bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Wetland soil moisture complicates the use of Sporormiella to trace past herbivore populations
Authors: Wood Jamie R. , Wilmshurst Janet M. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractSpores of the dung‐fungi Sporormiella provide a proxy for assessing past changes in herbivore abundance, and for temporally linking these with shifts in vegetation communities (pollen) and fire frequency (charcoal). Although the proxy is now widely used, potential influences of local environmental conditions are poorly understood. Here we assess the reliability of Sporormiella as a proxy of herbivores by presenting five new spore records from the South Island of New Zealand; a land where the herbivore extinction/introduction chronology is well established, and where extinctions occurred independently of major climate change. We show that Sporormiella spores from relatively dry soils provide a good proxy for herbivore extinctions and introductions. However, spore abundances from saturated soil sites appear to fluctuate in close correlation with changes in local hydrology (represented by wetland herb pollen, testate amoebae and moisture sensitive mosses). Our results suggest Sporormiella records derived from wetlands require cautious interpretation, and that proxies for hydrological conditions should also be considered when interpreting such records. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Elevated high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, a marker of advanced stage gastric cancer and postgastrectomy disease recurrence
Authors: Woo Yanghee , Hyung Woo Jin , Obama Kazutaka , Kim Hyoung‐Il , Pak Kyung Ho , Son Taeil , Noh Sung Hoon 
Published: October 2011

AbstractBackground and ObjectivesGastric cancer recurrence after curative surgery remains high. Although no preoperative marker of gastric cancer progression after radical gastrectomy exists, recent studies suggest that C‐reactive protein (CRP) is associated with cancer progression. Our study evaluated the significance of preoperative high‐sensitivity CRP (hs‐CRP) levels as a marker of disease progression after radical gastrectomy.MethodsThe preoperative hs‐CRP levels of 1,221 gastric cancer patients who underwent radical gastrectomies were analyzed for clinicopathologic significance. Patients with previous gastric cancer treatment, another primary cancer, active infection, or postoperative mortality were excluded.Resultshs‐CRP levels were significantly associated with increased tumor depth (P = 0.028), nodal status (P = 0.012), and stage (P = 0.045). Seventeen percent of patients had elevated hs‐CRP levels at the cutoff value of >3.00 mg/L, whereas 6.6% and 6.1% of patients had CEA and CA‐19‐9 levels about the cutoffs of ≥5.00 ng/ml and ≥35.0 U/L, respectively. Hs‐CRP levels >3.00 mg/L were an independent risk factor for recurrence‐free survival along with stage.ConclusionElevated preoperative hs‐CRP levels in gastric cancer patients are clinically significant indicators of advanced stage and postoperative disease recurrence. J. Surg. Oncol. 2012;105:405–409. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Kinetics and mechanism of naringenin reaction with Ce(IV) in different aqueous solutions of dimethylsulfoxide
Authors: Jabbari Morteza , Gharib Farrokh 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThe reaction of naringenin with Ce(IV) was studied in different aqueous solutions of DMSO (50–80% v/v) and various sulfuric acid concentrations using a spectrophotometric method. The reaction was arranged to be under pseudo‐first‐order condition with respect to Ce(IV). It was found that 1 mol of Ce(IV)sulfate on average has consumed by about 2 mol of naringenin to complete the reaction. To determine the stoichiometric ratios of metal ion and the ligand in the formed complex species, the continuous variation method has been used. The results showed that pseudo‐first‐order rate constants increase with increasing naringenin concentration and decrease by increasing the amount of DMSO and sulfuric acid in solution. The rate constant (k1) was measured at different conditions. Finally, a mechanism consistent with the observed results has been proposed and discussed at various aqueous DMSO solutions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 43: 715–724, 2011
Energy Geopolitics and Chinese Strategic Decision of the Energy‐Supply Security: A Multiple‐Attribute Analysis
Authors: Sun Xiaolei , Li Jianping , Wu Dengsheng , Yi Shanli 
Published: October 2011

