bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A longitudinal study of delirium phenomenology indicates widespread neural dysfunction
Authors: Leonard Maeve , Adamis Dimitrios , Saunders Jean , Trzepacz Paula , Meagher David 
Published: November 2013

AbstractObjectives:Delirium affects all higher cortical functions supporting complex information processing consistent with widespread neural network impairment. We evaluated the relative prominence of delirium symptoms throughout episodes to assess whether impaired consciousness is selectively affecting certain brain functions at different timepoints.Methods:Twice-weekly assessments of 100 consecutive patients with DSM-IV delirium in a palliative care unit used the Delirium Rating Scale Revised-98 (DRS-R98) and Cognitive Test for Delirium (CTD). A mixed-effects model was employed to estimate changes in severity of individual symptoms over time.Results:Mean age = 7 0.2 ± 10.5 years, 51% were male, and 27 had a comorbid dementia. A total of 323 assessments (range 2–9 per case) were conducted, but up to 6 are reported herein. Frequency and severity of individual DRS-R98 symptoms was very consistent over time even though the majority of patients (80%) experienced fluctuation in symptom severity over the course of hours or minutes. Over time, DRS-R98 items for attention (88–100%), sleep–wake cycle disturbance (90–100%), and any motor disturbance (87–100%), and CTD attention and vigilance were most frequently and consistently impaired. Mixed-effects regression modeling identified only very small magnitudes of change in individual symptoms over time, including the three core domains.Significance of results:Attention is disproportionately impaired during the entire episode of delirium, consistent with thalamic dysfunction underlying both an impaired state of consciousness and well-known EEG slowing. All individual symptoms and three core domains remain relatively stable despite small fluctuations in symptom severity for a given day, which supports a consistent state of impaired higher cortical functions throughout an episode of delirium.
The density of the time of ruin in the classical risk model with a constant dividend barrier
Authors: Li Shuanming , Lu Yi 
Published: November 2013

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the density function of the time of ruin in the classical risk model with a constant dividend barrier. When claims are exponentially distributed, we derive explicit expressions for the density function of the time of ruin and its decompositions: the density of the time of ruin without dividend payments and the density of the time of ruin with dividend payments. These densities are obtained based on their Laplace transforms, and expressed in terms of some special functions which are computationally tractable. The Laplace transforms are being inverted using a magnificent tool, the Lagrange inverse formula, developed in Dickson and Willmot (2005). Several numerical examples are given to illustrate our results.
Prohibitin is associated with antioxidative protection in hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced renal tubular epithelial cell injury
Authors: Zhou Tian-Biao , Qin Yuan-Han , Lei Feng-Ying , Huang Wei-Fang , Drummen Gregor P. C. 
Published: November 2013

AbstractProhibitin is an evolutionary conserved and pleiotropic protein that has been implicated in various cellular functions, including proliferation, tumour suppression, apoptosis, transcription and mitochondrial protein folding. We recently demonstrated that prohibitin downregulation results in increased renal interstitial fibrosis. Here we investigated the role of oxidative stress and prohibitin expression in a hypoxia/reoxygenation injury system in renal tubular epithelial cells with lentivirus-based delivery vectors to knockdown or overexpress prohibitin. Our results show that increased prohibitin expression was negatively correlated with reactive oxygen species, malon dialdehyde, transforming-growth-factor-β1, collagen-IV, fibronectin and apoptosis (r = −0.895, −0.764, −0.798, −0.826, −0.817, −0.735; each P < 0.01), but positively correlated with superoxide dismutase, glutathione and mitochondrial membrane potential (r = 0.807, 0.815, 0.739; each P < 0.01). We postulate that prohibitin acts as a positive regulator of mechanisms that counteract oxidative stress and extracellular matrix accumulation and therefore has an antioxidative effect.
Acute and subacute toxicity studies of Pluronic P85/poly (lactic acid) nanoparticles in mice
Authors: Li Yu‐Ping , Sun Li‐Zhen , Yao Li‐Hua , Xiong Xiang‐Yuan , Li Zi‐Ling 
Published: November 2013

The objective of the present reported study was to evaluate the oral toxicity of poly (lactic acid)‐b‐Pluronic‐b‐poly (lactic acid) (PLA‐P85‐PLA) nanoparticles (NPs) so as to demonstrate their applicability for drug delivery applications. In acute oral toxicity studies, the animals were fed with 0.4 ml PLA‐P85‐PLA NPs solution in different concentrations (low concentration: 20 mg/l, intermediate concentration: 100 mg/l and higher concentration: 500 mg/l) for 14 days; no deaths or treatment related complications were observed even in the higher concentration treatment. In case of the subacute oral toxicity test, the NPs were administered orally to mice for a period of 28 days. At the end of the study, blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. For histopathological analysis, organs of the animals were weighed and processed. All the animals survived during the study, with no significant changes in clinical signs, body weight, feed consumption, biochemistry parameters, organ weights and histopathological findings. These results demonstrate that PLA‐P85‐PLA NPs produced no treatment related toxicity in mice following oral administration, thus, they can be exploited for potential therapeutic applications.
Electron beam ion sources for use in second generation synchrotrons for medical particle therapy
Authors: Zschornack G. , Ritter E. , Schmidt M. , Schwan A. 
Published: November 2013

