bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and obesity are not significant risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in an HBV‐ and HCV‐endemic area of Southern Taiwan
Authors: Chen Chao‐Tung , Chen Jing‐Yi , Wang Jing‐Houng , Chang Kuo‐Chin , Tseng Po‐Lin , Kee Kwong‐Ming , Chen Pao‐Fei , Tsai Lin‐San , Chen Shu‐Chuan , Lin Sheng‐Che , Lu Sheng‐Nan 
Published: February 2013

AbstractA prominent factor in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Diabetes mellitus (DM), metabolic syndrome (MetS), and obesity have also been implicated in HCC development, but these associations are not observed in all HBV‐ and HCV‐endemic areas. We attempted to clarify the role of these factors in HCC development in an HBV‐ and HCV‐endemic area in southern Taiwan. A community‐based health examination was conducted in 2004 in Tainan County. After individuals with incomplete data and those with known HCC were excluded, there were 56,231 participants who were over 40 years of age. A further 262 HCC cases were identified from the National Cancer Registration Database records from 2005 to 2007. The hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity, anti‐HCV seropositivity, platelet count, serum biochemical data, blood pressure, sociodemographic information, and anthropometric measurements were analyzed. Survival analyses were used to identify the associations between these factors and HCC. For the 262 HCC cases, male gender and age greater than 65 years were risk factors. Furthermore, a high alanine aminotransferase level, chronic HBV and/or HCV infection, and liver cirrhosis were also risk factors for HCC. However, DM, MetS and obesity were not associated with HCC development in the non‐HBV‐/non‐HCV‐infected, HBV, HCV, or dual B/C groups. In this HBV‐ and HCV‐ endemic area, DM, MetS and obesity were not risk factors for developing HCC.
Outcomes After Ultrasound‐Guided Platelet‐Rich Plasma Injections for Chronic Tendinopathy: A Multicenter, Retrospective Review
Authors: Mautner Kenneth , Colberg Ricardo E. , Malanga Gerard , Borg‐Stein Joanne P. , Harmon Kimberly G. , Dharamsi Aisha S. , Chu Samuel , Homer Paul 
Published: February 2013

ObjectiveTo determine whether ultrasound‐guided platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) injections are an effective treatment for chronic tendinopathies.DesignA retrospective, cross‐sectional survey.SettingFour academic sports medicine centers from across the United States.PatientsA total of 180 men and women between the ages of 18 and 75 years who received ultrasound‐guided PRP injections for tendinopathy refractory to conventional treatments.InterventionsSurvey on satisfaction and functional outcome.Main Outcome MeasurementsPerceived improvement in symptoms at least 6 months after treatment, perceived change in visual analog scale score, assessment of functional pain, and overall satisfaction.ResultsOn average, patients were 48 years old, had symptoms for a median of 18 months before treatment, and answered the survey on average 15 months after treatment. Overall, 82% of patients indicated moderate to complete improvement in symptoms. The most common injection sites were the lateral epicondyle, Achilles, and patellar tendons. Other sites treated included the rotator cuff, hamstring, gluteus medius, and medial epicondyle, among others. Furthermore, 60% of patients received only 1 injection, 30% received 2 injections, and 10% received 3 or more injections. Patients' perceived decrease in visual analog scale score was 75%, from 7.0 ± 1.8 to 1.8 ± 2.0 (−5.2, SD 2.7, 95% confidence interval −5.65 to −4.86, P < .0001). In addition, at follow‐up, 95% of patients reported having no pain at rest that disrupted their activities of daily living and 68% reported no pain during activities. A total of 85% of patients were satisfied with the procedure.ConclusionsIn this retrospective study, in which we evaluated administration of PRP for chronic tendinopathy, we found that the majority of patients reported a moderate (>50%) improvement in pain symptoms.
Quality of Life and Functionality of Patients With Heel Reconstruction After Landmine Explosions
Authors: Tekin Levent , Zor Fatih , Akarsu Selim , Tuncer Salim Kemal , Öztürk Sinan , Öztürk Serdar 
Published: February 2013

