bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Discriminant Analysis of Sunflower Seeds for Fatty Acid Composition Using NIR Spectroscopy
Authors: Grunvald Anna Karolina , de Carvalho Claudio Guilherme Portela , Leite Rodrigo Santos , Mandarino José Marcos Gontijo , Gonçalves Juliana Leite , de Bastos Andrade Carlos Alberto , Scapim Carlos Alberto
Published: January 2012

Near‐infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy data from sunflower seeds of genotypes differing in oleic and linoleic fatty acid contents were evaluated by discriminant analysis. A single husked seed was used for spectral analysis of each genotype. We applied two clustering strategies to discriminate the genotypes. First, we fit three calibration curves for high oleic × low oleic, high oleic × mid‐oleic and mid‐oleic × low oleic genotype‐derived fatty acids. Next, we fit just one curve to all these three groups. All these curves were established using principal component analysis. The clustering precision was determined by d, the Mahalanobis distance between the genotype and the closest group, and D, the distance up to the next group. The spectral range used for calibration was 1,651–1,952 nm. The genotypes were well classified when d was close to one and the ratio D/d was close to or higher than two. The discriminant analysis allowed the classification of the high oleic and mid‐oleic genotypes even though they had similar signals in gas chromatography (GC). Although both clustering strategies were similar, the first one allowed a better discrimination between the mid‐oleic and low oleic genotypes.
Simple shear is not so simple! Kinematics and shear senses in Newtonian viscous simple shear zones
Authors: MUKHERJEE SOUMYAJIT
Published: January 2012

This work develops an analytical model of shear senses within an inclined ductile simple shear zone with parallel rigid boundaries and incompressible Newtonian viscous rheology. Taking account of gravity that tends to drive the material downdip and a possible pressure gradient that drives it upward along the shear zone, it is shown that (i) contradictory shear senses develop within two sub-zones even as a result of a single simple shear deformation; (ii) the highest velocity and least shear strain develop along the contact between the two sub-zones of reverse shear; (iii) for a uniform shear sense of the boundaries, a zone of reverse shear may develop within the top of the shear zone if the pressure gradient dominates the gravity component; otherwise it forms near the bottom boundary; (iv-a) a ‘pivot’ defined by the intersection between the velocity profile and the initial marker position distinguishes two sub-zones of opposite movement directions (not shear sense); (iv-b) a pivot inside any non-horizontal shear zone indicates a part of the zone that extrudes while the other subducts simultaneously; (v) the same shear sense develops: (v-a) when under a uniform shear of the boundaries, the shear zone remains horizontal and the pressure gradient vanishes; or alternatively (v-b) if the shear zone is inclined but the gravity component counterbalances the pressure gradient. Zones with shear sense reversal need to be reinterpreted since a pro-sheared sub-zone can retro-shear if the flow parameters change their magnitudes even though the same shear sense along the boundaries is maintained.
Severe food insecurity is associated with obesity among Brazilian adolescent females
Authors: Kac Gilberto , Velásquez-Melendez Gustavo , Schlüssel Michael M , Segall-Côrrea Ana Maria , Silva Antônio AM , Pérez-Escamilla Rafael
Published: January 2012

Objective

To determine whether household food insecurity (HFI) is associated with a higher prevalence of excessive weight (EW) in a large random sample of Brazilian female adolescents.

Design

Nationally representative cross-sectional study. EW was the outcome variable (BMI ≥ 85th percentile of WHO reference for adolescents aged 15–18 years and BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 for those aged 19 years). HFI was measured with the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Associations were measured using crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) with 95 % confidence intervals through Poisson regression models taking into account the complex sampling design.

Setting

Data were derived from the third wave of the Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2006–2007, in Brazil.

Subjects

The sample included 1529 female adolescents aged 15–19 years.

Results

The prevalence of any level of HFI was 40·8 %, with 26·6 % of households experiencing mild, 9·4 % moderate and 4·8 % severe food insecurity. The overall prevalence of EW was 21·9 % (12·9 % were overweight and 9·0 % obese). EW prevalence among those living in severely, moderately and mildly food-insecure households was 36·8 %, 14·9 % and 16·5 %, respectively (P for the overall association = 0·036). Women living in severely food-insecure households had an increased prevalence of EW compared with their food-secure counterparts (PR = 1·96; 95 % CI 1·18, 3·27; P = 0·007), after adjusting for important confounders.

