bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of wounding and fungal infection with Armillaria ostoyae in three conifer species. II. Host response to the pathogen
Authors: Cleary M. R. , van der Kamp B. J. , Morrison D. J.
Published: July 2011

Structural responses in the bark and wood were described following penetration by Armillaria ostoyae in the roots of 20‐ to 30‐year‐old Douglas‐fir, western hemlock and western redcedar trees. Tissue necrosis presumably caused by fungal exudates was commonly observed at inoculum contact. In Douglas‐fir and western hemlock, A. ostoyae interfered with the initiation of active defence mechanisms involving the development of a lignified zone of impervious tissue (IT), necrophylactic periderm (NP) formation and compartmentalization of infected woody tissue. Breaching of IT and NP barriers was frequent, particularly around the clusters of sclereid cells in western hemlock. In western redcedar, the IT zone was inconspicuous. Induced rhytidome formation occurred in western redcedar either simultaneously with or after completion of NP development. The formation of this tissue facilitated en masse sloughing of infected tissue from the surface of roots. In western redcedar, traumatic phloem resin ducts formed in tangential bands surrounding the margin of expanded lesions. Effective compartmentalization in western redcedar was achieved by a barrier zone comprised of a higher‐than‐average number of axial parenchyma that accumulated polyphenolic deposits. A combination of host‐mediated defence mechanisms in western redcedar resulted in a significantly higher frequency of effective resistance reactions than in western hemlock or Douglas‐fir.
Challenges of patient‐centred care: practice or rhetoric
Authors: van Mossel Catherine , Alford Maxine , Watson Heather
Published: July 2011

VAN MOSSEL C, ALFORD M and WATSON H. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 278–289 Challenges of patient‐centred care: practice or rhetoric
Gender, sexuality and the participatory dimensions of a comparative life history policy study
Authors: MacDonnell Judith A
Published: July 2011

MACDONNELL JA. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 313–324 Gender, sexuality and the participatory dimensions of a comparative life history policy study

In this paper, I explore how a critical feminist lens was a crucial element in creating a participatory policy study which used a qualitative design and comparative life history methodology. This study focused on Canadian nurses’ political practice related to advocacy for lesbian health. Findings show that the combination of the gender lens and life history approach offers potential to create knowledge in ways aligned with health‐promoting and emancipatory outcomes. However, the nature of participation and interaction by researcher and participants is contexualized and contested given complex dynamics of power that shape all aspects of this doctoral study process. The critical feminist lens with its focus on reflexivity informed the content and process of knowledge production in this study and shaped key turning points: the ways in which this policy study was conceptualized, the choice of comparative life history methodology, ethical considerations, data collection and analysis and representation of findings. Life history is unlikely to be the methodology that first comes to mind when undertaking a policy study. Its historical roots are associated with biographical, oral history and narrative approaches, which typically aim to elicit understanding of lived experience. Yet, it was this very aspect, this focus on lived experience, which rendered life history methodology fitting as I contemplated how to examine the relationship between nurses and policy. I was interested in understanding nurses’ political practice, how policy influenced nurses’ capacity to advocate in their everyday lives, as well as nurses’ impacts on policy processes and their larger social worlds.
A discursive exploration of the practices that shape and discipline nurses’ responses to postoperative delirium
Authors: Kjorven Mary , Rush Kathy , Hole Rachelle
Published: July 2011

KJORVEN M, RUSH K and HOLE R. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 325–335 A discursive exploration of the practices that shape and discipline nurses’ responses to postoperative delirium

Although delirium is classified as a medical emergency, it is often not treated as such by health care providers. The aim of this study was to critically examine, through a poststructural, Foucauldian concept of discourse, the language practices and discourses that shape and discipline nurses' care of older adults with postoperative delirium (POD) with a purpose to question accepted nursing practice. The study was based on data collected from face‐to‐face, in‐depth, personal interviews with six nurses who work on an acute postoperative patient care unit. Five analytic readings of the data identified two prominent discourses at work in nursing practice which influenced the care of patients with POD. These were identified as discourses of legitimacy/illegitimacy and discourses of nursing work. Through the process of poststructural analysis it became evident that one overriding discourse – the biomedical/scientific discourse – served to direct, legitimize and govern all other discourses. The findings of this study have implications for nursing knowledge and practice, length of hospital stay and improved patient outcomes. This study builds on previous work and is the first study to conduct a discourse analysis illuminating nurses’ responses to POD through comparison with other acute medical emergencies from a poststructural perspective.
Understanding medication safety in healthcare settings: a critical review of conceptual models
Authors: Liu Wei , Manias Elizabeth , Gerdtz Marie
Published: July 2011

LIU W, MANIAS E and GERDTZ M. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 290–302 Understanding medication safety in healthcare settings: a critical review of conceptual models

