bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Keeping One's Distance
Authors: Williams Lawrence E. , Bargh John A.
Published: March 2008

Current conceptualizations of psychological distance (e.g., construal-level theory) refer to the degree of overlap between the self and some other person, place, or point in time. We propose a complementary view in which perceptual and motor representations of physical distance influence people's thoughts and feelings without reference to the self, extending research and theory on the effects of distance into domains where construal-level theory is silent. Across four experiments, participants were primed with either spatial closeness or spatial distance by plotting an assigned set of points on a Cartesian coordinate plane. Compared with the closeness prime, the distance prime produced greater enjoyment of media depicting embarrassment (Study 1), less emotional distress from violent media (Study 2), lower estimates of the number of calories in unhealthy food (Study 3), and weaker reports of emotional attachments to family members and hometowns (Study 4). These results support a broader conceptualization of distance-mediated effects on judgment and affect.
RESTRUCTURING WEBERIAN BUREAUCRACY: COMPARING MANAGERIAL REFORMS IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES
Authors: GUALMINI ELISABETTA
Published: March 2008

In much of the international public administration literature, New Public Management (NPM) already appears to be bogged down in a quagmire of critical revisions and assessments. Although some criticisms are well founded, there can be no doubt that NPM represents a trend which has considerably affected public‐sector decision‐making worldwide. This article takes the examples of the Southern European bureaucracies, where NPM‐inspired reforms were introduced later than in the English‐speaking world, but have nevertheless played a decisive role in the political agenda of both socialist and conservative governments. The paper presents the results of a comparative study of administrative reforms in five European countries as well as the USA during the 1980s and 1990s. The comparison is based on three specific dimensions (central bureaucracies’ formal structure; civil service organization; administrative processes), enabling us to systematically measure and compare the progress of the various countries subsequent to the cycle of managerial reforms.
CHARACTERIZING NEW LABOUR: THE CASE OF THE CHILD TRUST FUND
Authors: FINLAYSON ALAN
Published: March 2008

The UK Child Trust Fund (CTF), which came into effect in January 2005, appears to be an exemplary instance of ‘asset‐based welfare’, of the redistribution of wealth rather than simply income. However, this article shows that over the course of its development, and in its final implementation, CTF policy became ever more focused on generating a ‘savings culture’ and enhancing financial literacy. In explaining this outcome, it is argued that it may be characteristic of New Labour for which, it is further argued, welfare policy should seek to push individual aspirations and outlooks in certain directions. The article takes an interpretive approach to the study of policy and politics, arguing that we should look carefully at the processes of argument and selection by which ‘objects’ of policy are specified. This can help us characterize the approach of varying administrations, their ‘governmentality’.
INDIVIDUALIZATION AND PUBLIC SECTOR LEADERSHIP
Authors: LAWLER JOHN
Published: March 2008

This is a conceptual paper whose aim is to relate the development of ‘individualization’ (Beck and Beck‐Gernsheim 2002) to organizational leadership. It does this by examining individualization alongside the implicit assumption on which orthodox approaches to leadership are founded, namely that leadership is an individualized phenomenon. Despite the expanding literature on these topics, particularly that on leadership, these concepts have not been examined in relation to one another. This paper seeks to do this in two ways. Firstly, it highlights the increased attention given to leadership in the UK public sector, locating leadership as a continuation of public sector managerialism. Secondly, it discusses the development of the trend of individualization more broadly. The paper’s main discussion focuses on leadership as an individual activity and of the consequences of that approach. In particular, it argues that individualized leadership presents a restrictive perspective which does not allow for exploration of a broader range of leadership approaches, particularly that of distributed leadership, which have especial relevance for public sector organizations.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY, EXTERNAL REGULATION AND PUBLIC SERVICE PERFORMANCE
Authors: ANDREWS RHYS , BOYNE GEORGE A. , LAW JENNIFER , WALKER RICHARD M.
Published: March 2008

We test the separate and joint effects of strategy and regulation on public service performance. Strategy is measured as the extent to which service providers are prospectors, defenders and reactors. Regulation is assessed on the basis of the number of inspection events and service managers’ perceptions of the supportiveness of regulators. We find that, controlling for prior performance and the level of service expenditure, prospecting is a more successful strategy than defending or reacting. In addition, inspection events generally disrupt the relationship between strategy and performance, but regulation that is supportive reinforces this relationship. The evidence suggests that the impact of organizational strategies in the public sector is contingent on the characteristics of regulatory regimes.
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? RATIONALES AND CHALLENGES FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD GOVERNANCE
Authors: LOWNDES VIVIEN , SULLIVAN HELEN
Published: March 2008

