bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Degenerative Changes of the Facet Joints in Adults With Lumbar Spondylolysis
Authors: Goda Yuichiro , Sakai Toshinori , Harada Taihei , Takao Shoichiro , Takata Yoichiro , Higashino Kosaku , Harada Masafumi , Sairyo Koichi 
Published: January 2015

Study Design:
Radiologic analysis using computed tomography.

Objectives:
To analyze the degenerative changes of the facet joints in patients with spondylolysis in comparison with control subjects.

Summary of Background Data:
Defects of the pars interarticularis are thought to result in a reduction of biomechanical stress on adjacent facet joints. Therefore, degenerative changes of the facet joints in patients with spondylolysis are expected to be less than those in patients without spondylolysis.

Methods:
Abdominal and pelvic multidetector computed tomography scans of 2000 subjects, performed for conditions unrelated to low back pain, were reviewed. A total of 107 patients (37 women and 70 men) with L5 spondylolysis were identified [spondylolysis (+) group]. Sex-matched and age-matched controls without spondylolysis were chosen randomly [spondylolysis (−) group]. Subjects in the spondylolysis group were subdivided into either bilateral spondylolysis or unilateral spondylolysis groups for comparison with the control group. Four radiologic findings (narrowing, sclerosis, osteophyte, and bone cyst) indicative of degenerative change of the facet joints adjacent to the L5 pars defects were evaluated and the degree of degenerative change was graded by summing the number of degenerative changes (score range, 0–4). The χ2 test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for statistical analysis.

Results:
Significantly more degenerative changes in both L4/L5 and L5/S facet joints were found in the spondylolysis (+) group than in the spondylolysis (−) group (χ2 test, P <0.05). Degenerative changes of the facet joints at both L4/L5 and L5/S were more severe in the bilateral spondylolysis (+) group than in the spondylolysis (−) group. Degenerative changes of the facet joints at both L4/L5 and L5/S were more severe in the unilateral spondylolysis (+) group than in the spondylolysis (−) group.

Conclusions:
Degenerative changes of the facet joints in patients with lumbar spondylolysis were more severe than those without spondylolysis.
Correlations Between Sagittal Spinal Balance and Quality of Life in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Lee Hong Seok , Lee Jung Sub , Shin Jong Ki , Goh Tae Sik 
Published: January 2015

Study Design:
Prospective study.

Objective:
To identify relationships between spinopelvic parameters and health-related quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Summary of Background Data:
Little data are available on relationships between sagittal spinopelvic parameters and health-related quality of life in RA.

Materials and Methods:
The study and control groups comprised 120 RA patients and 60 controls. All subjects underwent anteroposterior and lateral radiography of the whole spine, including hip joints, and all completed clinical questionnaires. The radiographic parameters examined were: sacral slope, pelvic tilt, pelvic incidence, thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis, C7/sacrofemoral distance ratio (C7/SFD), and spinosacral angle (SSA). Quality of life was assessed using a Visual Analog Scale for back pain, the Oswestry disability index questionnaire, and the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS-22) questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed to identify significant differences between the study and control groups. In addition, correlations between radiologic parameters and clinical questionnaires were sought.

Results:
The patients and controls were found to be significantly different in terms of sacral slope, pelvic tilt, lumbar lordosis, thoracic kyphosis, C7/SFD, and SSA, but not for pelvic incidence (P>0.05). Correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between radiographic parameters and clinical outcomes. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of clinical outcome, and the results obtained revealed that C7/SFD significantly predicted Visual Analog Scale score and SSA predicted Oswestry disability index and SRS-22 scores.

Conclusions:
Sagittal spinopelvic parameters were found to be significantly different in RA patients and normal controls. Correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between radiographic parameters and clinical outcomes. In particular, C7/SFD and SSA were found to be significant predictors of clinical outcomes in RA.
The impact of a night confinement policy on patients in a UK high secure inpatient mental health service
Authors: Chu Simon , McNeill Kimberley , Wright Karen M. , Hague Anthony , Wilkins Tracy 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– From 2012, all high-secure forensic mental health services in England began operating a policy of confining patients to their locked bedrooms overnight to increase service efficiency and reduce costs. The purpose of this paper is to assess the views of staff and patients concerning the policy and examine the specific impact of the policy on patients.

Design/methodology/approach
– Measures of patients’ sleep hygiene, patients’ behaviour, ward atmosphere, engagement with therapy and adverse incidents were taken both before and after the night confinement (NC) policy was implemented. Both patients and staff also expressed their views of the impact of the NC policy.

Findings
– Results provide converging evidence that the impact of the NC policy on patients is negligible. There were no consistent negative effects of confining patients overnight. Rather, patients and staff were broadly positive about the impact that the practice had on patients.

