bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Graphene nanoplatelet‐silica hybrid epoxy composites as electrical insulation with enhanced thermal conductivity
Authors: Rybak Andrzej , Jarosinski Lukasz , Gaska Karolina , Kapusta Czeslaw 
Published: November 2017

The efficient management of heat is a key issue when considering the performance of electrical devices. To reduce the probability of their failure an effective heat dissipation should be ensured. The thermal conductivity of pure epoxy is low and can be improved through the addition of fillers. Graphene has been considered as an adequate filler, due to its excellent thermal conductivity. However, graphene‐based composites also show a high electrical conductivity, which limits their application as an electrical insulation considerably. The presented work shows that it is possible to enhance thermal conductivity through the incorporation of a new class of hybrid filler, namely a masterbatch of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and a standard filler like silica. This unique structural design combines the advantages of both, GNPs and silica powder, resulting in composites that not only show high thermal conductivity, but also preserve electrical insulation functionality. A modified processing method leads to the improvement of thermal conductivity. GNPs‐silica hybrid epoxy composites with only 2 wt% of GNPs reached 1.54 W/mK, whereas the volume resistivity remained at the level of 1015 Ω cm. The unique scientific aspect, namely temperature dependence of thermal conductivity, was studied. The presented novel hybrid composites show great potential in applications requiring electrical insulation with enhanced thermal conductivity in high voltage devices. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E1682–E1691, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers
Sleep quality in individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer: Factors associated with sleep disturbance as patients transition off treatment
Authors: Coles Theresa , Tan Xianming , Bennett Antonia V. , Sanoff Hanna K. , Basch Ethan , Jensen Roxanne E. , Reeve Bryce B. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractObjectiveTo identify patient characteristics associated with sleep disturbance and worsening of sleep in individuals diagnosed with localized colorectal cancer and assess heterogeneity in these relationships.MethodsData were from the MY‐Health study, a community‐based observational study of adults diagnosed with cancer. Patient‐Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System® Sleep Disturbance, Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, and Pain Interference measures were administered. Participants self‐reported demographics, comorbidities, and treatment information. Regression mixture and multiple regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between sleep disturbance and patient characteristics cross‐sectionally at an average of 10 months after diagnosis (n = 613) as well as change in sleep disturbance over a 6‐month period (n = 361).ResultsPain, anxiety, fatigue, and the existence of multiple comorbid conditions had statistically significant relationships with sleep disturbance (B = 0.09, 0.22, 0.29, and 1.53, respectively; P < 0.05). Retirement (B = –2.49) was associated with sleep quality in the cross‐sectional model. Worsening anxiety (B = 0.14) and fatigue (B = 0.20) were associated with worsening sleep disturbance, and more severe sleep disturbance 10 months after diagnosis (B = −0.21) was associated with improvement in sleep quality after diagnosis (P < 0.05). No evidence of latent subgroups of patients (heterogeneity) was present.ConclusionsPain, anxiety, fatigue, employment, and comorbid conditions were associated with sleep disturbance, but regression coefficients were small (< |2.5|). Results suggest that screening for anxiety, depression, fatigue, or pain is not sufficient for identifying sleep disturbance. Given the negative consequences of sleep disturbance, sleep disturbance screening may be warranted.
A hierarchical combinatorial reliability model for smart home systems
Authors: Zhao Guilin , Xing Liudong , Zhang Qun , Jia Xujie 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAs an application of the Internet of Things, smart home systems have received significant attentions in recent years due to their precedent advantages, eg, in ensuring efficient electricity transmission and integration with renewable energy. This paper proposes a hierarchical and combinatorial methodology for modeling and evaluating reliability of a smart home system. Particularly, the proposed methodology encompasses a multi‐valued decision diagram‐based method for addressing phased‐mission, standby sparing, and functional dependence behaviors in the physical layer; and a combinatorial procedure based on the total probability theorem for addressing probabilistic competing failure behavior with random propagation time in the communication layer. The methods are applicable to arbitrary types of time‐to‐failure and time‐to‐propagation distributions for system components. A detailed case study of an example smart home system is performed to demonstrate applications of the proposed method and effects of different component parameters on the system reliability.
Nano‐Biohybrids: In Vivo Synthesis of Metal–Organic Frameworks inside Living Plants
Authors: Richardson Joseph J. , Liang Kang 
Published: November 2017

