bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nationwide survey to evaluate the prevalence of varicoceles in South Korean middle school boys: A population based study
Authors: Baek Minki , Park Seong Woon , Moon Kyung Hyun , Chang Young Seop , Jeong Hee Jong , Lee Sang Wook , Han Sang Won , Kim Young Sig ,   The Korean Society of Pediatric Urology
Published: November 2010

Objective:  We carried out a nationwide epidemiological study to evaluate the prevalence and effect of varicoceles on testicular volume in South Korean adolescents. We also investigated the correlation between varicoceles and body mass index (BMI).

Methods:  In this prospective study, physical examinations were carried out to assess the presence and severity of varicoceles in middle school boys from six regions of South Korea. Testicular volume, height and weight of all boys were measured. The prevalence of varicoceles was assessed. The associations between age, testicular volume, BMI, and the presence and severity of varicoceles were examined.

Results:  A total of 1938 boys with a mean age of 14.1 years (range 13–16 years) were screened. A varicocele was found on the left side in 295 (15.2%) boys and on the right side in 8 (0.4%) boys. Bilateral varicoceles were found in 17 (0.9%) individuals. Of the subjects with a left varicocele, 151 (51.2%), 80 (27.1%) and 64 (25.1%) boys had a grade 1, 2 or 3 varicocele, respectively. The prevalence of varicoceles did not increase with age. The proportion of boys with testicular size discrepancies increased with the severity of the varicocele. After adjusting for age, BMI had a negative correlation with the presence of varicoceles.

Conclusions:  The prevalence of varicoceles in South Korean middle school boys is 16.5%. The presence of varicoceles seems to have a negative effect on testicular growth. BMI has a significant inverse relationship with the occurrence of varicoceles.
Does performance of robot‐assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy within 2 weeks of prostate biopsy affect the outcome?
Authors: Lee Seung Hwan , Chung Mun Su , Chung Yeun Goo , Park Kyung Kgi , Chung Byung Ha
Published: November 2010

Objective:  The aim of this study was to determine whether robot‐assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RALP) performed within either 2 or 4 weeks of prostate biopsy is associated with surgical difficulty or immediate postoperative outcome.

Methods:  Of the 121 patients that underwent RALP at our institution, 104 patients were prospectively included. Patients were sequentially divided into three groups: first patient in group A (interval from biopsy to RALP: 2 weeks), second patient in group B (2–4 weeks), third patient in group C (more than 4 weeks), fourth patient in group A, and so on. The clinical, operative, pathological, and postoperative functional data were collected.

Results:  Group A consisted of 31 patients, group B of 33, and group C of 40 patients. Median patient age and median follow up were 61.1 years and 14.1 months, respectively. In group A, mean estimated blood loss was significantly higher than the other two groups, even though there was no significant difference in the mean console time. Postoperative complications did not make any difference among the groups. In the multivariable analysis, the interval from biopsy to surgery did not affect operative times or surgical margins, or the immediate postoperative outcomes (e.g. recovery of erectile function, continence, and biochemical recurrence).

Conclusion:  A short interval for less than two weeks between the prostate biopsy and the RALP seems to be feasible and safe. Further studies with larger samples are needed to corroborate these findings.
Stock market synchronicity – an alternative approach to assessing the information impact of Australian IFRS
Authors: Bissessur Sanjay , Hodgson Allan
Published: November 2010

How has the mandatory adoption in 2005 of International Financial Reporting Standards in (IFRS) affected information flow for investors in Australia? This paper investigates impact by examining synchronicity issues. Morck et al. (2000) label the degree to which stock prices depend upon market and industry wide information as market synchronicity, and the degree to which they reflect firm specific information as idiosyncratic dependency. Increased synchronicity can signal several events, including a loss of confidence in firm specific accounting data, reduced transparency, or evidence of a greater degree of cross sectional comparability. We develop and test three theoretical models on the impact of IFRS and find a general decrease in synchronicity in the first two post‐IFRS years, followed by a reversion to a significantly higher level in later years. Further tests reveal lower analyst forecast earnings errors post‐IFRS. Results provide restrictive support for the International Accounting Standards Board contention that IFRS accounting provides higher specific and comparable information content – at least for sophisticated financial analysts.
Improved foreign gene expression in plants using a virus‐encoded suppressor of RNA silencing modified to be developmentally harmless
Authors: Saxena Pooja , Hsieh Yi‐Cheng , Alvarado Veria Y. , Sainsbury Frank , Saunders Keith , Lomonossoff George P. , Scholthof Herman B.
Published: November 2010