Practical implications
– Confining patients to locked bedrooms overnight does not exert any consistent influence, positive or negative, on patients’ sleep hygiene, behaviour or engagement with therapy, and patients expressed a broadly positive view of the practice of NC. Thus, a NC policy may have a contribution to make to the provision an effective high-secure mental health service.

Originality/value
– The study provides convincing evidence that secure inpatient mental health services that are considering the adoption of a NC policy may do so without fear of a negative impact on patients.
The post-repurchase announcement drift: an anomaly in disguise?
Authors: Nguyen Thanh T. , Sutton Ninon K. , Pham Dung (June) 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the stock price drifts after open-market stock repurchase announcements by differentiating actual repurchases from repurchase announcements and by controlling for the repurchasing firms’ earnings improvement in the announcement year relative to the prior year.

Design/methodology/approach
– The authors use the calendar-time method and matching method based on different criteria to calculate the post-announcement abnormal returns.

Findings
– The results show that only firms actually repurchasing their shares exhibit a positive post-announcement drift. More importantly, the authors find that these repurchasing firms have the same post-announcement drift as their matching firms that have similar size and earnings performance but do not repurchase. This supports the argument that the post-repurchase announcement drift found in previous studies is not a distinct anomaly but the post-earnings announcement drift in disguise.

Social implications
– The post-repurchase announcement drift found in previous studies is the post-earnings announcement drift in disguise.

Originality/value
– The study shows that because high earnings performance positively relates to real repurchase activities, controlling for earnings performance in examining whether a drift occurs after repurchase announcements.
Market power and dividend policy
Authors: Booth Laurence , Zhou Jun 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why a firm’s product market power affects its dividend policy.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper uses three measures of market power? The degree of import competition, Herfindahl-Hirschman index, and Lerner Index? To examine how a firm’s product market power affects its dividend policy. Further, it proposes and tests a risk-based explanation for this impact.

Findings
– This paper shows that market power positively affects the dividend decision, in terms of both the probability of paying a dividend and the amount of dividend payment. It also provides evidence that the route through which market power affects the dividend decision is business risk: firms with less market power are riskier and hence less likely to pay dividends than firms with more market power.

Practical implications
– The results show that product market power may have played an important role in reshaping dividend policy of corporate America.

Originality/value
– This study documents the relevance of market power behind dividend policy and therefore adds to the knowledge on the relationship between product markets and corporate financial policies, which is an important and understudied area of corporate finance.
Left to their fate: rights of minority equity holders in Ghanaian firms
Authors: Agyemang Otuo Serebour , Aboagye Emmanuel , Frimpong Joyce 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the rights of shareholders, particularly those of minority shareholders in the management of firms in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach
– As a result of the largely unexplored nature of this issue in Ghana, a qualitative analysis was conducted to offer a painstaking understanding needed. The case study design is in particular relevant for exploring such phenomenon, as it evolves through the experiences of several key players.

Findings
– Data indicate that minority shareholders’ influence is, in most cases, nil in every aspect of their firms. Whilst majority shareholders have an absolute right to appoint or influence the appointment of top officials of the firms, minority shareholders’ role in the selection is limited. In addition, in regards to control of corporate decision-making processes, unlike the majority shareholders, the minority shareholders do not have any influence on them. Further, in terms of relevant information, whilst the majority shareholders have absolute access to them anytime they desire, the minority shareholders only rely on annual general meetings to get hold of them, thus limiting their access to corporate information. The revelations unambiguously grant the majority shareholders of the firms absolute control rights whilst undermining the rights of the minority shareholders. This paper was concluded by itemizing the implications of our findings for management, regulators and governments.

Originality/value
– It is believed that this is among the handful of studies that have been conducted using developing or emergent economy data to empirically analyse how minority shareholders wield their rights in emergent economies and to add to the mounting pool of scattered cross-country evidence.
On the issue of stability of Wall Street CEOs, while hoping for cultural changes in the financial sector
Authors: Bazin Yoann 
Published: January 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to open up dialogue between several popular non-fiction books written on Lehman Brothers – and its chief executive officer (CEO) Dick Fuld in particular – and the academic literature on leadership and organizational culture.

Design/methodology/approach
– Vicky Ward’s book The Devil’s Casino is examined closely to understand the influence of the bank’s CEO on the organizational culture.

Findings
– A notable instance of coupling is highly recurrent in the book, linking the personality of Dick Fuld with his top management team and Lehman Brothers’ employees.

