bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Percutaneous injuries amongst Greek endodontists: a national questionnaire survey
Authors: Zarra T. , Lambrianidis T. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractAimTo investigate amongst Greek endodontists the incidence of percutaneous injuries, the circumstances associated with them, the therapeutic measures taken after the injuries and their compliance with infection control measures.MethodologyOne hundred and forty‐seven endodontists met the inclusion criteria and were invited to participate in the survey. Personal and professional data, information on percutaneous injuries in the past 5 years and on infection control practices were gathered through interviews based on a questionnaire. Data were analysed using chi‐square test, independent samples t‐test, one‐way anova and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The level of significance was set at P = 0.05.ResultsThe response rate was 84%. The injury rate was estimated at 1.35 per endodontist per year. Endodontic files were associated with 37% of the injuries and fingers were injured in 75% of the most recent cases. Medical assistance was sought in 36% of the most recent injuries. Endodontists who always or usually practiced 4‐handed endodontics (P = 0.007) as well as those not performing surgical endodontics (P = 0.007) reported significantly fewer injuries. In 91% of the participants, a complete hepatitis B virus vaccination was reported. Gloves, masks, rubber dam isolation and puncture‐resistant containers for disposal of sharp instruments were always used by 98%, 94%, 100% and 81% of the respondents, respectively.ConclusionsThe injury rate was low. The practice of four‐handed endodontics was associated with a reduced number of percutaneous injuries; the performance of surgical endodontics increased their incidence. Greek endodontists showed a high level of compliance with infection control measures.
Helping doctors utilize the prostate‐specific antigen effectively: an online randomized controlled trial (The DUPE trial)
Authors: Farah Sam S. , Winter Matthew , Appu Sree 
Published: August 2012

AbstractObjectivesThe objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of an information aid (IA) on doctor's knowledge about the strengths and limitations of prostate‐specific antigen/digital rectal examination (PSA/DRE) testing, and to help doctors make better and more informed decisions about prostate cancer screening.MethodsAn online randomized trial among 45 doctors in Victoria's public health‐care network that fulfilled CONSORT requirements was conducted. Participants were randomized to either immediate or delayed access to an online IA, and knowledge was compared across both groups at the conclusion of the trial.ResultsDoctors spent a mean time of 4:04 (95% confidence interval: 0.53–7:52) reading and completing the IA. Those who read IA were more knowledgeable (mean score out of 9, 7.45 versus 5.75, P < 0.0001). Potential harms and current literature findings were better recognized, as well as having a better understanding of what is meant by the term screening. Eighty‐two per cent found that IA helped them understand prostate cancer screening, and 73% found it easy to understand.ConclusionThe IA increased knowledge, took minimal time to complete and was found to be helpful in understanding prostate cancer screening.Practical implicationsThe IA is an easy‐to‐access resource that improves knowledge regarding the strengths and limitations of the PSA/DRE test for prostate cancer screening. Doctors who are unsure how to summarize the latest evidence should be directed towards the IA.
Body mass index and acetabular component position in total hip arthroplasty
Authors: McBride Andrew , Flynn Jennifer , Miller George , Barnes Matthew , Mackie Scott 
Published: August 2012

AbstractIntroductionCorrect acetabular component positioning during total hip arthroplasty affects the restoration of normal biomechanics, component wear and failure rates. This study examined whether a patient's body mass index (BMI) affects the accuracy of acetabular component placement in terms of the post‐operative abduction angle.MethodsThis was a retrospective review of 102 total hip arthroplasties performed from May 2009 in a single institution. The acetabular abduction angle was measured on the post‐operative radiographs of the included patients. Statistical analysis of variance and t‐tests were performed using Microsoft Excel to compare the mean abduction angles of patients grouped according to their BMI.ResultsComparison of the mean abduction angle between those with BMI < 25 and BMI > 25 showed a statistically significant difference (P = 0.003). Analysis of variance between all BMI groups was statistically significant (P = 0.01). Patients in the lowest centile of abduction angle had an average BMI of 28. Patients in the highest centile of abduction angle had an average BMI of 33.DiscussionThis study shows that patients with a normal BMI tend to have smaller abduction angles. Overweight or obese patients, on average, have a normal abduction angle but are more likely to have an ‘open cup’. A number of factors unique to obese and overweight patient may contribute to an ‘open cup’ and less accurate cup placement.
The Recession and the New Economy of the West: The Familiar Boom and Bust Cycle?
Authors: Gude Patricia H. , Rasker Ray , Jones Kingsford L. , Haggerty Julia H. , Greenwood Mark C. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractTheU.S.West has gone through many periods of economic boom and bust, most of which were associated with rapid rises and declines in commodity markets. The recent structural shift toward a primarily service‐based economy begs the question of whether the driving forces behind the cycles of boom and bust also may be shifting away from commodities toward people and their resources. This paper explores several factors that contributed to growth in the 1990s and 2000s: asking whether these factors created any advantages or disadvantages during the most recent recession and whether the shift away from commodity production to a knowledge‐ and human capital‐intensive economy has implications for how local areas experience the boom–bust cycle.
THE PASTS
Authors: ROTH PAUL A. 
Published: August 2012