Communication can impact on the way in which medications are managed across healthcare settings. Organisational cultures and the environmental context provide an added complexity to how communication occurs in practice. The aims of this paper are: to examine six models relating to medication safety in various hospital and community settings, to consider the strengths and limitations of each model and to explore their applications to medication safety practices. The models examined for their ability to address the complexity of the medication communication process include causal models, such as the Human Error Model and the System Analysis to Clinical Incidents Model, and exploratory models, such as the Shared Decision‐Making Model, the Medication Decision‐Making and Management Model, the Partnership Model and the Medication Communication Model. The Medication Communication Model provides particular insights into possible interactions between aspects that influence medication safety practices. The implications of all six models for healthcare practice and future research are also discussed.
Owning solutions: a collaborative model to improve quality in hospital care for Aboriginal Australians
Authors: Durey Angela , Wynaden Dianne , Thompson Sandra C , Davidson Patricia M , Bessarab Dawn , Katzenellenbogen Judith M
Published: July 2011

DUREY A, WYNADEN D, THOMPSON SC, DAVIDSON PM, BESSARAB D and KATZENELLENBOGEN JM. Nursing Inquiry 2012; 19: 144–152 [Epub ahead of print]

Owning solutions: a collaborative model to improve quality in hospital care for Aboriginal Australians

Well‐documented health disparities between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter referred to as Aboriginal) and non‐Aboriginal Australians are underpinned by complex historical and social factors. The effects of colonisation including racism continue to impact negatively on Aboriginal health outcomes, despite being under‐recognised and under‐reported. Many Aboriginal people find hospitals unwelcoming and are reluctant to attend for diagnosis and treatment, particularly with few Aboriginal health professionals employed on these facilities. In this paper, scientific literature and reports on Aboriginal health‐care, methodology and cross‐cultural education are reviewed to inform a collaborative model of hospital‐based organisational change. The paper proposes a collaborative model of care to improve health service delivery by building capacity in Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal personnel by recruiting more Aboriginal health professionals, increasing knowledge and skills to establish good relationships between non‐Aboriginal care providers and Aboriginal patients and their families, delivering quality care that is respectful of culture and improving Aboriginal health outcomes. A key element of model design, implementation and evaluation is critical reflection on barriers and facilitators to providing respectful and culturally safe quality care at systemic, interpersonal and patient/family‐centred levels. Nurses are central to addressing the current state of inequity and are pivotal change agents within the proposed model.
The use and limitation of realistic evaluation as a tool for evidence‐based practice: a critical realist perspective
Authors: Porter Sam , O’Halloran Peter
Published: July 2011

PORTER S and O’HALLORAN P. Nursing Inquiry 2012; 19: 18–28 The use and limitation of realistic evaluation as a tool for evidence‐based practice: a critical realist perspective

In this paper, we assess realistic evaluation’s articulation with evidence‐based practice (EBP) from the perspective of critical realism. We argue that the adoption by realistic evaluation of a realist causal ontology means that it is better placed to explain complex healthcare interventions than the traditional method used by EBP, the randomized controlled trial (RCT). However, we do not conclude from this that the use of RCTs is without merit, arguing that it is possible to use both methods in combination under the rubric of realist theory. More negatively, we contend that the rejection of critical theory and utopianism by realistic evaluation in favour of the pragmatism of piecemeal social engineering means that it is vulnerable to accusations that it promotes technocratic interpretations of human problems. We conclude that, insofar as realistic evaluation adheres to the ontology of critical realism, it provides a sound contribution to EBP, but insofar as it rejects the critical turn of Bhaskar’s realism, it replicates the technocratic tendencies inherent in EBP.
Unmasking the predicament of cultural voyeurism: a postcolonial analysis of international nursing placements
Authors: Racine Louise , Perron Amélie
Published: July 2011

RACINE L and PERRON A. Nursing Inquiry 2012; 19: 190–201  Unmasking the predicament of cultural voyeurism: a postcolonial analysis of international nursing placements

The growing interest in international nursing placements cannot be left unnoticed. After 11 years into this twenty‐first century, violations of human rights and freedom of speech, environmental disasters, and armed conflicts still create dire living conditions for men and women around the world. Nurses have an ethical duty to address issues of social justice and global health as a means to fulfil nursing’s social mandate. However, international placements raise some concerns. Drawing on the works of postcolonial theorists in nursing and social sciences, we examine the risk of replicating colonialist practices and discourses of health in international clinical placements. Referring to Bakhtin’s notions of dialogism and unfinalizability, we envision a culturally safe nursing practice arising from dialogical encounters between the Self as an Other and with the Other as an Other. We suggest that exploring the intricacies of cultural and race relations in everyday nursing practice are the premises upon which nurses can understand the broader historic, racial, gendered, political and economic contexts of global health issues. Finally, we make suggestions for developing culturally safe learning opportunities at the international level without minimizing the impact of dialogical cultural encounters occurring at the local and community levels.
Non‐viral retinal gene therapy: a review
Authors: Issa Peter Charbel , MacLaren Robert E
Published: July 2011