Endeavours to obtain elevated and prolonged levels of foreign gene expression in plants are often hampered by the onset of RNA silencing that negatively affects target gene expression. Plant virus–encoded suppressors of RNA silencing are useful tools for counteracting silencing but their wide applicability in transgenic plants is limited because their expression often causes harmful developmental effects. We hypothesized that a previously characterized tombusvirus P19 mutant (P19/R43W), typified by reduced symptomatic effects while maintaining the ability to sequester short‐interfering RNAs, could be used to suppress virus‐induced RNA silencing without the concomitant developmental effects. To investigate this, transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana was used to evaluate the ability of P19/R43W to enhance heterologous gene expression. Although less potent than wt‐P19, P19/R43W was an effective suppressor when used to enhance protein expression from either a traditional T‐DNA expression cassette or using the CPMV‐HT expression system. Stable transformation of N. benthamiana yielded plants that expressed detectable levels of P19/R43W that was functional as a suppressor. Transgenic co‐expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and P19/R43W also showed elevated accumulation of GFP compared with the levels found in the absence of a suppressor. In all cases, transgenic expression of P19/R43W caused no or minimal morphological defects and plants produced normal‐looking flowers and fertile seed. We conclude that the expression of P19/R43W is developmentally harmless to plants while providing a suitable platform for transient or transgenic overexpression of value‐added genes in plants with reduced hindrance by RNA silencing.
A Re‐Assessment of Common Theoretical Approaches to Explain Gender Differences in Continuing Training Participation
Authors: Dieckhoff Martina , Steiber Nadia
Published: November 2010

It is often argued that gender differences in access to continuing training are a central cause of persisting gender inequalities in occupational attainment. Yet existing empirical work has presented rather mixed evidence regarding a potential sex gap in training participation. In this article, we carry out an empirical test of the central theoretical models commonly used to explain gender differences in continuing training participation. Using the European Social Survey, we find that male employees are more likely to train than their female colleagues, controlling for worker, firm and job characteristics, with some tentative evidence for differences across countries. Common theoretical approaches to understanding gender differences in continuing skill investment to some degree explain men's training incidence, while they largely fail to predict that of women.
Beyond the Flexibility/Security Trade‐Off: Reconciling Confident Consumers with Insecure Workers
Authors: Crouch Colin
Published: November 2010

The article proposes an analysis of labour markets and related social policy that corrects the supply‐side emphasis that has dominated economic policy since the decline of Keynesian approaches in the late 1970s. It starts from a potential tension between the apparent need of economies for both flexible workers and confident consumers. This can be resolved through three different approaches: separating insecure workers from secure consumers, separating consumption from labour incomes, and integrating flexibility and security within the labour market itself. These approaches are played out across four different contexts: place, time, externalizing problems on to minorities within a given community, internalizing problems within the community. Up to 19 different public policies and corporate practices are identified, occupying different positions on the framework. These go considerably beyond the issues of industrial relations institutions and related social policy that are the normal focus of labour market studies.
Workplace Partnership and the Balance of Advantage: A Critical Case Analysis
Authors: Geary John , Trif Aurora
Published: November 2010

Whether all parties to the employment relationship benefit from workplace partnership and with what consequences is one of the most persistent research questions in industrial relations scholarship. Three dominant theoretical frameworks are identified. They are the mutual gains, pessimistic and constrained mutuality perspectives. Using both quantitative and qualitative case study data, the article queries the prevailing view that it is possible to categorize partnership outcomes as fitting neatly into one of these three theoretical perspectives. The article investigates the critical role of employees' perceptions of the distribution of partnership gains for their orientation to their employer and union, and in regard to their support for a continuation of a partnership approach.
Works Councils and Firm Profits Revisited
Authors: Mueller Steffen
Published: November 2010

As they are employee associations, it is typically presumed that works councils redistribute economic rents from firm owners to workers. And indeed, the empirical literature suggests that German works councils reduce profits. The studies on the profitability effect of works councils mainly use self‐reported subjective profit evaluations of managers as the dependent variable. I argue that these are poor measures of real profits. Newly available information on firms' capital stock allows me to revisit the profit effect now using an objective profit measure. When utilizing the subjective measure I find the standard results; with the objective measure, however, the works council effect on profits is positive and significant.
The Social Costs of Academic Success Across Ethnic Groups
Authors: Fuller‐Rowell Thomas E. , Doan Stacey N.
Published: November 2010

This study explores the longitudinal association between academic achievement and social acceptance across ethnic groups in a nationally representative sample of adolescents (N = 13,570;Mage = 15.5 years). The effects of school context are also considered. Results show that African American and Native American adolescents experience greater social costs with academic success than Whites. Pertaining to school context, findings suggest that the differential social consequences of achievement experienced by African Americans are greatest in more highly achieving schools, but only when these schools have a smaller percentage of Black students. Students from Mexican descent also showed differential social costs with achievement in particular contexts. The implications of these findings to theory, policy, and future research are discussed.
Preverbal Infants Anticipate That Food Will Be Brought to the Mouth: An Eye Tracking Study of Manual Feeding and Flying Spoons
Authors: Kochukhova Olga , Gredebäck Gustaf
Published: November 2010