ABSTRACTThis essay offers a reconfiguration of the possibility‐space of positions regarding the metaphysics and epistemology associated with historical knowledge. A tradition within analytic philosophy from Danto to Dummett attempts to answer questions about the reality of the past on the basis of two shared assumptions. The first takes individual statements as the relevant unit of semantic and philosophical analysis. The second presumes that variants of realism and antirealism about the past exhaust the metaphysical options (and so shape the epistemology as well). This essay argues that both of these assumptions should be rejected. It develops as an alternative an irrealist account of history, a view based in part on work by Leon Goldstein and Ian Hacking. On an irrealist view, historical claims ought to be treated as subject to the same conditions and caveats that apply to any theory of empirical or scientific knowledge. Irrealism argues for pasts as made and not found. The argument emphasizes the priority of classification over perception in the order of understanding and so verification. Because nothing a priori anchors practices of classification, no sense can be attached to claims that some single structure must or does determine what events take place in human history. Irrealism denies to realism the very intelligibility of any imagined view from nowhere, that is, a determinately configured past subsisting sub specie aeternitatis. A plurality of pasts exists because constituting a past always depends to some degree on socially mediated negotiations of a fit between descriptions and experience.
“I Wouldn't Stay Here”: Economic Crisis and Youth Mobility in Ireland
Authors: Cairns David 
Published: August 2012

AbstractIn this paper, I explore an important aspect of Irish youth migration, in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, namely the mobility intentions of tertiary‐educated youth during the recent economic crisis. Building on prior work that I completed in 2007, I conducted quantitative and qualitative research with a total of 400 university students in Dublin, Belfast and Cork during 2010. Analysis of the data reveals that the majority of these young people (62%) intend to leave Ireland in the future, moving predominantly to other English‐language speaking countries, with such plans being more prevalent in the Republic of Ireland (72%) compared to Northern Ireland (52%). Further quantitative analysis and a series of qualitative interviews help explain what has influenced the mobility decision‐making of these young people. The results emphasize the importance of factors such as parental occupational background and locality, as well as the role of family relationships in encouraging and discouraging mobility. The impact of the economic crisis is, however, less clear, with the mobility intentions of young people planning to migrate tending to be influenced more by personal than economic considerations.
Early patterning in a chondrichthyan model, the small spotted dogfish: towards the gnathostome ancestral state
Authors: Godard B. G. , Mazan S. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractIn the past few years, the small spotted dogfish has become the primary model for analyses of early development in chondrichthyans. Its phylogenetic position makes it an ideal outgroup to reconstruct the ancestral gnathostome state by comparisons with established vertebrate model organisms. It is also a suitable model to address the molecular bases of lineage‐specific diversifications such as the rise of extraembryonic tissues, as it is endowed with a distinct extraembryonic yolk sac and yolk duct ensuring exchanges between the embryo and a large undivided vitelline mass. Experimental or functional approaches such as cell marking or in ovo pharmacological treatments are emerging in this species, but recent analyses of early development in this species have primarily concentrated on molecular descriptions. These data show the dogfish embryo exhibits early polarities reflecting the dorso‐ventral axis of amphibians and teleosts at early blastula stages and an atypical anamniote molecular pattern during gastrulation, independently of the presence of extraembryonic tissues. They also highlight unexpected relationships with amniotes, with a strikingly similar Nodal‐dependent regional pattern in the extraembryonic endoderm. In this species, extraembryonic cell fates seem to be determined by differential cell behaviors, which lead to cell allocation in extraembryonic and embryonic tissues, rather than by cell regional identity. We suggest that this may exemplify an early evolutionary step in the rise of extraembryonic tissues, possibly related to quantitative differences in the signaling activities, which shape the early embryo. These results highlight the conservation across gnathostomes of a highly constrained core genetic program controlling early patterning. This conservation may be obscured in some lineages by taxa‐specific diversifications such as specializations of extraembryonic nutritive tissues.
High‐energy compounds promote physiological processing of Alzheimer's amyloid‐β precursor protein and boost cell survival in culture
Authors: Sawmiller Darrell R. , Nguyen Huey T. , Markov Olga , Chen Ming 
Published: August 2012

