bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Applicability of a combination of hemoglobin A1c and fasting plasma glucose in population‐based prediabetes screening
Authors: Okosun Ike S. , Davis‐Smith Monique , Paul Seale J. , Ngulefac John 
Published: January 2012

AbstractBackground:  The purpose of this study is to determine: (i) the concordance between a combination of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (HbA1c + FPG) and a combination of FPG and 2‐h plasma glucose (2hPG) (FPG + 2hPG); and (ii) whether substituting FPG + 2hPG with HbA1c + FPG can enhance the detection of prediabetes in diabetes‐free non‐Hispanic Whites, non‐Hispanic Blacks, and Mexican–Americans adults.Methods:  Data (n = 1376) from the 2007 to 2008 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were used for this investigation. Prediabetes cut points were determined using 5.7–6.4%, 100–125, and 140–199 mg/dL for HbA1c, FPG, and 2hPG, respectively. Concordances between HbA1c and FPG, HbA1c and 2hPG, HbA1c + FPG and FPG + 2hPG in screening for undiagnosed prediabetes were determined using sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios.Results:  The overall concordance between HbA1c + FPG and FPG + 2hPG in screening for prediabetes was high, as indicated by a sensitivity of 92.4% (95% CI = 90.5–94.5) and specificity of 84.1% (81.2–87.0). The application of HbA1c + FPG was associated with a higher prevalence of prediabetes compared to FPG + 2hPG. Compared with FPG + 2hPG, screening with HbA1c + FPG was associated with 3.2%, 24.3%, and 4.2% relative increases in the identification of prediabetes in nondiabetic non‐Hispanic Whites, non‐Hispanic Blacks and Mexican–Americans, respectively.Conclusions:  The enhanced prevalence of prediabetes using HbA1c + FPG compared with FPG + 2hPG calls for the need to redefine at a more basic and practical level how to apply HbA1c in screening for prediabetes. A redefined HbA1c that incorporates FPG, age, race/ethnicity, and body mass index may be a better way to use HbA1c in population‐based and clinical settings.
Durability of the effect of online diabetes training for medical residents on knowledge, confidence, and inpatient glycemia
Authors: TAMLER Ronald , GREEN Dina E. , SKAMAGAS Maria , BREEN Tracy L. , LU Kevin , LOOKER Helen C. , BABYATSKY Mark , LEROITH Derek 
Published: January 2012

AbstractBackground:  Inpatient dysglycemia is associated with increased morbidity, mortality and cost. Medical education must not only address knowledge gaps, but also improve clinical care.Methods:  All 129 medicine residents at a large academic medical center were offered a case‐based online curriculum on the management of inpatient dysglycemia in the fall of 2009. First‐year residents took a 3‐h course with 10 modules. Second and third‐year residents, who had been educated the prior year, underwent abbreviated training. All residents were offered a 20‐min refresher course in the spring of 2009. We assessed resident knowledge, resident confidence, and patient glycemia on two teaching wards before and after the initial intervention, as well as after the refresher course.Results:  A total of 117 residents (91%) completed the initial training; 299 analyzed admissions generated 11 089 blood glucose values and 4799 event blood glucose values. Admissions with target glycemia increased from 19.4% to 33.0% (P = 0.035) by the end of the curriculum. There was a strong downward trend in hyperglycemia from 22.4% to 11.3% (P = 0.055) without increased hypoglycemia. Confidence and knowledge increased significantly among first‐time and repeat participants. Residents rated the intervention as highly relevant to their practice and technologically well implemented.Conclusion:  Optimization of an online curriculum covering the management of inpatient glycemia over the course of 2 years led to significantly more admissions in the target glycemia range. Given its scalability, modularity and applicability, this web‐based educational intervention may become the standard curriculum for the management of inpatient glycemia.
Glutamatergic signaling in cellular transformation
Authors: Teh Jessica L. F. , Chen Suzie 
Published: January 2012

