bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Association of Smoking and Cardiovascular Disease in a Population With Low Cholesterol Levels
Authors: Lawlor Debbie A. , Song Yun-Mi , Sung Joohon , Ebrahim Shah , Smith George Davey
Published: February 2008

Background and Purpose—

The association of smoking with cardiovascular diseases in populations with low cholesterol levels is unclear and this lack of clarity may have contributed to the very high prevalence of smoking in East Asian men. The effect of smoking on stroke subtypes is particularly unclear.

Methods—

We used data from a prospective cohort study of 648 346 Korean men aged 30 to 64 years at their baseline assessment in 1992.

Results—

Mean (SD) total cholesterol at baseline was 4.9 (1.0) mmol/L and 59% of the men were current smokers. Over the follow-up period of 10 years, 9475 men experienced any type of stroke, 4768 experienced an ischemic stroke, 2380 an intracerebral hemorrhage, 786 a subarachnoid hemorrhage, 3329 men experienced a myocardial infarction, and 269 an aortic aneurysm. Smoking at baseline was associated with marked increases in risk of ischemic stroke (hazard ratio comparing current smokers with never smokers 1.58 [95% CI: 1.49 to 1.68]), subarachnoid hemorrhage (1.91 [1.63 to 2.24]), myocardial infarction (2.01 [1.87 to 2.17]), and aortic aneurysm (1.47 [1.14 to 1.90]) with these effects remaining after adjustment for potential confounding factors and with the first 5 years of events excluded from the analyses. The effect of smoking on these outcomes was the same among men with cholesterol levels below the median value for this population as among those with higher levels. There was no association of smoking with intracerebral hemorrhage. Smoking accounted for 20% of all cardiovascular disease outcomes in this population.

Conclusions—

Smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in populations with low cholesterol levels and global interventions are required to halt the emerging tobacco epidemic in low- and middle-income countries.
Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, and Mortality From Stroke
Authors: Zhou Maigeng , Offer Alison , Yang Gonghuan , Smith Margaret , Hui Gei , Whitlock Gary , Collins Rory , Huang Zhengjing , Peto Richard , Chen Zhengming
Published: February 2008

Background and Purpose—

Despite previous investigations, substantial uncertainty remains about the relation between body mass index (BMI) and stroke, especially in populations with a relatively low BMI but a high stroke rate.

Methods—

A nationally representative prospective study of mortality included 212 000 Chinese men 40 to 79 years old without known cardiovascular disease in 1990 to 1991 who were followed up for 10 years. Standardized hazard ratios were calculated for stroke mortality by baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) and BMI.

Results—

Mean SBP and BMI were 124 mm Hg and 21.7 kg/m
2
, respectively. During 10 years of follow-up, 5766 stroke deaths were recorded. There were strong, positive relations between BMI and SBP and between SBP and stroke mortality, with a 3-mm Hg higher baseline SBP associated with a 5.6% (95% CI, 5.3% to 6.0%;
P
<0.00001) higher stroke mortality. The association between BMI and stroke mortality was, however, not linear, with the hazard increasing substantially only for BMI >25 kg/m
2
(
P
<0.001 for nonlinearity). Approximately 90% of men had a baseline BMI <25 kg/m
2
, and among them, BMI was not associated with stroke mortality despite its strong association with BP (which continued to a BMI <18 kg/m
2
). The relation with BMI was similar for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke but appeared to be steeper among lifelong nonsmokers than among current smokers (
P
=0.01 for difference between slopes) despite similarly positive relations between BMI and SBP and between SBP and stroke risk in both smoking categories.

Conclusions—

High BMI was strongly associated with increased stroke mortality only among men who were overweight or obese.
The Anatomy of Eroticism: Reimagining Sex and Sexuality in the Late Ming Novel Xiuta Yeshi
Authors: Wong Ka
Published: February 2008

Due to its explicit and outrageous sexual content, Xiuta yeshi is often deemed an "obscene book" that lacks literary sophistication. Precisely because of its obscenity, however, the novel provides a unique perspective from which to study the discourse of sex and sexuality in the late Ming period. By examining Xiuta yeshi on its own terms as pornography, one can explore more fully the dynamics of gender, desire, and male-female relationships in this supposedly decadent era. In its construct of eroticism, the novel hinges as much on the detailed recounting of the material world and, in particular, a new interpretation of the human body, as on sex itself. Using foul language to exploit most of the modern pornographic tropes—from rape to orgy to both male and female homosexual acts—this late sixteenth-century work not only redefines a popular genre but also reveals the exhilarating, extravagant, and even grotesque aspects of a libertine culture captivated by and capitalizing on sex.
Virtue in Silence: Voice and Femininity in Ling Shuhua's Boudoir Fiction
Authors: Cheng Eileen
Published: February 2008

