bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The suppressive effect of immune stress on LH secretion is absent in the early neonatal period in rats
Authors: Munkhzaya Munkhsaikhan , Matsuzaki Toshiya , Iwasa Takeshi , Tungalagsuvd Altankhuu , Kawami Takako , Kato Takeshi , Kuwahara Akira , Irahara Minoru 
Published: July 2015

AbstractSome physiological functions display weak responses to stress in the early neonatal period; i.e., they exhibit stress hyporesponse periods. In this study, we evaluated whether gonadotropin regulatory factors exhibit stress hyporesponsive periods in male and female rats. Rats were intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide (100 μg/kg) (LPS group) or saline (control group) on postnatal day (PND) 5, 10, 15, or 25. Then, their serum luteinizing hormone (LH) concentrations and hypothalamic mRNA levels of gonadotropin regulatory factors; i.e., kisspeptin (Kiss1), the kisspeptin receptor (Kiss1r), and gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH), were measured at 2 h after the injection. The hypothalamic mRNA levels of pro‐inflammatory cytokines were also measured because they suppress gonadotropin secretion. The serum LH concentration of the LPS group was lower than that of the control group at PND25 in both sexes, but no such difference was seen at PND5, 10, or 15 in either sex. In both sexes, the hypothalamic tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α and interleukin (IL)‐6 mRNA expression levels of the LPS group were higher than those of the control group at PND25, but not at PND5 or 10. The hypothalamic IL‐1β mRNA expression level of the LPS group was higher than that of the control group at all time points. The hypothalamic Kiss1, Kiss1r, and GnRH mRNA expression levels of the LPS and control groups did not differ at any time point in either sex. These findings suggest that gonadotropin regulatory factors exhibit stress hyporesponse periods. The hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis (HPG) might become responsive to immune stress between PND15 and 25, which could be related to enhanced hypothalamic cytokine expression. The avoidance of infectious stress during the early neonatal period might be important for normal development of the HPG axis.
Patients’ refusal of recommended treatment
Authors: Dickens Bernard M. , Cook Rebecca J. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractWhen patients require information to decide whether to accept recommended treatments, a question in both law and ethics is whether the same information is adequate whether they consent or refuse, or whether refusal requires more or repeated information. Refusals of recommended treatment can carry increased risks for patients’ well‐being and so require more emphatic disclosure without imposing pressure. A related question is whether guardians of dependents who would decline recommended treatment for themselves—for instance on religious grounds—can similarly decline it for their dependents. When pregnant women, children, and adolescents are able to give consent for recommended treatment, the question arises whether they are equally competent to refuse it and prevent their decisions being overridden by guardians or courts. Consenting to and refusing medical treatments recommended in one's own or dependents’ best interests might not be the same sorts of decisions and could require different levels of disclosure and capacity.
A case of premature ventricular contractions, ventricular tachycardia, and arrhythmic storm induced by right ventricular pacing during cardiac resynchronization therapy: Electrophysiological mechanism and catheter ablation
Authors: Pedretti Stefano , Vargiu Sara , Paolucci Marco , Lunati Maurizio 
Published: July 2015

AbstractA 77‐year‐old man with ischemic cardiomyopathy and a cardiac resynchronization therapy‐defibrillator (CRT‐D) device came to our attention due to incessant ventricular tachycardia and multiple implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) shocks. An electrocardiogram showed non‐sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardias (NSVTs) constantly occurring after each biventricular stimulation. During an electrophysiological study, NSVTs reproducibly recurred only after right ventricular (RV) pacing; LV pacing did not induce any NSVTs.The activation map was consistent with a localized reentry at the interventricular septum, and a double exit; at the LV exit site, a single radiofrequency energy application immediately interrupted the occurrence of the NSVTs.Current evidence supports LV pacing to be pro‐arrhythmogenic in few CRT patients. This unusual case shows that RV pacing during CRT could produce frequent ventricular arrhythmias and arrhythmic storm. Catheter ablation can be considered an effective therapeutic option, especially when CRT maintenance is highly advisable.
Evaluation of the effects of serum iron levels on lacrimal gland secretion
Authors: Erdogan Firat , Eliaçık Mustafa , Senkal Evrim , Erdur Sevil Karaman , Kulak Kudret , Ipek Ilke Ozahi 
Published: July 2015

