bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Lacertus Fibrosus Versus Achilles Allograft Reconstruction for Distal Biceps Tears: A Biomechanical Study
Authors: Murthi Anand M. , Ramirez Miguel A. , Parks Brent G. , Carpenter Shannon R. 
Published: September 2017

Background: The bicipital aponeurosis, or lacertus fibrosus, can potentially be used as a reconstruction graft in chronic distal biceps tendon tears. Purpose: To evaluate construct stiffness, load to failure, and failure mechanism with lacertus fibrosus versus Achilles allograft for distal biceps tendon reconstruction. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Ten fresh-frozen matched cadaveric pairs of elbows were used. Three centimeters of the distal biceps tendon was resected. Specimens were randomized to the lacertus fibrosus or Achilles tendon group. In one group, the lacertus fibrosus was released from its distal attachment and then tubularized and repaired intraosseously to the radius. In the other group, an Achilles tendon graft was sutured to the biceps muscle and repaired to the ulna. The prepared radii were rigidly mounted at a 45° angle on a load frame. The proximal biceps muscle was secured in a custom-fabricated cryogenic grip. Displacement was measured using a differential variable reluctance transducer mounted at the radius–soft tissue junction and in the muscle- or muscle allograft–tissue junction proximal to the repair. Specimens were loaded at 20 mm/min until failure, defined as a 3-mm displacement at the radius–soft tissue junction. Results: No significant difference was found in mean load to failure between the lacertus fibrosus and Achilles tendon group (mean ± SD, 20.2 ± 5.5 N vs 16.89 ± 4.54 N; P = .18). Stiffness also did not differ significantly between the lacertus fibrosus and Achilles tendon group (12.3 ± 7.1 kPa vs 10.5 ± 5.7 kPa; P = .34). The primary mode of failure in the lacertus fibrosus group was suture pullout from the tissue at the musculotendinous junction (7 of 10). In the Achilles group, failures were observed at the muscle-allograft interface (3) and the allograft-bone (radial tuberosity) interface (3), and 3 suture failures were observed. The button fixation did not fail in any specimens. Conclusion: The mean stiffness and load-to-failure values were not significantly different between a lacertus fibrosus construct and Achilles tendon allograft. Clinical Relevance: Use of the lacertus fibrosus may be a potential alternative to Achilles tendon allograft reconstruction of chronic distal biceps tears when primary repair is not possible.
Validation of the Missouri Osteochondral Allograft Preservation System for the Maintenance of Osteochondral Allograft Quality During Prolonged Storage
Authors: Stoker Aaron M. , Stannard James P. , Kuroki Keiichi , Bozynski Chantelle C. , Pfeiffer Ferris M. , Cook James L. 
Published: September 2017

Background: Fresh osteochondral allografts (OCAs) are limited in availability. The Missouri Osteochondral Allograft Preservation System (MOPS) has been reported to effectively preserve OCAs twice as long as current tissue bank protocols in preclinical studies. Hypothesis: The viable chondrocyte density (VCD) in OCAs preserved for up to 70 days using the MOPS will not be significantly different from day 0, and the VCD in MOPS-preserved OCAs will be significantly higher than for standard tissue bank preservation. Media changes during preservation will significantly improve the VCD. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Femoral condyles harvested from qualified donors (n = 12) were quartered (n = 48), assigned to 1 of 4 treatment groups (tissue bank protocol at 4°C or MOPS at 25°C, with or without media changes), and preserved for 0, 28, 56, or 70 days and assessed for the VCD and histopathological characteristics. In addition, osteochondral explants were created from the femoral condyles of 12 donors (n = 36 explants), assigned to the same groups and time points, and tested for biomechanical properties. Results: MOPS-preserved OCAs maintained the day 0 VCD through 56 days. OCAs stored using current tissue bank protocols had a significantly lower VCD compared with day 0 and the MOPS by day 28. OCA histological and biomechanical properties did not significantly change from day 0 for any group. Conclusion: The MOPS preserved essential OCA viability and quality at significantly higher levels than current tissue bank protocols for at least 56 days after procurement. Clinical Relevance: Improving the viability and duration of OCA preservation provides potential benefits to tissue banks, donor families, surgeons, and patients with respect to tissue use, financial costs, and outcomes.
Factors Associated With Unplanned Extubation in Children: A Case–Control Study
Authors: da Silva Paulo Sérgio Lucas , Fonseca Marcelo Cunio Machado 
Published: September 2017

