bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Physiological impairment in mild COPD
Authors: O'Donnell Denis E. , Neder J. Alberto , Elbehairy Amany F. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and often progressive inflammatory disease of the airways, alveoli and microvasculature that is both preventable and treatable. It is well established that smokers with mild airway obstruction, as spirometrically defined, represent the vast majority of patients with COPD, yet this population has not been extensively studied. An insidious preclinical course means that mild COPD is both underdiagnosed and undertreated. In this context, recent studies have confirmed that even patients with mild COPD can have extensive physiological impairment, which contributes to poor perceived health status compared with non‐smoking healthy controls. This review describes the heterogeneous pathophysiology that can exist in COPD patients with only mild airway obstruction on spirometry. It exposes the compensatory adaptations that develop in such patients to ensure that the respiratory system fulfils its primary task of maintaining adequate pulmonary gas exchange for the prevailing metabolic demand. It demonstrates that adaptations such as increased inspiratory neural drive to the diaphragm due to combined effects of increased mechanical loading and chemostimulation underscore the increased dyspnoea and exercise intolerance in this population. Finally, based on available evidence, we present what we believe is a sound physiological rationale for earlier diagnosis in this population.
Learning by simulation in prehospital emergency care – an integrative literature review
Authors: Abelsson Anna , Rystedt Ingrid , Suserud Björn‐Ove , Lindwall Lillemor 
Published: September 2015

BackgroundAcquiring knowledge and experience on high‐energy trauma is often difficult due to infrequent exposure. This creates a need for training which is specifically tailored for complex prehospital conditions. Simulation provides an opportunity for ambulance nurses to focus on the actual problems in clinical practice and to develop knowledge regarding trauma care. The aim of this study was to describe what ambulance nurses and paramedics in prehospital emergency care perceive as important for learning when participating in simulation exercises.MethodsAn integrative literature review was carried out. Criteria for inclusion were primary qualitative and quantitative studies, where research participants were ambulance nurses or paramedics, working within prehospital care settings, and where the research interventions involved simulation.ResultsIt was perceived important for the ambulance nurses' learning that scenarios were advanced and possible to simulate repeatedly. The repetitions contributed to increase the level of experience, which in turn improved the patients care. Moreover, realism in the simulation and being able to interact and communicate with the patient were perceived as important aspects, as was debriefing, which enabled the enhancement of knowledge and skills. The result is presented in the following categories: To gain experience, To gain practice and To be strengthened by others.ConclusionLearning through simulation does not require years of exposure to accident scenes. The simulated learning is enhanced by realistic, stressful scenarios where ambulance nurses interact with the patients. In this study, being able to communicate with the patient was highlighted as a positive contribution to learning. However, this has seldom been mentioned in a previous research on simulation. Debriefing is important for learning as it enables scrutiny of one's actions and thereby the possibility to improve and adjust one's caring. The effect of simulation exercises is important on patient outcome.
TLR‐7 and ‐9 Stimulation of Peripheral Blood B Cells Indicate Altered TLR Signalling in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome Patients by Increased Secretion of Cytokines
Authors: Karlsen M. , Jonsson R. , Brun J. G. , Appel S. , Hansen T. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractPrimary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease characterised by lymphocytic infiltrations in the exocrine glands, resulting in destruction of salivary and lacrimal glands. B cells have an important role in the disease, as detection of autoantibodies against SSA/Ro or SSB/La is one of the diagnostic criteria, being found in a majority of the patients. Toll‐like receptors (TLR) are pattern recognition receptors. TLR‐7 and ‐9 are found in endosomes and bind microbial nucleic acids. We have previously shown that pSS patients and healthy controls have similar expression pattern of TLR‐7 and ‐9 in various B‐cell populations. In this study we further analysed the responsiveness of B cells upon TLR stimulation. B cells isolated from peripheral blood of 21 pSS patients and 18 healthy controls were stimulated with TLR‐7 and ‐9 ligands for 24 h before being analysed for the expression of certain surface markers and intracellular cytokine levels by flow cytometry. Secreted cytokines were measured by a multiplex cytokine assay. Patients with pSS had more naïve and less preswitched memory B cells compared to controls in unstimulated as well as via TLR‐7 stimulated cells. Unstimulated and via TLR‐7 stimulated B cells from pSS patients also had fewer IL‐10+ preswitched memory B cells. Moreover, TLR‐7 and ‐9 stimulated B cells of pSS patients secreted increased amounts of several cytokines. B cells of pSS patients show a different responsiveness upon stimulation of TLR‐7 and ‐9 compared to controls.
Mannan Derivatives Instruct Dendritic Cells to Induce Th1/Th2 Cells Polarization via Differential Mitogen‐Activated Protein Kinase Activation
Authors: Tong C. , Cui Z. , Sun X. , Lei L. , Feng X. , Sun C. , Gu J. , Han W. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractMannan derived from fungal cell walls have potential uses as immunomodulating agents and vaccine adjuvants. Immunization with antigen conjugated to oxidized mannan (OM) or reduced mannan (RM) have induced differential immune responses in mice. Yet, the adjuvant effect and differences in molecular profiles of OM and RM on APCs is unresolved. Here, we investigated the response of mouse bone marrow‐derived DCs to OM and RM. OM and RM stimulated DCs to produce differential Th1/Th2‐inducing cytokines in vitro. OM and RM‐activated DCs stimulated allogeneic T‐cell Th1 and Th2 polarization reaction. OM instruct DCs to stimulate Th1 responses via IL‐12p70 production, which depends on the phosphorylation of p38, RM barely induce IL‐12p70, but IL‐10 and IL‐4, and magnitude of ERK phosphorylation, which results in a Th2 bias. These findings indicate that OM and RM were potent adjuvant capable of directly initiating DC activation Th1 and Th2 polarization respectively.
Apologia pro Vita‐Fabula Sua: Defending Narrativity and How We Make Sense of Our Lives
Authors: Chen Melvin 
Published: September 2015

