bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Polarized Microscopy in Lesions With Altered Dermal Collagen
Authors: Elbendary Amira , Valdebran Manuel , Parikh Kruti , Elston Dirk M. 
Published: March 2016

Abstract:
Alterations in dermal collagen are noted in dermatofibroma, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, morphea, lichen sclerosus et atrophicus, hypertrophic scars, and keloids. The authors sought to determine whether variations in birefringence of collagen by polarized microscopy could be of help in diagnosing such conditions. Representative hematoxylin and eosin sections of 400 cases, including dermatofibroma, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, hypertrophic scars, keloid, morphea, and lichen sclerosus, were examined under polarized microscopy. Distinct patterns of birefringence of collagen for each disease were noted under polarized microscopy. This study highlights the use of polarized microscopy as adjunctive tool in differentiating different diseases with collagen alteration.
Reproducibility of Anaerobic and Pain Thresholds in Male Patients With Intermittent Claudication
Authors: da Rocha Chehuen Marcel , Cucato Gabriel Grizzo , Saes Glauco Fernandes , Costa Luiz Augusto Riani , Leicht Anthony Scott , Ritti-Dias Raphael Mendes , Wolosker Nelson , de Moraes Forjaz Cláudia Lúcia 
Published: March 2016

PURPOSE:
Maximal and submaximal parameters assessed during treadmill tests are used to prescribe exercise training and assess exercise-induced adaptations in patients with intermittent claudication (IC). Although reproducibility of maximal parameters is well documented, the reproducibility of submaximal is not clear. The aim of this study was to identify the reproducibility (reliability and agreement) of heart rate (HR) and oxygen uptake (

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2) measured at the anaerobic (AT) and the pain (PT) thresholds assessed during a maximal test in patients with IC.

METHODS:
Twenty male patients with IC underwent 2 cardiopulmonary treadmill tests to maximal pain. The HR and

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2 at the AT and PT were identified, and differences between repeat tests were compared. Reliability was determined by intraclass coefficient correlation (ICC). Agreement was assessed by coefficient of variation (CV), standard error of measurement (SEM), smallest detectable difference (SDD), and limits of agreement (LOA).

RESULTS:
The

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2 at AT and PT exhibited moderate reliability and moderate/good agreement (ICC = 0.73 and 0.70; CV = 9.6% and 11.1%, respectively). The HR at the AT and PT exhibited high reliability and good agreement (ICC = 0.87 and 0.92; SEM = 3.9 and 3.2 bpm; SDD = 10.8 and 8.8 bpm, respectively). The LOA for

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2 at AT and PT were ≤20% and for HR ≤11 bpm.

CONCLUSIONS:
The

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2 and HR measured at the AT and PT were moderately to highly reproducible in male patients with IC. The HR and

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2 at AT and PT may be used to establish training intensity and evaluate training effectiveness for these patients in clinical practice and research.
Depression in patients with chronic pain attending a specialised pain treatment centre: prevalence and impact on health care costs
Authors: Rayner Lauren , Hotopf Matthew , Petkova Hristina , Matcham Faith , Simpson Anna , McCracken Lance M. 
Published: March 2016

Abstract
This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence and impact of depression on health care costs in patients with complex chronic pain. The sample included 1204 patients attending a tertiary pain management service for people with chronic disabling pain, unresponsive to medical treatment. As part of routine care, patients completed a web-based questionnaire assessing mental and physical health, functioning, and service use in the preceding 3 months. Depression was assessed using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire. Self-report health care utilisation was measured across 4 domains: general practitioner contacts, contacts with secondary/tertiary care doctors, accident and emergency department visits, and days hospitalised. The participation rate was 89%. Seven hundred and thirty-two patients (60.8%; 95% CI 58.0-63.6) met criteria for probable depression, and 407 (33.8%) met the threshold for severe depression. Patients with depression were more likely to be unable to work because of ill health and reported greater work absence, greater pain-related interference with functioning, lower pain acceptance, and more generalised pain. Mean total health care costs per 3-month period were £731 (95% CI £646-£817) for patients with depression, compared with £448 (95% CI £366-£530) for patients without depression. A positive association between severe depression and total health care costs persisted after controlling for key demographic, functional, and clinical covariates using multiple linear regression models. These findings reveal the extent, severity, and impact of depression in patients with chronic pain and make evident a need for action. Effective treatment of depression may improve patient health and functioning and reduce the burden of chronic pain on health care services.
Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Enhancing Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults 13–24 Years of Age: A Review of the Evidence Base
Authors: Shaw Sarah , Amico K. Rivet 
Published: March 2016

Introduction:
Youth living with HIV are highly under-represented in the evidence base for adherence interventions, despite their diverse and unique needs and barriers.

