bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Improving HPV vaccination rates among young males in rural areas of the United States
Authors: Vogel Nicki Parton , Appel Susan J. , Winker Guyton 
Published: December 2017

Abstract:
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination occurs more frequently among females ages 11 to 18 than their male counterparts. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to identify reasons why parents/guardians either choose or decline HPV immunization and increase rates of vaccination among males ages 11 to 18 in rural areas of the United States.
Persistence of the Cone on the Posterior Corneal Surface Affecting Corneal Aberration Changes After Intracorneal Ring Segment Implantation in Patients With Keratoconus
Authors: Muftuoglu Orkun , Aydin Rukiye , Kilic Muftuoglu Ilkay 
Published: December 2017

Purpose:
To analyze the changes in anterior and posterior corneal surfaces and aberrations in patients who underwent intracorneal ring segment (ICRS) implantation for the treatment of keratoconus.

Methods:
Eighty-nine eyes of 59 patients with keratoconus who underwent ICRS implantation were analyzed. All eyes were evaluated using a tomography system combining a Placido disc and Scheimpflug photography before and at least 6 months after surgery. Total, anterior, and posterior corneal aberrations, anterior and posterior sagittal and tangential anterior and posterior curve analysis, keratometry (K), minimum corneal thickness, and anterior chamber depth were analyzed before and after surgery.

Results:
Flattening with a decrease in the cone shape on the anterior corneal surface and steepening in the paracentral area with persistence of cone appearance on the posterior corneal surface were noted in all cases after ICRS implantation. The total corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) significantly decreased from 1.09 ± 0.43 to 0.71 ± 0.32 μm, and anterior corneal HOAs significantly decreased from 0.98 ± 0.46 to 0.81 ± 0.37 μm, whereas the posterior corneal HOAs increased from 0.53 ± 0.29 to 0.66 ± 0.25 μm after ICRS implantation (P < 0.05). There was a significant decrease in anterior maximum keratometry, but there was a significant increase in posterior maximum keratometry after ICRS implantation (P < 0.05).

Conclusions:
The cone shape persists on the posterior corneal surface despite its correction on the anterior corneal surface, leading to a decrease in anterior corneal aberrations and an increase in posterior corneal aberrations after ICRS implantation in eyes with keratoconus.
Recent epidemiology of sexually transmissible enteric infections in men who have sex with men
Authors: Mitchell Holly , Hughes Gwenda 
Published: December 2017

Purpose of review
Sexual transmission of enteric pathogens in men who have sex with men (MSM) has been described since the 1970s. Recently, an increasing number of enteric infection outbreaks have been reported in MSM. This article summarizes recent outbreaks and discusses the key issues for prevention and control.

Recent findings
Sexually transmissible enteric infections (STEIs) can spread rapidly and internationally within highly connected MSM populations and are often associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The infections often cluster in high-risk groups of HIV-positive MSM who are more likely to engage in diverse sexual practices and chemsex, and to have multiple other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Summary
The roles of asymptomatic and/or persistent infection and other contextual factors in STEI transmission are not well described. STEI-associated AMR is increasing and has potential to spread rapidly in MSM, warranting further public health attention. A better understanding of the factors associated with sexual transmission will enable the development of more effective control measures. A holistic approach that promotes health and wellbeing as well as infection prevention and management is needed.
Fastener identification and assembly verification via machine vision
Authors: Rusli Leonard , Luscher Anthony 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The study aims to evaluate the capability of a machine vision camera and software to recognize fasteners for the purpose of assembly verification. This will enable the current assembly verification system to associate torque verfication with a specific fastener.

Design/methodology/approach
A small camera is installed at the head of a tool near the socket. The camera is used to capture images surrounding the fastener, and feeding them into machine vision recognition software. By recognizing unique features around the fastener, the fastener can be uniquely identified and therefore verified to be assembled. Additional filtering and multiple frame recognition will improve the reliability of the recognition.

