bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Antimicrobial Prophylaxis for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection After Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Trial
Authors: Uruno Takashi , Masaki Chie , Suzuki Akifumi , Ohkuwa Keiko , Shibuya Hiroshi , Kitagawa Wataru , Nagahama Mitsuji , Sugino Kiminori , Ito Koichi 
Published: January 2015

AbstractBackground and ObjectiveThe effectiveness of antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP) in the prevention of surgical site infection (SSI) following thyroid and parathyroid surgery remains uncertain. The objective of this prospective randomized controlled trial (Ito‐RCT1) was to assess the effectiveness of AMP in clean neck surgery performed to treat thyroid and parathyroid disease.MethodsParticipants comprised patients scheduled for clean neck surgery for thyroid and parathyroid disease at Ito Hospital. Patients whose surgery included sternotomy or resection of the trachea, larynx, pharynx, or esophagus were excluded. AMP consisted of 2 g of piperacillin (PIPC) (group A, n = 541) or 1 g of cefazolin (CEZ) (group B, n = 541) administered intravenously immediately after endotracheal intubation. Patients in the control group (Group C, n = 1,082) did not receive AMP.ResultsStatistical analysis was performed to compare the AMP group (Group A + Group B) with the control group (Group C). Drug‐induced acute reactions correlated to PIPC or CEZ did not occur in the AMP group. No significant differences in the postoperative incidence of liver or renal dysfunction were seen between the AMP and control groups. Postoperative incidence of urinary tract infection was significantly higher in the control group (p = 0.002). The incidence of SSI events was very low, with only 1 event (0.09 %) in the AMP group and 3 events (0.28 %) in the control group, and this difference between groups was not significant (p = 0.371).ConclusionsAMP is not necessary to prevent SSI after clean thyroid or parathyroid surgery.
Essential Surgery: The Way Forward
Authors: Henry Jaymie Ang , Bem Chris , Grimes Caris , Borgstein Eric , Mkandawire Nyengo , Thomas William E. G. , Gunn S. William A. , Lane Robert H. S. , Cotton Michael H. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractIntroductionVery little surgical care is performed in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). An estimated two billion people in the world have no access to essential surgical care, and non‐surgeons perform much of the surgery in remote and rural areas. Surgical care is as yet not recognized as an integral aspect of primary health care despite its self‐demonstrated cost‐effectiveness. We aimed to define the parameters of a public health approach to provide surgical care to areas in most need.MethodsConsensus meetings were held, field experience was collected via targeted interviews, and a literature review on the current state of essential surgical care provision in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) was conducted. Comparisons were made across international recommendations for essential surgical interventions and a consensus‐driven list was drawn up according to their relative simplicity, resource requirement, and capacity to provide the highest impact in terms of averted mortality or disability.ResultsEssential Surgery consists of basic, low‐cost surgical interventions, which save lives and prevent life‐long disability or life‐threatening complications and may be offered in any district hospital. Fifteen essential surgical interventions were deduced from various recommendations from international surgical bodies. Training in the realm of Essential Surgery is narrow and strict enough to be possible for non‐physician clinicians (NPCs). This cadre is already active in many SSA countries in providing the bulk of surgical care.ConclusionA basic package of essential surgical care interventions is imperative to provide structure for scaling up training and building essential health services in remote and rural areas of LMICs. NPCs, a health cadre predominant in SSA, require training, mentoring, and monitoring. The cost of such training is vastly more efficient than the expensive training of a few polyvalent or specialist surgeons, who will not be sufficient in numbers within the next few generations. Moreover, these practitioners are used to working in the districts and are much less prone to gravitate elsewhere. The use of these NPCs performing “Essential Surgery” is a feasible route to deal with the almost total lack of primary surgical care in LMICs.
Laparoscopic Heller Myotomy and Fundoplication in Patients with End‐Stage Achalasia
Authors: Herbella Fernando A. M. , Patti Marco G. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractAchalasia may present in a non‐advanced or advanced (end stage) stage. The latter is characterized by massive esophageal dilatation and/or the loss of the esophageal straight axis (sigmoid‐shaped esophagus). The treatment for non‐advanced cases of achalasia is well defined while the therapy for end‐stage disease is still debatable. Laparoscopic Heller’s myotomy is an option in patients with end‐stage achalasia. Dysphagia is relieved in a significant number of patients, it is a simpler operation to be used in frail patients, and it does not preclude a latter esophagectomy if necessary.
Exploring the Genetic Counselor's Role in Facilitating Meaning‐Making: Rare Disease Diagnoses
Authors: Helm Benjamin M. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractThe main goal of the constructivist meaning‐making framework is to encourage grief adaptation through the search for meaning in loss. Strategies to help patients construct meaning from their experiences may lead to positive adaptation. This strategy has been used in contemporary grief counseling, but it may also be beneficial in the genetic counseling scenario. The diagnosis of a rare genetic disorder often has considerable psychosocial impact as patients and families describe feelings of isolation and hopelessness. Negative experiences with healthcare providers often reinforce these feelings. Genetic counselors continue to provide education and psychosocial support to patients and families with rare genetic disorders, and meaning‐making strategies may provide a framework for which to help patients and families adapt to these challenging diagnoses. In this paper I explore the background of meaning‐making counseling strategy and describe an experience in which it was used for counseling a family with a child with Mowat‐Wilson syndrome. I show how a meaning‐making framework can help families explore and construct meaning from their experiences and encourage positive adaptation. I also address the possible limitations of this strategy and the need to share additional experiences with this counseling framework. Meaning‐making can be another tool for genetic counselors to help guide families in their grief and adaptation to rare disease diagnoses. I also describe qualities and aspects of counseling through the lens of meaning‐making and stress the importance of addressing psychosocial dimensions of rare disease diagnoses.
Apparent grazing losses of Labyrinthulomycetes protists in oceanic and coastal waters: an experimental elucidation
Authors: Damare Varada S. , Raghukumar Seshagiri 
Published: January 2015

