bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exercise training inducibility of MnSOD protein expression and activity is retained while reducing prooxidant signaling in the heart of senescent rats
Authors: Lawler John M. , Kwak Hyo-Bum , Kim Jong-Hee , Suk Min-Hwa
Published: March 2009

While the stress response to heat and exercise is limited in the heart with progressive aging, recent data indicate that acute or short-term exercise upregulates the Mn isoform of superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), which may provide protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury and cell death by reducing oxidative stress. Growing evidence indicates that inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) contributes to age-induced increases in oxidative stress and risk of heart failure. We postulated that oxidative stress and iNOS levels would be related to the ability of the aging heart to upregulate MnSOD in response to long-term exercise training. Six- and twenty-seven-mo-old Fischer-344 rats had been assigned to young sedentary (YS), young exercise (YE), old sedentary (OS), or old exercise (OE) groups. ET groups ran on a treadmill for 60 min/day, 5 days/wk for a total of 12 wk. MnSOD protein expression in the left ventricle was increased (+43%) by 12 wk of exercise training in the old age group, with no changes in Cu,ZnSOD. Exercise training also increased MnSOD activity in left ventricles from old and young rats. HSP70 was inducible by exercise training in hearts exclusively from the young age group. iNOS protein expression increased markedly with aging (+548%), while exercise training decreased iNOS levels by −73% in OE compared with OS. In addition, 4-hydroxynonenal protein adducts in the left ventricle increased by 237% with aging, while 12 wk of exercise training resulted in attenuation (−55%). These data indicate that inducibility of MnSOD is preserved with long-term exercise training in the aging rat heart. Moreover, upregulation of MnSOD in the aging heart was directly associated with attenuated levels of oxidative stress, including iNOS.
Blockade of PGHS-2 inhibits the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis response to cerebral hypoperfusion in the sheep fetus
Authors: Wood Charles E. , Powers Fraites Melanie , Keller-Wood Maureen
Published: March 2009

Decreases in fetal blood pressure stimulate homeostatic stress responses that help return blood pressure to normal levels. Fetal hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to hypotension are mediated by chemoreceptor and baroreceptor reflexes and ischemia of the fetal central nervous system. Indomethacin, a nonselective inhibitor of prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase (PGHS)-1 and -2, attenuates the HPA response to hypotension in the fetus. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that selective inhibition of PGHS-2 also inhibits the HPA response to cerebral hypoperfusion. We studied 13 chronically catheterized fetal sheep (126–136 days gestation). Five fetal sheep were subjected to intracerebroventricular infusion of nimesulide (0.01 mg/day), a specific inhibitor of PGHS-2, and eight were treated with vehicle (DMSO in water) for 5 days. Each fetus was subjected to a 10-min period of brachiocephalic occlusion, which decreased carotid arterial pressure ∼75% and reflexively increased fetal plasma concentrations of ACTH, POMC, cortisol, and femoral arterial pressure, and decreased fetal heart rate. Nimesulide significantly inhibited the ACTH response to the BCO, while significantly augmenting the reflex cardiovascular response and altering fetal heart rate variability consistent with increased sympathetic nervous system activity. The results of this study demonstrate that the activity of PGHS-2 in the brain is a necessary component of the fetal HPA response to cerebral hypoperfusion in the late-gestation fetal sheep. These results are consistent with those of recent study, in which we demonstrated that the preparturient increase in fetal ACTH secretion depends upon PGHS-2 activity within the fetal brain.
Regular endurance exercise in young men increases arterial baroreflex sensitivity through neural alteration of baroreflex arc
Authors: Komine Hidehiko , Sugawara Jun , Hayashi Koichiro , Yoshizawa Mutsuko , Yokoi Takashi
Published: March 2009

Endurance exercise training increases arterial baroreflex sensitivity that corresponds to alteration in vessel wall compliance of the carotid artery in elderly men. Here, we examined whether regular endurance exercise increases arterial baroreflex sensitivity through neural alteration of the baroreflex arc in young men. We assessed arterial baroreflex sensitivity in eight sedentary men (age 24 ± 1 yr) and nine men trained in endurance exercise (age 23 ± 1 yr) during phase IV of the Valsalva maneuver [systolic arterial blood pressure (SAP)–R-R interval relationship]. Arterial baroreflex sensitivity was further analyzed by dividing the mechanical component [SAP–end-systolic carotid lumen diameter relationship (ultrasonography)] and the neural component (end-systolic carotid lumen diameter–R-R interval relationship). Carotid arterial compliance was determined using B-mode ultrasound and arterial applanation tonometry on the common carotid artery. Arterial baroreflex sensitivity and its neural component were greater in the exercise-trained group ( P < 0.05). In contrast, carotid arterial compliance and the mechanical component of arterial baroreflex sensitivity did not differ between groups. These results suggest that regular endurance exercise in young men increases arterial baroreflex sensitivity through changes in the neural component of the baroreflex arc and not through alterations in vessel wall compliance of the carotid artery.
Factor-Analysis Methods for Higher-Performance Neural Prostheses
Authors: Santhanam Gopal , Yu Byron M. , Gilja Vikash , Ryu Stephen I. , Afshar Afsheen , Sahani Maneesh , Shenoy Krishna V.
Published: March 2009

