bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Unusual primary intracranial dural‐based poorly differentiated synovial sarcoma with t(X; 18)(p11; q11)
Authors: Lin Yu‐Jing , Yang Qing‐xu , Tian Xiao‐ying , Li Bin , Li Zhi
Published: April 2012

Synovial sarcoma is a rare aggressive neoplasm occurring at any site of the body, mainly in young adults. It may also arise in the CNS but has seldom been reported. We report a case of unusual intracranial synovial sarcoma in a young male patient. Neuroimaging revealed a large gadolinium‐enhancing mass was located at the right anterior cranial fossa and was associated with multiple cyst formation. The mass was dural‐based and was observed to invade the right orbital apex and ethmoidal bulla. Histologically, the tumor was composed of uniform oval and round cells with scant cytoplasm and indistinct borders. The tumor cells were observed to form densely cellular sheets, but in some areas, the tumor showed hemangiopericytomatous vascular pattern consisting of tumor cells arranged around dilated, thin‐walled blood vessels. By immunohistochemistry, vimentin, CD99 and Bcl‐2 were diffusely positive in most cells, and a focally weak reactivity for S‐100 protein was also observed. However, the tumor cells were negative for cytokeratin (AE1/AE3), CK7, CK8/18, CK19, epithelial membrane antigen, CD34, synaptophysin, GFAP, desmin, myogenin, and smooth muscle actin. Cytogenetic analysis using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) demonstrated a translocation t(X;18)(p11;q11), an aberration specific for synovial sarcoma. A diagnosis of primary dural‐based poorly differentiated synovial sarcoma was made. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a poorly differentiated variant of synovial sarcoma occurring in dura mater and confirmed by cytogenetic analysis. The present case indicates that appropriate immunohistochemical analysis, and in particular molecular analysis, are essential for accurately diagnosing small, round‐cell neoplasms in unusual locations.
Molecular characterization of circumventricular organs and third ventricle ependyma in the rat: potential markers for periventricular tumors
Authors: Szathmari Alexandru , Champier Jacques , Ghersi‐Egea Jean‐François , Jouvet Anne , Watrin Chantal , Wierinckx Anne , Fèvre Montange Michelle
Published: April 2012

Circumventricular organs (CVOs) are specialized ventricular structures around the third and fourth ventricles of the brain. In humans, these structures are present during the fetal period and some become vestigial after birth. Some of these organs, such as the pineal gland (PG), subcommissural organ (SCO), and organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, might be the sites of origin of periventricular tumors, notably pineal parenchymal tumors, papillary tumor of the pineal region and chordoid glioma. In contrast to the situation in humans, CVOs are present in the adult rat and can be dissected by laser capture microdissection (LCM). In this study, we used LCM and microarrays to analyze the transcriptomes of three CVOs, the SCO, the subfornical organ (SFO), and the PG and the third ventricle ependyma in the adult rat, in order to better characterize these organs at the molecular level. Several genes were expressed only, or mainly, in one of these structures, for example, Erbb2 and Col11a1 in the ependyma, Epcam and Claudin‐3 (CLDN3) in the SCO, Ren1 and Slc22a3 in the SFO and Tph, Aanat and Asmt in the PG. The expression of these genes in periventricular tumors should be examined as evidence for a possible origin from the CVOs. Furthermore, we performed an immunohistochemical study of CLDN3, a membrane protein involved in forming cellular tight junctions and found that CLDN3 expression was restricted to the apical pole of ependymocytes in the SCO. This microarray study provides new evidence regarding the possible origin of some rare periventricular tumors.
Non‐fluoroscopic endoscopic ultrasound‐guided transmural drainage of symptomatic non‐bulging walled‐off pancreatic necrosis
Authors: Rana Surinder Singh , Bhasin Deepak Kumar , Rao Chalapathi , Gupta Rajesh , Singh Kartar
Published: April 2012

Background and aim

 Endoscopic treatment of pancreatic necrosis is less invasive than surgery but is a technically demanding procedure. The aim of the present study was to retrospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)‐guided transmural drainage of symptomatic non‐bulging walled‐off pancreatic necrosis (WOPN) without the use of fluoroscopy.

Methods

 Over the last 24 months, 20 patients (16 men) with symptomatic non‐bulging WOPN were treated endoscopically at Department of Gastroenterology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.The WOPN was transmurally approached using a linear echoendoscope and the tract dilated over the wire and multiple stents and a nasocystic drain were placed.

Results

 All 20 patients had acute severe pancreatitis and the etiology of pancreatitis was alcohol in 12, gallstones in six and idiopathic in two patients. All patients were symptomatic with pain and six patients had fever and presented 5 to 16 weeks after an acute episode.The size of WOPN ranged from 5 to 16 cm.All 20patients had marked improvement with radiological resolution noted in 19 patients and only one patient required direct endoscopic necrosectomy. One patient with multiple WOPN had a large peripherally located WOPN that did not resolve after transmural drainage and required an additional percutaneous drainage. One to seven endoscopic sessions were required and all these patients had complete resolution within 6 weeks.There were no complications of the procedure.There has been no recurrence of symptoms in these patients over a median follow up of 14 months.

