bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Anatomic and Sexual Outcomes After Vaginoplasty Using Tissue-Engineered Biomaterial Graft in Patients with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser Syndrome: A New Minimally Invasive and Effective Surgery
Authors: Zhu Lan , Zhou Huimei , Sun Zhixing , Lou Wenjia , Lang Jinghe 
Published: March 2013

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Recent years have seen continuous reports about the successful reconstruction of numerous organs with the application of tissue-engineering techniques. Thus, we assess the outcomes for vagina reconstruction using tissue-engineered biological material, which we suggested previously as an ideal graft for vaginoplasty.

Aim
To evaluate the anatomic and sexual outcomes in patients undergoing vaginoplasty using tissue-engineered biomaterial mesh.

Methods
This prospective study included 53 patients with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome admitted to our hospital. Patients underwent vaginoplasty with tissue-engineered biological material (acellular dermal matrix). Postoperatively, a silicone vaginal dilator (length: 10 cm, diameter: 3.5 cm) was advised to be used for the first 3–6 months to prevent contraction of the neovagina. Follow-up was performed at 4 weeks, 12 weeks, 12 months, and then annually. Twenty-four age-matched women who underwent health examinations during the same time period were selected as a health control group and answered Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaires for the purpose of comparing sexuality.

Main Outcome Measures
Anatomic success was defined by a vaginal length ≥8 cm and a width allowing the easy introduction of two fingers. Sexual outcomes were assessed at the 12-month follow-up according to body image perception and FSFI questionnaires validated for the Chinese-speaking population.

Results
No severe intra-operative complications occurred. No graft-related infection, rejection, or detachment was recorded. The cost for tissue-engineered biomaterial graft was $1,900 (¥12,000) per person. Postoperatively, granulomatous polyps occurred in 6/53 patients (11.3%) at the vaginal vault and were removed in an outpatient clinic. During a mean follow-up of 21.1 months, the anatomic success rate was 100%, and all of the patients were satisfied with their body image. Postoperatively, 42 patients were followed up for more than 1 year, and 32 of them were sexually active. Among the 24/32 patients (75%) who answered the FSFI questionnaire, the mean total FSFI score was 26.7 ± 3.5, which was similar to that of the control group (25.6 ± 7.4, P = 0.46). The similarity was also observed in six separate domains of the functional aspect of female sexuality.

Conclusions
Vaginoplasty with tissue-engineered biomaterial graft is a safe, effective, minimally invasive cosmetic procedure that provides near normal sexual function for patients with vaginal aplasia.
The Transformations of Charles Dickens in Early Socialist Poland
Authors: Kujawska‐Lis Ewa 
Published: March 2013

AbstractCharles Dickens was the most widely read and published foreign novelist in nineteenth‐century Poland, primarily viewed as a humorist and social critic. In the modernist and inter‐war periods he remained extremely popular, though Polish critics assigned him to the position of a classic writer who was no longer regarded as a great artist, because his novels did not comply with modernist aesthetics. After the Second World War there came a fresh wave in his reception. With a new social order and political system, Dickens started to be evaluated according to the new ideological premises. The re‐evaluation of this writer’s oeuvre was accompanied by a change of critical discourse and concentrated on the historical background in which the novels were conceived, especially concerning the situation of the working class in a capitalist society. Polish propaganda critics admired his depictions of the destruction caused by capitalism, yet criticised him for not being radical enough to support social revolution. This paper examines press articles and introductions to Dickens’s novels published in Poland in the 1950s in order to highlight the most significant changes to his circulation, focusing on the different attitudes toward, and the interpretations of, his works.
A Restoration? 25 years of Jacobite Studies
Authors: Monod Paul Kleber 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe past quarter‐century has seen an efflorescence of studies of Jacobitism, within both political and cultural history. The scope and impact of these studies are considered in the present article, which ranges across the major fields of research that are now associated with Jacobite Studies. They include plots and conspiracies; rebellions and uprisings; Irish Jacobitism, particularly as it was embodied in poetic works; the Jacobite diaspora to the European continent; the Stuart courts in exile; and Jacobite culture, including literature. The significance of Jacobitism for English literary history is examined, and major controversies, including the debate over Samuel Johnson, are discussed.
Shakespeare and World Cinema: A Critical Overview
Authors: Murray Kevin 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis essay traces the history of the idea of world cinema, cataloguing its key meanings within film studies before going on to provide an overview of its uses within the critical discipline of Shakespeare on film. The innocuousness of the term ‘world cinema’ belies the plethora of potential meanings which it has accrued; such is the term’s fluidity, in fact, that it has courted allegations of being, at best, indistinct or simplistic, and, at worst, specious and neo‐colonial. Arguing against assumptions that the term is too indistinct to be of value, or that it is, in a post‐national age, obsolete, various critics have shown that world cinema is a concept whose very malleability renders it indispensable in contemplating how the films of various international directors can be seen, to lesser or greater degrees, to relate to Shakespeare, to the industrial, political and cultural specificities of nation or region (and the cinematic traditions therein) and to global networks of demographic exchange, cinematic intertextuality and monetary and/or aesthetic collaboration. Surveying the key ideas currently provoking debate within film studies and Shakespeare on screen criticism, this article endeavours to reveal how theoretical templates of world cinema have been deployed to consider how a globally circulating Shakespeareanism interacts with the representational practices of diverse localities. The article’s conclusion tentatively suggests some new paths yet to be explored within the field.
Role of Triggering Pulmonary Veins in the Maintenance of Sustained Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: TRAYKOV VASSIL B. , PAP RÓBERT , GINGL ZOLTÁN , CHADAIDE SZAMI , HAQQANI HARIS M. , KLAUSZ GERGELY , GALLARDO RODRIGO , FORSTER TAMÁS , CALLANS DAVID J. , SÁGHY LÁSZLÓ 
Published: March 2013

