bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Detecting modulated signals in modulated noise: (I) behavioural auditory thresholds in a songbird
Authors: Langemann Ulrike , Klump Georg M.
Published: September 2007

Most signals from the auditory world have temporal patterns of amplitude modulation that either emanate from the signal source or result from environmental interference (e.g. air turbulence). To investigate mechanisms associated with the segregation and processing of amplitude‐modulated signals, we trained European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to detect a signal noise band embedded in several flanking noise bands (FBs). We manipulated the envelope correlation between the signal and FBs, the onset synchrony between signal and FBs (0 or100 ms), signal duration (60 or 400 ms) and the spectrum level of the FBs (15 or 50 dB). The lowest signal‐detection thresholds were found when the envelopes of the FBs were correlated with each other but different from the signal envelope (the ‘co‐uncorrelated’ condition). Detection thresholds were on average 7 dB higher when both the signal and the FBs had correlated envelopes (the ‘all correlated’ condition). Thresholds were even higher when the envelopes of all noise bands were independent (the ‘all uncorrelated’ condition). The difference in detection thresholds between the co‐uncorrelated and the all correlated conditions is termed ‘comodulation detection difference’ (CDD). Differences in signal duration and masker level had significant effects on detection threshold, but not on CDD magnitudes; differences in onset synchrony had no effects. We compare data from starlings with those from previous psychoacoustic studies of humans, and discuss possible mechanisms on which these perceptual effects may rely. Our behavioural data are the reference for a companion study investigating CDD at the neuronal level of the starling [M.A. Bee et al. (2007) Eur. J. Neurosci., 26, 1979–1994].
Minimally manipulated oligodendrocyte precursor cells retain exclusive commitment to the oligodendrocyte lineage following transplantation into intact and injured hippocampus
Authors: Webber Daniel J. , Compston Alastair , Chandran Siddharthan
Published: September 2007

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are widely regarded as the best characterized cell population in the mammalian CNS and until recently were believed to be a lineage‐restricted precursor terminally differentiating to postmitotic oligodendrocytes. Recent evidence has suggested that OPCs may have in vitro and in vivo neuronal potential. In this report we examine the differentiation potential of cortical OPC populations following transplantation into the neurogenic environment of the intact neonatal and adult hippocampus. Donor OPCs were minimally manipulated and not subjected to long‐term ex vivo manipulation such as expansion or treatment with mitogens. Minimally manipulated OPCs did not exhibit any intrinsic neuronal potential in vitro prior to transplantation. Following transplantation of GFP‐OPCs into intact neonatal and adult hippocampus, cells were able to survive and integrate for at least 14 weeks but did not exhibit neuronal differentiation. Induction of a focal neurotoxic lesion also did not result in neuronal differentiation of graft‐derived OPCs. These findings show that unselected and unmanipulated populations of cortical OPCs remain as precursor cells, commit to the oligodendrocyte lineage and fail to respond to the extrinsic cues of a neurogenic or injured environment.
Calbindin D28K protein cells in a primate suprachiasmatic nucleus: localization, daily rhythm and age‐related changes
Authors: Cayetanot Florence , Deprez Julien , Aujard Fabienne
Published: September 2007

In mammals, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus is the master circadian pacemaker. The SCN controls daily rhythms and synchronizes the organism to its environment and especially to photic signals. Photic signals via the retinohypothalamic tract reach the ventral part of the SCN, where the majority of calbindin‐containing neurons are located. Calbindin cells seem important for the control of circadian rhythmicity. As ageing leads to marked changes in the expression of circadian rhythms, we investigated in the mouse lemur, a nocturnal primate, age‐related changes in the oscillation of calbindin protein expression in SCN neurons. We used immunohistochemistry and quantitative analysis of calbindin expression in the SCN of adult and aged mouse lemurs. In this primate, a dense cluster of calbindin‐positive neurons was found in the ventral part of the SCN. In adult animals, calbindin‐positive SCN neurons did not exhibit daily rhythms in their number or intensity, but exhibited significant daily variations in the percentage of cells with a calbindin‐positive nucleus, characterized by high values during the daytime and low values during the night. Immunoreactive intensity peaked in the middle of the daytime. Calbindin expression in the nuclei of calbindin cells in the SCN tends to be modified by ageing. The amplitude of daily variation in calbindin expression was damped, with a lower immunointensity during the daytime and a delayed decrease during the night. These changes may affect the ability of the SCN to transmit rhythmic information to other SCN cells and thereby modify the synchronization of the different cell populations in the SCN.
Neuroligin‐3 is a neuronal adhesion protein at GABAergic and glutamatergic synapses
Authors: Budreck Elaine C. , Scheiffele Peter
Published: September 2007

