bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sensorineural hearing loss in sickle cell disease—A prospective study from Oman
Authors: Okbi Muhammed Hesham Al , Alkindi Salam , Al Abri Rashid K. , Mathew John , Nagwa Afarida A. , Pathare Anil V. 
Published: January 2011

AbstractBackground:Sickle cell disease (SCD) is characterized by intermittent episodes of vascular occlusion and end‐organ damage. Neurologic symptoms are frequent and auditory involvement is not unexpected.Aim:To study the prevalence and pattern of hearing loss in Omani patients with SCD.Methods:We conducted a prospective case control study on SCD patients attending the outpatient department. Age and sex matched normal volunteer blood donor controls were recruited after an informed consent and Medical Ethics Committee approval. Pure tone audiometry was performed in all cases studied.Results:Forty‐six SCD patients (15 males, 32.6%) aged 16–45 years with a mean age of 26 years ± 6.9 and 29 controls (10 males, 34.4%) aged 16–39 years with a mean age of 25.24 ± 8.2 were enrolled in this study. The average hearing thresholds of SCD patients were consistently higher than controls in all frequencies tested in both ears. Of the 92 ears tested in SCD patients, 29.34% had SNHL. Ten patients had bilateral SNHL; whereas 3 and 4 cases had SNHL in left and right ears, respectively. All the control subjects had hearing thresholds within normal limits.Summary/Conclusions:The study reveals a significant incidence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in SCD patients (36.95%), although the patients were clinically asymptomatic. The hearing loss was worse in the right ears and had a female preponderance. Also, the hearing loss was more severe at the higher frequencies, 2,000–8,000 Hz in SCD patients. HbS, HbF, or low hemoglobin levels did not discriminate SCD patients with SNHL, and the role of hemoglobin F in the cochlea is still not clear. Regular audiometric assessment should therefore be recommended in SCD patients routinely. Laryngoscope, 2011
Causes of permanent childhood hearing impairment
Authors: Korver Anna M.H. , Admiraal Ronald J.C. , Kant Sarina G. , Dekker Friedo W. , Wever Capi C. , Kunst Henricus P.M. , Frijns Johan H.M. , Oudesluys ‐Murphy Anne Marie ,   on behalf of the DECIBEL‐collaborative study group
Published: January 2011

AbstractIntroduction:The causes of Permanent Childhood Hearing Impairment (PCHI) are often quoted as being hereditary in 50%, acquired in 25%, and unknown in 25% of cases. Interest in the causes of PCHI has grown recently due to increasing diagnostic possibilities. We investigated the evidence for the reported distribution of these causes.Methods:Population‐based study and a systematic review. Inclusion criteria for population‐based study: children born between 2003 and 2005, resident in The Netherlands at birth, known at an Audiology Center with PCHI at the age of 3–5 years. The causes of PCHI were determined prospectively by detection of congenital cytomegalovirus on dried blood spots and/or genetic diagnostic investigations in addition to reviewing data from medical records. A systematic review was carried out using three terms (hearing loss, infant, and etiology) and limited to articles published between January 1997 and July 2009. Main outcome measures were: the (weighted) proportions of the various causes of PCHI following diagnostic investigations.Results:In the study‐population (n = 185) a hereditary cause was found in 38.9%, acquired cause in 29.7%, miscellaneous cause in 7.1%, and the cause remained unknown in 24.3%. The systematic review of the literature (n = 9 articles) resulted in a weighted mean of 30.4% hereditary, 19.2% acquired, and 48.3% unknown causes of PCHI.Discussion:The systematic review and the results of the population‐based study provided little support for the generally accepted distribution of causes of PCHI. Laryngoscope, 2011
Synchronous second primary tumors in 2,016 head and neck cancer patients: Role of symptom‐directed panendoscopy
Authors: Rennemo Erlend , Zätterström Ulf , Boysen Morten 
Published: January 2011

