bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Current State and Post-Crisis Develo Pments of EU-CIS Trade: Perspective Tools to Ensure Sustainability
Authors: Ivolga Anna , Erokhin Vasily 
Published: September 2013

Abstract
Global financial and economic recession had negatively influenced the dynamic of the international trade in 2008-2012. The post-crisis period of global market development can be described by the tendency of growing international trade flows. However, according to many experts, to ensure this tendency, the international trade policy within the frame of the WTO should be changed. The paper includes the analysis of current market of the EU-CIS trade, describes the main tendencies of its post-crisis development and major approaches and tools to ensure sustainability of such development. The analysis involved main exporting and importing countries for each analyzed product group. Sub-goals include an overview of the WTO threats and opportunities for Russian agriculture and trade with agricultural products globally, as well as comparison of main consequences of the WTO accession for the CIS countries, such as Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Moldova. This is also related to the state support of agricultural production in Russia and CIS and its influence on volumes, directions, structure and effectiveness of international trade with agricultural products.
Percutaneous pedicle screw placement with computer-navigated mapping in place of Kirschner wires
Authors: Gianaris Thomas J. , Helbig Gregory M. , Horn Eric M. 
Published: September 2013

Object
Percutaneous pedicle screw insertion techniques are commonly used to treat a variety of spinal disorders. Typically, Kirschner (K)-wires are used to guide the insertion of taps and screws during placement since the normal anatomical landmarks are not visualized. The use of K-wires adds risks, such as vascular and nerve injuries as well as increased radiation exposure given the use of fluoroscopy. The authors describe a series of patients who had percutaneous pedicle screws placed using a new computer-assisted navigation technique without the need for K-wires.

Methods
Minimally invasive percutaneous pedicle screw placement in the thoracic and lumbar spine was performed in a consecutive series of 15 patients for a variety of spinal pathologies. Intraoperative 3D CT images were obtained and used with a computer-assisted navigation system to insert an awl-tap into each pedicle. The tap location in the pedicle was marked with the navigation software, and the awl-tap was then removed. The navigation system was used to identify each landmark to insert the pedicle screw. Connecting rods were then inserted percutaneously under fluoroscopic guidance. Postoperative CT scans were obtained in each patient to evaluate screw placement.

Results
On postprocedure scanning, only 1 screw had a minor lateral and superior breach that was asymptomatic. To date, there have been no hardware failures.

Conclusions
Percutaneous pedicle screws can be placed effectively and safely without the use of K-wires.
The efficacy of lumbar discectomy and single-level fusion for spondylolisthesis: results from the NeuroPoint-SD registry
Authors: Ghogawala Zoher , Shaffrey Christopher I. , Asher Anthony L. , Heary Robert F. , Logvinenko Tanya , Malhotra Neil R. , Dante Stephen J. , Hurlbert R. John , Douglas Andrea F. , Magge Subu N. , Mummaneni Praveen V. , Cheng Joseph S. , Smith Justin S. , Kaiser Michael G. , Abbed Khalid M. , Sciubba Daniel M. , Resnick Daniel K. 
Published: September 2013

Object
There is significant practice variation and considerable uncertainty among payers and other major stakeholders as to whether many surgical treatments are effective in actual US spine practice. The aim of this study was to establish a multicenter cooperative research group and demonstrate the feasibility of developing a registry to assess the efficacy of common lumbar spinal procedures using prospectively collected patient-reported outcome measures.

Methods
An observational prospective cohort study was conducted at 13 US academic and community sites. Unselected patients undergoing lumbar discectomy or single-level fusion for spondylolisthesis were included. Patients completed the 36-item Short-Form Survey Instrument (SF-36), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and visual analog scale (VAS) questionnaires preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Power analysis estimated a sample size of 160 patients: 125 patients with lumbar disc herniation, and 35 with lumbar spondylolisthesis. All patient data were entered into a secure Internet-based data management platform.

