bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic Work-Up for Detection of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation After Acute Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Rizos Timolaos , Quilitzsch Anika , Busse Otto , Haeusler Karl Georg , Endres Matthias , Heuschmann Peter , Veltkamp Roland 
Published: May 2015

Background and Purpose—
Multiple methods to detect paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (pAF) in patients with acute stroke are available. However, it is unknown which approaches are currently used in clinical routine and guidelines remain vague to the extent of cardiac monitoring. We characterize diagnostic efforts for pAF detection on German stroke units (SU).

Methods—
A standardized anonymous questionnaire was sent to all clinical leads of certified SUs in Germany. The questionnaire focused on basic characteristics of SUs, procedures to detect AF, and estimates on AF detection.

Results—
One hundred seventy-nine SU leads participated (response rate 71.6%). All patients undergo continuous bedside ECG monitoring. A percentage of 77.6 SUs initiate additional 24-hour Holter ECG in >50% of patients without known AF. Patients with transient ischemic attack are monitored significantly shorter than patients with ischemic stroke. Independent of SU type or size, 67.6% of leads assumed to fail detecting pAF in 5% to 20% of patients. In cryptogenic stroke, additional ECG monitoring is recommended by 90.2% but only 13.8% of SUs perform routine ECG follow-up visits. The use of implanted event recorders is low (1–10 patients/y by 60.7% of SUs; 28.1%: no use). A percentage of 83.9 do not use external event recorders.

Conclusions—
Our survey demonstrates substantial heterogeneity among German SUs on diagnostic work-up for pAF. Future prospective multicenter studies should systematically evaluate the impact of different methods to uncover pAF.
The Myth of Entangling Alliances: Reassessing the Security Risks of U.S. Defense Pacts
Authors: Beckley Michael 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
A large literature assumes that alliances entangle the United States in military conflicts that it might otherwise avoid. Since 1945, however, there have been only five cases of what might be characterized as U.S. entanglement—the 1954 and 1995–96 Taiwan Strait crises, the Vietnam War, and the interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s—and even these cases are far from clear-cut. U.S. entanglement is rare because the United States, as a superpower with many allies, is capable of exploiting loopholes in alliance agreements, sidestepping commitments that seriously imperil U.S. interests, playing the demands of various allies off of each other, and using alliances to deter adversaries and allies from initiating or escalating conflicts.
Vision and Haptics Share Spatial Attentional Resources and Visuotactile Integration Is Not Affected by High Attentional Load
Authors: Wahn Basil , Wahn Basil , König Peter 
Published: May 2015

Human information processing is limited by attentional resources. Two questions that are discussed in multisensory research are (1) whether there are separate spatial attentional resources for each sensory modality and (2) whether multisensory integration is influenced by attentional load. We investigated these questions using a dual task paradigm: Participants performed two spatial tasks (a multiple object tracking [‘MOT’] task and a localization [‘LOC’] task) either separately (single task condition) or simultaneously (dual task condition). In the MOT task, participants visually tracked a small subset of several randomly moving objects. In the LOC task, participants either received visual, tactile, or redundant visual and tactile location cues. In the dual task condition, we found a substantial decrease in participants’ performance and an increase in participants’ mental effort (indicated by an increase in pupil size) relative to the single task condition. Importantly, participants performed equally well in the dual task condition regardless of whether they received visual, tactile, or redundant multisensory (visual and tactile) location cues in the LOC task. This result suggests that having spatial information coming from different modalities does not facilitate performance, thereby indicating shared spatial attentional resources for the tactile and visual modality. Also, we found that participants integrated redundant multisensory information optimally even when they experienced additional attentional load in the dual task condition. Overall, findings suggest that (1) spatial attentional resources for the tactile and visual modality overlap and that (2) the integration of spatial cues from these two modalities occurs at an early pre-attentive processing stage.
The Mechanisms of Size Constancy
Authors: Sperandio Irene , Sperandio Irene , Chouinard Philippe A. 
Published: May 2015

