bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
“Well, I Think There Is Great Variation…”: A Qualitative Study of Oncologists' Experiences and Views Regarding Medical Criteria and Other Factors Relevant to Treatment Decisions in Advanced Cancer
Authors: Schildmann Jan , Tan Jacinta , Salloch Sabine , Vollmann Jochen 
Published: January 2013

Abstract

CME Learning Objectives
List non-medical factors that influence decisions about limiting treatment in advanced cancer. Discuss the problems associated with value-based treatment recommendations. Describe possible strategies for improved ethics and evidence-based treatment decision making in advanced cancer.

Background.
Surveys indicate considerable variation regarding the provision of cancer treatment at the end of life. The variation cannot be fully explained by differences concerning the clinical situation or patients' preferences. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore medical oncologists' experiences with advanced cancer, as well as their views of the relevance of medical and nonmedical criteria for decisions about limiting treatment.

Methods.
Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with physicians working in medical oncology in tertiary care hospitals or district general hospitals in England. Purposive sampling and qualitative analysis were performed.

Results.
Physicians reported that a number of nonmedical factors influence professional decisions about the offering or limiting of cancer treatment in advanced cancer in addition to medical criteria. Physicians' individual judgments about the benefit of treatment, as well as the amount of their clinical experience, were cited as such factors. In addition, the physicians' perceptions of the patient's age and life circumstances were reported to influence their treatment decisions. Multiprofessional team discussions and the systematic collection of relevant clinical data regarding the outcomes of different treatment approaches in advanced cancer were suggested as strategies to improve the quality of treatment decisions.

Conclusion.
The findings of this study provide explanations for the variation in treatment in advanced cancer. Making value judgments explicit and gathering more appropriate clinical data on the outcomes of treatment near the end of life are prerequisites for improved ethical and evidence-based treatment decisions in advanced cancer.
China's Progress with IFRS Convergence: Interviews with Chinese Professors
Authors: Nie Ping , Collins Allison B. , Wang Shanping 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT:
The focus of this paper is to examine China's process of convergence with international accounting standards, through a review of the history and through the experiences of its accounting academics. The review of China's accounting history establishes a framework for understanding the current standards. The experiences of Chinese academics during the convergence process are of particular interest to other academics, and offer insight into the training and development of an internationalized accounting profession.
To gain insights from the Chinese academics, we conducted interviews with ten professors, and solicited comments, suggestions, and advice from these academics. These academics report between 6 to 50 years of experience in Chinese accounting education. The focus of our interviews was to gain an understanding of the forces and circumstances that characterized the period during which China changed from an internal, rules-based accounting system to a system that has now achieved significant progress toward convergence with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The insights from these Chinese accounting professors will be of interest to educators in other countries that are dealing with IFRS-related issues in their curriculum.
Lack of Association Between Residual Insulin Production and Glucagon Response to Hypoglycemia in Youth With Short Duration of Type 1 Diabetes
Authors: Sherr Jennifer , Xing Dongyuan , Ruedy Katrina J. , Beck Roy W. , Kollman Craig , Buckingham Bruce , White Neil H. , Fox Larry , Tsalikian Eva , Weinzimer Stuart , Arbelaez Ana Maria , Tamborlane William V. ,   for the Diabetes in Children Network (DirecNet)
Published: January 2013

OBJECTIVE
To examine the loss of glucagon response to hypoglycemia and its relationship with residual β-cell function early in the course of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in youth.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Twenty-one youth with T1D duration &lt;1 year (ages 8–18 years, T1D duration 6–52 weeks) underwent mixed-meal tolerance tests (MMTTs) to assess residual β-cell function and hypoglycemic clamps to assess glucagon responses to hypoglycemia. Glucagon responses to hypoglycemia in T1D subjects were compared with those in 12 nondiabetic young adults (ages 19–25 years).

