bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Korean Red Ginseng Extract Enhances the Anticancer Effects of Imatinib Mesylate Through Abrogation p38 and STAT5 Activation in KBM‐5 Cells
Authors: Jung Sang Yoon , Kim Chulwon , Kim Wan‐Seok , Lee Seok‐Geun , Lee Jun‐Hee , Shim Bum Sang , Kim Sung‐Hoon , Ahn Kyoo Seok , Ahn Kwang Seok
Published: April 2015

Although imatinib mesylate (IM) in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) remains the best example of successful targeted therapy, majority of patients with CML suffer its toxicity profile and develop chemoresistance to existing therapeutic agents. Thus, there is a need to develop novel alternative therapies for the treatment of CML. Here, we investigated whether Korean red ginseng extract (KRGE) could suppress the proliferation and induce chemosensitization in human CML cells. Also, we used a human phospho‐antibody array containing 46 antibodies against signaling molecules to examine a subset of phosphorylation events after treatment. Korean red ginseng extract broadly suppressed the proliferation of five different cell lines, but KRGE was found to be the most potent inducer of apoptosis against KBM‐5 cells. It also abrogated the expression of Bcl‐2 (B‐cell lymphoma 2), Bcl‐xL (B‐cell lymphoma‐extra large), survivin, inhibitors of apoptosis protein 1/2, COX‐2 (Cyclooxygenase‐2), cyclin D1, matrix metalloproteinase‐9, and VEGF (Vascular endothelial growth factor), as well as upregulated the expression of pro‐apoptotic gene products. Interestingly, KRGE also enhanced the cytotoxic and apoptotic effect of IM in KBM‐5 cells. The combination treatment of KRGE and IM caused pronounced suppression of p38 and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 phosphorylation and induced phosphorylation of p53 compared with the individual treatment. Our results demonstrate that KRGE can enhance the anticancer activity of IM and may have a substantial potential in the treatment of CML. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prediction using hierarchical data: Applications for automated detection of cervical cancer
Authors: Yamal Jose‐Miguel , Guillaud Martial , Atkinson E. Neely , Follen Michele , MacAulay Calum , Cantor Scott B. , Cox Dennis D.
Published: April 2015

Although the Papanicolaou smear has been successful in decreasing cervical cancer incidence in the developed world, there exist many challenges for implementation in the developing world. Quantitative cytology, a semi‐automated method that quantifies cellular image features, is a promising screening test candidate. The nested structure of its data (measurements of multiple cells within a patient) provides challenges to the usual classification problem. Here we perform a comparative study of three main approaches for problems with this general data structure: (i) extract patient‐level features from the cell‐level data, (ii) use a statistical model that accounts for the hierarchical data structure, and (iii) classify at the cellular level and use an ad hoc approach to classify at the patient level. We apply these methods to a dataset of 1728 patients, with an average of 2600 cells collected per patient and 133 features measured per cell, predicting whether a patient had a positive biopsy result. The best approach we found was to classify at the cellular level and count the number of cells that had a posterior probability greater than a threshold value, with estimated 61% sensitivity and 89% specificity on independent data. Recent statistical learning developments allowed us to achieve high accuracy.
A novel modeling framework for ordinal data defined by collapsed counts
Authors: McGinley James S. , Curran Patrick J. , Hedeker Donald
Published: April 2015

Adolescent alcohol use is a serious public health concern. Despite advances in the theoretical conceptualization of pathways to alcohol use, researchers are limited by the statistical techniques currently available. Researchers often fit linear models and restrictive categorical models (e.g., proportional odds models) to ordinal data with many response categories defined by collapsed count data (0 drinking days, 1–2days, 3–6days, etc.). Consequently, existing models ignore the underlying count process, resulting in disjoint between the construct of interest and the models being fitted. Our proposed ordinal modeling approach overcomes this limitation by explicitly linking ordinal responses to a suitable underlying count distribution. In doing so, researchers can use maximum likelihood estimation to fit count models to ordinal data as if they had directly observed the underlying discrete counts. The usefulness of our ordinal negative binomial and ordinal zero‐inflated negative binomial models is verified by simulation studies. We also demonstrate our approach using real empirical data from the 2010 National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Results show the benefit of the proposed ordinal modeling framework compared with existing methods. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Detecting outlying trials in network meta‐analysis
Authors: Zhang Jing , Fu Haoda , Carlin Bradley P.
Published: April 2015

Network meta‐analysis (NMA) expands the scope of a conventional pairwise meta‐analysis to simultaneously handle multiple treatment comparisons. However, some trials may appear to deviate markedly from the others and thus be inappropriate to be synthesized in the NMA. In addition, the inclusion of these trials in evidence synthesis may lead to bias in estimation. We call such trials trial‐level outliers. To the best of our knowledge, while heterogeneity and inconsistency in NMA have been extensively discussed and well addressed, few previous papers have considered the proper detection and handling of trial‐level outliers. In this paper, we propose several Bayesian outlier detection measures, which are then applied to a diabetes data set. Simulation studies comparing our approaches in both arm‐based and contrast‐based model settings are provided in two supporting appendices. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The effects on insurance costs of restricting undocumented immigrants' access to driver licenses
Authors: Cáceres Mauricio , Jameson Kenneth P.
Published: April 2015

