bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of exenatide vs. insulin glargine in type 2 diabetes: cost‐effectiveness analysis in the German setting
Authors: Mittendorf T. , Smith‐Palmer J. , Timlin L. , Happich M. , Goodall G. 
Published: September 2009

Objectives: The objective of this analysis was to determine the cost‐effectiveness of exenatide vs. insulin glargine in patients with type 2 diabetes failing to achieve glycaemic control with oral antidiabetic agents, in the German setting, from a third‐party payer perspective.Methods: Data from a published randomized controlled trial were used in combination with a published, validated computer simulation model of type 2 diabetes to project clinical and cost outcomes over a time horizon of 10 years. Cost data were obtained from published literature and expert opinion. Clinical and cost outcomes were discounted at 5% per annum. Sensitivity analyses were performed to establish key drivers and parameters.Results: Treatment with exenatide compared with insulin glargine was projected to be associated with improvements in life expectancy of 0.016 years and quality‐adjusted life expectancy of 0.280 quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs), increased lifetime direct medical costs of € 3854 (€ 22 095 vs. € 18 242) and an incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio (ICER) of € 13 746 per QALY. If quality of life was not taken into account, exenatide was associated with an ICER of € 238 201 per life year gained vs. insulin glargine. Sensitivity analyses revealed that outcomes were most sensitive to changes in assumptions for (dis)utility values relating to weight change and the rate of self‐monitored blood glucose testing.Conclusions: Exenatide was projected to be associated with similar clinical outcomes and increased costs compared with insulin glargine. Analysis of cost‐effectiveness from a third‐party perspective suggests that exenatide is likely to represent good value for money in the German setting.
TheDominant whitemutation in thePMEL17gene does not cause visual impairment in chickens
Authors: Karlsson Anna‐Carin , Kerje Susanne , Hallböök Finn , Jensen Per 
Published: September 2009