RESULTS
Peak MMTT-stimulated C-peptide levels (range 0.12–1.43) were ≥0.2 nmol/L in all but one T1D subject. As expected, the median of glucagon responses to hypoglycemia in the T1D subjects (18 pg/mL [interquartile range 7–32]) was significantly reduced compared with the responses in nondiabetic control subjects (38 pg/mL [19–66], P = 0.02). However, there was no correlation between the incremental increase in plasma glucagon during the hypoglycemic clamp and the incremental increase and peak plasma C-peptide level during the MMTT. Similarly, the seven T1D subjects who failed to achieve an increase in glucagon ≥12 pg/mL (i.e., 3 SD above baseline values) had C-peptide response ≥0.2 nmol/L (0.54–1.12), and the one T1D subject with peak stimulated &lt;0.2 nmol/L had a 14 pg/mL increase in plasma glucagon in response to hypoglycemia.

CONCLUSIONS
Impaired plasma glucagon responses to hypoglycemia are evident in youth with T1D during the first year of the disease. Moreover, defective and absent glucagon responses to hypoglycemia were observed in patients who retained clinically important residual endogenous β-cell function.
Intravascular ultrasound assisted carotid artery stenting: randomized controlled trial. Preliminary results on 60 patients
Authors: Chiocchi Marcello , Morosetti Daniele , Chiaravalloti Antonio , Loreni Giorgio , Gandini Roberto , Simonetti Giovanni 
Published: January 2013

Aims
The primary aim is the evaluation of the usefulness of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in the identification of otherwise unnoticed complications during carotid stenting. The secondary aim is the evaluation of the impact of IVUS assistance in the procedural outcomes and long-term patency rates of carotid artery stenting.

Materials and methods
Sixty patients who underwent carotid artery stenting (CAS) during a 14-month period were evaluated prospectively. Thirty patients (50%) underwent IVUS assisted CAS, 30 patients (50%) underwent CAS using angiography as the unique diagnostic tool. All patients were enrolled through a primary duplex ultrasound evaluation; as a secondary evaluation, 54 patients (90%) underwent a preprocedural magnetic resonance angiography, whereas six patients (10%) underwent computed tomography-angiography. Patients with preocclusive stenoses (>85%) were excluded. Mean follow-up was 23 W 5.3 months.

Results
No periprocedural or late complications were observed. No statistical significance was observed in long-term stent patency between the two groups. Mean procedural time length of IVUS-assisted procedures was 10.3 W 5 min longer than non-IVUS-assisted procedures. Virtual histology (VH) IVUS evaluation of plaque morphology led to a different stent choice in three patients. In two cases, the IVUS assessment revealed a suboptimal stent deployment, solved by angioplasty; in one patient VH-IVUS detected plaque protrusion through stent cells, immediately treated by manual aspiration.

Conclusions
Though not recommended as a routine intraprocedural evaluation, IVUS may be useful for a real-time CAS control when treating challenging plaques, such as ‘soft’ or lipidic ones or those prone to rupture, or whenever an intraprocedural morphologic evaluation is required for the appropriate stent choice, or when higher embolic risk is evaluated.
Combining stochastic and deterministic approaches within high efficiency molecular simulations
Authors: Escribano Bruno , Akhmatskaya Elena , Mujika Jon 
Published: January 2013

Abstract
Generalized Shadow Hybrid Monte Carlo (GSHMC) is a method for molecular simulations that rigorously alternates Monte Carlo sampling from a canonical ensemble with integration of trajectories using Molecular Dynamics (MD). While conventional hybrid Monte Carlo methods completely re-sample particle’s velocities between MD trajectories, our method suggests a partial velocity update procedure which keeps a part of the dynamic information throughout the simulation. We use shadow (modified) Hamiltonians, the asymptotic expansions in powers of the discretization parameter corresponding to timestep, which are conserved by symplectic integrators to higher accuracy than true Hamiltonians. We present the implementation of this method into the highly efficient MD code GROMACS and demonstrate its performance and accuracy on computationally expensive systems like proteins in comparison with the molecular dynamics techniques already available in GROMACS. We take advantage of the state-of-the-art algorithms adopted in the code, leading to an optimal implementation of the method. Our implementation introduces virtually no overhead and can accurately recreate complex biological processes, including rare event dynamics, saving much computational time compared with the conventional simulation methods.
A novel tamper detection scheme for BTC-compressed images
Authors: Hu Y. , Chen W. , Lo C. , Wu C. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractA novel image authentication scheme for the compressed images of block truncation coding (BTC) is proposed in this paper. In the proposed scheme, 1-bit authentication data is generated from the quantization levels of each image block. Multiple block permutations are generated by using the random sequences induced by the selected random number seeds. Multiple copies of the authenticaiton data are embedded into the bit maps of BTC-compressed image blocks based on the block permutations. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme achieves good detecting accuracy while keeping good image quatiy of the embedded image.
Some matrix transformations and almost convergence
Authors: Sheikh Neyaz Ahmad , Ganie Ab. Hamid 
Published: January 2013

