bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Exploring change processes in compassion focused therapy in psychosis: Results of a feasibility randomized controlled trial
Authors: Braehler Christine , Gumley Andrew , Harper Janice , Wallace Sonia , Norrie John , Gilbert Paul 
Published: October 2012

ObjectivesCompassion focused therapy (CFT) was developed to stimulate capacities for soothing and affiliation to self and others as a way to regulate the threat system. This feasibility study aimed to assess the safety, the acceptability, the potential benefits, and associated change processes of using groupCFTwith people recovering from psychosis.DesignA prospective, randomized, open‐label, blinded end point evaluation design was used.MethodForty adult patients with a schizophrenia‐spectrum disorder were randomized toCFTplus treatment as usual (TAU;n = 22) or toTAUalone (n = 18). GroupCFTcomprised 16 sessions (2 hr each, 1 x week). Participants were assessed prior to randomization and at the end of treatment. Assessments included semi‐structured interviews to elicit narratives of recovery from psychosis and self‐report measures. At the end of treatment, participants were rated on the Clinical Global Impression Scale. Narratives were coded using the Narrative Recovery Style Scale to provide measures of change in compassion and avoidance. Change processes were correlated with changes in depression, personal beliefs about illness, fear of recurrence, and positive and negative affect.ResultsGroupCFTwas associated with no adverse events, low attrition (18%), and high acceptability. Relative toTAU,CFTwas associated with greater observed clinical improvement (p < 0.001) and significant increases in compassion (p = 0.015) of large magnitude. Relative toTAU, increases in compassion in theCFTgroup were significantly associated with reductions in depression (p = 0.001) and in perceived social marginalization (p = 0.002).DiscussionFindings support the feasibility of groupCFTin psychosis and suggest that changes in compassion can be achieved, which appear to reduce depression in particular. This is the first randomized controlled evaluation ofCFT.ConclusionCompassion focused therapy appears as a safe, acceptable, promising, and evolving intervention for promoting emotional recovery from psychosis.Practitioner PointsCompassion focused therapy appears safe to use with people recovering from psychosis.Compassion focused therapy was associated with significantly greater clinical improvement than Treatment as Usual.Relative to TAU, CFT was associated with a significant increase in compassion of large magnitude.Relative to TAU, in the CFT group increases in compassion were significantly associated with reductions in depression and in perceived social marginalization.
Methodological and theoretical improvements in the study of superstitious beliefs and behaviour
Authors: Fluke Scott M. , Webster Russell J. , Saucier Donald A. 
Published: October 2012

Via four studies (N = 901), we developed an improved Belief in Superstition Scale (BSS) composed of three distinct components (belief in bad luck, belief in good luck, and the belief that luck can be changed), whose structure was supported through exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory (Studies 2 and 3) factor analyses using divergent samples. We found that among theoretical predictors, higher ‘chance’ locus of control (i.e., the belief that chance/fate controls one's life) best predicted all three BSS subscales (Studies 2–3). In Study 3, we found that BSS subscale scores were reliable, but largely invariant across age and education with a non‐general psychology sample. In Study 4, the BSS subscales best predicted participants’ superstitious attitudes and behaviour in a new lottery drawing paradigm among other commonly used superstition scales. Taken together, our results indicate that the BSS is a valuable addition to the burgeoning research on superstitious attitudes and behaviour.
Late Ediacaran syn‐rift/post‐rift transition and related fault‐driven hydrothermal systems in the Anti‐Atlas Mountains, Morocco
Authors: Javier Álvaro J. 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThe syn‐rift/post‐rift transition of the late Ediacaran‐mid Cambrian Atlas rift is characterized by the interplay of several processes, such as a widespread episode of fracturing and tilting, associated with encasement of fault‐controlled vein metallic ore deposits of economic importance, and carbonate production and phosphogenesis (Taguedit Bed, Tabia Member) bordering rift‐flank uplifts. A correlatable unconformity marks the end of these processes and the beginning of a thermal subsidence‐dominated regime with development of a more stable, carbonate, peritidal‐dominated platform (Tifnout Member). Late Ediacaran microbial carbonate production and phosphogenesis extended in discontinuous belts around the periphery of uplifted rift shoulders and flanks. Karst development is interpreted to have formed along synsedimentary faults and fractures during abrupt tectonic uplift associated with emplacement of polymetallic hydrothermal dikes (rich in Cu, Fe and subsidiary Pb, Zn). Isotopic analysis indicates that speleothem precipitation in karstic palaeocaves displays significantly lighter δ13C and δ18O values as compared to the host dolomite, implying calcite precipitation by terrestrial fluids rich in decomposing organic matter and/or microbial activity in the cave system.
Vitamin D status is not associated with inflammatory cytokine levels during experimental human endotoxaemia
Authors: Kox M , van den Berg M J W , van der Hoeven J G , Wielders J P M , van der Ven A J , Pickkers P 
Published: October 2012

