bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Aortocaval fistula: current management strategies
Authors: Brightwell Robert E. , Pegna Victoria , Boyne Nicholas 
Published: October 2012

AbstractBackgroundThere has been a trend towards favouring endovascular repair for much acute aortic pathology. We undertook a review of the literature to determine if an endovascular approach could complement the traditional treatment of aortocaval fistula (ACF), a rare complication of abdominal aortic aneurysm.MethodsA literature search was undertaken on PubMed using appropriate search terms. Case series and reviews reporting presentation, diagnosis and operative management (open and endovascular techniques) of ACF were selected and discussed.ResultsOpen surgical treatment of ACF has an associated morbidity and mortality – mainly from excessive blood loss. Open repair mortality rates are reported around 30%, but some centres report far lower rates based on preoperative diagnosis of the ACF. These rates appear to be reduced when using endovascular repair in selected cases, with success rates of up to 96%. Reiteration of the importance of diagnosis of ACF preoperatively was the common denominator with both open and endovascular repair.ConclusionsEndovascular exclusion appears to be an efficacious means of treating ACF and averting the significant blood loss commonly encountered in conventional repair of these lesions. However, some reviews have suggested equal success with open repair. There is limited available published literature on ACF management and outcome, and likely reporting bias attached to both open and endovascular results that are published. With a randomized controlled trial unlikely to occur, a prospective registry may provide better outcome data.
The Language Growth of Spanish‐Speaking English Language Learners
Authors: Rojas Raúl , Iglesias Aquiles 
Published: October 2012

Although the research literature regarding language growth trajectories is burgeoning, the shape and direction of English Language Learners' (ELLs) language growth trajectories are largely not known. This study used growth curve modeling to determine the shape of ELLs' language growth trajectories across 12,248 oral narrative language samples (6,516 Spanish; 5,732 English) produced by 1,723 ELLs during the first 3 years of formal schooling (M age at first observation = 5 years 7 months). Results indicated distinct trajectories of language growth over time for each language differentially impacted by summer vacation and gender, significant intra‐ and interindividual differences in initial status and growth rates across both languages, and language‐specific relations between language growth and initial status. Implications of ELLs' language growth are discussed.
How Do Children Acquire Early Grammar and Build Multiword Utterances? A Corpus Study of French Children Aged 2 to 4
Authors: Le Normand M. T. , Moreno‐Torres I. , Parisse C. , Dellatolas G. 
Published: October 2012

In the last 50 years, researchers have debated over the lexical or grammatical nature of children's early multiword utterances. Due to methodological limitations, the issue remains controversial. This corpus study explores the effect of grammatical, lexical, and pragmatic categories on mean length of utterances (MLU). A total of 312 speech samples from high‐low socioeconomic status (SES) French‐speaking children aged 2–4 years were annotated with a part‐of‐speech‐tagger. Multiple regression analyses show that grammatical categories, particularly the most frequent subcategories, were the best predictors of MLU both across age and SES groups. These findings support the view that early language learning is guided by grammatical rather than by lexical words. This corpus research design can be used for future cross‐linguistic and cross‐pathology studies.
Social protection and preventing illness in developing countries: Establishing the health effects of pensions and health insurance
Authors: Lloyd‐Sherlock Peter , Minicuci Nadia , Beard John , Chatterji Somnath 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThis article assesses the effectiveness of pension provision and health insurance in preventing ill health among older people in developing countries. It argues that, until recently, social protection agendas devoted insufficient attention to health risk prevention, instead focusing on the reduction of income poverty through cash transfers. The article shows that there is little reliable evidence to indicate that providing older people with pension benefits enhances their health status and that these effects should not be taken for granted by policy‐makers. The article then focuses on the effect of inclusion in health insurance schemes on health outcomes for older people, with specific reference to outcomes related to hypertension. Drawing on newly‐available data from the World Health Organization for Ghana, Mexico and South Africa, it shows that older people with health insurance are marginally more likely to be aware of health conditions such as hypertension and more likely to have them under control. Nevertheless, the great majority of hypertensive older people, insured or uninsured, are not effectively treated. The chief barriers to treatment are shown to be mainly related to awareness and service provision, rather than financial ones. Consequently, the capacity of pensions or health insurance to enhance health outcomes for older people in such countries, including in rural areas, is heavily contingent upon health education, health screening and adequate health service provision. These interventions should be viewed as an integral element of mainstream social protection strategies, rather than adjuncts to them. Yet, in practice, social protection and health promotion continue to be treated as almost entirely separate spheres, thus presenting substantial institutional barriers to developing combined interventions.
Imperial Origins of European Integration and the Case of Eurafrica: A Reply to Gary Marks’‘Europe and Its Empires’*
Authors: HANSEN PEO , JONSSON STEFAN 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThis article offers a critique of Gary Marks’ recent article in JCMS, entitled ‘Europe and Its Empires: From Rome to the European Union’. Although it sympathizes with Marks’ invocation of empire as a key theoretical concept and historical category in the study of European integration, it fundamentally disagrees with his ‘continentalist’ operationalization. Marks chooses to discuss the nexus of empire and European integration exclusively with reference to historical processes of imperial expansion and community formation occurring on the western European land mass. Since this methodology leaves out Europe's maritime colonial empires, it cannot account for the mutually conditioning relations between the intra‐ and extra‐European imperial processes. Consequently, Marks also fails to register colonialism's decisive bearing on post‐war European integration, and thus the fact that the scale of the original EEC was not delimited by the European land mass, but corresponded to the geopolitical constellation that at the time was called Eurafrica.
Negotiating the European External Action Service (EEAS): Analyzing the External Effects of Internal (Dis)Agreement*
Authors: MURDOCH ZUZANA 
Published: October 2012

