bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Schistosoma mansoni and endocarditis: from egg to free DNA detection in Egyptian patients and infected BALB/c mice
Authors: Hasby Saad M.A. , Watany M.M. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractWith the growing incidence of closed schistosomiasis and uncommon presentations, there is a risk of the infection rate being underestimated. A study in Japan reported an unexplained case of endocarditis that was finally diagnosed as a complex Schistosoma japonicum infection; in the absence of advanced techniques, the diagnosis was delayed. We therefore set out to explore the incidence of Schistosoma mansoni in endocarditis patients coming from areas of Egypt where S. mansoni is endemic. We also investigated histopathological changes in the cardiac valves and the presence of cell-free parasite DNA (CFPD) in cardiac tissues of laboratory mice infected with S. mansoni. The study included 186 patients with the manifestations of infective endocarditis. Eggs were detected in the stool samples of 5.91% of patients. Seropositivity was reported in 23.66% of patients and antigen was detected in the urine samples of 10.21%. Using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), CFPD was detected in the blood of 6.98% of the endocarditis patients and 95% of the infected mice, while the cardiac samples of 45% of the mice tested positive for CFPD (means ± SD = 1390.2 ± 283.65, 2158.72 ± 1103.1 and 5.71 ± 2.91, respectively). Histopathological examination revealed abnormal collagen deposition, inflammatory cells and haemorrhagic pigmentation in the heart sections. Despite the low incidence of S. mansoni infection in the studied cohort, the presence of CFPD in the cardiac tissue of infected mice makes it necessary to: (1) investigate the hazards of CFPD deposition in endothelium-rich organs; and (2) test the potential of CFPD to trigger tissue inflammation, abnormal proliferation or genome integration.
Thein vitroantileishmanial activity of essential oil fromAloysia gratissimaand guaiol, its major sesquiterpene againstLeishmania amazonensis
Authors: Garcia Maria Carolina Freitas , Soares Deivid Costa , Santana Raissa Couto , Saraiva Elvira Maria , Siani Antonio Carlos , Ramos Mônica Freiman S. , Danelli Maria das Graças Miranda , Souto-Padron Thaïs Cristina , Pinto-da-Silva Lucia H. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractLeishmaniases is a tropical disease caused by protozoa of the genusLeishmaniafor which the current treatment is expensive, besides increasing reports of parasite resistance. This study investigated the anti-Leishmania amazonensisactivity of the essential oil fromAloysia gratissima(AgEO) and guaiol, the major sesquiterpene constituent in the oil. Our results showed that AgEO killed promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes at an IC50of 25 and 0·16µg mL−1, respectively, while guaiol killed amastigotes at an IC50of 0·01µg mL−1. Both AgEO and guaiol were safe for macrophages up to 100µg mL−1, as evaluated by the dehydrogenase activity, membrane integrity and phagocytic capacity. AgEO and guaiol did not induce nitrite oxide (NO) in resting macrophages and inhibited the production of NO in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages. The ultrastructural analysis suggested that AgEO and guaiol act directly on parasites, affecting promastigotes kinetoplast, mitochondrial matrix and plasma membrane. Together, these results pointed out that AgEO and guaiol could be promising candidates to develop anti-Leishmaniadrugs.
Explaining Low Uptake of Direct Payments in Residential Care: Findings from the Evaluation of the Direct Payments in Residential Care Trailblazers
Authors: ETTELT STEFANIE , WILLIAMS LORRAINE , PERKINS MARGARET , WITTENBERG RAPHAEL , LOMBARD DANIEL , DAMANT JACQUELINE , MAYS NICHOLAS 
Published: January 2018

