bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Overweight and obesity among adolescents in Poland: gender and regional differences
Authors: Jodkowska Maria , Oblacinska Anna , Tabak Izabela 
Published: September 2010

AbstractObjectiveTo examine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Polish adolescents in 2005 using both the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-offs and a national reference; to compare this to data collected in 1995; and to assess whether there were differences in overweight or obesity by gender and place of residence in 1995–2005.DesignBMI was calculated from measured height and weight, collected in a cross-sectional study in five regions of Poland in 2005. Adolescents were categorised as normal, overweight or obese based on IOTF cut-off values, and by national weight for stature tables, where the 90th and 97th percentiles were used as cut-off values for overweight and obesity.SettingPopulation-based study set in Poland.SubjectsA two-stage sampling method was used to recruit 8065 pupils (3980 boys and 4085 girls) aged 13–15 years.ResultsThe prevalence of overweight and obesity was 12·5 % and 1·9 %, respectively. No significant gender differences were found, either in overweight or obesity. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in 2005 had increased 2 % compared to 1995. Overweight and obesity among adolescents were not related to urban–rural residence, but there were significant regional differences.ConclusionsMonitoring trends in overweight and obesity among adolescents in all regions of Poland using the same reference criteria is important. Since regional differences in overweight and obesity rates among adolescents were observed both in 1995 and 2005, future research should investigate the potential causes of these differences.
Associations between diet and (in)activity behaviours with overweight and obesity among 10–18-year-old Czech Republic adolescents
Authors: de Gouw Linda , Klepp Knut-Inge , Vignerová Jana , Lien Nanna , Steenhuis Ingrid HM , Wind Marianne 
Published: September 2010

AbstractObjectivesTo assess the prevalence of normal weight, overweight and obesity among 10–18-year-old Czech Republic adolescents and to assess the association between energy balance-related behaviours and overweight/obesity.DesignCross-sectional data from ‘The 6th Nation-wide Anthropological Survey of Children and Adolescents 2001 Czech Republic’ have been used.SettingHeight and weight were objectively measured. Data on adolescents’ behaviours were assessed with self-reported questionnaires. Background variables were assessed by means of a parental questionnaire. Multi-level logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess behavioural risk factors of being overweight/obese.SubjectsData on 31 228 adolescents aged 10–18 years were included in the present study.ResultsThe highest prevalence of being overweight or obese was found among boys and younger adolescents. Boys were more physically active, watched more television (TV) and used the computer more often than did girls. Being on a diet and skipping meals were positively associated with being overweight/obese, independent of gender. In boys (10–14 years old), inverse associations with being overweight/obese were found when being more physically active. Monitoring weight showed inverse relations with being overweight/obese in 15–18-year-old girls. Watching TV more than 7 h a week was positively associated with being overweight/obese in 15–18-year-old girls, and was found to be negatively associated in boys of the same age group.ConclusionsThese behaviours should be targeted when preventing overweight and obesity among Czech Republic adolescents. Studies using better measures of energy balance-related behaviours are needed.
Clustering of lifestyle factors and association with overweight in adolescents of the Kiel Obesity Prevention Study
Authors: Landsberg Beate , Plachta-Danielzik Sandra , Lange Dominique , Johannsen Maike , Seiberl Jasmin , Müller Manfred James 
Published: September 2010