Conclusions

The study suggests that severe but not mild or moderate HFI is independently associated with EW among adolescents residing in Brazil, a middle-income country undergoing the nutrition transition.
Detecting inactivated endospores in fluorescence microscopy using propidium monoazide
Authors: Probst Alexander , Mahnert Alexander , Weber Christina , Haberer Klaus , Moissl-Eichinger Christine
Published: January 2012

The differentiation between living and dead bacterial endospores is crucial in many research areas of microbiology. The identification of inactivated, non-pathogenicBacillus anthracisspores is one reason why improvement of decontamination protocols is so desirable. Another field interested in spore viability is planetary protection, a sub-discipline of astrobiology that estimates the bioburden of spacecraft prior to launch in order to avoid interplanetary cross-contamination. We developed a dedicated, rapid and cost-effective method for identifying bacterial endospores that have been inactivated and consequently show a compromised spore wall. This novel protocol is culture-independent and is based on fluorescence microscopy and propidium monoazide (PMA) as a fluorescent marker, which is suggested to bind to DNA of spores with compromised spore coat, cortex and membranes based on our results. Inactivated preparations (treated with wet heat, irradiation, ultracentrifugation) showed a significant increase in spores that were PMA stained in their core; moreover,Bacillus atrophaeus, Bacillus safensisandGeobacillus stearothermophilusseemed to be best suited for this technique, as the spore cores of all these endospores could be positively stained after inactivation. Lastly, we describe an additional counter-staining protocol and provide an example of the application of the coupled staining methods for planetary protection purposes. The introduction of this novel protocol is expected to provide an initial insight into the various possible future applications of PMA as a non-viability marker for spores in, for example,B. anthracis-related studies, food microbiology and astrobiology.
Detailed tectonic evolution of the Reykjanes Ridge during the past 15 Ma
Authors: Benediktsdóttir Á. , Hey R. , Martinez F. , Höskuldsson Á.
Published: January 2012

We present a new detailed tectonic model of the Reykjanes Ridge which examines the rift propagation hypothesis for the V‐shaped ridges and its asymmetric lithospheric accretion. Four major southward rift propagations extend through our entire survey area and several additional small scale rift propagations are observed, including northward propagators. If plume pulses only drive southward propagators, then two different driving mechanisms for propagators must exist. There is a major difference in the crustal accretion asymmetry between the area immediately off the Iceland shelf and that farther south, both in rift propagation pattern and free air gravity lineations. Furthermore, we identify two small offset features coined ponsu‐transforms, from which rift propagation is both initiated and stopped. The pattern of the V‐shaped ridges on the Reykjanes Ridge is not symmetric about the Reykjanes Ridge and the V‐shaped ridges are not linear continuous features. Our rift propagation model produces excellent fits to magnetic data and provides a self‐consistent model for the evolution of the Reykjanes Ridge during the past 15 Ma.
Strong association between mRNA folding strength and protein abundance in S. cerevisiae
Authors: Zur Hadas , Tuller Tamir
Published: January 2012

One of the open questions in regulatory genomics is how the efficiency of gene translation is encoded in the coding sequence. Here we analyse recently generated measurements of folding energy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, showing that genes with high protein abundance tend to have strong mRNA folding (mF; R=0.68). mF strength also strongly correlates with ribosomal density and mRNA levels, suggesting that this relation at least partially pertains to the efficiency of translation elongation, presumably by preventing aggregation of mRNA molecules.
Topology of tokamak plasma equilibria with toroidal current reversal
Authors: Rodrigues Paulo , Bizarro João P. S.
Published: January 2012

Some general principles about scalar functions with critical points are used to rigorously ascertain that magnetic equilibria with both toroidal current reversal and nested magnetic surfaces are atypical solutions and highly unstable to arbitrary perturbations of boundary conditions and other parameters. The cause for such is shown to lie in the condition of nested magnetic surfaces and not in the possibility of current reversal and consequent vanishing of the poloidal field inside the plasma. Rather than supporting the claim that instability against experimentally driven perturbations forbids configurations with toroidal current reversal, it is argued that these can be attained if an axisymmetric island system is allowed for in order to break the condition of nested magnetic surfaces. A number of results previously reported in the literature are discussed and reinterpreted under the proposed framework, providing some physical insight on the nature of equilibria with toroidal current reversal.
Higher order alchemical derivatives from coupled perturbed self-consistent field theory
Authors: Lesiuk Michał , Balawender Robert , Zachara Janusz
Published: January 2012

We present an analytical approach to treat higher order derivatives of Hartree-Fock (HF) and Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory energy in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation with respect to the nuclear charge distribution (so-called alchemical derivatives). Modified coupled perturbed self-consistent field theory is used to calculate molecular systems response to the applied perturbation. Working equations for the second and the third derivatives of HF/KS energy are derived. Similarly, analytical forms of the first and second derivatives of orbital energies are reported. The second derivative of Kohn-Sham energy and up to the third derivative of Hartree-Fock energy with respect to the nuclear charge distribution were calculated. Some issues of practical calculations, in particular the dependence of the basis set and Becke weighting functions on the perturbation, are considered. For selected series of isoelectronic molecules values of available alchemical derivatives were computed and Taylor series expansion was used to predict energies of the “surrounding” molecules. Predicted values of energies are in unexpectedly good agreement with the ones computed using HF/KS methods. Presented method allows one to predict orbital energies with the error less than 1% or even smaller for valence orbitals.
Asymptotic equilibrium between Langmuir turbulence and suprathermal electrons in three dimensions
Authors: Yoon Peter H.
Published: January 2012