Results
Of 249 patients screened, there were 198 enrolled over 1 year. The median age of the patients was 45.0 years (49% female) for lumbar discectomy (n = 148), and 58.0 years (58% female) for lumbar spondylolisthesis (n = 50). At 30 days, 12 complications (6.1% of study population) were identified. Ten patients (6.8%) with disc herniation and 1 (2%) with spondylolisthesis required reoperation. The overall follow-up rate for the collection of patient-reported outcome data over 1 year was 88.3%. At 30 days, both lumbar discectomy and single-level fusion procedures were associated with significant improvements in ODI, VAS, and SF-36 scores (p ≤ 0.0002), which persisted over the 1-year follow-up period (p < 0.0001). By the 1-year follow-up evaluation, more than 80% of patients in each cohort who were working preoperatively had returned to work.

Conclusions
It is feasible to build a national spine registry for the collection of high-quality prospective data to demonstrate the effectiveness of spinal procedures in actual practice. Clinical trial registration no.: 01220921 (ClinicalTrials.gov).
Nonthermal ablation with microbubble-enhanced focused ultrasound close to the optic tract without affecting nerve function
Authors: McDannold Nathan , Zhang Yong-Zhi , Power Chanikarn , Jolesz Ferenc , Vykhodtseva Natalia 
Published: September 2013

Object
Tumors at the skull base are challenging for both resection and radiosurgery given the presence of critical adjacent structures, such as cranial nerves, blood vessels, and brainstem. Magnetic resonance imaging–guided thermal ablation via laser or other methods has been evaluated as a minimally invasive alternative to these techniques in the brain. Focused ultrasound (FUS) offers a noninvasive method of thermal ablation; however, skull heating limits currently available technology to ablation at regions distant from the skull bone. Here, the authors evaluated a method that circumvents this problem by combining the FUS exposures with injected microbubble-based ultrasound contrast agent. These microbubbles concentrate the ultrasound-induced effects on the vasculature, enabling an ablation method that does not cause significant heating of the brain or skull.

Methods
In 29 rats, a 525-kHz FUS transducer was used to ablate tissue structures at the skull base that were centered on or adjacent to the optic tract or chiasm. Low-intensity, low-duty-cycle ultrasound exposures (sonications) were applied for 5 minutes after intravenous injection of an ultrasound contrast agent (Definity, Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc.). Using histological analysis and visual evoked potential (VEP) measurements, the authors determined whether structural or functional damage was induced in the optic tract or chiasm.

Results
Overall, while the sonications produced a well-defined lesion in the gray matter targets, the adjacent tract and chiasm had comparatively little or no damage. No significant changes (p > 0.05) were found in the magnitude or latency of the VEP recordings, either immediately after sonication or at later times up to 4 weeks after sonication, and no delayed effects were evident in the histological features of the optic nerve and retina.

Conclusions
This technique, which selectively targets the intravascular microbubbles, appears to be a promising method of noninvasively producing sharply demarcated lesions in deep brain structures while preserving function in adjacent nerves. Because of low vascularity—and thus a low microbubble concentration—some large white matter tracts appear to have some natural resistance to this type of ablation compared with gray matter. While future work is needed to develop methods of monitoring the procedure and establishing its safety at deep brain targets, the technique does appear to be a potential solution that allows FUS ablation of deep brain targets while sparing adjacent nerve structures.
Assessment of intracranial dynamics in hydrocephalus: effects of viscoelasticity on the outcome of infusion tests
Authors: Bottan Simone , Schmid Daners Marianne , de Zelicourt Diane , Fellner Norina , Poulikakos Dimos , Kurtcuoglu Vartan 
Published: September 2013

Object
The treatment of hydrocephalus requires insight into the intracranial dynamics in the patient. Resistance to CSF outflow (R0) is a clinically obtainable parameter of intracranial fluid dynamics that quantifies the apparent resistance to CSF absorption. It is used as a criterion for the selection of shunt candidates and serves as an indicator of shunt performance. The R0 is obtained clinically by performing 1 of 3 infusion tests: constant flow, constant pressure, or bolus infusion. Among these, the bolus infusion method has the shortest examination times and provides the shortest time of exposure of patients to artificially increased intracranial pressure (ICP) levels. However, for unknown reasons, the bolus infusion method systematically underestimates the R0. Here, the authors have tested and verified the hypothesis that this underestimation is due to lack of accounting for viscoelasticity of the craniospinal space in the calculation of the R0.

