bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Outcomes of tonsillectomy in neurologically impaired children
Authors: Conley Stephen F. , Beecher Robert B. , Delaney Amy L. , Norins Nan A. , Simpson Pippa M. , Li Shun‐Hwa 
Published: July 2009

AbstractObjectives/Hypothesis:Children with neurologically impaired (NI) swallow can undergo tonsillectomy safely and effectively.Study Design:Retrospective review.Methods:Forty‐five children with documented dysphagia were compared to age‐ and procedure‐matched normal children for operating room and clinical experience. Three further studies were limited to the NI children only: preoperative and postoperative video swallow studies (VSS), and polysomnography (PSG) for sleep‐disordered breathing history. Long‐term telephone follow‐up of clinical outcomes was performed.Results:There were no differences between the two groups measured by tonsil size or intraoperative or late post‐tonsillectomy hemorrhage, but lowest measured oxygen levels were statistically different. No intraoperative complications, early post‐tonsillectomy hemorrhage, hospital readmission, or mortality occurred in either group. Three NI children each had an episode of aspiration pneumonia (early or late) without sequelae. Of the 32 VSS available for review, postoperative aspiration incidence was significantly improved, but with new‐onset aspiration occurring in five children. Of available matched pre‐ and postoperative PSG, 91% confirmed resolution of identified preoperative obstructive sleep apnea. Long‐term telephone follow‐up of 20 NI children revealed improved breathing (95%), communication (90%), and feeding efficiency (55%).Conclusions:This study suggests tonsillectomy in NI children can be performed safely with appropriate monitoring and precautions with a 48‐hour hospital postoperative stay recommended. Swallowing safety appears to improve both objectively and subjectively in most NI children following tonsillectomy. Both preoperative and postoperative VSS are recommended for any NI child undergoing tonsillectomy. Long‐term follow‐up identified improved quality of life measures for the majority of the NI children queried. Laryngoscope, 2009
Propranolol for airway hemangiomas: Case report of novel treatment
Authors: Buckmiller Lisa , Dyamenahalli Umesh , Richter Gresham T. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractInfantile hemangiomas arising in the trachea are rare. These lesions pose a management dilemma as several treatment options can provide safe management. Propranolol, a nonselective beta‐blocker, has recently been introduced as a novel modality for the treatment of proliferating hemangiomas. This report illustrates the successful management of tracheal hemangiomas using oral propranolol in a young patient with otherwise treatment‐resistant airway lesions. Despite various endoscopic therapeutic attempts, the patient remained stridulous with airway disease that persisted into the involution phase of the average hemangioma cycle. Within 6 weeks of beginning oral propranolol (2 mg/kg/day), her airway compromise was eliminated and she had complete resolution of endoscopically visible disease. No side effects from propranolol occurred. We propose that oral propranolol should be considered for use in airway hemangiomas. Laryngoscope, 2009
Differential mRNA expression in in vivo produced pre‐implantation embryos of dairy heifers and mature cows
Authors: Pretheeban T. , Gordon M. , Singh R. , Perera R. , Rajamahendran R. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractDecreasing fertility with increasing parity is considered to be a major constraint in the reproductive management of dairy cows. Even though pregnancy rates (PR) in mature cows have declined drastically in the last 50 years, it has remained constant in heifers. Early embryonic loss is a major cause for the loss of pregnancy in cows. Expression of developmentally important genes is vital for the function and survival of embryos. Hence, in this study, we compared the mRNA abundance of GLUT5, INFτ, HSP70, Na/K‐ATPase, BAX, and BCL2 genes in the pre‐implantation embryos of dairy heifers and mature cows. Heifers (n = 25) and cows (n = 20) were superovulated and artificially inseminated on the day of estrus. On day 7, the embryos were flushed and morphologically graded and RT‐PCR was performed. HSP70 was expressed more in the grade I embryos in heifers than in cows, and in the grade I embryos of heifers than in grade II embryos of heifers. In pooled embryos (both grades I and II) of heifers and cows, expression for INFτ was greater in heifers than in cows. Grade I embryos had a higher expression of GLUT5 and Na/K‐ATPase than the grade II embryos of cows. From this study, we conclude that there is differential expression of some developmentally important genes between embryos of heifers versus cows and between grades I and II embryos regardless of the embryo source. Future research will be necessary to elucidate any potential cause and effect between these genes and reduced PR observed in dairy cows. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 76: 1165–1172, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Diffusion tensor imaging detects axonal injury and demyelination in the spinal cord and cranial nerves of a murine model of globoid cell leukodystrophy
Authors: Hofling A. Alex , Kim Joong Hee , Fantz Corinne R. , Sands Mark S. , Song Sheng‐Kwei 
Published: July 2009