Originality/value
– Focusing on the CEO’s personality, this article engages with the academic literature allowing for a distinct problematization of the issue, and a potential resolution: the importance of changes in leadership to trigger an evolution in Wall Street’s culture.
Hybrid system increases efficiency of ballast water treatment
Authors: Paolucci Esteban M. , Hernandez Marco R. , Potapov Alexei , Lewis Mark A. , MacIsaac Hugh J. 
Published: January 2015

Summary

Ballast water has been a principal pathway of non‐indigenous species introduction to global ports for much of the 20th century. In an effort to reduce the scale of this pathway, and recognizing forthcoming global regulations that will supplant ballast water exchange (BWE) with ballast water treatment (BWT), we explore whether a combined hybrid treatment of BWE and chlorination (Cl) exceeds individual effects of either BWE or chlorination alone in reducing densities of bacteria, microplankton and macroplankton.

Five full‐scale trials were conducted on an operational bulk carrier travelling between Canada and Brazil.

The hybrid treatment generally had the lowest final densities among all treatments for putative enterococci, Escherichia coli and coliform bacteria, as well as microplankton and macroplankton, with the former two being synergistically lower than individual treatments alone. Microplankton abundance in the hybrid treatment was significantly but antagonistically reduced relative to individual treatments alone. Macroplankton final density was lowest in the hybrid treatment, though the interaction between treatments was not significant.

Synthesis and applications. In most cases, the combined hybrid treatment of ballast water exchange (BWE) and chlorination reduced population densities of indicator organisms in ballast water below those proposed by the International Maritime Organization's D‐2 performance standards. BWE alone was often ineffective at reducing bacterial and macroplankton densities. Even when performance standards are implemented globally, continued use of BWE could further reduce risk of invasions to freshwater ecosystems that receive ballast water from foreign sources by accentuating the decline in propagule pressure and enhancing demographic constraints for putative invaders.
Ecological and genetic interactions between cyanobacteria and viruses in a low‐oxygen mat community inferred through metagenomics and metatranscriptomics
Authors: Voorhies Alexander A. , Eisenlord Sarah D. , Marcus Daniel N. , Duhaime Melissa B. , Biddanda Bopaiah A. , Cavalcoli James D. , Dick Gregory J. 
Published: January 2015

SummaryMetagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing was conducted on cyanobacterial mats of the Middle Island Sinkhole (MIS), Lake Huron. Metagenomic data from 14 samples collected over 5 years were used to reconstruct genomes of two genotypes of a novel virus, designated PhV1 type A and PhV1 type B. Both viral genotypes encode and express nblA, a gene involved in degrading phycobilisomes, which are complexes of pigmented proteins that harvest light for photosynthesis. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the viral‐encoded nblA is derived from the host cyanobacterium, Phormidium MIS‐PhA. The cyanobacterial host also has two complete CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) systems that serve as defence mechanisms for bacteria and archaea against viruses and plasmids. One 45 bp CRISPR spacer from Phormidium had 100% nucleotide identity to PhV1 type B, but this region was absent from PhV1 type A. Transcripts from PhV1 and the Phormidium CRISPR loci were detected in all six metatranscriptomic data sets (three during the day and three at night), indicating that both are transcriptionally active in the environment. These results reveal ecological and genetic interactions between viruses and cyanobacteria at MIS, highlighting the value of parallel analysis of viruses and hosts in understanding ecological interactions in natural communities.
Growth promotion and gut microbiota: insights from antibiotic use
Authors: Brüssow Harald 
Published: January 2015

SummaryAntibiotics have been proposed as supplements in re‐feeding programmes for malnourished children. A review of paediatric literature showed that growth promotion by antibiotics, when it was observed, was mostly mediated by its anti‐infective properties. Despite the widespread use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal rearing, the available evidence again points to the suppression of infections as the underlying mechanism. Under controlled hygienic conditions, growth promotion was frequently not observed. Models for ‘sub‐inhibitory’ antibiotic effects on gut bacteria have been proposed, and direct antibiotic effects on host physiology are accumulating. Human gut microbiota analyses in malnourished children (restricted to stool as convenience samples) displayed developmental immaturity of the gut microbiota and growth deficits that were only transiently ameliorated by nutritional interventions. These studies need to be complemented by microbiota analysis in the upper small intestine where bacterial overgrowth, frequently reported in people of the developing world, may directly compete with nutrient absorption by the human host. So far, however, the available medical and veterinary literature suggests that the growth promoting effect of antibiotics mostly works through prevention of infection and a concomitant decrease of the caloric burden of an inflammatory response.
Price relationships between qualitatively differentiated agricultural products: organic and conventional wheat in Germany
Authors: Würriehausen Nadine , Ihle Rico , Lakner Sebastian 
Published: January 2015

AbstractOrganic agriculture, which produces commodities that can be qualitatively differentiated from conventional food products, has grown into an important market in many countries. The dynamics of commodity prices in both sectors are partly interdependent, but are also shaped by independent determinants and have rarely been studied. We analyze organic food markets and their interdependencies with conventional markets in the context of wheat markets in Germany, which have been subject to a number of fundamental changes during the last two decades. Based on institutional market characteristics, we suggest a flexible Markov‐switching asymmetric time series model. We find a pronounced temporal sequence of market phases that differ in their asymmetric dynamics and the extent to which the organic price is influenced by the conventional price. Organic wheat prices tend to be increasingly connected to prices of conventional wheat.
Evaluation of Different Diameter Arterial Tubing and Arterial Cannulae in Simulated Neonatal/Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Bypass Circuits
Authors: Wang Shigang , Rosenthal Tami , Kunselman Allen R. , Ündar Akif 
Published: January 2015