Synaptic adhesion molecules are thought to play a critical role in the formation, function and plasticity of neuronal networks. Neuroligins (NL1–4) are a family of presumptive postsynaptic cell adhesion molecules. NL1 and NL2 isoforms are concentrated at glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses, respectively, but the cellular expression and synaptic localization of the endogenous NL3 and NL4 isoforms are unknown. We generated a panel of NL isoform‐specific antibodies and examined the expression, developmental regulation and synaptic specificity of NL3. We found that NL3 was enriched in brain, where NL3 protein levels increased during postnatal development, coinciding with the peak of synaptogenesis. Subcellular fractionation revealed a concentration of NL3 in synaptic plasma membranes and postsynaptic densities. In cultured hippocampal neurons, endogenous NL3 was highly expressed and was localized at both glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses. Clustering of NL3 in hippocampal neurons by neurexin‐expressing cells resulted in coaggregation of NL3 with glutamatergic and GABAergic scaffolding proteins. Finally, individual synapses contained colocalized NL2 and NL3 proteins, and coimmunoprecipitation studies revealed the presence of NL1–NL3 and NL2–NL3 complexes in brain extracts. These findings suggest that rodent NL3 is a synaptic adhesion molecule that is a shared component of glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses.
The Language of Exclusion in F. Solly Flood's “History of the Permit System in Gibraltar”1
Authors: PERERA JENNIFER BALLANTINE
Published: September 2007

Abstract  By 1871, the year in which Flood presented his “History of the Permit System” he had been in office as Attorney General for six years. He had originally been sent to Gibraltar to prepare an Order on sanitary reform after the town had been struck by a minor cholera epidemic in 1860 although a far more severe outbreak was to strike in 1865. Overcrowding was isolated as a primary agent of contagion and perceived to be a major threat to the troops given that the military lived in very close proximity to civilians. The unchecked ingress of foreigners or aliens was therefore held by the authorities to represent a major threat to the wellbeing of the Garrison; once resident in the town these aliens added to the already overcrowded living conditions. Their entry therefore needed to be restricted. All these factors contributed to the drive for permit reform. Still, the territorial restrictions placed upon the Rock after conquest most certainly informed the urgent need for population management. The resources available on the Rock were limited yet the demands from inhabitants' on the military for civic provision continued to increase throughout the nineteenth century. Flood's document subsequently draws our attention to the tensions brought about by Gibraltar's dual status as Colony and Fortress, a major concern of Flood's being that military expediency was becoming seriously undermined by an ever expanding town inhabited by a resident civilian population that was increasingly alien in composition. His aim therefore was to take measures to ensure that the only permanent presence in Gibraltar was that of the Garrison.
Rehabilitation Through Work? Disability and the Productivist Road to Participation in the East of Germany1
Authors: BUNZEL DIRK
Published: September 2007

Abstract  Drawing on secondary data and interviews, this paper traces the economic and socio‐cultural roots of contemporary policies to promote full participation of people with disabilities in mainstream German society. Underlying such policies and related practices has been a concept of rehabilitation through work that evolved within a context of labour shortages, Protestant work ethics, and German welfarism at the beginning of the 20th century and that has yielded rather ambiguous consequences. I argue this elective affinity among economic, cultural, and socio‐political imperatives has undermined potentials for integration and self‐actualization of people with disabilities. Not only was rehabilitation subordinated to a productivist logic and provoked forms of ill‐paid or even forced labour; rehabilitation policies and measures have also been part of a system of social governance that effectively helped to segregate the “able” from the “unable” and that promulgated an ethos of productivism. Significantly, this essentially utilitarian ethos – which rendered health and rehabilitation into a social obligation and valued each wo/man according to his/her fitness and motivation to contribute to socio‐economic development – evolved within capitalism but was equally pronounced in East Germany under state‐socialist rule. Contrary to the egalitarian principles of both “socialist humanism” and “Western enlightenment”, policies and practices trans‐societally focussed on the promotion of those who could – potentially at least – contribute to the regime of industrial production. As the example of East Germany demonstrates, social participation through paid work remains incomplete, at best, and provokes further segregation – even in times of severe labour shortages. The paper concludes that notwithstanding contemporary rhetoric, rehabilitation through work has remained a central pillar of contemporary welfare policies. In times of unbroken structural unemployment, the productivist paradigm and ensuing policies have become increasingly problematic – not only for the inclusion of people with disabilities. Experiences with the productivist modes of participation and with rehabilitation in East Germany suggest a post‐productivist paradigm of inclusion that seeks participation beyond paid work.
“This Irreligious Art of Liing”: Strategies of Disguise in Post‐Reformation English Catholicism
Authors: MULLETT MICHAEL A.
Published: September 2007

Abstract  In the long Tridentine phase of Catholic history, the conduct of the Church, faith and praxis was nothing if not demonstrative in its execution, devising, for example, a triumphalist architectural and artistic form, the baroque, that shouted out its advertisements for an apparently ultra‐confident creed. The great Council that created the tone of Catholicism over the four centuries that followed it defined the priest in particular as a public exemplar of the faith, a man of unambiguous integrity, stable residence and assured income.

