bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Shift‐contagion Vulnerability in the MENA Stock Markets
Authors: Lagoarde‐Segot Thomas , Lucey Brian M. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractAs part of a broader financial development reform agenda, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries have successfully expanded and revitalised their stock markets over the last decade. Whereas previous contributions have investigated efficiency, international integration and portfolio diversification opportunities, very little is known about these markets’ vulnerability to external financial crises. In this paper, we investigate shift‐contagion to the MENA region using a comprehensive battery of econometric tests for a number of different crises episodes: the 1997 Asian crisis, the 1998 Russian virus and its Brazilian sequel, the 2000 Turkish collapse, the 9/11 turmoil, the 2001 Argentinean crisis, the 2002 Enron/WorldCom scandal and the 2007–09 global financial crisis. We found that Turkey, Israel and Jordan were the most vulnerable markets over the 1997–2009 period, followed by Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Lebanon. Our results also highlight heterogeneous but increasing levels of sensitivity to external financial shocks, especially during the recent global financial crisis. From a financial point of view, this suggests that MENA‐based diversification strategies may be relatively inefficient during periods of global turmoil. From an economic point of view, our results suggest that stock market development also involves potential destabilisation costs. This issue should be acknowledged and addressed by policymakers if these countries are to ensure a smooth transition towards international financial integration.
Source Country Characteristics and the Inflow of Foreign Direct Investment into Saudi Arabia
Authors: Roberts Barbara M. , Almahmood Abdulaziz 
Published: September 2009

AbstractThe paper examines the impact of source country characteristics on the inflow of FDI into Saudi Arabia using a gravity‐type model including economic, distance and socio‐political variables. A unique database listing all new investments involving foreign ownership is used to construct a panel of 33 countries in the period 1980–2005. To account for many country–year observations with zero FDI, the negative binomial regression, the Tobit regression and the Heckman selection procedure are used. The conclusions drawn from the analysis employing panel‐based techniques differ from the results obtained from pooled regression models. Also, the determinants of FDI differ depending on whether foreign investment is measured in terms of investment expenditure or the number of individual foreign projects. The Heckman selection results reveal that there are a large number of factors affecting the decision to invest in Saudi Arabia, compared with relatively few determinants of the actual size of investment. Traditional size and distance characteristics hold to a great extent but the relationship between FDI and bilateral trade is unclear and there is some evidence that the countries that export to Saudi Arabia do not invest there. In terms of scope for possible spillovers, there is mixed evidence on whether the investment comes from more technologically advanced economies but volume‐wise important investments originate from countries characterised by high income per capita.
Union and Communion: Calvin's Theology of Word and Sacrament
Authors: HORTON MICHAEL S. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractSome scholars consider Calvin's teaching on the sacraments to be an integral part of his theology. Others have challenged the Reformer's consistency in this area, regarding Calvin's eucharistic teaching in particular as a ‘foreign, uncongenial element’ in his work. My argument in this article is that Calvin's eucharistic teaching, particularly in its ‘more nearly patristic’ emphases, is neither inimical nor secondary to his system but is in fact an essential and promising outworking of his theology. As with other perspectives, Calvin's understanding of Word and sacrament generates a particular kind of ecclesiology with emphases that remain ecumenically significant and vital for the life and mission of the church.
‘Deny Yourself and Take up Your Cross’: John Calvin on the Christian Life
Authors: ZACHMAN RANDALL C. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractJohn Calvin's vision of the Christian life is guided by the fundamental insight that what distorts our lives more than anything else is our blind self‐love. This self‐love is the reason why we love to hear things that flatter us, and hate to hear things that truly reveal who we are. Our self‐love also provides the driving engine behind our pride, ambition and arrogance, whereby we seek the meaning of our lives in power, wealth and honor, so that we may despise those we consider to be inferior to us. If we are to be transformed more and more into the image and likeness of God, so that we may at the end be united with God in eternal life, we must eradicate this blind self‐love from our hearts. Although there is much in Calvin's vision of the Christian life that may strike us as odd or even as alien, it is hard to disagree with his insight that blind self‐love is the primary reason our lives do not express the image and likeness of God.