Neural prostheses aim to provide treatment options for individuals with nervous-system disease or injury. It is necessary, however, to increase the performance of such systems before they can be clinically viable for patients with motor dysfunction. One performance limitation is the presence of correlated trial-to-trial variability that can cause neural responses to wax and wane in concert as the subject is, for example, more attentive or more fatigued. If a system does not properly account for this variability, it may mistakenly interpret such variability as an entirely different intention by the subject. We report here the design and characterization of factor-analysis (FA)–based decoding algorithms that can contend with this confound. We characterize the decoders (classifiers) on experimental data where monkeys performed both a real reach task and a prosthetic cursor task while we recorded from 96 electrodes implanted in dorsal premotor cortex. The decoder attempts to infer the underlying factors that comodulate the neurons' responses and can use this information to substantially lower error rates (one of eight reach endpoint predictions) by ≲75% (e.g., ∼20% total prediction error using traditional independent Poisson models reduced to ∼5%). We also examine additional key aspects of these new algorithms: the effect of neural integration window length on performance, an extension of the algorithms to use Poisson statistics, and the effect of training set size on the decoding accuracy of test data. We found that FA-based methods are most effective for integration windows >150 ms, although still advantageous at shorter timescales, that Gaussian-based algorithms performed better than the analogous Poisson-based algorithms and that the FA algorithm is robust even with a limited amount of training data. We propose that FA-based methods are effective in modeling correlated trial-to-trial neural variability and can be used to substantially increase overall prosthetic system performance.
Functional Interaction Between TRPV1 and μ-Opioid Receptors in the Descending Antinociceptive Pathway Activates Glutamate Transmission and Induces Analgesia
Authors: Maione Sabatino , Starowicz Katarzyna , Cristino Luigia , Guida Francesca , Palazzo Enza , Luongo Livio , Rossi Francesca , Marabese Ida , de Novellis Vito , Di Marzo Vincenzo
Published: March 2009

The transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) receptor is involved in peripheral and spinal nociceptive processing and is a therapeutic target for pain. We have shown previously that TRPV1 in the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (VL-PAG) tonically contributes to brain stem descending antinociception by stimulating glutamate release into the rostral ventromedial medulla and off neuron activity. Because both opioid and vanilloid systems integrate and transduce pain sensation in these pathways, we studied the potential interaction between TRPV1 and μ-opioid receptors in the VL-PAG–rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) system. We found that the TRPV1 agonist, capsaicin, and the μ-receptor agonist [D-Ala(2),N-Me-Phe(4),Gly(5)-ol]enkephalin, when coadministered into the ventrolateral-PAG at doses nonanalgesic per se, produce 1) antinociception in tests of thermal nociception; 2) stimulation of glutamate release into the RVM; and 3) inhibition of on neuron activity in the RVM. These effects were all antagonized by the TRPV1 and opioid receptor antagonists 5′-iodo-resiniferatoxin and naloxone, respectively, thus suggesting the existence of a TRPV1–μ-opioid interaction in the VL-PAG–RVM system. By using double immunofluorescence techniques, we found that TRPV1 and μ-opioid receptors are coexpressed in several neurons of the VL-PAG. These findings suggest that μ-receptor activation not only acts on inhibitory neurons to disinhibit PAG output neurons but also interacts with TRPV1 activation at increasing glutamate release into the RVM, possibly by acting directly on PAG output neurons projecting to the RVM.
Pressure Drop Equations for a Partially Penetrating Vertical Well in a Circular Cylinder Drainage Volume
Authors: Owayed Jalal Farhan , Lu Jing
Published: March 2009

Taking a partially penetrating vertical well as a uniform line sink
in three‐dimensional space, by developing necessary mathematical
analysis, this paper presents unsteady‐state pressure drop equations
for an off‐center partially penetrating vertical well in a circular
cylinder drainage volume with constant pressure at outer boundary.
First, the point sink solution to the diffusivity equation is
derived, then using superposition principle, pressure drop equations
for a uniform line sink model are obtained. This paper also gives an
equation to calculate pseudoskin factor due to partial penetration.
The proposed equations provide fast analytical tools to evaluate the
performance of a vertical well which is located arbitrarily in a
circular cylinder drainage volume. It is concluded that the well off‐center distance has significant
effect on well pressure drop behavior, but it does not have any effect on
pseudoskin factor due to partial penetration. Because the outer
boundary is at constant pressure, when producing time is
sufficiently long, steady‐state is definitely reached. When well
producing length is equal to payzone thickness, the pressure drop
equations for a fully penetrating well are obtained.
Cloud Variability over the Indian Monsoon Region as Observed from Satellites
Authors: Wonsick Margaret M. , Pinker Rachel T. , Govaerts Yves
Published: March 2009