In England, as in the Netherlands, in contrast, the practice of the faith was covert, not overt, and priests were men on the run, sacerdotal vagrants, adopting a culture of deceit and disguise that aligned their lifestyles were those of any criminal underground: they used disguises, false papers, encoded language, aliases and fictive personae, employed chains of people‐handlers and safe‐houses, setting up patterns of behaviour that distanced them (a) from the clerical requirements of the Tridentine Church itself and (b) from assumptions about truth that were becoming firmly embedded in English Protestant culture: Catholicism itself could be presented as an “irreligious art of liing”.
Quantitative imaging of oil storage in developing crop seeds
Authors: Neuberger Thomas , Sreenivasulu Nese , Rokitta Markus , Rolletschek Hardy , Göbel Cornelia , Rutten Twan , Radchuk Volodja , Feussner Ivo , Wobus Ulrich , Jakob Peter , Webb Andrew , Borisjuk Ljudmilla
Published: September 2007

In this article, we present a tool which allows the rapid and non‐invasive detection and quantitative visualization of lipid in living seeds at a variety of stages using frequency‐selected magnetic resonance imaging. The method provides quantitative lipid maps with a resolution close to the cellular level (in‐plane 31 µm × 31 µm). The reliability of the method was demonstrated using two contrasting subjects: the barley grain (monocot, 2% oil, highly compartmentalized) and the soybean grain (dicot, 20% oil, economically important oilseed). Steep gradients in local oil storage were defined at the organ‐ and tissue‐specific scales. These gradients were closely coordinated with tissue differentiation and seed maturation, as revealed by electron microscopy and biochemical and gene expression analysis. The method can be used to elucidate similar oil accumulation processes in different tissues/organs, as well as to follow the fate of storage lipids during deposition and subsequent mobilization.
Optimal Land Development with Endogenous Environmental Amenities
Authors: Wu JunJie , Irwin Elena G.
Published: September 2007

A spatially explicit model of the optimal timing and location of land development is presented that incorporates dynamic interactions between land development and water quality. Ignoring two‐way interactions leads to a lower level of water quality, more development, and lower social welfare. The optimal pace and pattern of development can be achieved through the assessment of an impact fee that internalizes pollution damages and irreversibility costs. Our results demonstrate the importance of accounting for the spatial dimension of land use, the interdependence between land use and environmental quality, and development irreversibility in models of urbanization and amenity‐driven growth.
Estimating the Degree of Market Integration
Authors: Fackler Paul L. , Tastan Hüseyin
Published: September 2007

Existing tests of spatial market integration are commonly based on statistical criteria without an explicit link to an economic model of price determination. This article proposes new measures of market integration defined directly in terms of a well‐known spatial price determination model and develops an econometric methodology for estimating these measures. Due to the intractability of the conditional density function of prices, we use indirect inference to estimate the model parameters and market integration measures. The methodology is illustrated with simulated data and is applied to soybean price data for the United States, Brazil, and the EU.
Bank Governance and Acquisition Performance
Authors: Hagendorff Jens , Collins Michael , Keasey Kevin
Published: September 2007

Given the pivotal role of banks in modern economies, the worldwide phenomenon of a high level of bank M&A activity and the consensus view in empirical studies that bank mergers destroy value for acquiring bank shareholders, it is highly surprising that the influence of corporate governance on the outcomes of bank acquisitions has received very little academic scrutiny. The recent wave of consolidation in the financial services industry, with its generally unfavourable wealth implications for the shareholders of acquiring institutions, points to the impact of poor bank governance structures. Moreover, the banking sector warrants a separate agency analysis because it is unusual, if not unique, in terms of the opaque nature of many of its main activities and in terms of the pervasive role of regulation in the industry. Both of these attributes may weaken well‐established monitoring mechanisms as safeguards of shareholder interests.

In this article we advocate an extension of empirical work to focus more clearly on the relationship between banks' governance attributes and the success of bank mergers. We summarise emerging evidence from US research which points to a role for sound governance mechanisms such as managerial pay incentives and board composition that may help prevent bank executives from pursuing value‐destroying acquisitions.
Earnings Management and Corporate Governance in Asia's Emerging Markets
Authors: Shen Chung‐Hua , Chih Hsiang‐Lin
Published: September 2007

This paper studies the impacts of corporate governance on earnings management. We use firm‐level governance data, taken from Credit Lyonnais Security Asia (CLSA), of nine Asian countries, in addition to the country‐level governance data used in past studies. Our conclusion is as follows. First, firms with good corporate governance tend to conduct less earnings management. Second, there is a size effect for earnings smoothing, that is, large size firms are prone to conduct earnings smoothing, but good corporate governance can mitigate the effect on average. Third, there is a turning point for leverage effect, i.e. when the governance index is large, leverage effect exists, otherwise reverse leverage effect exists. It shows that a highly leveraged firm with poor governance is prone to be scrutinised closely and thus finds it harder to fool the market by manipulating earnings. Fourth, firms with higher growth (lower earnings yield) are prone to engage in earnings smoothing and earnings aggressiveness, but good corporate governance can mitigate the effect. Finally, firms in stronger anti‐director rights countries tend to exhibit stronger earnings smoothing. This counter‐intuitive result is different from Leuz et al. (2003).
New Directions in the Study of Gender Similarities and Differences
Authors: Hyde Janet Shibley
Published: September 2007

