bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Influence of Vascular Comorbidities and Race on Erectile Dysfunction After Prostate Cancer Radiotherapy
Authors: Wang Yuefeng , Liu Tian , Rossi Peter J. , Watkins-Bruner Deborah , Hsiao Wayland , Cooper Sherrie , Yang Xiaofeng , Jani Ashesh B. 
Published: June 2013

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Vascular comorbidities (VC) (hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia) are known factors related to erectile dysfunction (ED) in men. However, no data are yet available for the effects of VC on ED incidence after prostate cancer radiotherapy (XRT).

Aim
To investigate the influence of VC on post-XRT ED incidence and to further characterize ED incidence by racial groups.

Main Outcome Measures
ED incidence.

Methods
We reviewed 732 charts of patients (267 Caucasian and 465 African American [AA]) who received prostate XRT (external beam radiotherapy and/or brachytherapy) with or without hormone therapy between 1999 and 2010. The number of pre-XRT VC (0, 1, 2, or 3) was determined by medical history and medication list. ED (defined by use of erectile aids or by documentation of moderate or high sexual dysfunction on patient history) was determined pre-XRT as well as 1, 2, and 4 years post-XRT.

Results
ED incidence progressively increased from 22% pre-XRT to 58% 4 years post-XRT (P &lt; 0.01). Additionally, ED incidence significantly increased with number of VC—4-year incidence between patients with 1 vs. 0 (P = 0.02), 2 vs. 0 (P &lt; 0.01), 3 vs. 0 (P &lt; 0.01), 3 vs. 1 (P &lt; 0.01), and 3 vs. 2 (P = 0.04) VC (2 vs. 1 VC was nonsignificant). Compared with the Caucasian patients, ED incidences were slightly higher for the AA group with 0, 1, 2, and 3 comorbidities at 4 years follow-up (but statistically nonsignificant).

Conclusions
The number of VCs have a significant effect on development of post-XRT ED. Pre- and post-XRT ED appear to be independent of race when number of VCs are considered. Our results can be used to guide physicians in counseling patients on the incidence of ED by number of VC and as preliminary data for prospective efforts aimed at reducing post-XRT ED.
Variations in righting behaviour across Hermann's tortoise populations
Authors: Golubović A. , Bonnet X. , Djordjević S. , Djurakic M. , Tomović L. 
Published: June 2013

AbstractIn terrestrial animals with rigid protective structures, the ability to upright after being overturned can make the difference between life and death, especially in suboptimal thermal conditions or in the presence of predators. This trait is assumed to be under strong selection. Different factors can influence righting ability, body dimensions and body mass for instance. As these morphological traits diverge among populations, inter‐population variability in righting ability is expected. Previous studies on tortoises were performed within single populations and they usually focused on juveniles raised in captivity, precluding an assessment of the inter‐population variability in a natural (realistic) context. In the current study, we quantified the righting performance in four populations of free‐ranging adult tortoises. We found strong differences in righting success among populations and between genders, suggesting possible adaptations to local conditions. For instance, the topography (e.g. slopes) of each study site varied markedly. On average, males were more successful in righting themselves than females. Body size did not influence righting performances in males, but larger females were less successful compared to smaller ones. The success in righting was positively correlated with carapace domedness (height) and short bridges.
Rereading Prayer as Social Act: Examples from Shakespeare
Authors: Sterrett Joseph 
Published: June 2013

AbstractLiterary criticism is increasingly interested in prayer as a cultural and literary mode. This article proposes a theoretical framework for reading prayer as a performance, as an act governed by community conventions with effects in the social world. Drawing upon groundbreaking work by Marcel Mauss and Hans Georg Gadamer, and citing critical reading of Shakespeare's King Lear, The Tempest and Hamlet, I show how prayer can be read as an act defined by real and imagined audiences while retaining individual self expression.
Re‐thinking American Exceptionalism
Authors: Duquette Elizabeth 
Published: June 2013

