bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Differential expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors in inflammatory periapical diseases
Authors: Silva T. A. , Garlet G. P. , Lara V. S. , Martins W. , Silva J. S. , Cunha F. Q.
Published: August 2005

Background:  Periapical lesions are thought to be the result of a local inflammatory response mediated by inflammatory cell infiltration and production of inflammatory mediators. Although chemokines are strongly implicated in the migration and activation of leukocytes in different inflammatory diseases and experimental models, little is known regarding the expression of chemokines and their receptors in human apical periodontitis.

Objective and methods:  The objective of this study was to determine the expression of chemokines and their receptors by real‐time polymerase chain reaction in samples obtained from healthy gingiva, periapical granulomas, and inflammatory periradicular cysts. The inflammatory infiltrate was characterized by immunohistochemistry.

Results: Comparing cysts and granulomas, an increase in CD4+ and CD8+ cells was observed in granulomas, despite the similar numbers of CD45RO‐positive cells detected in both lesions. The analysis of mRNA expression revealed increased levels of CCR1, CCR2, CCR3, CCR5, CXCR1, and CXCR3 in both types of lesion compared with controls. Cysts exhibited a higher expression of CCR3, CCR5, CXCR1, and CXCR3 compared to granulomas. A significantly higher expression of RANTES, IP‐10, and MCP‐1 was detected in cysts compared with controls or granulomas. The expression of interleukin‐8, MIP‐1α, and MIP‐1β was not different in the three experimental groups.

Conclusions:  The increase in Th1 type (CCR1, CCR5, and CXCR3) and Th2 type (CCR2 and CCR3) receptors in both periapical lesions suggests the concomitant occurrence of Th1 and Th2 responses. Furthermore, the prevalent expression of the receptors CCR3, CCR5, CXCR1, and CXCR3 and of the chemokines RANTES, IP‐10, and MCP‐1 in cysts may point to a role in the progression of granulomas to cysts.
From complexity to category: Responding to diagnostic uncertainties of autistic spectrum disorders
Authors: Skellern Catherine , Schluter Philip , McDowell Michael
Published: August 2005

Objective: Recent data from Education Queensland has identified rising numbers of children receiving diagnoses of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Faced with funding diagnostic pressures, in clinical situations that are complex and inherently uncertain, it is possible that specialists err on the side of a positive diagnosis. This study examines the extent to which possible overinclusion of ASD diagnosis may exist in the presence of uncertainty and factors potentially related to this practice in Queensland.

Methods: Using anonymous self‐report, all Queensland child psychiatrists and paediatricians who see paediatric patients with development/behavioural problems were surveyed and asked whether they had ever specified an ASD diagnosis in the presence of diagnostic uncertainty. Using logistic regression, elicited responses to the diagnostic uncertainty questions were related to other clinical‐ and practice‐related characteristics.

Results: Overall, 58% of surveyed psychiatrists and paediatricians indicated that, in the face of diagnostic uncertainty, they had erred on the side of providing an ASD diagnosis for educational ascertainment and 36% of clinicians had provided an autism diagnosis for Carer's Allowance when Centrelink diagnostic specifications had not been met.

Conclusion: In the absence of definitive biological markers, ASD remains a behavioural diagnosis that is often complex and uncertain. In response to systems that demand a categorical diagnostic response, specialists are providing ASD diagnoses, even when uncertain. The motivation for this practice appears to be a clinical risk/benefit analysis of what will achieve the best outcomes for children. It is likely that these practices will continue unless systems change eligibility to funding based on functional impairment rather than medical diagnostic categories.
Objective measurement of bladder sensation: use of a new patient‐activated device and response to neuromodulation
Authors: Craggs Michael D.
Published: August 2005

Detrusor overactivity is the primary objective focus of most investigations into the diagnosis and management of patients with urgency incontinence. Patients with an overactive bladder are characteristically troubled by subjective sensations of bladder fullness and urinary urgency, and frequently void at low bladder volumes attained before noticeable detrusor overactivity occurs. Bladder sensations are therefore crucial to understanding voiding patterns and symptoms, but little progress has been made in objectively describing the range of these sensations, and adequate information is lacking about their response to neuromodulation. Towards this end, a keypad ‘urge score’ device was designed to measure sensations during bladder filling. This patient‐activated device gathers information about patient perceptions of bladder filling and the successive stages of increasing bladder sensation, without prompting or intervention by the investigator. The accuracy of the ‘urge keypad’ during filling cystometrography was validated in patients with urgency incontinence, and compared with data abstracted from patient voiding diaries. The device provides reliable and repeatable measures of different bladder sensations, with excellent, statistically significant consistency between bladder volumes and corresponding levels of sensation. Subsequently, it was shown that the sensation of urgency can be suppressed by neuromodulation in most patients tested; this suppression occurs with improvements in bladder capacity and voided volumes. It is therefore suggested that urodynamics with concurrent sensory evaluation may offer a more useful assessment tool for selecting those patients for therapies such as neuromodulation who present predominantly with the symptom of urgency.
Role of muscarinic receptor antagonists in urgency and nocturia
Authors: Michel Martin C. , De La Rosette Jean J.M.C.H.
Published: August 2005

The overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome is defined as urgency, with or without urgency incontinence, usually accompanied by frequency and nocturia. Muscarinic receptor antagonists are the most established form of treatment for OAB, but until recently their effectiveness was only confirmed for symptoms of incontinence and frequency. In recent studies, selected muscarinic antagonists, including darifenacin, solifenacin, tolterodine and trospium, significantly reduced the number of urgency episodes per day relative to placebo. While some data raise the possibility that certain of these agents may be more effective than others in this regard, this variability in their effect on urgency needs to be confirmed in future studies. Moreover, it remains to be determined whether counting the number of urgency episodes or assessing the subjective intensity of the sensation of urgency more adequately reflects patient needs and therapeutic efficacy. For nocturia, muscarinic receptor antagonists have only inconsistently shown statistically greater effects than placebo. This inconsistency may relate to the multifactorial nature of nocturia, which even in patients with OAB can have many causes, not all of which may respond/be sensitive to muscarinic receptor antagonism.
Sequential Effects of Phonological Priming in Visual Word Recognition
Authors: Carreiras Manuel , Ferrand Ludovic , Grainger Jonathan , Perea Manuel
Published: August 2005

Two masked priming experiments were conducted to examine phonological priming of bisyllabic words in French, and in particular, whether it operates sequentially or in parallel. Bisyllabic target words were primed by pseudowords that shared either the first or the second phonological syllable of the target. Overlap of the first syllable only—not the second—produced facilitation in both the lexical decision and the naming tasks. These findings suggest that, for polysyllabic words, phonological codes are computed sequentially during silent reading and reading aloud.
Discounting and Conditionalization
Authors: Goedert Kelly M. , Harsch Jennifer , Spellman Barbara A.
Published: August 2005

When people are asked to judge the strengths of two potential causes of an effect, they often demonstrate discounting—devaluing the strength of a target cause when it is judged in the presence of a strong (relative to a weak) alternative cause. Devaluing the target cause sometimes results from conditionalization—holding alternative causes constant while evaluating the target cause. Yet discounting not attributable to conditionalization also occurs. We sought to dissociate conditionalization and discounting (beyond that accounted for by conditionalization) by having subjects perform either a spatial or a verbal working memory task while learning a causal relation. Conditionalization was disrupted by the verbal task but not the spatial task; however, discounting was disrupted by the spatial task but not the verbal task. Conditionalization and discounting are therefore cognitively dissociable processes in human causal inference.
Familiarity Breeds Searching
Authors: Shinskey Jeanne L. , Munakata Yuko
Published: August 2005

What infants appear to know depends heavily on how they are tested. For example, infants seem to understand object permanence (that objects continue to exist when no longer perceptible) within the first few months of life when this understanding is assessed through looking measures, but not until several months later when it is assessed through search measures. One explanation of such results is that infants gradually develop stronger representations of objects through experience, and that stronger representations are required for some tasks than for others. The current study confirms one prediction from this account: Stronger representations of familiar objects (relative to novel objects) should support greater sensitivity to their continued existence. After seeing objects hidden, infants reached more for familiar than novel objects, in striking contrast to their robust novelty preferences with visible objects. Theoretical implications concerning the origins of knowledge are discussed.
Can a Self-Propelled Box Have a Goal?
Authors: Luo Yuyan , Baillargeon Renée
Published: August 2005

Some researchers have suggested that infants' ability to reason about goals develops as a result of their experiences with human agents and is then gradually extended to other agents. Other researchers have proposed that goal attribution is rooted in a specialized system of reasoning that is activated whenever infants encounter entities with appropriate features (e.g., self-propulsion). The first view predicts that young infants should attribute goals to human but not other agents; the second view predicts that young infants should attribute goals to both human and nonhuman agents. The present research revealed that 5-month-old infants (the youngest found thus far to attribute goals to human agents) also attribute goals to nonhuman agents. In two experiments, infants interpreted the actions of a self-propelled box as goal-directed. These results provide support for the view that from an early age, infants attribute goals to any entity they identify as an agent.
Less Is More
Authors: Carlson Stephanie M. , Davis Angela C. , Leach Jamie G.
Published: August 2005

Executive function is recognized as a critical component of children's cognitive and social development. In two studies, a measure of executive function that had been used in research with chimpanzees was adapted for preschoolers. On this task, called Less Is More, children must point to a smaller reward (two candies) to receive a larger reward (five candies). In Study 1 (N = 101), performance was significantly related to age (3 vs. 4), verbal ability, and established measures of executive function. In Study 2 (N = 128), symbolic representations substituted for real candies in this task. Three-year-olds' performance improved significantly as afunction of symbolic distancing. This research has implications for the role of symbol systems in the development of executive control over thought and action.
Independent Resources for Attentional Tracking in the Left and Right Visual Hemifields
Authors: Alvarez George A. , Cavanagh Patrick
Published: August 2005

