bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Mineralocorticoid receptor blockade prevents vascular remodelling in a rodent model of type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Silva Marcondes Alves B. , Cau Stefany Bruno A. , Lopes Rheure Alves M. , Manzato Carla P. , Neves Karla B. , Bruder-Nascimento Thiago , Mestriner Fabiola Leslie Antunes C. , Montezano Augusto C. , Cat Aurelie Nguyen Dinh , Touyz Rhian M. , Tostes Rita C. 
Published: May 2015

Mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs), which are activated by mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids, actively participate in mechanisms that affect the structure and function of blood vessels. Although experimental and clinical evidence shows that vascular damage in diabetes is associated with structural alterations in large and small arteries, the role of MR in this process needs further studies. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that MR, through redox-sensitive mechanisms, plays a role in diabetes-associated vascular remodelling. Male, 12–14-weeks-old db/db mice, a model of type 2 diabetes and their non-diabetic counterpart controls (db/+) were treated with spironolactone (MR antagonist, 50 mg/kg/day) or vehicle for 6 weeks. Spironolactone treatment did not affect blood pressure, fasting glucose levels or weight gain, but increased serum potassium and total cholesterol in both, diabetic and control mice. In addition, spironolactone significantly reduced serum insulin levels, but not aldosterone levels in diabetic mice. Insulin sensitivity, evaluated by the HOMA (homoeostatic model assessment)-index, was improved in spironolactone-treated diabetic mice. Mesenteric resistance arteries from vehicle-treated db/db mice exhibited inward hypertrophic remodelling, increased number of smooth muscle cells and increased vascular stiffness. These structural changes, determined by morphometric analysis and with a myography for pressurized arteries, were prevented by spironolactone treatment. Arteries from vehicle-treated db/db mice also exhibited augmented collagen content, determined by Picrosirius Red staining and Western blotting, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, determined by dihydroethidium (DHE) fluorescence, as well as increased expression of NAD(P)H oxidases 1 and 4 and increased activity of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Spironolactone treatment prevented all these changes, indicating that MR importantly contributes to diabetes-associated vascular dysfunction by inducing oxidative stress and by increasing the activity of redox-sensitive proteins.
Discovery of a new group of double-periodic RR Lyrae stars in the OGLE-IV photometry
Authors: Netzel H. , Smolec R. , Dziembowski W. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
We report the discovery of a new group of double-periodic RR Lyrae stars from the analysis of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment - IV (OGLE-IV) Galactic bulge photometry. In 11 stars identified in the OGLE catalogue as first overtone pulsators (RRc stars), we detect additional longer period variability of low amplitude, in the mmag regime. One additional star of the same type is identified in a published analysis of the Kepler space photometry. The period ratio between the shorter first overtone period and a new, longer period lies in a narrow range around 0.686. Thus, the additional period is longer than the expected period of the undetected radial fundamental mode. The obvious conclusion that addition periodicity corresponds to a gravity or a mixed mode faces difficulties, however.
An Infectious Diseases Physician-Led Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at a Small Community Hospital Associated With Improved Susceptibility Patterns and Cost-Savings After the First Year
Authors: Day Shandra R. , Smith Dennis , Harris Karen , Cox Heather L. , Mathers Amy J. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
The importance of antimicrobial stewardship is increasingly recognized, yet data from community hospitals are limited. Despite an initially low acceptance rate, an Infectious Diseases physician-led program at a 70-bed rural hospital was associated with a 42% decrease in anti-infective expenditures and susceptibility improvement in Pseudomonas aeruginosa over 3 years.
Management of body stuffers presenting to the emergency department
Authors: Yamamoto Takahiro , Malavasi Elisa , Archer John R.H. , Dargan Paul I. , Wood David M. 
Published: May 2015

Objective
The aim of this study was to establish a management protocol for body stuffers presenting to the emergency department.

Methods
This is a retrospective observational case series of patients presenting to the emergency department of a large inner-city hospital as ‘body stuffers’ during the period between 1 January 2006 and 31 October 2011, irrespective of the type of drug ingested. We reviewed demographic data, ingestion characteristics, clinical progress and outcome.

