bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Growing Executive Compensation Advantage of Private Versus Public Companies
Authors: Hodak Marc 
Published: April 2014

Private companies have a natural governance advantage over public companies—one that stems mainly from the presence on their boards of their largest owners. This governance advantage is reflected in the greater effectiveness of private company executive pay plans in balancing the goals of management retention and incentive alignment against cost. Private company investor‐directors are more likely to make these tradeoffs efficiently because they have both a much stronger interest in outcomes than public company directors and more company‐specific knowledge than public company investors.Furthermore, private company boards do not have to contend with the external scrutiny of CEO pay and the growing number of constraints on compensation that are now faced by the directors of public companies. Such constraints focus almost entirely on one dimension of compensation governance—cost—in the belief that such constraints are required to limit the ability of directors to overpay their CEOs.In practice, any element of compensation can serve to improve retention or alignment, as well as being potentially costly to shareholders. Furthermore, any proscribed compensation element can be “worked around” by plan designers, provided the company is willing to deal with the complexity. For this reason, rules intended to deter excessive CEO pay are now effectively forcing even well‐intentioned public company boards to adopt suboptimal or overly complex compensation plans, while doing little to prevent “captured” boards from overpaying CEOs. As a result, it is increasingly difficult for public companies to put in place the kinds of simple, powerful, and efficient incentive plans that are typically seen at private companies—plans that often feature bonuses funded by an uncapped share of profit growth, or upfront “mega‐grants” of stock options with service‐based vesting.
What Determines TSR
Authors: Stewart Bennett 
Published: April 2014

Researchers have long wrestled with the question of what determines a company's total shareholder return, or TSR, and their results have been decidedly mixed. Some empirical studies come down in favor of dividends or earnings per share, while others favor return on capital or other profitability measures.In this article, the author takes a “first principles” approach that begins by demonstrating that TSR should be a function of a company's economic profit, or its Economic Value Added (or EVA). He shows that, from a theoretical standpoint, the sum of dividends and share price appreciation—which is the definition of TSR—is ultimately a function of increasing EVA and, along with it, a company's “aggregate NPV.” He further shows that if stock prices are determined by discounting expected cash flows, corporate NPV will equal the discounted value of EVA, and increasing NPV will come down to increasing EVA.In developing his argument, the author demonstrates that TSR is actually a leveraged version of a measure he calls “TIR,” or total investor return, which is the blended return that an investor would earn from owning the entire capital structure of a company, bonds as well as stock. He then presents the findings of regression analysis showing that a company's TIR and TSR are both strongly positively correlated with its EVA performance plus the change in its aggregate NPV (with R2s equal to 1.0 and 0.94, respectively). In a final step, the author shows that the change in EVA provides a better statistical explanation than other financial measures for changes in aggregate NPV and, hence, actual TSR
The work of living with a rare cancer: multiple myeloma
Authors: Stephens Moira , McKenzie Heather , Jordens Christopher F.C. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractAimTo report findings from a qualitative study of the experiences of long‐term survivors of multiple myeloma.BackgroundMultiple Myeloma is a malignant disease of the bone marrow. Until recently, it was rapidly fatal. Although it remains incurable, people diagnosed with it are living longer on average, largely due to new treatments, some of which have onerous side effects.DesignProspective descriptive study.MethodA series of 47 in‐depth interviews were conducted at 6–12 month intervals over 18 months in 2008–2010 with 10 long‐term survivors of myeloma and their primary support person. Interviews were analysed using the constant comparative method (Grounded Theory).FindingsTo adapt to the effects of both the disease and ongoing medical treatments, participants undertook extensive ‘illness work’. Most of this work fell into two broad categories. Risk work aimed to mitigate risks to the well‐being of both the person with myeloma and his/her carer. Emotion work aimed to manage the feelings of self and others in a protracted cycle of remission and relapse.ConclusionThe experience of myeloma is increasingly characterized by issues associated with chronic disease and ‘survivorship’. It is important for nurses working with people with myeloma to understand the overwhelming nature of illness work in this context. Nurses can put in place supportive measures to address the two main ‘drivers’ of this work: constant risk to well‐being of survivors (including carers) and the recurrent need to manage emotions in social interactions.
Microglial activation mediates host neuronal survival induced by neural stem cells
Authors: Wu Hui‐Mei , Zhang Li‐Feng , Ding Pei‐Shang , Liu Ya‐Jing , Wu Xu , Zhou Jiang‐Ning 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThe rational of neural stem cells (NSCs) in the therapy of neurological disease is either to replace dead neurons or to improve host neuronal survival, the latter of which has got less attention and the underlying mechanism is as yet little known. Using a transwell co‐culture system, we reported that, in organotypic brain slice cultures, NSCs significantly improved host neuronal viability. Interestingly, this beneficial effect of NSCs was abrogated by a microglial inhibitor minocycline, while it was mimicked by a microglial agonist, Toll‐like receptor 9 (TLR9) ligand CpG‐ODN, which supports the pro‐vital mediation by microglia on this NSCs‐improved neuronal survival. Moreover, we showed that NSCs significantly induced host microglial movement and higher expression of a microglial marker IBA‐1, the latter of which was positively correlated with TLR9 or extracellular‐regulated protein kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) activation. Real‐time PCR revealed that NSCs inhibited the expression of pro‐inflammatory molecules, but significantly increased the expression of molecules associated with a neuroprotective phenotype such as CX3CR1, triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells‐2 (TREM2) and insulin growth factor 1 (IGF‐1). Similarly, in the microglia cells, NSCs induced the same microglial response as that in the slices. Further treatment with TLR9 ligand CpG‐ODN, TLR9 inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) or ERK1/2 inhibitor U0126 demonstrated that TLR9‐ERK1/2 pathway was involved in the NSCs‐induced microglial activation. Collectively, this study indicated that NSCs improve host neuronal survival by switching microglia from a detrimental to a neuroprotective phenotype in adult mouse brain, and the microglial TLR9‐ERK1/2 pathway seems to participate in this NSCs‐mediated rescue action.
Contrasting patterns of selection on the size and coloration of a female plumage ornament in common yellowthroats
Authors: Freeman‐Gallant C. R. , Schneider R. L. , Taff C. C. , Dunn P. O. , Whittingham L. A. 
Published: April 2014