Objective:
This systematic review aimed to identify antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence interventions specifically targeting adolescents and young adults (defined as ages 13–24) with the goal of characterizing the evidence base.

Methods:
Articles were identified using the PubMed database and cover work published through September 14, 2015. Inclusion criteria: (1) average age 13 to 24, (2) HIV positive, (3) on or beginning ART, (4) intervention targeted ART adherence in full or in part, (5) reported adherence, viral load, and/or CD4 count outcomes. Strength of evidence was defined as level 1 [randomized controlled trial (RCT) with significance testing on outcomes], 2 (within group studies with statistical testing on outcomes), 3 (RCTs with descriptive results), or 4 (within group studies with descriptive results).

Results:
Of 151 articles, 10 met inclusion criteria. Published between 2003 and 2014, these studies evaluated diverse intervention approaches. Most were conducted in the US and were small pilots that have yet to be replicated despite promising results. Only 3 studies met criteria for highest level strength of evidence; 2 supported a phone-based counseling approach with adherence monitors and 1 for weekly individual and family counseling.

Conclusions:
Despite nearly 20 years passing since the wide-scale availability of ART, and clear recognition that adolescents and youth adults fair worse on the cascade of HIV care, the evidence base remains sparse and underdeveloped. Promising approaches need replication and more rigorous studies are desperately needed.
Safety of Gadobutrol
Authors: Endrikat Jan , Vogtlaender Kai , Dohanish Susan , Balzer Thomas , Breuer Josy 
Published: March 2016

Objective
The aim of this study was to provide a systematic safety analysis of gadobutrol after more than 29 million applications in clinical routine.

Materials and Methods
Forty-two clinical development phase II to IV studies on gadobutrol or comparator and the postmarketing safety surveillance database for gadobutrol (1998–2015) were analyzed. Adverse events (AEs) and drug-related AEs were evaluated in the clinical development database and spontaneous adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in the postmarketing database. Subgroup analyses were run on patients with special medical history and on patients of different age groups.

Results
In the clinical development studies, 6809 and 2184 patients received gadobutrol or comparators, respectively. The incidence of drug-related AEs was 3.5% for both groups. With the exception of nausea (0.7% related cases in both groups), all other drug-related AEs were 0.3% or less in both groups. Hypersensitivity reactions were sporadic (<0.1%). Patients with history of allergies to contrast agents experienced slightly more drug-related AEs. No differences were seen between age groups.
The overall reporting rate of ADRs from postmarketing surveillance was 0.05%. The most frequent ADRs were anaphylactoid/hypersensitivity reactions, nausea, vomiting, and dyspnea.
For 3 single-agent reports of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, using a conservative approach, association with gadobutrol could not be excluded.

Conclusions
Gadobutrol is well tolerated and has a favorable safety profile for patients of all age groups.
Older fathers’ children have lower evolutionary fitness across four centuries and in four populations
Authors: Arslan Ruben C. , Willführ Kai P. , Frans Emma , Verweij Karin J. H. , Myrskylä Mikko , Voland Eckart , Almqvist Catarina , Zietsch Brendan P. , Penke Lars 
Published: March 2016

AbstractHigher paternal age at offspring conception increasesde novogenetic mutations (Kong et al., 2012). Based on evolutionary genetic theory we predicted that the offspring of older fathers would be less likely to survive and reproduce, i.e. have lower fitness. In a sibling control study, we find clear support for negative paternal age effects on offspring survival, mating and reproductive success across four large populations with an aggregate N > 1.3 million in main analyses. Compared to a sibling born when the father was 10 years younger, individuals had 4-13% fewer surviving children in the four populations. Three populations were pre-industrial (1670-1850) Western populations and showed a pattern of paternal age effects across the offspring’s lifespan. In 20th-century Sweden, we found no negative paternal age effects on child survival or marriage odds. Effects survived tests for competing explanations, including maternal age and parental loss. To the extent that we succeeded in isolating a mutation-driven effect of paternal age, our results can be understood to show thatde novomutations reduce offspring fitness across populations and time. We can use this understanding to predict the effect of increasingly delayed reproduction on offspring genetic load, mortality and fertility.
Risk management and firm value: recent theory and evidence
Authors: Krause Timothy A , Tse Yiuman 
Published: March 2016

Purpose
– This paper aims to provide an update to the risk management literature, as it compiles a survey of 65 recent theoretical and empirical studies on the topic.

