bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Economy of France in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Market Opportunity and Labour Productivity in Languedoc
Authors: MILLER STEPHEN J. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractRecent scholarship makes the case that from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, French peasants were just as effective as the large farmers of England in raising agricultural productivity when they had access to urban markets. This article shows that the peasants of the old regime province of Languedoc had access to urban demand and market opportunities, and brought about economic growth, but only by dint of massive increases of labour inputs. The results were paltry increases in labour productivity and the standard of living. The case of Languedoc demonstrates that the study of the social context helps scholars evaluate a society's potential for economic development far more than does the study of its markets.
Immigrants in the Polder. Rural-Rural Long Distance Migration in North-Western Europe: The Case of Watergraafsmeer
Authors: KAAL HARM , VAN LOTTUM JELLE 
Published: March 2009

AbstractLong distance emigration of agriculture workers or farmers is usually associated with seasonal migration. Permanent migration of farmers on the other hand, is considered to be a non-European phenomenon and commonly linked to migration to the New World where capital costs were relatively low and institutional barriers limited. Interestingly, in the early modern period, in the wake of the mass migration from continental north-western Europe to the urban areas of the Dutch Republic, a contingent of German market gardeners and their descendants were slowly able to take over the production of farmed vegetable goods for the nation's capital, Amsterdam. In the middle of one of Europe's most densely populated areas, in a polder called Watergraafsmeer, a parish neighbouring, and subsequently part of, Amsterdam, Germans dominated the agricultural sector for over a century. This article will try to answer the question of how these German migrants were able to control a sector that is usually run by locally born producers, for such a long period of time.
A Spectral Approach to Analysing Belief Propagation for 3-Colouring
Authors: COJA-OGHLAN AMIN , MOSSEL ELCHANAN , VILENCHIK DAN 
Published: March 2009

Belief propagation (BP) is a message-passing algorithm that computes the exact marginal distributions at every vertex of a graphical model without cycles. While BP is designed to work correctly on trees, it is routinely applied to general graphical models that may contain cycles, in which case neither convergence, nor correctness in the case of convergence is guaranteed. Nonetheless, BP has gained popularity as it seems to remain effective in many cases of interest, even when the underlying graph is ‘far’ from being a tree. However, the theoretical understanding of BP (and its new relative survey propagation) when applied to CSPs is poor.Contributing to the rigorous understanding of BP, in this paper we relate the convergence of BP to spectral properties of the graph. This encompasses a result for random graphs with a ‘planted’ solution; thus, we obtain the first rigorous result on BP for graph colouring in the case of a complex graphical structure (as opposed to trees). In particular, the analysis shows how belief propagation breaks the symmetry between the 3! possible permutations of the colour classes.
Space Weather: Physics and Effects
Authors: Hughes W. Jeffrey 
Published: March 2009

With the launching of Sputnik, Explorer 1, and the other early satellites, the new discipline of space physics was born, about 50 years ago. Although earlier ground‐based observations had provided strong hints about the nature of our space environment above the upper atmosphere, those early satellites initiated a series of surprises and discoveries, including Van Allen's discovery of the Earth's radiation belts.Young scientists were attracted to this new field, and it grew quickly. When the Journal of Geophysical Research was divided into two sections, in 1964, one section was devoted to space physics. The field explored not only new regions of space but also a new state of matter: the rarefied, fully ionized plasma that fills space and interacts intimately with magnetic fields.
Maternal serum endostatin at gestational weeks 16–20 is elevated in subsequent pre‐eclampsia but not in intrauterine growth retardation
Authors: WATHÉN KATJA‐ANNELI , YLIKORKALA OLAVI , ANDERSSON STURE , ALFTHAN HENRIK , STENMAN ULF‐HÅKAN , VUORELA PIIA 
Published: March 2009