AbstractFemales often possess ornaments that appear smaller and duller than homologous traits in males. These ornaments may arise as nonfunctional by‐products of sexual selection in males and cause negative viability or fecundity selection in females in proportion to the cost of their production and maintenance. Alternatively, female ornaments may function as signals of quality that are maintained by sexual or social selection. In a 4‐year study of 83 female common yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas) and their 222 young, we found strong viability and fecundity selection on the yellow bib, a carotenoid‐based plumage ornament that is a target of sexual selection in males. Females with larger bibs were older, larger and more fecund than females with smaller bibs. However, bib size positively covaried with bib total brightness and carotenoid chroma, aspects of bib coloration that were under negative viability and fecundity selection. Females with more colourful bibs laid fewer eggs in their first clutch, were more likely to suffer total brood loss due to predation and were less likely to return to the study area. Selection against bib coloration limits the value of bib size as a quality indicator in females and may constrain the elaboration of bib attributes in males.
Positioning of 18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose‐positron emission tomography imaging in the management algorithm of hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Kawamura Etsushi , Shiomi Susumu , Kotani Kohei , Kawabe Joji , Hagihara Atsushi , Fujii Hideki , Uchida‐Kobayashi Sawako , Iwai Shuji , Morikawa Hiroyasu , Enomoto Masaru , Murakami Yoshiki , Tamori Akihiro , Kawada Norifumi 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackground and Aim18F‐fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)‐positron emission tomography (PET) may detect primary lesions (PLs) and extrahepatic metastases (EHMs) only in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. We investigated the requirement of PET and the optimal timing of PET scanning for accurate staging and treatment planning.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective investigation of 64 HCC patients who underwent PET (median age, 74 years; male/female, 41/23; etiology, 46 hepatitis C virus/4 hepatitis B virus/4 alcoholic/10 others). To determine the best timing for PET examinations, we analyzed PET result‐based recommended treatment changes and characteristics of patients with FDG‐avid PLs or EHMs.ResultsFDG‐avid PLs were detected by PET in 22 patients (34%): 18 with hypervascular PL, 11 with serum α‐fetoprotein levels ≥ 200 ng/mL, and 11 beyond Milan criteria. EHMs were detected in 21 patients (33%: lymph nodes, 8; lung, 5; abdominal wall, 4; bone, 3; other organs, 4 [including overlapping]). Recommended treatments changed for 16 patients (25%) because of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage increases based on PET scanning. In multivariate analyses, serum α‐fetoprotein levels ≥ 200 ng/mL and beyond Milan criteria were independent factors for FDG‐avid PLs and a maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of PLs of ≥ 4.0 was an independent factor for FDG‐avid EHMs (P = 0.002, 0.008, and 0.045, respectively).ConclusionsPET allows detection of HCC spread in patients with elevated serum α‐fetoprotein levels or those beyond Milan criteria and detects EHMs in patients with PLs with high SUVmax values. Optimally timed PET scans can complement conventional imaging for accurate staging and treatment strategy determination.
Gastric Helicobacter pylori infection associated with risk of diabetes mellitus, but not prediabetes
Authors: Yang Gi‐Hua , Wu Jin‐Shang , Yang Yi‐Ching , Huang Ying‐Hsiang , Lu Feng‐Hwa , Chang Chih‐Jen 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackgrounds and AimThe association between Helicobacter pylori infection and diabetes was inconsistent in previous studies. Moreover, there are no studies on the relationship between H. pylori infection and prediabetes in the literature. The aim of this study is thus to assess the association of Helicobacter infection, diagnosed by pathology from gastric biopsy, with diabetes and prediabetes.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study included 1285 subjects aged 19–85 who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy and gastric biopsy during health examinations at National Cheng Kung University Hospital from 2000 to 2009. Subjects were divided into three groups, including normal glucose tolerance, prediabetes, and diabetes. Diabetes and prediabetes were assessed according to the American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria. Gastric Helicobacter infection was an independent variable. Chi‐square tests, analysis of variance, and multinomial logistic regression models were used to analyze the effects of Helicobacter infection on the risk of diabetes and prediabetes while controlling for age, lifestyle, pathological conditions, and laboratory variables.ResultsThere were significant differences in the prevalence of gastric Helicobacter infection among the three groups. The results of multivariate analysis showed that age, obesity, family history of diabetes, hypertension, and hypertriglyceridemia were significantly related to both prediabetes and diabetes. Helicobacter pylori infection was positively associated with diabetes (odds ratio [OR] 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–2.01), but not prediabetes (OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.77–1.36), in addition to male gender, education level (≤ 9 vs > 12 years), pre‐hypertension, and low high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol.ConclusionsGastric H. pylori infection is associated with diabetes, but not prediabetes.
Serum ferritin as a new prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with radiofrequency ablation
Authors: Facciorusso Antonio , Del Prete Valentina , Antonino Matteo , Neve Viviana , Crucinio Nicola , Di Leo Alfredo , Carr Brian I , Barone Michele 
Published: April 2014