ABSTRACTThis paper attempts to provide a defence for a narrative theory of the self in the face of criticisms from the anti‐narrative camp. It begins by addressing certain uncontroversial premises that both pro‐ and the anti‐narrative camps might be thought to agree on: the status of humans as homo significans or meaning‐makers, the natural form‐finding tendency and certain desiderata for significance and value that we possess, and the raw material of life and its constituents that we proceed from. Whereas the pro‐narrative camp seeks to provide the narrative theory of the self as a valid argument for how we proceed from the raw material of life and undifferentiated experience and these desiderata and tendencies (i.e.: the premises) to a conception of both selfhood and moral responsibility (i.e.: the conclusion), the anti‐narrative camp holds the conclusion to be false and the narrative theory of the self to be invalid. The Parfitian view holds the conception of the self to be ultimately false, whereas the Strawsonian view holds both the conception of the self and the conception of moral responsibility to be ultimately false. The grounds they provide, however, tend to be metaphysical in nature, demonstrating that they have fundamentally misunderstood how the narrative theory of the self functions as a semantic thesis. I will demonstrate certain defects in the metaphysical arguments that anti‐narrativists like Parfit and Strawson have made against what is essentially a semantic thesis about how we make sense of our lives. I will also attempt to shore up the semantic thesis in other relevant aspects.
Rilkean Memory
Authors: Rowlands Mark 
Published: September 2015

AbstractThis paper identifies a form of remembering sufficiently overlooked that it has not yet been dignified with a name. I shall christen it Rilkean Memory. This form of memory is, typically, embodied and embedded. It is a form of involuntary, autobiographical memory that is neither implicit nor explicit, neither declarative nor procedural, neither episodic nor semantic, and not Freudian. While a discussion of the importance of Rilkean memory lies beyond the scope of this paper, I shall try to show that admitting Rilkean memory into our ontology does point us in the direction of a very different conception of the mind and mental processes.
Radical Predictive Processing
Authors: Clark Andy 
Published: September 2015

