bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Incidence and prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in Buenos Aires City, Argentina
Authors: Bauso D. J. , Tartari J. P. , Stefani C. V. , Rojas J. I. , Giunta D. H. , Cristiano E. 
Published: March 2012

Background and purpose:  Epidemiologic studies of incidence and prevalence in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) show highly variable results. Despite the large number of studies performed worldwide during the last decades, little is known about its prevalence in South America and no incidence studies have been performed. The goal of this study is to assess the incidence and prevalence of PD in a health maintenance organization from Buenos Aires City, the capital city of Argentina.Methods:  The population were all members of the ‘Plan de Salud, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires’, a large prepaid health medical organization in Buenos Aires. From 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2008 patients diagnosed with PD according to Brain Bank of London diagnostic criteria were identified retrospectively. Incidence density was calculated with 95% confidence interval.Results:  Hundred and forty thousand people were followed for a total of 754 082 person‐years. A total of 239 incident cases of PD were identified. Crude incidence density was 31.2/100 000 person‐years. Prevalence was 394/100 000 in the population older than 40 years. Male to female ratio was 1.31.Conclusions:  This is the first study in South America that estimates the incidence of PD. Our results are consistent with other studies from other regions using similar methodologies.
Cooperation and Capacity? Exploring the Sources and Limits of City‐Region Governance Partnerships
Authors: Nelles Jen 
Published: March 2012

AbstractScholarship abounds on the importance of city‐regions to regional and national prosperity, and to the wider global economy. But little is known about their capacity to function as effective, legitimate and robust policy actors. This article begins to address the important question of what determines the governance capacity of city‐regions by unpacking the concepts at the core of this research. It focuses on sources of horizontal capacity as a function of the strength of intermunicipal partnerships. Research suggests a variety of determinants of the strength of inter municipal partnerships, from rational choice to institutional perspectives. This article acknowledges the contribution of these approaches, but argues that none of the approaches presented to date can alone explain observed variations in the strength and capacity of city‐regional partnerships. Instead the article presents an alternative theoretical framework that reimagines and combines existing approaches, and introduces the concept of civic capital as a critical determinant of governance capacity.RésuméDe nombreux travaux de recherches soulignent combien les régions métropolitaines sont importantes pour la prospérité régionale et nationale, et pour l'économie mondiale en général. Pourtant, on en sait peu sur leur capacitéà opérer comme acteurs efficaces, légitimes et solides des politiques publiques. En revenant sur les concepts fondamentaux de ces études, l'article traite d'abord un point important: les facteurs déterminants de la capacité de gouvernance des régions métropolitaines. Il s'attache aux sources de capacité horizontale en fonction de la solidité des partenariats intercommunaux. Les études suggèrent tout un éventail de facteurs de cette solidité, allant du choix rationnel aux perspectives institutionnelles. Toutes les approches présentées à ce jour contribuent au débat général, mais aucune ne peut expliquer à elle seule les variations observées dans la solidité et la capacité des partenariats des régions métropolitaines. Un cadre théorique alternatif est présenté dans cet article, permettant de réimaginer et de combiner les approches existantes, tout en introduisant le concept de capital civique comme facteur essentiel de la capacité de gouvernance.
Pikaia gracilensWalcott, a stem‐group chordate from the Middle Cambrian of British Columbia
Authors: Morris Simon Conway , Caron Jean‐Bernard 
Published: March 2012