AbstractAnalyses of the rising capacity for co‐ordination within the Secretariats‐General of the European Commission and Council have concentrated on their effectswithinthese respective institutions. This article, in contrast, argues that the presence/absence of co‐ordination capacities developedwithinan institution may have an important bearing also on the relationsbetweeninstitutions (for example, in inter‐institutional negotiations). The empirical analysis traces the negotiation process leading up to the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS), and finds substantial support for the theoretical argument.
Mispricing of Sovereign Risk and Macroeconomic Stability in the Eurozone*
Authors: DE GRAUWE PAUL , JI YUEMEI 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThis article presents evidence that a significant part of the surge in the spreads of the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) countries in the eurozone during 2010–11 was disconnected from underlying increases in the debt‐to‐GDP (gross domestic product) ratios, and was the result of negative market sentiments that became very strong since the end of 2010. It is argued that the systematic mispricing of sovereign risk in the eurozone intensifies macroeconomic instability, leading to bubbles in good years and excessive austerity in bad years.
Translation, adaptation and data quality of a Danish version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers
Authors: Brogaard Trine , Neergaard Mette Asbjørn , Guldin Mai‐Britt , Sokolowski Ineta , Vedsted Peter 
Published: October 2012

BackgroundThe burden of caregiving can have various negative consequences. There is a need for health professionals to be able to measure the burden of caregiving among relatives of end‐stage cancer patients in a valid way. The Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFC) has 28 items and was developed as a clinical tool for measuring the self‐reported burden among family caregivers caring for a relative at home.AimTo make a standardized translation of the English version of the BSFC into a Danish version and to report data quality in a group of Danish family caregivers caring for palliative care cancer patients.Material and methodThe BSFC was translated following WHO guidelines. Ninety family caregivers of end‐stage cancer patients were sent BSFC as part of a larger questionnaire. A total of 75 (83%) returned the questionnaire. Excluding responses with two or more missing items, 58 (64%) participants completed the BSFC.ResultsThe words ‘care’, ‘caregiving’ and ‘caregiver’ were a challenge to the translators. The item response was moderate with missing answers from 4.0 to 18.7%. For the total sum‐score, mean perceived burden amongst participants was low (mean score 23.56 of max 84.00). Cronbach's alpha was 0.91 and average inter‐item correlation 0.26. Item‐rest correlations ranged from −0.02 to 0.72 and were below 0.40 for seven items. High scores on the BSFC was statistically significantly correlated with the feeling of social isolation (ρ = −0.332, p = 0.013) and with the dyspnoea subscale of the EORTC‐QLQ‐15‐PAL (ρ = 0.322, p = 0.012) but not with poor self‐reported health (ρ = −0.036, p = 0.805).ConclusionThe BSFC was translated into Danish and showed problems with some data quality and validity measures. Hence, further psychometric testing on a larger population is needed before the scale can be recommended as a sum‐scale for scientific and clinical use.
Standing alone when life takes an unexpected turn: being a midlife next of kin of a relative who has suffered a myocardial infarction
Authors: Andersson Ewa Kazimiera , Borglin Gunilla , Sjöström‐Strand Annica , Willman Ania 
Published: October 2012