Conclusion

 EUS‐guided transmural drainage of non‐bulging WOPN without the use of fluoroscopy appears to be safe and effective.
Japanese multicenter estimation of wallflex duodenal stent for unresectable malignant gastric outlet obstruction
Authors: Sasaki Takashi , Isayama Hiroyuki , Maetani Iruru , Nakai Yousuke , Kogure Hirofumi , Kawakubo Kazumichi , Mizuno Suguru , Yagioka Hiroshi , Matsubara Saburo , Ito Yukiko , Yamamoto Natsuyo , Sasahira Naoki , Hirano Kenji , Tsujino Takeshi , Toda Nobuo , Tada Minoru , Koike Kazuhiko
Published: April 2012

Aim

This retrospective study estimated the efficacy and safety of the WallFlex duodenal stent for malignant gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) in Japan.

Methods

Forty‐two consecutive patients with symptomatic malignant GOO were treated using WallFlex duodenal stents between January 2010 and October 2010.

Results

The technical and clinical success rates were 100% and 83.3%, respectively.The median gastric outlet obstruction scoring system increased significantly, from 0 to 2, after stent placement (P < 0.01).The median survival time was 3.3 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.8–6.0 months), and the median eating period was 3.0 months (95% CI, 1.1–4.3 months). Re‐intervention was required in 11 patients (26.2%). The complication rate was 26.2%. The major complication was stent occlusion (23.8%) by tumor ingrowth, which occurred in nine (21.4%) patients, and tumor overgrowth, which occurred in one (2.4%) patient. Stentmigration, perforation, and food impaction without stent occlusion were not observed.The median survival time of the patients with stent occlusion was 11.7 months (95% CI, 2.2 months – not reached), and the median stent patency of these patients was 4.0 months (95% CI, 0.8–4.7 months).These patients were successfully treated with additional stent insertion using a stent‐in‐stent procedure.

Conclusion

Duodenal stent placement using a WallFlex duodenal stent was safe and effective for managing malignant GOO.This stent is an uncovered metallic stent, and the major problem was stent occlusion due to tumor ingrowth. However, the occluded stent could be corrected by inserting an additional duodenal stent.
An engineering approach to fatigue analysis based on elastic‐plastic fracture mechanics
Authors: EUFINGER J. , HEINRIETZ A. , BRUDER T. , HANSELKA H.
Published: April 2012

Nowadays cast iron components are widely used in highly stressed structures. Component lifetime is strongly influenced by inhomogeneities caused by the material's microstructure and the manufacturing process (graphite particles, (micro‐)shrinkage pores, inclusions). Inhomogeneities often act as a fatigue crack starter. Lifetime until failure may be divided into stages for crack initiation, short and long crack growth. Initiation of a crack of technical size (a ≈ 1mm) is often dominated by the growth of short cracks. The paper presents an approach to analyse the mechanically short fatigue crack growth based on elastic‐plastic fracture mechanics considering the closure behaviour of short cracks. The effective J‐integral range is used as a crack driving force. Finite element analysis results as well as analytical solutions to approximate the crack driving force are presented. The application of the approach is successfully demonstrated for cast iron material EN‐GJS‐400‐18‐LT using data from fatigue tests, microstructure and fracture surface analyses to assess the fatigue life.
An approach to calculate the J‐integral by digital image correlation displacement field measurement
Authors: BECKER T. H. , MOSTAFAVI M. , TAIT R. B. , MARROW T. J.
Published: April 2012

This paper presents a combined experimental‐numerical technique for the calculation of the J‐integral as an area integral in cracked specimens. The proposed technique is based on full‐field measurement using digital image correlation (DIC) and the finite element method. The J‐integral is probably the most generalised and widely used parameter to quantify the fracture behaviour of both elastic and elastoplastic materials. The proposed technique has the advantage that it does not require crack length measurements nor is it limited to elastic fracture mechanics, provided that only small scale yielding is present. Evaluated are three test geometries; compact tension, three‐point bend and the double torsion beam. Possible errors and their magnitude and the limitations of the method are considered.
Three‐dimensional modelling of intergranular fatigue failure of fine grain polycrystalline metallic MEMS devices
Authors: BOMIDI J. A. R. , WEINZAPFEL N. , SADEGHI F.
Published: April 2012