Findings
The machine vision technology is found to be adequately reliable in identifying fasteners after tuning key threshold parameters and requiring multiple positively recognized frames. The time to verify can be kept around a fraction of a second to prevent impacting assembly speed.

Research limitations/implications
This experiment was run under simulated assembly line lighting conditions. It also does not explore industrial remote head industrial camera hardware.

Practical implications
By using a remote-mounted camera in combination with electric tools, a reliable assembly verification system can be used to eliminate torque check processes of critical fasteners, thereby reducing the cost of assembly.

Originality/value
Currently, assembly verification is done only using the torque values. In automated assembly line, each process might involve fastening multiple fasteners. Using this system, a new level of assembly verification is achieved by recording the assembled fastener and its associated torque.
The effect of child labour on children’s health in Brazil
Authors: Nicolella Alexandre , Kassouf Ana Lucia 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine if child labour can have long-term consequences on children’s health status.

Design/methodology/approach
To capture this relationship, this paper uses the Brazilian National Household Survey (PNAD) conducted in 1998, 2003 and 2008, structured as a pseudo panel and estimated using a fractional response model.

Findings
The results show that child labour is negatively associated with child’s health status, and the longer the hours worked, the worse is the child’s health status. The authors also observe that hazardous labour had a three times higher negative effect on the child’s health and those who worked in service sectors are more prone to having a worse health status.

Originality/value
The study shows that different children’s occupations may have very different impacts on children’s health and indicates that despite the fact that Brazil has a strict law prohibiting child labour, the share of children working is still high and this work has a negative impact on child’s health.
The effects of loyalty programs in services – a double-edged sword?
Authors: Ma Baolong , Li Xiaofei , Zhang Lin 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate both the positive and negative effects of loyalty programs. The study proposes a model to demonstrate why and how loyalty program strategies can result in good customer relationships and customer entitlement behaviors. Various configurations of three different loyalty program strategies are analyzed – tangible rewards, preferential treatment and perceived status.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ hypotheses were tested by analyzing the survey data of 152 frequent flyer program members in China through partial least squares-structural equation modeling. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used to test different configurations of the three loyalty program strategies.

Findings
A net effects analysis demonstrates that loyalty programs are a double-edged sword. While loyalty programs can improve customer relationships, strategies based on perceived status have a positive relationship to customer entitlement, which may lead customers to expect extraordinary efforts from companies, such as greater discounts and extra privileges. Using fsQCA, the authors determined four sufficient configurations of high level of relationship quality and high level of customer entitlement, which also support their findings.

Originality/value
First, this study expands the research on loyalty programs by providing an examination of their positive and negative consequences. Second, by proposing the configuration paths that lead to high level of relationship quality and high level of customer entitlement using fsQCA, this research enriches research on the net effects of loyalty programs, providing researchers and practitioners with a more comprehensive understanding of loyalty programs. Third, this research extends the concept of customer entitlement to the context of buyer–seller relationships by introducing perceived status as an important antecedent of customer entitlement and by identifying four sufficient configurations.
Relationship between serum anti‐varicella zoster virus antibody titer and time from onset of herpes zoster
Authors: Ihara Honoka , Miyachi Motoko , Imafuku Shinichi 
Published: December 2017