This study focuses on documenting the seasonal progression of the Asian monsoon by analyzing clouds and convection in the pre-, peak-, and postmonsoon seasons. This effort was possible as a result of the movement of Meteosat-5 over the Indian continent during the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) starting in 1998. The Meteosat-5 observations provide a unique opportunity to study in detail the daytime diurnal variability of clouds and components of the radiation budget. Hourly Meteosat-5 observations are utilized to characterize the Indian monsoon daytime cloud variability on seasonal and diurnal time scales. Distinct patterns of variability can be identified during the various stages of the monsoon cycle. The daytime (0800–1500 LST) diurnal cycle of total cloud amounts is generally flat during the premonsoon season, U shaped during peak-monsoon season, and ascending toward an afternoon peak in the postmonsoon season. Low clouds dominate the Tibetan Plateau and northern Arabian Sea while high clouds are more frequent in the southern Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. An afternoon peak in high clouds is most prominent in central India and the Bay of Bengal. Afternoon convection peaks earlier over water than land. Preliminary comparison of cloud amounts from Meteosat-5, International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) D1, and model output from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) and the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis indicates a large disparity among cloud amounts from the various sources, primarily during the peak-monsoon period. The availability of the high spatial and temporal resolution of Meteosat-5 data is important for characterizing cloud variability in regions where clouds vary strongly in time and space and for the evaluation of numerical models known to have difficulties in predicting clouds correctly in this monsoon region. This study also has implications for findings on cloud variability from polar-orbiting satellites that might not correctly represent the daily average situation.
Comparative Evaluation of Two Ensembles for Long-Range Forecasting of Monsoon Rainfall
Authors: Goswami P. , Gouda K. C.
Published: March 2009

It is now well known that changes in initial conditions can give rise to substantial changes in the forecasts even at the long range. Ensemble averaging of forecasts from different initial conditions provides an efficient way of assessing and reducing uncertainties in the forecasts due to inherent uncertainties in the initial conditions. However, the procedure for generating the ensemble of forecasts has to be based on careful consideration. Although there now exist several well-tested frameworks for ensemble forecasting at the short range, the procedure for and impact of ensemble forecasting on long-range forecasting of monsoons remain relatively less explored. In particular, the procedure for the choice of the ensemble for long-range forecasting of monsoons needs special considerations. The Indian summer monsoon is characterized by a number of intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) whose phases and amplitudes can significantly affect the monsoon forecast and that can be adequately sampled only using initial states spread over time scales comparable to the characteristic time scales of these ISOs. It is shown that use of initial states spread over a longer period (such as 1 April–1 May) results in a better ensemble average for long-range forecasting of Indian summer monsoon than that from an ensemble of closely packed states with a shorter lead. An optimized configuration for long-range forecasting of monsoons using a variable resolution general circulation model is adopted. The climatological monthly mean SST field is used to assess realizable skill, as use of observed SST provides only potential skill. Then five-member wide-lead (1 April–1 May) ensemble average forecasts are compared with five-member compact-lead (27 April–1 May) ensemble average forecasts for 24 (1980–2003) hindcasts; it is shown that the skill of the wide-lead ensemble average is superior to that of the compact-lead ensemble at different spatial and temporal scales in spite of the longer lead of the former.
Always the Third Rail?
Authors: Lynch Julia , Myrskylä Mikko
Published: March 2009

Social transfer programs are thought to generate beneficiary groups who will act politically to defend “their” programs from retrenchment. But little empirical research has been conducted to either verify or disconfirm the micro foundations of this hypothesis, which lies at the heart of the “new social risks” thesis as well as many economic analyses of welfare state politics. This article tests empirically whether benefiting from public pensions leads individuals to greater support of the pension system status quo, net of other factors. It uses cross—data set imputation to combine cross-nationally comparable individual-level data on income from public pensions with political attitudes toward proposed pension reforms. The hypothesis that public pension systems create policy feedbacks of self-interested beneficiaries supporting further pension spending is not supported in any of 11 European countries in either 1992 or 2001.
Political and Institutional Checks on Corruption
Authors: Melo Marcus André , Pereira Carlos , Figueiredo Carlos Mauricio
Published: March 2009

