bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Quantifying Precipitation Uncertainty for Land Data Assimilation Applications
Authors: Alemohammad Seyed Hamed , McLaughlin Dennis B. , Entekhabi Dara 
Published: April 2015

Abstract
Ensemble-based data assimilation techniques are often applied to land surface models in order to estimate components of terrestrial water and energy balance. Precipitation forcing uncertainty is the principal source of spread among the ensembles that is required for utilizing information in observations to correct model priors. Precipitation fields may have both position and magnitude errors. However, current uncertainty characterizations of precipitation forcing in land data assimilation systems often do no more than applying multiplicative errors to precipitation fields. In this paper, an ensemble-based Bayesian method for characterization of uncertainties associated with precipitation retrievals from spaceborne instruments is introduced. This method is used to produce stochastic replicates of precipitation fields that are conditioned on precipitation observations. Unlike previous studies, the error likelihood is derived using an archive of historical measurements. The ensemble replicates are generated using a stochastic method, and they are intermittent in space and time. The replicates are first projected in a low-dimension subspace using a problem-specific set of attributes. The attributes are derived using a dimensionality reduction scheme that takes advantage of singular value decomposition. A nonparametric importance sampling technique is formulated in terms of the attribute vectors to solve the Bayesian sampling problem. Examples are presented using retrievals from operational passive microwave instruments, and performance of the method is assessed using ground validation measurements from a surface weather radar network. Results indicate that this ensemble characterization approach provides a useful description of precipitation uncertainties with a posterior ensemble that is narrower in distribution than its prior while containing both precipitation position and magnitude errors.
Difficult decisions: An interpretative phenomenological analysis study of healthcare professionals’ perceptions of oxygen therapy in palliative care
Authors: Kelly Carol Ann , O’Brien Mary R 
Published: April 2015

Background: The role of oxygen therapy to palliate dyspnoea is controversial. Without a clear evidence base oxygen is commonly prescribed, sometimes to the detriment of patients. This use of oxygen appears to be an entrenched culture, the roots of which remain obscure. Aim: To explore healthcare professionals’ perceptions of oxygen therapy in palliative care. Design: Interpretative phenomenological analysis study utilising semi-structured interviews to explore beliefs and behaviours of healthcare professionals regarding palliative oxygen therapy. Data were recorded, transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Setting/participants: A total of 34 healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and paramedics in the United Kingdom, who were involved in prescribing, or administering, oxygen therapy to palliate dyspnoea. Results: Most healthcare professionals in this study were well informed about oxygen therapy; all recognised the role of oxygen in palliative care setting as important. The overarching theme of compassion identified sub-themes of ‘ comfort’, ‘ do anything and everything’ and ‘ family benefit’. However, the use of oxygen in the palliative care setting was not without its dilemmas, as additional sub-themes of ‘ controversy’, ‘ doubt’ and ‘ dependency’ illustrated. Conclusion: Findings suggest that oxygen therapy in palliative care poses an on-going dilemma for healthcare professionals striving to provide optimum care. It seems patients and families often expect and welcome oxygen, but the perception of oxygen as a solution to dyspnoea can conflict with healthcare professionals’ own doubt and experiences. There appears to be an emotional cost associated with this dilemma and the choices that need to be made.
Advance statements in the new Victorian Mental Health Act
Authors: Saraf Sudeep 
Published: April 2015

Objective: There is growing recognition of the utility of advance statements in the area of mental health. The definition of advance statements and procedure for making and varying advance statements under the Victorian legislation is described. The implications for psychiatrists, mental health tribunals and the process should the psychiatrist vary their decision from that made in the advance statement are discussed. Conclusion: Advance statements being enshrined in legislation is another step in the direction of recovery-oriented service provision for persons with mental illness. The challenge for services will be to develop systems and processes that promote increased uptake of these instruments to empower persons with mental illness to participate in their treatment.
High-frequency ultrasound of Peyer’s patches in the small intestine of young cats
Authors: Nielsen Tove , Lindström Lisa , Ingman Jessica , Uhlhorn Margareta , Hansson Kerstin 
Published: April 2015

