bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bendamustine, thalidomide and dexamethasone combination therapy for relapsed/refractory myeloma patients: results of the MUKone randomized dose selection trial
Authors: Schey Steve , Brown Sarah R. , Tillotson Avie‐Lee , Yong Kwee , Williams Cathy , Davies Faith , Morgan Gareth , Cavenagh Jamie , Cook Gordon , Cook Mark , Orti Guillermo , Morris Curly , Sherratt Debbie , Flanagan Louise , Gregory Walter , Cavet James ,   the Myeloma UK Early Phase Clinical Trial Network
Published: April 2015

SummaryThere is a significant unmet need in effective therapy for relapsed myeloma patients once they become refractory to bortezomib and lenalidomide. While data from the front line setting suggest bendamustine is superior to melphalan, there is no information defining optimal bendamustine dose in multiply‐treated patients. We report a multi‐centre randomized two‐stage phase 2 trial simultaneously assessing deliverability and activity of two doses of bendamustine (60 mg/m2 vs. 100 mg/m2) days 1 and 8, thalidomide (100 mg) days 1–21 and low dose dexamethasone (20 mg) days 1, 8, 15 and 22 of a 28‐d cycle. Ninety‐four relapsing patients were treated on trial, with a median three prior treatment lines. A pre‐planned interim deliverability and activity assessment led to closure of the 100 mg/m2 arm due to excess cytopenias, and led to amendment of entry criteria for cytopenias. Non‐haematological toxicities including thromboembolism and neurotoxicity were infrequent. In the 60 mg/m2 arm, treatment was deliverable in 61·1% subjects and the partial response rate was 46·3% in the study eligible population, with 7·5 months progression‐free survival. This study demonstrates bendamustine at 60 mg/m2 twice per month with thalidomide and dexamethasone is deliverable for repeated cycles in heavily pre‐treated myeloma patients and has substantial clinical activity.
Performance measurement in Canadian employment service delivery, 1996‐2000
Authors: Grundy John 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThis article draws on the theoretical insights of Foucauldian governmentality scholarship to analyze a performance measurement system developed by the federal government in the 1990s to assess employment services for the unemployed. An examination of Human Resource Development Canada's Results‐Based Accountability Framework yields insights into contestation and incoherence in performance measurement, often overlooked in governmentality research. This argument is developed by detailing three obstacles to implementing the performance measurement system: dilemmas of technical coordination, contestation by actors invested in different terms of measurement, and widespread recognition of the ambiguities of the performance data. The paper concludes by calling for more variegated accounts of governance in governmentality scholarship.
Bringing accountability up to date with the realities of public sector management in the 21st century
Authors: Perrin Burt 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThis article identifies basic shortcomings of traditional approaches to accountability and considers some of the reasons for the persistence of an approach that is known to: provide an inaccurate and distorted view of actual performance; inhibits rather than facilitates improved performance; and contributes to less rather than more confidence in government. The article then presents a vision of accountability more in keeping with the realities of public sector management in the twenty‐first century.
Transitions in Executive Function: Insights From Developmental Parallels Between Prospective Memory and Cognitive Flexibility
Authors: Mahy Caitlin E. V. , Munakata Yuko 
Published: April 2015

AbstractAs children develop, they need to remember to carry out their intentions and overcome habits to switch flexibly to new ways of behaving. Developments in these domains—prospective memory and cognitive flexibility—are essential for children to function and predict important outcomes. Prospective memory and cognitive flexibility are similar in the psychological processes proposed to support them (particularly executive functions), in how they are measured, and in the behavioral transitions observed (e.g., dissociations between actions and intentions, and nonlinear developmental trajectories). In this article, we highlight how such parallels can inform debates about the specific executive functions and types of developments that support prospective memory, cognitive flexibility, and related future‐oriented abilities, and can deepen understanding of executive function development more generally.
Blood–brain barrier: A novel therapeutic target in multiple sclerosis
Authors: Kuwahara Hiroya , Nishina Kazutaka , Yokota Takanori 
Published: April 2015