BackgroundTriggers from thoracic veins have been implicated not only in the initiation, but also in the perpetuation of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). To investigate their role we studied the distribution and stability of dominant frequencies (DFs) during PAF and the response to isolation of the triggering pulmonary vein (PV).Methods and ResultsTriggering structures inducing PAF were identified during isoproterenol challenge in 26 patients (15 males, 55 ± 8.5 years). During sustained PAF, sequential recordings were made with a decapolar circular mapping catheter from each PV and the left atrial posterior wall (LAPW), together with coronary sinus (CS) and right atrium (RA) recordings. DF was determined using fast Fourier transformation. Recordings were repeated after ≥15 minutes of PAF. Radiofrequency ablation was directed first at the triggering PVs. PAF initiated from the PVs in 24 patients and from RA in two. There was a significant frequency gradient from the triggering structure to the PVs, CS, LAPW, and RA (P < 0.0001). During the second recording, DF decreased at all sites (P < 0.02), but the frequency gradient remained unchanged. Despite isolation of the triggering PV, PAF continued in 53% of patients, although DF measured in the CS was lower. AF termination occurred with contralateral PV isolation in half of the remaining patients and further AF slowing was noted in the rest.ConclusionsTriggering structures harbor the fastest activity during sustained PAF pointing to their leading role in arrhythmia perpetuation. However, nontriggering PVs also seem to contribute to PAF maintenance.
Mathematical Wit and Mathematical Cognition
Authors: Aberdein Andrew 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThe published works of scientists often conceal the cognitive processes that led to their results. Scholars of mathematical practice must therefore seek out less obvious sources. This article analyzes a widely circulated mathematical joke, comprising a list of spurious proof types. An account is proposed in terms of argumentation schemes: stereotypical patterns of reasoning, which may be accompanied by critical questions itemizing possible lines of defeat. It is argued that humor is associated with risky forms of inference, which are essential to creative mathematics. The components of the joke are explicated by argumentation schemes devised for application to topic‐neutral reasoning. These in turn are classified under seven headings: retroduction, citation, intuition, meta‐argument, closure, generalization, and definition. Finally, the wider significance of this account for the cognitive science of mathematics is discussed.
Systematic Review of Effectiveness of Situated E‐Learning on Medical and Nursing Education
Authors: Feng Jui‐Ying , Chang Yi‐Ting , Chang Hsin‐Yi , Erdley William Scott , Lin Chyi‐Her , Chang Ying‐Ju 
Published: March 2013

ABSTRACTObjectivesBecause of the complexity of clinical situations, traditional didactic education is limited in providing opportunity for student‐patient interaction. Situated e‐learning can enhance learners’ knowledge and associated abilities through a variety of activities. Healthcare providers who interact with virtual patients in designed situations may avoid unnecessary risks and encounters with real patients. However, the effectiveness of situated e‐learning is inconsistent. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of situated e‐learning in prelicensure and postlicensure medical and nursing education.MethodsLiterature databases of PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, ERIC, and Cochrane Library were searched. The study eligibility criteria included articles published in English, which examined the effectiveness of situated e‐learning on the outcomes of knowledge and performance for clinicians or students in medicine and nursing. Effect sizes were calculated with 95% confidence intervals.ResultsFourteen articles were included for meta‐analysis. Situated e‐learning could effectively enhance learners’ knowledge and performance when the control group received no training. Compared to traditional learning, the effectiveness of situated e‐learning on performance diminished but still remained significant whereas the effect become insignificant on knowledge. The subgroup analyses indicate the situated e‐learning program significantly improved students’ clinical performance but not for clinicians.ConclusionsSituated e‐learning is an effective method to improve novice learners’ performance. The effect of situated e‐learning on the improvement of cognitive ability is limited when compared to traditional learning. Situated e‐learning is a useful adjunct to traditional learning for medical and nursing students.
Identification of common synaptic inputs to motor neurons from the rectified electromyogram
Authors: Farina Dario , Negro Francesco , Jiang Ning 
Published: March 2013

