bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Estimation of the burden of active and life‐time epilepsy: A meta‐analytic approach
Authors: Ngugi Anthony K. , Bottomley Christian , Kleinschmidt Immo , Sander Josemir W. , Newton Charles R. 
Published: January 2010

SummaryPurpose:  To estimate the burden of lifetime epilepsy (LTE) and active epilepsy (AE) and examine the influence of study characteristics on prevalence estimates.Methods:  We searched online databases and identified articles using prespecified criteria. Random‐effects meta‐analyses were used to estimate the median prevalence in developed countries and in urban and rural settings in developing countries. The impact of study characteristics on prevalence estimates was determined using meta‐regression models.Results:  The median LTE prevalence for developed countries was 5.8 per 1,000 (5th–95th percentile range 2.7–12.4) compared to 15.4 per 1,000 (4.8–49.6) for rural and 10.3 (2.8–37.7) for urban studies in developing countries. The median prevalence of AE was 4.9 per 1,000 (2.3–10.3) for developed countries and 12.7 per 1,000 (3.5–45.5) and 5.9 (3.4–10.2) in rural and urban studies in developing countries. The estimates of burden for LTE and AE in developed countries were 6.8 million (5th–95th percentile range 3.2–14.7) and 5.7 million (2.7–12.2), respectively. In developing countries these were 45 (14–145) million LTE and 17 (10–133) million AE in rural areas and 17 (5–61) million LTE and 10 (5–17) million AE in urban areas. Studies involving all ages or only adults showed higher estimates than pediatric studies. Higher prevalence estimates were also associated with rural location and small study size.Conclusions:  This study estimates the global burden of epilepsy and the proportions with AE, which may benefit from treatment. There are systematic differences in reported prevalence estimates, which are only partially explained by study characteristics.
Visual and visuoperceptual function in children with Panayiotopoulos syndrome
Authors: De Rose Paola , Perrino Francesca , Lettori Donatella , Alfieri Paolo , Cesarini Laura , Battaglia Domenica , Ricci Daniela , Guzzetta Francesco , Mercuri Eugenio 
Published: January 2010

SummaryPurpose:  The aim of this study was to assess behavioral aspects of visual function and visuoperceptual abilities in patients with Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS), and their possible associations with clinical and electroencephalography (EEG) findings in order to establish the possible effect of interictal paroxysmal activity on visual performance.Methods:  The cohort included 28 patients (14 male and 14 female) of ages ranging between 4 and 15 years. All patients underwent serial videopolygraphic studies and a detailed battery of tests assessing visual abilities, including assessment of acuity, stereopsis, visual fields, and visuoperceptual abilities; tests included the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, the Visuo Motor Integration tests, and evaluation of motion and form coherence threshold.Results:  On the assessment of visual function, only 4 of the 28 (15%) had abnormal crowding acuity and one had abnormal stereopsis.On the visuoperceptual assessment, one patient had abnormal results on the Visuo Motor Integration tests, and one on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, whereas 4 (15%) had abnormal results for form coherence threshold and one for motion threshold.Discussion:  Our results suggest that, although most of our patients had focal or diffuse EEG abnormalities involving the occipital regions, abnormalities of visual and visuoperceptual function were relatively uncommon. Age at onset of seizure <5 years and EEG activation to eye closure and during sleep can be considered as factors that slightly increased the risk for developing visual abnormalities. Their presence, however, was not always associated with abnormal visual findings.
A speculative bubble in commodity futures prices? Cross‐sectional evidence
Authors: Sanders Dwight R. , Irwin Scott H. 
Published: January 2010

AbstractRecent accusations against speculators in general and long‐only commodity index funds in particular include: increasing market volatility, distorting historical price relationships, and fueling a rapid increase and decrease in the level of commodity prices. Some researchers have argued that these market participants—through their impact on market prices—may have inadvertently prevented the efficient distribution of food aid to deserving groups. Certainly, this result—if substantiated—would counter the classical argument that speculators make prices more efficient and thus improve the economic efficiency of the food marketing system. Given the very important policy implications, it is crucial to develop a more thorough understanding of long‐only index funds and their potential market impact. Here, we review the criticisms (and rebuttals) levied against (and for) commodity index funds in recent U.S. Congressional testimonies. Then, additional empirical evidence is added regarding cross‐sectional market returns and the relative levels of long‐only index fund participation in 12 commodity futures markets. The empirical results provide scant evidence that long‐only index funds impact returns across commodity futures markets.
The impact of integrated aquaculture–agriculture on small‐scale farms in Southern Malawi
Authors: Dey Madan M. , Paraguas Ferdinand J. , Kambewa Patrick , Pemsl Diemuth E. 
Published: January 2010

