bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal determinants of client treatment satisfaction in an intensive first‐episode psychosis treatment programme
Authors: Cruz Lisa N. , Kline Emily , Seidman Larry J. , Minor Kyle S. , Meyer Eric C. , Iati Carina , Zimmet Suzanna V. , Friedman‐Yakoobian Michelle 
Published: March 2016

AbstractAimPrevious evidence demonstrates that higher treatment satisfaction is strongly associated with improved clinical outcomes and functioning. The aim of the current study is to explore potential associations between clinical and demographic attributes, as well as changes in role, social and cognitive functioning occurring over the course of treatment, on self‐reported treatment satisfaction within the context of an intensive first‐episode psychosis intervention programme.MethodsForty‐four young adults attending a first‐episode psychosis treatment programme completed a battery of clinical and neuropsychological measures at intake to the programme and again after 6 months of treatment. A modified version of the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire was administered at 6 months. Baseline, 6‐month and change scores across the clinical and demographic measures were examined relative to the satisfaction questionnaire to evaluate determinants of treatment satisfaction.ResultsBetter premorbid adjustment during childhood and early adolescence was associated with higher treatment satisfaction, as did positive changes in clients' cognitive performance and their use of humour as a coping strategy. Clients' use of emotional support as a coping strategy at 6 months was also positively associated with treatment satisfaction. Although clients' social and role functioning improved significantly during the 6‐month treatment window, changes in functional outcomes were not significantly associated with treatment satisfaction.ConclusionsThe current study highlights the role of premorbid adjustment and changes in coping and neurocognition as factors influencing treatment satisfaction. Future research designs might be able to more specifically ascertain causal relationships between patient characteristics, treatment components, client satisfaction and clinical effects.
Nucleus accumbens core and shell are differentially involved in general and outcome‐specific forms of Pavlovian‐instrumental transfer with alcohol and sucrose rewards
Authors: Corbit Laura H. , Fischbach Sarah C. , Janak Patricia H. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractAlcohol‐associated stimuli contribute to relapse risk. Therefore, understanding the behavioural and neural mechanisms underlying the ability of such stimuli to promote alcohol‐seeking is important for developing effective treatments for alcohol‐use disorders. The Pavlovian‐instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm can be used to study the influence of Pavlovian cues on independently‐trained instrumental responses earning reward. The effects can be either general, increasing the vigour of reward‐related behaviours, or specific to responses that earn a common outcome. These different forms of PIT are mediated by distinct neural circuits involving the nucleus accumbens (NAC) core and shell, respectively. Here we examined the effects of pharmacological inactivation of either the NAC core or shell on PIT generated by alcohol‐predictive and sucrose‐predictive stimuli in rats. We found that presentations of a stimulus predicting sucrose enhanced responding for sucrose but not alcohol, suggesting an outcome‐specific effect. In contrast, presentations of an alcohol‐predictive stimulus enhanced responding for both alcohol and sucrose, suggesting a generally arousing effect. Inactivation of the NAC core reduced PIT and, in particular, the effect of the alcohol stimulus. Inactivation of the NAC shell reduced the specificity of the stimulus effects but left the ability of the stimuli to non‐specifically invigorate responding intact, consistent with a role in mediating the specificity of PIT. Together, these results suggest that the NAC core plays a particularly important role in mediating the influence of alcohol‐predictive cues on reward‐seeking behaviours.
Ontogeny constrains phenology: opportunities for activity and reproduction interact to dictate potential phenologies in a changing climate
Authors: Levy Ofir , Buckley Lauren B. , Keitt Timothy H. , Angilletta Michael J. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractAs global warming has lengthened the active seasons of many species, we need a framework for predicting how advances in phenology shape the life history and the resulting fitness of organisms. Using an individual‐based model, we show how warming differently affects annual cycles of development, growth, reproduction and activity in a group of North American lizards. Populations in cold regions can grow and reproduce more when warming lengthens their active season. However, future warming of currently warm regions advances the reproductive season but reduces the survival of embryos and juveniles. Hence, stressful temperatures during summer can offset predicted gains from extended growth seasons and select for lizards that reproduce after the warm summer months. Understanding these cascading effects of climate change may be crucial to predict shifts in the life history and demography of species.
The population ecology of male gametophytes: the link between pollination and seed production
Authors: Harder Lawrence D. , Aizen Marcelo A. , Richards Shane A. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe fate of male gametophytes after pollen reaches stigmas links pollination to ovule fertilisation, governing subsequent siring success and seed production. Although male gametophyte performance primarily involves cellular processes, an ecological analogy may expose insights into the nature and implications of male gametophyte success. We elaborate this analogy theoretically and present empirical examples that illustrate associated insights. Specifically, we consider pollen loads on stigmas as localised populations subject to density‐independent mortality and density‐dependent processes as they traverse complex stylar environments. Different combinations of the timing of pollen‐tube access to limiting stylar resources (simultaneous or sequential), the tube distribution among resources (repulsed or random) and the timing of density‐independent mortality relative to competition (before or after) create signature relations of mean pollen‐tube success and its variation among pistils to pollen receipt. Using novel nonlinear regression analyses (two‐moment regression), we illustrate contrasting relations for two species, demonstrating that variety in these relations is a feature of reproductive diversity among angiosperms, rather than merely a theoretical curiosity. Thus, the details of male gametophyte ecology should shape sporophyte reproductive success and hence the dynamics and structure of angiosperm populations.
Assessment of enlarged perivascular spaces and their relation to target organ damage and mild cognitive impairment in patients with hypertension
Authors: Riba‐Llena I. , Nafría C. , Mundet X. , López‐Rueda A. , Fernández‐Cortiñas I. , Jarca C. I. , Jiménez‐Balado J. , Domingo M. , Tovar J. L. , Orfila F. , Pujadas F. , Álvarez‐Sabín J. , Maisterra O. , Montaner J. , Delgado P. 
Published: March 2016