Purpose: Although several studies assess unplanned extubation (UE) in children, few have addressed determinants of UE and factors associated with reintubation in a case-controlled manner. We aimed to identify the risk factors and outcomes associated with UE in a pediatric intensive care unit. Methods: Cases of UE were randomly matched with control patients at a ratio of 1:4 for age, severity of illness, and admission diagnosis. For cases and controls, we also collected data associated with UE events, reintubation, and outcomes. Results: We analyzed 94 UE patients (0.75 UE per 100 intubation days) and found no differences in demographics between the 2 groups. Logistic regression revealed that patient agitation (odds ratio [OR]: 2.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.28-4.65), continuous sedation infusion (OR: 3.27; 95% CI: 1.70-6.29), night shifts (OR: 9.16; 95% CI: 4.25-19.72), in-charge nurse experience <2 years (OR: 2.38; 95% CI: 1.13-4.99), and oxygenation index (OI) >5 (OR: 76.9; 95% CI: 16.79-352.47) were associated with UE. Risk factors for reintubation after UE included prior level of sedation (COMFORT score < 27; OR: 7.93; 95% CI: 2.30-27.29), copious secretion (OR: 11.88; 95% CI: 2.20-64.05), and OI > 5 (OR: 9.32; 95% CI: 2.45-35.48). Conclusions: This case–control study showed that both patient- and nurse-associated risk factors were related to UE. Risk factors associated with reintubation included lower levels of consciousness, copious secretions, and higher OI. Further evidence-based studies, including a larger sample size, are warranted to identify predisposing factors in UEs.
Digoxin Is Associated With Increased Shock Events and Electrical Storms in Patients With Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators
Authors: Mina George S. , Acharya Madan , Shepherd Taylor , Gobrial George , Tekeste Michael , Watti Hussam , Bhandari Ruchi , Saini Aditya , Reddy Pratap , Dominic Paari 
Published: September 2017

Aim: Recently, digoxin use has been found to associate with higher mortality. Yet, potential mechanisms by which digoxin use increases mortality remain unclear. Increased arrhythmogenicity from digoxin use is one possibility. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the relation between digoxin and shock events in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of all patients with ICDs and at least 1 device interrogation at our institution between January 1, 2012, and January 1, 2015. We aimed to cover 1 year of interrogation period. Patients with heart failure, atrial fibrillation, or both were included in the analysis. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on digoxin use, defined as use of digoxin for any period of time during ICD interrogation period. Incidence of ICD shock events and electrical storms and hospitalizations were compared between the 2 groups. Results: The study included 202 patients. Of those, 55 patients were on digoxin and 147 were not on digoxin. Patients on digoxin were more likely to receive ICD shocks (odds ratio [OR] = 2.5, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.01-6.18, P = .04) and have increased risk of electrical storms ( P = .02). Moreover, total hospitalizations were higher in digoxin users ( P = .02). Multivariate logistic regression analysis also showed that digoxin use was an independent predictor of shock events (OR = 4.07, 95% CI = 1.43-11.58, P = .009). Conclusion: Digoxin is associated with increased shock events and electrical storms in patients with ICDs; however, large randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm our findings.
Äldre, alkohol och omsorgsbehov: Biståndshandläggare om arbetet med äldre personer med missbruksproblem
Authors: Gunnarsson Evy , Karlsson Lis-Bodil 
Published: September 2017

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate how care managers went about in their work with older people living at home and having alcohol abuse problems. Method: Six focus group interviews and one interview with two participants were carried out. In total, 23 care managers from five different municipalities participated. Results: The care managers all stressed the fact that within home care, no addiction treatment was conducted. The role of home care was to provide good care helping older people in their everyday lives irrespective of their problems. The care managers had to push the limits for the available services to be able to help older people with alcohol abuse problems. The services offered are however strictly regulated in guidelines. Many older people with alcohol abuse problems were not interested in receiving home care, and they were seldom interested in having contact with the addiction unit. The self-determination of older people in need of home care is strongly stressed in legislation. If the older person did not want any help, there was not much the care managers could do. Conclusions: Since older people today drink more alcohol than earlier generations, there is a need for services and addiction treatment specifically directed at older people with alcohol abuse problems suitable for their needs.
Alcohol and prescribed psychotropic drug use among patients admitted to a department of old-age psychiatry in Norway
Authors: Johannesen Aud , Engedal Knut , Larsen Marianne , Lillehovde Elin , Stelander Line Tegner , Helvik Anne-Sofie 
Published: September 2017

