bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Childlessness and upward intergenerational support: cross-national evidence from 11 European countries
Authors: PESANDO LUCA MARIA 
Published: January 2018

ABSTRACTChildless individuals are often depicted as ‘selfish’ as they opt out of raising children in favour of investing resources in themselves. Yet no research has investigated whether this claim holds in domains of social life such as intergenerational family support. Using data from the Generations and Gender Survey for 11 European countries, this article examines differences between childless and non-childless individuals in the provision of financial, practical and emotional transfers to their elderly parents. Results support the idea that the childless are more prone to provide upward support than individuals with children. Specifically, estimates from multivariate logistic regression and propensity score specifications suggest that,ceteris paribus, childless adults are about 20–40 per cent more likely to provide support to their parents, with the association driven by transfers to elderly mothers. These findings enrich the literature on childlessness and ageing, and support the view that researchers and policy makers should take into more consideration not only what childless people receive or need in old age, but also what they provide as middle-aged adults.
Conditioning calves to accept high Na feeds
Authors: Phillips C.J.C. , Youssef M. 
Published: January 2018

In saline areas livestock are often offered food and water with high sodium contents and there is evidence for major effects of the sodium content of feeds on their palatability, ingestive behaviour and the performance of ruminants (Youssef et al 1993). The aim in this experiment was to examine whether calves could be conditioned to accept high sodium feeds by early experience.Sixteen dairy Friesian heifer calves, aged 7 days, were allocated to receive their ad libitum concentrate feed with or without 27g added Na/calf/day, up to weaning at 6 weeks. The daily concentrate and water intakes were recorded for each calf until weaning time. The behaviour of calves was also observed for 12 hours per week at 8 min-intervals throughout the weaning period. At 6 months of age, calves were offered silage with added sodium, to give 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.8, 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5% sodium content in the DM. The daily silage intake for each calf was recorded for 2 weeks, beside observing the ingestive behaviour of calves for 24 hours at 3 min - intervals.
Knowledge and informative needs of patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia, explored with focus group methods
Authors: Paccaloni Monica , Pozzan Tecla , Rimondini Michela , Zimmermann Christa 
Published: January 2018

SUMMARYAims– Psychiatric patients often are not informed about their diagnosis and their involvement in the decision making process is rare. Aim of the study was to explore the informative needs of patients with schizophrenia and the knowledge about their illness.Method– Three focus groups were conducted with 25 long-stay patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia, attending the Mental Health Centre of the South-Verona Community-based Mental Health Service. The group discussions were audiotaped and transcribed.Results– The authors identified 18 different thematic categories which were used by two raters to classify all patient contributions. The interrater reliability was satisfactory. The qualitative analysis evidenced that patients have little knowledge about their illness. Patients had confuse and vague ideas on schizophrenia but their knowledge on drug names, dosages and side effects appeared precise and detailed. Several patients have looked for information in encyclopedias and medical dictionaries.Conclusion– The findings suggest a need of patients affected by schizophrenia for an information exchange with their psychiatrists that takes into account their informative needs, corrects wrong beliefs and actively involves them in therapeutic decisions.
Differences in nutrient and energy contents of commonly consumed dishes prepared in restaurants v. at home in Hunan Province, China
Authors: Jia Xiaofang , Liu Jiawu , Chen Bo , Jin Donghui , Fu Zhongxi , Liu Huilin , Du Shufa , Popkin Barry M , Mendez Michelle A 
Published: January 2018

AbstractObjectiveEating away from home is associated with poor diet quality, in part due to less healthy food choices and larger portions. However, few studies account for the potential additional contribution of differences in food composition between restaurant- and home-prepared dishes. The present study aimed to investigate differences in nutrients of dishes prepared in restaurants v. at home.DesignEight commonly consumed dishes were collected in twenty of each of the following types of locations: small and large restaurants, and urban and rural households. In addition, two fast-food items were collected from ten KFC, McDonald’s and food stalls. Five samples per dish were randomly pooled from every location. Nutrients were analysed and energy was calculated in composite samples. Differences in nutrients of dishes by preparation location were determined.SettingHunan Province, China.SubjectsNa, K, protein, total fat, fatty acids, carbohydrate and energy in dishes.ResultsOn average, both the absolute and relative fat contents, SFA and Na:K ratio were higher in dishes prepared in restaurants than households (P < 0·05). Protein was 15 % higher in animal food-based dishes prepared in households than restaurants (P<0·05). Quantile regression models found that, at the 90th quantile, restaurant preparation was consistently negatively associated with protein and positively associated with the percentage of energy from fat in all dishes. Moreover, restaurant preparation also positively influenced the SFA content in dishes, except at the highest quantiles.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that compared with home preparation, dishes prepared in restaurants in China may differ in concentrations of total fat, SFA, protein and Na:K ratio, which may further contribute, beyond food choices, to less healthy nutrient intakes linked to eating away from home.
Evaluation of thermoplastic Klarity mask use during intensity-modulated radiation therapy for head and neck carcinoma
Authors: Radaideh Khaldoon 
Published: January 2018