Proponents of issuing driver licenses to undocumented immigrants argue that the number of uninsured motorists and car accidents would decrease, thus improving public safety and lowering costs associated with car insurance. This study gives an overview of competing cost reduction and public safety arguments and examines the issues surrounding undocumented immigrants and driver licenses. It empirically assesses the effect on the average cost of auto insurance of restricting undocumented access to legal driving documents. We use a fixed effects model for panel data to test the effects on real average insurance expenditures of restricting undocumented immigrants' access to driver licenses, while controlling for other relevant factors suggested in the literature. Our main finding is that on net such restrictions raise the average annual cost of auto insurance by an estimated $17.22 ($2009) across states that have enacted such restrictions.
Heterogeneous private sector information, central bank disclosure, and stabilization policy
Authors: James Jonathan G. , Lawler Phillip
Published: April 2015

Conventional wisdom has it that a central bank that uses an informational advantage to undertake active policy intervention can do as well, at least so far as real outcomes are concerned, by making its information publicly available and abstaining from stabilization. This notion is examined using a framework incorporating heterogeneous private sector information concerning aggregate demand shocks. An activist regime, in which the central bank exploits its own information to engage in stabilization, is found to be unambiguously superior to a noninterventionist regime, where the central bank maintains a constant setting of policy but publicly discloses its own information.
The impact of mandated employment verification systems on state‐level employment by foreign affiliates
Authors: Amuedo‐Dorantes Catalina , Bansak Cynthia , Zebedee Allan A.
Published: April 2015

Faced with diminishing prospects for a comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, states have started to take immigration matters into their own hands. For example, many states have been mandating the use of employment verification (E‐Verify) systems to confirm work eligibility. Some of the consequences of these E‐Verify mandates remain unclear. In this article, we focus on the effect of anti‐illegal immigrant laws on foreign investment. Specifically, we exploit the state‐level and time variation in the enactment and implementation of E‐Verify mandates to explore if punitive measures against the firm impact states' ability to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). We quantify FDI through the employment by U.S. affiliates owned by foreign firms. Our results suggest that E‐Verify mandates adversely affect employment among these majority‐owned U.S. affiliates and, therefore, work against states trying to attract FDI.
Age and productivity: An empirical study of early American artists
Authors: Ekelund Robert B. , Jackson John D. , Tollison Robert D.
Published: April 2015

Economist David Galenson, using both statistical and anecdotal methods, divides artists into two types, innovative or conceptual (who “peak” at younger ages) and experimental (peaking at older ages), to investigate how age is related to creativity. This well‐known distinction has met with criticism and alternative theories of artistic productivity. We here extend Galenson's formal statistical methods to a new sample of American artists born prior to 1900, a period when according to Galenson, “most” American artists can be identified as experimental. Specifically, we explore the use of quantitative and qualitative analysis to shed light on the relationship between age and artistic productivity. We investigate whether this classification has substantial explanatory power for the age at which the most important artistic work is achieved over the life cycle. Our results do not support the bifurcation but indicate that a number of factors must be used in any life cycle investigation linking age to artistic creativity.
Symbolic Interaction, Public Policy, the Really Really Other, and Human Terrain System Training
Authors: Durkin Tom
Published: April 2015

I discuss the relevance of symbolic interaction to a misunderstood public policy program, the Human Terrain System.
Inhibition of HeLa cells metastasis by bioactive compounds in crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) white blood cells extract
Authors: Patathananone Supawadee , Thammasirirak Sompong , Daduang Jureerut , Gung Chung Jing , Temsiripong Yosapong , Daduang Sakda
Published: April 2015

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a key role in cancer progression, including cell invasion, metastasis, cell growth, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and cell adhesion. Thus, suppression of the MMPs activities is crucial for inhibiting cancer cells metastasis. Herein, bioactive agents from crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) leukocyte extracts (WBCex) showed the anticancer activity with HeLa cells and inhibited the migration and invasion process by reducing gelatinases (MMP‐2, MMP‐9) activity and their protein levels. This mechanism is regulated via interfering Ras and p38 signal transduction. Moreover, disrupting VEGF and integrin‐signaling cascade by bioactive agents are the predictable mechanisms that cause the decreasing of MMP‐2 and MMP‐9 activity. Hence, bioactive substances in WBCex may play the mode of action similar with MMPs inhibitor due to HeLa cell metastasis being suppressed in vitro. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 1329–1336, 2016.
Propoxylated Fatty Thiazole, Pyrazole, Triazole, and Pyrrole Derivatives with Antimicrobial and Surface Activity
Authors: El-Sayed Refat , Khairou Khalid S.
Published: April 2015