AbstractObjectives/Hypothesis:Second primary tumors (SPTs) are prevalent in head and neck cancer patients. Synchronous SPTs occur within the first 6 months after diagnosis of a first primary tumor. Work‐up of first primary head and neck cancers may include panendoscopy if SPTs are suspected. It is unclear whether this strategy has significant impact on treatment results.Study Design:Prospectively recorded data on head and neck cancer patients treated at an academic tertiary referral center.Methods:The distribution of SPTs was retrieved from a database of 2,016 patients with head and neck cancer. Initial work‐up included panendoscopy when an SPT was clinically suspected.Results:Of 2,016 patients, 49 (2.4%) had synchronous SPTs. Of these, there were 26 diagnosed simultaneously with the first primary tumor, of which 18 (69%) were located in areas covered by panendoscopy. The remaining 23 were nonsimultaneous synchronous SPTs; 10 of them were located at sites accessible by panendoscopy, of which 6 were in the bronchial tree. Median survival after simultaneous SPTs was 9 months versus 3 months after nonsimultaneous synchronous SPTs (P= not significant). The highest frequency of synchronous SPTs was seen with first primary tumors of the hard palate, the dorsum of the tongue, and of the mandibular gingiva.Conclusions:Symptom‐directed panendoscopy at initial work‐up was successful at finding SPTs of the upper aerodigestive tract, but not SPTs located in the lower airways. Synchronous SPTs missed at initial work‐up did not have significantly worse prognosis than simultaneous SPTs. Laryngoscope, 2011
An architecture and a dynamic scheduling algorithm of grid for providing security for real‐time data‐intensive applications
Authors: Islam Mohd Rafiqul , Hasan Mohd Toufiq , Ashaduzzaman G. M. 
Published: January 2011

AbstractReal‐time data‐intensive applications with security concerns are arising in many disciplines of science and engineering. Scheduling algorithms play an important role in the design of real‐time data‐intensive applications. However, conventional real‐time scheduling algorithms are inappropriate to fulfill the security requirements of real‐time data‐intensive applications. In this paper we have proposed a security‐attentive dynamic real‐time scheduling algorithm named SARDIG for scheduling real‐time data‐intensive applications. We have proposed a grid architecture which describes the scheduling framework of real‐time data‐intensive applications. In addition, we have introduced a mathematical model for providing security of the real‐time data‐intensive applications and a security gain function to quantitatively measure the security enhancement for applications running in the grid sites. We have also proved that the SARDIG algorithm always provides optimum security for real‐time data‐intensive applications. The time complexity of the SARDIG algorithm has been analyzed to show the efficiency of the algorithm. Simulation results show that the SARDIG algorithm provides better performance and security than other existing scheduling algorithms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Improving UDP performance using intermediate QoD‐aware hop system for wired/wireless multimedia communication systems
Authors: Darabkh Khalid , Aygün Ramazan 
Published: January 2011

AbstractMultimedia communication in wireless networks is challenging due to the inherent complexity and constraints of multimedia data. To reduce the high bandwidth requirement of video streaming, videos are compressed by exploiting spatial and temporal redundancy, thus yielding dependencies among frames as well as within a frame. Unnecessary transmission and maintenance of useless packets in the buffers cause further loss and degrade the quality of delivery (QoD) significantly. In this paper, we propose a QoD‐aware hop system that can decide when and which packets could be dropped without degrading QoD. Moreover, the transmission of useless packets causes network congestion and vain payment by the wireless system subscriber. In this paper, we focus on two types of frame discarding policies to maintain QoD: partial frame discarding policy (PFD) and early frame discarding policy (EFD). PFD policy discards the succeeding packets of a frame if a packet of the frame cannot be served. On the other hand, in EFD policy, when it is likely to fail to serve packets of a frame (based on a threshold) the subsequent packets of the frame are discarded. We first provide an analytical study of average buffer occupancy based on these discarding policies and show the closed‐form expressions for average buffer occupancy. We then perform our simulations by implementing a Markovian model and measure the frameput (the ratio of number of frames served) rather than the number of packets served. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A note on ℝ‐linear GMRES for solving a class of ℝ‐linear systems
Authors: Du Kui , Nevanlinna Olavi 
Published: January 2011

