bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Include me in: user involvement in research and evaluation
Authors: Grayson Tim , Hung Tsang Yuet , Jolly Dee , Karban Kate , Lomax Phillip , Midgley Claire , O' Rouke Ian , Paley Caroline , Sinson Jill , Willcock Kim , Williams Paul 
Published: February 2013

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the experiences of a group of eight user and carer researchers from learning disability and mental health services who worked together in a research project. The research was to find out about the changes that took place as over 300 people moved from hostel accommodation into independent tenancies. These moves were part of a three year project involving a partnership between a local authority and a housing association.Design/methodology/approachThe evaluation was based on a model of user participation.FindingsUser involvement in research can mean different things with different levels of involvement, from consultation through to user‐controlled research. In this paper the authors discuss some of the challenges in doing this kind of evaluation study, as well as the opportunities that came from involving users and carers in the research. This includes how the researchers got involved and some of the activities they did.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors also describe some of the difficulties that were faced, including payments and criminal record checks. The ways in which people were trained and supported to take part and stay involved are outlined as well as how the group feel that they have learnt new skills and increased their confidence.Originality/valueThis paper adds the voices of the co‐researchers to the literature and provides “lessons learned” for other researchers in this area.
Functional responses, seasonal variation and thresholds in behavioural responses of moose to road density
Authors: Beyer Hawthorne L. , Ung Ricardo , Murray Dennis L. , Fortin Marie‐Josée 
Published: February 2013

SummaryUnderstanding the consequences of environmental change on populations is an essential prerequisite for informed management of ecosystems and landscapes. In lieu of quantifying fitness effects directly, which is often difficult, behavioural functional responses provide insight into how animals balance trade‐offs, and into thresholds in responses to environmental change.Here, we explore this principle using the response of mooseAlces alcesL. to roads and restricted‐access tracks as a case study. Because roads are associated with the conversion of conifer to mixed deciduous–conifer forest that provides better foraging opportunities, moose in Ontario favour areas of moderate road density at a landscape scale. At a finer scale, however, moose avoid roads. These opposing effects indicate a cost–benefit trade‐off. We quantified behavioural responses of moose to roads using road‐crossing rate. An expected distribution of crossing rates was derived from correlated random walk null model simulations.Moose exhibited a seasonally variable, nonlinear functional response in road‐crossing rate at the within seasonal range scale. A pronounced response to roads was observed when road density reached approximate thresholds of 0·2 and 0·4 km kmin summer and winter respectively. Road‐crossing rate was proportional to road density, though crossing rates were higher in summer than winter. Crossing rates were best explained by the interaction between mean movement rate and road density. Seasonal differences in road‐crossing rate arise from seasonal differences in movement rate and seasonal range area, but not road density within seasonal ranges. Within the protected park, moose did not appear to respond to tracks. Our analysis implies that for the majority of the landscape outside of protected areas the response of moose to roads is pronounced.Synthesis and applications. Identifying thresholds in nonlinear responses to landscape modification is a key management objective as they represent transition zones where small changes can have disproportionately large effects on wildlife populations. We establish these thresholds for moose and roads, but find no response to tracks, implying that the effects of tracks can be mitigated by restricting access to them. We discuss the implications of this work on the problem of moose–vehicle collisions.
Co‐construction of chronic illness narratives by older stroke survivors and their spouses
Authors: Radcliffe Eloise , Lowton Karen , Morgan Myfanwy 
Published: February 2013

