bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An Application of Semiparametric Bayesian Isotonic Regression to the Study of Radiation Effects in Spaceborne Microelectronics
Authors: Farah Marian , Kottas Athanasios , Morris Robin D. 
Published: September 2013

SummaryThis work is concerned with the vulnerability of spaceborne microelectronics to single-event upset, which is a change of state caused by high-energy charged particles in the solar wind or the cosmic ray environment striking a sensitive node. To measure the susceptibility of a semiconductor device to single-event upsets, testing is conducted by exposing it to high-energy heavy ions or protons produced in a particle accelerator. The number of upsets is characterized by the interaction cross-section, which is an increasing function of linear energy transfer. The prediction of the on-orbit upset rate is made by combining the device geometry and cross-section versus linear energy transfer curve with a model for the orbit-specific radiation environment. We develop a semiparametric isotonic regression method for the upset count responses, based on a Dirichlet process prior for the cross-section curve. The methodology proposed allows the data to drive the shape of the cross-section versus linear energy transfer relationship, resulting in more robust predictive inference for the on-orbit upset rate than conventional models based on Weibull or log-normal parametric forms for the cross-section curve. We illustrate the modelling approach with data from two particle accelerator experiments.
Multivariate Functional Clustering for the Morphological Analysis of Electrocardiograph Curves
Authors: Ieva Francesca , Paganoni Anna M. , Pigoli Davide , Vitelli Valeria 
Published: September 2013

Summary
Cardiovascular ischaemic diseases are one of the main causes of death all over the world. In this class of pathologies, a quick diagnosis is essential for a good prognosis in reperfusive treatment. In particular, an automatic classification procedure based on statistical analysis of teletransmitted electrocardiograph (‘ECG’) traces would be very helpful for an early diagnosis. This work presents an analysis of ECG traces, either physiological or pathological, of patients whose 12-lead prehospital ECG has been sent to the 118 Dispatch Center in Milan by life-support personnel. The statistical analysis starts with a preprocessing step, where functional data are reconstructed from noisy observations and biological variability is removed by a non-linear registration procedure. Then, a multivariate functional k-means clustering procedure is carried out on reconstructed and registered ECGs and their first derivatives. Hence, a new semi-automatic diagnostic procedure, based solely on the ECG morphology, is proposed to classify ECG traces; finally, the performance of this classification method is evaluated.
Ordinal Latent Variable Models and Their Application in the Study of Newly Licensed Teenage Drivers
Authors: Jackson John C. , Albert Paul S. , Zhang Zhiwei , Simons-Morton Bruce 
Published: September 2013

SummaryIn a unique longitudinal study of teen driving, risky driving behaviour and the occurrence of crashes or near crashes are measured prospectively over the first 18 months of licensure. Of scientific interest is relating the two processes and developing a predictor of crashes from previous risky driving behaviour. In this work, we propose two latent class models for relating risky driving behaviour to the occurrence of a crash or near-crash event. The first approach models the binary longitudinal crash or near-crash outcome by using a binary latent variable which depends on risky driving covariates and previous outcomes. A random-effects model introduces heterogeneity among subjects in modelling the mean value of the latent state. The second approach extends the first model to the ordinal case where the latent state is composed of K ordinal classes. Additionally, we discuss an alternative hidden Markov model formulation. Estimation is performed by using the expectation–maximization algorithm and Monte Carlo expectation–maximization. We illustrate the importance of using these latent class modelling approaches through the analysis of the teen driving behaviour.
Multidimensional Well‐Being at the Top: Evidence for Germany*
Authors: Peichl Andreas , Pestel Nico 
Published: September 2013

