bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cutaneous stigmata associated with insulin resistance and increased cardiovascular risk
Authors: Schilling William H. K. , Crook Martin A. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractCertain cutaneous conditions have been reported to be associated with diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. In this novel review paper, the evidence linking various cutaneous phenomena (e.g. skin tags, acanthosis nigricans, ear lobe creases, and xanthelasma) and metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease is examined, and explanations for these associations are proposed.
Reconstruction of large alopecia with old technique: V‐Y‐S plasty
Authors: Sahin Baris 
Published: April 2014

AbstractTreatment of alopecia following burns, trauma or tumour surgery is challenging. Local flaps for small or medium sized defects and tissue expansion for larger defects is the common approach. Tissue expansion is a two‐stage procedure and the inflation process causes difficulty for patients. V‐Y‐S plasty is safe and one‐stage method of tissue reconstruction for scalp, face and other parts of the body. We performed this method safely for very large alopecia reconstructions in the scalp.
Neuropeptide Y and Leptin Sensitivity is Dependent on Diet Composition
Authors: van den Heuvel J. K. , Eggels L. , van Rozen A. J. , Luijendijk M. C. M. , Fliers E. , Kalsbeek A. , Adan R. A. H. , la Fleur S. E. 
Published: April 2014

Rats on different free‐choice (fc) diets for 1 week of either chow, saturated fat and liquid sugar (fcHFHS), chow and saturated fat (fcHF), or chow and liquid sugar (fcHS) have differential levels of neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNA in the arcuate nucleus. Because these differences were not explained by plasma leptin levels but did predict subsequent feeding behaviour, in the present study, we first examined whether leptin sensitivity could explain these differences. Second, we focused on the role of NPY on feeding behaviour, and measured NPY mRNA levels and sensitivity to NPY after 4 weeks on the different choice diets. To determine leptin sensitivity, we measured food intake after i.p. leptin or vehicle injections in male Wistar rats subjected to the fcHFHS, fcHS, fcHF or Chow diets for 7 days. Next, we measured levels of arcuate nucleus NPY mRNA with in situ hybridisation in rats subjected to the choice diets for 4 weeks. Finally, we studied NPY sensitivity in rats subjected to the fcHFHS, fcHS, fcHF or Chow diet for 4 weeks by measuring food intake after administration of NPY or vehicle in the lateral ventricle. Leptin decreased caloric intake in rats on Chow, fcHS and fcHF but not in rats on the fcHFHS diet. After 4 weeks, rats on the fcHFHS diet remained hyperphagic, whereas fcHS and fcHF rats decreased caloric intake to levels similar to rats on Chow. By contrast to 1 week, after 4 weeks, levels of NPY mRNA were not different between the diet groups. Lateral ventricle administration of NPY resulted in higher caloric intake in fcHFHS rats compared to rats on the other choice diets or rats on Chow. Our data show that consuming a combination of saturated fat and liquid sugar results in leptin resistance and increased NPY sensitivity that is associated with persistent hyperphagia.
Relationships between core factors of knowledge management in hospital nursing organisations and outcomes of nursing performance
Authors: Lee Eun Ju , Kim Hong Soon , Kim Hye Young 
Published: April 2014

