bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Role of lateral hypothalamus in two aspects of attention in associative learning
Authors: Wheeler Daniel S. , Wan Sandy , Miller Alexandra , Angeli Nicole , Adileh Bayan , Hu Weidong , Holland Peter C. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractOrexin (hypocretin) and melanin‐concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons are unique to the lateral hypothalamic (LH) region, but project throughout the brain. These cell groups have been implicated in a variety of functions, including reward learning, responses to stimulants, and the modulation of attention, arousal and the sleep/wakefulness cycle. Here, we examined roles for LH in two aspects of attention in associative learning shown previously to depend on intact function in major targets of orexin and MCH neurons. In experiments 1 and 2, unilateral orexin‐saporin lesions of LH impaired the acquisition of conditioned orienting responses (ORs) and bilaterally suppressed FOS expression in the amygdala central nucleus (CeA) normally observed in response to food cues that provoke conditioned ORs. Those cues also induced greater FOS expression than control cues in LH orexin neurons, but not in MCH neurons. In experiment 3, unilateral orexin‐saporin lesions of LH eliminated the cue associability enhancements normally produced by the surprising omission of an expected event. The magnitude of that impairment was positively correlated with the amount of LH damage and with the loss of orexin neurons in particular, but not with the loss of MCH neurons. We suggest that the effects of the LH orexin‐saporin lesions were mediated by their effect on information processing in the CeA, known to be critical to both behavioral phenomena examined here. The results imply close relations between LH motivational amplification functions and attention, and may inform our understanding of disorders in which motivational and attentional impairments co‐occur.
A diagnostic evaluation of real‐time PCR, fluorescent antibody and microscopic agglutination tests in cases of equine leptospiral abortion
Authors: Erol E. , Jackson C. B. , Steinman M. , Meares K. , Donahoe J. , Kelly N. , Locke S. , Smith J. L. , Carter C. N. 
Published: April 2014

SummaryReasons for performing studyA comprehensive evaluation of the real‐time PCR assay for leptospirosis in comparison with other diagnostic assays on a large‐scale basis is fundamental in validating the assay and determining the causes of equine abortions.ObjectivesTo compare and evaluate the diagnostic value of real‐time PCR assay for leptospirosis with traditional methods in equine leptospiral abortions.Study designCross‐sectional observational study.MethodsA Leptospira spp. fluorescent antibody test (FAT), microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and real‐time PCR (targeting the LipL32 gene) were compared and evaluated in equine fetal necropsy specimens (placenta, kidney, liver and heart blood) and maternal serum (when available) in 339 equine fetuses.ResultsFrom a total of 339 equine fetuses necropsied, 21 cases (6.19%) were diagnosed as leptospiral abortion. The majority of leptospiral abortions occurred in January (8 cases) and February (5 cases). Real‐time PCR detected 21 of 21 cases, whereas MAT and FAT detected 19 and 18 (including 2 suspicious cases) cases, respectively. Comparing tissues, placenta yielded somewhat similar cycle of threshold values by real‐time PCR compared with kidney, whereas kidney was the best specimen for the diagnosis of leptospirosis by the FAT test. In all MAT positive cases, the predominant titre in fetal heart blood was to serovar Pomona (ranging 1:100 to 1:204,800) with little or no cross‐reaction to serovar Grippotyphosa.ConclusionsThe results indicate that real‐time PCR is an effective method for the diagnosis of leptospiral abortion in horses. However, MAT should continue to be used in clinical cases for serovar determination.
Cannabinoid 1 receptors in keratinocytes attenuate fluorescein isothiocyanate‐induced mouse atopic‐like dermatitis
Authors: Gaffal Evelyn , Glodde Nicole , Jakobs Mira , Bald Tobias , Tüting Thomas 
Published: April 2014

AbstractAtopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by an impaired epidermal barrier function combined with a chronic Th2‐type inflammatory response and an intense pruritus. Here, we used an experimental mouse model for Th2‐type contact hypersensitivity (CHS) to fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) to investigate the potential role of cannabinoid 1 receptors (CB1) in the pathophysiology of mouse atopic‐like dermatitis. Mice lacking CB1 receptors globally (Cnr1−/−) or specifically in keratinocytes (KC‐Cnr1−/−) as well as wild‐type (WT) control mice were sensitized and challenged with FITC. We examined ear swelling responses, transepidermal water loss, Th2‐type skin inflammatory responses and serum IgE levels. Both Cnr1−/− and KC‐Cnr1−/− showed enhanced CHS responses to FITC and a delayed epidermal barrier repair when compared with WT mice. mRNA levels for IL‐4, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) and CCL8, as well as eosinophil activity, were significantly increased in inflamed ear tissue of FITC‐challenged Cnr1−/− and KC‐Cnr1−/− mice. Importantly, CB1 receptor‐deficient keratinocytes secreted increased levels of TSLP, a proinflammatory mediator that drives Th2‐type skin inflammation in atopic dermatitis, under basal and Th2‐type inflammatory conditions. Taken together, our results demonstrate that CB1 receptors in keratinocytes help to maintain epidermal barrier homoeostasis and attenuate Th2‐type allergic inflammatory responses. Based on our work, we propose that enhanced epidermal allergen penetrance cooperates with increased production of TSLP and CCL8 by epidermal keratinocytes for the induction of type 2 CD4+ T helper cells. Our results place keratinocytes at the cross‐roads of outside‐in and inside‐out pathophysiologic mechanisms of atopic dermatitis.
Distinct protein expression and activity of transglutaminases found in different epidermal tumors
Authors: Karashima Tadashi , Furumura Minao , Ishii Norito , Ohyama Bungo , Saruta Hiroshi , Natsuaki Yohei , Nakama Takekuni , Ohata Chika , Tsuruta Daisuke , Hitomi Kiyotaka , Hashimoto Takashi 
Published: April 2014

AbstractWe investigated protein expression and in situ activity of transglutaminases (TGs) in normal skin and various epidermal neoplasms. In normal skin, TG1 protein expression and TG activity were found at keratinocyte cell membranes in upper epidermis and granular layer, respectively. In seborrhoeic keratosis, TG1 protein was expressed evenly throughout tumors, while TG activity increased in gradient fashion from lower tumor area to cornified layer. In squamous cell carcinoma, TG1 protein was expressed at inner side of cell membranes, whereas TG activity was found in cytoplasm predominantly at horn pearls. In basal cell carcinoma, weak TG activity was found in cytoplasm of all tumor cells without the presence of TG1 protein. Immunoblotting and in situ activity assays using specific substrate peptides confirmed that TG2, but not TG1, contributed to the TG activity. These results suggested that different expression and activation of TGs may contribute to characteristics of the skin tumors.
Planning for Children and Resolving Custodial Disputes: A Comment on the Think Tank Report
Authors: Scott Elizabeth S. 
Published: April 2014

This comment praises the report from the AFCC Think Tank on Research, Policy, Practice, and Shared Parenting for its support for separating parents' active role in custody planning, its emphasis on both parents' involvement in postdissolution parenting when cooperation is possible and also its recognition of the destructive impact on children of interparental conflict. The comment also commends the report's highlighting the importance of social science research in informing policy in the area, while recognizing that research has little utility in resolving individual cases and is often subject to misuse both in courts and in the policy arena. My primary criticism of the report is its endorsement of the best interest of the child standard as the basis of individualized decisions by judges when parents fail to agree on custody plans. I argue that the application of the best interest standard is in tension with the goals and values of the report, promoting conflict between parents by inviting them to offer evidence of each other's deficiencies, undermining their future cooperation, and encouraging judges to rely inappropriately on mental health professionals who have little expertise to offer in this setting. Instead, I argue that the American Law Institute's (ALI) approximation standard, which allocates parents' future time sharing on the basis of their past roles, is more compatible with the report's goals. The ALI standard promotes parental involvement and cooperation, reduces conflict, and deters the inappropriate use of expert testimony and of weak social science research evidence.
Key Points for the Family Court Community:
Parental cooperation and shared involvement in parenting postdissolution promotes children's welfare.
Parental planning and decision making about their children's custody usually furthers this goal.
For parents who cannot agree on custody, the application of the best interest of the child standard is likely to undermine future cooperation.
The American Law Institute's approximation standard is more likely than the best interest standard to further the goals of the Think Tank report.
Supervised Visitation and Family Financial Well‐Being: Broadening Access to Community Services for Low‐Income Parents in the Court System
Authors: Oehme Karen , Stern Mark Joseph 
Published: April 2014

This article describes a federally funded pilot program designed to connect low‐income families at supervised visitation (SV) programs to other community resources to improve their economic well‐being. The pilot program established additional community connections for families in both urban and rural communities. We describe outcomes that suggest that many SV clients can benefit when SV programs are engaged with multiple community service partnerships. We also recommend that judges refer families primarily to those supervised visitation programs that can connect low‐income families to additional resources to help address their problems and improve their economic self‐sufficiency.
Key Points for the Family Court Community:
practical advice about connecting low‐income clients in the court system to community resources,
information for supervised visitation and other social service programs on how to effectively connect families to additional services that can assist with economic well‐being,
steps for making the natural connection between single parents and the local child support enforcement offices,
strategies for connecting families to financial literacy resources, and
ideas and strategies for social service providers to begin the shift of services to a holistic partnership approach that can benefit all families who seek support through community programs.
Closing the Crossover Gap: Amending Fostering Connections to Provide Independent Living Services for Foster Youth Who Crossover to the Justice System
Authors: Wylie Lauren 
Published: April 2014