John Calvin's Soteriology: On the Multifaceted ‘Sum’ of the Gospel
Authors: BILLINGS J. TODD 
Published: September 2009

AbstractThis article explores John Calvin's soteriology through examining his multivalent and yet succinct ‘sum’ of the gospel: the double grace of justification and sanctification received in union with Christ. The essay begins with a description of the scope and range of this teaching in Calvin, its biblical, patristic and Reformational sources, and its application to a wide range of doctrinal loci. After this, particular features of Calvin's account are highlighted as promising for contemporary retrieval. The essay concludes with historiographic reflections that intersect with ongoing disputes in interpreting Calvin's teaching on union with Christ and the double grace.
From Calvin to Gillespie on Covenant: Mythological Excess or an Exercise in Doctrinal Development?
Authors: TRUEMAN CARL 
Published: September 2009

AbstractMuch of the discussion about the development of Reformed theology in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has focused on the elaboration of the covenantal understanding of theology. While the covenant of works has received much attention, the covenant of redemption, a term which emerges in the middle of the seventeenth century, has been comparatively neglected and, when referenced at all, has tended to be dismissed as a highly speculative addition to Reformed theology, a piece of mythology, as Barth famously quipped. In fact, a close examination of the concerns underlying the doctrine, particularly those touching on the Reformed emphasis on Christ as Mediator according to his person (and thus both natures) indicates that this later development stands in positive relation to the earlier work of Calvin and company; and a close examination of the work of its major exponent, Patrick Gillespie, also indicates that it is a great example of how later Reformed theology did not abandon the earlier Protestant concern for connecting exegesis to doctrinal synthesis.
CBT for childhood anxiety disorders: differential changes in selective attention between treatment responders and non‐responders
Authors: Legerstee Jeroen S. , Tulen Joke H.M. , Dierckx Bram , Treffers Philip D.A. , Verhulst Frank C. , Utens Elisabeth M.W.J. 
Published: September 2009

Background:  This study examined whether treatment response to stepped‐care cognitive‐behavioural treatment (CBT) is associated with changes in threat‐related selective attention and its specific components in a large clinical sample of anxiety‐disordered children.Methods:  Ninety‐one children with an anxiety disorder were included in the present study. Children received a standardized stepped‐care CBT. Three treatment response groups were distinguished: initial responders (anxiety disorder free after phase one: child‐focused CBT), secondary responders (anxiety disorder free after phase two: child–parent‐focused CBT), and treatment non‐responders. Treatment response was determined using a semi‐structured clinical interview. Children performed a pictorial dot‐probe task before and after stepped‐care CBT (i.e., before phase one and after phase two CBT).Results:  Changes in selective attention to severely threatening pictures, but not to mildly threatening pictures, were significantly associated with treatment success. At pre‐treatment assessment, initial responders selectively attended away from severely threatening pictures, whereas secondary responders selectively attended toward severely threatening pictures. After stepped‐care CBT, initial and secondary responders did not show any selectivity in the attentional processing of severely threatening pictures. Treatment non‐responders did not show any changes in selective attention due to CBT.Conclusions:  Initial and secondary treatment responders showed a reduction of their predisposition to selectively attend away or toward severely threatening pictures, respectively. Treatment non‐responders did not show any changes in selective attention. The pictorial dot‐probe task can be considered a potentially valuable tool in assigning children to appropriate treatment formats as well as for monitoring changes in selective attention during the course of CBT.
