bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Business Cycle Synchronization in the Proposed East African Monetary Union: An Unobserved Component Approach
Authors: Kishor Narayan K. , Ssozi John 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis paper uses the business cycle synchronization criteria of the theory of optimum currency area (OCA) to examine the feasibility of the East African Community (EAC) as a monetary union. We also investigate whether the degree of business cycle synchronization has increased after the 1999 EAC Treaty. We use an unobserved component model to measure business cycle synchronization as the proportion of structural shocks that are common across different countries, and a time‐varying parameter model to examine the dynamics of synchronization over time. We find that although the degree of synchronization has increased since 2000 when the EAC Treaty came into force, the proportion of shocks that is common across different countries is still small implying weak synchronization. This evidence casts doubt on the feasibility of a monetary union for the EAC as scheduled by 2012.
Changes in Wages, Wage Inequality and the Return to Human Capital Skills in Kenya: 1977–2005
Authors: Agesa Richard U. , Agesa Jacqueline , Dabalen Andrew 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThe conventional literature on wage inequality in Kenya has two drawbacks: first, by focusing on manufacturing sector wages, overlooking wages in other sectors, the results may be biased. Second, previous studies emphasize wage determination solely at the conditional mean rather than resort to wage determination across the entire earnings distribution. We remedy these weaknesses and add a new layer of research previously unexamined. Particularly, we consider wage changes during periods of wide GDP fluctuations from 1977 to 1986, 1986 to 1999, and 1999 to 2005 and explore if prices of measured human capital skills moved in tandem with changes in the dispersion of unmeasured human capital skills as is postulated by human capital theory. Our results support human capital theory: we find higher wages and higher residual wage dispersion during periods of rising GDP (1999–2005) but find lower wages and lower residual wage dispersion during periods of falling GDP (1977–86 and 1986–99).
The Short‐term Determinants of Capital Flows for a Small Open Economy: The Case of Greece
Authors: Pappas Anastasios P. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis paper presents the factors driving capital flows inwards and outwards of a small open economy such as Greece during the period 1983–2009. Apart from the determinants of capital flows the possibility of speculative attacks is also considered. Applying the ordinary least squares (OLS) method it is found that variables linked to external factors such as the differential of domestic and foreign interest rates and financial crises, such as the Asian and Russian financial turmoil of 1997 and 1998 respectively, are the main factors influencing capital inflows and outflows in Greece during the period 1983–2009. Additionally the results of probit analysis support that the same factors are significant in determining the probability of speculative attacks to the Greek economy.
Monetary Policy Rules for Transition Economies: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Ghatak Subrata , Moore Tomoe 
Published: October 2011

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the monetary policy reaction functions for the new European Union member states. We find interesting differences when looking at both interest rates (the Taylor rule) and monetary base (the McCallum rule) as monetary policy rules. Monetary aggregate is more likely to react to the deviation of inflation from its target, while short‐term interest rates are highly sensitive to the deviation of exchange rates in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. For Hungary and Romania, both interest rates and money are responsive to inflation. In empirical literature, much attention is paid to the use of the Taylor‐type rule for developed economies. However, our empirical results raise questions on the reliance of this rule for these transition economies.
Bootstrap HAC Tests for Ordinary Least Squares Regression*
Authors: Bravo Francesco , Godfrey Leslie G. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThere is a need for tests that are derived from the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators of regression coefficients and are useful in the presence of unspecified forms of heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. A method that uses the moving block bootstrap and quasi‐estimators in order to derive a consistent estimator of the asymptotic covariance matrix for the OLS estimators and robust significance tests is proposed. The method is shown to be asymptotically valid and Monte Carlo evidence indicates that it is capable of providing good control of significance levels in finite samples and good power compared with two other bootstrap tests.
Skin benefits of a myconoside‐rich extract from resurrection plant Haberlea rhodopensis
Authors: Dell’Acqua G. , Schweikert K. 
Published: October 2011

