bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Quantifying Net Staffing Costs Due to Longer-than-average Surgical Case Durations
Authors: Abouleish Amr E. , Dexter Franklin , Whitten Charles W. , Zavaleta Jeffery R. , Prough Donald S. 
Published: January 2004

Background
Anesthesiology departments incur staffing costs that are not covered by revenue because the operating room (OR) time allocation and case scheduling are not done to maximize OR efficiency and because surgical durations are longer than average. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate a method to quantify net anesthesia staffing costs due to longer-than-average surgical durations and evaluate the factors that influence staffing costs.

Methods
Data collected from two anesthesiology departments in academic hospitals for 1 yr included date of surgery, time that patients entered the OR, time that patients exited the OR, surgical service, and the Current Procedural Terminology code for the primary surgical procedure. Anesthesia care performed outside the main surgical suite and services not billed with American Society of Anesthesiologists units were excluded. National average surgical durations were determined from the Current Procedural Terminology code from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' database. Actual surgical durations were then used to determine staffing solutions to maximize OR efficiency; national average surgical durations were then used to determine a second solution. The difference in staffing costs between these two staffing solutions represented the staffing costs attributable to longer surgical durations. Costs were converted to dollar amounts using compensation values reported in a national compensation survey. The differences in revenue were determined by applying conversion factors to the differences in surgical durations. The annual net cost attributable to longer surgical durations equaled the staffing costs minus the revenue produced by longer durations. Net staffing costs were estimated for two hospitals using median staffing compensation and median payer mix. Net staffing costs were then recalculated by varying the parameters (conversion factors, limits on differences between actual and average surgical duration, levels of compensation, surgical service size of OR allocation).

Results
Using the median compensation of staff and an average conversion factor, the net annual staffing costs attributable to longer surgical durations were $672,100 for the first hospital. However, if staff members were highly compensated and the payer mix was unfavorable, the net staffing costs were $1,688,000. Reducing the difference between actual and average duration resulted in lower staffing costs. Net staffing costs were less in a second hospital studied that had many low-volume surgical services.

Conclusions
Longer-than-average surgical durations can increase net staffing costs for anesthesiology groups. The increase is dependent on factors such as staffing compensation and payer mix.
Thermal stability of human α‐crystallins sensed by amide hydrogen exchange
Authors: Hasan Azeem , Yu Jiong , Smith David L. , Smith Jean B. 
Published: January 2004

AbstractThe α‐crystallins, αA and αB, are major lens structural proteins with chaperone‐like activity and sequence homology to small heat‐shock proteins. As yet, their crystal structures have not been determined because of the large size and heterogeneity of the assemblies they form in solution. Because α‐crystallin chaperone activity increases with temperature, understanding structural changes of α‐crystallin as it is heated may help elucidate the mechanism of chaperone activity. Although a variety of techniques have been used to probe changes in heat‐stressed α‐crystallin, the results have not yet yielded a clear understanding of chaperone activity. We report examination of native assemblies of human lens α‐crystallin using hydrogen/deuterium exchange in conjunction with enzymatic digestion and analysis by mass spectrometry. This technique has the advantage of sensing structural changes along much of the protein backbone and being able to detect changes specific to αA and αB in the native assembly. The reactivity of the amide linkages to hydrogen/deuterium exchange was determined for 92% of the sequence of αA and 99% of αB. The behavior of αA and αB is remarkably similar. At low temperatures, there are regions at the beginning of the α‐crystallin domains in both αA and αB that have high protection to isotope exchange, whereas the C termini offer little protection. The N terminus of αA also has low protection. With increasing temperatures, both proteins show gradual unfolding. The maximum percent change in exposure with increasing temperatures was found in αA 72–75 and αB 76–79, two regions considered critical for chaperone activity.
Automated selection of positions determining functional specificity of proteins by comparative analysis of orthologous groups in protein families
Authors: Kalinina Olga V. , Mironov Andrey A. , Gelfand Mikhail S. , Rakhmaninova Aleksandra B. 
Published: January 2004