AbstractAmerican exceptionalism has been an organizing concept in American literary and cultural studies for decades, but recent years have witnessed the proliferation of new approaches to this topic. After an introduction to the history of American exceptionalism, the essay traces the arguments of several key figures in this debate, especially Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben, in order to provide an introduction to the utility of their claims for literary scholars.
OPTIMAL INVESTMENT UNDER RELATIVE PERFORMANCE CONCERNS
Authors: Espinosa Gilles‐Edouard , Touzi Nizar 
Published: June 2013

We consider the problem of optimal investment when agents take into account their relative performance by comparison to their peers. Given N interacting agents, we consider the following optimization problem for agent i, :

urn:x-wiley:09601627:media:mafi12034:mafi12034-math-0002where is the utility function of agent i, his portfolio, his wealth, the average wealth of his peers, and is the parameter of relative interest for agent i. Together with some mild technical conditions, we assume that the portfolio of each agent i is restricted in some subset . We show existence and uniqueness of a Nash equilibrium in the following situations:

unconstrained agents,
constrained agents with exponential utilities and Black–Scholes financial market.

We also investigate the limit when the number of agents N goes to infinity. Finally, when the constraints sets are vector spaces, we study the impact of the s on the risk of the market.
OPTION PRICING AND HEDGING WITH SMALL TRANSACTION COSTS
Authors: Kallsen Jan , Muhle‐Karbe Johannes 
Published: June 2013

AbstractAn investor with constant absolute risk aversion trades a risky asset with general Itô‐dynamics, in the presence of small proportional transaction costs. In this setting, we formally derive a leading‐order optimal trading policy and the associated welfare, expressed in terms of the local dynamics of the frictionless optimizer. By applying these results in the presence of a random endowment, we obtain asymptotic formulas for utility indifference prices and hedging strategies in the presence of small transaction costs.
Transcriptomic characterization of two major Fusarium resistance quantitative trait loci (QTLs), Fhb1 and Qfhs.ifa‐5A, identifies novel candidate genes
Authors: Schweiger Wolfgang , Steiner Barbara , Ametz Christian , Siegwart Gerald , Wiesenberger Gerlinde , Berthiller Franz , Lemmens Marc , Jia Haiyan , Adam Gerhard , Muehlbauer Gary J. , Kreil David P. , Buerstmayr Hermann 
Published: June 2013

SummaryFusarium head blight, caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a devastating disease of wheat. We developed near‐isogenic lines (NILs) differing in the two strongest known F. graminearum resistance quantitative trait loci (QTLs), Qfhs.ndsu‐3BS (also known as resistance gene Fhb1) and Qfhs.ifa‐5A, which are located on the short arm of chromosome 3B and on chromosome 5A, respectively. These NILs showing different levels of resistance were used to identify transcripts that are changed significantly in a QTL‐specific manner in response to the pathogen and between mock‐inoculated samples. After inoculation with F. graminearum spores, 16 transcripts showed a significantly different response for Fhb1 and 352 for Qfhs.ifa‐5A. Notably, we identified a lipid transfer protein which is constitutively at least 50‐fold more abundant in plants carrying the resistant allele of Qfhs.ifa‐5A. In addition to this candidate gene associated with Qfhs.ifa‐5A, we identified a uridine diphosphate (UDP)‐glycosyltransferase gene, designated TaUGT12887, exhibiting a positive difference in response to the pathogen in lines harbouring both QTLs relative to lines carrying only the Qfhs.ifa‐5A resistance allele, suggesting Fhb1 dependence of this transcript. Yet, this dependence was observed only in the NIL with already higher basal resistance. The complete cDNA of TaUGT12887 was reconstituted from available wheat genomic sequences, and a synthetic recoded gene was expressed in a toxin‐sensitive strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This gene conferred deoxynivalenol resistance, albeit much weaker than that observed with the previously characterized barley HvUGT13248.
Common arbuscular mycorrhizal networks amplify competition for phosphorus between seedlings and established plants
Authors: Merrild Marie P. , Ambus Per , Rosendahl Søren , Jakobsen Iver 
Published: June 2013

Summary

Common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) influence competition between plants, but reports regarding their precise effect are conflicting. We studied CMN effects on phosphorus (P) uptake and growth of seedlings as influenced by various disruptions of network components.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) seedlings grew into established networks of Rhizophagus irregularis and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) in two experiments. One experiment studied seedling uptake of 32P in the network in response to cutting of cucumber shoots; the other analysed seedling uptake of P and nitrogen (N) in the presence of intact or severed arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus networks and at two soil P concentrations.