Objectives A previously unreported, asymmetrically positioned hypoechoic extra layer (APHEL) in the submucosa of the feline distal jejunum and ileum has been recognised using high-frequency ultrasound. The objectives of this study were to characterise the APHEL histologically, and to describe the prevalence and ultrasonographic features of the APHEL in a population of clinically healthy young cats. Methods In an anatomical study, two cats were autopsied and histopathology of the small intestine was performed. An APHEL was detected with ultrasound in the distal jejunum and ileum ante-mortem in the first cat and post mortem in the second cat. Samples for histopathology were obtained from these areas. In the second, prospective part of the study, to document the presence or absence of an APHEL, high-frequency (18 MHz) ultrasound was performed of the intestinal tract in 20 other cats. These cats were client-owned cats aged 6–18 months presented for neutering. The cats were included in the study based on a normal clinical examination, lack of previous or concurrent signs of disease, and having no abnormalities detected at abdominal ultrasound. Results Histopathology from the distal jejunum and ileum in the two cats in the anatomical part of the study showed that the APHEL represented asymmetrically positioned normal lymphatic tissue (Peyer’s patches) in the lamina propria and submucosa. In the second part of the study, an APHEL was identified in the submucosa of the distal part of the jejunum and ileum in all 20 cats. Additionally, a similar layer could also be seen further proximally in the jejunum in 10 (50%) of the cats. The thickness of the APHEL was 1.0 mm in both jejunum and ileum. Conclusions and relevance Presumed normal lymphatic tissue in the small intestinal submucosa can be seen with high-frequency ultrasound and is a common finding in young cats.
Non-melanoma Skin Cancer in Canada Chapter 5: Management of Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Sapijaszko Mariusz , Zloty David , Bourcier Marc , Poulin Yves , Janiszewski Peter , Ashkenas John 
Published: April 2015

Background Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second-most common form of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Objective To provide guidance to Canadian health care practitioners regarding management of SCCs. Methods Literature searches and development of graded recommendations were carried out as discussed in the accompanying introduction (chapter 1 of the NMSC guidelines). Results SCCs are sometimes confined to the epidermis, but they can also invade nearby tissues and, in some cases, metastasize to neighbouring lymph nodes or other organs. This chapter discusses the natural history, staging, prognosis, and management of SCC—a tumour type that is less common but typically more aggressive than BCC. For this reason, margin control is strongly preferred in treating SCCs. Conclusions Although approaches such as cryosurgery and radiation therapy may be considered for some patients, surgical excision—sometimes coupled with radiation—remains the cornerstone of SCC management. Patients with high-risk SCC may also be considered for referral to an appropriate multidisciplinary clinic.
Comparative analysis of first-year fingolimod and natalizumab drug discontinuation among Swedish patients with multiple sclerosis
Authors: Frisell T , Forsberg L , Nordin N , Kiesel C , Alfredsson L , Askling J , Hillert J , Olsson T , Piehl F 
Published: April 2015

Background: Natalizumab (NTZ) and fingolimod (FGL) are mainly used second line in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), although pivotal trials included mainly treatment-naïve patients. Objective: This study aims to provide real-world data on safety and discontinuation rates. Methods: Using IMSE, a drug monitoring registry for all newer MS drugs in Sweden, we analysed differences in baseline characteristics and 1-year drug survival for patients registered 2011–2013, initiating treatment with NTZ ( n=640) or FGL ( n=876). Among FGL initiators, n=383 (44%) had previously used NTZ (FGLafterNTZ). Results: Compared with NTZ, the FGL cohort was older and more often male (36/38 years, 24%/33% males). Baseline Expanded Disability Status Scale was similar across groups, but MS Severity Score was higher in NTZ patients, and Symbol Digit Modalities Test and MS Impact Scale (MSIS-29) was higher in FGLafterNTZ versus FGLNTZ-naïve patients. Proportion on drug after 1 year was high, NTZ=87%, FGLNTZ-naïve=83% and FGLafterNTZ=76%. Adverse events was the most frequent reason for discontinuing FGL (FGLNTZ-naïve=9%, FGLafterNTZ=12%), and was significantly higher than on NTZ (3%). In contrast, the proportion of patients stopping treatment due to lack of effect was more similar: NTZ=4%, FGLNTZ-naïve=3%, FGLafterNTZ=8%. Conclusion: FGL and NTZ were both well tolerated, but FGL less so than NTZ, especially in patients switching to FGL from NTZ. Group differences were not explained by differences in recorded baseline characteristics.
Effects of a home-based step training programme on balance, stepping, cognition and functional performance in people with multiple sclerosis – a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Hoang Phu , Schoene Daniel , Gandevia Simon , Smith Stuart , Lord Stephen R 
Published: April 2015

Background: Stepping impairments increase fall risk in people with MS. No studies have evaluated step training for reducing fall risk in this population. Objectives: To determine if step training can improve physical and neuropsychological measures associated with falls in MS. Methods: 50 PwMS with moderate disability participated in a randomized controlled trial in which intervention group participants ( n = 28) performed step training for 12 weeks while controls ( n = 22) continued usual physical activity. The primary outcomes were choice stepping reaction time (CSRT) and Stroop stepping test (SST) time. Secondary outcomes included balance test (postural sway, CSRT components), gait speed and cognitive tests, nine-hole peg test (9-HPT) and MS functional composite (MSFC) score. Results: 44 participants completed the study and no adverse events were reported. Compared with the control group, the intervention group performed significantly better at retest in CSRT and SST times, and tests of sway with eyes open, 9-HPT, single and dual task gait speed and MSFC score. There was a non-significant trend for fewer falls in the intervention group. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the step training programme is feasible, safe and effective in improving stepping, standing balance, coordination and functional performance in people with MS.
Temporal lobe cortical pathology and inhibitory GABA interneuron cell loss are associated with seizures in multiple sclerosis
Authors: Nicholas Richard , Magliozzi Roberta , Campbell Graham , Mahad Don , Reynolds Richard 
Published: April 2015

