bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Designing the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist program to improve quality of care at childbirth
Authors: Spector Jonathan M. , Lashoher Angela , Agrawal Priya , Lemer Claire , Dziekan Gerald , Bahl Rajiv , Mathai Matthews , Merialdi Mario , Berry William , Gawande Atul A. 
Published: June 2013

AbstractBackgroundPoor‐quality care during institutional births in low‐ and middle‐income countries is a major contributing factor to preventable maternal and newborn harm, but progress has been slow in identifying effective methods to address these deficiencies at scale. Based on the success of checklist programs in other disciplines, WHO led the design and field testing of the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist—a 29‐item tool that targets the major causes of maternal and newborn mortality globally.MethodsThe development process consisted of comprehensive evidence and guideline review, in‐person consultation with content experts and other key stakeholders, iterative refinement through ongoing discussions with a wide collaborator network, and field evaluation for usability in 9 countries, primarily in Africa and Asia. Pilot testing in South India demonstrated major improvement in health workers' delivery of essential safety practices after introduction of the program.ResultsWHO has launched a global effort to support further evaluation of the program in a range of contexts, and a randomized trial is underway in North India to measure the effectiveness of the program in reducing severe maternal, fetal, and newborn harm.ConclusionA novel checklist program has been developed to support health workers in low‐resource settings to prevent avoidable childbirth‐related deaths.
Occlusion of the round window: a novel way to treat hyperacusis symptoms in superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome
Authors: Nikkar-Esfahani A , Whelan D , Banerjee A 
Published: June 2013

AbstractBackground:Conductive hyperacusis in superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome occurs due to the presence of a ‘third window’ created by the dehiscence. Reversible blocking of the round window can, in theory, cause a reduction in the compression-related volume displacement, and thereby minimise symptoms of conductive hyperacusis. This study describes a technique of permeatal blocking of the round window.Method:The tympanomeatal flap is elevated and the round window niche is identified. The round window membrane is subsequently identified and occluded with bone wax, muscle and fascia, in three separate layers. Finally, the tympanomeatal flap is reflected, and an ear wick is inserted.Results:Two patients who underwent the procedure reported a reduction in symptoms. Importantly, no Tullio phenomenon was reported post-operation.Conclusion:Blocking of the round window can be used to control symptoms of superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome in patients who present solely with symptoms of conductive hyperacusis. This technique provides an alternative to resurfacing techniques. The procedure is simple to perform, reversible and can be undertaken as day-case surgery.
Association between large strongyle genera in larval cultures – using rare-event Poisson regression
Authors: CAO X. , VIDYASHANKAR A. N. , NIELSEN M. K. 
Published: June 2013

SUMMARYDecades of intensive anthelmintic treatment has caused equine large strongyles to become quite rare, while the cyathostomins have developed resistance to several drug classes. The larval culture has been associated with low to moderate negative predictive values for detecting Strongylus vulgaris infection. It is unknown whether detection of other large strongyle species can be statistically associated with presence of S. vulgaris. This remains a statistical challenge because of the rare occurrence of large strongyle species. This study used a modified Poisson regression to analyse a dataset for associations between S. vulgaris infection and simultaneous occurrence of Strongylus edentatus and Triodontophorus spp. In 663 horses on 42 Danish farms, the individual prevalences of S. vulgaris, S. edentatus and Triodontophorus spp. were 12%, 3% and 12%, respectively. Both S. edentatus and Triodontophorus spp. were significantly associated with S. vulgaris infection with relative risks above 1. Further, S. edentatus was associated with use of selective therapy on the farms, as well as negatively associated with anthelmintic treatment carried out within 6 months prior to the study. The findings illustrate that occurrence of S. vulgaris in larval cultures can be interpreted as indicative of other large strongyles being likely to be present.
Increased body mass index makes an impact on brain white-matter integrity in adults with remitted first-episode mania
Authors: Kuswanto C. N. , Sum M. Y. , Yang G. L. , Nowinski W. L. , McIntyre R. S. , Sim K. 
Published: June 2013