Key points
Oscillatory drives at the input of a pool of motor neurons are transmitted to the motor neuron output (neural drive to the muscle) in an approximately linear way if these inputs are common to all motor neurons.
The neural drive to the muscle is transformed in the EMG signal that can be thus used to extract information on the oscillatory inputs to motor neurons.
The transmission of oscillatory inputs is closer to a linear transmission for the raw or for the rectified EMG depending on the energy of the raw and rectified motor unit action potentials at the input frequency and on the degree of amplitude cancellation.
Amplitude cancellation negatively influences the effectiveness of EMG rectification in identifying with linear methods oscillatory inputs to motor neurons, so that rectification is preferable over the raw EMG only when the degree of cancellation is low.
Abstract  Oscillatory common inputs of cortical or peripheral origin can be identified from the motor neuron output with coherence analysis. Linear transmission is possible despite the motor neuron non‐linearity because the same input is sent commonly to several neurons. Because of the linear transmission, common input components to motor neurons can be investigated from the surface EMG, for example by EEG–EMG or EMG–EMG coherence. In these studies, there is an open debate on the utility and appropriateness of EMG rectification. The present study addresses this issue using an analytical, simulation and experimental approach. The main novel theoretical contribution that we report is that the spectra of both the rectified and the raw EMG contain input spectral components to motor neurons. However, they differ by the contribution of amplitude cancellation which influences the rectified EMG spectrum when extracting common oscillatory inputs. Therefore, the degree of amplitude cancellation has an impact on the effectiveness of EMG rectification in extracting input spectral peaks. The theoretical predictions were exactly confirmed by realistic simulations of a pool of motor neurons innervating a muscle in a cylindrical volume conductor of EMG generation and by experiments conducted on the first dorsal interosseous and the abductor pollicis brevis muscles of seven healthy subjects during pinching. It was concluded that when the contraction level is relatively low, EMG rectification may be preferable for identifying common inputs to motor neurons, especially when the energy of the action potentials in the low frequency range is low. Nonetheless, different levels of cancellation across conditions influence the relative estimates of the degree of linear transmission of oscillatory inputs to motor neurons when using the rectified EMG.
High spatiotemporal resolution measurement of regional lung air volumes from 2D phase contrast x‐ray images
Authors: Leong Andrew F. T. , Fouras Andreas , Islam M. Sirajul , Wallace Megan J. , Hooper Stuart B. , Kitchen Marcus J. 
Published: March 2013

Purpose:Described herein is a new technique for measuring regional lung air volumes from two‐dimensional propagation‐based phase contrast x‐ray (PBI) images at very high spatial and temporal resolution. Phase contrast dramatically increases lung visibility and the outlined volumetric reconstruction technique quantifies dynamic changes in respiratory function. These methods can be used for assessing pulmonary disease and injury and for optimizing mechanical ventilation techniques for preterm infants using animal models.Methods:The volumetric reconstruction combines the algorithms of temporal subtraction and single image phase retrieval (SIPR) to isolate the image of the lungs from the thoracic cage in order to measure regional lung air volumes. The SIPR algorithm was used to recover the change in projected thickness of the lungs on a pixel‐by‐pixel basis (pixel dimensions ∼16.2 μm). The technique has been validated using numerical simulation and compared results of measuring regional lung air volumes with and without the use of temporal subtraction for removing the thoracic cage. To test this approach, a series of PBI images of newborn rabbit pups mechanically ventilated at different frequencies was employed.Results:Regional lung air volumes measured from PBI images of newborn rabbit pups showed on average an improvement of at least 20% in 16% of pixels within the lungs in comparison to that measured without the use of temporal subtraction. The majority of pixels that showed an improvement was found to be in regions occupied by bone. Applying the volumetric technique to sequences of PBI images of newborn rabbit pups, it is shown that lung aeration at birth can be highly heterogeneous.Conclusions:This paper presents an image segmentation technique based on temporal subtraction that has successfully been used to isolate the lungs from PBI chest images, allowing the change in lung air volume to be measured over regions as small as the pixel size. Using this technique, it is possible to measure changes in regional lung volume at high spatial and temporal resolution during breathing at much lower x‐ray dose than would be required using computed tomography.
Diverse Influences on Parachuting Injuries in Israel
Authors: Bar-Dayan Yosefa , Bar-Dayan Yaron , Weisbroth Moshe , Shemer Joshua 
Published: March 2013