AbstractIllness narratives have mainly focused on individual patients’ accounts, and particularly those of people experiencing the onset of chronic illness in mid‐life. However, a growing number of older people are spending their later life with their partner, with both experiencing complex morbidities. We examine the shared creation of meanings among older stroke survivors and their spouses and the implications for individual and couple identity. Joint biographical narrative interviews were held with 13 stroke survivors aged 75–85 and their spouses. The analysis examined both narrative content and narrative style. Three main types of co‐presentation of identity were identified. The ‘united couple’ described couples who pulled together and emphasised their accommodation of the stroke and normality as a couple, despite often considerable disability, and was strongly underpinned by collaborative interaction in interviews. Caring relationships were distinguished as ‘positive’, involving self‐reliant couples who took pride in how they managed and ‘frustrated’ in couples who emphasised the difficulties of caring and hardships experienced and were characterised by a conflictual style of narrative. We argue that joint interviews provide new forms of data that extend notions of how illness is lived and demonstrates how the marital relationship can mediate the experience of chronic illness and disability and its impact on identity.
The mean and variance of phylogenetic diversity under rarefaction
Authors: Nipperess David A. , Matsen Frederick A. 
Published: February 2013

Summary

Phylogenetic diversity (PD) depends on sampling depth, which complicates the comparison of PD between samples of different depth. One approach to dealing with differing sample depth for a given diversity statistic is to rarefy, which means to take a random subset of a given size of the original sample. Exact analytical formulae for the mean and variance of species richness under rarefaction have existed for some time, but no such solution exists for PD.

We have derived exact formulae for the mean and variance of PD under rarefaction. We confirm that these formulae are correct by comparing exact solution mean and variance to that calculated by repeated random (Monte Carlo) subsampling of a data set of stem counts of woody shrubs of Toohey Forest, Queensland, Australia. We also demonstrate the application of the method using two examples: identifying hot spots of mammalian diversity in Australasian ecoregions and characterizing the human vaginal microbiome.

There is a very high degree of correspondence between the analytical and random subsampling methods for calculating mean and variance of PD under rarefaction, although the Monte Carlo method requires a large number of random draws to converge on the exact solution for the variance.

Rarefaction of mammalian PD of ecoregions in Australasia to a common standard of 25 species reveals very different rank orderings of ecoregions, indicating quite different hot spots of diversity than those obtained for unrarefied PD. The application of these methods to the vaginal microbiome shows that a classical score used to quantify bacterial vaginosis is correlated with the shape of the rarefaction curve.

The analytical formulae for the mean and variance of PD under rarefaction are both exact and more efficient than repeated subsampling. Rarefaction of PD allows for many applications where comparisons of samples of different depth are required.
Well‐leg compartment syndrome after gynecological laparoscopic surgery
Authors: Boesgaard‐Kjer Diana H. , Boesgaard‐Kjer Daniel , Kjer Jens Jørgen 
Published: February 2013

AbstractWell‐leg compartment syndrome in the lower extremities after surgery in the lithotomy position is a rare but severe complication requiring early diagnosis and intervention. Several circumstances predispose to this condition as a consequence of increased intra‐compartmental pressure, such as positioning of the legs during operation (lithotomy and Lloyd‐Davies positions), a prolonged operation, external compression and vascular insults, both pre‐ and intra‐operatively. To prevent well‐leg compartment syndrome it is important to improve knowledge of the condition among surgeons and nursing staff. Potential risk factors and preventive initiatives are listed to reduce the risk in future patients. We describe two patients who underwent gynecologic laparoscopic surgery and postoperatively developed well‐leg compartment syndrome.
Assessing language and language environment of high‐risk infants and children: a new approach
Authors: Caskey Melinda , Vohr Betty 
Published: February 2013

AbstractLanguage delays are common among premature infants and children with hearing loss. There are multiple tools and reports for assessing language in young children. Assessing early language and providing intervention is key to improving outcomes.ConclusionWe conclude that utilization of a new tool, Language Environment Analysis digital language processor (LENA™), to assess the natural language environment of high‐risk infants and children in a variety of settings including the neonatal intensive care unit and home, provides the opportunity to access and identify key features of the early language environment.
Epigenetic changes in diabetes
Authors: Keating ST , El‐Osta A 
Published: February 2013