Aims and objectivesThe study was conducted to investigate the levels of implementation of knowledge management and outcomes of nursing performance, to examine the relationships between core knowledge management factors and nursing performance outcomes and to identify core knowledge management factors affecting these outcomes.BackgroundEffective knowledge management is very important to achieve strong organisational performance. The success or failure of knowledge management depends on how effectively an organisation's members share and use their knowledge. Because knowledge management plays a key role in enhancing nursing performance, identifying the core factors and investigating the level of knowledge management in a given hospital are priorities to ensure a high quality of nursing for patients.DesignThe study employed a descriptive research procedure.ParticipantsThe study sample consisted of 192 nurses registered in three large healthcare organisations in South Korea.MethodThe variables demographic characteristics, implementation of core knowledge management factors and outcomes of nursing performance were examined and analysed in this study.ResultsThe relationships between the core knowledge management factors and outcomes of nursing performance as well as the factors affecting the performance outcomes were investigated. A knowledge‐sharing culture and organisational learning were found to be core factors affecting nursing performance.ConclusionThe study results provide basic data that can be used to formulate effective knowledge management strategies for enhancing nursing performance in hospital nursing organisations. In particular, prioritising the adoption of a knowledge‐sharing culture and organisational learning in knowledge management systems might be one method for organisations to more effectively manage their knowledge resources and thus to enhance the outcomes of nursing performance and achieve greater business competitiveness.Relevance to clinical practiceThe study results can contribute to the development of effective and efficient knowledge management systems and strategies for enhancing knowledge‐sharing culture and organisational learning that can improve both the productivity and competitiveness of healthcare organisations.
Phreatophytic vegetation responses to groundwater depth in a drying mediterranean‐type landscape
Authors: Sommer B. , Froend R. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractQuestionsDoes the plant hydrotype composition of phreatophytic vegetation alter with drawdown of the water table? Can alternative states of phreatophytic vegetation be identified, and do they persist despite a multi‐decadal drying of a mediterranean‐type landscape?LocationField study, coastal sandy plain, Gnangara Groundwater System, south‐western Australia.MethodsWe used a data set spanning 35 yr to determine alternative states of phreatophytic vegetation and how they relate to spatial variation and temporal change in hydrological habitat. Multivariate regression trees (MRT) were used to identify the range in depth to groundwater associated with vegetation states (characteristic hydrotype compositions). Logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict the proportional representation of each hydrotype. Hydrotype compositions of recent observations were correlated against modelled values derived from historic observations to test whether the relationship between vegetation states and supporting hydrological habitats remains valid after significant decline in the water table.ResultsThe MRT analyses for the historic and recent observations produced a main split criterion at 2.0 and 2.9 m groundwater depth, respectively, essentially dividing records into those dominated by hydrophytes or xerophytes. No hydrophytes were present at groundwater depths >10.5 m (>8.5 m for recent observations), where xerophytes and generalists were dominant. Only extreme groundwater depths were dominated by a single hydrotype class (hydrophytes or xerophytes), while intermediate clusters represented a transition across the hydrotype classes. The logistic regressions of the proportion of hydrotypes as a function of groundwater depth resulted in good fits for hydrophytes and xerophytes only.ConclusionsVegetation states were consistent over 35 yr of progressive increase in depth to water table. Distribution of alternative states along a gradient in groundwater depths was exponential and was reflected in the distribution of hydrophytes and mesophytes. The ranges of groundwater depths at which individual states occur suggest that as groundwater depth increases, the degree of habitat specificity decreases. The narrow range of groundwater depths within which hydrophytes and mesophytes are dominant suggests that small changes in depth could lead to transitions between states. With ongoing drying of the landscape, persistence of these vegetation states can be expected to diminish.
Fatigue and pruritus at onset identify a more aggressive subset of primary biliary cirrhosis
Authors: Quarneti Chiara , Muratori Paolo , Lalanne Claudine , Fabbri Angela , Menichella Rita , Granito Alessandro , Masi Chiara , Lenzi Marco , Cassani Fabio , Pappas Georgios , Muratori Luigi 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackground & AimsIn recent years, primary biliary cirrhosis is mostly diagnosed in patients who are asymptomatic; however, a proportion of cases still present with typical complaints such as fatigue and/or pruritus. We compared biochemical, histological and immunological features of patients with or without fatigue and/or pruritus at onset to see whether the different clinical presentation may eventually impact on disease progression.MethodsWe analysed the Bologna cohort of 216 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis referred to our Centre between 1997 and 2007, according to symptomatic (fatigue and/or pruritus) or asymptomatic presentation. Clinical, biochemical, histological and immunological feature at diagnosis, response to ursodeoxycholic acid and progression of the disorder were compared after a mean follow‐up of 81 ± 75 months.ResultsAt diagnosis, symptomatic patients were significantly more often women (98.6% vs. 87.2%, P = 0.004), younger (mean age 49 ± 12 vs. 55 ± 12 years, P = 0.003) and with more pronounced biochemical activity, as indicated by higher alkaline phosphatase (mean 2.93 ± 2 vs. 2.12, P = 0.002) and aminotransferase (mean 1.92 ± 1 vs. 1.47 ± 1.27, P = 0.014) levels, whereas histological stage and autoantibody profile were similar. Symptomatic patients were less likely to respond to ursodeoxycholic acid therapy (63% vs. 81%, P = 0.006) and developed more often cirrhosis and its complications (31% vs. 13%, P = 0.004).ConclusionsFatigue and/or pruritus at onset identify a subset of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis who preferentially are women, younger, with a particularly active disease, less responsive to ursodeoxycholic acid treatment, and more inclined to evolve to cirrhosis and its complications.
Prospects for Moral Epistemic Infinitism
Authors: Aikin Scott F. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThis article poses two regresses for justification of moral knowledge and discusses three models for moral epistemic infinitism that arise. There are moral infinitisms dependent on empirical infinitism, what are called “piggyback” moral infinitisms. There are substantive empiricist moral infinitisms, requiring infinite chains of descriptive facts to justify normative rules. These empiricist infinitisms are developed either as infinitist egoisms or as infinitist sentimentalisms. And, finally, there are substantive rationalist moral infinitisms, requiring infinite chains of normative reasons to justify moral rules. Rationalist moral infinitism is posed as a mixed view integrating moral intuitions with the demand for justifying reasons.
Positism: The Unexplored Solution to the Epistemic Regress Problem
Authors: Engel Mylan 
Published: April 2014