Design/methodology/approach
– This is a survey paper that summarizes recent theoretical and empirical research regarding the relationship between risk management and firm value.

Findings
– Recent empirical evidence provides support for theoretical propositions in the literature that risk management increases firm value and returns, while reducing return and cash flow volatility. The results are largely consistent with early findings, and there have been significant empirical advances that address concerns regarding the endogeneity of risk management practices relative to corporate financial decisions. The literature has become broader and deeper, as there are now studies with larger sample sizes across more industries and geographic areas.

Practical implications
– Firms that use sound risk management practices obtain higher valuations, achieve better financial performance and experience diminished costs of financial distress. Recent research has emerged regarding enterprise risk management and its potential for value creation and risk reduction.

Originality/value
– The paper provides a new compilation and synthesis of recent theoretical and empirical research in risk management that addresses many of the limitations of prior research.
Management of surgical instruments with radio frequency identification tags
Authors: Kusuda Kaori , Yamashita Kazuhiko , Ohnishi Akiko , Tanaka Kiyohito , Komino Masaru , Honda Hiroshi , Tanaka Shinichi , Okubo Takashi , Tripette Julien , Ohta Yuji 
Published: March 2016

Purpose
– To prevent malpractices, medical staff has adopted inventory time-outs and/or checklists. Accurate inventory and maintenance of surgical instruments decreases the risk of operating room miscounting and malfunction. In our previous study, an individual management of surgical instruments was accomplished using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a new management method of RFID-tagged instruments.

Design/methodology/approach
– The management system of RFID-tagged surgical instruments was used for 27 months in clinical areas. In total, 13 study participants assembled surgical trays in the central sterile supply department.

Findings
– While using the management system, trays were assembled 94 times. During this period, no assembly errors occurred. An instrument malfunction had occurred after the 19th, 56th, and 73th uses, no malfunction caused by the RFID tags, and usage history had been recorded. Additionally, the time it took to assemble surgical trays was recorded, and the long-term usability of the management system was evaluated.

Originality/value
– The system could record the number of uses and the defective history of each surgical instrument. In addition, the history of the frequency of instruments being transferred from one tray to another was recorded. The results suggest that our system can be used to manage instruments safely. Additionally, the management system was acquired of the learning effect and the usability on daily maintenance. This finding suggests that the management system examined here ensures surgical instrument and tray assembly quality.
Combined quality function deployment and logical framework analysis to improve quality of emergency care in Malta
Authors: Buttigieg Sandra Catherine , Dey Prasanta Kumar , Cassar Mary Rose 
Published: March 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated patient-focused analytical framework to improve quality of care in accident and emergency (A
&
E) unit of a Maltese hospital.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study adopts a case study approach. First, a thorough literature review has been undertaken to study the various methods of healthcare quality management. Second, a healthcare quality management framework is developed using combined quality function deployment (QFD) and logical framework approach (LFA). Third, the proposed framework is applied to a Maltese hospital to demonstrate its effectiveness. The proposed framework has six steps, commencing with identifying patients’ requirements and concluding with implementing improvement projects. All the steps have been undertaken with the involvement of the concerned stakeholders in the A
&
E unit of the hospital.

Findings
– The major and related problems being faced by the hospital under study were overcrowding at A
&
E and shortage of beds, respectively. The combined framework ensures better A
&
E services and patient flow. QFD identifies and analyses the issues and challenges of A
&
E and LFA helps develop project plans for healthcare quality improvement. The important outcomes of implementing the proposed quality improvement programme are fewer hospital admissions, faster patient flow, expert triage and shorter waiting times at the A
&
E unit. Increased emergency consultant cover and faster first significant medical encounter were required to start addressing the problems effectively. Overall, the combined QFD and LFA method is effective to address quality of care in A
&
E unit.

Practical/implications
– The proposed framework can be easily integrated within any healthcare unit, as well as within entire healthcare systems, due to its flexible and user-friendly approach. It could be part of Six Sigma and other quality initiatives.

