bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ten years (2004–2014) of Chagas disease surveillance and vector control in Ecuador: successes and challenges
Authors: Quinde‐Calderón Leonardo , Rios‐Quituizaca Paulina , Solorzano Luis , Dumonteil Eric 
Published: October 2015

AbstractObjectiveTo describe the current situation of Chagas disease in Ecuador and to evaluate the impact of vector control for the period 2004–2014.METHODSSince 2004, the Ministry of Public Health has formalized activities for the surveillance and control of Chagas disease and we analyzed here available records.ResultsMore than 200 000 houses were surveyed, and 2.6% were found to be infested (95% CI: 2.6–2.7), and more than 51 000 houses were sprayed with residual insecticide, with important yearly variations. A total of 915 cases of T. cruzi infection were registered. The Amazon region is emerging as a high priority area, where nearly half of T. cruzi infection cases originate. The costal region and the southern highland valleys remain important high‐risk area. Vector control efforts over the past 10 years have been effective in the coastal region, where T. dimidiata predominates, and resulted in important reductions in house infestation indices in many areas, even reaching negligible levels in some parishes.ConclusionVector efforts need to be sustained and expanded for the elimination of T. dimidiata to be feasible. Novel vector control interventions need to be designed to reduce intrusion by several triatomine species present in the Amazon region and southern Ecuador. Strong political commitment is needed to sustain current achievements and improve the national coverage of these programmes.
Retrospective evaluation of combined mycophenolate mofetil and prednisone treatment for meningoencephalomyelitis of unknown etiology in dogs: 25 cases (2005–2011)
Authors: Barnoon Itai , Shamir Merav H. , Aroch Itamar , Bdolah‐Abram Tali , Srugo Itai , Konstantin Lilach , Chai Orit 
Published: October 2015

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the use of a combined protocol of prednisone and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for the treatment of meningoencephalomyelitis of unknown etiology (MUE) and to describe response, adverse effects, and outcome.DesignRetrospective study (2005–2011).SettingUniversity teaching hospital.AnimalsTwenty‐five client‐owned dogs with clinical signs, neuroimaging, and cerebrospinal abnormalities consistent with MUE. Five dogs whose MMF treatment was discontinued after 7–14 days due to gastrointestinal clinical signs were evaluated only for adverse effects.InterventionsDogs were initially treated with prednisone 2 mg/kg PO every 12 hours and with MMF 20 mg/kg PO or IV every 12 hours. Prednisone was tapered after 4 days to 1 mg/kg every 12 hours for 14 days, then to every 24 hours for 30 days, and again reduced by half every 2–4 months thereafter. When prednisone was tapered completely or to 0.5 mg/kg every 24–48 hours without clinical relapse, MMF was tapered in a similar manner.Measurements and Main ResultsPartial or complete clinical response was achieved in 95% (19/20) of the dogs. Median survival time by the end of the study was 250 days (range 6 to >1,679) with 40% (8/20) of the dogs still alive (336–1,679 days after diagnosis). All Pug dogs (4/20) included in the study died with a median survival time of 14 days. Adverse effects attributed to MMF, which included hemorrhagic diarrhea within the first 2 weeks of treatment, were recorded in 20% (5/25) of the dogs.ConclusionsMMF can be used as an adjunctive treatment for dogs with MUE. This protocol enables reduction of prednisone treatment or, in some cases, its complete withdrawal. The possibility of intravenous administration is advantageous in cases with severe neurological abnormalities and mentation changes, often seen in MUE. Attention is warranted for gastrointestinal adverse effects, especially in the first 2 weeks of treatment.
In Vitro
Activity of the Novel Antimicrobial Peptide Dendrimer G3KL against Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Authors: Pires João , Siriwardena Thissa N. , Stach Michaela , Tinguely Regula , Kasraian Sara , Luzzaro Francesco , Leib Stephen L. , Darbre Tamis , Reymond Jean-Louis , Endimiani Andrea 
Published: October 2015

ABSTRACT

The
in vitro
activity of the novel antimicrobial peptide dendrimer G3KL was evaluated against 32
Acinetobacter baumannii
(including 10 OXA-23, 7 OXA-24, and 11 OXA-58 carbapenemase producers) and 35
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(including 18 VIM and 3 IMP carbapenemase producers) strains and compared to the activities of standard antibiotics. Overall, both species collections showed MIC
50/90
values of 8/8 μg/ml and minimum bactericidal concentrations at which 50% or 90% of strains tested are killed (MBC
50/90
) of 8/8 μg/ml. G3KL is a promising molecule with antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant
A. baumannii
and
P. aeruginosa
isolates.
A multi-faceted approach to increase appropriate analgesia prescribing in the emergency department
Authors: Ratneswaran Culadeeban , Dodd Kevin , Enright Kevin , Dasan Sunil 
Published: October 2015