The sequence space bv(u,p) has been defined and the classes (bv(u,p):l?), (bv(u,p):c),and (bv(u,p):c0) of infinite matrices have been characterized by Ba?ar, Altay and Mursaleen ( see, [2] ). The main purposes of the present paper is to characterize the classes (bv(u,p):ƒ?),(bv(u, p):ƒ), and (bv(u,p):ƒ0), where ƒ?, ƒ, and ƒ0 denotes the spaces of almost bounded sequences, almost convergent sequences and almost convergent null sequences, respectively, with real or complex terms. Kathmandu University Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Vol. 8, No. II, December, 2012, 89-92 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/kuset.v8i2.7330
Reanimation of elbow extension with medial pectoral nerve transfer in partial injuries to the brachial plexus
Authors: Flores Leandro Pretto 
Published: January 2013

Object
Recent advancements in operative treatment of the brachial plexus authorized more extensive repairs and, currently, elbow extension can be included in the rank of desirable functions to be restored. This study aims to describe the author's experience in using the medial pectoral nerve for reinnervation of the triceps brachii in patients sustaining C5–7 palsies of the brachial plexus.

Methods
This is a retrospective study of the outcomes regarding recovery of elbow extension in 12 patients who underwent transfer of the medial pectoral nerve to the radial nerve or to the branch of the long head of the triceps.

Results
The radial nerve was targeted in 3 patients, and the branch to the long head of the triceps was targeted in 9. Grafts were used in 6 patients. Outcomes assessed as Medical Research Council Grades M4 and M3 for elbow extension were noted in 7 (58%) and 5 (42%) patients, respectively.

Conclusions
The medial pectoral nerve is a reliable donor for elbow extension recovery in patients who have sustained C5–7 nerve root injuries.
Impact of perioperative complications on clinical outcome scores in lumbar fusion surgery
Authors: Lambat Manish P. , Glassman Steven D. , Carreon Leah Y. 
Published: January 2013

Object
Although lumbar fusion is effective in well-selected patients, it is not without complications associated with short-term morbidity. There is a paucity of literature on the effect of these complications on long-term clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether perioperative complications—that is, those occurring within 30 days after surgery—alter the long-term clinical outcomes after lumbar fusion.

Methods
The authors retrospectively reviewed surgical and clinical databases for the period from 2001 to 2008 to identify patients who had undergone instrumented lumbar spinal fusion and had complete preoperative and 2-year postoperative outcome measures data. Outcome measures included the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) Physical Component Summary, SF-36 Mental Component Summary, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Numeric Rating Scales (0–10) for back and leg pain.
Three patient groups were created for comparison—one with major complications, one with only minor complications, and another with no complications—using propensity matching techniques based on demographics, baseline clinical outcome scores, and surgical characteristics. Preoperative and 2-year postoperative outcome scores in the groups were compared. One-way ANOVA was used to compare continuous variables, and the Fisher exact test was used to compare categorical variables between the groups. Significance was set at p < 0.001.

