bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of distractions on operative performance and ability to multitask—A case for deliberate practice
Authors: Ahmed Aadil , Ahmad Mueen , Stewart C. Matthew , Francis Howard W. , Bhatti Nasir I. 
Published: July 2014

Objectives/HypothesisTo measure the effect of distractions on the operative performance and analyze if practice and experience are the factors that can help to overcome the distractions.Study DesignProspective observational study.MethodsTen postgraduate year (PGY) 2‐6 residents and two faculty members from Johns Hopkins' otolaryngology department were recruited and asked to deepen the dissection at the sinodural angle on the Voxel‐man mastoidectomy simulator. They were asked to perform the task under four conditions: 1) no distractors, 2) differentiation and counting of a specific alarm sound among different sounds played in the background while performing the surgical task, 3) simultaneous performance of simple arithmetic task of moderate difficulty, and 4) simultaneous performance of the task with both sets of distractors combined.ResultsTime taken for the task (P = .02) and error scores (P = .002) increased under the third and fourth conditions. The ability to multitask and response to surgical and cognitive tasks improved with increasing level of experience of the participants.ConclusionsDistractions lead to impaired dexterity and an increase in the incidence of errors. However, experience and deliberate practice can help achieve the ability to multitask without compromising the operative performance.Level of EvidenceNA Laryngoscope, 125:837–841, 2015
Vascular patterns in mature hypertrophic burn scars treated with fractional CO2 laser
Authors: Connolly Karen L. , Chaffins Marsha , Ozog David 
Published: July 2014

ABSTRACTBackground and ObjectiveFractional CO2 laser has recently emerged as a promising therapeutic modality to improve the texture and appearance of burn scars. An issue in many burn scars is persistent erythema, which traditionally has been treated with vascular lasers. Interestingly, fractional CO2 lasers have been shown to improve the appearance of burn scars, including erythema, but no mechanism has been proposed for this change.Our objective is to evaluate the histopathologic changes in vasculature in burn scars treated with fractionated CO2 laser, and to attempt to describe the mechanism behind reduced erythema following treatment.Study Design/Materials and MethodsUncontrolled, prospective study of ten patients with mature burn scars, from a clinical and histological perspective. Biopsy specimens were obtained before and 2 months after 3 treatment sessions. Anti‐CD31 immunostaining was performed to highlight vascular patterns in biopsy specimens.ResultsIn histological analysis, an increase in vascular density, particularly of small caliber vessels, was seen following treatment, with an 82.6% average increase in vasculature (P = 0.028). This increase in vascularity correlated with a decrease in clinical erythema and vascularity scores, measured using the Vancouver Scar Scale.ConclusionMature hypertrophic burn scars treated with a fractional CO2 laser showed a statistically significant increase in vascular density in the superficial dermis. A non‐statistical decrease in clinically perceived erythema and improvement of overall appearance was seen. To our knowledge, this is the first report of increased vascular density in burn scars treated with fractional CO2 laser and suggests our prior assumptions on causes of erythema in mature hypertrophic scars may need to be challenged. Lasers Surg. Med. 46:597–600, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Vascularized bone transplant chimerism mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor
Authors: Willems Wouter F. , Larsen Mikko , Friedrich Patricia F. , Bishop Allen T. 
Published: July 2014

BackgroundVascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induces angiogenesis and osteogenesis in bone allotransplants. We aim to determine whether bone remodeling in VEGF‐treated bone allotransplants results from repopulation with circulation‐derived autogenous cells or survival of allogenic transplant‐derived cells.MethodsVascularized femoral bone transplants were transplanted from female Dark Agouti rats (DA;RT1a) to male Piebald Viral Glaxo (PVG;RT1c). Arteriovenous bundle implantation and short‐term immunosuppression were used to maintain cellular viability. VEGF was encapsulated in biodegradable microspheres and delivered intramedullary in the experimental group (n = 22). In the control group (n = 22), no VEGF was delivered. Rats were sacrificed at 4 or 18 weeks. Laser capture microdissection of bone remodeling areas was performed at the inner and outer cortex. Sex‐mismatched genes were quantified with reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction to determine the amount of male cells to total cells, defined as the relative expression ratio (rER).ResultsAt 4 weeks, rER was significantly higher at the inner cortex in VEGF‐treated transplants as compared to untreated transplants (0.622 ± 0.225 vs. 0.362 ± 0.081, P = 0.043). At 4 weeks, the outer cortex in the control group had a significantly higher rER (P = 0.038), whereas in the VEGF group, the inner cortex had a higher rER (P = 0.015). Over time, in the outer cortex the rER significantly increased to 0.634 ± 0.106 at 18 weeks in VEGF‐treated rats (P = 0.049). At 18 weeks, the rER was >0.5 at all cortical areas in both groups.ConclusionsThese in vivo findings suggest a chemotactic effect of intramedullary applied VEGF on recipient‐derived bone and could imply that more rapid angiogenesis of vascularized allotransplants can be established with microencapsulated VEGF. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microsurgery 35:45–51, 2015.
On the lorentzian versus Gaussian character of time‐domain spin‐echo signals from the brain as sampled by means of gradient‐echoes: Implications for quantitative transverse relaxation studies
Authors: Mulkern Robert V. , Balasubramanian Mukund , Mitsouras Dimitrios 
Published: July 2014