AbstractThe increasing volume of genomic data opens new possibilities for analysis of protein function. We introduce a method for automated selection of residues that determine the functional specificity of proteins with a common general function (the specificity‐determining positions [SDP] prediction method). Such residues are assumed to be conserved within groups of orthologs (that may be assumed to have the same specificity) and to vary between paralogs. Thus, considering a multiple sequence alignment of a protein family divided into orthologous groups, one can select positions where the distribution of amino acids correlates with this division. Unlike previously published techniques, the introduced method directly takes into account nonuniformity of amino acid substitution frequencies. In addition, it does not require setting arbitrary thresholds. Instead, a formal procedure for threshold selection using the Bernoulli estimator is implemented. We tested the SDP prediction method on the LacI family of bacterial transcription factors and a sample of bacterial water and glycerol transporters belonging to the major intrinsic protein (MIP) family. In both cases, the comparison with available experimental and structural data strongly supported our predictions.
Phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of the PLUNC gene family
Authors: Bingle Colin D. , LeClair Elizabeth E. , Havard Suzanne , Bingle Lynne , Gillingham Paul , Craven C. Jeremy 
Published: January 2004

AbstractThe PLUNC family of human proteins are candidate host defense proteins expressed in the upper airways. The family subdivides into short (SPLUNC) and long (LPLUNC) proteins, which contain domains predicted to be structurally similar to one or both of the domains of bactericidal/permeability‐increasing protein (BPI), respectively. In this article we use analysis of the human, mouse, and rat genomes and other sequence data to examine the relationships between the PLUNC family proteins from humans and other species, and between these proteins and members of the BPI family. We show that PLUNC family clusters exist in the mouse and rat, with the most significant diversification in the locus occurring for the short PLUNC family proteins. Clear orthologous relationships are established for the majority of the proteins, and ambiguities are identified. Completion of the prediction of the LPLUNC4 proteins reveals that these proteins contain approximately a 150‐residue insertion encoded by an additional exon. This insertion, which is predicted to be largely unstructured, replaces the structure homologous to the 40s hairpin of BPI. We show that the exon encoding this region is anomalously variable in size across the LPLUNC proteins, suggesting that this region is key to functional specificity. We further show that the mouse and human PLUNC family orthologs are evolving rapidly, which supports the hypothesis that these proteins are involved in host defense. Intriguingly, this rapid evolution between the human and mouse sequences is replaced by intense purifying selection in a large portion of the N‐terminal domain of LPLUNC4. Our data provide a basis for future functional studies of this novel protein family.
Myoglobin cavities provide interior ligand pathway
Authors: Teeter Martha M. 
Published: January 2004

AbstractThe myoglobin protein binds oxygen and catalyzes NO oxidation. As a key model protein, its dynamics have been well studied by spectroscopy and by crystallography as well as by simulation. Nonetheless, visualization of the mechanism of movement of ligands within myoglobin has been difficult. Coordinates of the A1 and A3 taxonomic spectral states of myoglobin from the 1 Å crystal structure (1a6g) are generated as consistent sets of correlated clusters of residues with A or B crystal alternates. Analysis of cavities in these A1 and A3 conformations clarifies the pathway of ligand motion from distal entry through interior movement to the proximal side of the heme. Cavities opened up by buried alternate conformations link the distal to the proximal side of the heme. Structural conservation highlights the relevance of this pathway to human neuroglobin. Cavity migration via myoglobin crystal alternates provides a specific link of protein structure to protein dynamics and protein function and demonstrates the relevance of substates (discrete disorder) to function for all proteins.
Hydrogen/deuterium exchange studies of native rabbit MM‐CK dynamics
Authors: Mazon Hortense , Marcillat Olivier , Forest Eric , Vial Christian 
Published: January 2004