The ability to divide attention enables people to keep track of up to four independently moving objects. We now show that this tracking capacity is independently constrained in the left and right visual fields as if separate tracking systems were engaged, one in each field. Specifically, twice as many targets can be successfully tracked when they are divided between the left and right hemifields as when they are all presented within the same hemifield. This finding places broad constraints on the anatomy and mechanisms of attentive tracking, ruling out a single attentional focus, even one that moves quickly from target to target.
Attention Alters the Appearance of Spatial Frequency and Gap Size
Authors: Gobell Joetta , Carrasco Marisa
Published: August 2005

Transient attention is the automatic and short-lasting preferential processing of an area in visual space initiated by sudden stimulation in the same vicinity. Transient attention enhances early visual processing in a variety of dimensions, increasing contrast sensitivity, spatial resolution, and acuity. A recent study established that the increase in contrast sensitivity is accompanied by an increase in apparent contrast. In the present study, we investigated whether the effects of transient attention on spatial resolution and acuity are accompanied by corresponding phenomenological changes in these dimensions. The data indicate that transient attention increases the apparent spatial frequency of Gabor stimuli (Experiment 1) and increases apparent gap size in a Landolt-square acuity task (Experiment 2). Transient attention not only affects basic visual processing—it changes what one experiences.
Managing the manganese: molecular mechanisms of manganese transport and homeostasis
Authors: Pittman Jon K.
Published: August 2005

Manganese (Mn) is an essential metal nutrient for plants. Recently, some of the genes responsible for transition metal transport in plants have been identified; however, only relatively recently have Mn2+ transport pathways begun to be identified at the molecular level. These include transporters responsible for Mn accumulation into the cell and release from various organelles, and for active sequestration into endomembrane compartments, particularly the vacuole and the endoplasmic reticulum. Several transporter gene families have been implicated in Mn2+ transport, including cation/H+ antiporters, natural resistance‐associated macrophage protein (Nramp) transporters, zinc‐regulated transporter/iron‐regulated transporter (ZRT/IRT1)‐related protein (ZIP) transporters, the cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) transporter family, and P‐type ATPases. The identification of mutants with altered Mn phenotypes can allow the identification of novel components in Mn homeostasis. In addition, the characterization of Mn hyperaccumulator plants can increase our understanding of how plants can adapt to excess Mn, and ultimately allow the identification of genes that confer this stress tolerance. The identification of genes responsible for Mn2+ transport has substantially improved our understanding of plant Mn homeostasis.
Evolution of leaf developmental mechanisms
Authors: Piazza Paolo , Jasinski Sophie , Tsiantis Miltos
Published: August 2005

Leaves are determinate organs produced by the shoot apical meristem. Land plants demonstrate a large range of variation in leaf form. Here we discuss evolution of leaf form in the context of our current understanding of leaf development, as this has emerged from molecular genetic studies in model organisms. We also discuss specific examples where parallel studies of development in different species have helped understanding how diversification of leaf form may occur in nature.

Contents

Summary
693

I.
Introduction
693

II.
Genetics of shoot development in simple‐leafed model organisms
696

III.
Dissected leaves
703

IV.
Conclusions and future directions
705

Acknowledgements
706

References
706
Genes and salt tolerance: bringing them together
Authors: Munns Rana
Published: August 2005

Salinity tolerance comes from genes that limit the rate of salt uptake from the soil and the transport of salt throughout the plant, adjust the ionic and osmotic balance of cells in roots and shoots, and regulate leaf development and the onset of senescence. This review lists some candidate genes for salinity tolerance, and draws together hypotheses about the functions of these genes and the specific tissues in which they might operate. Little has been revealed by gene expression studies so far, perhaps because the studies are not tissue‐specific, and because the treatments are often traumatic and unnatural. Suggestions are made to increase the value of molecular studies in identifying genes that are important for salinity tolerance.ContentsSummary645I.Introduction645II.Physiological mechanisms of salt tolerance646III.Candidate genes for salt tolerance and results of transformation experiments650IV.Gene activity expected in roots, leaves and growing tissues of plants exposed to salinity, and results of gene expression studies655V.Conclusions660Acknowledgements660References660
An enhancement to the Maddox Wing test for the reliable measurement of horizontal heterophoria
Authors: Pointer Jonathan S.
Published: August 2005

Purpose:  To attempt to improve the reliability of the Maddox Wing (MW) test for the measurement of horizontal heterophoria at near.

Methods:  Horizontal heterophoria measurements at 30 cm using the MW instrument were made on a group of 58 normally‐sighted binocular young adult subjects. The procedures were repeated at each of five weekly visits. The standard tangent scale card provided by the instrument's manufacturer was used as the control condition vs four alternative cards designed to enhance accommodative stimulation and improve operational reliability.