PurposeTo determine whether Lorentzian or Gaussian intra‐voxel frequency distributions are better suited for modeling data acquired with gradient‐echo sampling of single spin‐echoes for the simultaneous characterization of irreversible and reversible relaxation rates. Clinical studies (e.g., of brain iron deposition) using such acquisition schemes have typically assumed Lorentzian distributions.Theory and MethodsTheoretical expressions of the time‐domain spin‐echo signal for intra‐voxel Lorentzian and Gaussian distributions were used to fit data from a human brain scanned at both 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3T, resulting in maps of irreversible and reversible relaxation rates for each model. The relative merits of the Lorentzian versus Gaussian model were compared by means of quality of fit considerations.ResultsLorentzian fits were equivalent to Gaussian fits primarily in regions of the brain where irreversible relaxation dominated. In the multiple brain regions where reversible relaxation effects become prominent, however, Gaussian fits were clearly superior.ConclusionThe widespread assumption that a Lorentzian distribution is suitable for quantitative transverse relaxation studies of the brain should be reconsidered, particularly at 3T and higher field strengths as reversible relaxation effects become more prominent. Gaussian distributions offer alternate fits of experimental data that should prove quite useful in general. Magn Reson Med 74:51–62, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Paradoxical effect of the signal‐to‐noise ratio of GRAPPA calibration lines: A quantitative study
Authors: Ding Yu , Xue Hui , Ahmad Rizwan , Chang Ti‐chiun , Ting Samuel T. , Simonetti Orlando P. 
Published: July 2014

PurposeIntuitively, GRAPPA auto‐calibration signal (ACS) lines with higher signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) may be expected to boost the accuracy of kernel estimation and increase the SNR of GRAPPA reconstructed images. Paradoxically, Sodickson and his colleagues pointed out that using ACS lines with high SNR may actually lead to lower SNR in the GRAPPA reconstructed images. A quantitative study of how the noise in the ACS lines affects the SNR of the GRAPPA reconstructed images is presented.MethodsIn a phantom, the singular values of the GRAPPA encoding matrix and the root‐mean‐square error of GRAPPA reconstruction were evaluated using multiple sets of ACS lines with variant SNR. In volunteers, ACS lines with high and low SNR were estimated, and the SNR of corresponding TGRAPPA reconstructed images was evaluated.ResultsWe show that the condition number of the GRAPPA kernel estimation equations is proportional to the SNR of the ACS lines. In dynamic image series reconstructed with TGRAPPA, high SNR ACS lines result in reduced SNR if appropriate regularization is not applied.ConclusionNoise has a similar effect to Tikhonov regularization. Without appropriate regularization, a GRAPPA kernel estimated from ACS lines with higher SNR amplifies random noise in the GRAPPA reconstruction. Magn Reson Med 74:231–239, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Boveri at 100: Theodor Boveri and genetic predisposition to cancer
Authors: Hansford Samantha , Huntsman David G 
Published: July 2014

AbstractOne hundred years have passed since the publication of Theodore Boveri's Zur Frage der Entstehung maligner Tumouren [Concerning the Origin of Malignant Tumours]. This prescient publication created the foundations for much of our understanding of the origins of cancer and in particular the genetic basis of some cancers. In his work, Boveri suggested that loss of key cellular attributes, now known as tumour suppressor genes, are a key driver event in the development of cancer and inheritance could play a role in cancer susceptibility. He also predicted that chromosomal (genomic) instability as a key hallmark of cancer. Whilst these key insights that still inform the practice of cancer genetics, they were not the main theme of Boveri's text, which was to describe the role of chromosomal abnormalities in the development of cancer. In making his case he also suggested that genetic information could be contained in distinct packages (genes) that are linearly arranged along chromosomes and that cancers arise from single cells. These remarkably accurate hypotheses add weight to the need to celebrate this landmark publication for its accurate prediction of so much that we take for granted. Here we focus on Boveri's contributions to our understanding of hereditary cancers, which, alongside the astute clinical observations of Paul Broca and Aldred Scott Warthin, were published decades before the field became respectable, yet could still inform anyone studying hereditary cancers. Copyright © 2014 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) promotes breast cancer cell metastasis and the mechanism implicates epithelial–mesenchymal transition programme under hypoxia
Authors: Ren Tingting , Zhang Wei , Liu Xinping , Zhao Hu , Zhang Jian , Zhang Jing , Li Xia , Zhang Yan , Bu Xin , Shi Man , Yao Libo , Su Jin 
Published: July 2014