Methods
The authors developed a phantom model of the human craniospinal space in order to reproduce in vivo pressure-volume (PV) relationships during infusion testing. The phantom model followed the Marmarou exponential PV equation and also included a viscoelastic response to volume changes. Parameters of intracranial fluid dynamics, such as the R0, could be controlled and set independently. In addition to the phantom model, the authors designed a computational framework for virtual infusion testing in which viscoelasticity can be turned on or off in a controlled manner.
Constant flow, constant pressure, and bolus infusion tests were performed on the phantom model, as well as on the virtual computational platform, using standard clinical protocols. Values for the R0 were derived from each infusion test by using both a standard method based on the Marmarou PV equation and a novel method based on a system identification approach that takes into account viscoelastic behavior.

Results
Experiments with the phantom model confirmed clinical observations that both the constant flow and constant pressure infusion tests, but not the bolus infusion test, yield correct R0 values when they are determined with the standard method according to Marmarou. Equivalent results were obtained using the computational framework. When the novel system identification approach was used to determine the R0, all of the 3 infusion tests yielded correct values for the R0.

Conclusions
The authors' investigations demonstrate that intracranial dynamics have a substantial viscoelastic component. When this viscoelastic component is taken into account in calculations, the R0, is no longer underestimated in the bolus infusion test.
Minimally invasive technique for insertion of ventriculopleural shunt catheters
Authors: Richardson Marlin Dustin , Handler Michael H. 
Published: September 2013

Object
Cerebrospinal fluid diversion to the pleural space has employed various methods to insert the distal catheter into the pleural space. The authors report on a minimally invasive method of pleural catheter insertion that they have developed and have used safely in a small series of patients.

Methods
Pleural shunt catheters were inserted using a split trochar into the pleural space (technique described in further detail in the article). All cases over the previous 10 years in which this technique was employed were reviewed from the existing electronic medical records. Patient age at insertion, sex, reason for hydrocephalus, early and late complications, valve type, and follow-up were recorded.

Results
Fourteen shunt procedures performed in 10 patients were identified. Two small pneumothoraces were detected on routine postoperative imaging and required no intervention. There were 3 late mechanical complications, including migration of a catheter out of the pleural space, catheter fracture at the insertion point, and the need for a longer catheter due to the patient's growth.

Conclusions
The authors describe a safe, minimally invasive method for insertion of pleural shunt catheters along with a series of patients who have undergone placement of a pleural shunt catheter using this method without complication directly attributable to the use of this technique.
Etiology associated with developing posthemispherectomy hydrocephalus after resection-disconnection procedures
Authors: Phung Jennifer , Krogstad Paul , Mathern Gary W. 
Published: September 2013

Object
The authors sought to determine if clinical epilepsy variables, maximum daily temperature (Tmax), and blood and CSF findings were associated with the risk of developing hydrocephalus after first-time resection-disconnection hemispherectomy.

Methods
Patients who underwent cerebral hemispherectomy in whom a standardized perioperative protocol was used, including the use of ventriculostomies (n = 79), were classified into those who developed and those who did not develop hydrocephalus requiring CSF shunts. The authors compared these 2 groups for clinical variables, Tmax, and blood and CSF studies through postoperative Day 12.