Abstract

In the developed world, diseases of the retina are common causes of untreatable blindness. In many cases, a genetic component to the aetiology has been identified, making the development of gene‐based treatments a logical long‐term goal. The clinical strategy for retinal gene therapy broadly encompasses two distinct advantages over systemic drug delivery. First is that gene delivery can limit expression of a therapeutic protein to a specific target cell, which is rarely possible even with local drug delivery methods. Second, by delivering DNA that remains stable and non‐degraded, gene expression and hence protein production could in theory be indefinite, obviating the need for repeated tablets or injections. Viruses have evolved distinct mechanisms, such as receptor mediated uptake and genomic integration, which efficiently encompass these two properties. For non‐viral gene therapy approaches, however, nuclear localization and stable long‐term transgene expression remain significant hurdles that need to be overcome. The challenge of non‐viral gene therapy is therefore to harness current laboratory and molecular‐based techniques to develop a man‐made system that can approach the efficiency of a natural biological process. In the unique environment of the retina, this goal may not be insurmountable and would overcome the major limiting factor of adeno‐associated viral vectors, which is the size of gene that can be delivered.
Destructive Criticism Revisited: Appraisals, Task Outcomes, and the Moderating Role of Competitiveness
Authors: Raver Jana L. , Jensen Jaclyn M. , Lee Junghyun , O'Reilly Jane
Published: July 2011

Destructive criticism is negative feedback that is inconsiderate in style and content, which exists at the intersection of performance feedback and interpersonal mistreatment. The current research integrates these literatures with an investigation of the effects of destructive versus constructive criticism from a co‐worker on recipients' relational appraisals, emotions, and task outcomes. Drawing from theorising about cognitive appraisals after personal affronts, we first propose that those who experience destructive criticism are more likely than those who experience constructive criticism to (a) perceive that the feedback‐giver intended to harm them, (b) blame the feedback‐giver, (c) distrust the feedback‐giver, and (d) feel anger. Second, with regard to task‐related outcomes, we extend research on trait moderators of feedback responses to the study of destructive criticism. We draw from feedback intervention theory (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996) regarding how feedback may alter the locus of attention to be either self‐ or task‐focused, and investigate a trait that may shift one's attention to the self after destructive criticism. Specifically, we proposed that trait competitiveness—i.e. a desire to win over others—interacts with type of criticism to predict task‐related outcomes. The results of two experiments—a scenario study and a behavioral experiment—provide support for our arguments.
Attributional Style and Engagement/Disengagement Responses in the Chinese Workforce
Authors: Hui C. Harry , Pak S. Tess , Kwan Siu‐On , Chao AnAn
Published: July 2011

Internal attribution for bad events, along with stable and global attributions, has been regarded as a component of pessimism, a precursor of negative work outcomes. Most evidence in support of this conceptualisation has come from research conducted in individualist cultures. We questioned if internal attribution has the same pessimistic implication in a collectivist culture. Findings from two studies conducted on Chinese employees supported our expectations that the stability and globality dimensions (but not the internality dimension) would predict disengagement responses (such as quitting and being neglectful at work) and lack of engagement responses (such as voicing suggestions and being loyal to the organisation). A reconceptualisation of pessimism in the workplace is therefore necessary. A dimensional, rather than a composite, scoring method is proposed for maintaining the predictive and construct validities of attributional style as an indicator of pessimism.
What drives leverage in leveraged buyouts? An analysis of European leveraged buyouts’ capital structure
Authors: De Maeseneire Wouter , Brinkhuis Samantha
Published: July 2011

This paper examines leverage in European private equity‐led leveraged buyouts (LBOs). We use a unique, self‐constructed sample of 126 European private equity (PE)‐sponsored buyouts completed between June 2000 and June 2007. We find that determinants derived from classical capital structure theories do not explain leverage in LBOs, while they do drive leverage in a control group of comparable public firms. Rather, we document that leverage levels in LBOs are related to the prevailing conditions in the debt market. In addition, our results indicate that reputed private equity sponsors use more debt and that secondary buyouts have higher leverage levels.
Long‐term versus temporary certified emission reductions in forest carbon sequestration programs*
Authors: Galinato Gregmar I. , Olanie Aaron , Uchida Shinsuke , Yoder Jonathan K.
Published: July 2011