New Culture intellectuals avidly promoted new narratives and models of femininity as the cornerstone of a new culture; the gender discourse they advocated, however, continued to be refracted through traditional notions of femininity and writing. This paper examines the means by which one woman writer, Ling Shuhua, attempted to navigate the contradictions of this discourse, to forge her identity as a modern woman writer. The shifting nature of Ling Shuhua's literary negotiations is particularly salient when her portrayals of traditional femininity and use of voice in Temple of Flowers (1928) are contextualized against her lesser-known works—her early stories published in 1924 in Chenbao and her later fictionalized autobiography in English, Ancient Melodies (1953). Unlike her lesser-known works, which are deeply sympathetic to the plight of boudoir women and critical of New Culture discourse, the stories in Temple of Flowers are often framed with a sense of ambiguity in relation to both feminist and New Culture agendas. While these disparities may reflect a resourcefulness on Ling Shuhua's part in her bid to carve out public writing spaces, they also suggest the kinds of negotiations and self-effacing gestures that her literary endeavors may have entailed.
La formación de equipos interagenciales: un estudio de aprendizaje innovador
Authors: Daniels Harry
Published: February 2008

En este artículo se expone un estudio llevado a cabo con elfin de investigar el aprendizaje de los profesionales en lo relativo a la creación de nuevas formas de praxis, formas que implican el establecimiento de soluciones conjuntas que satisfagan las diversas y complejas necesidades de sus clientes. Concretamente, analizamos el aprendizaje profesional en aquellos servicios que persiguen el fomento de la inclusión social, y que lo hacen tratando que el cliente se convierta en un actor eficaz en su entorno. Para este análisis me basaré en los desarrollos recientes de la Teoría de la Actividad Histórico Cultural (Cultural Historical Activity Theory, CHAT) y de las teorías del aprendizaje en el trabajo.
Educación y evolución humana. Contribución al debate ¿Qué teorías necesitamos en educación?
Authors: del Río Pablo
Published: February 2008

Se sostiene que el sistema educativo ha reducido el alcance de sus preguntas y asumiendo una limitación a lo escolar que la ha situado al margen de la gran cuestión del proceso evolutivo de la humanidad. A través de referencias a las arquitecturas culturales de la mente o los modelos ideales de educación se propone considerar a la educación como un evolucionismo cultural activo

Al debatir sobre los dos grandes modelos de relación cultural: el de incomunicabilidad entre culturas y el de comunicabilidad e hibridación, se aboga por un proceso dialógico de internarratividad y se sugiere que el proceso evolutivo humano está abierto y que al escribir nuestras culturas, nos escribimos como especie y protagonizamos una evolución más o menos conscientemente diseñada y decidida. En ese escenario se considera el programa educativo como una elección evolutiva que propicia necesariamente un diseño cultural, pasado o futuro. Se aborda por último el problema de las relaciones entre materia y mente como una relación entre economía y diseño de lo humano, en la medida en que existe una relación genética, causal, y estructural profunda entre medio humano y mente humana. A este respecto se señala que actualmente están enfrentados el desarrollo del medio y el de la persona, la economía y la educación.
Los medios audiovisuales entre los progenitores y los hijos e hijas
Authors: Casas Ferran , Figuer Cristina , González Mònica , Malo Sara
Published: February 2008

En el presente artículo se exponen los resultados de una investigación realizada con una muestra de adolescentes (N = 1211) entre 12 y 16 años y otra de sus progenitores (N = 462) para explorar cómo las diferentes respuestas generacionales ante la presencia de diversos medios audiovisuales en su entorno próximo afectan las interacciones familiares entre progenitores e hijos/as. Los resultados apuntan al hecho que los progenitores tienden a sobredimensionar tanto el interés como las informaciones de que dispone su propio hijo o hija acerca de la mayor parte de los medios audiovisuales explorados, así como la satisfacción que proporcionan las conversaciones con los adultos acerca de cualquier actividad con estos medios. Los progenitores realizan atribuciones diferentes sobre el uso de medios audiovisuales según se refieran a un hijo o a una hija. Se aprecia una importante diferencia entre la satisfacción con las conversaciones que los y las adolescentes mantienen con sus iguales y la que proporcionan las conversaciones con los adultos respecto a cualquiera de sus actividades con los medios.
Una ciencia de la humanización. Contribución al debate ¿Qué teorías necesitamos en educación?
Authors: Corral Roberto
Published: February 2008

