bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Prenatal marijuana exposure, age of marijuana initiation, and the development of psychotic symptoms in young adults
Authors: Day N. L. , Goldschmidt L. , Day R. , Larkby C. , Richardson G. A. 
Published: December 2014

BackgroundStudies have demonstrated that an early age of onset of marijuana use (EAOM) is associated with a higher risk of developing psychotic symptoms (PS) compared to initiating marijuana use at a later age or not at all. Research has also found that prenatal marijuana exposure (PME) predicts EAOM. This report evaluates the relationships among PME, EAOM, and PS.MethodSubjects were initially interviewed in their fourth prenatal month. Women and offspring who completed the birth assessment (n = 763) were selected for follow-up. Women and their offspring were followed until the offspring were 22 years of age: 596 offspring were evaluated. At age 22, PS were assessed in the offspring with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule using DSM-IV criteria. Analyses controlled for significant covariates including other prenatal substance exposures, race, gender, and offspring substance use at 22 years.ResultsPME and EAOM significantly predicted increased rates of PS at 22 years controlling for other significant covariates. The direct effect of PME on PS was marginally significant (p = 0.06) when EAOM was entered into the model and other covariates were fixed. In the mediation analysis, EAOM did not significantly mediate the association between PME and PS, controlling for significant covariates, nor was the indirect pathway significant when structural equation modeling was used. The total effect of the direct and indirect pathways was significant.ConclusionsIn addition to EAOM, PME may also play a role in the association between marijuana use and the development of PS. This could highlight a new area for prevention.
Cognitive–behavioural therapy for patients with schizophrenia: a multicentre randomized controlled trial in Beijing, China
Authors: Li Z.-J. , Guo Z.-H. , Wang N. , Xu Z.-Y. , Qu Y. , Wang X.-Q. , Sun J. , Yan L.-Q. , Ng R. M. K. , Turkington D. , Kingdon D. 
Published: December 2014

BackgroundMeta-analyses support the efficacy of cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) for schizophrenia in western cultures. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of CBT and supportive therapy (ST) for patients with schizophrenia in China.MethodA multicentre randomized controlled, single-blinded, parallel-group trial enrolled a sample of 192 patients with schizophrenia. All patients were offered 15 sessions of either CBT or ST over 24 weeks and followed up for an additional 60 weeks. All measures used were standardized instruments with good reliability and validity. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess symptoms of schizophrenia. The Schedule for Assessing Insight (SAI) was used to assess patients’ insight and the Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP) was used to assess their social functioning.ResultsEffect-size analysis showed that patients made rapid improvements in all symptoms, insight and social functioning as measured by the PANSS, SAI and PSP at 12 and 24 weeks and maintained these improvements over the course of the study to 84 weeks. Patients in the CBT group showed significantly greater and more durable improvement in PANSS total score (p = 0.045, between-groupd = 0.48), positive symptoms (p = 0.018, between-groupd = 0.42) and social functioning (p = 0.037, between-groupd = 0.64), with significant differences emerging after completion of therapy.ConclusionsBoth CBT and ST combined with medication had benefits on psychopathology, insight and social functioning of patients with schizophrenia. CBT was significantly more effective than ST on overall, positive symptoms and social functioning of patients with schizophrenia in the long term.
Robotic hand posture and compliant grasping control using operational space and integral sliding mode control
Authors: Herrmann Guido , Jalani Jamaludin , Mahyuddin Muhammad Nasiruddin , Khan Said G , Melhuish Chris 
Published: December 2014