This article investigates the performance determinants of accountability institutions in new democracies. Current scholarship on accountability has identified a distinct mechanism through which the introduction of political competition may affect such institutions: the electoral connection or vertical accountability mechanism. This connection is not expected to be effective in new democracies, because political competition is found to be volatile and nonprogrammatic. Another strand of the literature focuses on the effect of power alternation. Government turnover is expected to generate incentives for the creation and strengthening of autonomous institutions. By exploring a unique data set on 33 state audit institutions, the authors bring together these distinct claims and provide systematic empirical tests for them. They find a negative effect of volatility on their institutional activism and a positive (direct and indirect) influence of power alternation on their levels of autonomy and sanctioning patterns.
Tomorrow’s Leaders?
Authors: Bruter Michael , Harrison Sarah
Published: March 2009

Using a mass survey of young members of 15 parties in six European democracies, this article explores their motivations, perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. In a context of general disenchantment with politics and febrile participation, particularly among young citizens, this article explains why a large number of youngsters still decide to get involved in one of the most traditional forms of activism: party membership. The study uses a comparative survey of 2,919 young party members ages 18 to 25 and shows that they fit into three categories: moral-, social-, and professional-minded. Young party members significantly differ in terms of their perceptions, preferences, behavior, and desired future involvement. The findings shed unprecedented light on the hearts and minds of tomorrow’s political leaders, a subgroup of professional-minded young party members who distinguish themselves from the majority of ideologically driven, moral-minded activists and some less motivated, disciplined, and reliable social-minded members.
Developing international organizational change theory using cases from China
Authors: Hempel Paul S. , Martinsons Maris G.
Published: March 2009

This article contributes to international theory development by examining organizational change (OC) in mainland China. Eight case studies of a single type of OC, business process re-engineering (BPR), reveal that Chinese organizations diverged consistently from initially planned changes. Change context is found to influence not only the process of change, but also the content and even the objectives of change. Since specific practices carry implicit values, the congruence with existing values influences OC implementation significantly. Multinational organizations must recognize that a specific practice or policy can represent very different changes in different contexts.
Constrained choices in alliance formations: Cupids and organizational marriages
Authors: Stephens Kimberlie J. , Fulk Janet , Monge Peter R.
Published: March 2009

This article develops a constrained choice model of strategic decision-making for `cupid' alliances. Unlike voluntary alliances, cupid alliances are forged between `target' organizations at the behest of a third `cupid' organization that stands to benefit from creation of the alliance. Three key alliance decisions — whether to partner, with whom, and governance — are substantially curtailed by the cupid's requirements, producing a severely constrained set of strategic decisions. The conceptual model is supplemented with a case study which relies on qualitative interviews, observations and communication network data collected from principals negotiating a cupid alliance. A finding which may be unique to cupid alliances was the decline in trust over the course of the negotiation between those representatives whose organizations had no past alliance relationships. This finding is especially interesting given the fact that despite the decreased propensity for representatives to trust, an agreement was still reached.
Managing difference in feminized work: Men, otherness and social practice
Authors: Pullen Alison , Simpson Ruth
Published: March 2009

This article presents a qualitative study of men who do traditionally female dominated and feminized work (specifically nursing and primary school teaching). Men are often seen as not only a minority to women in these contexts, but also their Other. The article explores the processes of doing gender as a social and discursive practice, highlighting the necessity to manage difference and the processual, emergent, dynamic, partial and fragmented nature of gendered identities. We show some of the complex ways in which men manage difference and how they transcend Otherness by doing masculinity and appropriating femininity so that masculinity is partially subverted and partly maintained. This analysis not only relies on the doing of gender through the doing of difference but also surfaces the undoing of gender and difference to disrupt gender norms and practices in work organizations.
Organizational commitment and the well-being of temporary agency workers: A longitudinal study
Authors: Galais Nathalie , Moser Klaus
Published: March 2009

Previous research found that organizational commitment is positively related to employee well-being. However, in the current age of contingent work, transitions, and `protean careers', the advisability of commitment is questionable. Therefore, we analyzed the role of organizational commitment in one paradigmatic area of contingent work arrangements: temporary agency work. In contrast to standard workers, temporary agency workers have to deal with two organizations: the temporary agency and client organization. Results revealed an ambivalent role of organizational commitment for temporary workers. Cross-sectional commitment towards the client organization had positive effects on workers' well-being, whereas commitment towards the agency had no effects. However, longitudinal analyses revealed that commitment to the client was detrimental to workers' well-being when they experienced reassignment to another client. In sum, we found beneficial and dysfunctional effects of organizational commitment on well-being, which suggest the reconsideration of the role of organizational commitment for individuals in unstable work arrangements.
Board Activities, Involvement, and Public Transit Performance
Authors: Ugboro Isaiah O. , Obeng Kofi
Published: March 2009