Como prólogo a las respuestas, se comienza con una breve historia de las condiciones de aparición de la psicología como ciencia y sus relaciones con las prácticas educativas. Después se responden las preguntas del debate: 1) Todas las teorías psicológicas pretenden ser cosmovisiones del hecho humano, pero cometen reduccionismos y simplificaciones. 2) No todas las teorías son válidas para la Educación, ya que algunas ni la consideran. 3) La validez de una teoría depende de la cultura que la acepta y sobre todo, de las distorsiones que produce, y 4) Es necesaria una ciencia —sea Antropología, Psicología, Pedagogía- de la humanización, y creo que el mejor candidato es el enfoque histórico social.
Vertical and Lateral Mixing Processes Deduced from the Mediterranean Water Signature in the North Atlantic
Authors: Zika Jan D. , McDougall Trevor J.
Published: February 2008

The conservation equations of heat, salt, and mass are combined in such a way that a simple relation is found between the known volume flux of Mediterranean Water entering the North Atlantic Ocean and the effects of lateral and vertical mixing processes. The method is a form of inverse method in which the only unknowns are the vertical and lateral diffusivities. For each isohaline contour on each neutral density surface the authors develop one equation in two unknowns, arguing that other terms that cannot be evaluated are small. By considering several such isohaline contours, the method becomes overdetermined for each density layer, and results are found for both the vertical and lateral diffusivity that vary smoothly in the vertical direction, giving some confidence in the method.
Mean Circulation and Variability of the Tropical Atlantic during 1952–2001 in the GECCO Assimilation Fields
Authors: Rabe Benjamin , Schott Friedrich A. , Köhl Armin
Published: February 2008

The shallow subtropical–tropical cells (STC) of the Atlantic Ocean have been studied from the output fields of a 50-yr run of the German partner of the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (GECCO) consortium assimilation model. Comparison of GECCO with time-mean observational estimates of density and meridional currents at 10°S and 10°N, which represent the boundaries between the tropics and subtropics in GECCO, shows good agreement in transports of major currents. The variability of the GECCO wind stress in the interior at 10°S and 10°N remains consistent with the NCEP forcing, although temporary changes can be large. On pentadal and longer time scales, an STC loop response is found between the poleward Ekman divergence and STC-layer convergence at 10°S and 10°N via the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) at 23°W, where the divergence leads the EUC and the convergence, suggesting a “pulling” mechanism via equatorial upwelling. The divergence is also associated with changes in the eastern equatorial upper-ocean heat content. Within the STC layer, partial compensation of the western boundary current (WBC) and the interior occurs at 10°S and 10°N. For the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) at 10°S it is found that more than one-half of the variability in the upper limb can be explained by the WBC. The explained MOC variance can be increased to 85% by including the geostrophic (Sverdrup) part of the wind-driven transports.
Diverging Developments in Wage Inequality
Authors: Oliver Rebecca
Published: February 2008

This article investigates how a particular wage-bargaining institution mitigates pressures from growing international competition and new production techniques and affects the degree of wage inequality growth. The extent to which industry-wide wage minima (wage scales) cover both higher and lower skilled workers affects developments in inequality. A series of cross-sectional time-series analyses are conducted using data from a recent unpublished data set from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which covers 14 OECD countries from 1980 to 2002. The results strongly indicate that the presence of industry-wide wage scales is a key factor in the evolution of wage inequality across OECD countries.
Effects of Teacher Induction on Beginning Teachers' Teaching
Authors: Jian Wang  , Odell Sandra J. , Schwille Sharon A.
Published: February 2008

Drawing on literature since 1997, this review explores the effects of teacher induction on beginning teachers' conceptions and practice of teaching, and it identifies three approaches to understanding such effects, as found in the literature. The first approach addresses the assumed effects of teacher induction components on beginning teachers' teaching using theoretical assumptions as a base. The second approach analyzes the effects through teachers' self-reports. The third explores the effects of using multiple data sources. Although teacher induction affects beginning teachers' ideas about teaching, few studies capture its effects on teaching practice and student achievement. Thus, this review suggests directions for future research.
Which Revolution in Military Affairs?
Authors: Major Aaron
Published: February 2008

Since the arrival of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, the discourse of American military strategy has been framed around a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). This article takes up the question of whether the RMA discourse represents a real strategic shift through an examination of the distribution of Defense Department spending on procurement across economic sectors and geographical space for the period 1990 to 2004. Detailed analysis of procurement data shows that the RMA builds on an earlier transformation in the United States' defense posture around the post—cold war disarmament rather than signal a new era for the military.
The U.S. Navy's Maiden Voyage
Authors: Kelty Ryan
Published: February 2008

The U.S. federal government is increasingly civilianizing the military as a manpower-management strategy. Effects of this policy are not well understood. Data from a case study of civilian mariners integrated with sailors on a U.S. Navy ship were analyzed to determine the effects of social comparisons on each group's job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intentions to remain with their current employer. Results indicate both sailors and civilian mariners view sailors as less advantaged compared to their civilian peers. The effect of these social comparisons on each group's satisfaction, commitment, and retention attitudes was mixed, having a significant negative impact for sailors but not for civilian mariners. These results identify an unintended negative consequence of the decision to integrate civilian and military personnel in an operational unit. The way civilian mariners were integrated is discussed as a possible reason for the differential effect of social comparisons between the two groups.
Still the “Pragmatic Professional”?
Authors: Jans Nick , Frazer-Jans Judy
Published: February 2008

