bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Newly cleaned physician uniforms and infrequently washed white coats have similar rates of bacterial contamination after an 8‐hour workday: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Burden Marisha , Cervantes Lilia , Weed Diane , Keniston Angela , Price Connie S. , Albert Richard K. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractBACKGROUND:Governmental agencies in the United Kingdom and Scotland have recently instituted guidelines banning physicians' white coats and the wearing of long‐sleeved garments to decrease nosocomial transmission of bacteria.OBJECTIVE:Our aim was to compare the degree of bacterial and methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus contamination of physicians' white coats with that of newly laundered, standardized short‐sleeved uniforms after an 8‐hour workday and to determine the rate at which bacterial contamination of the uniform ensued.DESIGN:The design was a prospective, randomized controlled trial.SETTING:The setting was a university‐affiliated public safety‐net hospital.PARTICIPANTS:One hundred residents and hospitalists on an internal medicine service participated.INTERVENTION:Subjects wore either a physician's white coat or a newly laundered short‐sleeved uniform.MEASUREMENTS:Bacterial colony count and the frequency with which methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus was cultured from both garments over time were measured.RESULTS:No statistically significant differences were found in bacterial or methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus contamination of physicians' white coats compared with newly laundered short‐sleeved uniforms or in contamination of the skin at the wrists of physicians wearing either garment. Colony counts of newly laundered uniforms were essentially zero, but after 3 hours of wear they were nearly 50% of those counted at 8 hours.CONCLUSIONS:Bacterial contamination occurs within hours after donning newly laundered short‐sleeved uniforms. After 8 hours of wear, no difference was observed in the degree of contamination of uniforms versus infrequently laundered white coats. Our data do not support discarding long‐sleeved white coats for short‐sleeved uniforms that are changed on a daily basis. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2011. © 2011 Society of Hospital Medicine.
Back to the Roots: Prediction of Biologically Active Natural Products from Ayurveda Traditional Medicine
Authors: Polur Honey , Joshi Tejal , Workman Christopher T. , Lavekar Gandhidas , Kouskoumvekaki Irene 
Published: February 2011

AbstractAyurveda, the traditional Indian medicine is one of the most ancient, yet living medicinal traditions. In the present work, we developed an in silico library of natural products from Ayurveda medicine, coupled with structural information, plant origin and traditional therapeutic use. Following this, we compared their structures with those of drugs from DrugBank and we constructed a structural similarity network. Information on the traditional therapeutic use of the plants was integrated in the network in order to provide further evidence for the predicted biologically active natural compounds. We hereby present a number of examples where the traditional medicinal use of the plant matches with the medicinal use of the drug that is structurally similar to a plant component. With this approach, we have brought to light a number of obscure compounds of natural origin (e.g. kanugin, norruffscine, isoazadirolide) that could provide the basis and inspiration for further lead development. Apart from the identification of novel natural leads in drug discovery, we envisage that this integrated in silico ethnopharmacology approach could find applications in the elucidation of the molecular basis of Ayurveda medicine and in drug repurposing.
High‐field MRS of the human brain at short TE and TR
Authors: Boer Vincent O. , Siero Jeroen C.W. , Hoogduin Hans , van Gorp Jetse S. , Luijten Peter R. , Klomp Dennis W.J. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractIn vivo MRS of the human brain at 7 tesla allows identification of a large number of metabolites at higher spatial resolutions than currently possible at lower field strengths. However, several challenges complicate in vivo localization and artifact suppression in MRS at high spatial resolution within a clinically feasible scan time at 7 tesla. Published MRS sequences at 7 tesla suffer from long echo times, inherent signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) loss, large chemical shift displacement artifacts or long repetition times because of excessive radiofrequency (RF) power deposition. In the present study a pulse‐acquire sequence was used that does not suffer from these high field drawbacks. A slice selective excitation combined with high resolution chemical shift imaging for in‐plane localization was used to limit chemical shift displacement artifacts. The pulse‐acquire approach resulted in a very short echo time of 1.4 ms. A cost function guided shimming algorithm was developed to constrain frequency offsets in the excited slice, therefore adiabatic frequency selective suppression could be employed to minimize artifacts from high intensity lipids and water signals in the excited slice. The high sensitivity at a TR of 1 s was demonstrated both on a supraventricular slice as well as in an area very close to the skull in the frontal cortex at a nominal spatial resolution of 0.25 cc within a feasible scan time. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Immobilization of calcium oxide onto chitosan beads as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production
Authors: Fu Chun‐Chong , Hung Tien‐Chieh , Su Chia‐Hung , Suryani Devi , Wu Wen‐Teng , Dai Wei‐Chen , Yeh Yea‐Tyam 
Published: February 2011