AbstractObjective To examine whether theDominant whitemutation (causing a hypopigmented phenotype in chicken) affects the visual ability and gives rise to ocular abnormalities in chickens (Gallus gallus).Procedure Chickens homozygous for either theDominant whitemutation or the wild‐type alleles were tested in a visual contrast behavioral test and subjected to histological and ophthalmologic examination.Results There were no differences between the genotypes in the visual contrast behavioral test, and there were no abnormal structures among theDominant whitechickens in the ophthalmic examination. The histological sections from theDominant whitechickens did not differ from the wild‐type chicken in structure, photoreceptor density, or RPE pigmentation.Conclusions The results indicate that theDominant whitemutation inPMEL17does not seem to affect the visual ability or eye structures in chickens.
In vitrosusceptibility patterns ofAspergillusandFusariumspecies isolated from equine ulcerative keratomycosis cases in the midwestern and southern United States with inclusion of the new antifungal agent voriconazole
Authors: Pearce Jacqueline W. , Giuliano Elizabeth A. , Moore Cecil P. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractObjective To evaluate and compare thein vitrosusceptibility ofAspergillusandFusariumspp. isolated from horses with ulcerative keratomycosis, address regional differences in equine keratomycosis isolates, and provide susceptibility data to update prior studies.Animal studied Fourteen horses with ulcerative keratomycosis.Procedures Banked fungal isolates from equine corneal ulcers (eightAspergillusspp. and sixFusariumspp.) were identified at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.In vitrominimum inhibitory concentration and susceptibility to natamycin, fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, ketoconazole, and miconazole were determined for each isolate.Results Fungi were significantly more susceptible to voriconazole than to natamycin, itraconazole, fluconazole, and ketoconazole, but miconazole susceptibility did not differ significantly from voriconazole.Aspergillusspp. were most susceptible to voriconazole, miconazole, and itraconazole, which were significantly better to fluconazole and ketoconazole.Fusariumspp. susceptibility was greatest to natamycin and voriconazole and lowest to itraconazole and ketoconazole.Fusariumspp. were significantly less susceptible to itraconazole and ketoconazole compared to natamycin. No significant differences in susceptibility were found when isolates from Florida were compared with isolates from other states.Conclusions and clinical relevance Based onin vitroevidence, voriconazole appears to be the most effective antifungal for initial treatment of equine keratomycosis in the midwestern and southern United States. Results are comparable with previous studies in that isolated fungi from equine keratomycosis cases showed consistently poor susceptibility to fluconazole. Organisms isolated in different geographic locations of the midwestern and southern United States appeared to have similar patterns of antifungal susceptibility.
Contrasting response of native and alien plant species richness to environmental energy and human impact along alpine elevation gradients
Authors: Marini Lorenzo , Gaston Kevin J. , Prosser Filippo , Hulme Philip E. 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACTAim  We tested whether the species–energy and species–human relationships vary between native and both naturalized and casual alien species richness when other environmental variables had been taken into account.Location  Trento Province, a region (c. 6200 km2) on the southern border of the European Alps (Italy), subdivided into 156 contiguous (c. 37.5 km2) cells and ranging in elevation from 66 to 3769 m.Methods  Data were separated into three subsets, representing richness of natives, naturalized aliens and casual aliens and separately related to temperature, human population and various environmental correlates of plant species diversity. We applied ordinary least squares and simultaneous autoregressive regressions to identify potential contrasting responses of the three plant status subsets and hierarchical partitioning to evaluate the relative importance of the predictor variables.Results  Variation in alien plant species richness along the region was almost entirely explained by temperature and human population density. The relationships were positive but strongly curvilinear. Native species richness was less strongly related to either factor but was positively related to the presence of calcareous bedrock. Native species richness had a decelerating positive relationship with temperature (R2= 55%), whereas naturalized and casual aliens had a positive accelerating relationship explaining 86% and 62% of the variation in richness, respectively. Native species richness had a positive decelerating relationship with population density (R2= 42%), whilst both alien subsets had a positive accelerating relationship.Main conclusions  Alien species richness was higher in areas with the most rich and diverse assemblages of native species. Areas at high altitudes are not especially prone to alien invasion due to energy constraints, low propagule pressure and disturbance, even considering a potential increased in temperature. Thus, if we consider future environmental change, we should expect a stronger response of aliens than natives in the currently warm, urbanized, low‐altitude areas than in cold, high‐altitude areas where human population density is low.
Government Subsidies for Professional Team Sports in Australia
Authors: Wilson John K. , Pomfret Richard 
Published: September 2009

AbstractProfessional team sports represent an important aspect of Australian life. Interest is great, and a significant portion of household expenditure is directed toward sports‐related goods and services. Based on international comparisons and on the size of attendance and television revenues, the sector should be highly profitable. Yet, significant amounts of public funding and regulatory exemptions are afforded to team sports in Australia. This article analyses the magnitude and reasons for government spending that subsidises professional team sports.
A Smoothing Algorithm for Estimating Stochastic, Continuous Time Model Parameters and its Application to a Simple Climate Model
Authors: Tomassini Lorenzo , Reichert Peter , Künsch Hans R. , Buser Christoph , Knutti Reto , Borsuk Mark E. 
Published: September 2009

SummaryEven after careful calibration, the output of deterministic models of environmental systems usually still show systematic deviations from measured data. To analyse possible causes of these discrepancies, we make selected model parameters time variable by treating them as continuous time stochastic processes. This extends an approach that was proposed earlier using discrete time stochastic processes. We present a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for Bayesian estimation of such parameters jointly with the other, constant, parameters of the model. The algorithm consists of Gibbs sampling between constant and time varying parameters by using a Metropolis–Hastings algorithm for each parameter type. For the time varying parameter, we split the overall time period into consecutive intervals of random length, over each of which we use a conditional Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process with fixed end points as the proposal distribution in a Metropolis–Hastings algorithm. The hyperparameters of the stochastic process are selected by using a cross-validation criterion which maximizes a pseudolikelihood value, for which we have derived a computationally efficient estimator. We tested our algorithm by using a simple climate model. The results show that the algorithm behaves well, is computationally tractable and improves the fit of the model to the data when applied to an additional time-dependent forcing component. However, this additional forcing term is too large to be a reasonable correction of estimated forcing and it alters the posterior distribution of the other, time constant parameters to unrealistic values. This difficulty, and the impossibility of achieving a good simulation when making other parameters time dependent, indicates a more fundamental, structural deficit of the climate model. This is probably related to the poor resolution of the ocean in the model. Our study demonstrates the technical feasibility of the smoothing technique but also the need for a careful interpretation of the results.
Inference for Two-Stage Adaptive Treatment Strategies Using Mixture Distributions
Authors: Wahed Abdus S. 
Published: September 2009