AbstractRecent work in computational and cognitive neuroscience depicts the brain as an ever‐active prediction machine: an inner engine continuously striving to anticipate the incoming sensory barrage. I briefly introduce this class of models before contrasting two ways of understanding the implied vision of mind. One way (Conservative Predictive Processing) depicts the predictive mind as an insulated inner arena populated by representations so rich and reconstructive as to enable the organism to ‘throw away the world’. The other (Radical Predictive Processing) stresses the use of fast and frugal, action‐involving solutions of the kind highlighted by much work in robotics and embodied cognition. But it goes further, by showing how predictive schemes can combine frugal and more knowledge‐intensive strategies, switching between them fluently and continuously as task and context dictate. I end by exploring some parallels with work in enactivism, and by noting a certain ambivalence concerning internal representations and their role in the predictive mind.
Overly Enactive Imagination? Radically Re‐Imagining Imagining
Authors: Hutto Daniel D. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractA certain philosophical frame of mind holds that contentless imaginings are unimaginable, “inconceivable” (Shapiro , p. 214) ‐ that it is simply not possible to imagine acts of imagining in the absence of representational content. Against this, this paper argues that there is no naturalistically respectable way to rule out the possibility of contentless imaginings on purely analytic or conceptual grounds. Moreover, agreeing with Langland‐Hassan (2015), it defends the view that the best way to understand the content and correctness conditions of non‐basic, hybrid imaginative attitudes is to assume that basic sensory imaginings are enlisted to play many different kinds of cognitive roles depending on the surrounding contentful attitudes that imaginers adopt toward them. Finally, it argues that when it comes to understanding how pure, basic sensory imaginings do their explanatorily important work there is every reason to focus on the properties of such imaginings that enable appropriate interactions and exactly no reason for thinking that representational contents are amongst those properties.
Skin characteristics: normative data for elasticity, erythema, melanin, and thickness at 16 different anatomical locations
Authors: Nedelec B. , Forget N. J. , Hurtubise T. , Cimino S. , de Muszka F. , Legault A. , Liu W. L. , de Oliveira A. , Calva V. , Correa J. A. 
Published: September 2015

BackgroundThe clinical use of non‐invasive instrumentation to evaluate skin characteristics for diagnostic purposes and to evaluate treatment outcomes has become more prevalent. The purpose of this study was to generate normative data for skin elasticity, erythema (vascularity), melanin (pigmentation), and thickness across a broad age range at a wide variety of anatomical locations using the Cutometer® (6 mm probe), Mexameter®, and high‐frequency ultrasound in a healthy adult sample.MethodsWe measured skin characteristics of 241 healthy participants who were stratified according to age and gender. Sixteen different anatomical locations were measured using the Cutometer® for maximum skin deformation, gross elasticity, and biological elasticity, the Mexameter® for erythema and melanin, and high‐frequency ultrasound for skin thickness. Standardized measurement procedures were applied for all participants.ResultsThe means and standard deviations for each measured skin characteristic for females and males across five different age groups (20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, and 70–85 years old) are presented. As previously described, there were variations in skin characteristics across age groups, anatomical locations, and between females and males highlighting the need to use site specific, age and gender matched data when comparing skin characteristics.ConclusionThe reported data provides normative data stratified by anatomical location, age, and gender that can be used by clinicians and researchers to objectively determine whether patients' skin characteristics vary significantly from healthy subjects.
Qualitative GIS: An Open Framework Using SpatiaLite and Open Source GIS
Authors: Garnett Ryan , Kanaroglou Pavlos 
Published: September 2015

