bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and safety of initial combination therapy with alogliptin plus metformin versus either as monotherapy in drug‐naïve patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized, double‐blind, 6‐month study
Authors: Pratley R. E. , Fleck P. , Wilson C. 
Published: January 2014

AimTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of the dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor alogliptin plus metformin (A + M) initial combination therapy versus either as monotherapy in drug‐naïve T2DM patients.MethodsThis international, randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, 26‐week study involved T2DM patients with hyperglycaemia (HbA1c 7.5–10.0%) following diet/exercise therapy. Patients (N = 784) received placebo, alogliptin (A, 12.5 mg BID or 25 mg QD), metformin (M, 500 or 1000 mg BID) or A + M (12.5/500 or 12.5/1000 mg BID); placebo, A25 for secondary analyses only. Endpoints: week 26 changes from baseline in HbA1c (primary), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and 2‐h postprandial glucose (PPG); incidences of clinical response and hyperglycaemic rescue.ResultsWeek 26 mean HbA1c reductions from baseline (8.45%) were −1.22 and −1.55% with A + M 12.5/500 and 12.5/1000 versus −0.56, −0.65, and −1.11% with A12.5, M500 and M1000 (p<0.001, A + M vs. component monotherapies). FPG reductions were −1.76 and −2.55 mmol/L with 12.5/500 and 12.5/1000 versus −0.54, −0.64 and −1.78 mmol/L with A12.5, M500 and M1000 (p < 0.05, A + M vs. component monotherapies). Significantly more A + M‐treated patients achieved HbA1c < 7% (47.1–59.5% vs. 20.2–34.3% with monotherapy), significantly fewer required hyperglycaemic rescue (2.6–12.3% vs. 10.8–22.9% with monotherapy). A + M caused only mild/moderate hypoglycaemia (1.9–5.3%) and weight loss (0.6–1.2 kg).ConclusionsAlogliptin plus metformin initial combination therapy was well tolerated yet more efficacious in controlling glycaemia in drug‐naïve T2DM patients than either as monotherapy.
Effect of SGLT2 inhibitors in a murine model of urinary tract infection with Candida albicans
Authors: Suzuki M. , Hiramatsu M. , Fukazawa M. , Matsumoto M. , Honda K. , Suzuki Y. , Kawabe Y. 
Published: January 2014

AimsUrinary tract infection (UTI) is a common clinical problem in diabetic patients; however, the relationship between UTI and glucosuria remains uncertain. To investigate the relationship, we examined the effect of glucosuria induced by sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors on the progression of UTI in mice.MethodsFrom 1 day before transurethral inoculation with Candida albicans, female mice were treated orally once a day with an SGLT2 inhibitor in different treatment regimens: (i) dapagliflozin at 10 mg/kg for 2, 3 or 7 days, (ii) dapagliflozin at 0.1, 1 or 10 mg/kg for 3 days and (iii) dapagliflozin, canagliflozin or tofogliflozin at 10 mg/kg for 3 days. To evaluate the ascending UTI, the kidneys were removed 6 days after the inoculation, and the number of viable C. albicans cells in kidney was measured as colony‐forming units (CFU).ResultsIn mice treated with dapagliflozin, the number of C. albicans CFU in kidney increased in accordance with both treatment duration and dose. The number of CFU significantly increased when mice were treated with 10 mg/kg dapagliflozin or canagliflozin but not tofogliflozin. With dapagliflozin and canagliflozin, urine glucose concentration (UGC) significantly increased up to 24 h after drug administration; with tofogliflozin, UGC significantly increased only up to 12 h after drug administration.ConclusionsOur data indicate that increased susceptibility to UTI is associated with a persistent increase in UGC.
Remaining fatigue life estimation of corroded bridge members
Authors: Adasooriya N. D. , Siriwardane S. C. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a method to estimate remaining fatigue lives of railway bridge members subjected to time‐dependent corrosion. The method addresses effects of material loss due to general (uniform) corrosion and fatigue strength degradation of material due to corrosive environment. The method mainly consists of stress history, which is obtained by considering the effect of time‐dependent loss of material, full‐range S–N curve, which represents the corrosive environment, and sequential law, which takes the loading sequence effect more precisely in to account than Miner's rule. Initially, nonlinear behaviour of material loss over time (i.e. time‐dependent growth of corrosion wastage) is discussed, and hence, necessary formulae to calculate time‐dependent cross‐sectional properties are comprehensively presented. Then finite element analysis‐based procedure is clearly proposed to predict stress histories of corroded members. A technique is introduced to obtain the full‐range S–N curve for the corroded structural detail. The concept of sequential law is summarized with the algorithm, and then the proposed method is applied to predict the remaining fatigue lives of the corroded members of a railway bridge. The predicted remaining lives were compared with the previous method‐based estimations, and comparisons reveal the range of 16–47% reduction of fatigue lives of critical members when time‐dependent corrosion is taken into account. Also, the results reveal that the corroded members of smaller cross‐sectional area are most vulnerable for fatigue damage. Finally, significance of the proposed method is confirmed.
Beyond equivalence of care in prison pharmacy
Authors: Choudhry Khurshid , Evans Nicola 
Published: January 2014