AbstractAimTo evaluate the Klarity® Mask with respect to skin doses and toxicity secondary to head and neck cancer radiation treatment.Materials and methodsThis prospective study included five nasopharyngeal cancer patients who underwent intensity-modulated radiation therapy and monitored for skin toxicity. An anatomical Perspex head and neck phantom was designed and used. All patients’ treatment plans were separately transferred to the phantom. Dosimetric measurements were performed using chip-shaped thermoluminescent dosimeters (LiF:Mg,Ti TLDs) which were distributed at certain target points on the phantom. Phantom was irradiated twicely with and without a Klarity® Mask. Three fractions for each patient plan were obtained and compared with treatment planning system (TPS) doses as guided by computed tomography.ResultsThe Klarity mask used for patient immobilisation increased the surface dose by 10·83% more than that without the mask. The average variations between skin dose measurements with and without the Klarity mask for all patients’ plans ranged from 10·26 to 11·83%. TPS overestimated the surface dose by 19·13% when compared with thermoluminescent dosimeters that measured the direct skin dose.ConclusionsKlarity immobilisation mask increases skin doses, as a consequence, surface dose measurements should be monitored and must be taken into account.
The effects of competition on premiums: using United Healthcare’s 2015 entry into Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces as an instrumental variable
Authors: Agirdas Cagdas , Krebs Robert J. , Yano Masato 
Published: January 2018

AbstractOne goal of the Affordable Care Act is to increase insurance coverage by improving competition and lowering premiums. To facilitate this goal, the federal government enacted online marketplaces in the 395 rating areas spanning 34 states that chose not to establish their own state-run marketplaces. Few multivariate regression studies analyzing the effects of competition on premiums suffer from endogeneity, due to simultaneity and omitted variable biases. However, United Healthcare’s decision to enter these marketplaces in 2015 provides the researcher with an opportunity to address this endogeneity problem. Exploiting the variation caused by United Healthcare’s entry decision as an instrument for competition, we study the impact of competition on premiums during the first 2 years of these marketplaces. Combining panel data from five different sources and controlling for 12 variables, we find that one more insurer in a rating area leads to a 6.97% reduction in the second-lowest-priced silver plan premium, which is larger than the estimated effects in existing literature. Furthermore, we run a threshold analysis and find that competition’s effects on premiums become statistically insignificant if there are four or more insurers in a rating area. These findings are robust to alternative measures of premiums, inclusion of a non-linear term in the regression models and a county-level analysis.
Evolution of biological complexity: a case study of ammonoid sutures
Authors: Boyajian George E. , Lutz Tim 
Published: January 2018

The evolution of ammonoid sutures has long been cited as an example of the evolution of increased biological complexity. The complexity of sutures has increased, on average, but the exact nature of this increase, and any benefit associated with this increase has yet to be documented. We measure the fractal dimension of >600 ammonoid species and document the change in complexity of sutures between and among seven orders: Ammonitida, Anarcestida, Ceratitida, Clymeniida, Goniatitida, Phylloceratitida, and Prolecanitida. The average complexity of sutures and range of complexity of sutures increased from the Devonian to the Triassic. With the rise of the Ammonitida, average complexity of sutures remained constant or dropped slightly through the Mesozoic. However, the simplest sutures continue to originate over that same interval. The evolution of increased complexity is the result of increased number of complex forms, not selective loss of simple ones. (See figure 1)We then compare the stratigraphic ranges (longevity) of a genus with the fractal dimension of a member of the genus. Increased sutural complexity does not significantly increase or decrease the susceptibility of a genus to extinction. In other words, there is no differential survival among simple and complex forms. We also show that in ancestor-descendant pairs, descendants do not demonstrate a propensity to become either more complex or more simple than their ancestors. These observations suggest that it may be difficult to demonstrate that the evolution of biological complexity is the result of natural selection. Increased complexity may be the result of experimentation with other anatomical features or the result of an evolutionary random walk.
Intracrystalline biomolecules in Recent and fossil brachiopod shells - the biochemistry of shell coloration
Authors: Clegg Heather , Curry Gordon B. 
Published: January 2018

