bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessing barriers to adherence in routine clinical care for pediatric kidney transplant patients
Authors: Varnell Charles D. , Rich Kristin L. , Nichols Melissa , Dahale Devesh , Goebel Jens W. , Pai Ahna L. H. , Hooper David K. , Modi Avani C. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractPatient‐identified barriers to immunosuppressive medications are associated with poor adherence and negative clinical outcomes in transplant patients. Assessment of adherence barriers is not part of routine post‐transplant care, and studies regarding implementing such a process in a reliable way are lacking. Using the Model for Improvement and PDSA cycles, we implemented a system to identify adherence barriers, including patient‐centered design of a barriers assessment tool, identification of eligible patients, clear roles for clinic staff, and creating a culture of non‐judgmental discussion around adherence. We performed time‐series analysis of our process measure. Secondary analyses examined the endorsement and concordance of adherence barriers between patient‐caregiver dyads. After three methods of testing, the most reliable delivery system was an EHR‐integrated tablet that alerted staff of patient eligibility for assessment. Barriers were endorsed by 35% of caregivers (n=85) and 43% of patients (n=60). The most frequently patient‐endorsed barriers were forgetting, poor taste, and side effects. Caregivers endorsed forgetting and side effects. Concordance between patient‐caregiver dyads was fair (k=0.299). Standardized adherence barriers assessment is feasible in the clinical care of pediatric kidney transplant patients. Features necessary for success included automation, redundant systems with designated staff to identify and mitigate failures, aligned reporting structures, and reliable measurement approaches. Future studies will examine whether barriers predict clinical outcomes (eg, organ rejection, graft loss).
Exploring collaboration in a community‐academic partnership
Authors: Mayer Kala , Braband Barbara , Killen Taylor 
Published: August 2017

AbstractObjectiveCommunity‐academic relationships characterized by collaboration can contribute to the preparation of public health nursing students, sustainability of partnerships over time, and innovative solutions to pressing health problems. The purpose of this study was to describe and understand relationship characteristics in a community‐academic partnership over time and how the relationship could be improved.Design and SampleA descriptive case study was conducted. Study participants included partnership staff, organizational leaders, community residents, and student nurses involved in the partnership between 2011 and 2015.MeasuresMethods included focus groups, documents, interviews, and surveys.ResultsFour main themes emerged and include analysis findings that capture the relationship characteristics between partners and how the relationship could be improved: Time, Communication, Goals, and Sharing.ConclusionsFindings on how to improve relationship characteristics offer clear suggestions for academic and community partners on ways to move toward collaborative partnerships that can address health inequities and develop a competent and advanced public health nursing workforce in the 21st century.
e‐Health and new moms: Contextual factors associated with sources of health information
Authors: Walker Lorraine O. , Mackert Michael S. , Ahn Jisoo , Vaughan Misha W. , Sterling Bobbie S. , Guy Sarah , Hendrickson Sherry 
Published: August 2017