AbstractPlants have a complex passive fluid transport system capable of internalizing small molecules from the environment, and this system offers an ideal route for augmenting plants with functional nanomaterials. Current plant augmentation techniques use pre‐formed nanomaterials and permeabilizing agents or plant cuttings. A so far unexplored concept is the formation of the functional material, in situ, from precursors small enough to be passively internalized through the roots without harming the plants. Metal–organic frameworks are ideal for in situ synthesis as they are composed of metal ions coordinated with organic ligands and have recently been mineralized around single‐celled organisms in mild aqueous conditions. Herein, the synthesis of two types of metal‐organic frameworks, zinc(2‐methylimidazole)2 and lanthanide2(terephthalate)3, are reported inside a variety of plants. In situ synchrotron experiments help elucidate the formation kinetics and crystal phases of the nano‐biohybrid plants. Plants augmented with luminescent metal‐organic frameworks are utilized for small molecule sensing, although other applications, such as pathogen sensing, proton conductive plants, improved CO2 capture, bacteria‐free nitrogen fixation, drought and fungi‐resistance, and enhanced photosynthesis and photocatalysis, are foreseeable. Overall, the generation of functional materials inside of fully intact plants could lead to more complex nano‐biohybrid sensors and organisms augmented with superior performance characteristics.
Advanced models for water simulations
Authors: Demerdash Omar , Wang Lee‐Ping , Head‐Gordon Teresa 
Published: November 2017

Molecular simulations of water using classical, molecular mechanic potential energy functions have enjoyed a 50‐year history of development, and much has been learned regarding their parameterization and the essential physics that must be captured in order to reproduce water properties across the phase diagram and across system sizes, from the dimer to the condensed phase. While pairwise‐additive force fields using fixed, point charge‐based electrostatics have dominated this history owing to computational cost, their limitations in transferability are being recognized, owing particularly to the lack of many‐body effects, as well as an inherent difficulty in capturing quantum mechanical effects that become important at short intermolecular separation. This has spurred an impressive development of novel functional forms and parameterization schemes to account for such effects, especially the leading many‐body effect of polarization. This review discusses recent efforts in the development of advanced models of water, particularly with regard to important details of their parameterization from quantum mechanical or experimental data, the development of novel functional forms including machine learning‐based models, and algorithms that reduce the computational cost of polarization dramatically, permitting them to potentially become competitive with pairwise‐additive models as the standby of condensed‐phase simulation. These technical developments are appraised based on their ability to impact numerical calculations on water, particularly the condensed phase, and it is hoped that this article provides a clear connection between the essential physics captured by the model and their fitness across a range of environments. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2018, 8:e1355. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1355This article is categorized under:

Computer and Information Science > Computer Algorithms and Programming
Molecular and Statistical Mechanics > Molecular Interactions
Software > Simulation Methods
Transanal hemorrhoidal dearterialization (THD) for hemorrhoidal disease: a single-center study on 1000 consecutive cases and a review of the literature
Authors: Ratto Carlo , Campennì Paola , Papeo Francesco , Donisi Lorenza , Litta Francesco , Parello Angelo 
Published: November 2017

Abstract

Background
The transanal hemorrhoidal dearterialization (THD) Doppler procedure is a minimally invasive technique to treat symptomatic hemorrhoids. The aim of the study was to assess the clinical efficacy and the satisfaction of patients in a large series treated with THD and to review the relevant literature.