The study of fossil biomolecules requires not only well preserved fossil samples, but abundant Recent material so that reference points can be established. Ideally it would also be possible to study the in situ decay of organic molecules in samples of different geological ages, and hence determine how degradation proceeds with time. The shells of brachiopods fulfill both these criteria, containing up to 1% organic components entombed within their shells, which are composed of highly stable, low magnesium calcite, that survives well in the fossil record for hundreds of millions of years.This particular study has concentrated on Plio-Pleistocene brachiopods from New Zealand. These fossils are the ancestors of living species, and hence it is possible to investigate intracrystalline biomolecules in modern day shells, as well as the degradation products of such biomolecules in fossil shells of the same species.Three of the species investigated have bright red shells in life, and during the study it became clear that this coloration was caused by a carotenoprotein which was embedded within, rather than around, the calcite fibres of the brachiopod shell. Carotenoproteins are composite molecules composed of a protein and a prosthetic carotenoid group. The protein has been characterised by hplc (high performance liquid chromatography) and SDS PAGE (sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis), and the amino acids at the N-termini have been sequenced, demonstrating that this is a small protein which has a molecular weight of 6.5 kDa and is identical in all 3 species.At least two different types of carotenoids were detected after initial purification, and these were characterised using direct probe mass spectra, and hplc/mass spectra. Using these techniques the two carotenoids have been tentatively identified as canthaxanthin and the mono acetylenic analogue of asthaxanthin.In addition to the carotenoproteins, the calcite crystals of recent brachiopod shells contain lipids (carboxylic acids) and carbohydrates, which were characterised by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analyses (GC/MS).Fossil brachiopod shells could be distinguished from recent shells due to their lack of unsaturated acids and smaller amounts of carboxylic acids present. However there was no trend of decreasing quantities of fatty acid with increasing age.The presence of organic molecules such as carotenoproteins, lipids and carbohydrates within calcite crystals poses two questions. Firstly, are these compounds merely wastes metabolic products and are deposited within the shell during growth or, secondly, do they play an important role in the process of biomineralisation? At present these questions remain largely unanswered, because at present only the function of the carotenoprotein has been determined from the spectrum of biomolecules present within the shell (and the carotenoprotein may have other functions apart from coloration).
Fossil clues to paleoecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna: summary of recent findings
Authors: Lutz Richard A. , Haymon Rachel M. 
Published: January 2018

An abundant and unusual fauna is associated with deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the crest of the global mid-ocean ridge system. Precipitation of metal sulfides, silica, iron-oxyhydroxides and other minerals at these vents encrusts and replaces the remains of dead organisms to form fossils that may be preserved in the geologic record. For example, molds and casts of tubiculous polychaete and vestimentiferan worms are abundantly preserved in Recent hot spring deposits on the mid-ocean ridge crest, and similar worm molds also have been found in Tethys ophiolite sulfide mineral deposits of mid-Cretaceous age. The aragonitic and calcareous shells and tests of other vent species are also good candidates for fossilization by encrustation and replacement of their carbonate constituents with hydrothermal minerals.Recent and ongoing studies of the ecology and mineralization of vent organisms at active hot spring sites on the mid-ocean ridge in the eastern Pacific provide knowledge needed for gleaning paleoecological information from fossiliferous marine hydrothermal deposits in the geologic record. At modern vents, intact larval shells (prodissoconchs or protoconchs) are present on the surfaces of many juvenile molluscs. Preservation of these larval shells by hydrothermal mineralization may provide a powerful paleoecological tool for interpretation of the life history strategies of many sessile invertebrates associated with ancient submarine hydrothermal vents. Bacterial mats that grow on the outer surfaces of sulfide mineral structures have been preserved by silica deposition in inactive deposits on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) axis at 9°27'N. Studies of the ecology and growth history of this bacterial species at active vents are in progress.Preservation of ridge crest vent fauna within volcanic rock units can occur when lava erupts on the ridge crest near hydrothermal vent communities. Along the axis of the EPR at 9°50.6'N, vent mussels and vestimentiferan worms were found partially buried by lava flows and volcanic collapse rubble. Animals trapped beneath eruption-associated rubble may be coated or replaced by hydrothermal minerals precipitating from fluids circulating in the cooling rocks. In addition, worm-tube molds were created at the EPR 9°50.6'N site where lava quenched around living vestimentiferans (analogous to the formation of tree-molds in Hawaiian lava flows). These lava molds contained pyritized remnants of the chitinous tubes of the vestimentiferans.
Preliminary study of the shape of eurypterid prosomas using Fourier analysis
Authors: Tollerton V.P. 
Published: January 2018