SummaryTreatment of complex diseases such as cancer, leukaemia, acquired immune deficiency syndrome and depression usually follows complex treatment regimes consisting of time varying multiple courses of the same or different treatments. The goal is to achieve the largest overall benefit defined by a common end point such as survival. Adaptive treatment strategy refers to a sequence of treatments that are applied at different stages of therapy based on the individual’s history of covariates and intermediate responses to the earlier treatments. However, in many cases treatment assignment depends only on intermediate response and prior treatments. Clinical trials are often designed to compare two or more adaptive treatment strategies. A common approach that is used in these trials is sequential randomization. Patients are randomized on entry into available first-stage treatments and then on the basis of the response to the initial treatments are randomized to second-stage treatments, and so on. The analysis often ignores this feature of randomization and frequently conducts separate analysis for each stage. Recent literature suggested several semiparametric and Bayesian methods for inference related to adaptive treatment strategies from sequentially randomized trials. We develop a parametric approach using mixture distributions to model the survival times under different adaptive treatment strategies. We show that the estimators proposed are asymptotically unbiased and can be easily implemented by using existing routines in statistical software packages.
A molecular diagnostic for identifying central African forest artiodactyls from faecal pellets
Authors: Ntie S. , Johnston A. R. , Mickala P. , Bowkett A. E. , Jansen van Vuuren B. , Colyn M. , Telfer P. , Maisels F. , Hymas O. , Rouyer R. L. , Wallace R. A. , LeBlanc K. , Van Vliet N. , Sonet G. , Verheyen E. , Pires D. , Wickings E. J. , Lahm S. A. , Anthony N. M. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractSmall to medium‐sized central African forest artiodactyls constitute a diverse yet heavily hunted group composed primarily of species within the genera Cephalophus, Neotragus, Tragelaphus and Hyemoschus. Of these genera, Cephalophus is the richest with as many as seven sympatric species known to occur in central African forests. However, differentiating species from their faeces or from tissue where the whole carcass is unavailable is very difficult. In order to develop a robust molecular diagnostic for species identification, a database of mitochondrial cytochrome b (553 bp) and control region (∼675 bp) sequences was compiled from all forest Cephalophus species and other similarly sized, sympatric Tragelaphus, Neotragus and Hyemoschus species. Reference phylogenies from each marker were then used to recover the identity of sequences obtained from unknown faecal samples collected in the field. Results were then compared to determine which region best recovered species identity with the highest statistical support. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) were also assessed as an alternative method for rapid species identification. Of the methods examined, tree‐based analyses built on a geographically comprehensive database of control region sequences was the best means of reliably recovering species identity from central African duikers. However, three sister taxa appear indistinguishable (Cephalophus callipygus, Cephalophus ogilbyi and Cephalophus weynsi) and not all species were monophyletic. This lack of monophyly may be due to incomplete lineage sorting commonly observed in recently derived taxa, hybridization or the presence of nuclear translocated copies of mitochondrial DNA. The high level of intra‐specific variation and lack of robust species‐specific diagnostic sites made an RFLP‐based approach to duiker species identification difficult to implement. The tree‐based control region diagnostic presented here has many important applications including fine‐scale mapping of species distributions, identification of confiscated tissue and environmental impact assessments.
Is elevated noradrenaline an aetiological factor in a number of diseases?
Authors: Fitzgerald P. J. 
Published: September 2009