Associated with innovation in both democratic practice and service design, neighbourhoods are high on policy agendas across Europe. Drawing upon classic debates about size and devolution, the article identifies four distinct rationales for neighbourhood governance: civic, social, political and economic. In England, the ‘new localism’ agenda gets near to developing a comprehensive case for neighbourhood governance, drawing upon all four rationales. Options for institutional design are explored with reference to four ideal types: (1) neighbourhood empowerment; (2) neighbourhood partnership; (3) neighbourhood government; (4) and neighbourhood management. Key challenges for neighbourhood governance are analysed in terms of capacity, competence, diversity and equity. The article argues that the classic democracy/capacity trade‐off associated with small units needs to be re‐thought in the context of the ‘new governance’ (multi‐level, multi‐actor and e‐enabled). Rather than confronting one big trade‐off, institutional designers face a series of questions about the underlying purposes and priorities of neighbourhood governance.
THE EUROPEANIZATION OF HEALTH CARE GOVERNANCE: IMPLEMENTING THE MARKET IMPERATIVES OF EUROPE
Authors: MARTINSEN DORTE SINDBJERG , VRANGBÆK KARSTEN
Published: March 2008

The paper examines the Europeanization process and the impact of the European Union (EU) on national healthcare policies, using the example of Denmark. The analysis reveals that although health policy formally falls within the competence of member states, the impact of the EU is becoming increasingly conspicuous and has contributed to a gradual restructuring of healthcare boundaries as well as of some of its organizing principles. Furthermore, the process and impact have a de‐structuring effect on the more traditional governance tools used in relation to healthcare. The paper concludes that the EU has a significant impact and that we may be witnessing the formation of a new institutional legacy that represents the initiation of a Europeanized healthcare model: a model emerging around a new set of stakeholders, principles and structures, which includes the market, principles of free movement, patient choice and patient rights institutionalized and safeguarded by the EU.
NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT VALUES AND PERSON‐ORGANIZATION FIT: A SOCIO‐PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH AND EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION AMONG PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL
Authors: VIGODA‐GADOT ERAN , MEIRI SAGIE
Published: March 2008

This paper takes a socio‐psychological approach to NPM and its value‐based theory in public administration. We develop a model for the study of NPM values based on the idea of Person‐Organization Fit (POF) and examine it empirically. Findings, based on a survey of 205 Israeli local governance personnel, revealed that the POF of several core NPM values (that is, responsiveness, transparency, innovativeness, and achievement orientations) was positively related with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and service climate, as reported by these public personnel. The findings suggest that, beyond modern strategies and effective policies for the public sector, lies an essential quest for NPM value‐fit with public personnel. Consequently, the study advocates a better theoretical and practical understanding of the socio‐psychological interfaces, such as POF, in public administration. Implications and directions for future studies are discussed, both in the context of public administration research and in the generic field of organizational behaviour theory and practice. The detailed results of the factor analyses are available directly from the authors.
THE SEPARATION/SPECIFICATION DILEMMA IN CONTRACTING: THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE IN VICTORIA
Authors: O’FLYNN JANINE , ALFORD JOHN
Published: March 2008

This article draws on evidence from case studies of local government contracting in the Australian state of Victoria. It argues that one of the key elements of competitive tendering – the separation of purchasers from providers – undermines another of its essential mechanisms – the specification of services – at the point where previously in‐house services are exposed to competition. The managers who are to become purchasers lack the requisite knowledge of services, which instead resides in the minds of the service delivery staff whose work is to be subjected to competitive processes. Separating purchasing from service‐provision ‘distances’ the staff from the managers, impairing employees’ willingness to share the relevant information. At the same time, the introduction of competition increases the probability that staff will withhold that knowledge, and makes it harder on probity grounds to maintain the type of collaborative relationship which might overcome their reluctance to share it.
TRACING THE NATIONAL MANDATE: ADMINISTRATIVE EUROPEANIZATION MADE IN DENMARK
Authors: ESMARK ANDERS
Published: March 2008

The article analyses the Europeanization of the Danish national administration. The article offers a revision of the standard image of Danish adaptation to EU membership as being highly centralized and formalized. Rather, the Danish experience involves substantial polity change in terms of new institutions and procedures as well as a change in the overall approach to the EU. Whereas the initial response to membership favoured a strategy for polity adaptation based on centralization – vertical coordination and international bargaining framed by a discourse on sovereignty over a strategy emphasizing the importance of decentralization, horizontal coordination and transnational negotiation – the latter has gradually become much more influential. The analysis suggests two general conclusions relevant to the debate on Europeanization and administrative change. First, it is argued that Europeanization can in fact lead to substantial polity change, which makes the tendency to focus on policy change in Europeanization studies somewhat one‐sided and premature. Secondly, it is argued that the particular mechanisms involved in polity change have not yet received due attention within the Europeanization debate.
DOES PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY WORK? AN ASSESSMENT TOOL
Authors: BOVENS MARK , SCHILLEMANS THOMAS , HART PAUL ’T
Published: March 2008

