bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social influences in sports activity among adolescents
Authors: Keresztes Noémi , Piko Bettina F. , Pluhar Zsuzsanna F. , Page Randy M.
Published: January 2008

Aims: Habits of leisure time sports activity, similar to other health behaviours, are established during late childhood and early adolescence. While regular leisure time sports activity is a natural part of children's lifestyle, it starts to decrease during adolescence, particularly among girls. Among the factors influencing children's sports activity, the role of parents, peers, and other members of children's social networks seem to be crucial. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of social influences in early adolescents' leisure time sports activity and to examine gender differences.

Methods: Data were collected from middle school students using randomly selected classes from four schools in distinct school districts in Szeged, Hungary, using a self-administered questionnaire (n = 548) in which a response rate of 91% was achieved. Respondents were 10—15 years of age (mean = 12.2 years, SD = 1.2 years) with 54.9% of the sample male and 45.1% female.

Results: Results show significant others as an important influence on sport-related behaviours and suggest that during early adolescence girls' sports participation is particularly influenced by the social influence of peers (e.g. friends, classmates, boy/girlfriend).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that health promotion programmes should build on possible social influences, i.e. the role of peers, parents and significant others in general, in fostering adolescents' physical activity.
Intensive Sensorimotor Arm Training Mediated by Therapist or Robot Improves Hemiparesis in Patients With Chronic Stroke
Authors: Volpe Bruce T. , Lynch Daniel , Rykman-Berland Avrielle , Ferraro Mark , Galgano Michael , Hogan Neville , Krebs Hermano I.
Published: January 2008

Investigators have demonstrated that a variety of intensive movement training protocols for persistent upper limb paralysis in patients with chronic stroke (6 months or more after stroke) improve motor outcome. This randomized controlled study determined in patients with upper limb motor impairment after chronic stroke whether movement therapy delivered by a robot or by a therapist using an intensive training protocol was superior. Robotic training (n = 11) and an intensive movement protocol (n = 10) improved the impairment measures of motor outcome significantly and comparably; there were no significant changes in disability measures. Motor gains were maintained at the 3-month evaluation after training. These data contribute to the growing awareness that persistent impairments in those with chronic stroke may not reflect exhausted capacity for improvement. These new protocols, rendered by either therapist or robot, can be standardized, tested, and replicated, and potentially will contribute to rational activity-based programs.
A proangiogenic peptide derived from vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 acts through α5β1 integrin
Authors: Soro Simonetta , Orecchia Angela , Morbidelli Lucia , Lacal Pedro Miguel , Morea Veronica , Ballmer-Hofer Kurt , Ruffini Federica , Ziche Marina , D'Atri Stefania , Zambruno Giovanna , Tramontano Anna , Failla Cristina Maria
Published: January 2008

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (VEGFR-1) is a tyrosine kinase receptor for growth factors of the VEGF family. Endothelial cells express a membrane-bound and a soluble variant of this protein, the latter being mainly considered as a negative regulator of VEGF-A signaling. We previously reported that the soluble form is deposited in the extracellular matrix produced by endothelial cells in culture and is able to promote cell adhesion and migration through binding to α5β1 integrin. In this study, we demonstrate that the Ig-like domain II of VEGFR-1, which contains the binding determinants for the growth factors, is involved in the interaction with α5β1 integrin. To identify domain regions involved in integrin binding, we designed 12 peptides putatively mimicking the domain II surface and tested their ability to inhibit α5β1-mediated endothelial cell adhesion to soluble VEGFR-1 and directly support cell adhesion. One peptide endowed with both these properties was identified and shown to inhibit endothelial cell migration toward soluble VEGFR-1 as well. This peptide directly binds α5β1 integrin, but not VEGF-A, inducing endothelial cell tubule formation in vitro and neoangiogenesis in vivo. Alanine scanning mutagenesis of the peptide defined which residues were responsible for its biologic activity and integrin binding.
Runx genes are direct targets of Scl/Tal1 in the yolk sac and fetal liver
Authors: Landry Josette-Renée , Kinston Sarah , Knezevic Kathy , de Bruijn Marella F.T.R. , Wilson Nicola , Nottingham Wade T. , Peitz Michael , Edenhofer Frank , Pimanda John E. , Ottersbach Katrin , Göttgens Berthold
Published: January 2008

Transcription factors such as Scl/Tal1, Lmo2, and Runx1 are essential for the development of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). However, the precise mechanisms by which these factors interact to form transcriptional networks, as well as the identity of the genes downstream of these regulatory cascades, remain largely unknown. To this end, we generated an Scl−/− yolk sac cell line to identify candidate Scl target genes by global expression profiling after reintroduction of a TAT-Scl fusion protein. Bioinformatics analysis resulted in the identification of 9 candidate Scl target transcription factor genes, including Runx1 and Runx3. Chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed that both Runx genes are direct targets of Scl in the fetal liver and that Runx1 is also occupied by Scl in the yolk sac. Furthermore, binding of an Scl-Lmo2-Gata2 complex was demonstrated to occur on the regions flanking the conserved E-boxes of the Runx1 loci and was shown to transactivate the Runx1 element. Together, our data provide a key component of the transcriptional network of early hematopoiesis by identifying downstream targets of Scl that can explain key aspects of the early Scl−/− phenotype.
Pathway analysis of primary central nervous system lymphoma
Authors: Tun Han W. , Personett David , Baskerville Karen A. , Menke David M. , Jaeckle Kurt A. , Kreinest Pamela , Edenfield Brandy , Zubair Abba C. , O'Neill Brian P. , Lai Weil R. , Park Peter J. , McKinney Michael
Published: January 2008

Primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma (PCNSL) is a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) confined to the CNS. A genome-wide gene expression comparison between PCNSL and non-CNS DLBCL was performed, the latter consisting of both nodal and extranodal DLBCL (nDLBCL and enDLBCL), to identify a “CNS signature.” Pathway analysis with the program SigPathway revealed that PCNSL is characterized notably by significant differential expression of multiple extracellular matrix (ECM) and adhesion-related pathways. The most significantly up-regulated gene is the ECM-related osteopontin (SPP1). Expression at the protein level of ECM-related SPP1 and CHI3L1 in PCNSL cells was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry. The alterations in gene expression can be interpreted within several biologic contexts with implications for PCNSL, including CNS tropism (ECM and adhesion-related pathways, SPP1, DDR1), B-cell migration (CXCL13, SPP1), activated B-cell subtype (MUM1), lymphoproliferation (SPP1, TCL1A, CHI3L1), aggressive clinical behavior (SPP1, CHI3L1, MUM1), and aggressive metastatic cancer phenotype (SPP1, CHI3L1). The gene expression signature discovered in our study may represent a true “CNS signature” because we contrasted PCNSL with wide-spectrum non-CNS DLBCL on a genomic scale and performed an in-depth bioinformatic analysis.
The Leicester Cough Monitor: preliminary validation of an automated cough detection system in chronic cough
Authors: Birring S. S. , Fleming T. , Matos S. , Raj A. A. , Evans D. H. , Pavord I. D.
Published: January 2008

Chronic cough is a common condition that presents to both primary and secondary care. Assessment and management are hampered by the absence of well-validated outcome measures. The present study comprises the validation of the Leicester Cough Monitor (LCM), an automated sound-based ambulatory cough monitor.

Cough frequency was measured with the LCM and compared with coughs and other sounds counted manually over 2 h of a 6-h recording by two observers in nine patients with chronic cough in order to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the LCM. Automated cough frequency was also compared with manual counts from one observer in 15 patients with chronic cough and eight healthy subjects. All subjects underwent 6-h recordings. A subgroup consisting of six control and five patients with stable chronic cough underwent repeat automated measurements ≥3 months apart. A further 50 patients with chronic cough underwent 24-h automated cough monitoring.

The LCM had a sensitivity and specificity of 91 and 99%, respectively, for detecting cough and a false-positive rate of 2.5 events·h−1. Mean±semautomated cough counts·patient·h−1was 48±9 in patients with chronic cough and 2±1 in the control group (mean difference 46 counts·patient·h−1; 95% confidence interval (CI) 20–71). The automated cough counts were repeatable (intra-subjectsd11.4 coughs·patient·h−1; intra-class correlation coefficient 0.9). The cough frequency in patients undergoing 24-h automated monitoring was 19 coughs·patient·h−1; daytime (08:00–22:00 h) cough frequency was significantly greater than overnight cough frequency (25versus10 coughs·patient·h−1; mean difference 15 coughs·patient·h−1, 95% CI 8–22).

The Leicester Cough Monitor is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to assess 24-h cough frequency in patients with cough. It should be a useful tool to assess patients with cough in clinical trials and longitudinal studies.
FCI: an R-based algorithm for evaluating uncertainty of absolute real-time PCR quantification
Authors: Verderio Paolo , Pizzamiglio Sara , Gallo Fabio , Ramsden Simon C
Published: January 2008

Background

FCI is an R code for analyzing data from real-time PCR experiments. This algorithm estimates standard curve features as well as nucleic acid concentrations and confidence intervals according to Fieller's theorem.

Results

In order to describe the features of FCI four situations were selected from real data collected during an international external quality assessment program for quantitative assays based on real-time PCR. The code generates a diagnostic figure suitable for assessing the quality of the quantification process.