AbstractA biopolymer, chitosan, was used as a novel substrate for the immobilization of calcium oxide (CaO). CaO immobilized onto chitosan beads was employed as a heterogeneous catalyst to produce biodiesel catalytically, through transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. To obtain a stable immobilized catalyst, the chitosan beads with immobilized CaO were cross‐linked with glutaraldehyde. Two crosslinking parameters, crosslinking time and glutaraldehyde concentration, were studied to reveal the optimal immobilization conditions, which were 30 min and 0.22 mol L−1, respectively. Under those conditions, an immobilized catalyst with a very low degree of CaO leaching could be obtained. The immobilized CaO catalyst obtained was investigated by being used to catalyze the transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. The transesterification rate, which was affected by catalyst loading, molar ratio of methanol to oil and temperature, was investigated by using response surface methodology. A maximum reaction rate of 0.6 h−1 was obtained at 60 °C, methanol to oil molar ratio of 13.4 and catalyst loading of 13.78 wt%. Under these reaction conditions, the equilibrium conversion of soybean oil was 97% after 3 h of reaction time. In addition, the immobilized catalyst could be reused at least five times. This study developed an easy and energy‐efficient process for preparing a chitosan‐based immobilized CaO catalyst, which is promising for potential applications including biodiesel production. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry
Property tailoring of phenol–formaldehyde matrices by control of reactant molar ratio and thermoplastic modification
Authors: Gabilondo Nagore , Martin Loli , Retegi Aloña , Mondragon Inaki , Berglund Lars A 
Published: February 2011

AbstractHigh modulus, strength and thermal stability make phenol–formaldehyde resins (PFRs) interesting as matrices for nanocomposites. Four PFR matrices synthesized with different formaldehyde (F) to phenol (P) molar ratios were investigated, as well as the influence of thermoplastic modification on their mechanical properties. The effectiveness of a specific curing cycle for obtaining macrovoid‐ and microvoid‐free specimens by controlling the thickness of samples is demonstrated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results reveal that F content increases the presence of oxidized linkages as benzophenones and fully substituted aromatic structures. PFR matrices with highest F content present the highest values of main transition temperature and flexural modulus up to an F/P ratio of 1.8, revealing the achievement of a densely crosslinked and rigid structure. A selected PFR matrix was modified with 5, 10 and 15 wt% of two poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) thermoplastics of differing molecular weight. Phase separation occurs before gelation in all cases leading to different morphologies, observed using atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy, depending on PVB content: PVB‐rich particles in PFR‐rich matrix for 5 wt% and co‐continuous dual morphology for 10 and 15 wt% for both PVBs. Strength improvement is achieved for PFR matrices modified with 5 wt% of PVB associated with a tailored particulate morphology with a particle size of around 1.2 µm. Finally, 5 and 10 wt% PVB‐modified PFR materials exhibit a very high thermal stability with degradation temperatures very close to those for neat PFR matrix. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry
Impact of band structure and transition matrix elements on polarization properties of the photoluminescence of semipolar and nonpolar InGaN quantum wells
Authors: Schade L. , Schwarz U. T. , Wernicke T. , Weyers M. , Kneissl M. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractPartial or full linear polarization is characteristic for the spontaneous emission of light from semipolar and nonpolar InGaN quantum wells. This property is an implication of the crystalline anisotropy as a basic property of the wurtzite structure. The influence of this anisotropy on the band structure and the transition matrix elements was calculated by a ${\bf k}\cdot {\bf p}$‐method for arbitrary quantum well orientations with respect to the c‐axis; results are shown here in detail. Optical polarization is a direct consequence of a broken symmetry, mainly affecting the transition matrix elements from the conduction to the valence bands. Furthermore, the strain of the InGaN quantum well strongly depends on the crystal orientation of the substrate, resulting in a valence band mixing. The composition of the eigenfunctions has emerged to be most important for the polarization dependence of strained semipolar and nonpolar InGaN QW. The matrix elements, in combination with the thermal occupation of the bands, determine the polarization of the spontaneously emitted light. Our photoluminescence measurements of nonpolar QW match well with this model. However, in contrast to calculations with standard band parameters, the two topmost subbands show a larger separation in the emitted energy.
Sampled‐data H∞ filtering for stochastic genetic regulatory networks
Authors: Shen Bo , Wang Zidong , Liang Jinling , Liu Xiaohui 
Published: February 2011