AbstractIn our study we aimed to demonstrate the relationship between the serum iron levels, and tears quality and quantity in term newborns. This study was conducted at a single institution between March 2013 and May 2013. A total of 46 newborns were prospectively enrolled. Serum iron levels were measured via the umbilical cord blood. Infants were divided into two groups according to their serum iron levels. Group A, serum iron level ≤70 μg/dL (n = 27) and Group B, serum iron level > 70 μg/dL (n = 19). The evaluation of the osmolarity was tested by using the TearLab Osmolarity System (TearLab Co, San Diego, CA, USA). The assessment of quantity was performed by using Schirmer I test. Osmolarity testing and Schirmer I test (with/without anesthesia) were performed bilaterally on the 1st day of life by an ophthalmologist. The outcomes of Schirmer I and tear osmolarity showed no statistically significant difference between right and left eyes of any infant in the groups. Moreover, there was no statistical difference between sexes in these two groups. Osmolarity was found to have a moderate negative correlation coefficient with serum iron level (r = −0.4, p < 0.01). Furthermore, there was a high positive correlation between Schirmer I with anesthesia and serum iron levels (r = 0.7, p < 0.01). We observed that the quality and quantity of the tears was lower in term newborns with lower serum iron levels than healthy newborns. These results indicate that low serum iron level could affect lacrimal gland functions.
Respiratory Outbreak Investigations: How Many Specimens Should Be Tested?
Authors: Schleihauf Emily , Fathima Sumana , Pettipas Janice , LeBlanc Jason J. , Hatchette Todd F. , Drews Steven J. , Haldane David 
Published: July 2015

To determine the optimal number of specimens for virus detection in a respiratory outbreak, laboratory results from 2 Canadian public health laboratories were reviewed. The evidence suggests that 3 specimens are sufficient for detection of a virus in >95% of outbreaks, thereby reducing laboratory costs.Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2015;36(11): 1344–1347
Probiotic fermented milk consumption modulates the allergic process induced by ovoalbumin in mice
Authors: Velez Eva M. M. , Maldonado Galdeano Carolina , Carmuega Esteban , Weill Ricardo , Bibas Bonet María E. , Perdigón Gabriela 
Published: July 2015

Orally administered probiotic micro-organisms are able to regulate the exacerbated immune response during the antigenic sensitisation process. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential efficacy of probiotic fermented milk (PFM) in preventing or treating allergy in an experimental model, and to investigate its underlying mechanisms. Ovoalbumin (OVA)-sensitised BALB/c mice were fed with PFM before the sensitisation procedure or fed continuously with PFM. At 7 and 15 d post-sensitisation, anti-OVA-specific IgE, IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a concentrations were measured in the serum and broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Concentrations of interferon-γ (IFN-γ), IL-4, IL-10 and total secretory IgA (S-IgA) were measured in the supernatants of macerated lungs or in the BALF. The levels of IgA+, CD4+and CD8+T lymphocytes and F4/80+cells were measured in the lungs by immunofluorescence. Inducible CD4+/CD25/Foxp3+regulatory T (Treg) cells were evaluated in the lungs. PFM shifted the T helper (Th)2 profile response towards a Th1 response that led to the production of IgG instead of IgE, with increasing levels of IL-10 and IFN-γ that play an important role in immunomodulation exerted by PFM administration in sensitised mice. Anti-OVA-specific IgE levels were significantly decreased; however, there was no modification in the levels of anti-OVA-specific IgG and total S-IgA. PFM did not influence Tregcells in treated mice. Consumption of PFM could be a promising strategy in the amelioration of airway allergies, considering that the effect is mediated by the production of IgG through the activation of Th1 instead of the direct activation of Th2 cells to produce IgE.
Increased intake of vegetable oil rich in n-6 PUFA enhances allergic symptoms and prevents oral tolerance induction in whey-allergic mice
Authors: van den Elsen Lieke W. J. , van Esch Betty C. A. M. , Dingjan Gemma M. , Hofman Gerard A. , Garssen Johan , Willemsen Linette E. M. 
Published: July 2015