AbstractDiabetes is a multifactorial disease with numerous pathways influencing its progression and recent observations suggest that the complexity of the disease cannot be entirely accounted for by genetic predisposition. A compelling argument for an epigenetic component is rapidly emerging. Epigenetic processes at the chromatin template significantly sensitize transcriptional and phenotypic outcomes to environmental signaling information including metabolic state, nutritional requirements and history. Epigenetic mechanisms impact gene expression that could predispose individuals to the diabetic phenotype during intrauterine and early postnatal development, as well as throughout adult life. Furthermore, epigenetic changes could account for the accelerated rates of chronic and persistent microvascular and macrovascular complications associated with diabetes. Epidemiological and experimental animal studies identified poor glycemic control as a major contributor to the development of diabetic complications and highlight the requirement for early intervention. Early exposure to hyperglycemia can drive the development of complications that manifest late in the progression of the disease and persist despite improved glycemic control, indicating a memory of the metabolic insult. Understanding the molecular events that underlie these transcriptional changes will significantly contribute to novel therapeutic interventions to prevent, reverse or retard the deleterious effects of the diabetic milieu.
Play it again: neural responses to reunion with excluders predicted by attachment patterns
Authors: White Lars O. , Wu Jia , Borelli Jessica L. , Mayes Linda C. , Crowley Michael J. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractReunion behavior following stressful separations from caregivers is often considered the single most sensitive clue to infant attachment patterns. Extending these ideas to middle childhood/early adolescence, we examined participants' neural responses to reunion with peers who had previously excluded them. We recorded event‐related potentials among nineteen 11‐ to 15‐year‐old youth previously classified on attachment interviews (11 secure and 8 insecure‐dismissing) while they played a virtual ball‐toss game (Cyberball) with peers that involved fair play, exclusion and reunion phases. Compared to secure participants, dismissing participants displayed a greater increment in the N2 during reunion relative to fair play, a neural marker commonly linked to expectancy violation. These data suggest a greater tendency toward continued expectations of rejection among dismissing children, even after cessation of social exclusion. In turn, the link between self‐reported ostracism distress and neural signs of negative expectancy at reunion was moderated by attachment, such that self‐reports were discordant with the neural index of expectancy violation for dismissing, but not for secure children.A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzoRel5c-4s.
Hepatocyte growth factor and interferon‐γ inducible protein‐10 are related to visceral adiposity
Authors: Faber Daniël R. , van der Graaf Yolanda , Westerink Jan , Kanhai Danny A. , Monajemi Houshang , Visseren Frank L. J. ,   on behalf of the SMART study Group
Published: February 2013

AbstractBackgroundIncreased production of chemokines by adipose tissue and defective adipose tissue oxygenation as a result of obesity may induce leucocyte infiltration and subsequent systemic inflammation.Objectives1‐To determine the relation between the amount of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue and the chemokine interferon‐γ‐inducible protein 10 (IP‐10) and angiogenic factor hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). 2‐To determine the relation between the metabolic syndrome and IP‐10 as well as HGF.MethodsPatients originated from the Secondary Manifestations of ARTerial disease (SMART) cohort. In this study, a cohort of 1251 patients with manifest vascular disease was included. Subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue thickness (SAT and VAT respectively) were measured ultrasonographically. IP‐10 and HGF concentrations were measured with Luminex multiplex immuno assay in addition to fasting metabolic parameters. Linear regression analyses with adjustments for age, gender, smoking, estimated glomerular filtration rate, type 2 diabetes mellitus and medication use were applied to quantify the relations between adiposity or metabolic syndrome and IP‐10 and HGF concentrations.ResultsVAT was significantly associated with (log)IP‐10 and (log)HGF, reflected by significant higher β‐values in VAT quartile 4 compared with VAT quartile 1 (reference): β0.155 (95%CI:0.073–0.237) for IP‐10 and β0.147 (95%CI:0.076–0.218) for HGF. Per standard deviation increase in VAT, (log)IP‐10 levels increased with 0.057 pg/mL (95%CI:0.027–0.087) and (log)HGF increased with 0.051 pg/mL (95%CI:0.025–0.077). Effect estimates were not affected by including body mass index(BMI) in the model. In contrast, SAT was not associated with IP‐10 and HGF. Furthermore, the presence of the metabolic syndrome was associated with IP‐10 and HGF.ConclusionsVisceral adipose tissue but not subcutaneous adipose tissue is significantly associated with circulating levels of IP‐10 and HGF, irrespective of BMI.
Reduced serum progranulin level might be associated with Parkinson's disease risk
Authors: Mateo I. , González‐Aramburu I. , Pozueta A. , Vázquez‐Higuera J. L. , Rodríguez‐Rodríguez E. , Sánchez‐Juan P. , Calero M. , Dobato J. L. , Infante J. , Berciano J. , Combarros O. 
Published: February 2013