Size constancy is the result of cognitive scaling operations that enable us to perceive an object as having the same size when presented at different viewing distances. In this article, we review the literature on size and distance perception to form an overarching synthesis of how the brain might combine retinal images and distance cues of retinal and extra-retinal origin to produce a perceptual visual experience of a world where objects have a constant size. A convergence of evidence from visual psychophysics, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, electrophysiology and neuroimaging highlight the primary visual cortex (V1) as an important node in mediating size–distance scaling. It is now evident that this brain area is involved in the integration of multiple signals for the purposes of size perception and does much more than fulfil the role of an entry position in a series of hierarchical cortical events. We also discuss how information from other sensory modalities can also contribute to size–distance scaling and shape our perceptual visual experience.
The MATERHORN: Unraveling the Intricacies of Mountain Weather
Authors: Fernando H. J. S. , Pardyjak E. R. , Di Sabatino S. , Chow F. K. , De Wekker S. F. J. , Hoch S. W. , Hacker J. , Pace J. C. , Pratt T. , Pu Z. , Steenburgh W. J. , Whiteman C. D. , Wang Y. , Zajic D. , Balsley B. , Dimitrova R. , Emmitt G. D. , Higgins C. W. , Hunt J. C. R. , Knievel J. C. , Lawrence D. , Liu Y. , Nadeau D. F. , Kit E. , Blomquist B. W. , Conry P. , Coppersmith R. S. , Creegan E. , Felton M. , Grachev A. , Gunawardena N. , Hang C. , Hocut C. M. , Huynh G. , Jeglum M. E. , Jensen D. , Kulandaivelu V. , Lehner M. , Leo L. S. , Liberzon D. , Massey J. D. , McEnerney K. , Pal S. , Price T. , Sghiatti M. , Silver Z. , Thompson M. , Zhang H. , Zsedrovits T. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
Emerging application areas such as air pollution in megacities, wind energy, urban security, and operation of unmanned aerial vehicles have intensified scientific and societal interest in mountain meteorology. To address scientific needs and help improve the prediction of mountain weather, the U.S. Department of Defense has funded a research effort—the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations (MATERHORN) Program—that draws the expertise of a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional, and multinational group of researchers. The program has four principal thrusts, encompassing modeling, experimental, technology, and parameterization components, directed at diagnosing model deficiencies and critical knowledge gaps, conducting experimental studies, and developing tools for model improvements. The access to the Granite Mountain Atmospheric Sciences Testbed of the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, as well as to a suite of conventional and novel high-end airborne and surface measurement platforms, has provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate phenomena of time scales from a few seconds to a few days, covering spatial extents of tens of kilometers down to millimeters. This article provides an overview of the MATERHORN and a glimpse at its initial findings. Orographic forcing creates a multitude of time-dependent submesoscale phenomena that contribute to the variability of mountain weather at mesoscale. The nexus of predictions by mesoscale model ensembles and observations are described, identifying opportunities for further improvements in mountain weather forecasting.
Variational Assimilation of Cloud Liquid/Ice Water Path and Its Impact on NWP
Authors: Chen Yaodeng , Wang Hongli , Min Jinzhong , Huang Xiang-Yu , Minnis Patrick , Zhang Ruizhi , Haggerty Julie , Palikonda Rabindra 
Published: May 2015

AbstractAnalysis of the cloud components in numerical weather prediction models using advanced data assimilation techniques has been a prime topic in recent years. In this research, the variational data assimilation (DA) system for the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model (WRFDA) is further developed to assimilate satellite cloud products that will produce the cloud liquid water and ice water analysis. Observation operators for the cloud liquid water path and cloud ice water path are developed and incorporated into the WRFDA system. The updated system is tested by assimilating cloud liquid water path and cloud ice water path observations from Global Geostationary Gridded Cloud Products at NASA. To assess the impact of cloud liquid/ice water path data assimilation on short-term regional numerical weather prediction (NWP), 3-hourly cycling data assimilation and forecast experiments with and without the use of the cloud liquid/ice water paths are conducted. It is shown that assimilating cloud liquid/ice water paths increases the accuracy of temperature, humidity, and wind analyses at model levels between 300 and 150 hPa after 5 cycles (15 h). It is also shown that assimilating cloud liquid/ice water paths significantly reduces forecast errors in temperature and wind at model levels between 300 and 150 hPa. The precipitation forecast skills are improved as well. One reason that leads to the improved analysis and forecast is that the 3-hourly rapid update cycle carries over the impact of cloud information from the previous cycles spun up by the WRF Model.
The Effect of Atmospheric Forcing Resolution on Delivery of Ocean Heat to the Antarctic Floating Ice Shelves*,+
Authors: Dinniman Michael S. , Klinck John M. , Bai Le-Sheng , Bromwich David H. , Hines Keith M. , Holland David M. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
Oceanic melting at the base of the floating Antarctic ice shelves is now thought to be a more significant cause of mass loss for the Antarctic ice sheet than iceberg calving. In this study, a 10-km horizontal-resolution circum-Antarctic ocean–sea ice–ice shelf model [based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS)] is used to study the delivery of ocean heat to the base of the ice shelves. The atmospheric forcing comes from the ERA-Interim reanalysis (~80-km resolution) and from simulations using the polar-optimized Weather Research and Forecasting Model (30-km resolution), where the upper atmosphere was relaxed to the ERA-Interim reanalysis. The modeled total basal ice shelf melt is low compared to observational estimates but increases by 14% with the higher-resolution winds and just 3% with both the higher-resolution winds and atmospheric surface temperatures. The higher-resolution winds lead to more heat being delivered to the ice shelf cavities from the adjacent ocean and an increase in the efficiency of heat transfer between the water and the ice. The higher-resolution winds also lead to changes in the heat delivered from the open ocean to the continental shelves as well as changes in the heat lost to the atmosphere over the shelves, and the sign of these changes varies regionally. Addition of the higher-resolution temperatures to the winds results in lowering, primarily during summer, the wind-driven increase in heat advected into the ice shelf cavities due to colder summer air temperatures near the coast.
Extended-Range Forecasts of Areal-Averaged Rainfall over Saudi Arabia
Authors: Tippett Michael K. , Almazroui Mansour , Kang In-Sik 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
The climate of Saudi Arabia is arid–semiarid with infrequent but sometimes intense rainfall, which can cause flooding. Interannual and intraseasonal precipitation variability in the region is related to ENSO and MJO tropical convection. The predictability of these tropical signals gives some expectation of skillful extended-range rainfall forecasts in the region. Here, the extent to which this predictability is realizable in the Climate Forecast System (CFS), version 2, a state-of-the-art coupled global ocean–atmosphere model, is assessed. While there are deficiencies in the forecast climatology likely related to orography and resolution, as well as lead-dependent biases, CFS represents the climatology of the region reasonably well. Forecasts of the areal average of rainfall over Saudi Arabia show that the CFS captures some features of a spring 2013 heavy rainfall event up to 10 days in advance and a transition from dry to wet conditions up to 20 days in advance. Analysis of a 12-yr (1999–2010) reforecast dataset shows that the CFS can skillfully predict the rainfall amount, the number of days exceeding a threshold, and the probability of heavy rainfall occurrence for forecast windows ranging from 1 to 30 days. While the probability forecasts show good discrimination, they are overconfident. Logistic regression based on the ensemble mean value improves forecast skill and reliability. Forecast probabilities have a clear relation with the MJO phase in the wet season, providing a physical basis for the observed forecast skill.
Day case hemithyroidectomy is safe and feasible: experience in Scotland
Authors: de Boisanger Louis , Blackwell Nicky , Magos Tiarnan , Adamson Richard , Hilmi Omar 
Published: May 2015