CHICAGO, PERISCOPE and PROactive: CV risk modification in diabetes with pioglitazone
Authors: John Betteridge D. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractRecent trials of intensive glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes and its impact on cardiovascular disease have led to confusion and speculation amongst physicians. The Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Study was terminated early because of a significant excess all‐cause mortality in the intensively‐treated group. Furthermore the ADVANCE and VADT trials did not demonstrate cardiovascular benefit with more intensive glycaemic control. Against this background, it is pertinent to re‐visit and critically appraise the results of the PROactive study which examined the effects of the thiazolidinedione, pioglitazone, on cardiovascular end‐points in a large, randomized, placebo‐controlled clinical trial in type 2 diabetic patients with symptomatic disease. PROactive has been rightly criticized in the choice of its composite primary end‐point which included a physician‐driven as opposed to a disease‐driven outcome, namely peripheral vascular re‐vascularization. This was primarily responsible for the primary composite end‐point not being achieved; whereas there was a significant beneficial impact on the major secondary end‐point of death, non‐fatal myocardial infarction and stroke. The results of PROactive have been supported by two subsequent studies examining the impact of pioglitazone on important surrogates of atherosclerosis, namely carotid intima/medial thickness (IMT) and coronary atheroma volume as delineated with intravascular ultrasound. The CHICAGO study demonstrated that IMT in type 2 diabetic patients treated with pioglitazone did not progress whereas those treated with glimepiride showed progression. In PERISCOPE atheroma volume progressed with glimepiride but did not with pioglitazone. This is exciting data pointing to the cardiovascular benefits of pioglitazone. In PROactive, CHICAGO and PERISCOPE there was a sustained effect of pioglitazone on glycaemic control and, in addition, beneficial effects in reducing triglycerides and increasing HDL‐cholesterol beyond that seen with concomitant statin therapy. These findings strongly suggest that pioglitazone has an important place in the management of type 2 diabetes.
Relevance of vitamins C and E in cutaneous photoprotection
Authors: Eberlein‐König B , Ring J 
Published: September 2009

SummaryUltraviolet (UV) radiation‐induced oxidative stress may result in acute and chronic photodamage. Based on the endogenous antioxidant system, the administration of antioxidants for scavenging reactive oxygen species might be a promising strategy in the prevention of UV‐induced skin reactions. The relevance of the most common antioxidants, vitamins E and C, is reviewed focusing on topical and systemic photoprotective effects in animals and humans. Topically applied vitamin C induced significant photoprotective effects at concentrations of at least 10% in animals and humans, whereas a photoprotective effect has not been demonstrated by oral administration even at high doses in humans. Topical vitamin E reduced erythema, sunburn cells, chronic UV‐B–induced skin damage, and photocarcinogenesis in the majority of the published studies, whereas only high doses of oral vitamin E may affect the response to UV‐B in humans. Combination of vitamins C and E, partly with other photoprotective compounds, did increase the photoprotective effects dramatically compared to monotherapies. This synergistic interplay of several antioxidants should be taken into consideration in future research on cutaneous photoprotection.
The natural history of androgenetic alopecia
Authors: Tosti A , Piraccini B M , Iorizzo M , Voudouris S 
Published: September 2009

SummaryAndrogenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common cause of hair loss, affecting up to 80% of men and 50% of women in their lifetime. Genetic predisposition to the disease is well known but the responsible genes have not been identified. Polymorphism in the androgen receptor gene has been recently detected in AGA.1 Although the role of androgens, and particularly dihydrotestosterone (DHT), in causing the disease has been established for a long time, the natural history of AGA is still not completely understood. This paper reviews recent data about natural progression of the disease, as well as factors that may interfere with its course and long‐term prognosis.