ABSTRACTFor the balance between risk and return under the energy geopolitics, this paper attempts to investigate the energy geopolitical attraction rather than the general geopolitical risk of energy‐exporting countries and focus on selecting and ranking the countries characterized by multiple geopolitical determinants. We identify the major determinants of energy geopolitics and construct the energy geopolitical climate index to capture the common underlying characteristics of the energy geopolitical attraction. Then, the energy geopolitical climate index values are extracted from multiple geopolitical determinants using a multiple‐attribute analysis, factor analysis. Finally, 35 energy‐exporting countries are selected to test the effectiveness of the model from the perspective of Chinese energy‐supply security. Empirical results account for the relationship between energy geopolitics and energy‐security strategy of China and indicate that it is an effective solution to strengthen energy cooperation with the peripheral energy‐exporting countries besides the Middle East for improving Chinese energy‐supply security. By comparing empirical results with the real situation of international energy geopolitics, we confirmed the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed methodology. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Time Consistency Issue in Multi‐Objective Optimization
Authors: Li Duan , Cui Xiangyu , Zhu Shushang 
Published: October 2011

ABSTRACTWhen the conditions for applying Bellman's principle of optimality hold, the pre‐committed optimal policy derived by dynamic programming at initial time is time consistent, that is, the policy remains to be optimal for any state resulted in at later stages. In multi‐objective optimization with a general separable structure, the pre‐committed optimal policy derived by multi‐objective dynamic programming is time‐consistent in efficiency, that is, the policy derived at initial time remains to be efficient for any possible state at later stages, albeit not time‐consistent in general. However, when a multi‐objective dynamic optimization problem is not separable in the sense of multi‐objective dynamic programming, the derived pre‐committed policy is not time‐consistent in efficiency, as witnessed in the multi‐period mean‐variance portfolio selection problem studied in this paper, thus leading to some irrational decision behaviours. This revealed phenomenon recognizes the importance of the time consistency issue and calls our attentions to construct more suitable decision criteria in multi‐objective optimization. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Genetic variants of α‐synuclein are not associated with essential tremor
Authors: Ross Owen A. , Conneely Karen N. , Wang Tao , Vilarino‐Guell Carles , Soto‐Ortolaza Alexandra I. , Rajput Alex , Wszolek Zbigniew K. , Uitti Ryan J. , Louis Elan D. , Clark Lorraine N. , Farrer Matthew J. , Testa Claudia M. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractBackground:Given the overlap between Parkinson's disease and essential tremor, we examined genetic variants in α‐synuclein (SNCA) as risk determinants for essential tremor.Methods:Samples from 661 essential tremor subjects and 1316 control subjects from 4 participating North American sites were included in this study. Parkinson's disease samples (n = 427) were compared against controls. Twenty variants were selected for association analysis within the SNCA locus. Individual logistic regression analyses against essential tremor diagnosis were run for each variant and then combined using meta‐analysis.Results:Our results do not show a significant association between variants in the SNCA locus and risk of essential tremor, whereas the established association of SNCA variants with Parkinson's disease risk was observed.Conclusions:Whereas genetic factors are likely to play a large role in essential tremor pathogenesis, our results do not support a role for common SNCA genetic variants in risk for essential tremor. © 2011 Movement Disorder Society
A model of self‐avoiding random walks for searching complex networks
Authors: López Millán Víctor M. , Cholvi Vicent , López Luis , Fernández Anta Antonio 
Published: October 2011