Results
In this cohort, 30% of the patients required CSF shunts, of which 8% developed late hydrocephalus up to 3 years posthemispherectomy. Multivariate analysis found that etiology was associated with developing posthemispherectomy hydrocephalus. Higher shunt rates were observed for patients with hemimegalencephaly (40%; n = 15) and a history of CNS infection (100%; n = 4) compared with cortical dysplasia (17%; n = 23) and Rasmussen encephalitis (17%; n = 12). In univariate analysis, other factors associated with developing hydrocephalus were elevated maximum daily temperatures, elevated white blood cell counts, decreased CSF protein, and increased CSF red blood cell counts.

Conclusions
The findings of the study indicate that etiology was the factor most strongly associated with developing posthemispherectomy hydrocephalus. These findings suggest that there are variable mechanisms for developing hydrocephalus after cerebral hemispherectomy depending on the procedure, and in resection-disconnection operations the mechanism may involve changes in CSF bulk flow that varies by histopathology.
Erfolg der Jungwaldpflege im Schweizer Mittelland? Analyse und Folgerungen (Essay)
Authors: Ammann Peter 
Published: September 2013

Is young growth tending successful in the Swiss Plateau region? Analysis and implications (essay)
The effect of the cost-intensive young growth tending used up to the present in the region of the Swiss Plateau is analysed using different approaches. It is evident that young growth tending is not only ineffective with respect to diameter growth but even hinders stand development. Negative effects on quality from young growth tending are also recognised. This is often due to premature interventions in the natural processes of self-differentiation and subsequent systematic errors in the thinning. Furthermore, the effect of tending measures on the tree species composition is often overestimated because in the first 10 to 20 years of stand development, it is primarily the rejuvenation strategy and the site which are decisive. As an alternative course of action, tending concepts are proposed which rely on biological rationalisation and future tree thinning, to achieve future trees which are as vigorous as possible. These are not only more effective, but are also significantly less expensive.
Analyse der Motive österreichischer Kleinwaldeigentümer als Schlüssel für die Holzmobilisierung
Authors: Huber Wolfgang , Schwarzbauer Peter , Stern Tobias 
Published: September 2013

Analysis of Austrian small forest owners′ motivation as a key to wood mobilisation
The largest potential to mobilise unused wood reserves in Austria is from small private forest owners (holdings under 200 ha). Small forest owners who participate in wood markets have shown high supply elasticity with respect to the sawlog price. Due to the ongoing structural change in agriculture the share of owners whose forest management is economically motivated is expected to fall. However, many of the small forest owners are very concerned to look after their forest well, although the understanding of what constitutes a clean and healthy forest can differ widely. Their objectives and motives were investigated by qualitative social research methods. Among respondents that did not have any forest related education or background the phenomenon known as “forest gardening” was observed. These people looked at and managed their forest with objectives and motives usually associated with private gardens. Overall, five different action patterns related to forest management were distinguished. Understanding the goals and motivation of small forest owners gives insight into the potential effectiveness of different wood mobilisation measures. Especially among inexperienced small forest owners, the offer of information, motivation and service is welcome. “Dialogue marketing” is an appropriate communication tool. New information channels, such as Facebook, should be used more to motivate small forest owners to manage their forests sustainably and produce more wood.
An Observation Tool for Studying Patient-oriented Workflow in Hospital Emergency Departments
Authors: Brennan P. , Ozkaynak M. 
Published: September 2013