Under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, forest projects can receive returns for carbon sequestration via two crediting instruments: temporary or long‐term certified emission reductions (tCERs or lCERs). This study shows the effect of lCERs on the private owner’s forest rotation intervals decision and carbon credit generation in afforestation and reforestation projects. A credit verification mechanism with a harvest penalty implemented under the lCERs policy distorts the timber harvesting decision and the corresponding carbon credit supply. Two opposing incentives are created by the lCERs mechanism which leads to either longer or shorter rotations compared to the Faustmann rotation, depending on which incentive prevails. Our numerical results show that both lCERs and tCERs seem to have similar impacts on harvesting incentives, but the resulting carbon supply differs among the instruments owing to the credit verification mechanism. The tCERs carbon supply curve is monotonically increasing in the carbon price, while a lCERs carbon supply is non‐monotonic and may have a backward bending region over a range of carbon prices.
Present or Absent Farm Heads? A Contemporary Reading of Family Farming in Greece
Authors: Koutsou Stavriani , Partalidou Maria , Petrou Michael
Published: July 2011

The paradoxical picture of Greek agriculture according to which small family farms with fragmented agricultural land remain in the productive system, as well as the increasing feminisation of agriculture and the ageing of farm heads is currently under consideration. Drawing on field research in a rural area of northern Greece, we focus on the official farm heads' cohort and investigate aspects of their involvement in farming, dwelling choices and farmland ownership. The basic aim is to convey an authentic picture of the reality of family farming in modern Greece that often lies concealed behind official figures and myths. In so doing both a quantitative analysis (two‐step cluster analysis) of 1,295 farm heads and interview narratives were used. The fiction created in rural Greece and the heterogeneity of farm heads (absent or present from the village or the farm, or both) is the result of cross‐cutting issues: administrative and policy framework, the proliferation of rural development programmes, the way that ownership of the farmland is conflated with headship of the farm, the spatial mobility of the rural population, multiple dwelling‐places and the struggle of the family farm to preserve its agricultural identity and survive through times of rural restructuring and socioeconomic instability.
Economic Fluctuations and Retirement of Older Employees
Authors: Hallberg Daniel
Published: July 2011

This paper studies the way in which labor market fluctuations affect the transition to early retirement among older employees in Sweden via the practice of negotiated pensions. The results indicate that downturns (upturns) in aggregated industry employment increases (decreases) the probability of early retirement. The results also suggest that the replacement levels immediately after early retirement are higher during declining and expanding industry employment. The results support an interpretation that (1) the employer and employee agreed on special early retirement pensions; and (2) that these were used in order to persuade older employees to quit voluntarily, but also that they worked to reward older employees.
Time Preference and Time Use: Do Smokers Exercise Less?
Authors: Song Younghwan
Published: July 2011

Using matched data from the Tobacco Use Supplements to the Current Population Surveys and the American Time Use Surveys, this paper examines how differences in time preference, as measured by smoking status, affect time spent on various non‐market activities in a day. Even after controlling for a host of variables, the results show that individuals with a higher rate of time preference — current smokers — spend more time on non‐market activities that provide immediate gratification, such as watching television, but less time on non‐market activities that provide long‐term returns, such as exercising and education, compared with those who never smoked.
Rosca Participation in Benin: A Commitment Issue*
Authors: Dagnelie Olivier , Lemay‐Boucher Philippe
Published: July 2011

In the light of first‐hand data from a Beninese urban household survey in Cotonou, we investigate several motives aiming to explain participation in Rotating Savings and Credit Associations. We provide anecdotal pieces of evidence, descriptive statistics, Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) regressions and matching estimates which tend to indicate that most individuals use their participation in a rosca as a device to commit themselves to save money and to deal with self‐control problems.
Local Linear Impulse Responses for a Small Open Economy*
Authors: Haug Alfred A. , Smith Christie
Published: July 2011

Traditional vector autoregressions derive impulse responses using iterative techniques that may compound specification errors. Local projection techniques are more robust to this problem, and Monte Carlo evidence has suggested they provide reliable estimates of the true impulse responses. We use local linear projections to investigate the dynamic properties of a model for a small open economy, New Zealand. We compare impulse responses from projections to those from standard techniques, and consider the implications for monetary policy. We pay careful attention to the dimensionality of the model, and focus on effects of policy on gross domestic product, interest rates, prices and exchange rates.
Testing Uncovered Interest Rate Parity and Term Structure Using a Three‐regime Threshold Unit Root VECM: An Application to the Swiss ‘Isle’ of Interest Rates*
Authors: Krishnakumar Jaya , Neto David
Published: July 2011

In this article, a three‐regime multivariate threshold vector error correction model with a ‘band of inaction’ is formulated to examine uncovered interest rate parity (UIRP) and expectation hypothesis of the term structure (EHTS) of interest rates for Switzerland. Combining both UIRP and EHTS in a model that allows for nonlinearities, we investigate whether the Swiss advantage is disappearing with respect to Europe. Our results favour threshold cointegration and show that both hypotheses hold, at least in one of the three regimes of the process for Switzerland/Germany. The same is not true between Switzerland and the United States.
Testing for Fractional Integration Versus Short Memory with Structural Breaks*
Authors: Mayoral Laura
Published: July 2011