BackgroundLandmine injuries cause extensive soft and bony tissue loss of the weight‐bearing areas, particularly the heel. Reconstruction of these injuries is challenging, and there are no studies that report long‐term functional results.ObjectiveTo determine the quality of life and long‐term functionality of patients who had heel reconstruction with free muscle flap after landmine injuries.DesignA case‐control study.ParticipantsNine male patients who had heel reconstruction with free muscle flap. Ten male volunteers without any gait disorder were included in the study as the control group.Methods and InterventionsFunctional ambulation scale, visual analog scale, energy expenditure index, 6‐minute walking test, 10‐m walking test, and Short Form 36 were performed to determine the quality of life and functionality of the participants.ResultsThere were no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups in terms of functional ambulation scale, energy expenditure index, 6‐minute walking test, and 10‐m walking test. Regarding Short Form 36 scores, all subgroup values were lower in the reconstruction group, whereas only those of general health, vitality, and physical‐emotional role limitation subgroups showed statistical significance. Mean visual analog scale scores were found to be statistically different between the groups (P < .05). Mean Freiburg Ankle scores showed moderate functionality.ConclusionDespite the associated physical and emotional trauma, combat‐injured veterans with heel reconstruction after landmine injuries had adequate and functional ambulation at long‐term follow‐up. Early rehabilitation and close cooperation between surgeons and rehabilitation physicians during the care of these patients will enhance patient outcomes.
Can habit formation under complete market integration explain the cross‐section of international equity risk premia?
Authors: Auer Benjamin R. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractIn this article, we analyse whether the prominent habit formation model ofCampbell and Cochrane (1999)can explain the cross‐section of the G7 equity risk premia when formulated under the assumption of complete capital market integration. We test the conditional covariance representation of the model using a combined GARCH and GMM approach in the spirit ofBali (2008)and find that in comparison to the CAPM and the standard power utility CCAPM the habit model has superior explanatory power. It explains more than 90% of the cross‐sectional variation in risk premia. Overall, our findings suggest that global consumption‐based recession indicators and not returns of reference portfolios are key risk factors driving equity risk premia.
Applicability of Nigeria's Arbitration and Conciliation Act: Which Field Does the Act Cover?
Authors: Ikeyi Nduka , Amucheazi Ofornze 
Published: February 2013

AbstractIn 1988, Nigeria's Federal Military Government promulgated the Arbitration and Conciliation Decree (now the Arbitration and Conciliation Act) to provide a unified legal framework for commercial arbitration throughout Nigeria. At the time of the decree's promulgation, the Federal Military Government had unlimited competence to legislate over any matter in, and for all parts of, Nigeria. However, under Nigeria's current constitutional democracy and federal structure of government, legislative powers are shared between the Federal Government and the respective state governments. This article investigates the constitutionality of the continued application of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act as federal legislation with application in all states of the federation.
The Strong and Weak Senses of Theory-Ladenness of Experimentation: Theory-Driven versus Exploratory Experiments in the History of High-Energy Particle Physics
Authors: Karaca Koray 
Published: February 2013

ArgumentIn the theory-dominated view of scientific experimentation, all relations of theory and experiment are taken on a par; namely, that experiments are performed solely to ascertain the conclusions of scientific theories. As a result, different aspects of experimentation and of the relations of theory to experiment remain undifferentiated. This in turn fosters a notion of theory-ladenness of experimentation (TLE) that is toocoarse-grainedto accurately describe the relations of theory and experiment in scientific practice. By contrast, in this article, I suggest that TLE should be understood as anumbrella conceptthat has different senses. To this end, I introduce a three-fold distinction among the theories of high-energy particle physics (HEP) as background theories, model theories, and phenomenological models. Drawing on this categorization, I contrast two types of experimentation, namely, “theory-driven” and “exploratory” experiments, and I distinguish between the “weak” and “strong” senses of TLE in the context of scattering experiments from the history of HEP. This distinction enables identifying the exploratory character of the deep-inelastic electron-proton scattering experiments – performed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) between the years 1967 and 1973 – thereby shedding light on a crucial phase of the history of HEP, namely, the discovery of “scaling,” which was the decisive step towards the construction of quantum chromo-dynamics as a gauge theory of strong interactions.
Arbitration in America: The Early History
Authors: Oldham James , Kim Su Jin 
Published: February 2013

On June 29, 1789, Zephaniah Turner of Charles County, Maryland, wrote to President George Washington and observed:Our Laws are too Numerous. Is it not possible that an alteration might take place for the benefit of the public?…Could it not be possible to curtail the Number of Lawyers in the different States? Suppose each State was to have but Two Lawyers to be paid liberally…[and] where a real dispute subsisted between Plaintiff and Defendant a reference [to arbitration] should be proposed, and arbitrators [be] indifferently chosen by both parties…whose determination shall be final.
The impact of viral tropism and housing conditions on the transmission of three H5/H7 low pathogenic avian influenza viruses in chickens
Authors: CLAES G. , WELBY S. , VAN DEN BERG T. , VAN DER STEDE Y. , DEWULF J. , LAMBRECHT B. , MARCHÉ S. 
Published: February 2013