The suprathermal electron distributions with non-Maxwellian tail are commonly detected in space environment as well as in the laboratory. In a previous article [P. H. Yoon, Phys. Plasmas 18, 122303 (2011)], a self-consistent theory of asymptotically steady-state electron distribution function and Langmuir turbulence intensity was formulated in which the steady-state electron distribution is obtained by balancing the spontaneous (or collisional) drag term and velocity space diffusion term, while the steady-state turbulence intensity was obtained by balancing spontaneous and induced processes. The resulting electron distribution function was a type of kappa distribution that features a non-Maxwellian energetic tail component. However, such a discussion was based upon the assumption that both electrons and Langmuir waves are confined to one-dimensional space along the direction of the implicit ambient magnetic field. However, such an assumption may be invalidated when the implicit ambient magnetic field is sufficiently weak or absent. Consequently, in this paper the assumption of one-dimensionality is relaxed to three-dimensional situation.
Correlation potentials for molecular bond dissociation within the self-consistent random phase approximation
Authors: Hellgren Maria , Rohr Daniel R. , Gross E. K. U.
Published: January 2012

Self-consistent correlation potentials for H2 and LiH for various inter-atomic separations are obtained within the random phase approximation (RPA) of density functional theory. The RPA correlation potential shows a peak at the bond midpoint, which is an exact feature of the true correlation potential, but lacks another exact feature: the step important to preserve integer charge on the atomic fragments in the dissociation limit. An analysis of the RPA energy functional in terms of fractional charge is given which confirms these observations. We find that the RPA misses the derivative discontinuity at odd integer particle numbers but explicitly eliminates the fractional spin error in the exact-exchange functional. The latter finding explains the improved total energy in the dissociation limit.
A tapered parallel-plate-waveguide probe for THz near-field reflection imaging
Authors: Liu Jingbo , Mendis Rajind , Mittleman Daniel M. , Sakoda Naokazu
Published: January 2012

We demonstrate a broad-band low-loss THz near-field imaging technique based on a tapered parallel-plate waveguide. This technique works in a reflection geometry, which avoids the problem of low energy throughput due to the impedance mismatch and consequently limited spatial resolution, in the transmission geometry. Images reconstructed by the filtered-back-projection algorithm are able to resolve features of size ∼100 μm using radiation with an average wavelength of 1.5 mm.
The influence of the perception of a familial climate on job performance: Mediation of loyalty to supervisors and moderation of filial behaviour
Authors: Jen Chin‐Kang , Chou Li‐Fang , Lin Chu‐Yen , Tsai Ming‐Che
Published: January 2012

With a collectivist cultural perspective, we examined the positive effects of employees’ perceptions of a familial climate on loyalty to supervisors, the mediation of loyalty between perception of a familial climate and job performance, and the moderation of employees’ filial behaviour on the relationship between perception of a familial climate and loyalty. The participants consisted of 247 supervisor‐and‐subordinate dyads in Taiwan. The results supported our hypotheses. Through the mechanisms of family behaviour transference, social identification and supervisor–subordinate exchange, perception of an organizational familial climate enhanced loyalty to supervisors. Furthermore, loyalty to supervisors mediated the relationship between perception of a familial climate and job performance. Filial behaviour moderated the relationship between perception of a familial climate and loyalty; thus, the relationship of perception of a familial climate and loyalty was stronger for employees with low levels of filial behaviour and weaker for employees with high levels of filial behaviour. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications for future research and management practices.
Does gratitude always work? Ambivalence over emotional expression inhibits the beneficial effect of gratitude on well‐being
Authors: Chen Lung Hung , Chen Mei‐Yen , Tsai Ying‐Mei
Published: January 2012

The psychological benefit of gratitude has been well demonstrated in previous studies. However, when we examined these studies closely, we found that the moderators were rarely investigated, suggesting that further work is needed to explore the boundaries of gratitude In this regard, the authors have proposed that ambivalence over emotional expression might be a potential moderator that would inhibit the beneficial effect of gratitude on well‐being. Two studies were conducted to examine our hypothesis. Study 1 consisted of 353 Taiwanese college students who completed the Gratitude Questionnaire–Taiwan version (GQ‐T), Ambivalence over Emotional Expression Questionnaire (AEQ), and one question about subjective happiness. We found that ambivalence over emotional expression significantly moderated the effect of gratitude on happiness. To validate our findings in Study 1, 233 Taiwanese college students were recruited for Study 2, and they completed the GQ‐T, AEQ, subjective happiness short‐form UCLA loneliness scale, as well as the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D). Both studies demonstrated that ambivalence over emotional expression moderated the relationship between gratitude and well‐being indexes. Simply stated, the authors found that across the two independent samples, among students who are high in ambivalence over emotional expression, the beneficial effect of gratitude on subjective happiness was inhibited. However, the moderating pattern for loneliness and depression was contrary to our expectations, indicating that high ambivalence over emotional expression does not inhibit gratitude. Possible explanations and implications for social relationships and emotional expression are discussed.
Interoceptive and exteroceptive attention have opposite effects on subsequent somatosensory perceptual decision making
Authors: Mirams Laura , Poliakoff Ellen , Brown Richard J. , Lloyd Donna M.
Published: January 2012