The objective of this article is to determine the relationships between board members' involvement in prescribed activities of boards of directors and the performance of public transit systems. It analyzes the degree to which board members are involved in prescribed activities of boards of directors as an indication of their effectiveness using self-rated survey responses. Then, it identifies public transit organizational performance measures from Section 15 sources and determines their relationships with board performance. One significant finding is that involvement in board educational activities may enable the board to pressure the transit systems they oversee to operate their existing fleets more efficiently to reduce cost per vehicle hour. Similarly, involvement in strategic activities could make boards put pressure on transit systems to be cost effective.
Light and Dark Sides of Nonprofit Activities and the Rules to Manage Them
Authors: Christensen Robert K. , Clerkin Richard M. , Nesbit Rebecca , Paarlberg Laurie E.
Published: March 2009

Nonprofit organizations face numerous challenges in balancing mission and nonmission pressures. These competing demands create tensions that must be managed if nonprofits are to balance the light and the dark aspects of their activities. In addition to government regulation, the authors examine other sources of “rules” used to navigate light/dark tensions in the nonprofit sector. Drawing on one form of nonprofit activity—charitable bingo—this article uses neoinstitutional theories to develop a conceptual framework of how government and nongovernment actors actively generate rules to manage these tensions. Their work with charitable bingo demonstrates that nonprofit organizations are not simply passive recipients of nonnegotiable state-imposed rules. On the contrary, the authors demonstrate that individuals, nonprofits, and state actors develop boundary, position, choice, and scope rules to manage mission tensions in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits that use rules to manage tensions appear better equipped to shape their environments by influencing their regulatory environments and how their missions are portrayed.
Entrepreneurial Resource Acquisition through Indirect Ties: Compensatory Effects of Prior Knowledge
Authors: Jing Zhang  , Soh Pek-hooi , Wong Poh-kam
Published: March 2009

This study investigates when indirect ties, in which a referrer appears between an entrepreneur and a resource owner, can enhance the likelihood of resource acquisitions for starting a new venture. The authors argue that when either resource owners or referrers possess a greater level of prior knowledge about a venture’s technology or product, information asymmetry problems arising from weak component ties decline, enabling resource owners to evaluate the venture better. On the basis of survey data from 378 high-tech entrepreneurs, the analysis shows that resource owners’ prior knowledge, but not referrers’, compensates for limited information in weak component ties better than in strong component ties.
The GE Paradox: Competitive Advantage Through Fungible Non-Firm-Specific Investment
Authors: Lehmberg Derek , Rowe W. Glenn , White Roderick E. , Phillips John R.
Published: March 2009

This study addresses two questions: (a) Does General Electric have an exceptional ability to develop non-firm-specific general management talent, and (b) how can GE’s investment into non-firm-specific, nonproprietary managerial capabilities be explained theoretically? The authors’ analysis provides evidence that GE has an extraordinary managerial development capability. Their theory suggests that GE’s managerial development process is valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized to be exploited, and therefore, a source of sustained competitive advantage. This process produces a flow of managers with the potential to be sources of temporary competitive advantage for GE. Outward flow of executive talent is a required byproduct of the process.
Do Older Adults Know Their Spouses' End-of-Life Treatment Preferences?
Authors: Moorman Sara M. , Hauser Robert M. , Carr Deborah
Published: March 2009

When terminally ill patients become mentally incapacitated, their surrogates often make treatment decisions in collaboration with health care providers. The authors examined how surrogates' errors in reporting their spouses' preferences are affected by their gender, status as durable power of attorney for health care (DPAHC), whether they and their spouses discussed end-of-life preferences, and their spouses' health status. Structural equation models were applied to data from married couples in their mid-60s from the 2004 wave of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Surrogates reported their spouses' preferences incorrectly 13% and 26% of the time in end-of-life scenarios involving cognitive impairment and physical pain, respectively. Surrogates projected their own preferences onto their spouses'. Similar patterns emerged regardless of surrogate gender and status as DPAHC, marital discussions about end-of-life preferences, or spousal health status. Implications for the process of surrogate decision making and for future research are discussed.
Analysis of terrorist social networks with fractal views
Authors: Yang Christopher C. , Sageman Marc
Published: March 2009

Social network visualization has drawn significant attention over recent years. It creates images of social networks that provide investigators with new insights about network structures and helps them to communicate those insights to others. Visualization facilitates the social network analysis. It supports the investigators to discover patterns of interactions among the social actors including detecting subgroups, identifying central actors and their roles, and discovering patterns of interactions among social actors. However, visualizing a large heterogeneous social network has several challenges. The large size of networks, complex relations among social actors and limited number of available pixels on a screen make it difficult to present important information clearly to investigators and hence reduce the capability of investigators to explore the networks. In this work, we propose the fractal views to construct a visual abstraction of a large and complex social network with users selected social actors as focuses. The fractal views are focus and context visualization techniques using an information reduction approach. It controls the amount of information displayed by focusing on the syntactic structure of information. It is useful in discovering knowledge from terrorist social networks for combating the war on terrorism. Such application has formed an important research topic, known as intelligence and security informatics, in recent years due to the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 (9/11) and several other terror attacks that have occurred within the last decade. We present several case studies to demonstrate the capability of the proposed technique on analyzing the Global Salafi Jihad terrorist social network. It extracts the hidden relationships among terrorists through user interactions. In addition, we have conducted a user evaluation to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of fractal views. It shows that fractal views outperform fisheye views and zoom-in windows to support users in visualizing and analyzing terrorist social networks.
Childhood Mefloquine-Induced Mania and Psychosis: A Case Report
Authors: Thapa Rajoo , Biswas Biswajit
Published: March 2009