Conclusion

We have provided a freeware programme using this algorithm specifically designed to increase the information content of the real-time PCR assay.
Genetic interactions: the missing links for a better understanding of cancer susceptibility, progression and treatment
Authors: Maxwell Christopher A , Moreno Víctor , Solé Xavier , Gómez Laia , Hernández Pilar , Urruticoechea Ander , Pujana Miguel Angel
Published: January 2008

It is increasingly clear that complex networks of relationships between genes and/or proteins govern neoplastic processes. Our understanding of these networks is expanded by the use of functional genomic and proteomic approaches in addition to computational modeling. Concurrently, whole-genome association scans and mutational screens of cancer genomes identify novel cancer genes. Together, these analyses have vastly increased our knowledge of cancer, in terms of both "part lists" and their functional associations. However, genetic interactions have hitherto only been studied in depth in model organisms and remain largely unknown for human systems. Here, we discuss the importance and potential benefits of identifying genetic interactions at the human genome level for creating a better understanding of cancer susceptibility and progression and developing novel effective anticancer therapies. We examine gene expression profiles in the presence and absence of co-amplification of the 8q24 and 20q13 chromosomal regions in breast tumors to illustrate the molecular consequences and complexity of genetic interactions and their role in tumorigenesis. Finally, we highlight current strategies for targeting tumor dependencies and outline potential matrix screening designs for uncovering molecular vulnerabilities in cancer cells.
The Political Development of the Hill-Burton Program: A Case Study in Distributive Policy
Authors: Rohrer James E.
Published: January 2008

The Hill-Burton program offers a rare opportunity to study a distributive health policy from its adoption to its elimination. This study reveals that the political dynamics of the policy changed over time. It concludes by observing that interest group influence on distributive health policies may only be decisive when circumstances permit. Those circumstances include the involvement of powerful elected officials and the degree of consensus among policy experts about the need for the policy and the appropriateness of its objectives.
Purpose and Function in Government-Funded Health Coverage
Authors: Freedman Benjamin , Baylis Francoise
Published: January 2008

Government-funded health insurance programs that claim to provide comprehensive funding of their clients' demands have commonly adopted a purposive (deductive) approach to the problem of health care funding. This involves determining the extent of covered benefits by seeking an “ adequate” definition of health or health care. Payment is then limited to only those procedures medically required or indicated. In this paper we argue that the purposive approach is inadequate, and that attempted adherence to it results in a curious dislocation of service, serious inequities, and an unhealthy contemplation of the definition of health. These problems are the result of structural deficiencies in the approach, and so will not be rectified by tinkering with the definitions adopted. As an alternative, we present an outline of a functional (inductive) approach, which seeks to identify which of the expectations of its clients the government health insurance system may realistically satisfy.
Confrontation, Consent, and Corporatism: State Strategies and the Medical Profession in France, Great Britain, and West Germany
Authors: Godt Paul J.
Published: January 2008

The economic disorders of the last decade have compelled European welfare states to seek more stringent controls over costly social policies such as health care, thus circumscribing professional sovereignty. However, several factorsinstitutional structure, cultural values, political/economic circumstances, patterns of state/professional relationsconstrain the policy alternatives available to governments, and make fundamental reform very difficult to achieve. After analyzing these factors and the reform policies adopted in France, Great Britain, and West Germany, this article will examine and compare the strategies pursued to meet professional resistance to change.
The Cohesion and Fragmentation of Organized Medicine in France and the United States
Authors: Wilsford David
Published: January 2008

The French and American medical professions share similar historical bases for strong political and economic market positions. As professions, the attributes of common education, ethics, and mission tend to keep physicians together in their political organization. But the medical professions in both France and the United States are also subject to intraprofessional forces of division, such as the conflicts which often oppose generalists to specialists. Although organized medicine in France and the United States shares these commonalities, there is a very important difference between the two countries. The French profession tends toward organizational particularism, both ideologically and nonideologically, which serves to splinter it in ways inimical to the interests of the medical profession. By contrast, the American medical profession tends to organize universallythat is, its organizational base is much more often one of unity and accommodation toward the divergent interests of physicians. Thus, organized medicine in the United States has more easily fought off political and economic pressures coming from government and the private sectorbut by no means with total success. On the other hand, highly fragmented organized medicine in France has experienced an almost linear decline in the face of pressures coming from a determined and strong state.
Worker Responses to Workplace Hazards
Authors: Robinson James C.
Published: January 2008

Recent policy initiatives in occupational safety and health have emphasized strategies that provide workers with information about workplace exposures. It is not clear, however, what effect this new information has had or will have on worker self-help initiatives. This paper analyzes individual and collective worker responses to information on job hazards using five sources of data on workers and industries in the United States. Levels of expressed dissatisfaction, discharges for cause, and strike frequencies are found to be significantly higher in hazardous jobs than in safe jobs. Individual quit strategies are not consistently found to be associated with higher hazard levels. These findings have potentially important implications for the design of future information-oriented health and safety policies.
The New Structure of Individual Practice Associations
Authors: Welch W. P.
Published: January 2008

There are two types of HMOs: prepaid group practices (PGPs) and individual practice associations (IP As). Because of rapid change in the HMO industry, the academic literature, which is based primarily on data from the 1970s, is dated in several ways. The literature has focused on PGPs, but IP As are growing three times faster than PGPs and are likely to dominate the HMO industry in the near future. The literature indicates that a small proportion of an IPA physician's practice is capitated, but such practices often are as much as one-third capitated. And while the literature indicates that IPA physicians are rarely given financial incentives to control cost, such incentives are now common. In this decade IPAs have cut their hospital days per thousand enrollees. Furthermore, IPAs in which individual physicians or medical groups bear some of the financial risk of hospital costs appear to have the same rate of hospital days as PGPs. Additional research is especially needed on cost and quality of care in modern IPAs.
Development of Health Insurance Policy in Japan
Authors: Steslicke William E.
Published: January 2008

