactor activity (vWF:RICO) were measured. Cardiovascular mortality was recorded over a median of five years. OPG concentrations >3.7 µg/ml emerged as the strongest predictor of cardiovascular (CV) death: 30 % of patients died during the five-year follow-up in this group, as compared to 10 % in patients with OPG ≤3.7 µg/ml (p<0.001). Act vWF had a significant prognostic impact on CV mortality when OPG levels were low (≤3.7 µg/ml): patients with act vWF concentration >1 µg/ml died in 14 %, whereas those with act vWF values ≤1 µg/ml had a mortality rate of 1 % (p=0.015). We stratified patients into three groups: high OPG, low OPG/high act vWF and low OPG/low act vWF. Patients with high OPG values had a 13-fold higher risk for CV death than those with low OPG/low act vWF concentrations (adj. HR: 12.6; 95 %CI: 1.7–94.7; p=0.014), and a two-fold higher risk as compared to those patients with low OPG/high act vWF concentrations (adj. HR: 2.0; 95 %CI: 1.1–3.7; p=0.03) in the adjusted Cox regression analysis. In conclusion, elevated OPG at the time of PCI was a strong independent predictor of five-years cardiovascular mortality, whereas act vWF had a significant prognostic impact on CV mortality when OPG levels were low.
Tomo-Seq Identifies SOX9 as a Key Regulator of Cardiac Fibrosis During Ischemic Injury
Authors: Lacraz Grégory P.A. , Junker Jan Philipp , Gladka Monika M. , Molenaar Bas , Scholman Koen T. , Vigil-Garcia Marta , Versteeg Danielle , de Ruiter Hesther , Vermunt Marit W. , Creyghton Menno P. , Huibers Manon M.H. , de Jonge Nicolaas , van Oudenaarden Alexander , van Rooij Eva 
Published: July 2017

Background:
Cardiac ischemic injury induces a pathological remodeling response, which can ultimately lead to heart failure. Detailed mechanistic insights into molecular signaling pathways relevant for different aspects of cardiac remodeling will support the identification of novel therapeutic targets.

Methods:
Although genome-wide transcriptome analysis on diseased tissues has greatly advanced our understanding of the regulatory networks that drive pathological changes in the heart, this approach has been disadvantaged by the fact that the signals are derived from tissue homogenates. Here we used tomo-seq to obtain a genome-wide gene expression signature with high spatial resolution spanning from the infarcted area to the remote to identify new regulators of cardiac remodeling. Cardiac tissue samples from patients suffering from ischemic heart disease were used to validate our findings.

Results:

Tracing transcriptional differences with a high spatial resolution across the infarcted heart enabled us to identify gene clusters that share a comparable expression profile. The spatial distribution patterns indicated a separation of expressional changes for genes involved in specific aspects of cardiac remodeling, such as fibrosis, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, and calcium handling (
Col1a2
,
Nppa
, and
Serca2
). Subsequent correlation analysis allowed for the identification of novel factors that share a comparable transcriptional regulation pattern across the infarcted tissue. The strong correlation between the expression levels of these known marker genes and the expression of the coregulated genes could be confirmed in human ischemic cardiac tissue samples. Follow-up analysis identified SOX9 as common transcriptional regulator of a large portion of the fibrosis-related genes that become activated under conditions of ischemic injury. Lineage-tracing experiments indicated that the majority of COL1-positive fibroblasts stem from a pool of SOX9-expressing cells, and in vivo loss of
Sox9
blunted the cardiac fibrotic response on ischemic injury. The colocalization between SOX9 and COL1 could also be confirmed in patients suffering from ischemic heart disease.

