bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
GPR40‐induced insulin secretion by the novel agonist TAK‐875: first clinical findings in patients with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Araki T. , Hirayama M. , Hiroi S. , Kaku K. 
Published: November 2011

Aim: Free fatty acids act as signalling molecules for modulating insulin secretion, and their insulinotropic effects are glucose‐dependent and mediated through G protein‐coupled receptor 40 (GPR40). This mechanism is a potential target for new treatments for managing diabetes. In this study, we present the first clinical data for TAK‐875, a novel highly selective, orally bioavailable GPR40 agonist, in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes insufficiently controlled by diet or exercise therapy.Methods: This was an exploratory phase II, multicentre, randomized, double‐blind, parallel group study comparing the efficacy and tolerability of TAK‐875 100 and 400 mg, and placebo, all administered once daily for 2 weeks.Results: After 2 weeks of treatment, TAK‐875 produced marked glucose lowering effects in a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) as evidenced by mean ± SE intergroup differences in plasma glucose AUC0–3 h of −12.98 ± 1.48 (p < 0.0001) and −8.12 ± 1.49 mmol·h/l (p < 0.0001), for TAK‐875 400 mg vs. placebo and TAK‐875 100 mg vs. placebo, respectively, and 2 h plasma glucose [−4.95 ± 0.71 (p < 0.0001) and −3.21 ± 0.71 mmol/l (p < 0.0001), respectively]. This was accompanied by a significant increase in insulin AUC0–3 h [34.68 ± 12.16 (p < 0.01) and 31.49 ± 12.20 (p < 0 · 05) µIU·h/ml, respectively]. Improvement in glycaemic profile was mirrored by a significant change in fasting plasma glucose [−2.37 ± 0·27 (p < 0.0001) and −1.88 ± 0.27 mmol/l (p < 0.0001), respectively]. No cases of hypoglycaemia were observed despite the significant reduction in plasma glucose.Conclusions: These exploratory findings provide evidence of the glucose‐dependent insulinotropic potential of the GPR40 agonist TAK‐875, and the promising clinical changes support future longer term clinical investigation.
The immune marker soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor is associated with new‐onset diabetes in non‐smoking women and men
Authors: Haugaard S. B. , Andersen O. , Hansen T. W. , Eugen‐Olsen J. , Linneberg A. , Madsbad S. , Olsen M. H. , Jørgensen T. , Borch‐Johnsen K. , Jeppesen J. 
Published: November 2011

Diabet. Med. 29, 479–487 (2012)AbstractAim  To explore the putative association of new‐onset diabetes and the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), which is a new and stable plasma marker of immune function and low‐grade inflammation. This association has been previously suggested by using the less sensitive International Classification of Disease system to detect incident diabetes in the Danish MONICA 10 cohort.Methods  The Danish National Diabetes Register enabled more accurate identification of incident diabetes during a median follow‐up of 13.8 years in the Danish MONICA 10 cohort (n = 2353 generally healthy individuals). The soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor was measured by the ELISA method. To fulfil model assumptions, outcome analyses were stratified by age, and further by smoking, owing to the interaction between the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor and smoking on new‐onset diabetes (P < 0.0001).Results  New‐onset diabetes (n = 182) was associated with increased soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor levels (P = 0.013). Among 699 middle‐aged (41 and 51 years) and 564 older (61 and 71 years) non‐smokers, participants in the upper soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor quartile had a sex‐ and age‐adjusted relative risk of 6.01 (95% CI 2.17–16.6, P < 0.0006) and relative risk of 3.25 (95% CI 1.51–6.98, P = 0.0025), respectively, for new‐onset diabetes compared with participants in the lowest quartile. This relationship remained significant after additional adjustments for C‐reactive protein and leukocytes or fasting glucose and insulin or BMI (P < 0.05). The soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor was not related to incident diabetes among smokers (P ≥ 0.85).Conclusions  In these explorative analyses, the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor associated independently with incident diabetes in non‐smokers, supporting an immune origin of Type 2 diabetes. Competing disease risk may explain lack of association among smokers.
Changing healthcare utilization patterns in diabetes mellitus: case–control studies 1 year and 8 years after diagnosis
Authors: Sparring V. , Nyström L. , Östman J. , Wahlström R. , Burström K. , Jonsson P. M. 
Published: November 2011

