bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ear‐acupressure for allergic rhinitis: a systematic review
Authors: Zhang C.S. , Yang A.W. , Zhang A.L. , Fu W.B. , Thien F.C.K. , Lewith G. , Xue C.C. 
Published: February 2010

Clin. Otolaryngol. 2010, 35, 6–12.Background:  Allergic rhinitis affects 10–40% of the population globally with a substantial health and economic impact on the community.Objective of review:  To assess the effectiveness and safety of ear‐acupuncture or ear‐acupressure for the treatment of allergic rhinitis by reviewing randomised controlled trials and quasi‐randomised controlled trials.Type of review:  This review followed the methods specified in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.Search strategy:  A total of 21 electronic English and Chinese databases were searched from their respective inceptions to April 2008. Key words used in the search included the combination of ear, auricular, acupuncture, acupressure, acupoint, allergic, allergy, rhinitis, hayfever, randomised clinical trial and their synonyms.Evaluation method:  The methodological quality was assessed using Jadad’s scale. The effect size analysis was performed to explore the difference between interventional groups.Results:  Ninety‐two research papers were identified and seven of them referring to five studies met the inclusion criteria. All included studies involved ear‐acupressure treatment. These studies mentioned randomisation, but no details were given. None of the five studies used blinding or intention‐to‐treat analysis. Ear‐acupressure was more effective than herbal medicine, as effective as body acupuncture or antihistamine for short‐term effect, but it was more effective than anti‐histamine for long‐term effect.Conclusions:  The benefit of ear‐acupressure for symptomatic relief of allergic rhinitis is unknown due to the poor quality of included studies.
Association between surgeon volume and hospitalisation costs for patients with oral cancer: a nationwide population base study in Taiwan
Authors: Lee C.‐C. , Ho H.‐C. , Jack Lee C.‐C. , Su Y.‐C. , Lee M.‐S. , Hung S.‐K. , Chou P. 
Published: February 2010

Clin. Otolaryngol. 2010, 35, 46–52.Objective:  Oral cancer leads to a considerable use of and expenditure on health care. Wide resection of the tumour and reconstruction with a pedicle flap/free flap is widely used. This study was conducted to explore the relationship between hospitalisation costs and surgeon case volume when this operation was performed.Setting:  A population‐based study.Design:  This study uses data for the years 2005–2006 obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database published in the Taiwanese National Health Research Institute.Participants:  From this population‐based data, the authors selected a total of 2663 oral cancer patients who underwent tumour resection and reconstruction.Main outcome measures:  Case volume relationships were based on the following criteria; low‐, medium‐, high‐, very high‐volume surgeons were defined by ≤ 9, 10–29, 30–55, ≥ 56 resections with reconstruction, respectively. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was subsequently performed to explore the relationship between surgeon case volume and the cost and length of hospitalisation.Results:  The mean hospitalisation cost among the 2663 patients was US$ 9528 (all costs are given in US dollars). After adjusting for physician, hospital, and patient characteristics in a hierarchical linear regression model, the cost per patient for low‐volume surgeons was found to be US$ 741 (P = 0.012) higher than that for medium‐volume surgeons, US$ 1546 (P < 0.001) higher than that for high‐volume surgeons, and US$ 1820 (P < 0.001) higher than that for very‐high‐volume surgeons. After adjustment for physician, hospital, and patient characteristics, the hierarchical linear regression model revealed that the mean length of stay per patient for low‐volume surgeons was the highest (P < 0.001).Conclusions:  After adjustment for physician, hospital, and patient characteristics, low‐volume surgeons performing wide excision with reconstructive surgery in oral cancer patients incurred significantly higher costs and longer hospital stays per patient than did other surgeons. Treatment strategies adopted by high‐ and very‐high‐volume surgeons should be analysed further and utilised more widely.
Physiological Responses of Scenedesmus quadricauda (Chlorophyceae) to UV‐A and UV‐C Light
Authors: Kováčik Jozef , Klejdus Bořivoj , Bačkor Martin 
Published: February 2010

AbstractDespite intensive research focused on the effects of UV‐B, deeper metabolic responses to UV‐A and UV‐C are still scarce. Besides, especially microalgal species had to develop efficient protective features in comparison with tissue structure of vascular plants. We exposed axenic cultures of Scenedesmus quadricauda (Chlorophyceae) to UV‐A (366 nm) and UV‐C (254 nm) light over 1 h. Both wavelengths stimulated increase in soluble proteins, superoxide radical and hydrogen peroxide, but had a nonsignificant effect on cell viability. Within 17 detected free amino acids, five (including proline) increased in response to UV‐A while only aspartic acid and histidine increased in UV‐C treatment. Total soluble phenols and flavonoids were influenced neither by UV‐A nor by UV‐C while selected flavonols (quercetin and kaempferol) decreased in UV‐A and were not detected in UV‐C treatment. Benzoic acid derivatives increased preferentially after UV‐A illumination (vanillic acid and vanillin) while cinnamic derivatives (caffeic, chlorogenic and p‐coumaric acids) decreased in both UV‐A and UV‐C. It is concluded that UV light stimulated oxidative stress while exposure time was not sufficient to stimulate larger changes in phenolic metabolites. Present findings in the context of available data and with emphasis on phenolics in algae are discussed.
Comparison of seedling emergence and seed extraction techniques for estimating the composition of soil seed banks
Authors: Price Jodi N. , Wright Boyd R. , Gross Caroline L. , Whalley Wal R. D. B. 
Published: February 2010