The Middle CambrianPikaia gracilens(Walcott) has an iconic position as a Cambrian chordate, but until now no detailed description has been available. Here on the basis of the 114 available specimens we review its anatomy, confirm its place in the chordates and explore with varying degrees of confidence its relationships to both extant and extinct chordates and other deuterostomes. The body ofPikaiais fusiform, laterally compressed and possesses about 100 myomeres. The head is small, bilobed and bears two narrow tentacles. There is no evidence for eyes. Apart from a thin dorsal fin (without finrays) and a series of at least nine bilaterally arranged appendages with possible pharyngeal pores at the anterior end, there are no other external features. In addition to the musculature the internal anatomy includes an alimentary canal, the anterior of which forms a prominent lenticular unit that is almost invariably preserved in positive relief. The cavity is interpreted as pharyngeal, implying that the mouth itself was almost terminal. The posterior extension of the gut is unclear although the anus appears to have been terminal. The most prominent internal structure is a reflectively preserved unit, possibly hollow, termed here the dorsal organ. Although formerly interpreted as a notochord its position and size make this less likely. Its original function remains uncertain, but it could have formed a storage organ. Ventral to the dorsal organ a narrower strand of tissue is interpreted as representing the nerve chord and notochord. In addition to these structures, there is also evidence for a vascular system, including a ventral blood vessel.The position ofPikaiain the chordates is largely based on the presence of sigmoidal myomeres, and the more tentative identification of a notochord. In many other respects,Pikaiadiffers from the expected nature of primitive chordates, especially as revealed in amphioxus and the Cambrian record (includingCathaymyrus,Haikouichthys,Metaspriggina,Myllokunmingia, andZhongxiniscus). Whilst the possibility thatPikaiais simply convergent on the chordates cannot be dismissed, we prefer to build a scenario that regardsPikaiaas the most stem‐ward of the chordates with links to the phylogenetically controversial yunnanozoans. This hypothesis has implications for the evolution of the myomeres, notochord and gills. Finally, the wealth of material ofPikaiaindicates that, although by definition there must be some sort of taphonomic imprint, the consistency of preservational details allows a reliable reconstruction of the anatomy and does not significantly erode phylogenetically relevant characters.
Fine‐scale group structure and demography of African savanna elephants recolonizing lands outside protected areas
Authors: Ahlering M. A. , Maldonado J. E. , Fleischer R. C. , Western David , Eggert L. S. 
Published: March 2012

AbstractAim Dispersal is a critical component of animal ecology that is poorly understood for most species. In particular, savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) have been studied for decades in national parks across Africa, but little is known about their dispersal into new or unused habitats or their population dynamics in human‐dominated landscapes. We capitalized on a natural dispersal event of savanna elephants recolonizing communal land in southern Kenya to document their demographic characteristics and genetic relationships.Location Rift Valley province of Kenya.Methods We collected faecal samples and used genetic methods to identify individuals, estimate the sex ratio and evaluate the patterns of relatedness within the female groups and male aggregations. We also measured dung bolus circumference to assign age classes to individuals and estimate the age structure.Results We identified 112 individuals with a sex ratio not different from one (1.32:1.00). The age structure was skewed towards younger elephants (71%), suggesting the potential for rapid growth from reproduction. We detected significantly higher kinship levels within female groups (R = 0.124 ± 0.023), suggesting that family groups colonized the site, but found little support for higher‐order genetic relationships among female groups. Males detected together were unrelated (R = 0.003 ± 0.030).Main conclusions Our results suggest that highly social mammals, such as savanna elephants, disperse into unoccupied habitat as family groups and that a young demographic structure and a large number of males might be expected in establishing populations. These findings highlight the potential value of indirect, non‐invasive methods for assessing elephant herd and demographic characteristics when direct observations are difficult.
Environmental and topographic variables shape genetic structure and effective population sizes in the endangered Yosemite toad
Authors: Wang Ian J. 
Published: March 2012

AbstractAim  Describing the landscape variables that accurately reflect how environmental and topographic variations affect population connectivity and demography is a major goal of landscape genetics and conservation biology. However, few landscape genetics studies have quantified the relationships between landscape variables and effective population size (Ne), although Ne is a key conservation and population genetics parameter. In this study, I estimated genetic structure and effective population sizes in the Yosemite toad (Bufo canorus) and tested for associations with environmental and geographic variables.Location  Yosemite National Park, California, USA.Methods  I estimated FST, Dps and Ne using 10 microsatellite loci amplified from 781 individuals from 24 populations. I used three landscape variables (environmental variation, topography and slope) to generate geographic distance models and a series of regression analyses to identify the variables that contributed to genetic structure in this species. I also tested for correlations between Ne and a suite of variables, including geographic and genetic isolation, habitat suitability, elevation, temperature and precipitation.Results  I found substantial variation in genetic distances between populations (FST = 0.004–0.396, Dps = 0.045–0.839) and in effective population sizes (Ne = 9–52). Environmental variation and slope played important roles in explaining variation in genetic distances, and precipitation variables were significantly correlated with Ne.Main conclusions  These results show that environmental and topographic variables are both important for understanding population connectivity in B. canorus and provide some of the first evidence, in any species, for a link between environmental variables and effective population size.
A conversation analytic perspective on teaching English pronunciation: The case of speech rhythm
Authors: Szczepek Reed Beatrice 
Published: March 2012

