bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Awareness of and knowledge about mother‐to‐child infections in Japanese pregnant women
Authors: Morioka Ichiro , Sonoyama Ayako , Tairaku Shinya , Ebina Yasuhiko , Nagamata Satoshi , Morizane Mayumi , Tanimura Kenji , Iijima Kazumoto , Yamada Hideto 
Published: September 2013

AbstractTo reduce the incidence of infants with congenital infections, women should be aware of and know prevention measures against maternal infection with mother‐to‐child infections during pregnancy. Our objective was to assess the awareness of and knowledge about mother‐to‐child infections in Japanese pregnant women. A survey of 343 Japanese pregnant women was completed. Awareness of 13 pathogens capable of mother‐to‐child transmission was surveyed. Knowledge about the transmission route, the most susceptible time of infection that may cause severe fetal disease during pregnancy, and methods to prevent maternal infection were investigated for four major pathogens (cytomegalovirus, rubella virus, Toxoplasma gondii, and parvovirus B19) and results were compared between these pathogens. The proportion of women aware of pathogens concerning TORCH syndrome was the following: rubella virus 76%, Treponema pallidum 69%, Toxoplasma gondii 58%, parvovirus B19 28%, herpes simplex virus 27%, and cytomegalovirus 18%. Only 8% knew how cytomegalovirus is transmitted, and only 12% knew how parvovirus B19 is transmitted; both were significantly lower than those who knew transmission routes for rubella virus or Toxoplasma gondii. The proportion of women who knew the most susceptible time for severe fetal infection by maternal acquisition of cytomegalovirus, Toxoplasma gondii, or parvovirus B19 was significantly lower than that for rubella virus. The vast majority of surveyed women were not aware of methods to prevent maternal infection with cytomegalovirus or parvovirus B19. In conclusion, current awareness of and knowledge about cytomegalovirus and parvovirus B19 infection are low in Japanese pregnant women.
Endothelial cells are highly heterogeneous at the level of cytokine‐induced insulin resistance
Authors: Woth Kathrin , Prein Claudia , Steinhorst Katja , Diehl Sandra , Boehncke Wolf‐Henning , Buerger Claudia 
Published: September 2013

AbstractThe endothelial wall plays a crucial role in various diseases as it serves as the barrier between circulatory system and organ tissue. Inflammation‐driven insulin resistance and subsequent endothelial dysfunction represent a pathomechanism in cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. It was recently suggested that insulin resistance also contributes to the pathogenesis of psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin. However, it is not clear whether similar mechanisms at the endothelium contribute to the disease. In this study, we ask which endothelial cells are most suitable to address this question. We investigated the insulin response of four cell types (primary cells and cell lines) representing different vascular beds (micro‐ and macrovascular cells) in the presence of different pro‐inflammatory cytokines. All four cell types used responded well to insulin; however, the ability to become resistant to insulin due to an inflammatory stimulus by cytokines involved in psoriasis (e.g. IL‐1β, IL‐12, IL‐17, IL‐23 and TNF‐α) was very heterogeneous and could not be attributed to the differential expression of the cognate cytokine receptors. We conclude that this disparity is due to the different origins and properties of the endothelial cells used. Thus, endothelial cells should be carefully selected for the purpose of the respective study, particularly when it comes to analysing the pathogenesis of a disease and the search of new molecular targets for innovative therapies.
Lecithin retinol acyltransferase as a potential prognostic marker for malignant melanoma
Authors: Hassel Jessica C. , Amann Philipp M. , Schadendorf Dirk , Eichmüller Stefan B. , Nagler Markus , Bazhin Alexandr V. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractMetabolism inside cells differs between cancer and normal cells. Because disturbance of vitamin A metabolism might be important, we investigated expression of the enzymes lecithin retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) and RPE65 by immunohistochemistry in melanoma metastases and melanocytic nevi. Semiquantitative evaluation of this expression revealed downregulated expression of RPE65 in malignant melanoma compared with benign melanocytic nevi (P < 0.001). In contrast, expression of LRAT was not significantly different (P = 0.339). High LRAT expression in melanoma metastases was inversely correlated with patient survival; Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed earlier melanoma‐related death (P = 0.003). Expression of LRAT might, therefore, be a prognostic marker of the clinical course of melanoma.
Transnational lifestyles among Russian Israelis: a follow‐up study
Authors: REMENNICK LARISSA 
Published: September 2013