SummaryThe role of the glutamatergic system in cancer cell homeostasis has expanded exponentially over the last decade. Once thought to participate only in synaptic transmission and neuronal excitability, the presence of functional glutamate receptors has since been demonstrated in peripheral tissues. Most notable is the implication of glutamate receptors in the pathophysiology of various human malignancies. We previously described the oncogenic properties of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (Grm1), a G‐protein‐coupled receptor in melanoma development in vivo. TG‐3, a transgenic mouse line, developed spontaneous melanoma with 100% penetrance in the absence of any known stimuli. Stable Grm1‐mouse melanocytic clones display transformed phenotypes in vitro and were aggressively tumorigenic in vivo. Recent reports from other groups implicate two additional members of the metabotropic glutamate receptor family in melanomagenesis, overexpression of mGluR5 and activating mutations in GRM3. These findings highlight a previously underappreciated link between the glutamate signaling pathway and oncogenesis in melanoma biology, raising exciting possibilities in elucidating mechanisms in melanocyte transformation and exploring glutamate receptors as novel therapeutic targets. Here we further consider the potential mechanisms by which glutamate receptors can function as an oncogene leading to malignant transformation.
Clinicopathological Variables Predicting Progression of Azotemia in Cats with Chronic Kidney Disease
Authors: Chakrabarti S. , Syme H.M. , Elliott J. 
Published: January 2012

BackgroundChronic kidney disease (CKD) is common in geriatric cats, but often appears to be stable for long periods of time.ObjectivesTo describeCKDprogression and identify risk factors for progression in newly diagnosed azotemic cats.AnimalsA total of 213 cats withCKD(plasma creatinine concentration > 2 mg/dL, urine specific gravity < 1.035) were followed up until progression occurred or for at least 1 year; 132, 73, and 8 cats were in International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) stages 2, 3, and 4, respectively.MethodsProgression was defined as a 25% increase in plasma creatinine concentration. Logistic regression was used to assess variables at diagnosis that were associated with progression within 1 year. Changes inIRISstage during follow‐up also were described. Cases that remained in stages 2 or 3, but did not have renal function assessed in the last 60 days of life, were excluded from analysis of the proportion reaching stage 4.ResultsOf the cats, 47% (101) progressed within 1 year of diagnosis. High plasma phosphate concentration and high urine protein‐to‐creatinine ratio (UPC) predicted progression in all cats. LowPCVand highUPCindependently predicted progression in stage 2 cats, whereas higher plasma phosphate concentration predicted progression in stage 3 cats; 19% (18/94) of cats diagnosed in stage 2; and 63% (34/54) of cats diagnosed in stage 3 reached stage 4 before they died.ConclusionsProteinuria, anemia, and hyperphosphatemia may reflect more progressive kidney disease. Alternatively, they may be markers for mechanisms of progression such as tubular protein overload, hypoxia, and nephrocalcinosis.
Isorhythmic Atrioventricular Dissociation in Labrador Retrievers
Authors: Perego M. , Ramera L. , Santilli R.A. 
Published: January 2012

BackgroundIsorhythmic atrioventricular dissociation (IAVD) is a rhythm disturbance in which atria and ventricles are driven by independent pacemakers at equal or nearly equal rates.ObjectivesTo describe electrocardiographic and electrophysiologic features of IAVD in a group of 11 Labrador Retrievers and its possible correlation with focal junctional tachycardia (FJT).AnimalsBetween December 2004 and October 2010, medical records of 11 Labrador Retrievers with surface electrocardiographic findings compatible with IAVD were retrospectively analyzed.MethodsTwelve‐lead surface electrocardiograms, thoracic radiographs, and echocardiographic findings of each dog and electrophysiologic mapping results of 3 dogs were retrospectively analyzed.ResultsIn 10 of 11 dogs, the ECG pattern revealed the presence of IAVD with type I synchronization. In 5 of 10 dogs, IAVD with type I synchronization was interrupted by periods of junctional tachycardia with 1 : 1 ventriculo‐atrial conduction. One of 11 dogs presented IAVD with type II synchronization. The ECG diagnosis of IAVD with type I and type II synchronization, and junctional rhythm with 1 : 1 ventriculo‐atrial conduction was confirmed in 3 of 11 dogs with endocardial mapping in which the diagnosis of focal junctional tachycardia was made.Conclusion and Clinical ImportanceIAVD with type I synchronization is more common than IAVD with type II synchronization in Labrador Retrievers, and a correlation between IAVD and FJT can be hypothesized.
Exploring liars’ strategies for creating deceptive reports
Authors: Leins Drew A. , Fisher Ronald P. , Ross Stephen J. 
Published: January 2012