This study relies on eye tracking technology to investigate how humans perceive others’ feeding actions. Results demonstrate that 6‐month‐olds (n = 54) anticipate that food is brought to the mouth when observing an adult feeding herself with a spoon. Still, they fail to anticipate self‐propelled (SP) spoons that move toward the mouth and manual combing actions directed toward the head. Ten‐month‐olds (n = 54) and adults (n = 32) anticipate SP spoons; however, only adults anticipate combing actions. These results suggest that goal anticipation during observation of feeding actions develops earlier and is less dependent on directly perceived actions than goal anticipation during observation of other manual actions. These results are discussed in relation to experience and a possible phylogenetic influence on perception and understanding of feeding.
Relations Between Physiological and Cognitive Regulatory Systems: Infant Sleep Regulation and Subsequent Executive Functioning
Authors: Bernier Annie , Carlson Stephanie M. , Bordeleau Stéphanie , Carrier Julie
Published: November 2010

The aim of this report was to investigate the prospective links between infant sleep regulation and subsequent executive functioning (EF). The authors assessed sleep regulation through a parent sleep diary when children were 12 and 18 months old (N = 60). Child EF was assessed at 18 and 26 months of age. Higher proportions of total sleep occurring at night time, at both 12 and 18 months, were related to better performance on executive tasks, especially those involving a strong impulse control component. Most relations held above family socioeconomic status, prior mental development and concurrent verbal ability. These findings add to previous results with school‐age children in suggesting that sleep favors the development of higher order cognitive functions requiring prefrontal cortex involvement.
Comprehension of Infrequent Subject–Verb Agreement Forms: Evidence From French‐Learning Children
Authors: Legendre Géraldine , Barrière Isabelle , Goyet Louise , Nazzi Thierry
Published: November 2010

Two comprehension experiments were conducted to investigate whether young French‐learning children (N = 76) are able to use a single number cue in subject–verb agreement contexts and match a visually dynamic scene with a corresponding verbal stimulus. Results from both preferential looking and pointing demonstrated significant comprehension in 30‐month‐olds with no preference for either singular or plural. These results challenge previous claims made on the basis of English and Spanish that comprehension of subject–verb agreement expressed as a bound morpheme is late, around 5 years of age (V. A. Johnson, J. G. de Villiers, & H. N. Seymour, 2005;A.‐T. Pérez‐Leroux, 2005). Properties of the adult input were also analyzed. Possible implications for theories of syntactic acquisition are discussed.
Using Numerical Simulations and Engineering Reasoning under Uncertainty: Studying the Collapse of WTC‐1
Authors: Irfanoglu Ayhan
Published: November 2010

Abstract:  A series of numerical aircraft crash simulations and thermal behavior analyses were made at Purdue University to study the response of the World Trade Center Tower 1 (WTC‐1) on September 11, 2001. The process included accuracy verification for the computational tools using available experiment data. Numerical models for the Boeing 767–200ER aircraft and the structural system for the top 20 stories of WTC‐1 were developed for the simulations. A second aircraft model, simpler yet comparable in effect, was developed and used for a parametric sensitivity analysis. Results from these simulations and published by other researchers indicate that while the observed impact damage to tower exterior framing can be estimated accurately, the unseen impact damage to the core structure of the tower could not be estimated with high confidence. Although the computational tools helped in developing an understanding as to what might have happened as the aircraft penetrated and disintegrated into the structure, they were not able to reduce the uncertainty in the core damage estimate. However, reflecting insight from the behavior of the Pentagon building under the impact loads it received on the same day and studying the effects of elevated temperature on mechanical properties of steel in light of experimental data, the uncertainty in the core structural damage estimate was found to be of negligible importance with regards to the ultimate fate of the tower. It is demonstrated that through use of numerical simulations and engineering reasoning, a dominant factor in the collapse of the tower could be proposed with confidence. It was the loss of fire‐proofing in the tower core during aircraft impact that left the core vulnerable to ensuing thermal loads and resulted in the eventual collapse of the tower.
From Community Cohesion to Mobile Solidarities: The City of Sanctuary Network and the Strangers into Citizens Campaign
Authors: Squire Vicki
Published: November 2010

This article draws attention to the limitations of the UK's integration and cohesion agenda and introduces an alternative analytical approach that focuses on solidarity, mobility and citizenship over cohesion, integration and community. Developing such an approach through analysing the City of Sanctuary network and the Strangers into Citizens campaign, the article has two interrelated objectives. First, it aims to shed critical light on the assumptions regarding community that inform the UK's integration and cohesion agenda, which involves a series of contradictions that exclude asylum seekers and irregular migrants as subjects of integration and cohesion. Second, it aims to offer some reflections on how these assumptions are challenged by the City of Sanctuary network and the Strangers into Citizens campaign, based on the activation of mobile solidarities that cut across established social hierarchies. In so doing, the article suggests that the UK's approach to integration and cohesion is flawed because it overlooks engagements and solidarities in which cultural categories and legal distinctions are extraneous, while at the same time it privileges the collective engagements of established residents over those whose presence may be more fleeting or less definite. In order to demonstrate the inadequacies of such an approach, the article shows how minor acts of citizenship that are mobilised by City of Sanctuary and Strangers into Citizens enact a mobile form of solidarity based on participation through presence. This, the article argues, potentially serves as the grounds for a critical alternative to an approach that assumes that intensified movements and diversities induce hostility.
Stereotype threat in salary negotiations is mediated by reservation salary
Authors: TELLHED UNA , BJÖRKLUND FREDRIK
Published: November 2010

Tellhed, U. & Björklund, F. (2011). Stereotype threat in salary negotiations is mediated by reservation salary. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 185–195.