Methods
In this retrospective, single-institution, study consecutive patients with grade 2, 3, or 4 hemorrhoidal disease were treated with the THD Doppler procedure. Dearterialization was performed in all cases and mucopexy in case of prolapse. The dearterialization procedure evolved from “proximal artery ligation” to “distal Doppler-guided dearterialization.” Follow-up was scheduled at 15 days, 1, 3, 12 months, and once a year thereafter. Complications were recorded. Clinical efficacy was assessed comparing both frequency of symptoms and disease grading (Goligher’s classification) at baseline versus last follow-up. Uni-/multivariate analysis evaluated factors affecting the outcome.

Results
There were 1000 patients (619 men; mean age: 48.6 years, range 19–88 years). Acute postoperative bleeding was observed in 14 patients (1.4%), pain/tenesmus in 31 patients (3.1%), and urinary retention in 23 patients (2.3%). At mean follow-up duration of 44 ± 29 months, the symptomatic recurrence rate was 9.5% (95 patients; bleeding in 12 (1.2%), prolapse in 46 (4.6%), and bleeding and prolapse in 37 (3.7%) patients). The recurrence rate was 8.5, 8.7, and 18.1% in patients with grade 2, 3, and 4 hemorrhoids, respectively. Seventy out of 95 patients with recurrence needed surgery (reoperation rate: 7.0%). At final follow-up and taking into account the reoperations, 95.7% of patients had no hemorrhoidal disease on examination. Younger age, grade 4 disease, and high artery ligation affected the outcome negatively.

Conclusions
Our results show that the THD Doppler procedure is safe and effective in patients with hemorrhoidal disease and associated with low morbidity and recurrence rates and a high rate percentage of treatment success.
Influence of aging on brain and web characteristics of an orb web spider
Authors: Pasquet Alain , Toscani Camille , Anotaux Mylène 
Published: November 2017

Abstract
In animals, it is known that age affects the abilities of the brain. In spiders, we showed that aging affects web characteristics due to behavioral alterations during web building. In this study, we investigated the effects of age on the associations between morphological changes to the spider brain and changes in web characteristics. The orb web spider Zygiella x-notata (Araneae, Araneidae) was used to test these relationships. Experiments were conducted on young (19 ± 2 days after adult molt, N = 13) and old (146 ± 32 days, N = 20) virgin females. The brain volume decreased with age (by 10%). Age also had an impact on the number of anomalies in the capture area generated during web building. The statistical relationships between the volume of the brain and web characteristics showed that there was an effect of age on both. Our results showed that in spiders, aging affects the brain volume and correlates with characteristics (anomalies) of the web. As web building is the result of complex behavioral processes, we suggest that aging affects spider behavior by causing some brain alterations.
Towards integrated oncogenic marker recognition through mutual information‐based statistically significant feature extraction: an association rule mining based study on cancer expression and methylation profiles
Authors: Mallik Saurav , Zhao Zhongming 
Published: November 2017

BackgroundMarker detection is an important task in complex disease studies. Here we provide an association rule mining (ARM) based approach for identifying integrated markers through mutual information (MI) based statistically significant feature extraction, and apply it to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and prostate carcinoma (PC) gene expression and methylation profiles.MethodsWe first collect the genes having both expression and methylation values in AML as well as PC. Next, we run Jarque‐Bera normality test on the expression/methylation data to divide the whole dataset into two parts: one that follows normal distribution and the other that does not follow normal distribution. Thus, we have now four parts of the dataset: normally distributed expression data, normally distributed methylation data, non‐normally distributed expression data, and non‐normally distributed methylated data. A feature‐extraction technique, “ mRMR” is then utilized on each part. This results in a list of top‐ranked genes. Next, we apply Welch t‐test (parametric test) and Shrink t‐test (non‐parametric test) on the expression/methylation data for the top selected normally distributed genes and non‐normally distributed genes, respectively. We then use a recent weighted ARM method, “RANWAR” to combine all/specific resultant genes to generate top oncogenic rules along with respective integrated markers. Finally, we perform literature search as well as KEGG pathway and Gene‐Ontology (GO) analyses using Enrichr database for in silico validation of the prioritized oncogenes as the markers and labeling the markers as existing or novel.ResultsThe novel markers of AML are {ABCB11↑ ∪ KRT17↓} (i.e., ABCB11 as up‐regulated, & KRT17 as down‐regulated), and {AP1S1‐ ∪ KRT17↓ ∪ NEIL2‐ ∪ DYDC1↓}) (i.e., AP1S1 and NEIL2 both as hypo‐methylated, & KRT17 and DYDC1 both as down‐regulated). The novel marker of PC is {UBIAD1¶ ∪ APBA2‡ ∪ C4orf31‡} (i.e., UBIAD1 as up‐regulated and hypo‐methylated, & APBA2 and C4orf31 both as down‐regulated and hyper‐methylated).ConclusionThe identified novel markers might have critical roles in AML as well as PC. The approach can be applied to other complex disease.
The Ontology of Biological and Clinical Statistics (OBCS)‐based statistical method standardization and meta‐analysis of host responses to yellow fever vaccines
Authors: Zheng Jie , Li Huan , Liu Qingzhi , He Yongqun 
Published: November 2017