This paper presents a 3D finite element model to investigate intergranular fatigue damage of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and to account for the effects of topological randomness of material microstructure on fatigue lives. The topology of MEMS material grain structures is modelled using randomly generated 3D Voronoi tessellations. Continuum Damage Mechanics is used to model progressive material degradation due to fatigue. A new 3D micro‐grain debonding procedure is developed to consider both intergranular crack initiation and propagation stages. The fatigue damage model is then used to investigate the effects of microstructure randomness on the variability in fatigue life of cantilever MEMS devices. Three different types of randomness are considered: (1) topological disorder due to random shapes and sizes of the material grains, (2) variation in material properties considering a normally (Gaussian) distributed elastic modulus and (3) material defects or internal voids. The stress–life results obtained are in good agreement with experimental data. The progression of damage and the overall crack pattern obtained from the microcantilever beam model are consistent with empirical observations.
Phantom digit somatotopy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study in forearm amputees
Authors: Björkman Anders , Weibull Andreas , Olsrud Johan , Henrik Ehrsson H. , Rosén Birgitta , Björkman‐Burtscher Isabella M.
Published: April 2012

Forearm amputees often experience non‐painful sensations in their phantom when the amputation stump is touched. Cutaneous stimulation of specific stump areas may be perceived as stimulation of specific phantom fingers (stump hand map). The neuronal basis of referred phantom limb sensations is unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate a somatotopic map of the phantom fingers in the hand region of the primary somatosensory cortex after tactile stump stimulation. The location and extent of phantom finger activation in the primary somatosensory cortex corresponded well to the location of normal fingers in a reference population. Stimulation of the stump hand map resulted in an increased bilateral activation of the primary somatosensory cortex compared with stimulation of forearm regions outside the stump hand map. Increased activation was also seen in contralateral posterior parietal cortex and premotor cortex. Ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex activation might represent a compensatory mechanism and activation of the non‐primary fronto‐parietal areas might correspond to awareness of the phantom limb, which is enhanced when experiencing the referred sensations. It is concluded that phantom sensation elicited by stimulation of stump hand map areas is associated with activation of finger‐specific somatotopical representations in the primary somatosensory cortex. This suggests that the primary somatosensory cortex could be a neural substrate of non‐painful phantom sensations. The stump hand map phenomenon might be useful in the development of prosthetic hand devices.
Is laparoscopic right colectomy more effective than open resection? A meta‐analysis of randomized and nonrandomized studies
Authors: Rondelli F. , Trastulli S. , Avenia N. , Schillaci G. , Cirocchi R. , Gullà N. , Mariani E. , Bistoni G. , Noya G.
Published: April 2012

Aim  The aim of this systematic review was to compare laparoscopic and/or laparoscopic‐assisted right colectomy (LRC) with open right colectomy (ORC). Many randomized clinical trial have shown that laparoscopic colectomy benefits patients with improved short‐term outcomes and comparable overall survival in respect to the open approach. These results, however, could not be applied to right colectomy owing to its wide range of resection and more complicated vascular regional anatomy.

Method  We performed a meta‐analysis of the literature in order to compare LRC vs ORC by examining 21 end‐points including operative and recovery outcomes, early postoperative mortality and morbidity, and oncological parameters. A subgroup analysis of patients undergoing right colectomy for cancer was carried out. The meta‐analysis was conducted following all aspects of the Cochrane Handbook for systematic reviews and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Metanalysis (PRISMA) statement. The search strategies were developed using the following electronic databases: PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EBM reviews and CINAHL until March 2011. We included randomized and non randomized studies that compared the LRC vs ORC for benign disease and malignant neoplasm irrespective of publication status. Only studies in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian languages were considered for inclusion. Emergency right colectomies were excluded. To perform the statistical analysis we used the odds ratio (OR) for categorical variables and the weighted mean difference (WMD) for continuous variables. An intention‐to‐treat analysis was performed.

Results  Seventeen studies, 15 nonrandomized clinical trials and two randomized clinical trials, involving a total of 1489 patients, were identified. The mean operative time was longer in the group of patients undergoing LRC [weighted mean difference (WMD) = 37.94, 95% CI: 25.01 to 50.88; P < 0.00001]. Intra‐operative blood loss (WMD = −96.61; 95% CI: −150.68 to −42.54; P = 0.0005), length of hospital stay (WMD = −2.29; 95% CI: −3.96 to −0.63; P = 0.007) and short‐term postoperative morbidity (OR = 0.64; 95% CI: 0.49 to 0.83; P = 0.0009) were significantly in favour of LRC.

Conclusion  Laparoscopic‐assisted right colectomy results in less blood loss, a shorter length of hospital stay and lower postoperative short‐term morbidity compared with ORC.
Conceptual and Methodological Challenges in Multiple Goal Research among Remote and Very Remote Indigenous Australian Students
Authors: McInerney Dennis M.
Published: April 2012

This paper reports on a large‐scale quantitative psychometric study conducted in very remote and remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory Australia. Thirteen school sites and 1,044 participants contributed to the study. The full study is concerned with examining the inter‐relationships between multiple achievement goals, future goals, self‐regulation, and learning processes and their relationship to achievement outcomes in communities that are very remote geographically and culturally from Western settings. The study reported in this paper sets out to examine four key issues: the construct validity and reliability of the multiple motivational scales drawn from Personal Investment theory for very remote and remote Indigenous students in Australia; the level of endorsement of these motivational scales for remote and very remote Indigenous students; any differences between groups considered collectivist and individualist on these multiple goals, and lastly, the theoretical, methodological, cultural, and logistical difficulties encountered in conducting the research that may have impacted on its external validity.
Voluntary institutions and behaviours as alternatives to formal regulations in recreational fisheries management
Authors: Cooke Steven J , Suski Cory D , Arlinghaus Robert , Danylchuk Andy J
Published: April 2012

