bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Microbiological profile and biofilm formation on removed intrauterine contraceptive devices from a sample of Egyptian women
Authors: Abdel‐Hafeez Mohamed , El‐Mehallaway Nabegh , Khalil Ibrahim , Abdallah Fatma , Elnaggar Ahmed 
Published: June 2014

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to investigate the presence of biofilm formation around intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUCD) and to correlate the microbiological profile of the IUCD‐associated genital infections to the microbiological profile of specimens retrieved from vaginal discharge.Material and MethodsSamples of the vaginal discharge in the posterior fornix were collected from 50 women attending the Family Planning Clinic in Ain Shams University Hospital using two high vaginal swabs. Swabs were immediately sent for Gram staining as well as microbiological culture. The IUCD was then removed. A 0.5‐cm piece of the removed IUCD was cut and sent for culture. Growing colonies were tested for their abilities to form a biofilm (colorimetric method). Another 0.5‐cm piece of the removed IUCD was examined by electron microscopy (EM) for detection of biofilm formation.ResultsAmong the included 50 women, 24 (48%) women showed biofilm formation (via colorimetric methods). EM scanning was able to detect biofilm formation in the prepared pieces of the removed IUCD of 48 (96%) women. There was no significant agreement between the isolated microorganisms on the removed IUCD and the vaginal swab (proportion of agreement was 14 [11.4%]; κ = −0.089, P = 0.892).ConclusionScanning EM is a useful tool in detection of biofilm formation on removed IUCD.
Successful medical treatment of cesarean scar ectopic pregnancies with systemic multidose methotrexate: Single‐center experience
Authors: Kutuk Mehmet Serdar , Uysal Gulsum , Dolanbay Mehmet , Ozgun Mahmut Tuncay 
Published: June 2014

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy, and the safety of systemic multidose methotrexate (MTX) for the treatment of cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP).Material and MethodsThis retrospective cohort study was performed using records from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Erciyes University, between 2010 and 2012. The data were analyzed with respect to obstetric characteristic, course of treatment, clinical, and reproductive outcomes.ResultsA total of 13 patients were evaluated. The median gestational age at diagnosis was 5 weeks 5 days (range: 4–9 weeks). The mean beta human chorionic gonadotrophin level was 11 240.31 ± 9812.68 IU/L (range: 2565–36 111 IU/L). All patients were successfully treated with systemic multidose MTX therapy. The average MTX dose was 5.7 (range: 2–9). The interval between the first MTX injection and the normalization of beta human chorionic gonadotrophin was 8 ± 2.27 weeks (range: 4–12 weeks). One patient showed mild leucopenia that reversed after the treatment. Three patients had successful uncomplicated intrauterine pregnancy after the treatment, which resulted in term infants.ConclusionSystemic multidose MTX therapy is an effective and safe treatment method for CSP. However, further studies are needed to compare the safety, effectiveness and reproductive outcome of different treatment modalities in CSP.
Usefulness of SWI for the Detection of Iron in the Motor Cortex in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Authors: Adachi Yuko , Sato Noriko , Saito Yuko , Kimura Yukio , Nakata Yasuhiro , Ito Kimiteru , Kamiya Kouhei , Matsuda Hiroshi , Tsukamoto Tadashi , Ogawa Masahumi 
Published: June 2014

ABSTRACTPURPOSEThe purpose of the present retrospective study was to evaluate the sensitivity of susceptibility‐weighted imaging (SWI) compared to conventional spin‐echo T2‐weighted and T2*‐weighted images in detecting iron deposition in the motor cortex of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in comparison with age‐matched normal controls. We also investigated the etiology of the low signal referring to the pathology of one autopsy case.METHODSThis retrospective magnetic resonance (MR) study included 23 ALS patients and 28 age‐matched normal controls. The signal intensity of the motor cortex was scored by SWI, conventional T2‐weighted images and T2*‐weighted images. A postmortem study of one patient was also performed.RESULTSOn SWI, there was a significant difference between the precentral cortical signal intensity scores in the ALS patients and the controls (P < .0001). The total scores of signal intensities of the precentral cortex were positively correlated with age in the normal controls (r = .494), but no correlation was observed in the ALS patients. The postmortem study showed intensely stained microglias and macrophages after antiferritin antibody staining in the precentral cortices.CONCLUSIONSDecreased signal intensity of the motor cortex on SWI may serve a useful role in ALS diagnoses, particularly in young patients. MR images were also helpful for speculating on the etiology of ALS.
Examining the Association Between Bullying and Adolescent Concerns About Teen Dating Violence
Authors: Debnam Katrina J. , Johnson Sarah L. , Bradshaw Catherine P. 
Published: June 2014