Abstract
Prison healthcare has undergone a significant transformation over recent times. The main aim of these changes was to ensure prisoners received the same level of care as patients in the community. Prisons are a unique environment to provide healthcare within. Both the environment and the patient group provide a challenge to healthcare delivery. One of the biggest challenges currently being faced by healthcare providers is the misuse and abuse of prescription medication. It seems that the changes that have been made in prison healthcare, to ensure that prisoners receive the same level of care as patients in the community over recent times, have led to an increase in this problem. Prison pharmacy is ideally placed to help reduce the misuse and abuse of prescription medication. This can be achieved by using the skills and knowledge of the pharmacy department to ensure appropriate prescribing of medication liable to misuse and abuse.
Making an effort to feel positive: insecure attachment in infancy predicts the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation in adulthood
Authors: Moutsiana Christina , Fearon Pasco , Murray Lynne , Cooper Peter , Goodyer Ian , Johnstone Tom , Halligan Sarah 
Published: January 2014

BackgroundAnimal research indicates that the neural substrates of emotion regulation may be persistently altered by early environmental exposures. If similar processes operate in human development then this is significant, as the capacity to regulate emotional states is fundamental to human adaptation.MethodsWe utilised a 22‐year longitudinal study to examine the influence of early infant attachment to the mother, a key marker of early experience, on neural regulation of emotional states in young adults. Infant attachment status was measured via objective assessment at 18‐months, and the neural underpinnings of the active regulation of affect were studied using fMRI at age 22 years.ResultsInfant attachment status at 18‐months predicted neural responding during the regulation of positive affect 20‐years later. Specifically, while attempting to up‐regulate positive emotions, adults who had been insecurely versus securely attached as infants showed greater activation in prefrontal regions involved in cognitive control and reduced co‐activation of nucleus accumbens with prefrontal cortex, consistent with relative inefficiency in the neural regulation of positive affect.ConclusionsDisturbances in the mother–infant relationship may persistently alter the neural circuitry of emotion regulation, with potential implications for adjustment in adulthood.
Dress syndrome induced by levetiracetam
Authors: Eleni K. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractBackgroundThe tremendous increase in the use of drugs has considerably increased their side effects.ObjectivesThe aim of this work is to demonstrate Dress syndrome induced by levetiracetam an anti‐epileptic drug.MethodsWe describe a skin eruption observed in an‐hospitalized in an intensive care unit patient who received levetiracetam.ResultsAccording to morphology of the rash and the laboratory findings the rash fulfills the criteria for Dress syndrome.ConclusionLevetiracetam may induce Dress syndrome.
Thirty Years of Shareholder Rights and Firm Value
Authors: CREMERS MARTIJN , FERRELL ALLEN 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTThis paper introduces a new hand‐collected data set that tracks restrictions on shareholder rights at approximately 1,000 firms from 1978 to 1989. In conjunction with the 1990 to 2006 IRRC data, we track shareholder rights over 30 years. Most governance changes occurred during the 1980s. We find a robustly negative association between restrictions on shareholder rights (using G‐Index as a proxy) and Tobin's Q. The negative association only appears after judicial approval of antitakeover defenses in the 1985 landmark Delaware Supreme Court decision of Moran v. Household. This decision was an unanticipated exogenous shock that increased the importance of shareholder rights.
The Cross‐Section of Managerial Ability, Incentives, and Risk Preferences
Authors: KOIJEN RALPH S.J. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTI estimate a dynamic investment model for mutual managers to study the cross‐sectional distribution of ability, incentives, and risk preferences. The manager's compensation depends on the size of the fund, which fluctuates due to fund returns and due to fund flows that respond to the fund's relative performance. The model provides an economic interpretation of time‐varying coefficients in performance regressions in terms of the structural parameters. I document that the estimates of fund alphas are precise and virtually unbiased. I find substantial heterogeneity in ability, risk preferences, and pay‐for‐performance sensitivities that relates to observable fund characteristics.
Influence of spherical aberration, stimulus spatial frequency, and pupil apodisation on subjective refractions
Authors: Bradley Arthur , Xu Renfeng , Thibos Larry , Marin Gildas , Hernandez Martha 
Published: January 2014