AbstractThis paper employs a multidimensional approach for the measurement of well‐being at the top of the distribution using German SOEP micro data. Besides income as the traditional indicator for material well‐being, we include health as a proxy for non‐material quality of life and self‐reported satisfaction with life as dimensions. We find that one‐third of the German population are well off in at least one dimension but only 1 per cent in all three dimensions simultaneously. While the distribution of income has become more concentrated at the top, measures of multidimensional well‐being at the top have decreased slightly over time. Moreover, health and life satisfaction are important drivers of multidimensional richness, which has important policy implications.
Costs of Domestic Violence: A Life Satisfaction Approach*
Authors: Santos Cristina 
Published: September 2013

AbstractThis paper discusses and estimates the costs of domestic violence using a life satisfaction approach. It draws on a British cross‐sectional data set that includes individual self‐reported life satisfaction, household income and experienced domestic violence. The paper estimates the costs of domestic violence as the compensating variation of domestic violence resulting from estimating a life satisfaction regression equation. Some attempts to deal with the problem of self‐selection into abusive relationships and to account for the endogeneity of household income are discussed and implemented. The results suggest that domestic violence is costed very highly by its victims, with estimates ranging from £27,000 to over £70,000. Hence this paper contributes to the literature on valuing non‐marketable goods and discusses the usefulness of a life satisfaction approach when estimating the costs of domestic violence. It claims that, despite its shortcomings, a life satisfaction approach allows for a valuation of domestic violence and answers questions often not answered by other valuation methods.
Electrical Activity of the Crayfish Myocardium
Authors: HERNANDEZ VICENTE , MENDEZ CARLOS 
Published: September 2013

Passive and Active Electrical Responses. Introduction: The purpose of this investigation was to study the electrical activity of the crayfish myocardium.Methods and Results: In isolated crayfish hearts, intracellularly injected hyperpolarizing pulses propagate electrotonically to distances up to 1 mm, and the myocardium behaves as an irregular functional syncytium.Conclusion: The existence of low‐resistance intercellular connections provides a basis for the analysis and interpretation of many of the results obtained in this article, and makes it possible to propose the following tentative conclusions: (1) in the crayfish myocardium, not all muscle cells are innervated, yet many sites in the crayfish myocardium receive the same polyneural innervation; (2) in many records, the burst of junction potentials that follow each action potential are electrotonic in nature; (3) the cardiac muscle fibers of the crayfish heart are electrically excitable, and the generated action potentials do propagate actively at least for short distances; (4) the gaps between the innervated sites are filled with noninnervated but connected muscle cells that are passively and actively engaged; and (5) an exaggerated richness of innervation is not needed since the crayfish heart can provide effective and quasisynchronous mechanical systoles because of its efficiently combined characteristics.
Atrioventricular Nodal Conduction Rather than Automaticity Determines the Ventricular Rate During Atrial Fibrillation and Atrial Flutter
Authors: VERECKEI ANDRAS , VERA ZAK , PRIDE HARALD P. , ZIPES DOUGLAS P. 
Published: September 2013

AV Nodal Conduction During Atrial Fibrillation and Flutter. Introduction: Recent clinical studies have advanced the hypothesis that the atrioventricular (AV) node does not conduct cardiac impulses, but functions as a pacemaker whose discharge rate and rhythm are modulated electrotonically by atrial impulses. Major support for the hypothesis comes from the observation that the short ventricular cycles during atrial fibrillation can be totally eliminated by ventricular pacing at relatively long ventricular cycle lengths.Methods and Results: The hypothesis was tested in ten anesthetized open chest mongrel dogs with sustained atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (AF). Large differences (> 120 msec) between the ventricular pacing cycle length that achieved > 95% ventricular capture and the shortest spontaneous RR cycle during AF were considered to be consistent with the modulated AV nodal pacemaker hypothesis, while values ≤ 120 msec were not. The results showed that the ventricular pacing cycle length capturing > 95% of ventricular complexes during AF depended on the spontaneous ventricular rate during AF. Short spontaneous RR cycles during AF required short ventricular pacing cycle lengths to achieve > 95% capture, and the difference between the ventricular pacing cycle length and the shortest spontaneous RR cycle length was narrow, i.e., ≤ 120 msec. Slower ventricular rates could be captured at longer ventricular pacing cycle lengths, and the difference between the ventricular pacing cycle length capturing > 95% of the ventricular complexes and the shortest spontaneous RR interval during AF was large, i.e., > 120 msec. A continuum existed, and values ≤ 120 msec could be transformed to values > 120 msec by increasing vagal intensity to slow the ventricular response. We also found in five dogs that we could not achieve overdrive suppression of automaticity of the putative AV nodal pacemaker focus by ventricular pacing at various cycle lengths and durations during atrial fibrillation.Conclusion: In conclusion, data from this study fail to support the modulated AV nodal pacemaker hypothesis and are more consistent with conventional concepts of AV nodal conduction.
Slowing of the Atrial Flutter Rate During 1:1 Atrioventricular Conduction in Humans and Dogs: An Effect Mediated Through Atrial Pressure and Volume
Authors: WAXMAN MENASHE B. , KIRSH JOEL A. , YAO LOUIS , CAMERON DOUGLAS A. , ASTA JOHN A. 
Published: September 2013