Summary
Vitamin D has been shown to modulate innate immune responses in vitro and ex vivo; however, human in-vivo data are lacking. At high latitudes, seasonal vitamin D deficiency is common due to alternating ultraviolet (UV)-B radiation exposure. In the present study, we investigated whether levels of 25 hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] and its active metabolite 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] are subject to seasonal variation and whether plasma levels of these vitamin D metabolites correlate with the in-vivo cytokine response during experimental human endotoxaemia [administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in healthy volunteers]. Plasma levels of 25(OH)D3 and 1,25(OH)2D3 were determined in samples obtained just prior to administration of an intravenous bolus of 2 ng/kg LPS (derived from Escherichia coli O:113) in 112 healthy male volunteers. In the same subjects, plasma levels of the inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 were analysed serially after endotoxin administration. Plasma levels of 1,25(OH)2D3, but not 25(OH)D3, were subject to significant seasonal variation, with lower levels in autumn and winter. 25(OH)D3 and 1,25(OH)2D3 levels did not correlate with plasma cytokine responses. Furthermore, 25(OH)D3 deficient subjects (&lt; 50 nmol/l) displayed an identical cytokine response compared with sufficient subjects. In conclusion, plasma levels of vitamin D are not correlated with the LPS-induced TNF, IL-6 and IL-10 cytokine response in humans in vivo. These findings question the direct role of vitamin D in modulation of the innate immune response.
Treatment with anti-NAP monoclonal antibody reduces disease severity in murine model of novel angiogenic protein-induced or ovalbumin-induced arthritis
Authors: Nataraj N B , Krishnamurthy J , Salimath B P 
Published: October 2012

SummaryRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a polyarticular inflammatory, angiogenic disease. Synovial angiogenesis contributes to inflammation in RA. In this study we have developed an arthritic model in rats using a novel angiogenic protein (NAP), isolated from human synovial fluid of RA patients. We produced anti-NAP monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and investigated the therapeutic efficacy of the same in adjuvant-induced or NAP-induced arthritis as a model of human RA. The treatment of arthritic rats with anti-NAP mAbs resulted in effective amelioration of paw oedema, radiological arthritic characteristics, serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and NAP, compared to that of untreated arthritic animals. Further, profiling of angiogenic markers such as synovial microvessel density, angiogenesis, CD31, VEGF and fms-like tyrosine kinase (Flt1) by immunohistochemistry both in arthritic and anti-NAP mAb-treated animals revealed the efficacy of mAb as an anti-angiogenic functional antibody. Therefore, NAP may be an attractive target to design anti-angiogenic and anti-arthritic therapies to control the pathogenesis of arthritis.
Immunological indicators of coeliac disease activity are not altered by long-term oats challenge
Authors: Cooper S E J , Kennedy N P , Mohamed B M , Abuzakouk M , Dunne J , Byrne G , McDonald G , Davies A , Edwards C , Kelly J , Feighery C F 
Published: October 2012