AbstractObjectiveTo identify lifestyle clusters in adolescents and to characterize their association with overweight and obesity.DesignCross-sectional and longitudinal data of the Kiel Obesity Prevention Study.SettingSchools in Kiel, Germany.Subjects and methodsCross-sectional data of 1894 adolescents aged 14 years and 4-year longitudinal data of a subsample of 389 children aged 10 and 14 years. Self-reported data of physical activity, modes of commuting to school, media time, nutrition, alcohol consumption and smoking were used to identify lifestyle clusters with two-step cluster analysis. Obesity indices (height, weight, waist circumference and fat mass (FM)) were measured.ResultsThree lifestyle clusters were identified: a ‘low activity and low-risk behaviour’ cluster (cluster 1: n 740, 39·1 %); a ‘high media time and high-risk behaviour’ cluster (cluster 2: n 498, 26·3 %); and a ‘high activity and medium-risk behaviour’ cluster (cluster 3: n 656, 34·6 %). Strictly speaking, none of these clusters was considered to be markedly healthy. The prevalence of overweight and obesity tended to be lower in cluster 3 (15·9 %) than in clusters 1 (20·4 %) and 2 (20·5 %; P = 0·053). Longitudinally, 4-year changes in FM were found to be lowest in cluster 2, but the 4-year incidence rate of obesity was lowest in cluster 3.ConclusionsExplicit healthy lifestyles do not exist, but an active lifestyle reduces the incidence of obesity. In adolescents, health promotion should take into account the diversity of lifestyles and address specific lifestyle clusters.
Do individual cognitions mediate the association of socio-cultural and physical environmental factors with adolescent sports participation?
Authors: van der Horst Klazine , Oenema Anke , te Velde Saskia J , Brug Johannes 
Published: September 2010

AbstractObjectiveTo examine the associations of perceived physical environmental factors (availability of physical activity (PA) attributes at home, PA facilities in the neighbourhood, neighbourhood pleasantness and safety) and social environmental factors (parental sports behaviour and parental rule regarding sports participation) with adolescent leisure-time sports participation, and to explore whether the associations found were mediated by individual cognitions as derived from the theory of planned behaviour (TPB).DesignCross-sectional study.SettingIn schoolyear 2005/2006 adolescents from seventeen schools in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, completed a questionnaire during school hours that included self-reported measures of leisure-time sports participation, perceived physical environmental factors and TPB variables. Information about parental sports behaviour and parental rule was obtained from a questionnaire that was completed by one parent of the adolescents.SubjectsData were collected from 584 adolescent–parent combinations.ResultsData were analysed with multi-level logistic regression analyses. Availability of PA attributes at home (OR = 1·26), parents’ sports behaviour (OR = 2·03) and parental rule (OR = 1·64) were associated with a higher likelihood of adolescents’ leisure-time sports participation. These associations were partly mediated by attitude and intention.ConclusionsAdolescents were more likely to engage in leisure-time sports when PA attributes were available at home, when parents participated in sports activities and had a rule about their offspring participation in sports activities. These associations were partly mediated by attitude and intention. These results suggest that parents can importantly promote sports participation among their offspring by making sports activities accessible and a family routine.
What does ‘local’ mean in the grocery store? Multiplicity in food retailers' perspectives on sourcing and marketing local foods
Authors: Dunne Jonnie B. , Chambers Kimberlee J. , Giombolini Katlyn J. , Schlegel Sheridan A. 
Published: September 2010

AbstractLocal food systems are comprised of networks of actors that work to ensure the sustainability of food supplies within communities. While local food has typically been promoted through direct marketing strategies such as farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture (CSA), retail stores are increasingly carrying and marketing local foods in response to consumer demand and market potential. Given the frequency with which consumers shop at grocery stores, as well as the portion of consumers' food purchases made at these locations, these stores may play a significant role in the success of local agriculture and the shaping of ideology about what is ‘local’. We conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with representatives of food retailers known to source and market local foods in the four major urban centers of Oregon's Willamette Valley. Our results reveal that grocers' perceptions of local food vary significantly from one another. Additionally, our results differed in comparison to the published literature on consumers' and producers' ideas of what constitutes local. Food retailers identified varying distances (frequently a region including several states) that they consider local, as well as diverse reasons for choosing to source and market local foods (most commonly supporting the local economy). Some trends in the variation of responses relate to how the size and form of ownership of the grocery stores influence the level at which decisions are made. These wide-ranging perceptions outline many of the realities of the local food movement, as well as opportunities for change.
Crystal structure of quenched and in-field electroluminescent phosphors
Authors: Fern G. R. , Ireland T. , Harris P. , Silver J. , Withnall R. , Salimian A. , Santra P. K. , Leoni M. , Erko A. , Lennie A. , Tang C. C. 
Published: September 2010