Recent decades have seen an ongoing debate over the implications of English as a global lingua franca for English teaching methodologies and curricula, particularly regarding pronunciation. The two opposing perspectives are native‐like accuracy on the one hand, and international intelligibility on the other. This paper suggests a third approach, which starts from an interactional perspective on phonetics and prosody, and asks, first, what the interactional relevance of individual pronunciation features may be, and, second, how non‐native speakers would benefit from acquiring them. Taking speech rhythm as an example, the paper argues that as long as non‐native speakers are able to accomplish the interactional projects they set out to accomplish, non‐native features of their accent variety need not be made prominent in pronunciation teaching.Seit einigen Jahrzehnten werden in der angewandten Sprachwissenschaft Auswirkungen des globalen Gebrauchs des Englischen als Lingua Franca auf Lehrmethodologie und Lehrpläne für Englisch als Fremdsprache diskutiert, besonders im Bereich des Ausspracheunterrichts. Zwei gegensätzliche Perspektiven werden von Befürwortern quasi‐muttersprachlicher Korrektheit einerseits, und internationaler Verständlichkeit andererseits vertreten. In diesem Artikel wird ein dritter Ansatz angeboten, der von einer interaktionalen Perspektive auf Phonetik und Prosodie ausgeht. Hier wird zuerst nach der interaktionalen Relevanz einzelner Aussprachemerkmale gefragt, und dann untersucht, ob, und inwieweit Nicht‐Muttersprachlerinnen vom Erlernen dieser Merkmale profitieren. Der Artikel verwendet Sprechrhythmus als Beispiel, und argumentiert, dass wenn Nicht‐Muttersprachlerinnen in der Lage sind ihre interaktionalen Ziele erfolgreich zu verwirklichen, ihre nicht‐muttersprachlichen Aussprachevarianten keine bedeutende Stellung im Ausspracheunterricht einnehmen müssen.
EX‐DIVIDEND DAY PRICE BEHAVIOR OF EXCHANGE‐TRADED FUNDS
Authors: Ruan Jun (Tony) , Ma Tongshu 
Published: March 2012

AbstractWe document that for exchange‐traded funds (ETFs), the price falls on average by the dividend amounts on the ex‐dividend day, and there are significantly positive abnormal volumes. This is because trading in ETFs entails lower transaction costs and lower risk than trading in equity closed‐end funds (CEFs) and individual stocks. Similar results are also found for equity CEFs. However, regression analyses indicate that transaction costs and risk are indeed negligible for ETFs but not for equity CEFs and that risk remains important for a sample of stocks matched based on transaction costs. Overall, the results support the short‐term traders hypothesis.
Clinical Comparison of ICD Detection Algorithms that Include Rapid‐VT Zones
Authors: HIRSH DAVID S. , CHINITZ LARRY A. , BERNSTEIN NEIL E. , HOLMES DOUGLAS S. , RAO SATYA , AIZER ANTHONY 
Published: March 2012