SUMMARYIn this study, shedding and transmission of three H5/H7 low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs) in poultry was characterized and the impact of floor system on transmission was assessed. Transmission experiments were simultaneously conducted with two groups of animals housed on either a grid or a floor covered with litter. Transmission was observed for H5N2 A/Ch/Belgium/150VB/99 LPAIV. This virus was shed almost exclusively via the oropharynx and no impact of floor system was seen. Transmission was also seen for H7N1 A/Ch/Italy/1067/v99 LPAIV, which was shed via both the oropharynx and cloaca. A slight increase in transmission was seen for animals housed on litter. H5N3 A/Anas Platyrhynchos/Belgium/09-884/2008 LPAIV did not spread to susceptible animals, regardless of the floor system. This study shows that environmental factors such as floor systems used in poultry barns may act upon the transmission of LPAIVs. However, the level of influence depends on the virus under consideration and, more specifically, its principal replication sites.
Using complementary methods to test whether marriage limits men's antisocial behavior
Authors: Jaffee Sara R. , Lombardi Caitlin McPherran , Coley Rebekah Levine 
Published: February 2013

AbstractMarried men engage in significantly less antisocial behavior than unmarried men, but it is not clear whether this reflects a causal relationship. Instead, the relationship could reflect selection into marriage whereby the men who are most likely to marry (men in steady employment with high levels of education) are the least likely to engage in antisocial behavior. The relationship could also be the result of reverse causation, whereby high levels of antisocial behavior are a deterrent to marriage rather than the reverse. Both of these alternative processes are consistent with the possibility that some men have a genetically based proclivity to become married, known as an active genotype–environment correlation. Using four complementary methods, we tested the hypothesis that marriage limits men's antisocial behavior. These approaches have different strengths and weaknesses and collectively help to rule out alternative explanations, including active genotype–environment correlations, for a causal association between marriage and men's antisocial behavior. Data were drawn from the in-home interview sample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a large, longitudinal survey study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in the United States. Lagged negative binomial and logistic regression and propensity score matching models (n = 2,250), fixed-effects models of within-individual change (n = 3,061), and random-effects models of sibling differences (n = 618) all showed that married men engaged in significantly less antisocial behavior than unmarried men. Our findings replicate results from other quasiexperimental studies of marriage and men's antisocial behavior and extend the results to a nationally representative sample of young adults in the United States.
Handedness and corpus callosal morphology in Williams syndrome
Authors: Martens Marilee A. , Wilson Sarah J. , Chen Jian , Wood Amanda G. , Reutens David C. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractWilliams syndrome is a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder caused by a hemizygous deletion on chromosome 7q11.23, resulting in atypical brain structure and function, including abnormal morphology of the corpus callosum. An influence of handedness on the size of the corpus callosum has been observed in studies of typical individuals, but handedness has not been taken into account in studies of callosal morphology in Williams syndrome. We hypothesized that callosal area is smaller and the size of the splenium and isthmus is reduced in individuals with Williams syndrome compared to healthy controls, and examined age, sex, and handedness effects on corpus callosal area. Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained on 25 individuals with Williams syndrome (18 right-handed, 7 left-handed) and 25 matched controls. We found that callosal thickness was significantly reduced in the splenium of Williams syndrome individuals compared to controls. We also found novel evidence that the callosal area was smaller in left-handed participants with Williams syndrome than their right-handed counterparts, with opposite findings observed in the control group. This novel finding may be associated with LIM-kinase hemizygosity, a characteristic of Williams syndrome. The findings may have significant clinical implications in future explorations of the Williams syndrome cognitive phenotype.
Individual growth history of larval Atlantic mackerel is reflected in daily condition indices
Authors: Robert Dominique , Pepin Pierre , Dower John F. , Fortier Louis 
Published: February 2013