AbstractBackground and AimHepatic iron accumulation is considered to be a cofactor that influences liver injury and hepatocarcinogenesis. Aim of this study is to determine whether serum ferritin (SF) levels relate to overall survival (OS) and time to recurrence (TTR) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA).MethodsWe measured SF levels in 103 HCC patients (median age 70, M/F = 82.5%/17.5%) who underwent RFA between 2005 and 2010. Correlation between SF and other prognostic factors at baseline was analyzed. SF levels were entered into a Cox model and their influence on OS and TTR was evaluated in univariate and multivariate analyses.ResultsSF did not correlate with α‐fetoprotein (rho: −0.12, P = 0.22), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (rho: −0.1020, P = 0.30), Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (rho: 0.18, P = 0.06), Child‐Pugh score (P = 0.5), or Barcelona Cancer of the Liver Clinic stage (P = 0.16). A log‐rank test found the value of 244 ng/mL as the optimal prognostic cut‐off point for SF. Median OS was 62 months (54–78) and survival rate was 97%, 65%, and 52% at 1, 4, and 5 years, respectively. Performance status and SF were the only predictors of OS at multivariate analysis. Median TTR was 38 months (34–49) with a recurrence‐free survival rate of 82.5%, 26.2%, and 23.3% at 1, 4, and 5 years, respectively, while SF and age were the only predictors of TTR.ConclusionsSF level, possibly reflecting the degree of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, is a negative risk factor for survival and recurrence after percutaneous RFA in HCC patients.
Patterns of Surgical Care and Complications in Elderly Adults
Authors: Deiner Stacie , Westlake Benjamin , Dutton Richard P. 
Published: April 2014