AbstractRandom walks have been proven useful in several applications in networks. Some variants of the basic random walk have been devised pursuing a suitable trade‐off between better performance and limited cost. A self‐avoiding random walk (SAW) is one that tries not to revisit nodes, therefore covering the network faster than a random walk. Suggested as a network search mechanism, the performance of the SAW has been analyzed using essentially empirical studies. A strict analytical approach is hard since, unlike the random walk, the SAW is not a Markovian stochastic process. We propose an analytical model to estimate the average search length of a SAW when used to locate a resource in a network. The model considers single or multiple instances of the resource sought and the possible availability of one‐hop replication in the network (nodes know about resources held by their neighbors). The model characterizes networks by their size and degree distribution, without assuming a particular topology. It is, therefore, a mean‐field model, whose applicability to real networks is validated by simulation. Experiments with sets of randomly built regular networks, Erdős–Rényi networks, and scale‐free networks of several sizes and degree averages, with and without one‐hop replication, show that model predictions are very close to simulation results, and allow us to draw conclusions about the applicability of SAWs to network search. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2012
Stress, maternal role competence, and satisfaction among Chinese women in the perinatal period
Authors: Ngai Fei‐Wan , Chan Sally Wai‐Chi 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThe changes in and relationships among stress, maternal role competence, and satisfaction in the perinatal period were examined using a longitudinal design. A convenience sample of 78 first‐time Chinese mothers completed assessments of stress and maternal role competence during pregnancy and at 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum. Maternal stress increased and role competence declined during early motherhood, which highlighted the potential influence of stress on maternal role competence and satisfaction in the perinatal period. Culturally competent health care interventions should be developed to promote maternal competence and satisfaction, in particular during early motherhood, and to equip women with effective coping skills to deal with the stress of maternal role transition. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 35:30–39, 2012
PAPP‐A and free β‐hCG in relation to admission to neonatal intensive care unit and neonatal disease
Authors: Kirkegaard Ida , Uldbjerg Niels , Henriksen Tine B. 
Published: October 2011

ObjectiveTo evaluate pregnancy‐associated plasma protein A (PAPP‐A) and free β‐human chorionic gonadotrophin (β‐hCG) in relation to admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and neonatal disease.MethodsA total of 9450 singleton pregnant women who attended the prenatal screening program at Aarhus University Hospital between January 2005 and December 2007 were included. PAPP‐A and free β‐hCG were measured between gestational weeks 8 and 13 and converted into multiples of the median (MoM) values. Information about neonatal outcome was obtained from specific registration forms completed by senior neonatologists at the time of admission to and discharge from the NICU.ResultsBoth PAPP‐A and free β‐hCG < 0.4 MoM were associated with admission to NICU (odds ratio 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.2–2.0 and odds ratio 1.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–2.1). The results could not be explained by preterm delivery or low birth weight, because adjusting for these factors did not affect the results. Low PAPP‐A was also significantly associated with neonatal hypoglycemia, jaundice, and low Apgar score and low free β‐hCG with jaundice.ConclusionLow PAPP‐A and free β‐hCG were significantly associated with admission to NICU and neonatal disease, independently from what could be expected because of preterm delivery or low birth weight. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Narrow‐bandgap CuIn3Te5 thin‐film solar cells
Authors: Mise Takahiro , Nakada Tokio 
Published: October 2011

ABSTRACTWe propose CuIn3Te5 as a ternary semiconductor material for narrow‐bandgap thin‐film solar cells. Well‐developed CuIn3Te5 grains were obtained at a substrate temperature of 250 °C by single‐step co‐evaporation. The best solar cell that was fabricated using 4·0‐µm‐thick CuIn3Te5 layers grown at 250 °C yielded a total area efficiency of 6·92% (Voc = 407 mV, Jsc = 33·1 mA/cm2, and FF = 0·514). To clarify the loss in the device performance, the cell was compared with a standard CuInSe2 reference cell. A band diagram of the CdS/CuIn3Te5 solar cell was also presented. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cyr61 is regulated by cAMP‐dependent protein kinase with serum levels correlating with prostate cancer aggressiveness
Authors: Terada Naoki , Shiraishi Takumi , Zeng Yu , Mooney Steven M. , Yeater David B. , Mangold Leslie A. , Partin Alan W. , Kulkarni Prakash , Getzenberg Robert H. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractBACKGROUNDCysteine‐rich angiogenic inducer 61 (Cyr61) is an extracellular matrix protein involved in the transduction of growth factor and hormone signaling. Previously, we demonstrated that Cyr61 was highly expressed in prostate cancer (PCa) but that the expression levels were associated with a lower risk of PCa recurrence. In the present study, we demonstrate that serum Cyr61 is a potential biomarker that correlates with PCa aggressiveness. Furthermore, we also explore the potential mechanism underlying the changes in Cyr61 expression during PCa progression.METHODSCyr61 concentrations in the medium from PCa cell lines and in serum samples obtained from PCa patients were measured by sandwich ELISA. Serum Cyr61 levels were correlated with disease characteristics and the association between Cyr61 expression changes by several types of stimulation or stress and cAMP/cAMP‐dependent protein kinase (PKA) pathway were examined.RESULTSThere was a positive correlation between Cyr61 levels in cell supernatants and mRNA expression in these cell lines. Serum Cyr61 levels were significantly higher in non‐organ‐confined PCa patients (116.3 ± 140.2 ng/ml) than in organ‐confined PCa patients (79.7 ± 56.1 ng/ml) (P = 0.031). Cyr61 expression was up‐regulated in response to both lysophosphatidic acid and androgen treatments which promoted PCa cell invasion. Serum starvation and phosphoinositide‐3‐kinase inhibition also resulted in Cyr61 up‐regulation; however, they suppressed cell proliferation. Cyr61 up‐regulation was correlated with an increase in cAMP and suppressed by PKA inhibition.CONCLUSIONSThese findings suggest that Cyr61 expression in PCa is regulated by the cAMP/PKA pathway and that circulating Cyr61 levels are a potential serum‐based biomarker for characterizing PCa. Prostate 72:966–976, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Relationship of obesity, Androgen receptor genotypes and biochemical failure after radical prostatectomy
Authors: Zeigler‐Johnson Charnita , Weber Anita , Spangler Elaine , Panossian Saarene , Rebbeck Timothy R. , Malkowicz S. Bruce 
Published: October 2011