Diabet. Med. 29, 784–791 (2012)AbstractAims  To describe healthcare utilization patterns in young and middle‐aged patients with diabetes 1 year and 8 years after diagnosis and to compare with the general population at two time points, 16 years apart.Methods  Four cohorts with disease duration of 1 year or 8 years were selected from the Diabetes Incidence Study in Sweden, which registers all incident cases of diabetes in the 15‐ to 34‐year age group. Control subjects were selected from the population register matched by age, sex and county of residence. A postal questionnaire was sent to the 1983 and 1992 cohorts in 1991 and 1993, and to the 1999 and 2008 cohorts in 2007 and 2009. Nine hundred and thirteen patients with diabetes and 1679 control subjects responded.Results  One year after diagnosis, 49% of patients with diabetes in the 1992 cohort compared with 4.2% in the 2008 cohort reported visits to departments of internal medicine and endocrinology. A similar pattern was seen 8 years after diagnosis. The use of day care was 4–5 times higher among patients with diabetes compared with control subjects. Utilization of outpatient hospital care was higher among patients with diabetes compared with control subjects, even when excluding visits to diabetes clinics.Conclusions  Excess use of health care among patients with diabetes remained 16 years after the first follow‐up. Utilization patterns were stable, except for a major decrease in inpatient care 1 year after diagnosis and an increase in day care 8 years after diagnosis. Observed changes probably reflect successive reforming of diabetes care in Sweden.
Adult‐onset diabetes among Arabs and Jews in Israel: a population‐based study
Authors: Kalter‐Leibovici O. , Chetrit A. , Lubin F. , Atamna A. , Alpert G. , Ziv A. , Abu‐Saad K. , Murad H. , Eilat‐Adar S. , Goldbourt U. 
Published: November 2011

Diabet. Med. 29, 748–754 (2012)AbstractAims  To study the age at presentation and factors associated with adult‐onset diabetes (≥ 20 years) among Arabs and Jews in Israel.Methods  Participants (n = 1100) were randomly selected from the urban population of the Hadera District in Israel. The study sample was stratified into equal groups according to sex, ethnicity (Arabs and Jews) and age. Information on age at diabetes presentation, family history of diabetes, history of gestational diabetes, socio‐demographic and lifestyle characteristics was obtained through personal interviews. Self reports of diabetes were compared with medical records and were found reliable (κ = 0.87). The risk for diabetes was calculated using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Factors associated with diabetes in both ethnic groups were studied using Cox proportional hazard model.Results  The prevalence of adult‐onset diabetes was 21% among Arabs and 12% among Jews. Arab participants were younger than Jews at diabetes presentation. By the age of 57 years, 25% of Arabs had diagnosed diabetes; the corresponding age among Jews was 68 years, a difference of 11 years (P < 0.001). The greater risk for diabetes among Arabs was independent of lifestyle factors, family history of diabetes and, among women, history of gestational diabetes; adjusted hazard ratio 1.70; 95% confidence interval 1.19–2.43.Conclusions  Arabs in Israel are at greater risk for adult‐onset diabetes than Jews and are younger at diabetes presentation. Culturally sensitive interventions aimed at maintaining normal body weight and active lifestyle should be targeted at this population. Possible genetic factors and gene–environmental interactions underlying the high risk for diabetes among Arabs should be investigated.
My cup runneth over: Young people's lack of knowledge of low‐risk drinking guidelines
Authors: DE VISSER RICHARD O. , BIRCH JULIAN D. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractIntroduction and Aims. If young people are to consume alcohol in accordance with government guidelines, they must possess the relevant knowledge and skills. No previous research has examined correlations between different forms of knowledge of alcohol guidelines or how they are related to personality variables and beliefs.Design and Methods. Two samples were recruited in South‐East England: 309 secondary school students aged 16–18, and 125 university students aged 18–25. All participants completed a computer‐administered survey of knowledge and beliefs. University students also reported their alcohol consumption and completed tasks in which they poured their ‘usual’ drinks, and what they believed to be ‘units’ of alcohol.Results. Most respondents lacked the knowledge and skills required to drink in accordance with government guidelines. Participants' usual drinks were substantially larger than one unit, and participants tended to underestimate the unit content of drinks. There was little evidence that possession of accurate knowledge of one aspect of alcohol units and guidelines was related to accurate knowledge in other domains.Discussion and Conclusions. Many young people may lack the knowledge required to monitor their alcohol consumption or give accurate self‐reports in research. Future research should evaluate using a drink‐pouring task as part of interventions designed to improve knowledge and skills and encourage moderate consumption of alcohol.[de Visser RO, Birch JD. My cup runneth over: Young people's lack of knowledge of low‐risk drinking guidelines. Drug Alcohol Rev 2012;31:206–212]
The Chinese Youth Attitudes toward Young Drug Users scale: An initial scale development and refinement
Authors: CHUI WING HONG , CHAN HENG CHOON (OLIVER) 
Published: November 2011

