bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Multiband mucosectomy for the treatment of challenging non-pedunculated colorectal polyps
Authors: Rodríguez-Sánchez Joaquín , De la Santa Belda Eva , Olivencia Palomar Pilar , Úbeda Muñoz Margarita , Olmedo Camacho José 
Published: December 2017

Abstract
Background and study aims Endoscopic mucosal resection is the gold standard treatment for non-pedunculated colorectal polyps; however, some specific situations (location behind folds, scarred or flat morphology) can make this technique challenging. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of multiband mucosectomy (MBM) for resection of non-pedunculated colorectal polyps.
Patients and methods This was a retrospective study of patients in whom MBM was performed to resect large non-pedunculated colorectal polyps. All procedures were carried out using the Shooter multiband ligator kit (Cook Medical, Limerick, Ireland). A 3-month follow-up colonoscopy was performed in all patients.
Results 10 patients underwent MBM for resection of 10 large (median 33.5 mm) non-pedunculated polyps. A total of 45 MBM sessions were carried out to resect all of the lesions using on average one rubber band per 1.5 cm2 of resected tissue. Complete resection was possible in 9 out of 10 lesions, although en bloc resection was only feasible in one lesion. Follow-up colonoscopy revealed residual adenoma in just one patient. No major complications were registered.
Conclusions In this small series of patients, MBM proved to be a safe and effective endoscopic resection technique for challenging non-pedunculated colorectal polyps.
K
2 and K2*: efficient alignment-free sequence similarity measurement based on Kendall statistics
Authors: Lin Jie , Adjeroh Donald A , Jiang Bing-Hua , Jiang Yue 
Published: December 2017

Abstract

Motivation
Alignment-free sequence comparison methods can compute the pairwise similarity between a huge number of sequences much faster than sequence-alignment based methods.

Results
We propose a new non-parametric alignment-free sequence comparison method, called K2, based on the Kendall statistics. Comparing to the other state-of-the-art alignment-free comparison methods, K2 demonstrates competitive performance in generating the phylogenetic tree, in evaluating functionally related regulatory sequences, and in computing the edit distance (similarity/dissimilarity) between sequences. Furthermore, the K2 approach is much faster than the other methods. An improved method, K2*, is also proposed, which is able to determine the appropriate algorithmic parameter (length) automatically, without first considering different values. Comparative analysis with the state-of-the-art alignment-free sequence similarity methods demonstrates the superiority of the proposed approaches, especially with increasing sequence length, or increasing dataset sizes.

Availability and implementation
The K2 and K2* approaches are implemented in the R language as a package and is freely available for open access (http://community.wvu.edu/daadjeroh/projects/K2/K2_1.0.tar.gz).

Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Survey Results from the Philippines: NPUAP Changes in Pressure Injury Terminology and Definitions
Authors: Ayello Elizabeth A. , Delmore Barbara , Smart Hiske , Sibbald R. Gary 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE:
To determine the opinions of healthcare clinicians in the Philippines regarding the 2016 National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) terminology changes and revised staging definitions.

DESIGN AND SETTING:
A survey methodology was used in Manila, Philippines. Convenience samples of healthcare clinicians of varying disciplines and employment settings were invited to participate in this research.

INTERVENTIONS:
A survey was administered at key intervals regarding the revised NPUAP terminology changes and revised staging definitions. The survey was administered before and after an interactive, basic 2-day wound course was conducted.

MAIN RESULTS:
Results revealed strong support for the 2016 NPUAP terminology change from pressure ulcer to pressure injury and the revised staging definitions.

CONCLUSIONS:
Since the NPUAP changed its terminology and revised the staging definitions, the wound care community has been responding to those changes. Because pressure injuries are a global health concern, the opinions of clinicians outside the United States are equally valuable. The healthcare clinicians in the Philippines surveyed appear to embrace the new terminology changes and revised staging definitions put forth by the NPUAP.
Podophyllotoxin in Dermatology
Authors: Johnson Cassandra , Goddard Lindsey , Jacob Sharon E. 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACT
A drug, by definition, is a medicine or substance that has a physiological effect when ingested or introduced into the body. Medications are utilized daily in the field of dermatology to treat a variety of skin conditions, such as eczema, psoriasis, and warts. The purpose of this column is to highlight common medicines used in dermatology, focusing on their mechanisms of action, usage and function, and available alternatives. This article describes the features of podophyllotoxin, utilized in diluted solution as podofilox, a topical treatment for external genital warts, such as condylomata acuminata.
Appropriateness of Sample Sizes in Published Research on Prosthetic Knee Componentry
Authors: Beaudette Rachel , Fiedler Goeran 
Published: December 2017