Lauric acid and propylene oxide were used to modify four biologically active heterocycles (thiazole, pyrazole, triazole, and pyrrole) to synthesize 17 new surfactants. The chemical structures of these surfactants were confirmed using infrared and 1H, and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The surfactants all show good surface activity, low critical micelle concentration (CMC) values, high cloud points, and tight interfacial packing. All showed antimicrobial activity on both bacteria and fungi. In addition, biodegradation testing demonstrated significant breakdown within seven days.
Cultural adaptation of the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire in patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Turkish version study
Authors: Ilhanli Ilker , Durmus Dilek , Orekici Gulhan
Published: April 2015

Objective

Cultural adaptations of the questionnaires are important for easy use. We aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Turkish Version of the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire in patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Methods

To assess test‐retest reliability, the Turkish “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” and “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaires were answered by patients and controls and were repeated a week later. For testing internal consistency, the Cronbach's alpha test was used. For testing validity, correlations between the subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” and “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaire were measured in patient groups. One hundred patients with idiopathic Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and 50 healthy participants were included in the study.

Results

In test‐retest reliability, intraclass correlations of the subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” were high. Cronbach's alphas were found to be high in all subscales. There was no significant correlation between asthetics and pain scales. We found significant differences between patients and controls regarding all subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire”. Correlations between subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” and “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaire were significant. We found no difference between one‐hand effected and two‐hand effected patients, in terms of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire”, “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaire Function/Symptom and Work average scores.

Conclusion

This study showed that the Turkish version of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” is reliable and valid and can be used in Turkish patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome because it is comprehensible and practicable.
Bevacizumab in Recurrent Glioblastoma: Five Informative Patient Scenarios
Authors: Mason Warren P.
Published: April 2015

Glioblastoma is the most common and malignant primary brain tumour in adults. Maximum feasible surgical resection, radiotherapy and temozolomide chemotherapy at initial diagnosis have improved prognosis but rapid recurrence is typical and survival remains brief. There is an urgent need for effective new treatments and approval of the antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab for recurrent glioblastoma by Health Canada in 2009 has been the most notable recent therapeutic advance for this disease. This review with illustrative case studies highlights how bevacizumab has been incorporated into the treatment of glioblastoma in Canada and describes the ongoing controversies surrounding its clinical application.
Stability of a moving radial liquid sheet: experiments
Authors: Paramati Manjula , Tirumkudulu Mahesh S. , Schmid Peter J.
Published: April 2015

A recent theory (Tirumkudulu & Paramati, Phys. Fluids, vol. 25, 2013, 102107) for a radially expanding liquid sheet, that accounts for liquid inertia, interfacial tension and thinning of the liquid sheet while ignoring the inertia of the surrounding gas and viscous effects, shows that such a sheet is convectively unstable to small sinuous disturbances at all frequencies and Weber numbers $(We\equiv {\it\rho}_{l}U^{2}h/{\it\sigma})$. Here, ${\it\rho}_{l}$ and ${\it\sigma}$ are the density and surface tension of the liquid, respectively, $U$ is the speed of the liquid jet, and $h$ is the local sheet thickness. In this study we use a simple non-contact optical technique based on laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) to measure the instantaneous local sheet thickness and displacement of a circular sheet produced by head-on impingement of two laminar jets. When the impingement point is disturbed via acoustic forcing, sinuous waves produced close to the impingement point travel radially outwards. The phase speed of the sinuous wave decreases while the amplitude grows as they propagate radially outwards. Our experimental technique was unable to detect thickness modulations in the presence of forcing, suggesting that the modulations could be smaller than the resolution of our experimental technique. The measured phase speed of the sinuous wave envelope matches with theoretical predictions while there is a qualitative agreement in the case of spatial growth. We show that there is a range of frequencies over which the sheet is unstable due to both aerodynamic interaction and thinning effects, while outside this range, thinning effects dominate. These results imply that a full theory that describes the dynamics of a radially expanding liquid sheet should account for both effects.
Natural Experiments Based on Geography
Authors: Keele Luke , Titiunik Rocío
Published: April 2015

Political scientists often attempt to exploit natural experiments to estimate causal effects. We explore how variation in geography can be exploited as a natural experiment and review several assumptions under which geographic natural experiments yield valid causal estimates. In particular, we focus on cases where a geographic or administrative boundary splits units into treated and control areas. The different identification assumptions we consider suggest testable implications, which we use to establish their plausibility. Our methods are illustrated with an original study of whether ballot initiatives increase turnout in Wisconsin and Ohio, which illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of causal inferences based on geographic natural experiments.
Flaxseed reduces the pro-carcinogenic micro-environment in the ovaries of normal hens by altering the PG and oestrogen pathways in a dose-dependent manner
Authors: Dikshit Anushka , Gomes Filho Manoel Adrião , Eilati Erfan , McGee Stacey , Small Carrie , Gao Chunqi , Klug Thomas , Hales Dale Buchanan
Published: April 2015