Summary1 Here I put forth the hypothesis that noradrenaline (NA), which is a signalling molecule in the brain and sympathetic nervous system (SNS), is an aetiological factor in a number of diseases.2 In a previous paper (Fitzgerald,Int. J. Cancer,124, 2009, 257), I examined evidence that elevated NA is a factor in various types of cancer. Here I extend the argument to several other diseases, including diabetes mellitus, open‐angle glaucoma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and asthma.3 The principal hypothesis is that, largely as a result of genetics, elevated noradrenergic tone in the SNS predisposes a large number of individuals to a broad range of diseases.4 For each of the above five diseases, I briefly examine the following four lines of evidence to assess the hypothesis: i) whether pharmacological studies in rodents that manipulate NA levels or receptors affect these diseases; ii) whether pharmacological manipulation of NA in humans affects these diseases; iii) whether bipolar disorder, excessive body weight, and hypertension, which may all three involve elevated NA, tend to be comorbid with these diseases and iv) whether psychological stressors tend to cause or exacerbate these conditions, since psychological stress is associated with increased release of NA.5 The four lines of evidence tend to support the hypothesis.
Calorie restriction reduces rDNA recombination independently of rDNA silencing
Authors: Riesen Michèle , Morgan Alan 
Published: September 2009

SummaryCalorie restriction (CR) extends lifespan in yeast, worms, flies and mammals, suggesting that it acts via a conserved mechanism. In yeast, activation of the NAD‐dependent histone deacetylase, Sir2, by CR is thought to increase silencing at the ribosomal DNA, thereby reducing the recombination‐induced generation of extrachromosomal rDNA circles, hence increasing replicative lifespan. Although accumulation of extrachromosomal rDNA circles is specific to yeast aging, it is thought that Sirtuin activation represents a conserved longevity mechanism through which the beneficial effects of CR are mediated in various species. We show here that growing yeast on 0.05 or 0.5% glucose (severe and moderate CR, respectively) does not increase silencing at either sub‐telomeric or rDNA loci compared with standard (2% glucose) media. Furthermore, rDNA silencing was unaffected in the hxk2Δ, sch9Δ and tor1Δ genetic mimics of CR, but inhibited by FOB1 deletion. All these interventions extend lifespan in multiple yeast backgrounds, revealing a poor correlation between rDNA silencing and longevity. In contrast, CR and deletion of the FOB1, HXK2, SCH9 and TOR1 genes, all significantly reduced rDNA recombination. This silencing‐independent mechanism for suppressing rDNA recombination may therefore contribute to CR‐mediated lifespan extension.
The effect of spironolactone on sweat and urinary sodium excretion during exercise in humans
Authors: Lee Nanette V. L. , Miller Paul W. , Buono Michael J. 
Published: September 2009

SummaryThis study examined the effect of spironolactone on urinary ([Na+]urine) and sweat sodium concentration ([Na+]sweat) when controlling for sweat rate. Fifteen healthy subjects were required to complete two 90‐min exercise bouts (three 30‐min ordered exercise bouts at 60%, 70%, and 80% of the subjects’ age‐predicted maximum heart rate) in a 35°C and 40% relative humidity environmental chamber, once after administration of 300 mg spironolactone, and once after administration of 300 mg placebo. Both the drug and placebo were taken over an 18 h period, with the second 100 mg dose taken 6 h prior to exercise, and the first 200 mg dose taken 12 h prior to the second dose. Sweat rate was measured during each of the three exercise bouts using a Macroduct® sweat collector affixed to the flexor surface of the forearm. Urine sodium excretion rate was calculated for the three hour period immediately prior to each exercise bout. Urinary and sweat sodium concentrations were analyzed via flame photometry. Spironolactone had no effect on [Na+]sweat at the different sweat rates. However, the urinary sodium excretion rate was significantly higher with spironolactone use (P<0·05). These results demonstrate that spironolactone caused the expected natriuresis, but greater sodium excretion was not observed in the sweat gland. Since the mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) in the sweat gland were not antagonized by spironolactone in the same manner as those in the kidney, this suggests that different isoforms of the MR exist in the kidney and the sweat gland of humans.
Englishness and the Union in Contemporary Conservative Thought
Authors: English Richard , Hayton Richard , Kenny Michael 
Published: September 2009