AbstractLabyrinthulomycetes are unicellular eukaryotes known for their ability to synthesize polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for growth and development of zooplankton. But relationship of these microorganisms with microzooplankton and their trophic status in food chain remains unexplored. Hence grazing losses of these protists were studied in coastal and oceanic waters. Traditional dilution plot experiments to study consumption of natural phytoplankton (herbivory) and bacteria (bacterivory) by microzooplankton were carried out, incorporating a modification to unravel their preying on Labyrinthulomycetes. It was incorporation of fluorescently‐labeled Labyrinthulomycetes cells. Experiments in oceanic waters displayed grazing on phytoplankton and bacteria at all the three times of study while that on Labyrinthulomycetes at only one time out of the three. There was no significant grazing on phytoplankton in coastal waters and microzooplankton grazed on Labyrinthulomycetes and bacteria. When grazing was studied with respect to time, significant grazing on bacteria occurred in the first 6 h and on Labyrinthulomycetes occurred towards the end of 24 h of incubation. Grazing on natural Labyrinthulomycetes population instead of fluorescently‐labeled cells also revealed that they were grazed. Overall, the grazing experiments demonstrated that microzooplankton can exert positive grazing pressure on Labyrinthulomycetes, though during certain times only, signalizing the probable ‘top‐down control’ of Labyrinthulomycetes by microzooplankton during those times. Labyrinthulomycetes may therefore constitute an important part of microbial loop in the marine ecosystem by utilizing dissolved and particulate organic matter due to osmoheterotrophic mode of nutrition and in turn supplying it to the next trophic level viz., the microzooplankton.
Determinants of tree frog calling ponds in a human‐transformed landscape
Authors: Fischer Klaus , Becker Marlen , Becker Bianca A. , Bensch Julia , Böckers Andre , Burmeister Martin , Dombrowski Janine , Donke Elisabeth , Ermisch Rebecca , Fritze Marcus , Fritzsch Anna , Hübler Nora , Ide Marina , Klockmann Michael , Mielke Melanie , Pfender David , Schiffler Maria , Schrödter Marlen , Sund Lars , Viertel Caroline , Weise Elisabeth , Werner Maike , Winter Martin 
Published: January 2015

AbstractFacing increasing human demands on Earth, understanding how endangered species may survive in isolated remnants of natural habitat within heavily transformed landscapes is key to contemporary conservation biology. Against this background we here investigate the factors affecting pond occupancy in the endangered European tree frog (Hyla arborea L.) within an urban landscape, being located in north‐eastern Germany where the species is still fairly common. Our survey revealed that 58 out of 122 ponds were occupied by H. arborea. Ponds with a higher percentage of floating vegetation, being deeper and surrounded by higher percentages of crop fields and forests were more likely to be occupied, while factors associated with urbanization such as the percentage of built‐up area were strongly detrimental. Habitat requirements of H. arborea were complex as occurrence was simultaneously affected by different spatial scales, including the landscape scale, the immediate surroundings of ponds and the ponds themselves. H. arborea avoided highly urbanized areas, but occurred frequently in agricultural areas surrounding the city. The latter suggests that this species is fairly tolerant towards human‐induced transformations, and that vast arable fields yielded positive rather than negative effects on H. arborea occurrence. We conclude that the most important conservation issues for supporting H. arborea populations at the periphery of urbanized areas are (1) maintaining an open (agricultural) landscape structure, (2) providing undisturbed overwintering habitats, and (3) maintaining pond quality by halting shrub and tree encroachment.
3D scanning based mold correction for planar and cylindrical parts in aluminum die casting
Authors: Seno Takashi , Ohtake Yutaka , Kikuchi Yuji , Saito Noriaki , Suzuki Hiromasa , Nagai Yukie 
Published: January 2015