Adaptative or maladaptative hypertrophy, different spatial distribution of myocardial contraction
Authors: Cappelli Francesco , Toncelli Loira , Cappelli Brunello , De Luca Alessio , Stefani Laura , Maffulli Nicola , Galanti Giorgio 
Published: September 2009

SummaryBackground:  Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) may be an adaptative remodelling process induced by physical training, or result from pathological stimuli. We hypothesized that different LVH aetiology could lead to dissimilar spatial distribution left ventricular (LV) contraction, and compared different components of LV contraction using 2‐dimensional (2‐D) speckle tracking derived strain in subjects with adaptative hypertrophy (endurance athletes), maladaptative hypertrophy (hypertensive patients) and healthy controls.Method:  We enrolled 22 patients with essential hypertension, 50 endurance athletes and 24 healthy controls. All subjects underwent traditional echocardiography and 2‐D strain evaluation of LV longitudinal, circumferential and radial function. LV basal and apical rotation and their net difference, defined as LV torsion, were evaluated.Results:  LV wall thicknesses, LV mass and left atrium diameter were comparable between hypertensive group and athletes. LV longitudinal strain was reduced only in hypertensive patients (P < 0·05). LV apex circumferential strain was higher in hypertensive patients than in other groups (P < 0·001), LV basal circumferential strain, although slightly increased, did not reach significant difference. Hypertensive patients showed significantly increased rotation and torsion (P < 0·001), while no differences were observed between athletes and control.Conclusion:  In patients with pathological LVH, LV longitudinal strain was reduced, while circumferential deformation and torsion were increased. No differences were observed in LV contractile function between subjects with adaptative LVH and controls. In pathological LVH, increasing torsion could be considered a compensatory mechanism to counterbalance contraction and relaxation abnormalities to maintain a normal LV output.
IAS Versus U.S. GAAP: Information Asymmetry–Based Evidence from Germany's New Market
Authors: LEUZ CHRISTIAN 
Published: September 2009

abstractMotivated by the debate about globally uniform accounting standards, this study investigates whether firms using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) vis‐à‐vis international accounting standards (IAS) exhibit differences in several proxies for information asymmetry. It exploits a unique setting in which the two sets of standards are put on a level playing field. Firms trading in Germany's New Market must choose between IAS and U.S. GAAP for financial reporting, but face the same regulatory environment otherwise. Thus, institutional factors such as listing requirements, market microstructure, and standards enforcement are held constant. In this setting, differences in the bid‐ask spread and share turnover between IAS and U.S. GAAP firms are statistically insignificant and economically small. Subsequent analyses of analysts' forecast dispersion, initial public offering underpricing, and firms' standard choices corroborate these findings. Thus, at least for New Market firms, the choice between IAS and U.S. GAAP appears to be of little consequence for information asymmetry and market liquidity. These findings do not support widespread claims that U.S. GAAP produce financial statements of higher informational quality than IAS.
Role of the elastin receptor complex (S‐Gal/Cath‐A/Neu‐1) in skin repair and regeneration
Authors: Antonicelli Frank , Bellon Georges , Lorimier Sandrine , Hornebeck William 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACTImpaired elastic fiber assembly constitutes one major problem in skin wound healing. Recent data indicate that a ternary complex involving a splicing form of β‐galactosidase associated with cathepsin‐A and neuraminidase‐1 directs the transport of tropoelastin to the fibroblast plasma membrane and participates in the deposition of the elastin precursor onto a microfibrillar scaffold. In addition, this elastin receptor complex is ubiquitously expressed and also acts as a true receptor for elastin‐derived peptides produced during the initial stage of wound repair following elastase‐mediated proteolysis action. Among the peptides generated, those having a x.G.x.x.P.G. motif upregulate (i) keratinocyte migration, (ii) endothelial cell angiogenic phenotype, (iii) fibroblast proliferation, and (iv) induction of the expression of matrix metalloproteinases, type I collagen, and tropoelastin. All of these properties could accelerate the different stages of wound repair. Elastin‐derived peptides from a chemical or a proteolytic digest of insoluble elastin alone or linked to the collagen scaffold significantly improve skin wound healing and dermal regeneration in vivo in several animal models. Such a beneficial influence has been recently extended to the treatment of burn patients. In this respect, recent investigations have focused on the design of elastin‐derived peptides or elastin‐building blocks, as obtained from peptide chemistry or by genetic engineering, to elaborate biocompatible elastin peptides, which are considered as ideal biomaterials for “catalyzing” skin repair and regeneration following injury.