Evidence suggests that interoceptive and exteroceptive attention might have different perceptual effects. However, the effects of these different types of body-focused attention have never been directly compared. The current research investigated how interoceptive and exteroceptive attention affect subsequent performance on the somatic signal detection task (SSDT). In Experiment 1, 37 participants completed the SSDT under usual testing conditions and after performing an interoceptive heartbeat perception task. This task led to a more liberal response criterion, leading to increased touch reports in the presence and absence of a target vibration. This finding is consistent with suggestions that attending internally contributes to physical symptom reporting in patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). In Experiment 2, 40 participants completed the SSDT before and after an exteroceptive grating orientation task. This task led to a more stringent response criterion, leading to decreased touch reports in the presence and absence of the target, possibly via a reduction in sensory noise. This work demonstrates that internal and external body-focused attention can have opposite effects on subsequent somatic perceptual decision making and suggests that attentional training could be useful for patients reporting MUS.
Disenchantment in education, or: ‘Whither art thou gone, fair world?’–Has the magic gone from the ivory tower?
Authors: Bishop Paul
Published: January 2012

With reference to the current debate surrounding the humanities in the West, this paper draws on subsequent theoretical explorations of disenchantment to analyse what numerous observers describe as the ‘crisis’ of our universities. Engaging both Jungian thought and the Frankfurt School to understand the psychological dynamics of ‘disenchantment’ as experienced on campus, it investigates Adorno's notion of the ‘totally administered society’ and — more broadly — surveys some of the arguments proposed to explain this decline. Moving beyond, on one hand, the lamentation and hand-wringing nostalgia for a long-lost past and, on the other, what some have termed a ‘new managerialism’ that inhabits an acronym-ridden climate of control, it tries to discern, in what is undoubtedly a political and an economic problem, the contours of a psychological crisis, whose resolution cannot ignore the archetypal dimension of the collective soul.
The dynamics of replication licensing in live Caenorhabditis elegans embryos
Authors: Sonneville Remi , Querenet Matthieu , Craig Ashley , Gartner Anton , Blow J. Julian
Published: January 2012

Accurate DNA replication requires proper regulation of replication licensing, which entails loading MCM-2–7 onto replication origins. In this paper, we provide the first comprehensive view of replication licensing in vivo, using video microscopy of Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. As expected, MCM-2–7 loading in late M phase depended on the prereplicative complex (pre-RC) proteins: origin recognition complex (ORC), CDC-6, and CDT-1. However, many features we observed have not been described before: GFP–ORC-1 bound chromatin independently of ORC-2–5, and CDC-6 bound chromatin independently of ORC, whereas CDT-1 and MCM-2–7 DNA binding was interdependent. MCM-3 chromatin loading was irreversible, but CDC-6 and ORC turned over rapidly, consistent with ORC/CDC-6 loading multiple MCM-2–7 complexes. MCM-2–7 chromatin loading further reduced ORC and CDC-6 DNA binding. This dynamic behavior creates a feedback loop allowing ORC/CDC-6 to repeatedly load MCM-2–7 and distribute licensed origins along chromosomal DNA. During S phase, ORC and CDC-6 were excluded from nuclei, and DNA was overreplicated in export-defective cells. Thus, nucleocytoplasmic compartmentalization of licensing factors ensures that DNA replication occurs only once.
Development, degeneration, and regeneration of the central nervous system
Authors: Compston Alastair
Published: January 2012

What does the nervous system do? Primitive organisms respond to threats by reflex withdrawal and explore their environment through goal-directed activities. They sense and respond to their internal environment in order to maintain homeostasis. From these origins emerge more sophisticated forms of discriminative sensation and the acquisition of special senses; precision in the efficiency of movement and coordination between separate elements of motor skills; and cognitive behaviours that anticipate, conceptualize, and enrich physical and social interactions with the environment.
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Authors: Eyre Janet
Published: January 2012

Remarkable advances in the neurosciences, particularly in the fields of genetics, molecular biology, metabolism, and nutrition, have greatly advanced our understanding of how the brain develops and responds to environmental influences. Neurodevelopmental disorders arise from perturbation of these normal developmental processes, by insults from heterogeneous aetiological factors. These factors trigger a sequence of molecular, biochemical, and morphological alterations of the brain, resulting in a morphologically and/ or functionally abnormal brain. Rapidly advancing understanding of basic neurodevelopmental processes has direct relevance to understanding human neurodevelopmental disorders, providing insights into pathogenic mechanisms and revealing new pathways that can be exploited in diagnosis and treatment. Conversely the identification of the molecular bases of several neurodevelopmental disorders has also provided invaluable insights into the mechanisms of normal brain development. Technical advances have also improved methods for identifying brain regions involved in developmental disorders, for tracing connections between parts of the brain, for visualizing individual neurons in living brain preparations, for recording the activities of neurons, and for studying the activity of single-ion channels and the receptors for various neurotransmitters. During the past 10 years the genetic basis of an ever increasing number of neurodevelopmental disorders has been discovered and has led to better understanding of the neurobiological basis of even common disorders such as global developmental delay, cerebral palsy, and autism. Current research should reveal their underlying molecular biology and eventually the possibility of targeted chemotherapy and the prevention of many neurodevelopmental disorders.
Polyneuropathy
Authors: Donaghy Michael
Published: January 2012

