bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic accuracy of non‐echo‐planar diffusion‐weighted MRI versus other MRI sequences in cholesteatoma
Authors: Sharifian Hashem , Taheri Elham , Borghei Pedram , Shakiba Madjid , Jalali Amir Hossein , Roshanfekr Majid , Firouznia Kavous 
Published: May 2012

AbstractIntroduction: Non‐echo‐planar imaging (EPI) MRI has been recently introduced to improve the detection of small‐sized cholesteatoma and decrease different artefacts occurring in the EPI‐diffusion‐weighted (DW) technique. This technique is also time saving in comparison to delayed post‐contrast imaging. We prospectively assessed the diagnostic accuracy of MRI including delayed post‐contrast standard MRI, EPI and non‐EPI‐DW sequences in the detection of middle ear cholesteatoma.Methods: We evaluated 35 patients suspected of having cholesteatoma who underwent MRI including delayed post‐contrast MRI, EPI and non‐EPI‐DW sequences prior to their planned surgery, and the MR findings were compared with surgical findings. Two experienced radiologists reported the images. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of MRI were estimated.Results: We detected 26 cases of cholesteatoma at surgery. Sensitivity and specificity of delayed post‐contrast MRI, EPI DW and non‐EPI DW were 73.1 and 77.8%, 61.5 and 88.9%, and 96.2 and 100%, respectively, as interpreted by the first radiologist. Sensitivity and specificity of delayed post‐contrast MRI, EPI‐DW sequence and non‐EPI‐DW sequence were 84.6 and 88.9%, 50 and 88.9%, and 92.3 and 100%, respectively, as interpreted by the second radiologist.Conclusion: The non‐EPI MRI technique is a more accurate method in detecting middle ear cholesteatoma in comparison to other conventional sequences.
Acting fast helps avoid extinction
Authors: Martin Tara G. , Nally Simon , Burbidge Andrew A. , Arnall Sophie , Garnett Stephen T. , Hayward Matt W. , Lumsden Linda F. , Menkhorst Peter , McDonald‐Madden Eve , Possingham Hugh P. 
Published: May 2012

AbstractFailure to act quickly on evidence of rapid population decline has led to the first mammal extinction in Australia in the last 50 years, the Christmas Island Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi). The fate of another iconic species, the migratory Orange‐bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster), monitored intensively for over 20 years, hangs in the balance. To inform future conservation management and decision making, we investigate the decision process that has led to the plight of both species. Our analysis suggests three globally relevant recommendations for minimizing species extinction worldwide: (1) informed, empowered, and responsive governance and leadership is essential; (2) processes that ensure institutional accountability must be in place, and; (3) decisions must be made whilst there is an opportunity to act. The bottom line is that, unless responsive and accountable institutional processes are in place, decisions will be delayed and extinction will occur.
Adalimumab significantly reduces inflammation and serum DKK‐1 level but increases fatty deposition in lumbar spine in active ankylosing spondylitis
Authors: Hu Zaiying , Xu Manlong , Li Qiuxia , Lin Zhiming , Liao Zetao , Cao Shuangyan , Wei Qiujing , Zhang Yan li , Li Tianwang , Jin Ou , Huang Jianlin , Pan Yunfeng , Wu Yuqiong , Deng Xinghe , Gu Jieruo 
Published: May 2012