Abstract
Aluminum die casting is an important manufacturing process for mechanical components. Die casting is known to be more accurate than other types of casting; however, post-machining is usually necessary to achieve the required accuracy. The goal of this investigation is to develop machining- free aluminum die casting. Improvement of the accuracy of planar and cylindrical parts is expected by correcting metal molds. In the proposed method, the shape of cast aluminum made with the initial metal molds is measured by 3D scanning. The 3D scan data includes information about deformations that occur during casting. Therefore, it is possible to estimate the deformation and correction amounts by comparing 3D scan data with product computer-aided design (CAD) data. We corrected planar and cylindrical parts of the CAD data for the mold. In addition, we corrected the planar part of the metal mold using the corrected mold data. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by evaluating the accuracy improvement of the cast aluminum made with the corrected mold.
Food categorization flexibility increases the preference for indulgent foods
Authors: Khare Adwait , Chowdhury Tilottama G. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractCategorization flexibility, the extent of cross‐categorization of objects into multiple categories, has been studied in prior research as an outcome variable. We study categorization flexibility as an independent variable and in the food domain show its influence on preference for hedonic or indulgent food items. Hedonic food items are attractive due to their tastiness but also unattractive due to their caloricity and thus consumers feel inhibited to choose them. We argue that food categorization flexibility exerts a disinhibitive influence which facilitates preference for hedonic food items. We show such a prohedonic effect (using real as well as hypothetical food items) by measuring as well as manipulating categorization flexibility and also that this effect occurs mainly for those with higher (vs. lower) inhibition for hedonic consumption: due to a prevention (vs. promotion) or due to a hyperopic (vs. myopic) psychological state. Our results suggest that while marketers of hedonic foods may improve sales by promoting more food‐situation associations, consumers' health will be better served if consumers develop fewer, beneficial food‐situation associations.
Split ratings and debt‐signaling in bond markets: A note
Authors: Ismail Ashraf , Oh Seunghack , Arsyad Nuruzzaman 
Published: January 2015

AbstractSplit ratings occur when national and international credit rating agencies assign different ratings to the same firm. Employing various proxies for asymmetric information and data from advanced and emerging bond markets, we review the evidence that split ratings are caused by asymmetric information between firms and credit rating agencies. We then apply the debt‐signaling model to the split ratings problem, by testing for a systematic relationship between the debt‐to‐equity ratio and the magnitude of split ratings across countries. We finally test for the existence of an optimal debt‐signal, which implies that higher debt‐to‐equity ratios will reduce the ratings split to an optimal minimum, after which accumulating more debt widens the ratings split. Our results suggest that firms in emerging markets can use the debt‐signal up to a maximal point, after which it becomes inefficient.
Needs Assessment for Incoming PGY-1 Residents in Neurosurgical Residency
Authors: Brandman David M. , Haji Faizal A. , Matte Marie C. , Clarke David B. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractBackground: Residents must develop a diverse range of skills in order to practice neurosurgery safely and effectively. The purpose of this study was to identify the foundational skills required for neurosurgical trainees as they transition from medical school to residency. Methods: Based on the CanMEDS competency framework, a web-based survey was distributed to all Canadian academic neurosurgical centers, targeting incoming and current PGY-1 neurosurgical residents as well as program directors. Using Likert scale and free-text responses, respondents rated the importance of various cognitive (e.g. management of raised intracranial pressure), technical (e.g. performing a lumbar puncture) and behavioral skills (e.g. obtaining informed consent) required for a PGY-1 neurosurgical resident. Results: Of 52 individuals contacted, 38 responses were received. Of these, 10 were from program directors (71%), 11 from current PGY-1 residents (58%) and 17 from incoming PGY-1 residents (89%). Respondents emphasized operative skills such as proper sterile technique and patient positioning; clinical skills such as lesion localization and interpreting neuro-imaging; management skills for common scenarios such as raised intracranial pressure and status epilepticus; and technical skills such as lumbar puncture and external ventricular drain placement. Free text answers were concordant with the Likert scale results. Discussion: We surveyed Canadian neurosurgical program directors and PGY-1 residents to identify areas perceived as foundational to neurosurgical residency education and training. This information is valuable for evaluating the appropriateness of a training program’s goals and objectives, as well as for generating a national educational curriculum for incoming PGY-1 residents.
Functional categories related to verb inflection are not differentially impaired in Greek aphasia
Authors: PROTOPAPAS ATHANASSIOS , CHEIMARIOU SPYRIDOULA , ECONOMOU ALEXANDRA , KAKAVOULIA MARIA , VARLOKOSTA SPYRIDOULA 
Published: January 2015