Electroluminescent zinc sulfide doped with copper and chloride (ZnS:Cu, Cl) powder was heated to 400°C and rapidly quenched to room temperature. Comparison between the quenched and non-quenched phosphors using synchrotron radiation X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) (λ = 0.828692 Å) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was made. XRPD shows that the expected highly faulted structure is observed with excellent resolution out to 150° 2θ (or to (12 2 2) of the sphalerite phase). The quenched sample compared to the unheated sample shows a large change in peak ratios between 46.7° and 46.9°, which is thought to correspond to the wurtzite (0 0 6), (0 3 2) and sphalerite (3 3 3)/(5 1 1) peaks. Hence, a large proportion of this sphalerite diffraction is lost from the material upon rapid quenching, but not when the material is allowed to cool slowly. The Zn K-edge XAS data indicate that the crystalline structures are indistinguishable using this technique, but do give an indication that the electronic structure has altered due to changing intensity of the white line. It is noted that the blue electroluminescence (EL) emission bands are lost upon quenching: however, a large amount of total EL emission intensity is also removed, which is consistent with our findings. We report the XRPD of a working alternating-current electroluminescence device in the synchrotron X-ray beam, which exhibits a new diffraction pattern when the device is powered in an AC field even though the phosphor is fixed in the binder. Significantly, only a few crystals are required to yield the diffraction data because of the high flux X-ray source. These in panel data show multiple sharp diffraction lines spread out under the region, where capillary data show broad diffraction intensity indicating that the phosphor powder is comprised of unique crystals, each having different structures.
An ancient but promiscuous host–symbiont association between Burkholderia gut symbionts and their heteropteran hosts
Authors: Kikuchi Yoshitomo , Hosokawa Takahiro , Fukatsu Takema 
Published: September 2010

Abstract
Here, we investigated 124 stinkbug species representing 20 families and 5 superfamilies for their Burkholderia gut symbionts, of which 39 species representing 6 families of the superfamilies Lygaeoidea and Coreoidea were Burkholderia-positive. Diagnostic PCR surveys revealed high frequencies of Burkholderia infection in natural populations of the stinkbugs, and substantial absence of vertical transmission of Burkholderia infection to their eggs. In situ hybridization confirmed localization of the Burkholderia in their midgut crypts. In the lygaeoid and coreoid stinkbugs, development of midgut crypts in their alimentary tract was coincident with the Burkholderia infection, suggesting that the specialized morphological configuration is pivotal for establishment and maintenance of the symbiotic association. The Burkholderia symbionts were easily isolated as pure culture on standard microbiological media, indicating the ability of the gut symbionts to survive outside the host insects. Molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that the gut symbionts of the lygaeoid and coreoid stinkbugs belong to a β-proteobacterial clade together with Burkholderia isolates from soil environments and Burkholderia species that induce plant galls. On the phylogeny, the stinkbug-associated, environmental and gall-forming Burkholderia strains did not form coherent groups, indicating host–symbiont promiscuity among these stinkbugs. Symbiont culturing revealed that slightly different Burkholderia genotypes often coexist in the same insects, which is also suggestive of host–symbiont promiscuity. All these results strongly suggest an ancient but promiscuous host–symbiont relationship between the lygaeoid/coreoid stinkbugs and the Burkholderia gut symbionts. Possible mechanisms as to how the environmentally transmitted promiscuous symbiotic association has been stably maintained in the evolutionary course are discussed.
A common polymorphism in theABCB11gene is associated with advanced fibrosis in hepatitis C but not in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Authors: Iwata Rika , Baur Katharina , Stieger Bruno , Mertens Joachim C. , Daly Ann K. , Frei Pascal , Braun Julia , Vergopoulos Athanasios , Stickel Felix , Sabrane Karim , Martin Ina V. , Schmitt Johannes , Goetze Oliver , Day Chris P. , Müllhaupt Beat , Geier Andreas ,   the Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort Study Group
Published: September 2010