Increased intake of vegetable oils rich in n-6 PUFA, including soyabean oil, has been associated with an increase in allergic disease. The present study aimed to determine the effect of an increasing dose of dietary vegetable oil on allergic outcomes in mice. To study this, mice received a 7 v. 10 % soyabean oil diet before and during oral sensitisation with whey or whey hyperimmune serum transfer. Another group of mice received partial whey hydrolysate (pWH) while being fed the diets before oral sensitisation. The acute allergic skin response, serum Ig level, mouse mast cell protease-1 (mMCP-1) concentration and/or splenic T-cell percentages were determined upon whey challenge. When the diets were provided before and during oral sensitisation, the acute allergic skin response was increased in mice fed the 10 % soyabean oil diet compared with the 7 % soyabean oil diet. Whey IgE and IgG1 levels remained unaltered, whereas mMCP-1 levels increased in mice fed the 10 % soyabean oil diet. Furthermore, allergic symptoms were increased in naive mice fed the 10 % soyabean oil diet and sensitised with whey hyperimmune serum. In addition to enhancing the mast cell response, the 10 % soyabean oil diet increased the percentage of activated Th1 and Th2 cells as well as increased the ratios of Th2:regulatory T cells and Th2:Th1 when compared with the 7 % soyabean oil diet. Oral tolerance induction by pWH was abrogated in mice fed the 10 % soyabean oil diet compared with those fed the 7 % soyabean oil diet during pretreatment with pWH. In conclusion, increased intake of soyabean oil rich in n-6 PUFA suppresses tolerance induction by pWH and enhances the severity of the allergic effector response in whey-allergic mice. Dietary vegetable oils rich in n-6 PUFA may enhance the susceptibility to develop or sustain food allergy.
INFORMING DISINVESTMENT WITH LIMITED EVIDENCE: COBALAMIN DEFICIENCY IN THE FATIGUED
Authors: Mnatzaganian George , Karnon Jonathan , Moss John R. , Elshaug Adam G. , Metz Michael , Frank Oliver R. , Hiller Janet E. 
Published: July 2015

Objectives:Health technology reassessment and disinvestment can be difficult due to uncertainties regarding available evidence. Pathology testing to investigate cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiency is a strong case in point. We conducted a 3-month economic evaluation of five strategies for diagnosing and treating cobalamin deficiency in adult patients hypothetically presenting with new unexplained fatigue in the primary care setting. The first consultation per patient was considered. Screening tests other than serum cobalamin were not included.Methods: A cost-effectiveness analysis was undertaken using a decision tree to represent the diagnostic / treatment pathways, with relevant cost and utility scores assigned to different stages in the evaluation process. Input parameter values were estimated from published evidence, supplemented by expert opinion, with sensitivity analysis undertaken to represent parameter uncertainty.Results:Ordering serum vitamin B12to assess cobalamin deficiency among patients with unexplained fatigue was not cost-effective in any patient population, irrespective of pretest prevalence of this deficiency. For patients with a pretest prevalence above 1 percent, treating all with oral vitamin B12supplements without testing was most cost-effective, whereas watchful waiting with symptoms monitoring was most cost-effective for patients with lower pretest prevalence probabilities.Conclusions:Substantial evidence gaps exist for parameter estimation: questionable cobalamin deficiency levels in the fatigued; debatable treatment methods; unknown natural history of the condition. Despite this, we reveal a robust path for disinvestment decision making in the face of a paradox between the evidence required to inform disinvestment compared with its paucity in informing initial funding decisions.
Why Food Safety Fails in China: The Politics of Scale
Authors: Yasuda John Kojiro 
Published: July 2015