Typically polyneuropathy will cause the combination of distal limb muscle weakness, loss of tendon reflexes, and reduced distal limb sensation. There is variable involvement of the autonomic innervation, damage to which causes a dry, vasodilated foot or hand. Loss of tendon reflexes is a cardinal sign of polyneuropathy, often restricted to the ankle jerks in axonal degeneration, but involving more proximal reflexes in acquired demyelinating neuropathies which may involve more proximal segments or the nerve roots. Clinical features suggestive of demyelinating or conduction block polyneuropathy include: a relative lack of muscle wasting in relation to the degree of weakness because no denervation has occurred; weakness of proximal muscles as well as distal, because of nerve root involvement; and disproportionate loss of joint position and vibration sensations compared to relative preservation of pain and temperature sensations which are carried by unmyelinated fibres.
Coma
Authors: Rossor Martin
Published: January 2012

Many pathological processes can be responsible for stupor or coma, for example, head injury, tumour, vascular and inflammatory lesions, and most commonly toxic and metabolic states which usually lead to unconsciousness primarily through their effect upon the brainstem. In the series of Plum and Posner (1980) of 500 cases of stupor or coma, initially of unknown aetiology, 101 proved to be due to supratentorial lesions probably producing their effects by indirect action upon the brainstem, 65 to subtentorial lesions, and 326 to diffuse or metabolic brain.
Cerebrovascular diseases
Authors: Rothwell Peter
Published: January 2012

This chapter is concerned with those diseases of the cerebral and ocular circulation that cause ischaemia or infarction of the brain and eye or spontaneous haemorrhage into or around the brain. The main clinical manifestations of these diseases are transient ischaemic attack and stroke.
Multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases
Authors: Compston Alastair
Published: January 2012

The oligodendrocyte–myelin unit subserves saltatory conduction of the nerve impulse in the healthy central nervous system. At one time, many disease processes were thought exclusively to target the structure and function of myelin. Therefore, they were designated ‘demyelinating diseases’. But recent analyses, based mainly on pathological and imaging studies, (re)emphasize that axons are also directly involved in these disorders during both the acute and chronic phases. Another ambiguity is the extent to which these are inflammatory conditions. Here, distinctions should be made between inflammation, as a generic process, and autoimmunity in which rather a specific set of aetiological and mechanistic conditions pertain. And there are differences between disorders that are driven primarily by immune processes and those in which inflammation occurs in response to pre-existing tissue damage.

With these provisos, the pathological processes of demyelination and associated axonal dysfunction often account for episodic neurological symptoms and signs referable to white matter tracts of the brain, optic nerves, or spinal cord when these occur in young people. This is the clinical context in which the possibility of ‘demyelinating disease’ is usually considered by physicians and, increasingly, the informed patient. Neurologists will, with appropriate cautions, also be prepared to diagnose demyelinating disease in older patients presenting with progressive symptoms implicating these same pathways even when there is no suggestive past history. Both in its typical and atypical forms multiple sclerosis remains by far the commonest demyelinating disease. But acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, the leucodystrophies, and central pontine myelinolysis also need to be considered in particular circumstances; and multiple sclerosis itself has a differential diagnosis in which the relapsing-remitting course is mimicked by conditions not associated with direct injury to the axon–glial unit. Since our understanding of the cause, pathogenesis and features of demyelinating disease remains incomplete, classification combines aspects of the aetiology, clinical features, pathology, and laboratory components. Whether the designation ‘multiple sclerosis’ encapsulates one or more conditions is now much debated. We anticipate that a major part of future studies in demyelinating disease will be further to resolve this question of disease heterogeneity leading to a new taxonomy based on mechanisms rather than clinical empiricism. But, for now, the variable ages of onset, unpredictable clinical course, protean clinical manifestations, and non-specific laboratory investigations continue to make demyelinating disease one of the more challenging diagnostic areas in clinical neurology.
Instabilities in a drop-strip system: a simplified model
Authors: Rivetti Marco , Neukirch Sébastien
Published: January 2012