AbstractObjective. Endostatin, an important anti‐angiogenic factor produced by endothelial cells, is elevated in established pre‐eclampsia. We measured maternal serum endostatin concentrations in early pregnancy associated with later pre‐eclampsia and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Design. Retrospective case–control study. Setting. University Central Hospital. Sample. Serum samples were collected at 12–15 and 16–20 gestational weeks from a total of 124 pregnant women of whom 49 developed pre‐eclampsia, 16 gave birth to infants with IUGR without pre‐eclampsia, and 59 remained normotensive giving birth to healthy, normal‐weight infants. Methods. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Main outcome measures. Endostatin concentrations in serum. Results. At 12–15 gestational weeks, there was no difference in median endostatin concentrations between the groups. At 16–20 gestational weeks, the median endostatin concentration was higher in the women with subsequent pre‐eclampsia (p = 0.026), especially preceding a later severe form of the disease (p = 0.041), than in the controls. The results were further confirmed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showing an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.64 (95% confidence interval: 0.50–0.81) for endostatin to identify subsequent pre‐eclampsia, and 0.71 (0.53–0.89) in cases of severe pre‐eclampsia. Optimal cut‐off values were determined and used for calculations of sensitivity and specificity, which were 80 and 52% (cut‐off value = 58.0 μg/L) in pre‐eclampsia, and 80 and 65% (cut‐off value = 65.5 μg/L) in the severe form of the disease. Conclusions. The concentrations of endostatin in maternal serum at 16–20 weeks’ of gestation are associated with an increased risk of pre‐eclampsia but not IUGR.
Validation of epithelial ovarian cancer and fallopian tube cancer and ovarian borderline tumor data in the Danish Gynecological Cancer Database
Authors: PETRI ANETTE LYKKE , KJAER SUSANNE KRÜGER , CHRISTENSEN IB J. , BLAAKAER JAN , HOGDALL ESTRID , JEPPESEN ULLA , MOSGAARD BERIT J. , PAGEL JENS D. , STILLING LINE , THRANOV INGRID , HOGDALL CLAUS 
Published: March 2009

AbstractObjective. To validate the data on epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer and borderline ovarian tumors registered in the nationwide Danish Gynecological Cancer Database (DGCD) in 2005 and 2006. The DGCD is a multidisciplinary database that contains data for research and quality improvement. Design. Comparative registry‐based study supplemented with data from medical records. Setting. Six hospitals in Denmark. Participants. Women registered with epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer and borderline ovarian tumor. Main outcome measure. Data completeness and strength of agreement. Results. The estimated completeness of reporting to the DGCD was 94.2% and the strength of agreement between the variables in the DGCD and the medical file varied from moderate to very good. The important quality indicator ‘complication’ had the lowest strength of agreement. Conclusion. The validity of ovarian cancer data in the DGCD is sufficient for quality monitoring in gynecological oncology.
Concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor C and D in amniotic fluid and maternal plasma
Authors: WATHÉN KATJA‐ANNELI , STENMAN ULF‐HÅKAN , LEINONEN ELINA , ANDERSSON STURE , VUORELA PIIA 
Published: March 2009