BackgroundThe community‐based Ontology of Biological and Clinical Statistics (OBCS) represents and standardizes biological and clinical data and statistical methods.MethodsBoth OBCS and the Vaccine Ontology (VO) were used to ontologically model various components and relations in a typical host response to vaccination study. Such a model was then applied to represent and compare three microarray studies of host responses to the yellow fever vaccine YF‐17D. A literature meta‐analysis was then conducted to survey yellow fever vaccine response papers and summarize statistical methods, using OBCS.ResultsA general ontological model was developed to identify major components in a typical host response to vaccination. Our ontology modeling of three similar studies identified common and different components which may contribute to varying conclusions. Although these three studies all used the same vaccine, human blood samples, similar sample collection time post vaccination, and microarray assays, statistically differentially expressed genes and associated gene functions differed, likely due to the differences in specific variables (e.g., microarray type and human variations). Our manual annotation of 95 papers in human responses to yellow fever vaccines identified 38 data analysis methods. These statistical methods were consistently represented and classified with OBCS. Eight statistical methods not available in existing ontologies were added to OBCS.ConclusionsThe study represents the first single use case of applying OBCS ontology to standardize, integrate, and use biomedical data and statistical methods. Our ontology‐based meta‐analysis showed that different experimental results might be due to different experimental assays and conditions, sample variations, and data analysis methods.
Results of the 2017 AORN Salary and Compensation Survey
Authors: Bacon Donald R. , Stewart Kim A. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAORN conducted its 15th annual compensation survey for perioperative nurses in June 2017. A multiple regression model was used to examine how several variables, including job title, educational level, certification, experience, and geographic region, affect nurse compensation. Comparisons between the 2017 data and data from previous years are presented. The effects of other forms of compensation (eg, on‐call compensation, overtime, bonuses, shift differentials, benefits) on base compensation rates are examined. Additional analyses explore the current state of the nursing shortage and the sources of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Minimizing Sources of Airborne, Aerosolized, and Contact Contaminants in the OR Environment
Authors: Armellino Donna 
Published: November 2017