This article examines the extent to which the professional orientation of Australian military personnel has shifted since September 2001. Four dimensions of professional orientation are identified, through analysis of ratings of reasons for serving in surveys conducted across the period 1996 through 2006. Duty/Professionalism represented Moskos's institutional orientation and Pay/Conditions, Development/Enhancement, and Adventure/Variety represented occupational orientation. The professional orientation of Other Ranks is now more pragmatic and more professional, in the sense that Pay/ Conditions and Duty/Professionalism motives are now more important as reasons for serving. Officers, on the other hand, have become less pragmatic and more professional, with Duty/Professionalism motives now dominant in professional orientation and Pay/ Conditions motives now much less important. Development/Enhancement and Adventure/ Variety are now less important for all categories. The article argues that these shifts are due to recent changes to Australia's strategic, social, and economic circumstances and notes the practical and scholarly implications of the results.
After 9/11, What Kind of Reserve Soldier?
Authors: Griffith James
Published: February 2008

Two concepts, Moskos's institutional—occupational orientations and Meyer and Allen's organizational commitment, were used to develop several hypotheses concerning relationships of soldiers' stated reasons for joining and staying in reserve military service to their stated career intentions and to perceived unit readiness. Survey data were obtained from first-term, junior-ranking enlisted Army National Guard soldiers nationwide at three time periods. Time periods corresponded to different phases of the Iraq conflict— before, during, and after the initial invasion. The number of soldiers at each time period equaled about 7,000 to 8,500. Results suggest material incentives may increase recruitment and retention, yet at the same time, such incentives may not enhance readiness. Rather, incentives fostering normative and affective commitments, such as joining and staying for camaraderie and service to country, were related both to self-reported career intentions and perceived unit readiness.
A Monte Carlo Approach to the Design, Assembly, and Evaluation of Multistage Adaptive Tests
Authors: Belov Dmitry I. , Armstrong Ronald D.
Published: February 2008

This article presents an application of Monte Carlo methods for developing and assembling multistage adaptive tests (MSTs). A major advantage of the Monte Carlo assembly over other approaches (e.g., integer programming or enumerative heuristics) is that it provides a uniform sampling from all MSTs (or MST paths) available from a given item pool. The uniform sampling allows a statistically valid analysis for MST design and evaluation. Given an item pool, MST model, and content constraints for test assembly, three problems are addressed in this study. They are (a) the construction of item response theory (IRT) targets for each MST path, (b) the assembly of an MST such that each path satisfies content constraints and IRT constraints, and (c) an analysis of the pool and constraints to increase the number of nonoverlapping MSTs that can be assembled from the pool. The primary intent is to produce reliable measurements and enhance pool utilization.
Performance Assessments With Microworlds and Their Difficulty
Authors: Kluge Annette
Published: February 2008

The use of microworlds (MWs), or complex dynamic systems, in educational testing and personnel selection is hampered by systematic measurement errors because these new and innovative item formats are not adequately controlled for their difficulty. This empirical study introduces a way to operationalize an MW's difficulty and demonstrates the strong effects of variations in it. A rationale for predicting an MW's difficulty (number and quality of relationships between the same number of variables) is tested for difficulty's impact on assessed performance. As the number of relationships increases, control performance, acquired knowledge, and self-efficacy as moderating variables decrease. Analysis of knowledge types (qualitative and quantitative) shows that system difficulty affects quantitative knowledge more than it does qualitative knowledge.
Conditional Covariance-Based Subtest Selection for DIMTEST
Authors: Froelich Amy G. , Habing Brian
Published: February 2008

DIMTEST is a nonparametric hypothesis-testing procedure designed to test the assumptions of a unidimensional and locally independent item response theory model. Several previous Monte Carlo studies have found that using linear factor analysis to select the assessment subtest for DIMTEST results in a moderate to severe loss of power when the exam lacks simple structure, the ability and difficulty parameter distributions differ greatly, or the underlying model is noncompensatory. A new method of selecting the assessment subtest for DIMTEST, based on the conditional covariance dimensionality programs DETECT and HCA/ CCPROX, is presented. Simulation studies show that using DIMTEST with this new selection method has either similar or significantly higher power to detect multidimensionality than using linear factor analysis for subtest selection, while maintaining Type I error rates around the nominal level.
At Home in the Seamless Web
Authors: Kirkman Robert
Published: February 2008