AbstractPurposeTo test competing hypotheses (Stiles Crawford pupil apodising or superior imaging of high spatial frequencies by the central pupil) for the pupil size independence of subjective refractions in the presence of primary spherical aberration.MethodsSubjective refractions were obtained with a variety of test stimuli (high contrast letters, urban cityscape, high and low spatial frequency gratings) while modulating pupil diameter, levels of primary spherical aberration and pupil apodisation. Subjective refractions were also obtained with low‐pass and high‐pass stimuli and using ‘darker’ and ‘sharper’ subjective criteria.ResultsSubjective refractions for stimuli containing high spatial frequencies focus a near paraxial region of the pupil and are affected only slightly by level of Seidel spherical aberration, degree of pupil apodisation and pupil diameter, and generally focused a radius of about 1–1.5 mm from the pupil centre. Low spatial frequency refractions focus a marginal region of the pupil, and are significantly affected by level of spherical aberration, amount of pupil apodisation, and pupil size. Clinical refractions that employ the ‘darker’ or ‘sharper’ subjective criteria bias the patient to use lower or higher spatial frequencies, respectively.ConclusionsIn the presence of significant levels of spherical aberration, the pupil size independence of subjective refractions occurs with or without Stiles Crawford apodisation for refractions that optimise high spatial frequency content in the image. If low spatial frequencies are optimised by a subjective refraction, spherical refractive error varies with spherical aberration, pupil size, and level of apodisation. As light levels drop from photopic to scotopic, therefore, we expect a shift from pupil size independent to pupil size dependent subjective refractions. Emphasising a ‘sharper’ criterion during subjective refractions will improve image quality for high spatial frequencies and generate pupil size independent refractions.
The Potentials of Portland Cement and Bitumen Emulsion Mixture on Soil Stabilization in Road Base Construction
Authors: Baghini Mojtaba Shojaei , Ismail Amiruddin , Kheradmand Behnam , Hafezi Mohamad Hesam , Almansob Ramez Alezzi 
Published: January 2014