Atrial Flutter Rate and Atrial Pressure. Introduction: During atrial flutter the effects of 1:1 atrioventricular (AV) conduction on the rate of atrial flutter was studied in 12 patients and 14 dogs.Methods and Results: (A) In all patients, the development of 1:1 AV conduction was associated with a significant increase in flutter cycle length (261.7 ± 9.9 to 281.8 ± 12.1 msec, mean increase 20.3 ± 3.2 msec, P < 0.001). The flutter cycle length returned to control values when 1:1 AV conduction ceased. In four patients in whom atrial pressure was monitored, the prolongation of the atrial flutter cycle interval during 1:1 AV conduction was associated with an immediate rise in atrial pressure (4.0 ± 0.4 to 6.5 ±0.7 mmHg, P < 0.003). (B) In order to examine the mechanism of this phenomenon, similar studies were carried out in dogs with experimentally induced atrial flutter. 1:1 AV conduction consistently lengthened the flutter cycle length during control conditions or following vagotomy and during the administration of isoproterenol. This was always associated with a rise in atrial filling pressure. Inferior vena cava occlusion consistently shortened the flutter cycle length and this was also independent of vagotomy and isoproterenol administration. The atrial filling pressure fell during inferior vena cava occlusion. During 1:1 AV conduction, the prolonged flutter cycle length was shortened by inferior vena cava occlusion to values prior to 1:1 AV conduction.Conclusion: The rate of atrial flutter is accelerated by reductions in atrial pressure, and slowed by increased atrial pressure. These effects are independent of the vagus nerve or an adrenergic agonist. Changes in atrial pressure and volume affect characteristics of the atrial flutter circuit, and thus can modulate the rate of atrial flutter.
A Mechanism for Anisotropic Reentry in Electrically Active Tissue
Authors: SAYPOL JOSHUA M. , ROTH BRADLEY J. 
Published: September 2013

A Mechanism for Anisotropic Reentry. Introduction: Numerical simulations of wavefront propagation were performed using a two‐dimensional sheet of tissue with different anisotropy ratios in the intracellular and extracellular spaces.Methods and Results: The tissue was represented by the bidomain model, and the active properties of the membrane were described by the Hodgkin‐Huxley equations. Two successive stimuli, delivered through a single point electrode, resulted in the formation of a reentrant wavefront when the second stimulus was delivered during the vulnerable period of the first wavefront.Conclusion: The mechanism for the development of reentry was that the bidomain tissue responded to point cathodal stimulation by depolarizing the tissue under the electrode in the direction perpendicular to the fiber axis, and hyperpolarizing the tissue in the direction parallel to the fiber axis. Such a distribution of depolarization and hyperpolarization modifies the refractory period of the action potential differently in each direction, resulting in block in the direction perpendicular to the fiber axis and leading to reentry and the formation of stable, rotating wavefronts.
CULTURAL RELEVANCE OF THE QUALITY‐OF‐LIFE TOOLS FOR PEOPLE WITH KIDNEY FAILURE
Authors: Ayoub Abdelbasit , Nelson Katherine , Wood Pamela 
Published: September 2013