SUMMARYThis paper establishes a novel approach of robotic hand posture and grasping control. For this purpose, the control uses the operational space approach. This permits the consideration of the shape of the object to be grasped. Thus, the control is split into a task control and a particular optimizing posture control. The task controller employs Cylindrical and Spherical coordinate systems due to their simplicity and geometric suitability. This is achieved by using an integral sliding mode controller (ISMC) as task controller. The ISMC allows us to introduce a model reference approach where a virtual mass-spring-damper system can be used to design a compliant trajectory tracking controller. The optimizing posture controller together with the task controller creates a simple approach to obtain pre-grasping/object approach hand postures. The experimental results show that target trajectories can be easily followed by the task control despite the presence of friction and stiction. When the object is grasped, the compliant control will automatically adjust to a specific compliance level due to an augmented compliance parameter adjustment algorithm. Once a specific compliance model has been achieved, the fixed compliance controller can be tested for a specific object grasp scenario. The experimental results prove that the Bristol Elumotion robot hand (BERUL) can automatically and successfully attain different compliance levels for a particular object via the ISMC.
Elusive equalities and the Great Recession: restoration, retrenchment and redistribution
Authors: Brodie Janine 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThe 2008 global financial meltdown, commonly called the ‘Great Recession’, was the most serious crisis in capitalism since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and a fundamental repudiation of neoliberal governing assumptions. This paper focuses on the contexts that informed two governmental responses to this economic crisis — restoration and retrenchment through public austerity. It explains that these responses were contingent, experimental, inequitable and, in the end, unsuccessful. Restoration and retrenchment, however, were entirely consistent with previous neoliberal crisis-responses and the abiding ambitions of this governing project. As the economic crisis crawled into the second half of a decade, the idea of inequality was increasingly identified as an underlying cause of crisis and its amelioration as a necessary part of rebuilding economies and communities in a post-crisis era. The paper tracks the case for the revival of equality politics and policies in the early twenty-first century.
From social welfare to human rights for girls – a path to achieving gender equality
Authors: Goonesekere Savitri 
Published: December 2014

AbstractDespite international and national human rights norms and standards, gender equality remains a goal in most countries. The recent discourse on substantive equality as a strategy for addressing the gender discrimination, disadvantage and deep-rooted social biases has reinforced the importance of working towards indivisible human rights for girls and women under CRC and CEDAW. This paper uses international and comparative national experiences on law and policy to argue that the failure to adopt an indivisibility of rights approach in relation to girl children has made it more difficult to achieve a norm of substantive equality for women. It is argued that the adoption of an intergenerational and rights-based, rather than a social welfare approach, is a necessary step to achieving substantive equality for women.
Cardiac endothelial cell-derived exosomes induce specific regulatory B cells
Authors: Song Jiangping , Chen Xiao , Wang Mangyuan , Xing Yong , Zheng Zhe , Hu Shengshou 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThe mechanism of immune tolerance is to be further understood. The present study aims to investigate the role of the Cardiac endothelial cell (CEC)-derived exosomes in the induction of regulatory B cells. In this study, CECs were isolated from the mouse heart. Exosomes were purified from the culture supernatant of the primary endothelial cells. The suppressor functions of the regulatory B cells were determined by flow cytometry. The results showed that the CEC-derived exosomes carried integrin αvβ6. Exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced B cells to express the latent transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, the latter was converted to the active form, TGF-β, by the exosome-derived αvβ6. The B cells released TGF-β in response to re-exposure to the exosomes in the culture, which suppressed the effector T cell proliferation. We conclude that CEC-derived exosomes have the capacity to induce B cells with immune suppressor functions.
Type I IFNs as biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis: towards disease profiling and personalized medicine
Authors: Rodríguez-Carrio Javier , López Patricia , Suárez Ana 
Published: December 2014

