bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The use of human samples obtained during medicolegal autopsies in research: An introduction to current conditions and initiatives in Japan
Authors: Tsujimura-Ito Takako , Inoue Yusuke , Muto Kaori , Yoshida Ken-ichi 
Published: April 2017

Background Leftover samples obtained during autopsies are extremely important basic materials for forensic research. However, there are no established practices for research-related use of obtained samples. Objective This study discusses good practice for the secondary use of samples collected during medicolegal autopsies. Methods A questionnaire was posted to all 76 departments of forensic medicine performing medicolegal autopsies in Japan, and 48 responses were received (response rate: 63.2%). As a secondary analysis, we surveyed information provided on department websites. Results Ethical reviews conducted when samples were to be used for research varied greatly among departments, with 21 (43.8%) departments reporting ‘fundamentally, all cases are subject to review’, eight (16.7%) reporting ‘only some are subject to review’ and 17 (39.6%) reporting ‘none are subject to review’. Information made available on websites indicated that 11 departments had a statement of some type to bereaved families about the potential research use of human samples obtained during autopsies. Nine of these included a notice stating that bereaved families may revoke their consent for use. Several departments used an opt-out system. Conclusion There is no common practice in the field of legal medicine on the ethical use for medical research of leftover samples from medicolegal autopsies. The trust of not only bereaved families but also society in general is required for the scientific validity and social benefits of medical studies using leftover samples from medicolegal autopsies through the use of opt-out consenting and offline and online dissemination and public-relations activities.
Legionnaires' Disease and Associated Comorbid Conditions as Causes of Death in the U.S., 2000–2010
Authors: Wickramasekaran Ranjana N. , Sorvillo Frank , Kuo Tony 
Published: April 2017

Objective. Recent U.S. outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease (LD) underscore the virulent nature of this infectious pneumonia. To date, only a paucity of literature has described the mortality burden of LD. This study updates LD mortality using U.S. multiple-cause-of-death data from 2000–2010. Methods. We calculated crude and age-adjusted rates for LD mortality for age, sex, race, state, Census region, and year. We conducted Poisson regression to assess seasonal and temporal trends. We generated matched odds ratios (MORs) to describe the association between LD-related deaths and other comorbid conditions listed on the death certificates. Results. We identified a total of 1,171 LD-related deaths during 2000–2010. The age-adjusted mortality rate remained relatively static from 2000 (0.038 per 100,000 population, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.031, 0.046) to 2010 (0.040 per 100,000 population, 95% CI 0.033, 0.047). The absolute number increased from 107 to 135 deaths during this period, with adults ≥45 years of age having the highest caseload. Overall, LD mortality rates were 2.2 times higher in men than in women. White people accounted for nearly 83.3% of all LD-related deaths, but the age-adjusted mortality rates for black and white people were similar. Comorbid conditions such as leukemia (MOR=4.8, 95% CI 3.5, 6.6) and rheumatoid arthritis (MOR=5.6, 95% CI 3.3, 9.4) were associated with LD diagnosis on death certificates. Conclusion. Comorbid conditions that could lead to an immunocompromised state were associated with fatal LD on U.S. death certificates. Characterization of LD mortality burden and related comorbidities has practice implications for clinical medicine and public health surveillance.
The Economic Burden of Exposure to Secondhand Smoke for Child and Adult Never Smokers Residing in U.S. Public Housing
Authors: Mason Jacquelyn , Wheeler William , Brown Mary Jean 
Published: April 2017

Objective. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that nonsmokers experience disease and death due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure in the home. We estimated the total excess burden and costs to society due to SHS exposure in U.S. public housing. Methods. We quantified the public health burden for outcomes causally related to SHS exposure for nationally representative never-smoking residents in U.S. public housing using ( 1) WHO-recommended health outcomes and methodology, (2) publicly available and other large databases, and ( 3) published estimates of morbidity and mortality rates. We used published estimates of direct medical and nonmedical care costs and the value of productivity losses to estimate SHS-related societal costs for disease and death. We estimated the public health and economic burden for two serum cotinine limits of detection (LODs): 0.05 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) and 0.015 ng/mL. Results. In 2011, an estimated 37,791 never-smoking child and adult U.S. public housing residents experienced illness and death due to SHS exposure at home based on an LOD=0.05 ng/mL (50,967 residents at LOD=0.015 ng/mL). Costs incurred by society for these illnesses and deaths totaled $183 million (LOD=0.05 ng/mL) and $267 million (LOD=0.015 ng/mL) annually. Of the total costs, direct costs (medical and nonmedical) accounted for $128 million and $176 million for LOD=0.05 ng/mL and LOD=0.015 ng/mL, respectively. Medical care accounted for the majority of direct costs—$110 million at LOD=0.05 ng/mL and $153 million at LOD=0.015 ng/mL. Adverse respiratory health outcomes accounted for approximately one-half (56% at LOD=0.05 ng/mL and 52% at LOD=0.015 ng/mL) of total societal costs. Conclusion. Implementing smoke-free policies in all U.S. public housing could save lives and decrease SHS-related morbidity and mortality in never-smoking residents, resulting in annual societal savings of $183 million at LOD=0.05 ng/mL and $267 million at LOD=0.015 ng/mL.
A Model of Shared Mycobacteriology Testing Services: Lessons Learned
Authors: Mitchell Kara , Halse Tanya , Kohlerschmidt Donna , Bennett Toby , Vanner Cynthia , King Ewa , Musser Kimberlee , Escuyer Vincent 
Published: April 2017