SynopsisResurrection plant Haberlea rhodopensis develops molecules to survive drought stress. These molecules allow the plant to resurge from a desiccation state. We have extracted a specific fraction from the plant (Haberlea extract) and found it rich, among other molecules, of a caffeoyl phenylethanoid glycoside called myconoside, a molecule extremely abundant in the plant with a potential role in survival. Peroxide‐stressed normal human dermal fibroblasts treated with the Haberlea extract, showed increased collagen VI (+822%), collagen XVI (+928%) and elastin (+144%) mRNA synthesis, measured by RT‐qPCR. This effect was superior to those obtained with benchmarks retinoic acid and retinol. When used at 3% in human skin biopsies, Haberlea extract protected against UV‐induced dermis oxidation by 100% (P < 0.01), as evidenced by immunohistochemistry. Finally, when tested in human volunteers (n = 20) at 3% in a cream against a placebo, Haberlea extract increased skin elasticity (3× placebo, P < 0.0002) and skin radiance (4× placebo, P < 0.05) after only 15 days of treatment, with the effect sustained after 30 and 60 days of treatment. We demonstrated that by using Haberlea extract (particularly rich in glycoside myconoside), it is possible to strongly stimulate antioxidant skin defences and extracellular matrix protein synthesis. This effect, in turn, will further stimulate skin elasticity and skin radiance significantly in human volunteers. The extract can be suggested for anti‐ageing treatments, intended for claims such as protection from oxidation, increased skin elasticity and enhanced skin radiance.
Vection can be induced without explicit motion signal using backscroll illusion
Authors: SENO TAKEHARU , SATO TAKAO 
Published: November 2011

AbstractWe demonstrated that vection is induced by a motion stimuli that does not have an explicit, bottom‐up motion component. The stimulus motion used in this experiment was animation movie clips of walking people, with no positional changes within the stimulus field. There were no low‐level motion signals in the direction of gait. The results indicate that strong vection was observed under optimal stimuli conditions, that is, large visual field and multiple walkers. These results suggest that vection can be elicited solely by motion signals extracted at relatively higher levels within the visual system. This is the first report that a pure high‐level motion related to “implied motion” induces vection.
Physical exercise attenuates age‐associated reduction in endothelium‐reparative capacity of endothelial progenitor cells by increasing CXCR4/JAK‐2 signaling in healthy men
Authors: Xia Wen‐Hao , Li Jing , Su Chen , Yang Zhen , Chen Long , Wu Fang , Zhang Yuan‐Yuan , Yu Bing‐Bo , Qiu Yan‐Xia , Wang Shen‐Ming , Tao Jun 
Published: October 2011

SummaryEndothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important role in repairing endothelial injury. Aging is associated with EPC dysfunction. Physical exercise has a beneficial impact on EPC activity. However, whether physical exercise can enhance the endothelial repair capacity of EPCs in healthy men with aging is not clear. Here, we investigated the effects of physical exercise on reendothelialization capacity and CXC chemokine receptor four (CXCR4) signaling in human EPCs. Before and after 12‐week exercise, EPCs were isolated from elderly and young men. In vitro function and in vivo reendothelialization capacity of EPCs in a mouse model of carotid artery injury were measured. The expression of CXCR4 and its downstream signaling target Janus kinase‐2 (JAK‐2) were determined. Before exercise, in vitro function and in vivo reendothelialization capacity of EPCs were significantly reduced in elderly men compared with young men. After exercise intervention, in vitro function and in vivo reendothelialization capacity of EPCs from elderly men were markedly enhanced. Physical exercise increased a higher CXCR4 protein expression and higher JAK‐2 phosphorylation levels of EPCs. The augmentation in reendothelialization capacity of EPCs was closely correlated with the upregulation of CXCR4/JAK‐2 signaling and improvement of endothelial function. This study demonstrates for the first time that physical exercise attenuates age‐associated reduction in endothelium‐reparative capacity of EPCs by increasing CXCR4/JAK‐2 signaling. Our findings provide insight into the novel mechanisms of physical exercise as a lifestyle intervention strategy to promote vascular health in aging population.
Mothers' experiences of a stay in an ICU after a complicated childbirth
Authors: Engström Åsa , Lindberg Inger 
Published: October 2011