AbstractIn 2012, the Government invited local councils in England to participate in a pilot programme to test direct payments in residential care. While the programme was set up to allow for comprehensive summative evaluation, the uptake of direct payments in residential care was substantially lower than anticipated, with only 40 people in receipt of one at the end of the programme. Drawing on qualitative data collected for the evaluation, this paper aims to understand better the barriers to implementing direct payments in residential care. Evidence from the use of direct payments in domiciliary care identified gatekeeping by council frontline staff as a major barrier for service users to access direct payments. Our findings suggest that, whilst selectivity of both service users and providers was an integral part of the programme design, gatekeeping does not fully explain the poor take-up. Other factors played a part, such as lack of clarity about the benefits of direct payments for care home residents, the limited range and scope of choice of services for residents, and concerns from care providers about the financial impact of direct payments on their financial sustainability.
An adaptive function of mental time travel: Motivating farsighted decisions
Authors: Benoit Roland G. , Berkers Ruud M. W. J. , Paulus Philipp C. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe episodic memory system allows us to experience the emotions of past, counterfactual, and prospective events. We outline how this phenomenological experience can convey motivational incentives for farsighted decisions. In this way, we challenge important arguments for Mahr & Csibra's (M&C's) conclusion that future-oriented mental time travel is unlikely to be a central function of episodic memory.
Using episodic memory to gauge implicit and/or indeterminate social commitments
Authors: Michael John , Székely Marcell , Christensen Wayne 
Published: January 2018

AbstractIn discussing Mahr & Csibra's (M&C's) observations about the role of episodic memory in grounding social commitments, we propose that episodic memory is especially useful for gauging cases of implicit commitment and cases in which the content of a commitment is indeterminate. We conclude with some thoughts about how commitment may relate to the evolution of episodic memory.
Confabulation and epistemic authority
Authors: Robins Sarah 
Published: January 2018

AbstractMahr & Csibra (M&C) claim that episodic remembering's autonoetic character serves as an indicator of epistemic authority. This proposal is difficult to reconcile with the existence of confabulation errors – where participants fabricate memories of experiences that never happened to them. Making confabulation errors damages one's epistemic authority, but these false memories have an autonoetic character.
Autonoesis and dissociative identity disorder
Authors: Morton John 
Published: January 2018

AbstractDissociative identity disorder is characterised by the presence in one individual of two or more alternative personality states (alters). For such individuals, the memory representation of a particular event can have full episodic, autonoetic status for one alter, while having the status of knowledge or even being inaccessible to a second alter. This phenomenon appears to create difficulties for a purely representational theory and is presented to Mahr & Csibra (M&C) for their consideration.
What psychology and cognitive neuroscience know about the communicative function of memory
Authors: Rubin David C. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractMahr & Csibra (M&C) include interesting ideas about the nature of memory from outside of the field of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. However, the target article's inaccurate claims about those fields limit its usefulness. I briefly review the most serious omissions and distortions of the literature by the target article, including its misrepresentation of event memory, and offer suggestions for forwarding the goal of understanding the communicative function of memory.
Electron acceleration by an intense laser pulse inside a density profile induced by non-linear pulse evolution
Authors: Pishdast M. , Yazdanpanah J. , Ghasemi S. A. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractBy sophisticated application of particle-in-cell simulations, we demonstrate the ultimate role of non-linear pulse evolutions in accelerating electrons during the entrance of an intense laser pulse into a preformed density profile. As a key point in our discussions, the non-linear pulse evolutions are found to be very fast even at very low plasma densities, provided that the pulse length exceeds the local plasma wavelength. Therefore, these evolutions are sufficiently developed during the propagation of typical short density scale lengths occurred at high contrast ratios of the pulse, and lead to plasma heating via stochastic acceleration in multi-waves. Further analysis of simulation data at different physical parameters indicates that the rate of evolutions increases with the plasma density leading to higher plasma heating and overgrown energetic electrons. In the same way, shortening the density scale length results into increase in the evolution rate and, simultaneously, decrease in the interaction time. This behavior can describe the observed optimum value of pre-plasma scale length for the maximum electron heating.
Neurocognitive and Self-efficacy Benefits of Cognitive Remediation in Schizophrenia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Bryce Shayden D. , Rossell Susan L. , Lee Stuart J. , Lawrence Richard J. , Tan Eric J. , Carruthers Sean P. , Ponsford Jennie L. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractObjectives:The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of computer-assisted “drill-and-strategy” cognitive remediation (CR) for community-dwelling individuals with schizophrenia on cognition, everyday self-efficacy, and independent living skills.Methods:Fifty-six people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were randomized into CR or computer game (CG) playing (control), and offered twenty 1-hr individual sessions in a group setting over 10 weeks. Measures of cognition, psychopathology, self-efficacy, quality of life, and independent living skills were conducted at baseline, end-group and 3 months following intervention completion.Results:Forty-three participants completed at least 10 sessions and the end-group assessment. Linear mixed-effect analyses among completers demonstrated a significant interaction effect for global cognition favoring CR (p=.028). CR-related cognitive improvement was sustained at 3-months follow-up. At end-group, 17 (77%) CR completers showed a reliable improvement in at least one cognitive domain. A significant time effect was evident for self-efficacy (p=.028) with both groups improving over time, but no significant interaction effect was observed. No significant effects were found for other study outcomes, including the functional measure.Conclusions:Computer-assisted drill-and-strategy CR in schizophrenia improved cognitive test performance, while participation in both CR and CG playing promoted enhancements in everyday self-efficacy. Changes in independent living skills did not appear to result from CR, however. Adjunctive psychosocial rehabilitation is likely necessary for improvements in real-world community functioning to be achieved. (JINS, 2018, 24, 549–562)
Concordance and predictors of concordance of children’s dietary intake as reported via ecological momentary assessment and 24 h recall
Authors: O’Connor Sydney G , Ke Wangjing , Dzubur Eldin , Schembre Susan , Dunton Genevieve F 
Published: January 2018