BackgroundSuffering a myocardial infarction (MI) is a life‐threatening event that impacts not only on the individual concerned but also on the next of kin. However, there seems to be a paucity of naturalistic inquiries that focus specifically on midlife next of kin and their experience of being close to a relative who has suffered anMI. This study aims to elucidate the experience of being a midlife next of kin of a relative who has suffered a myocardial infarction.MethodNine women and four men in midlife participated in the focused interviews, which were conducted and analysed during 2010/2011 using Lindseths and Norbergs' description of the phenomenological hermeneutical method.FindingsFour themes – Solely responsible, Lurking unease, Left out of the picture and Life on hold – formed the basis of the core themeStanding alone when life takes an unexpected turn. The core theme was interpreted as a central phenomenon encompassing the experience of being solely responsible for the well‐being of their relative and the family, thus putting their own life on hold. The core theme also reflected the next of kin's experience of being left out of the picture when it came to the relative's care before and after theMI.ConclusionThe next of kin's negative feelings of standing alone were further intensified by their experience of being left out of the picture by the healthcare professionals concerning their relative's care. As a cardiac nurse, it would seem essential to have knowledge about the experiences of next of kin in connection with a relative'sMIevent. Such knowledge can facilitate the planning and organisation of nursing care and at the same time address the next of kin's role in the recovery and rehabilitation process.
Anxiety and depression among nursing home residents without cognitive impairment
Authors: Drageset Jorunn , Eide Geir Egil , Ranhoff Anette Hylen 
Published: October 2012

BackgroundAnxiety and depression symptoms and their association with components of social support have been studied rarely among nursing home residents without cognitive impairment.AimTo investigate the prevalence of the diagnosis and symptoms of depression and anxiety and their combination, the use of antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs in nursing home residents without cognitive impairment and how attachment, nurturance, reassurance of worth and social integration are associated with anxiety and depression symptom scores.MethodA cross‐sectional observation study of 227 residents 65–102 years old with ≥6 months'; residence in 30 nursing homes. All had a Clinical Dementia Rating ≤0.5 and could converse. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Social Provision Scale were used in face‐to‐face interviews. Sociodemographic variables, medical diagnoses and drug information were obtained from medical records. Pearson's chi‐squared test and ordinal logistic regression were used to identify associations between anxiety and depression and the Social Provision Scale.ResultsTwice as many residents had symptoms of depression (n = 72, 32%), anxiety (n = 33, 14%) and both (n = 22, 10%) as the respective diagnoses in their medical records (depression diagnosis, n = 40, 18%; anxiety, n = 20, 9%; both, n = 12, 5%). Nevertheless, more were treated with antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs than having the respective diagnosis. The social support subdimensions reassurance of worth and social integration were correlated with less depressive symptoms. Attachment was correlated with less anxiety.ConclusionAnxiety and depression symptoms were common and often not diagnosed. Attachment was associated with less anxiety and reassurance of worth and social integration with less depression. Nursing staff should give support to improve attachment, reassurance of worth and social integration and closely observe residents without cognitive impairment for symptoms of anxiety and depression.
An optimization model for the vehicle routing problem with practical three‐dimensional loading constraints
Authors: Junqueira Leonardo , Oliveira José F. , Carravilla Maria Antónia , Morabito Reinaldo 
Published: October 2012

AbstractIn this paper, we present an integer linear programming model for the vehicle routing problem that considers real‐world three‐dimensional (3D) loading constraints. In this problem, a set of customers make requests of goods that are wrapped up in boxes, and the objective is to find minimum cost delivery routes for a set of identical vehicles that, departing from a depot, visit all customers only once and return to the depot. Apart from the usual 3D container loading constraints that ensure the boxes are packed completely inside the vehicles and the boxes do not overlap each other in each vehicle, the problem also takes into account constraints related to the vertical stability of the cargo, multidrop situations, and load‐bearing strength of the boxes (including fragility). Computational tests with the proposed model were performed using an optimization solver embedded into a modeling language. The results validate the model and show that it is only able to handle problems of a moderate size. However, this model will be useful to motivate other researchers to explore approximate solution approaches to solve this problem, such as decomposition methods, relaxation methods, heuristics, among others, as well as to treat other variants of the problem, such as when time windows or a heterogeneous fleet are present, among others.
Investing Today or Tomorrow? An Experimental Approach to Farmers’ Decision Behaviour
Authors: Maart‐Noelck Syster C. , Musshoff Oliver 
Published: October 2012

AbstractAn understanding of farmers’ decision‐making behaviour is important for adequate forecasts as well as policy recommendations regarding structural changes. We experimentally analyse the investment behaviour of real farmers. The observed investment decisions are contrasted with theoretical benchmarks from classical investment theory and the real options approach. Our results show that both theories cannot exactly explain investment behaviour. However, farmers learn from former investment decisions and do consider the value of waiting over time.
Cervical tumoral calcinosis with secondary hyperparathyroidism in a chronic hemodialysis patient
Authors: Sunder Sham , Verma Himanshu , Venkataramanan Krishnamoorthy 
Published: October 2012