I review new trends in research on the psychology of gender. The gender similarities hypothesis holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. Gender is not only an individual-difference or person variable but also a stimulus variable. Emerging approaches to cross-national measurement of constructs such as gender equality provide new insights into patterns of gender differences and similarities across cultures. Current neuroscience approaches emphasize neural plasticity and provide the opportunity to study neural correlates of males' and females' differential experiences.
Learning Abilities and Disabilities
Authors: Kovas Yulia , Plomin Robert
Published: September 2007

Twin studies comparing identical and fraternal twins consistently show substantial genetic influence on individual differences in learning abilities such as reading and mathematics, as well as in other cognitive abilities such as spatial ability and memory. Multivariate genetic research has shown that the same set of genes is largely responsible for genetic influence on these diverse cognitive areas. We call these “generalist genes.” What differentiates these abilities is largely the environment, especially nonshared environments that make children growing up in the same family different from one another. These multivariate genetic findings of generalist genes and specialist environments have far-reaching implications for diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities and for understanding the brain mechanisms that mediate these effects.
SKILLS, EDUCATION, AND CANADIAN PROVINCIAL DISPARITY*
Authors: Coulombe Serge , Tremblay Jean‐François
Published: September 2007

ABSTRACT We derive synthetic time series over the 1951–2001 period of the skills of labor market entrants for the 10 Canadian provinces from the 2003 ALL survey. The effect of the skills variable on regional income is significant and substantial. Skills acquired by one extra year of schooling result in an increase in per capita income of around 5 percent, which is close to microeconomic Mincerian estimates. Our literacy indicator does not outperform human capital indicators based on education. This contrasts sharply with recent cross‐country evidence and suggests substantial measurement error in cross‐country schooling data.
Current Practice in the Allocation of Academic Workloads
Authors: Barrett Lucinda , Barrett Peter
Published: September 2007

Significant factors within UK higher education include explicit competition, regulatory demands and pressures to maintain student numbers despite tuition fee increases. Universities have responded by more actively managing finances and quality but seemingly not staff time. This paper sets out findings on the processes and practices surrounding academic workload allocation (WLA) in universities, based on 59 detailed interviews from a cross section of staff. The main findings from this research are that there are a huge variety of different practices surrounding WLA and much potential for improvement. The approaches observed can be seen to work in a continuum from informal to partial, to the more comprehensive. Although many felt the disciplinary context to be very important to the process chosen, the findings of the research reveal that this is not the case.
Does a Management Degree Do the Business for Women in the Graduate Labour Market?
Authors: Wilton Nick
Published: September 2007

The increasing dominance of an economic ideology of higher education, that its principal role is to contribute to national competitiveness, has increased focus on the employability of graduates and their transition into the labour market. Drawing on a major study of the early career paths of 1995 graduates from 38 UK higher education institutions, this paper looks specifically at graduates from business and management programmes. Such graduates would apparently be attractive to employers seeking to recruit degree holders with specific transferable skills who might be expected to ‘hit the ground running’ once in organisations. The paper seeks to address the question of what effect holding a business degree has on the employment outcomes in comparison with other degree disciplines and whether or not there is any gender effect upon relative success in the labour market.
The Development of a Benchmarking Methodology to Assist in Managing the Enhancement of University Research Quality
Authors: Nicholls Miles G.
Published: September 2007

The paper proposes a metric, the research quality index (RQI), for assessing and tracking university research quality. The RQI is a composite index that encompasses the three main areas of research activity: publications, research grants and higher degree by research activity. The public availability of such an index will also facilitate benchmarking (internally, competitively and generically) by academic units in universities. This has become an important activity in Australia with the proposed introduction of the Research Quality Framework (RQF) as the future research funding mechanism for Australian universities. The RQF is a quality‐based system that will replace the existing funding system that is focused on the volume of research output, not quality. Benchmarking, using the RQI, will allow academic units to track their progress towards their quality targets and facilitates internal and competitive benchmarking, allowing academic units to assess the efficacy of their research quality enhancement strategies and policies on an annual basis. The paper illustrates the compilation and operation of the RQI. The RQI is a short‐term tracking methodology for use in between the cyclical major research quality assessments. With modifications, it is applicable in a wide range of countries.
1. PRETEXTURES OF TIME
Authors: POLLOCK SHELDON
Published: September 2007

Textures of Time is a rich and challenging book that raises a host of important and hard questions about historical narrative, form, and style; the sociology of texts; and the core problem of ascertaining historical truth. Two that pertain to the book's main claims are of special interest to nonspecialist readers: Is register or style—“texture”—necessarily and everywhere diagnostic of “history”? Does a new kind of “historical consciousness” emerge in south India beginning in the sixteenth century, indeed as a sign of an Indian early modernity?Textures is not the first book to argue that historical discourse is constitutively marked by a peculiar style, but the claim is beset by difficulties that scholars since Barthes have detailed. Rather than textures of time—accounts of what really happened in history—what these works offer us may be only pretextures of time, textualized forms of a human experience that make claims about its degrees and types of truth through representations of various states of temporality. Instead of assessing, then, whether these works are history or something else like “myth,” we might ask whether they invite us to transcend this very dichotomy, to try, that is, to make sense of historical forms of consciousness rather than to identify forms of historical consciousness. As for modernity, nothing in south Indian historiography from 1500–1800 remotely compares to the conceptual revolution of Europe. But why should we expect the newness of the early modern world to have been experienced the same way everywhere? Modernity across Asia may have shown simultaneity without symmetry. Should this asymmetry turn out to reveal continuity and not rupture, however, no need to lament the fact. There is no shame in premodernity.
2. WRITING POLITICS BACK INTO HISTORY1
Authors: CHEKURI CHRISTOPHER
Published: September 2007