This article first reviews the history of Japanese social policy in the post-World War II period, and then focuses specifically on the policy and politics of national health insurance. It describes the roles and motivations of the primary participants in the formulation and development of the Japanese health insurance system. It thereby demonstrates that the policy of “health insurance for the whole nation” was adopted in response to immediate social and political pressures, many of them not specifically related to matters of health; that the form this policy took was a product of incremental “muddling-through” rather than an orderly and rational process; and that the history of social insurance in Japan reflects primarily the preferences of the dominant political-economic elites, and only secondarily the needs and demands of ordinary Japanese citizens. Finally, the article examines possible lessons for the United States, and suggests that Americans take advantage of their position as “health insurance laggards” to study and reflect critically on the experience of Japan.
Corporate Rationalization of American Health Care: A Visitor's Appraisal
Authors: Pollitt Christopher
Published: January 2008

This paper uses elements of the macrotheory of advanced capitalist societies developed by Jurgen Habermas and other “critical theorists” to locate and explore the implications of the continuing corporatization of the U.S. health care sector. It questions the often-dominant view that cost is the major problem of current U.S. arrangements, and shows how most recent government policies have reinforced the corporate rationalization of health care, or at least proved neutral towards it. Yet it can be argued that it is precisely this “rationalization” which renders more difficult both cost-control and the much-needed broadening of the agenda of the health care debate to important issues other than cost.
A Retrospective on the “New Perspective”
Authors: Evans Robert
Published: January 2008

The working document entitled A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians, often referred to as the “Lalonde Report,” was released in 1974. Its suggestion that present patterns of morbidity and mortality were not particularly amenable to health care interventions, and seemed rather to be the result of lifestyle, environment, or underlying biological patterns, has attracted a great deal of attention, both in Canada and elsewhere. This article examines the responses of various interested groups to the Lalonde Report, with particular attention to the assumptions and biases that each group brought to bear on the report, and to the conflicting perspectives on the report which resulted.
Employer-Based Health Insurance
Authors: Wallen Jacqueline , Williams Sherman R.
Published: January 2008

Employer-based health insurance (insurance that is purchased by employers for their employees and financed through employer or joint employer-employee contributions) is currently subsidized in part by the federal government through tax exclusions for employer contributions to employee health insurance plans. This subsidization costs the federal government close to 10 billion dollars a year in lost revenues. Many proposed national health insurance plans assign a key role to employer-based health insurance as a vehicle for financing health care. Federal subsidization of employer-based health insurance and plans that assign employers a key role in the administration of a national health insurance plan both assume that private industry acts to realize federal health policy goals—particularly cost containment—in administering health insurance plans.

Little is known, however, about how employers go about selecting the plans they offer their employees or about the incentives and disincentives regarding cost of care that are created by employer-based health insurance. Existing evidence suggests that rather than helping to contain health care costs, employer-based health insurance may be partly responsible for their present escalation. In addition, employer-based health insurance may not be the most equitable way to implement a national health insurance plan.
Mandated Mental Health Benefits in Private Health Insurance
Authors: McGuire Thomas G. , Montgomery John T.
Published: January 2008

Eleven states mandate coverage of inpatient and outpatient mental health care in private health insurance. Health insurers have objected to these laws on the grounds that they interfere with consumer choice of health insurance benefits and are too costly. This paper analyzes the benefits and costs of mandates for psychotherapy. The potential benefits considered have to do with adverse selection in insurance markets and the offset effects of psychotherapy. Arguments based on economic efficiency are presented to justify the possible appropriateness of overriding individuals' choice of health insurance benefits. Mandates are estimated econometrically to increase the cost of psychotherapy in a state by about 10–20 percent. We conclude that mandates for mental health benefits in private health insurance may be reasonable state policy.
Sweden's Crisis in Medical Care: Political and Legal Changes
Authors: Hessler Richard M. , Twaddle Andrew C.
Published: January 2008

This research focuses on the political system behind the reforms now being instituted in the Swedish medical care system. Particular attention is paid to the competition among key medical care interest groups for control of a reorganized system.
Restoring Medical Markets: Implications for the Poor
Authors: Dunham Andrew , Morone James A. , White William
Published: January 2008

Competition has become a popular prescription for the problem of rising health costs. One issue largely absent from discussions of market systems and medicine, however, has been analysis of the implications for the poor. This paper explores the implications of proposals to use health maintenance organizations and vouchers to promote competition. We conclude that, as they stand, pro-competitive proposals could cause a significant deterioration in the position of the poor, especially if costs continue to rise, and that their effects are likely to be exacerbated by problems with implementation.
A Case Study in the Politics of Free-Market Health Care
Authors: Begun James W. , Lippincott Ronald C.
Published: January 2008

Historically, most health occupations have developed legal and ethical restrictions on price advertising and other characteristics of “commercial” practice. Many of these regulations recently have come under critical scrutiny, on the grounds that they inhibit free-market health care delivery, thus keeping prices high, and productivity and innovation low.