Cyclotrons and first generation synchrotrons are the commonly applied accelerators in medical particle therapy nowadays. Next generation accelerators such as Rapid Cycling Medical Synchrotrons (RCMS), direct drive accelerators, or dielectric wall accelerators have the potential to improve the existing accelerator techniques in this field. Innovative accelerator concepts for medical particle therapy can benefit from ion sources which meet their special requirements. In the present paper we report on measurements with a superconducting Electron Beam Ion Source, the Dresden EBIS-SC, under the aspect of application in combination with RCMS as a well proven technology. The measurements indicate that this ion source can offer significant advantages for medical particle therapy. We show that a superconducting EBIS can deliver ion pulses of medically relevant ions such as protons, C4 + and C6 + ions with intensities and frequencies required for RCMS [S. Peggs and T. Satogata, “A survey of Hadron therapy accelerator technology,” in Proceedings of PAC07, BNL-79826- 2008-CP, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, 2007; A. Garonna, U. Amaldi et al., “Cyclinac medical accelerators using pulsed C6 +/\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\begin{document}${\rm H}^{+}_2$\end{document}H2+ ion sources,” in Proceedings of EBIST 2010, Stockholm, Sweden, July 2010]. Ion extraction spectra as well as individual ion pulses have been measured. For example, we report on the generation of proton pulses with up to 3 × 109 protons per pulse and with frequencies of up to 1000 Hz at electron beam currents of 600 mA.
AnchorMS: a bioinformatics tool to derive structural information from the mass spectra of cross-linked protein complexes
Authors: Mayne Shannon L.N. , Patterton Hugh-G. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
Summary: Mass spectrometry is being increasingly used in the structural elucidation of mega-Dalton protein complexes in an approach termed MS3D, referring to the application of MS to the study of macromolecular structures. This involves the identification of cross-linked residues in the constituent proteins of chemically cross-linked multi-subunit complexes. AnchorMS was developed to simplify MS3D studies by identifying cross-linked peptides in complex peptide mixtures, and to determine the specific residues involved in each cross-link. When identifying cross-linked peptide pairs (CLPP), AnchorMS implements a mathematical model to exclude false positives by using a dynamic score threshold to estimate the number of false-positive peak matches expected in an MS/MS spectrum. This model was derived from CLPPs with randomly generated sequences. AnchorMS does not require specific sample labeling or pre-treatment, and AnchorMS is especially suited for discriminating between CLPPs that differ only in the cross-linked residue pairs.
Availability: AnchorMS was coded in Python, and is available as a free web service at cbio.ufs.ac.za/AnchorMS.
Contact: patterh@ufs.ac.za
Pulsed resources and the coupling between life‐history strategies and exploration patterns in eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus)
Authors: Montiglio Pierre‐Olivier , Garant Dany , Bergeron Patrick , Messier Gabrielle Dubuc , Réale Denis 
Published: November 2013

Summary

Understanding the causes of animal personality (i.e. consistent behavioural differences) is a major aim of evolutionary studies.

Recent theoretical work suggests that major personality traits may contribute to evolutionary trade‐offs. However, such associations have only been investigated in a few study systems, and even less so in free ranging animal populations.

Eastern chipmunks exhibit consistent individual differences in exploration, ranging from slow to fast. Birth cohorts also experience dramatic differences in age at first breeding opportunity due to annual differences in beech mast. Individuals may breed for the first time at 24, 33 or 50% of their average life span, depending on year of birth. Here, we used data from a long‐term survey on a wild population to investigate the relationship between reproductive life history and consistent individual differences in exploration. We determined whether predictable differences in age at first breeding opportunity among birth cohorts were associated with exploration differences and favoured individuals with different exploration.

Birth cohorts with a predictably earlier age at first breeding opportunity were faster explorers on average. Slower explorers displayed their highest fecundity (females) or highest fertilization success (males) later in their life compared with faster explorers. Overall, slow explorers attained a higher lifetime reproductive success than fast explorers when given an opportunity to reproduce later in their life.