AbstractObjective. Vascular endothelial growth factor‐C (VEGF‐C) and VEGF‐D promote both endothelial and lymphatic vascularization during embryonic development. We studied their presence in amniotic fluid (AF) and maternal plasma during pregnancy. Design. Descriptive study. Setting. University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. Samples. AF at 14–20 weeks (n = 20) and 38–41 weeks’ of gestation (n = 20), serial plasma samples (n = 38) from 16 healthy pregnant women during 8–40 weeks of pregnancy, and plasma from 15 non‐pregnant controls. Methods. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Main outcome measures. Concentrations of VEGF‐C and ‐D in AF and maternal plasma. Results. VEGF‐C concentrations in AF decrease as pregnancy advances (p = 0.002) and are about 10‐fold lower than in plasma at the corresponding gestational age (p = 0.001). Plasma VEGF‐C concentrations are higher in the first trimester (p = 0.014) and the early second trimester (p = 0.016) than in non‐pregnant women. VEGF‐D is not detectable in AF, but in plasma its concentrations become higher at term compared with non‐pregnant women (p = 0.039). Conclusions. VEGF‐C and ‐D are present in high concentrations in maternal plasma, while only VEGF‐C can be detected in AF.
Angiotensin II type 1 and 2 receptors gene polymorphisms in pre‐eclampsia and normal pregnancy in three different populations
Authors: AKBAR SYED ALI , KHAWAJA NUZHAT P. , BROWN PAUL R. , TAYYEB RAKHSHANDA , BAMFO JACQUELINE , NICOLAIDES KYPROS H. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractObjectives.To investigate a possible association between pre‐eclampsia (PE) and the genotype for the angiotensin II type‐1 receptor (AT1R) and the angiotensin type‐2 receptor (AT2R) in various population groups.Design.The study was retrospective in a case‐controlled design.Samples.Two hundred thirty‐six pregnant women with PE/eclampsia (E) and 426 non‐hypertensive pregnant women were included.Method.Polymorphic sites of AT1R (A1166C) and AT2R (A1675G) were amplified by polymerase chain reaction, digested with a restriction enzyme that differentiated between the alternative alleles, and analyzed.Main outcome measures.Maternal genotypes and their correlation with clinical parameters.Results.The frequency of the AT2R‐GG genotype (A1675G) in the PE group was significantly greater than in controls for Afro‐Caribbean women (49.3% vs 26.9%,p= 0.004), but the frequency difference in Asian or Caucasian women was not significant (23.0% vs 25.4%,p= 0.63; 27.7% vs 14.8%,p= 0.17, respectively). The highly significant difference in Afro‐Caribbean women was maintained after controlling for the effects of age, BMI and parity (p= 0.005). There was no significant association of the molecular variant of AT1R (A1166C) with PE in Afro‐Caribbean, Caucasian or Asian women. However, in the whole PE group compared to the controls there was a higher proportion of the AT2R‐GG genotype with AT1R‐AC (56% vs 44%, OR 2.37; 95% CI: 1.06–5.32). In Afro‐Caribbean women, the combination of AT1R‐AC with AT2R‐AG genotypes was significantly higher in controls compared to PE group (93.8% vs 6.3%, OR 0.11; 95% CI: 0.01–0.81).Conclusion.There is an association between PE/E and the GG‐genotype of AT2R in Afro‐Caribbean women.
Risk Factors for Gram-Negative Bacterial Surgical Site Infection Do Allergies to Antibiotics Increase Risk?
Authors: Trinh Jane V. , Chen Luke F. , Sexton Daniel J. , Anderson Deverick J. 
Published: March 2009