ABSTRACTBACKGROUNDThe school environment is an important context for understanding risk factors for teen dating violence. This study seeks to add to the growing literature base linking adolescent experiences with bullying and involvement with teen dating violence.METHODSData were collected from 27,074 adolescents at 58 high schools via a Web‐based survey.RESULTSThree‐level hierarchical linear models indicated that adolescents who had been bullied were more concerned about both physical and emotional dating violence among students at their school. Schools that were perceived by students as safer were rated as having lower levels of teen dating violence. Older students and male students consistently reported greater concerns about dating violence.CONCLUSIONSThese results suggest that adolescents who experience bullying may also have concerns about violence in teen dating relationships. Findings also indicate that schools perceived as being unsafe may be an important context for targeting dating violence prevention efforts.
The Antecedents and Consequences of Affordable Value Innovations for Emerging Markets
Authors: Ernst Holger , Kahle Hanna Nari , Dubiel Anna , Prabhu Jaideep , Subramaniam Mohan 
Published: June 2014

Emerging markets offer tremendous growth opportunities for firms. While established multinational firms typically focus on premium segments in emerging markets, they often fail to leverage additional growth opportunities in so‐called good enough or low‐income segments in emerging markets. Customers in these low‐income markets have substantially different requirements and are very price sensitive. Theoretical and case‐based research suggests that innovating for these low‐income segments in emerging markets differs significantly from innovating for premium or traditional Western markets.We argue that tapping successfully into low‐income segments in emerging markets requires the development of new products that meet the low price expectations while at the same time offering also value to customers in these segments. We refer to these new products as affordable value innovations.We analyze the antecedents of affordable value innovation for emerging markets. We draw on institutional theory to derive three potentially relevant antecedents of affordable value innovation for emerging markets. These are bricolage, local embeddedness, and standardization. We test our hypotheses using multiple informant data from 47 multinational corporations involving 103 innovation projects that target low‐income customers in emerging markets. Our empirical analysis shows that all three antecedents have significant effects on the level of affordable value innovation: while bricolage and local embeddedness are positively related to the level of affordable value innovation, standardization has a negative impact.We also examine the relationship between the level of affordable value innovation and performance. We find evidence for our basic assumption that a firm's capability to develop and launch affordable value innovations is key to success in emerging markets. It indicates that a firm's investments in affordable value innovations for emerging markets pay off financially.Finally, a cross‐regional comparison of our data shows that the key findings on antecedents of affordable value innovation and its impact on performance do not vary across various emerging markets. Overall, our findings offer important implications for research on and the practice of innovation for low‐income segments in emerging markets.
Djuna Barnes'sNightwoodand Decadent Style
Authors: Gutkin Len 
Published: June 2014

AbstractIn this article, I treat the question of Djuna Barnes's debt to decadent aesthetics. Reviewing and synthesizing critical engagement with Barnesian decadence from the 30s through the present, I suggest that decadent style for Barnes should be understood as primarily a function of her ornate similes, which sever tenor from vehicle. Furthermore, I read Barnes's stylistic archaisms – her masterful plundering of past idioms, from Chaucer to Donne to Burton – in terms of decadent and aestheticist fascination with the rhythms of the past. Taking my cue from Carolyn Williams on Pater, I dub Barnes's method “decadent historicism.” Finally, reviewing some of the more recent scholarship on Barnes, I look at Nightwood's animal imagery and its link to degeneration theory, decadence's scientistic shadow.
Computational discovery of soybean promoter cis‐regulatory elements for the construction of soybean cyst nematode‐inducible synthetic promoters
Authors: Liu Wusheng , Mazarei Mitra , Peng Yanhui , Fethe Michael H. , Rudis Mary R. , Lin Jingyu , Millwood Reginald J. , Arelli Prakash R. , Stewart Charles Neal 
Published: June 2014

SummaryComputational methods offer great hope but limited accuracy in the prediction of functional cis‐regulatory elements; improvements are needed to enable synthetic promoter design. We applied an ensemble strategy for de novo soybean cyst nematode (SCN)‐inducible motif discovery among promoters of 18 co‐expressed soybean genes that were selected from six reported microarray studies involving a compatible soybean–SCN interaction. A total of 116 overlapping motif regions (OMRs) were discovered bioinformatically that were identified by at least four out of seven bioinformatic tools. Using synthetic promoters, the inducibility of each OMR or motif itself was evaluated by co‐localization of gain of function of an orange fluorescent protein reporter and the presence of SCN in transgenic soybean hairy roots. Among 16 OMRs detected from two experimentally confirmed SCN‐inducible promoters, 11 OMRs (i.e. 68.75%) were experimentally confirmed to be SCN‐inducible, leading to the discovery of 23 core motifs of 5‐ to 7‐bp length, of which 14 are novel in plants. We found that a combination of the three best tools (i.e. SCOPE, W‐AlignACE and Weeder) could detect all 23 core motifs. Thus, this strategy is a high‐throughput approach for de novo motif discovery in soybean and offers great potential for novel motif discovery and synthetic promoter engineering for any plant and trait in crop biotechnology.
On Color Categorization: Why Do We Name Seven Colors in the Rainbow?
Authors: Jraissati Yasmina 
Published: June 2014

