bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Satellite clinics in academic ophthalmology programs: an exploratory study of successes and challenges
Authors: Kuo Irene C 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Background
Major academic ophthalmology departments have been expanding by opening multi-office locations (“satellites”). This paper offers a first glimpse into satellites of academic ophthalmology departments.

Methods
Leaders of seven medium to large, geographically diverse departments agreed to participate. One- to two-hour phone interviews were conducted to assess the features of their satellite practices.

Results
Success as clinical entities, profitability, and access to patients were stated goals for most satellites. In approximate descending order, refractive surgery, retina, oculoplastics, and pediatric ophthalmology were the most common subspecialties offered. Faculty staffing ranged from recruitment specifically for satellites to rotation of existing faculty. Except for a department with only one academic track, satellite doctors were a mix of tenure and mostly non-tenure track faculty. According to these department leaders, scholarly productivity of satellite faculty was similar to that of colleagues at the main campus, though research was more community-based and clinical in nature. Fellowship but little resident education occurred at satellites. Though it was agreed that satellite practices were integral to department finances, they accounted for a smaller percentage of revenues than of total departmental visits.

Conclusions
Satellite offices have offered access to a better payor mix and have boosted the finances of academic ophthalmology departments. Challenges include maintaining collegiality with referring community physicians, integrating faculty despite geographic distance, preserving the department’s academic “brand name,” and ensuring consistent standards and operating procedures. Satellite clinics will likely help departments meet some of the challenges of health care reform.
How do couples influence each other’s physical activity behaviours in retirement? An exploratory qualitative study
Authors: Barnett Inka , Guell Cornelia , Ogilvie David 
Published: December 2013

AbstractBackgroundPhysical activity patterns have been shown to change significantly across the transition to retirement. As most older adults approach retirement as part of a couple, a better understanding of how spousal pairs influence each other’s physical activity behaviour in retirement may help inform more effective interventions to promote physical activity in older age. This qualitative study aimed to explore and describe how couples influence each other’s physical activity behaviour in retirement.MethodsA qualitative descriptive study that used purposive sampling to recruit seven spousal pairs with at least one partner of each pair recruited from the existing EPIC-Norfolk study cohort in the east of England, aged between 63 and 70 years and recently retired (within 2-6 years). Semi-structured interviews with couples were performed, audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using data-driven content analysis.ResultsThree themes emerged: spousal attitude towards physical activity, spouses’ physical activity behaviour and spousal support. While spouses’ attitudes towards an active retirement were concordant, attitudes towards regular exercise diverged, were acquired across the life course and were not altered in the transition to retirement. Shared participation in physical activity was rare and regular exercise was largely an individual and independent habit. Spousal support was perceived as important for initiation and maintenance of regular exercise.ConclusionsInterventions should aim to create supportive spousal environments for physical activity in which spouses encourage each other to pursue their preferred forms of physical activity; should address gender-specific needs and preferences, such as chances for socialising and relaxation for women and opportunities for personal challenges for men; and rather than solely focusing on promoting structured exercise, should also encourage everyday physical activity such as walking for transport.
The Older Persons’ Transitions in Care (OPTIC) study: pilot testing of the transition tracking tool
Authors: Reid Robert Colin , Cummings Garnet E , Cooper Sarah L , Abel Stephanie L , Bissell Laura J , Estabrooks Carole A , Rowe Brian H , Wagg Adrian , Norton Peter G , Ertel Mike , Cummings Greta G 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Background
OPTIC is a mixed method Partnership for Health System Improvement (http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/34348.html) study focused on improving care for nursing home (NH) residents who are transferred to and from emergency departments (EDs) via emergency medical services (EMS). In the pilot study we tested feasibility of concurrently collecting individual resident data during transitions across settings using the Transition Tracking Tool (T3).

Methods
The pilot study tracked 54 residents transferred from NHs to one of two EDs in two western Canadian provinces over a three month period. The T3 is an electronic data collection tool developed for this study to record data relevant to describing and determining success of transitions in care. It comprises 800+ data elements including resident characteristics, reasons and precipitating factors for transfer, advance directives, family involvement, healthcare services provided, disposition decisions, and dates/times and timing.

Results
Residents were elderly (mean age = 87.1 years) and the majority were female (61.8%). Feasibility of collecting data from multiple sources across two research sites was established. We identified resources and requirements to access and retrieve specific data elements in various settings to manage data collection processes and allocate research staff resources. We present preliminary data from NH, EMS, and ED settings.

Conclusions
While most research in this area has focused on a unidirectional process of patient progression from one care setting to another, this study established feasibility of collecting detailed data from beginning to end of a transition across multiple settings and in multiple directions.
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and risk of lung cancer in Montreal: a case–control study
Authors: Al-Zoughool Mustafa , Pintos Javier , Richardson Lesley , Parent Marie-Élise , Ghadirian Parviz , Krewski Daniel , Siemiatycki Jack 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Background
The objective of the present study was to examine the association between environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and risk of lung cancer among never smokers, defined as subjects who smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.

Methods
We conducted a population-based case–control study on lung cancer in Montreal, Canada (1996–2000) including 1,203 cases and 1513 controls. The present analysis is restricted to the 44 cases and 436 population controls who reported never smoking and completed the questionnaire on lifetime ETS exposure. Collected information included duration and intensity of exposure from multiple sources: inside home (parents, spouses, roommates and any other co-resident) and outside homes (in vehicles, social settings, and workplace). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated between ETS and lung cancer, adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), and proxy respondent.

Results
Overall there was no association between ETS cumulative exposure from all sources (measured in pack-years) and lung cancer: OR = 0.98 (95%CI: 0.40-2.38), comparing upper with lower tertiles of exposure. While there were no elevated ORs associated with ever having lived with parents who smoked (OR = 0.62; 95%CI: 0.32-1.21) or with spouses who smoked (OR = 0.39; 95%CI: 0.18-0.85), ETS exposure from sources outside homes was associated with a slight, although non-significant increased risk: OR = 2.30 (95%CI: 0.85-6.19) for the upper 50% exposed. There were no clear differences in ORs by age at exposure to ETS or by histologic type of tumour, though numbers of subjects in subgroup analyses were too small to provide reliable estimates.

Conclusion
No clear association between lifetime ETS exposure from all sources and increased risk of lung cancer was found in the current study.
Follicular expression of follicle stimulating hormone receptor variants in the ewe
Authors: Sullivan Rachael R , Faris Brian R , Eborn Douglas , Grieger David M , Cino-Ozuna Ada G , Rozell Timothy G 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Background
Several alternatively-spliced mRNA transcripts of the follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) have been identified in sheep, including FSHR-1 (G protein-coupled form), FSHR-2 (dominant negative form), and FSHR-3 (growth factor type-1 form). Our objective was to determine which of these variants is predominantly expressed in follicles collected from ewes at various times after estrus.

Methods
Suffolk-cross ewes (n = 8) were allowed to come into estrus naturally and were euthanized 24 (n = 3), 36 (n = 3), or 48 (n = 2) hours after the onset of estrus. All visible follicles were measured, aspirated and pooled according to follicular diameter: small (<= 2.0 mm), medium (2.1-4.0 mm), large (4.1-6.0 mm), and preovulatory (> = 6.1 mm). Aspirated cells were separated from follicular fluid by centrifugation. Total RNA was extracted from cell pellets and reverse transcribed. The resulting cDNA was subjected to qPCR, using primer sets designed to amplify each variant specifically. Gene expression was normalized to that of beta–actin within samples, and compared by analysis of variance with the level of significant differences set at p < .05.

Results
Relative expression of FSHR-3 exceeded that of both FSHR-1 and FSHR-2 in medium follicles, and tended to be higher in small follicles (p = .09) regardless of time after onset of estrus, and thus results from different time points were pooled. Expression of FSHR-3 was greater than that of FSHR-2 and luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) in small and medium follicles. Expression of LHR was greatest in preovulatory follicles.

Conclusions
These experiments show that in addition to the well characterized G protein-coupled form of the FSHR, alternatively spliced variants of the FSHR may participate in follicular dynamics during follicular waves of the sheep estrous cycle. Furthermore, these results indicate that an “alternatively” spliced form of the FSHR (FSHR-3) is the predominant form of the FSHR in the sheep.
DISCOVER trial– Distal resection of the pancreas with or without coverage of the pancreatic remnant: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial
Authors: Hassenpflug Matthias , Bruckner Thomas , Knebel Philip , Diener Markus K , Büchler Markus W , Werner Jens 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Background
Distal pancreatectomy for benign and malignant tumours is the second most common surgical procedure on the pancreas. Postoperative pancreatic fistulas (POPF) represent the most significant clinical complication, causing prolongation of hospital stay and the need for additional diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Although various techniques for preventing POPF have been evaluated, to date, there is no available technique that ensures closure of the pancreatic remnant.

Methods/Design
DISCOVER will aim to investigate differences in the postoperative course after a distal pancreatectomy comparing the standard surgical technique with an alternative technique that provides additional coverage of the pancreatic remnant by the falciform ligament. The primary endpoint of this trial will be the rate of POPF. As secondary endpoints, incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality, length of hospital stay, and quality of life will be assessed.
DISCOVER is a single-centre, randomised, controlled surgical trial. For statistical analysis, a binary logistic regression model will be used. With a level of significance of 5% and a power of 80%, a sample size of 75 patients per group has been identified as necessary.

Discussion
The findings of this trial will help to evaluate the usefulness of the coverage procedure at reducing the rate of POPF. The results could influence the standard procedure for remnant closure after distal pancreatectomy.

Trial-registration
Clinical trials register (DRKS-ID: DRKS00000546)
Integrating human omics data to prioritize candidate genes
Authors: Chen Yong , Wu Xuebing , Jiang Rui 
Published: December 2013

AbstractBackgroundThe identification of genes involved in human complex diseases remains a great challenge in computational systems biology. Although methods have been developed to use disease phenotypic similarities with a protein-protein interaction network for the prioritization of candidate genes, other valuable omics data sources have been largely overlooked in these methods.MethodsWith this understanding, we proposed a method called BRIDGE to prioritize candidate genes by integrating disease phenotypic similarities with such omics data as protein-protein interactions, gene sequence similarities, gene expression patterns, gene ontology annotations, and gene pathway memberships. BRIDGE utilizes a multiple regression model with lasso penalty to automatically weight different data sources and is capable of discovering genes associated with diseases whose genetic bases are completely unknown.ResultsWe conducted large-scale cross-validation experiments and demonstrated that more than 60% known disease genes can be ranked top one by BRIDGE in simulated linkage intervals, suggesting the superior performance of this method. We further performed two comprehensive case studies by applying BRIDGE to predict novel genes and transcriptional networks involved in obesity and type II diabetes.ConclusionThe proposed method provides an effective and scalable way for integrating multi omics data to infer disease genes. Further applications of BRIDGE will be benefit to providing novel disease genes and underlying mechanisms of human diseases.
CVDHD: a cardiovascular disease herbal database for drug discovery and network pharmacology
Authors: Gu Jiangyong , Gui Yuanshen , Chen Lirong , Yuan Gu , Xu Xiaojie 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Background
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and associates with multiple risk factors. Herb medicines have been used to treat CVD long ago in china and several natural products or derivatives (e.g., aspirin and reserpine) are most common drugs all over the world. The objective of this work was to construct a systematic database for drug discovery based on natural products separated from CVD-related medicinal herbs and to research on action mechanism of herb medicines.

Description
The cardiovascular disease herbal database (CVDHD) was designed to be a comprehensive resource for virtual screening and drug discovery from natural products isolated from medicinal herbs for cardiovascular-related diseases. CVDHD comprises 35230 distinct molecules and their identification information (chemical name, CAS registry number, molecular formula, molecular weight, international chemical identifier (InChI) and SMILES), calculated molecular properties (AlogP, number of hydrogen bond acceptor and donors, etc.), docking results between all molecules and 2395 target proteins, cardiovascular-related diseases, pathways and clinical biomarkers. All 3D structures were optimized in the MMFF94 force field and can be freely accessed.

Conclusions
CVDHD integrated medicinal herbs, natural products, CVD-related target proteins, docking results, diseases and clinical biomarkers. By using the methods of virtual screening and network pharmacology, CVDHD will provide a platform to streamline drug/lead discovery from natural products and explore the action mechanism of medicinal herbs. CVDHD is freely available at http://pkuxxj.pku.edu.cn/CVDHD.
Hydrodynamic shear removal of the nuisance stalk‐forming diatom Didymosphenia geminata
Authors: Cullis James D. S. , Crimaldi John P , McKnight Diane M. 
Published: December 2013

Lay AbstractVariability of flow is important in maintaining diversity of stream ecosystems. One reason for this is that periodic high flows result in the removal of algae growing on the stream bed (i.e., the substrate), leaving a patchwork of different species and habitat conditions. This is particularly true for nuisance algae such as Didymosphenia geminata that can grow quickly to blanket the stream bed restricting the available space for other organisms to live and feed. These nuisance species are thought, however, to be well adapted to the normal variability or regulation of flow, particularly in high‐gradient mountain streams. It is hypothesized that algal removal during these high‐flow events is limited and that effective removal requires much higher flows that result in the physical disturbance of the substrate and the mechanical scouring of the algae growing on the stream bed. We set out to examine this hypothesis by placing rocks attached with D. geminata colonies into a laboratory flow chamber. We then subjected the samples to increasing flows and determined the amount of material removed as the flow rate increased. We then investigated the relationship between the increasing applied shear stress (the force per unit area across the stream bed) and the amount of organic material removed. Our results showed that the removal due to elevated shear stress alone was low, up to the maximal levels of that which could be achieved in the flow chamber. A comparison with the estimated shear stress in the stream from where the samples were taken showed that removal was likely to be low up to a flow equal to the average annual maximum flow in the river and coinciding with the onset of widespread physical disturbance of the substrate. The results of this study have significance for understanding the ecosystem dynamics of streams and the potential use of flushing flows from reservoirs as a management tool for the mitigation of blooms of nuisance algal species such as D. geminata.
Aerobic Oxidation of Sulfides to Sulfoxides Catalyzed by Gold/Manganese Oxides
Authors: Taketoshi Ayako , Concepción Patricia , García Hermenegildo , Corma Avelino , Haruta Masatake 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
Although selective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides with molecular oxygen is a difficult reaction due to the overoxidation to sulfone, manganese oxides were found to catalyze the aerobic oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides in 1,2-dichlorobenzene at 100 °C with a high selectivity above 99%. The catalytic activity depends on the preparation methods and conditions of manganese oxides but not on the valences of manganese. The deposition of Pd and Pt on manganese oxides was detrimental, whereas the deposition of Au enhanced the catalytic activity and selectivity.
Computational Study of the Binding Mechanism of Complement C3b with Antigen
Authors: Matsubara Toshiaki , Sasamoto Chisato 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
The reaction mechanism of the covalent binding of complement component 3 (C3) with antigen, which significantly contributes to the immune system by enhancing the phagocytosis of phagocytes, is examined by density functional theory (B3LYP). The covalent binding reaction takes place by the cleavage of the hydroxy O–H bond of the antigen on the thioester bond of the C3b formed by the activation of C3. We performed the calculations assuming a mechanism II that mimics that of serine protease in addition to the conventional mechanism I. Our calculations suggest that the conventional mechanism I proceeds with little participation of a His residue contrary to the previous consensus. Mechanism I, which has a large energy barrier of more than 30 kcal mol−1, is not realistic. On the other hand, in mechanism II, the energy barrier is about 10 kcal mol−1, due to an efficient mediation of a His residue by the collaboration with a neighboring Glu residue. Therefore, the covalent binding reaction of the activated C3b with the antigen was thought to proceed by mechanism II we proposed rather than by the conventional mechanism I.
Conversion of l-Cysteinato RhIII4ZnII4 Octanuclear to RhIII2AgI3 Pentanuclear Structure by AgI Ions
Authors: Yamashita Ukyo , Lee Pei-Shan , Kuwamura Naoto , Yoshinari Nobuto , Konno Takumi 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
Treatment of a sulfur-bridged RhIII4ZnII4 octanuclear complex, (Δ)4-K6[(Zn4O){Rh(l-cys-κ2N,S)3}4] (K6[1]; H2cys: cysteine) with AgI in an acidic aqueous medium gave a new RhIII2AgI3 pentanuclear complex, (Δ)2-H4[Ag3{Rh(l-cys-κ2N,S)3}2]NO3 ([H42]NO3). The structure in [H42]+ that possesses unique, multiple intermolecular interactions was determined by X-ray crystallography.
Exploration of Electronic Functionalities in Metal Oxides by Combinatorial Lattice Engineering
Authors: Kawasaki Masashi 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
A review is given for our originally-developed thin film technology, “combinatorial lattice engineering.” This is extended from a conventional pulsed laser deposition, where the surface of a sintered oxide tablet (target) is irradiated with focused laser pulses and the evaporated precursors are condensed on a heated substrate to grow single crystalline thin films. By this method, it has become possible to concurrently synthesize many oxide thin films on a substrate at different locations (segments) with such diversities as composition, growth conditions, and the sequence of heterostructures. By inserting a masking system between the target and substrate and computer controlling the mask motion as well as target switching, one can integrate many oxide thin film segments on the substrate. Starting from the background of and demand for this technology as well as the advancement of the key ingredient technology, i.e., atomically regulated epitaxial growth of oxide thin films, the concept and examples of this combinatorial lattice engineering are introduced highlighting the representative demonstration on magnetic, photonic, and electronic functionalities, especially emphasizing the benefit of this combinatorial technology. In addition, further progress of device physics triggered by the combinatorial discoveries are introduced, for example, electric field control of magnetism, bright ultraviolet light emitting devices, and quantum effects in oxide semiconductors.