Political responses to metropolitan growth in the United States and elsewhere should include careful ethical deliberation, but ethical judgment and action are limited by the involvement of individual moral agents in the complex processes that give shape to the built environment. I propose that casting the built environment as a heterogeneous sociotechnical ensemble can provide useful insight into the limits of ethics, particularly through the concept of obduracy. To the extent components of an ensemble are obdurate, they can stop or deflect even well-considered actions even as they impose constraints on moral agency itself. From this possibility spring a number of worthwhile lines of inquiry at the confluence of ethics and technology studies.
Drama, Talk, and Emotion
Authors: Harvey Matthew
Published: February 2008

This article argues that the quantitative and quasi-experimental approach to evaluating public participation exercises is deficient in at least two respects. First, casting participants in instrumental terms excludes that participants have an experience and that this may be dramatic and emotional. If people are to be invited, even obliged, to participate, then this experience should be considered in event evaluation. Second, current evaluation frameworks tend not to be sensitive to what actually happened in terms of the actions of participants and how these influenced the proceedings and outcome, thus ignoring that such events are fora where positions, values, decisions, and so forth are constructed and constrained rather than simply reported. This article considers the possible contribution of dramaturgical, discourse and conversation analytic, and ethnographic and phenomenological approaches to evaluating participation exercises and illustrates their potential with data gathered during the U.K. “GM Nation?” public debate.
Promethean Elites Encounter Precautionary Publics
Authors: Dryzek John S. , Goodin Robert E. , Tucker Aviezer , Reber Bernard
Published: February 2008

Issues concerning technological risk have increasingly become the subject of deliberative exercises involving participation of ordinary citizens. The most popular topic for deliberation has been genetically modified (GM) foods. Despite the varied circumstances of their establishment, deliberative “minipublics” almost always produce recommendations that reflect a worldview more “precautionary” than the “Promethean” outlook more common among governing elites. There are good structural reasons for this difference. Its existence raises the question of why elites sponsor mini-publics and if policy is little affected by the results of deliberations, questions the possibility of deliberative legitimation of public policy. We make this argument by looking at mini-publics (where possible, a common consensus conference design) on GM foods in France, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and Switzerland. Deliberative legitimation becomes plausible if elites can attenuate their Promethean outlook. This is possible if ecological modernization discourse pervades their politics; Denmark provides an illustration.
When Is Knowledge Ripe for Primary Care?
Authors: Beaulieu Marie-Dominique , Proulx Michelle , Jobin Guy , Kugler Marianne , Gossard Françis , Denis Jean-Louis , Larouche Danielle
Published: February 2008

The objectives of this study were to explore the meaning of scientific evidence as it is understood by primary care physicians. Individual interviews were conducted with actors chosen for their roles in the production and use of knowledge: 22 family physicians, 13 specialist physicians, and 6 researchers. Two situations served as points of reference for these discussions: screening for genetic breast cancer and treatment of hypertension. The results suggest that there may be a misunderstanding between the producers of knowledge and primary care practitioners with respect to what constitutes “evidence”— knowledge ready for integration into the clinical practice of primary care. These potential differences go beyond the issues of how information is disseminated. Rather, many of the questions raised by family physicians concern how knowledge is developed. In the interests of fostering better dissemination of new knowledge and encouraging its adoption, new links should be created between knowledge “producers” and potential users.
To Monitor or Not to Monitor
Authors: Welbourne Theresa M. , Ferrante Claudia J.
Published: February 2008

An untested assumption in the gainsharing and group incentive literatures is that peer monitoring is an activity that employees will engage in, and this behavior will be supported by their managers. This study tests that assumption by examining how managers respond (via performance ratings of workers) to peer monitoring under two different pay conditions—traditional merit pay and merit pay with gainsharing. Data from 203 employees in a custom brokerage and freight-forwarding services firm suggest that observational monitoring (i.e., noticing coworkers' behavior) is positively associated with manager ratings of workers' performance under both pay conditions. However, advisory monitoring (i.e., reacting to coworkers' behavior) is positively related to manager ratings of workers' performance under gainsharing and negatively related to manager ratings of workers' performance under traditional merit pay. Implications of these findings for managers are discussed.
Influence of Compensation Strategies in Canadian Technology-Intensive Firms on Organizational and Human Resources Performance
Authors: Tremblay Michel , Chênevert Denis
Published: February 2008

This study examines the role of technological intensity in the choice of compensation policies and the influence of such policies on organization (market, productivity) and human resources performance (turnover, work climate, discretionary efforts). Using a survey of 252 Canadian firms, the authors show that technological intensity has a significant influence on compensation policies. A second survey of 128 Canadian organizations also demonstrates that technological intensity has a significant moderating effect on the association between several compensation policies and both human resources and organizational performance. More specifically, the authors find that greater emphasis on group performance plans and market pay is positively associated with productivity in high-technology firms. Extensive use of individual performance pay plans in high-technology firms is positively associated with turnover, whereas the use of group performance plans is negatively related to turnover.
Self-Enhancement and Self-Stability Predict School Achievement at the National Level
Authors: Minkov Michael
Published: February 2008