Although it is commonly accepted that most macroeconomic variables are non‐stationary, it is often difficult to identify the source of the non‐stationarity. Integrated processes and short‐memory models with trending components, possibly affected by structural breaks, imply similar features in the data and, accordingly, are hard to distinguish. The goal of this article is to extend the classical testing framework of I(1) versus I(0) + trends and/or breaks by considering a more general class of models under the null hypothesis: fractionally integrated (FI) processes. The asymptotic properties of the proposed tests are derived and it is shown that they are very well‐behaved in finite samples. An illustration using US inflation data is also provided.
New Evidence on Class Size Effects: A Pupil Fixed Effects Approach*
Authors: Altinok Nadir , Kingdon Geeta
Published: July 2011

The impact of class size on student achievement remains a thorny question for educational decision makers. Meta‐analyses of empirical studies emphasize the absence of class‐size effects but detractors have argued against such pessimistic conclusions because many of the underlying studies have not paid attention to the endogeneity of class size. This article uses a stringent method to address the endogeneity problem using Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study data on 47 countries. We measure the class size effect by relating the difference in a student's achievement across subjects to the difference in his/her class size across subjects. This (subject‐differenced) within‐pupil achievement production function avoids the problem of the non‐random matching of children to specific schools, and to classes within schools. The results show a statistically significant negative effect of class size in 14 countries, but the effect size is small in most cases. Several robustness tests are carried out, including control for students’ subject‐specific ability and subject‐specific teacher characteristics, and correction for possible measurement error. Thus, our approach to addressing the endogeneity problem confirms the findings of meta‐analyses that find little support for class size effects. Additionally, we find that class size effects are smaller in countries with higher teacher quality.
Environmental Compliance and Firm Performance: Evidence from China*
Authors: Yang Xi , Yao Yang
Published: July 2011

This article evaluates the impact of environmental compliance on firms’ innovation and financial performance using a panel dataset of Chinese firms for the period of 2000–5. Our results show certification of the ISO14000 has a significantly positive impact on firms’ profitability. This finding is robust when we take into account possible endogeneity of certification, effects of export and types of customers, and possible precertification time trends. In addition, we find that certified firms have larger per‐worker sales volumes and market shares in the country, which suggests an alternative mechanism for the Porter hypothesis in the context of a developing economy.
The structure of the market for wool in early medieval Lincolnshire1
Authors: FAITH ROSAMOND
Published: July 2011

Peasant producers are now recognized as having played an important part in the late medieval economy: this can also be said of peasant producers in eastern England before the Conquest. In the wake of the Viking invasions Scandinavian settlers from the second half of the ninth century entered a region that was already commercially active. Independent farmers raised sheep, possibly a newly introduced breed, on the Lincolnshire Wolds and marketed their wool. A network of Anglo‐Scandinavian shippers and traders, members of a merchant elite, controlled important places on river routes. That Lincolnshire was an area of light manorialization and many sokemen had an invigorating effect on its economy. Peasant producers had comparative freedom and by controlling markets and extracting cash from the inhabitants of their sokes Anglo‐Norman lords profited from an economy that had been invigorated by Scandinavian enterprise.
Economic nationalism and economic integration: the Austro‐Hungarian Empire in the late nineteenth century 1
Authors: SCHULZE MAX‐STEPHAN , WOLF NIKOLAUS
Published: July 2011

This article seeks to square two seemingly contradictory strands in the literature on economic development in the late nineteenth‐century Habsburg Empire. On the one hand, there is an extensive historiography stressing the rise of nationalism and its close correlate of growing efforts to organize economic life along ethno‐linguistic lines. On the other, there is a substantial body of research that emphasizes significant improvements in market integration across the empire as an outcome of the diffusion of industrialization and an expanding railway network, among other factors. In this article, it is argued that the process of market integration was systematically asymmetric, shaped by intensifying intra‐empire nationality conflicts. While grain markets in Austria‐Hungary became overall more integrated over time, they also became systematically biased: regions with a similar ethno‐linguistic composition of their population came to display significantly smaller price gaps between each other than regions with different compositions. The emergence and persistence of this differential integration cannot be explained by changes in infrastructure and transport costs, simple geographical features, asymmetric integration with neighbouring regions abroad, or communication problems. Instead, differential market integration along ethno‐linguistic lines was driven by the formation of ethno‐linguistic networks due to intensifying conflict between groups—economic nationalism mattered.
Cooperating mercantile networks in the early modern Mediterranean1
Authors: FUSARO MARIA
Published: July 2011