BackgroundObesity is increasingly prevalent in bipolar disorder (BD) but data about the impact of elevated body mass index (BMI) on brain white-matter integrity in BD are sparse. Based on extant literature largely from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, we hypothesize that increased BMI is associated with decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital brain regions early in the course of BD.MethodA total of 26 euthymic adults (12 normal weight and 14 overweight/obese) with remitted first-episode mania (FEM) and 28 controls (13 normal weight and 15 overweight/obese) matched for age, handedness and years of education underwent structural MRI and diffusion tensor imaging scans.ResultsThere are significant effects of diagnosis by BMI interactions observed especially in the right parietal lobe (adjustedF1,48 = 5.02,p = 0.030), occipital lobe (adjustedF1,48 = 10.30,p = 0.002) and temporal lobe (adjustedF1,48 = 7.92,p = 0.007). Specifically, decreased FA is found in the right parietal (F1,23 = 5.864,p = 0.023) and occipital lobes (F1,23 = 4.397,p = 0.047) within overweight/obese patients compared with normal-weight patients with FEM. Compared with overweight/obese controls, decreased FA is observed in right parietal (F1,25 = 6.708,p = 0.015), temporal (F1,25 = 10.751,p = 0.003) and occipital (F1,25 = 9.531,p = 0.005) regions in overweight/obese patients with FEM.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that increased BMI affects temporo-parietal-occipital brain white-matter integrity in FEM. This highlights the need to further elucidate the relationship between obesity and other neural substrates (including subcortical changes) in BD which may clarify brain circuits subserving the association between obesity and clinical outcomes in BD.
Assessing multiple foodborne, waterborne and environmental exposures of healthy people to potential enteric pathogen sources: effect of age, gender, season, and recall period
Authors: DAVID J. M. , RAVEL A. , NESBITT A. , PINTAR K. , POLLARI F. 
Published: June 2013

SUMMARYInformation is lacking in Canada on the frequency of exposures of healthy people to enteric pathogen sources (i.e. water, food, animal contact) at the community level. This information is critical to develop more robust risk assessments and prioritize control measures. A 12-month-long cross-sectional telephone survey of 1200 healthy individuals in a sentinel community was performed. Survey respondents were divided into three recall period groups (3, 7, 14 days). The occurrence of 46 exposures (including water, animal contact, environmental contact and high-risk foods) was assessed per recall period. Effect of age, gender, and season on exposures was modelled and frequencies of exposure were extrapolated. Thirty-five exposures had similar occurrences across recall periods. Age was significant for 23 exposures, season for 18, and gender for three. Exposures that vary by age and season (i.e. bottled water, swimming, etc.) warrant consideration when investigating and analysing cases of enteric illness.
Memorialisation, Commemoration and Commodification: Massenet and Caricature
Authors: ROWDEN CLAIR 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThis article addresses the physical presence of Jules Massenet in the media during the Third Republic in France through the lens of the caricatural press and the cartoon parodies of his operas which appeared in journals such asLe Journal amusantandLe Charivari. Although individual works were rarely outright successes in critical terms during his lifetime, Massenet's operas always stimulated debate and Massenet, as a figure head for a national art, was revered by both the state and its people. Drawing on theories of parody and readership, I argue that despite the ‘ephemeral’ nature of these musical artefacts, they acted as agents of commemoration of the composer and of memorialisation and commodification of his works for both operagoers and those who rarely entered the opera theatre.
Golden-Age Thinking: Updated Stagings of Gianni Schicchi and the Popular Historical Imagination
Authors: WILSON ALEXANDRA 
Published: June 2013