This essay examines the writing of history and historiography in early modern south India as discussed in the book Textures of Time. The book argues that a historical and historiographical awareness was prevalent in south India prior to the arrival of a European field of knowledge under colonial rule. However, this essay maintains that the book unwittingly reproduces some of the very same Eurocentric formulations of the writing of history and modernity that it seeks to refute. A liberal conception of modernity is at the core of how society, history, and politics have been imagined in this book. These attributes of modernity, such as history as a set of causal relations, as presentation of facts, as a realm of the real cannot escape their prior formulation in Europe. The liberal social order also underpins the relationship between writing and the world. In Textures, early historians merely represent reality; they are not authors whose practices are constitutive of politics and identity. The conception of modernity overlooks the constitutive role colonial empires played in the very creation not only of the West and non‐West, but also in conceptions of the real, the modern, the universal, and the historical.
Analysis of the role of fluids in causing fractures in the Spraberry Trend, Midland Basin
Authors: MCPHERSON B. J. , BOUTT D. F.
Published: September 2007

The Spraberry Formation in west‐central Texas is a highly fractured formation with both extension and shear fractures. At least two sets of natural fractures exist in two reservoir intervals. We have considered two possible origins for the fracturing: (i) high fluid pressure plus tectonic stress and (ii) tectonic stress at near‐hydrostatic fluid pressure. Reconstruction of geologic, thermal and hydrodynamic histories suggests that high fluid pressures probably did not occur during the basin’s history. To explore the second hypothesis, we developed and applied a calibrated, discrete‐element model of Spraberry strata to investigate whether weak Laramide compressional forces could cause fractures in the absence of high fluid pressures. Simulation results suggest that a mild compressional episode of geologically short duration may indeed have induced conjugate shear fractures.
Genetic Variation in the Paraoxonase‐3 (PON3) Gene is Associated with Serum PON1 Activity
Authors: Sanghera Dharambir K. , Manzi Susan , Minster Ryan L. , Shaw Penny , Kao Amy , Bontempo Franklin , Kamboh M. Ilyas
Published: September 2007

Low serum paraoxonase1 (PON1) activity determined by paraoxon substrate is associated with coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) risk. In this investigation, we have examined the role of genetic variation in the PON3 gene in relation to PON1 activity and SLE risk in a biracial sample comprising 377 SLE patients and 482 controls from US whites and blacks. We genotyped six PON3 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (tagSNPs) and examined their associations with PON1 activity, SLE risk, antiphopholipid autoantibodies (APA), lupus nephritis, carotid vascular disease, and inflammation. With the exception of PON1 activity, no other significant associations were found with PON3 SNPs. Multiple regression analysis including all six PON3 tagSNPs and PON1/Q192R and L55M SNPs revealed significant association of PON1 activity with 4 SNPs: PON3/A10340C (p < 0.0001), PON3/A2115T (p = 0.002), PON1/L55M (p < 0.0001) and PON1/Q192R (p < 0.0001). These four SNPs explained 2%, 1%, 8% and 19% of the variation in PON1 activity, respectively. In summary, our new data indicate that genetic variation in the PON3 gene influences serum PON1 activity independently of the known effect of PON1 genetic variation. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the association of the PON3 gene variants with PON1 activity.
phylochipanalyser — a program for analysing hierarchical probe sets
Authors: METFIES KATJA , BORSUTZKI PHILIPP , GESCHER CHRISTINE , MEDLIN LINDA K. , FRICKENHAUS STEPHAN
Published: September 2007

The recent introduction of phylochips that contain molecular probes facilitates environmental microbial identification in a single experiment without previous cultivation. A set of probes recognizing species at different taxonomic levels is denoted as a hierarchical set. Application of hierarchical probe sets on a DNA microarray allows the assessment of biodiversity with different resolutions. It significantly increases the robustness of the results retrieved from phylochip experiments because of the possible consistency checks of hybridization across different taxonomic levels. Here, we present a computer program, phylo‐chipanalyser, for the hierarchy editing and the evaluation of phylochip data generated from hierarchical probe sets.
combi.pl: a computer program to combine data sets with inconsistent microsatellite marker allele size information
Authors: TÄUBERT HELGE , BRADLEY DANIEL G.
Published: September 2007