AbstractSustainable agricultural intensification is an urgent challenge for Sub‐Saharan Africa. One potential solution is to rely on local farmers' knowledge for improved management of diverse on‐farm resources and integration among various farm enterprises. In this article, we analyze the farm‐level impact of one recent example, namely the integrated aquaculture–agriculture (IAA) technologies that have been developed and disseminated in a participatory manner in Malawi. Based on a 2004 survey of 315 respondents (166 adopters and 149 nonadopters), we test the hypothesis that adoption of IAA is associated with improved farm productivity and more efficient use of resources. Estimating a technical inefficiency function shows that IAA farms were significantly more efficient compared to nonadopters. IAA farms also had higher total factor productivity, higher farm income per hectare, and higher returns to family labor.
Problem‐based learning in academic health education. A systematic literature review
Authors: Polyzois I. , Claffey N. , Mattheos N. 
Published: January 2010

AbstractProblem based learning (PBL) arguably represents the most significant development in education over the past five decades. It has been promoted as the curriculum of choice, and since its introduction in the 1960’s, has been widely adopted by many medical and dental schools. PBL has been the subject of much published literature but ironically, very little high quality evidence exists to advocate its efficacy and subsequently justify the widespread curriculum change. The purpose of this review is to classify and interpret the available evidence and extract relevant conclusions. In addition, it is the intent to propose recommendations regarding the relative benefits of PBL compared with conventional teaching. The literature was searched using PubMed, ERIC and PsycLIT. Further articles were retrieved from the reference lists of selected papers. Articles were chosen and included according to specific selection criteria. Studies were further classified as randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or comparative studies. These studies were then analysed according to intervention type: whole curricula comparisons and single educational interventions of shorter duration. At the level of RCTs and comparative studies (whole curricula), no clear difference was observed between PBL and conventional teaching. Paradoxically, it was only comparative studies of single PBL intervention in a traditional curriculum that yielded results that were consistently in favour of PBL. Further research is needed to investigate the possibility that multiple PBL interventions in a traditional curriculum could be more effective than an exclusively PBL programme. In addition, it is important to address the potential benefits of PBL in relation to life‐long learning of health care professionals.
Reparations and Racial Inequality
Authors: Darby Derrick 
Published: January 2010

AbstractA recent development in philosophical scholarship on reparations for black chattel slavery and Jim Crow segregation is reliance upon social science in normative arguments for reparations. Although there are certainly positive things to be said in favor of an empirically informed normative argument for black reparations, given the depth of empirical disagreement about the causes of persistent racial inequalities, and the ethos of ‘post‐racial’ America, the strongest normative argument for reparations may be one that goes through irrespective of how we ultimately explain the causes of racial inequalities. By illuminating the interplay between normative political philosophy and social scientific explanations of racial inequality in the prevailing corrective justice argument for black reparations, I shall explain why an alternative normative argument, which is not tethered to a particular empirical explanation of racial inequality, may be more appealing.
Russell, His Paradoxes, and Cantor's Theorem: Part I
Authors: Klement Kevin C. 
Published: January 2010

AbstractIn these articles, I describe Cantor's power‐class theorem, as well as a number of logical and philosophical paradoxes that stem from it, many of which were discovered or considered (implicitly or explicitly) in Bertrand Russell's work. These include Russell's paradox of the class of all classes not members of themselves, as well as others involving properties, propositions, descriptive senses, class‐intensions, and equivalence classes of coextensional properties. Part I focuses on Cantor's theorem, its proof, how it can be used to manufacture paradoxes, Frege's diagnosis of the core difficulty, and several broad categories of strategies for offering solutions to these paradoxes.
Food, Taste, and American Religions
Authors: Finch Martha L. 
Published: January 2010

