bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Self‐reported sun‐related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours among schoolchildren attending South African primary schools
Authors: Wright Caradee Y. , Albers Patricia N. , Oosthuizen Maria A. , Phala Nelvia 
Published: January 2014

SummaryBackgroundSkin cancer and other adverse health effects result from excess solar ultraviolet radiation exposure. Sun protective practices are important interventions for skin cancer prevention, particularly when implemented early in life. Several international studies have assessed children's sun‐related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours in school settings but never before in Southern Africa, where multiethnic populations exist.PurposeThe purpose of this study is to describe the sun‐related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours as self‐reported by South African primary schoolchildren and consider the roles of sex and skin type.MethodsA randomly selected sample of 707 schoolchildren from 24 government, urban schools in all nine provinces of South Africa were surveyed regarding their sun‐related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.ResultsApproximately 56% of students reported experience of sunburn last summer and 59% stated that they had got a suntan. Many students (64.5%) believed that one could protect oneself from getting skin cancer by avoiding getting sunburnt. Other means reported to do so by the students were to use sunscreen (65.4%), stay out of the summer sun (48.0%), cover up with clothing (45.5%) and eat the right foods (38.0%). Only about a quarter of the students (22.4%) wrongly agreed that it is safe to get sunburnt once or twice a year. Few students (8.7%) agreed that they like to have a suntan because they feel healthier and agreed that they think a suntan makes them feel more attractive to others (17.3%). Few also agreed that most of their friends (16.1%) and family (14.2%) think that a suntan is a good thing. Children reporting to have white/light brown skin (69.4%) were more likely to agree that they used sunscreen to protect themselves from getting sunburnt compared with children having brown/dark brown/black skin (54.8%) (P = 0.0005).ConclusionSouth African schoolchildren at urban government schools do have some knowledge about sun protection, and they do have some positive sun behaviours; however, the reported occurrence of sunburn, a risk factor for skin cancer, was relatively high. There were few differences in responses by sex and some differences by skin type. These findings are important for the development of appropriate sun protection programmes aimed at schoolchildren in South Africa and other countries with similar multi‐ethnic populations.
Capital and Consumption Tax Reforms in a Small Open Economy
Authors: Chao Chi‐Chur , Yu Eden S. H. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThe effects of a reform in capital and consumption taxes on private welfare and government tax revenue are examined for a small open, capital‐importing economy. A trade‐off between private welfare and tax revenue is encountered in maximizing social welfare. Nonetheless, lowering capital taxes and raising consumption taxes can increase both private welfare and tax revenue if the initial tax rates are not optimal. In addition, a tax reform by this fashion is a likely response to a rise in the foreign rate of return on capital.
Economic Determinants of Free Trade Agreements Revisited: Distinguishing Sources of Interdependence
Authors: Baier Scott L. , Bergstrand Jeffrey H. , Mariutto Ronald 
Published: January 2014

AbstractOne of the most notable international economic events since 1990 has been the enormous increase in the number of free trade agreements (FTAs). While Baier and Bergstrand were the first to show empirically the impact of a country‐pair's economic characteristics on the likelihood of the pair having an FTA, the literature has been extended to demonstrate the importance empirically of FTA “interdependence”—the effect of other FTAs on the probability of a pair having an FTA. In the context of the Baier–Bergstrand framework, this paper delves deeper into the sources of interdependence—an “own‐FTA” effect and a “cross‐FTA” effect. The authors argue that the own‐FTA effect (the impact on the net welfare gains of an FTA between two countries owing to either already having other FTAs) likely dwarfs the cross‐FTA effect (the impact on the net welfare gains of an FTA between the pair owing to other FTAs existing in the rest of the world, or ROW). Augmenting a parsimonious logit model with simple “multilateral FTA” and “ROW FTA” terms to differentiate the own and cross effects empirically, it is shown that the marginal impact on the probability of a country‐pair having an agreement of either country having one more FTA with a third country is 50 times that of one more FTA between another pair in ROW. The results suggest that “domino (own‐FTA) effects” have far exceeded “competitive liberalization (cross‐FTA) effects” in the proliferation of FTAs.
“Out of Sync”: The Breakdown of Economic Sentiment Cycles in the EU
Authors: Thomakos Dimitrios D. , Papailias Fotis 
Published: January 2014