The objective of the present study was to find the optimum dose of flaxseed that would decrease PG and alter oestrogen pathway endpoints implicated in ovarian cancer. In the study, four groups of fifty 1·5-year-old chickens were fed different amounts of flaxseed (0, 5, 10 or 15 % of their total diet) for 4 months and were then killed to collect blood and tissues. Levels of flaxseed lignan metabolites, Enterolactone (EL) and Enterodiol (ED) were measured in the serum, liver and ovaries by liquid chromatography–MS/MS, and n-3 and n-6 fatty acid (FA) levels were measured by GC. The effects of the varied flaxseed doses were assessed by measuring levels of PGE2 and oestrogen metabolites (16-hydroxyestrone (16-OHE1) and 2-hydroxyestrone (2-OHE1)) as well as by analysing the expression of the oestradiol metabolising enzymes CYP3A4 (cytochrome p450, family 3, subfamily A, polypeptide 4), CYP1B1 (cytochrome p450, family 1, subfamily B, polypeptide 1) and CYP1A1 (cytochrome p450, family 1, subfamily A, polypeptide 1) and that of oestrogen receptor α (ERα) in the ovaries. The ratio of n-3:n-FA increased with an increase in flaxseed supplementation and corresponded to a dose-dependent decrease in cyclo-oxygenase-2 protein and PGE2 levels. EL and ED increased in the serum, liver and ovaries with increased concentrations of flaxseed. Flaxseed decreased the expression of ERα in the ovaries. The ratio of 2-OHE1:16-OHE1 in the serum increased significantly in the 15 % flaxseed diet, and there was a corresponding increase in CYP1A1 in the liver and decrease in CYP3A4 in the ovaries. CYP1B1 mRNA also decreased with flaxseed diet in the ovaries. The 15 % flaxseed-supplemented diet significantly decreased inflammatory PGE2, ERα, CYP3A4, CYP1B1 and 16-OHE1, but it increased CYP1A1 and 2-OHE1, which thus reduced the inflammatory and pro-carcinogenic micro-environment of the ovaries.
The development and validation of new equations for estimating body fat percentage among Chinese men and women
Authors: Liu Xin , Sun Qi , Sun Liang , Zong Geng , Lu Ling , Liu Gang , Rosner Bernard , Ye Xingwang , Li Huaixing , Lin Xu
Published: April 2015

Equations based on simple anthropometric measurements to predict body fat percentage (BF%) are lacking in Chinese population with increasing prevalence of obesity and related abnormalities. We aimed to develop and validate BF% equations in two independent population-based samples of Chinese men and women. The equations were developed among 960 Chinese Hans living in Shanghai (age 46·2 (sd 5·3) years; 36·7 % male) using a stepwise linear regression and were subsequently validated in 1150 Shanghai residents (58·7 (sd 6·0) years; 41·7 % male; 99 % Chinese Hans, 1 % Chinese minorities). The associations of equation-derived BF% with changes of 6-year cardiometabolic outcomes and incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) were evaluated in a sub-cohort of 780 Chinese, compared with BF% measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA; BF%-DXA). Sex-specific equations were established with age, BMI and waist circumference as independent variables. The BF% calculated using new sex-specific equations (BF%-CSS) were in reasonable agreement with BF%-DXA (mean difference: 0·08 (2 sd 6·64) %, P= 0·606 in men; 0·45 (2 sd 6·88) %, P< 0·001 in women). In multivariate-adjusted models, the BF%-CSS and BF%-DXA showed comparable associations with 6-year changes in TAG, HDL-cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, C-reactive protein and uric acid (P for comparisons ≥ 0·05). Meanwhile, the BF%-CSS and BF%-DXA had comparable areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for associations with incident T2D (men P= 0·327; women P= 0·159). The BF% equations might be used as surrogates for DXA to estimate BF% among adult Chinese. More studies are needed to evaluate the application of our equations in different populations.
Diet and cognitive decline at middle age: the role of antioxidants
Authors: Nooyens Astrid C. J. , Milder Ivon E. J. , van Gelder Boukje M. , Bueno-de-Mesquita H. Bas , van Boxtel Martin P. J. , Verschuren W. M. Monique
Published: April 2015

To assess the relationship between dietary intake of antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E, β-carotene, lutein, flavonoids and lignans) and cognitive decline at middle age, analyses were performed on data from the population based Doetinchem Cohort Study. Habitual diet and cognitive function were assessed twice with a 5-year interval in 2613 persons aged 43–70 year at baseline (1995–2002). Diet was assessed with a validated 178-item semi-quantitative FFQ. Cognitive function was assessed with a neuropsychological test battery, consisting of the 15 Words Learning Test, the Stroop Test, the Word Fluency test, and the Letter Digit Substitution Test. Scores on global cognitive function, memory, processing speed, and cognitive flexibility were calculated. In regression analyses, quintiles of antioxidant intake were associated with change in cognitive domain scores. Results showed that higher lignan intake was linearly associated with less decline in global cognitive function (P= 0·01), memory (P< 0·01) and processing speed (P= 0·04), with about two times less declines in the highest v. the lowest quintile. In the lowest quintile of vitamin E intake, decline in memory was twice as fast as in all higher quintiles (P< 0·01). Global cognitive decline in the highest lutein intake group was greater than in the lowest intake group (P< 0·05). Higher flavonoid intake was associated with greater decline in cognitive flexibility (P for trend = 0·04). Intakes of other antioxidants were not associated with cognitive decline. We conclude that within the range of a habitual dietary intake, higher intake of lignans is associated with less cognitive decline at middle age.
Party-constrained Policy Responsiveness: A Survey Experiment on Politicians’ Response to Citizen-initiated Contacts
Authors: Öhberg Patrik , Naurin Elin
Published: April 2015