AbstractDespite the expanding use of the transnational perspective, grounded qualitative research on everyday expressions of transnationalism has been scant. In this article, I explore the economic and social ties with former homelands among three categories of former Soviet immigrants of the 1990s in Israel, namely ethnically mixed families split by emigration; young professionals and entrepreneurs; and retirees who keep two homes – one in Israel and the other in Russia or Ukraine. To follow temporal changes in transnational lifestyles, I interviewed the same informants twice, in 2000 and 2010. The findings suggest that transnational activities reflect life‐course changes and can evolve in several possible directions. These are (1) an attrition of ties with former homelands with increasing integration in the host country; (2) a steady or ascending pace of transnational activities eventually leading to return migration; and (3) permanent low‐grade ties with former homelands and networking with co‐ethnics in other countries of the post‐Soviet diaspora. I conclude that relatively few migrants can sustain intense transnational lifestyle over many years; there are several critical life‐course points when most transnational migrants have to decide where their home is.
Situating transnational families' care‐giving arrangements: the role of institutional contexts
Authors: KILKEY MAJELLA , MERLA LAURA 
Published: September 2013

AbstractScholars sometimes conceptualize migrants and their kin as ‘transnational families' in acknowledgement that migration does not end with settlement and that migrants maintain regular contacts and exchange care across borders. Recent studies reveal that state policies and international regulations influence the maintenance of transnational family solidarity. We aim to contribute to our understanding of how families' care‐giving arrangements are situated within institutional contexts. We specify an analytical framework comprising a typology of care‐giving arrangements within transnational families, a typology of resources they require for care giving, and a specification of institutions through which those resources are in part derived. We illustrate the framework through a comparative analysis of two groups of migrants – Salvadorans in Belgium and Poles in the UK. We conclude by arguing that while institutions matter they are not the sole factor, and identify how future research might develop a more fully comprehensive situated transnationalism.
How manufacturing industries connect cities across the world: extending research on ‘multiple globalizations’
Authors: KRÄTKE STEFAN 
Published: September 2013

AbstractIn this article, I concentrate on a macro‐level analysis of inter‐urban linkages in a ‘world city network’. Empirical research on the formation of a world city network has mostly concentrated on global service providers. Yet, globally operating manufacturing firms also choose distinct urban regions throughout the world as locational anchoring points. In this article, using social network analysis, I present the first global‐scale analysis of how manufacturing firms connected cities across the world (in 2010). To detect the differing ‘sectoral profiles’ and nodal centralities of cities functioning as geographical hubs of transnational production networks, it is necessary to analyse the network structure of distinct industrial subsectors within the global urban system. The data collected for analysis cover 120 top global firms from three manufacturing subsectors, of which two are analysed in more detail than the third. I then compare the nodal centralities of cities included in these subsectors' global networks with the GaWC research on the producer services sector that has been at the centre of previous analyses of the world city network. The comparison reveals the cities' differing positioning within ‘multiple globalizations’. The aim of the article is to extend research on world city networks.
Evidence of a transnational capitalist class‐for‐itself: the determinants of PAC activity among foreign firms in the Global Fortune 500, 2000–2006
Authors: MURRAY JOSHUA 
Published: September 2013

AbstractTransnational capitalist class (TCC) theory is rooted in the claim that the globalization of the economy has led to a globalization of economic interests and of class formation. However, systematic evidence linking the indicators of transnational class formation with political behaviour is largely missing. In this article, I combine data on board of director interlocks among the 500 largest business firms in the world between 2000 and 2006 with data on the political donations to US elections of foreign corporations via the corporate political action committees (PACs) of their subsidiaries, divisions or affiliates. Controlling for the various interests of individual firms, I find that foreign firms that are highly central in the transnational intercorporate network contribute more money to US elections than do the less central foreign firms. Given prior research on board of director interlocks, this finding suggests that a segment of the transnational business community has emerged as a class‐for‐itself.
General Classes of Multiple Binary Regression Models in Dose Finding Problems for Combination Therapies
Authors: Gasparini Mauro 
Published: September 2013

Summary
The dose finding problem for single compounds has been generalized to combination therapies and several binary regression models have been proposed in the literature. We propose general tools to evaluate them, in particular dose-free parameterizations of the risks of toxicity and risk ratio functions and plots. New classes of risk functions are also proposed. They generate low dimensional parametric risk functions which are made available to the researcher and commented on for their clinical relevance.
Determining High-Risk Zones for Unexploded World War II Bombs by Using Point Process Methodology
Authors: Mahling Monia , Höhle Michael , Küchenhoff Helmut 
Published: September 2013

