Scoliosis: density-equalizing mapping and scientometric analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Publications related to scoliosis have increased enormously. A differentiation between publications of major and minor importance has become difficult even for experts. Scientometric data on developments and tendencies in scoliosis research has not been available to date. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the scientific efforts of scoliosis research both quantitatively and qualitatively.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Large-scale data analysis, density-equalizing algorithms and scientometric methods were used to evaluate both the quantity and quality of research achievements of scientists studying scoliosis. Density-equalizing algorithms were applied to data retrieved from ISI-Web.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From 1904 to 2007, 8,186 items pertaining to scoliosis were published and included in the database. The studies were published in 76 countries: the USA, the U.K. and Canada being the most productive centers. The Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri) was identified as the most prolific institution during that period, and orthopedics represented by far the most productive medical discipline. "BRADFORD, DS" is the most productive author (146 items), and "DANSEREAU, J" is the author with the highest scientific impact (h-index of 27).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that currently established measures of research output (i.e. impact factor, h-index) should be evaluated critically because phenomena, such as self-citation and co-authorship, distort the results and limit the value of the conclusions that may be drawn from these measures. Qualitative statements are just tractable by the comparison of the parameters with respect to multiple linkages. In order to obtain more objective evaluation tools, new measurements need to be developed.</p

Goldstones in Diphotons

We study the conditions for a new scalar resonance to be observed first in diphotons at the LHC Run-2. We focus on scenarios where the scalar arises either from an internal or spacetime symmetry broken spontaneously, for which the mass is naturally below the cutoff and the low-energy interactions are fixed by the couplings to the broken currents, UV anomalies, and selection rules. We discuss the recent excess in diphoton resonance searches observed by ATLAS and CMS at 750 GeV, and explore its compatibility with other searches at Run-1 and its interpretation as Goldstone bosons in supersymmetry and composite Higgs models. We show that two candidates naturally emerge: a Goldstone boson from an internal symmetry with electromagnetic anomalies, and the scalar partner of the Goldstone of supersymmetry breaking: the sgoldstino. The dilaton from conformal symmetry breaking is instead disfavoured by present data, in its minimal natural realization.Comment: 18 pages + refs, 2 figures. v2: typos corrected, references added, discussions extended and three new plots. Conclusion unchanged. v3: published versio

Modified carbon fabric electrodes: preparation and electrochemical behavior toward amaranth electrolysis