Results
A total of 126 patients were included in the study, with a mean age of 31±8.10 years (range 15–58 years), among whom 106 were male (84%). Drugs ingested were as follows: heroin (n=61, 48%), cocaine (n=58, 46%), other drugs (n=20, 16%) and unknown (n=10, 8%). Of the patients, 23 (18%) ingested more than one drug. At presentation, 96 had features of drug toxicity. The presence of depressant drug toxidrome was more commonly observed among heroin users, but stimulant drug toxidromes were seen across all groups. Of the patients, 12 developed changes in clinical state, with a mean time to development of symptoms of 2 h 50 min±1 h 39 min (range from 1 h 0 min to 5 h 36 min). Abdominal radiography showed the presence of foreign bodies in 8% of the tests performed, and packets were recovered from one patient who underwent gut decontamination.

Conclusion
Patients developed new or worsening features of drug toxicity within 6 h of presentation. Toxidromes observed are often not drug/class specific, and treatment including gut decontamination and radiography do not aid in expediting discharge. We propose an observation period of 6 h from the time of admission as the time required if the patient is asymptomatic or there is resolution of presenting signs and symptoms.
A case management intervention targeted to reduce healthcare consumption for frequent Emergency Department visitors: results from an adaptive randomized trial
Authors: Edgren Gustaf , Anderson Jacqueline , Dolk Anders , Torgerson Jarl , Nyberg Svante , Skau Tommy , Forsberg Birger C. , Werr Joachim , Öhlen Gunnar 
Published: May 2015

Background
A small group of frequent visitors to Emergency Departments accounts for a disproportionally large fraction of healthcare consumption including unplanned hospitalizations and overall healthcare costs. In response, several case and disease management programs aimed at reducing healthcare consumption in this group have been tested; however, results vary widely.

Objectives
To investigate whether a telephone-based, nurse-led case management intervention can reduce healthcare consumption for frequent Emergency Department visitors in a large-scale setup.

Methods
A total of 12 181 frequent Emergency Department users in three counties in Sweden were randomized using Zelen’s design or a traditional randomized design to receive either a nurse-led case management intervention or no intervention, and were followed for healthcare consumption for up to 2 years.

Results
The traditional design showed an overall 12% (95% confidence interval 4–19%) decreased rate of hospitalization, which was mostly driven by effects in the last year. Similar results were achieved in the Zelen studies, with a significant reduction in hospitalization in the last year, but mixed results in the early development of the project.

Conclusion
Our study provides evidence that a carefully designed telephone-based intervention with accurate and systematic patient selection and appropriate staff training in a centralized setup can lead to significant decreases in healthcare consumption and costs. Further, our results also show that the effects are sensitive to the delivery model chosen.
Diagnosis of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm: a multicentre cohort study
Authors: Metcalfe David , Sugand Kapil , Thrumurthy Sri G. , Thompson Matthew M. , Holt Peter J. , Karthikesalingam Alan Prasanna 
Published: May 2015

Objective
The aim of this study was to describe the presentation of patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) and identify factors contributing toward misdiagnosis.

Methods
This was an observational study of cases with a final diagnosis of rAAA assessed at nine Emergency Departments and managed at one of two regional vascular centres in the UK.

Results
Eighty-five consecutive cases were included. Seventeen [20.0%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 11.5–28.5%] patients reported important symptoms up to 3 weeks before index presentation. In the Emergency Department, most patients complained of abdominal and/or back pain, seven (8.2%, 95% CI 2.4–14.0%) additionally reported atypical pain and ten (11.8%, 95% CI 4.9–18.7%) denied pain altogether. Hypotension (36.5%, 95% CI 26.3–46.7%), tachycardia (18.8%, 95% CI 10.5–27.1%) and syncope (36.5%, 95% CI 26.3–46.7%) were documented in a minority of cases. Distracting symptoms were present in 33 (38.8%, 95% CI 28.4–49.2%) patients. The median time to diagnosis was 17.5 min (range immediate–12 days), and 21 (25.6%, 95% CI 16.3–34.9%) patients were misdiagnosed during clinical assessment.

Conclusion
The classical signs and symptoms or rAAA are not always present and patients frequently show additional features that may confound the diagnosis. A high level of suspicion should be adopted for rAAA alongside a low threshold for immediate computed tomography. Further research is required to develop an objective clinical risk score or predictive tool for characterizing patients at risk.
A tale of two cohorts: identifying differences in group work perceptions
Authors: Prokofieva Maria , Jackling Beverley , Natoli Riccardo 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate group work perceptions of international and domestic accounting students. Although prior studies have demonstrated differences between domestic and international students in terms of their generic skill development, the present study explores this development via the use of a group work assessment task and offers practical suggestions for accounting instructors.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper utilises non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney) and a thematic analysis to identify differences between the two accounting student cohorts.

