bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A CLIMATE‐BASED INDEX OF HISTORIC SPAWNING‐STREAM HYDROLOGY
Authors: Kaeding L. R.
Published: November 2011

Reproductive success of stream‐spawning Oncorhynchus fishes (Pacific salmon, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout and their allies) may be greatly affected by stream discharge or its covariate, stream temperature, during the spawning season. Because such data for the physical environment may not have been routinely collected as part of previous investigations of these fishes, identification of simple but robust indices of historic, seasonal stream discharge and temperature, using long‐term climate data sets, would be important, especially to investigations of historic population dynamics. This study examined statistical associations among several climate variables and the spawning‐season (approximately June) discharges and temperatures of Clear Creek, a Yellowstone Lake tributary used by spawning Yellowstone cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri (YCT), from the lake. Correlation analysis showed that total water‐year degree‐days (calculated on the basis of mean daily air temperature > 0°C) at Lake Village, on the lake's north shore, was a robust index (both negative and positive, respectively) of consecutive, total semi‐month metrics of creek discharge and temperature during the YCT spawning season. This study (and subsequent use of the Lake Village degree days metric as an environmental variable in a dynamic, age‐structured model of the lacustrine–adfluvial YCT population of Clear Creek) showed how exploratory analyses of the fragmentary but long‐term and regionally unique data sets for Clear Creek discharge and temperature revealed a simple but robust index of climate variation important to understanding the historic dynamics of Clear Creek's YCT population, which is a key spawning stock of Yellowstone Lake. In addition, the extensive statistical associations among the climate variables, along with the temporal trends in two key variables, broadly showed how climate varied across the Yellowstone Lake region during the past several decades. Those observations have implications for the historic, seasonal hydrology of all Yellowstone Lake tributaries used by spawning YCT. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Interfacial diffusion and exchange bias in the oxide multilayer Zn0.7Ni0.3Fe2O4/BiFeO3/SrTiO3
Authors: Lin Wei‐Jui , Qi Xiaoding
Published: November 2011

The aim of this work is to fabricate an all‐oxide spin valve using multiferroic BiFeO3 as the antiferromagnetic pinning layer, in the hope that we may be able to switch magnetoresistance electrically. The proposed architecture is Zn0.7Ni0.3Fe2O4/ Sr1–xLaxTiO3/ Zn0.7Ni0.3Fe2O4/ BiFeO3/ LaNiO3/SrTiO3. We have demonstrated that such a multilayer structure can be grown epitaxially by the RF magnetron sputtering. X‐ray diffraction showed that the films were indeed biaxially aligned with reasonable in‐plane and out‐of‐plane textures, under the growth conditions optimised for achieving good ferroelectric and magnetic properties. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling showed that there was significant Bi diffusion across the interface if the BiFeO3 film was not stabilised in high oxygen ambience after deposition. High‐resolution transmission electron microscopy showed a tidy and sharp Zn0.7Ni0.3Fe2O4/ BiFeO3 boundary for the Zn0.7Ni0.3Fe2O4 films grown at 550 °C, while for the films grown at higher temperature an irregular interface was observed. Under the optimum growth condition, a clear exchange bias was achieved at the Zn0.7Ni0.3Fe2O4/ BiFeO3 interface. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multifunctional Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres with Cleavable Gd(III) Chelates as MRI Contrast Agents: Synthesis, Characterization, Target‐Specificity, and Renal Clearance
Authors: Vivero‐Escoto Juan L. , Taylor‐Pashow Kathryn M. L. , Huxford Rachel C. , Della Rocca Joseph , Okoruwa Christie , An Hongyu , Lin Weili , Lin Wenbin
Published: November 2011

Mesoporous silica nanospheres (MSNs) are a promising material for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. In this paper multifunctional MSNs with cleavable Gd(III) chelates are synthesized and characterized, and their applicability as MRI contrast agents is demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. The MSNs contain Gd(III) chelates that are covalently linked via a redox‐responsive disulfide moiety. The MSNs are further functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and an anisamide ligand to improve their biocompatibility and target specificity. The effectiveness of MSNs as an MRI imaging contrast agent and their targeting ability are successfully demonstrated in vitro using human colon adenocarcinoma and pancreatic cancer cells. Finally, the capability of this platform as an in vivo MRI contrast agent is tested using a 3T scanner. The Gd(III) chelate was quickly cleaved by the blood pool thiols and eliminated through the renal excretion pathway. Further tuning of the Gd(III) chelate release kinetics is needed before the MSN system can be used as target‐specific MRI contrast agents in vivo.
Outlier robustness for wind turbine extrapolated extreme loads
Authors: Natarajan Anand , Verelst David R.
Published: November 2011

