bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder increases the risk of deliberate self-poisoning: A population-based cohort
Authors: Chou I.-C. , Lin C.-C. , Sung F.-C. , Kao C.-H. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractBackgroundChildren with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may suffer marked impairment in early adulthood, increasing their risk for serious self-harmful behaviors. Deliberate self-poisoning (DSP) is the most common form of deliberate self-harm. An association may exist between ADHD diagnosis and subsequent DSP events. The purpose of study was to determine whether children and adolescents with ADHD are at a greater risk for DSP than are age-matched controls.MethodsClaims data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database were used to conduct a retrospective cohort analysis of emergency department visits. The study cohort contained 3685 patients with ADHD (< 8 years old). Each ADHD patient was frequency matched based on sex, age, urbanization, parental occupation, and index year to 10 control patients without ADHD. A Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used to estimate the risk of DSP in the ADHD and comparison cohorts.ResultsThe risk of developing DSP was significantly higher in the ADHD cohort than in the comparison cohort (P < .0001 for log-rank test). After adjusting for potential confounders, the regression model showed that the ADHD patients were at a 4.65-fold greater risk of developing DSP than the control patients were (HR = 4.65, 95% CI: 2.41–8.94).ConclusionChildren with ADHD are at greater risk of developing DSP. Identifying risk factors of DSP is crucial efforts to implement prevention strategies. The identification of the underlying cause of increased DSP among ADHD patients warrants further investigation.
Negative symptom subgroups have different effects on the clinical course of schizophrenia after the first episode: A 24-month follow up study
Authors: Ergül C. , Üçok A. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractObjective:The aim of this study was to assess the factor structure of negative symptoms in first-episode schizophrenia (FES), and to examine the relationship of these factors with clinical course and functioning of patients during the two-year follow up.Method:We assessed 174 drug-naïve patients with FES using Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-Expanded (BPRS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and a cognitive battery at admission. The scales were repeated monthly during follow up. We recorded the patients’ functioning levels, remission, and work status after 12 and 24 months.Results:A two-factor structure was found at the baseline, whereas one factor was found after 12 and 24 months. Expressive deficit (ED) factor consisted of alogia and blunted affect, and motivation-pleasure deficit (MPD) factor consisted of avolition and anhedonia. ED factor was related to earlier onset and remission, and it was negatively correlated with duration of education and cognitive test scores. MPD factor was related to duration of untreated psychosis, family history of schizophrenia, and work status, and it appeared as the only independent variable that contributed to the baseline GAF score in linear regression analysis.Conclusion:Our findings suggest that the factors have different aetiologies and impacts on the clinical course of schizophrenia and functioning after FES.
Synaptic signal streams generated by ex vivo neuronal networks contain non‐random, complex patterns
Authors: Lee Sangmook , Zemianek Jill M. , Shultz Abraham , Vo Anh , Maron Ben Y. , Therrien Mikaela , Courtright Christina , Guaraldi Mary , Yanco Holly A. , Shea Thomas B. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractCultured embryonic neurons develop functional networks that transmit synaptic signals over multiple sequentially connected neurons as revealed by multi‐electrode arrays (MEAs) embedded within the culture dish. Signal streams of ex vivo networks contain spikes and bursts of varying amplitude and duration. Despite the random interactions inherent in dissociated cultures, neurons are capable of establishing functional ex vivo networks that transmit signals among synaptically connected neurons, undergo developmental maturation, and respond to exogenous stimulation by alterations in signal patterns. These characteristics indicate that a considerable degree of organization is an inherent property of neurons. We demonstrate herein that (1) certain signal types occur more frequently than others, (2) the predominant signal types change during and following maturation, (3) signal predominance is dependent upon inhibitory activity, and (4) certain signals preferentially follow others in a non‐reciprocal manner. These findings indicate that the elaboration of complex signal streams comprised of a non‐random distribution of signal patterns is an emergent property of ex vivo neuronal networks.
Post‐stroke Spasticity: Predictors of Early Development and Considerations for Therapeutic Intervention
Authors: Wissel Jörg , Verrier Molly , Simpson David M. , Charles David , Guinto Pia , Papapetropoulos Spyros , Sunnerhagen Katharina S. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractObjectiveThe complexities of post‐stroke spasticity (PSS), and the resultant difficulties in treating the disability, present a significant challenge to patients, stroke rehabilitation teams, and caregivers. Reducing the severity of spasticity and its long‐term complications may be facilitated by early intervention, making identification of stroke patients at high risk for developing spasticity essential. Factors that predict which patients are at risk for the development of PSS are identified.TypeSystematic search and reviewLiterature SurveyA PubMed search of the following terms was conducted: predictors OR risk factors AND stroke AND spasticity. Studies discussing predictors of early PSS development and factors predictive of motor/functional outcomes and recovery were selected and reviewed in detail.SynthesisSeveral predictors of PSS have been proposed, based on studies conducted in patients within 6 months after stroke, including development of increased muscle tone, greater severity of paresis, hemihypesthesia, and low Barthel Index score. Predictors identified in later stages post‐stroke (within 12 months) have also proved useful for clinicians, as has the consideration of predictors of motor and functional outcomes and recovery; yet there is a need for additional studies in this area. An understanding of these and other potential predictive factors—such as motor impairment, neurologic and sensory deficit, lesion volume and location, and associated diseases—has not progressed to the same extent and warrants further investigation.ConclusionThe studies discussed in this review support the notion that early identification of factors predictive of PSS should significantly affect the course of intervention, help target individuals who would benefit most from specific types and intensities of therapy, and possibly provide better motor and functional outcomes.
INFINITE FAMILIES OF CONGRUENCES MODULO 3 AND 9 FOR BIPARTITIONS WITH 3-CORES
Authors: YAO OLIVIA X. M. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractLet $A_{3}(n)$ denote the number of bipartitions of $n$ with 3-cores. Recently, Lin [‘Some results on bipartitions with 3-core’, J. Number Theory139 (2014), 44–52] established some congruences modulo 4, 5, 7 and 8 for $A_{3}(n)$. In this paper, we prove several infinite families of congruences modulo 3 and 9 for $A_{3}(n)$ by employing two identities due to Ramanujan.
PENTAVALENT SYMMETRIC GRAPHS OF ORDER
Authors: LING BO , WU CI XUAN , LOU BEN GONG 
Published: August 2014