AbstractPhysiological or α‐processing of amyloid‐β precursor protein (APP) prevents the formation of Aβ, which is deposited in the aging brain and may contribute to Alzheimer's disease. As such, drugs promoting this pathway could be useful for prevention of the disease. Along this line, we searched through a number of substances and unexpectedly found that a group of high‐energy compounds (HECs), namely ATP, phosphocreatine, and acetyl coenzyme A, potently increased APP α‐processing in cultured SH‐SY5Y cells, whereas their cognate counterparts, i.e., ADP, creatine, or coenzyme A did not show the same effects. Other HECs such as GTP, CTP, phosphoenol pyruvate, and S‐adenosylmethionine also promoted APP α‐processing with varying potencies and the effects were abolished by energy inhibitors rotenone or NaN3. The overall efficacy of the HECs in the process ranged from three‐ to four‐fold, which was significantly greater than that exhibited by other physiological stimulators such as glutamate and nicotine. This suggested that the HECs were perhaps the most efficient physiological stimulators for APP α‐processing. Moreover, the HECs largely offset the inefficient APP α‐processing in aged human fibroblasts or in cells impaired by rotenone or H2O2. Most importantly, some HECs markedly boosted the survival rate of SH‐SY5Y cells in the death process induced by energy suppression or oxidative stress. These findings suggest a new, energy‐dependent regulatory mechanism for the putative α‐secretase and thus will help substantially in its identification. At the same time, the study raises the possibility that the HECs may be useful to energize and strengthen the aging brain cells to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Morphology and gametic compatibility of color morphs of Paracentrotus gaimardi (Echinodermata: Echinoidea)
Authors: Lopes Elinia M. , Ventura Carlos R. R. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractFive color morphs of Paracentrotus gaimardi can be distinguished along the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: black, brown, gray, green, and pink. All co‐occur and are apparently exposed to similar environmental conditions. This study compares the morphology of these color morphs and investigates their gametic compatibility. All specimens of the five color morphs matched earlier descriptions of the species. The number of lateral spines on globiferous pedicellariae, the presence of small ophicephalous pedicellaria, and the pattern of distribution of pedicellaria on the test were reliable morphological characters for taxonomic purposes. The five color morphs were not clearly differentiable in terms of morphology. Fertilization success in crosses within color morphs was greater than in the majority of heteromorphic crosses. Only three heteromorphic crosses – ♀gray and ♂brown, ♀black and ♂gray, and ♀brown and ♂black – were as successful as control, within‐color morph crosses. Therefore, some color morphs seem to be partially isolated by an incipient barrier to fertilization. Low fertilization rates among color morphs should result in genetic divergence among them. In fact, genetic divergence at bindin and ATPase genes has been reported among color morphs of P. gaimardi. Natural selection seems to favor fertilization within color morphs, but the mechanism for this differentiation in gametic compatibility is not known.
Experimental validation of an intrasubject elastic registration algorithm for dynamic‐3D ultrasound images
Authors: Khallaghi Siavash , Leung Corina G. M. , Hastrudi‐Zaad Keyvan , Foroughi Pezhman , Nguan Chris , Abolmaesumi Purang 
Published: August 2012

Purpose:In image‐guided therapy, real‐time visualization of the anatomy and adjustments in the therapy plan due to anatomical motions during the procedure is of outmost importance. 3D ultrasound has the potential to enable this real‐time monitoring; however, nonrigid registration of a sequence of 3D ultrasound volumes remains to be a challenging problem. The authors present our recent results on the development of a computationally inexpensive feature‐based registration algorithm for elastic alignment of dynamic‐3D ultrasound images.Methods:Our algorithm uses attribute vectors, based on the image intensity and gradient information, to perform feature‐based matching in a sequence of 3D ultrasound images. Prior information from both the fixed and previous moving images is utilized to track features throughout the 3D image series. The algorithm has been compared to various publicly available registration techniques, i.e., the B‐splines deformable registration, the symmetric forces Demons, and the fast free‐form deformable registration method.Results:Using a series of validation experiments on datasets collected from carotid artery, liver, and kidney of 20 subjects, the authors demonstrate that the feature‐based, B‐splines, Demons, and fast free‐form deformable registration techniques can all recover volume deformations in a 3D ultrasound image series with reasonable accuracy; however, the proposed feature‐based registration technique has substantial computational advantage over the other approaches.Conclusions:The proposed feature‐based registration technique has the potential for real‐time implementation on a computationally inexpensive platform and has the capability of recovering nonrigid deformations in tissue with reasonable accuracy.
How long after a miscarriage should women wait before becoming pregnant again? Multivariate analysis of cohort data from Matlab, Bangladesh
Authors: DaVanzo Julie , Hale Lauren , Rahman Mizanur 
Published: August 2012