Introduction
A research study's sound approach to statistical analysis holds the key to its validity and, thereby, its credibility in the medical community. Previous research shows that the credibility of prosthetics research is often rated at comparably low levels, partly because of its reported small sample sizes. We analyzed how authors of studies on prosthetic knee componentry have reported limitations regarding sample size and sample composition. To that end, we calculated the observed statistical powers in the recent literature to investigate whether sample sizes were sufficient. We further investigated how representative sample demographics and limitations were of the overall target population.

Methods
Observed power was used as the main identifier of a study's appropriate (i.e., large enough) sample size. Powers of at least 0.80 were considered to indicate a sufficient sample size for the studies in this review. Reported study limitations were qualitatively analyzed and compared with observed powers.

Results
A comprehensive search of PubMed resulted in 32 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Studies on average had around 20 participants and rarely more than 50 participants. Of the 32 articles, 19 either reported statistical power or contained enough information to calculate it. Only three of these articles achieved a power of at least 0.80. Regardless of specific sample size or power, most studies reported some sort of limitation in relation to the size or homogeneous nature of their sample.

Discussion
Our findings suggest that most research studies in the field of prosthetics are underpowered. Given the noted difficulty of increasing sample sizes, it seems important to choose comparison variables that promise a large effect size and/or to deliberately reduce the heterogeneity (i.e., the standard deviation) of the subject sample to address this problem.
Assessing the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities of Public Health Professionals in Big City Governmental Health Departments
Authors: McGinty Meghan D. , Castrucci Brian C. , Rios Debra M. 
Published: December 2017

Objective:
To identify essential knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) for and characterize gaps in KSAs of professionals working in large, urban health departments.

Design:
A survey was disseminated to potentially eligible supervisors within 26 of 28 health departments in the largest, most urban jurisdictions in the country. A supervisor was eligible to participate if he or she supervised at least 1 staff member whose highest level of education was a master's degree.

Setting and Participants:
A total of 645 eligible supervisors participated in the workforce survey for a response rate of 27.1% and cooperation rate of 55.2%.

Main Outcome Measure(s):
Supervisors were asked to rate the importance of KSAs to their masters-level staffs' work and indicate their staffs' proficiency.

Results:
Fifty-eight percent of supervisors reported supervising staff with a master of public health/master of science in public health degree. More than 30% of supervisors indicated that all of the 30 KSAs were essential. Four of the top 10 KSAs rated as essential by supervisors pertained to the ability to communicate. The top skills gaps perceived by supervisors were professional staffs' ability to apply quality improvement concepts to their work (38.0%), understanding of the political system (37.7%), and ability to anticipate changes (33.8%).

Conclusions:
Public health practitioners receive training in methods, theories, and evidence-based approaches, yet further investment in the workforce is necessary to advance population health. A focus should be placed developing strategic skills rather than advancing narrow specialties. Findings from this research can guide the creation and implementation of training curricula and professional development programs offered within local health departments or targeted to their staff, as well as satisfaction of accreditation requirements. By focusing on building strategic skills, we can ensure a public health workforce that is equipped with the KSAs necessary to practice Public Health 3.0 and leaders who are able to serve as their communities' chief health strategists.
Combination of mitochondrial tRNA and OXPHOS mutation reduces lifespan and physical condition in aged mice
Authors: Reichart G. , Mayer J. , Tokay T. , Lange F. , Johne C. , Baltrusch S. , Tiedge M. , Fuellen G. , Ibrahim S. , Köhling R. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractMutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are widely known to impact on lifespan and tissue integrity. For example, more than 250 pathogenic mtDNA mutations are known, many of which lead to neurological symptoms. In addition, major neurodegenerative diseases share key components of their etiopathogenesis with regard to mtDNA mutations, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. In our study we used a set of conplastic mouse models carrying stable point mutations in mitochondrial genes of transfer RNA (tRNA) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS)-proteins. We analyzed the impact of these mutations on complex traits like lifespan, learning and memory in the ageing process. The combination of both point mutations in the OXPHOS complex IV gene and adenine insertions in the mitochondrially encoded tRNA arginine (tRNA-Arg) gene (mt-Tr) leads to an age-dependent phenotype with elevated mitochondrial superoxide production in the neocortex. Mice with this combination of tRNA and OXPHOS mutations show significantly reduced lifespan and poor physical constitution at the age of 24 months, whereas single point mutations in OXPHOS or mt-tRNA(Arg) do not have this impact. Therefore, we suggest a synergistic effect of these mutations.
Assembly modelling approach for special purpose machines
Authors: Farhan Uday Hameed , Tolouei-Rad Majid , Osseiran Adam 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an assembly modelling approach to be applied with a software package, to assist in the design and assembly of special purpose machines (SPMs).