Conclusions:
Based on the exact local expression cues, tomo-seq can serve to reveal novel genes and key transcription factors involved in specific aspects of cardiac remodeling. Using tomo-seq, we were able to unveil the unknown relevance of SOX9 as a key regulator of cardiac fibrosis, pointing to SOX9 as a potential therapeutic target for cardiac fibrosis.
Risk Stratification of Thyroid Nodules With Atypia of Undetermined Significance/Follicular Lesion of Undetermined Significance (AUS/FLUS) Cytology Using Ultrasonography Patterns Defined by the 2015 ATA Guidelines
Authors: Lee Ji Hye , Han Kyunghwa , Kim Eun-Kyung , Moon Hee Jung , Yoon Jung Hyun , Park Vivian Y. , Kwak Jin Young 
Published: July 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive value of ultrasonography (US) patterns based on the 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines for malignancy in atypia of undetermined significance or follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS) nodules. Methods: From January 2014 to August 2015, 133 thyroid nodules that were initially diagnosed as AUS/FLUS on fine needle aspiration (FNA) were included in this study. Each nodule was assigned a category with US patterns defined by the ATA guidelines. Clinical characteristics and US patterns were compared between the benign and malignant nodules, and malignancy rates were calculated according to the ATA guidelines. Results: The malignancy rate in the very low suspicion group was 0.0% in AUS/FLUS nodules. When applying the ATA guidelines, significant differences existed for US patterns between the benign and malignant nodules in the AUS group ( P = .032) but not the FLUS group ( P = .168). Conclusions: Ultrasonography patterns by the 2015 ATA guidelines can provide risk stratification for nodules with AUS cytology but not for ones with FLUS cytology. For nodules with AUS/FLUS cytology with the very low suspicion pattern of the ATA guidelines, follow-up US might be recommended instead of repeat FNA.
What is the current level of mental health service delivery and expenditure on infants, children, adolescents, and young people in Australia?
Authors: Segal Leonie , Guy Sophie , Furber Gareth 
Published: July 2017

Objectives: The study aim was to estimate the current level of ambulatory mental health service delivery to young people aged 0–24 years in Australia and associated government expenditure. Recognising the importance of the early years for the development of mental illness and socioeconomic outcomes, we were particularly interested in service access by infants and young children. Methods: We extracted information from government administrative datasets on the number of people who received mental health services, number of services and expenditure through the health sector for 2014–2015. Results are primarily reported by age groups 0–4, 5–11, 12–17 and 18–24 years. Results: Less than 1% of 0- to 4-year-olds received a mental health service in any one service setting, whereas nearly 11% of 18- to 24-year-olds received a mental health service through the Medicare Benefits Schedule Better Access programme alone. Many more services were delivered to 12- to 24-year-olds (>4 million) than to 0- to 11-year-olds (552,000). Medicare Benefits Schedule Better Access delivers services to more children and youth than do state/territory community mental health services, although the latter provide more services per client. In 2013–2014, Australian Government expenditure on ambulatory mental health services for 0- to 24-year-olds was AUD428 million, similar to the AUD491 million spent by state/territory governments. Conclusion: The study provides a benchmark for data-driven service planning to ensure that the mental health needs of infants, children and young people are met. Our results indicate that the youngest age group are underserviced relative to need, even noting infants and children may receive services for behavioural/mental health issues from providers not captured in our study (such as paediatricians). The developmental origins of mental illness underlies the urgency of adequate provision by governments of perinatal, infant and child mental health services to avoid loss of life potential and reduce the pressures on the justice, child protection and welfare systems.
Lighting for the Elderly: A Psychobiological Approach to Lighting
Authors: Hughes Philip C. , Neer Robert M. 
Published: July 2017

The present paper reviews the role of illumination in shaping the indoor environment of the elderly person. The approach is that lighting has a twofold impact on the individual. One is as a source of information about the environment, i.e., visual, and the other is photobiological through the skin or photoreceptor. The visually lighted environment is reviewed, discussing first the physiological changes that occur during the aging process, then the effect of aging on visual performance, and finally the importance of qualitative factors in assessing the adequacy of an illuminated environment for the elderly. Special attention is given to application problems in lighting for the elderly, i.e., excessive brightness differences, discomfort glare, veiling reflections, and the importance of color and the spectral power distribution of the light source. The advantages of a full-spectrum light source which simulates natural sunlight for indoor illumination is discussed in light of recent research. The biologically lighted environment is reviewed in terms of the potential role that indoor illumination can play in regulating important biochemical processes in the elderly population, i.e., neuroendocrine control, vitamin D3 synthesis, immunologic mechanisms, and cardiovascular regulation.
Prediction of Success at Typing
Authors: Cleaver Thomas G. , O'Connor Carol 
Published: July 2017