Mefloquine, a commonly used oral antimalarial is occasionally associated with severe, neuropsychiatric adverse effects, especially in adults. Such events are extremely rare in children. The authors report on an 11-year-old, otherwise healthy girl from Eastern India, a malaria-endemic region, who developed mania and psychosis following intake of a therapeutic dose of mefloquine for Plasmodium falciparum malaria. She recovered satisfactorily with risperidone therapy. To our knowledge, there is only one documented instance of mefloquine-induced psychosis in the pediatric literature to date. Those caring for children need to realize that severe neuropsychiatric manifestations may be seen in the pediatric age group. A positive history of intake of the offending drug with careful exclusion of other etiologies usually clinches the diagnosis.
Influencing Health Debates Through Letters to the Editor: The Case of Male Circumcision
Authors: Carpenter Laura M.
Published: March 2009

In this article I use the case of male circumcision (MC) to examine how grassroots activists, medical professionals, other stakeholders, and ordinary people employ letters to the editor (LTEs) to influence public health debates. I also show how journalistic practices affect the use of LTEs. Seventy LTEs about MC from U.S. newspapers between 1985 and 2006 are analyzed using qualitative methods. Pro-MC, anti-MC, and neutral LTE writers supported their stances on similar grounds, described adversaries as biased, and stressed medical and scientific authority. Yet only MC advocates and neutralists trivialized MC and declined to justify their stances, suggesting distinctive dynamics for LTEs about widely accepted practices. The prevalence of debated practices and activists' efforts to piggyback on related issues also affect LTE content. Editors chose LTEs to address readers' critiques, enact news values like balance and controversy, and showcase writers with strong claims to legitimacy, thereby mediating public health debates.
Illness Meanings of AIDS Among Women With HIV: Merging Immunology and Life Experience
Authors: Scott Alison
Published: March 2009

Little attention has been paid to illness meanings held by those with HIV in the presence of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). This article illustrates how elucidating illness meanings might aid our understanding of HAART adherence and other important health behaviors. Using multiple qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews, free lists, and drawings, I explore meanings surrounding the concept of AIDS among women with HIV in New Orleans, Louisiana. Illness meanings of AIDS reflect the women's negotiation of physical, social, and emotional threats posed by HIV. HIV-positive women displace death and stigma away from an HIV diagnosis to an AIDS diagnosis, creating a sense of safety and normalcy for themselves. Women with AIDS diagnoses, however, struggle to construct illness meanings of AIDS that resist its association with ostracism and death. Drawings produced by the women provide rich insights and illustrate the value of drawings as a visual method in exploring illness meanings.
Barriers to Service Use for Postpartum Depression Symptoms Among Low-Income Ethnic Minority Mothers in the United States
Authors: Abrams Laura S. , Dornig Katrina , Curran Laura
Published: March 2009

The risks of untreated postpartum depression (PPD) in the United States are higher among low-income ethnic minority mothers. However, research has not adequately investigated barriers to formal help seeking for PPD symptoms among this vulnerable population. We used convenience and purposive sampling strategies to recruit mothers experiencing past-year (the year prior to interview) PPD symptoms ( n = 14), community key informants ( n = 11), and service providers ( n = 12) to participate in focus groups and individual interviews. A grounded theory analysis of these nested perspectives revealed individual, community, and provider-level barriers operating at various stages of the help-seeking process: thinking about symptoms, seeking advice, and rejecting formal care. Although mothers overwhelmingly recommended “talking it out” for other mothers with PPD, an array of attitudinal and instrumental barriers led mothers to choose self-help practices in lieu of formal mental health care.
Take One for the Team? Limits of Shared Ethnicity and Candidate Preferences
Authors: Manzano Sylvia , Sanchez Gabriel R.
Published: March 2009

This study tests the theory of politicized ethnic identity’s shaping Latino political behavior. The authors consider whether candidate quality moderates the effects of political ethnic attachments on co-ethnic candidate preferences. Ordered logistic regression models are developed to predict Latino voter preferences for co-ethnic candidates with varied degrees of qualification. Candidate quality significantly mitigates collective ethnic political behavior, yet the authors find Latinos with strong ethnic attachments remain inclined to prefer a co-ethnic even when less qualified than a non-Latino candidate. Political ethnic identity theory is useful in explaining minority political behavior, but there are boundaries to collective identity’s shaping political preferences.
Degenerate T-Cell Receptor Recognition, Autoreactive Cells, and the Autoimmune Response in Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Markovic-Plese Silva
Published: March 2009