AbstractIntroduction and Aims. Little is known about adolescents' perspectives of young drug users, especially in the Chinese context. This study aimed to develop a scale to measure Chinese youth attitudes toward young drug users.Design and Methods. Initially, a total of 26 non‐at‐risk and at‐risk adolescents (15 male and 11 female) aged 13 to 20 years were interviewed in five separate focus group sessions to explore their general views of young drug users. At‐risk youths recruited in this study were adolescents who previously had contact with the juvenile justice system. The responses of these 26 adolescents were documented, and subsequently 25 items were generated out of the respondents' common themes. These 25 items were then surveyed in a group of 137 secondary school‐aged adolescents (68 male and 69 female), ranging 13 to 17 years, to examine its underlying factor structure for further scale refinement, with the use of the exploratory factor analysis.Results. A five‐factor structure with 12 items was ultimately selected for the Chinese Youth Attitudes toward Young Drug Users (CYAYDU) scale.Discussion and Conclusions. This newly developed scale is anticipated to provide utility in the social work settings, especially for youth social workers to assist in providing effective social services to young drug users. Despite the promising strength of the CYAYDU scale, further validation with large sample size is needed.[Chui WH, Chan HC. The Chinese Youth Attitudes toward Young Drug Users scale: An initial scale development and refinement. Drug Alcohol Rev 2012;31:477–482]
‘Hotspots’ for aggression in licensed drinking venues
Authors: GRAHAM KATHRYN , BERNARDS SHARON , OSGOOD D. WAYNE , WELLS SAMANTHA 
Published: November 2011

AbstractIntroduction and Aims. In order to better understand the social context of barroom aggression, the aim was to identify common locations (‘hotspots’) for aggression in bars and examine the association of hotspots with aggression severity and environmental characteristics.Design and Methods. Aggression hotspots were identified using narrative descriptions and data recorded on premises' floor plans for 1057 incidents of aggression collected in the Safer Bars evaluation. Hierarchical Linear Modelling was used to identify bar‐level and night‐level characteristics associated with each hotspot.Results. The most common location for aggression was the dance floor (20.0% of incidents) or near the dance floor (11.5%), followed by near the serving bar (15.7%), at tables (13.1%), aisles, hallways and other areas of movement (6.2%), entrance (4.5%) and the pool playing area (4.1%). Hotspots were predicted mainly by bar‐level characteristics, with dance floor aggression associated with crowded bars, a high proportion of female and young patrons, lots of sexual activity, a large number of patrons and staff, security staff present, better monitoring and coordination by staff, and people hanging around at closing. Incidents at tables and pool tables tended to occur in bars with the opposite characteristics. Nightly variations in patron intoxication and rowdiness were associated with aggression at tables while variations in crowding and sexual activity were associated with aggression in areas of movement. Incidents outside tended to be more severe.Discussion and Conclusions. Each aggression location and their associated environments have somewhat different implications for staff training, premises design, policy and prevention.[Graham K, Bernards S, Osgood DW, Wells S. ‘Hotspots’ for aggression in licensed drinking venues. Drug Alcohol Rev 2012;31:377–384]
The Moderating Role of Self‐Monitoring on the Interpersonal Aspects of Attitude Ambivalence
Authors: Cowley Elizabeth , Czellar Sandor 
Published: November 2011