BackgroundParachuting is known to be relatively safe and has a low injury rate. There are some parameters influencing parachuting casualties. In order to determine the influences of type of jump and parachute, effect of equipment carried, time of jump and wind speed, we conducted a retrospective study at the Parachuting Training Center of Israel, assessing 53832 military parachute jumps.MethodsTwo categories of injuries were defined: major (fractures, dislocation, head trauma, ligamentous tears) and minor (contusion, bruises, sprain injuries).ResultsThe overall injury rate was 0.6 percent. The commonest major injuries were ankle fractures and head trauma, while ankle sprain was the most common minor injury. The lowest rate of injury was found in free falls jumpers (0.2 percent) and highest amongst manoeuvres (1.1 percent). The highest injury rate occurred when using an Israeli version of “T-10” military parachute (0.7 percent) and the lowest with free fall parachutes (0.2 percent). Extra equipment carried during jumps caused higher injury rate (0.8 percent) compared to jumps without equipment (0.5 percent) using the “T-10” military parachute. Injury rates were greater at night (1.0 percent) compared to day jumps (0.5 percent). In day jumps commonest major injury was ankle fracture, while in night jumps it was head trauma. The commonest minor injury in day and night jumps was ankle sprain. At wind speed of 0-4 Knots parachuting injuries were higher compared with wind speeds of 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16 Knots with injury rates of 0.8, 0.5 and 0.6 percent respectively.ConclusionsDiverse factors influence the injury rate in parachuting. Identifying such factors may enable us to change them in order to minimize the number of injured parachutists.
Normal and Pathological Reactions to Severe. Stress: Their Features and Management
Authors: Alexander David A 
Published: March 2013

It is unethical and incompetent to deny the scale and nature of human reactions to trauma. Those who provide care for victims of trauma should be familiar with normal and pathological reactions following trauma and know how to identify those at high risk of developing adverse reactions and problems of adjustment.Methods of treating and preventing post-traumatic conditions have not been evaluated with sufficient rigour. There are, however, some guiding principles to ensure a rational approach to the management of victims of trauma.I can sympathise with everything, except suffering. I cannot sympathise with that. It is too ugly, too horrible, too distressing… the less said about life’s sores the better.(The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde, 1856–1900)
Hyperbaric Oxygen in Trauma and Surgical Emergencies
Authors: MacFarlane Campbell , Cronjé Frans J , Benn Carol-Ann 
Published: March 2013

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO), that is the administration of 100% oxygen delivered under pressure, has a beneficial effect in several surgical conditions. Its use has been assessed and audited and its pharmacological effects demonstrated. It is appropriate for use in several acute surgical conditions as evidence-based therapy. These are:Gas GangreneCrush Injuries, Compartment Syndromes & Acute Traumatic IschaemiasEnhancement of Healing in Selected Problem WoundsExceptional Bloodloss AnaemiaNecrotising Soft Tissue InfectionsCompromised Skin Grafts & FlapsThermal BurnsHBO therapy suffers from previous inappropriate use, lack of knowledge, and scarce hyperbaric facilities. Hyperbaric therapy, when properly supervised by a physician trained in its use, working closely with a surgeon, and ethically used for appropriate indications, can be a useful adjunct to surgical practice. Military surgeons may be in a situation in which they can utilize HBO in acute surgical conditions and trauma. They are urged to identify HBO facilities, both fixed and portable, and to establish communication with hyperbaric therapy colleagues.
Clinical findings of the second 1000 UK Gulf War Veterans who attended the Ministry of Defence’s Medical Assessment Programme
Authors: Lee HA , Gabriel R , Bale A J , Bolton P , Blatchley NF 
Published: March 2013

ObjectiveTo review the diagnoses made in the second 1000 veterans of the Gulf conflict 1990-91 seen in the Ministry of Defence’s Gulf Veterans’ Medical Assessment Programme and to determine the main conditions related to Gulf service.DesignCase series of 1000 consecutive Gulf veterans who presented to the programme between 25 February 1997 and 19 February 1998.SubjectsGulf War veterans.Main outcome measuresAssessment of the patient’s health status. Diagnosis of medical and psychiatric conditions using ICD-10.Results204 patients were unwell. 309 patients had organic disease, of whom 248 were well, 252 had psychiatric conditions which remained active in 173. The remaining 79, now well, had had psychiatric disorders following Gulf service. The principal psychiatric diagnosis was post traumatic stress disorder and the majority arose as a result of Gulf service.Conclusion796 (80%) veterans were well. There were 309 (31%) patients with organic disease. 252 (25%) veterans had psychiatric conditions of which 173 (69%) had an active diagnosed disorder and post traumatic stress disorder was the predominant condition. The pattern of disease is similar to that seen in NHS practice. We found, like others, no evidence to support a unique Gulf War syndrome. Post conflict illnesses have many common features.