Recycled road based material requires aÂ stabilizing effect in order to provide a longer life to pavements. This is done by improving its strength and reduces its water vulnerability. One of the most popular techniques to achieve this is by using soil stabilization. This research aims to analyze in details the soil stabilization method which utilizes Portland cement and bitumen emulsion in improving soil properties. As a result, this will increase the pavement bearing capacity (conducted via laboratory research). The combination of Portland cement and bitumen emulsion are beneficial for the purpose of increasing the stiffness and also the elasticity of soil stabilized layer. In order to examine this, two steps were undertaken, first, by examining the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) and Modulus of Elasticity (ME) on samples mixed with soil aggregates comprising Portland cement and bitumen emulsion. Next, the data collated was analysed and the graph plots were presented as to show the optimum value of Portland cement and bitumen emulsion used in soil stabilization. The major findings of this research showed the importance of soil stabilization using Portland cement and bitumen in improving pavementâ€™s performances by increasing bearing capacity of its layer. The findings revealed that overall; the optimum value of Portland cement and bitumen emulsion utilized in base Soil stabilization method is 3% and 3% respectively. With this method, the duration time of the project can be reduced and subsequently the project cost may be also reduced.
Comparative Study on Effect of PEG and PVP as Additives on Polysulfone (PSF) Membrane Structure and Performance
Authors: Aminudin Nurul Nabilah , Basri Hatijah , Harun Zawati , Yunos Muhamad Zaini , Sean Goh Pei 
Published: January 2014

PSf flat sheet membrane was prepared via phase inversion technique with N-methyl-2-pyrroidone (NMP) as solvent. In this study polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyvinylpyrollidone (PVP) were compared as additives at different composition (0.5 wt%, 1 wt%, 3 wt% and 5 wt%). The structure and morphology of the resulting membranes were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the membranes permeation were evaluated in terms of pure water flux (PWF) and solute rejection. Solution of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used to study the performance of prepared membrane. The addition of the additives into the casting solution changed the structure of the resultant membranes, which was believed to be associated with the change the permeated of water. The results demonstrated that at the same additive content, PSf/PVP membranes had higher PWF at 0.5 wt% and and 5 wt% of additive while PSf/PEG at 1 wt% and 3 wt% of additive. The BSA rejection show no significant changes for PSf/PEG while PSf/PVP, BSA rejection decrease with increase the increasing the PVP. For PEG, additive from 0% to 5%, the PWF increased from 14.73 at to 101.85 LMH. While for PVP, the PWF increased from 21.13 to 177.61 LMH. The membrane morphology showed that all images showed the membranes were having asymmetric structure consisting of a dense top layer, a porous sublayer, and a small portion of sponge-like bottom layer. The top layer of the membrane consist of finger-like structure while at bottom layer has macrovoid structure. With increasing the additive, the finger-like structure become longer to the bottom and macrovoid become smaller. The study found that PEG gives the optimum performance based on the result of rejection and flux permeation.
Effect of Zinc Oxide on Performance of Ultrafiltration Membrane for Humic Acid Separation
Authors: Yunos Muhamad Zaini , Harun Zawati , Basri Hatijah , Shohur Mohd Fikri , Jamalludin Mohd Riduan , Hassan Sulaiman 
Published: January 2014

The effects of different zinc oxide concentration on morphology, contact angle, surface roughness and rejection towards humic acid in polysulfone membrane were investigated. Flatsheet ultrafiltration membrane were prepared by using polysulfone as based polymer, polyethylene glycol as pore forming agent, zinc oxide as manipulated additive and TAP as compatibilizer. In this study, N, methyl-2-pyrrolidone were used as solvent and water as non solvent. The membrane were prepared via phase inversion method. Results showed that pure water flux was enhanced by the presence of zinc oxide up to 1 wt% and tend to decrease beyond this concentration. The increased pure water flux was attributed to the increase in hydrophilicity and surface roughness of membrane according to contact angle and AFM measurement. The rejection test with humic acid as solute revealed that by increasing zinc oxide concentration, rejection increases up to 98% at 2 wt% of zinc oxide. Therefore polysulfone/zinc oxide in this study can provide potential application for river water treatment which consist high humic acid concentration.
The Language Identities of Malaysians as Portrayed in Upin and Ipin
Authors: Mohd Nadzri Nur Salawati , Hassan Hanita 
Published: January 2014

