bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The impact of extended release dopamine agonists on prescribing patterns for therapy of early Parkinson’s disease: an observational study
Authors: Pellicano Clelia , Benincasa Dario , Fanciulli Alessandra , Latino Pamela , Giovannelli Morena , Pontieri Francesco E 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Background
Dopamine agonists (DA) are the first-choice drug for treatment of the early stage of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in subjects younger than 70 years. Recently, a number of third generation DA have been marketed, including transdermal patch of rotigotine and extended release oral formulation of ropinirole and pramipexole.
We investigated the impact of third generation DA on management of the early stage of PD in an outpatient service for Movement Disorders in Italy.

Methods
Two 12-month observation periods were selected (January - December, 2007, and January - December, 2011) as representative for prescription of immediate and extended release formulations of DA respectively. Within each period, PD patients were divided into subgroups according to age (<65 years; 65–75 years; >75 years) or functional requirement (high; moderate; low). For each period, the number of subjects receiving monotherapy with DA, monotherapy with levodopa (LD), or combined DA/LD therapy and the relative doses were calculated. The severity of parkinsonian motor symptoms was calculated by means of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III (UPDRS-III) score. The frequency and severity of side-effects leading to discontinuation or reduction of DA drugs at each time point were also calculated.

Results
We found a significant reduction of daily LD dose (both as mono- and combined therapy) between the second and the first observation period. There was also a significant increase of monotherapy with DA and corresponding reduction of monotherapy with LD in patients aged 65–75 years, as well as in PD patients with moderate functional requirements. A significant reduction of frequency of side-effects was measured with extended release DA as compared to immediate release formulations. There were no significant differences of the UPDRS-III scores between the 2 observation periods in any subgroup.

Conclusions
Our results suggest that extended release DA might optimize therapeutic management of the early stages of PD even in patients older than 70 years of age.
Performance in Olympic triathlon: changes in performance of elite female and male triathletes in the ITU World Triathlon Series from 2009 to 2012
Authors: Rüst Christoph Alexander , Lepers Romuald , Stiefel Michael , Rosemann Thomas , Knechtle Beat 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
This study investigated the changes in performance and sex difference in performance of the world best triathletes at the ITU (International Triathlon Union) World Triathlon Series (i.e. 1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running) during the 2009-2012 period including the 2012 London Olympic Games. Changes in overall race times, split times and sex difference in performance of the top ten women and men of each race were analyzed using single and multi-level regression analyses. Swimming and running split times remained unchanged whereas cycling split times (ß = 0.003, P < 0.001) and overall race times (ß = 0.003, P < 0.001) increased significantly for both women and men. The sex difference in performance remained unchanged for swimming and cycling but decreased for running (ß = -0.001, P = 0.001) from 14.9 ± 2.7% to 13.2 ± 2.6% and for overall race time (ß = -0.001, P = 0.006) from 11.9 ± 1.2% to 11.4 ± 1.4%. The sex difference in running (14.3 ± 2.4%) was greater (P < 0.001) compared to swimming (9.1 ± 5.1%) and cycling (9.5 ± 2.7%). These findings suggest that (i) the world’s best female short-distance triathletes reduced the gap with male athletes in running and total performance at short distance triathlon with drafting during the 2009-2012 period and (ii) the sex difference in running was greater compared to swimming and cycling. Further studies should investigate the reasons why the sex difference in performance was greater in running compared to swimming and cycling in elite short-distance triathletes.
Glucose overload in yolk has little effects on the long term modulation of carbohydrate metabolic genes in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Authors: Rocha Filipa , Dias Jorge , Engrola Sofia , Gavaia Paulo , Geurden Inge , Dinis Maria T. , Panserat Stephane 
Published: December 2013