Objective. The need for public health laboratories (PHLs) to prioritize resources has led to increased interest in sharing diagnostic services. To address this concept for tuberculosis (TB) testing, the New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center and the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories assessed the feasibility of shared services for the detection and characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Methods. We assessed multiple aspects of shared services including shipping, testing, reporting, and cost. Rhode Island State Health Laboratories shipped MTBC-positive specimens and isolates to Wadsworth Center. Average turnaround times were calculated and cost analysis was performed. Results. Testing turnaround times were similar at both PHLs; however, the availability of conventional drug susceptibility testing (DST) results for Rhode Island primary specimens and isolates were extended by approximately four days of shipping time. An extended molecular testing panel was performed on every specimen submitted from Rhode Island State Health Laboratories to Wadsworth Center, and the total cost per specimen at Wadsworth Center was $177.12 less than at Rhode Island State Health Laboratories, plus shipping. Following a mid-study review, Wadsworth Center provided testing turnaround times for detection (same day), species determination of MTBC (same day), and molecular DST (2.5 days). Conclusion. The collaboration between Wadsworth Center and Rhode Island State Health Laboratories to assess shared services of TB testing highlighted a successful model that may serve as a guideline for other PHLs. The provision of additional rapid testing at a lower cost demonstrated in this study could potentially improve patient management and result in significant cost and resource savings if used in similar models across the country.
Strategic innovation and organisational identity: A hermeneutic phenomenological investigation
Authors: Heil Dominik 
Published: April 2017

This paper makes the case for an appropriate ontological inquiry into strategy and organisational issues in general and issues of organisational reputation, identity and innovation in particular. It does so by first responding to Powell's suggestion that strategy, and by implication all scholarly work on organisations, should do without ontology. While taking his concerns about ontology seriously, his approach is exposed as ontological itself and it is suggested that Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology is an appropriate path for an ontological inquiry with regards to strategic and organisational issues. In using this type of ontological inquiry, the paper develops an avenue to propose such an ontological understanding, and then suggests a means of comprehending the very nature of organisations. It proceeds to use this insight to develop an understanding of the concepts, reputation, organisational identity and strategic innovation in line with the hermeneutic phenomenology of Heidegger. This understanding demonstrates the intricate, profound and strategic relationship between these phenomena. Fundamental steps for assessing strategic innovation in relation to organisational identity are developed.
The Alloplastic Organisation: Balancing Flexibility and Stability in a Turbulent Environment
Authors: Nicholls John 
Published: April 2017

‘Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success. Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles which they have chanced upon absurdly; use extreme remedies at first; and, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them; like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn.’ FRANCIS BACON ‘To ensure a balanced age structure should be one of the main concerns of manager manpower planning. There must be enough older men to ensure opportunities for younger men, enough younger men to ensure continuity; enough older men to provide experience and enough younger men to provide drive. Age structure of management is like the metabolism of the human body; unless it is balanced all constitutional processes are diseased.’ PETER DRUCKER
Is Violence Sometimes a Legitimate Right? An African-American Dilemma
Authors: Laurent Sylvie 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThe contrast, often painted in simplistic colours, between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as civil rights campaigners bolsters an erroneous reading of the freedom struggle of African-Americans, leaving the impression that the resort to violence and self-defence propounded by Malcolm X was a purely circumstantial departure from the general strategy of the civil rights movement.In fact, both of them reflected long on the capacity of violence and a contrario of non-violence to bring about political and social transformation in the context of the extreme brutality and oppression being suffered by African-Americans. Their dilemma stemmed from an old intellectual tradition of the America of the slave period. Well before the ideas of Gandhi won over the African-American elite, and even before Henry David Thoreau laid the theoretical basis for civil disobedience, African slaves gave thought to the legitimacy and effectiveness of violence to amend their situation. The importance of the non-violent movement in the United States and the historical significance of Martin Luther King cannot be understood unless a true measure is taken of the anti-slavery struggle. While within the religious domain, the Black Church played a major role in dissuading violence, secular thought in favour of legitimate forceful rebellion also found itself confronted by a counter-argument which advanced the power of social change and resistance to injustice that non-violence could effect. This article particularly addresses the challenges to their consciences that confronted the militants of non-violence in their campaign for the abolition of slavery and notably those facing the central figure of that struggle, the former slave become the apostle of liberation, Frederick Douglass.
Outcomes of neuropsychiatric events in systemic lupus erythematosus based on clinical phenotypes; prospective data from the Leiden NP SLE cohort
Authors: Magro-Checa C , Beaart-van de Voorde L J J , Middelkoop H A M , Dane M L , van der Wee N J , van Buchem M A , Huizinga T W J , Steup-Beekman G M 
Published: April 2017