Background: To be cared for in an intensive care unit (ICU) after a complicated childbirth is often an unplanned and transforming experience, and there is lack of studies describing mothers' experiences of this phenomenon.Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of becoming a mother after a complicated delivery and a stay in an ICU.Methods: Qualitative personal interviews were conducted with eight mothers. The interview texts were subjected to qualitative thematic content analysis.Findings: The analysis resulted in one theme; wishing to be in control and together as a family, and six categories; being or not being prepared, feeling afraid, not being as ill as the others, knowing about the baby, worrying about the father and having someone to talk to. The findings highlight the need to receive continual information about what is happening, especially with the baby, and the need to be together as a family.Conclusion and relevance to clinical practice: The mothers need support and encouragement from the staff throughout their hospital stay, and sometimes afterwards. There is a need to receive information, especially about the baby, and to have one's family close by, when in an ICU despite illness severity. How the new family is met by the staff is of great importance.
Family Check Up Effects on Adolescent Arrest Trajectories: Variation by Developmental Subtype
Authors: Connell Arin M. , Klostermann Susan , Dishion Thomas J. 
Published: October 2011

This study examines the effect of the Family Check Up (FCU) intervention on the probability of arrests from age 12 to 17 years for youth following heterogeneous developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior. Latent Growth Mixture Modeling results supported the presence of three developmental trajectories of arrests, including a large group of youth with few police contacts, a smaller group of youth showing early‐onset and chronic arrests, and a group with Adolescent‐Onset arrests. In line with hypotheses, effects of intervention were seen within the Adolescent‐Onset group, but not in the early‐onset chronic arrest trajectory group, or in those youth with little police contact. The trajectory groups were differentiated by peer, family, behavioral, and academic risk variables at age 11.
Allogeneic donor peripheral blood “stem cell” apheresis: prospective comparison of two apheresis systems
Authors: Brauninger Susanne , Bialleck Heike , Thorausch Kristin , Felt Tom , Seifried Erhard , Bonig Halvard 
Published: November 2011