AbstractQualitative GIS is a relatively new methodological approach for analyzing and visualizing qualitative data within a geographic context. Qualitative data can take many forms, including interviews, documents, photographs, and audio and video clips. Content analysis for example, is an effective qualitative method for analyzing text‐based data. We argue that basic concepts, (i.e. how to store data, data requirements, visualization techniques, and modes of analysis) within qualitative GIS have not been adequately defined, rendering difficult the replication of work performed and hindering the development of incremental knowledge in the field. Database management systems provide a means for storing, managing, and analyzing qualitative GIS data. A standardized and well‐designed open source database system provides a mechanism for qualitative GIS projects, ensuring consistency and project replication. Qualitative GIS data stored in a database allows for additional visualization options, such as geographic word clouds. To demonstrate the concepts we performed content analysis on Master Transportation Plans from Calgary and Montreal using SpatiaLite, an open source database system. We developed Structured Query Language (SQL) queries to generate and populate groups and theme tables within the SpatiaLite database. We present our database design and queries in the hopes that they will help others conducting qualitative GIS research.
Acute respiratory infection case definitions for young children: a systematic review of community‐based epidemiologic studies in South Asia
Authors: Roth Daniel E. , Gaffey Michelle F. , Smith‐Romero Evelyn , Fitzpatrick Tiffany , Morris Shaun K. 
Published: September 2015

AbstractObjectiveTo explore the variability in childhood acute respiratory infection case definitions for research in low‐income settings where there is limited access to laboratory or radiologic investigations.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of community‐based, longitudinal studies in South Asia published from January 1990 to August 2013, in which childhood acute respiratory infection outcomes were reported. Case definitions were classified by their label (e.g. pneumonia, acute lower respiratory infection) and clinical content ‘signatures’ (array of clinical features that would be always present, conditionally present or always absent among cases). Case definition heterogeneity was primarily assessed by the number of unique case definitions overall and by label. We also compared case definition‐specific acute respiratory infection incidence rates for studies reporting incidence rates for multiple case definitions.ResultsIn 56 eligible studies, we found 124 acute respiratory infection case definitions. Of 90 case definitions for which clinical content was explicitly defined, 66 (73%) were unique. There was a high degree of content heterogeneity among case definitions with the same label, and some content signatures were assigned multiple labels. Within studies for which incidence rates were reported for multiple case definitions, variation in content was always associated with a change in incidence rate, even when the content differed by a single clinical feature.ConclusionThere has been a wide variability in case definition label and content combinations to define acute upper and lower respiratory infections in children in community‐based studies in South Asia over the past two decades. These inconsistencies have important implications for the synthesis and translation of knowledge regarding the prevention and treatment of childhood acute respiratory infection.
The wheat transcription factor TaGAMyb recruits histone acetyltransferase and activates the expression of a high‐molecular‐weight glutenin subunit gene
Authors: Guo Weiwei , Yang Hua , Liu Yongqiang , Gao Yujiao , Ni Zhongfu , Peng Huiru , Xin Mingming , Hu Zhaorong , Sun Qixin , Yao Yingyin 
Published: September 2015

SummaryGlutenin proteins in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) flour confer unique viscoelastic properties to dough products and, therefore, the concentration and composition of the glutenin proteins determine its end‐use value. However, the mechanisms governing the glutenin gene expression remain elusive. In this study, we report that wheat TaGAMyb activates the high‐molecular‐weight glutenin subunit genes (TaGLU) through recruiting the histone acetyltransferase GCN5. By sequencing the promoters of TaGLU‐1 genes from 40 modern wheat cultivars, we identified eight types of TaGAMyb binding motifs and verified these by electrophoretic mobility shift assays. The number of TaGAMyb binding motifs in TaGLU‐1 genes is correlated with the abundance of glutenin in different cultivars. Chromatin immunoprecipitation plus polymerase chain reaction (ChIP‐PCR) analysis reveals that TaGCN5 directly targets the promoters of TaGLU‐1 genes in wheat endosperm. We find that TaGAMyb physically interacts with the wheat histone acetyltransferase TaGCN5 and also interacts with Arabidopsis thaliana AtGCN5. TaGAMyb ectopically expressed in Arabidopsis binds to the TaGLU‐1Dy promoter on a TaGLU‐1Dy transgene and activates its expression. AtGCN5 also targets the TaGLU‐1Dy transgene and is involved in the establishment of acetylation at H3K9 and H3K14. These results demonstrate that TaGAMyb plays a dual role in activating expression of glutenin gene by directly binding to the TaGLU promoter and by recruiting GCN5 to modulate histone acetylation during wheat endosperm development.
Plerixafor in combination with granulocyte–colony‐stimulating factor after chemotherapy increases mobilization efficiency in patients with lymphoma or myeloma: results of a Phase II clinical trial
Authors: Jagirdar Neera , Harvey R. Donald , Nooka Ajay , Flowers Christopher , Kaufman Jonathan , Lonial Sagar , Lechowicz Mary Jo , Langston Amelia , Lipscomb Carol , Gaylor Cynthia , Waller Edmund K. 
Published: September 2015