Objective The objective of this study was to assess whether clinical and patient’s reported outcomes are associated with a different pathophysiological origin of neuropsychiatric events presenting in systemic lupus erythematosus. Methods A total of 232 neuropsychiatric events presenting in 131 systemic lupus erythematosus patients were included. Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus diagnosis was established per event by multidisciplinary evaluation. All neuropsychiatric events were divided according to a suspected underlying pathophysiological process into one of the following: non-neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus related, inflammatory and ischaemic neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus. The clinical outcome of all neuropsychiatric events was determined by a physician-completed four-point Likert scale. Health-related quality of life was measured with the subscales of the patient-generated Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaire. The change between scores at paired visits of all domain scores, mental component summary (SF-36 MCS) and physical component summary (SF-36 PCS) scores were retrospectively calculated and used as patient-reported outcome. The association among these outcomes and the different origin of neuropsychiatric events was obtained using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results The clinical status of 26.8% non-neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus events, 15.8% ischaemic neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus and 51.6% inflammatory neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus improved after re-assessment. Almost all SF-36 domains had a positive change at re-assessment in all groups independently of the origin of neuropsychiatric events. Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus ( B = 0.502; p < 0.001) and especially inflammatory neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus ( B = 0.827; p < 0.001) had better clinical outcome, with change in disease activity being the only important predictor. The change in SF-36 MCS was also independently associated with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus ( B = 5.783; p < 0.05) and inflammatory neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus ( B = 11.133; p < 0.001). Disease duration and change in disease activity were the only predictors in both cases. The change in SF-36 PCS was only negatively associated with age. Conclusion Inflammatory neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus events have better clinical outcome and meaningful improvement in SF-36 MCS than ischaemic neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus or non-neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus.
Feasibility of extended dosing intervals of denosumab
Authors: Kettle Jacob K , Patel Puja B 
Published: April 2017

Purpose Denosumab is a crucial supportive care agent for patients with advanced cancers affecting the bone. Despite the importance of treatment, logistical and financial obstacles hinder the ability to maintain long-term adherence. This analysis was designed to provide preliminary data regarding the feasibility of extended denosumab dosing intervals. Methods This retrospective, case cohort study was conducted on patients receiving treatment with denosumab for malignancies with bone involvement. A total of 60 patients were identified for analysis and were divided into cohorts according to the average number of days between denosumab doses. The standard interval group was comprised of patients receiving treatment once every 27–30 days ( n = 29), whereas the deviated interval group was comprised of patients with an interval of 31–56 days between injections ( n = 31). The primary outcome was the percentage of patients developing a skeletal-related event. Secondary efficacy outcomes included rate of pathologic fracture, spinal cord compression, radiation therapy, surgery, and hypercalcemia. Results Patients in the deviated interval arm experienced significantly more skeletal-related events compared to the standard interval group (61% vs. 31%, respectively; p = 0.02). Secondary efficacy endpoints trended in favor of the standard therapy arm except for requirement for surgery (results were virtually equivalent) and hypercalcemia (no events in either group). Conclusions Non-adherence with the standard denosumab dosing schedule demonstrated an increased risk of experiencing a skeletal-related event. Preservation of denosumab dose density appears imperative to maintain efficacy and as such extending the dosing interval should be discouraged.
Microfracture: State of the Art in Cartilage Surgery?
Authors: Frehner Florian , Benthien Jan P. 
Published: April 2017