Background and aims We aimed to analyse the safety and feasibility of day case hemithyroidectomy. Methods and results We reviewed all hemithyroidectomies led by two surgeons across two sites between 2010 and the end of 2013. Patients were divided into ‘planned inpatient’ or ‘planned day case’. Results Day of discharge, conversion to inpatient procedure, intraoperative and postoperative complications and postoperative presentations or readmission to hospital were analysed. Age, gender, American Society of Anaesthesiologists score and indication for surgery were also recorded. One-hundred and eighty hemithyroidectomy cases were analysed, 35 (19.5%) were planned as inpatient procedures. Of the remaining 145 (80.5%) planned day case: 106 (73.1%) were successfully discharged on the same day and 39 (26.9%) were not; 11 (7.6%) were converted to inpatient procedures perioperatively; 8 (5.5%) had additional procedures; 6 (4.1%) had wound infections; 7 (4.8%) presented to ER; 1 (0.7%) of which required readmission to hospital for a reason unrelated to the surgery. None had laryngeal nerve palsy, compressive haematoma or symptomatic hypocalcaemia. Conclusion This study showed that hemithyroidectomy by experienced surgeons can be performed safely as a day surgery. No ‘planned day case patients’ in this study developed laryngeal nerve palsy, compressive haematoma or symptomatic hypocalcaemia.
Depression
Authors: Hung Ching-I , Liu Chia-Yih , Fu Tsai-Sheng 
Published: May 2015

Objective The study aimed to compare the associations of pain indices, depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms with disability among outpatients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Method Consecutive orthopedics outpatients with CLBP in a medical center were enrolled. The Oswestry Disability Index and physical functioning and role limitations-physical of the Short-Form 36 were used as disability indices. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Depression and Somatic Symptoms Scale were employed. Pain intensity was rated using a visual analogue scale. Multiple linear regressions were used to determine the impacts of these independent factors related to disability. Results Among 225 participants (122 male, 103 female) with CLBP, patients with major depressive disorder and associated leg symptoms of CLBP had higher disability indices. A tendency was noted that depression (HADS-depression) had the highest correlation to the three disability indices, followed by pain intensity, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. After controlling for demographic variables, HADS-depression explained the highest variance of disability, followed by pain intensity. Conclusion Depression was the most powerful factor associated with disability of CLBP among depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. Depression should be evaluated when investigating disability among patients with CLBP.
Hospital and Surgeon Adherence to Pediatric Tonsillectomy Guidelines Regarding Perioperative Dexamethasone and Antibiotic Administration
Authors: Padia Reema , Olsen Griffin , Henrichsen Jake , Bullock Griffin , Gale Craig , Stoddard Gregory , Ott Mark , Srivastava Rajendu , Meier Jeremy D. 
Published: May 2015