To help inform current health policy deliberations, we analyze the political history of anticompetitive regulations in one health occupation, optometry. Restrictions on commercial practice arose as a result of professional optometry's purge of commercial elements in the 1930s. Optometry's success in achieving commercial-practice restrictions at the state level was determined by the economic structure of the ophthalmic goods and services industry in each state in the 1930s, and by the political resources and organization of the competing interest groups.

Efforts to deregulate health occupations will precipate political conflict to the extent that economic interests are threatened. Opposition to deregulation will be based overtly on the grounds that quality of care will deteriorate, and a significant political investment by proponents of free-market health care will be required to overcome such opposition.
Evaluating the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act: Learning from Experience?
Authors: Benjamin A. E. , Downs George W.
Published: January 2008

The future of health planning and regulation is tied to past performance in both a political and intellectual sense. Evidence of success or failure to accomplish program goals will structure partisan debate about the future of PL 93–641; and the experience of the past seven years will provide policy analysts with the raw material from which to build more effective technologies of planning and regulation.

This paper discusses a number of analytic factors which jeopardize the integrity of both impact assessment and knowledge development. These include the nature of the program's goals, the difficulties of generating reliable forecasts as to what would have occurred in the program's absence, the likelihood of unintended consequences, and the seeming inevitability of having to work with elaborate multivariate models which contain numerous interaction terms. We argue that without careful analysis and cautious interpretation, grand experiments such as PL 93–641 are likely to yield little useful evidence to guide policy adaptation.
The Impact of Prospective Payment: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of New Jersey's SHARE Program
Authors: Rosko Michael D.
Published: January 2008

The SHARE program, which set per diem prospective rates for New Jersey hospitals during the period 1975–1982, is evaluated. Analysis suggests that this program did contain hospital cost increases. However, the program threatened the viability of most inner-city hospitals. Indirect evidence suggests that there was cost-shifting in response to this program, which regulated payment for only Blue Cross and Medicaid patients. Structural features of this program and its successor, the New Jersey DRG program, are analyzed; and implications for the Medicare prospective payment system are examined.
Restraint of Trade Through Hospital Exclusive Contracts: An Economic Appraisal of the Legal Theory
Authors: Lynk William J.
Published: January 2008

The growth of antitrust litigation in the health care area reflects the developing consensus that competition is as powerful a force in health care as it is elsewhere in the economy. Exclusive contracts between hospitals and hospital-based physician specialists have been prominent among the contested practices. Challenges to these arrangements uniformly assert an injury to competition; for example, that the contracts are a means of gaining monopoly power in some market. But these claims have lacked a solid theoretical basis for general hostility to exclusive dealing of this sort. This article describes several economic considerations that are fundamental to an analysis of this contractual phenomenon. These considerations imply that there is no general economic basis for suspicion, and that the circumstances under which suspicion would be warranted are likely to be rare.
How Do We Know How Much We Need? Problems in Determining Need for Long-Term Care
Authors: Pillemer Karl
Published: January 2008

As one solution to the widely perceived “crisis” in the long-term-care system, state and local agencies have developed methodologies which specify the amount and type of long-term-care services needed in an area. This article focuses on need-based methodologies, and criticizes the use of such formulae as a primary strategy to restructure the long-term-care system. The major weaknesses of this type of methodology are discussed, including faulty assumptions, lack of sufficient data, and the political character of the implementation process.
The Conflict of Patient Privacy and the Freedom of Information Act
Authors: Lansing Paul
Published: January 2008

The purpose behind the Freedom of Information Act was to permit greater access by the public to information held by the federal government. In promoting this democratic ideal, little attention was focused on a potential problem that this access to government-held information might cause: violation of another individual's right to privacy. This article examines a recent case in which these two goals came into conflict.
Health Promotion, Jogging, and the Pursuit of the Moral Life
Authors: Gillick Muriel R.
Published: January 2008

Individual lifestyle was held accountable for health and disease throughout much of American history. Since the advent of the germ theory of disease, the focus on the etiology of disease has shifted to factors beyond individual control. But in the past two decades, there has been a resurgence of interest in the role of personal habits in producing sickness. This paper examines the history of one facet of the health promotion movement—aerobic exercise, primarily jogging.