Chronic HCV (hepatitis C virus)-associated cirrhosis represents a major indication for liver transplantation. Bile acids contribute to hepatic stellate cell activation as a key event in fibrogenesis. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of bile acids and polymorphisms in bile acid level-regulating genes on fibrosis progression. A total of 206 subjects with chronic HCV infection were included for ABCB11 (ATP-binding cassette, subfamily B, member II) 1331T&gt;C and NR1H4 (nuclear receptor) −1G&gt;T genotyping, 178 of which were analysed for fibrosis stage. Exclusion criteria were HBV (hepatitis B virus) or HIV coinfection, alcohol &gt;40 g/day and morbid obesity. A total of 358 patients with NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) were genotyped for comparison with a non-viral liver disease. Caucasian individuals (n = 110), undergoing liver resection for focal hepatic metastasis, served as controls. The ABCB11 1331C allele was significantly overrepresented in HCV patients compared with controls {allelic frequency 62.9%; OR (odds ratio), 1.41 [95% CI (confidence interval), 1.012–1.965]}. Median plasma bile acid levels were not significantly increased in the CC compared with TT genotype [7.2 (1–110) μmol/l compared with 3.5 (1–61) μmol/l; values are medians (range). A significant association between the presence of cirrhosis and ABCB11 genotype (CC compared with CT or TT, P=0.047) was observed in the χ2 test and independent of other risk factors of age, gender, body mass index and disease duration in multivariate analysis (P = 0.010). No such association could be observed in fatty liver patients with regard to advanced fibrosis (F≥2). The common ABCB11 1331CC genotype, which is present in 40% of HCV patients and renders the carrier susceptible to increased bile acid levels, is associated with cirrhosis.
Structural and functional studies on the extracellular domain of BST2/tetherin in reduced and oxidized conformations
Authors: Schubert Heidi L. , Zhai Qianting , Sandrin Virginie , Eckert Debra M. , Garcia-Maya Mitla , Saul Louise , Sundquist Wesley I. , Steiner Roberto A. , Hill Christopher P. 
Published: September 2010

HIV-1 and other enveloped viruses can be restricted by a host cellular protein called BST2/tetherin that prevents release of budded viruses from the cell surface. Mature BST2 contains a small cytosolic region, a predicted transmembrane helix, and an extracellular domain with a C-terminal GPI anchor. To advance understanding of BST2 function, we have determined a 2.6 Å crystal structure of the extracellular domain of the bacterially expressed recombinant human protein, residues 47–152, under reducing conditions. The structure forms a single long helix that associates as a parallel dimeric coiled coil over its C-terminal two-thirds, while the N-terminal third forms an antiparallel four-helix bundle with another dimer, creating a global tetramer. We also report the 3.45 Å resolution structure of BST2(51-151) prepared by expression as a secreted protein in HEK293T cells. This oxidized construct forms a dimer in the crystal that is superimposable with the reduced protein over the C-terminal two-thirds of the molecule, and its N terminus suggests pronounced flexibility. Hydrodynamic data demonstrated that BST2 formed a stable tetramer under reducing conditions and a dimer when oxidized to form disulfide bonds. A mutation that selectively disrupted the tetramer (L70D) increased protein expression modestly but only reduced antiviral activity by approximately threefold. Our data raise the possibility that BST2 may function as a tetramer at some stage, such as during trafficking, and strongly support a model in which the primary functional state of BST2 is a parallel disulfide-bound coiled coil that displays flexibility toward its N terminus.
A simple and fast method to determine the parameters for fuzzy c–means cluster analysis
Authors: Schwämmle Veit , Jensen Ole Nørregaard 
Published: September 2010