ObjectivesTo (1) determine adherence to American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation guidelines for pediatric tonsillectomy recommending routine administration of perioperative dexamethasone and against routine antibiotic administration among surgeons and hospitals in a multihospital network and (2) evaluate the impact of adherence on the risk of complications.Study DesignCase series with chart review.SettingMultihospital network.Subjects and MethodsA case series of 15,950 children aged 1 to 18 years undergoing same‐day surgery adenotonsillectomy (T&A) within a multihospital network from 2008 to 2014 was reviewed to determine whether dexamethasone and/or antibiotics were given in the hospital. The frequency of dexamethasone and antibiotic administration was compared among surgeons and hospitals in the years before and after the guidelines were published. The frequency of complications was compared in adhering vs nonadhering surgeons.ResultsThe study cohort included 15,950 children undergoing T&A at 19 hospitals by 74 surgeons. Of the patients before guideline publication, 98.4% (n = 7432) received dexamethasone compared with 98.9% of subjects after guideline publication (n = 8518). In total, 16.1% received antibiotics before the guidelines compared with 13.8% after. Prior to the guidelines, 27 of 74 surgeons (36%) routinely gave antibiotics. After the guidelines were published, 19 surgeons (26%) continued to give antibiotics more than 50% of the time. There was no difference in complication visits between adhering and nonadhering surgeons.ConclusionsMost hospitals and surgeons administered perioperative dexamethasone routinely. While the overall frequency of antibiotic administration decreased after the guidelines were published, a significant percentage of surgeons continued to give antibiotics routinely, suggesting the need for improved dissemination and implementation of guidelines to promote adherence.
Efficacy of Spinal Needle Aspiration in Patients with Epiglottic Abscess
Authors: Lee Young Chan , Lee Jung‐Woo , Park Gi Cheol , Eun Young Gyu 
Published: May 2015

Objective/HypothesisTo evaluate the efficacy of spinal needle aspiration for symptom improvement in awake patients with epiglottic abscess (EA).Study DesignProspective randomized controlled study.SettingTertiary center.Subjects and MethodsTwenty‐two patients who were diagnosed with EA were randomly allocated to group A (needle aspiration and antibiotics) or group B (antibiotics only). Patients’ characteristics, laryngoscopic findings of epiglottic swelling and arytenoid swelling by scope classification, and initial laboratory findings were analyzed. Needle aspiration was done under local anesthesia in awake patients using an 18‐gauge spinal needle and indirect laryngoscope. Changes in the following symptoms during hospital stay were assessed: sore throat, hoarseness, dyspnea, odynophagia, and dysphagia.ResultsEleven patients were treated with needle aspiration and antibiotics, and 11 patients were treated with antibiotics only. There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups regarding age, sex, white blood cell count, C‐reactive protein, presenting clinical symptoms, abscess size, and scope classification at time of diagnosis. Patients in both groups had significant improvement in all clinical symptoms. While there were no between‐group differences in improvement for any of the symptoms, the length of hospitalization was significantly lower in group A (4.0 ± 1.9 days) than in group B (5.7 ± 1.2 days) (P =. 037).ConclusionWe did not find any significant additional benefit of needle aspiration for the treatment of EA, with the exception that needle aspiration reduced the length of hospitalization. Further proof with a large‐scale study is needed.
NR2 antibody is associated with quality of life in aortic valve replacement
Authors: Kidher Emaddin , Jarral Omar A , Harling Leanne , Anderson Jon R , Chukwuemeka Andrew , Ashrafian Hutan , Evans Paul C , Athanasiou Thanos 
Published: May 2015

Background The relationship between the potential brain injury biomarker N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antibody and quality of life has never been assessed. Methods We measured serum N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antibody levels preoperatively in patients undergoing aortic valve replacement. Quality of life was scored using the Short Form-36 and European Quality of Life 5-Dimensions questionnaires pre- and postoperatively. We analyzed the antibody levels as a continuous variable and as a dichotomous variable with 1.8 ng mL−1 as the cutoff. Results Fifty-two patients (15 females) with a mean age of 71 ± 8.4 years were recruited for this study. Forty-eight (92%) patients attended the follow-up visit (405 ± 161 days). No mortality or severe neurological event was recorded. In both quality-of-life instruments, the low antibody level group ( n = 35) had significantly better scores than the high antibody level group ( n = 17) preoperatively. Postoperatively, the scores for both groups improved; however, the low antibody level group continued to score significantly better in most of the physical and mental health domains ( p = 0.04 to <0.001). Multiple regression analyses revealed that antibody level and the 1.8 ng mL−1 cutoff were independently related to quality of life (pre- and postoperatively). Conclusions Higher N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antibody levels in aortic valve replacement patients are independently related to poorer quality of life pre- and postoperatively.