A two-phase study was conducted to determine predictors of success at typing. In the first phase, beginning typing students were given a battery of tests to measure digital dexterity. The test results were correlated with typing speed attained after a one-semester course. Very little correlation between gross typing speed and digital dexterity was found. In the second phase of the study, beginning typing students were given computer-administered tests to measure reaction time, the ability to use the fingers independently, and the speed with which three random characters could be typed on a keyboard. The test results were correlated with typing speed after the completion of a one-semester course. Reaction time and the ability to use the fingers independently showed moderate correlation coefficients; however, the ability to type three random characters was well correlated with typing speed. This last type of test may be useful in screening typist trainees.
Display Station Anthropometrics: Preferred Height and Angle Settings of CRT and Keyboard
Authors: Miller Win , Suther Thomas W. 
Published: July 2017

This study investigates display station physical adjustments preferred by a sample of visual display terminal operators. Participants in the study were selected to assure representation of extremely short and extremely tall persons, as well as persons of midrange physical stature. Individual operators were led through a step-by-step sequence to determine their preferred initial settings of seat height, keyboard height and slope angle, and CRT height and tilt angle. Each operator then performed a brief text input task, after which final preferred adjustments were measured. Intermeasure correlation strongly suggest that “flat” (low slope angle) keyboards are inappropriate for short operators who select low seat heights. In addition, the keyboard angle adjustments preferred by most operators substantially exceed a current German ergonomic display station requirement.
Vigilance and Task Load: In Search of the Inverted U
Authors: Wiener Earl L. , Curry Renwick E. , Faustina Mary Lou 
Published: July 2017

The "Inverted-U Hypothesis" states that for a given task, there is an optimal level of workload or demand that yields the highest level of performance. A departure in either direction will result in a monotonically lower performance level, hence an inverted-U-shaped relationship between task demand and quality of performance. Most studies to date have failed to demonstrate the left-hand branch of the curve, that is, the regime in which performance presumably rises as load increases. The purpose of this study was to explore whether lowlevel additional demand on the monitor would result in improved performance. Four groups of subjects performed a visual monitoring task for 48 min, then two of the four groups were given additional tasks, and a third had potentially distracting information on its display. Results indicated that the two groups with additional demand detected more signals than did the control group or the control-plus-distraction group. There were no significant differences in false alarms.
An Evaluation of Tool Design and Method of Use of Railroad Leverage Tools on Back Stress and Tool Performance
Authors: Rockwel Thomas H. , Marras William S. 
Published: July 2017

The effects of railroad claw bar design factors and method of use upon performance and back stress were investigated. Novice and experienced subjects were tested for their ability to use the claw bar to remove track spikes. Two standard claw bar designs were evaluated. The method of tool use was described by body position relative to the claw bar and by body action. Tool design had no significant effect on either tool-lifting performance or back-stress measures. Body action patterns, but not body position, were found to have significant effects on both performance and back stress. Results support the use of a body action involving the use of the arms only. This method provides the required impulse forces with minimum back stress and also provides proper balance to avoid falls from sudden spike removal. Proper technique, as opposed to total force application, was found to be the key factor in tool use. Novices attempt to apply a large, sustained force using the whole body, whereas experienced trackmen use a snapping action to generate the required forces. Trackmen generated 50% more lifting force than did the novices.
Codes and Modalities in Multiple Resources: A Success and a Qualification
Authors: Wickens Christopher D. , Liu Yili 
Published: July 2017

This article includes two sections that address the relevance of codes (verbal-spatial) and modalities (auditory-visual) in the multiple-resource model to the prediction of task interference. The first section describes an experiment in which either verbal or spatial decision tasks, responded to with either voice or keypress, were time-shared with second-order tracking. Decision problem difficulty was manipulated, and subjective workload as well as performance measures were assessed. The results provided support for the importance of the dichotomy between verbal and spatial processing codes in accounting for task interference. Interference with tracking was consistently greater and difficulty/performance trade-offs were stronger when the spatial decision task was performed and the manual response was used. The second section reviews literature on the interference between a continuous visual task and a discrete task whose modality is either auditory or visual. The review suggests that scanning produces a dominant cost to intramodal configurations when visual channels are separated in space; when visual separation is eliminated, however, the differences between cross-modal and intramodal performance may be best accounted for by a mechanism of preemption. Discrete auditory stimuli preempt the processing of a continuous visual task, facilitating their own processing at the expense of the continuous task. Such preemption does not occur when visual discrete and continuous tasks are time-shared.
National e-government performance and citizen satisfaction: a multilevel analysis across European countries
Authors: Ma Liang , Zheng Yueping 
Published: July 2017