Our results suggest that the timing of mating seasons, associated with fluctuating food abundance, may favour individual variation in exploration and maintain population variation through its effects on reproductive life history. Together, our result shed light on how fluctuation in ecological conditions may maintain personality differences and on the nature of the relationships between animal personality and life history.
Effect of ethnicity on live birth rates after in vitro fertilisation or intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment
Authors: Jayaprakasan K , Pandian D , Hopkisson J , Campbell BK , Maalouf WE 
Published: November 2013

ObjectiveTo assess the relationship between the ethnicity of women and the clinical success of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment.DesignObservational cohort study.SettingNottingham University Research and Treatment Unit in Reproduction (NURTURE), UK.SampleA total of 1517 women, of which 1291 were white Europeans and 226 belonged to an ethnic minority group. All the women were undergoing their first cycle of assisted reproductive technology (ART) between 2006 and 2011.MethodsAll of the women underwent their first cycle of ART between 2006 and 2011.Main outcome measuresLive birth rates following IVF or ICSI treatment.ResultsAlthough pre‐treatment ovarian reserve variables [mean age, basal follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and total antral follicle count] were significantly favourable in the ethnic group, the live birth rates were significantly lower in this group (35%) compared with the white European group (43.8%) (relative risk 0.8; 95% CI 0.66–0.97). On logistic regression analysis, ethnicity was an independent predictor of live birth rate (OR 0.688; 95% CI 0.513–0.924). After controlling for the other independent variables (age and FSH), the significant association between ethnicity and live birth rate remained strong (OR 0.591; 95% CI 0.425–0.822) on multivariate logistic regression analysis.ConclusionsLive birth rates following IVF or ICSI treatment were significantly lower in the ethnic minority group compared with white European women, which suggests that ethnicity is a major determinant of live birth following IVF treatment.
Opposition party policy shifts in response to no‐confidence motions
Authors: Somer‐Topcu Zeynep , Williams Laron K. 
Published: November 2013

AbstractNo‐confidence motions (NCMs) are attempts by opposition parties to publicise the government's failings in a salient policy arena, and previous research has shown that they often negatively affect citizens' evaluations of governing parties' competence and damage their electoral prospects. Yet currently there is a lack of understanding of how opposition parties respond ideologically to theseNCMs. It is argued in this article that opposition parties should distance themselves from the government challenged byNCMsto show that they are different from the incompetent government and to compete for the votes that the government is likely to lose. Using a sample of 19 advanced democracies from 1970–2007, empirical evidence is presented thatNCMsencourage political parties to move their positions away from the government's position, especially in the presence of reinforcing negative signals about government performance. These results have important implications for our understanding of opposition party policy change, for the economic voting literature, and for the spatial and valence models of party competition.
Cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy for benign gynecological conditions: a systematic review
Authors: Pynnä Kristiina , Vuorela Piia , Lodenius Leena , Paavonen Jorma , Roine Risto P. , Räsänen Pirjo 
Published: November 2013

AbstractThe objective of this study was to assess the cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy performed for benign indications. Hysterectomy remains the most common major gynecological operation in the Western world. Rates of hysterectomy have not declined as expected with the introduction of new treatment options. Furthermore, use of laparoscopic techniques varies widely within the Nordic countries. We designed a systematic review in a University Central Hospital. The sample included all published studies regarding the cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy performed for benign indications (n = 1666). Medline, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Nursing databases were searched. Inclusion criteria were the availability of pre‐ and post‐intervention health‐related quality of life measures (HRQoL) and data on costs.HRQoL, costs, and cost‐effectiveness of treatment were the main outcome measures. Studies (n = 24) focused on treatment of symptomatic fibroids (n = 8), treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding (n = 10), various surgical techniques (n = 5) and the effect of various indications for hysterectomy (n = 2). Follow‐up periods varied from 4 months to over 10 years.SF/RAND‐36 orEQ‐5D measures and societal cost perspective were most commonly used. Only 11 studies used individual patient data.HRQoL following hysterectomy was generally good but costs were high. The cost‐effectiveness depended on indication, age, and duration of follow‐up. The cost‐effectiveness of hysterectomy has been surprisingly poorly studied. Conclusions are difficult to draw due to different study designs, indications, follow‐up times, andHRQoL instruments used. Rates of hysterectomy have declined less than expected with the introduction of new treatment modalities. Costs of surgery are high. Laparoscopic hysterectomy seems to be the least cost‐effective, although further data from original patient cohorts with long‐term follow‐up are needed.
Neurophysiological measures of nociceptive brain activity in the newborn infant – the next steps
Authors: Hartley Caroline , Slater Rebeccah 
Published: November 2013