Pre‐established and intact networks suppressed growth of tomato seedlings. Cutting of cucumber shoots mitigated P deficiency symptoms of seedlings, which obtained access to P in the extraradical mycelium and thereby showed improved growth. Solitary seedlings growing in a network patch that had been severed from the CMN also grew much better than seedlings of the corresponding CMN.

Interspecific and size‐asymmetric competition between plants may be amplified rather than relaxed by CMNs that transfer P to large plants providing most carbon and render small plants P deficient. It is likely that grazing or senescence of the large plants will alleviate the network‐induced suppression of seedling growth.
Interspecific vs intraspecific patterns in leaf nitrogen of forest trees across nitrogen availability gradients
Authors: Dybzinski Ray , Farrior Caroline E. , Ollinger Scott , Pacala Stephen W. 
Published: June 2013

Summary

Leaf nitrogen content (δ) coordinates with total canopy N and leaf area index (LAI) to maximize whole‐crown carbon (C) gain, but the constraints and contributions of within‐species plasticity to this phenomenon are poorly understood.

Here, we introduce a game theoretic, physiologically based community model of height‐structured competition between late‐successional tree species. Species are constrained by an increasing, but saturating, relationship between photosynthesis and leaf N per unit leaf area. Higher saturating rates carry higher fixed costs.

For a given whole‐crown N content, a C gain‐maximizing compromise exists between δ and LAI. With greater whole‐crown N, both δ and LAI increase within species. However, a shift in community composition caused by reduced understory light at high soil N availability (which competitively favors species with low leaf costs and consequent low optimal δ) counteracts the within‐species response, such that community‐level δ changes little with soil N availability. These model predictions provide a new explanation for the changes in leaf N per mass observed in data from three dominant broadleaf species in temperate deciduous forests of New England.

Attempts to understand large‐scale patterns in vegetation often omit competitive interactions and intraspecific plasticity, but here both are essential to an understanding of ecosystem‐level patterns.
Long‐Term Outcome Following Ablation of Atrial Tachycardias Occurring after Mitral Valve Replacement in Patients with Rheumatic Heart Disease
Authors: CHEN HONGWU , YANG BING , JU WEIZHU , ZHANG FENGXIANG , GU KAI , LI MINGFANG , WANG JING , CAO KEJIANG , CHEN MINGLONG 
Published: June 2013

BackgroundAtrial tachycardia (AT) is a frequent late sequel of surgical valve replacement procedures in patients with rheumatic heart disease (RHD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute and long‐term outcome of catheter ablation in such patients.Methods and ResultsA total of 21 consecutive RHD patients with AT after a valve replacement were enrolled in this study. The mean interval between the occurrence of symptomatic AT and the surgical intervention was 38.2 ± 48.7 months. The initial procedure was performed 8.4 ± 8.9 months after first onset of AT. During the first procedure, an electroanatomic mapping was completed for 25 ATs, 18 of which were cavotricuspid isthmus‐dependent atrial flutter, five that were right atrial free wall AT, and two that were left AT. Acute success was obtained in 95% (20/21) patients. Nine patients with recurrent AT had repeat radiofrequency catheter ablation, and newly developed left AT was identified in five patients after the first right AT ablation. After a mean follow‐up of 42.7 ± 17.3 months, only 33% of the patients remained free of ATs, while 14% and 53% of the patients had AT recurrence and the development of atrial fibrillation (AF), respectively.ConclusionRight but not left macroreentry is the most common AT postmitral valve replacement in patients with RHD. The incidence of AF is very high after AT ablation in such patients during the long‐term follow‐up.
A macroevolutionary expansion of the modern synthesis and the importance of extrinsic abiotic factors
Authors: Myers Corinne E. , Saupe Erin E. 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThis contribution examines theModernSynthesis in the light of its historical underpinnings, attempts at expansion and treatment of macroevolutionary theory. Particular emphasis is given to the need to better understand the patterns and processes operating on species and higher‐level biological entities within a hierarchical framework, as they are often not congruent with lower‐level processes. We then focus on the oft‐overlooked importance of extrinsic abiotic drivers (e.g. tectonic change, sea‐level and climatic fluctuations, as well as factors resulting in mass extinctions) in directing evolution. We propose that the fundamental niche is a species‐level property useful in testing for the effects of extrinsic abiotic drivers on macroevolutionary patterns and potential instances of species‐level selection. Integration of a diverse array of fields requires both the addition of new information and a standardized theoretical framework for understanding how the effects of change at one level reverberate to other levels. These are some of the remaining ingredients necessary for building a truly synthetic theory of evolution.
“Foucault and Critical Animal Studies: Genealogies of Agricultural Power”
Authors: Taylor Chloë 
Published: June 2013