AbstractSince 2000 a notable trend has emerged in the way in which Italian comic operas by composers from Donizetti to Puccini are staged. In British and American productions, such works are consistently updated to the mid-twentieth century, usually the 1950s. This article explores what such stagings – and their implied intertextual references to wider representations of the era in popular culture – can tell us about the reception of opera today and the ways in which opera is used to create romanticised notions of historical time. Specifically, the article considers the implications for Puccini historiography of updating Gianni Schicchi, an opera whose Renaissance setting might at first glance seem essential. Considering changing attitudes towards historicism from the nineteenth century to the present, the article proposes that ‘retro’ mid-twentieth-century stagings of Gianni Schicchi compel us to hear the opera itself in new ways and to rethink deeply ingrained assumptions about Puccini's place in music history.
At the Margins of the Televisual: Picture Frames, Loops and ‘Cinematics’ in the Paratexts of Opera Videos
Authors: CENCIARELLI CARLO 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThis article focuses on the paratexts of opera DVDs as a route into the status and cultural placement of opera videos in contemporary visual culture. In particular, it analyses the picture covers, menus and openings credits of four productions of Verdi's Don Carlo, arguing that, although the videos fall within the broader discourse of the ‘televisual’ (a discourse that encourages the viewer to conceive the image as a transparent document of the performance on-stage), these paratexts put forward alternative ways of conceiving the relationship between medium and subject matter, imagining opera's materials, however briefly, in terms of narrative cinema and music video, video games and computer loops.
Stability of reference genes for normalization of reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) data in bovine blastocysts produced by IVF, ICSI and SCNT
Authors: Luchsinger Charlotte , Arias María Elena , Vargas Tamara , Paredes Marcos , Sánchez Raúl , Felmer Ricardo 
Published: June 2013

SummaryReverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a sensitive and accurate tool for quantitative estimation of gene transcription levels in preimplantation embryos. To control for possible experimental variations, gene expression data must be normalized using internal control genes commonly known as reference genes. However, the stability of reference genes can vary depending on the state of development and/or experimental conditions; hence the assessment of their stability is essential before initiating a gene expression analysis. In the present study, we used RT-qPCR to measure the transcript levels of 10 commonly used reference genes and analyzed their expression stability in bovine blastocysts produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Using the geNorm program, we found the best combination of genes to normalize gene expression data in bovine embryos at the blastocyst stage produced by IVF (HMBS, SF3A1, and HPRT1), ICSI (H2A, HMBS, and GAPDH), SCNT (ACTB, SF3A1, and SDHA) and/or between blastocysts produced by these methods (GAPDH, HMBS and EEF1A2). We also demonstrated that not only the culture conditions may affect the expression patterns in bovine blastocysts but also the choice of embryo production method may have an important effect.
Two Charges of Intellectualism against Kant
Authors: Melnick Arthur 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThe contemporary discussion of non-conceptual content inaugurated by Gareth Evans and John McDowell has generated a range of differing views as to Kant's position on the issues raised. I argue that for Kant perception is prior to thought and that it is as being prior that perception connects us to reality in outer intuition. I then argue that for Kant thought relates to perception by being the rule for perceptual procedures. This accounts for thought's extending in scope beyond what we actually perceive to all that is manifest in space and time. As against Merleau-Ponty this Kantian understanding of thought beyond perception does not distort the nature of reality which remains essentially that which can be engaged.
Reply to Edward Kanterian
Authors: Bird Graham 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThe reply to Kanterian offers a rebuttal of his central criticisms. It reaffirms the difference between Kant's arguments in the Aesthetic and at B 148-9; it rejects the alleged error of logic in Fischer's (and my) arguments; and it rejects Kanterian's reading of passages in the Preface (A xx-xxii) and of the Amphiboly. Beyond these specific points Kanterian assumes that Kant's project in the firstCritiquecannot be understood as a ‘descriptive metaphysics’ and so begs the question at issue.
The Pak4 protein kinase is required for oncogenic transformation of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells
Authors: Wong L E , Chen N , Karantza V , Minden A 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThe Pak4 protein kinase, normally expressed at low level in the mammary gland, is commonly overexpressed in breast cancer. Overexpression of Pak4 transforms mouse mammary epithelial cells in vitro and renders these cells tumorigenic in athymic mice in vivo. Here we show that Pak4 is also required for oncogenic transformation of the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. These high Pak4-expressing human breast cancer cells form highly disorganized three-dimensional (3D) structures in vitro and readily give rise to orthotopic xenograft tumors in nude mice. We have found that when Pak4 levels are reduced, MDA-MB-231 cells exhibit decreased proliferation and migration in vitro, as well as gross restoration of normal 3D mammary acinar organization, the latter in association with a strong induction of apoptosis. Similarly, Pak4 knockdown suppresses MDA-MB-231 breast xenograft tumor formation in nude mice in vivo. These results indicate that Pak4 has a key role in the oncogenic transformation of breast cells.
Trafficking defects in PAS domain mutant Kv11.1 channels: roles of reduced domain stability and altered domain–domain interactions
Authors: Ke Ying , Ng Chai Ann , Hunter Mark J. , Mann Stefan A. , Heide Juliane , Hill Adam P. , Vandenberg Jamie I. 
Published: June 2013