Background and purposeCommon genetic variants (rs5848 and rs646776) have been reported as regulators of blood progranulin (GRN) levels in healthy individuals.MethodsTo assess the influence of rs5848 and rs646776 polymorphisms in both serum GRN level and risk for common neurodegenerative diseases, we studied 304 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), 217 individuals with Alzheimer's disease, 131 subjects with mild cognitive impairment, and 126 controls.ResultsThe mean concentration of GRN in the serum of patients with PD (319.6 ng/ml) was significantly lower than that of controls (371.5 ng/ml; P = 0.009), whereas there were no significant differences between other groups. Rs646776 minor allele carriers had lower serum GRN levels in each of the four subgroups. There was no correlation between rs5848 genotypes and serum GRN concentrations. Genotype frequencies of both polymorphisms did not differ between groups.ConclusionReduced circulating GRN levels might be associated with PD risk by pathogenic factors different from rs5848 and rs646776 polymorphisms.
Treatment of respiratory impairment in patients with motor neuron disease in the Netherlands: patient preference and timing of referral
Authors: Raaphorst J. , Tuijp J. , Verweij L. , Westermann E. J. A. , van der Kooi A. J. , Gaytant M. A. , van den Berg L. H. , de Visser M. , Kampelmacher M. J. 
Published: February 2013

Background and purposeWe assessed the first evaluation at a large ventilation clinic in the Netherlands to: (i) determine what proportion of patients with motor neuron disease would benefit from earlier referral; and (ii) examine the patient preferences regarding ventilatory support.MethodsObservational study at a single centre with a catchment area of 7.6 million inhabitants. Data on disease status, the referral process and patients' preferences regarding ventilatory support were collected during the first home ventilation services (HVS) assessment and analysed for correlation with the presence of daytime hypercapnia and suspected nocturnal hypoventilation. The latter conditions require immediate (within 48 h) or subacute (within 3 weeks) initiation of ventilatory support.ResultsVital capacity (in percentage of predicted value, VC%pred) was assessed by referring physicians in 84% of the 217 referred patients; the mean VC%pred was 69% (SD 16). One‐hundred and ninety‐one patients attended the first HVS assessment without ventilatory support, at a median of 21 days following referral: 18% had respiratory failure (daytime hypercapnia), 19% had normocapnia but were suspected of nocturnal hypoventilation, and 63% had normocapnia without symptoms. Following the HVS assessment, 25 patients (13%) declined home mechanical ventilation; this occurred more often in patients with (14/70) compared with patients without respiratory impairment (11/121; P < 0.05).ConclusionA meaningful proportion of patients who desire ventilatory support are referred to a ventilation clinic after already developing respiratory failure. Future studies could examine means, including more sensitive respiratory measures, to detect those patients who could benefit from earlier referral.
Blood plasma inflammation markers during epileptogenesis in post–status epilepticus rat model for temporal lobe epilepsy
Authors: Holtman Linda , van Vliet Erwin A. , Aronica Eleonora , Wouters Diana , Wadman Wytse J. , Gorter Jan A. 
Published: February 2013