Traditional regulatory options (formal institutions) imposed by government agencies such as harvest and gear restrictions represent the standard in recreational fisheries management, at least in developed countries. However, there exist a number of alternatives including the use of angler education programmes that attempt to evoke voluntary changes in angler behaviour, resulting in the emergence of voluntarily motivated resource‐conserving informal institutions. These ‘softer’ approaches to aquatic stewardship and fisheries management can be developed in cooperation with stakeholders and in many cases are led by avid anglers and angling groups. Examples of such measures include voluntary sanctuaries, informally enforced seasonal closures, personal daily bag limits, self‐imposed constraints on gear, development of entirely live‐release fisheries, and adoption of fish and aquatic ecosystem conservation‐oriented gears and release practices. Education efforts that provide anglers with knowledge on best practices and empower them to modify their behaviour hold great promise to meet formal management goals and objectives, but seem to be underutilized relative to formal regulations. This article highlights the benefits and challenges of relying on informal institutions as alternatives to traditional regulatory options. Informal institutions that protect resources and help overfished stocks recover hold great promise in both developed and developing countries, particularly when there is a single stakeholder group or when the capacity to enforce traditional regulations or to invest in stock assessments is limited. Informal institutions may help make formal institutions more effective or can even be alternatives to costly institutions that depend on enforcement to be effective.
Enhanced Handling and Positioning in Early Infancy Advances Development Throughout the First Year
Authors: Lobo Michele A. , Galloway James C.
Published: April 2012

Behaviors emerge, in part, from the interplay of infant abilities and caregiver–infant interactions. Cross‐cultural and developmental studies suggest caregiver handling and positioning influence infant development. In this prospective, longitudinal study, the effects of 3 weeks of enhanced handling and positioning experiences provided to 14 infants versus control experiences provided to 14 infants at 2 months of age were assessed with follow‐up through 15 months of age. Behaviors in prone were immediately advanced. Short‐term advancements occurred in multiple behaviors, including prone, head control, reaching, and sitting behaviors. Longer term advancements, up to 12 months after the experience period, occurred in object transfer, crawling and walking behaviors. This suggests broad and long‐lasting changes can arise via brief periods of change in caregiver–infant interactions.
Language‐Specific Developmental Differences in Speech Production: A Cross‐Language Acoustic Study
Authors: Li Fangfang
Published: April 2012

Speech productions of 40 English‐ and 40 Japanese‐speaking children (aged 2–5) were examined and compared with the speech produced by 20 adult speakers (10 speakers per language). Participants were recorded while repeating words that began with “s” and “sh” sounds. Clear language‐specific patterns in adults’ speech were found, with English speakers differentiating “s” and “sh” in 1 acoustic dimension (i.e., spectral mean) and Japanese speakers differentiating the 2 categories in 3 acoustic dimensions (i.e., spectral mean, standard deviation, and onset F2 frequency). For both language groups, children’s speech exhibited a gradual change from an early undifferentiated form to later differentiated categories. The separation processes, however, only occur in those acoustic dimensions used by adults in the corresponding languages.
Self‐Directed Pensions: Gender, Risk, and Portfolio Choices*
Authors: Säve‐Söderbergh Jenny
Published: April 2012

In this paper, I investigate gender differences in financial risk‐taking from a new perspective, and I show that gender plays a different role across the risk distribution. To evaluate risk‐taking, I exploit portfolio choices following a reform that entitles almost the entire Swedish workforce to choose a risk profile for a part of their public‐pension contributions. The novel finding is that portfolio risk does not differ much between the men and women who choose less risky portfolios, while the men who choose risky portfolios take on significantly more risk than do the women who choose risky portfolios. The findings are robust to investors choosing the default alternative, chasing past returns, rebalancing, and different measures of risk‐taking.
The Impact of EU Preferential Trade Agreements on Foreign Direct Investment
Authors: Cardamone Paola , Scoppola Margherita
Published: April 2012

Although North–South preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are expected to affect foreign direct investment (FDI), there is not much evidence to date on the impact of EU PTAs on the pattern of FDI. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of EU PTAs on the outward stocks of FDI of the EU. We estimate a model based on the knowledge‐capital theory of the multinational enterprise over the period 1995–2005 using a sample of 173 host countries. Explanatory variables include measures of the level of bilateral protection and a dummy to capture the impact of deep integration provisions of PTAs. A dynamic panel model with fixed effects is used in order to take into account the dynamic behaviour of FDI and the heterogeneity bias. Results show that EU FDI is both horizontal and vertical. The level of EU protection affects FDI negatively, while the impact of the tariffs applied by host countries varies across groups of partner countries. Deep integration provisions affect EU FDI positively.
Impact of Environmental Regulations on Trade in the Main EU Countries: Conflict or Synergy?
Authors: De Santis Roberta
Published: April 2012