In recent years, there has been a drive to strengthen existing public accountability arrangements and to design new ones. This prompts the question whether accountability arrangements actually work. In the existing literature, both accountability ‘deficits’ and ‘overloads’ are alleged to exist. However, owing to the lack of a cogent yardstick, the debate tends to be impressionistic and event‐driven. In this article we develop an instrument for systematically assessing public accountability arrangements, drawing on three different normative perspectives. In the democratic perspective, accountability arrangements should effectively link government actions to the ‘democratic chain of delegation’. In the constitutional perspective, it is essential that accountability arrangements prevent or uncover abuses of public authority. In the learning perspective, accountability is a tool to make governments effective in delivering on their promises. We demonstrate the use of our multicriteria assessment tool in an analysis of a new accountability arrangement: the boards of oversight of agencies.
State Trading Enterprises as an Impediment to Improved Market Access: The Case of the Korean Rice Market
Authors: McCorriston Steve , MacLaren Donald
Published: March 2008

The trade and welfare effects of tariffs are well known. Less well known, and more difficult to analyze, are the economic effects of state trading enterprises (STEs). Despite STEs in importing countries having the potential to limit market access, they are no longer on the agriculture agenda in the Doha Round Negotiations in the WTO, because some Members have asserted that importing STEs do not distort international trade. We evaluate this assertion through the use of a theoretical model of an STE, which is calibrated to data for the Korean rice market. We show that this STE does distort international trade by restricting market access relative to a Cournot benchmark, and that it affects the domestic and international distribution of social welfare. This finding permits the conclusion that an important opportunity is being missed in the negotiations to improve market access, because importing STEs are not on the agenda.
The Contribution of International Graduate Students to US Innovation
Authors: Chellaraj Gnanaraj , Maskus Keith E. , Mattoo Aaditya
Published: March 2008

The impact of international students in the United States on innovative activity is estimated using a model of idea generation. Results indicate that the presence of foreign graduate students has a significant and positive impact on both future patent applications and future patents awarded to university and non‐university institutions. Our central estimates suggest that a 10% increase in the number of foreign graduate students would raise patent applications by 4.5%, university patent grants by 6.8% and non‐university patent grants by 5.0%. Thus, reductions in foreign graduate students from visa restrictions could significantly reduce US innovative activity. Increases in skilled immigration also have a positive, but smaller, impact on patenting.
Factor Uses and the Pattern of Specialization
Authors: Schaur Georg , Xiang Chong , Savikhin Anya
Published: March 2008

We show that in the setting of multiple goods and factors, the factor proportions theory has the following prediction: across industries, the impacts of the endowment of a given factor on industry outputs have positive co‐variance with the relative uses of this factor. The intuition is that, on average, the industries that use a given factor heavily have positive output responses, following an increase in the endowment of this factor. This co‐variation condition is robust to Hicks neutral‐ and factor‐augmenting productivity differences, and constitutes a direct test of the production side of the factor proportions theory. We also show that the co‐variation condition finds empirical support. This is evidence that is consistent with the factor proportions theory.
Hunting High and Low for Vertical FDI
Authors: Davies Ronald B.
Published: March 2008

Recently the horizontal and vertical models of foreign direct investment (FDI) have been synthesized into the knowledge‐capital (KK) model. Empirical tests, however, find that the horizontal model cannot be rejected in favor of the KK model. I suggest this is because the empirical specifications are too restrictive for vertical FDI to manifest itself. Using an alternative specification, I find evidence of vertical FDI. In particular, when I use the stock of FDI I can reject the horizontal model in favor of the knowledge‐capital model and identify countries for which FDI is dominated by vertical investment.
Consistent Estimates of Regional Blocs' Trade Effects
Authors: Kandogan Yener
Published: March 2008

This paper builds upon Feenstra (2002) to obtain consistent estimates of trade effects of regional blocs by adding bilateral effects to the gravity equation and analyzing its variation across blocs of different intensity. The results are then compared across different gravity equations used in the literature only to observe significant variation in sign, magnitude, and significance. The consequent equation shows that the effect is positive for economics cooperation agreements and preferential trade agreements, but free‐trade agreements do not have a significant incremental effect. While customs unions have a positive incremental effect over blocs of lower intensity, the incremental effect is mixed for monetary unions, and negative for economic areas and full integrations. Furthermore, the effect varies with the duration and degree of implementation as well as the coverage of blocs. Lastly, changes in trade effects of the European blocs across time observed and policy implications are discussed.
Paganism in Conversion‐Age Anglo‐Saxon England: The Evidence of Bede's Ecclesiastical History Reconsidered
Authors: CHURCH S. D.
Published: March 2008