This article uses as a starting point S. Heine's hypothesis that higher self-enhancement correlates with self-stability and the combination of the two may predict lower interest in some types of self-improvement. This hypothesis is tested at the ecological level. World Values Survey items are used to demonstrate that there exists a bipolar cultural dimension with two main strongly correlated facets. One of them captures some aspects of self-enhancement versus selfeffacement, whereas the other taps self-stability and self-consistency versus self-flexibility. The dimension is statistically and conceptually very close to the previously reported Confucian Dynamism or Long-Term Orientation. It predicts national educational achievement as measured by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and national illiteracy rates, and the effect is strong even after controlling for gross domestic product (GDP) per person.
Household Composition and Housing Expenditures in Rental‐Occupied and Owner‐Occupied Markets
Authors: Ulker Aydogan
Published: February 2008

This article examines the relationship between household compositions and housing expenditures in rental‐occupied and owner‐occupied markets. The author finds that renters allocate their budget proportionately between housing and nonhousing goods for an additional household member, leaving the budget share of housing expenditures unchanged. For homeowners, nevertheless, an extra member implies a reduction in housing expenditures as a share of total budget. Although age and gender compositions turn out to be significant in determining the budget share of housing expenditures for renters, they play no major role for homeowners. And although an increase in the number of working members for renters significantly reduces the share of budget spent on housing, it has no significant impact for their owner counterparts. Moreover, keeping total expenditures constant, the main income source of the head of the household does not make any difference in terms of resource allocation across housing and nonhousing goods for both renters and owners.
Sequential Treatment for Nicotine Dependence and Postcessation Weight Concern in a Female Diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia
Authors: Cooper Theodore V. , Hanson Brenda S. , Burke Randy S. , Hunt Yvonne M.
Published: February 2008

Despite declines in smoking prevalence, some populations represent significant challenges to tobacco cessation programs, including smokers with psychiatric comorbidity and/or weight concerns. Few studies have found effective interventions for tobacco cessation or addressed the prevalence of smoking-related concerns in psychiatric populations. The side effects of many psychotropic medications, decreased participation in physical activity, and weight gain following cessation suggest that postcessation weight concerns and actual weight gain may be significant barriers to cessation as well. Therefore, serial interventions, rather than simultaneous ones, seem well suited to address these issues. This case study represents the piloting of serial cessation and postcessation weight gain prevention interventions in a female diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Results suggested that the serial implementation of cognitive-behavioral interventions can be effective in promoting tobacco cessation in individuals with co-occurring disorders.
A shorter von Willebrand factor survival in O blood group subjects explains how ABO determinants influence plasma von Willebrand factor
Authors: Gallinaro Lisa , Cattini Maria Grazia , Sztukowska Maryta , Padrini Roberto , Sartorello Francesca , Pontara Elena , Bertomoro Antonella , Daidone Viviana , Pagnan Antonio , Casonato Alessandra
Published: February 2008

ABO blood groups greatly influence circulating von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels, and O group subjects have lower VWF values. In this study, we investigated whether ABO groups affect VWF survival by monitoring the post-DDAVP (1-desamino-8-d arginine vasopressin) time courses of VWF antigen (VWF:Ag), VWF collagen binding (VWF:CB), and factor VIII (FVIII) in 47 healthy subjects (28 O and 19 non-O blood groups). The elimination half-life (T1/2el) of VWF was found significantly shorter in O than in non-O subjects (10.0 ± 0.8 hours vs 25.5 ± 5.3 hours, respectively; P < .01), as was the T1/2el of VWF:CB (7.9 ± 0.5 hours vs 20.9 ± 4.5 hours; P < .01). A direct linear correlation was found between basal VWF:Ag and T1/2el, subjects with higher VWF levels having longer-surviving VWF. ABO blood groups appeared to strongly influence VWF clearance, but not its synthesis or release from endothelial cells. The VWF propeptide to VWF:Ag ratio, useful for predicting an increased VWF clearance, was found significantly higher in O than in non-O individuals (1.6 ± 0.1 vs 1.2 ± 0.5, P < .001), with values that correlated inversely with T1/2el (P < .001). Based on these findings, we conclude that the lower VWF values in O group individuals is attributable to a shorter VWF survival and circulating VWF values are strongly influenced by its half-life.
Acute syphilitic chorioretinitis after a missed primary diagnosis: a case report
Authors: Handtrack Claudia , Knorr Harald , Amann Kerstin U , Schoerner Christoph , Hilgers Karl F , Geißdörfer Walter
Published: February 2008

Introduction

Syphilis is well known as an infectious disease which can present with a large variety of symptoms. Clinical diagnosis can be difficult and may be complicated in modern medicine by immunosuppressive treatment and possible side effects of medication.