AbstractMultiple sclerosis is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system, and the entrance of pathogenic lymphocytes from blood circulation into the brain across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is accepted as the initial step of pathogenesis. The migration of lymphocytes across the BBB is mediated by their sequential interactions with the brain microvascular endothelial cells, the central component of the BBB, including rolling (loose attachment), adhesion (firm attachment), crawling and transmigration. There are a variety of cell adhesion molecules that are expressed on brain microvascular endothelial cells and are involved in this process. The selectins are assumed to be associated with the rolling of lymphocytes. Vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 contributes to the adhesion of lymphocytes by binding to very late antigen‐4 on their surface after the stimulation by cytokines. Intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 acts for the adhesion as well and the subsequent crawling of lymphocytes by binding to leukocyte function‐associated antigen‐1 on their surface. Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule, melanoma cell adhesion molecule, platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule‐1, nerve injury‐induced protein‐1 and vascular adhesion protein‐1 are also considered to influence the migratory process of lymphocytes across the BBB, although the detailed mechanisms are not elucidated. Here we review the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis at the BBB to present a possible molecular targeted therapy in the future, especially focused on the molecules expressing at the brain microvascular endothelial cells.
Use of information and communication technology amongst New Zealand dental students
Authors: Cox S. , Pollock D. , Rountree J. , Murray C. M. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractAlthough international studies have shown an increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) amongst dental students, there are no published studies specific to New Zealand (NZ). The aim of this research was to identify device ownership and academic utilisation patterns amongst New Zealand dental students, including preferences and perceptions, and barriers to use. All currently enrolled dental students (322) were invited to complete a 15‐item questionnaire. Data were statistically analysed in SPSS version 20.0. Qualitative data were analysed using a general inductive technique. The participation rate was 78.6% (N = 253 of 322). The majority of respondents personally owned laptop computers (98%) and smartphones (80.2%). A total of 10.8% of participants used a desktop computer everyday for academic purposes, whilst 78.7% used a laptop computer daily, and 54.7% a smartphone. New Zealand dental students demonstrated a high usage of ICT for their coursework with varied use of different online resources. The most frequently used online resources were search engines, social networking sites and lecture slides provided on Blackboard®. A high perceived value was placed on both audio podcasts and video podcasts despite the high value also placed on the traditional lectures. Although most participants (84.5%) felt that their ICT knowledge was adequate to meet academic requirements, a small number (1.6%) did not agree.
Predictive soil mapping with limited sample data
Authors: Zhu A. X. , Liu J. , Du F. , Zhang S. J. , Qin C. Z. , Burt J. , Behrens T. , Scholten T. 
Published: April 2015

SummaryExisting predictive soil mapping (PSM) methods often require soil sample data to be sufficient to represent soil–environment relationships throughout the study area. However, in many parts of the world with only a limited quantity of soil sample data to represent the study area, this is still an issue for PSM application. This paper presents a method, named ‘individual predictive soil mapping’ (iPSM), which can make use of limited soil sample data for PSM. With the assumption that similar environmental conditions have similar soils, iPSM uses the soil–environment relationship at each individual soil sample location to predict soil properties at unvisited locations and estimate prediction uncertainty. Specifically, the environmental similarities of an unvisited location to a set of soil sample locations are used in a weighted average method to integrate the soil–environment relationships at sample locations for prediction and uncertainty estimation. As a case study, iPSM was applied to map soil organic matter (SOM) content (%) in the topsoil layer using two sets of soil samples. Compared with multiple linear regression (MLR), iPSM produced a more accurate SOM map (root mean squared error (RMSE) 1.43, mean absolute error (MAE) 1.16) than MLR (RMSE 8.54, MAE 7.34) the ability of the sample set to represent the study area is limited and achieved a comparable accuracy (RMSE 1.10, MAE 0.69) with MLR (RMSE 1.01, MAE 0.73) when the sample set could represent the study area better. In addition, the prediction uncertainty estimated by iPSM was positively related to prediction residuals in both scenarios. This study demonstrates that iPSM is an effective alternative when existing soil samples are limited in their ability to represent the study area and the prediction uncertainty in iPSM can be used as an indicator of its prediction accuracy.
Presence of bacteria reduced phosphate adsorption on goethite
Authors: Hong Z. N. , Li J. Y. , Jiang J. , Liu Z. D. , Xu R. K. 
Published: April 2015

SummaryDespite extensive studies, the information obtained from pure iron and aluminum (hydr)oxides cannot fully explain phosphate fixation in natural soils because of the ubiquitous interactions between (hydr)oxides and bacteria in soil. The effect of bacteria (Bacillus subtilis subsp. and Pseudomonas fluorescens) on phosphate adsorption on goethite (α‐FeOOH) was systematically examined under varying reaction times, phosphate concentrations, pH, ionic strength and bacteria dosage. Batch experiments in all cases showed significantly less adsorption on bacteria–goethite complexes than on pure goethite, demonstrating an inhibitory effect of bacteria. The inhibition of phosphate adsorption increased with bacterial loading, and showed a significant, non‐linear correlation with the decrease in the goethite positive charge induced by the bacteria. Moreover, in both the desorption experiment and in situ, the attenuated total reflectance Fourier‐transform infrared (ATR‐FTIR) spectra suggested a competition of bacteria surface groups (phosphate and carboxyl) with solution phosphate for hydroxyl on goethite. Therefore, the negative influences of bacteria on phosphate adsorption on goethite were probably caused by the surface charge modification and the competitive adsorption induced by the bacteria. Under most conditions, the effects of B. subtilis subsp. were conspicuous, while only slight influences were found for P. fluorescens. This difference between the two bacteria species was explained by differences in their surface charge, group content and chemical interaction with goethite. These findings uncover an important role of bacteria in phosphate phyto‐availability and mobility in natural environments.
Is there an impact of climate change on soil carbon contents in England and Wales?
Authors: Barraclough D. , Smith P. , Worrall F. , Black H. I. J. , Bhogal A. 
Published: April 2015