SUMMARYWe prove that ℝ‐linear GMRES for solving a class of ℝ‐linear systems is faster than GMRES applied to the related ℂ‐linear systems in terms of matrix–vector products. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the theoretical result. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prenatal screening for Down syndrome: a survey of willingness in women and family physicians to engage in shared decision‐making
Authors: Légaré France , St‐Jacques Sylvie , Gagnon Susie , Njoya Merlin , Brisson Michel , Frémont Pierre , Rousseau François 
Published: January 2011

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the willingness of women and their family physicians (FPs) to engage in shared decision‐making (SDM) as regards prenatal Down‐syndrome screening and the factors that might influence their willingness to do so.MethodsWe conducted a survey of participants in Québec City, Canada, using the theory of planned behavior. We used a general linear model and multilevel approach that took the fact that some women consulted the same FP into account.ResultsThis study comprised 109 pregnant women and 41 FPs. On a scale of − 3 to + 3, the pregnant women's and FPs' response scores were, respectively, 2.11 ± 1.38 and 2.66 ± 0.40. In women, attitude, significant others, self‐efficacy, perceived moral correctness, and their FP's attitude influenced their willingness to engage in SDM. However, women without a post‐secondary education were less likely to engage in SDM than women with a post‐secondary education, mostly because the former lacked a sense of self‐efficacy. In FPs, only attitude and significant others influenced their willingness to engage in SDM.ConclusionOverall, the women and their FPs wished to engage in SDM as regards prenatal Down‐syndrome screening. Only a few factors influenced this desire which therefore may be modifiable. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Crosslinked monosulfonated poly(arylene ether) using cyclodimerization of trifluorovinyl ether groups for fuel cell applications
Authors: Kim Byoung Gak , Kim Hyoung‐Juhn , Jang Jong Hyun , Cho Eun Ae , Henkensmeier Dirk , Kim Soo‐Kil , Oh In‐Hwan , Hong Seong‐Ahn , Lim Tae‐Hoon 
Published: January 2011

AbstractA crosslinker and crosslinkable sulfonated poly(arylene ether)s with trifluorovinyl ether groups were synthesized via reaction of 4‐trifluorovinyloxyphenol for application in fuel cells. Crosslinked poly(arylene ether) membranes were prepared by thermal irradiation, and the cyclodimerization of the trifluorovinyl ether groups in the polymers as well as the crosslinker was confirmed using differential scanning calorimetry and infrared measurements. These crosslinked membranes showed a low swelling ratio, comparable to that of Nafion 112. The proton conductivity of the crosslinked membranes was 0.17 and 0.3 S cm−1 at 30 and 80 °C, respectively, much higher than that of Nafion 112 under the same conditions. The excellent dimensional stability and high conductivity of the crosslinked membranes can be attributed to this new type of crosslinking system (end‐group crosslinking) as well as the chemical structure of crosslinked (multi‐block) polymers. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry
Preliminary study of the specific endothelin a receptor antagonist zibotentan in combination with docetaxel in patients with metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer
Authors: Trump Donald L. , Payne Heather , Miller Kurt , de Bono Johann S. , Stephenson Joe , Burris Howard A. , Nathan Faith , Taboada Maria , Morris Thomas , Hubner Andreas 
Published: January 2011