Initially, concepts in exercise physiology were adapted from non-medical fields—such as competitive sports and the military—for use in cardiac rehabilitation. Subsequently, a few physicians generalized their experience with cardiac patients to the general population, concluding that aerobic exercise could prevent heart attacks. This idea of exercise as a prophylaxis was seized upon by the public, who were receptive because of the political climate of the sixties. Once the popular movement was underway, researchers began studying the role of exercise in preventing coronary heart disease, confirming that exercise does confer some benefit. In the seventies, exercise attracted a new, wider audience—not because of the justification for its use provided by the scientific community, but because of the appeal of upright living as a means to personal and social redemption. The case of aerobic exercise provides an instructive example to social scientists and policymakers seeking to understand or to encourage widespread behavioral change.
Redressing the Imbalanced Political Market for Health Policy: A Role for the State Attorney General?
Authors: Lippincott Ronald C.
Published: January 2008

In current discussions of “procompetitive” approaches to health policy, the enforcement of antitrust laws in health care markets is a strategy that has attracted increasing attention: the filing of consumer-oriented health suits provides a means to “redress” the typically imbalanced “political market” in health policy. This study examines an important aspect of the antitrust enforcement process, the decision by a state attorney general to undertake an aggressive antitrust enforcement program in the health area. Three variables were found to explain this decision: the political needs of a “politician-supplier,” the organizational resources of a strategic institutional position, and the availability of a relatively favorable policy arena. An assessment of the future role of state attorneys general in this area suggests that their health antitrust initiatives will increase, but that various political and resource constraints are likely to inhibit their aggressiveness in pursuing these actions.
Variation in the Growth and Incidence of Medical Malpractice Claims
Authors: Adams E. Kathleen , Zuckerman Stephen
Published: January 2008

This study analyzes the incidence of medical malpractice claims since 1976. using data drawn from the 1982 core survey of the American Medical Association's Socioeconomic Monitoring System. The data show that, on average, physicians incurred twice as many claims per year in the years 1976 to 1981 as they did during their careers prior to that period. Using Tobit analysis, we find the annual frequency of claims to be greater among surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGs), physicians in group practice, and physicians in states which apply the legal doctrine of informed consent. In addition, we find that the number of years since medical residency is positively related to physicians' claims incidence during the first 27 years of practice, and that OBGs and medical specialists who spend more time with their patients per office visit incur fewer claims.
Dynamic analysis of filopodial interactions during the zippering phase ofDrosophiladorsal closure
Authors: Millard Thomas H. , Martin Paul
Published: January 2008

Dorsal closure is a paradigm epithelial fusion episode that occurs late in Drosophila embryogenesis and leads to sealing of a midline hole by bonding of two opposing epithelial sheets. The leading edge epithelial cells express filopodia and fusion is dependent on interdigitation of these filopodia to prime formation of adhesions. Since the opposing epithelia are molecularly patterned there must exist some mechanism for accurately aligning the two sheets across this fusion seam. To address this, we generated a fly in which RFP-Moesin and GFP-Moesin are expressed in mutually exclusive stripes within each segment using the engrailed and patchedpromoters. We observe mutually exclusive interactions between the filopodia of engrailed and patched cells. Interactions between filopodia from matching cells leads to formation of tethers between them, and these tethers can pull misaligned epithelial sheets into alignment. Filopodial matching also occurs during repair of laser wounds in the ventral epithelium,and so this behaviour is not restricted to leading edge cells during dorsal closure. Finally, we characterise the behaviour of a patched-expressing cell that we observe within the engrailedregion of segments A1-A5, and provide evidence that this cell contributes to cell matching.
Src and Wnt signaling regulate dynactin accumulation to the P2-EMS cell border inC. elegansembryos
Authors: Zhang Haining , Skop Ahna R. , White John G.
Published: January 2008

In many organisms, the dynein-dynactin complex is required for the alignment of the mitotic spindle onto the axis of polarity of a cell undergoing asymmetric cell division. How this complex transduces polarity cues, either intrinsic or extrinsic, and rotationally aligns the spindle accordingly is not well understood. The Caenorhabditis elegans blastomere P2 polarizes the neighboring EMS blastomere, which causes the EMS spindle to rotationally align along the defined axis of polarity via two redundant signaling pathways: Wnt and Src. Here, we describe how components of the dynactin complex became locally enriched at the P2-EMS border prior to and during rotational alignment of their spindles. Wnt and Src signaling were required for both localized dynactin enrichment, and for rotational alignment of the P2 and EMS spindles. Depleting the trimeric G-protein subunit Gα did not abolish dynactin accumulation to the P2-EMS border, yet both EMS and P2 spindles failed to rotationally align, indicating that Gα might act to regulate dynein/dynactin motor activity. By RNAi of a weak dnc-1(ts) allele, we showed that dynactin activity was required at least for EMS spindle rotational alignment.
PI3K accelerates, but is not required for, neutrophil chemotaxis to fMLP
Authors: Heit Bryan , Liu Lixin , Colarusso Pina , Puri Kamal D. , Kubes Paul
Published: January 2008