Findings
– The findings reveal that international accounting students were more optimistic about participating in group work and enjoyed higher levels of perceived generic skill development arising from the group work activity. However, domestic students gained more in terms of discipline-specific content knowledge while language barriers between the two cohorts were viewed as an obstacle to effective group work.

Research limitations/implications
– This study is based on the data collected from a single university and would benefit with replication at other institutions. For accounting educators of similar cohorts, suggestions are given as to how group work activities can be incorporated into an effective teaching practice.

Originality/value
– The study contributes to the existing literature by examining differences between international and domestic accounting students’ attitudes of group work and their perceived generic skill development.
Islamic banking services adoption as a new banking restructure
Authors: Jamshidi Dariyoush , Hussin Nazimah , Lai Wan Hooi 
Published: May 2015

Purpose– This study aims to identify the main influential factors of Islamic banking services adoption in Malaysia. Islamic banking as a new banking method represents its multiple services around the world. Different groups of bank customers use these services in their daily financing and banking activities. However, the usage and adoption rate of these services in Malaysia seems to be under expected level.Design/methodology/approach– Therefore, this study attempts to discover the main influential factors of Islamic banking services adoption in Malaysia as a country with the dual banking system.Findings– The study concluded that perceived attributes of innovation, namely, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and finally observability of Islamic banking services with customers’ desire will influence them to use these novel banking services.Originality/value– As discussed in the previous part of this study, the usage rate of Islamic banking services has not achieved the expected rate by customers. Consequently, it is crucial to focus on finding the determinant factors that are able to increase the acceptance as well as usage of these services among bank consumers. This information would afford researchers as well as banking service providers a better understanding of how to facilitate future adoption of this Islamic facility.
Evaluating effects of mobile CRM on employees’ performance
Authors: Kim Changsu , Lee In-Seok , Wang Tao , Mirusmonov Mirsobit 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine employees’ personal performance after mobile customer relationship management (m-CRM) use based on an updated model of information system (IS) success. The authors also investigate whether personal performance of employees varies according to the period of m-CRM use.

Design/methodology/approach
– Bootstrapping is employed to analyze data collected from a survey of firms using m-CRM. The survey targeted executives and staff members in departments related to the development and application of m-CRM systems.

Findings
– The results indicate that some of the factors had no significant effect on employees’ personal performance through employee satisfaction and system use as mediators. Overall, however, the three types of quality had significant effects on employees’ personal performance through employee satisfaction and system use.

Practical implications
– The study provides a number of strategies that managers or executives might deploy within organizations to improve employees’ personal performance through the implementation of m-CRM systems. It is of paramount importance for managers or executives to develop m-CRM systems that provide high-quality information and service including sufficient customer-based analysis, up-to-date customer information, barrier-free design and personalized service.

Originality/value
– It is the first study to empirically test the role of m-CRM characteristics in predicting employees’ personal performance. This study will not only add contribution to the DeLone and McLean’s theory, but also contribute to the IS literature in IS success. The findings will also provide useful insights for guiding managers or executives in formulating and executing effective strategies to enhance the level of m-CRM use and employee satisfaction which in turn promote personal performance.
Lean principles and simulation optimization for emergency department layout design
Authors: Wang Teng-Kuan , Yang Taho , Yang Chih-Yao , Chan Felix T.S. 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to use lean principles and simulation optimization on solving a combined hospital emergency department (ED) layout design and staff assignment problem.

Design/methodology/approach
– This study is based on value stream mapping for the design and analysis of the ED. Subsequently, the authors investigate cellular manufacturing design, which addresses the decisions of continuous steps in a cell simultaneously and considers the optimal staff assignment. A simulation based on the case study is used for these methodologies. Simulation optimization is then used to optimize the staff assignments, minimize the waiting time and maximize the service level.

Findings
– The linear layout outperformed in both waiting time and service level. The patients’ average waiting time is reduced from 78 to 38 minutes. The service level increased from 54.86 to 88.55 percent. Moreover, the number of nurses was reduced from nine to six.

Research limitations/implications
– First, the tests for model accuracy were performed using the actual arrival rate; however, seasonal variation should be reflected. Second, the staffing levels varied were not tracked. Third, the accuracy of individual patient treatment paths can be dynamic. Fourth, the 25 percent of delays in transferring a patient to an inpatient bed will be discussed in future studies.

Practical implications
– A practical case is adopted for empirical illustrations.