SummarySome fish show a low metabolic ability to use dietary carbohydrates. The use of early nutritional stimuli to program metabolic pathways in fish is ill defined. Studies were undertaken with zebrafish to assess the effect of high glucose levels during embryonic stage as lifelong modulator of genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Genes related to carbohydrate metabolism showed low expression levels at 0.2 and 1 days post-fertilization (dpf). However, from 4 dpf onwards there was a significant increase on expression of all genes, suggesting that all analysed pathways were active. By microinjection, we successfully enriched zebrafish egg yolk with glucose (a 43-fold increase of basal levels). Acute effects of glucose injection on gene expression were assessed in larvae up to 10 dpf, while the programming concept was evaluated in juveniles (41 dpf) challenged with a hyperglucidic diet. At 4 dpf, larvae from glucose-enriched eggs showed a down-regulation of several genes related to glycolysis, glycogenolysis, lipogenesis and carbohydrate digestion in comparison with control (saline injected). This inhibitory regulation was suppressed after 10 dpf. At the juvenile stage and upon switching from a low to a high digestible carbohydrate diet, early glucose enrichment had no significant effect on most analysed genes. Still, these same fish showed altered expression of PEPCKc, SGLT1 and GS genes, suggesting changes on glucose storage capacity in muscle and glucose production and transport in viscera. On the overall, egg yolk supplementation with high glucose levels had little effects on the long term modulation of carbohydrate metabolic genes in zebrafish.
Impulsive ankle push-off powers leg swing in human walking
Authors: Lipfert Susanne , Günther Michael , Renjewski Daniel , Seyfarth Andre 
Published: December 2013

SummaryRapid unloading and a peak in power output of the ankle joint has been widely observed during push-off in human walking. Model based studies hypothesize this push-off to cause redirection of the body center of mass just before touch-down of the leading leg. Other research suggests, that work done by the ankle extensors provides kinetic energy for the initiation of swing. Also, muscle work is discussed to power a catapult-like action in late stance of human walking. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the biomechanical process leading to this widely observed high power output of the ankle extensors. In our study, we use kinematic and dynamic data of human walking collected at speeds between 0.5 and 2.5m/s for a comprehensive analysis of push-off mechanics. We identify two distinct phases, which divide the push-off: First, starting with positive ankle power output, an alleviation phase, where the trailing leg is alleviated from supporting the body mass, and second, a launching phase, where stored energy in the ankle joint is released. Our results show a release of just a small part of the energy stored in the ankle joint during the alleviation phase. A larger impulse for the trailing leg than for the remaining body is observed during the launching phase. Here, the buckling knee joint inhibits transfer of power from the ankle to the remaining body. It appears that swing initiation profits from an impulsive ankle push-off resulting from a catapult without escapement.
The honey bee tyramine receptor AmTYR1 and division of foraging labor
Authors: Scheiner Ricarda , Kulikovskaja Leonora , Thamm Markus 
Published: December 2013

Summary
Honey bees display a fascinating division of labor among foragers. While some bees solely collect pollen, others only collect nectar. It is assumed that individual differences in sensory response thresholds are at the basis of division of labor. Biogenic amines and their receptors are important candidates for regulating division of labor, because they can modulate sensory response thresholds. We here investigate the role of the honey bee tyramine receptor AmTYR1 in regulating division of foraging labor. We report differential splicing of the Amtyr1 gene and show differential gene expression of one isoform in the suboesophageal ganglion of pollen and nectar foragers. This ganglion mediates gustatory inputs. These findings imply a role for the honey bee tyramine receptor in regulating division of foraging labor, possibly through the suboesophageal ganglion.
Weakly electric fish give behavioral responses to envelopes naturally occurring during movement: implications for neural processing
Authors: Metzen Michael G. , Chacron Maurice J. 
Published: December 2013