ObjectivesTo determine whether procedures, hospitals visited, and complications would differ according to decade in elderly adults and from those of younger adults.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingThe Anesthesia Quality Institute National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR) is the largest database of anesthesia cases from academic and community hospitals and includes all insurance and facility types across the United States.ParticipantsEight million six hundred thirty‐two thousand nine hundred seventy‐nine cases from January 2010 to March 2013 were acquired. After exclusion of individuals younger than 18, nonapplicable locations, and brain death, 2,851,114 remained and were placed into age categories (18–64, 65–69, 70–79, 80–89, ≥90).MeasurementsParticipant, surgical, anesthetic, and hospital descriptors and short‐term outcomes (major complications, mortality at <48 hours).ResultsThe largest number of older adults had surgery in medium‐sized community hospitals. The oldest age group (≥90) underwent the smallest range of procedures; hip fracture, hip replacement, and cataract procedures accounted for more than 35% of all surgeries. Younger old adults underwent these procedures plus a significant proportion of spinal fusion, cholecystectomy, and knee surgery. Older adults had greater mortality and more complications than younger adults. Participants undergoing exploratory laparotomy had the greatest likelihood of death in any age category except 90 and older, in which small bowel resection predominated. The proportion of emergency surgery and the mortality associated with emergency surgery was 30% higher in the oldest group (≥90) than in adults aged 18 to 64.ConclusionThis article reports the pattern of surgical procedures, complications, and mortality found in NACOR, which is one of the few data sets that contains data from community hospitals and individuals with all types of insurance. Because the outcomes portion of the data set is under development, it is not possible to investigate the relationship between hospital type and complications or mortality, but this study underscores the magnitude of geriatric surgery that occurs in community hospitals as an area for future outcomes studies.
Two Shi‘i Jurisprudential Methodologies to Address Medical and Bioethical Challenges: Traditional Ijtihād and Foundational Ijtihād
Authors: Mavani Hamid 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThe legal‐ethical dynamism in Islamic law which allows it to respond to the challenges of modernity is said to reside in the institution of ijtihād (independent legal thinking and hermeneutics). However, jurists like Mohsen Kadivar and Ayatollah Faḍlalla have argued that the “traditional ijtihād” paradigm has reached its limits of flexibility as it allows for only minor adaptations and lacks a rigorous methodology because of its reliance on vague and highly subjective juridical devices such as public welfare (maṣlaḥa), imperative necessity (ḍarūra), emergency (iḍtirār), need (ḥāja), averting difficulty (‘usr) and distress (ḥaraj), hardship (mashaqqa), and harm (ḍarar) without interrogating the fundamentals (uṣūl) of ijtihād. In contrast, in the “foundational ijtihād” model theology, ethics, intellect, epistemology, linguistics, hermeneutics, modern sciences, history, cosmology, anthropology, and the sources of Islamic legal theory (uṣūl al‐fiqh) interact with one another to obtain resolutions that are just and non‐discriminatory.
The Seminal Contribution of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein to the Development of Modern Jewish Medical Ethics
Authors: Jotkowitz Alan 
Published: April 2014