RA (rheumatoid arthritis) is a chronic rheumatic condition hallmarked by joint inflammation and destruction by self-reactive immune responses. Clinical management of RA patients is often hampered by its heterogeneous nature in both clinical presentation and outcome, thereby highlighting the need for new predictive biomarkers. In this sense, several studies have recently revealed a role for type I IFNs (interferons), mainly IFNα, in the pathogenesis of a subset of RA patients. Genetic variants associated with the type I IFN pathway have been linked with RA development, as well as with clinical features. Moreover, a role for IFNα as a trigger for RA development has also been described. Additionally, a type I IFN signature has been associated with the early diagnosis of RA and clinical outcome prediction in patients undergoing biological drug treatment, two challenging issues for decision-making in the clinical setting. Moreover, these cytokines have been related to endothelial damage and vascular repair failure in different autoimmune disorders. Therefore, together with chronic inflammation and disease features, they could probably account for the increased cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality of these patients. The main aim of the present review is to provide recent evidence supporting a role for type I IFNs in the immunopathology of RA, as well as to analyse their possible role as biomarkers for disease management.
Rank inequalities for the Heegaard Floer homology of Seifert homology spheres
Authors: Karakurt Çağrı , Lidman Tye 
Published: December 2014

We establish three rank inequalities for the reduced flavor of Heegaard Floer homology of Seifert fibered integer homology spheres. Combining these inequalities with the known classifications of non-zero degree maps between Seifert fibered spaces, we prove that a map

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between Seifert homology spheres yields the inequality

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|\deg f|\mathrm {rank} HF_{\mathrm {red}}(Y) \leq \mathrm {rank} HF_{\mathrm {red}}(Y’)

. These inequalities are also applied in conjunction with an algorithm of Némethi to give a method to solve the botany problem for the Heegaard Floer homology of these manifolds.
Phenome-wide Association Study Relating Pretreatment Laboratory Parameters With Human Genetic Variants in AIDS Clinical Trials Group Protocols
Authors: Moore Carrie B. , Verma Anurag , Pendergrass Sarah , Verma Shefali S. , Johnson Daniel H. , Daar Eric S. , Gulick Roy M. , Haubrich Richard , Robbins Gregory K. , Ritchie Marylyn D. , Haas David W. 
Published: December 2014

AbstractBackground.  Phenome-Wide Association Studies (PheWAS) identify genetic associations across multiple phenotypes. Clinical trials offer opportunities for PheWAS to identify pharmacogenomic associations. We describe the first PheWAS to use genome-wide genotypic data and to utilize human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) clinical trials data. As proof-of-concept, we focused on baseline laboratory phenotypes from antiretroviral therapy-naive individuals.Methods.  Data from 4 AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) studies were split into 2 datasets: Dataset I (1181 individuals from protocol A5202) and Dataset II (1366 from protocols A5095, ACTG 384, and A5142). Final analyses involved 2547 individuals and 5 954 294 imputed polymorphisms. We calculated comprehensive associations between these polymorphisms and 27 baseline laboratory phenotypes.Results.  A total of 10 584 (0.17%) polymorphisms had associations with P &lt; .01 in both datasets and with the same direction of association. Twenty polymorphisms replicated associations with identical or related phenotypes reported in the Catalog of Published Genome-Wide Association Studies, including several not previously reported in HIV-positive cohorts. We also identified several possibly novel associations.Conclusions.  These analyses define PheWAS properties and principles with baseline laboratory data from HIV clinical trials. This approach may be useful for evaluating on-treatment HIV clinical trials data for associations with various clinical phenotypes.
The optimal combination of standard metabolic rate and aerobic scope for somatic growth depends on food availability
Authors: Auer Sonya K. , Salin Karine , Rudolf Agata M. , Anderson Graeme J. , Metcalfe Neil B. 
Published: December 2014

Summary

Metabolic rates can vary as much as threefold among individuals of the same size and age in a population, but why such variation persists is unclear given that they determine the energetic cost of living. Relationships between standard metabolic rate (SMR), growth and survival can vary with environmental conditions, suggesting that the fitness consequences of a given metabolic phenotype may be context‐dependent. Less attention has focused on the link between absolute aerobic scope (AS, the difference between standard and maximum metabolic rate) and fitness under different environmental conditions, despite the importance of aerobic scope to an organism's total energetic capacity.

We examined the links between individual variation in both SMR and AS and somatic growth rates of brown trout (Salmo trutta) under different levels of food availability.