In an increasingly integrated world with declining trade barriers, environmental regulations can have a decisive role in shaping countries’ comparative advantages. The conventional wisdom about environmental protection is that it comes at an additional cost on firms imposed by the government, which may erode their global competitiveness. However, this paradigm has been challenged by some analysts. In particular, Porter and van der Linde argue that pollution is often associated with a waste of resources and that more stringent environmental policies can stimulate innovations that may overcompensate for the costs of complying with these policies. This is known as the Porter hypothesis. While there is a broad empirical literature on the impact of trade on environment, the empirical literature on the impact of environmental regulations on trade flows is relatively scarce, very heterogeneous and presents mixed results. The innovative feature of this paper is its attempts to estimate, in a gravity setting, augmented with a proxi of environmental stringency, the impact of three major multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) on 15 EU countries’ bilateral exports. According to our estimates, in the period 1988–2008, to be member of MEAs had a positive average impact on EU‐15 bilateral exports. This evidence can be partly explained by a possible trade diversion effect with respect to countries that did not sign MEAs and a corresponding trade creation effect among members of the environmental agreements. Furthermore, evidence coming from interaction effects estimates seems to show that for exporting countries, having signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Montreal agreements partly mitigates (by the amount of the estimated coefficient) the negative impact of having a relatively more stringent environmental regulation on bilateral trade. This result could have important policy implications for the future international trade–environmental negotiations.
Patient‐reported convenience of once‐daily versus three‐times‐daily dosing during long‐term studies of pramipexole in early and advanced Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Schapira A. H. V. , Barone P. , Hauser R. A. , Mizuno Y. , Rascol O. , Busse M. , Debieuvre C. , Fraessdorf M. , Poewe W. ,   for the Pramipexole ER Studies Group
Published: April 2012

Background and purpose:  In chronic diseases including Parkinson’s disease (PD), complex pharmacotherapy dosing schedules are reported to reduce adherence, perhaps leading to less‐effective symptom control and, in PD, more erratic stimulation of dopamine receptors. However, blinded clinical‐trial designs preclude direct comparisons of adherence to various schedules.

Methods:  In two double‐blind (DB) studies of early PD and one of advanced PD, subjects received three‐times‐daily (t.i.d.) pramipexole or placebo. In open‐label (OL) extensions, subjects took extended‐release, once‐daily (q.d.) pramipexole. At 24 or 32 OL weeks, q.d. versus t.i.d. dosing preference was surveyed by questionnaire.

Results:  Of 590 DB‐trial completers with early PD, 511 entered the OL extension. Of 374 survey respondents, 94.4% preferred q.d. dosing (72.2% of them found it ‘very much more convenient’ and 27.8%‘more convenient’), 2.7% preferred t.i.d., and 2.9% chose ‘no difference’. Of 465 DB‐trial completers with advanced PD, 391 entered its OL extension. Of 334 survey respondents, 88.9% preferred q.d. dosing (59.9% of them found it ‘very much more convenient’ and 40.1%‘more convenient’), 5.7% preferred t.i.d., and 5.4% chose ‘no difference’. Results excluding DB‐placebo recipients were highly similar.

Conclusions:  In this first direct comparison of patient preference for q.d. versus t.i.d. dopamine‐agonist dosing, patients with early or advanced PD had a strong preference for q.d. rather than t.i.d. pramipexole. The high proportion of advanced‐PD patients declaring this preference indicates that it does not depend on whether a patient is taking concomitant PD medications dosed more frequently than q.d.
Trauma and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a case–control study from a population‐based registry
Authors: Pupillo E. , Messina P. , Logroscino G. , Zoccolella S. , Chiò A. , Calvo A. , Corbo M. , Lunetta C. , Micheli A. , Millul A. , Vitelli E. , Beghi E. ,   EURALS Consortium
Published: April 2012

Background and purpose

Published reports on the association between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and trauma are controversial suggesting the need for a new case–control study done in a large population.

Methods

A case–control study was undertaken in Italy to assess this association. Cases were patients with newly diagnosed ALS from four population‐based registries. For each case, two hospital controls were selected, matched for age, sex, and province of residence, one with a neurological (non‐degenerative) disease and one with a non‐neurological disease (other than orthopedic or surgical). Traumatic events (defined as accidental events causing injuries requiring medical care) were recorded with details on type, site, timing, severity, and complications. The risks were assessed as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), crude and adjusted for age, sex, education, interviewee (patient or surrogate), physical activity, smoking, alcohol, and coffee.