Originality/value
– Although QFD has been extensively deployed in healthcare setup to improve quality of care, very little has been researched on combining QFD and LFA in order to identify issues, prioritise them, derive improvement measures and implement improvement projects. Additionally, there is no research on QFD application in A
&
E. This paper bridges these gaps. Moreover, very little has been written on the Maltese health care system. Therefore, this study contributes demonstration of quality of emergency care in Malta.
Critical success factors for implementation process of design-build projects in Vietnam
Authors: Dang Chau Ngoc , Le-Hoai Long 
Published: March 2016

Purpose
– Design-build (DB) has become widely prosperous in recent years. This new approach could be applicable to construction projects in either developed or developing countries. However, the implementation process of DB in Vietnam encounters difficulties due to the unfamiliarity and inexperience with the approach. This study aims to identify the correlation and causality between critical success factors (CSFs) and DB project performance measured by key performance indicators (KPIs).

Design/methodology/approach
– A questionnaire was used to collect the project data from public and private sector DB projects in Vietnam. The correlation between CSFs and KPIs was identified through correlation analysis. Then, the causality was explored through regression analysis.

Findings
– The results of correlation indicate that parties’ capabilities play an important role in determining the success or failure of DB projects. In addition, the results of causality highlight six CSFs which significantly affect DB project performance, including resolving conflicts quickly; effective overall managerial actions in planning, organizing, leading and controlling; project participants’ satisfaction with the financial return from the project; competent multidisciplinary project team; project team members’ good/active attitudes to the job; and adequate funding throughout the project. It was also shown that there is no significant difference about the project performance between public and private sector DB projects.

Practical implications
– Identifying the correlation and causality between CSFs and different aspects of DB project performance could help project participants to know the controllable CSFs on which they must focus more. Hence, they could manage these CSFs properly to increase the chance of meeting time, cost and quality objectives of DB projects in which they are involved and achieving the owners’ satisfaction.

Originality/value
– The findings of this study could provide project participants in Vietnam, as well as similar developing countries, with a better understanding of the impact of CSFs on different aspects of DB project performance. Hence, they could make effective CSFs-based improvements on their management-oriented approaches to enhance different aspects of DB project performance.
A numerical definition-based systematic design approach for coupling consumers
'
image perception with product form
Authors: Chen Hung-Yuan , Chang Yu-Ming , Chang Hua-Cheng 
Published: March 2016

Purpose
– This paper aims to propose a numerical definition-based systematic design approach (NDSDA) to generate an explicit numerical definition of the product form profile and to establish the correlation between the product form features and the corresponding consumers’ image perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach
– To illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method, this study considers the design of a two-dimensional automobile profile for illustration purposes and commences by developing a detailed numerical definition of an automobile profile using Bézier curves. A series of automobile image evaluations are conducted to examine the relationship between the characteristics of an automobile profile and its associated consumer image perception. Finally, the evaluation results are analyzed statistically, and the statistical results are used to construct mathematical models formalizing the correlations between the automobile profile design variables and the consumers’ perceptions of the product image.

Findings
– The results of the evaluation trials are used to construct mathematical models capable of predicting the likely consumer response to any automobile profile designed in accordance with the numerical definition. Furthermore, the evaluation data enable the critical design variables and form features to be determined such that the efficacy of the design process in creating automobiles which better meet the consumers’ image aspirations can be improved.

Originality/value
– The major contribution of the NDSDA methodology presented in this study is the ability it gives to designers to specify the product form in a detailed yet highly efficient manner. Furthermore, the numerical definition of the product form not only provides a suitable basis for identifying the critical design variables and form features of the product but also provides an understanding of how these variables should be manipulated to obtain or reinforce the desired product image.
Developing a scale measuring perceived knowledge and skills dimensions for mental health promotion: a pilot test using a convenience sample
Authors: Lang Gert , Stengård Eija , Wynne Richard 
Published: March 2016

Purpose
– Against the background of rising mental health (MH) problems many practitioners and health programmers require tools to plan and implement mental health promotion (MHP). A Likert scale to measure Perceived Knowledge of Skills needed for MHP (PKSMHP) was developed and pilot tested. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– A convenience sample of leading personnel (n=106) in three settings (43 schools, 24 workplaces, 39 care facilities) was drawn in five European countries. A descriptive item analysis, an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and a scales’ performance analysis was adopted.

Findings
– The validated PKSMHP scale included nine high-quality items measuring the knowledge level of three skills dimensions: MHP management/planning, MHP tools/methods/services and recognition/detection of MH problems. Taken together these can be seen to represent the overall type of skills needed for implementing MHP.

Originality/value
– The short scale showed very good scale performance values in this pilot study. After further testing the scale might be used as a baseline assessment of MHP needs, as a building block for MHP training and organisational capacity building.