AbstractA wide range of genes involved in breast cancer metastasis have been reported to be related to the microenvironment. We studied the role of discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2), a collagen‐binding receptor, in breast cancer progression under hypoxic conditions. We showed that DDR2 protein expression closely correlated with the expression of hypoxic marker HIF‐1α in clinical breast cancer specimens. The in vitro data demonstrated that hypoxia treatment increased the levels of both expression and phosphorylation of DDR2 in human breast cancer cell lines. In vivo, orthotopic breast tumour xenografts with DDR2 knockdown displayed reduced dissemination and significant prevention in pulmonary and lymphatic metastasis; conversely, these processes were significantly facilitated by the enforced expression of the activated form of DDR2. Further mechanism studies indicated that DDR2 plays an indispensable role in a series of hypoxia‐induced behaviours of breast cancer cells, including migration, invasion, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). The transcription factor Snail was found to mediate DDR2‐induced down‐regulation of the cell–cell adhesion molecule E‐cadherin. It was also documented that there is a correlation between DDR2 and E‐cadherin expression with the presence of lymph node metastases in 160 cases of invasive human breast carcinoma. In addition, we provided evidence that DDR2 silencing in breast cancer cells prevents the hypoxia‐induced activation of ERK MAPK, suggesting its potential involvement in mediating the effect of DDR2 on hypoxia‐induced signalling. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that DDR2 participates in hypoxia‐induced breast cancer metastasis through the regulation of cell migration, invasion, and EMT, and thus may serve as an accessible therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.Copyright © 2014 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Incorporating sustainable development principles into building design: a review from a structural perspective including case study
Authors: Miller Dane , Doh Jeung‐Hwan 
Published: July 2014

SummaryThe incorporation of sustainable development (SD) principles into all industries is increasingly important. The contribution of the building industry to a wide range of environmental impacts is extensive with the construction, operation and maintenance of buildings accounting for approximately 50% of all energy usage and anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. In the building design process, structural engineers play a limited role in the sustainability of a design. The decisions on the incorporation of such aspects are usually at the mercy of the architect and client. A literature review was conducted to record and present the variability in research on issues directly related to the environmental performance of structures. There are inconsistencies in the published contribution of embodied energy (EE) and proportion of life cycle energy usage in structures. Outcomes demonstrate that due to this variability, environmental performance of structures is difficult to validate. A systematic approach beginning with standardized calculation procedure and database generation for EE of building materials is essential for practitioners to deliver sustainable structural designs. An analysis of a typical concrete office structure indicates potential benefits through the use of quantifiable environmental performance measures, delivering efficient solutions. Comparisons of slab construction techniques indicate overall EE reductions up to 40% being achievable. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Thinking outside the box: A review of artificial roosts for bats
Authors: Mering Elisabeth D. , Chambers Carol L. 
Published: July 2014

ABSTRACTArtificial roosts designed to attract bats have been used to increase populations, aid seed dispersal, and control insects. More important from a conservation perspective, artificial roosts provide habitat where natural roosts have been lost. Although artificial roosts have been widely used, much of the information on species that use artificial roosts, roost design, and placement is anecdotal and poorly reported. We reviewed the existing literature on artificial roosts to summarize current research and inform research and management decisions. From 47 publications and reports, we identified 48 types of structures used by 59 species. Roosts were constructed from wood (66.7%), concrete (8.3%), or other materials (25.0%) and varied in size and shape from small‐volume wood boxes (0.002 m3) to large (6 m tall) free‐standing structures. Variables most often considered in the context of attracting bats were aspect, substrate, and mount location; few studies measured height or microclimate. Colonization rates ranged from 7% to 100%. Bats commonly used structures as solitary (21 species) or social (breeding or maternity; 21 species) roosts. Most species documented to use artificial roosts are vespertilionids (73%), have the International Union for Conservation of Nature's designation of least concern (93%), and roost in tree cavities or buildings. Three species are designated as endangered (Myotis sodalis) or near threatened (M. bechsteinii, M. dasycneme). Artificial roosts should be constructed and installed to mimic natural roosts, emphasize requirements of target species, and exclude non‐target species. Monitoring species composition and identifying effects of roost density will help determine conservation impacts of artificial roosts. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.
Outcome of pregnancy following second‐ or third‐trimester intrauterine fetal death
Authors: Maignien Chloé , Nguyen Amélie , Dussaux Chloé , Cynober Evelyne , Gonzales Marie , Carbonne Bruno 
Published: July 2014