AbstractHerpes zoster is an internal reactivation of varicella zoster virus, and its onset depends on immunity against this virus. We have previously reported that antiviral antibody titers are inversely correlated with patient numbers. In this study, we hypothesized that patients with higher titers may be late visitors to the clinic, whose antibodies were already boosted at presentation because of the time lapse between onset of zoster and measurement of antibodies. We analyzed antibody titers of patients with acute herpes zoster who visited Fukuoka University Hospital from January 2009 to May 2016 (n = 141, 62 males and 79 females). Varicella zoster virus‐specific immunoglobulin G, M and complement fixation tests were positive in 93.9%, 12.0% and 64.2% of the patients, respectively. Immunoglobulin G and complement fixation titers were strongly correlated (Spearman's r = 0.8634, P < 0.0001). Patients with high immunoglobulin G and complement fixation titers were immunoglobulin M‐negative. Unexpectedly, immunoglobulin G and complement fixation titers showed large inter‐subject variation, and were only weakly correlated with onset–measurement time lapse. Patients with consecutive tests tended to show increasing immunoglobulin G and complement fixation titers. Our data suggest that herpes zoster preferentially occurs in patients with low immunoglobulin G and complement fixation titers, and subsequently causes antibody elevation. However, the timing of elevation varies and can be as late as 10 days after zoster. The large variation in antibody titer over the time from onset to testing suggests that some mechanism exists that resists the local breakthrough of virus in the skin, and so delays the onset of blisters.
Engineering thermal stability and solvent tolerance of the soluble quinoprotein PedE from Pseudomonas putida KT2440 with a heterologous whole‐cell screening approach
Authors: Wehrmann Matthias , Klebensberger Janosch 
Published: December 2017

SummaryDue to their ability for direct electron transfer to electrodes, the utilization of rare earth metals as cofactor, and their periplasmic localization, pyrroloquinoline quinone‐dependent alcohol dehydrogenases (PQQ‐ADHs) represent an interesting class of biocatalysts for various biotechnological applications. For most biocatalysts protein stability is crucial, either to increase the performance of the protein under a given process condition or to maximize robustness of the protein towards mutational manipulations, which are often needed to enhance or introduce a functionality of interest. In this study, we describe a whole‐cell screening assay, suitable for probing PQQ‐ADH activities in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) cells, and use this assay to screen smart mutant libraries for increased thermal stability of the PQQ‐ADH PedE (PP_2674) from Pseudomonas putida KT2440. Upon three consecutive rounds of screening, we identified three different amino acid positions, which significantly improve enzyme stability. The subsequent combination of the beneficial mutations finally results in the triple mutant R91D/E408P/N410K, which not only exhibits a 7°C increase in thermal stability but also a twofold increase in residual activity upon incubation with up to 50% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), while showing no significant difference in enzymatic efficiency (kcat/KM).
EBITDA and Managers' Investment and Leverage Choices
Authors: Rozenbaum Oded 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACTEBITDA is a commonly used performance measure for (i) valuation, (ii) debt contracting, and (iii) executive compensation. The widespread use of EBITDA by stakeholders may induce managers to focus their attention on EBITDA. Since EBITDA excludes various expenses, managers who fixate on EBITDA may underweight the excluded expenses when determining their firms' investments in capital and leverage levels. I find that managers who fixate on EBITDA overinvest in capital and overlever their firm relative to their industry peers. These results are robust to alternative proxies for managers' focus on EBITDA and alternative specifications. I also find that firms whose managers focus on EBITDA have weaker operating performance, which is attributed to higher depreciation expense. My primary proxy for managers' focus on EBITDA is whether they choose to disclose EBITDA in annual earnings announcements. I find that the use of EBITDA in setting executive compensation, the prevalence of EBITDA estimates by analysts, and the use of EBITDA‐based covenants in firms' debt contracts are all positively associated with the propensity to disclose EBITDA in earnings announcements. I find weaker evidence of opportunistic motives explaining EBITDA disclosure. These results are consistent with managers disclosing EBITDA to portray to investors that it is a metric they seek to maximize. Overall, this study suggests that while EBITDA is a widely used metric, there is a systematic cost to using this measure—it provides managers with incentives to overinvest in capital and to acquire excessive debt.
Pharmacogenetic Effects of Naltrexone in Individuals of East Asian Descent: Human Laboratory Findings from a Randomized Trial
Authors: Ray Lara A. , Green ReJoyce , Roche Daniel J.O. , Bujarski Spencer , Hartwell Emily E. , Lim Aaron C. , Rohrbaugh Taylor , Ghahremani Dara , Hutchison Kent , Miotto Karen 
Published: December 2017