Purpose. Most past research on detecting deception has relied on the assumption that liars often fabricate a story to account for their whereabouts, whereas truth tellers simply recall an autobiographical memory. However, little research has examined whether liars, when free to choose the topic of their own reports, will actually choose to fabricate information rather than use a different strategy for constructing their lies. We describe two studies that evaluated liars’ strategies for selecting the content of their lies when given the freedom to choose whatever content they desired.Method. In Studies 1 (N= 35) and 2 (N= 22) participants (a) described a truthful story in order to identify a salient event, then (b) lied about the event, and finally (c) described their strategies for choosing the content of the reported lies.Results. Liars overwhelmingly chose to report a previously experienced event for the time period they were to be deceptive about (67% and 86% in Studies 1 and 2, respectively). The majority of discrete details reported were experienced, occurred relatively frequently, occurred relatively recently, and were typical or routine.Conclusions. These findings have significant implications for the development of cognitive‐based interventions for detecting deception. In particular, some methods of deception that rely on content analysis may be ineffective if liars choose to report previous experiences rather than outright fabrications.
Recruitment of resting vesicles into recycling pools supports NMDA receptor‐dependent synaptic potentiation in cultured hippocampal neurons
Authors: Ratnayaka Arjuna , Marra Vincenzo , Bush Daniel , Burden Jemima J , Branco Tiago , Staras Kevin 
Published: January 2012

Key points
Presynaptic terminals in hippocampal neurons are characterized by two functionally defined vesicle populations: a recycling pool, which supports activity‐evoked neurotransmission, and a resting pool.
Between individual synapses, the relative proportions of these two pools are highly variable, suggesting that this parameter might be specifically regulated to support changes in synaptic efficacy.
Using fluorescence imaging and correlative ultrastructural approaches we show here that a form of synaptic potentiation dependent on N‐methyl‐d‐aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor activity can lead to a rapid and sustained expansion of the recycling fraction at the expense of the resting pool.
This recruitment of vesicles depends on nitric oxide signalling and calcineurin activity, and is accompanied by an increase in synaptic release probability.
We suggest that vesicle exchange between these pools provides a rapid mechanism to support adjustments in synaptic strength associated with a form of Hebbian plasticity.
In Vitro
Potency and
In Vivo
Efficacy of a Novel Bis-Indole Antimicrobial Compound in Reducing Catheter Colonization
Authors: Mansouri Mohammad D. , Opperman Timothy J. , Williams John D. , Stager Charles , Darouiche Rabih O. 
Published: January 2012

ABSTRACT

Vascular catheters coated with a novel antimicrobial agent (MBX1631) were studied for their ability to protect against bacterial colonization
in vitro
and in a rabbit model. MBX1631-coated catheters were significantly less likely to become colonized than control catheters both
in vitro
and
in vivo
(
P
< 0.001). Furthermore, device-associated infection was significantly lower in MBX1631-coated catheters than in uncoated ones (
P
< 0.005).
Diverse Mobilized Class 1 Integrons Are Common in the Chromosomes of Pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa Clinical Isolates
Authors: Martinez Elena , Marquez Carolina , Ingold Ana , Merlino John , Djordjevic Steven P. , Stokes H. W. , Roy Chowdhury Piklu 
Published: January 2012

ABSTRACT

Eleven clinical class 1 integron-containing
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
isolates from Australia and Uruguay were investigated for the genomic locations of these elements. Several novel class 1 integrons/transposons were found in at least four distinct locations in the chromosome, including genomic islands. These elements seem to be undergoing successful dispersal by lateral gene transfer since integrons were identified across several lineages and more than one clonal line.
Adaptive Uncertainty Resolution in Bayesian Combinatorial Optimization Problems
Authors: Guha Sudipto , Munagala Kamesh 
Published: January 2012