Design/methodology/approach
A database of SPM elements was established, and an assembly relationships graph was created. Mating conditions were identified between the SPM elements, and their assembly constraints were extracted and implemented in SolidWorks application programming interface.

Findings
The implementation of this assembly modelling approach was validated by selecting SPM layouts as examples. A significant reduction in the assembly time was achieved compared to the traditional assembly procedure for the same examples.

Originality/value
This is a new application of assembly modelling that assists engineers and designers in the design and assembly processes of SPMs. This approach can also be applied to other machine tools with similar attributes.
Blockchain based financial case analysis and its implications
Authors: Yoo Soonduck 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
In Korea and abroad, this paper investigates the use of blockchains in the financial sector. This study aims to examine how blockchains are applied to the financial sector and how to respond to the Korean conditions.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper investigates the movements of the financial sector and related services using the blockchain in the current market.

Findings
First, as a result of examining domestic and foreign cases, it can be seen that the areas where blockchains are most actively applied in the financial sector are expanding into settlement, remittance, securities and smart contracts. Also, in Korea, many of the authentication procedures based on the equipment possessed by the consumers are used so that introduction of the blockchain in the authentication part is prominent. Second, the move to introduce a closed (private) distributed ledger that does not go through the central bank is accelerating in payments between banks. Third, domestic financial institutions also need joint action by financial institutions through a blockchain consortium to apply blockchain technology to the financial sector. Fourth, consumer needs and technological developments are changing. At the same time, as the opportunity to infringe on the information held by individuals has expanded, the need for blockchain technology is strongly emerging because of the efforts of the organizations to defend it.

Originality/value
This paper contributes to understanding the changes in the financial sector using the blockchain.
A case study on business model innovations using Blockchain: focusing on financial institutions
Authors: Oh JaeShup , Shong Ilho 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
Blockchain is a distributed ledger, in which the blocks containing transaction details are connected chronologically to form a series of chains, thus raising the possibility of improving the process and innovating business model for the financial institutions. The purpose of this paper is to study the actual cases of Blockchain applied in Korea in 2017, so that a vision of business model innovation of financial institutions can be drawn.

Design/methodology/approach
The financial institutions in Korea are in the technology verification stage to introduce Blockchain technology. Since there is an insufficient amount of actual measurement data, case study method was adopted. The authors interviewed ICT officers of major banks in Korea. The purpose of the interview was to understand the relationship between Blockchain and business models of financial institutions, and the effects and challenges that Blockchain has on the business model of financial institutions.

Findings
From the perspective of financial institutions, the emergence of Blockchain does not just have technical significance – emergence of highly efficient database system – but has the possibility that if the business model of existing financial intermediaries disappears or get reduced, the financial services relying on them can disappear altogether, or some of them can be replaced, and financial transaction patterns of consumers can be changed. As a case studies researched for this paper, it was discovered that the distributed characteristic of Blockchain cannot be applied when actually developing financial services.
On the survival of earnings fixated traders in an informational environment
Authors: Luo Guo Ying 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-run survival of earnings fixated traders.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper builds a theoretical model of a competitive securities market where both rational traders and earnings fixated traders receive an informational signal about the asset payoff before any trade occurs. Since earnings fixated traders underestimate the mean and variance of the risky asset payoff, earnings fixated traders is shown to make less expected profits than rational traders.

Findings
If traders’ types replicate according to the relative profitability of their trading strategies, then earnings fixated traders will disappear in the long run. The results of this paper provide analytical support to Tinic’s (1990) intuition about the eventual disappearance of earnings fixated traders.

Research limitations/implications
In the literature, the underestimation of risk is popularly viewed as the cause of irrational traders being better able to exploit the misvaluations (created by noise traders) than rational traders. Hence, it favors the survival of irrational traders over rational traders. However, this paper disapproves this intuition in the informational environment of the competitive securities market.

Practical implications
The market environment plays a crucial role in determining the long-run survival of irrational traders.