AbstractBACKGROUNDThis two‐part study assessed the safety and tolerability of combined treatment with zibotentan (ZD4054), a specific endothelin A receptor antagonist, plus docetaxel in patients with metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer.METHODSPart A was an open‐label, dose‐finding phase to determine the safety and toxicity profile of zibotentan in combination with docetaxel. Patients received once‐daily oral zibotentan 10 mg (initial cohort) or 15 mg in combination with docetaxel 75 mg/m2(administered on day 1 of each 21‐day cycle) for up to 10 cycles. Part B was a double‐blind phase which evaluated the safety and preliminary activity of zibotentan plus docetaxel. Patients were randomized 2:1 to receive zibotentan (at the highest tolerated dose identified in part A) plus docetaxel or placebo plus docetaxel.RESULTSSix patients were enrolled in part A (n = 3, zibotentan 10 mg; n = 3, zibotentan 15 mg). No dose‐limiting toxicity was observed, thus zibotentan 15 mg in combination with docetaxel was evaluated in part B (n = 20, zibotentan plus docetaxel; n = 11, placebo plus docetaxel). CTCAE grade ≥3, most commonly neutropenia or leucopenia, were reported in 10 (50%) and nine (82%) patients in the zibotentan and placebo groups, respectively. One (17%) patient receiving placebo achieved complete response, two (22%) patients receiving zibotentan achieved partial response and stable disease occurred in six (67%) and three (50%) patients receiving zibotentan and placebo, respectively.CONCLUSIONSThe tolerability of zibotentan plus docetaxel was consistent with the known profiles of each drug. Sufficient preliminary activity was seen with this combination to merit continued development. Prostate 71:1264–1275, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa protoxin and protease inhibitors against coleopteran storage pests
Authors: Oppert Brenda , Morgan Tom D , Kramer Karl J 
Published: January 2011

AbstractBACKGROUND: Environmental impacts and resistance to insecticides pose serious challenges to stored‐product insect and other types of pest control. Insect‐resistant transgenic grain is a potential alternative to fumigants, but candidate control proteins are needed, especially for coleopterans. Therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of a coleopteran‐active toxin, Bacillus thuringiensis Cry3Aa, with or without protease inhibitors, in laboratory feeding assays against coleopteran storage pests.RESULTS: In a comparison of the toxicity of Cry3Aa protoxin towards three species of coleopteran storage pests, Tenebrio molitor L. was found to be most sensitive, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst.) was most refractory and Rhyzopertha dominica F. displayed an intermediate response. For R. dominica, Cry3Aa combined with 3500 mg potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor or 5000 mg aprotinin kg−1 diet resulted in both delayed development and increased mortality. Potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor and bovine aprotinin reduced the LC50 of Cry3Aa for R. dominica two‐ and threefold respectively. Cry3Aa treatment resulted in fewer progeny from R. dominica, and progeny was further reduced when the protoxin was combined with potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor.CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that a combination of Cry3Aa protoxin and protease inhibitors, particularly a potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor, may have applications in control strategies for preventing damage to stored products and grains by coleopteran pests. Published 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pyrethroid resistance monitoring in European populations of pollen beetle (Meligethes spp.): a coordinated approach through the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC)
Authors: Slater Russell , Ellis Steve , Genay Jean‐Paul , Heimbach Udo , Huart Gerald , Sarazin Michel , Longhurst Chris , Müller Andreas , Nauen Ralf , Rison Jean Luc , Robin Fabrice 
Published: January 2011

AbstractBACKGROUND: Pollen beetle (Meligethes spp.) is a major pest of European oilseed rape crops. Its resistance to pyrethroid insecticides has been recorded in samples of beetles collected in Europe since at least 1999, and problems with the control of the beetle in the field have been widely reported. In 2007, a Pollen Beetle Working Group was formed through the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) in order to coordinate efforts for surveying pyrethroid resistance development.RESULTS: The results of the first 3 years of the pollen beetle pyrethroid susceptibility survey using a laboratory test are presented in this paper. Resistant beetle samples were collected from 20 of the 21 countries surveyed, with a general trend of increasing frequency and spread of resistant samples in European oilseed‐rape‐growing regions.CONCLUSION: Pyrethroid‐resistant beetles dominate in Western and Central Europe and are becoming established in the North and East, the main oilseed‐rape‐growing areas of Europe. The development and spread of pyrethroid‐resistant pollen beetles highlights the need for effective management strategies for oilseed rape insect pests. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry
Enhanced magnetic properties of annealed Fe48Pt52C composite films by N incorporation
Authors: Mi W. B. , Jin J. , Bai H. L. 
Published: January 2011

