bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Iatrogenic recto‐urethral fistula: perineal repair and buccal mucosa interposition
Authors: Spahn Martin , Vergho Daniel , Riedmiller Hubertus 
Published: September 2008

OBJECTIVETo present a new and promising technique for repairing recto‐urethral fistulae (RUF) using a perineal approach and buccal mucosa graft interposition, as RUF are rare but severe complications of rectal or urinary tract surgery, radiation treatment, trauma or inflammation, and the repair of recurrent or persistent RUF is particularly difficult when previous surgical attempts have failed, resulting in high recurrence rates.PATIENTS AND METHODSBetween 2004 and 2006, five men (aged 61–67 years) with iatrogenic RUF had the perineal fistula closed using a buccal mucosa graft interposition. The RUF had developed after laparoscopic or retropubic radical prostatectomy in four patients and after radical cystectomy and ileal neobladder in the fifth. Four of the patients had had at least one failed RUF repair before their referral to our institution.RESULTSFour of the five RUF were repaired successfully using the perineal approach and buccal mucosa graft interposition. Failure occurred in one patient who had developed a RUF after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy followed by two unsuccessful attempts at closure. The failure was most probably due to a previously undetected postoperative perineal haematoma with infection.CONCLUSIONOur perineal approach for repairing RUF, combined with buccal mucosa graft interposition, is a simple technique fulfilling all the requirements for successful fistula closure, especially in repeat surgery.
Advanced‐stage renal cell carcinoma treated by radical nephrectomy and adjacent organ or structure resection
Authors: Karellas Michael E. , Jang Thomas L. , Kagiwada Megan A. , Kinnaman Michael D. , Jarnagin William R. , Russo Paul 
Published: September 2008

OBJECTIVETo examine the effect of radical nephrectomy (RN) with adjacent organ and structure resection on survival, as invasion of adjacent organs in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is rare.PATIENTS AND METHODSAfter institutional review board approval, we reviewed our database and statistically analysed of patients with pathological stage T3 or T4 RCC who had RN and resection of a contiguous organ or structure.RESULTSWe identified 38 patients of 2464 (1.5%) who had RN with adjacent organ or structure resection. The median (interquartile range) size of the mass was 11 (8–14) cm, and the follow‐up 13 (5–33) months. Most patients (68%) were pT4 stage and had conventional clear cell carcinoma (95%). Fourteen patients (37%) had positive surgical margins. The liver (10) was the most commonly resected adjacent organ or structure. Only one patient remains alive with no evidence of disease at 5 years, while three are currently alive with disease. Overall, 34 of 38 patients (90%) ultimately died from disease at a median (range) of 11.7 (5.4–29.2) months after surgical resection. The surgical margin status was the only statistically significant factor for recurrence and death (P = 0.006).CONCLUSIONSThe prognosis for patients with advanced RCC and adjacent organ or structure involvement is extremely poor and similar to that of patients with metastatic disease. These patients should be thoroughly counselled about the impact of surgical management and considered for entry into neoadjuvant or adjuvant clinical trials with new targeted systemic agents.
Does laser ablation prostatectomy lead to oncological compromise?
Authors: Biers Suzanne M. , Oliver Helen C. , King Alex J. , Adamson Andrew S. 
Published: September 2008