Objective.To determine the relationship between indequate antimicrobial prophylaxis and development of gram-negative bacterial (GNB) surgical site infection (SSI).Design.Retrospective case-control study.Setting.A 369-bed acute care community hospital in Durham, North Carolina.Patients.Case patients were defined as patients who developed a GNB SSI after undergoing a surgical procedure during the period from January 1, 1998, through January 1, 2007. Control patients were uninfected patients who underwent surgery during the same study period and were matched to case patients by surgeon and type of procedure. Both patient groups were selected on the basis of prospectively collected data on patients who underwent surgery.Methods.Patient data were collected from patient medical records. Multivariable analysis was performed using logistic regression with backward selection, to identify variables independently associated with GNB SSI.Results.Case patients were similar to control patients with respect to demographics and comorbid conditions, but were older (P = .04), more obese (P = .03), and more likely to have diabetes mellitus (P = .03). Inappropriate timing of antimicrobial prophylaxis was the predominant reason that prophylaxis was deemed inadequate for both patient groups (59.1% of case patients vs 64.0% of control patients; P = .56). Case patients who had a history of allergic reactions to antimicrobial prophylaxis were significantly less likely to receive antimicrobial prophylaxis in a timely manner (P = .03). Variables independently associated with GNB SSI in multivariable analysis included urinary catheterization before surgery (odds ratio [OR], 3.74 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.11-12.62), diabetes mellitus (OR, 2.25 [95% CI, 1.02-4.94]), and an American Society of Anesthesiologists score greater than 2 (OR, 2.14 [95% CI, 1.13-4.06]).Conclusions.A β-lactam allergy was not associated with increased risk for GNB SSI. Further studies, using patient data from larger hospital databases, are needed to examine the relationship between use of urinary catheter before surgery and risk of GNB SSI.
Mass bleaching of soft coral, Sarcophyton spp. in Thailand and the role of temperature and salinity stress
Authors: Chavanich Suchana , Viyakarn Voranop , Loyjiw Thepsuda , Pattaratamrong Priyapat , Chankong Anchalee 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Chavanich, S., Viyakarn, V., Loyjiw, T., Pattaratamrong, P., and Chankong, A. 2009. Mass bleaching of soft coral, Sarcophyton spp. in Thailand and the role of temperature and salinity stress. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1515–1519. From June to October 2006 and 2007, mass bleaching of the soft coral, Sarcophyton spp., occurred for the first time in the upper Gulf of Thailand. Approximately 90% of the populations experienced extensive bleaching, and almost 95% of colonies were affected. Field observations also revealed that fragmentation of Sarcophyton spp. set in 1 month after the onset of bleaching. Some colonies started to recover to some extent by the end of July, with 95% of the population of Sarcophyton spp. recovering by October. Both acute and chronic trials were conducted to determine whether temperature and/or salinity triggered bleaching. In the acute tests, Sarcophyton spp. at 40°C and salinity 20 psu were completely bleached, and death occurred after 57 and 204 h, respectively. However, the colonies at 40 psu could survive through the experimental trial. In the chronic tests, Sarcophyton spp. died when exposed to 34°C, whereas complete bleaching and mortality of Sarcophyton spp. occurred at salinities of 10 and 49 psu. We conclude that elevated temperatures had a greater effect on the bleaching of Sarcophyton spp. than did salinity.
Examining unsupervised time with peers and the role of association with delinquent peers on adolescent smoking
Authors: Greene Kathryn , Banerjee Smita C. 
Published: March 2009