Standard metabolic rate and AS were uncorrelated across individuals. However, SMR and AS not only had interactive effects on growth, but these interactions depended on food level: at ad libitum food levels, AS had a positive effect on growth whose magnitude depended on SMR; at intermediate food levels, AS and SMR had interactive effects on growth, but at the low food level, there was no effect of either AS or SMR on growth. As a result, there was no metabolic phenotype that performed best or worst across all food levels.

These results demonstrate the importance of aerobic scope in explaining somatic growth rates and support the hypothesis that links between individual variation in metabolism and fitness are context‐dependent.

The larger metabolic phenotype and the environmental context in which performance is evaluated both need to be considered in order to better understand the link between metabolic rates and fitness and thereby the persistence of individual variation in metabolic rates.
Participation of Ordinary Investors and Stock Market Quality: A Comparison between Japanese and US Markets
Authors: Yano Makoto , Komatsubara Takashi 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThis study investigates the quality of Japanese and US stock markets from the viewpoints of efficiency and fairness. We design a new Internet survey and develop a simple model that can quantitatively explain stock market quality by those data. Our estimation shows that the Japanese stock market is of lower quality with respect both to efficiency and fairness than the US stock market. This suggests that the quarter‐century‐long stagnation of the Japanese economy since the early 1990s might be attributable to the lack of high quality stock markets in Japan.
Credit Market Imperfections and Macroeconomic Instability
Authors: Kunieda Takuma , Shibata Akihisa 
Published: December 2014

AbstractCredit market imperfections typically characterize a low quality financial market, where the quality of information about borrowers is low and/or enforcement rules or institutions are not well developed. We consider an economy with credit market imperfections and analyse how changes in the degree of credit constraints affect economic fluctuations. The analysis demonstrates that if the degree of credit market imperfection is either severe or too soft, the economy converges to an asymptotically stable steady state, whereas if the degree of imperfection is moderate, the equilibrium involves deterministic cycles or chaos.
Capital Accumulation and Structural Change in a Small Open Economy
Authors: Hu Yunfang , Mino Kazuo 
Published: December 2014

AbstractThis paper explores the relation between capital accumulation and transformation of industrial structure in a small open economy. Using a three‐sector neoclassical growth model with non‐homothetic preferences, we examine the dynamic behaviour of the small country in the alternative trade regimes. We show that capital accumulation plays a leading role in the process of structural transformation. It is also revealed that the trade pattern significantly affects structural change. We demonstrate that our model can mimic a typical pattern of change in industrial structure that has been observed in many developed economies.
Evaluation of Degradation in DNA from Males with a Quantitative Gender Typing, Endpoint PCR Multiplex
Authors: Smith Byron C. , Vandegrift Emily , Fuller Valerie Mattimore , Allen Robert W. ,   School of Forensic Sciences
Published: December 2014

AbstractEvidentiary samples submitted to a forensic DNA laboratory occasionally yield DNA that is degraded. Samples of intact chromosomal DNA (both nuclear and mitochondrial) were subjected to a heating protocol to induce DNA degradation. The DNAs were then analyzed using a multiplex PCR assay that amplifies targets of low and high molecular weight on the X/Y and mitochondrial chromosomes. If degradation is random, the amplification of larger DNA targets should be more adversely affected by degradation than smaller targets. In nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from a male donor, exhibiting degradation, DNA quantity estimates based upon higher molecular weight amplicons (HMW) are significantly lower than estimates made using low molecular weight (LMW) Q‐TAT amplicons. DNA degradation estimated using this approach correlated well with actual fluorescence associated with HMW and LMW STR alleles amplified from the same genomic DNA templates. Q‐TAT is thus useful not only as a quantitation tool, but also as an indicator of template degradation.
A quick, easy and non‐intrusive method for underwater volume and surface area evaluation of benthic organisms by 3D computer modelling
Authors: Lavy Adi , Eyal Gal , Neal Benjamin , Keren Ray , Loya Yossi , Ilan Micha 
Published: December 2014

Summary

In order to understand physiological, ecological and biological processes, it is often crucial to determine an organism's volume and surface area (SA). Most of the available methods require sacrificing the organism or at least removing it from its natural habitat, in order to measure these parameters. Advances in computer vision algorithms now allow us to determine these parameters using non‐destructive, three‐dimensional modelling. The addition of cloud computing and the availability of freeware make this tool widely accessible.