Summary
How the brain processes natural sensory input remains an important and poorly understood problem in neuroscience. The efficient coding hypothesis asserts that the brain’s coding strategies are adapted to the statistics of natural stimuli in order to efficiently process them, thereby optimizing their perception by the organism. Here we examined whether Gymnotiform weakly electric fish displayed behavioral responses that are adapted to the statistics of the natural electrosensory envelopes. Previous studies have shown that the envelopes resulting from movement tend to consist of low (&lt;1 Hz) temporal frequencies and are behaviorally relevant while those resulting from social interactions instead consist of higher (&gt; 2 Hz) temporal frequencies that can thus mask more behaviorally relevant signals. We found that the self-generated electric organ discharge frequency follows the envelope’s detailed timecourse around a mean value that is positively offset with respect to its baseline value for temporal frequencies between 0.001 Hz and 1 Hz. The frequency following component of this behavioral response decreased in magnitude as a power law as a function of the envelope frequency and was negligible for envelope frequencies above 1 Hz. In contrast, the offset component was relatively constant and somewhat increased for envelope frequencies above 1 Hz. Thus, our results show that weakly electric fish give behavioral responses that track the detailed timecourse of low but not high frequency envelope stimuli. Further, we found that the magnitude of the frequency following behavioral response matches in a one-to-one fashion the spectral power of natural second order stimulus attributes observed during movement. Indeed, both decayed as a power law with the same exponent for temporal frequencies spanning three orders of magnitude. Thus, our findings suggest that the neural coding strategies used by weakly electric fish perceive the detailed timecourse of movement envelopes are adapted to their statistics as found in the natural environment. They also suggest that weakly electric fish might take advantage of the differential frequency content of movement and social envelopes in order to give appropriate behavioral responses during encounters between two or more conspecifics.
Phase Change Material on Augmentation of Fresh Water Production Using Pyramid Solar Still
Authors: Ravishankara S. , Nagarajan P.K. , Vijayakumar D. , Jawahar M.K. 
Published: December 2013

The augmentation of fresh water and increase in the solar still efficiency of a triangular pyramid is added with phase change material (PCM) on the basin. Experimental studies were conducted and the effects of production of fresh water with and without PCM were investigated. Using paraffin as the PCM material, performance of the solar still were conducted on a hot, humid climate of Chennai (13°5′ 2" North, 80°16′ 12"East), India. The use of paraffin wax increases the latent heat storage so that the energy is stored in the PCM and in the absence of solar radiation it rejects its stored heat into the basin for further evaporation of water from the basin. Temperatures of water, Tw, Temperature of phase change material, TPCM, Temperature of cover, Tc were measured using thermocouple. Results show that there is an increase of maximum 20%, in productivity of fresh water with PCM. Keywords: fresh water production; PCM; thermal energy storage; phase change material
Macro Meets Micro: Stochastic (Calvo) Revisions in Games
Authors: Libich Jan , Nguyen Dat Thanh 
Published: December 2013

AbstractThe timing of moves in conventional games is deterministic. To better capture the uncertainty of many real world situations, we postulate a stochastic timing framework. The players get a revision opportunity at a pre-specified time (common to them) with some known probability (different across them). The probabilistic revisions resemble the Calvo (1983) timing widely used in macroeconomics, and by nesting the standard simultaneous move game and Stackelberg leadership they can serve as a “dynamic commitment” device. The analysis shows how the revision time and probabilities affect the outcomes in games with multiple and/or inefficient equilibria. Unsurprisingly, we show in the Battle of the sexes that commitment – low revision probability relative to the opponent – improves the player’s chances to uniquely achieve his preferred outcome (i.e. to dominate). What may, however, seem surprising is that the less committed (higher revision probability) player may dominate the game under some circumstances (for which we derive the necessary and sufficient conditions). This is in contrast to the intuition of Stackelberg leadership where the more committed player (leader) always does so. The paper then applies the framework to the strategic interaction between monetary and fiscal policies in the aftermath of the Global financial crisis. It is modelled as the Game of chicken in which a double-dip recession and deflation can occur when both policies postpone stimulatory measures – attempting to induce the other policy to carry them out. In order to link our theoretic results to the real world, we develop new indices of monetary and fiscal policy leadership (pre-commitment) and quantify them using institutional characteristics of high-income countries. This exercise shows that the danger of the undesirable deflationary scenario caused by a monetary–fiscal policy deadlock may be high in some major economies.
Improving the weathering on larch wood samples by electron beam irradiation (EBI)
Authors: Schnabel Thomas , Huber Hermann 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
High-energy irradiation of a biogenic polymer is of interest from different perspectives, as this type of modification process may beneficially influence various functional and structural properties of wood. This study deals with the influence of electron beam irradiation (EBI) on the artificial weathering behavior of larch wood. The results of color measurement and infrared spectra show different effects of the EBI at dosages of 1 and 30 kGy during weathering tests. The results may provide a helpful basis for further fundamental research to improve weathering of wood by EBI.
Lignin chemistry and topochemistry during kraft delignification of Eucalyptus globulus genotypes with contrasting pulpwood characteristics
Authors: Aguayo María Graciela , Ferraz André , Elissetche Juan Pedro , Masarin Fernando , Mendonça Regis Teixeira 
Published: December 2013