SummaryTo prevent accidents caused by unexploded bombs from the Second World War, high-risk zones need to be determined. We introduce two statistical methods to determine such zones by considering patterns of exploded and unexploded bombs as realizations of inhomogeneous spatial Poisson point processes. The first method is based on the intensity of the point process; the second method on its nearest neighbour distance. Although the performance of the two methods is similar, the intensity-based method has the advantage of a more direct specification of risk and should hence be preferred. Risk that is associated with a zone is defined as the probability that not all unexploded bombs are in the zone. We propose and develop a procedure to calculate this probability. This procedure is then also used to investigate consequences of additional spatial clustering, in which case the intensity-based method is shown to be conservative. Our work is motivated and illustrated by World War II explosive ordnance disposal by German authorities on the basis of aerial pictures taken by the allies.
A Spatial Time-to-Event Approach for Estimating Associations Between Air Pollution and Preterm Birth
Authors: Chang Howard H. , Reich Brian J. , Miranda Marie Lynn 
Published: September 2013

SummaryThe paper describes a Bayesian spatial discrete time survival model to estimate the effect of air pollution on the risk of preterm birth. The standard approach treats prematurity as a binary outcome and cannot effectively examine time varying exposures during pregnancy. Time varying exposures can arise either in short-term lagged exposures due to seasonality in air pollution or long-term cumulative exposures due to changes in length of exposure. Our model addresses this challenge by viewing gestational age as time-to-event data where each pregnancy becomes at risk at a prespecified time (e.g. the 28th week). The pregnancy is then followed until either a birth occurs before the 37th week (preterm), or it reaches the 37th week, and a full-term birth is expected. The model also includes a flexible spatially varying baseline hazard function to control for unmeasured spatial confounders and to borrow information across areal units. The approach proposed is applied to geocoded birth records in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, for the period 2001–2005. We examine the risk of preterm birth that is associated with total cumulative and 4-week lagged exposure to ambient fine particulate matter.
Multivariate Forecasting of Road Traffic Flows in the Presence of Heteroscedasticity and Measurement Errors
Authors: Anacleto Osvaldo , Queen Catriona , Albers Casper J. 
Published: September 2013

Summary
Linear multiregression dynamic models, which combine a graphical representation of a multivariate time series with a state space model, have been shown to be a promising class of models for forecasting traffic flow data. Analysis of flows at a busy motorway intersection near Manchester, UK, highlights two important modelling issues: accommodating different levels of traffic variability depending on the time of day and accommodating measurement errors due to data collection errors. This paper extends linear multiregression dynamic models to address these issues. Additionally, the paper investigates how close the approximate forecast limits that are usually used with the linear multiregression dynamic model are to the true, but not so readily available, forecast limits.
Oridonin ameliorates neuropathological changes and behavioural deficits in a mouse model of cerebral amyloidosis
Authors: Zhang Zhi‐Yuan , Daniels Rolf , Schluesener Hermann J. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractAlzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of neurodegeneration and the major cause of dementia. This multifactorial disorder is clinically defined by progressive behavioural and cognitive deficits, and neuropathologically characterized by β‐amyloid aggregation, hyperphosphorylated tau and neuroinflammation. Oridonin, a diterpenoid isolated from Chinese herb Rabdosia rubescens, has multiple biological properties, especially anti‐inflammatory and neuroregulatory activities. Potential therapeutic effects of Oridonin were investigated in an animal model of cerebral amyloidosis for AD, transgenic APP/PS1 mice. Oridonin was suspended in carboxymethylcellulose or loaded with a nanostructured emulsion, and was orally administrated or injected. Before, during and following the experimental treatments, behavioural tests were performed with these transgenic mice and their naive littermates. Following relatively short‐term treatments of 10 days, brain tissue of mice were removed for immunohistochemical assays. The results indicate that both oral treatment and injection of Oridonin significantly attenuated β‐amyloid deposition, plaque‐associated APP expression and microglial activation in brain of transgenic mice. Furthermore, injection of Oridonin‐nanoemulsion ameliorated deficits in nesting, an important affiliative behaviour, and in social interaction. Additional in vitro studies indicated that Oridonin effectively attenuated inflammatory reaction of macrophage and microglial cell lines. Our results suggest that Oridonin might be considered a promising therapeutic option for human AD or other neurodegenerative diseases.
Commentary: Missing heritability, polygenic scores, and gene–environment correlation
Authors: Plomin Robert 
Published: September 2013

This special issue amply fulfils its aim of moving the study of gene × environment (GE) interplay forward constructively and creatively, exploiting contributions from diverse disciplines. Rather than discussing the many interesting findings and methods in this special issue, I will comment on two cross‐cutting issues – one about genes and the other about the environment – that came to mind as I read these articles.
Commentary: Gene by environment interplay and psychopathology – in search of a paradigm
Authors: Nigg Joel T. 
Published: September 2013