AbstractAs we trace a chain of reasoning backward, it must ultimately do one of four things: (i) end in an unjustified belief, (ii) continue infinitely, (iii) form a circle, or (iv) end in an immediately justified basic belief. This article defends positism—the view that, in certain circumstances, type‐(i) chains can justify us in holding their target beliefs. One of the assumptions that generates the epistemic regress problem is: (A) Person S is mediately justified in believing p iff (1) S has a doxastic reason q for p and (2) S is justified in believing q. Assumption (A) presupposes that reasoning is only justification transmitting, not justification generating. The article rejects (A) and argues that, in certain circumstances, reasoning itself is justification generating, even if that from which one is reasoning is not itself justified. It concludes by comparing positism with its infinitist, coherentist, and foundationalist rivals, acknowledging what is right about these other views.
Finite Reasons Without Foundations
Authors: Poston Ted 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThis article develops a theory of reasons that has strong similarities to Peter Klein's infinitism. The view it develops, Framework Reasons, upholds Klein's principles of avoiding arbitrariness (PAA) and avoiding circularity (PAC) without requiring an infinite regress of reasons. A view of reasons that holds that the “reason for” relation is constrained by PAA and that PAC can avoid an infinite regress if the “reason for” relation is contextual. Moreover, such a view of reasons can maintain that skepticism is false by the maintaining that there is more to epistemic justification than can be expressed in any reasoning session. One crucial argument for Framework Reasons is that justification depends on a background of plausibility considerations. The final section of the article applies this view of reasons to Michael Bergmann's argument that any nonskeptical epistemology must embrace epistemic circularity.
Metaphysical Infinitism and the Regress of Being
Authors: Morganti Matteo 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThis article offers a limited defense of metaphysical “infinitism,” the view that there are, or might be, infinite chains of ontological dependence. According to a widespread presupposition, there must be an ultimate ground of being—most likely, a plurality of fundamental atoms. Contrary to this view, this article shows that metaphysical infinitism is internally coherent. In particular, a parallel with the debate concerning infinitism about epistemic justification is suggested, and an “emergence model” of being is put forward. According to the emergence model, the being of any given entity gradually arises out of an infinite series of progressively less dependent entities—it is not wholly transmitted, as it were, from a basic, ungrounded level to all the dependent ones in a step‐by‐step fashion. Some objections are considered and rebutted.
Are Bald‐Faced Lies Deceptive after All?
Authors: Fallis Don 
Published: April 2014