Background: Although alcohol and prescribed psychotropic drug use has increased among older people, the usefulness of information provided about these substances in patients’ referrals to departments of old-age psychiatry (OAPsy) is unknown. Aims: To examine whether patients’ self-reported elevated use of alcohol and prescribed psychotropic drugs corresponds with information provided in the referrals to OAPsy departments and to explore the factors associated with elevated self-reported use of these substances. Methods: We recorded the information provided in referrals about the elevated use of alcohol and psychotropic drugs in a sample of 206 patients (69 men) from 12 OAPsy departments. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) helped to assess self-reported use. We also collected demographic data, as well as information about cognitive functioning and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results: Seventy-three patients (35%) scored above the cut-off for alcohol use for women/men (AUDIT ≥ 3/4) or psychotropic drugs (DUDIT ≥ 6/8), if not both. Twenty patients (10%) reported an elevated use of both alcohol and psychotropic drugs, and the referrals for eight (40%) and ten (50%) of them, respectively, included information about this use. There was a significant association between self-reported use of alcohol above the cut-off and information about elevated use in the referrals. However, no such association was found between information in the referrals and self-reported use of prescribed psychotropic drugs. Elevated alcohol use was associated with more years of education, while elevated use of psychotropic drugs was associated with younger age and severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: The information reported in referrals about the elevated use of alcohol and psychotropic drugs demonstrated a trend in associations with self-reported use. However, the risk factors for elevated use of alcohol and psychotropic drugs in the elderly need to be examined further.
Psychometric properties of the UngDOK
Authors: Dahlberg Mikael , Anderberg Mats , Wennberg Peter 
Published: September 2017

Aim: This article describes and discusses the Swedish UngDOK interview and its psychometric properties. Method: The study is based on empirical data from 1633 intake interviews collected by 15 units in ten cities and focused primarily on the two central sections of intake form: alcohol and drug use and mental health. The statistical analyses concern internal consistency, test–retest reliability, discriminant validity and internal non-response. Results: The reliability of AUDIT-C and the mental health domain was good with regard to both internal consistency and test–retest. The test–retest values were generally satisfactory, except for frequency of drug use and association with peers who use drugs. The discriminant validity shows that the interview clearly distinguishes adolescents with more profound problems from a group with milder problems and that a minor degree of inconsistency and non-response bias may occur in empirical material based upon self-reported information. Conclusion: The study showed that the psychometric properties of the UngDOK interview are generally satisfactory and may be regarded as a valuable option for practices engaged in treating adolescents with substance-use problems.
Is training in creative writing a feasible treatment adjunct for clients suffering from chronic alcohol-use disorder?
Authors: Hellum Rikke , Jensen Stine , Nielsen Anette 
Published: September 2017

Introduction: If and how various ways of expressing oneself creatively might help heal and resolve mental problems is a question that has been discussed for decades. Creative writing is typically used as an add-on to traditional therapy rather than being an integrated part of the therapy. There is a lack of research into the effect of implementing creative writing as an add-on to therapy for alcohol dependence. The aim of this study was to introduce creative writing to chronic alcohol-dependent clients. Method: A creative writing course was held as a pilot study with six workshops each lasting two hours. Six clients recruited from a harm reduction unit in a Danish alcohol treatment centre and suffering from chronic alcohol-use disorder participated in the workshops. The workshops were led by two professional authors experienced in teaching creative writing. At the end we conducted three interviews: one with the clients, one with the therapist and one with the authors. The interviews were analysed with a focus on the clients’ perspective. Findings: In the analysis, we found that writing can give the clients a lower self-esteem, make them fear failure, and it can be too private. We also found that writing can increase the clients’ self-confidence and unity in the group, give them new nuances of life, stimulate their brain, give zest for life, and improve relations between clients and care providers. Further, we identified a few points of importance to be added to the organization of the workshops. Conclusion: We found that clients suffering from alcohol-use disorder participating in creative writing profited from increased self-confidence, a sense of unity, were better able to appreciate the nuances of life, experienced stimulating brain activity, had more zest for life, and that the intervention improved relations between clients and care providers.
The cultural aspect
Authors: Rehm Jürgen , Room Robin 
Published: September 2017

Aims: To examine the cultural impact on the diagnosis of alcohol-use disorders using European countries as examples. Design: Narrative review. Results: There are strong cultural norms guiding heavy drinking occasions and loss of control. These norms not only indicate what drinking behaviour is acceptable, but also whether certain behaviours can be reported or not. As modern diagnostic systems are based on lists of mostly behavioural criteria, where alcohol-use disorders are defined by a positive answer on at least one, two or three of these criteria, culture will inevitably co-determine how many people will get a diagnosis. This explains the multifold differences in incidence and prevalence of alcohol-use disorders, even between countries where the average drinking levels are similar. Thus, the incidence and prevalence of alcohol-use disorders as assessed by surveys or rigorous application of standardised instruments must be judged as measuring social norms as well as the intended mental disorder. Conclusions: Current practice to measure alcohol-use disorders based on a list of culture-specific diagnostic criteria results in incomparability in the incidence, prevalence or disease burden between countries. For epidemiological purposes, a more grounded definition of diagnostic criteria seems necessary, which could probably be given by using heavy drinking over time.
Alcohol use and generational masculinity
Authors: Emiliussen Jakob , Morrison Alastair David 
Published: September 2017