Are citizens more satisfied with e-government ranked higher in league tables? In this article, we empirically examine the relationship between objective e-government performance on the supply side and the perceptions of citizens on the demand side. A multilevel analysis of over 28,000 respondents across 32 European countries reveals that highly ranked e-government is warmly welcomed by citizens, suggesting that the supply and demand sides of e-government are, in part, consistent. Specifically, the e-government performance–satisfaction correlations in e-service and e-participation are more prominent than that of e-information. The results also show that citizens’ perceived e-government benefits are mainly from using online services. While e-government rankings are reasonably predictive of citizen satisfaction, they should be referred to with caveats in e-government policies. Points for practitioners The empirical findings reveal that objective e-government performance is partially congruent with citizens’ satisfaction and perceived benefits. While e-government rankings may not be good predictors of citizen use, they do coincide, in part, with citizen satisfaction. Ubiquitous e-government benchmarks can be referred to as reliable gauges of citizen satisfaction, though their susceptibility varies across the purposes of e-government use. The various benefits that citizens perceived from e-government are primarily derived through online services instead of electronic information or participation, and the government should pay more attention to e-service development in order to bring more benefits to its users.
‘Alcohol Intoxication’ or ‘Drunkenness’: Is There a Difference?
Authors: Rix Keith J. B. 
Published: July 2017

The terms ‘alcohol intoxication’ and ‘drunkenness' have hitherto been used interchangeably. A distinction between these terms is justified. Anthropological research suggests that the behaviour displayed by people who have consumed alcohol has more to do with culturally-determined expectations than with the properties of alcohol. Subjects who believe they have consumed alcohol when they have not behave more aggressively than those who believe that they have not consumed alcohol. There are significant false-positive and false-negative rates when doctors use clinical signs to judge whether or not a patient is intoxicated. People who die in police custody after arrest for offences of drunkenness include a porportion who have a negligible quantity of alcohol in the body and whose cause of death is unrelated to alochol. It is proposed: (1) that the term ‘alcohol intoxication’ should refer to a state in which alcohol is present in the body; (2) its diagnosis should be based on toxicological evidence for the presence of alcohol in body fluids or tissues; and (3) the term ‘drunkenness' should be used to describe behaviour displayed by people who have consumed, believe that they have consumed, or want others to believe that they have consumed, alcohol. Some clinical and legal implications of this distinction are discussed.
Community Defense and Criminal Order in Michoacán: Contention in the Grey Area
Authors: Fuentes Díaz Antonio 
Published: July 2017

The self-defense groups of La Ruana and Tepalcatepec and other communities in the Tierra Caliente of Michoacán, Mexico, emerged to oppose both the extortion and violence of the local parastatal order of organized crime and the central state’s demands for their disarming and dissolution. They represented a form of governmentality at the local level in which various nonstate actors performed the functions of government, control, and security in the grey area between legality and illegality. Los grupos de autodefensa de La Ruana y Tepalcatepec, así como de otras comunidades de tierra caliente en Michoacán, México, surgieron para contrarrestar las extorsiones y violencia del orden local paraestatal formado por el crimen organizado, así como las exigencias de desarme y disolución del estado central. Representaban una forma de gobernabilidad a nivel local, con varios actores no estatales haciendo las veces de gobierno, control y seguridad en un área gris entre lo legal y lo ilegal.
Definitions and Clinical Guidance on the Enteral Dependence Component of the Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder Diagnostic Criteria in Children
Authors: Dovey Terence Michael , Wilken Markus , Martin Clarissa Isabel , Meyer Caroline 
Published: July 2017

AbstractThe aim of the current article is to offer definitive guidance on weaning children who are reliant on nasogastric/gastrostomy feeding tubes. To date, no internationally recognized definitions or principles for interventions exist, and clinics have been reliant on creating their own unique intervention criteria. To achieve the aim, 2 goals are set out within the current article. The first goal was to definitively define the process of tube weaning. To achieve this, both tube dependency and oral eating also required definitions. It is necessary for these 2 additional definitions to fully understand the process of tube weaning and the transition that the child is making within these clinical interventions. The second goal of this article was to propose a set of minimum measurement criteria within a tube weaning protocol so that different clinical practices and perspectives may be measured accurately. This would then allow outcomes from different clinical services to be compared for efficacy. The culmination of this article is a set of 5 core principles that should govern clinics that adhere to the auspices of evidence‐based practice. These principles, if adopted, will provide the basis of a set of internationally recognized criteria within this field of pediatric gastroenterology.