AbstractEmpirical evidence is presented about the properties of economic sentiment cycle synchronization for Germany, France and the UK and they are compared with the “crisis” countries Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Instead of using output data it is preferred to focus on the economic sentiment indicator (ESI), a forward‐looking, survey‐based variable consistently available from 1985. The cyclical nature of the ESI allowed the analyis of the presence or not of synchronicity among country pairs before and after the onset of the financial crisis. The results show that ESI movements were mostly synchronous before 2008 but they exhibit a breakdown after 2008, with this feature being more prominent in Greece. It is also found that, after the political maneuvering of the past two years, a cycle re‐integration or re‐synchronization is on the way. An analysis of the evolution of the synchronicity measures indicates that they can potentially be used to identify sudden phase breaks in ESI co‐movement and they can offer a signal as to when the EU economies are getting “in” or “out of sync”.
The Negative Effects of Privilege on Educational Attainment: Gender, Race, Class, and the Bachelor's Degree
Authors: Mangino William 
Published: January 2014

ObjectiveTo show that in the contemporary United States, traditionally privileged categories of people—men, whites, and the super‐rich—complete four‐year college degrees at rates lower than their nonprivileged counterparts—women, nonwhites, and the “99 percent.”MethodsLogistic regression and an educational transitions method are used on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Waves 1 and 4) to predict, given college entrance, who completes a bachelor's degree.ResultsWomen, the lower 99 percent of the income distribution, and when economic resources are present, nonwhites all complete college at higher rates than men, the richest 1 percent, and whites, respectively. In a final model, rich white men as a single category are shown to complete college less than everyone else.ConclusionAs previously excluded categories of people have gained access to higher education, the privileged are shifting their reproduction strategies away from schooling.
Individual Activity Patterns and the Meaning of Residential Environments for Inter‐Ethnic Contact
Authors: Heringa Aafke , Bolt Gideon , Dijst Martin , van Kempen Ronald 
Published: January 2014

AbstractPast research has indicated that the ethnic composition of residential neighbourhoods influences inter‐ethnic contact. However, little attention has been paid to individual activity and travel patterns which encompass encounters with others at physical and virtual activity sites, such as sports clubs and online chat rooms. By analysing a Dutch dataset on the life of urban ethnic minorities, we found that individual activity patterns are important factors in explaining inter‐ethnic contact. Activities such as sports, attending parties or religious gatherings, using Internet, and hosting friends and neighbours influence the extent of inter‐ethnic contact. The effect of ethnic composition of neighbourhoods and educational qualification on relative frequency of contact with native Dutch is strongly reduced when individual activity and travel patterns are taken into account. For receiving practical help from native Dutch, neighbourhood effects were insignificant.
Removal of biological response modifiers associated with platelet transfusion reactions by columns containing adsorption beads
Authors: Tanaka Shigenori , Hayashi Tomoya , Tani Yoshihiko , Hirayama Fumiya 
Published: January 2014