SummaryIt is not yet clear how soils are responding to a warming climate. A major study using the National Soil Inventory (NSI) of England and Wales reported large declines in soil carbon concentration across 11 land uses between 1978 and 2003 and concluded there was a link to climate change. However, a second, almost contemporary study, recorded no significant changes, raising the possibility that the reported declines were caused by changes in land use and management rather than by climate change. We have used ‘space‐for‐time’ substitution on the data from the initial NSI study, combined with changes in rainfall and temperature over the survey period, to determine the extent to which the declines in soil carbon observed in the second NSI study could be predicted from changes in climate. For organo‐mineral and mineral soils, little (0–5%) of the observed decline in carbon concentration can be predicted from changes in climate. In contrast, 9–22% of the changes reported for organic soils in semi‐natural habitats are consistent with changes in temperature and rainfall between the two NSI surveys. We also found that carbon concentration in organic soils in semi‐natural habitats declines as temperatures exceed 7°C, mirroring independent observations for the decline in bog and dense shrub moor vegetation as temperatures rise above 7°C, and raising the possibility that climate change may influence soil carbon indirectly by changing vegetation cover, and hence litter quality.
Interrater reliability in interpretation of electrocorticographic seizure detections of the responsive neurostimulator
Authors: Quigg Mark , Sun Felice , Fountain Nathan B. , Jobst Barbara C. , Wong Victoria S. S. , Mirro Emily , Brown Sarah , Spencer David C. 
Published: April 2015

SummaryObjectiveElectrocorticographic (ECoG) recordings from patients with medically intractable partial‐onset seizures treated with a responsive neurostimulator system (the RNS System) that detects and stores physician‐specified ECoG events provide a new data resource. Interpretation of these recordings has not yet been validated. The purpose was to evaluate the interrater interpretation of chronic ambulatory ECoG recordings obtained by the RNS System.MethodsFive pairs of five experts independently classified 7,221 ECoG recordings obtained from 128 patients with medically intractable partial seizures who participated in a randomized controlled trial of the safety and efficacy of the RNS System. ECoG detections—“long episodes” or “saturations”—were classified as “seizures” or “not seizures” based on a reference definition. Interrater agreement rates and kappa score reliabilities were calculated between rater pairs from the ECoG sample as a whole and within individual patients who had more than the median number of individual ECoG recordings.ResultsThe overall interrater agreement was 79%, with a reliability κ = 0.57 (moderate agreement). Agreement between pairs of reviewers ranged from 0.69 to 0.85. Agreement rates were 94% or better for 50% of patients. Only 25% of patients had ECoG recordings agreement rates worse than 75%. ECoGs with mixed interpretations (one reviewer “seizure”/the other—“not seizure”) consisted of periods of low amplitude activity that evolved in amplitude or periodic discharges near 2 Hz.SignificanceAlthough reliability as a whole was moderate, for the majority of patients, detections yielded highly reliably interpreted events of either electrographic seizures or nonictal epileptiform activity.
Development of a nutritional profile predicting tool for fresh and processed tomato‐based products
Authors: Ayari Asma , Achir Nawel , Servent Adrien , Ricci Julien , Brat Pierre 
Published: April 2015

SummaryThis study was aimed at developing a tool to represent the evolution of nutritional profile of food during processing with input data mined from previous published papers or database on composition and reactivity of nutrients, and from minimal experimentations. Tomato‐based products, that is tomato sauce, concentrate and paste, were chosen to evaluate the developed model. The SAIN‐LIM system was used to assess the nutritional profile of the tomato products throughout the process steps, including seven constituents: five basic nutrients (i.e. proteins, fibres, vitamin C, calcium and iron) and two microconstituents found in tomato: β‐carotene and lycopene. The SAIN‐LIM nutritional profiles obtained with this model were compared to that calculated from experimental data. Calculated and experimental nutritional scores showed that process steps involved in tomato‐based products did not affect substantially their nutritional quality. Observed differences were mainly attributed to the kinetic parameter selection and raw product variability. The conclusion offers suggestions to extend the model to other product/process combinations.
Influence of SNP*SNP interaction on BMI in European American adolescents: findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
Authors: Young K. L. , Graff M. , North K. E. , Richardson A. S. , Bradfield J. P. , Grant S. F. A. , Lange L. A. , Lange E. M. , Harris K. M. , Gordon‐Larsen P. 
Published: April 2015