Women are stereotypically perceived as worse negotiators than men, which may make them ask for less salary than men when under stereotype threat (Kray et al., 2001). However, the mechanisms of stereotype threat are not yet properly understood. The current study investigated whether stereotype threat effects in salary negotiations can be explained by motivational factors. A total of 116 business students negotiated salary with a confederate and were either told that this was diagnostic of negotiating ability (threat manipulation) or not. Measures of minimum (reservation) and ideal (aspiration) salary goals and regulatory focus were collected. The finding (Kray et al., 2001) that women make lower salary requests than men when under stereotype threat was replicated. Women in the threat condition further reported lower aspiration salary, marginally significantly lower reservation salary and less eagerness/more vigilance than men. Reservation salary mediated the stereotype threat effect, and there was a trend for regulatory focus to mediate the effect. Thus, reservation salary partly explains why women ask for less salary than men under stereotype threat. Female negotiators may benefit from learning that stereotype threat causes sex‐differences in motivation.
The relationship between phonological skills and word decoding
Authors: HØIEN‐TENGESDAL INGJERD , TØNNESSEN FINN‐EGIL
Published: November 2010

Høien‐Tengesdal, I. & Tønnessen, F.‐E. (2011). The relationship between phonological skills and word decoding. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 93–103.

Word decoding ability is a critical factor in reading performance. In the present study, we examined the relationship between word decoding ability and three different phonological skills; phonemic awareness, verbal short‐term memory (V‐STM), and rapid automatic naming (RAN) in 1007 Scandinavian third‐ and fifth‐graders. In the first part of the study, we sought to investigate the influence of the three phonological skills on word decoding ability. Using multiple regression analysis, our result clearly demonstrated that phonemic awareness was the most powerful phonological skill explaining variance in word decoding ability among average decoders. Among children with poor decoding skills, however, RAN was the most important factor in Grade 3, whereas V‐STM was the main contributor to decoding ability among children in Grade 5. In the second part of the research, we examined the relationship between poor phonological skills and word decoding ability. Interestingly, our result revealed that approximately one half of the children with phonological difficulties, still performed within the average range with regard to word decoding ability. However, our analyses confirmed earlier research concerning the severe word decoding difficulties children with both poor phonemic awareness and restricted V‐STM, experience.
6. The Simultaneous Decision(s) about the Number of Lower- and Higher-Level Classes in Multilevel Latent Class Analysis
Authors: Lukočienė Olga , Varriale Roberta , Vermunt Jeroen K.
Published: November 2010

Recently, several types of extensions of the latent class (LC) model have been developed for the analysis of data sets having a multilevel structure. The most popular variant is the multilevel LC model with finite mixture distributions at multiple levels of a hierarchical structure; that is, with LCs for both lower-level units (e.g. individuals, citizens, or patients) and higher-level units (e.g. groups, regions, or hospitals). A problem in the application of this model is that determining the number of LCs is much more complicated than in standard (single-level) LC analysis because it involves multiple, nonindependent decisions. We propose a three-step model-fitting procedure for deciding about the number of higher- and lower-level classes. We also investigate the performance of information criteria (BIC, AIC, CAIC, and AIC3) in the context of multilevel LC analysis, with different types of response variables. A specific difficulty associated with using BIC and CAIC in any type of multilevel analysis is that these measures contain the sample size in their formulae, and we investigate whether this should be the number of groups, the number of individuals, or either the number of groups or individuals depending on whether one has to decide about model features concerning the higher or lower level. The three main conclusions of our simulations studies are that (1) the proposed three-step model-fitting strategy works rather well, (2) the number of higher-level units (K) is the preferred sample size for BIC and CAIC, both for decisions about higher- and lower-level classes, and (3) with categorical indicators, AIC3 and BIC based on the higher-level sample size are the preferred measures for deciding about the number of LCs at both the higher and lower level. With continuous indicators, BIC(K) performs better than AIC3. AIC performs best in very specific situations—namely, with poorly separated classes and categorical indicators.
A Modest Proposal for a Two‐Sided Market Clearing Institution under Asymmetric Supply Constraints with Skewed Pricing: The Market for Adoption and Abortion in the United States
Authors: BALDING CHRISTOPHER
Published: November 2010