AbstractTumoral calcinosis is an uncommon and severe complication of chronic renal failure. It is generally associated with the presence of a high‐serum calcium‐and‐phosphorus product. We report here a case of a patient on maintenance hemodialysis who presented with progressively increasing, solitary, tumor‐like swelling over the nape of the neck. A 50‐year‐old female on thrice weekly maintenance hemodialysis for the last 3 years presented with a small swelling over the nape of the neck that had been progressively increasing over the last 1 year to cricket ball size. The patient was investigated and diagnosed as having tumoral calcinosis. The metastatic calcification occurring in the patient was most likely related to high calcium × phosphate product with coexistent secondary hyperparathyroidism possibly aggravated by vitamin D therapy. The patient was treated with withdrawal of vitamin D therapy, strict control of serum phosphate levels with noncalcemic phosphate binders, and subtotal parathyroidectomy. The neck swelling started decreasing in size after 2 months of parathyroidectomy and there was marked clinical improvement with drop in serum parathormone levels, over a period of 6 months. After 2 years of parathyroidectomy, the neck swelling again started increasing in size with increase in serum parathormone levels. The patient was treated with cinacalcet and the neck swelling gradually decreased in size along with control of serum parathormone and phosphate levels.
Promoting healthy ageing: Development of the Healthy Ageing Quiz
Authors: Cyarto Elizabeth V , Dow Briony , Vrantsidis Freda , Meyer Claudia 
Published: October 2012

Aim:  The aim of this study was to develop the evidence‐based Healthy Ageing Quiz (HAQ).Methods:  Phase 1 activities (focus groups with 33 older adults, literature review and discussion with an advisory panel) informed the development of a draft HAQ. Phase 2 involved assessing the quiz's psychometric properties and collecting respondent feedback.Results:  Phase 1 provided broad topics for formulating quiz questions. In Phase 2, 297 and 122 respondents returned a quiz for validity and reliability testing respectively (over 70% response rate). The HAQ was found to be both valid (r =−0.7 to 0.6) and reliable (r = 0.8).Conclusions:  The development of the HAQ was guided by the literature and input from older people and experts in healthy ageing. The quiz showed good psychometric properties and was acceptable to respondents. It allows older adults and people approaching old age to evaluate their current lifestyle in order to maximise their chances of ageing well.
Considering relocation to a retirement village: Predictors from a community sample
Authors: Crisp Dimity A , Windsor Tim D , Anstey Kaarin J , Butterworth Peter 
Published: October 2012

AimTo identify characteristics distinguishing older adults who have considered relocation to a retirement village in the future from those who have not.MethodCommunity‐living residents (n = 517), aged 55 to 94, randomly selected from the Australian Capital Territory completed a postal survey.ResultsConsistent with prior research, the majority of respondents had not considered relocation to a retirement village. Retired persons, those aged 55–64 years, and persons reporting sufficient financial resources, poorer physical health and poorer current neighbourhood cohesion were most likely to have considered future relocation.ConclusionsThe identification of factors characterising older adults seeking retirement village housing in the future is important in developing an understanding of the needs and expectations of the older population, and may allow aged care providers to better target the development of services to population needs (e.g. health‐care supports). Further investigation into the specific expectations of the 55–64 year cohort is required.
Who should perform the ultrasound examinations in gynaecology?
Authors: Roberts Mark , Hughes Tracey 
Published: October 2012

Key contentThis review debates the merits of who should perform the ultrasound examinations in gynaecology. In favour of clinicians (gynaecologists):

Gynaecologists, with a captive population, have a vested interest in learning ultrasound examination of the pelvis.
Basic ultrasound has been embedded in the core RCOG curriculum and the new RCOG training module in gynaecology has been launched.
With the ideals of ‘point‐of‐care’ investigation and ‘one stop’ assessment, future service delivery in gynaecological ultrasound could rely largely on gynaecologists.
In favour of radiology staff (radiologists and sonographers):

Gynaecological ultrasound is more than an adjunct to bimanual examination.
There is a concern that relocation of ultrasound into gynaecology clinics and wards may lead to the loss of the systematic approach seen in radiology departments, which covers patient safety, maintenance of equipment, reporting and archiving.
If radiologists are disenfranchised then the risk is loss of specialist radiology support when a vaginal scan does not give all the answers.
Learning objectives

To be aware of training programmes in gynaecological ultrasound.

To be familiar with appropriate methods of record keeping in ultrasound examination.

To understand quality assurance in delivery of an ultrasound service.

To understand the complementary nature of both a vaginal and a transabdominal pelvic ultrasound scan.

Ethical issues

Operators in gynaecological ultrasound should be appropriately trained, adequately resourced and should work within their level of competence.