BackgroundBiological response modifiers (BRMs), such as soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L); regulated upon activation, normal T‐cell expressed, and secreted (RANTES); and transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1), are released from platelets (PLTs) during storage and may trigger adverse effects after PLT transfusion. Although washing PLTs is effective at reducing the level of BRMs and the incidence of transfusion reactions, the washing procedure is time‐consuming and may induce PLT activation. Furthermore, some BRMs continue to accumulate during the storage of washed PLTs. A method to remove BRMs using adsorbent columns has not yet been developed.Study Design and MethodsWe evaluated the ability of columns packed with Selesorb and Liposorber beads, which are both clinically used, to remove BRMs from PLT concentrates (PCs) stored for 5 days. The levels of these BRMs were determined before and after adsorption.ResultsThe adsorption columns significantly reduced the levels of RANTES and sCD40L and partially reduced TGF‐β1. There were no significant effects on PLT activation, aggregation, morphology, and plasma lactate dehydrogenase (an indicator of PLT lysis) levels, or hypotonic shock response. Adsorption, however, reduced the PLT recovery to approximately 60% of the untreated value.ConclusionsThis study showed that the levels of BRMs were substantially reduced using columns of clinically available adsorption beads. PLT functions and the quality of PCs were maintained after adsorption. The use of adsorption columns may be useful in reducing the incidence of nonhemolytic transfusion reactions.
Systematic evaluation of evidence on veterinary viscoelastic testing Part 3: Assay activation and test protocol
Authors: de Laforcade Armelle , Goggs Robert , Wiinberg Bo 
Published: January 2014

AbstractObjectiveTo systematically examine the evidence on activating agents and test protocols for the thrombelastography (TEG) and rotational thrombelastometry (ROTEM) viscoelastic point‐of‐care instruments and to identify knowledge gaps.DesignTen questions were considered, the primary question addressed the use of activating agents and secondary questions addressed assay temperature, length of analysis, pipetting, sample volume, reproducibility, and quality controls. Standardized, systematic evaluation of the literature was performed. Relevant articles were categorized according to level of evidence (LOE). Consensus was developed regarding conclusions for application of concepts to clinical practice.SettingAcademic and referral veterinary medical centers.ResultsPubMed and CAB abstracts were searched. Twenty papers were initially identified concerning the primary question; 16 were in support of the questions (LOE 2 Good, LOE 3 Good, LOE 5 Good, LOE 6 Good, LOE 5 Fair, LOE 6 Fair); and 4 were neutral (LOE 3 Good, LOE 6 Good, LOE Fair, LOE 5 Fair). Additional papers were evaluated post hoc during manuscript preparation.ConclusionsOverall, there is a body of evidence from veterinary and human medicine that strongly suggests that TEG or ROTEM assays using citrated samples that employ an activator have significantly lower inherent variability than those that use recalcification alone. There is also strong evidence in dogs, cats, and humans that the results obtained using different activators are not directly comparable. There is no evidence to suggest that any one activating agent is superior to another for all patient populations, or drug monitoring indications. As such, use of more than one assay for complete thromboelastographic evaluation of a patient's coagulation system may be warranted. Standardization of the concentrations of activators would be beneficial.
Telavancin for Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia: Clinical Response and 28-Day Survival
Authors: Corey G. Ralph , Kollef Marin H. , Shorr Andrew F. , Rubinstein Ethan , Stryjewski Martin E. , Hopkins Alan , Barriere Steven L. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACT

U.S. Food and Drug Administration draft guidance for future antibiotic clinical trials of bacterial nosocomial pneumonia recommends the use of diagnostic criteria according to American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America (ATS/IDSA) guidelines and the use of a primary endpoint of 28-day all-cause mortality. The effect of applying these guidelines on outcomes of phase III nosocomial pneumonia studies of telavancin was evaluated in a
post hoc
analysis. ATS/IDSA criteria were applied in a blind fashion to the original all-treated (AT) group. Clinical cure rates at final follow-up were determined in the refined AT and clinically evaluable (CE) groups (ATS/IDSA-AT and ATS/IDSA-CE, respectively). The exploratory endpoint of 28-day survival was evaluated for the ATS/IDSA-AT group. Noninferiority of telavancin versus vancomycin was demonstrated, with similar cure rates in the ATS/IDSA-AT (59% versus 59%) and ATS/IDSA-CE (83% versus 80%) groups. Cure rates favored telavancin in ATS/IDSA-CE patients where
Staphylococcus aureus
was the sole pathogen (86% versus 75%). Overall, 28-day survival rates were similar in the telavancin (76%) and vancomycin (77%) groups but lower in telavancin-treated patients with preexisting moderate-to-severe renal impairment (creatinine clearance [CL
CR
] of <50 ml/min). Telavancin should be administered to patients with moderate-to-severe renal impairment only if treatment benefit outweighs the risk or if no suitable alternatives are available.
Early Entecavir Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis B with Severe Acute Exacerbation
Authors: Tsai Wei-Lun , Chiang Po-Hung , Chan Hoi-Hung , Lin Huey-Shyan , Lai Kwok-Hung , Cheng Jin-Shiung , Chen Wen-Chi , Tsay Feng-Woei , Wang Huay-Min , Tsai Tzung-Jiun , Yu Hsien-Chung , Hsu Ping-I 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACT

A previous study found that lamivudine, if started early enough, may improve the chance of survival in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) with severe acute exacerbation (SAE). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of early entecavir treatment before the bilirubin level exceeds 20 mg/dl for chronic HBV with SAE. Consecutive patients with chronic HBV with SAE and a serum bilirubin level of <20 mg/dl who received lamivudine or entecavir were enrolled. Short-term (4 months) survival was evaluated. One hundred fourteen patients received lamivudine, and 53 patients received entecavir. The baseline characteristics were similar for the two groups except that the entecavir group was older and had a lower alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level. Three patients (8.0%) in the entecavir group and 9 patients (7.9%) in the lamivudine group died (
P
= 1.000). If only patients who started antiviral treatment before serum bilirubin level rose to more than 15 mg/dl were included, 3 patients (8.3%) in the entecavir group and 3 patients (3.0%) in the lamivudine group died (
P
= 0.189). If only patients with an HBV DNA level higher than 10
5
copies/ml and a bilirubin level lower than 15 mg/dl were included, 5 out of 40 patients (12.5%) in the entecavir group died and 1 out of 59 patients (1.7%) in the lamivudine group died. Multivariate analysis found that entecavir treatment was associated with more mortality than lamivudine (
P
= 0.035). Early entecavir treatment in patients with high viral load is associated with more short-term mortality than lamivudine for chronic HBV with severe acute exacerbation.
The Type VI Secretion System Spike Protein VgrG5 Mediates Membrane Fusion during Intercellular Spread by Pseudomallei Group Burkholderia Species
Authors: Toesca Isabelle J. , French Christopher T. , Miller Jeff F. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACT

Pseudomallei group
Burkholderia
species are facultative intracellular parasites that spread efficiently from cell to cell by a mechanism involving the fusion of adjacent cell membranes. Intercellular fusion requires the function of the cluster 5 type VI secretion system (T6SS-5) and its associated valine-glycine repeat protein, VgrG5. Here we show that VgrG5 alleles are conserved and functionally interchangeable between
Burkholderia pseudomallei
and its relatives
B. mallei
,
B. oklahomensis
, and
B. thailandensis
. We also demonstrate that the integrity of the VgrG5 C-terminal domain is required for fusogenic activity, and we identify sequence motifs, including two hydrophobic segments, that are important for fusion. Mutagenesis and secretion experiments using
B. pseudomallei
strains engineered to express T6SS-5
in vitro
show that the VgrG5 C-terminal domain is dispensable for T6SS-mediated secretion of Hcp5, demonstrating that the ability of VgrG5 to mediate membrane fusion can be uncoupled from its essential role in type VI secretion. We propose a model in which a unique fusogenic activity at the C terminus of VgrG5 facilitates intercellular spread by
B. pseudomallei
and related species following injection across the plasma membranes of infected cells.
Helicobacter pylori Membrane Vesicles Stimulate Innate Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Responses and Induce Apoptosis in Jurkat T Cells
Authors: Winter Jody , Letley Darren , Rhead Joanne , Atherton John , Robinson Karen 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACT

Persistent
Helicobacter pylori
infection induces chronic inflammation in the human gastric mucosa, which is associated with development of peptic ulceration, gastric atrophy, and gastric adenocarcinoma. It has been postulated that secretion of immunomodulatory molecules by
H. pylori
facilitates bacterial persistence, and membrane vesicles (MV), which have the potential to cross the gastric epithelial barrier, may mediate delivery of these molecules to host immune cells. However, bacterial MV effects on human immune cells remain largely uncharacterized to date. In the present study, we investigated the immunomodulatory effects of
H. pylori
MV with and without the vacuolating cytotoxin, VacA, which inhibits human T cell activity. We show a high degree of variability in the toxin content of vesicles between two
H. pylori
strains (SS1 and 60190). Vesicles from the more toxigenic 60190 strain contain more VacA (s1i1 type) than vesicles from the SS1 strain (s2i2 VacA), but engineering the SS1 strain to produce s1i1 VacA did not increase the toxin content of its vesicles. Vesicles from all strains tested, including a 60190 isogenic mutant null for VacA, strongly induced interleukin-10 (IL-10) and IL-6 production by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells independently of the infection status of the donor. Finally, we show that
H. pylori
MV induce T cell apoptosis and that this is enhanced by, but not completely dependent on, the carriage of VacA. Together, these findings suggest a role for
H. pylori
MV in the stimulation of innate pro- and anti-inflammatory responses and in the suppression of T cell immunity.
Information flow tracking meets just-in-time compilation
Authors: Kerschbaumer Christoph , Hennigan Eric , Larsen Per , Brunthaler Stefan , Franz Michael 
Published: January 2014

Web applications are vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks that enable data thefts. Information flow tracking in web browsers can prevent communication of sensitive data to unintended recipients and thereby stop such data thefts. Unfortunately, existing solutions have focused on incorporating information flow into browsers’ JavaScript interpreters, rather than just-in-time compilers, rendering the resulting performance noncompetitive. Few users will switch to a safer browser if it comes at the cost of significantly degrading web application performance.
We present the first information flow tracking JavaScript engine that is based on a true just-in-time compiler, and that thereby outperforms all previous interpreter-based information flow tracking JavaScript engines by more than a factor of two. Our JIT-based engine (i) has the same coverage as previous interpreter- based solutions, (ii) requires reasonable implementation effort, and (iii) introduces new optimizations to achieve acceptable performance. When evaluated against three industry-standard JavaScript benchmark suites, there is still an average slowdown of 73% over engines that do not support information flow, but this is now well within the range that many users will find an acceptable price for obtaining substantially increased security.
WADE
Authors: Wang Zhe , Shan Shuchang , Cao Ting , Gu Junli , Xu Yi , Mu Shuai , Xie Yuan , Jiménez Daniel A. 
Published: January 2014

Emerging Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technologies are explored as potential alternatives to traditional SRAM/DRAM-based memory architecture in future microprocessor design. One of the major disadvantages for NVM is the latency and energy overhead associated with write operations. Mitigation techniques to minimize the write overhead for NVM-based main memory architecture have been studied extensively. However, most prior work focuses on optimization techniques for NVM-based main memory itself, with little attention paid to cache management policies for the Last-Level Cache (LLC).
In this article, we propose a Writeback-Aware Dynamic CachE (WADE) management technique to help mitigate the write overhead in NVM-based memory.<sup;>1</sup;> The proposal is based on the observation that, when dirty cache blocks are evicted from the LLC and written into NVM-based memory (with PCM as an example), the long latency and high energy associated with write operations to NVM-based memory can cause system performance/power degradation. Thus, reducing the number of writeback requests from the LLC is critical.
The proposed WADE cache management technique tries to keep highly reused dirty cache blocks in the LLC. The technique predicts blocks that are frequently written back in the LLC. The LLC sets are dynamically partitioned into a frequent writeback list and a nonfrequent writeback list. It keeps a best size of each list in the LLC. Our evaluation shows that the technique can reduce the number of writeback requests by 16.5% for memory-intensive single-threaded benchmarks and 10.8% for multicore workloads. It yields a geometric mean speedup of 5.1% for single-thread applications and 7.6% for multicore workloads. Due to the reduced number of writeback requests to main memory, the technique reduces the energy consumption by 8.1% for single-thread applications and 7.6% for multicore workloads.