AbstractObjectiveTo provide preliminary evidence in support of using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), a real-time data capture method involving repeated assessments, to measure dietary intake in children by examining the concordance of children’s dietary reports through EMA and 24 h recall.DesignChildren completed eight days of EMA surveys, reporting on recent dietary intake of four pre-specified food categories (‘Fruits or Vegetables’, ‘Chips or Fries’, ‘Pastries or Sweets’, ‘Soda or Energy Drinks’), and completed two 24 h recalls during the same period. Concordance of children’s reports of intake during matched two-hour time windows from EMA and 24 h dietary recall was assessed using cross-tabulation. Multilevel logistic regression examined potential person-level (i.e. sex, age, ethnicity and BMI category) predictors of concordance.SettingChildren in Los Angeles County, USA, enrolled in the Mothers’ and Their Children’s Health (MATCH) study.SubjectsOne hundred and forty-four 144 children (53 % female; mean age 9·6 (sd0·9) years; 34·0 % overweight/obese).ResultsTwo-hour concordance varied by food category, ranging from 64·9 % for ‘Fruits/Vegetables’ to 89·9 % for ‘Soda/Energy Drinks’. In multilevel models, overweight/obese (v. lean) was associated with greater odds (OR; 95 % CI) of concordant reporting for ‘Soda/Energy Drinks’ (2·01; 1·06, 4·04) and ‘Pastries/Sweets’ (1·61; 1·03, 2·52). Odds of concordant reporting were higher for Hispanic (v. non-Hispanic) children for ‘Pastries/Sweets’ (1·55; 1·02, 2·36) and for girls (v. boys) for ‘Fruits/Vegetables’ (1·36; 1·01, 1·83).ConclusionsConcordance differed by food category as well as by person-level characteristics. Future research should continue to explore use of EMA to facilitate dietary assessment in children.
Socio-economic determinants of vitamin D deficiency in the older Polish population: results from the PolSenior study
Authors: Wyskida Magdalena , Owczarek Aleksander , Szybalska Aleksandra , Brzozowska Aniceta , Szczerbowska Irena , Wieczorowska-Tobis Katarzyna , Puzianowska-Kuźnicka Monika , Franek Edward , Mossakowska Małgorzata , Grodzicki Tomasz , Więcek Andrzej , Olszanecka-Glinianowicz Magdalena , Chudek Jerzy 
Published: January 2018