AbstractMichel Foucault is well known as a theorist of power who provided forceful critiques of institutions of confinement such as the psychiatric asylum and the prison. Although the invention of factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses, like prisons and psychiatric hospitals, can be considered emblematic moments in a history of modernity, and although the modern farm is an institution of confinement comparable to the prison, Foucault never addressed these institutions, the politics of animal agriculture, or power relationships between humans and other animals more generally. The few times that Foucault discussed animality or human–animal relations, animals and animality remained metaphors for humans and human experiences. Despite Foucault's failure to analyze human–nonhuman animal relations, a significant body of Critical Animal Studies literature has mobilized Foucault's work over the last decade. In particular, a number of scholars have taken up Foucault's writings to consider how relations between humans and nonhuman animals in agriculture might be conceptualized as instances of sovereign power, biopower, disciplinary power, and pastoral power, as well as why we may not think that these are power relations at all. This essay provides an overview of Foucault's accounts of power and of the Foucauldian scholarship that applies these accounts to human–nonhuman animal relations in animal agriculture.
Real‐time and qualitativePCRfor detectingPseudomonas syringaepv.actinidiaeisolates causing recent outbreaks of kiwifruit bacterial canker
Authors: Gallelli A. , Talocci S. , Pilotti M. , Loreti S. 
Published: June 2013

Since 2008,Pseudomonas syringaepv.actinidiaevirulent strains (Psa‐V) have quickly spread across the main areas of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosaandA. chinensis) cultivation causing sudden and re‐emerging outbreaks of bacterial canker to both species. The disease caused byPsa‐Vstrains is considered worldwide as pandemic. Recently,P. syringaestrains (exPsa‐LV, now calledPsD) phylogenetically related toPsa‐Vhave been isolated from kiwifruit, but cause only minor damage (i.e. leaf spot) to the host. The different biological significance of these bacterial populations affecting kiwifruit highlights the importance of having a diagnostic method able to detectPsa‐V, which is currently solely responsible for the severe damage to the kiwifruit industry. In order to improve the specific molecular detection ofPsa‐V, a real‐timePCRassay has been developed based onEvaGreen chemistry, together with a novel qualitativePCR(PCR‐C). Both methods are based on specific primer sets for thehrpWgene ofPsa. The real‐timePCRandPCR‐Cwere highly specific, detecting down to 50 and 200 fg, respectively, and were applied to a range of organs/tissues of kiwifruit with and without symptoms. These methods are important tools for both sanitary and certification programmes, and will help to avoid the spread ofPsa‐Vand to check possible inoculum sources. In addition to being used as routine tests, they will also enable the study of the biology ofPsa‐Vand the disease that it causes, whilst avoiding the detection of other populations of relatedP. syringaepresent in kiwifruit.
Explorations of Zhou Dunyi's Confucian Cosmology for an Ecological Promise
Authors: Choi Kwang Sun 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to explore Zhou Dunyi's cosmology for an ecological promise. Zhou (1017–1073, China) is considered to be the pioneer who laid the pattern of cosmology for later Neo‐Confucianism. His cosmology is presented in his texts: An Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate (Taijitu shuo) and Penetrating the Book of Changes (Tongshu). While Zhou's organic and ethical cosmology became the foundation of an officially recognized East Asian worldview and moral philosophy that flourished during the Song dynasty and until the early twentieth century, the explorations of Zhou's cosmology for the development of an ecological worldview has not been studied sufficiently. By exploring his cosmology, this article will show the inseparability of the universe from the ultimate reality, the ongoing process of the universe from its beginning to the emergence of myriad things, and finally the relationship between part and whole as the basis for a holistic and ecological worldview. These ecological implications of Zhou's cosmology will be examined in light of Confucian influence on Thomas Berry's functional cosmology. Thus, a closer reading of Zhou's cosmology and Confucian influence on Berry's thought will unpack an ecological promise of Confucian heritages.
Transferable wavelet method for grain‐size distribution from images of sediment surfaces and thin sections, and other natural granular patterns
Authors: Buscombe Daniel 
Published: June 2013