AbstractA complete classification is given of pentavalent symmetric graphs of order$30p$, where$p\ge 5$is a prime. It is proved that such a graph${\Gamma }$exists if and only if$p=13$and, up to isomorphism, there is only one such graph. Furthermore,${\Gamma }$is isomorphic to$\mathcal{C}_{390}$, a coset graph of PSL(2, 25) with${\sf Aut}\, {\Gamma }=\mbox{PSL(2, 25)}$, and${\Gamma }$is 2-regular. The classification involves a new 2-regular pentavalent graph construction with square-free order.
Impact of pregnancy on vitamin D status: a longitudinal study
Authors: Zhang Joy Y. , Lucey Alice J. , Horgan Richard , Kenny Louise C. , Kiely Mairead 
Published: August 2014

Nutritional requirements for vitamin D during pregnancy have been inadequately described, and there are conflicting data on the impact of gestation on vitamin D status. In the present study, we conducted a longitudinal analysis of total and free (unbound) serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) and albumin concentrations in a random sample of thirty women from the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints Ireland pregnancy cohort study at 15, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 and 40 weeks of gestation and at 2 months postpartum. Concentrations of serum 25(OH)D, DBP and albumin were determined, and free 25(OH)D was calculated from the concentrations of total 25(OH)D, DBP and albumin. Serum albumin concentration decreased during pregnancy (P< 0·001), with a nadir at 36 weeks (P< 0·005), during which the concentration was approximately 80 % of the postnatal concentration. Serum DBP concentration increased during pregnancy and at 28 weeks of gestation, which was almost double the postnatal level (P< 0·001). Total and free 25(OH)D concentrations decreased (bothP< 0·005) as pregnancy progressed, and both were lowest at 36 weeks of gestation. At 15 weeks, 10 and 63 % of the women had serum 25(OH)D concentration < 30 and 50 nmol/l, respectively, which increased to 53 and 80 % at 36 weeks of gestation. The time course of decreasing concentrations of 25(OH)D during gestation among women recruited during May–July, who delivered between October and November, and among those recruited in August–September, who delivered between February and March, was similar. The lower percentage of free 25(OH)D during pregnancy is mainly due to increased DBP.
Plasma phospholipid and dietary α-linolenic acid, mortality, CHD and stroke: the Cardiovascular Health Study
Authors: Fretts Amanda M. , Mozaffarian Dariush , Siscovick David S. , Sitlani Colleen , Psaty Bruce M. , Rimm Eric B. , Song Xiaoling , McKnight Barbara , Spiegelman Donna , King Irena B. , Lemaitre Rozenn N. 
Published: August 2014