Photographs of corals and sponges were taken in natura and used to create digital 3D models using the ‘structure‐from‐motion’ technique. Modelling was done online using 123D Catch freeware (Autodesk Inc.). Volume and SA of the corals and sponges were calculated from these 3D models.

Comparing in situ 3D modelling to current measuring methods (e.g. water displacement, paraffin dipping) showed that volume calculation by 3D modelling gave fast results accurate to within 8% of estimated true volume. Using cloud computing enabled the creation of a 3D model in <30 min. SA accuracy was found to differ significantly, depending on the shape of the modelled object, with an accuracy ranging widely from 2% to 18%.

We found that in situ volume and SA measurements created by 3D modelling enable easy, fast and non‐intrusive studies of benthic aquatic organisms, without removing the subject organisms from their habitat, thus enabling continuous study of natural growth over extended time periods. The freely available freeware, along with ease of use, makes this method accessible to many areas of research.
Clinical Significance of Inactivated Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3β in HPV‐Associated Cervical Cancer: Relationship with Wnt/β‐Catenin Pathway Activation
Authors: Rath Gayatri , Jawanjal Poonam , Salhan Sudha , Nalliah Manoharan , Dhawan Indrani 
Published: December 2014

ProblemTo determine the role of inactivated GSK3β with respect to Wnt/β‐catenin pathway activation in HPV‐16/18‐associated cervical cancer.Method of studyThe expression of active (pGSK3β‐Try216), inactive (pGSK3β‐Ser9), and c‐Myc as well as HPV‐16/18 infection was analyzed in cervical intra‐epithelial neoplasia (CIN), squamous cell carcinoma (SCCs) and normal by immunohistochemistry and multiplex PCR. The proteins level was also compared with β‐catenin and APC expression.ResultsThe dramatic decrease of pGSK3β‐Try216 expression but ectopic overexpression of pGSK3β‐Ser9 and c‐Myc was observed both in CIN and SCCs samples compared to normal tissues. 57/67 CIN and 132/153 SCCs showed HPV‐16 infection, while 3/67 CIN and 4/153 SCCs were harbored with HPV‐18 infection. Both the proteins were significantly upregulated in HPV‐16 infected cases (P = 0.0001; P = 0.001) and also positively correlated with nuclear β‐catenin (P = 0.0001; P = 0.0001).ConclusionThe process of generation of HPV‐16‐associated cervical tumorigenesis is synergized with GSK3β inactivation and overactivation of Wnt/β‐catenin pathway.
Social capital: theory, evidence, and implications for oral health
Authors: Rouxel Patrick L. , Heilmann Anja , Aida Jun , Tsakos Georgios , Watt Richard G. 
Published: December 2014

AbstractIn the last two decades, there has been increasing application of the concept of social capital in various fields of public health, including oral health. However, social capital is a contested concept with debates on its definition, measurement, and application. This study provides an overview of the concept of social capital, highlights the various pathways linking social capital to health, and discusses the potential implication of this concept for health policy. An extensive and diverse international literature has examined the relationship between social capital and a range of general health outcomes across the life course. A more limited but expanding literature has also demonstrated the potential influence of social capital on oral health. Much of the evidence in relation to oral health is limited by methodological shortcomings mainly related to the measurement of social capital, cross‐sectional study designs, and inadequate controls for confounding factors. Further research using stronger methodological designs should explore the role of social capital in oral health and assess its potential application in the development of oral health improvement interventions.