Results
In the database with 1144 patients, 81 had a major complication. Of these 81 patients, 78 were propensity matched to a similar group of patients with minor complications and another group with no complications. Comparison of the 3 groups revealed that 2-year postoperative outcomes were not statistically different for any of the measures. Overall ODI at 2 years was better in patients having no complications (39.6) or only minor complications (37.0) than in those having major complications (44.5), but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.074). The proportion of patients reaching a minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for ODI was statistically significantly smaller in the major complication group (31%) than in the minor complication (51%) and no complication groups (65%; p < 0.001).

Conclusions
A smaller proportion of patients achieved MCID for ODI 2 years after a major perioperative complication following lumbar fusion than after a minor complication or no complications.
A General Approach for Controlling Transcription and Probing Epigenetic Mechanisms: Application to the Cd4 Locus
Authors: Wan Mimi , Kaundal Ravinder , Huang Haichang , Zhao Jiugang , Yang Xiaojun , Chaiyachati Barbara H. , Li Sicong , Chi Tian 
Published: January 2013

Abstract
Synthetic regulatory proteins such as tetracycline (tet)-controlled transcription factors are potentially useful for repression as well as ectopic activation of endogenous genes and also for probing their regulatory mechanisms, which would offer a versatile genetic tool advantageous over conventional gene targeting methods. In this study, we provide evidence supporting this concept using Cd4 as a model. CD4 is expressed in double-positive and CD4 cells but irreversibly silenced in CD8 cells. The silencing is mediated by heterochromatin established during CD8 lineage development via transient action of the Cd4 silencer; once established, the heterochromatin becomes self-perpetuating independently of the Cd4 silencer. Using a tet-sensitive Cd4 allele harboring a removable Cd4 silencer, we found that a tet-controlled repressor recapitulated the phenotype of Cd4-deficient mice, inhibited Cd4 expression in a reversible and dose-dependent manner, and could surprisingly replace the Cd4 silencer to induce irreversible Cd4 silencing in CD8 cells, thus suggesting the Cd4 silencer is not the (only) determinant of heterochromatin formation. In contrast, a tet-controlled activator reversibly disrupted Cd4 silencing in CD8 cells. The Cd4 silencer impeded this disruption but was not essential for its reversal, which revealed a continuous role of the silencer in mature CD8 cells while exposing a remarkable intrinsic self-regenerative ability of heterochromatin after forced disruption. These data demonstrate an effective approach for gene manipulation and provide insights into the epigenetic Cd4 regulatory mechanisms that are otherwise difficult to obtain.
HLA Class II Molecules Influence Susceptibility versus Protection in Inflammatory Diseases by Determining the Cytokine Profile
Authors: Mangalam Ashutosh K. , Taneja Veena , David Chella S. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThe MHC in humans encodes the most polymorphic genes, the HLA genes, which are critical for the immune system to clear infection. This can be attributed to strong selection pressure as populations moved to different parts of the world and encountered new kinds of infections, leading to new HLA class II alleles. HLA genes also have the highest relative risk for autoimmune diseases. Three haplotypes, that is, HLA-DR2DQ6, DR4DQ8, and DR3DQ2, account for HLA association with most autoimmune diseases. We hypothesize that these haplotypes, along with their multiple subtypes, have survived bottlenecks of infectious episodes in human history because of their ability to present pathogenic peptides to activate T cells that secrete cytokines to clear infections. Unfortunately, they also present self-peptides/mimics to activate autoreactive T cells secreting proinflammatory cytokines that cause autoimmune diseases.
Numerical Boundary Conditions for Specular Reflection in a Level-Sets-Based Wavefront Propagation Method
Authors: Martinelli Sheri L. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractWe study the simulation of specular reflection in a level set method implementation for wavefront propagation in high frequency acoustics using WENO spatial operators. To implement WENO efficiently and maintain convergence rate, a rectangular grid is used over the physical space. When the physical domain does not conform to the rectangular grid, appropriate boundary conditions to represent reflection must be derived to apply at grid locations that are not coincident with the reflecting boundary. A related problem is the extraction of the normal vectors to the boundary, which are required to formulate the reflection condition. A separate level set method is applied to pre-compute the boundary normals which are then stored for use in the wavefront method. Two approaches to handling the reflection boundary condition are proposed and studied: one uses an approximation to the boundary location, and the other uses a local reflection principle. The second method is shown to produce superior results.
Spectral Flow Cytometry
Authors: Nolan John P. , Condello Danilo 
Published: January 2013