Previous studies have suggested that long-chainn-3 fatty acids derived from seafood are associated with a lower risk of mortality, CHD and stroke. Whether α-linolenic acid (ALA, 18 : 3n-3), a plant-derived long-chain essentialn-3 fatty acid, is associated with a lower risk of these outcomes is unclear. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations of plasma phospholipid and dietary ALA with the risk of mortality, CHD and stroke among older adults who participated in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a cohort study of adults aged ≥ 65 years. A total of 2709 participants were included in the plasma phospholipid ALA analysis and 2583 participants were included in the dietary ALA analysis. Cox regression was used to assess the associations of plasma phospholipid and dietary ALA with the risk of mortality, incident CHD and stroke. In minimally and multivariable-adjusted models, plasma phospholipid ALA was found to be not associated with the risk of mortality, incident CHD or stroke. After adjustment for age, sex, race, enrolment site, education, smoking status, diabetes, BMI, alcohol consumption, treated hypertension and total energy intake, higher dietary ALA intake was found to be associated with a lower risk of total and non-cardiovascular mortality; on comparing the highest quintiles of dietary ALA with the lowest quintiles, the HR for total mortality and non-cardiovascular mortality were found to be 0·73 (95 % CI 0·61, 0·88) and 0·64 (95 % CI 0·52, 0·80), respectively. Dietary ALA was found to be not associated with the risk of cardiovascular mortality, incident CHD or stroke. In conclusion, the results of the present suggest study that dietary ALA, but not plasma phospholipid ALA, is associated with a lower risk of total and non-cardiovascular mortality in older adults.
A high-protein diet is anti-steatotic and has no pro-inflammatory side effects in dyslipidaemic APOE2 knock-in mice
Authors: Garcia Caraballo Sonia C. , Comhair Tine M. , Dejong Cornelis H. C. , Lamers Wouter H. , Köhler S. Eleonore 
Published: August 2014

High-protein (HP) diets are effective anti-steatotic treatment options for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, but whether these diets also decrease steatosis in hyperlipidaemic conditions is not known. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of a HP diet on hepatic steatosis and inflammation in hyperlipidaemic mice. Hyperlipidaemic male and female APOE2 knock-in (APOE2ki) mice were fed a semi-synthetic low-protein (LP) or HP diet in combination with a low-fat diet or a high-fat diet for 3 weeks. The HP diets reduced hepatic fat and cholesterol concentrations to 40–55 % of those induced by the corresponding LP diets and attenuated hepatic inflammation mildly. The VLDL-associated plasma cholesterol concentrations decreased to 60–80 %, but those of TAG increased 3–4-fold. APOE2-mediated restriction of fat import into the liver did not modify the effects of a HP diet previously observed in wild-type mice. Female APOE2ki mice exhibited a higher expression of lipogenic, cholesterol-synthesising, inflammatory and cell-stress genes than wild-type female or male APOE2ki mice, but a similar response to HP diets. Low Apob expression and unchanged plasma APOB100 concentrations suggest that HP diets increase the plasma concentrations of TAG by slowing their clearance. The decrease in plasma leptin and hepatic fat and glycogen concentrations and the increase in fatty acid-oxidising gene and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 protein expression suggest a HP diet-mediated increase in mitochondrial metabolism. In conclusion, a HP diet reduces hepatic lipid content in dyslipidaemic mice and lowers the activation status of inflammatory cells in the liver.
The Federalization of Immigration and Integration in Canada
Authors: Paquet Mireille 
Published: August 2014

AbstractBetween 1990 and 2010, a gradual process of institutional change has affected Canada's immigration and integration governance regime. The central characteristic of this process is the emergence of a new legitimate institutional group of actors: Canadian provinces. This change corresponds to a federalization of Canada's immigration and integration governance regime. It is a break from the previous pattern of federal dominance and provincial avoidance. It is not the result of diminished federal intervention in immigration and cannot be explained by exogenous shocks. Current explanations of this evolution focus on federal decisions and have trouble explaining provincial mobilization. Using a mechanistic approach to the analysis of social processes and insights on gradual institutional changes, this article demonstrates that provinces have been the central agents bringing about the federalization of Canada's immigration and integration governance regime between 1990 and 2010. Via a mechanism of province building centred on immigration, provinces have triggered and maintained in movement a decentralizing mechanism. The interactions of these two mechanisms, over time, gave rise to the federalization of immigration and integration in Canada.
The Application of Sequential Analysis to Mortality Data for Assured Lives
Authors: Leigh T. S. 
Published: August 2014

1. It is some years since the application of sequential analysis to actuarial work was discussed in theJournaland the following paragraphs illustrate how the techniques may be used to help solve a current problem.2. The data relate to the experience of one large office during the calendar years 1970–73. It corresponds to the returns made to the Continuous Mortality Investigation relating as it does to full premium business for assured lives at duration 2 and over. All the lives have been accepted at normal rates of premium and for convenience the two forms of acceptance (Medical and Non-Medical) have been combined.
The Active Role of the Pension Scheme Trustee.
Authors: Lawrey R. A. C. 
Published: August 2014