Loss of Kv11.1 potassium channel function is the underlying cause of pathology in long-QT syndrome type 2, one of the commonest causes of sudden cardiac death in the young. Previous studies have identified the cytosolic PAS (Per/Arnt/Sim) domain as a hotspot for mutations that cause Kv11.1 trafficking defects. To investigate the underlying basis of this observation, we have quantified the effect of mutants on domain folding as well as interactions between the PAS domain and the remainder of the channel. Apart from R56Q, all mutants impaired the thermostability of the isolated PAS domain. Six mutants, located in the vicinity of a hydrophobic patch on the PAS domain surface, also affected binding of the isolated PAS domain to an N-terminal truncated hERG (human ether-a-go-go-related gene) channel. Conversely, four other surface mutants (C64Y, T65P, A78P and I96T) and one buried mutant (L86R) did not prevent the isolated PAS domain binding to the truncated channels. Our results highlight a critical role for interactions between the PAS domain and the remainder of the channel in the hERG assembly and that mutants that affect PAS domain interactions with the remainder of the channel have a more severe trafficking defect than that caused by domain unfolding alone.
Broadband coaxial holder with continuous‐conductor used for shielding effectiveness of materials against electromagnetic pulse
Authors: Chen X. , Chen Y.G. , Wei M. , Cui M. 
Published: June 2013

To accurately evaluate the shielding effectiveness of materials against the electromagnetic pulse, a coaxial holder with a continuous‐conductor which uses a step transition has been developed. The particle swarm optimisation solver of CST Microwave Studio is used to design the fixed support of the coaxial holder. The cutoff frequency of the coaxial holder is up to 10 GHz with the return loss of less than − 20 dB in the frequency range of 10 MHz–8 GHz. Silver‐plated fabric and blended fabric with stainless steel fibre and polyester fibre have been tested in frequency‐domain and time‐domain, and these insertion loss and time‐domain waveforms have been compared with the 1.6GHz previous coaxial holder. Load specimens required by the broadband coaxial holder are smaller than the previous coaxial holder, while the error introduced by the broadband coaxial holder is much smaller.
Context aware and channel‐based resource allocation for wireless body area networks
Authors: Rezvani Sanaz , Ghorashi Seyed Ali 
Published: June 2013

Integration of miniature sensors composes a wireless body area network (WBAN), which enables remote health monitoring. To make this technology widely acceptable in the society, some studies suggest commonly used gadgets such as cell phones or laptops as a hub for WBANs. In these cases, envisaged medical and non‐medical applications of WBANs must have the same priority unless in emergency situations. Also, medical applications of WBANs need some strict requirements that are not that important for non‐medical applications, such as very low‐power consumption or reliability. In addition, channel condition may change in WBANs because of fading effects and this causes packet loss. Therefore proper traffic prioritisation, high reliability and efficient channel utilisation are vitally important issues in these networks. In this study, the authors improve the performance of the medium access control (MAC) protocol of WBANs using an adaptive resource allocation and traffic prioritisation according to the medical situation of user and channel condition. Through adaptively separating and managing the possible traffics of WBANs, the heterogeneous requirements of different applications are provided. Analytical and simulation results show that the proposed MAC protocol outperforms IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.15.6 MAC protocols in terms of power consumption as well as the channel utilisation and reliability.
SPANNER: taxonomic assignment of sequences using pyramid matching of similarity profiles
Authors: Porter Michael S. , Beiko Robert G. 
Published: June 2013