AbstractObjectiveGuided by the Uses and Gratifications approach, to examine mothers’ use and preference of e‐Health media, and associated contextual factors.Design and SampleCross‐sectional survey of 165 mothers (White, African‐American, and Hispanic) from a stratified random sample.MeasuresUse of online media about mother–baby care; favorite websites about motherhood and best‐liked features of Web sites; channel preferences (Web site, postal mail, text) for receiving three types of health information; and contextual factors, e.g., education.ResultsMedia use ranged from 96% for health information searches about babies to 46% for YouTube viewing about mother–baby topics. Contextual factors, such as education, were associated with media use. Babycenter was the most frequently reported favorite Web site and rich, relevant information was the best‐liked feature. Across three health topics (weight, stress/depression, parenting) mothers preferred receiving information by Web site, followed by postal mail and least by text messaging (χ2 statistics, p < .001). Stress and race/ethnicity were among factors associated with preferences.ConclusionsMothers widely used e‐Health related media, but use was associated with contextual factors. In public health efforts to reach new mothers, partnering with mother‐favored Web sites, focusing on audience‐relevant media, and adopting attributes of successful sites are recommended strategies.
Resistance to Hydrogen Peroxide Highlights Gymnodinium catenatum (Dinophyceae) Sensitivity to Geomagnetic Activity
Authors: Vale Paulo 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThe chain‐forming dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum was exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Microscopical examination revealed striking dose–response alterations in chain formation above 245 μm: singlets replaced the dominance of long chain formations. These observations were valid for cells acclimated to halogen light. Under fluorescent light, cells were more resistant to modifications in chain length after H2O2 exposure. Growth along 9 h in the presence of extracellular H2O2 followed an hormesis response in both light regimes. Under halogen light conditions, alterations in chain formation and net growth were related to culture time, inocula concentration and geomagnetic activity (GMA) in the proceeding hours. Below a 16 nT threshold in GMA average growth was 0%, while above 16 nT it was circa +9%, independently if the local static magnetic field was altered by a permanent magnet or not. Mycosporine‐like amino acids that can have an antioxidant role and are easily oxidized decreased from 7.1 to 6.5 pg cell−1 (P < 0.05) under halogen light and exposure to 245 μm H2O2. GMA, as well as UV‐A, increased stress responsiveness that can momentarily protect cells from extracellular H2O2 addition. However, stress response is dependent on bio‐availability of several micronutrients and macronutrients, many found at limiting concentrations in oceanic waters.
Who opposes labor regulation? Explaining variation in employers’ opinions
Authors: Amengual Matthew , Coslovsky Salo , Yang Duanyi 
Published: August 2017

AbstractCompeting accounts of the effect of globalization on labor politics agree that firms influence regulations, but make contrasting predictions for which firms are most likely to oppose regulations. Using survey data from employers in 19,000 manufacturing firms in 82 developing countries, we examine the determinants of employers’ opinions toward labor regulation. In contrast to the predictions of optimistic theories of globalization, we find that (i) firms that export are more likely to have negative opinions toward labor regulation than those that sell domestically, and (ii) firms that receive foreign direct investment have similar views as firms that rely only on domestic capital. Further, we show that systematic differences in employers’ opinions depend on the intensity of the competitive pressures they face and their use of skilled workers. In doing so, we provide an empirically grounded account of the heterogeneous opinions of key actors in economic policymaking in developing countries.
Pneumonia in the tropics
Authors: Lim Tow Keang , Siow Wen Ting 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACTPneumonia in the tropics poses a heavy disease burden. The complex interplay of climate change, human migration influences and socio‐economic factors lead to changing patterns of respiratory infections in tropical climate but also increasingly in temperate countries. Tropical and poorer countries, especially South East Asia, also bear the brunt of the global tuberculosis (TB) pandemic, accounting for almost one‐third of the burden. But, as human migration patterns evolve, we expect to see more TB cases in higher income as well as temperate countries, and rise in infections like scrub typhus from ecotourism activities. Fuelled by the ease of air travel, novel zoonotic infections originating from the tropics have led to global respiratory pandemics. As such, clinicians worldwide should be aware of these new conditions as well as classical tropical bacterial pneumonias such as melioidosis. Rarer entities such as co‐infections of leptospirosis and chikungunya or dengue will need careful consideration as well. In this review, we highlight aetiologies of pneumonia seen more commonly in the tropics compared with temperate regions, their disease burden, variable clinical presentations as well as impact on healthcare delivery.
Aminoglycoside impregnated cement spacer precipitating acute kidney injury requiring hemodialysis
Authors: Salim Sohail Abdul , Everitt Jessica , Schwartz Aaron , Agarwal Mohit , Castenada Jorge , Fülöp Tibor , Juncos Luis A. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThe current standard of care for prosthetic joint infection includes two‐stage arthroplasty, with antibiotic‐impregnated cement spacers (ACS) utilized between the stages. We report a 75‐year‐old woman with previously normal renal function, who developed acute kidney injury (AKI) secondary to biopsy‐proven acute tubular necrosis and acute interstitial nephritis after ACS placement containing tobramycin and vancomycin. Peak tobramycin level measured 25.3 mcg/mL, the highest value reported in the literature after ACS placement. Intermittent hemodialysis was initiated with subsequent full recovery of renal function. This paper reviews the published literature regarding the accumulation, toxicity and removal dynamics of aminoglycoside (AG) antibiotics and vancomycin in renal patients. Obtaining serum AG level should be strongly considered in patients experiencing AKI after ACS. Renal replacement therapy may assist in reducing toxic AG levels.
Improving urban cellular automata performance by integrating global and geographically weighted logistic regression models
Authors: Mirbagheri Babak , Alimohammadi Abbas 
Published: August 2017