Introduction: The safe use of antitachycardia pacing (ATP) to terminate rapid ventricular tachycardias (VTs) (cycle length 240–320 ms) is predicated on the ability of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to distinguish rapid VT from ventricular fibrillation (VF). We set out to compare the time to device charging following the induction of VF of various ICD multizone detection algorithms for rapid VT/VF discrimination.
Methods and Results: Data on the time to device charging following the induction of VF at the time to device implantation were collected on 62 consecutive patients in a nonrandomized prospective cohort fashion. Multizone programming for the Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical devices was based on prior clinically validated data. Sixty‐two subjects were studied (Boston Scientific = 16, Medtronic = 27, St. Jude Medical = 19) and 124 tests for VF detection were performed (Boston Scientific = 32, Medtronic = 54, St. Jude Medical = 38). Mean time to charging was significantly prolonged in the Boston Scientific group as was the percentage of tests where charge initiation occurred >5 seconds from VF‐induction: 4.24, 3.99, and 3.00 seconds and 19%, 4%, and 0% for the Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical groups, respectively, P < 0.05. ATP was the first therapy administered in 9.4% of tests in the Boston Scientific group.
Conclusion: The Boston Scientific multizone VT/VF discrimination algorithm results in a prolonged time to VF detection, and consequently, prolonged time to appropriate initiation of device charging. Further studies are needed to determine whether prolonged detection times lead to clinically significant events. (PACE 2012; 35:1222–1231)
One‐Year Clinical Outcome of a Randomized Trial of Polymer‐Free Paclitaxel‐Eluting Stents Versus Biodegradable Polymer‐Based Rapamycin‐Eluting Stents in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease
Authors: ZHANG LAN , YUAN JIA , LIU GAN , ZHONG JIN‐PENG , YIN YUE‐HUI , SHE QIANG , SU LI , LING ZHI‐YU , CHEN YUN‐QING 
Published: March 2012

Background:
More widespread use of drug‐eluting stents (DES) to treat coronary heart disease (CHD) has recently generated more attention to thrombosis, which was relative to the polymer. Polymer‐free and biodegradable polymer‐based stents are more frequently studied, but their efficacy on preventing detrimental clinical events is unclear.
Methods and Results:
To assess whether polymer‐free paclitaxel‐eluting stent (YINYI stent) was noninferior or equivalent to biodegradable polymer‐based rapamycin‐eluting stents (EXCEL stent) in preventing detrimental clinical cardiovascular events, a total of 167 consecutive CHD patients requiring DES implantation were randomly divided into the YINYI group (n = 82) and the EXCEL group (n = 85). The primary end‐point was major adverse cardiac events (MACE). The secondary end‐points included stent thrombosis events, all‐cause mortality, and rehospitalization. The study was designed to test the noninferiority or equivalence of the YINYI stent compared with the EXCEL stent with respect to one‐year MACE according to a noninferiority or equivalence margin of 0.1. One‐year MACE was 6.10% in the YINYI group versus 5.88% in the EXCEL group. The lower limit of the one‐sided 95% confidence interval was −0.0582 (P = 0.002 from the test for noninferiority). The 95% confidence interval for the equivalence test was [−0.0698, 0.0742] (P1=0.004 and P2=0.007 from 2 times the 1‐sided test for equivalence). There was no statistically significant difference in thrombosis events, all‐cause death, and rehospitalization (all P > 0.05).
Conclusions:
In this small randomized trial, polymer‐free paclitaxel‐eluting stents appear to be noninferior or equivalent to biodegradable polymer‐based rapamycin‐eluting stents. (J Interven Cardiol 2012;25:604–610)
How Do Previous Mental Health, Social Support, and Stressful Life Events Contribute to Postnatal Depression in a Representative Sample of Australian Women?
Authors: Chojenta Catherine , Loxton Deborah , Lucke Jayne 
Published: March 2012

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine the risk factors for postnatal depression (PND) using longitudinal data in a representative sample of Australian women.Methods: Mailed survey data collected from the youngest cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health were analyzed. Of the women in this cohort, 2451 had a child in the 4 years preceding survey 4 in 2006, and those who reported being diagnosed or treated for PND at survey 4 (n = 252) were compared to those who had no report of PND at survey 4 (n = 2324) in order to identify risk factors for PND.Results: Women with a history of depression (from survey 2 in 2000 and from survey 3 in 2003) were more likely to report postnatal depression (odds ratio [OR] 2.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39–3.18 and OR 2.15; 95% CI, 1.37–3.35, respectively). Contrary to previous research, demographic factors were not significantly related to PND. Women who rated their affectionate support and positive social interaction as being available some of the time were significantly more likely to experience PND (OR 2.37; 95% CI, 1.24–4.53) than those who rated this type of support as being available all of the time.Discussion: While previous mental health problems and a history of stressful life events were found to be significant risk factors for PND, the results of this study show that women with PND are also lacking some aspects of social support around the time of the birth of their children. Implications for treatment and policy are discussed.
Relative performance of different dental professional groups in screening for occlusal caries
Authors: Brocklehurst Paul , Ashley James , Walsh Tanya , Tickle Martin 
Published: March 2012