AbstractSurgical site infections are unintended consequences of surgery that can cause harm to patients and place financial burdens on health care organizations. Extrinsic factors in the OR—including health care providers’ behavior and practices that modify air movement, the physical environment, equipment, or surgical instruments—can increase microbial contamination. Microbes can be transported into the surgical incision by airborne or contact routes and contribute to a surgical site infection. Simple practices to prevent infection—such as minimizing airborne particles and contaminants, maintaining equipment according to the manufacturer's recommendations, cleaning and disinfecting the environment and surgical instruments, and performing proper hand hygiene—can reduce the degree of microbial contamination. Perioperative leaders and health care providers can help decrease the patient's risk of surgical site infection with proactive preventive practices that break the chain of infection.
Evaluation of a Brief Team Training Intervention in Surgery: A Mixed‐Methods Study
Authors: Gillespie Brigid M. , Steel Catherine , Kang Evelyn , Harbeck Emma , Nikolic Kristina , Fairweather Nicole , Chaboyer Wendy 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate a brief team training program in relation to teams’ observed nontechnical skills (NTSs) in surgery, teams’ perceptions of safety culture, and the training implementation. We used mixed methods to analyze structured observations of 179 surgeries, semistructured interviews with surgical team members from four selected surgical specialties, and a survey. There were significant (P < .001) improvements in surgical teams’ observed NTSs and in the use of the World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist after participation in the training program. Nonsignificant results included increased perceived safety climate and decreased perceived teamwork climate. From participant interviews, we identified that production pressure and time constraints were the biggest barriers to implementation and the greatest enabler was the organization's support for staff education initiatives. Most participants perceived the content of the program to be useful. These results highlight the complexities inherent in the development and evaluation of interdisciplinary patient safety interventions.
Navigating Nursing Education
Authors: Hicks Rodney W. , Patterson Robert 
Published: November 2017

AbstractAll nurses must embrace lifelong learning and engage in academic progression to help transform health care. This article explores the various forms of nursing education and focuses on the types of degrees available, different practice roles and pathways, types of educational institutions and programs, and accreditation and its governing bodies. The benefits to nurses who pursue additional education include career mobility, additional responsibilities, and personal satisfaction. The benefits to patients include receiving the most current evidence‐based care from a more highly educated and competent workforce.
Clinical Issues—December 2017
Authors: Ogg Mary J. 
Published: November 2017

This MonthBed bugsKey words: bed bugs, pest management, infestation, transmission.Warming irrigation fluidsKey words: irrigation fluid, warming fluid, hypothermia, warming cabinet.Fasting before surgeryKey words: fasting, NPO, liquids, solids.Advanced cardiac life support requirements for perioperative nursesKey words: advanced cardiac life support, ACLS certification, pediatric advanced life support, PALS certification, basic life support.
X-ray computed tomography of adhesive wicking into carbon foam
Authors: Chima Sav 
Published: November 2017

Laser target components consist of multicomponent porous and nonporous materials that are adhesively bonded together. In order to assess the extent and quantity of adhesive wicking into porous foam, micro X-ray computed tomography (CT) and image processing software have been utilized. Two different laser target configurations have been assessed in situ and volume rendered images of the distribution and quantities of adhesive have been determined for each.
Abnormal carbohydrate metabolism in a canine model for muscular dystrophy
Authors: Amaral Andressa R. , Brunetto Márcio A. , Brólio Marina P. , Cima Daniela S. , Miglino Maria A. , Santos João Paulo F. , Ambrósio Carlos E. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe canine golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) model is the best animal model for studying Duchenne muscular dystrophy in humans. Considering the importance of glucose metabolism in the muscles, the existence of metabolic and endocrine alterations in a wide range of muscular dystrophies, and the pre-existing relationship between blood insulin concentration and muscular atrophy, the present study aimed to evaluate the postprandial glucose and insulin response in GRMD dogs. A total of eighteen golden retriever dogs were randomly distributed into three experimental groups: healthy/control (G1), female GRMD carriers (G2), and male dogs affected by GRMD (G3). Higher plasma resting glucose levels (P = 0·0047) were seen in G2 and G3 compared with G1, as was the case for minimum (P = <0·0001), mean (P = 0·0002) and maximum (P = 0·0359) glucose values for G3 compared with G1. Fructosamine concentrations were in accordance with reference values found in the literature for dogs. Insulin levels were lower in G3 compared with G1 (P = 0·0065); however, there was no evidence of insulin resistance according to the homeostasis model assessment index values obtained. As for the evaluation of postprandial responses, fluctuations of glucose (P = 0·0007) and insulin (P = 0·0149) were observed in G1 and G2, while in G3 the values remained constant. The results allowed us to identify metabolic changes related to carbohydrate metabolism in GRMD dogs, highlighting the importance of adequate food management for these animals.