Summary
Coeliac disease is a gluten-sensitive enteropathy that develops in genetically susceptible individuals. The disease exhibits many features of an autoimmune disorder. These include the production of highly specific anti-endomysial autoantibodies directed against the enzyme tissue transglutaminase. It is well accepted that wheat-, barley- and rye-based foods should be excluded in the gluten-free diet. Although several studies report that oats ingestion is safe in this diet, the potential toxicity of oats remains controversial. In the current study, 46 coeliac patients ingested oats for 1 year and were investigated for a potential immunogenic or toxic effect. Stringent clinical monitoring of these patients was performed and none experienced adverse effects, despite ingestion of a mean of 286 g of oats each week. Routine histological analysis of intestinal biopsies showed improvement or no change in 95% of the samples examined. Furthermore, tissue transglutaminase expression in biopsy samples, determined quantitatively using the IN Cell Analyzer, was unchanged. Employing immunohistochemistry, oats ingestion was not associated with changes in intraepithelial lymphocyte numbers or with enterocyte proliferation as assessed by Ki-67 staining. Finally, despite the potential for tissue transglutaminase to interact with oats, neither endomysial nor tissue transglutaminase antibodies were generated in any of the patients throughout the study. To conclude, this study reaffirms the lack of oats immunogenicity and toxicity to coeliac patients. It also suggests that the antigenic stimulus caused by wheat exposure differs fundamentally from that caused by oats.
Multiple assessors of child welfare youths' mental‐health functioning: comparing perceptions of adolescents, caregivers and teachers
Authors: Simmel Cassandra , Lee Inseon , Kim Soyoun , Miles Jonathan 
Published: October 2012

AbstractFor youth involved with the child welfare system, accurate assessment of mental‐health functioning is a critical factor in case planning. To assess correspondence among multiple reporters of child welfare youths' mental‐health difficulties, this study, using data drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well‐being dataset, examined the caregiver, teacher and youth (aged 11–16 years) reports on the Child Behavior Checklist (n = 464). Perceptions about symptomatology on a variety of externalizing and internalizing behaviour problem scales were measured with a correlation analysis. Subsequently, logistic regression models were created, which explored how each reporter category matched a fourth reporter category: the child welfare investigation caseworkers' identification of youths' mental‐health needs. Results show that in several models, the odds of matching caseworkers' determination of youths' mental‐health needs significantly increased as youths' perceptions of psychopathology increased. A similar pattern was found for caregivers' perceptions in some of the models, across both internalizing and externalizing domains. Implications for child welfare practice and research with child welfare youth are discussed.
Individual Differences in the Encoding Processes of Egocentric and Allocentric Survey Knowledge
Authors: Wen Wen , Ishikawa Toru , Sato Takao 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThis study examined how different components of working memory are involved in the acquisition of egocentric and allocentric survey knowledge by people with a good and poor sense of direction (SOD). We employed a dual‐task method and asked participants to learn routes from videos with verbal, visual, and spatial interference tasks and without any interference. Results showed that people with a good SOD encoded and integrated knowledge about landmarks and routes into egocentric survey knowledge in verbal and spatial working memory, which is then transformed into allocentric survey knowledge with the support of all three components, distances being processed in verbal and spatial working memory and directions in visual and spatial working memory. In contrast, people with a poor SOD relied on verbal working memory and lacked spatial processing, thus failing to acquire accurate survey knowledge. Based on the results, a possible model for explaining individual differences in spatial knowledge acquisition is proposed.
Doppler Echocardiography Unraveling Lewis and Wiggers Diagrams
Authors: Saura Daniel , Oliva María J. , Peñafiel Pablo , de la Morena Gonzalo 
Published: October 2012

Mini‐AbstractIn a patient with complete atrioventricular block and junctional escape rhythm that showed near‐isorrhythmic atrioventricular dissociation, the characteristic pattern of Doppler spectra of mitral inflow, pulmonary veins flow, and tricuspid regurgitation profile could help to analyze heart activation sequence and its related hemodynamics to confirm a somewhat doubtful electrocardiographic diagnosis.
High levels of soluble serum hemojuvelin in patients with congenital dyserythropoietic anemia type I
Authors: Shalev Hanna , Perez‐Avraham Galit , Kapelushnik Joseph , Levi Itai , Rabinovich Anat , Swinkels Dorine W. , Brasse‐Lagnel Carole , Tamary Hannah 
Published: October 2012