Methods for extrapolating extreme loads to a 50 year probability of exceedance, which display robustness to the presence of outliers in simulated loads data set, are described. Case studies of isolated high extreme out‐of‐plane loads are discussed to emphasize their underlying physical reasons. Stochastic identification of numerical artifacts in simulated loads is demonstrated using the method of principal component analysis. The extrapolation methodology is made robust to outliers through a weighted loads approach, whereby the eigenvalues of the correlation matrix obtained using the loads with its dependencies is utilized to estimate a probability for the largest extreme load to occur at a specific mean wind speed. This inherently weights extreme loads that occur frequently within mean wind speed bins higher than isolated occurrences of extreme loads. Primarily, the results for the blade root out‐of‐plane loads are presented here as those extrapolated loads have shown wide variability in literature, but the method can be generalized to any other component load. The convergence of the 1 year extrapolated extreme blade root out‐of‐plane load with the number of turbulent wind samples used in the loads simulation is demonstrated and compared with published results. Further effects of varying wind inflow angles and shear exponent is brought out. Parametric fitting techniques that consider all extreme loads including ‘outliers’ are proposed, and the physical reasons that result in isolated high extreme loads are highlighted, including the effect of the wind turbine controls system. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of a Hydrophilic PEO–PPO–PEO Copolymer on Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Tosylate Solutions in Water
Authors: Patel Vijay , Chavda Suresh , Aswal Vinod K. , Bahadur Pratap
Published: November 2011

Cetyltrimethyl ammonium tosylate (CTAT) in water forms long flexible wormlike micelles at concentrations above 10 mM, leading to highly viscous solutions and viscoelastic stiff gels above 100 mM. In the presence of a nonmicellar hydrophilic PEO–PPO–PEO triblock copolymer F87 (TBC‐F87, Total mol.wt. = 7,700, EO = 70%) these wormlike micelles RE transformed into smaller structures, as evident from a sharp decrease in viscosity and increase in specific conductance. These results are quantified by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements. The PPO middle block of TBC‐F87 gets inserted in the CTAT micelle, the size and total aggregation number of CTAT/TBC‐F87 mixed micelles decreased but the number of TBC‐F87 molecules in the mixed micelles increased with an increase in [TBC‐F87]. Two break points in the typical specific conductance versus CTAT concentration plot at various [TBC‐F87] amounts represent interactions between CTAT and TBC‐F87. The penetration of PPO of TBC‐F87 inside CTAT micelles decreases hydrophobicity of the core while the presence of PEO end blocks enhances hydrophilicity each favoring smaller micelles.
Noninvasive technique of preventing thrombin escape into the systemic circulation during ultrasound-guided thrombin injection (UGTI) of the postcatheterization pseudoaneurysms
Authors: Juranic Jurica , Protic Alen , Sokolic Jadranko , Sustic Alan
Published: November 2011

Introduction

Iatrogenic, postcatheterization pseudoaneurysms (PSA) of the femoral artery are a common complication after diagnostic and interventional procedures, with up to 7.7% incidence. Treatment includes surgical repair, ultrasound-guided compression (USGC) repair of the tract of the PSA, or recently ultrasound-guided thrombin injection (UGTI). Large (>1.8 cm) PSA sac with short (<3 mm) and/or wide (>3 mm) tract has higher complication ratio such as thromboembolic events after UGTI. Those cases are considered for protective balloon inflation during thrombin injection. The aim of our study was to evaluate the success rate of preventing escape of the thrombin during UGTI with simultaneous manual compression on ipsilateral iliac artery.

Methods and results

We reported 46 patients, 17 males and 29 females, aged 53–74 years, with iatrogenic, postcatheterization femoral artery PSA. Out of 46 patients, 7 were successfully treated with USGC. The rest of the patients were treated with UGTI with simultaneous manual compression on ipsilateral iliac artery to stop the flow in PSA, and to avoid thrombin escape into the native circulation. Success rate of UGTI with manual compression of ipsilateral iliac artery was 97% with the complication rate of 2.6%.

Conclusion

Our study confirms that UGTI treatment of the PSA of the femoral artery combined with compression of the ipsilateral iliac artery could be a safe and reliable method of the thrombin escape prevention into the systemic circulation, as good as more invasive and demanding methods.
Heritage, public trust and non-market values in water governance
Authors: Morehouse Barbara J
Published: November 2011

The concepts of public trust and heritage protection offer opportunities for refining discourses and practices surrounding governance of water resources for under-represented non-market values, particularly values that do not lend themselves readily to standard market-based economic analyses. Public trust in the United States, though far from a panacea, offers insights into how such values may be asserted within particular place-based contexts. Outside the U.S., heritage-based governance of water resources represents a similar effort for integrating such values. In both cases, changes in governance are linked to specific local conditions, history, and values. Examination of these two institutional frameworks suggests that experimentation drawing upon key concepts and mechanisms from both may facilitate better integration of non-market values (social, cultural, and ecological) into water and environmental governance.
Lagrangian transport properties of pulmonary interfacial flows
Authors: Smith Bradford J. , Lukens Sarah , Yamaguchi Eiichiro , Gaver III Donald P.
Published: November 2011