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10800-014-0769-9The electrochemical behavior of non-modified, Pt-modified, and Pt/polyaniline-modified carbon fiber textile electrodes was studied through a series of electrolyses, under potentiostatic conditions, on an amaranth/sulfuric solution in the presence or absence of chloride ion. The morphology of the dispersed Pt, PANI, and PANI/Pt coatings was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Scanning electrochemical microscopy confirmed that the textile surface was effectively modified by the electrocatalytic material. Color removal reached values above 90 % in both electroreduction and electrooxidation processes. The amaranth electroreductions carried out with the non-modified electrode showed better charge efficiency than those with the Pt-modified textile electrode. The electrooxidations with Pt-modified textile electrodes showed a significant reduction in electrolysis time. Ultraviolet-visible and Fourier transform infrared with attenuated total reflection spectra enabled the electrochemical behavior of the non-modified and Pt/PANI-modified electrodes to be distinguished.The authors wish to acknowledge to the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (contract CTM2011-23583) and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Vicerrectorado de Investigacion PAID-06-10 contract 003-233) for the financial support; and as well as Carbongen S. A. (Cocentaina, Spain), who kindly donated the activated carbon fabric. J. Molina is grateful to the Conselleria d'Educacio, Formacio i Ocupacio (Generalitat Valenciana) for the Programa VALi+D Postdoctoral Fellowship. A.I. del Rio is grateful to the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia for the FPI fellowship.Fernández Sáez, J.; Del Río García, AI.; Molina Puerto, J.; Bonastre Cano, JA.; Cases Iborra, FJ. (2015). Modified carbon fabric electrodes: preparation and electrochemical behavior toward amaranth electrolysis. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry. 45(3):263-272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-014-0769-9S263272453Marsh H, Reinoso FR (2000) Sciences of carbon materials. Universidad de Alicante, AlicanteKinoshita K (1998) Carbon: electrochemical and physicochemical properties. Wiley, New York, pp 293–387Burchell TD (1999) Carbon materials for advances technologies. Pergamon, AmsterdamDomínguez SD, Pardilla JA, Murcia AB, Morallón E, Amorós DC (2008) Electrochemical deposition of Pt nanoparticles on different carbon supports and conducting polymers. J Appl Electrochem 38:259–268Kezhong W, Xu M, Xindong W, Jingling L (2005) Pt–Polyaniline-modified carbon fiber electrode for the electrooxidation of methanol. Rare Met 24:33–36Wu G, Li L, Li JH, Xu BQ (2006) Methanol electrooxidation on Pt particles dispersed into PANI/SWNT composite films. J Power Sources 155:118–127Singh RN, Awasthi R, Tiwari SK (2010) Electro-catalytic activities of binary nano-composites of Pt and nano-carbon/multiwall carbon nanotube for methanol electro-electrooxidation. Open Catal J 3:50–57Zhiani M, Rezaei B, Jalili J (2010) Methanol electro-electrooxidation on Pt/C modified by polyaniline nanofibers for DMFC applications. Int J Hydrogen Energ 35:9298–9305Laborde H, Léger J-M, Lamy C (1994) Electrocatalytic electrooxidation of methanol and C1 molecules on highly dispersed electrodes. Part 1: Pt in polyaniline. J Appl Electrochem 24:219–226Niu L, Li Q, Wei F, Wu S, Liu P, Cao X (2005) Electrocatalytic behaviour of Pt-modified polyaniline electrode for methanol electrooxidation: effect of Pt deposition modes. J Electroanal Chem 578:331–337Huang LM, Tang WR, Wen TCh (2007) Spatially electrodeposited Pt in polyaniline doped with poly(styrene sulfonic acid) for methanol electrooxidation. J Power Sources 164:519–526Fernández J, Molina J, del Río AI, Bonastre J, Cases FJ (2012) Synthesis and characterization of electrochemically platinum–polyaniline modified carbon textile electrodes. Int J Electrochem Sci 7:10175–10189Snehalatha M, Ravikumar C, Sekar N, Jayakumar SV, Joe H (2008) FT–Raman, IR and UV–visible spectral investigations and ab initio computations of a nonlinear food dye amaranth. J Raman Spectrosc 39:928–936Rajendran L, Ananthi SP (2004) Analysis of positive feedback currents at the scanning electrochemical microscope. J Electroanal Chem 561:113–118Niu L, Li Q, Wei F, Chen X, Wang W (2003) Formation optimization of Pt-modified polyaniline films for the electrocatalytic electrooxidation of methanol. Synthetic Met 139:271–276Sala M, del Río AI, Molina J, Cases F, Gutierrez-Bouzán MC (2012) Influence of cell design and electrode materials on the decoloration of dyeing effluents. Int J Electrochem Sc 7:12470–12488Priyantha N, Malavipathirana S (1996) Effect of chloride ions on the electrochemical behavior of platinum surfaces. J Natn Sci Coun Sri Lanka 24:237–246Rajeev J, Nidhi Sh, Keisham R (2009) Electrochemical treatment of pharmaceutical azo dye amaranth from waste water. J Appl Electochem 39:577–582Nadupalli S, Koorbanally N, Jonnalagadda SB (2011) Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of amaranth with hypochlorite. J Phys Chem A 115:7948–795

Spinal involvement in mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (Morquio-Brailsford or Morquio A syndrome): presentation, diagnosis and management.

Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (MPS IVA), also known as Morquio-Brailsford or Morquio A syndrome, is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by a deficiency of the enzyme N-acetyl-galactosamine-6-sulphate sulphatase (GALNS). MPS IVA is multisystemic but manifests primarily as a progressive skeletal dysplasia. Spinal involvement is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in MPS IVA. Early diagnosis and timely treatment of problems involving the spine are critical in preventing or arresting neurological deterioration and loss of function. This review details the spinal manifestations of MPS IVA and describes the tools used to diagnose and monitor spinal involvement. The relative utility of radiography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the evaluation of cervical spine instability, stenosis, and cord compression is discussed. Surgical interventions, anaesthetic considerations, and the use of neurophysiological monitoring during procedures performed under general anaesthesia are reviewed. Recommendations for regular radiological imaging and neurologic assessments are presented, and the need for a more standardized approach for evaluating and managing spinal involvement in MPS IVA is addressed

Rapid characterisation of vegetation structure to predict refugia and climate change impacts across a global biodiversity hotspot