AbstractThis article examines food safety failures in China to cast light on how scale has deeply affected its regulatory politics. Contrary to studies that view China's food safety challenges as primarily resulting from corruption, local obstructionism or weak state capacity, I argue that China's massive production system, unwieldy bureaucracy, and geographic size pose regulators with a more fundamental policy challenge. As they attempt to build an integrated national regulatory regime, regulators must make difficult trade-offs in cost, policy design and applicability that emphasize the interests of certain stakeholders over others, resulting in a contentious “politics of scale.” The article assesses four failed scale management initiatives: food safety coordination bodies, campaigns, model production zones, and regulatory segmentation. As China transitions to scientifically assessed, risk-based forms of regulation, its pervasive food safety problem suggests the adaptive limits of China's unitary regulatory structure to manage scale and its ensuing politics effectively in a complex multilevel context.
Neurologic state transitions in the eye and brain: Kinetics of loss
and recovery of vision and consciousness
Authors: WHINNERY TYP , FORSTER ESTRELLA M. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractVisual alterations, peripheral light loss (PLL) and blackout (BO), are components
of acceleration (+Gz) induced loss of consciousness (LOC) and
recovery of consciousness (ROC). The kinetics of loss of vision (LOV) and
recovery of vision (ROV) were determined utilizing ocular pressure induced
retinal ischemia and compared to the kinetics of LOC and ROC resulting from
+Gz-induced cephalic nervous system (CPNS) ischemia. The time from
self-induced retinal ischemia in completely healthy subjects (N
= 104) to the onset of PLL and complete BO was measured. The time
from release of ocular pressure, with return of normal retinal circulation, to
the time for complete recovery of visual fields was also measured. The kinetics
of pressure induced LOV and ROV was compared with previously developed kinetics
of +Gz-induced LOC and ROC focusing on the rapid onset, vertical arm,
of the +Gz-induced LOC and ROC curves. The time from onset of
increased ocular pressure, immediately inducing retinal ischemia, to PLL was
5.04 s with the time to BO being 8.73 s. Complete recovery of the visual field
from BO following release of ocular pressure, immediately abolishing retinal
ischemia, was 2.74 s. These results confirm experimental findings that visual
loss is frequently not experienced prior to LOC during exposure to rapid onset,
high levels of +Gz-stress above tolerance. Offset of pressure induced
retinal ischemia to ROV was 2.74 s, while the time from offset of
+Gz-induced CPNS ischemia to ROC was 5.29 s. Recovery of retinal
function would be predicted to be complete before consciousness is regained
following +Gz-induced LOC. Ischemia onset time normalization in
neurologic tissues permits comparison between different stress-induced times to
altered function. The +Gz-time tolerance curves for LOV and LOC
provide comparison and integration of neurologic state transition kinetics in
the retina and CPNS.
Topographic organization of areas V3 and V4 and its relation to supra-areal organization of the primate visual system
Authors: ARCARO M.J. , KASTNER S. 
Published: July 2015

AbstractAreas V3 and V4 are commonly thought of as individual entities in the primate visual system, based on definition criteria such as their representation of visual space, connectivity, functional response properties, and relative anatomical location in cortex. Yet, large-scale functional and anatomical organization patterns not only emphasize distinctions within each area, but also links across visual cortex. Specifically, the visuotopic organization of V3 and V4 appears to be part of a larger, supra-areal organization, clustering these areas with early visual areas V1 and V2. In addition, connectivity patterns across visual cortex appear to vary within these areas as a function of their supra-areal eccentricity organization. This complicates the traditional view of these regions as individual functional “areas.” Here, we will review the criteria for defining areas V3 and V4 and will discuss functional and anatomical studies in humans and monkeys that emphasize the integration of individual visual areas into broad, supra-areal clusters that work in concert for a common computational goal. Specifically, we propose that the visuotopic organization of V3 and V4, which provides the criteria for differentiating these areas, also unifies these areas into the supra-areal organization of early visual cortex. We propose that V3 and V4 play a critical role in this supra-areal organization by filtering information about the visual environment along parallel pathways across higher-order cortex.
The police and the urban ‘dangerous classes’: the culture and practice of public law and order in Milan after national unity
Authors: MORI SIMONA 
Published: July 2015

ABSTRACT:The city of Milan during the second half of the nineteenth century is the field of observation for this study, which focuses on urban policing and social control in a situation that ultimately caused problems for the whole country. The case of Milan, which has not received enough attention in this regard, is particularly interesting, given its status as the northern metropolis. It was the second largest population centre in Italy and the most important economic one, a leader in the late struggle for political independence and an opponent at that time of the centralizing policies of the nation-state.1
SERMON AND STORY IN GEORGE MACDONALD
Authors: Dubois Martin 
Published: July 2015