This article argues that the current understanding of English paganism relies too heavily on the belief that, when they wrote of the pre‐Christian religion(s) of the English, Pope Gregory I (d. 604), in the letters preserved in his Register, and the Northumbrian monk Bede (d. 735), in his Ecclesiastical History, were describing English religion before conversion to Christianity as it really was. Their purpose in discussing English paganism, it is argued, was to provide succour and support for the process by which the English would be saved from eternal damnation in the face of the coming Day of Judgement. Neither Gregory nor Bede, both of whom came to be revered as Fathers of the Church, were passive observers of the conversion process. On the contrary, both men were active participants in the eradication of error amongst the English; error whose detail they had no interest or incentive to describe empirically. These were men who answered to a greater Truth – the Truth of the Word of God. It was this Truth which, this article argues, actually informed their descriptions of English paganism and should inform our understanding of their words on this subject.
Contesting the Past
Authors: BLACK JEREMY
Published: March 2008

The search for validation and quest for justification in the past is a commonplace tendency. It is of particular note at the present and is widespread across the political spectrum and around the world. Using the past can also entail the deliberate erasure of contentious episodes. While motivated by a search for good relations, contesting the past creates new ‘victims’, in so far as those whose role is neglected or actively misrepresented can be seen as victims or at least as having a grievance. From this perspective, the historian emerges as the necessary opponent of false consciousness, with his own obligation to truth in both past, present and, therefore, future.
Bath-Related Thunderclap Headache: A Study of 21 Consecutive Patients
Authors: Wang S-J , Fuh J-L , Wu Z-A , Chen S-P , Lirng J-F
Published: March 2008

We consecutively recruited 21 patients (all women, mean 54 ± 8 years) with bath-related thunderclap headache (BRTH). Thirteen of them were in menopause, two had just ceased hormonal therapy, and one was at 3 months postpartum. Bathing was the initial trigger for thunderclap headaches in nine patients (43%). Many patients ( n = 15, 71%) had other non-bath-related attacks. Most patients ( n = 18, 86%) reported that the headache occurred immediately when water was sprayed over their body, with warm water (52%) as the most common. During the disease course [mean 14 days (6-34)], the mean number of BRTH was 5.1 ± 3.6 attacks. Nineteen patients (90%) changed bathing habits to prevent attacks. Thirteen patients (62%) had magnetic resonance angiography vasoconstrictions, and two of them (15%) developed reversible posterior encephalopathy. None of the patients without vasoconstrictions had this complication. Nimodipine was effective in stopping further attacks in 84% (16/19) treated patients. No relapse was reported at a mean follow-up of 30 months. BRTH occurred exclusively in women and predominantly in middle age. Deficiency or fluctuation of female sex hormones may play a role. About 60% patients showed cerebral vasospasms, fulfilling the diagnosis of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome and indicating a risk of posterior encephalopathy.
The Impact of Strategic Investment Choices on Post‐Issue Operating Performance and Survival of US IPO Firms
Authors: Jain Bharat A. , Kini Omesh
Published: March 2008

Abstract: We examine the impact of strategic investment choices at the time of the IPO on: (i) the post‐issue operating performance and (ii) the likelihood of failure and time‐to‐failure of newly public US firms. Our post‐issue operating performance analysis uses various performance metrics, benchmarks, and expectation models. Overall, our evidence indicates that the extent of diversification and industry‐adjusted capital expenditures intensity are generally positively related to changes in operating performance. We do not, however, document a consistent relation between industry‐adjusted R&D expenditures and changes in operating performance. The results from our survival analysis suggest that pre‐issue managerial commitment to R&D spending and developing diversified product lines enhance the ability of IPO issuing firms to remain viable for longer periods of time. Our study highlights the impact of various managerial investment decisions on the subsequent performance of newly public firms.
Dividend Policy and Reputation
Authors: Gillet Roland , Lapointe Marc‐André , Raimbourg Philippe
Published: March 2008

Abstract:  We examine the role of reputation when firms use dividends to signal their profitability. We analyze a signaling model in which reputation plays no role in equilibrium. We then show that taking reputation into account as a link between sequential dividend decisions makes it possible to endogenize signaling costs and obtain a separating equilibrium. Lastly, we use the reversibility hypothesis and assume that in each period, managers can reverse their choices in terms of dividend distribution. We find that in most cases, the signaling equilibrium becomes unstable, causing any dividend signaling policy to become difficult to implement.
Indirect defence via tritrophic interactions
Authors: Heil Martin
Published: March 2008

Many plants interact with carnivores as an indirect defence against herbivores. The release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the secretion of extrafloral nectar (EFN) are induced by insect feeding, a response that is mediated by the plant hormone, jasmonic acid. Although VOCs mainly attract predatory mites and parasitic wasps, while EFN mainly attracts ants, many more animal–plant interactions are influenced by these two traits. Other traits involved in defensive tritrophic interactions are cellular food bodies and domatia, which serve the nutrition and housing of predators. They are not known to respond to herbivory, while food body production can be induced by the presence of the mutualists. Interactions among the different defensive traits, and between them and other biotic and abiotic factors exist on the genetic, physiological, and ecological levels, but so far remain understudied. Indirect defences are increasingly being discussed as an environmentally‐friendly crop protection strategy, but much more knowledge on their fitness effects under certain environmental conditions is required before we can understand their ecological and evolutionary relevance, and before tritrophic interactions can serve as a reliable tool in agronomy.