AbstractCreatine kinase (CK) isoenzymes catalyse the reversible transfer of a phosphoryl group from ATP onto creatine. This reaction plays a very important role in the regulation of intracellular ATP concentrations in excitable tissues. CK isoenzymes are highly resistant to proteases in native conditions. To appreciate localized backbone dynamics, kinetics of amide hydrogen exchange with deuterium was measured by pulse‐labeling the dimeric cytosolic muscle CK isoenzyme. Upon exchange, the protein was digested with pepsin, and the deuterium content of the resulting peptides was determined by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (MS). The deuteration kinetics of 47 peptides identified by MS/MS and covering 96% of the CK backbone were analyzed. Four deuteration patterns have been recognized: The less deuterated peptides are located in the saddle‐shaped core of CK, whereas most of the highly deuterated peptides are close to the surface and located around the entrance to the active site. Their exchange kinetics are discussed by comparison with the known secondary and tertiary structures of CK with the goal to reveal the conformational dynamics of the protein. Some of the observed dynamic motions may be linked to the conformational changes associated with substrate binding and catalytic mechanism.
Role of Phe283 in enzymatic reaction of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase from alkalophilic Bacillus sp.1011: Substrate binding and arrangement of the catalytic site
Authors: Kanai Ryuta , Haga Keiko , Akiba Toshihiko , Yamane Kunio , Harata Kazuaki 
Published: January 2004

AbstractCyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) belonging to the α‐amylase family mainly catalyzes transglycosylation and produces cyclodextrins from starch and related α‐1,4‐glucans. The catalytic site of CGTase specifically conserves four aromatic residues, Phe183, Tyr195, Phe259, and Phe283, which are not found in α‐amylase. To elucidate the structural role of Phe283, we determined the crystal structures of native and acarbose‐complexed mutant CGTases in which Phe283 was replaced with leucine (F283L) or tyrosine (F283Y). The temperature factors of the region 259–269 in native F283L increased >10 Å2 compared with the wild type. The complex formation with acarbose not only increased the temperature factors (>10 Å2) but also changed the structure of the region 257–267. This region is stabilized by interactions of Phe283 with Phe259 and Leu260 and plays an important role in the cyclodextrin binding. The conformation of the side‐chains of Glu257, Phe259, His327, and Asp328 in the catalytic site was altered by the mutation of Phe283 with leucine, and this indicates that Phe283 partly arranges the structure of the catalytic site through contacts with Glu257 and Phe259. The replacement of Phe283 with tyrosine decreased the enzymatic activity in the basic pH range. The hydroxyl group of Tyr283 forms hydrogen bonds with the carboxyl group of Glu257, and the pKa of Glu257 in F283Y may be lower than that in the wild type.
Analysis of forces that determine helix formation in α‐proteins
Authors: Kilosanidze Gelena T. , Kutsenko Alexey S. , Esipova Natalia G. , Tumanyan Vladimir G. 
Published: January 2004

AbstractA model for prediction of α‐helical regions in amino acid sequences has been tested on the mainly‐α protein structure class. The modeling represents the construction of a continuous hypothetical α‐helical conformation for the whole protein chain, and was performed using molecular mechanics tools. The positive prediction of α‐helical and non‐α‐helical pentapeptide fragments of the proteins is 79%. The model considers only local interactions in the polypeptide chain without the influence of the tertiary structure. It was shown that the local interaction defines the α‐helical conformation for 85% of the native α‐helical regions. The relative energy contributions to the energy of the model were analyzed with the finding that the van der Waals component determines the formation of α‐helices. Hydrogen bonds remain at constant energy independently whether α‐helix or non‐α‐helix occurs in the native protein, and do not determine the location of helical regions. In contrast to existing methods, this approach additionally permits the prediction of conformations of side chains. The model suggests the correct values for ∼60% of all χ‐angles of α‐helical residues.
Question and Negative Polarity in the Disjunction Phrase
Authors: Amritavalli R. 
Published: January 2004

Disjunction in natural language is argued to require polarity licensing. Building on Higginbotham's (1991) account of the conjunctive reading of disjunction, either is argued to be polarity sensitive in disjunction in both its conjunctive and disjunctive interpretations, just as in isolation. The Kannada disjunctive –oo is shown to be polarity sensitive; its distribution and properties overlap with English whether as well as either. The Neg particle illa in Kannada declarative disjunction is argued to be the overt counterpart of a Neg licensor for either in English.Kannada –oo occurs without any interrogative meaning in phrases, but only as interrogative disjunction in clauses. In the latter instance, –oo adjoins to its Q licensor and thus precisely demarcates the scope of embedded questions. The default interpretation of Kannada –oo and English or in disjunctions with clausal scope corresponds to the strength of the wh–feature in these languages.
Fontane's Aesthetics of the Slavic Race
Authors: Breggin Benjamin 
Published: January 2004

AbstractTheodor Fontane was far from immune to turn‐of‐the‐century Europe's problematic fascination with race. In his Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg he lays out a romantic and slanted conception of the Slavic race, which he goes on to employ in works of fiction, such as Cécile or Effi Briest, in which Slavs play a pivotal role in the novels’ development. Impractical, eccentric, pagan and sensual, the Slavic race is deeply implicated in the Polish Cécile's tragedy and in Effi's fall from grace, which occurs in a Slavic milieu and with a Slavic lover. Yet, whatever Fontane's conception of the Slavic race may have been, the casual, playful and artistic way in which he portrayed it reveals that his intentions were aesthetic rather than political. Rather than fetishes of hatred, as in the work of his more jingoist contemporaries, Fontane's Slavs are decorative figures evoking the aesthetics of decadence.
Ilse Langner's Amazonen and the Reception of J. J. Bachofen's Das Mutterrecht
Authors: Davies Peter 
Published: January 2004

AbstractIlse Langner's play Amazonen: Komödie was due to receive its première in April 1933, but became one of the early victims of Nazi theatrical censorship, attracting condemnation for its satirical feminist polemic and its radical reworking of the myth of the Greek victory over the Amazons. This paper explores Langner's play as a response to a highly‐charged debate over the legacy of Johann Jakob Bachofen's theory of ancient matriarchy, in which theorists and writers from all political camps fought over the uses of myth in the modern world. Langner's approach to Bachofen's theory and to this debate demonstrates that the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’, which are often applied to the debate on myth in the Weimar Republic, do not necessarily do justice to the complexity of pre‐1933 thinking on the place of myth in modernity.
Der Neue Historische Afrika‐Roman: Kolonialismus aus Postkolonialer Sicht
Authors: Göttsche Dirk 
Published: January 2004

AbstractIm Rahmen des sprunghaft angestiegenen Interesses an Afrika in der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Jahrtausendwende sind seit Uwe Timms Morenga (1978) neue historische Afrika‐Romane entstanden, die die Erinnerung an den vergessenen deutschen Anteil am System des europäischen Kolonialismus und die Kritik des europäischen Afrika‐Diskurses mit dem Bemühen um eine differenzierende Darstellung afrikanischer Lebenswelten in ihrer eigenen Geschichtlichkeit und Gleichwertigkeit verbinden. Trotz der partiellen Fortschreibung von Projektionen des europäischen Exotismus tragen historische Romane wie Alex Capus’Munzinger Pascha (1997), Hermann Schulz’Auf dem Strom (1998), Jens Johannes Kramers Die Stadt unter den Steinen (2000) oder Hans Christoph Buchs Kain und Abel in Afrika (2001) – auf literarisch ganz unterschiedliche Weise – zur postkolonialen Neuvermessung des Kolonialismus und damit zur Neubegründung des Verhältnisses zwischen den Kulturräumen bei.
Martin Walser's Tod eines Kritikers and the Issue of Anti‐Semitism
Authors: Niven Bill 
Published: January 2004

AbstractMartin Walser's latest novel Tod eines Kritikers has been the subject of intense debate in Germany, particularly prior to its publication in June 2002. For some, the novel is anti‐Semitic and signals Walser's arrival in the far right‐wing camp; for others, it is merely a largely harmless satire. The following article briefly examines the patterns of this debate, the course of which was influenced by a degree of scandalmongering. The main focus is on an analysis of Tod eines Kritikers. I explore the arguments for and against an anti‐Semitic reading, arguing that any interpretation of the text as anti‐Semitic overlooks its use of irony and distance.
Continuity and Changing Configurations of Migration to and from the Republic of South Africa
Authors: Adepoju Aderanti 
Published: January 2004