SUMMARYBackgroundMany tools are used to examine the Quality of Life (QOL) of patients with kidney disease, but little is known about how culturally relevant they are and why one should utilise one tool over another. As part of a larger study on the QOL of dialysis patients in United Arab Emirates, the cultural relevance of two tools (SF‐36 and the QOL Index) was examined. This paper suggests a model to establish cultural relevance of QOL tools.MethodA descriptive comparative survey design using a mixed method design was used in 2007 to study the QOL of 161 patients on dialysis and 350 people from the community. The cultural relevance of each tool was assessed by (i) examining missed questions, (ii) asking respondents about the cultural relevance of each tool, (iii) asking respondents what questions could be added or deleted to make the tools more culturally relevant and (iv) asking respondents to identify the factors that might contribute to their QOL.ResultsOf respondents, 94.7% from the dialysis sample and 90.4% from the community sample considered both tools culturally relevant. The QOL Index tool had more missing data. Many of the themes generated from the analysis of the qualitative data were addressed by the subscales of both tools. Themes not addressed by either tool were concerned with values, safety and country.ConclusionCultural adaptation of QOL tools needs to follow well‐established guidelines. The target population should be involved in establishing the cultural relevance of QOL tools.
Localized conventional radiotherapy in the treatment of Mycosis Fungoides: our experience in 100 patients
Authors: Piccinno R. , Caccialanza M. , Çuka E. , Recalcati S. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractBackgroundRadiotherapy (RT) is one of the treatments of choice as skin‐directed therapy in Mycosis Fungoides (MF), both in first stages of the disease as total skin electron beam irradiation and in tumoural stage as localized treatment with conventional energies or electrons.ObjectiveThrough a retrospective study, to evaluate the results of localized superficial RT in a series of 100 patients affected by MF.MethodsAll the patients, after diagnosis supported by histological and immunophenotyping investigations, have been treated with conventional RT (range 50–150 kV) and a total dose ranging from 9 to 40 Gy.ResultsComplete remission of the irradiated lesion has been observed in 88%, partial remission in 6% and non‐response in 2%. Four patients were lost to follow‐up. Local relapse has been observed in 13 lesions, with a local control rate of 85% after 5 years from the end of RT. Cosmetic results have been good and acceptable in 93% of cases. The treatment has been always well tolerated. The results confirm to be dose dependent, and show that better response is found in the range of higher energies.ConclusionLocalized RT is an effective and safe tool in the care and palliation of MF.
Evaluating the primary‐to‐specialist referral system for elective hip and knee arthroplasty
Authors: Fyie Ken , Frank Cy , Noseworthy Tom , Christiansen Tanya , Marshall Deborah A. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractRationale, aims and objectivesPersistently long waiting times for hip and knee total joint arthroplasty (TJA) specialist consultations have been identified as a problem. This study described referral processes and practices, and their impact on the waiting time from referral to consultation for TJA.MethodsA mixed‐methods retrospective study incorporating semi‐structured interviews, patient chart reviews and observational studies was conducted at three clinic sites in Alberta, Canada. A total of 218 charts were selected for analysis. Standardized definitions were applied to key event dates. Performance measures included waiting times percentage of referrals initially accepted. Voluntary (patient‐related) and involuntary (health system‐related) waiting times were quantified.ResultsAll three clinics had defined, but differing, referral processing rules. The mean time from referral to consultation ranged from 51 to 139 business days. Choosing a specific surgeon for consultation rather than a next available surgeon lengthened waits by 10–47 business days. Involuntary waiting times accounted for at least 11% of total waiting time. Approximately 40–80% of the time patients with TJA wait for surgery was in the consultation period. Fifty‐four per cent of new referrals were initially rejected, prolonging patient waits by 8–46 business days.ConclusionsOur results suggest that variation in referral processing led to increased waiting times for patients. The large proportion of total wait attributable to waiting for a surgical consultation makes failure to measure and evaluate this period a significant omission. Improving referral processes and decreasing variation between clinics would improve patient access to these specialist referrals in Alberta.
Clinical Evaluation of Enamel Microabrasion for the Aesthetic Management of Mild‐to‐Severe Dental Fluorosis
Authors: Celik Esra Uzer , Yildiz Gül , Yazkan Başak 
Published: September 2013