AbstractObjectiveNumerous studies have reported an association between vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D; 25(OH)D) deficiency and low economic status, lower educational level, drugs exposure, smoking and reduced physical activity. Our study analysed the association between sociodemographic factors and 25(OH)D status in Polish (Caucasian) seniors.DesignCross-sectional study (part of the PolSenior study). Serum 25(OH)D concentration was measured by a solid-phase ELISA method; a standardized questionnaire evaluated educational level, economic status, alcohol consumption, current or past cigarette smoking, physical activity, activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living.SettingCommunity-dwelling randomly selected individuals aged 65 years or older, selected using three-stage stratified, proportional draw.SubjectsSeniors (n 3472; 1658 women and 1814 men).ResultsMean serum 25(OH)D concentration was 20·5 (sd 9·6) ng/ml. Values below the recommended level (30 ng/ml) were detected in 82·8 % of men and 90·4 % of women. Regression analysis revealed that the difference between sexes was associated with decreased walking activity in women, probably resulting in less sunlight exposure. There was a positive association between any disability in ADL and the presence of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency. In the sex-adjusted analysis, older age, alcohol abstinence and lack of cycling and long-distance walking were explanatory variables for vitamin D deficiency.ConclusionsVitamin D deficiency/insufficiency is frequent in the older Polish population and associated with functional disability and impaired mobility of seniors.
Readability of internet-based patient information for radiotherapy patients
Authors: Flinton David , Singh Manrita K. , Haria Krupesh 
Published: January 2018

AbstractBackgroundInformation is key to patient informed choice and the internet is currently a major source of health information for adults in the UK. In order for the users to make use of the information it must be presented in a way that the user can understand. This depends on a number of factors one being that the document is written at the right level to be understood by the reader, readability.AimThe aim of this study was to assess the readability of radiotherapy-related documents on the internet and compare their levels to published norms.MethodAn internet search was undertaken using Google, to identify UK-based literature. Once identified documents were downloaded into Word and cleaned of punctuation other than that at the end of the sentence, documents were then analysed by the software package Readability Studio.Results and conclusionsDocuments tended to be written at too high a reading level, but the reading level had improved from a similar study conducted in 2006. The level of readability appears to show a relationship to the use of passive voice, which was very variable in the sample collected and reduction in the use of passive voice could help with the readability of the information.
Implementation of the integrated palliative care outcome scale in acute care settings – a feasibility study
Authors: Lind Susanne , Sandberg J. , Brytting T. , Fürst C.J. , Wallin L. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractObjectiveAlthough hospitals have been described as inadequate place for end-of-life care, many deaths still occur in hospital settings. Although patient-reported outcome measures have shown positive effects for patients in need of palliative care, little is known about how to implement them. We aimed to explore the feasibility of a pilot version of an implementation strategy for the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale (IPOS) in acute care settings.MethodA strategy, including information, training, and facilitation to support the use of IPOS, was developed and carried out at three acute care units. For an even broader understanding of the strategy, it was also tested at a palliative care unit. A process evaluation was conducted including collecting quantitative data and performing interviews with healthcare professionals.ResultFactors related to the design and performance of the strategy and the context contributed to the results. The prevalence of completed IPOS in the patient's records varied from 6% to 44% in the acute care settings. At the palliative care unit, the prevalence in the inpatient unit was 53% and the specialized home care team 35%. The qualitative results showed opposing perspectives concerning the training provided: Related to everyday work at the acute care units and Nothing in it for us at the palliative care unit. In the acute care settings, A need for an improved culture regarding palliative care was identified. A context characterized by A constantly increasing workload, a feeling of Constantly on-going changes, and a feeling of Change fatigue were found at all units. Furthermore, the internal facilitators and the nurse managers’ involvement in the implementation differed between the units.Significance of the resultsThe feasibility of the strategy in our study is considered to be questionable and the components need to be further explored to enhance the impact of the strategy and thereby improve the use of IPOS.
Confidence in communicating with patients with cancer mediates the relationship between rehabilitation therapists’ autistic-like traits and perceived difficulty in communication
Authors: Hayashibara Chinatsu , Inagaki Masatoshi , Fujimori Maiko , Higuchi Yuji , Fujiwara Masaki , Terada Seishi , Okamura Hitoshi , Uchitomi Yosuke , Yamada Norihito 
Published: January 2018