AbstractN‐incorporated Fe48Pt52C composite films were fabricated using a reactive facing‐target sputtering system in a mixture of Ar and N2gases, and annealed in a chamber with the vacuum of 10−6 Pa. Upon annealing, the escape of N atoms improves the ordering of the face‐centered tetragonal (fct) FePt grains. The coercivity of the 100‐nm thick films increases with the increase of nitrogen partial pressure. The maximum coercivity reaches 7.2 kOe at a 10‐kOe field, and the reversal mechanism approaches the Stoner–Wohlfarth (S–W) rotation mode. The easy axis turns from perpendicular to parallel to the film plane, and the coercivity increases with the increase of the film thickness (t). With increasingt, the out‐of‐plane magnetization decreases, but the in‐plane magnetization first increases, then decreases. The change of the magnetic properties should be related to the escape of the N atoms and the lattice mismatch effect of the MgO(100) substrates.
Approximate dynamic programming with state aggregation applied to UAV perimeter patrol
Authors: Krishnamoorthy K. , Pachter M. , Darbha S. , Chandler P. 
Published: January 2011

AbstractOne encounters the curse of dimensionality in the application of dynamic programming to determine optimal policies for large‐scale controlled Markov chains. In this paper, we provide a reward‐based aggregation method to construct suboptimal policies for a perimeter surveillance control problem which gives rise to a large scale Markov chain. The novelty of this approach lies in circumventing the need for value iteration over the entire state space. Instead, the state space is partitioned and the value function is approximated by a constant over each partition. We associate a meta‐state with each partition, where the transition probabilities between these meta‐states are known. The state aggregation approach results in a significant reduction in the computational burden and lends itself to value iteration over the aggregated state‐space. We provide bounds to assess the quality of the approximation and give numerical results that support the proposed methodology. Published 2011. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
State–space solution to the ℋ︁−/ℋ︁∞ fault‐detection problem
Authors: Li Z. , Mazars E. , Zhang Z. , Jaimoukha I. M. 
Published: January 2011

SUMMARYIn this paper we give an optimal state–space solution to the ℋ︁−/ℋ︁∞ fault‐detection (FD) problem for linear time invariant dynamic systems. An optimal ℋ︁−/ℋ︁∞ FD filter minimizes the sensitivity of the residual signal to disturbances while maintaining a minimum level of sensitivity to faults. We provide a state–space realization of the optimal filter in an observer form using the solution of a linear matrix inequalities optimization problem. We also show that, through the use of weighting filters, the detection performance can be enhanced and some assumptions can be removed. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the algorithm. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Pursuit formations with dynamic control gains
Authors: Ding Wei , Yan Gangfeng , Lin Zhiyun 
Published: January 2011

SUMMARYThe paper presents a coordinated motion control law of multiple autonomous agents based on the pursuit strategy with dynamical gains. In particular, we are interested in the control law with no communication between the agents, that is, the leader's moving velocity is not known by the follower robots. Each follower only utilizes its local measurement of relative position information to keep a desired distance and a desired bearing with its neighbors according to a fixed topology. The paper proposes a modified follower's control law, in which each follower pursues its neighbor along the line of sight rotated by a constant offset angle with a dynamic control gain. The offset angle is designed to attain the specific bearing and the dynamic control gain is introduced for the purpose of achieving the desired distance to its neighbor. Then, all the agents make the same motion to the leader's in a steady formation. It is shown that, for the case of uniform rectilinear motion, the group of mobile robots converges to the exact formation specified by the offset angles and the distances no matter what the leader's velocity is, whereas for the case of uniform circular motion, the group of agents converges to an approximation of the formation attained in the rectilinear motion case when the leader's turning radius is much greater than the desired distances between neighboring robots. The effectiveness of the proposed technique and the obtained analytical results are demonstrated in simulations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.