Case presentation

We describe a rare case of placoid chorioretinitis due to Treponema pallidum which developed after the primary symptom of proteinuria was not recognized as a rare manifestation of syphilis. Diagnosis of syphilitic chorioretinitis and/or endophthalmitis was made by broad range amplification of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene obtained from vitreous after diagnostic vitrectomy.

Conclusion

This case shows that clinicians should be alert in patients with proteinuria and chorioretinitis as they can represent rare manifestations of syphilis. Syphilis should be in the differential diagnosis of any unknown symptom and in the presumed side effects of medication.
Reconstitution of a chemical defense signaling pathway in a heterologous system
Authors: Cohen Staci A. Padove , Hatt Hanns , Kubanek Julia , McCarty Nael A.
Published: February 2008

Chemical signaling plays an important role in ecological interactions, such as communication and predator–prey dynamics. Since sessile species cannot physically escape predators, many contain compounds that deter predation; however, it is largely unknown how predators physiologically detect deterrent chemicals. Few studies have investigated ecologically relevant aversive taste responses in any predator. Our objective was to determine if a signaling pathway for detecting marine sponge-derived deterrent compounds could be reconstituted in a heterologous expression system to ultimately facilitate investigation of the molecular mechanism of such an aversive behavioral response. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) rejected artificial diets laced with sponge chemical defense compounds that were previously shown to deter a generalist marine predator, Thalassoma bifasciatum,suggesting that zebrafish can recognize deterrent compounds relevant to coral reef systems. Transcripts made from a zebrafish cDNA library were expressed in a heterologous system, Xenopus laevis oocytes, and tested for chemoreceptor activation via electrophysiology, using the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) as a reporter. Oocytes expressing gene sequences from the library and CFTR exhibited a CFTR-like electrophysiological response to formoside and ectyoplasides A and B, sponge defense compounds. Therefore, the chemical defense-activated signaling pathway can be reconstituted in Xenopus oocytes. Kinetics of the responses suggested that the responses to formoside and ectyoplasides A and B were receptor-mediated and capable of using the Gαs signaling pathway in this system. This bioassay has the potential to lead to the identification of genes that encode receptors capable of interacting with deterrent chemicals, which would enable understanding of predator detection of chemical defenses.
Speed-dependent intrinsic caudal fin muscle recruitment during steady swimming in bluegill sunfish,Lepomis macrochirus
Authors: Flammang Brooke E. , Lauder George V.
Published: February 2008

There are approximately 50 muscles that control tail fin shape in most teleost fishes, and although myotomal muscle function has been extensively studied, little work has been done on the intrinsic musculature that controls and shapes the tail. In this study we measured electrical activity in intrinsic tail musculature to determine if these muscles are active during steady rectilinear locomotion, and to compare intrinsic muscle recruitment patterns to previous data on myotomal muscle fibers. Five bluegill sunfish(Lepomis macrochirus) were anaesthetized and electrode wires surgically placed into a total of 24 intrinsic caudal muscles, up to 13 at a time, and activity was correlated with synchronous recordings from myotomal fibers in the caudal peduncle. After recovery, fish swam steadily at speeds of 0.5, 1.2 and 2.0 L s–1, while filmed from lateral,posterior and ventral views simultaneously at 250 frames s–1. Comparison among speeds confirmed that muscle recruitment varies significantly with speed. At 0.5 L s–1, the caudal fin was generally not used for propulsion, and swimming was accomplished primarily through body undulations. Intrinsic caudal muscle activity at this speed was intermittent and variable. At 1.2 and 2.0 L s–1, the supracarinalis and infracarinalis muscles acted on the dorsal- and ventral-most fin rays, respectively, to expand the surface area of the caudal fin. The interradialis muscles adducted individual fin rays, dorsally to ventrally, following activation of the hypochordal longitudinalis. Contralateral muscle activity of interradialis muscles occurred as the caudal fin crossed the mean direction of travel and fin height was greatest, whereas ipsilateral activity of carinalis muscles occurred near points of maximum excursion of the fin, at speeds of 1.2 and 2.0 Ls–1, after fin height was lowest. Burst intensity increased with swimming speed, suggesting stiffening of the tail fin against imposed hydrodynamic loads. Activity patterns of intrinsic caudal muscles suggest that these most posterior muscles in fishes, located within the tail, are among the very first recruited as swimming speed increases, and that slow undulatory swimming is powered by muscle fibers located posteriorly in the caudal peduncle and tail.
Research Note—When Is Versioning Optimal for Information Goods?
Authors: Bhargava Hemant K. , Choudhary Vidyanand
Published: February 2008