This paper presents a theoretical model matching the potential supply of terminated pregnancies with the total demand for children within certain modeling constraints. First, the demand and supply of pregnancies should be studied within the theoretical framework of a market with economic incentives. Second, a theoretical model for the demand for abortion must incorporate the total market for children, which implies the market for pregnancy, abortion, and adoption. Third, there exist in the overall market for procreative goods and services certain unique characteristics that need to be carefully considered. Producers and suppliers within the procreative goods and services market have radically different price and cost elasticity functions and unique production asymmetries that create a potential net benefit for buyer and seller alike. The market for abortion and adoption, while seemingly related and similar, suffer from a fundamental disconnect, preventing a simple exchange of goods and services: abortion implies potential supply that does not flow to potential consumersthose seeking to adopt. Studying this market inefficiency will benefit from a two‐sided market analysis used in situations where an intermediary business must attract both producers and suppliers. There are two key findings. First, I find that the producer decision to supply the good depends primarily on exogenous preference formation and not on consumer‐provided incentives. Second, I find that the market would benefit from legal framework for a market clearing institution using the market for real estate as the blueprint.
Regulatory Policy Design in an Uncertain World
Authors: CHAMBERS ROBERT G. , MELKONYAN TIGRAN A.
Published: November 2010

The paper examines principal–agent relationships in uncertain environments where beliefs of the contracting parties (the regulator and the firm) are represented by sets of probabilities. In addition to fully characterizing the first‐best and the second‐best solutions, we examine optimality of zero‐risk, fixed‐payment schemes and the relationship between the first‐best and the second‐best solutions. In the second‐best world, where the regulator can only contract on the quality of the good, a zero‐risk standard is optimal when the firm has beliefs that are so ambiguous that the firm’s marginal rate of transformation belongs to the set of the firm’s relative probabilities.
THE UNIVERSAL VERSUS THE PARTICULAR IN ECOFEMINIST ETHICS
Authors: Kao Grace Y.
Published: November 2010

While not a monolithic movement, ecofeminists are united in their conviction that there are important connections between the exploitation of both women and nature. They are internally divided, however, on the propriety of applying their theoretical claims and activist strategies across social contexts. This paper explores three debates within ecofeminism that largely turn on this universalist versus particularist tension: whether ecofeminist theorizing can adequately account for cultural variation; whether its common usage of essentialist rhetoric is productive or troubling; and whether resources for social activism could legitimately be culled from an assembly of heterogeneous and foreign sources. I conclude that the universalism of the women–nature connection can indeed be justified if perceived in multivalent ways, that “earthcare” or “ecomaternalist” discourse can be helpful in some contexts but harmful in others, and that selective retrieval of other cultures for the purposes of advocacy should not be ruled out as necessarily imperialistic or otherwise inappropriate.
SEXING COMPARATIVE ETHICS: Bringing Forth Feminist and Gendered Perspectives
Authors: Bucar Elizabeth M. , Kao Grace Y. , Oh Irene
Published: November 2010

This collaborative companion piece, written as a postscript to the three preceding essays, highlights four themes in comparative religious ethics that emerge through our focus on sex and gender: language, embodiment, justice, and critique.
JUST LIES: Finding Augustine's Ethics of Public Lying in His Treatments of Lying and Killing
Authors: Decosimo David
Published: November 2010

Augustine famously defends the justice of killing in certain public contexts such as just wars. He also claims that private citizens who intentionally kill are guilty of murder, regardless of their reasons. Just as famously, Augustine seems to prohibit lying categorically. Analyzing these features of his thought and their connections, I argue that Augustine is best understood as endorsing the justice of lying in certain public contexts, even though he does not explicitly do so. Specifically, I show that parallels between his treatments of killing and lying along with his “agent (auctor)–instrument (minister)” distinction, in which God is the true agent or “author” of certain acts and humans are merely God's instruments, together imply that he would regard certain instances of public lying as permissible and even obligatory. I buttress my argument by examining several key but neglected passages and by responding to various objections and rival interpretations. Throughout, I challenge standard interpretations of Augustine's ethics of killing and lying and seek to deepen our overall understanding of these dimensions of his thought. In so doing, I contribute to ongoing discussions of public and private lying and to the task of relating Augustine's thought to contemporary debate and deliberation on war, killing, and lying.
Managerial Performance and Closed‐End Country Fund Premiums: A Lead or Lag Relationship?*
Authors: ISMAILESCU IULIANA , BRANCH BEN
Published: November 2010

Herein, we examine whether changes in closed‐end country fund premiums lead and/or lag management performance. Using a sample of 46 country funds and a time period of 11 years, we find evidence of a significant negative relationship between past performance and current fund premiums, but no support for the hypothesis that past premiums are indicative of future performance. Furthermore, the above results are driven primarily by the emerging market funds. The difference between emerging market and developed market fund premiums' response to past performance, although less obvious, continues to hold in the crises period, but vanishes in the tranquil period.
On the Behavior and Determinants of Risk‐Based Capital Ratios: Revisiting the Evidence from UK Banking Institutions*
Authors: FRANCIS WILLIAM B. , OSBORNE MATTHEW
Published: November 2010