In several applications such as databases, planning, and sensor networks, parameters such as selectivity, load, or sensed values are known only with some associated uncertainty. The performance of such a system (as captured by some objective function over the parameters) is significantly improved if some of these parameters can be probed or observed. In a resource constrained situation, deciding which parameters to observe in order to optimize system performance, itself becomes an interesting and important optimization problem. This general problem is the focus of this article.
One of the most important considerations in this framework is whether adaptivity is required for the observations. Adaptive observations introduce blocking or sequential operations in the system whereas nonadaptive observations can be performed in parallel. One of the important questions in this regard is to characterize the benefit of adaptivity for probes and observation.
We present general techniques for designing constant factor approximations to the optimal observation schemes for several widely used scheduling and metric objective functions. We show a unifying technique that relates this optimization problem to the outlier version of the corresponding deterministic optimization. By making this connection, our technique shows constant factor upper bounds for the benefit of adaptivity of the observation schemes. We show that while probing yields significant improvement in the objective function, being adaptive about the probing is not beneficial beyond constant factors.
Researchers' big data crisis; understanding design and functionality
Authors: Stonebraker Michael , Hong Jason 
Published: January 2012

The
Communications
Web site, http://cacm.acm.org, features more than a dozen bloggers in the BLOG@CACM community. In each issue of
Communications
, we'll publish selected posts or excerpts.

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Michael Stonebraker issues a call to arms about research groups' data-management problems. Jason Hong discusses the nature of functionality with respect to design
.
Approximate graph clustering for program characterization
Authors: Demme John , Sethumadhavan Simha 
Published: January 2012

An important aspect of system optimization research is the discovery of program traits or behaviors. In this paper, we present an automated method of program characterization which is able to examine and cluster program graphs, i.e., dynamic data graphs or control flow graphs. Our novel approximate graph clustering technology allows users to find groups of program fragments which contain similar code idioms or patterns in data reuse, control flow, and context. Patterns of this nature have several potential applications including development of new static or dynamic optimizations to be implemented in software or in hardware.
For the SPEC CPU 2006 suite of benchmarks, our results show that approximate graph clustering is effective at grouping behaviorally similar functions. Graph based clustering also produces clusters that are more homogeneous than previously proposed non-graph based clustering methods. Further qualitative analysis of the clustered functions shows that our approach is also able to identify some frequent unexploited program behaviors. These results suggest that our approximate graph clustering methods could be very useful for program characterization.
On the evaluation of the impact of shared resources in multithreaded COTS processors in time-critical environments
Authors: Radojković Petar , Girbal Sylvain , Grasset Arnaud , Quiñones Eduardo , Yehia Sami , Cazorla Francisco J. 
Published: January 2012

Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) processors are now commonly used in real-time embedded systems. The characteristics of these processors fulfill system requirements in terms of time-to-market, low cost, and high performance-per-watt ratio. However, multithreaded (MT) processors are still not widely used in real-time systems because the timing analysis is too complex. In MT processors, simultaneously-running tasks share and compete for processor resources, so the timing analysis has to estimate the possible impact that the inter-task interferences have on the execution time of the applications.
In this paper, we propose a method that quantifies the slowdown that simultaneously-running tasks may experience due to collision in shared processor resources. To that end, we designed benchmarks that stress specific processor resources and we used them to (1) estimate the upper limit of a slowdown that simultaneously-running tasks may experience because of collision in different shared processor resources, and (2) quantify the sensitivity of time-critical applications to collision in these resources. We used the presented method to determine if a given MT processor is a good candidate for systems with timing requirements. We also present a case study in which the method is used to analyze three multithreaded architectures exhibiting different configurations of resource sharing. Finally, we show that measuring the slowdown that real applications experience when simultaneously-running with resource-stressing benchmarks is an important step in measurement-based timing analysis. This information is a base for incremental verification of MT COTS architectures.
SYRANT: SYmmetric resource allocation on not-taken and taken paths
Authors: Premillieu Nathanael , Seznec Andre 
Published: January 2012