AbstractAimTo investigate whether adalimumab is effective for active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients and whether it has an impact on the formation of fatty deposition lesions (FDL) and serum Dickkopf homolog 1 (Dkk‐1) level in AS patients.MethodThis was a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study. Active AS patients received 40 mg adalimumab (n = 26) or placebo (n = 20) every other week during an initial 12‐week double‐blind period, and all switched to adalimumab treatment for another 12 weeks. Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Function Index (BASFI), C‐reactive protein (CRP), Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Scores (ASDAS) and serum DKK‐1 levels were measured and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of both the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints were obtained at baseline, week 12 and week 24. Spinal and sacroiliac joint inflammations were evaluated using the Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) MRI index, and FDL were assessed in a dichotomous manner.ResultsObvious improvements in clinical assessments (BASDAI, BASFI, CRP and ASDAS reduced, all P < 0.05), as well as MRI inflammation measurements (both lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints SPARCC scores decreased, all P < 0.05) were shown in active AS patients treated by adalimumab for 12 weeks, but FDL in the lumbar spine seen by MRI increased significantly (P < 0.05) accompanied by decrease of serum DKK‐1 levels (P < 0.05), while FDL remained stable after the treatment of placebo in AS patients.ConclusionOur study found that adalimumab was highly effective in reducing inflammation in active AS patients, but it was accompanied by the formation of FDL in the lumbar spine and decrease in serum DKK‐1 levels.
A Crypt-Specific Core Microbiota Resides in the Mouse Colon
Authors: Pédron Thierry , Mulet Céline , Dauga Catherine , Frangeul Lionel , Chervaux Christian , Grompone Gianfranco , Sansonetti Philippe J. 
Published: May 2012

ABSTRACT

In an attempt to explore the microbial content of functionally critical niches of the mouse gastrointestinal tract, we targeted molecular microbial diagnostics of the crypts that contain the intestinal stem cells, which account for epithelial regeneration. As current evidence indicates, the gut microbiota affects epithelial regeneration; bacteria that are likely to primarily participate in this essential step of the gut, microbiota cross talk, have been identified. We show in this article that only the cecal and colonic crypts harbor resident microbiota in the mouse and that regardless of the line and breeding origin of these mice, this bacterial population is unexpectedly dominated by aerobic genera. Interestingly, this microbiota resembles the restricted microbiota found in the midgut of invertebrates; thus, the presence of our so-called “crypt-specific core microbiota” (CSCM) in the mouse colon potentially reflects a coevolutionary process under selective conditions that can now be addressed. We suggest that CSCM could play both a protective and a homeostatic role within the colon. This article is setting the bases for such studies, particularly by providing a
bona fide
—and essentially cultivable—crypt microbiota of reference.

IMPORTANCE
Metagenomic typing of the whole-gut luminal microbiome was recently provided, revealing great opportunities for physiological and physiopathological analysis of the host-microbiota interface. On this basis, it appears increasingly important to analyze which niches of the gut exposed to a particular microbiota are of major functional importance, specifically focusing on the crypt, which accounts for permanent epithelial renewal, and to analyze how this microbiota compares to its luminal counterpart in composition and quantity. Crypt-specific core microbiotas may show themselves as important elements regarding crypt protection and homeostasis of its functions.
The foot in multistage ultra-marathon runners: experience in a cohort study of 22 participants of the Trans Europe Footrace Project with mobile MRI
Authors: Freund Wolfgang , Weber Frank , Billich Christian , Schuetz Uwe H 
Published: May 2012

Objectives67 runners participated in the Trans Europe FootRace 2009 (TEFR09), a 4487 km (2789 mi) multistage ultra-marathon covering the south of Europe (Bari, Italy) to the North Cape. Reports on ultra-marathons are lacking, but the literature reports overuse injuries in athletes, especially to the Achilles tendon (AT), ankle or hind foot. Bone oedema may be related to exposure and is present in fatigue fractures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine prospectively if sustained maximal load during an ultra-marathon leads to damage to the foot.Design and participantsIn a cohort study, repeated scanning of the 22 athletes participating in the study was performed before and during (approximately every 1000 km) the race. Using the obtained fat saturated inversion recovery sequence, two experienced readers blinded to the clinical data rated the images regarding foot lesions. Statistical analysis included regression analysis and computation of the inter-rater reliability.SettingThe TEFR09 course. MRI scanning was performed according to prearranged schedules for every participant, using a mobile 1.5 Tesla MRI unit on a trailer following the race.Primary outcome measuresMRI data such as AT diameter, bone or tendon lesions, subcutaneous, plantar fascia or intraosseous oedema.ResultsThe 22 study participants did not differ significantly from the total of the 67 TEFR09 runners regarding height, weight and age. The AT diameter increased significantly from 6.8 to 7.8 mm as did intraosseous signal, bone lesions and subcutaneous oedema. However, finishers differed only regarding plantar aponeurosis and subcutaneous oedema from participants aborting the TEFR09. Inter-rater reliability was 0.88–0.98.ConclusionUnder the extreme stress of the TEFR09, an increase of the AT diameter as well as bone signal are thought to be adaptive since only subcutaneous oedema and plantar fascia oedema were related to abortion of the race.Trial registration numberUniversity of Ulm, Germany Ethics Committee Number 78/08-UBB/se.
Lightweight modular staging
Authors: Rompf Tiark , Odersky Martin 
Published: May 2012