SummaryBackground: Studying workflow is a critical step in designing, implementing and evalu -ating informatics interventions in complex sociotechnical settings, such as hospital emergency departments (EDs). Known approaches to studying workflow in clinical settings attend to the activities of individual clinicians, thus being inadequate to characterize patient care as a cooperative work.Objectives: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we introduce a novel, theory-driven patient-oriented workflow method -ology, which better addresses the complex, multiple-provider nature of patient care.Second, we report the development of an observational tool and protocol for use in studies of this type, and the results of an evaluation study.Methods: We created a tablet computer implementation of an instrument to efficiently capture patient-oriented workflow, and evaluated it through a field study in three EDs. We focused on activities occurring over time during a single patient care episode as well as the roles of the ED staff members who conducted the activities.Results: The evidence generated supports the validity, viability, and reliability of the tool. The coverage of the tool in terms of ac -tivities and roles was satisfactory. The tool was able to capture the sequence of activity-role pairs for 108 patient care episodes. The inter-rater reliability assessment yielded a high kappa value (0.79).Discussion: The patient-oriented workflow methodology has the potential to facilitate modeling patient care in EDs by character -izing both roles and activities in sequence. The methodology also provides researchers and practitioners a more realistic and comprehensive workflow perspective that can inform the design, implementation and evaluation of health information technology interventions.
Complications of lateral plate fixation compared with tension band wiring and pin or lag screw fixation for calcaneoquartal arthrodesis
Authors: Knudsen C. S. , Gosling M. , McKee M. , Whitelock R. G. , Arthurs G. I. , Ness M. G. , Radke H. , Langley-Hobbs S. J. , Barnes D. C. 
Published: September 2013

SummaryObjective: To compare complication rates and the outcomes of these complications after lateral plate fixation with figure-ofeight tension-band-wire and pin or lag screw fixation for arthrodesis of the calcaneoquartal joint, following non-traumatic disruption of the plantar tarsal ligament in dogs.Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from five UK referral centres. Diplomate specialists and their residents performed all procedures. Referring veterinarians were contacted for long-term follow-up.Results: Seventy-four procedures were undertaken in 61 dogs. There were 58 arthrodeses in the lateral plate group (Plate), nine in the pin and tension-band-wire group (Pin), and seven in the lag screw and tension-band wire-group (Screw). Compared to Plate (17%), further surgical intervention was required more frequently following Pin (56%, OR = 3.2) or Screw (43%, OR = 2.5) fixation. Clinical failure of arthrodesis occurred less frequently with Plate (5%) compared with Screw (43%, OR = 8.6) and Pin fixation (22%, OR = 4.4). Cases managed with external coaptation postoperatively were more likely to suffer from postoperative complications (OR = 2.2).Clinical significance: Lateral plating was associated with fewer postoperative complications than pin and tension-band-wire fixation for arthrodesis of the calcaneoquartal joint in dogs with non-traumatic disruption of the plantar tarsal ligament.
Hemilaminectomy and vertebral stabilization for thoracolumbar intervertebral disc associated dynamic compression in 11 dogs
Authors: Shibata M. , Sadahiro S. , Aikawa T. 
Published: September 2013

SummaryObjective: To describe the diagnostic findings, surgical technique and outcome in dogs with thoracolumbar intervertebral disc-associated dynamic compression.Study design: Retrospective case series.Animals: Client owned dogs (n = 11).Methods: Medical records (2005–2010) of dogs with a stress myelographic diagnosis of spinal cord injury due to thoracolumbar intervertebral disc-associated dynamic compression with inconclusive compression in the neutral myelographic views that had hemilaminectomy and vertebral stabilization were reviewed. Data on pre- and postoperative neurologic status, diagnostic findings, surgical techniques and outcomes were retrieved. Follow-up clinical and radiographic evaluations were performed immediately, and at approximately one, two, and six months postoperatively as well as at annual followup examinations.Results: The stress myelography demonstrated distinct ventral dynamic compression due to bulging of the disc and additional dorsal compression due to infolding of the ligamentum flavum in some cases. The median percentage of post-stress reduction in spinal cord height on the lateral view was 18.0% (9.8-27.2%). All dogs recovered after surgery and at follow-up examinations were still ambulatory (median: 45 months, range: 7 to 94 months).Conclusions and clinical relevance: Thoracolumbar intervertebral disc degeneration may result in disc-associated dynamic compression. Stress myelography was an effective means of diagnosing this condition and hemilaminectomy with vertebral stabilization was an effective treatment resulting in longterm neurological improvement in all dogs.