SummaryPurposeBrain inflammation occurs during epileptogenesis and may contribute to the development and progression of temporal lobe epilepsy. Recently, several studies have indicated that seizures may also increase specific blood plasma cytokine levels in animal models as well as in human patients with epilepsy, suggesting that peripheral inflammation may serve as a biomarker for epilepsy. Moreover, studies in epilepsy animal models have shown that peripheral inflammation may play either a pathogenic or neuroprotective role.MethodsWe evaluated the inflammatory response in blood plasma after electrically induced status epilepticus (SE) in a rat model for temporal lobe epilepsy. We measured blood plasma levels of the inflammation markers interleukin 1β (IL‐1β), interleukin 6 (IL‐6), by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and C‐reactive protein (CRP) by immunoturbidimetry, at 1 day after SE (acute period), at 1 week (during the latent period), and at 2 months after SE, which is the chronic epileptic phase when spontaneous seizures occur. Plasma levels were also measured during pilocarpine‐induced SE. These were compared with plasma levels after lipopolysaccharide injection, which causes sepsis.Key FindingsAlthough sepsis induced a huge surge in IL‐1β and IL‐6 levels, we did not detect a change in IL‐1β, IL‐6, or CRP plasma levels at any time point after electrically induced SE compared to control animals. SE induced by pilocarpine produced a rise in IL‐6 and CRP but not IL‐1β levels.SignificanceThese findings suggest that plasma levels of these inflammatory proteins cannot be used as biomarkers for temporal lobe epileptogenesis.
Sexual response in female rats with status epilepticus
Authors: Alvarenga Tathiana A. , Matos Gabriela , Scorza Fulvio A. , Amado Débora , Cavalheiro Esper A. , Tufik Sergio , Andersen Monica L. 
Published: February 2013

SummaryPurposeFemale sexual function is complex and may be disrupted by disease, in particular epilepsy. Chronic seizures in women can have adverse effects on reproductive function, but it has been difficult to dissociate the effects of epilepsy from those related to anticonvulsant medications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate sexual behavior in female rats submitted to pilocarpine‐induced status epilepticus (SE).MethodsAdult female Wistar rats were given saline or pilocarpine (350 mg/kg, i.p.) to induce SE. The groups were distributed according to the treatment or response to pilocarpine: CTRL (control rats maintained in the home‐cage after saline administration); NSE (non–status epilepticus, rats that did not display convulsive and intermittent seizures after pilocarpine injection) and SE (status epilepticus, rats that displayed convulsive and intermittent seizures after pilocarpine injection). After 50 days, sexual receptivity in the female rats was artificially induced via administration of a combination of estradiol and progesterone. Sexual behavior was evaluated during three sessions in the presence of a sexually experienced male rat. Receptivity and proceptivity behaviors, as well as hormones concentrations, were monitored.Key FindingsSignificant decreases in proceptivity and receptivity behaviors during the three tests were observed in SE female rats. The rejection response was significantly increased in SE rats compared with CTRL or NSE groups. Progesterone, testosterone, and corticosterone were unchanged between the groups.SignificanceThe SE female rats showed lower sexual motivation and performance regardless of their steroid hormones levels.
Staphylococcus aureus subverts cutaneous defense by d‐alanylation of teichoic acids
Authors: Simanski Maren , Gläser Regine , Köten Bente , Meyer‐Hoffert Ulf , Wanner Stefanie , Weidenmaier Christopher , Peschel Andreas , Harder Jürgen 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThe Gram‐positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a frequent skin colonizer that often causes severe skin infections. It has been reported that neutralizing the negatively charged bacterial surface through the incorporation of d‐alanine in its teichoic acids confers reduced susceptibility of S. aureus towards cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Using a S. aureus strain deficient in d‐alanylated teichoic acids (dltA mutant), we demonstrate that d‐alanylation of its surface reduces the susceptibility of S. aureus to skin‐derived AMPs such as RNase 7 and human beta‐defensins. This is accompanied by a higher killing activity of skin extracts towards the S. aureus dltA mutant as well as towards clinical isolates expressing lower levels of dltA. We conclude that modulation of cell envelope d‐alanylation may help S. aureus to persist on human skin through evasion of cutaneous innate defense provided by cationic skin‐derived AMPs.