BACKGROUND: Granulocyte–colony‐stimulating factor–mobilized peripheral blood stem cells, collected by white blood cell apheresis, are used for more than 80% of allogeneic and most autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantations. Optimal donor and recipient outcomes require maximized stem cell collection efficiency and minimized non–target cell contamination. Therefore, improved apheresis technology is desirable. The safety and feasibility of apheresis collections with the novel, electronics‐assisted apheresis system Spectra Optia v.5.0 (CaridianBCT) were recently demonstrated. An unpublished optimization trial had furthermore determined that different settings than manufacturer‐installed default might result in improved apheresis yields.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The first prospective comparison of allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell apheresis with the Spectra Optia versus the COBE Spectra (CaridianBCT) mononuclear cell (MNC) in a routine clinical setting is reported here; “optimized” machine settings were used. Assessed variables included collection efficiency, product characteristics, donor outcomes, and frequency of operator interventions. Outcomes were additionally compared with historical data from the Spectra Optia in default mode.RESULTS: The mean CD34+ cell collection efficiency CE1 was 7.9% greater with the Spectra Optia than with the COBE Spectra MNC. Variability of outcomes was equally great. Reduced platelet (PLT) attrition necessitated 90% fewer autologous PLT reinfusions. Spectra Optia products contained 50% fewer red blood cells, but 50% more granulocytic lineage cells. Less operator input was required, although 26% of Spectra Optia apheresis procedures required triggering of the first chamber flush. Apheresis yield and collection efficiency were also markedly greater than in default‐mode Spectra Optia collections.CONCLUSION: Using optimized machine settings, peripheral blood stem cell apheresis outcomes with the automated apheresis system Spectra Optia exceed results with the COBE Spectra MNC or the Spectra Optia in the default mode.
A survey on education in cariology for undergraduate dental students in Europe
Authors: Schulte A. G. , Buchalla W. , Huysmans M.‐C. D. N. J. M. , Amaechi B. T. , Sampaio F. , Vougiouklakis G. , Pitts N. B. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThe aim of the survey was to collect relevant information about education in cariology for dental undergraduate students in Europe. The ORCA/ADEE cariology curriculum group prepared a questionnaire that was mailed in 2009 to 179 European dental schools. One hundred and twenty‐three dental schools (72%) from 32 countries completed and returned the questionnaires. In most of these schools, education in cariology is delivered by at least two different units. The units mainly involved are Paediatric Dentistry, Conservative Dentistry, Restorative Dentistry or Operative Dentistry. Theoretical education in cariology is delivered by practically all responding dental schools, and in 96% of these schools, it starts within the first 3 years. Pre‐clinical exercises are offered by 98% of the schools starting mainly in the third or fourth year. In 97% of the schools, clinical exercises are carried out, and this occurs mainly in the fourth and fifth year. In nearly all dental schools (88%), education in cariology comprises not only caries but also dental erosion and non‐erosive wear. The vast majority of the responding dental schools (89%) supported the idea of developing a European Core Curriculum in Cariology.
Caries risk assessment, diagnosis and synthesis in the context of a European Core Curriculum in Cariology
Authors: Pitts N. , Melo P. , Martignon S. , Ekstrand K. , Ismail A. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis paper is part of a series outlining a European Core Curriculum in Cariology for undergraduate dental students. The European Core Curriculum in Cariology is the outcome of a process starting in 2006 and culminating in a joint workshop of the European Organization for Caries Research (ORCA) together with the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), held in Berlin from 27 to 30 June 2010. For the areas of risk assessment, diagnosis, detection, activity, monitoring and synthesis Cariology, the present paper outlines the key competencies required and the related areas in which knowledge of and familiarity with are needed for dentists graduating at the beginning of 21st century. Three major competencies were identified: Risk Assessment– competent at identifying and estimating the probability for a patient of developing new caries lesions or progression of existing lesions during a specified period of time; Diagnosis– competent through collecting, analysing and integrating data on signs and symptoms of dental caries and assess activity status of a lesion on a tooth surface to arrive at an identification of past or present occurrence of the disease caries; and Synthesis– competent at synthesising all relevant information by combining and interpreting findings from: risk assessment and diagnostic processes; from patients’ needs, preferences and best interests; and from monitoring, review and re‐assessment findings, when available. Similar competencies were identified for erosion and non‐erosive wear. Issues that were felt by the working group panel to be important in this field are discussed, as are approaches to aid curriculum implementation.
Decision‐making and treatment with respect to surgical intervention in the context of a European Core Curriculum in Cariology
Authors: Buchalla W. , Wiegand A. , Hall A. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis paper is part of a series of papers towards a European Core Curriculum in Cariology for undergraduate dental students. The European Core Curriculum in Cariology is the outcome of a process starting in 2006 and culminating in a joint workshop of the European Organisation for Caries Research (ORCA) together with the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) which was held in Berlin from 27 to 30 June 2010. The present paper covers decision‐making and treatment with respect to surgical intervention. In particular, it will provide some background information on this part of the European Core Curriculum. Undergraduate dental education should enable the student to become a competent, skilful and caring dentist who is able, upon graduation, to take professional responsibility for diagnosis, as well as effective safe, and long‐lasting care in the best interests of the patient. With respect to decision‐making around surgical intervention for dental caries, several factors have to be considered. These include, patient needs, preventive strategies, tooth preservation, caries management success and failure rates, as well as short‐term and long‐term treatment costs. With respect to surgical intervention, manual skills at a high level are required. This is of crucial importance for the graduating dentist allowed to practise denistry in many EU countries.
Evidence‐based cariology in clinical and public health practice as part of the European Core Curriculum in Cariology
Authors: Splieth Ch. H. , Innes N. , Söhnel A. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThis paper is part of a series of papers contributing towards a European Core Curriculum in Cariology for undergraduate dental students. The European Core Curriculum in Cariology is the outcome of a process starting in 2006 and culminating in a joint workshop of the European Organization for Caries Research together with the Association for Dental Education in Europe, which was held in Berlin from 27 to 30 June 2010. The scope of this paper is to present the evidence‐based cariology in clinical and public health section of the European Core Curriculum in Cariology. This section was developed on the basis of international consensus on the current and future educational needs in the fields of cariology and disorders of dental hard tissues. The paper will deal with the core skills of evidence‐based dental practice within the undergraduate curriculum underpinning the dual facets of clinical cariology (relating particularly to individuals) and public health cariology (relating particularly to groups/societies). Core competencies in evidence‐based dentistry, which are generic to the undergraduate curriculum as a whole and not only cariology, are integral to lifelong learning skills within dentistry. As the clinical cariology competencies in assessment and management of caries for the individual patient are dealt with within other sections of the European Core Curriculum in Cariology, only a few relevant examples will be presented here, but for Public Health Cariology, the competencies will be explored within this document and their relationship to the principles of evidence‐based dentistry discussed.
Tacit knowledge in dental clinical teaching
Authors: Fugill M. 
Published: October 2011