AbstractBACKGROUNDObesity and androgen metabolism have been implicated in the progression of prostate cancer. Obesity has been associated with increased risk for advanced disease and biochemical failure after treatment. This association may be the result of changes in androgen metabolism that occur with obesity and are mediated by the androgen receptor (AR).METHODSTo evaluate the effects of obesity and AR polymorphisms on biochemical failure, we conducted a study of 536 Caucasian prostate cancer cases. We determined the relationship between time to biochemical failure and obesity stratified by short and long AR‐CAG and AR‐GGN repeat sequence. The AR repeat groups were dichotomized at the median number of repeats for each polymorphism.RESULTSAn association was found for obesity in the short CAG group (HR = 3.45, 95% CI = 1.00–11.96). Among obese patients diagnosed with localized disease (T1/T2), the risk of biochemical failure was significantly higher (HR = 7.05, 95% CI = 1.55–32.06). No difference was observed for high stage (T3/T4) obese patients. Additionally, no differences in biochemical failure were observed in obese and non‐obese men grouped by number of AR‐GGN repeats.CONCLUSIONSObesity is significantly associated with increased risk of biochemical failure in men with the high‐risk short CAG sequence on the AR gene. This effect is not observed in men with long CAG repeats. Therefore, it appears that the relationship between biochemical failure and obesity may be modified by the AR‐CAG repeat pattern. The short AR‐CAG genotype may be more responsive to an altered hormonal milieu created by obesity. Prostate 72:984–990, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Opposing roles of ERα and ERβ in the genesis and progression of adenocarcinoma in the rat ventral prostate
Authors: Attia D.M.A. , Ederveen A.G.H. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractBACKGROUNDProstate cancer is a common malignancy in men and although hormone ablation therapy is effective, men develop hormone resistance. There is need for therapies applicable earlier, such as treatment of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN). Estrogens besides androgens play a role in prostate cancer pathogenesis via two receptors ERα and ERβ and both receptors are thought to play different, opposing, roles with ERα having proliferative properties and ERβ having anti‐proliferative properties. To differentiate between the roles both receptors play in prostate cancer an ERα and an ERβ agonist, ERA‐45 and ERB‐26, have been tested in a rodent model for prostate carcinogenesis.METHODSThe influence of ERα on prostate cancer progression was studied in intact male rats treated with testosterone in combination with the ERα agonist, ERA‐45 for either a long‐term (20‐week) period or a shorter term (6‐week) period. The ERβ agonist was tested in the shorter term model in intact male rats treated with testosterone in combination with the ERα agonist, ERA‐45, followed by administration of the ERβ agonist, ERB‐26, during the last 2 weeks.RESULTSTreatment of rats with testosterone in combination with ERA‐45 induced mild PIN lesions at 6 weeks and severe precancerous PIN lesions at 20 weeks. The ERβ agonist prevented the onset of PIN lesions at 6 weeks. Moreover, prostate epithelial cell apoptosis was increased and proliferation was decreased.CONCLUSIONThese findings confirm the opposing roles ERα and ERβ play in prostate carcinogenesis and suggest a therapeutic opportunity of ERβ for treating precancerous PIN lesions. Prostate 72:1013–1022, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Development of a needle insertion manipulator for central venous catheterization
Authors: Kobayashi Yo , Hong Jaesung , Hamano Ryutaro , Okada Kaoru , Fujie Masakatsu G. , Hashizume Makoto 
Published: October 2011