SummaryBackgroundAdolescent obesity is predictive of future weight gain, obesity and adult onset severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥40 kg m−2). Despite successful efforts to identify Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) influencing BMI, <5% of the 40–80% heritability of the phenotype has been explained. Identification of gene–gene (G‐G) interactions between known variants can help explain this hidden heritability as well as identify potential biological mechanisms affecting weight gain during this critical developmental period.ObjectiveWe have recently shown distinct genetic effects on BMI across the life course, and thus it is important to examine the evidence for epistasis in adolescence.MethodsIn adolescent participants of European descent from wave II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health, n = 5072, ages 12–21, 52.5% female), we tested 34 established BMI‐related SNPs for G‐G interaction effects on BMI z‐score. We used mixed‐effects regression, assuming multiplicative interaction models adjusting for age, sex and geographic region, with random effects for family and school.ResultsFor 28 G‐G interactions that were nominally significant (P < 0.05), we attempted to replicate our results in an adolescent sample from the Childhood European American Cohort from Philadelphia. In the replication study, one interaction (PRKD1‐FTO) was significant after correction for multiple testing.ConclusionsOur results are suggestive of epistatic effects on BMI during adolescence and point to potentially interactive effects between genes in biological pathways important in obesity.
Incontinence care in nursing homes: a cross‐sectional study
Authors: Mandl Manuela , Halfens Ruud J.G. , Lohrmann Christa 
Published: April 2015

AbstractAimsTo describe the quality of incontinence care in nursing homes. Main outcome measures were: (1) availability of structural quality indicators on ward and institutional levels; (2) use of nursing interventions as quality indicators on a process level; (3) prevalence of incontinence as an outcome indicator.BackgroundIncontinence in older people is a major problem in nursing care that presents a high workload for nurses, increases costs and places a high burden on affected individuals. The availability of structural indicators, and the use of nursing interventions, is recommended to improve the quality of care. Only limited amounts of reliable and valid data are available regarding the quality of incontinence care in nursing homes.DesignA cross‐sectional multicentre study in 16 nursing homes (N = 1302) in 2013.MethodsA standardized and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Each resident was assessed by two trained nurses.Results/findingsThe primary outcome of the study indicated that structural indicators, such as the availability of information brochures, are limited in nursing homes. On a process level, the provision of body worn pads or underlay pads to protect beds or chairs were most frequently used and training interventions were only delivered to a small proportion of residents with incontinence. The prevalence of all types of incontinence, particularly double incontinence, was high (69·2%).ConclusionDue to the high prevalence of double incontinence and low rate of training interventions regarding this type of incontinence, ongoing efforts to improve the quality of incontinence care are warranted.
Transnational Self‐determination. Resetting Self‐Government in the Age of Interdependence
Authors: Innerarity Daniel 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThe world of Westphalia, in which the subjects of self‐government were well defined, is over. We are in a new constellation in which we seem to be governed by others, especially in Europe. This other‐determination is not a temporary situation but a democratic requirement when our decisions determine the future for other people. Is there any way to make just that which appears to be inevitable? Democratizing the side‐effects of our decisions requires the institutionalization of reciprocity. Democracy is not more possible in a single country – today less so than ever.
Color Matching Strategies for Non‐Vital Discolored Teeth: Part 2. In‐Vivo Bleaching Options for Discolored Teeth Preparations
Authors: Chu Stephen J. , Mieleszko Adam J. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThe following is a case report exemplifying the esthetic restorative and correction of a discolored substrate of a non‐vital maxillary right lateral and central incisor tooth. Frequently, clinicians are presented with discolored teeth preparations after removal of a restoration and face difficult decision‐making strategies in regards to materials selection, tooth preparation depth, and design. Part 2 will discuss the diagnosis and clinical bleaching treatment options when restoring non‐vital discolored substrate preparations. The key is to know when such techniques should and can be applied with the associated esthetic clinical results.Clinical SignificanceEsthetic restorative correction of discolored teeth preparations can be clinically managed with an understanding of non‐vital bleaching concepts and techniques along with the associated risks and rewards.