OBJECTIVETo assess the incidence and outcome of incidental prostate cancer detected at transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), and to evaluate whether laser ablation prostatectomy would miss significant cancer by failing to provide tissue for histopathological analysis.PATIENTS AND METHODSInformation on TURP‐detected prostate cancer was gathered from 1996 to 2006, from The South‐west Cancer Intelligence Service, hospital‐operating and coding records, histopathology databases and The British Association of Urological Surgeons Cancer Registry. We recorded the total number of prostate cancers diagnosed per year, number of TURPs performed, Gleason scores and patients outcomes.RESULTSTURP‐detected prostate cancer has declined since the relatively high rates (22%) recorded locally in 1996–97. Between 2001 and 2006, a mean (range) of 124 (111–135) prostate cancers were detected per year. Incidental cancers accounted for only 1.5–5.6% of all newly diagnosed prostate cancers per year. Incidental cancers had a mean (sem) Gleason score of 5.7 (0.3) compared to 8.0 (0.3) in known cancers (P < 0.01) undergoing TURP. Of newly diagnosed patients, 82% were allocated to active surveillance, whilst 18% were started on hormone therapy, with no prostate cancer‐related deaths over a mean (sem, range) follow‐up of 49.7 (2.4, 11–81) months.CONCLUSIONSTURP mainly samples transitional‐zone tissue where tumours are relatively uncommon, and have a good prognosis. Our series of incidental TURP‐detected cancers showed an incidence in keeping with published data, and favourable histological and clinical outcomes. We suggest the lack of tissue should not discourage the use of laser prostatectomy surgery.
Prostate biopsy clinical and pathological variables that predict significant grading changes in patients with intermediate and high grade prostate cancer
Authors: Moussa Ayman S. , Li Jianbo , Soriano Meghan , Klein Eric A. , Dong Fei , Jones J. Stephen 
Published: September 2008

OBJECTIVETo identify the clinical and pathological variables that predict pathological changes in the significant proportion of men with prostate cancer who have an intermediate‐ or high‐grade biopsy Gleason score (GS) of ≥7 and who are upgraded or downgraded on interpretation of radical prostatectomy (RP) pathological specimens, as GS is critical in treatment decisions.PATIENTS AND METHODSWe retrospectively evaluated 1129 patients who had RP after a biopsy showing a GS of ≥7, at our institution, from 2000 to 2007. Complete relevant clinical information was available for all patients. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of pathological grading changes.RESULTSThe overall mean age was 61 years, with median prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) level of 6 ng/mL. Of the 1129 patients, the surgical GS was upgraded in 296 (26.2%), downgraded in 210 (18.6%), and remained the same in 623 (55.2%). Factors predicting a surgical GS upgrade were a higher PSA level (P = 0.005), presence of perineural invasion (P = 0.043), absence of inflammation (P < 0.001), and absence of associated high‐grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (P = 0.02). In an analysis of pathological variables the number of positive cores (P = 0.033) was predictor of upgrading. Large prostate volume (P = 0.004) and low maximum percentage cancer in any core (P = 0.001) were predictors of downgrading.CONCLUSIONMen with a higher PSA level, perineural invasion and high‐volume cancer at biopsy are most likely to be upgraded, while men with a large prostate volume and low‐volume cancer at biopsy are more likely to be downgraded. These findings have implications for men with prostate cancer managed without confirmation by RP of their true GS.
The management of renal matrix calculi: a single‐centre experience over 5 years
Authors: Shah Hemendra N. , Kharodawala Shabbir , Sodha Hiren S. , Khandkar Amit A. , Hegde Sunil S. , Bansal Manish B. 
Published: September 2008

OBJECTIVETo define incidence of renal matrix calculi in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), and describe its clinical, laboratory and radiological features; we also studied the efficacy of PCNL in managing this rare entity.PATIENTS AND METHODSWe retrospectively reviewed the records of 1368 PCNLs performed from April 2003 to March 2008, and identified 17 patients (mean age 44.3 years; 11 women and six men) having matrix calculi. The patients’ clinical, laboratory and radiological features were studied, and the perioperative outcome and follow‐up data analysed.RESULTSFlank pain was commonest mode of presentation (15) followed by recurrent urinary tract infection (five). Pyuria was present in 14 patients and urine culture showed significant growth in 10. A plain X‐ray showed a small radio‐opaque calculus (10 renal units) and faint laminated calcification (four). Intravenous urography showed a filling defect and non‐visualized system in nine and five patients, respectively. Non‐contrast computed tomography and magnetic resonance urography diagnosed calculi in two and one patient, respectively, on haemodialysis. PCNL was abandoned initially in four patients due to pyonephrosis. The mean hospital stay was 3.4 days and decrease in haemoglobin was 0.89 g/dL. One patient developed sepsis. Of 11 stones analysed, two were composed entirely of proteins and the remaining nine had crystalline components. At a mean follow‐up of 12.6 months, no patients had recurrence of stone.CONCLUSIONSMatrix calculi occurred in 1.24% of patients undergoing PCNL. Although considered radiolucent, plain X‐ray showed a small radio‐opaque calculi or faint laminated calcifications in 10 of 17 patients. PCNL rendered patients stone‐free with minimum morbidity.
CHANGE‐POINT DETECTION WITH RANK STATISTICS IN LONG‐MEMORY TIME‐SERIES MODELS
Authors: Wang Lihong 
Published: September 2008