AbstractGloboid cell leukodystrophy is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by a deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme galactosylceramidase. In both human patients and the authentic murine Twitcher model, pathological findings include demyelination as well as axonal damage in both the central and peripheral nervous system. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has emerged as a powerful noninvasive technique that is sensitive to these white matter disease processes. Increases in radial diffusivity (λ⟂) and decreases in axial diffusivity (λ∥) correlate with histopathological evidence of demyelination and axonal damage, respectively. Compared to age‐matched, normal littermates, DTI of optic nerve and trigeminal nerve in end‐stage Twitcher mice displayed a statistically significant increase in λ⟂ and decrease in λ∥, consistent with previously characterized demyelination and axonal damage in these regions. In the Twitcher spinal cord, a statistically significant decrease in λ∥ was identified in both the dorsal and ventrolateral white matter, relative to normal controls. These results were consistent with immunofluorescence evidence of axonal damage in these areas as detected by staining for nonphosphorylated neurofilaments (SMI32). Increase in λ⟂ in Twitcher spinal cord white matter relative to normal controls reached statistical significance in the dorsal columns and approached statistical significance in the ventrolateral region. Correlative reduced levels of myelin basic protein were detected by immunofluorescent staining in both these white matter regions in the Twitcher spinal cord. Fractional anisotropy, a nonspecific but sensitive indicator of white matter disease, was significantly reduced in the optic nerve, trigeminal nerve, and throughout the spinal cord white matter of Twitcher mice, relative to normal controls. This first reported application of spinal cord DTI in the setting of GLD holds potential as a noninvasive, quantitative assay of therapeutic efficacy in future treatment studies. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Constrained decompositions of integer matrices and their applications to intensity modulated radiation therapy
Authors: Engelbeen Céline , Fiorini Samuel 
Published: July 2009

AbstractWe consider combinatorial optimization problems arising in radiation therapy. Given a matrix I with non‐negative integer entries, we seek a decomposition of I as a weighted sum of binary matrices having the consecutive ones property, such that the total sum of the coefficients is minimized. The coefficients are restricted to be non‐negative integers. Here, we investigate variants of the problem with additional constraints on the matrices used in the decomposition. Constraints appearing in the application include the interleaf motion and interleaf distance constraints. The former constraint was previously studied by Baatar et al. [Discr Appl Math 152 (2005), 6–34] and Kalinowski [Discr Appl Math 152 (2005), 52–88]. The latter constraint was independently considered by Kumar [Working paper (2007)] in the case where coefficients of the decomposition are not restricted to be integers. For both constraints, we prove that finding an optimal decomposition reduces to finding a maximum value potential in an auxiliary network with integer arc lengths and no negative length cycle. This allows us to simplify and unify the previous approaches. Moreover, we give an O (MN + KM) algorithm to solve the problem under the interleaf distance constraint, where M and N, respectively, denote the number of rows and columns of the matrix I and K is the number of matrices used in the decomposition. We also give an O (MN log M + KM) algorithm for solving the problem under the interleaf motion constraint and hence improve on previous results. Finally, we show the problem can still be solved in O (MN log M + KM) time when both constraints are considered simultaneously. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2010
Simple and efficient integration of rigid rotations suitable for constraint solvers
Authors: Koziara Tomasz , Bićanić Nenad 
Published: July 2009