Background: Seizures are recognised in multiple sclerosis (MS), but their true incidence and the mechanism by which they are associated with MS is unclear. Objective: The objective of this paper is to determine the lifetime frequency of seizures in the United Kingdom MS Tissue Bank (UKMSTB) population and any pathological features associated with seizures. Methods: We evaluated 255 individuals from the UKMSTB. A subset underwent analysis of cortical thickness, grey matter lesion (GML) (type and number) and cortical neuronal numbers (total and GABAergic). Results: A total of 37/255 patients had seizures (14.5% lifetime incidence); in 47% they were associated with concurrent infection. In those with seizures, death and wheelchair use occurred earlier and in 59% seizures developed after 15 years of disease. Seizures were associated with Type 1 GMLs and reduced cortical thickness in the middle temporal gyrus. Localised selective GABAergic interneuron loss in layers IV and VI was related to GMLs but was not explained by the presence of inflammation or by mitochondrial dysfunction within Type I GMLs. Conclusion: We confirm that seizure frequency rises in MS. Type I GMLs in the temporal lobe underlie a loss of inhibitory interneurons in cortical layers IV and VI and these changes could together with concurrent infection enhance susceptibility to seizures.
Are we ready to predict percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) stone-free failure?
Authors: Gadzhiev Nariman , Brovkin Sergei , Grigoryev Vladislav , Dmitriev Vladimir , Baketin Pyotr , Obidnyak Vladimir , Pisarev Aleksei , Shkarupa Dmitry , Tagirov Nair , Korol Valeriy , Petrov Sergei 
Published: April 2015

Objective: To develop a tool, both simple and reliable, for postoperative percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) stone-free failure prediction. Materials and methods: We analysed a sample of 116 patients, who underwent conventional PCNL from 2011 to 2014. Cases with residual stones ⩽ 4 mm in size were regarded as clinically insignificant and ‘stone-free’. Results: According to the low-dose computed tomography (CT) scan performed within 24 hours after operation, the patients were stratified as follows: 72 stone-free and 44 with residual stones. Among the analysed variables, three were derived as most important for prediction purposes: an additional stone in a calyx with an acute angle (⩽ 45°), represented by ‘A’; an additional stone in a long calyx (⩾ 10 mm) with a narrow infundibulum (⩽ 8mm), represented by ‘C’; and a stone size that is > 24 mm, represented by ‘S’. These were abbreviated as the ‘ACS’ score. Depending on the absence or presence of each of these three variables, a score of 0 or 1 was assigned. If the ACS score is 0, then the probability of being a stone-free patient was about 88%; however, when the ACS score is 3, then the probability of being stone free was just 8%. Conclusion: Use of the ACS score seemed to be a simple and reliable tool for PCNL stone-free failure prediction.
Meniscus repair using mesenchymal stem cells – a comprehensive review
Authors: Yu Hana , Adesida Adetola B , Jomha Nadr M 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThe menisci are a pair of semilunar fibrocartilage structures that play an essential role in maintaining normal knee function. Injury to the menisci can disrupt joint stability and lead to debilitating results. Because natural meniscal healing is limited, an efficient method of repair is necessary. Tissue engineering (TE) combines the principles of life sciences and engineering to restore the unique architecture of the native meniscus. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been investigated for their therapeutic potential both in vitro and in vivo. This comprehensive review examines the English literature identified through a database search using Medline, Embase, Engineering Village, and SPORTDiscus. The search results were classified based on MSC type, animal model, and method of MSC delivery/culture. A variety of MSC types, including bone marrow-derived, synovium-derived, adipose-derived, and meniscus-derived MSCs, has been examined. Research results were categorized into and discussed by the different animal models used; namely murine, leporine, porcine, caprine, bovine, ovine, canine, equine, and human models of meniscus defect/repair. Within each animal model, studies were categorized further according to MSC delivery/culture techniques. These techniques included direct application, fibrin glue/gel/clot, intra-articular injection, scaffold, tissue-engineered construct, meniscus tissue, pellets/aggregates, and hydrogel. The purpose of this review is to inform the reader about the current state and advances in meniscus TE using MSCs. Future directions of MSC-based meniscus TE are also suggested to help guide prospective research.
Effects of blended e-Learning: a case study in higher education tax learning setting
Authors: Lee Li-Tze , Hung Jason C 
Published: April 2015