Contents

Summary
1

I.
Introduction
2

II.
Facultative indirect defences
3

III.
Production of indirect defences
9

IV.
Interactions among different strategies
12

V.
Outlook
14

Acknowledgements
14

References
15
Evolutionary significance of a flat‐leaved Pinus in Vietnamese rainforest
Authors: Brodribb Tim J. , Feild Taylor S.
Published: March 2008

DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02371.x
Carbon isotopes in terrestrial ecosystem pools and CO2 fluxes
Authors: Bowling David R. , Pataki Diane E. , Randerson James T.
Published: March 2008

Stable carbon isotopes are used extensively to examine physiological, ecological, and biogeochemical processes related to ecosystem, regional, and global carbon cycles and provide information at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Much is known about the processes that regulate the carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of leaf, plant, and ecosystem carbon pools and of photosynthetic and respiratory carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes. In this review, systematic patterns and mechanisms underlying variation in δ13C of plant and ecosystem carbon pools and fluxes are described. We examine the hypothesis that the δ13C of leaf biomass can be used as a reference point for other carbon pools and fluxes, which differ from the leaf in δ13C in a systematic fashion. Plant organs are typically enriched in 13C relative to leaves, and most ecosystem pools and respiratory fluxes are enriched relative to sun leaves of dominant plants, with the notable exception of root respiration. Analysis of the chemical and isotopic composition of leaves and leaf respiration suggests that growth respiration has the potential to contribute substantially to the observed offset between the δ13C values of ecosystem respiration and the bulk leaf. We discuss the implications of systematic variations in δ13C of ecosystem pools and CO2 fluxes for studies of carbon cycling within ecosystems, as well as for studies that use the δ13C of atmospheric CO2 to diagnose changes in the terrestrial biosphere over annual to millennial time scales.

Contents

Summary
1

I.
Introduction
2

II.
Isotopic composition of plant metabolites and autotrophic respiration
3

III.
Isotopic composition of plant and ecosystem carbon pools
8

IV.
Isotopic composition of assimilation and respiration fluxes
9

V.
Ecosystem to global scale issues – isotopic composition of gross primary production, net primary production, and net ecosystem production
11

VI.
Conclusions and suggestions for further research
12

Acknowledgements
13

References
13
Insect‐damaged fossil leaves record food web response to ancient climate change and extinction
Authors: Wilf P.
Published: March 2008

Plants and herbivorous insects have dominated terrestrial ecosystems for over 300 million years. Uniquely in the fossil record, foliage with well‐preserved insect damage offers abundant and diverse information both about producers and about ecological and sometimes taxonomic groups of consumers. These data are ideally suited to investigate food web response to environmental perturbations, and they represent an invaluable deep‐time complement to neoecological studies of global change. Correlations between feeding diversity and temperature, between herbivory and leaf traits that are modulated by climate, and between insect diversity and plant diversity can all be investigated in deep time. To illustrate, I emphasize recent work on the time interval from the latest Cretaceous through the middle Eocene (67–47 million years ago (Ma)), including two significant events that affected life: the end‐Cretaceous mass extinction (65.5 Ma) and its ensuing recovery; and globally warming temperatures across the Paleocene–Eocene boundary (55.8 Ma). Climatic effects predicted from neoecology generally hold true in these deep‐time settings. Rising temperature is associated with increased herbivory in multiple studies, a result with major predictive importance for current global warming. Diverse floras are usually associated with diverse insect damage; however, recovery from the end‐Cretaceous extinction reveals uncorrelated plant and insect diversity as food webs rebuilt chaotically from a drastically simplified state. Calibration studies from living forests are needed to improve interpretation of the fossil data.ContentsSummary486I.Introduction487II.Tools489III.Hypotheses and case studies492IV.Extant calibrations needed496Acknowledgements497References497
Biochemical aspects of the neuroprotective mechanism of PTEN‐induced kinase‐1 (PINK1)
Authors: Mills Ryan D. , Sim Chou Hung , Mok Su San , Mulhern Terrence D. , Culvenor Janetta G. , Cheng Heung‐Chin
Published: March 2008