SummaryWilcoxon‐type rank statistics are considered for testing a long‐memory time‐series model with a common distribution against the alternatives involving a change in the distribution at an unknown time point. The asymptotic properties of the test statistics and the change‐point estimators are studied. Finite‐sample behaviours are investigated in a small Monte Carlo simulation study. Data examples from hydrology and telecommunications illustrate the method.
NON‐PARAMETRIC BAYESIAN INFERENCE FOR INHOMOGENEOUS MARKOV POINT PROCESSES
Authors: Berthelsen Kasper K. , Møller Jesper 
Published: September 2008

SummaryWith reference to a specific dataset, we consider how to perform a flexible non‐parametric Bayesian analysis of an inhomogeneous point pattern modelled by a Markov point process, with a location‐dependent first‐order term and pairwise interaction only. A priori we assume that the first‐order term is a shot noise process, and that the interaction function for a pair of points depends only on the distance between the two points and is a piecewise linear function modelled by a marked Poisson process. Simulation of the resulting posterior distribution using a Metropolis–Hastings algorithm in the ‘conventional’ way involves evaluating ratios of unknown normalizing constants. We avoid this problem by applying a recently introduced auxiliary variable technique. In the present setting, the auxiliary variable used is an example of a partially ordered Markov point process model.
UNIT ROOT TESTING IN THE PRESENCE OF HEAVY‐TAILED GARCH ERRORS
Authors: Wang Gaowen , Mao Wei‐Lin 
Published: September 2008

SummaryWe derive the asymptotic distributions of the Dickey–Fuller (DF) and augmented DF (ADF) tests for unit root processes with Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) errors under fairly mild conditions. We show that the asymptotic distributions of the DF tests and ADF t‐type test are the same as those obtained in the independent and identically distributed Gaussian cases, regardless of whether the fourth moment of the underlying GARCH process is finite or not. Our results go beyond earlier ones by showing that the fourth moment condition on the scaled conditional errors is totally unnecessary. Some Monte Carlo simulations are provided to illustrate the finite‐sample‐size properties of the tests.
Risk and Public Protection: Responding to Involuntary and ‘Taboo’ Risk
Authors: Kemshall Hazel , Wood Jason 
Published: September 2008

AbstractGrowing media, political and public concern with high‐risk offenders in the community has focused policy attention on the concept of ‘public protection’. A notion that the public has the right to be protected, particularly from ‘monstrous’ offenders such as predatory paedophiles, has infiltrated much recent legislation and penal policy. This article will explore the critical factors in the ‘public protection’ trend and the framing of risk and risky offenders that has ensued. In particular, attention will be given to the new surveillance and intervention mechanisms under the Multi‐Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and whether these arrangements manage risk or displace it. To what extent are they driven by the ‘precautionary principle’ and defensive responses to risks that are over‐inflated? To what extent does this result in ‘perverse incentives’ to over‐manage certain risks and to over‐concentrate on restrictive risk management techniques such as electronic tagging, satellite surveillance and curfews rather than treatment? Does the system represent effective risk management or a system for dealing with risk anxiety – both of the public(s) and of politicians?
Social Policy beyond Fear: The Globalization of Strangeness, the ‘War on Terror’, and ‘Spaces of Wonder’
Authors: Rumford Chris 
Published: September 2008