Disease states characterized by airway fluid occlusion and pulmonary surfactant insufficiency, such as respiratory distress syndrome, have a high mortality rate. Understanding the mechanics of airway reopening, particularly involving surfactant transport, may provide an avenue to increase patient survival via optimized mechanical ventilation waveforms. We model the occluded airway as a liquid-filled rigid tube with the fluid phase displaced by a finger of air that propagates with both mean and sinusoidal velocity components. Finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) fields are employed to analyse the convective transport characteristics, taking note of Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs) and their effects on transport. The Lagrangian perspective of these techniques reveals flow characteristics that are not readily apparent by observing Eulerian measures. These analysis techniques are applied to surfactant-free velocity fields determined computationally, with the boundary element method, and measured experimentally with micro particle image velocimetry ($\ensuremath{\mu} $-PIV). We find that the LCS divides the fluid into two regimes, one advected upstream (into the thin residual film) and the other downstream ahead of the advancing bubble. At higher oscillatory frequencies particles originating immediately inside the LCS experience long residence times at the air–liquid interface, which may be conducive to surfactant transport. At high frequencies a well-mixed attractor region is identified; this volume of fluid cyclically travels along the interface and into the bulk fluid. The Lagrangian analysis is applied to velocity data measured with 0.01 mg ml−1 of the clinical pulmonary surfactant Infasurf in the bulk fluid, demonstrating flow field modifications with respect to the surfactant-free system that were not visible in the Eulerian frame.
Hydroelastic waves on fluid sheets
Authors: Blyth M. G. , Părău E. I. , Vanden-Broeck J.-M.
Published: November 2011

Nonlinear travelling waves on a two-dimensional inviscid fluid sheet are investigated when the sheet is bounded above and below by two thin elastic plates. Symmetric and antisymmetric solution branches are identified, together with a pair of bifurcation branches. It is shown that far along the branches the solutions approach limiting configurations that correspond to static solutions valid in the absence of fluid forcing.
How can food extracts consumed in the Mediterranean and East Asia suppress prostate cancer proliferation?
Authors: Yao Mu , Xie Chanlu , Constantine Maryrose , Hua Sheng , Hambly Brett D. , Jardine Greg , Sved Paul , Dong Qihan
Published: November 2011

We have developed a blend of food extracts commonly consumed in the Mediterranean and East Asia, named blueberry punch (BBP), with the ultimate aim to formulate a chemoprevention strategy to inhibit prostate cancer progression in men on active surveillance protocol. We demonstrated previously that BBP inhibited prostate cancer cell proliferationin vitroandin vivo. The purpose of this study was to determine the molecular mechanism responsible for the suppression of prostate cancer cell proliferation by BBP. Treatment of lymph node-metastasised prostate cancer cells (LNCaP) and bone-metastasised prostate cancer cells (PC-3 and MDA-PCa-2b) with BBP (up to 0·8 %) for 72 h increased the percentage of cells at the G0/G1phase and decreased those at the S and G2/M phases. The finding was supported by the reduction in the percentage of Ki-67-positive cells and of DNA synthesis measured by the incorporation of 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine. Concomitantly, BBP treatment decreased the protein levels of phosphorylated retinoblastoma, cyclin D1 and E, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4 and 2, and pre-replication complex (CDC6 and MCM7) in LNCaP and PC-3 cells, whereas CDK inhibitor p27 was elevated in these cell lines. In conclusion, BBP exerts its anti-proliferative effect on prostate cancer cells by modulating the expression and phosphorylation of multiple regulatory proteins essential for cell proliferation.
Our Theory Split
Authors: Aboul-Ela Hosam
Published: November 2011

Near the beginning of his classic work of historiography,The History of the Maghrib: An Interpretive Essay, Moroccan thinker Abdallah Laroui inserts a footnote about a study of the region by a Harvard-based American author who refers to North Africa as “no idea producing area,” a statement that Laroui thoroughly dismantles in a couple of sentences. In this short note at the start of a book written forty years ago, Laroui pinpoints the central problem in U.S.-based studies of the Arab region. The historically contested nature of knowledge production in the field cannot be ignored in any attempt to address the question of critical theory's influence on Arabic literature in the American academy.
The Returns of Theory
Authors: Tageldin Shaden M.
Published: November 2011

For the discipline of Arabic literature in the United States, “theory” is a double entendre: promise, danger. Until the mid-1990s, U.S. Arabic literary studies was landlocked in Near Eastern language departments, whose “anti-theoretical” bent Magda Al-Nowaihi imputes to dependence on U.S. government and Gulf state support. Theory is “dangerous” to such funders, Al-Nowaihi maintains, because it traffics in “the relations between knowledge and power. . . . The result is a situation where European departments produce the theory, we provide the raw material.” “Theory” is what Arabic literature needs—to become a site and an agent of aesthetic-political critique—yet lacks because powers of state insulate its energies within microtextual hermeneutics. Uniquely empowered to translate Arabic literature from particularist “ghetto” to universalist (Euro-dominant) “center” through the abstracting medium of “theory,” then, “European departments” control Arabic literature's legitimization. What emerges is a curious chiasmus: “theory” is at once a danger to state power and a desideratum for Arabic literature, on the one hand, and a seat of institutional power within the U.S. humanities and a danger to Arabic literature, on the other.
Toward a New Literary History
Authors: Selim Samah
Published: November 2011