AbstractObjectiveRecently, rehabilitation therapists have become involved in cancer rehabilitation; however, no communication skills training that increases the ability to provide emotional support for cancer patients has been developed for rehabilitation therapists. In addition, no study has examined associations between rehabilitation therapists’ communication skills and their level of autistic-like traits (ALT), which are in-born characteristics including specific communication styles and difficulty communicating with patients. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether confidence in communicating with patients mitigates communication difficulties experienced by rehabilitation therapists who have high levels of ALT.MethodRehabilitation therapists who treat patients with cancer completed self-administered postal questionnaires anonymously. Scores were obtained on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient short form, confidence in communication, and communication difficulties. We used covariance structure analyses to test hypothetical models, and confirmed that confidence in communication mediates the relationship between ALT and perceived communication difficulties.ResultsParticipants included 1,343 respondents (49.6%). Autism-Spectrum Quotient scores were positively correlated with communication difficulties (r = 0.16, p < 0.001). The correlation was mitigated by confidence in communication in the fit model. However, higher confidence in creating a supportive atmosphere was associated with more difficulty in communication (r = 0.16, p < 0.001).Significance of resultsCommunication difficulty was linked to rehabilitation therapists’ ALTs. By increasing confidence in areas of communication other than creation of a supportive atmosphere, ALT-related difficulties in communication may be ameliorated. Confidence to create supportive environments correlated positively with difficulty. Communication skills training to increase confidence in communication for rehabilitation therapists should be developed with vigilance regarding ALT levels.
Musical Structure, Dramatic Form, and Song Pairings in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate
Authors: BUCHLER MICHAEL 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThrough a broad analysis of musical, textual, and dramatic similarities between the framing and framed shows in Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate and a more specific analysis of “So in Love” and “Were Thine That Special Face,” this article identifies an overall musical/dramatic structure with three formal rotations, cutting across the show's two acts. In tying the sometimes-masked song resemblances to the show's overall dramatic arch, Kiss Me, Kate's narrative structure is ultimately portrayed as united rather than bifurcated. As a springboard, this article scrutinizes Knapp's (2006) reading of “doubles” in the show.
The Rise and Fall of “Indie Classical”: Tracing a Controversial Term in Twenty-First Century New Music
Authors: ROBIN WILLIAM 
Published: January 2018

AbstractIn its inaugural 2007 press release, New York–based New Amsterdam Records announced its mission to “foster a sense of connection among musicians and fans in this ‘indie classical’ scene.” New Amsterdam's publicity apparatus brought “indie classical” into widespread media circulation, but by 2013 the label had ceased using the term. In the intervening years, the meaning of indie classical had been hotly contested by the community of musicians it was meant to champion. Drawing on more than fifty interviews, archival research, and reception history from traditional publications and new online sources, I recreate the rise and fall of indie classical as it transpired over a decade. Tracing the background of the composers and performers who first labeled themselves as indie classical, unveiling the origins of the term and how it was disseminated, and examining the debates that surrounded it and its subsequent decline reveals how the aesthetic discourse of new music is constructed in the twenty-first century.