We study the deformation of an elastic strip by a liquid drop. At small enough scales, capillarity is the dominant fluid effect and surface tension forces may be sufficient to fold the beam, resulting in the wrapping of the drop by the beam. However, wrapping of the drop can be inhibited by the weight of the beam, which creates an energy barrier. The barrier can be overcome by input of kinetic energy in the form of impact of the drop. We introduce a semi-analytical model to study equilibria and their stability in three drop-beam systems: evaporation of a drop wetting and bending an elastic beam; impact of a drop on an elastic beam; lifting of a heavy elastic beam by a drop and we show the model reproduces experimental data. In relevant cases, we use the concept of suddenly applied load to discuss dynamic instabilities.
Structural phase transition to disorder low-temperature phase in [Fe(ptz)6](BF4)2 spin-crossover compounds
Authors: Kusz Joachim , Zubko Maciej , Neder Reinhard B. , Gütlich Phillipp
Published: January 2012

In the spin-crossover compound [Fe(ptz)6](BF4)2 (where ptz=1-n-propyltetrazole) six different phases are observed. When a single crystal is slowly cooled from high temperatures to those below 125 K, the reflections broaden into diffuse maxima and split into two maxima along the c* direction [Kusz, Gütlich & Spiering (2004). Top. Curr. Chem.
234, 129–153]. As both maxima are broad along the c* direction, the short-range order exists only along the c direction and in the ab plane the structure remains long-range ordered. In this disordered phase additional satellite reflections appear. Upon heating above 135 K, the diffuse maxima return to their previous shape and this process is completely reversible. Rapidly cooled samples, on the other hand, do not show such splitting and the symmetry remains R\bar 3, despite a jump in lattice parameters. We use a special technique to analyse the disorder model of the slowly cooled samples, which consists of layered domains shifted in the hexagonal ab plane. The low-spin disordered phase was solved in a novel approach to accommodate the very unusual twinning and refined in the non-standard space group C\bar 1. In contrast to the ordered low-spin phase, the Fe ion is in a non-centrosymmetric coordination polyhedron and two of the six propyl groups change their conformation.
The influence of surgery on the onset of symptomatic coronary artery disease
Authors: McFarlane H. J. , Girdwood L. , Bhaskar A. , Clark D. , Webster N. R.
Published: January 2012

We speculated that asymptomatic patients undergoing routine surgery might be at higher risk of subsequent cardiac events. We studied 183 534 patients with no prior admission for heart disease, aged 50–75 years, admitted electively for one of five operations considered medium to low risk of peri‐operative cardiac morbidity, between January 1997 and December 2005. Controls were generated from linked records. Within 3 years 3444 (1.9%) patients undergoing operations had subsequent myocardial infarction/acute coronary syndrome (MI/ACS) compared with 3708 (2.0%) controls (p < 0.001). Overall 8406 (4.6%) patients undergoing surgery had MI/ACS compared with 9306 (5.1%) controls (p < 0.001). Of patients undergoing surgery, 20.2% died compared with 25.7% of controls (p < 0.001). Patients undergoing certain surgical procedures did not have a higher incidence of readmission for cardiac events, but had a general survival benefit compared with other elective hospital admissions. Assessment for surgery may represent a health benefit beyond the original surgery.
Why does a rural background make medical students more likely to intend to work in rural areas and how consistent is the effect? A study of the rural background effect
Authors: Jones Michael , Humphreys John S. , McGrail Matthew R.
Published: January 2012

Objective:  Evidence indicates that medical graduates with a rural background are more likely to become rural doctors than those with an urban background (the rural background effect (RBE)). Exactly why this is so has rarely been studied. This study sought to identify the role of social, environmental and economic factors in addition to isolation characterising rural environments that either explain or modify the association between rural background and becoming a rural doctorrural practice intention.

Design and setting:  Secondary analysis of linked databases from the Medical Schools Outcomes Database (MSOD), Australian Bureau of Statistics and other government sources.

Participants:  Seven thousand four hundred twenty‐two commencing medical students who took part in the MSOD survey and for whom external data could be linked.

Results:  No social, environmental or economic factor studied or isolation significantly contributed to explaining the RBE, although there is some evidence that areas of more attractive climate strengthen the RBE. However, even when the RBE is at its weakest, it remains a strong, positive predictor of attraction to rural practice.

Conclusion:  Why the RBE occurs remains unexplained. Evidence was found of a reduced RBE under certain climatic conditions and personal circumstances, but further work is required to better understand why rural background is so strongly related with rural medical intention and practice.
Posterior musculofascial plate reconstruction promotes early restoration of continence and prevents severe incontinence in patients undergoing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy
Authors: Sano Takeshi , Nakashima Masakazu , Haitani Takao , Kajita Yoichiro , Shichiri Yasumasa
Published: January 2012

The objective of the present study was to assess the efficacy of posterior reconstruction of Denonvilliers' musculofascial plate for restoring urinary continence after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. A total of 48 consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy were retrospectively reviewed. Of them, 23 underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy without posterior reconstruction of Denonvilliers' musculofascial plate (group 1) and 25 underwent laparoscopic radical prostatectomy with posterior reconstruction of Denonvilliers' musculofascial plate (group 2). Patients' demographics were analyzed and continence rates between the two groups at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery were compared. Patients in group 2 had significantly larger prostates than in group 1. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of the other patient characteristics. The urinary continence rates were significantly higher in group 2 than in group 1 at 1, 3 and 12 months after surgery, and the rates of severe incontinence were significantly lower in group 2 at all time‐points considered. These findings suggest that posterior reconstruction of Denonvilliers' musculofascial plate helps in restoring early continence and decreasing severe incontinence in patients undergoing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.
How do genetic correlations affect species range shifts in a changing environment?
Authors: Duputié Anne , Massol François , Chuine Isabelle , Kirkpatrick Mark , Ronce Ophélie
Published: January 2012