AbstractPain is the most common presenting complaint within the emergency department. Whilst national RCEM guidelines exist, there tends to be low compliance with its use. A retrospective, cross-sectional audit, over a 24 hour period, was carried out in the emergency department of a tertiary hospital in London on all patients with abdominal pain. Pain score documentation was checked as well as: whether analgesia prescribed was compliant with guidelines, time to prescription, and if pain scores were rechecked within an hour.Cycle 1 (21 patients) showed that only 29% of patients were prescribed analgesia in accordance with guidelines, 38% of pain scores were documented at triage, and only 19% of scores were rechecked at any time. 22% of patients in severe pain were prescribed analgesia within the recommended duration from presentation (20 minutes).New guidelines, adapted from RCEM, were departmentally approved and disseminated to reflect local medication use. Monthly doctor and nurse teaching sessions were established to improve guideline compliance, objective pain score documentation, and encourage results driven performance. A nurse prescriber champion was established to encourage analgesia prescribing competence in addressing delayed administration. Finally, plans to integrate electronic pain scoring with timer prompts for rechecking are in place to help streamline the process.Following these interventions, cycle 2 (n=23) showed 87% of pain scores were documented at triage, 52% were prescribed guideline concordant analgesia, and 40% of severe pain scores were acted upon in time. Cycle 3 (n=33) demonstrated the need for monthly educational intervention to maintain high standards; as in its absence, any improvement returned to baseline.
Chest drain care bundle: Improving documentation and safety
Authors: Hutton Joe , Graham Selina 
Published: October 2015

AbstractChest drain insertion is a common advanced procedure with a significant associated risk of pain, distress, and complications. Nationally, audit and recommendations from leading bodies have highlighted a number of safety concerns around chest drain insertion.Audit work has demonstrated poor levels of documentation; particularly around use of premedication, use of ultrasound guidance and consent. This has obvious potential consequences for patient safety and thus is an important target for improvement work.This project quantifies current standards of documentation and aims to improve this through a combination of accessible and easy to read guidelines, education, and the introduction of a chest drain insertion bundle. National best practice standards were identified through review of national guidance.Drain insertion was prospectively analysed over a three month period to establish baseline standards of documentation. This initial work was presented and a bundle and clinical guidelines produced. Chest drain insertion was then reaudited and assessed for improvement.Results demonstrated an improvement in many areas of documentation, pushing local results above the national average. However, only 40% of cases used the new bundle due to a mixture of staff rotation and an unexpectedly high proportion of drains inserted in non targeted areas including the emergency department, theatre, and intensive care. Despite this, the introduction of accessible guidance and bundle has significantly improved chest drain insertion documentation to the benefit of all.
Nonadditive quantum mechanics as a Sturm–Liouville problem
Authors: Braga João P. M. , Filho Raimundo N. Costa 
Published: October 2015

The modified Schrödinger equation obtained by Costa Filho et al. [Phys. Rev. A 84, 050102(R) (2011)] is shown to be a Sturm–Liouville problem. This demonstration guarantees that Hamiltonian eigenvalues obtained in this formalism are real. It also allows us to show that, regardless of the non-Hermitian characteristic of the Hamiltonian operator in the Hilbert space, its time evolution remains unitary.
Competitive Pricing Using Data Envelopment Analysis — Pricing for Oscilloscopes
Authors: Wang Bing , Anderson Timothy R. , Zehr Wilson 
Published: October 2015

The research in this paper proposes a new technique for pricing products in competitive markets taking into account the features and prices of competing product offerings. This technique is based on a methodology known as data envelopment analysis (DEA) and is referred to as competitive pricing using data envelopment analysis (CPDEA). With the development of technology accelerating and new products coming to the market at an ever faster pace, prices of current products are often adjusted based on the state-of-the-art (SOA) technology in the market in order to remain competitive. CPDEA measures the product features that are most important to customers and calculates the performance efficiency values using the DEA method. CPDEA regards price as a performance feature, using this approach the manufacturer can adjust the price in order for a product to reach the SOA frontier and maintain competitive pricing. This research demonstrates the proposed method applied to a popular product category in the test and measurement industry: oscilloscopes. The authors investigated the features of oscilloscopes that are most important to users, then a feature dataset from different oscilloscope models was collected, and the performance efficiency values of the different models were calculated. The product prices are then adjusted in order for efficiency to be as close to 1 as possible which means that the products are considered SOA in the market. In this way, we obtain a more competitive price for the older products, while also setting the prices for the advanced products in a way that captures the value of their additional features.
Hierarchical stochastic modelling of large river ecosystems and fish growth across spatio-temporal scales and climate models: the Missouri River endangered pallid sturgeon example
Authors: Wildhaber Mark L. , Wikle Christopher K. , Moran Edward H. , Anderson Christopher J. , Franz Kristie J. , Dey Rima 
Published: October 2015