Results:  A statistically‐similar mean near phoria value was recorded using each of the five cards. However one of the alternative card designs produced a small but statistically significantly less variable result than the others: this design featured a much smaller typeface (4pt) than that used for the digits on the standard card, and the horizontal row of numbers was flanked by two periods of a low spatial frequency (< 2 c deg−1) square wave grating.

Conclusions:  It is suggested that for improved reliability of near phoria measurement when using the MW instrument a more appropriately detailed design of tangent card would promote enhanced accommodation, an operational consideration likely to be especially relevant when examining children.
Evaluation of the pressure phosphene tonometer as a self‐tonometer
Authors: Naruse Shigeta , Mori Kazuhiko , Kinoshita Shigeru
Published: August 2005

Purpose:  Different from conventional tonometers, the pressure phosphene tonometer (FPT) measures intraocular pressure (IOP) through the upper eyelid without corneal applanation. We evaluated the usefulness of the FPT as a self‐tonometer by comparing FPT IOP readings with those obtained with the Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT). We also evaluated the influence of central corneal thickness (CCT) on IOP measurements obtained with the two different devices.

Methods:  We confirmed the repeatability of FPT measurements in a preliminary study. The main investigation formed part of a prospective clinical trial, in which IOP was measured in 101 eyes of 101 participants (55 normal and 46 glaucomatous eyes) using GAT and FPT. FPT measurements were self‐acquired by each participant. CCT was measured with an ultrasonic pachymeter. The agreement between FPT and GAT measurements was evaluated by the method of Bland and Altman. Using individual IOP and CCT values, we determined the correlation coefficients and performed regression analysis.

Results:  FPT met the British Standard criteria for reproducibility. Among 101 participants, seven patients with glaucoma were unable to detect the pressure phosphene and to measure IOP using the FPT. By the statistical method of Bland and Altman there was a significant difference between FPT readings self‐measured by the remaining 94 participants and GAT readings obtained by an ophthalmologist. There was no correlation between FPT and CCT readings in 65 participants with no prior history of anti‐glaucoma medications or glaucoma surgery.

Conclusions:  Self‐tonometer FPT readings differed from GAT readings. However, we suggest that the FPT may be a clinically acceptable device because it enables patients to self‐measure their IOP easily and safely. As FPT readings are not affected by CCT, this tonometer may be of clinical and practical value for the at‐will measurement of IOP in patients with corneal changes.
Pannus and enthesitis in the atlanto‐axial region in ankylosing spondylitis
Authors: SINGH Sunilkumar , BALAKRISHNAN Canchi , MAHESHWARI Shailendra
Published: August 2005

A 30‐year‐old man with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) of 7 years duration consulted us for intractable neck pain of 2 months duration. Magnetic resonance imaging cervical spine showed inflammatory pannus around the dens and computed tomography scan showed fluffy periostitis at the attachment of the alar ligament. Cervical spine involvement in AS is reviewed.
Information Therapy: the strategic role of prescribed information in disease self‐management
Authors: METTLER Molly , KEMPER Donald W.
Published: August 2005

Information Therapy is a new disease management tool that provides cost‐effective patient support to a much larger portion of the chronically ill population than is generally reached. Defined as the prescription of specific, evidence‐based medical information to a specific patient, caregiver, or consumer at just the right time to help them make a specific health decision or take a self‐management action, Information Therapy can be electronically integrated into the process of care. Information prescriptions made available through Information Therapy will support efforts to improve health outcomes and quality in disease management.
Recurrent erythema nodosum: a diagnostic dilemma
Authors: AINON M. M. , WAHINUDDIN S. , MUHAINI O. , NORRAHA A. R.
Published: August 2005

Erythema nodosum is the most frequent clinico‐pathological variant of the panniculitides. We describe a case of a young lady who suffered from recurrent attacks of erythema nodosum over the anterior side of the lower extremities which was confirmed by histopathological finding. She was treated with corticosteroid and immuno‐suppressive agents without much improvement. She responded well to oral colchicine.
A survey of the musculoskeletal curricula of medical schools in the Asia‐Pacific region
Authors: MCCOLL Geoffrey
Published: August 2005

Aim:  The aim of this survey was to define the characteristics of undergraduate musculoskeletal teaching in medical schools of the Asia‐Pacific region.

Methods:  A questionnaire was developed by an expert group to define the characteristics of musculoskeletal teaching in respondent medical schools. The questionnaire collected basic data about the characteristics of the respondent medical schools and defined the number of hours and teaching modality used to deliver the teaching of rheumatology, orthopedics, metabolic bone disease and pain management. In addition, the respondents were asked whether their curriculum covered subjects from a list of ‘key topics’ in musculoskeletal medicine.

Results:  Of the 130 medical schools who received the questionnaire, responses were received from 44. Results showed that approximately 35 contact hours were devoted to the teaching of rheumatology, 63 hours to orthopedics, 10 hours to metabolic bone disease and 11 hours to pain management during the medical course. The total number of hours of musculoskeletal teaching represented approximately 2% of the total student contact hours. Furthermore, the majority of key musculoskeletal topics were covered in the respondent medical schools.