How do individual party representatives respond to direct policy requests from citizens when the requests go against the party’s position? In a survey experiment, 2,547 Swedish politicians are randomly assigned to scenarios in which citizens make contact to influence a political decision. Their willingness to respond to citizens’ policy requests is measured using six indicators that capture adaptive as well as communicative responsiveness. The results show a lower willingness to adaptandto communicate when the request disagrees with the party’s position. The effect is mitigated when politicians agree with the proposal and when likely voters make contact, but only forlisteningandadaptiveresponses, not forexplainingresponses (which have the opposite relationship). Important findings for future research are that the party matters for politicians’ responsiveness and that their willingness to give explaining responses follows a different logic than for listening and adaptive responses.
The silkworm GSTe4 is sensitive to phoxim and protects HEK293 cells against UV-induced cell apoptosis
Authors: Chen X.Y. , Liu J. , Zhang C.D. , Li Y.F. , Liu T.H. , Wang L. , Yu Q.Y. , Zhang Y.H. , Lu C. , Pan M.H.
Published: April 2015

GlutathioneS-transferases (GSTs, EC 2.5.1.18) are a family of super enzymes with multiple functions that play a major role in the detoxification of endogenous and xenobiotic compounds. In our previous study, we have predicted 23 putative cytosolic GSTs in the silkworm genome using bioinformatic methods. In this study, we cloned and studied the insect-specific epsilon-class GST geneGSTe4from the silkworm,Bombyx mori. The recombinantBmGSTe4(Bac-BmGSTe4) was overexpressed in SF-9 cell lines, and it was found to have effective GST activity. We also found that the expression ofBmGSTe4was especially down-regulated after the silkworms were fumigated with or ingested phoxim. Moreover,BmGSTe4protected HEK293 cells against UV-induced cell apoptosis. These results demonstrated thatBmGSTe4has GST activity, is sensitive to phoxim, and plays a role in inhibition of UV-induced cell apoptosis.
PARENTAL AND SIBLING MIGRATION AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AMONG RURAL CHILDREN IN CHINA
Authors: WEN MING , LI KELIN
Published: April 2015

This study examines the associations between parental and sibling rural-to-urban migration and blood pressure (BP) of rural left-behind children (LBC) in rural China. Analysis was based on the 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2009 waves of longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, which is an ongoing prospective survey covering nine provinces with an individual-level response rate of 88%. Blood pressure levels were measured by trained examiners at three consecutive times on the same visit and the means of three measurements were used as the final BP values. An ordinal BP measure was then created using a recently validated age–sex-specified distribution for Chinese children and adolescents, distinguishing normal BP, pre-hypertension and hypertension. Random effect modelling was performed. Different migration circumstances play different roles in LBC's BP with mother-only and both-parent migration being particularly detrimental and father-only and sibling-only migration either having no association or a negative association with LBC's BP levels or odds of high BP. In conclusion, the link between family migration and left-behind children's blood pressure is complex, and depends on who is the person out-migrating.
Molecular characteristics of bap-positiveStaphylococcus aureusstrains from dairy cow mastitis
Authors: Snel Gustavo GM , Monecke Stefan , Ehricht Ralf , Piccinini Renata
Published: April 2015

The biofilm-associated protein (Bap) ofStaphylococcus aureusis a high molecular weight cell-wall-anchored protein involved in biofilm formation, first described in bovine mastitis strains from Spain. So far, studies regarding Bap were mainly based on the Spanish strain V329 and its mutants, but no information on the genetic variability ofbap-positiveStaph. aureusstrains is yet available in the literature. The present study investigated the molecular characteristics of 8bap-positiveStaph. aureusstrains from subclinical bovine mastitis, isolated in 5 herds; somatic cell counts (SCC) of milk samples were also registered. Strains were characterised using MLST, SPA typing and microarray and the results were compared with V329. All isolates from this study and V329 were assigned to ST126, t605, but some molecular differences were observed. Only herd A and B strains harboured the genes for β-lactams resistance; the leukocidin D/E gene, a type I site-specific deoxyribonuclease subunit, 3rd locus gene and serin-protease A and B were carried by all strains, but not by V329, while serin-protease E was absent in V329 and in another isolate. Four isolates and V329 harboured the fibronectin-binding protein B gene. SCC showed the highest value in the milk sample affected by the only strain carrying all the virulence factors considered. Potential large variability of virulence was evidenced among V329 and allbap-positiveStaph. aureusstrains considered: the carriage offnbcould enhance the accumulation of biofilm, but the lack oflukD/EandsplA, BorEmight decrease the invasiveness of strain.
Communicating Private Information to the Equity Market Before a Dividend Cut: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Chemmanur Thomas J. , Tian Xuan
Published: April 2015