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the leading cause of disability in the young adult population. While the immunopathogenetic mechanisms that drive the disease have been extensively studied, the autoantigens that trigger the chronic central nervous system inflammation are still not identified. Flexibility/ degeneracy of the T-cell receptor (TCR) in antigen recognition could have a physiological role in thymic selection and the development of comprehensive TCR repertoire and protection from infections. Here, the author explores the possibility that such flexibility/degeneracy may also play a role in the induction of autoimmune diseases. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II alleles of the DR2 haplotype DR2a (DRB5*0101) and DR2b (DRB1*1501) are genes associated with an increased risk for MS in Caucasian populations. Peptide binding to the MHC molecule is a prerequisite for recognition by TCRs, whereby the CD4+ T-cell response is restricted by specific MHC class II DR molecules. To selectively expand and characterize DR2-restricted T-cells with degenerate TCR (TCRdeg), the authors designed MHC class II DR2-anchored peptide mixtures, which preferentially bind to the DR2a and DR2b antigen-presenting molecules. Peptides in these mixtures have specific amino acids in the DR2 binding positions but have randomized amino acids at all other positions of the peptide. Due to the low concentration of individual peptides in these mixtures/libraries, the authors assume that only T-cells with TCRdeg will proliferate in response to these mixtures. The authors have recently identified an increased DR2 restricted TCRdeg T-cell frequency in MS patients in comparison to healthy controls, their cross-reactivity to myelin basic protein, and the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, all of which suggest that these cells may play a role in the development of the autoimmune response in MS.
Childhood Victimization, Poly-Victimization, and Adjustment to College in Women
Authors: Elliott Ann N. , Alexander Apryl A. , Pierce Thomas W. , Aspelmeier Jeffery E. , Richmond Jessica M.
Published: March 2009

This study examines the relationships among poly-victimization (i.e., high cumulative levels of victimization), six aggregate categories of childhood victimization (property crime, physical assault, peer and sibling, witnessed and indirect, sexual, child maltreatment), and college adjustment in females. This study first examines the relative contributions of poly-victimization and individual categories of childhood victimization in predicting college adjustment. The study then examines whether poly-victimization contributes any unique variance, beyond that accounted for by the combination of all six aggregate categories. Regression analyses reveal that a) poly-victimization accounts for a significant proportion of variability in scores for college adjustment, beyond that accounted for by any of the six categories of childhood victimization alone, and b) the categories of childhood victimization contribute little to no variability beyond that accounted for by poly-victimization. Furthermore, poly-victimization accounts for a significant proportion of variability in college adjustment, beyond that already accounted for by the simultaneous entry of all six categories as predictor variables. Finally, although victimization does not predict GPA, it predicts other domains of college adjustment. Results suggest that counselors working with college students should a) assess multiple categories of victimization and poly-victimization, and b) evaluate clients' adjustment to college across multiple domains (e.g., academic, social, interpersonal).
An examination of tourists' attitudinal and behavioral loyalty: Comparison between domestic and international tourists
Authors: Mechinda Panisa , Serirat Sirivan , Gulid Nak
Published: March 2009

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of tourists' loyalty (both attitudinal and behavioral) towards Chiangmai (a major tourist destination in Thailand). Multiple regression analysis indicated that attitudinal loyalty was mainly driven by attachment, familiarity and perceived value, whereas behavioral loyalty is driven by familiarity. Only one dimension of pull motivation (history, heritage and knowledge) influenced attitudinal loyalty, whereas none of pull motivation's dimensions had an effect on behavioral loyalty. Regarding push motivation, tourists' desire for novelty negatively influenced behavioral loyalty. Finally, male tourists tended to be more attitudinally and behaviorally loyal, while tourists who had children living with them showed less attitudinal loyalty.
Taiwanese tourists' perceptions of service quality on outbound guided package tours: A qualitative examination of the SERVQUAL dimensions
Authors: Chang Jui-Chi
Published: March 2009

Guided package tours are popular for certain market segments and represent a significant tourism market. However, research on service quality in guided package tours is rather limited. This research used a modified SERVQUAL dimensions to evaluate travellers' perceptions of service quality on the guided package tour. SERVQUAL has been widely used in various disciplines including numerous studies in the hospitality and tourism industries and has received considerable recognition in service marketing. Some have found empirical support for the five dimensions, but some question the five service dimensions. Instead of using traditional questionnaire surveys, this study used qualitative approach to gain an insight into tour participants' views. The study found that the dimension of `tangibility' was less significant when compared with other dimensions in terms of customers' perceptions of service quality. Other elements such as `communication' and `sociability' were critical when applied to the travel industry in a particularly ethnical group.
Positive tourism image perceptions attract travellers — fact or fiction? The case of Beijing visitors to Macao
Authors: McCartney Glenn , Butler Richard , Bennett Marion
Published: March 2009