Using bank‐level panel data from the United Kingdom, this paper investigates the factors that influence banks' choice of risk‐based capital ratios. The study focuses on evaluating the role of regulatory capital requirements. Findings indicate that such requirements, even when not binding, affect banks' capital management practices and suggest that banks maintain targeted buffers above regulatory thresholds. That behavior differs across several dimensions, including bank size, nearness to regulatory minimum, reliance on core (equity) capital and exposure to market discipline. Capital ratios also vary over the economic cycle. These findings have implications for the ongoing review of international capital standards.
Annexins
Authors: Laohavisit Anuphon , Davies Julia M.
Published: November 2010

Annexins are multifunctional lipid‐binding proteins. Plant annexins are expressed throughout the life cycle and are under environmental control. Their association or insertion into membranes may be governed by a range of local conditions (Ca2+, pH, voltage or lipid identity) and nonclassical sorting motifs. Protein functions include exocytosis, actin binding, peroxidase activity, callose synthase regulation and ion transport. As such, annexins appear capable of linking Ca2+, redox and lipid signalling to coordinate development with responses to the biotic and abiotic environment. Significant advances in plant annexin research have been made in the past 2 yr. Here, we review the basis of annexin multifunctionality and suggest how these proteins may operate in the life and death of a plant cell.

ContentsSummary40I.Introduction40II.Expression and localization during development41III.Response to the environment42IV.Control of subcellular localization42V.Structural determinants of function43VI.Activities and possible functions47VII.Conclusions and prospects49Acknowledgements49References49
Evidence of clonazepam abuse liability: results of the tools developed by the French Centers for Evaluation and Information on Pharmacodependence (CEIP) network
Authors: Frauger Elisabeth , Pauly Vanessa , Pradel Vincent , Rouby Frank , Arditti Jocelyne , Thirion Xavier , Lapeyre Mestre Maryse , Micallef Joëlle
Published: November 2010

Recent observations suggest the existence of clonazepam abuse. To determine its importance in France, a quantitative and systematic synthesis of all clonazepam data of several epidemiological tools of the Centers for Evaluation and Information on Pharmacodependence (CEIP) network has been performed in comparison with data on others benzodiazepines (BZD). Data on clonazepam and other BZD have been analysed from different epidemiological tools: OSIAP survey that identifies drugs obtained by means of falsified prescriptions, Observation of Illegal Drugs and Misuse of Psychotropic Medications (OPPIDUM) survey that describes modalities of use and data from regional French health reimbursement system. In OSIAP survey, the proportion of clonazepam falsified prescriptions among all BZD falsified prescriptions increased. During the 2006 OPPIDUM survey, the analysis of the BZD modalities of use highlights clonazepam abuse liability (for example 23% of illegal acquisition), in second rank after flunitrazepam. Studies based on data from the French health reimbursed system show that 1.5% of subjects with clonazepam dispensing had a deviant behaviour. Among BZD, clonazepam has the second most important doctor‐shopping indicator (3%) after flunitrazepam. All these data provide some arguments in favour of clonazepam abuse liability in real life and the necessity to reinforce its monitoring.
An improved model to investigate the efficacy of antidyskinetic agents in hemiparkinsonian rats
Authors: Spinnewyn Brigitte , Charnet Christelle , Cornet Sylvie , Roubert Véronique , Chabrier Pierre‐Etienne , Auguet Michel
Published: November 2010

A number of experimental models of L‐DOPA‐induced dyskinesia have been proposed, but these models result in a low to medium rate of dyskinetic animals with mild to severe symptoms. The objective of this study was to combine a model of 6‐OHDA‐induced parkinsonism and of L‐DOPA‐induced dyskinesia in rats to establish a reliable preclinical model. Two stereotaxic injections of 6‐OHDA were administered in the left striatum. This model led to 90–100% of rats with a marked contralateral circling behaviour, significant limb use asymmetry (20%), a decrease in ipsilateral striatal dopamine content (70%) and degeneration of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra (70%). Chronic treatment with L‐DOPA was administered for 35 days and consisted of three phases with incremental daily doses. The third phase resulted in 83–90% of rats developing severe abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs) which included limb and locomotive dyskinesia, axial dystonia and orolingual dyskinesia. Reproducibility of the model, criteria of strict blinding, placebo‐controlled design, randomization of study subjects and pretrial determination of sample size were used to measure efficacy of amantadine and istradefylline and to validate the protocol design. Acute or subchronic post‐treatment with amantadine reduced the severity of dyskinesia while istradefylline punctually attenuated AIMs. Our experimental conditions using gradual development of dyskinesia induced by increasing doses of L‐DOPA resulted in a reliable model of L‐DOPA‐induced dyskinesia with a high rate of dyskinetic rats.
Effects of florfenicol on LPS‐induced nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2production in RAW 264.7 macrophages
Authors: Zhang Xuemei , Xiong Huanzhang , Li Hongyu , Yu Lu , Deng Xuming
Published: November 2010