In the last three decades, Congress has enacted a series of amendments to the Social Security Act to address the growing number of youth who “age out” of the foster care system. The most recent and, arguably, the most notable of these programs was The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (“Fostering Connections”). Fostering Connections provides funding for states to extend federally supported foster care services to youth beyond their eighteenth birthdays. The Act also requires state agencies to work with each emancipating youth to write a personalized and comprehensive plan for his or her transition to independent living. While this is a huge achievement for the aging‐out population, the language of legislation excludes many foster youth who are arrested and committed to a detention facility. Current legislation dose not ensure that independent living services and opportunities for support under Fostering Connections are extended to foster youth who crossover to the justice system. This Note proposes that the Fostering Connections to Success Act be amended to require that states provide for continuous and coordinated independent living services when a youth in foster care enters the justice system. These services must include ongoing access to contact with child welfare professionals, family members, and mentors who may help the youth to draft a detailed independent living plan.
Key Points for the Family Court Community:
Foster youth who commit crimes and transition to the justice system are at risk of losing access to independent living planning opportunities and support services that are available for their peers in foster care.
A substantial body of research has demonstrated that there is a very strong connection between child maltreatment and delinquency, yet few jurisdictions have taken the steps to remedy information sharing and communication gaps between child welfare systems and juvenile delinquency systems.
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 provides many benefits for foster youth who emancipate from the welfare system, yet older foster youth who crossover to the juvenile justice system may be excluded from the receipt of these benefits. While Fostering Connections funding is available for foster youth who live in a variety of settings, the language of the statute excludes youth placed in facilities operated for juvenile delinquents. This may prohibit many former foster youth from accessing opportunities that are specifically designed to assist them with the difficult transition to adulthood.
Ending Reparative Therapy in Minors: An Appropriate Legislative Response
Authors: Moss Ian 
Published: April 2014

Reparative Therapy is a controversial Psychological practice designed to “cure” subjects, many of whom are minors, of their homo/bisexuality. These attempts to alter sexual orientation are not only generally met with failure, but also frequently involve the use of therapy methods that provide no medical benefit and carry a great risk of harm. Most troubling about this practice though is that for years, there have been persistent reports of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) minors being forcibly subjected to this therapy by their parents. It is known that providers of Reparative Therapy, who maintain that homosexuality is a treatable mental disorder, often mislead parents about the risks of the treatment and the therapy's likelihood of success. This Note proposes a state ban on Reparative Therapy, which would prohibit Reparative Therapy Practitioners from using psychological methodologies to attempt to alter the sexual orientation of minors. Modeled off the statutes of New Jersey and California, this ban would protect LGB minors from ineffective and harmful therapies, and do so in a way that does not violate patients, parents, or practitioners' rights under the 1st and 14th Amendments.
Key Points for the Family Court Community:
Therapeutic attempts to “cure” homosexuality, collectively referred to as “Reparative Therapy,” are widely condemned by most mental health organizations as dangerous and ineffective.
There have been many problematic reports of LGB minors being forced into Reparative Therapy, often by parents who have been misled or left unaware of the numerous potential harms that have been associated with the practice like depression, self‐harm, and suicide.
State Bans on Reparative Therapy as applied to minors, as seen in New Jersey and California, are an efficient way to protect minors from being subjected to this practice without penalizing parents, who in most cases are acting in good faith.
Response of deep‐sea biodiversity to abrupt deglacial and Holocene climate changes in the North Atlantic Ocean
Authors: Yasuhara Moriaki , Okahashi Hisayo , Cronin Thomas M. , Rasmussen Tine L. , Hunt Gene 
Published: April 2014