BACKGROUNDWe tested whether adding plerixafor to G‐CSF mobilization after chemotherapy would increase the proportion of patients collecting the target number of CD34+ cells/kg in 1 day of apheresis to >75%.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODSAutologous stem cell transplant–anticipated multiple myeloma or lymphoma patients were eligible. Patients were mobilized with cyclophosphamide (n=17); DCEP (n=1); R‐ICE (n=20); CHOP (n=2); or R‐HCVAD (n=5) and given 5 mg/kg/day GCSF starting on Day 2 and increasing to 10 mg/kg/day on Day 6. Plerixafor 240 mg/kg was injected subcutaneously on the day the neutrophil count was more than 1.5 × 109 cells/L with apheresis the folllowing day. G‐CSF, plerixafor, and apheresis continued daily until 5 × 106 (lymphoma) or 10 × 106 (myeloma) CD34+ cells/kg were collected.RESULTSSeventeen myeloma and 28 lymphoma patients enrolled, and 76% collected the target number of CD34+ cells in 1 day. Twelve subjects with median CD34+ counts of 142 × 106 cells/L began apheresis without plerixafor and collected 20 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg in 1 day. The remaining 33 subjects, with median 11.7 × 106 CD34+ cells/L and 5.4 × 109 WBC/L, received plerixafor. Plerixafor‐treated subjects collected 7.8 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg; 22 (67%) collected in 1 day, while 11 (33%) required more than 1 day. Plerixafor was well tolerated, with no serious adverse events.CONCLUSIONSPlerixafor administration after chemotherapy for autologous stem cell mobilization is feasible, well tolerated, and increases the proportion of subjects collected in a single day compared to mobilization with G‐CSF after chemotherapy.
The impact of fetal and maternal physiologic factors on umbilical cord blood quality as a source of stem cells in Egyptian population
Authors: Abdelrazik Abeer Mohamed , El Said Manal Niazi , Abdelaziz Hossam Eldin M. , Badran Haithm Mohannd , Elal Eman Yousief Ali Abd 
Published: September 2015

BACKGROUNDUmbilical cord blood (UCB) has rapidly become a clinically useful alternative stem cell source. Many variables have been used to evaluate a UCB unit and predict transplant outcomes. The objective of this study was to measure the expression of hematopoietic stem cells in UCB and its relation to certain maternal and neonatal physiologic factors to establish optimum criteria for UCB donor selection.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODSTwo hundred UCB units were collected from normal uncomplicated vaginal and cesarean deliveries. Total volume was noted and immediately assessed for total nucleated cell (TNC) count and CD34+ cell concentration. Assessment of maternal and neonatal variables such as mode of delivery, placental weight, baby's birthweight, and sex was made.RESULTSThe volume of the donations ranged from 42.0 to 126 mL, the TNC count ranged from 5 × 109 to 28.7 × 109 cells/L, and CD34+ cells ranged from 0.03% to 0.62%. There was a significant positive correlation between cord blood volume and cesarean section (p = 0.01) and placental weight (p = 0.02). There was a significant positive correlation with a p value of less than 0.05 between the number of CD34+ cells and UCB volume and TNC. There was no significant difference between the variables and the TNC count.CONCLUSIONOur study concludes that cord units collected for banking should be obtained by selecting units of larger volumes, of higher TNCs, from female babies with heavy placenta, and from babies delivered via cesarean section.