Results

The study population comprised 377 patients in each of the three groups. One or more traumatic events were reported by 225 cases (59.7%), 191 neurological controls (50.7%), and 179 non‐neurological controls (47.5%) (P < 0.01) (OR 1.63; 95% CI 1.25–2.14) (P < 0.01). The ORs were 3.07 (95% CI 1.86–5.05) for patients reporting 3+ traumatic events and 2.44 (95% CI 1.36–4.40) for severe traumatic events. The ORs remained significant when the analysis was limited to events that occurred 5+ and 10+ years before ALS onset, to incident ALS, and direct informant.

Conclusion

Antecedent trauma, repeated trauma, and severe trauma may be risk factors for ALS.
Gender‐Specific Migration from Eastern to Western Germany: Where Have All the Young Women Gone?
Authors: Kröhnert Steffen , Vollmer Sebastian
Published: April 2012

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, open migration from East to West Germany became possible. Between 1989 and 2007, roughly 10 per cent of the East’s population at the time of reunification migrated from east to west. The emigrants were predominantly young and female. This selective migration pattern led to a tremendous deficit of females in the 18–29 year old age group in eastern Germany. Overall, the sex ratio in that age group is as low as 89 females per 100 males in the east. In some rural counties, the sex ratio is 80 females per 100 males. We find that excess female emigration at the county level is associated with gender disparities in educational attainment that favour women, a labour market structure that favours men and the lower availability of potential partners with similar levels of education in eastern Germany.
Innocent Threats and the Moral Problem of Carnivorous Animals
Authors: EBERT RAINER , MACHAN TIBOR R.
Published: April 2012

abstract

The existence of predatory animals is a problem in animal ethics that is often not taken as seriously as it should be. We show that it reveals a weakness in Tom Regan's theory of animal rights that also becomes apparent in his treatment of innocent human threats. We show that there are cases in which Regan's justice‐prevails‐approach to morality implies a duty not to assist the jeopardized, contrary to his own moral beliefs. While a modified account of animal rights that recognizes the moral patient as a kind of entity that can violate moral rights avoids this counterintuitive conclusion, it makes non‐human predation a rights issue that morally ought to be subjected to human regulation. Jennifer Everett, Lori Gruen and other animal advocates base their treatment of predation in part on Regan's theory and run into similar problems, demonstrating the need to radically rethink the foundations of the animal rights movement. We suggest to those who, like us, find it less plausible to introduce morality to the wild than to reject the concept of rights that makes this move necessary to read our criticism either as a modus tollens argument and reject non‐human animal rights altogether or as motivating a libertarian‐ish theory of animal rights.
Development and embryonic staging in non‐model organisms: the case of an afrotherian mammal
Authors: Werneburg Ingmar , Tzika Athanasia C. , Hautier Lionel , Asher Robert J. , Milinkovitch Michel C. , Sánchez‐Villagra Marcelo R.
Published: April 2012

Studies of evolutionary developmental biology commonly use ‘model organisms’ such as fruit flies or mice, and questions are often functional or epigenetic. Phylogenetic investigations, in contrast, typically use species that are less common and mostly deal with broad scale analyses in the tree of life. However, important evolutionary transformations have taken place at all taxonomic levels, resulting in such diverse forms as elephants and shrews. To understand the mechanisms underlying morphological diversification, broader sampling and comparative approaches are paramount. Using a simple, standardized protocol, we describe for the first time the development of soft tissues and some parts of the skeleton, using μCT‐imaging of developmental series of Echinops telfairi and Tenrec ecaudatus, two tenrecid afrotherian mammals. The developmental timing of soft tissue and skeletal characters described for the tenrecids is briefly compared with that of other mammals, including mouse, echidna, and the opossum. We found relatively few heterochronic differences in development in the armadillo vs. tenrec, consistent with a close relationship of Xenarthra and Afrotheria. Ossification in T. ecaudatus continues well into the second half of overall gestation, resembling the pattern seen in other small mammals and differing markedly from the advanced state of ossification evident early in the gestation of elephants, sheep, and humans.
Clinical decision‐making process for early nonspecific signs of infection in institutionalised elderly persons: experience of nursing assistants
Authors: Sund‐Levander Märtha , Tingström Pia
Published: April 2012

Scand J Caring Sci; 2013; 27; 27–35

Clinical decision‐making process for early nonspecific signs of infection in institutionalised elderly persons: experience of nursing assistants

Aim:  To illuminate nursing assistant’s experiences of the clinical decision‐making process when they suspect that a resident has an infection and how their process relates to other professions.

Background:  The assessment of possible infection in elderly individuals is difficult and contributes to a delayed diagnosis and treatment, worsening the goal of good care. Recently we explored that nursing assistants have a keen observational ability to detect early signs and symptoms that might help to confirm suspected infections early on. To our knowledge there are no published papers exploring how nursing assistants take part in the clinical decision‐making process.

Design:  Explorative, qualitative study.

Setting:  Community care for elderly people.

Participants:  Twenty‐one nursing assistants, 22–61 years.

Methods:  Focus groups with verbatim transcription. The interviews were subjected to qualitative content analysis for manifest and latent content with no preconceived categories.