Mutations in PTEN‐induced kinase 1 (PINK1) gene cause PARK6 familial Parkinsonism. To decipher the role of PINK1 in pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), researchers need to identify protein substrates of PINK1 kinase activity that govern neuronal survival, and establish whether aberrant regulation and inactivation of PINK1 contribute to both familial Parkinsonism and idiopathic PD. These studies should take into account the several unique structural and functional features of PINK1. First PINK1 is a rare example of a protein kinase with a predicted mitochondrial‐targeting sequence and a possible resident mitochondrial function. Second, bioinformatic analysis reveals unique insert regions within the kinase domain that are potentially involved in regulation of kinase activity, substrate selectivity and stability of PINK1. Third, the C‐terminal region contains functional motifs governing kinase activity and substrate selectivity. Fourth, accumulating evidence suggests that PINK1 interacts with other signaling proteins implicated in PD pathogenesis and mitochondrial dysfunction. The most prominent examples are the E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin, the mitochondrial protease high temperature requirement serine protease 2 and the mitochondrial chaperone tumor necrosis factor receptor‐associated protein 1. How PINK1 may regulate these proteins to maintain neuronal survival is unclear. This review describes the unique structural features of PINK1 and their possible roles in governing mitochondrial import, processing, kinase activity, substrate selectivity and stability of PINK1. Based upon the findings of previous studies of PINK1 function in cell lines and animal models, we propose a model on the neuroprotective mechanism of PINK1. This model may serve as a conceptual framework for future investigation into the molecular basis of PD pathogenesis.
The anticonvulsant profile of rufinamide (CGP 33101) in rodent seizure models
Authors: White H. Steve , Franklin Michael R. , Kupferberg Harvey J. , Schmutz Markus , Stables James P. , Wolf Harold H.
Published: March 2008

Summary

Purpose: To evaluate the anticonvulsant profile and behavioral toxicity of rufinamide in animal seizure models compared to the established antiepileptic drugs (AEDs): phenytoin, phenobarbital, valproate, and ethosuximide, or vehicle.

Methods: In acute studies of anticonvulsant efficacy, the AEDs were administered via oral (CF1 mice and Sprague–Dawley rats) and intraperitoneal (CF1 mice) routes. The AEDs were assessed for their ability to inhibit seizures induced by maximal electroshock (MES) or subcutaneous pentylenetetrazol, and ability to block seizures induced by subcutaneous strychnine, bicuculline, or picrotoxin. Tolerance of oral rufinamide was assessed in rats following 5‐day (versus single‐dose) treatment with oral rufinamide using the dose equivalent necessary to achieve a 50% decrease in seizure frequency (ED50). Metabolic tolerance was also evaluated using an in vitro liver microsomal assay.

Results: Oral rufinamide suppressed pentylenetetrazol‐induced seizures in mice (ED50 45.8 mg/kg) but not rats, and was active against MES‐induced tonic seizures in mice (ED50 23.9 mg/kg) and rats (ED50 6.1 mg/kg). Intraperitoneal rufinamide suppressed pentylenetetrazol‐, bicuculline‐, and picrotoxin‐induced clonus in mice (ED50 54.0, 50.5, and 76.3 mg/kg, respectively). Rufinamide was partially effective in the mouse strychnine test. The behavioral toxicity of rufinamide was similar to or better than established AEDs tested in this study. In general, the protective index of rufinamide was greater than that of the other AEDs.

Conclusions: The efficacy and behavioral toxicity profiles in these animal models suggest that rufinamide may be effective in the treatment of generalized and partial seizures.
The diagnostic value of oral lacerations and incontinence during convulsive “seizures”
Authors: Oliva Megan , Pattison Claire , Carino John , Roten Annie , Matkovic Zelko , O'Brien Terence J.
Published: March 2008

Summary

Purpose: Oral lacerations and urinary incontinence have long been considered useful clinical features for the diagnosis of epileptic seizures; however, both are also reported in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). The aims of the study were (1) to investigate whether the presence and nature of oral lacerations or incontinence during convulsive seizures of patients with epilepsy differed from those with PNES, and (2) whether the side of the oral laceration has any correlation with the epilepsy syndrome or lateralization.

Methods: Eighty‐four consecutive patients who experienced at least one convulsive event during video‐EEG monitoring (VEM) were questioned and examined for oral lacerations and incontinence. Seizure classification was determined by a team of epileptologists based on the VEM findings and other clinical and investigational data, blinded to the oral laceration and incontinence information.

Results: The presence of oral lacerations among patients with epileptic seizures was 26% (17/66), in contrast it was 0% (0/18) with PNES (p = 0.01). Of the oral lacerations sustained by patients during an epileptic seizure, 14 were to the side of the tongue, one to the tip of the tongue, two to the cheek, and three to the lip. No significant relationships were observed between seizure lateralization and oral lacerations. Incontinence occurred in 23% (15/66) of epilepsy patients and 6% (1/18) of PNES patients (p = 0.09). There was no relationship between epilepsy type or lateralization and the prevalence of incontinence.