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to show how, on a wide variety of issues, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein broke new ground with the established Orthodox rabbinic consensus and blazed a new trail in Jewish medical ethics. Rabbi Feinstein took power away from the rabbis and let patients decide their treatment, he opened the door for a Jewish approach to palliative care, he supported the use of new technologies to aid in reproduction, he endorsed altruistic living organ donation and recognized brain death (thus laying the groundwork for Orthodox Jewish acceptance of heart transplantation), he downplayed the value of social worth in triage decisions, and was a fierce defender of the rights of the fetus. I develop broader theological principles from Rabbi Feinstein's ethical positions and compare them to those of his Jewish and Christian contemporaries.
Protective effect of Euterpe oleracea Mart (açaí) extract on programmed changes in the adult rat offspring caused by maternal protein restriction during pregnancy
Authors: de Bem Graziele Freitas , da Costa Cristiane Aguiar , de Oliveira Paola Raquel Braz , Cordeiro Viviane Silva Cristino , Santos Izabelle Barcellos , de Carvalho Lenize Costa Reis Marins , Souza Marcelo Augusto Vieira , Ognibene Dayane Texeira , Daleprane Julio Beltrame , Sousa Pergentino José Cunha , Resende Angela Castro , de Moura Roberto Soares 
Published: April 2014

Abstract

Objectives
This study examined the effect of açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) seed extract (ASE) on cardiovascular and renal alterations in adult offspring, whose mothers were fed a low-protein (LP) diet during pregnancy.

Methods
Four groups of rats were fed: control diet (20% protein); ASE (200 mg/kg per day); and LP (6% protein); LP + ASE (6% protein + ASE) during pregnancy. After weaning, all male offspring were fed a control diet and sacrificed at 4 months old. We evaluated the blood pressure, vascular function, serum and urinary parameters, plasma and kidney oxidative damage, and antioxidant activity and renal structural changes.

Key findings
Hypertension and the reduced acetylcholine-induced vasodilation in the LP group were prevented by ASE. Serum levels of urea, creatinine and fractional excretion of sodium were increased in LP and reduced in LP + ASE. ASE improved nitrite levels and the superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activity in LP, with a corresponding decrease of malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl levels. Kidney volume and glomeruli number were reduced and glomerular volume was increased in LP. These renal alterations were prevented by ASE.

Conclusions
Treatment of protein-restricted dams with ASE provides protection from later-life hypertension, oxidative stress, renal functional and structural changes, probably through a vasodilator and antioxidant activity.
Structural insights into the T6SS effector protein Tse3 and the Tse3–Tsi3 complex from Pseudomonas aeruginosa reveal a calcium‐dependent membrane‐binding mechanism
Authors: Lu Defen , Shang Guijun , Zhang Heqiao , Yu Qian , Cong Xiaoyan , Yuan Jupeng , He Fengjuan , Zhu Chunyuan , Zhao Yanyu , Yin Kun , Chen Yuanyuan , Hu Junqiang , Zhang Xiaodan , Yuan Zenglin , Xu Sujuan , Hu Wei , Cang Huaixing , Gu Lichuan 
Published: April 2014

SummaryThe opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses the type VI secretion system (T6SS) to deliver the muramidase Tse3 into the periplasm of rival bacteria to degrade their peptidoglycan (PG). Concomitantly, P. aeruginosa uses the periplasm‐localized immunity protein Tsi3 to prevent potential self‐intoxication caused by Tse3, and thus gains an edge over rival bacteria in fierce niche competition. Here, we report the crystal structures of Tse3 and the Tse3–Tsi3 complex. Tse3 contains an annexin repeat‐like fold at the N‐terminus and a G‐type lysozyme fold at the C‐terminus. One loop in the N‐terminal domain (Loop 12) and one helix (α9) from the C‐terminal domain together anchor Tse3 and the Tse3–Tsi3 complex to membrane in a calcium‐dependent manner in vitro, and this membrane‐binding ability is essential for Tse3's activity. In the C‐terminal domain, a Y‐shaped groove present on the surface likely serves as the PG binding site. Two calcium‐binding motifs are also observed in the groove and these are necessary for Tse3 activity. In the Tse3–Tsi3 structure, three loops of Tsi3 insert into the substrate‐binding groove of Tse3, and three calcium ions present at the interface of the complex are indispensable for the formation of the Tse3–Tsi3 complex.