AbstractSimple and efficient way of integrating rigid rotations is presented. The algorithm is stable, second‐order accurate, and in its explicit version involves evaluation of only two exponential maps per time step. The semi‐explicit version of the proposed scheme improves upon the long‐term stability, while it retains the explicitness in the force evaluation. The algebraic structure of both schemes makes them suitable forthe analysis of constrained multi‐body systems. The explicit algorithm is specifically aimed at the analysis involving small incremental rotations, where its modest computational cost becomes the major advantage. The semi‐explicit scheme naturally broadens the scope of possible applications. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Symptom clusters of heart failure
Authors: Jurgens Corrine Y. , Moser Debra K. , Armola Rochelle , Carlson Beverly , Sethares Kristen , Riegel Barbara 
Published: July 2009

AbstractPatients with heart failure (HF) report multiple symptoms. Change in symptoms is an indicator of HF decompensation. Patients have difficulty differentiating HF symptoms from comorbid illness or aging. The study purpose was to identify the number, type, and combination of symptoms in hospitalized HF patients and test relationships with comorbid illness and age. A secondary analysis from a HF registry (N = 687) was conducted. The sample was 51.7% female, mean age 71 ± 12.5 years. The theory of unpleasant symptoms informed the study regarding the multidimensional nature of symptoms. Factor analysis of nine items from the Minnesota Living with HF Questionnaire resulted in three factors, acute and chronic volume overload and emotional distress. Clusters occurred more frequently in older patients, but caused less impact. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 32:551–560, 2009
A microarray‐based approach for the identification of epigenetic biomarkers for the noninvasive diagnosis of fetal disease
Authors: Chu Tianjiao , Burke Brian , Bunce Kimberly , Surti Urvashi , Allen Hogge W. , Peters David G. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractObjectivesWe describe a novel microarray‐based approach for the high‐throughput discovery of epigenetic biomarkers for use in the noninvasive detection of fetal genetic disease.MethodsWe combined a 215 060‐probe custom oligonucleotide microarray with a comprehensive library preparation method and novel statistical tools to compare DNA methylation patterns in chorionic villus samples (CVS) with gestational age‐matched maternal blood cell (MBC) samples. Our custom microarray was designed to provide high‐resolution coverage across human chromosomes 13, 18 and 21.ResultsWe identified 6311 MspI/HpaII sites across all three chromosomes that displayed tissue‐specific differential CpG methylation patterns. To maximize the probability of identifying biomarkers that have clinical utility we filtered our data to identify MspI/HpaII sites that are within 150 bp of a highly polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) so that its allelic ratio may be determined for the detection of fetal aneuploidy. Our microarray design and the computational tools used for data analysis are available for download as is the entire data set.ConclusionsThis high‐resolution analysis of DNA methylation patterns in the human placenta during the first trimester of pregnancy identifies numerous potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of fetal aneuploidy on chromosomes 13, 18 and 21. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An exploration of anticipatory grief in advanced cancer patients
Authors: Cheng Joanna O. Y. , Lo Raymond S. K. , Chan Faye M. Y. , Kwan Bonnie H. F. , Woo Jean 
Published: July 2009