AbstractExtant research has found a relation between holding conflicting attitudes with a familiar person (interpersonal discrepancy) and subjective attitude ambivalence. In 2 studies, we investigated the role of interpersonal discrepancy in the experience of attitude ambivalence as a function of self‐monitoring and level of liking of the other person. Building on balance theory, we proposed and found that high (vs. low) self‐monitors feel most comfortable when they are in agreement with liked (vs. disliked) others. In Study 1, 80 university students revealed that when the significant other is a parent, high self‐monitors feel more subjective ambivalence when there is more interpersonal discrepancy. In Study 2, 37 university students reported their feelings of subjective ambivalence when considering the interpersonal discrepancy between liked (vs. disliked) familiar people. Again, it was high self‐monitors who were most susceptible to increased feelings of subjective ambivalence, particularly for discrepancies between their own attitude and the attitude of liked others. Taken together, our 2 studies broaden our understanding of the interpersonal foundations of subjective ambivalence by suggesting that they may depend on personality differences and the nature of the social relationship.
Narcissism in Midlife: Longitudinal Changes in and Correlates of Women's Narcissistic Personality Traits
Authors: Edelstein Robin S. , Newton Nicola J. , Stewart Abigail J. 
Published: November 2011

AbstractWe examined changes in and correlates of 3 kinds of narcissism—hypersensitivity, willfulness, and autonomy—during middle adulthood. Few studies have examined narcissistic personality traits beyond young adulthood, and none has assessed longitudinal changes in narcissism during midlife. In a sample of 70 college‐educated women, we found that observer ratings of hypersensitive narcissism were associated with more negative outcomes at ages 43 and 53 (i.e., more depressive symptoms and physical health problems, lower life satisfaction and well‐being). Ratings of willfulness and autonomy predicted more positive outcomes. All 3 kinds of narcissism showed considerable rank‐order stability over 10 years, but there were also mean‐level changes: Hypersensitivity and autonomy decreased, whereas willfulness increased. More positive outcomes were associated with decreases in hypersensitivity and increases in willfulness and autonomy. However, in multivariate analyses, autonomy did not show any significant associations with women's health and well‐being outcomes, suggesting that it may have less predictive utility compared to hypersensitivity and willfulness. Our findings highlight developmental changes in and correlates of women's narcissistic personality traits and the importance of assessing different aspects of narcissism in midlife.
Equality and Marriage in Vico
Authors: ZANETTI GIANFRANCESCO 
Published: November 2011

AbstractThe subject of this paper is the relationship between marriage and equality in Giambattista Vico. In his writings Vico gives the notion of marriage a unique importance, not framed on any oversized notion of nature or natural law but on the political fight for the right to marry (a quest for full citizenship status). The right to marry is linked with complex dynamics of human equality, and to a notion of human nature shaped by belief‐dependent institutions.
A Bayesian Non-Linear Model for Forecasting Insurance Loss Payments
Authors: Zhang Yanwei , Dukic Vanja , Guszcza James 
Published: November 2011

SummaryWe propose a Bayesian non-linear hierarchical model that addresses some of the major challenges that non-life insurance companies face when forecasting the outstanding claim amounts for which they will ultimately be liable. This approach is distinctive in several ways. First, data from individual companies are treated as repeated measurements of various cohorts of claims, thus respecting the correlation between successive observations. Second, non-linear growth curves are used to model the loss development process in a way that is intuitively appealing and facilitates prediction and extrapolation beyond the range of the available data. Third, a hierarchical structure is employed to reflect the natural variation of major parameters between the claim cohorts, accounting for their heterogeneity. This approach enables us to carry out inference at the level of industry, company and/or accident year, based on the full posterior distribution of all quantities of interest. In addition, prior experience and expert opinion can be incorporated in the analyses through judgementally selected prior probability distributions. The ability of the Bayesian framework to carry out simultaneous inference based on the joint posterior is of great importance for insurance solvency monitoring and industry decision making.
A Case-Study in the Clinical Epidemiology of Psoriatic Arthritis: Multistate Models and Causal Arguments
Authors: O’Keeffe Aidan G. , Tom Brian D. M. , Farewell Vernon T. 
Published: November 2011