ObjectiveTo determine the optimum interpregnancy interval (IPI) following a miscarriage.DesignMultivariate analysis of population-based, prospective data from a demographic surveillance system.SettingPregnancies in Matlab, Bangladesh, between 1977 and 2008.Participants9214 women with 10 453 pregnancies that ended in a miscarriage and were followed by another pregnancy outcome.Main outcome measuresOutcome of pregnancy following the miscarriage was singleton live birth, stillbirth, miscarriage or induced abortion. For pregnancies that ended in live birth: early neonatal, late neonatal and postneonatal mortality.ResultsCompared with IPIs of 6–12 months, pregnancies that were conceived ≤3 months after a miscarriage were more likely to result in a live birth and less likely to result in a miscarriage (adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR) 0.70, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.86) or induced abortion (0.50, 0.29 to 0.89). Induced abortions were significantly more likely following IPIs of 18–24 months (2.36, 1.48 to 3.76), 36–48 months (2.73, 1.50 to 4.94), and >48 months (3.32, 1.68 to 2.95), and miscarriages were more likely following IPIs of 12–17 months (1.25, 1.01 to 1.56) and >48 months (1.90, 1.40 to 2.58). No significant effects of IPI duration are seen on the risks of a stillbirth. However, IPIs≤3 months following a miscarriage are associated with significantly higher late neonatal mortality for the infant born at the end of the IPI (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.74, 1.06 to 2.84), and IPIs of 12–18 months are associated with a significantly lower unadjusted risk of postneonatal mortality (0.54, 0.30 to 0.96).ConclusionsThe shorter the IPI following a miscarriage, the more likely the subsequent pregnancy is to result in a live birth. However, very short IPIs may not be advisable following miscarriages in poor countries like Bangladesh because they are associated with a higher risk of mortality for the infants born after them.
Family planning providers' perspectives on family planning service delivery in Ibadan and Kaduna, Nigeria: a qualitative study
Authors: Hebert Luciana Estelle , Schwandt Hilary Megan , Boulay Marc , Skinner Joanna 
Published: August 2012

ObjectiveIn Nigeria, fertility continues to be high and contraceptive prevalence remains low. This study was conducted in order to understand the perceptions of, experiences with and challenges of delivering family planning services in two urban areas of Nigeria from the perspectives of family planning service providers.MethodsA qualitative study using 59 in-depth interviews was conducted among family planning providers working in hospitals, primary health centres, clinics, pharmacies and patent medicine vendors in Ibadan and Kaduna, Nigeria.ResultsProviders support a mix of individuals and organisations involved in family planning provision, including the government of Nigeria. The Nigerian government's role can take a variety of forms, including providing promotional materials for family planning facilities as well as facilitating training and educational opportunities for providers, since many providers lack basic training in family planning provision. Providers often describe their motivation to provide in terms of the health benefits offered by family planning methods. Few providers engage in any marketing of their services and many providers exclude youth and unmarried individuals from their services.ConclusionsThe family planning provider community supports a diverse network of providers, but needs further training and support in order to improve the quality of care and market their services. Adolescents, unmarried individuals and women seeking post-abortion care are vulnerable populations that providers need to be better educated about and trained in how to serve. The perspectives of providers should be considered when designing family planning interventions in urban areas of Nigeria.
Founder mutations in Tunisia: implications for diagnosis in North Africa and Middle East
Authors: Romdhane Lilia , Kefi Rym , Azaiez Hela , Halim Nizar Ben , Dellagi Koussay , Abdelhak Sonia 
Published: August 2012

Abstract

Background
Tunisia is a North African country of 10 million inhabitants. The native background population is Berber. However, throughout its history, Tunisia has been the site of invasions and migratory waves of allogenic populations and ethnic groups such as Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Ottomans and French. Like neighbouring and Middle Eastern countries, the Tunisian population shows a relatively high rate of consanguinity and endogamy that favor expression of recessive genetic disorders at relatively high rates. Many factors could contribute to the recurrence of monogenic morbid trait expression. Among them, founder mutations that arise in one ancestral individual and diffuse through generations in isolated communities.

Method
We report here on founder mutations in the Tunisian population by a systematic review of all available data from PubMed, other sources of the scientific literature as well as unpublished data from our research laboratory.

Results
We identified two different classes of founder mutations. The first includes founder mutations so far reported only among Tunisians that are responsible for 30 genetic diseases. The second group represents founder haplotypes described in 51 inherited conditions that occur among Tunisians and are also shared with other North African and Middle Eastern countries. Several heavily disabilitating diseases are caused by recessive founder mutations. They include, among others, neuromuscular diseases such as congenital muscular dystrophy and spastic paraglegia and also severe genodermatoses such as dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa and xeroderma pigmentosa.

Conclusion
This report provides informations on founder mutations for 73 genetic diseases either specific to Tunisians or shared by other populations. Taking into account the relatively high number and frequency of genetic diseases in the region and the limited resources, screening for these founder mutations should provide a rapid and cost effective tool for molecular diagnosis. Indeed, our report should help designing appropriate measures for carrier screening, better evaluation of diseases burden and setting up of preventive measures at the regional level.