The articles in this Special Issue (SI) extend research on G×E in multiple ways, showing the growing importance of specifying kinds of G×E models (e.g., bioecological, susceptibility, stress‐diathesis), incorporation of sophisticated ways of measuring types of G×E correlations (rGE), checking effects of statistical artifact, exemplifying an impressive range of quantitative and biological methodologies, and pointing to clearly needed next‐step studies such as summarizing across many genes in gene sets (Bentley et al.) or in genome‐wide pathway based approaches to G×E (Winham & Biernacka) and prediction of clinical outcomes (Rapee et al.). As a group, they document nicely that gene × environment research has come of age. What is the import of this? Does it represent a major new development in our field, or merely an incremental change of a framework that remains fundamentally unchanged?
What do patients need to know? Living with inflammatory bowel disease
Authors: Lesnovska Katarina P , Börjeson Sussanne , Hjortswang Henrik , Frisman Gunilla H 
Published: September 2013

Aims and objectivesTo explore the need for knowledge as expressed by patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease.BackgroundInflammatory bowel disease has a major impact on physical and emotional well‐being, placing considerable demands on patients' management of daily activities. Although inflammatory bowel disease patients' level of knowledge about their disease has been previously studied, it is necessary to learn more about their self‐expressed needs.DesignThe study was designed to explore patients' need for knowledge; therefore, an inductive method was chosen.MethodsThirty patients with inflammatory bowel disease were interviewed. Content analysis was used to describe their need for knowledge.ResultsThe analysis generated three categories and eight subcategories: (1) knowledge related to the course of the disease (subcategories: understanding causal relationships between symptoms and the disease, complications related to the disease and understanding treatment), (2) knowledge related to managing everyday life (subcategories: behaviour that enhances well‐being and managing social life) and (3) difficulty understanding and assimilating information (subcategories: shifting knowledge needs, help to understand information and reasons for wanting or not wanting knowledge).ConclusionKnowledge needs were related to what to expect when living with inflammatory bowel disease in order to manage everyday life. There was a great variation in the need for knowledge, which was greatest immediately following diagnosis and during relapse.Relevance to clinical practiceIt is important for healthcare providers to ascertain the patients' individual knowledge needs and together with them formulate an individual care plan that gives the patient the necessary knowledge to manage their health and social life.
Clinical and cytogenetic results of a large series of amniocentesis cases from Turkey: Report of 6124 cases
Authors: Ocak Zeynep , Özlü Tülay , Yazıcıoğlu Hasan Fehmi , Özyurt Osman , Aygün Mehmet 
Published: September 2013

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to document the clinical and cytogenetic results of a large series of amniocentesis (AS) cases from Turkey.Material and MethodsSecond‐trimester amniocentesis cases performed in Suleymaniye Maternity Hospital for Research and Training between January 2007 and December 2011 were included.ResultsDuring this period, 6124 AS were performed. Indications were increased risk in maternal serum screening (MSS) (56%), advanced maternal age (29%) and pathologic ultrasound finding (11.5%). Most frequent MSS abnormality was abnormal triple test result (58%). Overall culture success rate was 98.8%. Chromosomal abnormality was detected in 215 (3.6%) of the 6052 cytogenetic results (74.9% numerical, 25.1% structural). Most frequent numerical chromosomal abnormality was trisomy 21 (61.9%). Clinically insignificant polymorphisms were the most frequent structural changes (n = 571). Most frequent polymorphism was increase in heterochromatin region in the 1st chromosome (n = 158). Advanced maternal age had a positive predictive value of 5.2%. Among the MSS tests, the combined test had the highest positive predictive value (5.2%).ConclusionsIn our study, abnormal MSS (and among these, abnormal triple test result) was the most frequent indication for amniocentesis. Our overall culture success rate was 98.8%. Frequency of major chromosomal abnormality was 3.2% and trisomy 21 was the most frequent abnormality.
Effect of anatomic variation in caudal tibial plateau on the tibial plateau angle in dogs: a cadaveric study
Authors: Ocal M.K. , Sabanci S.S. 
Published: September 2013

ObjectivesTo determine the effect of using two different landmarks to identify the caudal point on the joint orientation line in the sagittal plane in tibial plateau angle measurement in dogs: the caudal margin of the medial condyle as the anatomic tibial plateau angle and the tibial insertion of the caudal cruciate ligament as the conventional tibial plateau angle.MethodsA total of 170 tibiae from 85 mid‐ and large‐breed dogs were used. The two joint orientation lines were drawn on photographic images of the bones. The angles between the line perpendicular to the tibial axis and the two lines were then measured as the anatomic and conventional tibial plateau angle.ResultsThe mean conventional tibial plateau angle (25·2 ±2·60°) and anatomic tibial plateau angle (23·5 ±2·59°) differed significantly (P<0·001), and the degree of this difference varied significantly among seven breeds (P<0·01).Clinical SignificanceThe results of this study suggest that the locations of the caudal margin of the medial condyle and the tibial insertion of the caudal cruciate ligament differed, leading to inconsistent identification of the joint orientation line depending on the landmark used.