Abstract

Eucalyptus globulus Labill. is a short-fibre resource for pulp and paper production. Ten different E. globulus genotypes with varied pulpwood quality and chemical composition were evaluated under kraft pulping conditions. Characterisation of the wood and pulp samples by thioacidolysis indicated that the content of syringyl units in β-O-4 linkages (S-β-O-4) was distinct for the studied genotypes. The highest S-β-O-4 levels were detected in the samples with the lowest original lignin and highest glucan levels. This group of samples provided the pulps with the lowest final lignin content at higher yields. UV microspectrophotometric (UMSP) evaluation of the wood chips revealed that the samples with the lowest lignin levels have the lowest UV absorbances at 278 nm (A278 nm) in the secondary walls (S2). During kraft pulping, lignin from the S2 was dissolved, whereas lignins from the middle lamella and cell corner lignin was not removed not even for prolonged reaction periods, independently of the evaluated genotype. The A278 nm values of the S2 were significantly lower in the pulps from the genotypes with less original lignin content.
Targeted Data Adaptive Estimation of the Causal Dose–Response Curve
Authors: Díaz Iván , van der Laan Mark J. 
Published: December 2013

AbstractEstimation of the causal dose–response curve is an old problem in statistics. In a non-parametric model, if the treatment is continuous, the dose–response curve is not a pathwise differentiable parameter, and no-consistent estimator is available. However, the risk of a candidate algorithm for estimation of the dose–response curve is a pathwise differentiable parameter, whose consistent and efficient estimation is possible. In this work, we review the cross-validated augmented inverse probability of treatment weighted estimator (CV A-IPTW) of the risk and present a cross-validated targeted minimum loss–based estimator (CV-TMLE) counterpart. These estimators are proven consistent and efficient under certain consistency and regularity conditions on the initial estimators of the outcome and treatment mechanism. We also present a methodology that uses these estimated risks to select among a library of candidate algorithms. These selectors are proven optimal in the sense that they are asymptotically equivalent to the oracle selector under certain consistency conditions on the estimators of the treatment and outcome mechanisms. Because the CV-TMLE is a substitution estimator, it is more robust than the CV-AIPTW against empirical violations of the positivity assumption. This and other small sample size differences between the CV-TMLE and the CV-A-IPTW are explored in a simulation study.
Graph-Based Bootstrapping for Coreference Resolution
Authors: Balaji J. , Geetha T.V. , Ranjani P. 
Published: December 2013