AbstractThe term ‘tacit’ is used to describe knowledge that is not necessarily understood in words. We frequently make use of such knowledge without conscious awareness that we are doing so. This article explores two different conceptions of tacit knowledge and considers their implications for the clinical teaching of dentistry. It recognises the communication barrier that clinical dependence on tacit knowledge creates between teacher and student. It identifies the ability to surface tacit clinical knowledge for the student as one of the most significant skills of the clinical teacher. Finally, the article examines the potential for conflict between the evidence‐based practice paradigm, with its dependence on codified, explicit knowledge and the notion of clinical practice, which is at least partly experiential and tacit.
Deferasirox treatment of iron‐overloaded chelation‐naïve and prechelated patients with myelodysplastic syndromes in medical practice: results from the observational studies eXtend and eXjange
Authors: Gattermann Norbert , Jarisch Andrea , Schlag Rudolf , Blumenstengel Klaus , Goebeler Mariele , Groschek Matthias , Losem Christoph , Procaccianti Maria , Junkes Alexia , Leismann Oliver , Germing Ulrich 
Published: October 2011

AbstractEXtend and eXjange were prospective, 1‐yr, non‐interventional, observational, multicentre studies that investigated deferasirox, a once‐daily oral iron chelator, in iron‐overloaded chelation‐naïve and prechelated patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), respectively, treated in the daily‐routine setting of office‐based physicians. No inclusion or exclusion criteria or additional monitoring procedures were applied. Deferasirox was administered as recommended in the European Summary of Product Characteristics. Haematological parameters and adverse events (AEs) were collected at two‐monthly intervals. Data from 123 chelation‐naïve patients with MDS (mean age 70.4 yrs) with median baseline serum ferritin level of 2679 (range 184–16 500) ng/mL, and 44 prechelated patients with MDS (mean age 69.6 yrs) with median baseline serum ferritin level of 2442 (range 521–8565) ng/mL, were assessed. The mean prescribed daily dose of deferasirox at the first visit was 15.7 and 18.7 mg/kg/d, respectively. Treatment with deferasirox produced a significant reduction in median serum ferritin levels in chelation‐naïve patients with MDS from 2679 to 2000 ng/mL (P = 0.0002) and a pronounced decrease in prechelated patients with MDS from 2442 to 2077 ng/mL (P = 0.06). The most common drug‐related AEs were gastrointestinal, increased serum creatinine levels and rash. These studies demonstrate that deferasirox used in physicians’ medical practices is effective in managing iron burden in transfusion‐dependent patients with MDS.