AbstractThe scholarship that brings together food and foodways (all of the activities and meanings surrounding food in a particular cultural setting) and religion in North America is widely interdisciplinary, drawing from history, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, American studies, folklore studies, performance studies, and religious studies. This article surveys the scholarship on food and religion in American history and culture. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals controversial placement between 1998 and 2005 of billboards that used Christian imagery and language to promote vegetarianism serves as an example of the complex relationships among religion, food, and taste. The article then considers three book‐length studies of religion and food, followed by studies of religion and foodways during the colonial period, in utopian communal groups of the nineteenth century, as a means of reproducing ethnic and regional identities, and as an ethic for transforming society and the planet. The article closes with a discussion of the future of the study of American religion and food.
Between Judaism and German Enlightenment: Recent Work on Moses Mendelssohn in English
Authors: Gottlieb Michah 
Published: January 2010

AbstractMoses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) is generally recognized as the first German‐Jewish philosopher. The past forty years have witnessed the appearance of five major book‐length interpretations of Moses Mendelssohn in English: Michael Meyer’s The Origins of the Modern Jew: Jewish Identity and European Culture in Germany 1749–1824 (1967); Alexander Altmann’s Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study (1973); Allan Arkush’s Mendelssohn and the Enlightenment (1994); David Sorkin’s Moses Mendelssohn and the Religious Enlightenment (1996) and Edward Breuer’s The Limits of Enlightenment: Jews, Germans, and the Eighteenth‐Century Study of Scripture (1996). These works have generally been guided by a single interpretive question namely whether or not Mendelssohn was able to harmonize his commitment to Judaism with his commitment to Enlightenment. I review these five interpretations of Mendelssohn.
Immunogenicity of a Live RecombinantSalmonellaentericaSerovar Typhimurium Vaccine ExpressingpspAin Neonates and Infant Mice Born from Naïve and Immunized Mothers
Authors: Shi Huoying , Wang Shifeng , Roland Kenneth L. , Gunn Bronwyn M. , Curtiss Roy 
Published: January 2010

ABSTRACTWe are developing aSalmonellavectored vaccine to prevent infant pneumonia and other diseases caused byStreptococcus pneumoniae. One prerequisite for achieving this goal is to construct and evaluate new recombinant attenuatedSalmonellavaccine (RASV) strains suitable for use in neonates and infants.Salmonella entericaserovar Typhimurium strain χ9558(pYA4088) specifies delivery of the pneumococcal protective antigen PspA and can protect adult mice from challenge withS. pneumoniae. This strain is completely safe for oral delivery to day-old and infant mice. Here we assess the colonizing ability, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy of χ9558(pYA4088) in neonatal mice. Colonization was assessed in mice 0, 2, 4, or 7 days of age after oral inoculation. In the presence of maternal antibodies, the colonization of lymphoid tissues was delayed, but the immune responses were enhanced in mice born to immunized mothers. Both oral and intranasal routes were used to assess immunogenicity. All orally or intranasally immunized neonatal and infant mice born to either immunized or naïve mothers developed PspA-specific mucosal and systemic immune responses. Mice born to immunized mothers produced higher titers of PspA-specific antibodies in the blood and mucosa and greater numbers of PspA-specific interleukin-4 (IL-4)-secreting cells than mice born to naïve mothers. More importantly, mice born to immune mothers showed a significant increase in protection againstS. pneumoniaechallenge. These results suggest that strain χ9558(pYA4088) can circumvent some of the limitations of the immature immune system in neonatal and infant mice, generating enhanced protective immune responses in the presence of maternal antibodies.
Evaluation of Multiplex Type-Specific Real-Time PCR Assays Using the LightCycler and Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System Platforms for Detection and Quantitation of Adult Human Respiratory Adenoviruses
Authors: Metzgar David , Gibbins Carl , Hudson N. Ryan , Jones Morris S. 
Published: January 2010