AbstractObjectiveCongenital dyserythropoietic anemia (CDA) is a rare group of red blood cell disorders with ineffective erythropoiesis and secondary hemochromatosis. Inappropriate suppression of hepcidin and high levels of growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) have been described in CDA I and II patients, probably contributing to secondary hemochromatosis. Hemojuvelin (HJV) is an important regulator of serum hepcidin, while soluble form of HJV (s‐HJV) competitively down‐regulates hepcidin.MethodsWe determined the soluble hemojuvelin (s‐HJV) levels in 17 patients with CDA I and in 17 healthy volunteers (HV) and looked for correlations with other parameters of iron overload and erythropoiesis.ResultsSignificantly higher levels of s‐HJV were found in patients (2.32 ± 1.40 mg/L) compared with healthy volunteers (0. 69 ± 0.44 mg/L) (P = 0.001). Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of high levels of s‐HJV in CDA I patients. s‐HJV positively correlated with serum ferritin, erythropoietin, soluble transferrin receptor, and GDF15 and negatively correlated with hepcidin to ferritin ratios.ConclusionsWe for the first time documented high levels of serum s‐HJV in CDA I patients, suggesting that it may contribute to iron loading pathology in CDA I and eventually in other anemias with ineffective erythropoiesis.
Understanding diversity–stability relationships: towards a unified model of portfolio effects
Authors: Thibaut Loïc M. , Connolly Sean R. 
Published: October 2012

AbstractA major ecosystem effect of biodiversity is to stabilise assemblages that perform particular functions. However, diversity–stability relationships (DSRs) are analysed using a variety of different population and community properties, most of which are adopted from theory that makes several restrictive assumptions that are unlikely to be reflected in nature. Here, we construct a simple synthesis and generalisation of previous theory for the DSR. We show that community stability is a product of two quantities: the synchrony of population fluctuations, and an average species‐level population stability that is weighted by relative abundance. Weighted average population stability can be decomposed to consider effects of the mean‐variance scaling of abundance, changes in mean abundance with diversity and differences in species' mean abundance in monoculture. Our framework makes explicit how unevenness in the abundances of species in real communities influences the DSR, which occurs both through effects on community synchrony, and effects on weighted average population variability. This theory provides a more robust framework for analysing the results of empirical studies of the DSR, and facilitates the integration of findings from real and model communities.
Cancer stem cells as ‘units of selection’
Authors: Greaves Mel 
Published: October 2012

AbstractCancer development is widely recognized to be a somatic cell evolutionary process with complex dynamics and highly variable time frames. Variant cells and descendent subclones gain competitive advantage via their fitness in relation to micro‐environmental selective pressures. In this context, the ‘unit’ of selection is the cell, but not any cell. The so‐called ‘cancer stem cells’ have the essential properties required to function as the key units of selection, particularly with respect to their proliferative potential and longevity. These cells drive evolutionary progression of disease and provide reservoirs for relapse or recurrence and drug resistance. They represent the prime, but elusive and moving, targets for therapeutic control.
Fatigue crack growth prediction models for metallic materials Part II: Strip yield model – choices and decisions
Authors: MACHNIEWICZ T. 
Published: October 2012

ABSTRACTDeterministic models developed to predict fatigue crack growth in metallic materials are considered with special emphasis on approaches suitable for variable amplitude load histories. Part I gave a concise review of available models and their assessment based on reported in the literature comparisons between predicted and observed results. It was concluded that the so‐called strip yield model based on the plasticity‐induced crack closure mechanism is a most versatile predictive tool convenient to use in the case of mode I crack growth under arbitrary variable amplitude loading. Part II of the paper is focused on the strip yield model and its predictive capabilities. Implementations of this type prediction approach reported in the literature are reviewed. It is shown that decisions regarding the constraint factor conception, a choice of the crack driving force parameter, the crack growth rate description and various numerical details can have a profound effect on the model results and the prediction quality.
Climate change has indirect effects on resource use and overlap among coexisting bird species with negative consequences for their reproductive success
Authors: Auer Sonya K. , Martin Thomas E. 
Published: October 2012