Conclusions: Despite frequent reports of oral lacerations and incontinence by patients with PNES, objective evidence for this is highly specific to convulsive epileptic seizures.
Status epilepticus: Clinical presentation, cause, outcome, and predictors of death in 119 Ethiopian patients
Authors: Amare Amanuel , Zenebe Guta , Hammack Julie , Davey Gail
Published: March 2008

Summary

Purpose: Status epilepticus (SE) is a common neurological emergency with high morbidity and mortality. There is no study that has been conducted among Ethiopian patients with SE. The purpose of this study was to analyze clinical presentation, causes, complications, outcomes, and predictors of mortality.

Methods: In this retrospective study, patients aged ≥13 year with SE were included. Medical records were reviewed and demographic and clinical data were collected.

Results: Records of 119 patients were analyzed; preexisting epilepsy was found in 38.7%. Primarily generalized and focal with secondarily generalized (FWSG) seizures were identified in 60.5% and 36%, respectively. Simple partial SE occurred in 3.4%. Central nervous system (CNS) infection was the most common cause of SE in the whole group as well as in those with new onset seizure. Antiepileptic drug withdrawal (AEDW) was the main cause in those with preexisting seizure. One or more complications were detected in 61%. Intravenous diazepam and oral phenytoin were given to 95% and 97.5%, respectively. Case fatality was 20.2%; poor outcome occurred in 24%. Predictors of mortality were FWSG type, acute symptomatic etiology, stroke, systemic infection, and HIV/AIDS and its CNS complications. Idiopathic and SE due to AEDW were associated with good prognosis.

Conclusions: CNS infection was the most common cause of SE in the whole group and AEDW was the major cause in patients with preexisting epilepsy. Parenteral anticonvulsants, emergency measurement of serum AED level, and electroencephalography for urgent diagnosis and monitoring were unavailable. Mortality was related to underlying etiologies especially HIV/AIDS and its CNS complications.
Pronounced increase in breathing rate in the “hair dryer model” of experimental febrile seizures
Authors: Schuchmann Sebastian , Tolner Else A. , Marshall Pepin , Vanhatalo Sampsa , Kaila Kai
Published: March 2008

In a study using a heated chamber for induction of experimental febrile seizures (eFS) in rat pups, ictal activity was shown to be precipitated by a respiratory alkalosis (Schuchmann et al., 2006). In sharp contrast to this, in a recent review Dubé et al., (2007) suggest that the respiratory alkalosis is model specific, and that no increase in respiratory rate is observed in the widely used “hair dryer model” of eFS. The data in the present work, based on well‐established techniques for measuring respiratory rates in rat pups, show a pronounced increase in the “hair dryer model” with values that are slightly higher than those recorded in the heated chamber model. Hence, a temperature‐evoked increase in respiration is a common feature of these two models of eFS.
Product Chain Actors' Potential for Greening the Product Life Cycle
Authors: Berlin Johanna , Sonesson Ulf , Tillman Anne‐Marie
Published: March 2008

The challenge in working with environmental improvements is to select the action offering the most substantial progress. However, not all actions are open to all actors in a product chain. This study demonstrates how life cycle assessment (LCA) may be used with an actor perspective in the Swedish postfarm milk chain. The potential measures were identified, applied by the dairy, retailer, and household, that gave the most environmental improvement in a life cycle perspective. Improved energy efficiency, more efficient transport patterns, reduced milk and product losses, and organic labeling were investigated. Milk, yogurt and cheese were considered. After LCAs of the products were established, improvement potentials of the actors were identified and quantified. The quantification was based mostly on literature studies but also on assumptions. Then the LCAs were recalculated to include the estimated improvement potential. To find the action with the greatest potential, the environmental impacts of the modified and original LCAs were compared for each actor. No action was superior to any other from the dairy perspective, but reduced wastage lowered most impacts for all three products. For retailers, using less energy is the most efficient improvement. From the household perspective, reducing wastage gives unambiguously positive results. When households choose organic products, reductions in energy use and greenhouse gases are even larger, but eutrophication increases. Overall, households have greatest potential for improvement while yogurt is the product offering the most improvement potential.
The Positive Financial Contribution of Home‐Based Primary Care Programs: The Case of the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors
Authors: Desai Nihar R. , Smith Kristofer L. , Boal Jeremy
Published: March 2008

The coming decade will see a rise in the number of homebound seniors. These vulnerable patients have great difficulty accessing primary care. Home‐based primary care (HBPC) can fill this healthcare need. Presently, such programs have been slow to develop, in part because of the perception that they are fiscal liabilities. Using the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors (MSVD) program, the total financial effect of an HBPC program on an Academic Health Center (AHC) was assessed. A retrospective cohort analysis (n=692, 565 patient years) of Medicare‐eligible individuals who were enrolled in the MSVD HBPC program was conducted. Revenues and associated costs for direct physician home care services, inpatient admissions, and outpatient clinic and emergency department visits for 1 calendar year were captured. Sensitivity analyses varying efficiency and cost variables were performed. Total direct cost for HBPC for the patient cohort was $976,350. Direct billing from home visits generated revenues that covered 24% of total direct care costs. Over a 12‐month period, the cohort had 398 inpatient admissions and 1,100 non‐HBPC outpatient visits, generating an overall contribution to margin of nearly $2.6 million. It is likely that this analysis underestimates the true contribution to margin, because it does not capture patient encounters at specialty clinics not in the Department of Medicine, unaffiliated medical centers, or private community‐based practices. Although direct billing for HBPC programs does not generate enough revenue to meet operating costs, they can be significant revenue generators for the wider healthcare system and thus are fiscally worthy of subsidization.
Massachusetts Health Care Reform: The View From One Year Out
Authors: Gruber Jonathan
Published: March 2008