Background and purposeEnlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) have been recently considered a feature of cerebral small vessel disease. They have been related to aging, hypertension and dementia but their relationship with hypertension related variables (i.e. target organ damage, treatment compliance) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is not fully elucidated. Our aims were to investigate the relation between basal ganglia (BG) and centrum semiovale (CSO) EPVS with vascular risk factors, hypertension related variables and MCI.MethodsIn all, 733 hypertensive individuals free of stroke and dementia from the Investigating Silent Strokes in Hypertensives, a magnetic resonance imaging Study (ISSYS) underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging and cognitive testing to diagnose MCI or normal cognitive aging.ResultsThe numbers of participants presenting high grade (>10) EPVS at the BG and CSO were 23.3% and 40.0%, respectively. After controlling for vascular risk factors, high grade BG EPVS were associated with age (odds ratio 1.68; 95% confidence interval 1.37, 2.06), poor antihypertensive compliance (1.49; 1.03, 2.14) and the presence of microalbuminuria (1.95; 1.16, 3.28), whereas in the CSO only age (1.38; 1.18, 1.63) and male sex were associated with EPVS (1.73; 1. 24, 2.42). MCI was diagnosed in 9.3% of the participants and it was predicted by EPVS in the BG (1.87; 1.03, 3.39) but not in the CSO. This last association was greatly attenuated after correction for lacunes and white matter hyperintensities.ConclusionsBasal ganglia EPVS are associated with the presence of microalbuminuria and poor adherence to antihypertensive drugs. The BG EPVS relation with MCI is not independent of the presence of other cerebral small vessel disease markers.
How often and when Fisher syndrome is overlapped by Guillain‐Barré syndrome or Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis?
Authors: Sekiguchi Y. , Mori M. , Misawa S. , Sawai S. , Yuki N. , Beppu M. , Kuwabara S. 
Published: March 2016

Background and purposeFisher syndrome (FS) may overlap with Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS), in particular the pharyngeal–cervical–brachial variant form (PCB‐GBS), or Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis (BBE). Our aim was to elucidate the frequency of this overlap and the patterns of clinical progression in patients with FS.MethodsSixty consecutive patients with FS were studied. FS/PCB‐GBS was diagnosed when the patients developed pharyngeal, cervical and/or brachial weakness. Patients with flaccid tetraparesis were diagnosed as having FS/conventional GBS. FS/BBE was defined as the development of consciousness disturbances.ResultsAll 60 patients initially developed the FS clinical triad alone (pure FS). Of these, 30 (50%) patients had pure FS throughout their course, whereas the remaining 50% of patients showed an overlap: PCB‐GBS in 14 (23%) patients, conventional GBS in nine (15%) patients and BBE in seven (12%) patients. The median (range) durations from FS onset to progression to FS/PCB‐GBS, FS/GBS or FS/BBE were 5 (1–7), 3 (1–4) and 3 (1–5) days, respectively. Patients with overlap syndromes more frequently received immune‐modulating treatment, and the outcomes were generally favourable. The frequencies of positivity for anti‐GQ1b, GT1a, GD1a, GD1b, GalNAc‐GD1a and GM1 antibodies were not significantly different amongst the four groups.ConclusionsOf the patients with pure FS, 50% later developed an overlap with PCB‐GBS, conventional GBS or BBE. The overlap occurred within 7 days of FS onset; thus, physicians should pay attention to the possible development of this overlap during the first week after FS onset.
Is deltoid muscle biopsy useful in isolated camptocormia? A prospective study
Authors: Chanson J.‐B. , Lannes B. , Echaniz‐Laguna A. 
Published: March 2016