AbstractInfants within neonatal intensive care units can receive multiple medically essential painful procedures per day. How they respond to these events, how best to alleviate the negative effects, and the long‐term consequences for the infant are all significant questions that have yet to be fully answered. In recent years, several studies have examined cortical responses to noxious stimuli in the neonate through the use of near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG). These investigations dispel any notion that the newborn infant does not process noxious stimuli at a cortical level and open the way for future research. In this Viewpoint Article, we review these studies and discuss key clinical challenges which may be elucidated with the use of these techniques.ConclusionSimultaneously measuring the changes that are evoked in behaviour, physiology and the cortex following noxious events will provide the best approach to understanding the neonate's experience of pain.
Linear Score Tests for Variance Components in Linear Mixed Models and Applications to Genetic Association Studies
Authors: Qu Long , Guennel Tobias , Marshall Scott L. 
Published: November 2013

SummaryFollowing the rapid development of genome-scale genotyping technologies, genetic association mapping has become a popular tool to detect genomic regions responsible for certain (disease) phenotypes, especially in early-phase pharmacogenomic studies with limited sample size. In response to such applications, a good association test needs to be (1) applicable to a wide range of possible genetic models, including, but not limited to, the presence of gene-by-environment or gene-by-gene interactions and non-linearity of a group of marker effects, (2) accurate in small samples, fast to compute on the genomic scale, and amenable to large scale multiple testing corrections, and (3) reasonably powerful to locate causal genomic regions. The kernel machine method represented in linear mixed models provides a viable solution by transforming the problem into testing the nullity of variance components. In this study, we consider score-based tests by choosing a statistic linear in the score function. When the model under the null hypothesis has only one error variance parameter, our test is exact in finite samples. When the null model has more than one variance parameter, we develop a new moment-based approximation that performs well in simulations. Through simulations and analysis of real data, we demonstrate that the new test possesses most of the aforementioned characteristics, especially when compared to existing quadratic score tests or restricted likelihood ratio tests.
Calibrating Sensitivity Analyses to Observed Covariates in Observational Studies
Authors: Hsu Jesse Y. , Small Dylan S. 
Published: November 2013

Summary
In medical sciences, statistical analyses based on observational studies are common phenomena. One peril of drawing inferences about the effect of a treatment on subjects using observational studies is the lack of randomized assignment of subjects to the treatment. After adjusting for measured pretreatment covariates, perhaps by matching, a sensitivity analysis examines the impact of an unobserved covariate, u, in an observational study. One type of sensitivity analysis uses two sensitivity parameters to measure the degree of departure of an observational study from randomized assignment. One sensitivity parameter relates u to treatment and the other relates u to response. For subject matter experts, it may be difficult to specify plausible ranges of values for the sensitivity parameters on their absolute scales. We propose an approach that calibrates the values of the sensitivity parameters to the observed covariates and is more interpretable to subject matter experts. We will illustrate our method using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey regarding the relationship between cigarette smoking and blood lead levels.
Renminbi Internationalization: A Journey to Where?
Authors: Bowles Paul , Wang Baotai 
Published: November 2013

ABSTRACTThe renminbi is currently undergoing a process of internationalization which has raised fundamental questions about the evolution of the international monetary system and the dominance of the US dollar. In this article, we assess how far the renminbi has travelled down the internationalization road and analyse the possibilities for it challenging the role of the US dollar in the future. We utilize Cohen's () taxonomy to document the current dimensions of renminbi internationalization. Looking forward, we briefly summarize three common approaches to analysing currency internationalization, and propose a new approach. We argue that renminbi internationalization should be seen as a response to crises, first the Asian financial crisis and then the global financial crisis. As such, we argue that current internationalization has been driven by short‐term problem solving rather than a coherent long‐term strategy. The current path of RMB internationalization is best described as one of ‘currency normalization’ rather than ‘currency dominance’.
‘China Anxiety’: Discourse and Intellectual Challenges
Authors: Zhang Yongjin 
Published: November 2013

ABSTRACTThis article discusses what the author refers to as ‘China anxiety’, manifest in the current Anglo‐American discourse on the rise of China. It is argued that beneath the hype and hyperbole, anxieties can be detected that are no longer only about the prospect, but increasingly about the purpose, of China's rise to power. The author suggests that there is a particular and deeper ‘cauldron of anxiety’ which causes, and is caused by, a certain intellectual disorientation among those participating in the discourse. The rise of China remains a puzzle, as it presents a number of paradoxes, contradictions and ironies. The article examines two specific propositions and debates, on the return of authoritarian powers and on the future of the liberal global order. The author argues that a rising China raises a number of important questions about the way in which the transformation of China has been represented in the dominant Anglo‐American discourse and the knowledge of China that such representations construct. The article concludes with the insight that China's pathway to power poses fundamental challenges to some intellectual premises and political wisdoms widely accepted in the West.