Abstract
We tested the hypothesis that faster-growing Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) larvae generally achieve better feeding success than their slower-growing counterparts. Feeding success and growth were derived from the analysis of gut content and otolith microstructure of larvae from four cohorts (1997–2000) from the southern Gulf of St Lawrence. We observed a high degree of serial correlation in otolith growth (OG) from hatching, suggesting that events occurring early in life have long-standing effects on future growth potential. The diet of fast-growing individuals was dominated by large prey, such as cladocerans and fish larvae (including conspecifics), while slow-growing larvae foraged primarily on smaller copepod naupliar stages. Both feeding success (stomach content) and an index of condition (body depth) were positively correlated with OG, and these relationships explained approximately three times more variance in mackerel than in larval radiated shanny (Ulvaria subbifurcata) of similar size. Relationships linking age-dependent scores of body depth to feeding success and growth were ∼3.5–4 times stronger than those based on length-dependent indices, suggesting that differences in energy allocation during early ontogeny may play a significant role in determining an individual's capacity to cope with variations in feeding conditions.
Prevalent Role of Gene Features in Determining Evolutionary Fates of Whole-Genome Duplication Duplicated Genes in Flowering Plants
Authors: Jiang Wen-kai , Liu Yun-long , Xia En-hua , Gao Li-zhi 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThe evolution of genes and genomes after polyploidization has been the subject of extensive studies in evolutionary biology and plant sciences. While a significant number of duplicated genes are rapidly removed during a process called fractionation, which operates after the whole-genome duplication (WGD), another considerable number of genes are retained preferentially, leading to the phenomenon of biased gene retention. However, the evolutionary mechanisms underlying gene retention after WGD remain largely unknown. Through genome-wide analyses of sequence and functional data, we comprehensively investigated the relationships between gene features and the retention probability of duplicated genes after WGDs in six plant genomes, Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), poplar (Populus trichocarpa), soybean (Glycine max), rice (Oryza sativa), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and maize (Zea mays). The results showed that multiple gene features were correlated with the probability of gene retention. Using a logistic regression model based on principal component analysis, we resolved evolutionary rate, structural complexity, and GC3 content as the three major contributors to gene retention. Cluster analysis of these features further classified retained genes into three distinct groups in terms of gene features and evolutionary behaviors. Type I genes are more prone to be selected by dosage balance; type II genes are possibly subject to subfunctionalization; and type III genes may serve as potential targets for neofunctionalization. This study highlights that gene features are able to act jointly as primary forces when determining the retention and evolution of WGD-derived duplicated genes in flowering plants. These findings thus may help to provide a resolution to the debate on different evolutionary models of gene fates after WGDs.
Distribution of Transglutaminase in Pear Pollen Tubes in Relation to Cytoskeleton and Membrane Dynamics
Authors: Del Duca Stefano , Faleri Claudia , Iorio Rosa Anna , Cresti Mauro , Serafini-Fracassini Donatella , Cai Giampiero 
Published: February 2013

AbstractTransglutaminases (TGases) are ubiquitous enzymes that take part in a variety of cellular functions. In the pollen tube, cytoplasmic TGases are likely to be involved in the incorporation of primary amines at selected peptide-bound glutamine residues of cytosolic proteins (including actin and tubulin), while cell wall-associated TGases are believed to regulate pollen tube growth. Using immunological probes, we identified TGases associated with different subcellular compartments (cytosol, membranes, and cell walls). Binding of cytosolic TGase to actin filaments was shown to be Ca2+ dependent. The membrane TGase is likely associated with both Golgi-derived structures and the plasma membrane, suggesting a Golgi-based exocytotic delivery of TGase. Association of TGase with the plasma membrane was also confirmed by immunogold transmission electron microscopy. Immunolocalization of TGase indicated that the enzyme was present in the growing region of pollen tubes and that the enzyme colocalizes with cell wall markers. Bidimensional electrophoresis indicated that different TGase isoforms were present in distinct subcellular compartments, suggesting either different roles or different regulatory mechanisms of enzyme activity. The application of specific inhibitors showed that the distribution of TGase in different subcellular compartments was regulated by both membrane dynamics and cytoskeleton integrity, suggesting that delivery of TGase to the cell wall requires the transport of membranes along cytoskeleton filaments. Taken together, these data indicate that a cytoplasmic TGase interacts with the cytoskeleton, while a different TGase isoform, probably delivered via a membrane/cytoskeleton-based transport system, is secreted in the cell wall of pear (Pyrus communis) pollen tubes, where it might play a role in the regulation of apical growth.
Firm capabilities as moderators of transaction cost factors and subsidiary domestic outsourcing
Authors: Tseng Cher‐Hung , Chen Liang‐Tu 
Published: February 2013

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the influence of transaction cost (TC) factors and the moderating influence of firm capability factors on the extent of domestic outsourcing of a multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiary.Design/methodology/approachA new research framework is developed comprising four constructs and six research hypotheses, coupled with international experience (IE) and subsidiary scale (SS) as moderating constructs. Applying the regression model, the hypotheses were tested on data from MNC subsidiaries engaged in manufacturing in Taiwan, based on the TC theory, resource‐based view, and outsourcing literature.FindingsThe TC factors, including environmental dynamism and subsidiary technology level, are negatively related with degree of domestic outsourcing. Moreover, the MNC IE and SS can reduce the TCs, thus increasing the degree of domestic outsourcing by MNC subsidiaries at the high environmental dynamism and subsidiary technology levels.Research limitations/implicationsThe study data were obtained from MNC subsidiaries operating in Taiwan, and the single country research design is a limitation of this study.Practical implicationsThis study provides useful insights into how MNCs and subsidiaries should concentrate on the factors that increase the TCs of domestic outsourcing. Moreover, MNCs and subsidiaries must endeavor to cultivate and apply capabilities to mitigate TCs and fully realize the benefits of domestic outsourcing.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that TC factors can also be applied to examine the outsourcing strategies of firms operating in less advanced countries. Additionally, the capability factors of MNCs and subsidiaries can reduce TCs, thus increasing domestic outsourcing by subsidiaries.