AbstractBackground and objectives: Research on anticipatory grief (AG) has been more focused on the experience of relatives than the terminally ill patients. This study will present qualitative ‘thick descriptions’ of advanced cancer patient's experience of AG and explore how it is experienced in the family context.Method: Seven advanced incurable cancer patients (median 58 years) were recruited from the day hospice and five patients comprised the final sample. Participants were invited to attend focus groups and individual interviews to discuss their experience of terminal illness, thoughts and feelings related to AG and how they cope with losses and grief in the family. Qualitative transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.Result: Two inter‐related themes of AG were identified. The first main theme ‘subjective experience of AG’ comprises confrontations with death and multiple losses; and resistance against death and loss. The second main theme ‘experience of AG in the family’ explored the patient's role in the family interaction patterns and interpersonal processes.Conclusion: An understanding in the subjective experience of AG in terminally ill patients and their experience of AG in the family may contribute to the development of psychotherapeutic interventions. The generative role of the patient in the family grief process is also highlighted.Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Addressing model uncertainty in seasonal and annual dynamical ensemble forecasts
Authors: Doblas‐Reyes F. J. , Weisheimer A. , Déqué M. , Keenlyside N. , McVean M. , Murphy J. M. , Rogel P. , Smith D. , Palmer T. N. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractThe relative merits of three forecast systems addressing the impact of model uncertainty on seasonal/annual forecasts are described. One system consists of a multi‐model, whereas two other systems sample uncertainties by perturbing the parametrization of reference models through perturbed parameter and stochastic physics techniques. Ensemble re‐forecasts over 1991 to 2001 were performed with coupled climate models started from realistic initial conditions. Forecast quality varies due to the different strategies for sampling uncertainties, but also to differences in initialisation methods and in the reference forecast system. Both the stochastic‐physics and perturbed‐parameter ensembles improve the reliability with respect to their reference forecast systems, but not the discrimination ability. Although the multi‐model experiment has an ensemble size larger than the other two experiments, most of the assessment was done using equally‐sized ensembles. The three ensembles show similar levels of skill: significant differences in performance typically range between 5 and 20%. However, a nine‐member multi‐model shows better results for seasonal predictions with lead times shorter than five months, followed by the stochastic‐physics and perturbed‐parameter ensembles. Conversely, for seasonal predictions with lead times longer than four months, the perturbed‐parameter ensemble gives more often better results. All systems suggest that spread cannot be considered a useful predictor of skill. Annual‐mean predictions showed lower forecast quality than seasonal predictions. Only small differences between the systems were found. The full multi‐model ensemble has improved quality with respect to all other systems, mainly from the larger ensemble size for lead times longer than four months and annual predictions. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society and Crown Copyright
Robust explicit model predictive control for linear systems via interpolation techniques
Authors: Sui D. , Feng L. , Ong C. J. , Hovd M. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractThis paper presents a novel interpolation‐based model predictive control (IMPC) for constrained linear systems with bounded disturbances. The idea of so‐called ‘pre‐stabilizing’ MPC is extended by making interpolation among several ‘pre‐stabilizing’ MPC controllers, through which the domain of attraction can be magnificently enlarged. Compared with the standard ‘pre‐stabilizing’ MPC, the proposed approach has the advantage of combining the merits of having a large domain of attraction and a good behavior. Furthermore, such an IMPC problem can be solved off‐line by multi‐parametric programming. The optimal solution is given in an explicitly piecewise affine form. A simple algorithm for the implementation of the explicit MPC control laws is also proposed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Unsupervised segmentation of conversational transcripts
Authors: Kummamuru Krishna , Padmanabhan Deepak , Roy Shourya , Venkata Subramaniam L. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractContact centers provide dialog‐based support to organizations to address various customer‐related issues. We have observed that calls at contact centers mostly follow well‐defined patterns. Such call flows could specify how an agent should proceed in a call, handle objections, persuade customers, follow compliance issues, etc., and could also help to structure the operational process of call handling. Automatically identifying such patterns in terms of distinct segments from a collection of transcripts of conversations would improve productivity of agents as well as enable easy verification of whether calls comply with guidelines. Call transcripts from call centers typically tend to be noisy owing to the noise arising from agent/caller distractions, and errors introduced by the speech recognition engine. Such noise makes classical text segmentation algorithms such as TextTiling, which work on each transcript in isolation, very inappropriate. But such noise effects become statistically insignificant over a corpus of similar calls. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to segment conversational transcripts in an unsupervised way utilizing corpus level information of similar call transcripts. We show that our approach outperforms the classical TextTiling algorithm and also describes ways to improve the segmentation using limited supervision. We discuss various ways of evaluating such an algorithm. We apply the proposed algorithm to a corpus of transcripts of calls from a car reservation call center and evaluate it using various evaluation measures. We apply segmentation to the problem of automatically checking the compliance of agents and show that our segmentation algorithm considerably improves the precision. Copyright © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company
Towards an efficient reputation based hybrid key management architecture forad hocnetworks
Authors: Benazzouz Lamia , Elhdhili Mohamed Elhoucine , Kamoun Farouk 
Published: July 2009