Summary 1. Characterization of the seed bank is one of the most important demographic assessments that can be undertaken for a plant community. Overlapping generations, evidence of past above‐ground vegetation and histories of invasion and disturbance are recorded in the seed bank. 2. Two broad approaches have been used to elucidate seed bank components – sifting‐sorting techniques and germinability assays. The utility of these approaches varies with community type and habitat although a common theme among studies has been the quest for an efficacious method. Here, we compare the two approaches for semi‐arid ephemeral wetlands: seed extraction through flotation and seedling emergence. 3. Species composition of the soil seed bank differed dramatically depending on the technique, with only 19 species common to both methods and a total of 66 species detected using both procedures. 4. Both techniques provided similar estimates of seed density and species richness of the seed bank in the top 5 cm of soil. However, samples collected from 5 cm to 20 cm had lower seed densities using the flotation technique than with the seedling emergence technique. 5. Differences in seed detectability between the two approaches may be related to seed size, seed dormancy and specific germination requirements. 6. The community composition of soil seed banks for ephemeral wetlands depends on the choice of technique.
Unique Host Iron Utilization Mechanisms of
Helicobacter pylori
Revealed with Iron-Deficient Chemically Defined Media
Authors: Senkovich Olga , Ceaser Shantelle , McGee David J. , Testerman Traci L. 
Published: February 2010