Good software engineering practice demands generalization and abstraction, whereas high performance demands specialization and concretization. These goals are at odds, and compilers can only rarely translate expressive high-level programs to modern hardware platforms in a way that makes best use of the available resources.
Generative programming is a promising alternative to fully automatic translation. Instead of writing down the target program directly, developers write a program generator, which produces the target program as its output. The generator can be written in a high-level, generic style and can still produce efficient, specialized target programs. In practice, however, developing high-quality program generators requires a very large effort that is often hard to amortize.

We present
lightweight modular staging
(LMS), a generative programming approach that lowers this effort significantly. LMS seamlessly combines program generator logic with the generated code in a single program, using only types to distinguish the two stages of execution. Through extensive use of component technology, LMS makes a reusable and extensible compiler framework available at the library level, allowing programmers to tightly integrate domain-specific abstractions and optimizations into the generation process, with common generic optimizations provided by the framework.

LMS is well suited to develop embedded domain-specific languages (DSLs) and has been used to develop powerful performance-oriented DSLs for demanding domains such as machine learning, with code generation for heterogeneous platforms including GPUs. LMS has also been used to generate SQL for embedded database queries and JavaScript for web applications.
Exploring topic structure
Authors: He Jiyin 
Published: May 2012

The use of topical information has long been studied in the context of information retrieval. For example, grouping search results into topical categories enables more effective information presentation to users, while grouping documents in a collection can lead to efficient information access. We define a topic as the main theme or subject contained in a (set of) document(s). While topics provide information about the subjects contained in a document, the structure of topics provides information such as the degree to which a set of documents is focused on certain topic (or set of topics), topical diversity among documents, and semantic relatedness of topics.
The work of this thesis focuses on modeling the structure of topics present in a (set of) document(s), with the goal of effectively using it in information retrieval. In particular, we consider a number of IR tasks where the notion of relevance is beyond "aboutness" and topic structure plays an important role in satisfying users' information need. The following research themes are addressed, in three parts: (1) topic coherence, (2) diversity and the cluster hypothesis, and (3) relating topics present in different representations.
With respect to the first research theme, we develop a coherence measure that effectively captures topical coherence of a set of documents. The proposed measure is applied to two IR tasks, namely, blog feed retrieval and query performance prediction.
In the second part of the thesis, we explore the impact of topic structure on effectively presenting retrieval results, with a focus on the scenario of result diversification. We re-visit the cluster hypothesis with respect to ambiguous or multi-faceted queries and investigate the effectiveness of query-specific clustering in result diversification.
Topics can be represented in different ways, e.g., using clusters, using definitions from a thesaurus, using statistics of term frequencies, etc. In the third part of the thesis, we study the problem of relating topics represented in different forms within the context of automatic link generation. We identify a set of significant terms from a source text, link those terms to their corresponding entries in a knowledge base in such a way that the source text is annotated with background information available in the knowledge base. We conduct a case study in automatically generating links from narrative radiology reports to Wikipedia. Such links are expected to help users understand the medical terminology and thereby increase the value of the reports. Here we evaluate state-of-the-art link generation systems and propose an approach that improves over state-of-the-art systems on radiology data.
Available online at http://dare.uva.nl/record/377895.
Study of result presentation and interaction for aggregated search
Authors: Sushmita Shanu 
Published: May 2012