Originality/value
– The proposed methodology innovatively solved a practical application and the results are promising.
Analyzing technological convergence trends in a business ecosystem
Authors: Suh Jungwoo , Sohn So Young 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for understanding core technological competencies and identifying the trends on the technological convergence of a business ecosystem using the patent information of leading firms in the system.

Design/methodology/approach
– The proposed framework is composed of two steps: time-sequential text clustering analysis for comprehending changes in general technological fields and association rule analysis for identifying the trends of convergences in each field. The authors applied the proposed framework to the patents applied to United States Patent Trademark Office by Samsung Electronics, a market leader of the electronics industry, during the period from 2000 to 2011.

Findings
– In the sequential text clustering analysis, trends of 14 technological fields such as data storage medium and data processing, mobile, lights and heats and memory are identified. Moreover, changes of technological convergence in each field are identified using association rule analysis. For instance, in the case of technologies related to lights and heats, convergences occurred between radio transmission systems and modulated-carrier systems during the period from 2000 to 2001. However, recent convergences appeared between technologies regarding controlling lights and liquid crystal materials since 2008.

Originality/value
– Utilization of the framework will suggest new business opportunities to SMEs in a business ecosystem by identifying the trends of technological convergences.
The bottom-up formation and maintenance of a Twitter community
Authors: Ch'ng Eugene 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the formation, maintenance and disintegration of a fringe Twitter community in order to understand if offline community structure applies to online communities.

Design/methodology/approach
– The research adopted Big Data methodological approaches in tracking user-generated contents over a series of months and mapped online Twitter interactions as a multimodal, longitudinal “social information landscape”. Centrality measures were employed to gauge the importance of particular user nodes within the complete network and time-series analysis were used to track ego centralities in order to see if this particular online communities were maintained by specific egos.

Findings
– The case study shows that communities with distinct boundaries and memberships can form and exist within Twitter’s limited user content and sequential policies, which unlike other social media services, do not support formal groups, demonstrating the resilience of desperate online users when their ideology overcome social media limitations. Analysis in this paper using social networks approaches also reveals that communities are formed and maintained from the bottom-up.

Research limitations/implications
– The research data is based on a particular data set which occurred within a specific time and space. However, due to the rapid, polarising group behaviour, growth, disintegration and decline of the online community, the data set presents a “laboratory” case from which many other online community can be compared with. It is highly possible that the case can be generalised to a broader range of communities and from which online community theories can be proved/disproved.

Practical implications
– The paper showed that particular group of egos with high activities, if removed, could entirely break the cohesiveness of the community. Conversely, strengthening such egos will reinforce the community strength. The questions mooted within the paper and the methodology outlined can potentially be applied in a variety of social science research areas. The contribution to the understanding of a complex social and political arena, as outlined in the paper, is a key example of such an application within an increasingly strategic research area – and this will surely be applied and developed further by the computer science and security community.

Originality/value
– The majority of researches that cover these domains have not focused on communities that are multimodal and longitudinal. This is mainly due to the challenges associated with the collection and analysis of continuous data sets that have high volume and velocity. Such data sets are therefore unexploited with regards to cyber-community research.
Calculating NWoW office space with the PACT model
Authors: De Bruyne Evi , Beijer Marion 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the working of the PACT calculation model, a tool to determine office space dimensions. New ways of working (NWoW) seem to have become a fixed value in facility management (FM) practice in The Netherlands today. Stimulated by new technological possibilities, companies are rethinking their office environments to make workplaces more flexible and their use “activity related”. However, this requires a different approach to quantify the needed space and determine the types of workplaces to fit organizations’ processes. The PLaces and ACTivities (PACT) calculation model allows (facility) managers to gain an insight in the number and type of spaces needed, modulated by different scenarios and fitting to the organization and its work processes.

Design/methodology/approach
– This article mainly aims to present the PACT model: an office space calculation tool. A case study is presented and calculated to compare an actual work environment of an organization to the PACT calculated results. As input for the model, data were used that were available before the work environment changes in 2007. Additionally, one scenario of a different workplace use is calculated which helped to visualize the accuracy and validity of the model.

Findings
– When comparing the post hoc PACT calculated space to the real-life work environment, the number of calculated workplaces and the ratio to the number of employees do not seem to differ strongly. However, substantially less meeting space is calculated by the model, and some elements might require more testing to verify it completely. The scenario calculation shows that the model output changes to adapt to a more flexible work process.

Originality/value
– Even though calculation and simulation models for office space are available, the described model puts together many different elements to provide a more holistic calculation. Elements like, for instance, absence, activities and occupational choices are combined.