AbstractFear has become central to social scientific understandings of contemporary insecurities. However, this article argues that a focus on fear is not sufficient, and that an exploration of ‘wonder’ is more productive, particularly when trying to understand modes of governance and policy regimes introduced as part of the ‘war on terror’. An appropriate starting point for such an exploration is the globalization of strangeness. The idea that globalization has undermined the familiar territoriality of a world of nation states has become accepted in the social science literature. However, the nature of the resulting unfamiliarity or strangeness of the world is rarely explored. This article focuses on the processes by means of which the world is rendered strange and examines the opportunities for new forms of governance opened up by a world designated as insecure, uncertain and unpredictable. The article pays particular attention to the ways in which this strangeness can generate ‘spaces of wonder’. Examples of such ‘spaces of wonder’ include ‘the world’, the UK's border, now offshore according to the Home Office, and ‘global borderlands’. The article advances a critical reading of contemporary political responses to ‘spaces of wonder’, particularly the ways in which the unknown and threatening are rendered in familiar and cosy terms.
Fear and Security: A Vulnerability‐led Policy Response
Authors: Furedi Frank 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThe aim of this article is to explore the rise of vulnerability‐led policy‐making. It attempts to engage with the apparent puzzle of why the official rhetoric of promoting resilience frequently gives way to an orientation towards an emphasis on vulnerability. It contends that the current conceptualization of resilience assumes that vulnerability is the defining condition of social life. One likely consequence of this approach is the reinforcement of the passive side of public life.
Child Protection Social Work: Risks of Fears and Fears of Risks – Impossible Tasks from Impossible Goals?
Authors: Littlechild Brian 
Published: September 2008

Abstract This article examines the relationship between the causes and effects of fear in child protection social workers, and the effects of risk assessment and risk management policies on this area of work. The focus on risk assessment and risk management has become a major area of attention within practice, policy and management of child protection work in the UK in recent years. Concepts of risk as constructed by the media, government and the public are increasingly impacting upon professional practices. This article examines the basis and validity of risk assessments in the social professions field, and particularly within the child protection arena. The article goes on to examine the experiences of fear arising from the risk agenda, which affects frontline workers, managers and child protection agencies. This agenda arises from centrally produced risk assessment frameworks, alongside unrealistic expectations from central government of prediction of risk by the use of current risk assessment tools. Such controlling policies from central government can lead to fear and anxiety in social work professionals of not assessing and eliminating risk, as the government and their employing agencies are expecting them to do. The article also proposes that this risk agenda fails to address a key element in the assessment of risk – how social workers experience threats and stress in their work, and the pressures they can be subject to within it, particularly in relation to violence and threats from parent service users where their children are being investigated for possible child abuse.
‘We Don't Have to Take This’: Zero Tolerance of Violence against Health Care Workers in a Time of Insecurity
Authors: Gabe Jonathan , Ann Elston Mary 
Published: September 2008

Abstract Doctors, nurses and other health care workers in the UK are said to be increasingly aware of the ‘risks of the job’ as a result of mounting verbal abuse, threats and assaults from patients and their relatives. In the late 1990s the UK government introduced a policy of ‘zero tolerance’, which it claimed was designed to minimize the risk of such violence. Current policy refers to the need to be tough on offenders and encourage a culture of respect. In this article we review this strategy and the reasons for its introduction and consider some of the potential consequences. The article starts with an account of the policy, the definition of violence that underpins it and how it has been measured, and assesses the evidence regarding prevalence. This is then interpreted in the context of wider policies of zero tolerance to crime, and debates about risk, anxiety and insecurity.
The Credit Channel of Capital Tax Policy
Authors: STRULIK HOLGER 
Published: September 2008