Abstract
Motivation: Fuzzy c-means clustering is widely used to identify cluster structures in high-dimensional datasets, such as those obtained in DNA microarray and quantitative proteomics experiments. One of its main limitations is the lack of a computationally fast method to set optimal values of algorithm parameters. Wrong parameter values may either lead to the inclusion of purely random fluctuations in the results or ignore potentially important data. The optimal solution has parameter values for which the clustering does not yield any results for a purely random dataset but which detects cluster formation with maximum resolution on the edge of randomness.
Results: Estimation of the optimal parameter values is achieved by evaluation of the results of the clustering procedure applied to randomized datasets. In this case, the optimal value of the fuzzifier follows common rules that depend only on the main properties of the dataset. Taking the dimension of the set and the number of objects as input values instead of evaluating the entire dataset allows us to propose a functional relationship determining the fuzzifier directly. This result speaks strongly against using a predefined fuzzifier as typically done in many previous studies. Validation indices are generally used for the estimation of the optimal number of clusters. A comparison shows that the minimum distance between the centroids provides results that are at least equivalent or better than those obtained by other computationally more expensive indices.
Contact: veits@bmb.sdu.dk
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
A statistical framework for Illumina DNA methylation arrays
Authors: Kuan Pei Fen , Wang Sijian , Zhou Xin , Chu Haitao 
Published: September 2010

AbstractMotivation: The Illumina BeadArray is a popular platform for profiling DNA methylation, an important epigenetic event associated with gene silencing and chromosomal instability. However, current approaches rely on an arbitrary detection P-value cutoff for excluding probes and samples from subsequent analysis as a quality control step, which results in missing observations and information loss. It is desirable to have an approach that incorporates the whole data, but accounts for the different quality of individual observations.Results: We first investigate and propose a statistical framework for removing the source of biases in Illumina Methylation BeadArray based on several positive control samples. We then introduce a weighted model-based clustering called LumiWCluster for Illumina BeadArray that weights each observation according to the detection P-values systematically and avoids discarding subsets of the data. LumiWCluster allows for discovery of distinct methylation patterns and automatic selection of informative CpG loci. We demonstrate the advantages of LumiWCluster on two publicly available Illumina GoldenGate Methylation datasets (ovarian cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma).Availability: R package LumiWCluster can be downloaded from http://www.unc.edu/~pfkuan/LumiWClusterContact: pfkuan@bios.unc.eduSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
‘La Mémoire de la Shoah’: The Contentious Case of Soazig Aaron's
Le Non de Klara
Authors: Cairns Lucille 
Published: September 2010

Abstract

Soazig Aaron's
Le Non de Klara
(2002) is a prize-winning novel about an Auschwitz survivor and has been greatly lauded, by Jorge Semprún among others. This article attempts to convey the novel's status as a literary artefact of high aesthetic quality and to interrogate the complex ethical questions the work mobilizes. Two diametrically opposed responses to the novel are considered. The first holds that, while the non-Jewish Aaron (a pseudonym) may have the right as a creative writer to simulate the voice of a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, the Jewish reader may still be troubled by the fact that this survivor rejects her Jewish identity and is, moreover, constructed in morally ambiguous terms. The second view is that Aaron's attempt imaginatively to cross a Jewish–Gentile hiatus via textual introjection and empathy is artistically justifiable and morally exemplary, and that her use of artifice to accede to ‘truth’ is entirely legitimate.
Savage Poetry: Torture and Cruelty in Mirbeau and Barbey d'Aurevilly
Authors: Thompson Hannah 
Published: September 2010

Abstract

Octave Mirbeau's
Le Jardin des supplices
and Barbey d'Aurevilly's
L'Ensorcelée
and
Les Diaboliques
depict a range of cruel attacks on the human body. These examples of violence, hitherto neglected by critical readers of the texts, have much to tell us not only about the authors' approach to violence, but also about the relationships between author, reader, and text that such representations of violence foreground. The notion of readerly pleasure theorized by Roland Barthes and linked to identity formation by Emma Wilson is associated with the witnessing or experiencing of pain in these texts. The reader is problematically positioned as both sadist, vicariously enjoying the suffering he or she is forced to witness, and masochist, taking pleasure in the authors' manipulations of them. These depictions of violated bodies ask whether and by what means violence can be represented in language, and this discussion leads to an analysis of the impact that such representations of violence have on the reader's experience of a text.