SUMMARYThis paper is concerned with the sampled‐data Hinfty filtering problem for a class of stochastic genetic regulatory networks with both extrinsic and intrinsic disturbances. The extrinsic disturbance and intrinsic noises are described, respectively, by an unknown signal with finite energy and a set of scalar Brownian motions. The expression levels of the mRNA and protein of the considered genetic regulatory network are sampled and then transmitted to the filter in order to estimate the states of the genetic network under consideration. The corresponding filtering error dynamics is then represented by means of a system with time‐varying delay. By constructing a simple yet practical Lyapunov functional that reflects all the information about the system complexity, sufficient conditions are established so as to guarantee both the exponential mean‐square stability and the H∞ performance for the filtering error dynamics. It is shown that the desired sampled‐data H∞ filter exists if certain matrix inequalities are solvable where the solvability can be readily checked by using the available software. Finally, a simulation example is employed to show the effectiveness of the filtering scheme proposed in this paper. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Consensus strategy for a class of multi‐agents with discrete second‐order dynamics
Authors: Qin Jiahu , Gao Huijun , Zheng Wei Xing 
Published: February 2011

SUMMARYThis paper investigates consensus strategies for a group of agents with discrete second‐order dynamics under directed communication topology. Consensus analysis for both the fixed topology and time‐varying topology cases is systematically performed by employing a novel graph theoretic methodology as well as the classical nonnegative matrix theory. Furthermore, it is shown that the necessary and sufficient condition for the agents under fixed communication topology to reach consensus is that the communication topology has a spanning tree; and sufficient conditions for the agents to reach consensus when allowing for the dynamically changing communication topologies are also given. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
THE INFLUENCE OF HYDROLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY ON FOOD WEB STRUCTURE IN FLOODPLAIN LAKES
Authors: Reid M. A. , Delong M. D. , Thoms M. C. 
Published: February 2011

ABSTRACTHydrological connectivity is an important driver of ecosystem structure in floodplain rivers; however, little is known of how hydrological connectivity affects the structure and functioning of food webs in these systems. This study examines aquatic food web structure in 10 floodplain lakes on a dryland river floodplain in eastern Australia across a connectivity gradient. Results for fishes suggest that benthic carbon sources are more important in high connectivity billabongs than in low connectivity billabongs and that pelagic sources are more important in low connectivity billabongs than in high connectivity billabongs. Fishes in less connected billabongs were also found to feed at higher trophic levels than in more connected billabongs. We hypothesize that in high connectivity billabongs, where suitable benthic primary sources are abundant, common fish species such as carp and bony bream feed as detritivores or herbivores; while in low connectivity billabongs, where benthic sources are less abundant, the same species feed as planktivores, insectivores or piscivores. This dietary difference may also be promoted by greater predation efficiency in less structurally complex low connectivity billabongs. The feeding behaviour of these fish species subsequently influences the trophic positions of fishes higher in the food chain and ultimately the total food chain lengths that high and low connectivity billabongs support. The results of this study highlight the importance of hydrological connectivity to the structure of food webs in these systems and the potential for them to be affected by water resource development. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Study in the Thermodynamic Behavior of Nickel in the MgO‐SiO2‐FeO Slag System
Authors: Park Jin Gyun , Eom Hyung Sub , Huh Wan Wook , Lee Young Seok , Min Dong Joon , Sohn Il 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe dissolution behavior of nickel in the MgO‐SiO2‐FeO slag system was investigated by using the thermodynamic equilibrium technique. Nickel distribution ratio between molten MgO‐SiO2‐FeO slag and molten Fe‐Ni alloy at 1773 K and 1873 K was measured to understand the dissolution mechanism of nickel into the slags. In particular, the effect of oxygen potential and basicity on the distribution of nickel was investigated. Nickel distribution between slag and Fe‐Ni alloy increased with higher oxygen potential showing a slope of 1/2. For basic slag systems near the olivine saturated composition, the nickel distribution ratio increased with higher basicity and for acidic slag systems near the cristobalite saturated composition, the nickel distribution ratio decreased with higher basicity. Thus, the nickel dissolution into the MgO‐SiO2‐FeO slag system showed two independent mechanisms similar to that found in the CaO‐SiO2‐CaF2 system.

The contour of the iso distribution ratio was represented in the MgO‐SiO2‐FeO ternary phase diagram. From the results, an optimum slag composition was determined to be near the olivine saturated with approximately $X_{MgO} /X_{SiO_{2} } $ of 0.8 at 1773 K and 1.0 at 1873 K.
Influence of Pre‐Straining and Bake Hardening on the Strain Rate Sensitivity of Automotive Sheet Steels
Authors: Larour Patrick , Dahmen Kirsten , Bleck Wolfgang 
Published: February 2011