This article outlines the commercial and financial activities of commercial networks active in the ‘Venetian’ eastern Mediterranean between the loss of Cyprus (1571) and the onset of the War of Candia (1645). The goal of the article is to present the results of recent research on early modern Mediterranean trade and finance, drawing attention to some promising areas of investigation that have been overlooked by scholarship and that constitute part of the author's own work in progress. The central question is: how did traditional Mediterranean networks and trade fare in the age of global expansion? In other words, did Mediterranean trade networks experience an evolution in their structures similar to the rest of the world? An attempt is made to answer this question through an analysis of the activities of Greek, Venetian, and English mercantile and financial networks in the eastern Mediterranean, showing the peculiarities of the interplay between trade and finance that underpinned the economy of the Venetian Stato da Mar.This attempt highlights two phenomena at play within the ‘Venetian Mediterranean’: firstly, that foreign operators began directly financing Venetian imperial administrative structures, and secondly, that the number of Venetian merchants involved in these operations increased as new players entered the financial game.
Attendance and work effort in the Great Northern Coalfield, 1775–18641
Authors: KIRBY PETER
Published: July 2011

The transition to industrial capitalism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was accompanied by a decline in irregular work attendance. The chronology of that decline is unclear due to a lack of quantitative evidence. This article examines detailed colliery records from a crucial period of industrial transition and shows that traditional patterns of attendance and work effort survived in one of the leading sectors of the industrial revolution well into the second half of the nineteenth century. The study shows how regional and local sources can throw new light upon problems for which national quantitative data are unavailable.
Overlooked and under‐served? Promoting service use and engagement among ‘hard‐to‐reach’ populations
Authors: Cortis Natasha
Published: July 2011

Cortis N. Overlooked and under‐served? Promoting service use and engagement among ‘hard‐to‐reach’ populations

Social service providers strive to meet the needs of those most marginalised from society and from service systems. Yet many people who might benefit from available help consistently miss out. Using qualitative data, this study developed a repertoire of actions that organisations and service personnel can employ to improve participation and outcomes for groups who may be eligible for and may benefit from services, but whom service providers find difficult to identify, reach and engage. Semi‐structured interviews with service managers and coordinators of child, family and youth services in Australia attest to the diversity and context specificity of those who are deemed to be ‘hard‐to‐reach’. The research data highlight ways to improve reach and engagement in a managerialist context by refining organisational action in four strategic domains: overcoming access barriers, building client relationships, utilising networks and partnerships, and ensuring staff capacity and sustainability.
International Contract‐Based Migration, Remittances, and Household Well‐Being in the Western Province of Sri Lanka
Authors: Sharma Manohar P.
Published: July 2011

Contractual temporary international migration has become a major avenue for employment for Sri Lankans. To the extent that this migration is fuelled by demand for relatively low‐skilled labour, expansion of this segment of the global labour market can be expected to benefit poor Sri Lankans disproportionately and provide them an unusually swift exit out of poverty. But is this really so? This study employs an innovative sampling design to draw a representative sample of migrant and non‐migrant households in the western province of Sri Lanka. Using household survey data, the study examines key demographic correlates of migrants and their families, and computes various types of transactions costs associated with the migration process. Using the Propensity Score Matching method, it assesses the net impact of migration on several measures of household well‐being. The study indicates that relatively poor households do in general gain from international contract based migration, but there are also several strong caveats. First, the upfront costs of securing an overseas employment contract and financing migration‐related expenses is high, and poor households that are liquidity‐ or credit‐constrained are less likely to take advantage of migration opportunities. Second, many poor households are also less likely have the needed social connections to facilitate effective job search. Consequently, public policy that corrects these market failures would be significantly pro‐poor. On the effect of migration, the study finds the cumulative impact of migration and remittance to be significantly positive on key areas such as food consumption, health expenditures, and expenditure on basic non‐food goods. Even so, there is substantial scope for integrating remittance transfer with banking services (both savings and loans), not only to reduce the cost of transfers but also to provide remittance recipients wider options to manage this important resource.
Glucose transporters GLUT4 and GLUT8 are upregulated after facial nerve axotomy in adult mice
Authors: Gómez Olga , Ballester‐Lurbe Begoña , Mesonero José E. , Terrado José
Published: July 2011

Peripheral nerve axotomy in adult mice elicits a complex response that includes increased glucose uptake in regenerating nerve cells. This work analyses the expression of the neuronal glucose transporters GLUT3, GLUT4 and GLUT8 in the facial nucleus of adult mice during the first days after facial nerve axotomy. Our results show that whereas GLUT3 levels do not vary, GLUT4 and GLUT8 immunoreactivity increases in the cell body of the injured motoneurons after the lesion. A sharp increase in GLUT4 immunoreactivity was detected 3 days after the nerve injury and levels remained high on Day 8, but to a lesser extent. GLUT8 also increased the levels but later than GLUT4, as they only rose on Day 8 post‐lesion. These results indicate that glucose transport is activated in regenerating motoneurons and that GLUT4 plays a main role in this function. These results also suggest that metabolic defects involving impairment of glucose transporters may be principal components of the neurotoxic mechanisms leading to motoneuron death.
Survival at 19 years of age in a total population of children and young people with cerebral palsy
Authors: WESTBOM LENA , BERGSTRAND LINDA , WAGNER PHILIPPE , NORDMARK EVA
Published: July 2011

Aim The aims were to investigate survival of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to search for modifiable factors that influence survival in CP.