Destination image research asserts that the enhancement and portrayal of positive tourism image perceptions and expectations are critical in attracting travellers. This has subsequently created a drive by destinations to attempt to assemble an array of high ranked image perceptions and holistic impressions as a central attraction strategy with the hope of stimulating and developing inbound travel. Research conducted on Chinese travellers at Beijing International Airport on their perceptions of Macao's destination image revealed that while they held several high rated image perceptions of Macao, some of these were not the actual image attributes used as destination decision attributes or in their judgment were they attributes that actually stimulated their decision to travel to a destination. Such findings not only have significant implications in the development of an optimum image formation strategy for Macao in its future targeted traveller markets, but also for other locations that wish to enhance or amend their brand image as a destination repositioning approach.
Colorectal Cancer Screening in Primary Care: Theoretical Model to Improve Prevalence in the Practice Partner Research Network
Authors: Nemeth Lynne S. , Jenkins Ruth G. , Nietert Paul J. , Ornstein Steven M.
Published: March 2009

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Half of Americans older than age 50 are not current with recommended screening; research is needed to assess the impact of interventions designed to increase receipt of CRC screening. The Colorectal Cancer Screening in Primary Care (C-TRIP) study is a theoretically informed group randomized trial within 32 primary care practices. Baseline median proportion of active patients aged 50 years or older up-to-date with CRC screening among the 32 practices was 50.8% (N = 55,746). Men were more likely to have been screened than women (52.9% vs. 49.2%, respectively). Patients 50 to 59 years of age were less likely to be up-to-date with screening (45.4%) than those in the 60 to 69 years and 70 to 79 years groups (58.5% in both groups). Opportunities exist to increase the proportion of CRC screening received in adults aged 50 and older. C-TRIP evaluates the effectiveness of a model for improvement for increasing this proportion.
Selection Biases in Sports Markets
Authors: Gandelman Néstor
Published: March 2009

This article tests for the existence of two types of selection biases in sports markets. First, the better-educated players and players of higher socioeconomic background have better outside opportunities. If they decide to follow a professional soccer career, they must be truly good to compensate their higher opportunity costs. Second, if innate athletic talent is distributed equally among the population, we should not find any difference in the performance evaluation of White and non-White players. This potential difference provides a ‘‘market test’’ for discrimination. Using data on the Uruguayan Soccer League in the 2000 and 2001 seasons, we find evidence of these two types of selection biases. Our estimations show a positive relationship between education and performance, education and promotions, socioeconomic background and performance, socioeconomic background and promotions, and discrimination against non-White players in the national league but not with respect to international soccer markets.
Artificial Neural Network System for the Design of Airbag Fabrics
Authors: Behera B.K. , Goyal Y.
Published: March 2009

Engineered fabric manufacturing needs a thorough understanding of the functional properties and their key control construction parameters. When the relationship between a set of interrelated properties goes out of the complete comprehension of human brain, neural networks could be used to find the unknown function. This article describes the method of applying the artificial neural network for the prediction performance parameters for airbag fabrics. The results of the ANN performance prediction had low prediction error i.e., 12% with all the samples and the artificial neural network based on Error Back-propagation were found promising for a new domain of design prediction technique. The prediction performance of the neural network was based on the amount of training given to it, i.e., the diversity of the data and the amount of data; resulting in better the mapping of the network, and better predictions. Airbag fabrics could be successfully engineered using artificial neural network.
Blood pressure responder rates versus goal rates: which metric matters?
Authors: Basile Jan
Published: March 2009

Reducing blood pressure (BP) to guideline-recommended goals associated with reductions in cardiovascular risk is central to effective hypertension management. In addition to measuring BP reduction, clinical trials of antihypertensive agents should assess the percentage of patients responding to treatment. The Food and Drug Administration's defined rate of response required for drug approval is a reduction in diastolic BP (DBP) to <90 mmHg and/or a DBP reduction of ≥10 mmHg. Consequently, some patients may be counted as responders even if they have not reached DBP <90 mmHg. An antihypertensive agent's effectiveness may be better assessed by the proportion of patients who achieve recommended BP goals. This article analyzes the frequency of response rates versus goal rates as endpoints in randomized trials since January 2001. Data showed that goal rates, especially combined systolic BP (SBP)/DBP goal rates, are consistently lower than response rates in studies evaluating both endpoints. Goal rates incorporating both SBP and DBP, or having a focus on SBP for individuals >50 years of age, provide the most clinically relevant information and are a more clinically relevant metric of an agent's ability to reduce BP than DBP alone.