AbstractAimLittle is known about how marine biodiversity responds to oceanographic and climatic changes over the decadal to centennial time‐scales which are most relevant for predicted climate changes due to greenhouse gas forcing. This paper aims to reveal decadal–centennial scale deep‐sea biodiversity dynamics for the last 20,000 years and then explore potential environmental drivers.LocationThe North Atlantic Ocean.MethodsWe investigated deep‐sea benthic microfossil records to reveal biodiversity dynamics and subsequently applied comprehensive ecological modelling to test possible environmental factors (i.e. surface productivity, seasonality of productivity or deepwater circulation related to bottom‐water temperature) that may have influenced deep‐sea biodiversity over these time‐scales.ResultsDeep‐sea biodiversity changed synchronously with stadial–interstadial climate changes over the last 20,000 years across a large area of the North Atlantic in both ostracod crustaceans and foraminiferan protozoa (in spite of their different dispersal abilities). Species diversity rapidly increased during abrupt stadial events during the last deglacial and the Holocene interglacial periods. These include the well‐known Heinrich 1, the Younger Dryas and the 8.2 ka events when the strength of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) decreased. There is also evidence for quasi‐cyclic changes in biodiversity at a c. 1500‐year periodicity, consistent with the well‐known ‘1500‐year climatic cycle’. Statistical analyses revealed that AMOC variability (probably specifically the variability in AMOC‐driven bottom‐water temperature) is correlated with deep‐sea biodiversity.Main conclusionsOur finding of a significant AMOC–diversity relationship may indicate pervasive control of the diversity of deep‐sea benthic species by rapidly changing climate, specifically bottom‐water temperature, over decadal to centennial time‐scales. Our results, based on highly resolved fossil records, may portend pervasive, synchronous and sudden ecosystem responses to human‐induced changes to climate and ocean circulation in this century.
Global change community ecology beyond species‐sorting: a quantitative framework based on mediterranean‐biome examples
Authors: Guerin Greg R. , Martín‐Forés Irene , Biffin Ed , Baruch Zdravko , Breed Martin F. , Christmas Matthew J. , Cross Hugh B. , Lowe Andrew J. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractAimSpecies‐sorting predicts the influences of the environment on ecosystem composition across heterogeneous landscapes. It assumes that extinction and adaptation are negligible at ecological scales. Meanwhile, shifts associated with global change have been observed in metacommunity composition (species pools affected by extinctions and introductions) and in phenotypes. This suggests that predictions of future composition must move beyond re‐sorting present‐day species with fixed traits. We extend plant species‐sorting concepts to consider biogeography and demography. We give an empirical context, highlighting the influences of biogeography, species‐sorting and adaptation on community composition.LocationGlobal; case studies focus on the terrestrial mediterranean biome.MethodsWe review case studies of empirical approaches that have examined community composition at various scales. We develop a mathematical model based on community mechanics that incorporates species‐sorting with shifting phenotypes and species pools.ResultsAs illustrated by real examples, community composition is influenced by factors such as history, modern extinction risk, species‐sorting, biotic interactions, adaptation and ecological drift. There is ample evidence that species pools and phenotypes are not constant at ecological scales in the context of global change. Any implicit assumption in community analysis that they are constant should therefore be revisited. Our model breaks down shifting community constraints into intraspecific components – including genotype sorting, selection and plasticity – and interspecific components, including changes in relative abundance and species replacement from a shifting metacommunity.Main conclusionsPredictions of community composition could benefit from extending species‐sorting, to allow species pools and species traits to shift through time, as dealt with explicitly in our framework. The model predicts that responses to a shifting community constraint can be more diverse than deterministic species re‐sorting. Consequently, the rate of species replacement depends on factors such as species adaptive capacity, competition, physical disturbance and habitat fragmentation.
First Detected Helicobacter pylori Infection in Infancy Modifies the Association Between Diarrheal Disease and Childhood Growth in Peru
Authors: Jaganath Devan , Saito Mayuko , Gilman Robert H. , Queiroz Dulciene M.M. , Rocha Gifone A. , Cama Vitaliano , Cabrera Lilia , Kelleher Dermot , Windle Henry J. , Crabtree Jean E. , Checkley William 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackgroundIn endemic settings, Helicobacter pylori infection can occur shortly after birth and may be associated with a reduction in childhood growth.Materials and MethodsThis study investigated what factors promote earlier age of first H. pylori infection and evaluated the role of H. pylori infection in infancy (6–11 months) versus early childhood (12–23 months) on height. We included 183 children near birth from a peri‐urban shanty town outside of Lima, Peru. Field‐workers collected data on socioeconomic status (SES), daily diarrheal and breast‐feeding history, antibiotic use, anthropometrics, and H. pylori status via carbon 13‐labeled urea breath test up to 24 months after birth. We used a proportional hazards model to assess risk factors for earlier age at first detected infection and linear mixed‐effects models to evaluate the association of first detected H. pylori infection during infancy on attained height.ResultsOne hundred and forty (77%) were infected before 12 months of age. Lower SES was associated with earlier age at first detected H. pylori infection (low vs middle‐to‐high SES Hazard ratio (HR) 1.59, 95% CI 1.16, 2.19; p = .004), and greater exclusive breast‐feeding was associated with reduced likelihood (HR 0.63, 95% CI 0.40, 0.98, p = .04). H. pylori infection in infancy was not independently associated with growth deficits (p = .58). However, children who had their first detected H. pylori infection in infancy (6–11 months) versus early childhood (12–23 months) and who had an average number of diarrhea episodes per year (3.4) were significantly shorter at 24 months (−0.37 cm, 95% CI, −0.60, −0.15 cm; p = .001).DiscussionLower SES was associated with a higher risk of first detected H. pylori infection during infancy, which in turn augmented the adverse association of diarrheal disease on linear growth.