AbstractWhat makes it the case that we draw the boundary between “blue” and “green” where we draw it? Do we draw this boundary where we draw it because our perceptual system is biologically determined in this way? Or is it culture and language that guide the way we categorize colors? These two possible answers have shaped the historical discussion opposing so‐called universalists to relativists. Yet, the most recent theoretical developments on color categorization reveal the limits of such a polarization.
Approaching Nature, ‘Sustainability’ and Ecological Crises from a Critical Social Psychological Perspective
Authors: Adams Matthew 
Published: June 2014

AbstractThis article considers the potential contribution of critical social psychology to the study of the relationship between humans and nature, particularly in terms of the role of human activities in ecological degradation. That human behaviour is having a profound impact on global climate and related phenomena has garnered broad scientific consensus and is communicated to the public in increasingly sophisticated ways. Psychology has been increasingly drawn upon by policy makers, pressure groups and related institutions in this context, in the hope of understanding, predicting and shaping behaviour and lifestyles towards more sustainable ends. In the past few decades, cognitive behaviourist models have dominated research and policy agendas concerned with identifying barriers to, and/or promoting ‘environmentally sustainable’ or ‘pro‐environmental’ behaviour. Yet despite the emergence of critical work, to date, there has been very little work in this field explicitly under the banner of critical social psychology. In this article, a brief outline of some of the tenets of critical social psychology is followed by a consideration of how these principles have been taken up in existing cross‐disciplinary critical approaches to the interrelated issues of environment, sustainability and human behaviour and the potential contribution of critical social psychology in these areas.
Mapping soil salinity and pH across an estuarine and alluvial plain using electromagnetic and digital elevation model data
Authors: Huang J. , Wong V. N. L. , Triantafilis J. 
Published: June 2014

AbstractIncreasing pressures from agriculture and urbanization have resulted in drainage of many floodplains along the eastern Australian coastline, which are underlain by sulphidic sediments, to lower water tables and reduce soil salinity. This leads to oxidation of the sediments with a rapid decline in pH and an increase in salinity. Accurately mapping soil salinity and pH in coastal acid sulphate soil (CASS) landscapes is therefore important. One required map is the extent of highly acidic (i.e. pH < 4.5) areas, so that the application of alkaline amendments (e.g. lime) to neutralize the acid produced can be specifically targeted to the variation in pH. One approach is to use digital soil mapping (DSM) using ancillary information, such as an EM38, digital elevation models (DEM – elevation) and trend surface parameters (east and north). We used an EM38 in the horizontal (EM38h) and vertical (EM38v) modes together with elevation data to develop multiple linear regressions (MLR) for predicting EC1:5 and pH. For pH, best results were achieved when the EM38 ECa data were log‐transformed. By comparing MLR models using REML analysis, we found that using all ancillary data was optimal for mapping EC1:5, whereas the best predictors for pH were north, log‐EM38v and elevation. Using residual maximum likelihood (REML), the final EC1:5 and pH maps produced were consistent with previously defined soil landscape units, particularly CASS. The DSM approach used is amenable for mapping saline soils and identifying areas requiring the application of lime to manage acidic soil conditions in CASS landscape.
Integrating the Huff Model and Floating Catchment Area Methods to Analyze Spatial Access to Healthcare Services
Authors: Luo Jun 
Published: June 2014

AbstractAnalysis of spatial access to healthcare services is critical for effective health resource planning. Gravity‐based spatial access models have been widely used to estimate spatial access to healthcare services. Among them, the floating catchment area (FCA) methods have been proved to be informative and helpful to the designation of Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). This article integrates the Huff Model with the FCA method to articulate population selection on services. Through the proposed approach, population demand on healthcare services is adjusted by a Huff Model‐based selection probability that reflects the impacts of both distance impedance and service site capacity. The new approach moderates the over‐ or under‐estimating of population demand that occurred with previous methods. Furthermore, the method uses a continuous distance impedance weight function instead of the arbitrarily defined subzones of previous studies. A case study of spatial access to primary care in Springfield, MO, showed that the proposed method can effectively moderate the population demand on service sites and therefore can generate more reliable spatial access measures.
Emerging pathogen in immunocompromised hosts: Exophiala dermatitidis mycosis in graft‐versus‐host disease
Authors: Chalkias S. , Alonso C.D. , Levine J.D. , Wong M.T. 
Published: June 2014