Florfenicol, an antibiotic commonly used to treat infections, has previously been shown to modulate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced early cytokine responses by blocking the nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) pathway. In this study, we investigated the effects of florfenicol on nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2(PGE2) production as well as on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) expression in LPS‐stimulated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages. We also analysed the effects of florfenicol on mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Florfenicol significantly inhibited LPS‐induced NO and PGE2production. Consistent with these observations, mRNA and protein expression of iNOS and COX‐2 were also inhibited by florfenicol in a dose‐dependent manner. Furthermore, phosphorylation of p38 and extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) in LPS‐stimulated RAW 264.7 cells was suppressed by florfenicol. However, c‐JunN‐terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation remained unaffected. Using specific inhibitors of ERK and p38, we found that florfenicol may inhibit NO and PGE2mostly through ERK and p38 pathway. These results suggest that florfenicol inhibits NO and PGE2production in conjunction with an inhibition of iNOS and COX‐2 expression, at least partially via suppression of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK phosphorylation.
Comparison between orlistat plus l‐carnitine and orlistat alone on inflammation parameters in obese diabetic patients
Authors: Derosa Giuseppe , Maffioli Pamela , Ferrari Ilaria , D’Angelo Angela , Fogari Elena , Palumbo Ilaria , Randazzo Sabrina , Cicero Arrigo F.G.
Published: November 2010

To evaluate the effects of 1‐year treatment with orlistat plus l‐carnitine compared to orlistat alone on body weight, glycemic and lipid control, and inflammatory parameters in obese type 2 diabetic patients. Two hundred and fifty‐eight patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) [glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) > 8.0%] in therapy with different oral hypoglycemic agents or insulin were enrolled in this study and randomized to take orlistat 120 mg three times a day plus l‐carnitine 2 g one time a day or orlistat 120 mg three times a day. We evaluated the following parameters at baseline and after 3, 6, 9, and 12 months : body weight, body mass index (BMI), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), postprandial plasma glucose (PPG), fasting plasma insulin (FPI), homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index (HOMA‐IR), total cholesterol (TC), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), triglycerides (Tg), adiponectin (ADN), leptin, tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), vaspin, and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (Hs‐CRP). We observed a better decrease in body weight, glycemic profile, HOMA‐IR, LDL‐C, and ADN and a faster improvement in FPI, TC, Tg, leptin, TNF‐α, Hs‐CRP with orlistat plus l‐carnitine compared to orlistat alone. We also recorded an improvement in vaspin with orlistat plus l‐carnitine not reached with orlistat alone. Orlistat plus l‐carnitine gave a better improvement in body weight, glycemic and lipid profile compared to orlistat alone; furthermore, a faster and better improvement in inflammatory parameters was observed with orlistat plus l‐carnitine compared to orlistat alone.
The tumor suppressor ING1 contributes to epigenetic control of cellular senescence
Authors: Abad María , Moreno Alberto , Palacios Alicia , Narita Masako , Blanco Francisco , Moreno‐Bueno Gema , Narita Masashi , Palmero Ignacio
Published: November 2010

Cellular senescence is an effective tumor‐suppressive mechanism that causes a stable proliferative arrest in cells with potentially oncogenic alterations. Here, we have investigated the role of the p33ING1 tumor suppressor in the regulation of cellular senescence in human primary fibroblasts. We show that p33ING1 triggers a senescent phenotype in a p53‐dependent fashion. Also, endogenous p33ING1 protein accumulates in chromatin in oncogene‐senescent fibroblasts and its silencing by RNA interference impairs senescence triggered by oncogenes. Notably, the ability to induce senescence is lost in a mutant version of p33ING1 present in human tumors. Using specific point mutants, we further show that recognition of the chromatin mark H3K4me3 is essential for induction of senescence by p33ING1. Finally, we demonstrate that ING1‐induced senescence is associated to a specific genetic signature with a strong representation of chemokine and cytokine signaling factors, which significantly overlaps with that of oncogene‐induced senescence. In summary, our results identify ING1 as a critical epigenetic regulator of cellular senescence in human fibroblasts and highlight its role in control of gene expression in the context of this tumor‐protective response.
Prophylactic Botulinum Type A Toxin Complex (Dysport®) for Migraine Without Aura
Authors: Chankrachang Siwaporn , Arayawichanont Arkhom , Poungvarin Niphon , Nidhinandana Samart , Boonkongchuen Pairoj , Towanabut Somchai , Sithinamsuwan Pasiri , Kongsaengdao Subsai
Published: November 2010

(Headache 2011;51:52‐63)

Objective.— To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and optimum dose of a highly purified Clostridium botulinum type A toxin‐hemagglutinin complex (Dysport) for migraine prophylaxis.