This paper presents the first empirical analysis of the choice of firms regarding whether to release private information (“prepare the market”) in advance of a possible dividend cut and the consequences of such market preparation. We use a hand-collected data set of dividend cutting firms, which allows us to distinguish between prepared and nonprepared dividend cutters and to test the implications of two alternative theories: the “signaling through market preparation” theory and the “stock return volatility reduction” theory. We document several important differences between prepared and nonprepared dividend cutters. Overall, our empirical results are consistent with the signaling theory.
Do Better-Connected CEOs Innovate More?
Authors: Faleye Olubunmi , Kovacs Tunde , Venkateswaran Anand
Published: April 2015

We present evidence suggesting that chief executive officer (CEO) connections facilitate investments in corporate innovation. We find that firms with better-connected CEOs invest more in research and development and receive more and higher quality patents. Further tests suggest that this effect stems from two characteristics of personal networks that alleviate CEO risk aversion in investment decisions. First, personal connections increase the CEO’s access to relevant network information, which encourages innovation by helping to identify, evaluate, and exploit innovative ideas. Second, personal connections provide the CEO with labor market insurance that facilitates investments in risky innovation by mitigating the career concerns inherent in such investments.
Challenges due to changing ideas of natural resources: tourism and power plant development in the Icelandic wilderness
Authors: Sæþórsdóttir Anna Dóra , Saarinen Jarkko
Published: April 2015

The Arctic and nearby remote areas are attracting more attention than ever before, because of their abundance of physical natural resources as well their wilderness environments which have become a major attraction for tourists. But use of land for tourism practices can lead to conflicts with other industries that utilise natural resources. Tourism in Iceland has grown rapidly in recent decades and nature and the wilderness is the main attraction. As well as being an important resource for the tourism industry, wilderness and natural areas are also very valuable for hydro–electric and geothermal power production. During the latter half of the last century several glacier–fed rivers in the highlands were dammed and hydropower plants built. Now there are plans for further exploitation of the natural resources which creates challenges and conflicts as many of the proposed power plants are located in natural areas, some of which are defined as wilderness. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the development of tourism in the Icelandic highlands and power production development and the challenges created by the changing idea of natural resources. It discusses a governmental project which is intended to solve the challenging conflicts about the use of natural areas. The project exposed the fact that the energy resources in the country are a far more limited resource than has previously been assumed. The power production industry now has to share the limited natural resources with the tourism industry. Thereby the ideas about natural resources and their utilisation are being re–defined by Icelandic society, depending on technology, global influences and other social trends.
Roman Magic Figurines from the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire: An Archaeological Survey
Authors: Bailliot Magali
Published: April 2015

This paper deals with magic figurines from the Western provinces of the Roman Empire based on an inventory of twelve figurines and their archaeological context. It underlines the place of the figurines in the ritual ofdefixioand demonstrates that complex curse rituals such as those described in the Greek Magical Papyri (GMP) were not performed only in the Mediterranean basin. It also notes that these magic Western figurines are often found in important places (such as cities and large villas) and in late contexts.
Mother–child talk during joint book reading in two social classes in Taiwan: Interaction strategies and information types
Authors: CHANG CHIEN-JU , HUANG CHO-CHI
Published: April 2015

This paper aims to understand mother–child book-reading interactions in different socioeconomic classes in Taiwan. Two groups of 16 mothers and their 3-year-old children, one from upper-middle socioeconomic backgrounds and the other from low-income families, participated in this study. Each dyad was visited at home, and mothers were asked to read a book with their children. Interactions during joint book reading were tape-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed using the Child Data Exchange System. The results showed that mothers from the upper middle class tended to encourage children to narrate the story, ask open-ended questions, and discuss nonimmediate information, while the low-income mothers tended to take book reading as their responsibility and required their children to be attentive. Educational implications and suggestions for further research were discussed.
Lexical activation effects on children's sentence planning and production
Authors: CHAREST MONIQUE , JOHNSTON JUDITH R. , SMALL JEFF A.
Published: April 2015