AbstractInfection with the dematiaceous environmental fungus Exophiala, an emerging pathogen in immunocompromised individuals, poses a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Herein, we report the first Exophiala dermatitidis fungemia case, to our knowledge, in an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patient with graft‐versus‐host disease, expanding the clinical setting where Exophiala species mycosis should be suspected.
A Multi-Sensor Approach for Early Detection and Notification of Approaching Trains
Authors: Shrestha Pradhumna Lal , Hempel Michael , Santos Jose , Sharif Hamid 
Published: June 2014

Personnel safety is a cornerstone of railroad operations. However, various activities such as track maintenance and repair require workers to be physically present on or near railroad tracks that are potentially active. This creates a significant risk to the workers, especially at very high train speeds and in places where the geographical topography reduces direct line of sight. In fact, fatalities and injuries continue to be reported. A common approach to lessen this problem is to employ workers specifically to act as lookouts — to observe approaching trains and report them back to the work site. However, maintenance operations are often lengthy and it is common for the lookouts to lose concentration and thus the possibility arises that they fail to report incoming trains. Another possibility is the failure of the communication link between the observer and the workers.
In an attempt to remove the human element and the associated risks, commercial vendors have developed automated systems to detect approaching trains and trigger alarms. However, the current commercial solutions available have several drawbacks. Firstly, deploying the available solutions requires procedures that are invasive and possibly destructive for the railroad tracks. They often involve digging underneath the tracks to install devices. This also requires significant installation effort and makes the solution often nonportable. This has serious operating concerns for the railroads since maintenance operations are temporary and installing permanent devices becomes inefficient. Also, since the solutions are not portable, deploying them on a large scale is not cost effective. Secondly, the solutions have limited sensing capabilities, employing only a single detection approach such as mechanical treadles, and do not provide comprehensive information about the trains being detected. For example, if the maintenance is occurring on parallel tracks, the sensors may fail to detect which of the tracks the train is currently operating on. Also, they cannot accurately capture all the characteristics of the approaching train, such as length, velocity, identifying signature, etc. And thirdly, they often have high false detection rates as they lack methods to differentiate the signature of a train from other events, such as drilling and heavy machinery operation.
With the objective of addressing all these issues, we have proposed a multi-sensor based system that can integrate the abilities of the different sensors so as to reliably predict all the essential characteristics of a train. In this paper we present the architecture of our multi-sensory system. We also report our findings and analysis of evaluating our sensor systems on tracks at the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) in Pueblo, CO.
Effect of Dynamic Envelope Pavement Markings on Vehicle Driver Behavior at a Highway-Rail Grade Crossing
Authors: Gabree Scott , Chase Stephanie , daSilva Marco 
Published: June 2014

The United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), under the direction of the USDOT Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Research and Development (R&D), recently completed a study on the use of pavement markings to reduce instances of vehicles stopping on the tracks at grade crossings. Specifically, the study evaluated the effectiveness of pavement markings placed within the dynamic envelope, the region between and immediately adjacent to the tracks at a grade crossing, and new corresponding signage at the Commercial Boulevard grade crossing (ID# 628186E) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The goal of this research study was to gain an understanding of the effect of dynamic envelope pavement markings and accompanying signage on driver’s not stopping while traversing the tracks. The addition of the dynamic envelope markings and signage is intended to make this area more pronounced, resulting in fewer motorists entering the dynamic envelope if they are unable to exit the other side.
Researchers coded driver stopping behavior at this crossing before and after the surface treatments were installed. Vehicles were coded as having stopped in one of four zones: behind the stop line and gate arm (Zone 1), past the stop line but before the tracks (Zone 2), on the tracks (Zone 3), or immediately after the tracks (Zone 4). Stopping in Zone 3 is considered to be the most dangerous behavior that a driver could perform, while stopping in Zone 1 is the safest.
The goal of the added markings and signage is to reduce the number of vehicles which come to a stop within the dynamic envelope, thus reducing the possibility that a vehicle is present on the tracks when a train approaches resulting in a collision. The addition of the dynamic envelope pavement markings and modified signage resulted in a statistically significant change in driver stopping behavior. Specifically, the pavement markings and signage reduced the proportion of vehicles that stopped in Zone 3, resulting in a 45% reduction in vehicles stopped in Zone 3 for eastbound vehicles and 14% for westbound vehicles. They also increased the proportion of vehicles stopping in Zone 1, which is the safest behavior a driver can perform (9% increase for eastbound and 6% increase for westbound). Additionally, fewer vehicles were found to stop in both Zone 2 and Zone 4, which are both moderately dangerous.
Based on these results, the Florida Department of Transportation is exploring the use of this safety treatment at additional grade crossings with a high risk for unsafe vehicle stopping behavior.