Conclusions:  The proportion of teaching time devoted to musculoskeletal conditions in the Asia‐Pacific region was not substantially different from that of medical schools elsewhere in the world. A substantial deficit of training in pain management and metabolic bone disease was identified, and should be addressed in future curriculum reform.
Clinical manifestations of chondromalacia patella in 260 Iranian patients
Authors: SALEHI I. , JAMALI R. , KHAZAELI SH. , DAVATCHI F. , JAMSHIDI A. , AKBARIAN M. , GHARIBDOST F.
Published: August 2005

Background and aim:  Chondromalacia patella, which is characterized by softening of the patellar cartilage, is the most common cause of anterior knee pain in young women. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical features of patients with chondromalacia patella in Iran.

Methods:  All patients under 40 years, complaining of mechanical knee pain who were referred to Amir A’lam Rheumatology Unit, with positive shrug sign and normal knee X‐rays during the period September 2000 to September 2002, were included in this study. After physical examination and knee radiography, patients with knee arthritis, knee osteoarthritis and knee periarthritis were excluded. Patients with the clinical diagnosis of chondromalacia patella were studied. The demographic data, clinical disease characteristics and disease course were recorded.

Results:  There were 260 patients. They were predominantly female (F : M, 2.6 : 1), in the third decade of life and a mean age of 22.8 years at the onset of disease. Bilateral involvement was found in 92% of patients. The first manifestation was knee pain. The history of trauma or swelling of the knee occurred in about 20% of cases. The history of dislocation was 3%. Sitting with flexed knees, stairs, and the use of Turkish WCs aggravated the knee pain. About one‐third had knee malalignment, mostly mild genu varus. Patella alta was seen in 1.6%. Q‐angle more than 15° was seen in 90.8%. Mean Q‐angle was 21.9°, mean patellar angle was 122.6°, and mean intercondylar angle was 141.5°. All patients had the shrug sign. About 90% had Rabot test and crepitation, 3.5% had knee effusion, and 1% had knee laxity. Lower limb discrepancy was seen in 6.2% and spinal deformity in 10%. Ninety‐three percent of the patients were treated by conservative (medical) therapy.

Conclusion:  So the classic case of chondromalacia patella is a woman in her third decade of life with mechanical knee pain and positive shrug test.
Cash cropping and food crop productivity: synergies or trade‐offs?
Authors: Govereh Jones , Jayne T.S.
Published: August 2005

The case for promoting export‐oriented cash crops in Africa has generally been based on their direct potential contribution to agricultural productivity and small farmer incomes. A relatively neglected avenue of research concerns the synergistic effects that cash cropping can have on other household activities, including food production. The conventional view that cash crops compete with food crops for land and labour neglects the potential for cash crop schemes to make available inputs on credit, management training, and other resources that can contribute to food crop productivity, which might otherwise not be accessible to farmers if they did not participate in cash crop programs. This article builds on previous research by hypothesising key pathways by which cash crops may affect food crop activities and empirically measuring these effects using the case of cotton in Gokwe North District in Zimbabwe. Analysis is based on instrumental variable analysis of survey data on 430 rural households in 1996. Results indicate that—after controlling for household assets, education and locational differences—households engaging intensively in cotton production obtain higher grain yields than non‐cotton and marginal cotton producers. We also find evidence of regional spill‐over effects whereby commercialisation schemes induce second round investments in a particular area that provide benefits to all farmers in that region, regardless of whether they engage in that commercialisation scheme. The study suggests that the potential spill‐over benefits for food crops through participation in cash crop programs are important to consider in the development of strategies designed to intensify African food crop production.
Advertising and food, drink and tobacco consumption in the United Kingdom: a dynamic demand system
Authors: Duffy Martyn
Published: August 2005

This paper tests for the influence of advertising on the inter‐product distribution of consumer demand for non‐durable goods and services in the UK, 1963–1996. The long‐run demand for seven categories of non‐durable products is modelled through an advertising‐augmented version of the almost ideal demand system (AIDS), which is incorporated into an error‐correction model to allow for short‐run dynamic adjustments to long‐run equilibrium positions. Model estimates confirm that the restrictions of price homogeneity and symmetry appear to be consistent with the data, yield measures of the various types of demand elasticity that are in general plausible, confirm the strong influence of prices on the allocation of consumer expenditure, but find little evidence to support the hypothesis that advertising has the power to effect marked changes in the inter‐product pattern of consumer demand in the UK.
Adoption of agricultural innovations as a two‐stage partial observability process
Authors: Dimara Efthalia , Skuras Dimitris
Published: August 2005