Preliminary development of a diabetic foot ulcer database from a wound electronic medical record: A tool to decrease limb amputations
Authors: Golinko Michael S. , Margolis David J. , Tal Adit , Hoffstad Ole , Boulton Andrew J. M. , Brem Harold 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACTOur objective was to create a practical standardized database of clinically relevant variables in the care of patients with diabetes and foot ulcers. Numerical clinical variables such as age, baseline laboratory values, and wound area were extracted from the wound electronic medical record (WEMR). A coding system was developed to translate narrative data, culture, and pathology reports into discrete, quantifiable variables. Using data extracted from the WEMR, a diabetic foot ulcer‐specific database incorporated the following tables: (1) demographics, medical history, and baseline laboratory values; (2) vascular testing data; (3) radiology data; (4) wound characteristics; and (5) wound debridement data including pathology, culture results, and amputation data. The database contains variables that can be easily exported for analysis. Amputation was studied in 146 patients who had at least two visits (e.g., two entries in the database). Analysis revealed that 19 (13%) patients underwent 32 amputations (nine major and 23 minor) in 23 limbs. There was a decreased risk of amputation, 0.87 (0.78, 1.00), using a proportional hazards model, associated with an increased number of visits and entries in the WEMR. Further analysis revealed no significant difference in age, gender, HbA1c%, cholesterol, white blood cell count, or prealbumin at baseline, whereas hemoglobin and albumin were significantly lower in the amputee group (p<0.05) than the nonamputee group. Fifty‐nine percent of amputees had histological osteomyelitis based on operating room biopsy vs. 45% of nonamputees. In conclusion, tracking patients with a WEMR is a tool that could potentially increase patient safety and quality of care, allowing clinicians to more easily identify a nonhealing wound and intervene. This report describes a method of capturing data relevant to clinical care of a patient with a diabetic foot ulcer, and may enable clinicians to adapt such a system to their own patient population.
Differential expression of matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases in anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament fibroblasts after a mechanical injury: Involvement of the p65 subunit of NF‐κB
Authors: Tang Zhenyu , Yang Li , Xue Ruyue , Zhang Jin , Wang Yequan , Chen Peter C. , Sung K. L. Paul 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACTThe anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is known to have a poor healing ability, especially in comparison with the medial collateral ligament, which can heal relatively well. In this study, we detected significant increases in the mRNA levels of multiple matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) (MMP‐1, ‐2, ‐7, ‐9, ‐11, ‐14, ‐17, ‐21, ‐23A, ‐24, ‐25, ‐27, and ‐28) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) (TIMP‐1, ‐2, ‐3, and ‐4) in ACL fibroblasts after an in vitro injury with an equi‐biaxial stretch chamber. However, only some MMPs (MMP‐7, ‐9, ‐14, ‐21, and ‐24) showed increases in injured medial collateral ligament fibroblasts, and to a much lesser degree than that observed in the injured ACL fibroblasts. Zymography revealed a 6.3‐fold increase of MMP‐2 activity in injured ACL but not medial collateral ligament fibroblasts, which agrees with the global MMP activities assay. Bay‐11 and curcumin can significantly decrease MMP‐2 activities to 13% and 29% in injured ACL fibroblasts, respectively, which implies the involvement of p65 subunits of nuclear factor κB and AP‐1 pathways. Furthermore, Bay‐11 can decrease the global MMP activity released from injured ACL fibroblasts in a dose‐dependent manner. In summary, the differential expression and activities of MMPs might help to explain the poor healing ability of ACL, and the p65 subunit of nuclear factor κB might be a potential target to facilitate the ACL repair.