Brocklehurst P, Ashley J, Walsh T, Tickle M. Relative performance of different dental professional groups in screening for occlusal caries. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2012. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/SAbstract –  Objectives:  The use of role substitution, where different levels of practitioner undertake the duties of the most qualified clinician, is common in medicine and dentistry. Proponents argue that role substitution has the potential to increase dentists’ efficiency and effectiveness, thereby freeing up resources to improve access and reduce oral health inequalities. Given the current global economic climate, many countries are re‐examining models of service provision to utilize role substitution. The objective of this study was to determine whether different members of the dental team could meet the diagnostic threshold set by the World Health Organization, when screening photographs of occlusal surfaces for dental caries.Methods:  Participants were sampled purposively and included; final‐year dental students, final‐year hygiene‐therapy students, primary care dentists, hygiene‐therapists and dental nurses. Following a brief training package, participants were asked to score 102 clinical photographs of both carious and noncarious extracted teeth and determine whether the tooth was ‘healthy’ or had ‘suspected decay’. The time delay between consecutive photographs was set at 8‐s. Judgment decisions were compared against the International Caries Detection and Assessment System as the gold standard, with scores of two or less representing ‘healthy’. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were determined for each participant and clinical group. Kappa was calculated to determine test–retest reliability.Results:  Dental nurses had the highest median sensitivity (87.9%), although all groups were comparable. The median specificity for the groups was lower than their sensitivity scores, with dentists scoring the highest (71.0%). Dentists also scored the highest median positive predictive value (57.8%), whilst dental nurses scored the highest negative predictive value (91.3%). The median level of agreement was high for all groups; the highest median score was for the final‐year dental students (88.9%).Conclusions:  Even with minimal training, different members of the dental team show the potential to screen for occlusal caries to a similar standard as primary care dentists. This requires further testing in vivo, but has important implications for the productivity and design of the future dental workforce.
Increased secretion of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases 1 and 2 (TIMPs ‐1 and ‐2) in fibroblasts are early indictors of oral sub‐mucous fibrosis and ageing
Authors: Pitiyage Gayani N. , Lim Kue P. , Gemenitzidis Emilios , Teh Muy‐Teck , Waseem Ahmad , Prime Stephen S. , Tilakaratne Wanninayake M. , Fortune Farida , Parkinson E. K. 
Published: March 2012

J Oral Pathol Med (2012) 41: 454–462Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is associated with paan chewing, altered collagen metabolism, inflammation and the upregulation of numerous cytokines. OSMF fibroblasts accumulate senescent cells at an increased rate because of increased reactive oxygen species production and DNA double‐strand breaks (DDBs), generated intrinsically by damaged mitochondria. This results in a reduced replicative lifespan. However, it is still unclear which other changes are intrinsic to the fibroblasts and associated with OSMF rather than the paan chewing habit or the OSMF environment. Both the oral epithelium and the mesenchyme have elevated levels of TGF‐β1 in OSMF in vivo. However, in cultured fibroblasts, secreted levels of TGF‐β1, other cytokines and the matrix metalloproteinases 1 and 2 showed no association with OSMF. In contrast, the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases, TIMP‐1 and TIMP‐2, were increased in 10/11 OSMF fibroblast cultures relative to normal and non‐diseased paan user controls. OSMF fibroblast collagen levels were normal. TIMP levels correlated with replicative lifespan of the cultures but not with the presence of senescent cells, as senescent cell depletion in OSMF fibroblast cultures did not result in a reduction in either TIMP‐1 or TIMP‐2. However, the introduction of unrepairable DDBs into normal oral fibroblasts by ionizing radiation increased TIMP‐1 and TIMP‐2 secretion by two‐fold and seven‐fold, respectively, within 5 days, replicating early senescence and the elevation seen in OSMF cultures. Therefore, increased fibroblast TIMP‐1/2 levels could be early disease‐specific markers of OSMF onset, DDBs and ageing and may have clinical significance, as OSMF can be reversed in its early stages.