AbstractAccording to the traditional philosophical definition, you lie if and only if you say something that you believe to be false and you intend to deceive someone into believing what you say. However, philosophers have recently noted the existence of bald‐faced lies, lies which are not intended to deceive anyone into believing what is said. As a result, many philosophers have removed deception from their definitions of lying. According to Jennifer Lackey, this is ‘an unhappy divorce’ because it precludes an obvious explanation of the prima facie wrongness of lying. Moreover, Lackey claims that there is a sense of deception in which all lies are deceptive. In this paper, I argue that bald‐faced lies are not deceptive on any plausible notion of deception. In addition, I argue that divorcing deception from lying may not be as unhappy a result as Lackey suggests.
Haemodynamic changes in pulmonary hypertension in patients with interstitial lung disease treated with PDE‐5 inhibitors
Authors: Zimmermann Gregor S. , von Wulffen Werner , Huppmann Patrick , Meis Tobias , Ihle Franziska , Geiseler Jens , Leuchte Hanno H. , Tufman Amanda , Behr Juergen , Neurohr Claus 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackground and objectiveInterstitial lung diseases (ILD) are often associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH). This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of phosphodiesterase‐5 (PDE‐5) inhibitors in pulmonary hypertension secondary to ILD.MethodsPatients with ILD and PH were treated with sildenafil or tadalafil. Right heart catheterization was performed before and after a minimum of 3‐month treatment. In addition, lung function, 6‐min walk distance (6MWD) and plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentration were assessed.ResultsTen ILD patients (three female, mean age 64.4 ± 9.0 years, six with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), four with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, (HP)) with significant precapillary PH (mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAPm) ≥ 25 mmHg, pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) > 280 dyn*s*cm−5; pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWPm) ≤ 15 mmHg) were treated with either sildenafil (n = 5) or tadalafil (n = 5). Pulmonary haemodynamics were severely impaired at baseline (PAPm 42.9 ± 5.4 mmHg; cardiac index (CI) 2.7 ± 0.6 L/min/m2; PVR 519 ± 131 dyn × sec × cm−5). After mean follow‐up of 6.9 ± 5.8 months an increase in CI (2.9 ± 0.7 L/min/m2, P = 0.04) and a decrease in PVR (403 ± 190 dyn × sec × cm−5, P = 0.03) were observed. 6MWD and BNP did not change significantly.ConclusionsOur data suggest that treatment with PDE‐5 inhibitors improves pulmonary haemodynamic patients with PH secondary to ILD.
Cytokine concentration in stored canine erythrocyte concentrates
Authors: Corsi Raffaella , McMichael Maureen A. , Smith Stephanie A. , O'Brien Mauria , Herring Jennifer , Ngwenyama Thandeka R. , Galligan Alyssa , Beloshapka Alison N. , Deng Ping , Swanson Kelly S. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of leukoreduction (LR) as compared to standard nonleukoreduced (NLR) units on cytokine concentrations in canine erythrocyte concentrates during regular storage time.DesignRandomized, experimental study.SettingUniversity teaching hospital.AnimalsTen random‐source research dogs.InterventionsOne unit of whole blood was collected from each dog and randomized to standard processing (NLR, n = 5) or prestorage LR (n = 5). All units were stored at 4°C. Samples were aseptically collected from each unit weekly for 5 weeks. On day 35, 1 mL of blood was collected from each unit and submitted for aerobic culture.Measurement and Main ResultsAn ELISA assay was used to analyze the concentrations of IL‐1β, IL‐8, TNF‐α, and IL‐10. There were no significant effects of either group or storage time for IL‐1β, IL‐10, or TNF‐α. IL‐8 concentration was significantly increased over the storage period in NLR units, and was significantly higher compared to LR units on days 28 and 35. Aerobic culture was negative on all units.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated a marked, storage time‐dependent accumulation of IL‐8 in canine erythrocyte concentrates. Prestorage LR attenuated the accumulation of IL‐8. This chemokine may contribute to the proinflammatory effects of transfusion of stored erythrocyte concentrates.
Reference intervals and age‐related changes for venous biochemical, hematological, electrolytic, and blood gas variables using a point of care analyzer in 68 puppies
Authors: O'Brien Mauria A. , McMichael Maureen A. , Le Boedec Kevin , Lees George 
Published: April 2014

AbstractObjectiveTo determine the reference interval for various venous analyte concentrations using a point‐of‐care (POC) analyzer in healthy, 4–84‐day‐old puppies and identify any age‐specific variations in the values as compared with adults.DesignA prospective cohort study.SettingUniversity teaching hospital.AnimalsClinically healthy dogs; 68 puppies and 30 adults.Measurements and Main ResultsSamples were collected by jugular venipuncture from 68 clinically healthy puppies at 4, 10, 12, 16, 28, 70, 77, and 84 days of age and once each from 30 clinically healthy adult dogs. Blood samples (n= 287) were analyzed within 5 minutes of collection using an automated POC analyzer.Reference intervals for puppies at various ages were estimated using a bootstrap sampling approach.The analytes that were closest to the adult values were pH and bicarbonate. On days 4 and 10 the pH for puppies was higher than the adults while the HCO3was higher than the adults only on day 4. HCT on day 4 approximated adult values but fell to a nadir on day 28 before rising toward adult levels. At all time points, sodium, chloride, and ionized magnesium concentrations were lower than adult values, and potassium and ionized calcium were higher than adult values. Glucose was similar to adult values on day 4 but was above adult values at all other time points. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was higher in puppies until day 28 when it became lower than in adults. BUN levels remained lower than adults through day 84.ConclusionsVariations exist between puppies and adults for venous POC analyzer results. Adult reference intervals should not be used for puppies as this might cause misinterpretation of the results.
Investigations on the Effect of Coating Material and Method on Die Wear in Stamping of Advanced High Strength Steels
Authors: Cora Ömer Necati , Koç Muammer , Blau Peter J. , Namiki Kunio 
Published: April 2014

Despite the advantages of advanced high strength steels (AHSS), their stamping into functional lightweight parts demands prolonged die life, which necessitates the use of alternative substrates, coating materials, and/or surface conditioning to minimize and delay the die wear. In order to avoid frequent die replacement and surface quality problems on the stamped parts, the metalworking industry has been investigating various approaches such as reducing/refining the carbide particles, adding alloying elements, and elevating the hardness and toughness values for both substrate materials and coatings.
The objective of this work was to investigate the effects of different coatings on the wear behavior of a some selected tool steel materials (die sample of interest) against two different AHSS sheet blanks through a cylinder-on-flat type reciprocating test method. After wear tests, both die sample and sheet blank surface were microscopically examined. Wear resistance of the slider was quantified from wear scar width measurements. Results showed that TD and CVD coated die samples performed better than the two other PVD coated samples.