In this paper, we reconsider the appropriateness of certain statistical analyses in innovation adoption studies and suggest that partial observability models may sometimes be more useful. The proposed models allow for a flexible specification of the process of adoption from one stage to two stages, facilitate the modelling of non‐adopters and remedy the violation of the assumption of full information. An application to the adoption of organic cultivation in Greece demonstrates the relative merits of the proposed analysis.
The impact of farm credit in Pakistan
Authors: Khandker Shahidur R. , Faruqee Rashid R.
Published: August 2005

Both informal and formal loans matter in agriculture. However, formal lenders provide many more production loans than informal lenders, often at a cost (mostly loan default cost) higher than what they can recover. For example, the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP), providing about 90% of formal loans in rural areas, incurs high loan default costs. Yet, like other governments, the Government of Pakistan supports the formal scheme on the grounds that lending to agriculture is a high risk activity because of covariate risk. Hence, such policies are often based on a market failure argument. As farm credit schemes are subsidised, policy makers must know if these schemes are worth supporting. Using a recent large household survey data from rural Pakistan (Rural Financial Market Studies or RFMS), we have attempted to estimate the effectiveness of the ADBP as a credit delivery institution. A two‐stage method that takes the endogeneity of borrowing into account is used to estimate credit impact. Results reveal that ADBP contributes to household welfare and that its impact is higher for smallholders than for large holders. Nevertheless, large holders receive the bulk of ADBP finance. The ADBP is, thus, not a cost‐effective institution in delivering rural finance. Its cost‐effectiveness can be improved by reducing its loan default cost and partially by targeting smallholders in agriculture where credit yields better results.
Price dynamics in the Bangladesh rice market: implications for public intervention
Authors: Brennan Donna
Published: August 2005

In this paper, the price dynamics of a rice market are examined using dynamic programming techniques. The model is parameterised to the case of Bangladesh and thus represents the situation of a very poor country which has characteristically high price elasticity (due to income effects) and high storage and interest costs. The incentives for private sector storage and its impact on price stability are examined. Various options for public intervention in the storage sector are also explored, including price ceiling schemes and subsidisation of storage costs. Results show that interventions that remove private disincentives (such as storage subsidies) are much cheaper than direct intervention by government, but the impact on the probability distribution of prices is quite different. The effect of trade on the probability distribution of prices is also examined.
Investment in soil conservation in northern Ethiopia: the role of land tenure security and public programs
Authors: Gebremedhin Berhanu , Swinton Scott M.
Published: August 2005

A double hurdle statistical analysis of 250 farms in the Tigray region of Ethiopia reveals different causal factors for soil conservation adoption versus intensity of use. Farmers' reasons for adopting soil conservation measures vary sharply between stone terraces and soil bunds. Long‐term investments in stone terraces were associated with secure land tenure, labour availability, proximity to the farmstead and learning opportunities via the existence of local food‐for‐work (FFW) projects. By contrast, short‐term investments in soil bunds were strongly linked to insecure land tenure and the absence of local food‐for‐work projects. Public conservation campaigns on private plots reduced adoption of both stone terraces and soil bunds.

Whereas capacity factors largely influenced the adoption decision, expected returns carried more influence for the intensity of stone terrace adoption (measured as metres of terrace per hectare). More stone terracing was built where fertile but erodible silty soils in higher rainfall areas offered valuable yield benefits. Intensity of terracing was also greater in remote villages where limited off‐farm employment opportunities reduced construction costs.

These results highlight the importance of the right kind of public interventions. Direct public involvement in constructing soil conservation structures on private lands appears to undermine incentives for private conservation investments. When done on public lands, however, public conservation activities may encourage private soil conservation by example. Secure land tenure rights clearly reinforce private incentives to make long‐term investments in soil conservation.
Optimal generic advertising in an imperfectly competitive food industry with variable proportions⋆
Authors: Kinnucan Henry W.
Published: August 2005

This paper determines the impact of food industry market power on farmers' incentives to promote in a situation where funds for promotion are raised through a per‐unit assessment on farm output and food industry technology is characterized by variable proportions. Specifically, building on earlier studies by Azzam [Am. J. Agric. Econ. 80 (1998) 76] and Holloway [Am. J. Agric. Econ. 73 (1991) 979], Muth's [Oxford Econ. Papers 16 (1965) 221] model is extended to consider the farm‐level impacts of generic advertising when downstream firms possess oligopoly and/or oligopsony power and advertising expenditure is endogenous at the market level. Applying the model to the US beef industry, we find that for plausible parameter values market power reduces farmers' incentives to promote. However, the disincentive is moderated by factor substitution, and effectively vanishes as the factor substitution elasticity approaches the retail demand elasticity. This suggests that the Dorfman–Steiner theorem, suitably modified to account for factor substitution, suffices to indicate optimal advertising intensity in the US beef sector.
Factors determining intercropping by rubber smallholders in Sri Lanka: a logit analysis
Authors: Herath P.H.M.U. , Takeya Hiroyuki
Published: August 2005