abstractPrevious research in Greek aphasia has indicated that functional categories related to verb inflection are differentially impacted, with Aspect most severely affected, Agreement least affected, and Tense occupying an intermediate position. However, research materials were not controlled for overall length or position of the verb within the sentence, confounding functional category with processing load. Using balanced materials, here we tested ten persons with aphasia and ten matched control participants on grammaticality judgment and sentence completion in three functional categories (agreement, tense, and aspect) using ten verbs spanning a range of familiarity. Production results indicated no difference in errors of either lexeme or inflectional morpheme selection. In grammaticality judgment acceptance of incorrect sentences was lower for Agreement but this pattern was mirrored in the control group as well. The results provide no basis to support a specific linguistic deficit in the representation of functional categories in Greek persons with aphasia.
The Weddell seals of Larsen Harbour, South Georgia: a unique but apparently declining colony
Authors: Burton Robert 
Published: January 2015

ABSTRACTThe small population of Weddell seals at Larsen Harbour, South Georgia, is isolated from the rest of the species and is unique because nearly all pups are born on land rather than on sea-ice. Observations of seals in Larsen Harbour during the breeding season are summarised. These have been infrequent until cruise ships started to visit. With often only a single observation in a year, accurate estimates of pup production are impossible but it appears that the population has decreased over the last three decades.
Maternal resources and household food security: evidence from Nicaragua
Authors: Schmeer Kammi K , Piperata Barbara A , Rodríguez Andrés Herrera , Torres Virgilio Mariano Salazar , Cárdenas Francisco José Centeno 
Published: January 2015

AbstractObjectiveWomen (especially mothers) are theorized as critical to reducing household food insecurity through their work and caregiver roles. The present study tests these assumptions, assessing how maternal economic and social resources are associated with food insecurity in households with young children.DesignData from a population-based sample of households was collected in León, Nicaragua (n 443). Data include a newly validated measure of household food insecurity (ELCSA), maternal resource measures, and household economic status and demographics. Regression analysis tests the statistical associations (P<0·05) of maternal resources with household, adult-specific and child-specific food insecurity.SettingMunicipality of León, Nicaragua.SubjectsHouseholds with children aged 3–11 years in rural and urban León.ResultsOnly 25 % of households with young children were food secure, with 50 % mildly food insecure and 25 % moderately/severely food insecure. When mothers contributed substantially to household income, the odds of moderate/severe household food insecurity were 34 % lower than when their spouse/partner was the main provider. The odds of food insecurity were 60 % lower when mothers managed household money, 48 % lower when mothers had a secondary (v. primary) education, 65 % higher among single mothers and 16 % lower with each indicator of social support. Results were similar for adult- and child-specific food insecurity.ConclusionsThis research provides new evidence that maternal economic and social resources are important for reducing household food insecurity and adult- and child-specific food insecurity. Women’s social status, social support and access to economic resources need to be enhanced as a part of policies aimed to reduce food insecurity in high-poverty settings.
Comparison and evaluation of dietary quality between older and younger Mexican-American women
Authors: Pignotti Giselle AP , Vega-López Sonia , Keller Colleen , Belyea Michael , Ainsworth Barbara , Nagle Williams Allison , Records Kathie , Coonrod Dean , Permana Paska 
Published: January 2015

AbstractObjectiveTo compare and evaluate the dietary quality of young and older sedentary Mexican-American women. Understanding key dietary concerns, while considering developmental transition periods and cultural relevance, can provide insight for developing appropriate nutrition interventions.DesignCross-sectional dietary data were collected using unannounced 24 h diet recalls to assess nutrient intake adequacy (Estimated Average Requirement cut-point method) and dietary quality (Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2010).SettingMujeres en Acción and Madres para la Salud, two community-based physical activity interventions.SubjectsParticipants were 139 young (28 (sd 6) years) and 124 older (55 (sd 7) years) overweight/obese sedentary Mexican-American women (BMI=25·0–35·0 kg/m2) of low socio-economic status.ResultsOlder women consumed less Ca, Fe, folate, empty calories and energy from carbohydrate, but more fruit, vegetables, greens and beans, and fibre than younger women (all P<0·05). Over 60 % of all participants had an intake below recommendations for fibre, Ca, vitamin E, vitamin C and folate. Both groups had low total HEI-2010 scores (62 for older and 63 for younger women; NS), with 57 % of older and 48 % of younger women classified as having a poor diet.ConclusionsDespite differences in nutrient requirements according to developmental transition periods (childbearing v. perimenopausal), overall, older and younger Mexican-American women generally had low-quality diets and may benefit from dietary quality improvement.