The past twenty years witnessed a dramatic transformation in Arabic literature studies in the United States. In the early 1990s, the field was still almost exclusively a satellite of area studies and largely bound by Orientalist historical and epistemological paradigms. Graduate students—even those wishing to focus entirely on modern literature—were trained to competence in the entire span of the Arabic literary tradition starting with pre-Islamic times, and secondary research languages were still rooted in the philological tradition of classical scholarship. The standard requirement was German, with Spanish as a distant second for those interested in Andalusia, but rarely French, say, or Italian or Russian. Other Middle Eastern languages were mainly conceived as primary-text languages rather than research languages. Philology, traditional literary history, and New Criticism formed the methodological boundaries of research. “Theory”—even when it purported to speak of the world outside Europe—was something that was generated by departments of English and comparative literature on the other side of campus, and crossings were rare and complicated in both the disciplinary and the institutional sense. Of course, one branch of “theory”—postcolonial studies—made its way into area studies much faster than the more eclectic offshoots of continental philosophy, for obvious reasons. From nationalism studies to subaltern studies, from Benedict Anderson to Gayatri Spivak, the wave of postcolonial critical theory that swept through U.S. academia in the 1980s and 1990s sparked an uprising in area studies at large and particularly in the literature disciplines. One of the first casualties of this uprising was the old historical paradigm itself: narratives of rise and fall, golden ages, and ages of decadence. Slowly but surely, scholars began to question the entire epistemological edifice through which Arabic literary history had been constructed by Orientalism. It was through the postcolonial theory of the 1980s that Arabic literature came to a broader rapprochement with poststructuralism: Foucault, Derrida, Ricoeur, Jameson, and White, to name a few of the major thinkers who began to transform the field in the late 1990s.
KEYS TO THE KINGDOM: CURRENT SCHOLARSHIP ON SAUDI ARABIA
Authors: Lawson Fred H.
Published: November 2011

Among the Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa, Saudi Arabia is at once paradigmatic and exceptional. The kingdom epitomizes what every schoolchild knows about this part of the world—limitless deserts, camel-herding nomads, oil wells, jet-setting princes, reactionary religious authorities, severely restricted gender relations—all in one neat package. At the same time, it takes these features to extremes approximated only by neighboring Abu Dhabi and Qatar, neither one of which has elicited anything like the same degree of journalistic or scholarly scrutiny. It is no wonder that the concept of the rentier state has been applied more persistently and innovatively to Saudi Arabia than anywhere else, including Iran, whose political economy the notion was originally coined to describe.
YOUTH AS PERIL AND PROMISE: THE EMERGENCE OF ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY IN POSTWAR EGYPT
Authors: El Shakry Omnia
Published: November 2011

A public discourse of “youth crisis” emerged in 1930s Egypt, partly as a response to the widespread student demonstrations of 1935 and 1936 that ushered in the figure of youth as an insurgent subject of politics. The fear of youth as unbridled political and sexual subjects foreshadowed the emergence of a discourse of adolescent psychology. By the mid-1940s, “adolescence” had been transformed into a discrete category of analysis within the newly consolidated disciplinary space of psychology and was reconfigured as a psychological stage of social adjustment, sexual repression, and existential anomie. Adolescence—perceived as both a collective temporality and a depoliticized individual interiority—became a volatile stage linked to a psychoanalytic notion of sexuality as libidinal raw energy, displacing other collective temporalities and geographies. New discursive formations, for example, of a psychology centered on unconscious sexual impulses and a cavernous interiority, and new social types, such as the “juvenile delinquent,” coalesced around the figure of adolescence in postwar Egypt.
Burying the hatchet? Britain and France in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Authors: Cumming Gordon D.
Published: November 2011

Against the background of conflict in the Great Lakes Region, the UK and France promised, at their 1998 Saint-Malo summit, to set aside rivalries and cooperate on Africa. In subsequent Anglo-French gatherings, they singled out the DRC and pledged to work together there to promote peace and tackle poverty. This article asks whether this coordination took place and whether it involved a ‘deconflictualisation’ of approaches, ‘coincidental’ cooperation, or ‘sustained and reciprocal’ collaboration. It looks for evidence of institutionalisation of UK-French ties and policy cooperation in the fields of peacebuilding and poverty reduction. It then identifies the pressures for, and barriers to, collaboration, focusing particularly on the role of interests, foreign policy norms, institutional factors and resource constraints. It concludes by setting out the wider implications of UK-French cooperation and the limited prospects of closer future collaboration.
From South Africa with love: the malayisha system and Ndebele households' quest for livelihood reconstruction in south-western Zimbabwe
Authors: Thebe Vusilizwe
Published: November 2011

In the 1980s and early 1990s, sending remittances from South Africa posed major challenges for Ndebele migrants. As a result households receiving remittances only did so at irregular intervals. With increased diasporisation into South Africa, it was to be expected that new channels would open up. This article explores what is known as the malayisha system, its role and significance as an informal channel of remittances into Ndebele society. It argues that the system bridged the geographical gap between Matabeleland and Johannesburg, averting food insecurity and poverty for semi-proletarian households in Matabeleland. By facilitating the movement of goods and people between Matabeleland and South Africa, the system became instrumental in the quest of households to reconstruct their livelihoods after the destruction of their rural–urban-based livelihoods in Zimbabwe due to perennial droughts and ESAP. As a result, the services of omalayisha are highly sought-after, by both the migrant community in South Africa and households in Matabeleland.
Assessment of the viability of embryos stored in liquid nitrogen produced commercially using culture medium as a complementary test for stereoscopic microscopy
Authors: Godinez B. , Galina C.S. , Leon H. , Gutierrez M. , Moreno-Mendoza N.
Published: November 2011