AbstractStatement of the ProblemThe clinical performance of enamel microabrasion alone for aesthetic management of dental fluorosis is debatable.Purpose of the StudyThis study aimed to compare the clinical efficacy of enamel microabrasion for the aesthetic management of mild‐to‐severe dental fluorosis.Methods/MaterialsA total of 154 fluorosed incisors and canines in 14 patients on the basis of the fluorosis were included; the teeth were classified as mild (group I, n = 53), moderate (group II, n = 56), and severe (group III, n = 45). All teeth were treated with enamel microabrasion (Opalustre, Ultradent Products, South Jordan, UT, USA). “Improvement in appearance,” “changes in brown stains,” “changes in opaque white areas,” and “requirement for further treatments” were assessed by using visual scale systems. The data were analyzed using nonparametric tests (α = 0.05).ResultsThe “improvement in appearance” score was the worst for group III (p < 0.05), whereas the “changes in opaque white areas” score was the best for group I (p < 0.05). Groups II and III did not differ with respect to “changes in brown stains.” The proportion of patients who needed further treatment was the highest in Group III (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThe severity of fluorosis affected the clinical performance of enamel microabrasion except for its performance of removing brown stains. Increase in fluorosis severity led to increased requirements for further treatments.Clinical SignificanceThe clinical performance of enamel microabrasion is affected by the severity of dental fluorosis, except for its performance of removing brown stains. Even though its performance of improving appearance decreases with the increase in severity of fluorosis, it may not only remove the fluorosis stains but also may increase the success of additional subsequent treatment.
Literature review: preoperative radiotherapy and rectal cancer – impact on acute symptom presentation and quality of life
Authors: O'Gorman Claire , Denieffe Suzanne , Gooney Martina 
Published: September 2013

Aims and objectivesThis paper presents a critical review of published literature detailing side effects of preoperative radiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer and the impact of their treatment on their quality of life which will assist in guiding nursing management in the future.BackgroundPreoperative radiotherapy for rectal cancer leads to a number of side effects that have a negative influence on patients' quality of life. Although studies have investigated the various adverse effects that can occur, these have not yet been critically appraised and synopsised to form a comprehensive review of their prevalence and effects on the quality of life of patients with rectal cancer.DesignThis literature review study addresses the aims and objectives.MethodsFollowing a literature search of electronic databases, 23 articles were retrieved that met the selection criteria with papers discussed in relation to symptoms that present due to this treatment, with six of these 23 studies also referring to health‐related quality of life.ResultsPreoperative radiotherapy leads to a number of common adverse effects including diarrhoea, dermatological problems, micturition problems, fatigue, sexual dysfunction and pain. Some can lead to a decline in quality of life during treatment and cause prolonged surgical recovery times, but there appears to be no long‐term deterioration in quality of life.ConclusionsThere is a paucity of literature that specifically examines fatigue and quality of life in relation to patients with rectal cancer during preoperative radiotherapy treatment.Relevance to clinical practiceAwareness of the prevalence and severity of the acute side effects of preoperative radiotherapy will enable nurses to thoroughly assess these symptoms, plan and implement appropriate interventions and evaluate outcomes. This will assist in optimising the quality of life of patients with rectal cancer and may hasten postoperative recovery times.