Combining two data sets with allele information from overlapping microsatellite markers is often desirable, particularly in population genetic studies where a substantial body of published data exists. When genotyping is performed in different laboratories, allele size calling may not be presumed to be consistent. Our approach solves this problem by assigning allele sizes across studies using maximum‐likelihood theory. Using data overlaps in samples and markers, allele shifts between two studies are calculated for each overlapping marker and a single file containing allele frequencies of consistent alleles is produced. The program (combi.pl) is written in PERL and available at http://data40.uni‐tz.gwdg.de/~htaeube.
Resource Allocation Auctions within Firms
Authors: BAIMAN STANLEY , FISCHER PAUL , RAJAN MADHAV V. , SAOUMA RICHARD
Published: September 2007

There is growing interest in the use of markets within firms. Proponents have noted that markets are a simple and efficient mechanism for allocating resources in economies in which information is dispersed. In contrast to the use of markets in the broader economy, the efficiency of an internal market is determined in large part by the endogenous contractual incentives provided to the participating, privately informed agents. In this paper, we study the optimal design of managerial incentives when resources are allocated by an internal auction market, as well as the efficiency of the resulting resource allocations. We show that the internal auction market can achieve first‐best resource allocations and decisions, but only at an excessive cost in compensation payments. We then identify conditions under which the internal auction market and associated optimal incentive contracts achieve the benchmark second‐best outcome as determined using a direct revelation mechanism. The advantage of the auction is that it is easier to implement than the direct revelation mechanism. When the internal auction mechanism is unable to achieve second‐best, we characterize the factors that determine the magnitude of the shortfall. Overall, our results speak to the robust performance of relatively simple market mechanisms and associated incentive systems in resolving resource allocation problems within firms.
Scales of equilibrium and disequilibrium during cleavage formation in chlorite and biotite‐grade phyllites, SE Vermont
Authors: MCWILLIAMS C. K. , WINTSCH R. P. , KUNK M. J.
Published: September 2007

Detailed electron microprobe analyses of phyllosilicates in crenulated phyllites from south‐eastern Vermont show that grain‐scale zoning is common, and sympathetic zoning in adjacent minerals is nearly universal. We interpret this to reflect a pressure‐solution mechanism for cleavage development, where precipitation from a very small fluid reservoir fractionated that fluid. Multiple analyses along single muscovite, biotite and chlorite grains (30–200 μm in length) show zoning patterns indicating Tschermakitic substitutions in muscovite and both Tschermakitic and di/trioctahedral substitutions in biotite and chlorite. Using cross‐cutting relationships and mineral chemistry it is shown that these patterns persist in cleavages produced at metamorphic conditions of chlorite‐grade, chlorite‐grade overprinted by biotite‐grade and biotite‐grade. Zoning patterns are comparable in all three settings, requiring a similar cleavage‐forming mechanism independent of metamorphic grade. Moreover, the use of40Ar/39Ar geochronology demonstrates this is true regardless of age. Furthermore, samples with chlorite‐grade cleavages overprinted by biotite porphyroblasts suggest the closure temperatures for the diffusion of Al, Si, Mg and Fe ions are greater than the temperature of the biotite isograd (>∼400 °C). Parallel and smoothly fanning tie lines produced by coexisting muscovite–chlorite, and muscovite–biotite pairs on compositional diagrams demonstrate effectively instantaneous chemical equilibrium and probably indicate simultaneous crystallization.

These results do not support theories suggesting cleavages form in fluid‐dominated systems. If crenulation cleavages formed in systems in which the chemical potentials of all major components are fixed by an external reservoir, then the compositions of individual grains defining these cleavages would be uniform. On the contrary, the fine‐scale chemical zoning observed probably reflects a grain‐scale process consistent with a pressure‐solution mechanism in which the aqueous activities of major components are defined by local dissolution and precipitation. Thus the role of fluids was probably limited to one of catalysing pressure‐solution and fluids apparently did not drive cleavage development.
CARDIOVASCULAR AND SURVIVAL PARADOXES IN DIALYSIS PATIENTS: A Story Half Untold: Adiposity, Adipokines and Outcomes in Dialysis Population
Authors: Kwan Bonnie C. H. , Beddhu Srinivasan
Published: September 2007

In contrast to the associations of high body mass index (BMI) with increased mortality in the general population, high BMI is associated with better survival in dialysis patients. Nonetheless, high BMI/adiposity in chronic kidney disease (CKD)/dialysis patients is associated with insulin resistance, inflammation, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and coronary calcification as described in the general population. These apparently perplexing associations might be explained if (1) adiposity has dual competing effects on survival; a protective nutritional effect and a deleterious metabolic effect resulting in insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hypertension and inflammation and (2) the level of kidney function modifies the relative importance of these effects. In this paradigm, the deleterious metabolic effects of obesity outweigh its protective nutritional effects in the non‐CKD population, the deleterious metabolic effects of obesity are neutralized by its protective nutritional effects in the moderate CKD population and the deleterious metabolic effects of obesity are outweighed by its protective nutritional effects in stage V CKD on dialysis. In other words, the over‐all effects of obesity on survival vary according to the level of kidney function and there is an interaction of body size and presence or absence of CKD on survival even though the metabolic effects of adiposity are not modified by the level of kidney function. Therefore, we propose that despite an association of adiposity with better survival, there is no reverse epidemiology of the associations traditional and nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors and disease with adiposity in dialysis patients.
CARDIOVASCULAR AND SURVIVAL PARADOXES IN DIALYSIS PATIENTS: What Is So Bad about Reverse Epidemiology Anyway?
Authors: Kalantar‐Zadeh Kamyar
Published: September 2007