Findings:  The findings are described as a decision‐making model consisting of assessing why a resident feels unwell, divided into recognition and formulation and strategies for gathering and evaluating information, influenced by personal experiences and preconceptions and external support system and, secondly, as taking action, consisting of reason for choice of action and action, influenced by feedback from the nurse and physician.

Conclusion:  Nursing assistant’s assessment is based on knowing the resident, personal experiences and ideas about ageing. Nurses and physician’s response to the nursing assistant’s observations had a great impact on the latter’s further action. A true inter‐professional partnership in the clinical decision‐making process would enhance the possibility to detect suspected infection early on, and thereby minimize the risk of delayed diagnosis and treatment and hence unnecessary suffering for the individual.

Relevance to clinical practice:  In order to improve the clinical evaluation of the individual, and thereby optimise patient safety, it is important to involve nursing assistants in the decision‐making process.
The demographic impacts of the Irish famine: towards a greater geographical understanding
Authors: Fotheringham A Stewart , Kelly Mary H , Charlton Martin
Published: April 2012

The Irish famine of the 1840s had a dramatic effect both on the population within Ireland and the populations of countries such as the US, the UK and Australia, which received the bulk of the Irish diaspora resulting from the famine (Kenny 2003). As such, the effects of the famine have been examined extensively across a range of disciplines. It is therefore a challenge to provide any new perspective on this well‐researched area. However, this paper provides novel insights into the spatial effects of the famine on population in two ways. Firstly, we present the most spatially detailed data recorded to date on population change in the period 1841–51 covering the famine. We are able to do this by, for the first time, linking census data from 1851 (which also records 1841 population) to the boundaries of 3436 Electoral Divisions (EDs) to provide a very detailed description of the uneven nature of population change during the famine decade. Secondly, by collecting data at the same spatial scale for over 100 other variables, we are able to analyse the relationship between population change during this decade and various demographic, locational and land use characteristics of EDs. We do this through not only traditional regression but also by geographically weighted regression (GWR), which allows us to investigate possible spatial variations in the determinants of population change during the famine period. The results of this analysis raise a series of intriguing new questions relating to the effect of the Irish famine on population change and point the way to further detailed historical and geographical research on this important topic. The research also demonstrates the use of GIS and spatial analytical techniques in historical geography as a means of uncovering new questions that can be answered by further qualitative research.
Creating and destroying diaspora strategies: New Zealand’s emigration policies re‐examined
Authors: Gamlen Alan
Published: April 2012

New Zealand, like many countries, has recently shifted from casting emigrants in a negative light to celebrating expatriates as national champions. What explains this change? Wendy Larner focuses on recent government initiatives towards expatriates as part of a neoliberal ‘diaspora strategy’, aimed at constructing emigrants and their descendants as part of a community of knowledge‐bearing subjects, in order to help the New Zealand economy ‘go global’. This study confirms that the new diaspora initiatives emerged from a process of neoliberal reform. However, it also highlights that in the same period, older inherited institutional frameworks for interacting with expatriates were being dismantled as part of a different dynamic within the wider neoliberalisation process. It argues that the shift in official attitudes towards expatriates arose from the overlap between these two processes in the period 1999–2008. In this way, the research builds on the ‘diaspora strategy’ concept, placing it within a broader analysis of institutional transformation through ‘creative destruction’, and linking it to a wider research agenda aimed at understanding state–diaspora relations beyond the reach of neoliberalism.
Mobile ‘green’ design knowledge: institutions, bricolage and the relational production of embedded sustainable building designs
Authors: Faulconbridge James
Published: April 2012

Buildings are responsible for on average 43 per cent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, a figure that can rise to 70 per cent in cities. Consequently, ‘green’ building design has been focused on in efforts to reduce environmental degradation and change. It has been suggested, however, that collective learning and the mobilisation of knowledge between spatially dispersed communities are urgently needed, in particular to overcome what are often portrayed as knowledge deficits in relation to green design. The remit of this paper is to outline a framework for analysing the geographically heterogeneous impacts of attempts to mobilise green design knowledges. Drawing on economic geographical analyses of knowledge mobility, the paper reveals how regulative, normative and cultural‐cognitive institutional contexts render green building design knowledges situated and place‐specific. But it is also shown that bricolage – the bringing together of multiple mobile knowledges to produce new embedded green design knowledges – can overcome some of the problems faced. In particular, the analysis developed in the paper reveals: first, the role of multiple topological connections to metrically near and far but institutionally proximate places in providing diverse knowledges that can be folded together into place‐specific solutions, and hence the need to conceptualise knowledge mobility as involving plural geographies of flow from multiple cities in the global north and south; second, the way economic geographers can contribute to debates about transitions to sustainability and situated sustainable building design through institutional analyses of the topologies of knowledge mobility, thus widening the relevance of their work to debates about the environment and climate change.
The α7 nicotinic ACh receptor agonist compound B and positive allosteric modulator PNU‐120596 both alleviate inflammatory hyperalgesia and cytokine release in the rat
Authors: Munro G , Hansen RR , Erichsen HK , Timmermann DB , Christensen JK , Hansen HH
Published: April 2012