AbstractBackgroundCentral venous catheterization is a procedure in which a doctor inserts a catheter into a patient's vein for transfusions. Risks of this procedure include bleeding from the puncture of blood vessels and pneumothorax caused by pleural puncture. To avoid these and other risks, physicians are required to ensure that the needle is inserted securely and that it stops within the vein.MethodsWe propose a robotic system for assisting venous puncture that is capable of alleviating the difficulties encountered during the conventional procedure, as well as minimizing the risks of complications. This paper describes the design and results of experiments conducted using a needle insertion manipulator. First, we investigated the relation between insertion force and angle into the vein to determine the appropriate insertion angle in relation to the blood vessel under physical conditions. The results indicated that the reaction force can be used to gauge whether the needle has been inserted into the vein in cases where the insertion angle is in the range 10–20°. Based on this result, we determined the mechanisms of the puncture device, which comprises a small, compact configuration. Experiments for accuracy validation were performed on a phantom.ResultsWe evaluated the positioning accuracy using ultrasound images, and the results indicated an accuracy of 1.0 mm or better, which is considered feasible for venous puncture. In the phantom experiments, we confirmed that our manipulator was capable of placing the needle within the vein.ConclusionsThe feasibility of this system was demonstrated in our experiments. Further studies, such as in vivo experiments, are required. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
On absolute (robust) stability: slope restrictions andstability multipliers
Authors: Răsvan Vl. , Danciu Daniela , Popescu D. 
Published: October 2011

SUMMARYAbsolute stability for systems with several sector‐restricted and slope‐restricted nonlinearities is studied in this paper. A critical analysis of the multipliers is performed and the multipliers of Yakubovich type are chosen because the stability inequality is obtained with a minimum of technical assumptions. The main part of the paper is devoted to obtaining the Yakubovich‐type criterion in the unified context of stable, critical, and unstable cases for the linear part. The paper is motivated by the problem of pilot in‐the‐loop oscillations of the aircrafts where critical and unstable cases appear and the saturation nonlinearity is both sector and slope restricted. The paper contains some applications of the frequency domain inequalities. The conclusions show a ‘parsimony principle’: using as few free parameters as possible to obtain the largest possible domain of stability. The paper ends with conclusions and hints for further development. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An empirical study of learning by osmosis in global software engineering
Authors: Lago Patricia , Muccini Henry , Babar Muhammad Ali 
Published: October 2011

SUMMARYTo teach global software engineering, we devised a complementary distributed module with a shared project involving both local and international teams. In local teams, students are located at the same university and trained in one of the two complementary topics. In international teams, students are located at two different universities and trained in one of the two complementary topics. This study empirically investigates whether the students in the international teams can compensate the extra effort required to deal with communication, coordination, and collaboration issues that characterize global software engineering projects with learning by osmosis (i.e., by transferring knowledge among globally distributed teams trained on different topics). The results show that there was no statistically significant difference between the performance of local and international teams. We assert that the students in the international and local teams perform equally well, thanks to learning by osmosis. However, our analysis of the self‐reported questionnaire data revealed that most of the participants (i.e., 70%) would like to work in local teams in real‐life project, 74% of the participants thought international teams were less efficient, and 41% of the participants reported lack of trust in their international team members compared with their local team members. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.