AbstractA neoclassical growth model is augmented by a corporate sector, financial intermediation, and a set of tax rates. In this setting, capital structure is determined by the interplay between a tax advantage of debt finance and costly state verification entailed by asymmetric information. Effects of capital tax reforms are investigated with a special focus on this micro‐founded credit channel of tax policy. The theoretical part of the paper establishes a new, institution‐based view on the motivation of debt finance in general equilibrium and derives financial and real effects of private and corporate income tax policies. Using a calibration with U.S. data, the applied part demonstrates that tax cuts cause significant adjustments of capital structure. Nevertheless, it turns out that the credit channel generates relatively small effects of tax reforms on consumption, investment, and growth.
International Asset Trade, Capital Income Taxation, and Specialization Patterns
Authors: FUTAGAMI KOICHI , KANEKO AKIHIKO , ONO YOSHIYASU , SHIBATA AKIHISA 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThis paper constructs a small economy version of dynamic Heckscher‐Ohlin models with overlapping generations and analyzes effects of capital income taxation on the specialization pattern of the country. It is shown that once international asset trade is allowed, in the presence of international technological asymmetries, a small country eventually leads to perfect specialization in our overlapping generations model. It is also shown that the residence‐based tax has no effect on the specialization pattern while the source‐based tax has a negative effect on capital accumulation and thereby it can affect the specialization pattern of the small country.
Skin lipid organization, composition and barrier function
Authors: Bouwstra J. A. , Gooris G. S. , Ponec M. 
Published: September 2008

Citation: IFSCC Magazine, 10 (2007) (4) 297–307The primary function of the skin is to act as a barrier against unwanted influences from the environment and to protect the body from water loss. The barrier function of the skin is located in the superficial layer of the skin, the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum consists of dead cells filled with keratin and water, the corneocytes, embedded in lipid regions. As the lipid regions are the only continuous structure in the stratum corneum, they are considered to be very important for the skin barrier function. The main lipid classes are ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids. In this paper the lipid organization in human stratum corneum is reviewed. In addition, the role the various lipid classes play in lipid organization is discussed using mixtures prepared from either native human ceramides or synthetic ceramides. Finally, a model is described which allows study of the relation between lipid composition, organization and barrier function. This model is referred to as the stratum corneum substitute.Keywords: ceramides, FTIR, lipid organization, stratum corneum, X‐ray diffraction
A new decorin‐like tetrapeptide for optimal organization of collagen fibers
Authors: Puig A. , García Antón J. M. , Mangues M. 
Published: September 2008

Citation: IFSCC Magazine, 10 (2007) (4) 309–314Decorin interacts with collagen via its protein core and influences collagen fibrillogenesis, thus regulating excessive bundle‐like aggregation of collagen. As skin ages, there is a lack of functional decorin which results in disrupted collagen fibers and a reduction in the tensile strength of the skin. Therefore, a substitute for decorin would make up for the non‐functional decorin that is present as we age.Two tetrapeptide sequences were identified as the specific binding sites of decorin to collagen fibrils. These sequences were engineered in order to generate new tetrapeptides with improved affinity that would present a decorin‐like activity. A focused library of several candidates was synthesized containing only tetrapeptides that mimicked the binding sequences of decorin. The candidates were screened with an in vitro collagen fibrillogenesis assay, and the tetrapeptide with the INCI name Tripeptide‐10 Citrulline achieved the best results. Like decorin, this synthetic tetrapeptide proved in in vitro tests to regulate collagen fibrillogenesis and influence the diameter of collagen fibers, making them thinner and more uniform. Tripeptide‐10 citrulline is a new cosmetic active to specifically target collagen fiber organization. Skin collagen quality is addressed rather than skin collagen quantity. Tripeptide‐10 citrulline ensures uniformity of fibril diameter and increases skin suppleness due to a better cohesion of collagen fibers.Keywords: collagen, decorin, diameter, fiber, organizationWinner of the Award for the best Podium Presentation at the IFSCC Conference 2007, Amsterdam, The Netherlands