AbstractCoreference resolution is a challenging natural language processing task, and it is difficult to identify the correct mentions of an entity that can be any noun or noun phrase. In this article, a semisupervised, two-stage pattern-based bootstrapping approach is proposed for the coreference resolution task. During Stage 1, the possible mentions are identified using word-based features, and during Stage 2, the correct mentions are identified by filtering the non-coreferents of an entity using statistical measures and graph-based features. Whereas the existing approaches use morphosyntactic and number/gender agreement features, the proposed approach uses semantic graph-based context-level semantics and nested noun phrases in the correct mentions identification. Moreover, mentions without the number/gender information are identified, using the context-based features of the semantic graph. The evaluation performed for the coreference resolution shows significant improvements, when compared with the word association-based bootstrapping systems.
Integrating Security Aspects into Business Process Models
Authors: Brucker Achim D. 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
Modern enterprise systems are often process-driven and, thus,
rely heavily on process-aware information systems. In such
systems, high-level process-models play an important role both for
communicating business requirements between domain experts and
system experts as well as basis for the system implementation.
Since several years, enterprise system need to fulfil an
increasing number of the security and compliance
requirements. Thus, there is an increasing demand for integrating
high-level security and compliance requirements into process
models, i. e. a common language for domain experts, system
experts, and security experts. We present a security modelling
language, called SecureBPMN, that can easily be integrated into
business process modelling languages. In this paper, we exemplary
integrate SecureBPMN into BPMN and, thus, present a common
language for describing business process models together with
their security and compliance requirements.
Security and Privacy in Business Processes:
A Posteriori Analysis Techniques
Authors: Strembeck Mark , Rinderle-Ma Stefanie 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
In this paper, we motivate the need to perform a posteriori
analyzes for process-related security properties. In particular,
we first discuss the relation of security engineering and
a-posteriori techniques. Subsequently, we give an overview of
different a-posteriori techniques for analyzing organizational
structures and access control policies. Finally, we provide
a discussion on application scenarios for different a-posteriori
techniques.
Privacy Analysis of User Behavior Using Alignments
Authors: Adriansyah Arya , van Dongen Boudewijn F. , Zannone Nicola 
Published: December 2013

Abstract
Privacy is becoming a urgent issue in information systems
nowadays because of the stringent requirements imposed by data
protection regulations. Traditional security approaches based on
access control and authorization are not adequate to address these
requirements. The underlying fundamental problem is that those
approaches are preventive and thus they are not able to deal with
exceptions. In this paper, we present a practical privacy
framework that shifts the problem of preventing infringements into
a problem of detecting infringements. The framework is based on
systematic log auditing, use of patterns and privacy metrics to
detect and quantify infringements.
Detecting and Measuring Selection from Gene Frequency Data
Authors: Vitalis Renaud , Gautier Mathieu , Dawson Kevin J , Beaumont Mark A 
Published: December 2013

AbstractThe recent advent of high-throughput sequencing and genotyping technologies makes it possible to produce, easily and cost effectively, large amounts of detailed data on the genotype composition of populations. Detecting locus-specific effects may help identify those genes that have been, or are currently, targeted by natural selection. How best to identify these selected regions, loci, or single nucleotides remains a challenging issue. Here, we introduce a new model-based method, called SelEstim, to distinguish putative selected polymorphisms from the background of neutral (or nearly neutral) ones and to estimate the intensity of selection at the former. The underlying population genetic model is a diffusion approximation for the distribution of allele frequency in a population subdivided into a number of demes that exchange migrants. We use a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for sampling from the joint posterior distribution of the model parameters, in a hierarchical Bayesian framework. We present evidence from stochastic simulations, which demonstrates the good power of SelEstim to identify loci targeted by selection and to estimate the strength of selection acting on these loci, within each deme. We also reanalyze a subset of SNP data from the Stanford HGDP–CEPH Human Genome Diversity Cell Line Panel to illustrate the performance of SelEstim on real data. In agreement with previous studies, our analyses point to a very strong signal of positive selection upstream of the LCT gene, which encodes for the enzyme lactase–phlorizin hydrolase and is associated with adult-type hypolactasia. The geographical distribution of the strength of positive selection across the Old World matches the interpolated map of lactase persistence phenotype frequencies, with the strongest selection coefficients in Europe and in the Indus Valley.