Method The total population of children with CP in southern Sweden born between 1990 and 2005, and followed from 1994 to 2010 comprised 718 children. The study included 708 of these children (297 females, 411 males) participating in a secondary prevention programme. CP subtype, Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels, and comorbidities were described. Kaplan–Meier survival curves were plotted. The following factors were investigated using Cox regression analysis: GMFCS level (co‐varies with overall health), size of health care catchment area, gastrostomy feeding, and sex.

Results The estimated survival at 19 years of age was 60% in children with the most severe gross motor limitations (GMFCS level V). Death occurred throughout childhood. All children at GMFCS level I or II, and 96% of the whole CP population, survived. The mortality risk in childhood CP was three times higher in catchment areas that covered small populations than in areas with a large population. Gastrostomy feeding was associated with a ninefold increased risk of dying, regardless of GMFCS level and catchment area.

Interpretation Fragile children with CP, as indicated by GMFCS level V and gastrostomy feeding, had the lowest chance of surviving childhood. Health care catchment area seemed to influence survival rate.
SALTIRSOIL: a simulation model for the mid to long‐term prediction of soil salinity in irrigated agriculture
Authors: Visconti F. , De Paz J. M. , Rubio J. L. , Sánchez J.
Published: July 2011

The SALTIRSOIL model predicts soil salinity, sodicity and alkalinity in irrigated land using basic information on soil, climate, crop, irrigation management and water quality. It extends the concept of the WATSUIT model to include irrigation and crop management practices, advances in the calculation of evapotranspiration and new algorithms for the water stress coefficient and calculation of electrical conductivity. SALTIRSOIL calculates the soil water balance and soil solution concentration over the year. A second module, SALSOLCHEM, calculates the inorganic ion composition of the soil solution at equilibrium with soil calcite and gypsum at the soil’s CO2 partial pressure. Results from comparing predicted and experimentally determined concentrations, observations and predictions of pH, alkalinity and calcium concentration in calcite‐saturated solutions agree to the second significant figure; in gypsum‐saturated solutions the standard difference between observations and predictions is <3% in absolute values. The algorithms in SALTIRSOIL have been verified and SALSOLCHEM validated for the reliable calculation of soil salinity, sodicity and alkalinity at water saturation in well‐drained irrigated lands. In simulations for horticultural crops in southeast Spain, soil solution concentration factors at water saturation, quotients of electrical conductivity (EC25) at saturation to electrical conductivity in the irrigation water, and quotients of sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) are very similar to average measured values for the area.
Effects of attentional/ hyperactive and oppositional/ aggressive problem behaviour at 14 months and 21 months on parenting stress
Authors: Beernink Anne‐Claire E. , Swinkels Sophie H.N. , Van der Gaag Rutger Jan , Buitelaar Jan K.
Published: July 2011

Background:  To evaluate effects of attentional/ hyperactive (Att/Hi) and oppositional/ aggressive (Opp/Agg) behaviours of children at 14 and 21 months of age on parenting stress at 21 months.

Method:  107 children from the general population with low, intermediate, and high levels of disruptive behaviours at 14 months, as evaluated by parents on a 55‐item checklist, participated. Parents completed the Child Behaviour Checklist 1.5–5 and the Dutch version of Parenting Stress Index (NOSI) at 21 months. Effects of problem behaviours were examined in a 2 (Att/Hi and Opp/Agg) by 2 (not high versus high) by 2 (14 and 21 months) multivariate design with parental stress as dependent variable.

Results:  Oppositional/ aggressive behaviour at 14 months had a strong main effect on parenting stress, but not at 21 months. There was a significant interaction between parenting stress and Att/Hi behaviour at 14 and 21 months, indicating that increase in these behaviours over time was associated with parenting stress. Both Opp/Agg behaviour and an interaction between Att/Hi behaviour and parenting stress contributed to maternal role restriction and social isolation. Oppositional/ aggressive behaviour led to higher scores for parental competence and depression, whereas Att/Hi behaviour led to lower scores for attachment.