"Searching" on web has become an integral part of today's world, and many people rely on it when looking for information. The amount and the diversity of information available on the Web have also increased dramatically. Due to which, search engine companies are making constant efforts in order to make this information accessible to the people effectively. Not only there is an increase in the amount and diversity of information available online, users are now often seeking information on broader topics. Users seeking information on broad topics, gather information from various information sources (e.g., image, video, news, blog, etc). For such information requests, not only web results but results from different document genre and multimedia contents are also becoming relevant. For instance, users' looking for information on "Glasgow" might be interested in web results about Glasgow, Map of Glasgow, Images of Glasgow, News of Glasgow, and so on.
Aggregated search aims to provide access to this diverse information in a unified manner by aggregating results from different information sources on a single result page; hence making information gathering process easier for broad topics. This thesis aimed to explore aggregated search from the users perspective.
The thesis first and foremost focused on understanding and describing the phenomena related to the users' search process in the context of aggregated search. The goal was to participate in building theories and in understanding constraints, as well as providing insights into the interface design.
While the thematic (or topical) relevance of documents is important, this thesis argued that the "source type" (source-orientation) might also be an important dimension in the relevance space for investigating aggregated search. Therefore, relevance is multi-dimensional (topical and sourceorientated) within the context of aggregated search. Results from the study suggested that the effect of the source-orientation was a significant factor in an aggregated search scenario, hence adding another dimension to the relevance space within the aggregated search scenario. The thesis further presented a method, which combines rule base and machine learning techniques to identify source-orientation behind a user query.
Furthermore, after analyzing log data from a search engine company and conducting user study experiments, several design issues that may arise with respect to the aggregated search interface were identified. In order to address these issues, suitable design guidelines that can be beneficial from the interface perspective were also suggested.
Overall, the thesis aimed to explore the emerging aggregated search from users' perspective, since it is a very important for front-end technologies. An additional goal was to provide empirical evidence regarding how aggregated search influence users searching behavior, and identified some of the key challenges in aggregated search.
Available online at: http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3289/.
Molecular Pathways: Involving Microenvironment Damage Responses in Cancer Therapy Resistance
Authors: Sun Yu , Nelson Peter S. 
Published: May 2012

Abstract
The armamentarium of therapeutics used to treat cancer patients relies heavily on ionizing radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs that severely damage DNA. Tumor cells' responses to such treatments are heavily influenced by their environment: Physical contacts with structural elements such as the extracellular matrix, associations with resident and transitory benign cells such as fibroblasts and leukocytes, and interactions with numerous soluble endocrine and paracrine-acting factors all modulate tumor-cell behavior. Of importance, this complex tumor microenvironment is not static and dynamically responds to a variety of stimuli. Here, we describe emerging data indicating that genotoxic cancer treatments activate highly conserved damage response programs in benign constituents of the tumor microenvironment. These damage signals, transmitted via master regulators such as NF-κB, culminate in a powerful and diverse secretory program that generates a proangiogenic, proinflammatory microenvironment. Constituents of this program include interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, hepatocyte growth factor, amphiregulin, matrix metalloproteinases, and other factors that have been shown to promote adverse tumor-cell phenotypes, such as enhanced resistance to treatment and rapid tumor repopulation. A detailed understanding of these survival signals induced in the context of genotoxic stress provides a platform for developing combinatorial treatment strategies that take into account malignant cells, the tumor microenvironment, and the dynamics exerted by the treatment itself. Clin Cancer Res; 18(15); 4019–25. ©2012 AACR.
Effects of Category Learning on Neural Sensitivity to Non-native Phonetic Categories
Authors: Myers Emily B. , Swan Kristen 
Published: May 2012