PI3K activity, resulting in the accumulation of PIP3 along the leading edge of a chemotaxing cell, has been proposed to be an indispensable signaling event that is required for cells to undergo chemotaxis to endogenous and exogenous chemoattractants. Some studies have suggested that this might be the case for chemoattractants such as IL8, whereas chemotaxis to other stimuli, such as the bacterial peptide N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP), might occur normally in the absence of PI3K activity. Herein, we systematically analyze the role of PI3K in mediating chemotaxis to fMLP, both in vitro and in vivo. Using short- and long-term in vitro assays, as well as an in vivo chemotaxis assay, we investigated the importance of PI3K in response to the prototypic chemoattractant fMLP. Exposure of neutrophils to fMLP induced an immediate polarization, which resulted in directional migration towards fMLP within 2-3 minutes. PI3K-inhibited cells also polarized and migrated in a directional fashion towards fMLP; however, this process was delayed by ∼15 minutes, demonstrating that PI3K accelerates the initial response to fMLP, but an alternative pathway replaces PI3K over time. By contrast, p38-MAPK-inhibited cells, or cells lacking MK2, were unable to polarize in response to fMLP. Long-term chemotaxis assays using a pan-PI3K inhibitor, a PI3Kδ-specific inhibitor or PI3Kγ-knockout neutrophils, demonstrated no role for PI3K in mediating chemotaxis to fMLP, regardless of the steepness of the fMLP gradient. Similar results were observed in vivo, with PI3Kγ–/– cells displaying a delayed, but otherwise normal, chemotactic response to gradients of fMLP. Together, these data demonstrate that, although PI3K can enhance early responses to the bacterial chemoattractant fMLP, it is not required for migration towards this chemoattractant.
Pyramidal neuron polarity axis is defined at the bipolar stage
Authors: Calderon de Anda Froylan , Gärtner Annette , Tsai Li-Huei , Dotti Carlos G.
Published: January 2008

In situ observations of the development of hippocampal and cortical neurons indicate that final axon-dendrite identity is defined at the time of generation of the first two, oppositely positioned, neurites. Quite differently, in vitro studies demonstrated that axonal fate is defined by the stochastic selection of one of the multiple minor neurites for fast outgrowth. By analyzing the fate of all neurites, starting at the time of emergence from the cell body, we demonstrate that polarity is defined at the bipolar stage, with one of the two first-appearing neurites acquiring axonal fate, irrespective of how many other neurites later form. The first two neurites have, as in vivo, the highest growth potential, as cutting the axon results in the growth of a new axon from the neurite at the opposite pole, and cutting this induces regrowth from the first. This temporal and spatial hierarchical definition of polarized growth, together with the bipolar organization of microtubule dynamics and membrane transport preceding it, is consistent with polarity being initiated by an intrinsic program. In this scenario, molecules required for axon specification would act at one of the first two neurites and extrinsic cues will be required for final commitment of polarity.
Detection of Group-in Complexes with Water-Soluble p-Sulfonatocalix[8]arene on Addition of Alkali Salts by Using Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy
Authors: Sueishi Yoshimi , Miyazono Keitaro , Negi Mieko , Kotake Yashige
Published: January 2008

We found that the addition of alkali salts significantly increased the binding between p-sulfonatocalix[8]arene and a guest group. The change in ionic strength of the solution appears to drive the functional group in the probe deep into the calixarene cavity, making it possible to detect the group-in complex by using ESR spectroscopy.
Single Particle Analysis of Secondary Organic Aerosols Formed from 1,4-Cyclohexadiene Ozonolysis Using a Laser-Ionization Single-Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometer
Authors: Narukawa Masahiro , Matsumi Yutaka , Matsumoto Jun , Takahashi Kenshi , Yabushita Akihiro , Sato Kei , Imamura Takashi
Published: January 2008

Real-time analysis of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles formed from 1,4-cyclohexadiene (CHD) ozonolysis in a smog chamber was performed using a laser-ionization single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer (LISPA-MS). The instrument can be used to obtain both the size and chemical compositions of individual aerosol particles with a high time-resolution (≈2 s at the maximum). Both positive- and negative-ion mass spectra can be obtained by changing the voltage polarity of the instrument. The negative-ion spectra of the SOA particles provided important information about the chemical compositions of the SOA particles. In the negative-ion spectra, intense mass peaks were determined to correspond to ions with carboxyl and aldehyde groups. The signal intensities of the intense mass peaks from compounds with carboxyl groups were higher than those from compounds with aldehyde groups as a function of the particle size. The peaks suggest that the SOA particles contain more oxygenated organic compounds as the particle size increases, namely, the chemical compositions of the SOA particles vary as a function of the particle size. We demonstrated that the real-time single-particle analysis of SOA particles by using the LISPA-MS technique can be used to clarify the formation and transformation processes of SOA particles in smog chambers.
Studies on the Structure and Function of Phytochromes as Photoreceptors Based on Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Authors: Inomata Katsuhiko
Published: January 2008

We developed an efficient and flexible general method for the preparation of linear tetrapyrrole (bilin) chromophores of phytochromes as photoreceptors, including sterically locked derivatives as photoreceptors. Assembly experiments of the synthesized chromophores with apophytochromes in vitro and in vivo provided us insights into the structure and function of phytochromes.
Multi-Frequency ESR Studies on Low-Dimensional Antiferromagnets, ζ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6(THF) and γ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6
Authors: Maeda Keisuke , Hara Toshifumi , Furukawa Ko , Nakamura Toshikazu
Published: January 2008