Most pension schemes, today, provide benefits linked to a member's final pay, partly as a result of the recognition of the effects of growing inflation in the 1960's and early 1970's on career average and grade table schemes. Since 1970, earnings inflation has averaged around 14% per annum, and at this rate earnings double every five years. Over the same period the overall return on U.K. ordinary shares has been of the order of 15% per annum.
The growth of pension funds, partly from the effects of earnings inflation on contributions and partly from the effects of higher investment returns, has been phenomenal; to such an extent that the assets of the larger pension funds are now often comparable with the total stock market capitalisation of their sponsors.
Analysis of a London Market Reinsurance Office's Accounts.
Authors: Craighead D. H. 
Published: August 2014

The paper by Messrs Abbott, Clarke and Treen on “Some Financial Aspects of a General Insurance Company”, submitted recently at a meeting of the Institute, dealt at some length with the accounts of an insurance office and the analysis thereof.
A reinsurance office operating in the London reinsurance market differs in so many ways and tends to be so specialized that many different aspects of analysis arise and a somewhat altered approach is essential. Lest it be thought that the area of operations under consideration is too small to warrant much attention by actuaries, let it be pointed out that recent figures completed by the B.I.A. and by Lloyd's would seem to indicate that the reinsurance offices, once Lloyd's itself and the Home–Foreign departments of the large direct-writing insurance office are included, in all of which administration is carried out in the United Kingdom, involves an annual premium income very roughly equal to that of all direct general insurance business written in the U.K. and each is roughly equal to the U.K. premium income of the life offices.
Unit Pricing.
Authors: Parry T. W. 
Published: August 2014

Unit-linked business has been with us for about 20 years. The original concept consisted of a life assurance policy under which the benefits were linked to the performance of a Unit Trust and the definition of unit pricing was therefore of no direct concern to the Insurance Company.
Subsequently, contracts were issued where the benefits were linked to the performance of an internal Unit Fund and the definition of unit pricing then became the direct concern of the Actuary.
This paper adopts a simplified approach to unit pricing and reviews some of the issues to be considered when calculating unit prices for an internal fund.
The paper does not consider the question of Unit Trust pricing nor have I attempted to provide a summary of historic and current practices or to provide any hard and fast rules, the aim being to concentrate on the principles involved.
Time Series Analysis of the Sex Composition of the Unemployed.
Authors: Haberman S. 
Published: August 2014

This paper describes the use of time series analysis in the solution of a problem arising in social insurance. As part of a model which estimates the future cost of unemployment benefit the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) is required to forecast the proportion of the unemployed in future calendar quarters, who are male. The format of the paper is to describe forecasting in general terms in §1 and the particular problem under consideration in §2. In subsequent sections, the data available (§ 3), the existing forecasting model (§ 4) and alternative time series models (§§ 5–8) are described.
The everyday job of the actuary involves the estimation of a future series of events. Examples include the estimation of future streams of liability outgo and asset income in life assurance, the run-off of outstanding claims in nonlife insurance, and the future numbers of persons in a subgroup of the total population. This estimation can be qualitative or quantitative, short-term or long-term, deterministic or stochastic and will involve the establishment of a mathematical-statistical model, and the determination of the relevant parameters by an analysis of the data available.
Small Self-Administered Schemes in Practice.
Authors: Kipling M. R. 
Published: August 2014

In the last four years, the number of small self-administered pension schemes has increased from a few dozen to a figure that, if it has not already done so, must shortly pass the 10,000 mark and few major Life Offices, Consulting Actuaries or Pensions Consultants are now without such a weapon in their armoury.
Considerable practical experience in the administration of these arrangements has been gained, often somewhat traumatically, over this period by actuaries and other practitioners and, with many schemes having recently had, or just coming up to, their first triennial actuarial report, it seemed a sensible time to consolidate this experience and to highlight some of the more contentious areas for discussion.
Certain statements in the paper are based on my understanding of current Inland Revenue practice which is not necessarily consistent either with time or between different examiners.
Finally, although the subject matter of the paper applies equally to fully self-administered schemes and to Life Office 'hybrid' schemes, I wish to apologize for any unintentional bias towards the latter that may have crept in. Better the devil you know, I suppose!
Conscientious Objection to Abortion and Accommodating Women's Reproductive Health Rights: Reflections on a Decision of the Constitutional Court of Colombia from an African Regional Human Rights Perspective
Authors: Ngwena Charles G 
Published: August 2014

AbstractIf applied in isolation from the fundamental rights of women seeking abortion services, the right to conscientious objection can render any given rights to abortion illusory, including the rights to health, life, equality and dignity that are attendant to abortion. A transformative understanding of human rights requires that the right to conscientious objection to abortion be construed in a manner that is subject to the correlative duties which are imposed on the conscientious objector, as well as the state, in order to accommodate women's reproductive health rights. In recent years, the Colombian Constitutional Court has been giving a judicial lead on the development of a right to conscientious objection that accommodates women's fundamental rights. This article reflects on one of the court's decisions and draws lessons for the African region.