AbstractThe present investigation deals with the influence of pre‐straining with or without bake hardening on the strain rate sensitivity of automotive sheet steels in typical crash conditions. The strain rate sensitivity m has been determined by means of dynamic tensile tests in the strain rate range 0.005‐1000 s−1 and in the temperature range 233‐373K. A bake hardening heat treatment at 170 °C for 20 min without pre‐straining does not influence the m‐value in comparison to the base material condition. A small pre‐straining near plane strain condition, as commonly found in outer door panels, or a 10% uniaxial, plane strain and biaxial pre‐straining, as typically used in formed automotive crash components, without bake hardening does not affect the m‐value of sheet steels in comparison to the base material condition. Uniaxial 2% to 10% pre‐straining, longitudinal or transverse to rolling direction with subsequent bake hardening, does not clearly change the m‐value in comparison to the base material condition either. Small differences in the strain rate sensitivity behaviour are rather attributed to experimental scattering without real physical background.
Treatment Outcome and Prognosis of Patients with Lymph Node Recurrence of Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma After Curative Resection
Authors: Kosuga Toshiyuki , Shiozaki Atsushi , Fujiwara Hitoshi , Ichikawa Daisuke , Okamoto Kazuma , Komatsu Shuhei , Otsuji Eigo 
Published: February 2011

AbstractBackgroundThis study aimed to assess treatment outcome and factors influencing survival after lymph node recurrence of thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) after curative resection.MethodsA total of 207 patients who underwent curative resection of thoracic esophageal SCC between March 1999 and March 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. Of these, lymph node recurrence was observed in 45 (21.7%) patients. Twenty‐nine patients received intensive treatment (radiation therapy, chemoradiotherapy, or lymphadenectomy) directed at recurrent nodes, 9 patients received chemotherapy, and 7 patients received best supportive care (BSC). Treatment outcome and prognostic factors of these patients were investigated.ResultsPatients who received intensive treatment had significantly higher survival rates after recurrence than those who received chemotherapy or BSC (P = 0.0049 and 0.0004, respectively). In univariate analysis of survival after recurrence, the number of recurrent nodes (a single node or multiple nodes), the region of recurrent nodes (limited to a single region or extended to multiple regions), and the presence of simultaneous organ recurrence (present or absent) were prognostic factors (P = 0.0004, 0.0017, and <0.0001, respectively). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the region of recurrent nodes and simultaneous organ recurrence were independent prognostic factors (P = 0.0396 and 0.0006, respectively).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the region of recurrent nodes (limited to a single region or extended to multiple regions) and simultaneous organ recurrence are factors influencing survival after lymph node recurrence of thoracic esophageal SCC after curative resection.
Preoperative Neutrophil‐to‐Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) is Associated with Reduced Disease‐free Survival Following Curative Resection of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma
Authors: Garcea G. , Ladwa N. , Neal C. P. , Metcalfe M. S. , Dennison A. R. , Berry D. P. 
Published: February 2011

AbstractBackgroundSerological proinflammatory markers such as C‐reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been associated with reduced survival for many different types of cancer. This study determined the prognostic value of the preoperative value of these markers in patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.MethodsConsecutive patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma were entered into our database from 2001 to the present day. CRP, NLR, and PLR at the time of presentation were recorded as well as overall and disease‐free survival.ResultsSeventy‐four patients were identified. Overall median survival was 35.0 months and median disease‐free survival was 27.0 months. Follow‐up ranged from 1 to 125.8 months. Preoperative NLR was significantly greater in those patients who developed recurrence in the follow‐up period (4.5 vs. 3.1). CRP and PLR were not found to differ significantly between the two groups. Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis of patients with NLR > 5 demonstrated a disease‐free survival of 12 months compared with 52 months for those patients with NLR < 5 (p < 0.001).ConclusionPreoperative NLR offers important prognostic information regarding disease‐free survival following curative resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
Geographical variation in the population dynamics of Thecodiplosis japonensis: causes and effects on spatial synchrony
Authors: Choi Won Il , Ryoo Mun Il , Chung Yeong‐Jin , Park Young‐Seuk 
Published: February 2011

AbstractGeographical variation in population dynamics of a species offers an opportunity to understand the factors determining observed patterns of spatial dynamics. We evaluated the spatial variation in the population dynamics of the pine needle gall midge (PNGM), Thecodiplosis japonensis, which is a severe insect pest in pine forests in Korea, and studied the influences of weather factors that could affect its population dynamics. Results revealed that PNGM population dynamics were classified into five clusters based on the analysis of autocorrelation function and self‐organizing map, which is an artificial neural network. We also quantified spatial synchrony in the population dynamics of PNGM using the nonparametric covariance function. Variation in spatial synchrony was strongly related to differences in maximum temperature and precipitation in Random Forest analysis, suggesting that the synchrony in PNGM population dynamics is largely the result of the Moran effect. In addition, spatial differences in population dynamics could be influenced by transient process of synchronization following invasion. Finally, the present results indicate that differences in population dynamics can be induced by interactions among several factors such as maximum temperature, precipitation, and invasion history of species.