Abstract

Introduction:
This study explored the association between unsupervised time with peers and adolescent smoking behavior both directly and indirectly through interaction with delinquent peers, social expectancies about cigarette smoking, and cigarette offers from peers.

Methods:
A cross-sectional survey was used for the study and included 248 male and female middle school students.

Results:
Results of structural equation modeling revealed that unsupervised time with peers is associated indirectly with adolescent smoking behavior through the mediation of association with delinquent peers, social expectancies about cigarette smoking, and cigarette offers from peers.

Discussion:
Interventions designed to motivate adolescents without adult supervision to associate more with friends who engage in prosocial activities may eventually reduce adolescent smoking. Further implications for structured supervised time for students outside of school time are discussed.
Existence and spectral properties of shear horizontal surface acoustic waves in vertically periodic half-spaces
Authors: Shuvalov A.L. , Poncelet O. , Golkin S.V. 
Published: March 2009

The paper is concerned with the propagation of shear horizontal surface waves (SHSW) in semi-infinite elastic media with vertically periodic continuous and/or discrete variation of material properties. The existence and spectral properties of the SHSW are shown to be intimately related to the shape of the properties variation profile. Generally, the SHSW dispersion branches represent randomly broken spectral intervals on the (
ω
,
k
) plane. They may, however, display a particular regularity in being confined to certain distinct ranges of slowness
s
=
ω
/
k
, which can be predicted and estimated directly from the profile shape. The SHSW spectral regularity is especially prominent when the material properties at the opposite edge points of a period are different. In particular, a unit cell can be arranged so that the SHSW exists within a single slowness window, narrow in the measure of material contrast between the edges, and does not exist elsewhere or vice versa. Explicit analysis in the (
ω
,
k
) domain is complemented and verified through the numerical simulation of the SH wave field in the time–space domain. The results also apply to a longitudinally periodic semi-infinite strip with a homogeneous boundary condition at the faces.
Interaction of acenocoumarol and sitaxentan in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Authors: Pulido T. , Sandoval J. , Roquet I. , Gutiérrez R. , Rueda T. , Peña H. , Santos E. , Miranda M. T. , Lupi E. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractBackground  Sitaxentan inhibits the metabolism of warfarin, resulting in a need for adjustment of warfarin dose when both drugs are coadministered. We report the long‐term effects on bleeding of acenocoumarol co‐administered as part of conventional therapy for pulmonary hypertension with sitaxentan in a subset of patients enrolled in the Sitaxentan To Relieve ImpaireD Exercise‐3 (STRIDE‐3) study.Materials and methods  STRIDE‐3 is an ongoing, long‐term, open‐label trial, evaluating the safety and efficacy of sitaxentan, 100 mg once daily, in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Information on bleeding events was collected prospectively, including the type of event, severity, anticoagulant use and investigator attribution of causality. Coagulation tests were performed on a monthly basis. A clinically significant interaction was defined as an international normalized ratio (INR) ≥ 5·0, or any minor bleeding event plus an INR > 2·0 and < 5·0.Results  Of 55 patients enrolled in STRIDE‐3, 50 received acenocoumarol. Average follow‐up was 158·6 ± 57·6 weeks. The average dose of anticoagulant therapy was 3·9 ± 1·3 mg week−1 (range, 1·5–7·0 mg week−1). Following treatment, an INR ≥ 5 in at least one INR determination was observed in 13 patients, although none of these patients had a clinically significant bleeding event. Dose reductions in acenocoumarol were performed to adjust target INR to 1·5–2·0. Two patients died of massive haemoptysis, but these episodes were not attributed to a drug interaction. Four patients with an INR > 2·0 and < 5·0 experienced a minor bleeding event (nosebleeds/gingivitis).Conclusions  No clinically significant bleeding events were recorded with coadministration of sitaxentan and acenocoumarol in this patient subgroup. These results suggest that coadministration of sitaxentan and acenocoumarol is clinically manageable and well tolerated.
A review of STRIDE‐2 and STRIDE‐2X: the case for selective endothelin receptor blockade
Authors: Langleben D. , Cacoub P. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractBackground  Pulmonary arterial hypertension remains incurable and has previously required difficult parenteral therapy. Endothelin‐1(ET‐1) is an important mediator of pulmonary arterial hypertension. The recent availability of oral therapies, including endothelin receptor antagonists, has improved ease of use for patients, but most patients remain symptomatic to a significant degree. Two classes of ET‐1 receptors have been described, ETA and ETB. It has previously been unclear whether both receptors must be blocked in pulmonary arterial hypertension, or only the ETA receptor.Materials and methods  The Sitaxsentan To Relieve ImpaireD Exercise‐2 (STRIDE‐2) study followed by STRIDE‐2X exposed patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension to the highly selective ETA antagonist sitaxsentan (n = 145), or to bosentan (n = 84), a nonselective ETA and ETB antagonist. The total exposure duration and follow‐up period was 1 year. Pre‐specified comparisons included time to discontinuation of monotherapy, time to clinical worsening, incidence of elevated hepatic transaminase levels > 3 × upper limit of normal and survival.Results  Sitaxsentan therapy showed significant benefit over bosentan with respect to discontinuation of monotherapy at 1 year (24% vs. 43%, P = 0·002), clinical worsening at 1 year (28% vs. 39%, P = 0·0425), elevated hepatic transaminases at 1 year (4% vs. 14%, P = 0·014) and 1‐year survival (96% vs. 88%, P = 0·028).Conclusions  STRIDE‐2 and its extension, STRIDE‐2X, suggest significant benefit of sitaxsentan compared with bosentan, in terms of efficacy and reduced hepatotoxicity. The former may be related to the high ETA receptor selectivity of sitaxsentan.
Endothelin receptor selectivity in chronic renal failure
Authors: Longaretti L. , Benigni A. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractChronic kidney diseases are increasing worldwide at an alarming rate, and they are emerging as a major public health problem. Treatments that slow the progression of chronic kidney disease are needed. Endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) is a potent vasoconstrictor with proinflammatory, mitogenic and profibrotic effects that is closely involved in both normal renal physiology and pathology. Increasing evidence suggests that ET‐1 and its cognate receptors are involved in a variety of progressive renal disorders to the extent that renal ET‐1 expression correlates with disease severity and renal function impairment. Endothelin receptor antagonists have been used in renoprotection studies owing to their capacity of improving renal hemodynamics and reducing proteinuria. Whether selective ETA or non‐selective ETA/ETB receptor antagonists are preferable is still a matter of debate. As angiotensin II blockers are not invariably effective in retarding disease progression when treatment is started late in the course of the disease, it is foreseeable that an ET‐1 antagonist in addition to angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors could represent a combined treatment for progressive nephropathies. The focus of this review is to examine the role endothelin‐1 plays in kidney diseases and to determine the ideal setting for antagonizing its biological activity in chronic nephropathies.