AbstractCommon key management schemes are hard to deploy inad hocnetworks because of their infrastructure‐less nature and dynamic topology. In this paper, we propose a hybrid key management architecture that is adapted forad hocnetworks. The proposed architecture is based on a clustering algorithm called RECA that we have designed for security purposes inad hocnetworks. RECA allows an efficient division of the network into clusters managed by trustworthy clusterheads that are supervised by a reputation system. The hybrid key management architecture exploits this division for scalability and availability of security services. It considers each clusterhead as a certification authority (CA) for its members and implements a totally distributed CA over only clusterheads. Simulations results show that the proposed solution enhances security services availability in comparison with existing solutions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lsh Participates in DNA Methylation and Silencing of Stem Cell Genes
Authors: Xi Sichuan , Geiman Theresa M. , Briones Victorino , Guang Tao Yong , Xu Hong , Muegge Kathrin 
Published: July 2009

Abstract
Transcriptional control of stem cell genes is a critical step in differentiation of embryonic stem cells and in reprogramming of somatic cells into stem cells. Here we report that Lsh, a regulator of repressive chromatin at retrotransposons, also plays an important role in silencing of stem cell-specific genes such as Oct4. We found that CpG methylation is gained during in vitro differentiation of several stem cell-specific genes (in 11 of 12 promoter regions) and thus appears to be a common epigenetic mark. Lsh depletion prevents complete silencing of stem cell gene expression and moreover promotes the maintenance of stem cell characteristics in culture. Lsh is required for establishment of DNA methylation patterns at stem cell genes during differentiation, in part by regulating access of Dnmt3b to its genomic targets. Our results indicate that Lsh is involved in the control of stem cell genes and suggest that Lsh is an important epigenetic modulator during early stem cell differentiation.
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.
Dual SP/ALDH Functionalities Refine the Human Hematopoietic Lin−CD34+CD38− Stem/Progenitor Cell Compartment
Authors: Pierre-Louis Olivier , Clay Denis , Brunet de la Grange Philippe , Blazsek Istvan , Desterke Christophe , Guerton Bernadette , Blondeau Camille , Malfuson Jean-Valère , Prat Marie , Bennaceur-Griscelli Annelise , Lataillade Jean-Jacques , Le Bousse-Kerdilès Marie-Caroline 
Published: July 2009

Abstract
Identification of prevalent specific markers is crucial to stem/progenitor cell purification. Determinants such as the surface antigens CD34 and CD38 are traditionally used to analyze and purify hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSCs/HPCs). However, the variable expression of these membrane antigens poses some limitations to their use in HSC/HPC purification. Techniques based on drug/stain efflux through the ATP-binding cassette (ABC)G2 pump (side population [SP] phenotype) or on detection of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity have been independently developed and distinguish the SP and ALDHBright (ALDHBr) cell subsets for their phenotype and proliferative capability. In this study, we developed a multiparametric flow cytometric method associating both SP and ALDH activities on human lineage negative (Lin−) bone marrow cells and sorted different cell fractions according to their SP/ALDH activity level. We find that Lin−CD34+CD38Low/− cells are found throughout the spectrum of ALDH expression and are enriched especially in ALDHBr cells when associated with SP functionality (SP/ALDHBr fraction). Furthermore, the SP marker identified G0 cells in all ALDH fractions, allowing us to sort quiescent cells regardless of ALDH activity. Moreover, we show that, within the Lin−CD34+CD38−ALDHBr population, the SP marker identifies cells with higher primitive characteristics, in terms of stemness-related gene expression and in vitro and in vivo proliferative potential, than the Lin−CD34+ CD38−ALDHBr main population cells. In conclusion, our study shows that the coexpression of SP and ALDH markers refines the Lin−CD34+CD38− hematopoietic compartment and identifies an SP/ALDHBr cell subset enriched in quiescent primitive HSCs/HPCs.