The term “reverse epidemiology” is used to indicate that such surrogates of cardiovascular risk and metabolic syndrome as obesity, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension are paradoxically associated with greater survival in individuals with chronic disease states and wasting, including dialysis patients, in whom the short‐term survival is the issue at hand. It is being debated whether the crossing curves of the obesity‐mortality association in dialysis patients vs. the general population reflect the residual confounding that needs to be controlled away statistically, or whether they have biological plausibility in sharp contradistinction to the currently dominating Framingham paradigm. In the rush to define the crossing curves as statistical artifact and to dismiss the term “reverse epidemiology” as a misnomer, we may miss the opportunity to gain information housed in those crossing lines and may miss the bigger picture, i.e., how to improve longevity in dialysis patients. Even though some of the survival paradoxes in dialysis patients appear to fulfill the Hill’s criteria of causation, there are still two major drawbacks: (1) convincing pathophysiologic pathways to link dialysis patient survival to obesity, fat accumulation, higher serum lipoprotein levels or slightly higher than normal blood pressure values are yet to be verified in animal and other scientifically sound models; and (2) randomized controlled trials need to show that nutritional interventions resulting in weight gain can lead to greater survival in dialysis patients. Studying the survival paradoxes may lead to a paradigm shift by establishing targets beyond the Framingham guidelines for populations with chronic disease states.
Limited effectiveness of donor deferral registries for transfusion‐transmitted disease markers
Authors: Cable Ritchard , Musavi Fatemeh , Notari Edward , Zou Shimian ,   ARCNET Research Group
Published: September 2007

BACKGROUND: Donor deferral registries (DDRs) detect repeat donations by previously deferred donors and prevent their release. The utility of DDRs has not been objectively demonstrated.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 10.2 million first‐time donors to the American Red Cross from 1995 through 2002 were reviewed to identify donors deferred by screening tests for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; 0.19% of donors), hepatitis C virus (HCV; 0.55%), and hepatitis B virus (HBV; 0.13%). All repeat‐reactive (RR) donors were deferred despite confirmatory testing. Donors were notified and counseled about their test results and deferral. Their subsequent donation behavior was assessed.

RESULTS: A total of 414 HIV‐deferred donors (2.1%), 471 HCV‐deferred donors (0.8%, p < 0.001 vs. HIV and HBV), and 222 HBV‐deferred donors (1.6%, p < 0.01 vs. HIV) returned to donate despite their deferred status. For all three tests, confirmed‐positive donors were less likely to return. Of donors originally confirmed positive, only 7 returning donors were negative by screening (thus the repeat donation interdicted from distribution by the DDR): 0 HIV RR donors, 2 of 36,092 HCV RR donors, and 5 of 8,404 HBV RR donors. Review of the laboratory results for the HCV donors and one HBV donor was consistent with originally false‐positive confirmation tests. The four other HBV confirmed‐positive donors were anti‐hepatitis B core antigen–positive on their subsequent donation, which was discarded despite the DDR.

CONCLUSION: Of 10.2 million donors, the DDR did not prevent the release of any potentially dangerous blood component due to inappropriate return of donors deferred for HIV, HCV, and HBV tests. The effectiveness of DDRs should be evaluated for other deferrals.
Pacemaker Lead Prolapse through the Pulmonary Valve in Children
Authors: BERUL CHARLES I. , VILLAFANE JUAN , ATKINS DIANNE L. , CECCHIN FRANK , KIRSH JOEL A. , JOHNS JAMES A. , KANTER RONALD J. , KARPAWICH PETER P.
Published: September 2007

Background:

Transvenous pacemaker leads in children are often placed with redundant lead length to allow for anticipated patient growth. This excess lead may rarely prolapse into the pulmonary artery and potentially interfere with valve function. We sought to determine the response to lead repositioning on pulmonary valve insufficiency.

Methods:

Retrospective reviews of demographics, lead type, implant duration, and radiography and echocardiography.

Results:

A total of 11 pediatric patients were identified with lead prolapse through the pulmonary valve, of which nine patients underwent procedures to retract and reposition the lead (age at implant 9 ± 4 years, age at revision 13 ± 4 years). The implant duration prior to revision was 4 ± 3 years. Two leads required radiofrequency extraction sheaths for removal, two pulled back using a snare, while five leads were simply retracted and repositioned. Tricuspid regurgitation was none/trivial (three), mild (four), or moderate (two) and only two improved with repositioning or replacement. Pulmonary regurgitation preoperatively was mild (three), mild‐moderate (two), or moderate (four) compared with trivial (three), mild (four), and moderate (two) after revision. Patients with longer‐term implanted leads had less improvement in pulmonary insufficiency. Two patients had mild pulmonary stenosis from lead‐related obstruction.