Originality/value
This paper is the first to present a theoretical result showing that in this informational environment of the competitive securities market, the underestimation of risk by irrational traders does not give them advantage over rational traders in exploiting the misvaluations (created by noise traders) as it does in Callen and Luo (2011) and Hirshleifer and Luo (2001).
Hosting the Small Island Developing States: two scenarios
Authors: Vaha Milla Emilia 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
It has been estimated that some Small Island Developing States might have only decades before their territories become uninhabitable. Future of these states poses timely questions to world politics. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the potential hosts and endangered states at the time of relocation by looking at two relocation scenarios: Kiribati/New Zealand and the Maldives/Sri Lanka.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses normative international political theory to explore the nature of relocation. It critically examines the proposal for the free right to choose the new host state. Guided by two examples, the paper proposes that we should not ignore the contingent reasoning when evaluating these hypothetical scenarios.

Findings
The paper argues that the endangered state might have ethical grounds for its rights–claims to continuous existence on a chosen territory. At the same time, both scenarios looked at here also impose serious constraints. By illustrating these constraints, the paper aims at mapping some central challenges that the continuity of endangered states creates to international state-system. The paper argues that the complex relationships between the potential hosts and the relocating communities should not be ignored.

Originality/value
This paper provides a contextual analysis of two hypothetical relocation scenarios. In doing so, it relies on comparative research in two regions and offers a normative argument in relation to the rights of both endangered and host populations.
Students’ experience of sustainability: health as a lever for action
Authors: Schweizer Angélick , Miserez Sébastien , del Rio Carral Maria , Santiago-Delefosse Marie 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
This study aims to deepen the authors’ understanding of higher education students’ perceptions about sustainability issues by focusing on their motivations to adopt (or not to adopt) sustainable practices in their lives. It mobilized the notion of “health” and the potential impacts of climate change on health.

Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative and participatory action approach, involving students acting as researchers, was implemented. All psychology students (bachelor’s degree) were trained to conduct semi-directive interviews with students from other faculties on the issues of sustainability and health. In total, 203 interviews were completed within two academic years. The authors performed a lexicographic analysis followed by a thematic analysis.

Findings
Analyses showed that the concept of sustainability was unclear for most student interviewees (SIs) and that only a few of them were able to spontaneously connect it with health. Only after being guided throughout the interview did these SIs, mainly geoscience students, become progressively aware of the direct links between sustainability and health issues, such as personal health. The perceived risks of non-sustainable practices were higher when they directly affected the body itself, and this encouraged adoption of more sustainable practices.

Originality/value
This research enables the authors to identify specific interventions to decrease the gap between awareness of sustainability and sustainable practices. These interventions may be more effective if they aim to sensitize students to the direct impacts of non-sustainable practices on their personal health. This can be made possible by using creative learning activities that involve active participation of students.
Culture and social capital network effects on the survival and performance of high-tech micro and small firms
Authors: Hallam Cory , Dorantes Dosamantes Carlos Alberto , Zanella Gianluca 
Published: December 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated theory to explain the effect of regional culture on high-technology micro and small (HTMS) firm outcomes. The integrated culture-social capital outcomes (CSCO) model examines the impact of culture on performance and evolution of HTMS firms through the mediating effect of intra-firm and inter-firm social capital.Design/methodology/approachTheoretical insights from social capital and culture are combined with the results of previous empirical observations to explain cross-cultural differences in the performance of HTMS firms. The authors then propose the CSCO model as a means to integrate and advance theory building.FindingsThe CSCO model explains the impact of culture on performance and evolution of HTMS firms through intra-firm and inter-firm social capital networks. Cultural context affects the performance of high-tech micro and small firms through the nature and structure of the networks involved in building and exploiting inter-firm and intra-firm social capital. Moreover, regional culture indirectly influences the balance between positive and negative effects of social capital on firm performance. These observations explain inconsistent findings from past empirical research and contribute to understanding the “embeddedness paradox” of social capital.Research limitations/implicationsThe present model is not comprehensive. It does not account for many contextual factors identified in organizational network and cluster literature that contribute to the development of HTMS firms. Future research should consider the relationships between the three dimensions of social capital and seek to test the model with rigorous data collection and analysis.Originality/valueWhile past studies focus on the direct relationship between regional culture and firm performance, this paper proposes the mediating effect of internal and external social capital between cultural context and firm performance. This proposal contributes to social capital and entrepreneurship literature and provides a potential explanation for inconsistent findings in past empirical research.