Background and purposeCamptocormia is a marked anterior curvature of the thoracolumbar spine that may be caused by parkinsonism, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), myasthenia gravis (MG) and muscle disease. The interest of a systematic muscle biopsy has not been evaluated until now. In our study, the aim was to prospectively evaluate the proportion of patients with isolated camptocormia without ALS, MG and parkinsonism who have an underlying myopathy.MethodsTwenty consecutive patients (75% female, mean age 70 years) with isolated camptocormia were enrolled in a single centre in this 5‐year prospective study. ALS, MG and parkinsonism had been excluded in all cases. A left deltoid muscle biopsy was performed in all patients and processed with standard techniques for histology and immunohistochemistry. Additional biochemical and genetic studies were performed when pathological analysis was consistent with myopathy.ResultsA myopathy was identified in seven patients (35%). Three patients presented with mitochondrial myopathy, including two patients harbouring a heterozygous POLG gene pathogenic variant and one patient with a heterozygous RRM2B gene pathogenic variant. Two patients presented with an inflammatory myopathy, including one with anti‐PM/Scl antibodies. One patient presented with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and one patient with an MYH7 gene‐related myofibrillar myopathy. No obvious myopathy was found in the 13 remaining cases.DiscussionIn this prospective study, an underlying myopathy was found in 35% of patients with isolated camptocormia. These results suggest that a muscle biopsy should be systematically performed in patients with isolated camptocormia when ALS, MG and parkinsonism have been excluded.
Do Male Mountain Chickadees Discriminate between Local and Non‐Local Elevation Intruders?
Authors: Branch Carrie L. , Pravosudov Vladimir V. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractSong in temperate songbirds is typically learned from local males and commonly thought to function in mate choice and male–male competition. Because male song is learned locally and is phenotypically plastic, it often varies geographically and may serve as a cue for an individual's location of origin. In montane environments, environmental heterogeneity occurs across the elevation gradient, potentially leading to local adaptations on rather small spatial scales. If local adaptations are associated with restricted movements between elevations, this leads to the question of whether individuals can discriminate between birds from the same vs. different elevations. Mountain chickadees inhabiting high and low elevations are known to differ in numerous phenotypic traits, including male song structure. In addition, we previously reported that female high‐elevation mountain chickadees can discriminate between local and non‐local elevation males and here, we tested whether males also respond differentially to high‐ vs. low‐elevation male territory intruders. Playback stimuli were presented to resident high‐ (N = 24) and low‐ (N = 20) elevation males at our previously established study sites during spring to compare the males' behavioral responses to high‐ and low‐elevation male song playbacks. Both high‐ and low‐elevation males responded similarly to both types of playback stimuli, suggesting that they do not differentially respond to male intruders from their location of origin compared to non‐local males. These results are considered in the framework of our previous findings and the larger body of literature, which suggests that male songbirds readily discriminate between local and non‐local male intruders.
Task‐Dependent Differences in Learning by Subordinate and Dominant Wild Arabian Babblers
Authors: Keynan Oded , Ridley Amanda R. , Lotem Arnon 
Published: March 2016

AbstractLearning and innovation abilities have been studied extensively in flocking birds, but their importance and relevance in cooperatively breeding birds have been relatively unexplored. We studied the acquisition of novel foraging skills in 14 groups of wild, cooperatively breeding Arabian babblers (Turdoides squamiceps). While in a previous study we found that subordinate individuals were usually the first to learn to remove black rubber lids from a foraging grid, here we show that dominant individuals were the first to succeed in shifting from these black rubber lids to newly introduced white rubber lids. We also found that in all groups where one forager learned to shift to the white lids, the rest of the foragers also learned to do so, suggesting that this behaviour may be transmitted among group members. Although dominant individuals were almost always the first to remove white lids, once starting to remove white lids, dominants and subordinates learned equally well to prefer white over black lids based on differential reinforcement (food was provided only under white lids). Together with our previous study, our results suggest that differences in learning between dominants and subordinates may be task‐specific, which may represent different cognitive strategies: subordinates may explore a more diverse range of foraging opportunities, while dominants may be better at generalizing from familiar tasks to similar ones.
Indirect Effects of an Existing Wind Energy Facility on Lekking Behavior of Greater Prairie‐Chickens
Authors: Smith Jennifer A. , Whalen Cara E. , Bomberger Brown Mary , Powell Larkin A. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractRapid expansion of the wind energy industry has raised concerns about the potential effects of anthropogenic disturbance on prairie grouse. While efforts have been made to address the effects of wind energy facilities on measures of fitness, their effect on the behaviors of prairie grouse has been largely neglected. To address these concerns, we investigated the effects of an existing wind energy facility in Nebraska that became operational in 2005 on the lekking behavior of male greater prairie‐chickens Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus between March and May 2013. Given the potential for disturbance caused by wind turbine noise to disrupt acoustic communication and thus behavior, we predicted that males at leks close to, compared to far from, the wind energy facility would spend more time in agonistic behaviors, and less in booming displays. Given the potential for wind turbine noise to reduce the number of females attending leks (hereafter ‘female lek attendance’), we also predicted that males at leks close to the wind energy facility would spend more time in non‐breeding behaviors and less time in breeding behaviors than males farther from the facility. Although we found no effect of the wind energy facility on female lek attendance, males at leks closer to the wind energy facility spent less time in non‐breeding behaviors than those at leks farther away. However, distance from the wind energy facility had no effect on time spent performing booming displays, flutter jumps, or in agonistic behaviors. Given that lekking behaviors of males influence mating success, our results may have consequences for the fitness of prairie grouse breeding in the vicinity of wind energy facilities.
Racecourse fracture management. Part 2: Techniques for temporary immobilisation and transport
Authors: Wright I. M. 
Published: March 2016