We investigated the relationship between lexical activation and syntactic planning in children's sentences. Four- and 7-year-old children described transitive scenes following patient-related prime pictures and control pictures. We examined syntactic choices, and compared onset latency, sentence length, and dysfluency rates for active transitive sentences in the two conditions. Early activation of the patient in the primed condition did not lead to the production of patient-subject sentences, but it did have consequences for active transitive sentence production. Namely, onset latencies were longer and sentences were shorter in the primed condition. Dysfluency rates did not differ between the two conditions. Correlation analyses revealed a stronger pattern of association between working memory scores and language variables in the patient-primed condition. The results indicate that conflicts between lexical activation order and syntactic plans are a source of processing difficulty during children's sentence production.
‘I don't know if you want to know this’: carers’ understandings of intimacy in long-term relationships when one partner has dementia
Authors: YOUELL JANE , CALLAGHAN JANE E. M. , BUCHANAN KEVIN
Published: April 2015

This article explores experiences of relational intimacy (including sexual intimacy) in long-term relationships when one partner has dementia. An emerging body of research focuses on living with dementia, but work on relationships between people with dementia and their family and loved ones tends to focus on understanding the experience of caring, and on constructs like ‘care burden’. Research concerned with the lived experience of relationships themselves is less frequent, and very little published work focuses on experiences of sex and intimacy. This qualitative study explores how six participants experience their intimate relationships with their partners with dementia. Semi-structured interviews provided a rich source of data which were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Three master themes emerged from our analysis: ‘everydayness’, ‘absent presence’ and ‘I don't know if you want to know this…’. Participants explored how living with dementia constructed specific, everyday relational challenges, and disrupted everyday intimacies. Intimacy, including sexual intimacy, remains an important element of older couple relationships. Relational experiences present specific and difficult to articulate experiences for the partners of people living with dementia – particularly experiences related to sex and sexuality. Representations of older adults (particularly older adults with a long-term illness) as relatively asexual beings can make elements of these relational challenges particularly difficult to express.
Bayesian framework for bilateral teleoperation systems over unreliable network
Authors: Lee Jae-young , Payandeh Shahram
Published: April 2015

In this paper, we present a novel stochastic framework for network-based bilateral teleoperation systems. A Bayesian approach, which provides robust tracking performance in real-world applications, is proposed to estimate and predict the stochastic variables and compensate for the unreliable network conditions. Combining with a practical approach in transport and application layers of the Internet, this paper demonstrates a high performance and efficient prediction and estimation method for bilateral teleoperation system. Experimental results show that the proposed Bayesian approach estimates and predicts true position and force data over unreliable network conditions, and therefore, improves the performance of overall teleoperation systems.
Design of an XY-theta platform held by a planar manipulator with four revolute joints and evaluation of its precision performances
Authors: Hijazi Anas , Brethé Jean-François , Lefebvre Dimitri
Published: April 2015

This paper is about the precision performance evaluation of an XY-theta platform, with a patented kinematic design. Indeed, this platform is held by a serial redundant robot arm actuated with four revolute joints. The platform offers a wide 300 × 300 mm workspace, whereas the whole mechanism is extremely compact. Any workpiece on the platform can be positioned under a vertical axis to be grasped or manufactured in a two-step approach: in a coarse positioning mode, the four revolute joints are controlled to position and orientate the workpiece with a position error of less than 10 μm; in a fine positioning mode, two revolute joints are mechanically blocked while two others are controlled to reduce the final error to below 2 μm. The mechanism design and the choice of the blocked and moving joints are optimized to enhance the positioning performances in the two-step positioning method. In this paper, the platform positioning repeatability and its spatial resolution are characterized with the help of a camera. The advantage of this method is that it avoids any mechanical contact and can be implemented easily. Then, these results are compared to our previous precision performance evaluation obtained with the stationary cube method. Finally, the positioning repeatability is estimated at 6.5 μm in the coarse positioning mode and 1.4 μm in the fine positioning mode. Between the coarse and fine mode, the repeatability is thus improved by the factor of four, as predicted by the theory.
Inherited and environmental influences on a childhood co-occurring symptom phenotype: Evidence from an adoption study
Authors: Roos Leslie E. , Fisher Philip A. , Shaw Daniel S. , Kim Hyoun K. , Neiderhiser Jenae M. , Reiss David , Natsuaki Misake N. , Leve Leslie D.
Published: April 2015

Risk factors for the childhood development of co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptoms are not well understood, despite a high prevalence and poor clinical outcomes associated with this co-occurring phenotype. We examined inherited and environmental risk factors for co-occurring symptoms in a sample of children adopted at birth and their birth mothers and adoptive mothers (N= 293). Inherited risk factors (i.e., birth mothers' processing speed and internalizing symptoms) and environmental risk factors (i.e., adoptive mothers' processing speed, internalizing symptoms, and uninvolved parenting) were examined as predictors for the development of internalizing-only, externalizing-only, or co-occurring symptoms using structural equation modeling. Results suggested a unique pattern of predictive factors for the co-occurring phenotype, with risk conferred by adoptive mothers' uninvolved parenting, birth mothers' slower processing speed, and the birth mothers' slower processing speed in tandem with adoptive mothers' higher internalizing symptoms. Additional analyses indicated that when co-occurring-symptom children were incorporated into internalizing and externalizing symptom groups, differential risk factors for externalizing and internalizing symptoms emerged. The findings suggest that spurious results may be found when children with co-occurring symptoms are not examined as a unique phenotypic group.
Trajectories of relationship stress and inflammatory processes in adolescence
Authors: Ehrlich Katherine B. , Miller Gregory E. , Rohleder Nicolas , Adam Emma K.
Published: April 2015