BackgroundGenetic variation in the endogenous opioid system has been identified as 1 potential source of individual variability in naltrexone treatment outcomes. The majority of naltrexone pharmacogenetic studies have focused on a particular single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the mu‐opioid receptor gene (OPRM1; rs1799971; commonly known as the Asn40Asp SNP) in Caucasian samples with decidedly mixed results. The goal of this study was to test the pharmacogenetic effects of naltrexone on subjective response to alcohol and self‐administration of alcohol in individuals of East Asian descent. We hypothesized that naltrexone, compared with placebo, would potentiate the aversive and sedative effects of alcohol and reduce alcohol self‐administration to a greater extent in Asp40 carriers.MethodsParticipants (N = 77; Asn40Asn, n = 29; Asn40Asp, n = 34, and Asp40Asp, n = 14) completed 2 double‐blinded and counterbalanced experimental sessions: one after taking naltrexone (50 mg/d) for 5 days and one after taking matched placebo for 5 days. In each experimental session, participants received a priming dose of intravenous alcohol up to the breath alcohol concentration target of 0.06 g/dl which was immediately followed by an alcohol self‐administration period (1 hour).ResultsThere were no pharmacogenetic effects observed for alcohol‐induced stimulation, sedation, craving for alcohol, or alcohol self‐administration in the laboratory. During the self‐administration period, Asp40 carriers consumed fewer drinks and had a longer latency to first drink as compared to Asn40 homozygotes.ConclusionsThese findings in East Asians add to the mixed literature on naltrexone pharmacogenetics from predominantly Caucasian samples and highlight the complexity of these effects and their overall limited replicability. It is plausible that a consistent pharmacogenetic effect in tightly controlled preclinical and experimental medicine models “fades” in more complex and heterogeneous settings and samples.
Selecting a suitable surgical treatment for hepatic angiomyolipoma: a retrospective analysis of 92 cases
Authors: Yang Xianwei , Lei Chuanfen , Qiu Yiwen , Shen Shu , Lu Changli , Yan Lunan , Wang Wentao 
Published: December 2017