ABSTRACT

Helicobacter pylori
chronically infects the gastric mucosa, where it can be found free in mucus, attached to cells, and intracellularly.
H. pylori
requires iron for growth, but the sources of iron used
in vivo
are unclear. In previous studies, the inability to culture
H. pylori
without serum made it difficult to determine which host iron sources might be used by
H. pylori
. Using iron-deficient, chemically defined medium, we determined that
H. pylori
can bind and extract iron from hemoglobin, transferrin, and lactoferrin.
H. pylori
can use both bovine and human versions of both lactoferrin and transferrin, contrary to previous reports. Unlike other pathogens,
H. pylori
preferentially binds the iron-free forms of transferrin and lactoferrin, which limits its ability to extract iron from normal serum, which is not iron saturated. This novel strategy may have evolved to permit limited growth in host tissue during persistent colonization while excessive injury or iron depletion is prevented.
Dissociable Brain Mechanisms Underlying the Conscious and Unconscious Control of Behavior
Authors: van Gaal Simon , Lamme Victor A. F. , Fahrenfort Johannes J. , Ridderinkhof K. Richard 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
Cognitive control allows humans to overrule and inhibit habitual responses to optimize performance in challenging situations. Contradicting traditional views, recent studies suggest that cognitive control processes can be initiated unconsciously. To further capture the relation between consciousness and cognitive control, we studied the dynamics of inhibitory control processes when triggered consciously versus unconsciously in a modified version of the stop task. Attempts to inhibit an imminent response were often successful after unmasked (visible) stop signals. Masked (invisible) stop signals rarely succeeded in instigating overt inhibition but did trigger slowing down of response times. Masked stop signals elicited a sequence of distinct ERP components that were also observed on unmasked stop signals. The N2 component correlated with the efficiency of inhibitory control when elicited by unmasked stop signals and with the magnitude of slowdown when elicited by masked stop signals. Thus, the N2 likely reflects the initiation of inhibitory control, irrespective of conscious awareness. The P3 component was much reduced in amplitude and duration on masked versus unmasked stop trials. These patterns of differences and similarities between conscious and unconscious cognitive control processes are discussed in a framework that differentiates between feedforward and feedback connections in yielding conscious experience.
Establishing Causal Coherence across Sentences: An ERP Study
Authors: Kuperberg Gina R. , Paczynski Martin , Ditman Tali 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
This study examined neural activity associated with establishing causal relationships across sentences during on-line comprehension. ERPs were measured while participants read and judged the relatedness of three-sentence scenarios in which the final sentence was highly causally related, intermediately related, and causally unrelated to its context. Lexico-semantic co-occurrence was matched across the three conditions using a Latent Semantic Analysis. Critical words in causally unrelated scenarios evoked a larger N400 than words in both highly causally related and intermediately related scenarios, regardless of whether they appeared before or at the sentence-final position. At midline sites, the N400 to intermediately related sentence-final words was attenuated to the same degree as to highly causally related words, but otherwise the N400 to intermediately related words fell in between that evoked by highly causally related and intermediately related words. No modulation of the late positivity/P600 component was observed across conditions. These results indicate that both simple and complex causal inferences can influence the earliest stages of semantically processing an incoming word. Further, they suggest that causal coherence, at the situation level, can influence incremental word-by-word discourse comprehension, even when semantic relationships between individual words are matched.
The Influence of Blowing Snow and Precipitation on Snow Depth Change across the Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Sea Regions of Antarctica
Authors: Knuth Shelley L. , Tripoli Gregory J. , Thom Jonathan E. , Weidner George A. 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
Measuring snowfall in the polar regions is an issue met with many complications. Across the Antarctic, ground-based precipitation measurements are only available from a sparse network of manned stations or field studies. Measurements from satellites promise to fill in gaps in time and space but are still in the early stages of development and require surface measurements for proper validation. Currently, measurements of accumulation from automated reporting stations are the only available means of tracking snow depth change over a broad area of the continent. The challenge remains in determining the cause of depth change by partitioning the impacts of blowing snow and precipitation. While a methodology for separating these two factors has yet to be developed, by comparing accumulation measurements with meteorological measurements, an assessment of whether these terms were a factor in snow depth change during an event can be made. This paper describes a field study undertaken between January 2005 and October 2006 designed to identify the influences of precipitation and horizontal snow transport on surface accumulation. Seven acoustic depth gauges were deployed at automatic weather stations (AWS) across the Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Sea regions of Antarctica to measure net accumulation changes. From these measurements, episodic events were identified and were compared with data from the AWS to determine the primary cause of depth change—precipitation or horizontal snow transport. Information regarding the local impacts of these two terms, as well as climatological information regarding snow depth change across this region, is also provided.
Evaluating Detection Skills of Satellite Rainfall Estimates over Desert Locust Recession Regions
Authors: Dinku Tufa , Ceccato Pietro , Cressman Keith , Connor Stephen J. 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
This paper evaluates rainfall detection capabilities of seven satellite rainfall estimates over the desert locust recession regions of the world. The region of interest covers the arid and semiarid region from northwestern Africa to northwestern India. The evaluated satellite rainfall products are the African rainfall climatology (ARC), rainfall estimation algorithm (RFE), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B42 and its real-time version (3B42RT), NOAA/Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH), and two versions of the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation moving vector with Kalman filter (GSMaP-MVK and GSMaP-MVK+). The reference data were obtained from the Desert Locust Information Service of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO data are qualitative information collated by desert locust survey teams from different countries during field campaigns. Such data can only be used to assess the rainfall detection capabilities of the satellite products. The validation region is divided into four subregions and validations statistics are computed for each region. The probability of detection varies from 70% for the relatively wet part of the validation region to less than 20% for the driest part. The main weakness of the satellite products is overestimation of rainfall occurrences. The false-alarm ratio was as high as 84% for the driest part and as high as 57% for the wetter region. The satellite products still exhibit positive detection skill for all of the subregions. A comparison of the different products shows that no single product stands out as having the best or the worst overall performance.
Tropospheric Precursors of Anomalous Northern Hemisphere Stratospheric Polar Vortices
Authors: Garfinkel Chaim I. , Hartmann Dennis L. , Sassi Fabrizio 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
Regional extratropical tropospheric variability in the North Pacific and eastern Europe is well correlated with variability in the Northern Hemisphere wintertime stratospheric polar vortex in both the ECMWF reanalysis record and in the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model. To explain this correlation, the link between stratospheric vertical Eliassen–Palm flux variability and tropospheric variability is analyzed. Simple reasoning shows that variability in the North Pacific and eastern Europe can deepen or flatten the wintertime tropospheric stationary waves, and in particular its wavenumber-1 and -2 components, thus providing a physical explanation for the correlation between these regions and vortex weakening. These two pathways begin to weaken the upper stratospheric vortex nearly immediately, with a peak influence apparent after a lag of some 20 days. The influence then appears to propagate downward in time, as expected from wave–mean flow interaction theory. These patterns are influenced by ENSO and October Eurasian snow cover. Perturbations in the vortex induced by the two regions add linearly. These two patterns and the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) are linearly related to 40% of polar vortex variability during winter in the reanalysis record.
Mechanisms of Tropical Atlantic SST Influence on North American Precipitation Variability*
Authors: Kushnir Yochanan , Seager Richard , Ting Mingfang , Naik Naomi , Nakamura Jennifer 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
The dynamical mechanisms associated with the impact of year-to-year variability in tropical North Atlantic (TNA) sea surface temperatures (SSTs) on North American precipitation, during the cold and warm halves of the hydrological year (October–September) are examined. Observations indicate that during both seasons warmer-than-normal TNA SSTs are associated with a reduction of precipitation over North America, mainly west of ∼90°W, and that the effect can be up to 30% of the year-to-year seasonal precipitation RMS variability. This finding confirms earlier studies with observations and models. During the cold season (October–March) the North American precipitation variability associated with TNA fluctuations is considerably weaker than its association with ENSO. During the warm season (April–September), however, the Atlantic influence, per one standard deviation of SST anomalies, is larger than that of ENSO.
The observed association between TNA SST anomalies and global and North American precipitation and sea level pressure variability is compared with that found in the output of an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) forced with observed SST variability, both globally and in the tropical Atlantic alone. The similarity between model output and observations suggests that TNA SST variability is causal. The mechanisms of the “upstream” influence of the Atlantic on North American precipitation are seasonally dependent. In the warm season, warmer-than-normal TNA SSTs induce a local increase in atmospheric convection. This leads to a weakening of the North Atlantic subtropical anticyclone and a reduction in precipitation over the United States and northern Mexico, associated with the anomalous southward flow there. In the cold season, a response similar to the warm season over the subtropical Atlantic is identified, but there is also a concomitant suppression of convection over the equatorial Pacific, which leads to a weakening of the Aleutian low and subsidence over western North America, similar to the impact of La Niña although weaker in amplitude. The impact of TNA SST on tropical convection and the extratropical circulation is examined by a set of idealized experiments with a linear general circulation model forced with the tropical heating field derived from the full AGCM.
Why Are There Upwellings on the Northern Shelf of Taiwan under Northeasterly Winds?
Authors: Chang Yu-Lin , Oey Lie-Yauw , Wu Chau-Ron , Lu Hung-Fu 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
Upwellings are observed on the northern shelf of Taiwan during northeasterly winds. Analytical and realistic numerical models are used to explain how vertical motions are created by divergence and convergence produced by wind acting on the vorticity field of two strong jets: the Kuroshio and the Taiwan Warm Current. The seaward increase in cyclonic vorticity near the Kuroshio’s western edge favors a stronger Ekman transport away from the jet, producing upwelling at the shelfbreak under a northeasterly wind. A similar mechanism for generating vertical motions is found across the Taiwan Warm Current. The numerical model results indicate that the vorticity effects can account for up to 30%–50% of the total variation in the surface Ekman transport. Except during summer’s weak southwesterlies, northeasterly wind is dominant over the East China Sea, suggesting that the vorticity effects may be prominent in the observed shelfbreak upwelling in nonsummer months.
Short-Term Convective Mode Evolution along Synoptic Boundaries
Authors: Dial Greg L. , Racy Jonathan P. , Thompson Richard L. 
Published: February 2010