Conclusions:

Prolapse of transvenous pacing leads into the pulmonary artery can occur when excess slack is left for growth. Leads can often be repositioned, but may require extraction and replacement, particularly if chronically implanted and adherent to valve apparatus. Lead revision does not always resolve pulmonary insufficiency, potentially leaving permanent valve damage.
Impact of Integration of Multislice Computed Tomography Imaging into Three‐Dimensional Electroanatomic Mapping on Clinical Outcomes, Safety, and Efficacy Using Radiofrequency Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: MARTINEK MARTIN , NESSER HANS‐JOACHIM , AICHINGER JOSEF , BOEHM GERNOT , PURERFELLNER HELMUT
Published: September 2007

Background:

Circumferential radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) around the orifices of the pulmonary veins (PV) is a curative catheter‐based therapy of paroxysmal, persistent, and permanent atrial fibrillation (AF). Integration of multislice computed tomography into three‐dimensional electroanatomic mapping to guide catheter ablation has been shown to be accurate and feasible. This study investigated whether the use of such sophisticated imaging technology translates into better clinical outcomes, procedural efficacy, and safety in comparison with a control group treated with conventional three‐dimensional electroanatomic mapping.

Methods:

A total of 100 consecutive patients (85 male, mean age 55 ± 9 years) with multi‐drug‐resistant AF underwent RFCA. In this study we used a wide area circumferential approach with confirmed PV isolation (requiring additional ablations at the ostial level) and further lines as needed.

Results:

Comparison of outcome data between the conventional electroanatomic mapping (Carto XP, Biosense Webster, Diamond Bar, CA, USA) and the image integration technology (Carto MERGE, Biosense Webster) resulted in a significant improvement in procedural success for the image integration group (85.1% vs 67.9%; P = 0.018). No single case of significant PV stenosis occurred in the Carto MERGE group versus three significant stenoses in the conventional group (P = 0.098). Both procedure and fluoroscopy times remained unchanged.

Conclusion:

Multislice computed tomography image integration into electroanatomic mapping significantly improves the success of wide area circumferential ablation with confirmed isolation of the PV and additional lines. In addition, the safety of radiofrequency ablation with regard to the occurrence of PV stenosis is increased in comparison with a control group using conventional electroanatomic mapping alone. Procedural efficacy remains unchanged.
Catheter‐Induced Mechanical Trauma to Fast and Slow Pathways during Radiofrequency Ablation of Atrioventricular Nodal Reentry Tachycardia: Incidence, Predictors, and Clinical Implications
Authors: TOPILSKI IAN , ROGOWSKI ORI , GLICK AHARON , VISKIN SAMI , ELDAR MICHAEL , BELHASSEN BERNARD
Published: September 2007

Background:

Data on the incidence and significance of catheter‐induced trauma to fast and slow pathways are scarce.

Objectives:

To evaluate the incidence, predictors, and clinical implications of inadvertent catheter‐induced mechanical trauma to fast and slow pathways during radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT).

Methods:

A total of 901 consecutive patients (aged 9–92 years old) with inducible sustained AVNRT underwent RFA of the slow pathway. All procedures were closely monitored for appearance of catheter‐induced mechanical block of fast or slow pathways.

Results:

Catheter‐induced mechanical trauma to fast and/or slow pathways was observed in 121 (13.4%) patients: 86 (71%) patients had trauma of the fast pathway, three (2.4%) had trauma of the slow pathway, and 32 (26.4%) had trauma of both pathways. Mechanical trauma lasted <1 minute in 87 (72%) patients, 1–30 minutes in 23 (19%) and >30 minutes in 11 (9%). A significantly increased procedure discontinuation rate was observed in patients with mechanical trauma as compared to those with no trauma (P < 0.0001). Young patient age (<35) was a strong predictor for the occurrence of mechanical trauma to AV nodal pathways. No significant difference between the trauma and non‐trauma groups was found in respect to the number of catheters used during the procedure, the incidence of AV block, and the need for permanent pacemaker implantation.

Conclusions:

Mechanical trauma to fast and slow pathways during ablation of AVNRT is more common than previously recognized, occurring especially in patients aged <35 years.
Brugada Syndrome Unmasked by Accidental Inhalation of Gasoline Vapors
Authors: KRANJČEC DARKO , BERGOVEC MIJO , ROUGIER JEAN‐SÉBASTIEN , RAGUZ MIROSLAV , PAVLOVIC SONJA , JESPERSEN THOMAS , CASTELLA VINCENT , KELLER DAGMAR I. , ABRIEL HUGUES
Published: September 2007

Loss‐of‐function mutations in the gene SCN5A can cause Brugada syndrome (BrS), which is an inherited form of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. We report the case of a 46‐year‐old patient, with no previous medical history, who had ventricular fibrillation after accidental inhalation of gasoline vapors. His electrocardiogram (ECG) showed a typical type‐1 BrS pattern that persisted after the acute event. Genetic investigations allowed the identification of a novel SCN5A mutation leading to a frame‐shift and early termination of the channel protein. Biochemical and cellular electrophysiology experiments confirmed the loss‐of‐function of the mutant allele. The patient was implanted with a cardioverter/defibrillator.