AbstractThe objective of this study is to evaluate three different diameters of arterial tubing and three diameters of arterial cannulae in terms of pressure drop, and hemodynamic energy delivery in simulated neonatal/pediatric cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuits. The CPB circuit consisted of a Terumo Capiox Baby FX05 oxygenator (Terumo Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), arterial tubing (1/4 in, 3/16 in, or 1/8 in × 150 cm), and a Medtronic Bio‐Medicus arterial cannula (8, 10, or 12 Fr; Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA). The pseudo patient's pressure was maintained at 50 mm Hg. The circuit was primed using lactated Ringer's solution and heparinized packed human red blood cells (hematocrit 30%). Trials were conducted at different flow rates and temperatures (35 and 28°C). Flow and pressure data were collected using a custom‐based data acquisition system. Using 8 Fr arterial cannula at 500 mL/min, small diameter arterial tubing generated higher circuit pressure (294.6 ± 0.1 mm Hg [1/8 in], 213.5 ± 0.5 mm Hg [3/16 in], 208.4 ± 0.4 mm Hg [1/4 in] at 35°C) and arterial line pressure drop (158.3 ± 0.1 mm Hg [1/8 in], 79.6 ± 0.1 mm Hg [3/16 in], 62.1 ± 0.1 mm Hg [1/4 in] at 35°C). Using 10 Fr arterial cannula at 1000 mL/min, pre‐oxygenator pressures were 266.8 ± 0.2 mm Hg (3/16 in) and 248.0 ± 0.3 mm Hg (1/4 in); arterial line pressure drops were 111.6 ± 0.0 mm Hg (3/16 in) and 74.0 ± 0.1 mm Hg (1/4 in) at 35°C. When using 12 Fr arterial cannula at 1500 mL/min, preoxygenator pressures reached 324.4 ± 0.3 mm Hg (3/16 in) and 302.5 ± 0.4 mm Hg (1/4 in); arterial line pressure drops were 154.0 ± 0.1 mm Hg (3/16 in) and 92.0 ± 0.2 mm Hg (1/4 in) at 35°C. Pressure drops across arterial line tubing were main CPB circuit pressure drops. High flow rate, hypothermia, small diameter arterial tubing. and arterial cannula created more hemodynamic energy at the preoxygenator site, but energy loss across CPB circuit also increased. Although small diameter (<1/4 in ID) arterial tubing may decrease total CPB priming volume, it also led to significantly higher circuit pressure, higher pressure drop, and more hemodynamic energy loss across CPB circuit. Larger diameter arterial cannula had less pressure drop and allowed more hemodynamic energy delivery to the patient.
Correlation Between Cerebral‐Renal Near‐Infrared Spectroscopy and Ipsilateral Renal Perfusion Parameters as Clinical Outcome Predictors After Open Heart Surgery in Neonates and Infants
Authors: Örmeci Tuğrul , Alkan‐Bozkaya Tijen , Özyüksel Arda , Ersoy Cihangir , Ündar Akif , Akçevin Atıf , Türkoğlu Halil 
Published: January 2015

AbstractThe objective of this clinical study is to determine whether correlation exists among cerebral and renal near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measurements, renal Doppler ultrasonography parameters (resistive index, peak systolic velocity), and early postoperative clinical outcomes following cardiac surgery in neonates and infants. Thirty‐seven patients undergoing surgery for congenital heart defects with an age of less than 3 months, all of whom were in the high‐risk group according to Aristotle Basic Complexity risk stratification score, were enrolled in our study. Cerebral, renal NIRS values and renal Doppler ultrasonography measurements were recorded for each patient at the 4th postoperative hour. The renal resistive indices were calculated for each case, and the patients were divided into two groups according to renal resistive index (RI) values. Group I included the patients with a RI of greater than 0.8 (n = 25) and Group II included the patients with a RI of less than 0.8 (n = 12). The postoperative outcome parameters were compared in between two groups. Group I (RI >0.8) had lower postoperative mean urine output than Group II (RI <0.8) (P = 0.041). The lactate levels were significantly higher in Group I (P = 0.049), as well. The postoperative intensive care unit and hospital stay of Group I was significantly higher than Group II (P = 0.048). Both cerebral and renal NIRS values and the assessment of renal RI as well as peak systolic values can be used in order to predict the early clinical outcome in cardiac surgery patients in early infantile and neonatal period.