George MacDonald took to preachingearly in life. In his boyhood he once “rushed into the kitchen, jumped upon the clean-scrubbed table, and began a learned discourse, indicating Bell Mavor, the maid, as a reprobate past redemption”:She flicked at him with her dish-clout, when he turned upon her in righteous anger, as he set straight the improvised bands about his neck: “Div ye no ken fan ye’re speakin’ til a meenister, Bell? Ye's no fleg [frighten] awa’ the Rev. Geordie MacDonald as gin he war a buzzin’ flee [fly]! Losh, woman, neist to Dr. Chaumers [Thomas Chalmers], he's the grandest preacher in a’ Scotland!” (Greville MacDonald 59)Before long MacDonald would grow uneasy with the Calvinist beliefs from which this childhood frolic takes its bearings. He would later characterise the religion of his youth as one in which “hell is invariably the deepest truth, and the love of God is not so deep as hell” (Robert Falconer1: 152). Coming to feel “that the more perfect a theory about the infinite, the surer it is to be wrong” (qtd. in Greville MacDonald 155), MacDonald in maturity embraced a broad and undogmatic theology, and – at the urging of F. D. Maurice – eventually joined the Church of England. Yet the impulse to preach never left him. MacDonald is now principally remembered as a writer of fantasy and fairy tales, but his literary career was in one sense a stand-in for the pulpit. He briefly served as a Congregationalist minister in Arundel before being forced out for his unorthodox views on salvation. Unable to secure another appointment, and sustaining “a hand-to-mouth existence” with his family in Manchester, MacDonald came to prose fiction “through economic necessity” (Raeper 103, 125). Even once he had achieved literary fame, MacDonald continued to preach occasionally by invitation. Over the course of his lifetime he would also publish several volumes of sermons never delivered – not simply spiritual reflections, but, as the title of a series of his volumes has it,Unspoken Sermons(1867–1889).
QUANTUM TEAM LOGIC AND BELL’S INEQUALITIES
Authors: HYTTINEN TAPANI , PAOLINI GIANLUCA , VÄÄNÄNEN JOUKO 
Published: July 2015

AbstractA logical approach to Bell’s Inequalities of quantum mechanics has been introduced by Abramsky and Hardy (Abramsky & Hardy, 2012). We point out that the logical Bell’s Inequalities of Abramsky & Hardy (2012) are provable in the probability logic of Fagin, Halpern and Megiddo (Fagin et al., 1990). Since it is now considered empirically established that quantum mechanics violates Bell’s Inequalities, we introduce a modified probability logic, that we call quantum team logic, in which Bell’s Inequalities are not provable, and prove a Completeness theorem for this logic. For this end we generalise the team semantics of dependence logic (Väänänen, 2007) first to probabilistic team semantics, and then to what we call quantum team semantics.
Commitment in Different Relationships Statuses: Validation Study of the Personal Commitment Scale
Authors: Monteiro Ana Pego , Costa-Ramalho Susana , Ribeiro Maria Teresa , Pinto Alexandra Marques 
Published: July 2015

AbstractThis study presents the validation process of the Portuguese version of the short-form Dedication Scale (Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2006; Stanley, 1986), with a sample of 924 participants in different relationship statutes. With 14 items, this short version is recommended by the authors for its simple use, when wanting to measure commitment in romantic relationships. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the instrument did not have a totally acceptable fit with the data so an exploratory factor analysis was conducted. This revealed a one-dimensional structure of the scale, and led to the exclusion of two items, which relate to a distinct meta-commitment dimension. In sum, the Portuguese version (ECP - Personal Commitment Scale) has 12 items, with good internal consistency (α = .82), correlations item-total between .36 and .60, and good criteria validity (p< .001). Its use for research is therefore appropriate. In a second study, significant differences were found between the participants' four relationship statuses (dating non-cohabiting and cohabiting relationships, formal unions and marriage) (p< .001; η2p= .03). Results showed that married participants were more committed than those in a formal union, even when controlling for several relational and socio-demographic variables. No differences were found between cohabiting and non-cohabiting dating participants. Men reported higher levels of commitment than women (p< .001; η2p= .02). Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.