Researchers have identified cross-sectional links between interpersonal stress and inflammation. Little is known, however, about how these dynamics unfold over time, what underlying immune pathways might exist, or whether moderators such as race could alter the strength of the connection between interpersonal stress and inflammatory processes. We examined whether adolescent girls whose relationship trajectories were characterized by chronic stress would exhibit a proinflammatory phenotype marked by systemic inflammation, heightened cytokine responses to bacterial challenges, and resistance to the anti-inflammatory properties of cortisol. Significant Stress × Race interactions revealed that family stress trajectories predicted glucocorticoid sensitivity and peer stress trajectories predicted cytokine production for White but not Asian girls. Relationship stress trajectories were not associated with systemic inflammation, however. These findings suggest that particular subgroups of adolescent girls who face chronic and elevated stress in their close relationships may be at risk for disruptions to the immune system.
Equational axioms associated with finite automata for fixed point operations in cartesian categories
Authors: ÉSIK ZOLTÁN
Published: April 2015

The axioms of iteration theories, or iteration categories, capture the equational properties of fixed point operations in several computationally significant categories. Iteration categories may be axiomatized by the Conway identities and identities associated with finite automata. We show that the Conway identities and the identities associated with the members of a subclass $\mathcal{Q}$ of finite automata is complete for iteration categories iff for every finite simple group G there is an automaton Q ∈ $\mathcal{Q}$ such that G is a quotient of a group in the monoid M(Q) of the automaton Q. We also prove a stronger result that concerns identities associated with finite automata with a distinguished initial state.
Assessing Impairment of Executive Function and Psychomotor Speed in Premanifest and Manifest Huntington’s Disease Gene-expansion Carriers
Authors: Unmack Larsen Ida , Vinther-Jensen Tua , Gade Anders , Nielsen Jørgen Erik , Vogel Asmus
Published: April 2015

Executive functions (EF) and psychomotor speed (PMS) has been widely studied in Huntington’s disease (HD). Most studies have focused on finding markers of disease progression by comparing group means at different disease stages. Our aim was to investigate performances on nine measures of EF and PMS in a group of premanifest and manifest HD-gene expansion carriers and to investigate which measures were most sensitive for assessment of individual patients by analyzing frequencies of impaired performances relative to healthy controls. We recruited HD gene-expansion carriers, 48 manifest and 50 premanifest and as controls 39 healthy gene-expansion negative individuals. All participants underwent neurological examination and neuropsychological testing with nine cognitive measures. The frequency of impairment was investigated using cutoff scores. In group comparisons the manifest HD gene-expansion carriers scored significantly worse than controls on all tests and in classification of individual scores the majority of scores were classified as probably impaired (10th percentile) or impaired (5th percentile) with Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) being the most frequently impaired. Group comparisons of premanifest HD gene-expansion carriers and healthy controls showed significant differences on SDMT and Alternating fluency tests. Nevertheless the frequencies of probably impaired and impaired scores on individual tests were markedly higher for Alternating and Lexical fluency tests than for SDMT. We found distinct group differences in frequency of impairment on measures of EF and PMS in manifest and premanifest HD gene-expansion carriers. Our results indicate to what degree these measures can be expected to be clinically impaired. (JINS, 2015, 21, 1–10)
A Bicentenary in Robert Morrison's Scholarship on China And his Significance for Today
Authors: BARRETT T. H.
Published: April 2015

Robert Morrison (1782–1834), the first Protestant missionary to China, was responsible for the completion of the earliest Chinese-English Dictionary in 1814. Though this work would not have reached publication without the help of Chinese assistants, and of the printer P. P. Thoms (1790–1855), even so Morrison's scholarly achievements in this and other aspects of Chinese studies were prodigious. This survey of recent research makes clear the continuing value of his writings to contemporary scholars, and also suggests that he was not simply more seriously engaged in attempting to understand China than his contemporaries but also more enlightened than a good number of his successors in missionary work.
Financial market assumptions and pension plan models: a comment on PIMS model asset markets assumptions
Authors: GECZY CHRISTOPHER C.
Published: April 2015

The financial market assumptions of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)'s Pension Insurance Modeling System model are critical inputs to simulations for most apparent uses of the system. They currently appear to be based on a reduced form, ‘classical’ approach to assessing and forecasting the distribution of returns on various classes of input assets, allowing for a fairly sophisticated and useful approach to understanding simulated distributions of potential pension insurance outcomes as well as the net financial status of the PBGC. This technical note discusses some of the capital market side assumptions utilized in the model. It also comments on important related assumptions including the assumed asset allocations of insured plans, making suggestion for possible modification of input assumptions of the model to reflect time variation in financial market return behavior as well as time variation in observed plan allocations.