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the outcomes of a pregnancy after a second‐ or third‐trimester intrauterine fetal death (IUFD).MethodsA prospective observational study was conducted at Trousseau Hospital (Paris, France) between 1996 and 2011. The first ongoing pregnancy in women who had had a previous IUFD was monitored. Management of their treatment was according to a standardized protocol. Recurrence of fetal death was the main outcome criterion.ResultsThe subsequent pregnancies of 87 women who had experienced at least one previous IUFD were followed up. The cause of previous IUFD was placental in 50 (57%) women, unknown in 19 (22%), adnexal in 12 (14%), metabolic in 2 (2%), and malformative in 4 (5%). Three (3%) participants had another stillbirth. Overall, obstetric complications occurred in 34 (39%) pregnancies (including 22 [25%] preterm births, 5 [6%] small for gestational age, and 6 [7%] maternal vascular complications). Obstetric complications were significantly more common among women whose previous stillbirth had been due to placental causes than among those affected by other causes (P = 0.02).ConclusionMost pregnancies after IUFD resulted in a live birth; however, adverse obstetric outcomes were more common when the previous stillbirth was due to placental causes.
Individual differences in interpersonal touch: On the development, validation, and use of the “comfort with interpersonal touch” (CIT) scale
Authors: Webb Andrea , Peck Joann 
Published: July 2014

AbstractThis research details the development of the “comfort with interpersonal touch” (CIT) scale designed to measure individual differences in interpersonal touch tendencies and preferences. The CIT construct is defined as the degree to which an individual is comfortable with intentional interpersonal touch from or to another person. The scale incorporates the distinction between initiating touch, which is the act of touching someone else, and receiving touch, which is the act of being touched by someone else. Investigation of this construct includes scale development, measure purification, and validation. We situate CIT‐initiating and CIT‐receiving within an approach–avoidance framework and demonstrate that comfort with initiating touch is more related to approach tendencies such as assertiveness while comfort with receiving touch is more related to avoidant tendencies such as avoiding crowded spaces. While previous research generally finds positive effects of interpersonal touch, we find that these effects, at least in part, depend on an individual's comfort with interpersonal touch. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications as well as future research opportunities using the CIT scale.
Taylor dispersion and thermal expansion effects on flame propagation in a narrow channel
Authors: Pearce P. , Daou J. 
Published: July 2014

AbstractWe investigate the propagation of a premixed flame subject to thermal expansion through a narrow channel against a Poiseuille flow of large amplitude. This is the first study to consider the effect of a large-amplitude flow, characterised by a Péclet number of order one, $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}\mathit{Pe}=O(1)$, on a variable-density premixed flame in the asymptotic limit of a narrow channel. It is also the first study on Taylor dispersion in the context of combustion. The relationship between the propagation speed and Péclet number is investigated, with the effect of large flame-front thickness $\epsilon $ and activation energy $\beta $ studied asymptotically in an appropriate distinguished limit. The premixed flame for $\epsilon \to \infty $, with $\mathit{Pe}=O(1)$, is found to be governed by the equation for a planar premixed flame with an effective diffusion coefficient. In this case the premixed flame can be considered to be in the Taylor regime of enhanced dispersion due to a parallel flow. The infinite activation energy limit $\beta \to \infty $ is taken to provide an analytical description of the propagation speed. Corresponding results are obtained for a premixed flame in the constant-density approximation. The asymptotic results are compared to numerical results obtained for selected values of $\epsilon $ and $\beta $ and for moderately large values of the Péclet number. Physical reasons for the differences in propagation speed between constant- and variable-density flames are discussed. Finally, the asymptotic results are shown to agree with those of previous studies performed in the limit $\mathit{Pe}\to 0$.
Immune responses during cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis
Authors: KEDZIERSKI LUKASZ , EVANS KRYSTAL J. 
Published: July 2014

SUMMARYLeishmaniaare protozoan parasites spread by a sandfly insect vector and causing a spectrum of diseases collectively known as leishmaniasis. The disease is a significant health problem in many parts of the world, resulting in an estimated 1·3 million new cases and 30 000 deaths annually. Current treatment is based on chemotherapy, which is difficult to administer, expensive and becoming ineffective in several endemic regions. To date there is no vaccine against leishmaniasis, although extensive evidence from studies in animal models indicates that solid protection can be achieved upon immunization. This review focuses on immune responses toLeishmaniain both cutaneous and visceral forms of the disease, pointing to the complexity of the immune response and to a range of evasive mechanisms utilized by the parasite to bypass those responses. The amalgam of innate and acquired immunity combined with the paucity of data on the human immune response is one of the major problems currently hampering vaccine development and implementation.