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the viability of frozen embryos obtained from various private farmers in a culture medium for 4 h. Forty-seven embryos were used that had been previously graded as good and fair. These embryos were evaluated using stereoscopic microscopy by experienced clinicians prior to freezing. Embryos were divided in two groups: the non-cultured group, made up of six good quality embryos, and five fair; and the cultured group that consisted of 20 good quality embryos and 16 fair. Fifty-four per cent of the good quality embryos achieved a favourable development during culture whereas just 42% of embryos determined to be fair were observed to have adequate development. This evaluation was undertaken by serial photographs obtained at the onset of culture and 4 h later. This finding was corroborated by a more specific technique: terminal deoxynucleotide transferase dUTP nick end labelling–bromodeoxyuridine (TUNEL–BrdU). These results are indicative of the necessity of tight quality controls for commercially produced frozen embryos, as once thawed it is unlikely that clinicians will examine them to determine their physiological status prior to transfer.
QT dispersion and cardiac involvement in children with Familial Mediterranean fever
Authors: Koca Bülent , Kasapçopur Özgür , Bakari Süleyman , Sönmez Emine , Öztunç Funda , Eroğlu Ayşe Güler , Saltik Levent , Calay Özden
Published: November 2011

Familial Mediterranean fever is a hereditary disease characterised by recurrent and self-terminated attacks of fever and polyserositis. An earlier study found that adult patients of Familial Mediterranean fever had an abnormally longer QT dispersion and corrected QT dispersion, markers for ventricular arrhythmogenicity. QT dispersion is a simple non-invasive arrhythmogenic marker that can be used to assess homogeneity of cardiac repolarisation; however, it has not been studied in children with Familial Mediterranean fever before. The aim of this study was to assess QT dispersion and corrected QT dispersion, and their relationship with systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricle in a group of children with Familial Mediterranean fever. We performed electrocardiography and Doppler echocardiography on patients and controls. Maximum QT, minimum QT, QT dispersion, corrected QT, maximum corrected QT, minimum corrected QT, and corrected QT dispersion intervals were measured from standard 12-lead electrocardiography. No statistically significant differences were found between the groups in QT dispersion, corrected QT dispersion, and systolic–diastolic function of the left ventricle parameters. During the 12 months of follow-up, no ventricular arrhythmias were documented in either group.
Innominate vein vascular ring provides novel insight into systemic venous embryogenesis
Authors: Pockett Charissa R. , Soni Reeni , Mackie Andrew S.
Published: November 2011

Anomalies of the innominate vein are uncommon in congenital cardiac disease. We report a case of duplicate innominate veins forming a vascular ring encircling the ascending aorta. We postulate that this vascular ring represents the failure of both a dorsal and ventral precardinal anastomosis to regress.
Balloon atrial septostomy and pre-operative brain injury in neonates with transposition of the great arteries: a systematic review and a meta-analysis
Authors: Polito Angelo , Ricci Zaccaria , Fragasso Tiziana , Cogo Paola E.
Published: November 2011

Objective

To perform a systematic review and a meta-analysis of the effects of balloon atrial septostomy on peri-operative brain injury in neonates with transposition of the great arteries.

Data source

We conduct a systematic review of the literature to identify all observational studies that included neonates born with transposition of the great arteries who had peri-operative evidence of brain injury.

Study selection and data extraction

The search strategy produced three prospective and two retrospective cohort studies investigating the association between balloon atrial septostomy and brain injury totalling 10,108 patients. In two studies, the outcome was represented by the presence of a coded diagnosis of a clinically evident stroke at discharge, whereas in three studies the outcome was represented by the finding of pre-operative brain injury identified by magnetic resonance scans.

Data synthesis

The overall brain injury rate for neonates who underwent balloon atrial septostomy versus control patients was 60 of 2273 (2.6%) versus 45 of 7835 (0.5%; pooled odds ratio, 1.90; 95% confidence intervals, 0.93–3.89; p = 0.08). A subgroup analysis of the three studies that used pre-operative brain injury as the primary outcome found no significant association between balloon atrial septostomy and brain injury (pooled odds ratio, 2.70; 95% confidence intervals, 0.64–11.33; p = 0.17). Balloon atrial septostomy frequency was 22.4% (2273 of 10,108), with reported rates ranging from 20% to 75%.