BackgroundHepatic angiomyolipoma (HAML) is a rare and difficult‐to‐diagnose liver tumour. The aim of this study was to summarize experiences in the management of HAML and to recommend a practical treatment strategy.MethodsWe retrospectively studied 92 patients who were diagnosed with HAML and analysed the clinical presentation, histopathological features and treatment of the tumours encountered at our institute from May 2009 to June 2016.ResultsThe patients included 67 females and 25 males who underwent at least one radiographic examination. Sixty‐eight patients underwent radical hepatectomy, two patients underwent liver biopsy, and 22 patients were treated with radiofrequency ablation after liver biopsy. The tumour cells correspondingly expressed both melanoma cell markers (HMB45, MART‐1) and smooth muscle cell markers. Two patients were found to have tumour recurrence (2/92, 2.2%) after radical hepatectomy, and none of the patients died.ConclusionDiagnosis of HAML depends on pathological findings. The treatment strategy for HAML should be selected according to the tumour size, liver biopsy, location and clinical symptoms of HAML. Patients should be followed closely after surgery because of the malignant potential of HAML.
Axial length growth and the risk of developing myopia in European children
Authors: Tideman Jan Willem Lodewijk , Polling Jan Roelof , Vingerling Johannes R. , Jaddoe Vincent W. V. , Williams Cathy , Guggenheim Jeremy A. , Klaver Caroline C. W. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractPurposeTo generate percentile curves of axial length (AL) for European children, which can be used to estimate the risk of myopia in adulthood.MethodsA total of 12 386 participants from the population‐based studies Generation R (Dutch children measured at both 6 and 9 years of age; N = 6934), the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) (British children 15 years of age; N = 2495) and the Rotterdam Study III (RS‐III) (Dutch adults 57 years of age; N = 2957) contributed to this study. Axial length (AL) and corneal curvature data were available for all participants; objective cycloplegic refractive error was available only for the Dutch participants. We calculated a percentile score for each Dutch child at 6 and 9 years of age.ResultsMean (SD) AL was 22.36 (0.75) mm at 6 years, 23.10 (0.84) mm at 9 years, 23.41 (0.86) mm at 15 years and 23.67 (1.26) at adulthood. Axial length (AL) differences after the age of 15 occurred only in the upper 50%, with the highest difference within the 95th percentile and above. A total of 354 children showed accelerated axial growth and increased by more than 10 percentiles from age 6 to 9 years; 162 of these children (45.8%) were myopic at 9 years of age, compared to 4.8% (85/1781) for the children whose AL did not increase by more than 10 percentiles.ConclusionThis study provides normative values for AL that can be used to monitor eye growth in European children. These results can help clinicians detect excessive eye growth at an early age, thereby facilitating decision‐making with respect to interventions for preventing and/or controlling myopia.
Enhanced cognition and dysregulated hippocampal synaptic physiology in mice with a heterozygous deletion of PSD‐95
Authors: Horner Alexa E. , McLaughlin Catherine L. , Afinowi Nurudeen O. , Bussey Timothy J. , Saksida Lisa M. , Komiyama Noboru H. , Grant Seth G. N. , Kopanitsa Maksym V. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractPSD‐95 is one of the most abundant proteins of the postsynaptic density of excitatory synapses. It functions as the backbone of protein supercomplexes that mediate signalling between membrane glutamate receptors and intracellular pathways. Homozygous deletion of the Dlg4 gene encoding PSD‐95 was previously found to cause a profound impairment in operant and Pavlovian conditioning in Dlg4−/− mice studied in touch screen chambers that precluded evaluation of PSD‐95's role in shaping more subtle forms of learning and memory. In this study, using a battery of touch screen tests, we investigated cognitive behaviour of mice with a heterozygous Dlg4 mutation. We found that in contrast to learning deficits of Dlg4−/− mice, Dlg4+/− animals demonstrated enhanced performance in the Visual Discrimination, Visual Discrimination Reversal and Paired‐Associates Learning touch screen tasks. The divergent directions of learning phenotypes observed in Dlg4−/− and Dlg4+/− mice also contrasted with qualitatively similar changes in the amplitude and plasticity of field excitatory postsynaptic potentials recorded in the CA1 area of hippocampal slices from both mutants. Our results have important repercussions for the studies of genetic models of human diseases, because they demonstrate that reliance on phenotypes observed solely in homozygous mice may obscure qualitatively different changes in heterozygous animals and potentially weaken the validity of translational comparisons with symptoms seen in heterozygous human carriers.
A Pilot of a Brief Positive Parenting Program on Children Newly Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Authors: Zand Debra H. , Bultas Margaret W. , McMillin Stephen Edward , Halloran Donna , White Taryn , McNamara Donnamarie , Pierce Katherine J. 
Published: December 2017

Disruptive behaviors can be of comparable or greater concern to parents than the core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Provision of effective interventions to address these behaviors within the first year of initial diagnosis holds great potential for improving the child's, parents', and family's functioning. We piloted a four‐session, manualized, positive parenting program on 21 parents of newly diagnosed children ages 2 through 12 years using a mixed methods design. Seventy‐five percent of parents completed four sessions, with 100% reporting high levels of service satisfaction. Preliminary results indicated clinically and statistically significant reductions in child maladaptive behaviors, as well as improvements in parental and family functioning. Practitioners and parents identified several potential implementation adaptations, including additional sessions to focus on ASD education and real‐time parent–child interactions. Taken as a whole, these data suggest that a brief positive parenting intervention may be a feasible way to improve child, parent, and family functioning during the first year of ASD diagnosis. Findings point to the need for additional research to determine treatment efficacy and to assist with the identification of moderators and mediators of effects.