SummaryIn order to apply first aid support and manage effectively acute appendicular fractures, an understanding of the aims, principles and techniques available are important. The objective of this paper is to provide these in a detailed form. Comprehensive descriptions of cast, splint and bandage construction are given. Details of proprietary splints are provided together with discussion on suitability, indications and contraindications. Guidelines for movement and transport of injured horses are also described and discussed. Although the information given is tailored to racecourse injuries, the principles are equally applicable to the management of other equine fractures.
Learner–Learner Interaction During Collaborative Pragmatic Tasks: The Role of Cognitive and Pragmatic Task Demands
Authors: Kim YouJin , Taguchi Naoko 
Published: March 2016

AbstractPrevious task complexity studies have suggested that learners produce more negotiation of meaning opportunities during complex tasks than simple tasks (Robinson, 2011). The present study builds on the existing task complexity literature by examining the impact of task complexity and pragmatic situational demands on the number of learning opportunities for request‐making expressions. Forty‐nine Korean junior high school learners of English as a foreign language were randomly assigned to participate in either simple‐ or complex‐ collaborative pair writing tasks, which included different levels of pragmatic situational demands. The interactions were transcribed and analyzed for the frequency of pragmatic related episodes (PREs; Kim & Taguchi, 2015) as well as the number of turns within each PRE. The results showed that task complexity played an important role in facilitating PREs by targeting sociopragmatic factors and not pragmalinguistic forms, regardless of the level of pragmatic task demands. Results are discussed in light of promoting interaction‐driven learning opportunities for pragmatics using collaborative tasks.
Evidence for climate‐driven synchrony of marine and terrestrial ecosystems in northwest Australia
Authors: Ong Joyce J.L. , Rountrey Adam N. , Zinke Jens , Meeuwig Jessica J. , Grierson Pauline F. , O'Donnell Alison J. , Newman Stephen J. , Lough Janice M. , Trougan Mélissa , Meekan Mark G. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe effects of climate change are difficult to predict for many marine species because little is known of their response to climate variations in the past. However, long‐term chronologies of growth, a variable that integrates multiple physical and biological factors, are now available for several marine taxa. These allow us to search for climate‐driven synchrony in growth across multiple taxa and ecosystems, identifying the key processes driving biological responses at very large spatial scales. We hypothesized that in northwest (NW) Australia, a region that is predicted to be strongly influenced by climate change, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon would be an important factor influencing the growth patterns of organisms in both marine and terrestrial environments. To test this idea, we analyzed existing growth chronologies of the marine fish Lutjanus argentimaculatus, the coral Porites spp. and the tree Callitris columellaris and developed a new chronology for another marine fish, Lethrinus nebulosus. Principal components analysis and linear model selection showed evidence of ENSO‐driven synchrony in growth among all four taxa at interannual time scales, the first such result for the Southern Hemisphere. Rainfall, sea surface temperatures, and sea surface salinities, which are linked to the ENSO system, influenced the annual growth of fishes, trees, and corals. All four taxa had negative relationships with the Niño‐4 index (a measure of ENSO status), with positive growth patterns occurring during strong La Niña years. This finding implies that future changes in the strength and frequency of ENSO events are likely to have major consequences for both marine and terrestrial taxa. Strong similarities in the growth patterns of fish and trees offer the possibility of using tree‐ring chronologies, which span longer time periods than those of fish, to aid understanding of both historical and future responses of fish populations to climate variation.