Ecology Letters(2012)

Species may be able to respond to changing environments by a combination of adaptation and migration. We study how adaptation affects range shifts when it involves multiple quantitative traits evolving in response to local selection pressures and gene flow. All traits develop clines shifting in space, some of which may be in a direction opposite to univariate predictions, and the species tracks its environmental optimum with a constant lag. We provide analytical expressions for the local density and average trait values. A species can sustain faster environmental shifts, develop a wider range and greater local adaptation when spatial environmental variation is low (generating low migration load) and multitrait adaptive potential is high. These conditions are favoured when nonlinear (stabilising) selection is weak in the phenotypic direction of the change in optimum, and genetic variation is high in the phenotypic direction of the selection gradient.
Response to Nair et al. The Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD‐EPI) formula performs worse than the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation in estimating glomerular filtration rate in Type 2 diabetic chronic kidney disease
Authors: Camargo E. G. , Soares A. A. , Detanico A. B. , Weinert L. S. , Veronese F. V. , Gomes E. C. , Silveiro S. P.
Published: January 2012

Diabet. Med. 29, 1087–1088 (2012)
Policy Innovation or Vertical Integration? A View of Immigration Federalism from the States
Authors: NEWTON LINA
Published: January 2012

Since 2005, state legislatures have passed hundreds of immigration bills, and state officials have argued that their efforts attempt to solve immigration crises caused by federal inaction. The state–federal clash over immigration seems to confirm scholarship suggesting deepening lines of conflict in the federal system since the 1990s. The question remains, however, whether this explosion in state immigration laws signifies a move by states to tailor their own solutions to immigration issues. This article explores whether states are serving as laboratories of innovation for immigration policy. The study analyzes over five hundred immigration bills passed between January 2006 and December 2008, and engages in a comparative analysis of three immigration policy areas (immigration law enforcement, employment regulations, and drivers' licenses) where there exist varying degrees of state autonomy from national policy and thus distinctive possibilities for states to offer creative approaches to immigration issues. The findings suggest little evidence of policy innovation at the state level, although a handful of states are challenging federal supremacy in immigration matters.
Regional spread pattern predicts survival in patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Gargiulo‐Monachelli G. M. , Janota F. , Bettini M. , Shoesmith C. L. , Strong M. J. , Sica R. E. P.
Published: January 2012

Background and purpose:  Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) is a disease with a focal clinical onset and contiguous spread. We examined patterns of disease spread following symptoms onset in sALS and whether the pattern of spread predicted survival.

Methods:  Review of medical records (2003–2009) at London Ontario and Buenos Aires clinic cohorts retrieved 318 patients with sporadic sALS. According to patient self‐report, we determined eight spread patterns: rostro‐caudal, caudo‐rostral, crossed, circular, superior interposed, middle interposed, inferior interposed and isolated. The variables studied were as follows: age, gender, sALS phenotypes, time from onset to diagnosis and time and direction of the spreading to the first region. Survival from symptoms onset was analysed by Kaplan–Meier, Tarone‐Ware and Cox proportional hazards methods.

Results:  The direction of first spread was horizontal in 33%, rostral to caudal in 32% and caudal to rostral in 21%, whereas spread to remote regions was observed in 14% of patients. Survival curves and 3‐ and 5‐year survival rates favoured patients with an isolated and caudo‐rostral pattern of spread compared to patients progressing to distant regions without involvement in the intervening region, or ‘superior and inferior interposed patterns’ (Tarone‐Ware P = 0.001, χ2 = 0.002 and χ2 = 0.006, respectively). Factors affecting survival were gender, time to diagnosis, flail arm phenotype and age at diagnosis.

Conclusions:  We have provided evidence that not all spread in ALS is contiguous and that the nature of symptom progression influences survival. Patients with sALS with ‘interposed patterns’ had a worse prognosis, whereas patients with caudo‐rostral pattern fared better than the rest.
Duodenal levodopa/carbidopa infusion therapy in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease leads to improvement in caregivers’ stress and burden
Authors: Santos‐García D. , Añón M. J. , Fuster‐Sanjurjo L. , de la Fuente‐Fernández R.
Published: January 2012

Background:  Continuous duodenal levodopa infusion (DLI) is an effective therapy that improves quality of life (QoL) in advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the impact of DLI on caregivers’ stress and burden has not been reported.