Abstract

We present a hierarchical series of spatially decreasing and temporally increasing models to evaluate the uncertainty in the atmosphere – ocean global climate model (AOGCM) and the regional climate model (RCM) relative to the uncertainty in the somatic growth of the endangered pallid sturgeon (
Scaphirhynchus albus
). For effects on fish populations of riverine ecosystems, climate output simulated by coarse-resolution AOGCMs and RCMs must be downscaled to basins to river hydrology to population response. One needs to transfer the information from these climate simulations down to the individual scale in a way that minimizes extrapolation and can account for spatio-temporal variability in the intervening stages. The goal is a framework to determine whether, given uncertainties in the climate models and the biological response, meaningful inference can still be made. The non-linear downscaling of climate information to the river scale requires that one realistically account for spatial and temporal variability across scale. Our downscaling procedure includes the use of fixed/calibrated hydrological flow and temperature models coupled with a stochastically parameterized sturgeon bioenergetics model. We show that, although there is a large amount of uncertainty associated with both the climate model output and the fish growth process, one can establish significant differences in fish growth distributions between models, and between future and current climates for a given model.
(Ir)relevance of Metformin Treatment in Patients with Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: An Open-Label, Randomized Phase II Trial
Authors: Reni Michele , Dugnani Erica , Cereda Stefano , Belli Carmen , Balzano Gianpaolo , Nicoletti Roberto , Liberati Daniela , Pasquale Valentina , Scavini Marina , Maggiora Paola , Sordi Valeria , Lampasona Vito , Ceraulo Domenica , Di Terlizzi Gaetano , Doglioni Claudio , Falconi Massimo , Piemonti Lorenzo 
Published: October 2015

Abstract
Purpose: We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of metformin for treating patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and to identify endocrine and metabolic phenotypic features or tumor molecular markers associated with sensitivity to metformin antineoplastic action.
Experimental Design: We designed an open-label, randomized, phase II trial to assess the efficacy of adding metformin to a standard systemic therapy with cisplatin, epirubicin, capecitabine, and gemcitabine (PEXG) in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Patients ages 18 years or older with metastatic pancreatic cancer were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive PEXG every 4 weeks in combination or not with 2 g oral metformin daily. The primary endpoint was 6-months progression-free survival (PFS-6) in the intention-to-treat population.
Results: Between August 2010 and January 2014, we randomly assigned 60 patients to receive PEXG with (n = 31) or without metformin (n = 29). At the preplanned interim analysis, the study was ended for futility. PFS-6 was 52% [95% confidence interval (CI), 33–69] in the control group and 42% (95% CI, 24–59) in the metformin group (P = 0.61). Furthermore, there was no difference in disease-free survival and overall survival between groups. Despite endocrine metabolic modifications induced by metformin, there was no correlation with the outcome. Single-nucleotide polymorphism rs11212617 predicted glycemic response, but not tumor response to metformin. Gene expression on tumor tissue did not predict tumor response to metformin.
Conclusions: Addition of metformin at the dose commonly used in diabetes did not improve outcome in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer treated with standard systemic therapy. Clin Cancer Res; 22(5); 1076–85. ©2015 AACR.
See related commentary by Yang and Rustgi, p. 1031
Empirical Modeling and Stochastic Simulation of Sea Level Pressure Variability
Authors: Kravtsov Sergey , Tilinina Natalia , Zyulyaeva Yulia , Gulev Sergey K. 
Published: October 2015

AbstractThe scope of this work is stochastic emulation of sea level pressure (SLP) for use in error estimation and statistical prediction studies. The input SLP dataset whose statistics are to be emulated was taken from the 1979–2013 ERA-Interim dataset at full 6-hourly temporal and 0.75° spatial resolutions over the Northern Hemisphere. Upon subtracting the monthly climatological mean value and mean diurnal cycle, the SLP anomalies (SLPA) were projected onto the subspace of 1000 leading empirical orthogonal functions of the daily-mean SLPA, which account for the vast majority (>99%) of the full 6-hourly fields’ variance for each season. The main step of this method is the estimation of a linear autoregressive moving-average empirical model for the daily SLPA principal components (PCs) via regularized multiple linear regression; this model was driven, at the stage of simulation, by state-dependent (multiplicative) noise. Last, a diagnostic statistical scheme has been developed and implemented for accurate interpolation of simulated daily SLPA to 6-hourly temporal resolution. Upon transforming the simulated 6-hourly SLPA PCs into the physical space and adding a seasonal climatological mean and mean diurnal cycle, the resulting SLP variability was compared with the actual variability in the ERA-Interim dataset. It is shown that this empirical model produces independent realizations of SLP variability that are nearly indistinguishable from the observed variability over a wide range of statistical measures; these measures include, among others, spatial patterns of bandpass- and low-pass-filtered variability, as well as diverse characteristics of midlatitude cyclone tracks.
Immersion Freezing of Kaolinite: Scaling with Particle Surface Area
Authors: Hartmann Susan , Wex Heike , Clauss Tina , Augustin-Bauditz Stefanie , Niedermeier Dennis , Rösch Michael , Stratmann Frank 
Published: October 2015

Abstract
This study presents an analysis showing that the freezing probability of kaolinite particles from Fluka scales exponentially with particle surface area for different atmospherically relevant particle sizes. Immersion freezing experiments were performed at the Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS). Size-selected kaolinite particles with mobility diameters of 300, 700, and 1000 nm were analyzed with one particle per droplet. First, it is demonstrated that immersion freezing is independent of the droplet volume. Using the mobility analyzer technique for size selection involves the presence of multiply charged particles in the quasi-monodisperse aerosol, which are larger than singly charged particles. The fractions of these were determined using cloud droplet activation measurements. The development of a multiple charge correction method has proven to be essential for deriving ice fractions and other quantities for measurements in which the here-applied method of size selection is used. When accounting for multiply charged particles (electric charge itself does not matter), both a time-independent and a time-dependent description of the freezing process can reproduce the measurements over the range of examined particle sizes. Hence, either a temperature-dependent surface site density or a single contact angle distribution was sufficient to parameterize the freezing behavior. From a comparison with earlier studies using kaolinite samples from the same provider, it is concluded that the neglect of multiply charged particles and, to a lesser extent, the effect of time can cause a significant overestimation of the ice nucleation site density of one order of magnitude, which translates into a temperature bias of 5–6 K.
Impact of Parameterized Physical Processes on Simulated Tropical Cyclone Characteristics in the Community Atmosphere Model
Authors: He Fei , Posselt Derek J. 
Published: October 2015

Abstract
This study advances the understanding of how parameterized physical processes affect the development of tropical cyclones (TCs) in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) using the Reed–Jablonowski TC test case. It examines the impact of changes in 24 parameters across multiple physical parameterization schemes that represent convection, turbulence, precipitation, and cloud processes. The one-at-a-time (OAT) sensitivity analysis method quantifies the relative influence of each parameter on TC simulations and identifies which parameters affect six different TC characteristics: intensity, precipitation, longwave cloud radiative forcing (LWCF), shortwave cloud radiative forcing (SWCF), cloud liquid water path (LWP), and ice water path (IWP). It is shown that TC intensity is mainly sensitive to the parcel fractional mass entrainment rate (dmpdz) in deep convection. A decrease in this parameter can lead to a change in simulated intensity from a tropical depression to a category-4 storm. Precipitation and SWCF are strongly affected by three parameters in deep convection: tau (time scale for consumption rate of convective available potential energy), dmpdz, and C0_ocn (precipitation coefficient). Changes in physical parameters generally do not affect LWCF much. In contrast, LWP and IWP are very sensitive to changes in C0_ocn. The changes can be as large as 10 (5) times the control mean value for LWP (IWP). Further examination of the response functions for the subset of most sensitive parameters reveals nonlinear relationships between parameters and most output variables, suggesting that linear perturbation analysis may produce misleading results when applied to strongly nonlinear systems.
Probabilistic Concepts in Intermediate-Complexity Climate Models: A Snapshot Attractor Picture
Authors: Herein Mátyás , Márfy János , Drótos Gábor , Tél Tamás 
Published: October 2015

Abstract
A time series resulting from a single initial condition is shown to be insufficient for quantifying the internal variability in a climate model, and thus one is unable to make meaningful climate projections based on it. The authors argue that the natural distribution, obtained from an ensemble of trajectories differing solely in their initial conditions, of the snapshot attractor corresponding to a particular forcing scenario should be determined in order to quantify internal variability and to characterize any instantaneous state of the system in the future. Furthermore, as a simple measure of internal variability of any particular variable of the model, the authors suggest using its instantaneous ensemble standard deviation. These points are illustrated with the intermediate-complexity climate model Planet Simulator forced by a CO2 scenario, with a 40-member ensemble. In particular, the leveling off of the time dependence of any ensemble average is shown to provide a much clearer indication of reaching a steady state than any property of single time series. Shifts in ensemble averages are indicative of climate changes. The dynamical character of such changes is illustrated by hysteresis-like curves obtained by plotting the ensemble average surface temperature versus the CO2 concentration. The internal variability is found to be the most pronounced on small geographical scales. The traditionally used 30-yr temporal averages are shown to be considerably different from the corresponding ensemble averages. Finally, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, related to the teleconnection paradigm, is also investigated. It is found that the NAO time series strongly differs in any individual realization from each other and from the ensemble average, and climatic trends can be extracted only from the latter.