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Agonists selective for the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine (nACh) receptor produce anti‐hyperalgesic effects in rodent models of inflammatory pain, via direct actions on spinal pain circuits and possibly via attenuated release of peripheral pro‐inflammatory mediators. Increasingly, allosteric modulation of ligand‐gated receptors is recognized as a potential strategy to obtain desired efficacy in the absence of the putative adverse effects associated with agonist activation.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH We compared the anti‐hyperalgesic and anti‐inflammatory effects of the α7 nACh receptor agonist compound B with the positive allosteric modulator (PAM) PNU‐120596 and the standard non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug (NSAID), diclofenac, in rats with hind paw inflammation induced by either formalin, carrageenan or complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA).

KEY RESULTS When administered before carrageenan, both diclofenac (30 mg·kg−1) and PNU‐120596 (30 mg·kg−1) significantly reduced mechanical hyperalgesia and weight‐bearing deficits for up to 4 h. Compound B (30 mg·kg−1) also attenuated both measures of pain‐like behaviour, albeit less robustly. Whereas compound B and PNU‐120596 attenuated the carrageenan‐induced increase in levels of TNF‐α and IL‐6 within the hind paw oedema, diclofenac only attenuated IL‐6 levels. Established mechanical hyperalgesia induced by carrageenan or CFA was also partially reversed by compound B and PNU‐120596. However, diclofenac was considerably more efficacious. Formalin‐induced nocifensive behaviours were only reversed by compound B, albeit at doses which disrupted motor performance.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS α7 nACh receptor PAMs could prove to be useful in the treatment of inflammatory pain conditions, which respond poorly to NSAIDs or in situations where NSAIDs are contra‐indicated.
Regional‐ and agonist‐dependent facilitation of human neurogastrointestinal functions by motilin receptor agonists
Authors: Broad J , Mukherjee S , Samadi M , Martin JE , Dukes GE , Sanger GJ
Published: April 2012

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Delayed gastric emptying is poorly managed. Motilin agonists are potential treatments but inadequate understanding into how enteric nerve functions are stimulated compromises drug/dose selection. Resolution is hampered by extreme species dependency so methods were developed to study human gastrointestinal neuromuscular activities and the neurobiology of motilin.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Protocols to study neuromuscular activities were developed for different regions of human stomach and intestine (71 patients) using circular muscle preparations and electrical field stimulation (EFS) of intrinsic nerves. Other tissues were fixed for immunohistochemistry.

KEY RESULTS EFS evoked contractions and/or relaxations via cholinergic and nitrergic neurons, with additional tachykinergic activity in colon; these were consistent after 154 min (longer if stored overnight). Motilin 1–300 nM and the selective motilin agonist GSK962040 0.1–30 µM acted pre‐junctionally to strongly facilitate cholinergic contractions of the antrum (Emax≈ 1000% for motilin), with smaller increases in fundus, duodenum and ileum; high concentrations increased baseline muscle tension in fundus and small intestine. There were minimal effects in the colon. In the antrum, cholinergic facilitation by motilin faded irregularly, even with peptidase inhibitors, whereas facilitation by GSK962040 was long lasting. Motilin receptor immunoreactivity was identified in muscle and myenteric plexus predominantly in the upper gut, co‐expressed with choline acetyltransferase in neurons.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Motilin and GSK962040 strongly facilitated cholinergic activity in the antrum, with lower activity in fundus and small intestine only. Facilitation by motilin was short lived, consistent with participation in migrating motor complexes. Long‐lasting facilitation by GSK962040 suggests different receptor interactions and potential for clinical evaluation.

LINKED ARTICLE This article is commented on by Depoortere, pp. 760–762 of this issue. To view this commentary visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476‐5381.2012.02046.x
Evaluation ofFOXP3expression in canine mammary gland tumours
Authors: Oh S. Y. , Ryu H. H. , Yoo D. Y. , Hwang I. K. , Kweon O. K. , Kim W. H.
Published: April 2012

Abstract

The expression of the transcription factor forkhead box P3(FOXP3) was examined in 62 canine mammary gland tumours via immunohistochemical analysis and association with the known expression of the oestrogen receptor‐alpha (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR),c‐erbB‐2receptor (HER2/neu), and survival. Positive staining forFOXP3was present in 22.6% of the tumours and was associated with the histological type. Negative staining forFOXP3was associated with positiveERαandPRexpression (P < 0.001). The expression ofFOXP3in canine mammary gland tumours was significantly associated with the disease‐free survival time (P = 0.029). TheFOXP3expression was not an independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis, though. The negative expression ofFOXP3in the canine mammary gland tumours was found to be related to histopathologic benignity and a longer survival time in canine mammary gland tumours.