Conclusions:  Early Opp/Agg and Att/Hi behaviour had differential effects on parenting stress at 21 months. The increase in parenting stress associated with early Opp/Agg behaviour may be linked to overall feelings of parental competence, whereas the course of Att/Hi behaviour may be associated with increased demands on parent‐child interactions and attachment. Our results have implications for development of early intervention programmes.
ceraDAT—PROTOTYPE OF A WEB‐BASED RELATIONAL DATABASE FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL CERAMICS
Authors: HEIN A. , KILIKOGLOU V.
Published: July 2011

The prototype of a relational database for archaeological ceramics is presented. At this stage, the ceraDAT database contains the elemental compositions of several thousand ceramic artefacts from the Eastern Mediterranean, analysed by neutron activation analysis (NAA) at different laboratories. The data have been calibrated on the basis of the analytical routine and can be accessed via a web application. Apart from the elemental compositions, the database contains reference patterns of specific sites, metadata concerning archaeological information, the geographical distribution, literature references and former statistical evaluations. Due to the database design, the structure can be extended in future towards petrographical and mineralogical information.
Zoledronate and pamidronate depress neutrophil functions and survival in mice
Authors: Kuiper JWP , Forster C , Sun C , Peel S , Glogauer M
Published: July 2011

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Bisphosphonate‐related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) has been identified as a severe complication of patients previously treated with i.v. bisphosphonates. It has been noted that necrotic bone from BRONJ sites display signs of bacterial infection suggesting that an immune defect may play a role in the pathophysiology of BRONJ. Here, we have examined the effect of two potent bisphosphonates, zoledronate and pamidronate, on neutrophil function, differentiation and survival.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH The effect of bisphosphonates on chemotaxis, NADPH oxidase activity and neutrophil survival were assessed in vitro using bone marrow‐derived primary neutrophils or in vitro differentiated haematopoetic progenitors from mice. The same parameters and the number of circulating neutrophils were quantified in neutrophils isolated from mice treated in vivo with zoledronate. In vivo recruitment of neutrophils was assessed by sodium periodate‐induced peritonitis.

KEY RESULTS Zoledronate and pamidronate inhibited in vitro neutrophil chemotaxis and NADPH oxidase activity in a dose‐dependent manner. In vivo recruitment of neutrophils was also suppressed. Zoledronate did not affect in vitro differentiation of neutrophils but shortened their life span in a granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor‐dependent manner. fMLP‐induced activation of RhoA activity was decreased by zoledronate treatment.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Our results show that bisphosphonate exposure leads to impaired neutrophil chemotaxis, neutrophil NADPH oxidase activity and reduced circulating neutrophil counts. This work suggests that bisphosphonates have the potential to depress the innate immune system for a prolonged time, possibly contributing to the pathogenesis of BRONJ.
cAMP signalling protects proximal tubular epithelial cells from cisplatin‐induced apoptosis via activation of Epac
Authors: Qin Yu , Stokman Geurt , Yan Kuan , Ramaiahgari Sreenivasa , Verbeek Fons , de Graauw Marjo , van de Water Bob , Price Leo S
Published: July 2011

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Nephrotoxicity is the principal dose‐limiting factor for cisplatin chemotherapy and is primarily associated with proximal tubular epithelial cells, including disruption of cell adhesions and induction of apoptosis. Cell adhesion and survival is regulated by, amongst other factors, the small GTPase Rap and its activator, the exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac). Epac is particularly enriched in renal tubule epithelium. This study investigates the cytoprotective effects of cAMP–Epac–Rap signalling in a model of cisplatin‐induced renal cell injury.

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

The Epac‐selective cAMP analogue 8‐pCPT‐2′‐O‐Me‐cAMP was used to activate the Epac–Rap signalling pathway in proximal tubular epithelial cells. Cells were exposed to cisplatin, in the presence or absence of 8‐pCPT‐2′‐O‐Me‐cAMP, and nephrotoxicity was determined by monitoring cell–cell junctions and cell apoptosis.

KEY RESULTS

Activation of Epac–Rap signalling preserves cell–cell junctions and protects against cell apoptosis of mouse proximal tubular cells during cisplatin treatment. Activation with the Epac‐selective cAMP analogue 8‐pCPT‐2′‐O‐Me‐cAMP or receptor‐mediated induction of cAMP both induced cytoprotection against cisplatin, whereas a PKA‐selective cAMP analogue was not cytoprotective. 8‐pCPT‐2′‐O‐Me‐cAMP mediated cytoprotection was blocked by RNAi‐mediated silencing of Epac–Rap signalling in these cells. In contrast, 8‐pCPT‐2′‐O‐Me‐cAMP did not protect against cisplatin‐induced cell death of cancer cells that lacked Epac1 expression.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Our study identifies activation of Epac–Rap signalling as a potential strategy for reducing the nephrotoxicity associated with cisplatin treatments and, as a result, broadens the therapeutic window of this chemotherapeutic agent.