AbstractThis article has two main objectives. First, we describe the design of an e-learning system for a University Income Tax Law course. Second, we analyze and explore learning results in terms of students’ learning satisfaction and learning achievement. Learning achievement was examined by questions derived from the course content while learning satisfaction was analyzed based on an adaptation of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).Results indicate that neither gender nor the school system affect students’ e-learning system satisfaction. Since students’ knowledge and exposure to computers are equal regardless of gender or educational background this reduces the significance of both these variables. Participating samples are divided into three groups: traditional, fully on-line and blended learning. We find, however, a statistically significant difference existed in learning achievement among groups. The blended learning group, combining on- line learning with paper-and-pencil testing, has the best learning achievement among the three groups.
Introduction
Authors: Currah Paisley , Stryker Susan 
Published: April 2015

Abstract
In this introduction to the special issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly on the theme “making transgender count,” the authors delineate the senses in which trans people can count. On one hand, one makes trans count (in the sense of having its importance recognized) by counting it (making it visible through quantification). On the other hand, one makes (i.e., compels) trans count by forcing atypical configurations of identity into categories into which they do not quite fit—the proverbial square peg in a round hole. In this way, the imperative to be counted becomes another kind of normativizing violence that trans subjects can encounter and hence another problematic to be critically interrogated by the field of transgender studies. The tensions among what to count, whom to count, how to count, why to count, or whether to count or be counted at all are explored in this issue's articles. What makes the notion of trans* such a fecund point of departure for work in transgender studies is that the definitional lines of the concept are moving targets. That very instability frustrates the project of fixing embodied identities in time and space—a requisite operation for the potentially life-enhancing project of counting trans populations and better addressing their needs as well as for the necropolitical project of selecting certain members of the population for categorical exclusion as dysgenic. The essays in this issue do not resolve the tension between efforts to refine techniques of governmental reason and strategies of resistance, between attempts to sedentarize trans identities and movements that refuse such settling, or between universalizing imperatives to classify and local demands to reject incorporation into a global schematics of gender difference organized by male/female, man/woman, cis-/trans-, trans-/homo-, or white/color dichotomies. Some attempt to do both, while all ultimately fall on one side or the other of various problematics. Our goal in curating this issue has been less to gather a collection of articles that definitively settle these vexed questions than to stage a conversation in which the stakes of the game are made visible.
Solvent Effect on Fluorescence Properties of Stilbene Dendrimer Surrounded by Benzyl-Ether Dendrons
Authors: Nakazato Satoshi , Arai Tatsuo 
Published: April 2015

Abstract
The fluorescence maximum of the fourth generation of stilbene-cored dendrimer (trans-G4) was affected by solvent polarity. These results indicated that the core of even higher generation dendrimer was not isolated from solvent molecules and the environment of the dendrimer core is constructed by both surrounding dendron groups and penetrated solvent molecules.
The ACCE method: an approach for obtaining quantitative or qualitative estimates of residual confounding that includes unmeasured confounding
Authors: Smith Eric G. 
Published: April 2015

Background: Nonrandomized studies typically cannot account for confounding from unmeasured factors. Method: A method is presented that exploits the recently-identified phenomenon of “confounding amplification” to produce, in principle, a quantitative estimate of total residual confounding resulting from both measured and unmeasured factors. Two nested propensity score models are constructed that differ only in the deliberate introduction of an additional variable(s) that substantially predicts treatment exposure. Residual confounding is then estimated by dividing the change in treatment effect estimate between models by the degree of confounding amplification estimated to occur, adjusting for any association between the additional variable(s) and outcome.Results: Several hypothetical examples are provided to illustrate how the method produces a quantitative estimate of residual confounding if the method’s requirements and assumptions are met. Previously published data is used to illustrate that, whether or not the method routinely provides precise quantitative estimates of residual confounding, the method appears to produce a valuable qualitative estimate of the likely direction and general size of residual confounding.Limitations: Uncertainties exist, including identifying the best approaches for: 1) predicting the amount of confounding amplification, 2) minimizing changes between the nested models unrelated to confounding amplification, 3) adjusting for the association of the introduced variable(s) with outcome, and 4) deriving confidence intervals for the method’s estimates (although bootstrapping is one plausible approach).Conclusions: To this author’s knowledge, it has not been previously suggested that the phenomenon of confounding amplification, if such amplification is as predictable as suggested by a recent simulation, provides a logical basis for estimating total residual confounding. The method's basic approach is straightforward. The method's routine usefulness, however, has not yet been established, nor has the method been fully validated. Rapid further investigation of this novel method is clearly indicated, given the potential value of its quantitative or qualitative output.