Abstract

One of the most important developments in health policy in recent years was the health reform plan enacted by Massachusetts in April 2006. This sweeping bill reformed insurance markets, subsidized insurance coverage for a large swath of the population, introduced a new purchasing mechanism (the “Connector"), and mandated insurance coverage for almost all citizens. In this article, I review the history of health reform in Massachusetts, highlighting the unique features that came together to make reform a reality in this state. I then turn to a discussion of the major issues that have been faced in the first year of implementing this reform and the compromises made to maintain a broad consensus of support in the state. I also discuss the lessons learned and contrast the Massachusetts approach with alternatives, most notably plans that rely more strongly on the employer‐based insurance system to expand insurance coverage in the United States.
Who Gets What From Employer Pay or Play Mandates?
Authors: Burkhauser Richard V. , Simon Kosali I.
Published: March 2008

Abstract

Critics of pay or play mandates, borrowing from the large empirical minimum wage literature, argue that they reduce employment. Borrowing from a smaller empirical minimum wage literature, we argue that they also are a blunt instrument for funding health insurance for the working poor. The vast majority of those who benefit from pay or play mandates, which require employers to either provide appropriate health insurance for their workers or pay a flat per hour tax to offset the cost of health care live in families with incomes twice the poverty line or more, and depending on how coverage is determined, the mandate will leave a significant share of the working poor ineligible for such benefits either because their hourly wage rate is too high or they work for smaller exempt firms.
When Do International Operations Lead to Improved Performance? An Analysis of Property‐Liability Insurers
Authors: Ma Yu‐Luen , Elango B.
Published: March 2008

Abstract

In recent decades, insurers have been increasing their exposure to international markets. This article seeks to investigate the relationship between property‐liability insurers' international operations and their risk‐adjusted returns using cross‐section and time‐series data for the years 1992 through 2000. Our findings indicate that the relationship between international operations and performance is contingent upon the degree of product diversification. Insurance companies with focused operations in terms of product lines achieve higher risk‐adjusted performance as they increase their exposures to international markets. However, insurers who are highly diversified across product lines face declining returns with greater exposure to international markets.
Intangible Assets and Firm Asset Risk Taking: An Analysis of Property and Liability Insurance Firms
Authors: Yu Tong , Lin Bingxuan , Oppenheimer Henry R. , Chen Xuanjuan
Published: March 2008

Abstract

Intangible assets facilitate insurers' capacity to retain existing business and attract new clients. In this study we analyze how the incentives to protect intangible assets affect asset risk‐taking behavior of property and liability insurers. The result supports the view that insurers' incentives to protect their intangible assets lead to an inverse relation between intangible assets and asset risk. Consistent with the view that highly levered firms may go for broke, asset risk of highly levered insurers is less elastic to intangible assets than that of lower‐levered insurers. An additional notable finding of our article is that tangible factors like firm size and capitalization increase insurers' appetites for asset risk taking.
A Comparative Analysis of U.S. Property and Casualty Reinsurers and Insurers
Authors: Cole Cassandra R. , McCullough Kathleen A.
Published: March 2008

Abstract

In empirical research related to the property‐casualty insurance industry, studies commonly focus on either insurers or reinsurers. However, in many cases, the definition used to make the distinction between the two groups is often not clearly defined and/or the definition varies across studies. This variation could result in a substantially different group of firms being included or excluded from the study, thereby affecting the empirical results obtained. This study builds upon Chen and Hamwi, who compare the performance of U.S. insurers and reinsurers. The objective of the study is fourfold: (1) to compare the definitions of insurer and reinsurer commonly used in prior research to identify differences, (2) to expand upon the traditional methods of classifying insurers and reinsurers, (3) to compare the individual firm‐level characteristics of insurers and reinsurers to detect potential variation across categories and across definitions, and (4) to analyze the impact of different definitions on the results of multivariate analyses exploring common research questions. The univariate results indicate that there are some variations in the characteristics of the firms based on the categorization of insurers and reinsurers arising from different definitions. In addition, we find that there are significant differences in the regression results when comparing models based on various definitions of reinsurers utilized in prior research and when professional reinsurers and incidental reinsurers are grouped together. As such, it is possible that the definition used to include or exclude reinsurers from the sample can impact the results.