AbstractIn many of the conventional cellular automata (CA) models, particularly Urban‐CA which are used for urban growth, the spatial heterogeneities and local differences of the land use conversion processes are ignored. Global logistic regression (LR) is a popular model employed to define the transition rules of Urban‐CA. By considering the local characteristics, Geographically Weighted Logistic Regression (GWLR) provides interesting capabilities for urban growth modelling. In this research, in addition to using GWLR in the definition of transition rules, the advantages of integrating GWLR and LR for urban growth simulation were evaluated; these have not been considered in previous studies. Local and global probabilities obtained from the calibration of GWLR and LR were combined to define the transition rules of an Urban‐CA. Urban growth was simulated in the Islamshahr sub‐region located southwest of Tehran, Iran for the two periods 1992‐1996 and 1996‐2002, and data from these periods were used for training and testing the prediction abilities, respectively. In the first period, GWLR showed good performance and a significant contribution to the enhancement of the simulation performance, but in the second period, the effectiveness of LR on the prediction accuracy increased. Due to their complementary roles, the integration of the GWLR and LR models resulted in improved simulation performance in both periods.
Bayesian Annealed Sequential Importance Sampling: An Unbiased Version
of Transitional Markov Chain Monte Carlo
Authors: Wu Stephen , Angelikopoulos Panagiotis , Papadimitriou Costas , Koumoutsakos Petros 
Published: August 2017

Abstract
The transitional Markov chain Monte Carlo (TMCMC) is one of the efficient algorithms for performing Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) in the context of Bayesian uncertainty quantification in parallel computing architectures. However, the features that are associated with its efficient sampling are also responsible for its introducing of bias in the sampling. We demonstrate that the Markov chains of each subsample in TMCMC may result in uneven chain lengths that distort the intermediate target distributions and introduce bias accumulation in each stage of the TMCMC algorithm. We remedy this drawback of TMCMC by proposing uniform chain lengths, with or without burn-in, so that the algorithm emphasizes sequential importance sampling (SIS) over MCMC. The proposed Bayesian annealed sequential importance sampling (BASIS) removes the bias of the original TMCMC and at the same time increases its parallel efficiency. We demonstrate the advantages and drawbacks of BASIS in modeling of bridge dynamics using finite elements and a disk-wall collision using discrete element methods.
Fluconazole Pharmacokinetics in Galleria mellonella Larvae and Performance Evaluation of a Bioassay Compared to Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Hemolymph Specimens
Authors: Astvad Karen Marie Thyssen , Meletiadis Joseph , Whalley Sarah , Arendrup Maiken Cavling 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACT

The invertebrate model organism
Galleria mellonella
can be used to assess the efficacy of treatment of fungal infection. The fluconazole dose best mimicking human exposure during licensed dosing is unknown. We validated a bioassay for fluconazole detection in hemolymph and determined the fluconazole pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in larval hemolymph in order to estimate a humanized dose for future experiments. A bioassay using 4-mm agar wells, 20 μl hemolymph, and the hypersusceptible
Candida albicans
DSY2621 was established and compared to a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS-MS) method.
G. mellonella
larvae were injected with fluconazole (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg of larval weight), and hemolymph was harvested for 24 h for pharmacokinetics calculations. The exposure was compared to the human exposure during standard licensed dosing. The bioassay had a linear standard curve between 1 and 20 mg/liter. Accuracy and coefficients of variation (percent) values were below 10%. The Spearman coefficient between assays was 0.94. Fluconazole larval pharmacokinetics followed one-compartment linear kinetics, with the 24-h area under the hemolymph concentration-time curve (AUC
24 h
) being 93, 173, and 406 mg · h/liter for the three doses compared to 400 mg · h/liter in humans under licensed treatment. In conclusion, a bioassay was validated for fluconazole determination in hemolymph. The pharmacokinetics was linear. An exposure comparable to the human exposure during standard licensed dosing was obtained with 20 mg/kg.
Tetrazole-Based
trans
-Translation Inhibitors Kill Bacillus anthracis Spores To Protect Host Cells
Authors: Alumasa John N. , Goralski Tyler D. P. , Keiler Kenneth C. 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACT

Bacillus anthracis
, the causative agent of anthrax, remains a significant threat to humans, including potential use in bioterrorism and biowarfare. The capacity to engineer strains with increased pathogenicity coupled with the ease of disseminating lethal doses of
B. anthracis
spores makes it necessary to identify chemical agents that target and kill spores. Here, we demonstrate that a tetrazole-based
trans
-translation inhibitor, KKL-55, is bactericidal against vegetative cells of
B. anthracis
in culture. Using a fluorescent analog, we show that this class of compounds colocalizes with developing endospores and bind purified spores
in vitro
. KKL-55 was effective against spores at concentrations close to its MIC for vegetative cells. Spore germination was inhibited at 1.2× MIC, and spores were killed at 2× MIC. In contrast, ciprofloxacin killed germinants at concentrations close to its MIC but did not prevent germination even at 32× MIC. Because toxins are released by germinants, macrophages infected by
B. anthracis
spores are killed early in the germination process. At ≥2× MIC, KKL-55 protected macrophages from death after infection with
B. anthracis
spores. Ciprofloxacin required concentrations of ≥8× MIC to exhibit a similar effect. Taken together, these data indicate that KKL-55 and related tetrazoles are good lead candidates for therapeutics targeting
B. anthracis
spores and suggest that there is an early requirement for
trans
-translation in germinating spores.
Mechanisms of Action of Vitamin D as Supplemental Therapy for Pneumocystis Pneumonia
Authors: Lei Guang-Sheng , Zhang Chen , Cheng Bi-Hua , Lee Chao-Hung 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACT

The combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is the most effective regimen for therapy of
Pneumocystis
pneumonia (PCP). As many patients with PCP are allergic or do not respond to it, efforts have been devoted to develop alternative therapies for PCP. We have found that the combination of vitamin D
3
(VitD3) (300 IU/kg/day) and primaquine (PMQ) (5 mg/kg/day) was as effective as TMP-SMX for therapy of PCP. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms by which vitamin D enhances the efficacy of PMQ. C57BL/6 mice were immunosuppressed by CD4
+
cell depletion, infected with
Pneumocystis
murina
for 8 weeks, and then treated for 9 days with the combination of VitD3 and PMQ (VitD3-PMQ) or with TMP-SMX or PMQ to serve as controls. The results showed that vitamin D supplementation increased the number of CD11c
+
cells, suppressed the production of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], gamma interferon [IFN-γ], and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and enhanced the expression of genes related to antioxidation (glutathione reductase and glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit), antimicrobial peptides (cathelicidin), and autophagy (ATG5 and beclin-1). These results suggest that the main action of vitamin D is enhancing the ability of the host to defend against
Pneumocystis
infection.
Susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Cytochrome
bd
Oxidase Mutants to Compounds Targeting the Terminal Respiratory Oxidase, Cytochrome
c
Authors: Moosa Atica , Lamprecht Dirk A. , Arora Kriti , Barry Clifton E. , Boshoff Helena I. M. , Ioerger Thomas R. , Steyn Adrie J. C. , Mizrahi Valerie , Warner Digby F. 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACT

We deleted subunits I (
cydA
) and II (
cydB
) of the
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
cytochrome
bd
menaquinol oxidase. The resulting Δ
cydA
and Δ
cydAB
mutants were hypersusceptible to compounds targeting the mycobacterial
bc
1
menaquinol-cytochrome
c
oxidoreductase and exhibited bioenergetic profiles indistinguishable from strains deficient in the ABC-type transporter, CydDC, predicted to be essential for cytochrome
bd
assembly. These results confirm CydAB and CydDC as potential targets for drugs aimed at inhibiting a terminal respiratory oxidase implicated in pathogenesis.
Entry, Intracellular Survival, and Multinucleated-Giant-Cell-Forming Activity of Burkholderia pseudomallei in Human Primary Phagocytic and Nonphagocytic Cells
Authors: Whiteley Liam , Meffert Teresa , Haug Maria , Weidenmaier Christopher , Hopf Verena , Bitschar Katharina , Schittek Birgit , Kohler Christian , Steinmetz Ivo , West T. Eoin , Schwarz Sandra 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACT

The human pathogen
Burkholderia pseudomallei
and the related species
Burkholderia thailandensis
are facultative intracellular bacteria characterized by the ability to escape into the cytosol of the host cell and to stimulate the formation of multinucleated giant cells (MNGCs). MNGC formation is induced via an unknown mechanism by bacterial type VI secretion system 5 (T6SS-5), which is an essential virulence factor in both species. Despite the vital role of the intracellular life cycle in the pathogenesis of the bacteria, the range of host cell types permissive for initiation and completion of the intracellular cycle is poorly defined. In the present study, we used several different types of human primary cells to evaluate bacterial entry, intracellular survival, and MNGC formation. We report the capacity of
B. pseudomallei
to enter, efficiently replicate in, and mediate MNGC formation of vein endothelial and bronchial epithelial cells, indicating that the T6SS-5 is important in the host-pathogen interaction in these cells. Furthermore, we show that
B. pseudomallei
invades fibroblasts and keratinocytes and survives inside these cells as well as in monocyte-derived macrophages and neutrophils for at least 17 h postinfection; however, MNGC formation is not induced in these cells. In contrast, infection of mixed neutrophils and RAW264.7 macrophages with
B. thailandensis
stimulated the formation of heterotypic MNGCs in a T6SS-5-dependent manner. In summary, the ability of the bacteria to enter and survive as well as induce MNGC formation in certain host cells may contribute to the pathogenesis observed in
B. pseudomallei
infection.
TetR Family Transcriptional Regulator PccD Negatively Controls Propionyl Coenzyme A Assimilation in Saccharopolyspora erythraea
Authors: Xu Zhen , Wang Miaomiao , Ye Bang-Ce 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACTPropanol stimulates erythromycin biosynthesis by increasing the supply of propionyl coenzyme A (propionyl-CoA), a starter unit of erythromycin production inSaccharopolyspora erythraea. Propionyl-CoA is assimilated via propionyl-CoA carboxylase to methylmalonyl-CoA, an extender unit of erythromycin. We found that the addition ofn-propanol or propionate caused a 4- to 16-fold increase in the transcriptional levels of the SACE_3398–3400 locus encoding propionyl-CoA carboxylase, a key enzyme in propionate metabolism. The regulator PccD was proved to be directly involved in the transcription regulation of the SACE_3398–3400 locus by EMSA and DNase I footprint analysis. The transcriptional levels of SACE_3398–3400 were upregulated 15- to 37-fold in thepccDgene deletion strain (ΔpccD) and downregulated 3-fold in thepccDoverexpression strain (WT/pIB-pccD), indicating that PccD was a negative transcriptional regulator of SACE_3398–3400. The ΔpccDstrain has a higher growth rate than that of the wild-type strain (WT) on Evans medium with propionate as the sole carbon source, whereas the growth of the WT/pIB-pccDstrain was repressed. As a possible metabolite of propionate metabolism, methylmalonic acid was identified as an effector molecule of PccD and repressed its regulatory activity. A higher level of erythromycin in the ΔpccDstrain was observed compared with that in the wild-type strain. Our study reveals a regulatory mechanism in propionate metabolism and suggests new possibilities for designing metabolic engineering to increase erythromycin yield.IMPORTANCEOur work has identified the novel regulator PccD that controls the expression of the gene for propionyl-CoA carboxylase, a key enzyme in propionyl-CoA assimilation inS. erythraea. PccD represses the generation of methylmalonyl-CoA through carboxylation of propionyl-CoA and reveals an effect on biosynthesis of erythromycin. This finding provides novel insight into propionyl-CoA assimilation, and extends our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of erythromycin.