AbstractIn images of sedimentary or granular material, or simulations of binary (two‐phase) granular media, in which the individual grains are resolved, the complete size distribution of apparent grain axes is well‐approximated by the global power spectral density function derived using a Morlet wavelet. This approach overcomes many limitations of previous automated methods for estimating the grain‐size distribution from images, all of which rely on either: identification and segmentation of individual grains; calibration and/or relatively large sample sizes. The new method presented here is tested using: (i) various types of simulations of two‐phase media with a size distribution, with and without preferred orientation; (ii) 300 sample images drawn from 46 populations of sands and gravels from around the world, displaying a wide variability in origin (biogenic and mineralogical), size, surface texture and shape; (iii) petrographic thin section samples from nine populations of sedimentary rock; (iv) high‐resolution scans of marine sediment cores; and (v) non‐sedimentary natural granular patterns including sea ice and patterned ground. The grain‐size distribution obtained is equivalent to the distribution of apparent intermediate grain diameters, grid by number style. For images containing sufficient well‐resolved grains, root mean square errors are within tens of percent for percentiles across the entire grain‐size distribution. As such, this method is the first of its type which is completely transferable, unmodified, without calibration, for both consolidated and unconsolidated sediment, isotropic and anisotropic two‐phase media, and even non‐sedimentary granular patterns. The success of the wavelet approach is due, in part, to it quantifying both spectral and spatial information from the sediment image simultaneously, something which no previously developed technique is able to do.
Effects of spatial heterogeneity and subsample pooling on the measurement of abiotic and biotic soil properties in rainforest, pasture and reforested sites
Authors: Paul M. , Catterall C. P. , Pollard P. C. 
Published: June 2013

AbstractSpatial variability presents a challenge for effective measurement of ecological processes in soil ecosystems. This study characterized the heterogeneity of seven different biotic and abiotic soil properties at three ecological scales: land‐use type (vegetation type), site (scale of km to tens of km, and subplot (10–30 m). We addressed three questions about soil properties: (i) Do they differ more at any ecological scale when compared with other scales? (ii) Does physically combining samples from replicate subplots affect their measurement? (iii) What are the implications of this variation for the detection of differences caused by changing land‐use? There were five land‐use types: remnant rainforest, pasture, ecological restoration plantings 10–15 yrs old, 40–50 yrs regrowth dominated by the non‐native tree camphor laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) and rainforest regrowth 3–6 yrs after poisoning of camphor trees within older regrowth. Sites were interspersed within a 750 km2 region of subtropical Eastern Australia. In general, variability was greatest at the site and subplot levels. Soil water content, soil organic matter and pH were less variable than total organic carbon, microbial biomass, nitrate and nitrification. Power analyses using total organic carbon and nitrate showed that adequate replication at both site and subplot levels was important for detecting effects of land‐use type, although increased replication was slightly more effective for subplots than for sites. Subplot spacing was relatively unimportant. Physically combining subplot samples to yield one aggregate measurement per site was successful in reducing analytical effort without sacrificing accuracy for all soil properties except total organic carbon and nitrification.