Multi-frequency ESR measurements using X- (9.5 GHz), Q- (34 GHz), and W-band (95 GHz) microwaves, magnetic measurement using SQUID and energy band calculation were carried out on ζ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6(THF) and γ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6. The temperature dependence of the spin susceptibility of the two salts shows that of typical paramagnetic insulators with low-dimensional antiferromagnetic interaction. The macroscopic magnetic behaviors are apparently similar to each other, and the absolute values of the intra-chain antiferromagnetic interaction, Jintra⁄kB, of the two salts are also close to each other. However, their ground states and microscopic behaviors indicate obvious difference. ζ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6(THF) undergoes an antiferromagnetic transition at around 5 K, whereas γ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6 shows no magnetic long-range ordering down to 4 K. The ESR linewidth, ΔHpp, of ζ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6(THF) was almost temperature independent in the paramagnetic region. On the other hand, the ΔHpp of γ-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6 gradually decreased as the temperature was decreased. The low-temperature electronic states of these salts are discussed in the aspect of the magnetic dimensionality.
Reiner christlicher König
Authors: Beihammer Alexander
Published: January 2008

Das gesamte Schriftgut, das aus der Korrespondenz zwischen dem byzantinischen Kaiserhof und Adressaten des arabisch-islamischen Kulturkreises hervorgegangen ist, kann für den modernen Betrachter nur noch über eine Zwischenstufe sekundärer Berichterstattung in narrativen Quellen erschlossen werden. Das bedeutet, daß bei sämtlichen Überlegungen, die zu diesem Briefverkehr anzustellen sind, auf kein einziges Originalschriftstück, ja nicht einmal auf eine diplomatische Kopialüberlieferung in einem Aussteller- oder Empfängerregister, einem Chartular oder ähnlichem rekurriert werden kann. Und dennoch, seit sich das arabische Staatswesen in den ehemaligen byzantinischen Provinzen Syriens, Ägyptens und Nordafrikas um die Mitte des 7. Jahrhunderts zu etablieren begann, ist vornehmlich aus historiographischen Quellen byzantinischer und arabischer Provenienz ein kontinuierlicher Nachrichtenfluß über diplomatische Kontakte und den Austausch schriftlicher Noten zwischen den beiden Seiten zu konstatieren, dessen letzter eindrucksvoller Niederschlag ein in arabischer Übersetzung überliefertes Schreiben Kaiser Manuels II. an einen mamlùkischen Sultan vom Frühjahr 1411 ist. Dabei ist dem Zeitraum, dem die folgenden Ausführungen gewidmet sind und der konventionell als das Zeitalter der makedonischen Dynastie (867–1025) bezeichnet wird, ein eigentümlicher und gewissermaßen herausragender Charakter eigen, sowohl was die Fülle des überlieferten Nachrichtenmaterials als auch was die Vielschichtigkeit und Komplexität der im einzelnen zu beobachtenden Kontakte anbelangt.
P. HETHERINGTON, The Greek Islands. Guide to the Byzantine and Medieval Buildings and their Art
Authors: Altripp Michael
Published: January 2008

Dem umfassenden Führer zu den mittelalterlichen Denkmälern der griechischen Inseln wird zunächst eine Karte sowie eine kurze historische Einführung vorangestellt. Es schließt sich der Hauptteil an, der die einzelnen Inseln in alphabetischer Reihenfolge abhandelt. Dabei wird für jede Insel eine kleine schematische Karte beigefügt. Ein Glossar, eine Liste der byzantinischen Dynastien, der lateinischen und byzantinischen Kaiser in Konstantinopel, der Dogen und Grafen sowie Herren der veschiedenen Inseln runden zusammen mit einigen ausgewählten Literaturhinweisen den Führer ab. Dieser läßt sich über einen Personen-Index über die topographische Ordnung hinaus auch von diesem Aspekt her gut erschließen.
Ioannis Malalae Chronographia recensuit I. THURN
Authors: Franklin Simon
Published: January 2008

To describe a book as “long-awaited” is a reviewer's cliché. In the case of this book, however, it is a gross understatement. Materials for the new edition of Malalas were initially assembled by K. Weierholt. In the mid–1970s, after Weierholt's death, the project was taken over by Hans Thurn. By the time of Thurn's own death in 1993 the edition was almost ready, but still a further seven years, and the assistance of several other scholars, were required before Ioannis Malalae Chronographia finally appeared. In the interim we had the curious phenomenon of the “Australian Malalas” — an English translation and apparatus based on a far fuller set of testimonia than the edition on which it was principally based (Dindorf's Bonn edition of 1831, shorn of that edition's misreadings of the main witness, MS Baroccianus Graecus 182 in the Bodleian Library).
J.-TH. A. PAPADEMETRIOU, Aesop as an Archetypal Hero
Authors: Karla Grammatiki A.
Published: January 2008

Das Leben des Fabeldichters Äsop (6.Jh. v. Chr.) wird in einem griechischen Roman der römischen Kaiserzeit erzählt. Die vollständige Fassung des anonymen Originals ist uns nicht mehr erhalten, überliefert ist er aber in Papyrusfragmenten und in Handschriften, die verschiedene Fassungen und Versionen erkennen lassen.