Variables related to farmers' awareness and attitudes towards intercropping of immature rubber (Hevea brusiliensis) stands, extension contacts, education level, and experience with farming other crops are positively associated with the probability of adoption. Higher levels of off‐farm income are associated with reduced intercropping in immature rubber stands. Farmers who are sole owners of the land and engaged in full or part‐time rubber farming show lower adoption rates than other land ownership groups. Social participation, family size, experience with farming rubber, immature and mature rubber stands size, and the nature of the land (flat/sloped) do not significantly influence adoption. These conclusions were obtained from a logit model estimated by employing the results of a survey of 588 smallholder rubber farmers from five major rubber‐growing regions in Sri Lanka.
Public infrastructure and productivity growth in Greek agriculture
Authors: Mamatzakis E.C.
Published: August 2005

Recent research has focused on the effect of public infrastructure on economic performance. In this paper, a model of Greek agriculture's technology and behaviour is constructed based on the dual cost function framework. The model provides a decomposition of productivity growth into the components technical change, returns to scale, and public infrastructure. The empirical estimates indicate that public infrastructure investment provides a significant return to agriculture and augments productivity growth. Over the period 1960–1995, the impact of public infrastructure on productivity growth in livestock and crop production is found to be positive, although it has been declining since the late 1970s. These results strongly suggest that a decline in public infrastructure investment can partly explain the observed decline in the productivity growth of Greek agriculture in the 1980s.
Metamodelling phosphorus best management practices for policy use: a frontier approach
Authors: Johansson Robert C. , Gowda Prasanna H. , Mulla David J. , Dalzell Brent J.
Published: August 2005

This article presents a modelling system for synthesising heterogeneous productivity and nutrient loading potentials inherent in agricultural cropland for policy use. Phosphorus abatement cost functions for cropland farmers in a southeastern Minnesota watershed are metamodelled using frontier analysis. These functions are used to evaluate policies aimed at reducing nonpoint phosphorus discharges into the Minnesota River. Results indicate an efficiently targeted policy to reduce phosphorus discharge by 40% would cost US$167,700 or 844 per farm.
Factors affecting entry and intensity in informal rental land markets in Southern Ethiopian highlands
Authors: Teklu Tesfaye , Lemi Adugna
Published: August 2005

Informal land transactions, particularly rental land markets, are emerging in rural Ethiopia in response to the inadequacies of the administratively based land distribution system to meet the growing demand for land and correct imbalances in factor proportions at the farm level. These informal land markets provide a vehicle to equalise factor proportions at the farm level and to improve productivity and hence households' welfare. Among the farmers who lease out land, those who live in the highland‐areas, where land is scarce and unequal, are more likely to engage in these markets. Increases in the size of land holdings relative to labour and livestock ownership, the number of non‐working household members and pressure for subsistence increase the likelihood of leasing out land. On the other hand, increases in the number of working adults, improved nutritional status and greater wealth affect negatively the supply of land into these markets. The potential exists for these markets to improve factor equalisation, reduce inequality in land holdings, and shift the income position of participating households. However, success depends on whether other factor markets are functioning to thwart forced disposal of land to meet subsistence. Public policy has pivotal role in fostering the growth of these markets and their land transfer and factor equalisation functions by ensuring their legally enforceable status, and removing legal restrictions that constrain choices of contracts and trading over greater distances. In addition, both long and short‐term policy measures are needed to reduce the extent to which poor farmers engage in distress transactions.
The economic benefits of rabbit control in Australian temperate pastures by the introduction of rabbit haemorrhagic disease
Authors: Vere D.T. , Jones R.E. , Saunders Glen
Published: August 2005

The European rabbit is present in most Australian environments and causes economic loss in agricultural systems by reducing production and imposing control costs on producers and governments. Research into rabbit control has recognised the need for reliable benefit‐cost analysis to justify inputs into rabbit management. This paper provides estimates of the costs of rabbits in Australian temperate pasture systems and of the long‐term benefits of reducing rabbits by the introduction of rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD). Rabbits impose annual costs on wool producers in the temperate pasture areas of between 7.1 and 38.7 million Australian dollars (mA$) depending on their density. Controlling rabbits by RHD has the potential to generate substantial long‐term economic benefits by reducing grazing competition with sheep. Reducing rabbit costs by 25% generated 15‐year net present values (NPVs) between 18.4 and 97.3 mA$ at various pre‐RHD rabbit densities. A 50% reduction in rabbit costs increased the total NPVs between 36.9 and 202.4 mA$, virtually all of which was captured by temperate area wool producers. The corresponding benefit‐cost ratios were between 2.9:1 and 16.2:1 for a 25% rabbit reduction and 5.9:1 and32.4:l for a 50% reduction, where the total costs of the RHD program in the temperate pasture areas were incurred by the wool industry. The analysis provides guidelines for the economic evaluation of other pest problems in agricultural production systems.
The Nottingham study of neurotic disorder: predictors of 12 year costs
Authors: Knerer G. , Byford S. , Johnson T. , Seivewright H. , Tyrer P.
Published: August 2005

Objective: To examine the relationship between clinical, demographic and socio‐economic characteristics and the long‐term costs of a cohort of neurotic patients.