Background.— Botulinum toxin type‐A has demonstrated good efficacy in several open‐label studies of patients with migraine, involving either individualized or standardized protocols, although data from placebo‐controlled trials have been conflicting.

Methods.— A 12‐week, double‐blind, randomized trial of Dysport (120 or 240 units) vs placebo was conducted in 6 centers in Thailand to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and optimum dose of botulinum toxin type‐A (Dysport) for migraine prophylaxis. A total of 128 patients with migraine without aura were enrolled. The primary end point was the change in the mean number of migraine attacks per 4‐week period from the pre‐treatment period to 8‐12 weeks post injection. Secondary efficacy measures included the change in the mean total intensity score from the pre‐treatment period to 8‐12 weeks, the investigator and patient global assessments of change at each visit compared with pre‐treatment, and Migraine Disability Assessment and Short Form‐36 scores.

Results.— Change in number of migraine attacks from pre‐treatment to weeks 8‐12 was not significantly different. There was a greater improvement in total intensity score at weeks 8‐12 with Dysport‐240 (not significant), and interim visit data showed that this was significant at weeks 0‐4 (P = .03 Dysport‐240 vs placebo). The mean duration of headache during weeks 0‐4 was lower with Dysport‐240 (P = .04 vs placebo). Improvements in patient and investigator global assessments of change between weeks 0‐4 and 8‐12 were significant for the Dysport‐240 group (both P < .05 vs placebo).

Conclusions.— Limitations in study design and assessment tools employed may have contributed to the inconclusive nature of the primary end point data. Dysport‐240 showed significant benefit over placebo at some end points and further trials with more appropriate outcome measures are required to evaluate effectively this treatment.
Ranking Economics Departments in a Contested Discipline: A Bibliometric Approach to Quality Equality Between Theoretically Distinct Subdisciplines
Authors: Lee Frederic S. , Grijalva Therese C. , Nowell Clifford
Published: November 2010

Abstract

Quality ranking of economic journals and departments is a widespread practice in the United States. The methods used are peer review and bibliometric measures. In a divided discipline such as economics scientific knowledge is contested. So knowing which journals and departments are the best in terms of research is somewhat muddied. If the methods used to measure the production of quality scientific knowledge are tilted towards one of the contested approaches, the resulting quality rankings of journals and departments are tilted as well. So if the objective is the open‐minded pursuit of the production of scientific knowledge, then it is important to have measures of quality that treat the different contested approaches equally. Our article explores this issue by examining the impact that a quality‐equality bibliometric measure can have on the quality rankings of doctoral economic programs in the United States.
Research Quality Rankings of Heterodox Economic Journals in a Contested Discipline
Authors: Lee Frederic S. , Cronin Bruce C. , McConnell Scott , Dean Erik
Published: November 2010

Abstract

This article argues that the discipline of economics consists of two subdisciplines: heterodox and mainstream economics. Being distinct bodies of knowledge, it is possible that the processes of building scientific knowledge are different enough so to generate distinctly different referencing and citation practices. Therefore, a specific impact contribution score is necessary for ranking heterodox journals in terms of their contribution to building heterodox economics. If properly developed such a metric could also be used to produce a single overall quality‐equality ranking of mainstream and heterodox journals. Utilizing citation data and peer evaluations of 62 heterodox economics journals, a research quality measure is developed and then used to rank the journals. The measure is then used in conjunction with the SSCI five‐year impact factor to produce a comparative research quality‐equality rankings of the 62 heterodox and the 192 mainstream journals in the SSCI.
The Diffusion of Heterodox Economics
Authors: Cronin Bruce
Published: November 2010

Abstract

Heterodox economics is in part defined by exclusion from orthodox circles and there is an understandable tendency for heterodox economists to engage primarily with each other outside these circles. Yet the critique offered by heterodoxy speaks more widely. This study examines the diffusion of heterodox economic ideas beyond the immediate confines via an analysis of the citation of heterodox economic journals by other journals. The diffusion of heterodox economics across wider disciplines is traced utilizing data from Emerald, Wiley, and Sage bibliographic databases. Employing the techniques of social network analysis, key journals in the diffusion process are identified, with implications for heterodox economics publishing strategy and engagement in valuation processes.
From Heterodoxy to Orthodoxy and Vice Versa: Economics and Social Sciences in the Division of Academic Work
Authors: Bögenhold Dieter
Published: November 2010

Abstract

The term “heterodox economics” has been in existence for several decades. Recent revival of heterodox economics can be regarded as a growing criticism of economists within the own profession of economics. Modern economics is designed as a one‐world‐capitalism without history and without regional specifications, without institutions, and without real human agents. Heterodox approaches have the aim to underline that different institutions matter, including religion, language, family structures and networks, systems of education, and industrial relations. Taking the discussion within a broader framework of the history of science acknowleges divergencies and convergencies between different approaches in economics that are also in permanent recomposition. The discussion comes up with the interpretation that recent academic developments provide chances for new modes of intellectual reintegration of formerly disparate areas.