Abstract
Categorical perception, an increased sensitivity to between- compared with within-category contrasts, is a stable property of native speech perception that emerges as language matures. Although recent research suggests that categorical responses to speech sounds can be found in left prefrontal as well as temporo-parietal areas, it is unclear how the neural system develops heightened sensitivity to between-category contrasts. In the current study, two groups of adult participants were trained to categorize speech sounds taken from a dental/retroflex/velar continuum according to two different boundary locations. Behavioral results suggest that for successful learners, categorization training led to increased discrimination accuracy for between-category contrasts with no concomitant increase for within-category contrasts. Neural responses to the learned category schemes were measured using a short-interval habituation design during fMRI scanning. Whereas both inferior frontal and temporal regions showed sensitivity to phonetic contrasts sampled from the continuum, only the bilateral middle frontal gyri exhibited a pattern consistent with encoding of the learned category scheme. Taken together, these results support a view in which top–down information about category membership may reshape perceptual sensitivities via attention or executive mechanisms in the frontal lobes.
Limitations of Seasonal Predictability for Summer Climate over East Asia and the Northwestern Pacific
Authors: Kosaka Yu , Chowdary J. S. , Xie Shang-Ping , Min Young-Mi , Lee June-Yi 
Published: May 2012

Predictability of summer climate anomalies over East Asia and the northwestern Pacific is investigated using observations and a multimodel hindcast ensemble initialized on 1 May for the recent 20–30 yr. Summertime East Asia is under the influence of the northwestern Pacific subtropical high (PASH). The Pacific–Japan (PJ) teleconnection pattern, a meridional dipole of sea level pressure variability, affects the northwestern PASH. The forecast models generally capture the association of the PJ pattern with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The Silk Road pattern, a wave train along the summer Asian jet, is another dominant teleconnection that influences the northwestern PASH and East Asia. In contrast to the PJ pattern, observational analysis reveals a lack of correlations between the Silk Road pattern and ENSO. Coupled models cannot predict the temporal phase of the Silk Road pattern, despite their ability to reproduce its spatial structure as the leading mode of atmospheric internal variability. Thus, the pattern is rather unpredictable at monthly to seasonal lead, limiting the seasonal predictability for summer in East Asia. The anomalous summer of 2010 in East Asia is a case in point, illustrating the interference by the Silk Road pattern. Canonical anomalies associated with a decayed El Niño and developing La Niña would have the PJ pattern bring a cold summer to East Asia in 2010. In reality, the Silk Road pattern overwhelmed this tendency, bringing a record-breaking hot summer instead. A dynamical model experiment indicates that European blocking was instrumental in triggering the Silk Road pattern in the 2010 summer.
Understanding the Changing Characteristics of Droughts in Sudan and the Corresponding Components of the Hydrologic Cycle
Authors: Zhang Zengxin , Xu Chong-Yu , Yong Bin , Hu Junjun , Sun Zhonghua 
Published: May 2012

AbstractDroughts are becoming the most expensive natural disasters in former Sudan and have exerted serious impacts on local economic development and ecological environment. The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of the temporal and spatial variations of droughts by using the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) and to discuss their relevance to the changes of hydrological variables in Sudan. The analysis results show that 1) droughts start in the late 1960s in Sudan and severe droughts occur during the 1980s in different regions of Sudan—the annual precipitation and soil moisture also reveal the evidence that the droughts prevail since the late 1960s; 2) the greater negative soil moistures anomalies are found in central and southern Sudan during the rainy seasons while greater negative anomalies of precipitation occur only in central Sudan compared between 1969–2009 and 1948–68; 3) the precipitation recycling ratio averaged over 1948–2009 decreases from south to north and the percentage of local actual evapotranspiration to local precipitation in dry conditions is greater than that in wet conditions; and 4) the highest (second highest) correlations appear between soil moisture and precipitation (actual evapotranspiration) and the significant decreases in annual soil moisture are associated with the decrease of annual precipitation and the increase of annual temperature. This suggests that continuous droughts in Sudan are caused jointly by the decrease of precipitation and the increase of temperature in the region.