This paper provides insights about when versioning is an optimal strategy for information goods. Our characterization of this class of goods is that variable costs are invariant with quality, including the special case of zero variable costs. Our analysis assumes a monopoly firm that has an existing product in the market and has an opportunity to segment the market by introducing additional lower-quality versions. We derive a simple decision rule for determining the optimality of versioning based on the solution to a single-product maximization problem. Versioning is optimal when the optimal market share of the lower-quality version, offered alone, is greater than the optimal market share of the high-quality version, offered alone. A firm can profitably employ versioning for an information good if it can design the lower quality in a way that, relative to their valuations for the high-end version, high-type consumers have a lower relative valuation for the lower quality than do low-type consumers. When variable costs increase, a firm that offered only one product version need not consider adding another version. When variable costs decrease, the firm should explore adding a lower-quality version.
High Touch Through High Tech: The Impact of Salesperson Technology Usage on Sales Performance via Mediating Mechanisms
Authors: Ahearne Michael , Jones Eli , Rapp Adam , Mathieu John
Published: February 2008

Sales technology has been touted as a primary tool for enhancing customer relationship management. However, empirical research is sparse concerning the use of information technology (IT) and its effects on the relationship between salespersons and customers. Using an interdisciplinary research approach, we extend task-technology-fit (TTF) theory by examining the mechanisms through which use of IT by the sales force influences salesperson performance. We test a model that incorporates salespersons' customer service, attention to personal details, adaptability, and knowledge—key marketing constructs that could mediate IT's impact on salesperson performance. Results in a pharmaceutical sales setting indicate that IT use can improve customer service and salespersons' adaptability, leading to improved sales performance.
The Acquisition of Washing Behaviours in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Authors: Krochmalik Annette , Jones Mairwen K. , Menzies Ross G.
Published: February 2008

Prior to CBT treatment, nineteen obsessive–compulsive washers were administered Jones and Menzies's (1998a) obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) Origins Questionnaire (OOQ) in an attempt to examine the relevance of associative learning pathways in the aetiology of the disorder. The open-ended nature of the questions allows for the distinction between classical conditioning events and traumatic events in which no identifiable unconditioned stimulus can be found. On the basis of subjects' responses on the OOQ, associative learning was shown to account for only five cases of OC washing. Of note, depression was shown to facilitate the onset of OCD in these individuals. Every subject who experienced a relevant indirect learning event and went on to develop OCD, revealed they were experiencing depression at the time. No relationship was found between the mode of OCD acquisition and subsequent response to treatment. Finally, the data revealed that subjects who identified washing/cleaning concerns at the onset of their disorder, as distinct from subjects who identified other OC concerns (e.g. checking, hoarding) at the onset of their disorder, scored similarly on current level of severity and degree of intractability.
Half a Century of Care
Authors: McColl Mary Ann
Published: February 2008

The issue of long-term care and support of people with acquired brain injury has been a significant clinical and policy issue for some time; however. as evidence accrues about increases in incidence and survival from brain injury, the focus on this issue sharpens (Kolpan, 1990; McCluskey, 2005). The net effect of these increases (in the number of new brain injuries per year plus survival beyond the acute phase) is a sharp increase in prevalence, or the number of people living with the effects of brain injury in a given population. Add to that new information that has recently been published regarding long-term survival, and it becomes immediately apparent that factors are converging to produce an immanent increase in the economic and human costs of acquired brain injuries, at least in the developed world.
Long-Term Outcome Following Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Sloan Sue , Winkler Dianne , Anson Katie
Published: February 2008

Objectives: To investigate care needs, functional outcome, role participation and community integration approximately nine years following severe brain injury. To gain an understanding of the ongoing cost of care and support needs for this group. Participants: 13 individuals who had sustained an extremely severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), between 8 and 9 years previously participated in the study. These individuals were the remaining participants of a larger sample of consecutive admissions between 1996 and 1998 at Ivanhoe Manor Rehabilitation Hospital. Measures: Structured Interview, Functional Independence Measure, Community Integration Questionnaire, Care and Needs Scale and Role Checklist. Results: The majority of the participants were reported to have high support needs, with 6 participants (46%) requiring 24-hour support. Four participants were reported to able to be left alone for between a few hours per day to almost all week. Three participants reported that they were completely independent. The participant's characteristics are described in terms of functional independence, community integration and role participation. Overall care needs appear to have remained relatively stable between 2 and 9 years postinjury. However, there was a shift in the proportion of paid and gratuitous care over time, with a decrease in paid care and increased gratuitous care noted from the 2-year to long-term follow-up time points. Conclusions: Severe TBI has a long term influence on life roles, care needs and functional independence. The current study suggests that high care needs do not necessarily preclude participants from leading active lives and participating in valued life roles. The importance of social support in facilitating participation in activity and the potential issues for caregiver burden, given the increase in gratuitous care over time, should be acknowledged and further research in this area is recommended.