Shape identification of eurypterid prosomas currently uses the ratio of prosoma length to prosoma width and the lateral angle. Because many species of eurypterids have the same prosoma shape as determined by these criteria, the method is limited in its taxonomic applications. Thompson transformation grids are of little value due to the lack of sufficient topographic reference points, even though some limited success has been achieved in its application to allometry.Fourier analysis is a more rigorous mathematical descriptor of two-dimensional shape than is simple ratios. Being independent of topographic reference points and ratios, Fourier analysis is well suited, theoretically, to the identification of prosoma shape and potential taxonomic identifications. Problems arise, though, in that Fourier analysis is sensitive to distorted specimens.My study departs from previous methods of Fourier analysis in that the choice of the reference point from which to measure the radii is not the center of gravity, but instead is the midpoint between the eyes. My reasons for this unorthodox reference point are threefold: 1) this point is determinable on all specimens; 2) the position of the eyes is taxonomically significant (Kjellesvig-Waering, 1961) and 3) allows for the simultaneous identification of prosoma shape and the differentiation of taxa with similar outlines but different eye positions.As defined by current methods, the taxa used in this study (Eurypterus remipes, E. lacustris, E. pittsfordensis, and E. dekayi) all have similar prosoma shapes. When specimens of the same stage of development were compared statistically, Fourier analysis was successful in the differentiation between E. remipes, E. pittsfordensis and E. dekayi, and between E. lacustris, E. pittsfordensis and E. dekayi, but not between E. remipes and E. lacustris.The prosoma shapes as studied by Fourier analysis for both E. remipes and E. lacustris are also similar for all size classes examined. All size classes are dominated by the 4th harmonic. The contribution to the outline from other harmonics changes during ontogeny. The 3rd and 7th harmonics are the important components of the prosoma outline for the small size classes (classes 1-3 = maximum prosoma length of 17mm), while the 2nd and 7th harmonics are the important components for the larger size classes (classes 4-7). Further study involving other eurypterid taxa is in progress.
Epibiosis, symbiosis and gastropod taphonomy in the deep sea
Authors: Walker Sally E. , Voight Janet R. 
Published: January 2018

A synthesis of current research suggests several trends in deep sea taphonomy. First, epibiosis (the condition of having bionts on exoskeletons that is not obligate) appears to decrease with increasing depth. Epibionts, such as serpulid polychaetes and barnacles that take advantage of ephemeral hard substrates offered by crab exoskeletons, sea urchin spines or gastropod shells, appear to be more diverse and common at depths of less than 500 m. At abyssal depths, microbial communities on living shells are common and may contribute to the breakdown of molluscan periostracum. These communities may also have patchy distributions.Second, shell-inhabiting symbionts, such as sea anemones uniquely associated with shells of pagurid crustaceans, are most common from 300 to 700 m. These unusual sea anemones cover hermit crab-inhabited gastropod shells with a chitinous material (Dunn et al. 1980) that may affect shell longevity. While gastropod shells without a periostracum may degrade quickly in calcium-poor waters, the chitinous covering secreted by the anemone may increase the postmortem longevity of the shell.Third, deep sea gastropods usually have eroded apical whorls but buttress this weakness with internal calcium plugs (J. McLean, pers. comm., 1992). In addition, not all deep sea gastropods, like buccinids, have thick periostracal layers. How differing periostracal thicknesses affect taphonomy is undetermined.Finally, deep sea gastropod fossils occur throughout the Cenozoic from many geographic localities: Eocene (Oregon, United States), Upper Oligocene (France), Miocene (New Zealand, Japan), Miocene/Pliocene (Australia), and Pleistocene (Italy). Sedimentary deposits containing these gastropods vary from thin interbedded sediments within oceanic basalt (e.g., Eocene, Oregon), volcanic breccia with bathyal sediments (e.g. Miocene, Japan), turbiditic sequences (Neogene, Japan) and bathyal clays (Pleistocene, Italy). Fossil quality varies from poorly preserved internal molds with altered shell material, to excellently preserved specimens with calcareous layers intact. We will discuss how this record bears on the geographic and preservational differences among the various deep sea gastropod fauna.
Pteropods counter mechanical damage and dissolution through extensive shell repair
Authors: Peck Victoria L. , Oakes Rosie L. , Harper Elizabeth M. , Manno Clara , Tarling Geraint A. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe dissolution of the delicate shells of sea butterflies, or pteropods, has epitomised discussions regarding ecosystem vulnerability to ocean acidification over the last decade. However, a recent demonstration that the organic coating of the shell, the periostracum, is effective in inhibiting dissolution suggests that pteropod shells may not be as susceptible to ocean acidification as previously thought. Here we use micro-CT technology to show how, despite losing the entire thickness of the original shell in localised areas, specimens of polar species Limacina helicina maintain shell integrity by thickening the inner shell wall. One specimen collected within Fram Strait with a history of mechanical and dissolution damage generated four times the thickness of the original shell in repair material. The ability of pteropods to repair and maintain their shells, despite progressive loss, demonstrates a further resilience of these organisms to ocean acidification but at a likely metabolic cost.