Method: Analysis of the costs of a cohort of 210 people entered in the Nottingham study of neurotic disorders, a randomized controlled evaluation of five treatments for neurotic disorders. Service use data were collected at 5 and 12 years after study entry. Multiple regression analyses were conducted.

Results: The total cost per patient over the 12‐year follow‐up period was calculated to be $11 940 (SD $15 520) (£7450, SD £9690). Higher costs were significantly associated with the presence of general neurotic syndrome, an initial diagnosis of dysthymia and a recurrent episode of illness.

Conclusion: The total costs of care for a range of neurotic disorders are broadly comparable with other estimates of costs reported in the literature for similar populations. Those responsible for higher costs in the longer‐term have comorbid anxiety, depressive and personality disorders.
Does socioeconomic status affect the use of community‐based psychiatric services? A south Verona case register study
Authors: Tello J. E. , Mazzi M. , Tansella M. , Bonizzato P. , Jones J. , Amaddeo F.
Published: August 2005

Objective:  To assess the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on psychiatric service use in an Italian area with a well‐developed community‐based psychiatric service.

Method:  An index of SES was calculated from nine census variables and grouped into four categories, ranging from SES‐I‐affluent to SES‐IV‐deprived, for each of 328 census blocks (CB). Fifteen indicators of psychiatric service use were collected using the psychiatric case register. All patients resident in the catchment area, who had at least one psychiatric contact in 1996 (n = 989), were included in the study.

Results:  Indicators of in‐patient, day‐patient, out‐patient and community service use showed an inverse association with SES. Only first‐ever and long‐term psychotic patients were equally distributed in the four SES groups.

Conclusion:  The inverse association between SES and most indicators of psychiatric service use suggests that the planning of community‐based services and resource allocation should take into account the SES of residents.
Cognitive‐behavioral group therapy for obsessive–compulsive disorder: a 1‐year follow‐up
Authors: Braga D. T. , Cordioli A. V. , Niederauer K. , Manfro G. G.
Published: August 2005

Objective:  The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of cognitive‐behavioral group therapy (CBGT) for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) over a 1‐year follow‐up period.

Method:  Forty‐two OCD patients, who completed 12 sessions of CBGT, were followed for 1 year. Measures of the severity of symptoms were obtained at the end of the acute treatment and at 3, 6, and 12 months post‐treatment using the Yale‐Brown obsessive–compulsive scale (Y‐BOCS) and the clinical global impression (CGI).

Results:  The reduction in the severity of symptoms observed at the end of the treatment was maintained during 1 year (F2,41 = 1.1; P = 0.342). Eleven patients (35.5%) relapsed in the follow‐up period. The intensity of improvement (log rank = 12.97, GL = 1, P = 0.0003) and full remission (log rank = 6.17; GL = 1; P = 0.001) were strong predictors for non‐relapsing.

Conclusion:  The CBGT is an effective treatment for OCD and its results are maintained for 1 year. However, further long‐term randomized controlled trials are needed in order to confirm this finding.
Cognitive training of verbal memory using a dichotic listening paradigm: impact on symptoms and cognition
Authors: Fiszdon J. M. , Whelahan H. , Bryson G. J. , Wexler B. E. , Bell M. D.
Published: August 2005

Objective:  The objective was to investigate the impact of a verbal memory training task on psychiatric symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia.

Method:  As part of a larger, 6‐month cognitive remediation program, 57 patients with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to receive performance‐based, hierarchical training on a verbal memory task based on a dichotic listening (DL) with distracter paradigm. These patients were compared with 68 patients who had been randomly assigned to a control condition.

Results:  Training on the DL task was not associated with changes in general psychopathology or auditory hallucinations (AH) specifically. Training was associated with improvements in verbal memory, but not attention.

Conclusion:  The current investigation adds to the growing literature on the effectiveness of cognitive remediation training and indicates that training on the DL task enhances verbal episodic memory. The results do not support the use of DL training as a method for reducing AH.
Suicides and suicide ideation in the Bible: an empirical survey
Authors: Koch H. J.
Published: August 2005

Objective:  The aim of this review is to summarize all data on suicidal behaviour reported in the Bible and to discuss basic implications for medical ethical positions.

Method:  All books of the Jerusalem Bible, including the apocrypha accepted in the Catholic canon, were searched for all cases of suicide, attempted suicide and suicidal ideation clearly identifiable as such.

Results:  The Bible including the apocrypha reports about 10 completed suicides and 11 cases of suicide attempt or ideation. The Bible considers human life as a divine gift but suicide per se is neither condemned nor approved. Those suffering from suicidal thoughts are treated with respect and support is offered.

Conclusion:  Theological teaching on suicide was influenced for centuries by the biased negative opinion of the early fathers of the church and scholastic savants, but these opinions are not substantiated by a thorough reading of the Bible.