Introduction: Alcohol ranks as a major risk factor for health-related harm and mortality. Older males who encounter alcohol problems late in life are an under-studied part of the affected population. This article seeks to broaden our understanding of this group by combining empirical data with humanistic cultural analysis. Specifically, it seeks to show how the desire to cope alone can be linked to generationally specific constructions of hegemonic masculinity. Method: Clinical empirical methods are fused here with those of literary analysis. The subjects which the clinical researcher chooses for scrutiny are different from those most natural to literary study, yet the interpretive approaches of qualitative phenomenological investigation and literary close reading are in fact quite similar, and we argue that new knowledge can be generated by evaluating cultural texts alongside the testimony of phenomenological research subjects. Findings and discussion: Our findings illustrate a thematic connection between subject testimony and literary texts from the relevant historical period. In the sources we compared – a qualitative study conducted in Denmark and a British novel, Kingsley Amis’s 1954 Lucky Jim – we found a strong link between the values of masculinity and the values of independence. Older men’s resistance of institutional treatment for alcohol problems has motivations which go beyond the desire not to rely on outside aid, a desire which may apply to any illness. As Lucky Jim helps us show, alcohol use functions for men of a certain generation as a symbol of rebellion against institutions, and having institutions play a dominant role in their alcohol cessation may create resistance in these men.
Trends in alcohol drinking among university students at the Polish University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
Authors: Podstawski Robert , Wesołowska Elżbieta , Choszcz Dariusz 
Published: September 2017

Aim: This article presents cross-sectional data collected from the population of first-year students at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn in 2000–2016. The aim of the study was to investigate changes in the following trends among university students after Poland’s accession to the European Union (2004): (1) alcohol consumption, (2) alcoholic beverage preferences, and (3) attitudes towards alcohol. Method: The study relied on data from anonymous surveys conducted every two years between 2000 and 2016 among a representative sample of first-year university students. A total of 9778 individuals (4264 males and 5514 females) completed anonymous questionnaires during the period under analysis. Statistical analyses were performed by comparing the frequency of answers given by male and female students in the first and last year of the study. Results: There was a steady linear decrease in the percentages of abstainers of both genders and a regular linear increase in the number of female students abusing alcohol to blackout level in the analysed period of 2000 to 2016. The respondents’ preferences for alcohol brands became more diversified (with foreign types of strong liquors becoming more popular), and their attitudes towards alcohol availability on campus were liberalised. Conclusions: Our data complement the gaps in empirical research on alcohol consumption among university students in European countries. They point to greater homogenisation of Polish drinking culture and convergence in male and female drinking behaviours.
Is it all about money? A qualitative analysis of problem gamblers’ conceptualisations of money
Authors: Heiskanen Maria 
Published: September 2017

Aim: Money is an essential element in gambling but gambling disorders are more often discussed from the perspective of individual and psychological experiences than in the context of financial practices. Losing money is often among the first signs of problem gambling as well as being a motive for treatment-seeking. This article asks: what kinds of practices and meanings do problem gamblers assign to money in their everyday lives? Design: The data consist of 17 individual interviews with problem gamblers in Finland. The participants form a heterogeneous group of people with different financial backgrounds. Their discourses on money are systematically organised into a structured qualitative content analysis. Results: The results reveal four main conceptual traits of money as an everyday gambling-related problem: (1) a compelling need for money; (2) disposable money defining the tempo of gambling; (3) the balance between using money for gambling and spending it on other matters of everyday life; and (4) gradual spiral of increased money-related problems. Conclusions: Problem gambling re-organises the uses and sources of money in everyday life, and changes the meanings of money. Nevertheless, gambling spending does not seem to be utterly out of control, rather, on one hand, disposable income organises spending episodically, and on the other hand, problem gamblers exercise a certain degree of control over their household expenses. This observation could promote problem gamblers’ sense of control when recovering.this page for more information about identifying these."-->
Similarity scaling of jet noise sources for low-order jet noise modelling based on the Goldstein generalised acoustic analogy
Authors: Semiletov Vasily A , Karabasov Sergey A 
Published: September 2017

As a first step towards a robust low-order modelling framework that is free from either calibration parameters based on the far-field noise data or any assumptions about the noise source structure, a new low-order noise prediction scheme is implemented. The scheme is based on the Goldstein generalised acoustic analogy and uses the Large Eddy Simulation database of fluctuating Reynolds stress fields from the CABARET MILES solution of Semiletov et al. corresponding to a static isothermal jet from the SILOET experiment for reconstruction of effective noise sources. The sources are scaled in accordance with the physics-based arguments and the corresponding sound meanflow propagation problem is solved using a frequency domain Green’s function method for each jet case. Results of the far-field noise predictions of the new method are validated for the two NASA SHJAR jet cases, sp07 and sp03 from and compared with the reference predictions, which are obtained by applying the Lighthill acoustic analogy scaling for the SILOET far-field measurements and using an empirical jet-noise prediction code, sJet.