Methods:  We evaluated prospectively open‐label seven advanced PD patients (65.7 ± 9.6 years, 71.4% men) treated with DLI. Schwab & England Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADLS), 39‐item Parkinson’s disease QoL Questionnaire Summary Index score (PDQ‐39SI), Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZCBI), and Caregiver Strain Index (CSI) were used. Comparisons were made between scores obtained at baseline and those at a mean follow‐up of 31.4 ± 7.9 months (range, 23–42).

Results:  In patients, mean ± SD ADLS was increased from 50 ± 8.2 to 80 ± 11.6 (P = 0.014), and mean ± SD PDQ‐39SI was decreased from 53.7 ± 11.9 to 33.6 ± 12.8 (P = 0.018). In caregivers, ZCBI decreased from 43 ± 13.3 to 20.7 ± 12.1 (P = 0.018) and CSI from 6.3 ± 2.5 to 1.6 ± 0.9 (P = 0.018). At baseline, 57.1% of caregivers reported moderate to severe burden (ZCBI 41–88) compared to 28.6% at the end of the follow‐up (P = 0.015); at that time, no caregiver reported high level of stress (CSI ≥ 7) compared to 57.1% at baseline (P = 0.046). There were significant correlations between ZCBI and CSI improvement (r = 0.813, P = 0.026), ZCBI and PDQ‐39SI (r = 0.875, P = 0.01), and ZCBI and ADLS (r = 0.813, P = 0.026).

Conclusions:  Duodenal levodopa infusion‐related clinical improvement in patients with advanced PD leads to substantial reductions in caregivers’ stress and burden.
Epilepsy associated with glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody (GADA)
Authors: Liimatainen S. , Peltola J.
Published: January 2012

Click here to view the accompanying paper in this issue.
Innovations in Practice: Child and adolescent psychiatrists and primary care – innovative models of consultation in the United States
Authors: Gabel Stewart
Published: January 2012

Background:  There is a severe shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAPs) in the United States, an increasingly recognized high prevalence of mental disorders in young people, and widely supported goals to provide more mental health services in the primary care setting.

Method:  A number of innovative, state‐wide or more local, publically funded programs have been developed in the United States over the last several years to respond to these challenges and to provide CAP consultation to primary care physicians (PCPs) who wish to address the mental health disorders of their patients in the primary care setting.

Results:  A number of these programs and their approaches to consultation are described. An example of a clinical scenario that might be addressed using this model of CAP/PCP collaboration is offered.

Conclusions:  An innovative model of consultation to PCPs from CAPs appears able to facilitate the treatment of many young people with mental health disorders in the primary care setting.
Recalling a Difficult Past: Whites’ Memories of Birmingham*
Authors: Gill Sandra K.
Published: January 2012

This article examines the intersection between collective memory and autobiographical memory through in‐depth interviews with twenty whites who came of age in the midst of key events in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama. Most interviewees report few autobiographical memories of the events of the Civil Rights Movement and the racial conflict surrounding these events. Instead, many center their recollections on the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The forgetting of autobiographical memories has been aided by a coalition of silence among whites about the era of integration and by reiterated media images that shaped recollections of the past. These white southerners have been able to renarrativize their pasts to forget memories that link them with the ideology of segregation and to reconstruct the self to be usable in the present. The article demonstrates ways that autobiographical memory is a social construction rather than an act of retrieval.
Characteristics of the actions by which 5‐hydroxytryptamine affects electrical and mechanical activities in rabbit jugular vein graft
Authors: Maekawa Takashi , Komori Kimihiro , Kajikuri Junko , Itoh Takeo
Published: January 2012

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The vasomodulating actions of 5‐HT in vein grafts, and the underlying mechanisms, remain to be fully clarified. Here, we characterized the actions by which 5‐HT affects electrical and mechanical activities in rabbit autologous jugular vein grafts.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Smooth muscle cell (SMC) membrane potential and isometric tension were measured in vein grafts 4 weeks after implantation into carotid arteries. Changes in the expression of 5‐HT receptor subtypes and in myosin heavy chain isoforms (SM1, SM2 and SMemb) were examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis.

KEY RESULTS The walls of grafted veins displayed massive increases in the number of SM1‐ and SM2‐positive SMCs. 5‐HT induced a large depolarization and contraction that were each reduced by both 5‐HT2A‐ and 5‐HT1B/1D‐receptor antagonists. The 5‐HT‐induced contraction was not modified by a 5‐HT7‐receptor antagonist. The 5‐HT7‐receptor‐selective agonist AS 19 did not induce relaxation during the contraction to prostaglandin F2α. Immunohistochemical and Western blot analyses revealed that immunoreactive responses against 5‐HT2A and 5‐HT1B/1D receptors were increased in the vein graft.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 5‐HT is able to induce a large contraction in rabbit autologous jugular vein grafts through (i) an increased number of differentiated contractile SMCs; (ii) an increased number of SMCs expressing contractile 5‐HT2A‐ and 5‐HT1B/1D receptors; and (iii) a down‐regulation of the function of the relaxant SMC 5‐HT7 receptors. These changes in the vein graft may help it to resist the higher pressure present on the arterial side of the circulation.