Identification of refugia is an increasingly important adaptation strategy in conservation planning under rapid anthropogenic climate change. Granite outcrops (GOs) provide extraordinary diversity, including a wide range of taxa, vegetation types and habitats in the Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR). However, poor characterization of GOs limits the capacity of conservation planning for refugia under climate change. A novel means for the rapid identification of potential refugia is presented, based on the assessment of local-scale environment and vegetation structure in a wider region. This approach was tested on GOs across the SWAFR. Airborne discrete return Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data and Red Green and Blue (RGB) imagery were acquired. Vertical vegetation profiles were used to derive 54 structural classes. Structural vegetation types were described in three areas for supervised classification of a further 13 GOs across the region.Habitat descriptions based on 494 vegetation plots on and around these GOs were used to quantify relationships between environmental variables, ground cover and canopy height. The vegetation surrounding GOs is strongly related to structural vegetation types (Kappa = 0.8) and to its spatial context. Water gaining sites around GOs are characterized by taller and denser vegetation in all areas. The strong relationship between rainfall, soil-depth, and vegetation structure (R2 of 0.8–0.9) allowed comparisons of vegetation structure between current and future climate. Significant shifts in vegetation structural types were predicted and mapped for future climates. Water gaining areas below granite outcrops were identified as important putative refugia. A reduction in rainfall may be offset by the occurrence of deeper soil elsewhere on the outcrop. However, climate change interactions with fire and water table declines may render our conclusions conservative. The LiDAR-based mapping approach presented enables the integration of site-based biotic assessment with structural vegetation types for the rapid delineation and prioritization of key refugia

Revisiting the influence of institutional forces on the written business plan:A replication study

The present paper re-analyzes and extends a study on institutional forces and the written business plan (Honig and Karlsson in J Manag 30(1):29–48, 2004). We attempt to examine to what extent critical decision making is evident in model and variable choice, and whether the implications provided by systematic replication efforts may serve to provide additional and perhaps unrecognized theoretical and/or empirical observations. We find that the key result—formal business planning does not affect performance, does not hold. In fact, we find evidence that formal business planning affects survival but not profitability. The re-analysis also reveals, that institutional antecedents to formal planning appear to be fragile and prone to researcher biases due to different coding and assumptions. Our study underscores the consequences of access to original data and coding material, and to rely upon current methodological explanations for subsequent analyses

Quantifying the Spatial Ecology of Wide-Ranging Marine Species in the Gulf of California: Implications for Marine Conservation Planning

There is growing interest in systematic establishment of marine protected area (MPA) networks and representative conservation sites. This movement toward networks of no-take zones requires that reserves are deliberately and adequately spaced for connectivity. Here, we test the network functionality of an ecoregional assessment configuration of marine conservation areas by evaluating the habitat protection and connectivity offered to wide-ranging fauna in the Gulf of California (GOC, Mexico). We first use expert opinion to identify representative species of wide-ranging fauna of the GOC. These include leopard grouper, hammerhead sharks, California brown pelicans and green sea turtles. Analyzing habitat models with both structural and functional connectivity indexes, our results indicate that the configuration includes large proportions of biologically important habitat for the four species considered (25–40%), particularly, the best quality habitats (46–57%). Our results also show that connectivity levels offered by the conservation area design for these four species may be similar to connectivity levels offered by the entire Gulf of California, thus indicating that connectivity offered by the areas may resemble natural connectivity. The selected focal species comprise different life histories among marine or marine-related vertebrates and are associated with those habitats holding the most biodiversity values (i.e. coastal habitats); our results thus suggest that the proposed configuration may function as a network for connectivity and may adequately represent the marine megafauna in the GOC, including the potential connectivity among habitat patches. This work highlights the range of approaches that can be used to quantify habitat protection and connectivity for wide-ranging marine species in marine reserve networks

Transcriptional Mutagenesis Induced by 8-Oxoguanine in Mammalian Cells

Most of the somatic cells of adult metazoans, including mammals, do not undergo continuous cycles of replication. Instead, they are quiescent and devote most of their metabolic activity to gene expression. The mutagenic consequences of exposure to DNA–damaging agents are well documented, but less is known about the impact of DNA lesions on transcription. To investigate this impact, we developed a luciferase-based expression system. This system consists of two types of construct composed of a DNA template containing an 8-oxoguanine, paired either with a thymine or a cytosine, placed at defined positions along the transcribed strand of the reporter gene. Analyses of luciferase gene expression from the two types of construct showed that efficient but error-prone transcriptional bypass of 8-oxoguanine occurred in vivo, and that this lesion was not repaired by the transcription-coupled repair machinery in mammalian cells. The analysis of luciferase activity expressed from 8OG:T-containing constructs indicated that the magnitude of erroneous transcription events involving 8-oxoguanine depended on the sequence contexts surrounding the lesion. Additionally, sequencing of the transcript population expressed from these constructs showed that RNA polymerase II mostly inserted an adenine opposite to 8-oxoguanine. Analysis of luciferase expression from 8OG:C-containing constructs showed that the generated aberrant mRNAs led to the production of mutant proteins with the potential to induce a long-term phenotypical change. These findings reveal that erroneous transcription over DNA lesions may induce phenotypical changes with the potential to alter the fate of non-replicating cells

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO