bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Limits of Financial Imagination: Free Investors, Efficient Markets, and Crisis
Authors: Ortiz Horacio 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTFieldwork with a team of investment managers investing in credit derivatives in Paris in 2004 shows how the concepts of “investor” and “market efficiency” are central in the technicalities of their procedures, in diverse and contradictory ways. The employees refer to their moral and political contents, as they are articulated in liberal philosophy and in financial regulation, to make sense of their careers and of the social role of finance. “Crisis” is then defined as a deviation from market efficiency, itself expected to lead to an optimal allocation of credit. These concepts thus constitute the limited repertoire of the meaning of practical rules followed by employees for a remuneration, within a bureaucratic commercial network, in a setting very different from the utopias from which the concepts stem. Therefore, anthropologists must not use them as analytic tools; rather, such concepts should be understood as part of the object of study.
Effects of ropivacaine concentration on the spread of sensory block produced by continuous thoracic paravertebral block: a prospective, randomised, controlled, double‐blind study
Authors: Yoshida T. , Fujiwara T. , Furutani K. , Ohashi N. , Baba H. 
Published: January 2014

SummaryFactors affecting the distribution of continuous thoracic paravertebral block have never been examined. We designed this prospective, double‐blind study to check whether continuous thoracic paravertebral block with a higher ropivacaine concentration would provide a wider segmental sensory block spread. Sixty consecutive patients undergoing pulmonary lobectomy or segmentectomy were randomly allocated to receive continuous paravertebral infusion of either 0.2% or 0.5% ropivacaine (6 ml.h−1). The primary outcome was the number of anaesthetised dermatomes as determined by loss of cold sensation 24 h after surgery. Twenty‐seven patients per group were included in the final analysis. The median (IQR [range]) number of anaesthetised dermatomes 24 h after surgery was 4 (3–6 [1–9]) with ropivacaine 0.2% and 4 (3–6 [2–11]) with ropivacaine 0.5% (p = 0.66). Contrary to our expectation, the segmental spread of sensory block produced by continuous thoracic paravertebral block does not depend on ropivacaine concentration.
Preliminary Safety Evaluation of Photodynamic Therapy for Blood Purification: An Animal Study
Authors: Yin Huijuan , Zhang Guorong , Chen Hongli , Wang Weichao , Kong Deling , Li Yingxin 
Published: January 2014

AbstractPhotodynamic therapy (PDT) has been shown to inactivate blood‐borne pathogenic microorganisms in vitro. The method may be used to purify blood in the body, kill pathogenic microorganisms, and treat difficult diseases. Our aim was to investigate the safety of photodynamic blood purification (PBP) therapy using an in vivo blood circulation experiment in an animal model. Twenty‐four New Zealand rabbits were used as experimental subjects; 12 received PDT and 12 served as negative controls. Extracorporeal blood bypass was established using the femoral artery and vein. A sterile disposable irradiation chamber was connected in the bypass pathway. Hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether was injected intravenously as a photosensitizer with an initial bolus of 3.7 mg, followed by a continuous infusion at 24 mg/h during PDT administration. Five minutes after initial injection, a laser beam was vertically focused on the irradiation chamber side wall, with a 9.5 cm2 spot area, 1 h exposure time, and 20 mW/cm2 power density. Six animals received a single PDT application, and six received PDT every other day for three applications. The 12 control group animals underwent extracorporeal blood circulation but did not receive the photosensitizer or light treatment. Blood samples were taken 20 min, 1 day, 4 days, and 7 days after PDT treatment for analysis of cell counts, coagulation, liver and renal function, and other biochemical changes. On the 7th day, animals were sacrificed, and parenchymal organs were evaluated for morphological changes. There were no significant differences in white blood cells, red blood cells, or destroyingplatelets after PDT compared with the control group. There was a little significant difference in alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase, uric acid, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine in the PDT group compared with the control group, except at individual time points. We found no significant damage in the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, or other organs after PDT. This short‐duration, fixed‐strength PBP method did not cause changes in blood parameters or in the structure or function of major organs in an animal model. These findings suggest that PBP is safe in vivo and has potential as a new therapy for inactivating blood‐borne microorganisms.
Fever survey highlights significant variations in how infants aged ≤60 days are evaluated and underline the need for guidelines
Authors: Yarden‐Bilavsky Havatzelet , Ashkenazi Shai , Amir Jacob , Schlesinger Yechiel , Bilavsky Efraim 
Published: January 2014

AbstractAimTo assess the common practices for evaluating and treating febrile infants aged ≤60 days in a nationwide survey.MethodsQuestionnaires were administrated to inpatient paediatric departments in all 25 hospitals in Israel.ResultsOf the 25 centres surveyed (100% response rate), only 36% had written protocols concerning the approach to young febrile infants. The existence of a written protocol was significantly associated with the level of medical centre (tertiary versus primary and secondary, p = 0.041) and with the number of local paediatric infectious disease specialists (p = 0.034). In 13 (52%) hospitals, a normal white blood cell count was defined as 5000–15 000 cells/mL and 20 (80%) centres use C‐reactive protein. Hospitalisation was mandatory in most (96%) centres for all neonates aged ≤28 days. Low‐risk infants aged 29–60 days were hospitalised in 68.4% of the primary and secondary hospitals, compared with 33.3% tertiary centres. Ampicillin and gentamicin was the routine empiric antibiotic treatment for febrile infant in 92% of centres.ConclusionSignificant differences exist among centres in the evaluation of febrile infants aged ≤60 days exist. These differences reflect the lack of, and highlight the need for, national or international guidelines for the evaluation of fever in this age group.
Repeated fear‐induced diurnal rhythm disruptions predict PTSD‐like sensitized physiological acute stress responses in F344 rats
Authors: Thompson R. S. , Strong P. V. , Clark P. J. , Maslanik T. M. , Wright K. P. , Greenwood B. N. , Fleshner M. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractAimTo identify objective factors that can predict future sensitized stress responses, thus allowing for effective intervention prior to developing sensitization and subsequent stress‐related disorders, including post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).MethodsAdult male F344 rats implanted with biotelemetry devices were exposed to repeated conditioned fear or control conditions for 22 days followed by exposure to either no, mild or severe acute stress on day 23. Diurnal rhythms of locomotor activity (LA), heart rate (HR) and core body temperature (CBT) were biotelemetrically monitored throughout the study. In a subset of rat not implanted, corticosterone and indices of chronic stress were measured immediately following stress.ResultsRats exposed to repeated fear had fear‐evoked increases in behavioural freezing and HR/CBT during exposure to the fear environment and displayed indices of chronic stress. Repeated fear produced flattening of diurnal rhythms in LA, HR and CBT. Repeated fear did not sensitize the corticosterone response to acute stress, but produced sensitized HR/CBT responses following acute stress, relative to the effect of acute stress in the absence of a history of repeated fear. Greater diurnal rhythm disruptions during repeated fear predicted sensitized acute stress‐induced physiological responses. Rats exposed to repeated fear also displayed flattened diurnal LA and basal increases in HR.ConclusionsExposure to repeated fear produces outcomes consistent with those observed in PTSD. The results suggest that diurnal rhythm disruptions during chronic stressors may help predict sensitized physiological stress responses following traumatic events. Monitoring diurnal disruptions during repeated stress may thus help predict susceptibility to PTSD.
Systematic review with meta‐analysis: malignancies with anti‐tumour necrosis factor‐α therapy in inflammatory bowel disease
Authors: Williams C. J. M. , Peyrin‐Biroulet L. , Ford A. C. 
Published: January 2014

SummaryBackgroundAnti‐tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNFα) antibodies are efficacious in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These drugs carry the theoretical risk of malignancy, particularly lymphoma, but no systematic review and meta‐analysis has examined this issue.AimTo pool data from all available placebo‐controlled studies to estimate risk of malignancy with anti‐TNFα therapy in IBD.MethodsMEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane central register of controlled trials were searched to November 2013. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing anti‐TNFα therapy with placebo in adults with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) were eligible. Data were pooled to obtain a relative risk (RR) of malignancy with a 95% confidence interval (CI).ResultsThe search strategy identified 25 338 citations, of which 22 RCTs were eligible (11 infliximab, six adalimumab, four certolizumab and one golimumab) involving 7054 patients (4566 CD and 2488 UC). In total, there were 16 (0.39%) malignancies in 4135 IBD patients allocated to anti‐TNFα, compared with 13 (0.45%) in 2919 patients randomised to placebo. There were no cases of lymphoma in the active treatment group, compared with three (0.1%) in the control group. The RR of malignancy for patients receiving anti‐TNFα therapy compared with placebo was 0.77 (95% CI 0.37–1.59). When seven individuals with nonmelanoma skin cancer were excluded from the analysis, the RR was 0.90 (95% CI 0.40–2.02).ConclusionsAnti‐TNFα therapy was not associated with an increased risk of malignancy in patients with IBD. However, no trials provided data for risk of malignancy beyond 1 year of treatment, meaning that an increased risk in the longer term cannot be excluded.
Red Lists and conservation prioritization of plant communities – a methodological framework
Authors: Berg Christian , Abdank Anja , Isermann Maike , Jansen Florian , Timmermann Tiemo , Dengler Jürgen 
Published: January 2014

AbstractAimsRed Lists of threatened species are a well‐established conservation tool throughout the world. In contrast, Red Lists of ecosystems, habitats or plant community types have only recently found interest at the global level, although they have a longer tradition in Central Europe. We contribute to the debate by presenting and discussing a comprehensive conservation assessment methodology for plant communities that was developed within the framework of the project ‘The plant communities of Mecklenburg‐Vorpommern and their vulnerability’.LocationMecklenburg‐Vorpommern, Northeast Germany (23,174 km²).ApproachOur approach adopts various concepts from modern red listing and prioritization at various organizational levels of biodiversity, and combines them into a methodological framework applicable for regional to continental Red Lists of plant communities. For each distinguished plant community, three steps are carried out, i.e. (1) assessment of endangerment (scientific part, using the three criteria ‘past trend’, ‘current status’ and ‘prognosis’), (2) assessment of conservation value (normative part, using the three criteria ‘degree of naturalness’, ‘relevance for species conservation’ and ‘global relevance’), and (3) a combination of (1) and (2) to derive a need for action (conservation prioritization). These steps are all based on the successive aggregation of quantitative criteria via decision matrices, which makes the assessment process transparent, avoids definition gaps and allows easy adjustment of the decision rules.ConclusionsPlant community types derived from well‐documented classifications of extensive vegetation‐plot databases in combination with a transparent conservation assessment methodology have great potential in nature conservation and environmental monitoring. We suggest that the presented methodology is an improvement on traditional expert judgments as it separates the scientific and normative parts of the evaluation and uses clear, quantitative criteria and explicit rules to connect these into aggregated measures. It worked effectively and yielded meaningful results for a German federal state. By adjusting the scaling of the criteria, the approach can be adapted, as a whole or in part, to other regions or higher levels of ecosystem typology.
Grassland vegetation of the Molinio‐Arrhenatheretea class in the NW Balkan Peninsula
Authors: Šilc Urban , Aćić Svetlana , Škvorc Željko , Krstonošić Daniel , Franjić Jozo , Dajić Stevanović Zora 
Published: January 2014

AbstractQuestionsHow does the floristic composition of plant species of meadows and mesic pastures vary along a broad geographical gradient in the NW Balkans? How does the current phytosociological classification of the Molinio‐Arrhenatheretea vegetation differ among the NW Balkan countries?LocationNW Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia).Methods3635 relevés originally assigned to the class Molinio‐Arrhenatheretea were classified with a beta flexible method, and the crispness of classification was checked. DCA ordination with Pignatti indicator values and climate data were applied to show the influence of site conditions on species composition.ResultsThe classification was best interpreted at the level of 13 clusters, but could also be interpreted at the level of three groups of clusters. The first division was according to geography and climate: the first and third groups were concentrated in the NW part, while the second was restricted to the eastern part of the study area. The most important variable was site moisture, followed by nutrients and altitude, which corresponded with a west–east direction. The first group was very diverse and included communities on the wettest and most nutrient‐rich sites (Potentillion anserinae, Cynosurion cristati, Calthion palustris, Molinion caeruleae, Molinio‐Hordeion). The second group comprised mesophilous continental grasslands (Trifolio‐Ranunculion pedati, Trifolion pallidi, Trifolion resupinati), while the third group consisted of grasslands from regions with abundant precipitation (Arrhenatherion elatioris, Deschampsion cespitosae, Pancicion serbicae, Triseto flavescentis‐Polygonion bistortae).ConclusionsOur analysis can be used to unify different phytosociological classifications in different countries, also showing the transitional forms of well‐known Central European vegetation types that have a different floristic composition and ecology in the Balkans. This knowledge will enable classification of the same vegetation types in neighbouring Balkan countries that are less studied.
Identification of causal effects in the presence of nonignorable missing outcome values
Authors: Mattei Alessandra , Mealli Fabrizia , Pacini Barbara 
Published: January 2014

SummaryWe consider a new approach to identify the causal effects of a binary treatment when the outcome is missing on a subset of units and dependence of nonresponse on the outcome cannot be ruled out even after conditioning on observed covariates. We provide sufficient conditions under which the availability of a binary instrument for nonresponse allows us to derive tighter identification intervals for causal effects in the whole population and to partially identify causal effects in some latent subgroups of units, named Principal Strata, defined by the nonresponse behavior in all possible combinations of treatment and instrument. A simulation study is used to assess the benefits of the presence versus the absence of an instrument for nonresponse. The simulation design is based on real health data, coming from a randomized trial on breast self‐examination (BSE) affected by a large proportion of missing outcome data. An instrument for nonresponse is simulated considering alternative scenarios to discuss the key role of the instrument for nonresponse in identifying average causal effects in presence of nonignorable missing outcomes. We also investigate the potential inferential gains from using an instrument for nonresponse adopting a Bayesian approach for inference. In virtue of our theoretical and empirical results, we provide some recommendations on study designs for causal inference.
Estimation of stage duration distributions and mortality under repeated cohort censuses
Authors: Knape Jonas , Daane Kent M. , de Valpine Perry 
Published: January 2014

SummaryMany processes in nature can be viewed as arising from subjects progressing through sequential stages and may be described by multistage models. Examples include disease development and the physiological development of plants and animals. We develop a multistage model for sampling designs where a small set of subjects is followed and the number of subjects in each stage is assessed repeatedly for a sequence of time points, but for which the subjects cannot be identified. The motivating problem is the laboratory study of developing arthropods through stage frequency data. Our model assumes that the same individuals are censused at each time, introducing among sample dependencies. This type of data often occur in laboratory studies of small arthropods but their detailed analysis has received little attention. The likelihood of the model is derived from a stochastic model of the development and mortality of the individuals in the cohort. We present an MCMC scheme targeting the posterior distribution of the times of development and times of death of individuals. This is a novel type of MCMC that uses customized proposals to explore a posterior with disconnected support arising from the fact that individual identities are unknown. The MCMC algorithm may be used for inference about parameters governing stage duration distributions and mortality rates. The method is demonstrated by fitting the development model to stage frequency data of a mealybug cohort placed on a grape vine.
Assessing the significance of global and local correlations under spatial autocorrelation: A nonparametric approach
Authors: Viladomat Júlia , Mazumder Rahul , McInturff Alex , McCauley Douglas J. , Hastie Trevor 
Published: January 2014

SummaryWe propose a method to test the correlation of two random fields when they are both spatially autocorrelated. In this scenario, the assumption of independence for the pair of observations in the standard test does not hold, and as a result we reject in many cases where there is no effect (the precision of the null distribution is overestimated). Our method recovers the null distribution taking into account the autocorrelation. It uses Monte‐Carlo methods, and focuses on permuting, and then smoothing and scaling one of the variables to destroy the correlation with the other, while maintaining at the same time the initial autocorrelation. With this simulation model, any test based on the independence of two (or more) random fields can be constructed. This research was motivated by a project in biodiversity and conservation in the Biology Department at Stanford University.
Variation in performance of candidate surgical quality measures for muscle‐invasive bladder cancer by hospital type
Authors: Corcoran Anthony T. , Handorf Elizabeth , Canter Daniel , Tomaszewski Jeffrey J. , Bekelman Justin E. , Kim Simon P. , Uzzo Robert G. , Kutikov Alexander , Smaldone Marc C. 
Published: January 2014

ObjectiveTo test the association between hospital type and performance of candidate quality measures for treatment of muscle‐invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) using a large national tumour registry. Proposed quality measures include receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, timely treatment, adequate lymph node dissection, and continent urinary diversion.Patients and MethodsUsing the National Cancer Database, patients with stage ≥II urothelial carcinoma treated with radical cystectomy (RC) from 2003 to 2010 were identified. Hospitals were grouped by type and annual RC volume: community, comprehensive low volume (CLV), comprehensive high volume (CHV), academic low volume (ALV), and academic high volume (AHV) groups. Logistic regression models were used to test the association between hospital group and performance of quality measures, adjusting for year, demographic, and clinical/pathological characteristics; generalised estimating equations were fitted to the models to adjust for clustering at the hospital level.ResultsIn all, 23 279 patients underwent RC at community (12.4%), comprehensive (CLV 38%, CHV 5%), and academic (ALV 17%, AHV 28%) hospitals. While only 0.8% (175) of patients met all four quality criteria, 61% of patients treated at AHV hospitals met two or more quality metric indicators compared with ALV (45%), CHV (44%), CLV (38%), and community (37%) hospitals (P < 0.001). After adjustment, patients were more likely to receive two or more quality measures when treated at AHV (odds ratio [OR] 2.4, confidence interval [CI] 2.0–2.9), ALV (OR 1.3, CI 1.1–1.6), and CHV (OR 1.3, CI 1.03–1.7) hospitals compared with community hospitals.ConclusionsPatients undergoing RC at AHV hospitals were more likely to meet quality criteria. However, performance remains low across hospital types, highlighting the opportunity to improve quality of care for MIBC.