Malaysian government has proposed the 1Malaysia concept as a means of maintaining the harmonious status in a multiracial country. Â Several efforts were done in realising the concept through media and one of it is through television animation series. The Upin and Ipin animation series is known to have successfully promoted Malaysian cultures and gained popularity for its vast moral contents, portraying Islamic values and educating Malaysians on the importance of harmonious relationships among people from different ethnic groups and religious backgrounds. This paper aims to discuss the language identities of Malaysians as portrayed in the animation series, of which the focus is on the linguistic elements. In this study, we conducted textual analysis, by which the language identities of the characters were analysed. Our data were 11 parts of the Upin and Ipin animation series that portrayed people from different ethnic groups interacting with each other. The findings show that the characters in the animation use different particles in representing their ethnicity. Besides that, a typical Malaysian speech pattern of the particle lah is found to be widely used by all Malaysians, regardless of their ethnic group. The first language interference, code switching and the act of accommodating a Chinese speech style are also discussed in light of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT).
Official blame for drivers with very low blood alcohol content: there is no safe combination of drinking and driving
Authors: Phillips David P , Sousa Ana Luiza R , Moshfegh Rebecca T 
Published: January 2014

BackgroundSome laboratory studies find that driving is impaired even at blood alcohol content (BAC)=0.01%. However, no real-world traffic studies have investigated whether minimally ‘buzzed’ drivers (BAC=0.01%) are more likely to be blamed for a crash than are the sober drivers they collide with.PurposeTo determine whether official blame for a crash increases significantly at BAC=0.01%.MethodsWe examined the relationship between the driver’s BAC and the degree to which he or she was assigned sole official blame (SOB) for the crash. We analysed an official, exhaustive, nationwide US database (Fatality Analysis Reporting System; n=570 731), covering 1994–2011.ResultsEven minimally ‘buzzed’ drivers are 46% (24–72%) more likely to be officially blamed for a crash than are the sober drivers they collide with (χ2=20.45; p=0.000006). There is no threshold effect—no sudden transition from blameless to blamed drivers at BAC=0.08% (the US legal limit). Instead, SOB increases smoothly and strongly with BAC (r=0.98 (0.96–0.99) for male drivers, p<0.000001; r=0.99 (0.97–0.99) for female drivers, p<0.000001). This near-linear SOB-to-BAC relationship begins at BAC=0.01% and ends around BAC=0.24%. Our findings persist after controlling for many confounding variables.ConclusionsThere appears to be no safe combination of drinking and driving—even minimally ‘buzzed’ drivers pose increased risk to themselves and to others. Concerns about drunk driving should also be extended to ‘buzzed’ driving. US legislators should reduce the legal BAC limit, perhaps to 0.05%, as in most European countries. Lowering the legal BAC limit is likely to reduce injuries and save lives.
Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare
Authors: Weller Jennifer , Boyd Matt , Cumin David 
Published: January 2014

Abstract
Modern healthcare is delivered by multidisciplinary, distributed healthcare teams who rely on effective teamwork and communication to ensure effective and safe patient care. However, we know that there is an unacceptable rate of unintended patient harm, and much of this is attributed to failures in communication between health professionals. The extensive literature on teams has identified shared mental models, mutual respect and trust and closed-loop communication as the underpinning conditions required for effective teams. However, a number of challenges exist in the healthcare environment. We explore these in a framework of educational, psychological and organisational challenges to the development of effective healthcare teams. Educational interventions can promote a better understanding of the principles of teamwork, help staff understand each other’s roles and perspectives, and help develop specific communication strategies, but may not be sufficient on their own. Psychological barriers, such as professional silos and hierarchies, and organisational barriers such as geographically distributed teams, can increase the chance of communication failures with the potential for patient harm. We propose a seven-step plan to overcome the barriers to effective team communication that incorporates education, psychological and organisational strategies. Recent evidence suggests that improvement in teamwork in healthcare can lead to significant gains in patient safety, measured against efficiency of care, complication rate and mortality. Interventions to improve teamwork in healthcare may be the next major advance in patient outcomes.