ABSTRACT

Every year, thousands of basic military trainees in each service of the U.S. Armed Forces experience acute respiratory disease. The majority of this disease burden results from infection with human adenoviruses. We designed single- and multiplex assays that detect and discriminate adenovirus types B3, E4, B7, B11, B14, and B21. A total of 116 oropharyngeal swab specimens obtained from patients at the Naval Health Research Center were used to validate the new assays. Type-specific singleplex assays were designed and used independently to successfully identify 94 representative patient specimens. The lower limits of detection for our singleplex real-time PCR assays were calculated to be 50, 500, 500, 50, 50, and 50 genomic copies per reaction for human adenovirus type B3 (HAdV-B3), HAdV-E4, HAdV-B7, HAdV-B11, HAdV-B14, and HAdV-B21, respectively. These were then multiplexed to increase efficiency and tested against singleplex assays using titrated controls. The HAdV-B3/B11 and HAdV-E4/B7 multiplex assays were as sensitive and specific as they were individually. The HAdV-B14/B21 multiplex assay was not as efficient at detecting HAdV-B14 as the singleplex assay. Interestingly, a statistically significant difference was found between the viral loads of HAdV-B14 and those of HAdV-B3, -E4, -B7, and -B21 (
P
< 0.001). The assays did not cross-react with other adenoviruses, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, or respiratory disease-causing bacteria. These assays have the potential to be useful as clinical diagnostic tools for the detection of HAdV infection in adult populations.
Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay for Simultaneous Quantification of BK Polyomavirus, JC Polyomavirus, and Adenovirus DNA
Authors: Funahashi Yasuhito , Iwata Seiko , Ito Yoshinori , Kojima Seiji , Yoshikawa Tetsushi , Hattori Ryohei , Gotoh Momokazu , Nishiyama Yukihiro , Kimura Hiroshi 
Published: January 2010

ABSTRACT

In recent years, virus-induced nephropathy caused mainly by BK polyomavirus (BKPyV), JC polyomavirus (JCPyV), and adenovirus has emerged as a problem in renal transplant patients. In the present study, we developed a multiplex real-time PCR assay to quantify the viral load of BKPyV, JCPyV, and adenovirus simultaneously. The dynamic range covered at least 6 orders of magnitude. This system was specific and reproducible, even in the presence of large amounts of DNA of other viruses. To validate this assay, urine samples from 124 renal transplant patients and serum samples from 18 hemorrhagic cystitis patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation were examined. In the urine samples from renal transplant patients, BKPyV was detected in 28 patients (22.6%), JCPyV was detected in 51 patients (41.1%), and adenovirus was detected in 2 patients (1.6%). The maximum amounts of each virus detected were 2.7 × 10
9
, 8.7 × 10
8
, and 1.2 × 10
2
copies/ml, respectively. Decoy cells were observed in 31 patients. The quantities of both BKPyV and JCPyV DNA were greater in samples with decoy cells. Two patients whose BKPyV viral loads exceeded 10
8
copies/ml had elevated serum creatinine levels and were diagnosed with BKPyV nephropathy based on graft biopsies. In serum samples from hemorrhagic cystitis patients, BKPyV, JCPyV, and adenovirus was detected in six, two, and three patients, respectively. Strong correlations were observed between the viral DNA copy numbers determined in the multiplex assays and those determined in single assays. Since this new assay is rapid, sensitive, and specific, it can be used for quantitative analyses of viruses in urine and serum samples after transplantation.
Characterization of a Single-Cycle Rabies Virus-Based Vaccine Vector
Authors: Gomme Emily A. , Faul Elizabeth J. , Flomenberg Phyllis , McGettigan James P. , Schnell Matthias J. 
Published: January 2010