SummaryIn psoriatic arthritis, permanent joint damage characterizes disease progression and represents a major debilitating aspect of the disease. Understanding the process of joint damage will assist in the treatment and disease management of patients. Multistate models provide a means to examine patterns of disease, such as symmetric joint damage. Additionally, the link between damage and the dynamic course of disease activity (represented by joint swelling and stress pain) at both the individual joint level and otherwise can be represented within a correlated multistate model framework. Correlation is reflected through the use of random effects for progressive models and robust variance estimation for non-progressive models. Such analyses, undertaken with data from a large psoriatic arthritis cohort, are discussed and the extent to which they permit causal reasoning is considered. For this, emphasis is given to the use of the Bradford Hill criteria for causation in observational studies and the concept of local (in)dependence to capture the dynamic nature of the relationships.
Point Pattern Modelling for Degraded Presence-Only Data Over Large Regions
Authors: Chakraborty Avishek , Gelfand Alan E. , Wilson Adam M. , Latimer Andrew M. , Silander John A. 
Published: November 2011

SummaryExplaining the distribution of a species by using local environmental features is a long-standing ecological problem. Often, available data are collected as a set of presence locations only, thus precluding the possibility of a desired presence–absence analysis. We propose that it is natural to view presence-only data as a point pattern over a region and to use local environmental features to explain the intensity driving this point pattern. We use a hierarchical model to treat the presence data as a realization of a spatial point process, whose intensity is governed by the set of environmental covariates. Spatial dependence in the intensity levels is modelled with random effects involving a zero-mean Gaussian process. We augment the model to capture highly variable and typically sparse sampling effort as well as land transformation, both of which degrade the point pattern. The Cape Floristic Region in South Africa provides an extensive class of such species data. The potential (i.e. non-degraded) presence surfaces over the entire area are of interest from a conservation and policy perspective. The region is divided into about 37000 grid cells. To work with a Gaussian process over a very large number of cells we use a predictive spatial process approximation. Bias correction by adding a heteroscedastic error component has also been implemented. We illustrate with modelling for six different species. Also, a comparison is made with the now popular Maxent approach though it is limited with regard to inference. The resultant patterns are important on their own but also enable a comparative view, for example, to investigate whether a pair of species are potentially competing in the same area. An additional feature of our modelling is the opportunity to infer about biodiversity through species richness, i.e. the number of distinct species in an areal unit. Such an investigation immediately follows within our modelling framework.
Variable Selection for High Dimensional Bayesian Density Estimation: Application to Human Exposure Simulation
Authors: Reich Brian J. , Kalendra Eric , Storlie Curtis B. , Bondell Howard D. , Fuentes Montserrat 
Published: November 2011

SummaryNumerous studies have linked ambient air pollution and adverse health outcomes. Many studies of this nature relate outdoor pollution levels measured at a few monitoring stations with health outcomes. Recently, computational methods have been developed to model the distribution of personal exposures, rather than ambient concentration, and then relate the exposure distribution to the health outcome. Although these methods show great promise, they are limited by the computational demands of the exposure model. We propose a method to alleviate these computational burdens with the eventual goal of implementing a national study of the health effects of air pollution exposure. Our approach is to develop a statistical emulator for the exposure model, i.e. we use Bayesian density estimation to predict the conditional exposure distribution as a function of several variables, such as temperature, human activity and physical characteristics of the pollutant. This poses a challenging statistical problem because there are many predictors of the exposure distribution and density estimation is notoriously difficult in high dimensions. To overcome this challenge, we use stochastic search variable selection to identify a subset of the variables that have more than just additive effects on the mean of the exposure distribution. We apply our method to emulate an ozone exposure model in Philadelphia.