AbstractClimate change can modify ecological interactions, but whether it can have cascading effects throughout ecological networks of multiple interacting species remains poorly studied. Climate‐driven alterations in the intensity of plant–herbivore interactions may have particularly profound effects on the larger community because plants provide habitat for a wide diversity of organisms. Here we show that changes in vegetation over the last 21 years, due to climate effects on plant–herbivore interactions, have consequences for songbird nest site overlap and breeding success. Browsing‐induced reductions in the availability of preferred nesting sites for two of three ground nesting songbirds led to increasing overlap in nest site characteristics among all three bird species with increasingly negative consequences for reproductive success over the long term. These results demonstrate that changes in the vegetation community from effects of climate change on plant–herbivore interactions can cause subtle shifts in ecological interactions that have critical demographic ramifications for other species in the larger community.
Reintroduction of grazing management after deforestation of formerly abandoned grassland and its effect on early vegetation changes in the Western Carpathians (Slovakia)
Authors: Novák J. , Pavlů V. , Ludvíková V. 
Published: October 2012

AbstractAlthough the process of reforestation of grassland has been widely studied in Europe, little is known about the effect of deforestation on grassland development. Thus, the specific objective of this study was to evaluate early changes in plant species composition, functional group, yield and biomass quality after deforestation of long‐term abandoned pastures. The experiment was established immediately after deforestation on sparse herbaceous vegetation (mean initial cover 27%) with the following treatments: grazing management only (G0), cutting and grazing aftermath (CG), grazing after seeding of grassland mixture (GS), grazing after a burning treatment in which branches were burned after deforestation (GB) and unmanaged control (U). Very rapid recovery of bare ground by germination and/or sprouting of grassland species was similar under all types of grazing management. Total plant species richness increased in all managed treatments except GB. Similarities according to redundancy analyses in plant species composition were found among G0, CG and GB treatments, especially for forbs with correlated rosette or creeping growth. The woody species, tall grasses and tall forbs had higher abundance in the U treatment. The restoration of grassland following deforestation of formerly reforested grassland area by grazing management was a relatively fast process, and swards were created after 3 years. The highest biomass yield was observed under treatments GS and GB. Forage quality of all managed treatments was sufficient for the demands of beef cattle grazing. However, for subsequent grassland preservation, some type of grazing management is necessary to prevent reforestation, which can occur immediately after deforestation in unmanaged places.
‘You don't get told anything, they don't do anything and nothing changes’. Medicine as a resource and constraint in progressive ataxia
Authors: Daker‐White Gavin , Kingston Helen , Payne Katherine , Greenfield Julie , Ealing John , Sanders Caroline 
Published: October 2012

AbstractBackgroundProgressive ataxias are neurological disorders affecting balance, co‐ordination of movement and speech.ObjectiveA qualitative study was undertaken to discover patients' experiences of ataxia and its symptoms.ParticipantsThirty‐eight people with ataxia recruited from patient support groups and two hospital outpatients departments.DesignCross‐sectional qualitative study with thematic analysis.ResultsThese accounts highlight the limits of medicine in the context of a rare, incurable and disabling disorder, and the embodied uncertainties brought by slowly progressive diseases that lie at the boundaries of mainstream medical knowledge. The existential crises faced by people with ataxia are seemingly magnified by sometimes idiopathic aetiologies and the limited number of inherited conditions identifiable by the available genetic tests. Interviewees were drawn into a medical system that was focused mainly on the diagnosis process, with widely varying results. However, when asked, most had rather valued the provision of disability aids and physical therapies. Only one informant reported overcoming the myriad uncertainties of progressive ataxia, and their account supported the notion of ‘biographical repair’ in chronic illness.ConclusionsClinical uncertainties in ataxia constrained people's attempts to deal with their condition. The construction of the proactive, informed, medical consumer who is assumed to be a partner in care is problematic in the context of a rare and difficult‐to‐diagnose disease for which there is usually no cure. Service providers should be mindful of the need to manage patient expectations in relation to diagnosis and cure. More focus might usefully be placed on the provision of physical therapies and disability aids.