Conclusion

Our analysis shows that balloon atrial septostomy is not associated with increased odds for peri-operative brain injury. Balloon atrial septostomy should still be used for those patients with significant hypoxaemia, haemodynamic instability, or both.
Automated Grain Mapping Using Wide Angle Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction in Transmission Electron Microscope for Nanomaterials
Authors: Kumar Vineet
Published: November 2011

The grain size statistics, commonly derived from the grain map of a material sample, are important microstructure characteristics that greatly influence its properties. The grain map for nanomaterials is usually obtained manually by visual inspection of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) micrographs because automated methods do not perform satisfactorily. While the visual inspection method provides reliable results, it is a labor intensive process and is often prone to human errors. In this article, an automated grain mapping method is developed using TEM diffraction patterns. The presented method uses wide angle convergent beam diffraction in the TEM. The automated technique was applied on a platinum thin film sample to obtain the grain map and subsequently derive grain size statistics from it. The grain size statistics obtained with the automated method were found in good agreement with the visual inspection method.
Haben sich motorische Leistungen von 3- bis 7-jährigen Jungen und Mädchen im Zeitraum von 1973 bis 2001 verschlechtert?
Authors: Krombholz Heinz
Published: November 2011

Zusammenfassung.Die motorische Leistungsfähigkeit von Kindern im Alter von 3–7 Jahren wurde anhand vorliegender Untersuchungsergebnisse aus den Jahren 1973 (N = 375), 1973/74 (N = 123), 1977 (N = 644) und 1999/2001 (N = 1532) verglichen. Die erfassten motorischen Leistungen waren Standweitsprung und die Aufgaben Balancieren Rückwärts und Seitliches Hin- und Herspringen des Körperkoordinationstests für Kinder KTK (Kiphard & Schilling 1974). Innerhalb der überprüften Zeitspanne konnte eine generelle Verschlechterung der motorischen Leistungsfähigkeit nicht belegt werden. Unterschiede zwischen den Stichproben ließen sich eher auf Besonderheiten der jeweiligen Stichproben als auf den jeweiligen Erhebungszeitpunkt zurückführen. Ebenfalls konnten Erwartungen hinsichtlich einer unterschiedlichen Veränderung der Leistungsfähigkeit bei Jungen und Mädchen nicht bestätigt werden.
Crustal structure of Australia from ambient seismic noise tomography
Authors: Saygin Erdinc , Kennett B. L. N.
Published: November 2011

Surface wave tomography for Australian crustal structure has been carried out using group velocity measurements in the period range 1–32 s extracted from stacked correlations of ambient noise between station pairs. Both Rayleigh wave and Love wave group velocity maps are constructed for each period using the vertical and transverse component of the Green's function estimates from the ambient noise. The full suite of portable broadband deployments and permanent stations on the continent have been used with over 250 stations in all and up to 7500 paths. The permanent stations provide a useful link between the various shorter‐term portable deployments. At each period the group velocity maps are constructed with a fully nonlinear tomographic inversion exploiting a subspace technique and the Fast Marching Method for wavefront tracking. For Rayleigh waves the continental coverage is good enough to allow the construction of a 3D shear wavespeed model in a two stage approach. Local group dispersion information is collated for a distribution of points across the continent and inverted for a 1D SV wavespeed profile using a Neighbourhood Algorithm method. The resulting set of 1D models are then interpolated to produce the final 3D wavespeed model. The group velocity maps show the strong influence of thick sediments at shorter periods, and distinct fast zones associated with cratonic regions. Below the sediments the 3D shear wavespeed model displays significant heterogeneity with only moderate correlation with surface tectonic features. For example, there is no evident expression of the Tasman Line marking the eastern edge of Precambrian outcrop. The large number of available inter‐station paths extracted from the ambient noise analysis provide detailed shear wavespeed information for crustal structure across the Australian continent for the first time, including regions where there was no prior sampling because of difficult logistics.
Global changes in seasonal means and extremes of precipitation from daily climate model data
Authors: Russo Simone , Sterl Andreas
Published: November 2011

We investigate simulated changes of seasonal precipitation maxima and means in a future, warmer climate. We use data from the ESSENCE project, in which a 17‐member ensemble of climate change simulations in response to the SRES A1b scenario has been carried out using the ECHAM5/MPI‐OM climate model. The large size of the data set gives the opportunity to detect the changes of climate extremes and means with high statistical confidence. Daily precipitation data are used to calculate the seasonal precipitation maximum and the seasonal mean. Modeled precipitation data appear consistent with observation‐based data from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project. The data are split into six time periods of 25 years to get independent time series. The seasonal peaks are modeled by using the generalized extreme value distribution, while empirical distributions are used to study changes of the seasonal precipitation mean. Finally, we use an empirical method to detect changes of occurrence of very wet and dry periods. Results from these model simulations indicate that over most of the world precipitation maxima will increase in the future. Seasonal means behave differently. In many regions they are decreasing or not increasing. The occurrence of very wet periods is strongly increasing during boreal winter in the extratropics and decreasing in the tropics. In summary, wet regions become wetter and dry regions become drier.
Inverse modeling of hydraulic tests in fractured crystalline rock based on a transition probability geostatistical approach
Authors: Blessent Daniela , Therrien René , Lemieux Jean‐Michel
Published: November 2011