ABSTRACTRecombinant rabies virus (RV)-based vectors have demonstrated their efficacy in generating long-term, antigen-specific immune responses in murine and monkey models. However, replication-competent viral vectors pose significant safety concerns due to vector pathogenicity. RV pathogenicity is largely attributed to its glycoprotein (RV-G), which facilitates the attachment and entry of RV into host cells. We have developed a live, single-cycle RV by deletion of the G gene from an RV vaccine vector expressing HIV-1 Gag (SPBN-ΔG-Gag). Passage of SPBN-ΔG-Gag on cells stably expressing RV-G allowed efficient propagation of the G-deleted RV. Thein vivoimmunogenicity data comparing single-cycle RV to a replication-competent control (BNSP-Gag) showed lower RV-specific antibodies; however, the overall isotype profiles (IgG2a/IgG1) were similar for the two vaccine vectors. Despite this difference, mice immunized with SPBN-ΔG-Gag and BNSP-Gag mounted similar levels of Gag-specific CD8+T-cell responses as measured by major histocompatibility complex class I Gag-tetramer staining, gamma interferon-enzyme-linked immunospot assay, and cytotoxic T-cell assay. Moreover, these cellular responses were maintained equally at immunization titers as low as 103focus-forming units for both RV vaccine vectors. CD8+T-cell responses were significantly enhanced by a boost with a single-cycle RV complemented with a heterologous vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein. These findings demonstrate that single-cycle RV is an effective alternative to replication-competent RV vectors for future development of vaccines for HIV-1 and other infectious diseases.
The Hepatitis B Virus X Protein Modulates Hepatocyte Proliferation Pathways To Stimulate Viral Replication
Authors: Gearhart Tricia L. , Bouchard Michael J. 
Published: January 2010

ABSTRACTWorldwide, there are over 350 million people who are chronically infected with the human hepatitis B virus (HBV); chronic HBV infections are associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The results of various studies suggest that the HBV X protein (HBx) has a role in the development of HBV-associated HCC. HBx can regulate numerous cellular signal transduction pathways, including those that modulate cell proliferation. Many previous studies that analyzed the impact of HBx on cell proliferation pathways were conducted using established or immortalized cell lines, and when HBx was expressed in the absence of HBV replication, and the precise effect of HBx on these pathways has often differed depending on experimental conditions. We have studied the effect of HBx on cell proliferation in cultured primary rat hepatocytes, a biologically relevant system. We demonstrate that HBx, both by itself and in the context of HBV replication, affected the levels and activities of various cell cycle-regulatory proteins to induce normally quiescent hepatocytes to enter the G1phase of the cell cycle but not to proceed to S phase. We linked HBx regulation of cell proliferation to cytosolic calcium signaling and HBx stimulation of HBV replication. Cumulatively, our studies suggest that HBx induces normally quiescent hepatocytes to enter the G1phase of the cell cycle and that this calcium-dependent HBx activity is required for HBV replication. These studies identify an essential function of HBx during HBV replication and a mechanism that may connect HBV infections to the development of HCC.
Involvement of Ceramide in the Propagation of Japanese Encephalitis Virus
Authors: Tani Hideki , Shiokawa Mai , Kaname Yuuki , Kambara Hiroto , Mori Yoshio , Abe Takayuki , Moriishi Kohji , Matsuura Yoshiharu 
Published: January 2010

ABSTRACT

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a mosquito-borne RNA virus and one of the most important flaviviruses in the medical and veterinary fields. Although cholesterol has been shown to participate in both the entry and replication steps of JEV, the mechanisms of infection, including the cellular receptors of JEV, remain largely unknown. To clarify the infection mechanisms of JEV, we generated pseudotype (JEVpv) and recombinant (JEVrv) vesicular stomatitis viruses bearing the JEV envelope protein. Both JEVpv and JEVrv exhibited high infectivity for the target cells, and JEVrv was able to propagate and form foci as did authentic JEV. Anti-JEV envelope antibodies neutralized infection of the viruses. Treatment of cells with inhibitors for vacuolar ATPase and clathrin-mediated endocytosis reduced the infectivity of JEVpv, suggesting that JEVpv enters cells via pH- and clathrin-dependent endocytic pathways. Although treatment of the particles of JEVpv, JEVrv, and JEV with cholesterol drastically reduced the infectivity as previously reported, depletion of cholesterol from the particles by treatment with methyl β-cyclodextrin enhanced infectivity. Furthermore, treatment of cells with sphingomyelinase (SMase), which hydrolyzes membrane-bound sphingomyelin to ceramide, drastically enhanced infection with JEVpv and propagation of JEVrv, and these enhancements were inhibited by treatment with an SMase inhibitor or C
6
-ceramide. These results suggest that ceramide plays crucial roles in not only entry but also egress processes of JEV, and they should assist in the clarification of JEV propagation and the development of novel therapeutics against diseases caused by infection with flaviviruses.