This paper focuses on the transfixing configurations of migration dynamics in a new South Africa, while examining the context of migration and migration dynamics with an emphasis on the historical and institutional setting; the role of immigrants, including those doing the dirty and dangerous jobs, even when they are unwanted; the dynamics of replacement; and policy responses to fashion out appropriate migration regimes in the country.In the early 1970s, Lesotho, Malawi, and Mozambique were the main suppliers of labour to apartheid South Africa. This pattern later changed, and the supply of workers from Lesotho increased steadily over the years to 50 per cent of the foreign labour in South Africa. The striking disparities in economic development and living standards between South Africa and other African countries, and the remarkable transition to post‐apartheid rule attracted migrants of all categories from Africa and beyond, despite the daunting problems of unemployment, crime, widespread poverty, and the spread of AIDS. It is estimated that nationals from some 100 countries now live in the Republic of South Africa (RSA). From West Africa came highly skilled professionals from Nigeria and Ghana to staff the universities and other professions, along with tradesmen from Senegal and Mali, including street vendors and small traders. These joined their counterparts from the Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire and Zimbabwe to swell the informal sector in contrast to the traditional immigrants from Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Malawi, and Mozambique, whose nationals were mostly unskilled farm labourers and mine workers.
Upgrading, uneven development, and jobs in the North American apparel industry
Authors: Bair Jennifer , Gereffi Gary 
Published: January 2004

AbstractIn this article we examine the developmental consequences of globalization at multiple scales, using a commodity chains framework to investigate the case of the North American apparel industry. In the first section we outline the apparel commodity chain and offer a brief typology of its lead firms. In the second section we discuss the concept of industrial upgrading and describe several main export roles in the global apparel industry. In the third section we focus on the regional dynamics resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). We contrast the Mexican experience with that of countries in the Caribbean Basin to show the impact of distinct trade policies on export‐oriented development. We argue that NAFTA is creating upgrading opportunities for some Mexican firms to move from the low value‐added export‐oriented assembly (or maquila) model to full‐package production. In the fourth section we explore the unevenness of upgrading dynamics through a comparison of two blue jeans manufacturing clusters in the United States and Mexico: El Paso and Torreon. Our conclusions about upgrading and uneven development in the North American apparel industry emphasize the importance of local, national and regional institutional contexts in shaping inter‐firm networks and their development impact.
Searching the core of emergency medicine
Authors: Mørcke A. M. , Wichmann‐Hansen G. , Guldbrand‐Nielsen D. , Tønnesen E. , Eika B. 
Published: January 2004

Background:  The purpose of this study was to test whether focus groups involving medical students, house officers, senior doctors, and nurses could identify an undergraduate emergency medicine core curriculum.Method:  From May 2001 to January 2002, we interviewed 12 homogenous focus groups within all 88 participants. Three focus groups were composed of medical students; three of house officers, three of senior doctors, and three focus groups were composed of nurses. Each interview lasted 2 h. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using qualitative methods.Results:  The focus groups suggested and discussed in all 196 objectives. Students, physicians, and nurses agreed that newly graduated physicians should master history taking, 21 clinical disorders, 15 practical skills, interpretation of two diagnostic tests, two general diagnostic skills, and two leadership skills. Apart from these 43 core objectives, disagreement was substantial. Participants gave very different priorities to communication, knowledge about clinical disorders, practical clinical skills, leadership, and ‘the art of medicine’.Conclusion:  In conclusion, focus groups could identify an emergency medicine core curriculum. However, participants had very different perspectives on the curriculum. Focus groups could be one very practicable part of seeking consensus on what is core and securing local roots and ownership to an undergraduate emergency medicine curriculum before and during implementation.