Abstract
This paper investigates the relationships between short-term convective mode evolution, the orientations of vertical shear and mean wind vectors with respect to the initiating synoptic boundary, the motion of the boundary, and the role of forcing for ascent. The dominant mode of storms (linear, mixed mode, and discrete) was noted 3 h after convective initiation along cold fronts, drylines, or prefrontal troughs. Various shear and mean wind vector orientations relative to the boundary were calculated near the time of initiation. Results indicate a statistical correlation between storm mode at 3 h, the normal components of cloud-layer and deep-layer shear vectors, the boundary-relative mean cloud-layer wind vector, and the type of initiating boundary. Thunderstorms, most of which were initially discrete, tended to evolve more quickly into lines or mixed modes when the normal components of the shear vectors and boundary-relative mean cloud-layer wind vectors were small. There was a tendency for storms to remain discrete for larger normal shear and mean wind components. Smaller normal components of mean cloud-layer wind were associated with a greater likelihood that storms would remain within the zone of linear forcing along the boundary for longer time periods, thereby increasing the potential for upscale linear growth. The residence time of storms along the boundary is also dependent on the speed of the boundary. It was found that the boundary-relative normal component of the mean cloud-layer wind better discriminates between mode types than does simply the ground-relative normal component. The influence of mesoscale forcing for ascent and type of boundary on mode evolution was also investigated. As expected, it was found that the magnitude and nature of the forcing play a role in how storms evolve. For instance, strong linear low-level convergence often contributes to rapid upscale linear growth, especially if the boundary motion relative to the mean cloud-layer wind prevents storms from moving away from the boundary shortly after initiation. In summary, results from this study indicate that, for storms initiated along a synoptic boundary, convective mode evolution is modulated primarily by the residence time of storms within the zone of linear forcing, the nature and magnitude of linear forcing, and secondarily by the normal component of the cloud-layer shear.