AbstractInterest in measuring the complete fluorescence spectra of individual cells in flow can be traced to the earliest days of flow cytometry. Recent advances in detectors, optics, and computation have made it possible to make full spectral measurements in the sub‐millisecond time frame in which flow cytometry measurements typically occur. This opens up new possibilities for applying spectroscopy to the analysis of individual cells. This unit reviews historical and contemporary approaches to spectral flow cytometry, as well as instrument design, calibration, and data analysis for spectral flow cytometry applications. Curr. Protoc. Cytom. 63:1.27.1‐1.27.13. © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Heat Transfer Measurements for Nonboiling Two‐Phase Flow
Authors: Ghajar Afshin J. , Tang Clement C. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractTwo‐phase gas–liquid flow in a pipe is influenced by forces such as buoyancy, inertia, viscous, and surface tension, which result in various flow patterns being formed. The interaction of the two‐phase flow patterns with the inner pipe surface leads to the occurrence of nonuniform local heat transfer coefficient on the inner pipe surface. Due to the complex nature of two‐phase flow, the characterization of nonboiling gas–liquid flow heat transfer in a pipe at various inclination angles requires a functional experimental setup and proper experimental procedures. The functionality of the experimental setup and the experimental procedures to measure heat transfer systematically is discussed in this chapter. The measured heat transfer results indicate that the balance between the forces of buoyancy and inertia of two‐phase flow in a pipe, with varying inclinations, affects the local heat transfer coefficient on the inner pipe surface circumferentially. Two‐phase flow in a pipe with slight inclination angles has been observed with enhancement in heat transfer.
Corrosion Monitoring
Authors: Roberge Pierre R. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractCorrosion monitoring refers to corrosion measurements performed under industrial or practical operating conditions. This requirement has led to the evolution of corrosion monitoring tools toward real‐time data acquisition, process control tools, knowledge based systems, and smart structures. Correct and effective corrosion monitoring strategies should be used as a proactive tool to assist with operating a plant or any other system more effectively, thereby prolonging its life and gaining optimum throughput. Fundamentally, four strategies have been discussed to an organization in its dealings with corrosion. Corrosion monitoring systems vary significantly in complexity, from simple coupon exposures or handheld data loggers to fully integrated plant process surveillance units with remote data access and data management capabilities. Numerous real‐time corrosion monitoring programs in diverse branches of industry have revealed that the severity of corrosion damage is rarely uniform with time. Rather, serious corrosion damage is usually sustained in time frames where operational parameters have suffered upsets. These undesirable operational windows can only be identified with the real‐time monitoring approach. An example of a widely available technique is linear polarization resistance, which many commercial monitoring systems use to measure corrosion rates.
Thermal Conductivity of Engineering Materials
Authors: Blumm Juergen 
Published: January 2013

AbstractIn many fields of modern engineering, knowledge of the thermophysical properties is becoming more and more important. Development of state‐of‐the‐art products such as cars, computers, space craft or modern production machines would not be possible without understanding and optimization of the heat transfer within parts under thermal load. This requires understanding of the theoretical background and the material properties. Presented in this chapter is an introduction to the basic heat transfer equations. Additionally, the most important thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and specific heat are explained. Measurement methods are mentioned together with their typical application ranges. Finally some measurement examples are given in the field of polymers and ceramics.
Optical Methods for the Measurement of Thermal Conductivity
Authors: Bandaru Prabhakar R. , Aubain Max S. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractTo mitigate the issues associated with conventional methodologies for thermal conductivity measurements, such as those related to contact or thermal boundary resistance, noncontact, optical methods provide an alternate measurement technique. In this article, we briefly review the history of such optical methods and explain the principles involved in the thermoreflectance techniques as applied to silicon thin films.