This paper presents numerical simulations of a series of hydraulic interference tests conducted in crystalline bedrock at Olkiluoto (Finland), a potential site for the disposal of the Finnish high‐level nuclear waste. The tests are in a block of crystalline bedrock of about 0.03 km3 that contains low‐transmissivity fractures. Fracture density, orientation, and fracture transmissivity are estimated from Posiva Flow Log (PFL) measurements in boreholes drilled in the rock block. On the basis of those data, a geostatistical approach relying on a transitional probability and Markov chain models is used to define a conceptual model based on stochastic fractured rock facies. Four facies are defined, from sparsely fractured bedrock to highly fractured bedrock. Using this conceptual model, three‐dimensional groundwater flow is then simulated to reproduce interference pumping tests in either open or packed‐off boreholes. Hydraulic conductivities of the fracture facies are estimated through automatic calibration using either hydraulic heads or both hydraulic heads and PFL flow rates as targets for calibration. The latter option produces a narrower confidence interval for the calibrated hydraulic conductivities, therefore reducing the associated uncertainty and demonstrating the usefulness of the measured PFL flow rates. Furthermore, the stochastic facies conceptual model is a suitable alternative to discrete fracture network models to simulate fluid flow in fractured geological media.
Bird surveys for REDD+: avian communities indicate forest degradation in a Peruvian coffee landscape
Authors: Aerts Raf , Spranghers Sarah , Verbist Bruno , Lens Luc , Sekercioglu Cagan
Published: November 2011

Shade coffee cultivation in the Peruvian Andes assists in reducing emissions from deforestation because it avoids conversion to non-forest land uses such as coca and sun grown coffee farming. REDD+ is a potential finance mechanism which may provide incentives for local coffee cooperatives to maintain high shade tree cover. REDD+ has potential multiple benefits other than carbon sequestration, including the conservation of biodiversity. When monitoring for REDD+, surveys of bird biodiversity may prove to be particularly valuable: apart from their high intrinsic value and their value as essential ecosystem service providers, birds inhabiting forest habitats are extremely sensitive to forest loss and forest degradation and are therefore potential useful indicators for the impact of habitat and climate disturbances on biodiversity and environmental health.We analyzed the impact of coffee cultivation on the conservation of birds and assessed what can be learned from bird surveys when monitoring the Peruvian mountain forests for REDD+. Using twelve day-long transect walks, bird species were recorded in two sites in the buffer zone of the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park in SE Peru. The two sites had contrasting human pressure: one site an intimate mixture of shade coffee plantations, orchards, secondary forest patches and coca plantations and the other site secondary forest with patchily distributed shade coffee, fruit and coca plantations. An indirect gradient approach (non-metric multidimensional scaling and multi-response permutation procedure tests) was used to detect differences in forest degradation between sites.In a two-dimensional ordination space, individual counts of the less disturbed site were separated from the other counts, but sites did not differ significantly at the community-level. Observed birds were indicative for one habitat type. The bird assemblage was dominated by species of forest edges and second growth habitat (78%). The majority of species (68%) had a wide range covering Amazonia and the east slopes of the Andes; only 25 species (29%) were more or less restricted to Andes and the outlying ridges.The current state of the forest, in both sites with contrasting human influence, can be described as disturbed secondary montane evergreen forest of the transition zone between the Andes and the Amazon. Despite severe human impact, several forest specialists (22%) of both Andean montane and Amazonian forest persisted –including the enigmatic Andean cock-of-the-rock and Military macaw. For such species, REDD+ projects should not only focus on the sustainable management of the shade coffee stands but also aim to conserve the remaining old-growth secondary forest patches.
Determining the Waist Circumference Cut off which Best Predicts the Metabolic Syndrome components in urban Africans: The SABPA study
Authors: Prinsloo J. , Malan L. , de Ridder J. , Potgieter J. , Steyn H.
Published: November 2011

Various studies have shown that the relationship between waist circumference (WC) and abdominal obesity is age, gender as well as ethnicity-dependent. WC criteria for Sub Saharan Africans have not been defined by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). The aim was to determine which WC cut off best predicted Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) in a group of urban African teachers (80 males and 93 females). We determined sphygmomanometer blood pressure, WC, glucose, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HdL) and triglyceride (TRIG) values. The males′ MetS profile was less favourable as their glucose, TRIG and blood pressure levels were higher than the proposed cut off for MetS. The females could be classified as obese, based on their mean BMI (32.78±6.36) and WC (93.48±15.68). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) WC cut offs of 90, 91, 94 and 96 cm for the respective MetS components in males (blood pressure, HdL, glucose and TRIG) were suggested. In the females, cut offs of 92, 98, 94 and 94 cm for TRIG, blood pressure, HdL and glucose respectively, were put forward. Odds ratios revealed that increased blood pressure best predicted ROC WC in both males (OR 9.59; 95% CI 3.14–29.32) and females (OR 3.11; 95% CI 1.30–7.42) irrespective of age. We suggest that the optimal cut off point for the males be set at 90 cm, as opposed to the current 94 cm; whilst the female cut off be set at 98 cm as opposed to the existing cut off of 80 cm. Larger sample groups are recommended to justify our data.
Low-Level Subchronic Arsenic Exposure from Prenatal Developmental Stages to Adult Life Results in an Impaired Glucose Homeostasis
Authors: Dávila-Esqueda M. , Morales J. , Jiménez-Capdeville M. , De la Cruz E. , Falcón-Escobedo R. , Chi-Ahumada E. , Martin-Pérez S.
Published: November 2011