ObjectiveThis study is a literature review from 2010 to 2014 concerning the quality of evidence in clinical trials about microfracture in attempt to repair articular cartilage. We have decided to focus on microfracturing, since this seems to be the best documented technique. Interest in evaluation of publication quality has risen in orthopaedic sports medicine recently. Therefore, we think it is necessary to evaluate recent clinical trials being rated for their evidence-based medicine (EBM) quality. We also compared the mean impact factor of the journals publishing the different studies as an indicator of the study’s citation and evaluated for a change over the studied time frame.DesignTo measure the EBM level, we applied the modified Coleman Methodology Score (CMS) introduced by Jakobsen. The impact factor, which is a measurement of the yearly average number of citations of articles recently published in that journal, was evaluated according to self-reported values on the corresponding journal’s website.ResultsWe found that the mean CMS has not changed between 2010 and 2014. The mean impact factor has also not changed between 2010 and 2014. The CMS variance was high, pointing to different qualities in the evaluated studies. There is no evidence that microfracturing is superior compared to other cartilage repair procedures.ConclusionMicrofracture cannot be seen as an evidence based procedure. Further research needs to be done and a standardization of the operating method is desirable. There need to be more substantial studies on microfracturing alone without additional therapies.
Menopausal hormone therapy and pancreatic cancer risk in women: a population‐based matched cohort study
Authors: Sadr‐Azodi Omid , Konings Peter , Brusselaers Nele 
Published: April 2017

BackgroundThe role of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) in the development of pancreatic cancer is inconclusive owing to small studies and lack of proper study design.MethodsThis population‐based matched cohort study included all Swedish women who used systemic MHT between 1 July 2005 and 31 December 2012. For each user of MHT, three never‐users of MHT were randomly selected, matched for childbirth, history of thromboembolic events, and previous hysterectomy, as well as for year of birth, diabetes, obesity, and smoking‐ or alcohol‐related disorders. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between MHT use and pancreatic cancer. The effect of MHT duration on pancreatic cancer development was calculated using multivariable Poisson regression.ResultsThere were 290,186 ever‐users of MHT and 870,165 matched never‐users. During the follow‐up, 311 (0.0011%) ever‐users of MHT and 1220 (0.0014) never‐users developed pancreatic cancer. In a multivariable adjusted model, ever‐users had a 23% reduced risk (OR 0.77; 95% CI: 0.68–0.87) of pancreatic cancer. This risk decreased by 35% (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.65; 95% CI: 0.33–1.27) in women who used MHT 1–2 years and by 60% (IRR 0.40; 95% CI: 0.18–0.88) in women who used MHT ≥ 3 years compared to women with <1 year of MHT use. The type of MHT did not change the results.ConclusionSystemic MHT use might reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.
Kyawthuite, Bi3+Sb5+O4, a new gem mineral from Mogok, Burma (Myanmar)
Authors: Kampf Anthony R. , Rossman George R. , Ma Chi , Williams Peter A. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractKyawthuite, Bi3+Sb5+O4, is a new gem mineral found as a waterworn crystal in alluvium at Chaung-gyi-ah-le-ywa in the Chaung-gyi valley, near Mogok, Burma (Myanmar). Its description is based upon a single sample, which was faceted into a 1.61-carat gem.The composition suggests that the mineral formed in a pegmatite. Kyawthuite is monoclinic, space group I2/c, with unit cell dimensions a = 5.4624(4), b = 4.88519(17), c = 11.8520(8) Å, β = 101.195(7)°, V = 310.25(3) Å3and Z = 4. The colour is reddish orange and the streak is white. It is transparent with adamantine lustre. The Mohs hardness is 5½. Kyawthuite is brittle with a conchoidal fracture and three cleavages: {001} perfect, {110} and {110} good. The measured density is 8.256(5) g cm–3and the calculated density is 8.127 g cm–3. The mineral is optically biaxial with 2V = 90(2)°. The predicted indices of refraction are α = 2.194, β = 2.268, γ = 2.350. Pleochroism is imperceptible and the optical orientation is X = b; Y≈ c; Z ≈ a. Electron microprobe analyses, provided the empirical formula (Bi0.823+Sb0.183+)∑1.00(Sb0.995+Ta0.015+)∑1.00O4. The Raman spectrumis similar to that of synthetic Bi3+Sb5+O4. The infrared spectrum shows a trace amount of OH/H2O. The eight strongest powder X-ray diffraction lines are [dobs in Å(I)(hkl)]: 3.266(100)(112), 2.900(66)(112), 2.678(24)(200), 2.437(22)(020,114), 1.8663(21)(024), 1.8026(43)(116,220,204), 1.6264(23)(224,116) and 1.5288(28)(312,132). In the crystal structure of kyawthuite (R1 = 0.0269 for 593 reflections with Fo > 4σF), Sb5+O6 octahedrashare corners to form chequerboard-like sheets parallel to {001}. Atoms of Bi3+, located above and below the open squares in the sheets, form bonds to the O atoms in the sheets, thereby linking adjacent sheets into a framework. The Bi3+ atom is in lopsided 8 coordination,typical of a cation with stereoactive lone electron pairs. Kyawthuite is isostructural with synthetic β-Sb2O4 and clinocervantite (natural β-Sb2O4).