AbstractThis article analyses the importance of arguments developed since 1997 by influential right-wing commentators concerning Englishness and the United Kingdom. Drawing on historical, cultural and political themes, public intellectuals and commentators of the right have variously addressed the constitutional structure of the UK, the politics of devolved government in Wales and Scotland, and the emergence of a more salient contemporary English sensibility. This article offers case studies of the arguments of Simon Heffer, Peter Hitchens and Roger Scruton, all of whom have made controversial high-profile interventions on questions of national identity, culture and history. Drawing on original interviews with these as well as other key figures, the article addresses three central questions. First, what are the detailed arguments offered by Heffer, Hitchens and Scruton in relation to Englishness and the UK? Second, what does detailed consideration of these arguments reveal about the evolution of the politics of contemporary conservatism in relation to the Union? And, third, what kinds of opportunity currently exist for intellectuals and commentators on the fringes of mainstream politics to influence the terms of debate on these issues?
Opposition in Consensual Switzerland: A Short but Significant Experiment
Authors: Church Clive H. , Vatter Adrian 
Published: September 2009

AbstractAlthough conventional wisdom sees Switzerland as oppositionless, in December 2007 its biggest party, the Swiss People's Party (SVP), declared itself in ‘opposition’. It implied this was something dramatic but implementation was hesitant, degenerating into personalized attacks on the minister elected over its party leader. This led to splits in the party and the strategy petered out, with the SVP returning to collegial government, consensus having proved too strong. Although political science has recently neglected opposition, the SVP's understanding of the concept was distant from most ideas of ‘opposition politics’, notably Anglo-Saxon practices. The experiment is therefore best understood as a rhetorical flourish, arising out of the SVP's powerful, but unusual, populism. Though unsuccessful, it shows Swiss politics are changing and the populist challenge remains.
DNA Sequence Conservation and Diversity in Transposable Element IS605 of Helicobacter pylori
Authors: Höök‐Nikanne Johanna , Berg Douglas E. , Peek Richard M. , Kersulyte Dange , Tummuru Murali K. R. , Blaser Martin J. 
Published: September 2009

Background. IS605, a transposable element‐like sequence identified in the virulence‐associated cag region of Helicobacter pylori reference strain NCTC11638, is unusual in containing two oppositely‐oriented open reading frames whose products are homologues of the single transposases of the unrelated elements, IS200 and IS1341. Methods. One hundred independent H. pylori isolates from different parts of the world were screened by PCR and dot blot hybridization to determine the presence of IS605. For some positive isolates, southern hybridizations and sequence analyses were done. Results. Of the 100 isolates, 31 were found to contain sequences related to each ORF with orientation and spacing matching those in canonical IS605‐hybridizing sequences. No isolate containing just one ORF and not the other was found. The frequencies of IS605 carriage were independent of geographical origin (U.S. vs. non‐U.S.), and of the probable virulence of the isolate (cag status, toxin production or vacA alleles, patient symptoms). Southern blot hybridization of six IS605‐containing strains revealed one to nine IS605 copies per genome. Two types of DNA sequence diversity were found: first, a specific 100 bp deletion in two isolates; second, base substitution divergence of 0.4% to 7.5% in pairwise comparisons among the eight isolates characterized, a level of divergence similar to that seen in other H. pylori chromosomal genes. Conclusions. Based on these findings, we speculate that IS605 is a relatively ancient component of the H. pylori gene pool that has proliferated in this species by horizontal gene transfer, homologous recombination, and transposition.