We evaluated how low-level (3 ppm) subchronic inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure from prenatal developmental stages until adult life affects glucose homeostasis. Biochemical parameters of glucose and lipid metabolism, pancreatic insulin and glycosylated haemoglobin were determined in 4-month-old female offspring of adult Wistar rats. Pancreatic histology was also performed. Statistical comparisons between control and iAs-treated groups were performed by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. We found that iAs treatment resulted in an impaired glucose tolerance test, suggestive of impaired glucose metabolism. This group was found to have hyperglycaemia and high levels of HOMA-IR, glycosylated haemoglobin, cholesterol and pancreatic insulin compared to control rats. However, plasma insulin, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were not different from control rats. Moreover, β-cell damage found in iAs-treated rats consisted of cells with a nucleus with dense chromatin and predominance of eosinophilic cytoplasm, as well as changes in the pancreatic vasculature. The current study provided evidence that subchronic iAs exposure at 3 ppm from prenatal developmental stages to adult life resulted in damage to pancreatic β cells, affected insulin secretion and demonstrated altered glucose homeostasis, thus supporting a causal association between iAs exposure and diabetes.
Reduction of Insulin Signaling Upregulates Angiopoietin-like Protein 4 Through Elevated Free Fatty Acids in Diabetic Mice
Authors: Mizutani N. , Ozaki N. , Seino Y. , Fukami A. , Sakamoto E. , Fukuyama T. , Sugimura Y. , Nagasaki H. , Arima H. , Oiso Y.
Published: November 2011

Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (Angptl4) is thought to cause an increase in serum triglyceride levels. In the present study, we elucidated Angptl4 expression in the mouse models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and investigated the possible mechanisms involved.

Type 1 diabetes was induced in C57BL/6 J mice by treating them with streptozotocin (STZ). Type 2 diabetes was induced by feeding the mice a high-fat diet (HFD) for 18 weeks.

The levels of Angptl4 mRNA expression in liver, white adipose tissue (WAT), and brown adipose tissue (BAT) were found to increase in the STZ diabetic mice relative to control mice. This effect was attenuated by insulin administration. In the HFD diabetic mice, the Angptl4 mRNA expression levels were increased in liver, WAT, and BAT. Treatment with metformin for 4 weeks attenuated the increased levels of Angptl4 mRNA. Fatty acids (FAs) such as palmitate and linoleate induced Angptl4 mRNA expression in H4IIE hepatoma cells and 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Treatment with insulin but not metformin attenuated FA-induced Angptl4 mRNA expression in H4IIE. Both insulin and metformin did not influence the effect of FAs in 3T3-L1 cells.

These observations demonstrated that Angptl4 mRNA expression was increased through the elevated free FAs in diabetic mice.
Role of the CAG Repeat Polymorphism of the Androgen Receptor Gene in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
Authors: Schüring A. , Welp A. , Gromoll J. , Zitzmann M. , Sonntag B. , Nieschlag E. , Greb R. , Kiesel L.
Published: November 2011

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a frequent heterogenic disorder with a familial background. Androgenic effects, determining the clinical features of the syndrome, are mediated by the androgen receptor (AR), whose activity is modulated by a genetic polymorphism. We investigated the role of the CAG repeat polymorphism of the androgen receptor in PCOS.

In the infertility unit of a university clinic, 72 PCOS patients were compared with 179 ovulatory controls undergoing a standardized diagnostic work-up. The number of CAG repeats was determined by PCR, labelling with IR-800 and PAGE. X-chromosome inactivation was assessed by a methylation-sensitive assay.

Compared to controls, PCOS patients displayed a shorter mean CAG repeat length, encoding for higher AR activity (P=0.001). CAG repeat length correlated inversely with oligomenorrhea, a central androgen dependent feature of the syndrome (P=0.005). In a binomial regression analysis including BMI, LH and free testosterone, CAG repeat length was identified as an independent risk factor for PCOS (P=0.002).

The CAG repeat polymorphism could constitute one of the genetic factors modulating the syndrome’s phenotype, contributing to its clinical heterogeneity and associated metabolic consequences.
Rheology of binary granular mixtures in the dense flow regime
Authors: Tripathi Anurag , Khakhar D. V.
Published: November 2011

We study the rheology of granular mixtures in a steady, fully developed, gravity-driven flow on an inclined plane, by means of discrete element method (DEM) simulations. Results are presented for a single component system and binary mixtures with particles of different size and density. Inclination angles, composition, size ratios and density ratios are varied to obtain different segregated configurations at equilibrium. Steady state profiles of the mean velocity, volume fractions, shear stress, shear rate, inertial number and apparent viscosity across the depth of the flowing layer are reported for the different cases. The viscosity varies with height and is found to depend on the local bulk density and composition, which, in turn, depend on the size ratio, the mass ratio and the degree of segregation. For a single component system, a viscoplastic rheological model [P. Jop et al., Nature 441, 727 (2006)] describes the data quite well. We propose a modification of the model for the case of mixtures. The mixture model predicts the viscosity for both well-mixed and segregated granular mixtures differing in size, density or both, using the same model parameters as obtained for the single component system. The predictions of a model for the volume fraction of the mixtures also agree well with simulation results.