Abstract
Background: Homology-based taxonomic assignment is impeded by differences between the unassigned read and reference database, forcing a rank-specific classification to the closest (and possibly incorrect) reference lineage. This assignment may be correct only to a general rank (e.g. order) and incorrect below that rank (e.g. family and genus). Algorithms like LCA avoid this by varying the predicted taxonomic rank based on matches to a set of taxonomic references. LCA and related approaches can be conservative, especially if best matches are taxonomically widespread because of events such as lateral gene transfer (LGT).
Results: Our extension to LCA called SPANNER (similarity profile annotater) uses the set of best homology matches (the LCA Profile) for a given sequence and compares this profile with a set of profiles inferred from taxonomic reference organisms. SPANNER provides an assignment that is less sensitive to LGT and other confounding phenomena. In a series of trials on real and artificial datasets, SPANNER outperformed LCA-style algorithms in terms of taxonomic precision and outperformed best BLAST at certain levels of taxonomic novelty in the dataset. We identify examples where LCA made an overly conservative prediction, but SPANNER produced a more precise and correct prediction.
Conclusions: By using profiles of homology matches to represent patterns of genomic similarity that arise because of vertical and lateral inheritance, SPANNER offers an effective compromise between taxonomic assignment based on best BLAST scores, and the conservative approach of LCA and similar approaches.
Availability: C++ source code and binaries are freely available at http://kiwi.cs.dal.ca/Software/SPANNER.
Contact: beiko@cs.dal.ca
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Measuring the slopes of mass profiles for dwarf spheroidals in triaxial cold dark matter potentials
Authors: Laporte Chervin F. P. , Walker Matthew G. , Peñarrubia Jorge 
Published: June 2013

Abstract
We generate stellar distribution functions (DFs) in triaxial haloes in order to examine the reliability of slopes Γ ≡ Δlog M/Δlog r inferred by applying mass estimators of the form M∝Reσ2 (i.e. assuming spherical symmetry, where Re and σ are luminous effective radius and global velocity dispersion, respectively) to two stellar subpopulations independently tracing the same gravitational potential. The DFs take the form f(E), are dynamically stable and are generated within triaxial potentials corresponding directly to subhaloes formed in cosmological dark-matter-only simulations of Milky Way and galaxy cluster haloes. Additionally, we consider the effect of different tracer number density profiles (cuspy and cored) on the inferred slopes of mass profiles. For the isotropic DFs considered here, we find that halo triaxiality tends to introduce an anticorrelation between Re and σ when estimated for a variety of viewing angles. The net effect is a negligible contribution to the systematic error associated with the slope of the mass profile, which continues to be dominated by a bias towards greater overestimation of masses for more concentrated tracer populations. We demonstrate that simple mass estimates for two distinct tracer populations can give reliable lower limits for Γ, irrespective of the degree of triaxiality or shape of the tracer number density profile.
Five‐year survey of Wellington practice nurses delivering dietary advice to people with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Parry Strong Amber , Lyon Julia , Stern Katherine , Vavasour Claudia , Milne Jan 
Published: June 2013

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to survey practice nurses in 2007 and 2012 to ascertain whether they are adequately equipped with knowledge, skills and resources, to provide nutrition education to people with type 2 diabetes in the Wellington region.MethodsA self‐administered questionnaire was posted to 151 practice nurses in 2007 and a revised questionnaire to 150 practice nurses in 2012.ResultsPractice nurses continue to provide most of the dietary advice in general practices. Changes over the 5‐year period saw more nurses educating on hypoglycaemia, carbohydrate and alcohol. In most cases, appropriate resources are being used, with Diabetes NZ being the most popular source of patient resources. The number of nurses assessing the patients' diet and feeling confident in giving dietary education may have decreased over the 5‐year period.ConclusionsAreas that could be addressed in future training sessions include giving culturally specific dietary advice, quick nutrition assessment skills, simple nutrition education techniques and ways to support patients to lose weight.