In the multicore era, achieving ultimate single process performance is still an issue e.g. for single process workload or for sequential sections in parallel applications. Unfortunately, despite tremendous research effort on branch prediction, substantial performance potential is still wasted due to branch mispredictions. On a branch misprediction resolution, instruction treatment on the wrong path is essentially thrown away. However, in most cases after a conditional branch, the taken and the not-taken paths of execution merge after a few instructions. Instructions that follow the reconvergence point are executed whatever the branch outcome is.
We present SYRANT (SYmmetric Resource Allocation on Not-taken and Taken paths), a new technique for exploiting control independence. SYRANT essentially uses the same pipeline structure as a conventional processor. SYRANT tries to enforce the allocation of the exact same resources on the out-of-order execution mechanism (physical register, load/store queue and reorder buffer) for both the taken and not-taken paths. Thus, on a branch misprediction, the result of an instruction already executed on the wrong path after the reconvergence point can be conserved in the same structure when it is data independent. Adding SYRANT on top of an aggressive superscalar execution core allows to improve performance for applications suffering a significant branch misprediction rate.
As a side, but important extra contribution, we introduce ABL/SBL a simple and non-intrusive hardware reconvergence detection mechanism. ABL/SBL can be used in a conventional superscalar processor to improve branch prediction accuracy by exploiting the execution of branches along the wrong path.
sFtree
Authors: Bogdanski Bartosz , Reinemo Sven-Arne , Sem-Jacobsen Frank Olaf , Gran Ernst Gunnar 
Published: January 2012

Existing fat-tree routing algorithms fully exploit the path diversity of a fat-tree topology in the context of compute node traffic, but they lack support for deadlock-free and fully connected switch-to-switch communication. Such support is crucial for efficient system management, for example, in InfiniBand (IB) systems. With the general increase in system management capabilities found in modern InfiniBand switches, the lack of deadlock-free switch-to-switch communication is a problem for fat-tree-based IB installations because management traffic might cause routing deadlocks that bring the whole system down. This lack of deadlock-free communication affects all system management and diagnostic tools using LID routing.
In this paper, we propose the sFtree routing algorithm that guarantees deadlock-free and fully connected switch-to-switch communication in fat-trees while maintaining the properties of the current fat-tree algorithm. We prove that the algorithm is deadlock free and we implement it in OpenSM for evaluation. We evaluate the performance of the sFtree algorithm experimentally on a small cluster and we do a large-scale evaluation through simulations. The results confirm that the sFtree routing algorithm is deadlock-free and show that the impact of switch-to-switch management traffic on the end-node traffic is negligible.
CD44 Proteolysis Increases CREB Phosphorylation and Sustains Proliferation of Thyroid Cancer Cells
Authors: De Falco Valentina , Tamburrino Anna , Ventre Simona , Castellone Maria Domenica , Malek Mouhannad , Manié Serge N. , Santoro Massimo 
Published: January 2012

Abstract
CD44 is a marker of cancer stem-like cells and epithelial–mesenchymal transition that is overexpressed in many cancer types, including thyroid carcinoma. At extracellular and intramembranous domains, CD44 undergoes sequential metalloprotease- and γ-secretase–mediated proteolytic cleavage, releasing the intracellular protein fragment CD44-ICD, which translocates to the nucleus and activates gene transcription. Here, we show that CD44-ICD binds to the transcription factor CREB, increasing S133 phosphorylation and CREB-mediated gene transcription. CD44-ICD enhanced CREB recruitment to the cyclin D1 promoter, promoting cyclin D1 transcription and cell proliferation. Thyroid carcinoma cells harboring activated RET/PTC, RAS, or BRAF oncogenes exhibited CD44 cleavage and CD44-ICD accumulation. Chemical blockade of RET/PTC, BRAF, metalloprotease, or γ-secretase were each sufficient to blunt CD44 processing. Furthermore, thyroid cancer cell proliferation was obstructed by RNA interference–mediated knockdown of CD44 or inhibition of γ-secretase and adoptive CD44-ICD overexpression rescued cell proliferation. Together, these findings reveal a CD44-CREB signaling pathway that is needed to sustain cancer cell proliferation, potentially offering new molecular targets for therapeutic intervention in thyroid carcinoma. Cancer Res; 72(6); 1449–58. ©2012 AACR.