bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of ABCA1 variant on atherogenic dyslipidaemia in patients with Type 2 diabetes treated with rosiglitazone
Authors: Park S. E. , Kang E. S. , Kim D. H. , Kim S. K. , Lee J. H. , Ahn C. W. , Lee H. C. , Cha B. S. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractAims  To investigate the effect of two common ATP‐binding cassette transporter 1 (ABCA1) polymorphisms (rs4149263 and rs2020927) on atherogenic dyslipidaemia in Korean Type 2 diabetic patients who were treated with rosiglitazone.Patients and methods  Two hundred and fifty‐six patients with Type 2 diabetes who had never previously received peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma (PPAR‐γ) agonists or lipid‐lowering treatment were treated with 4 mg of rosiglitazone daily for 12 weeks without any adjustment to their glucose‐lowering regimen. The primary outcome was the change in atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), calculated as log [triglyceride (mmol/l)/high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (mmol/l)], before and after rosiglitazone treatment. The effect of rosiglitazone on the change in AIP was compared across the ABCA1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs41429263 and rs2020927.Results  Before adjustment, the change in AIP at 12 weeks was significantly different across the rs4149263 genotypes [median (interquartile range): −0.05 (−0.21, 0.09) for TT; 0.02 (−0.09, 0.17) for TC; and 0.11 (0.03, 0.25) for CC; P = 0.003], but not across the rs2020927 [−0.04 (−0.18, 0.10) for TT; 0.03 (−0.17, 0.15) for TC; and −0.03 (−0.13, 0.10) for CC; P = 0.401]. After controlling for age, gender and duration of diabetes, the presence of the C‐allele was significantly associated with an increase in AIP by 0.13 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.04–0.21; P = 0.003]. This association did not change significantly when body mass index and pretreatment metabolic parameters were additionally controlled for (the change in AIP: 0.14; 95% CI, 0.04–0.24; P = 0.007).Conclusions  The ABCA1 SNP rs4149263 may be associated with the change in atherogenic lipid profile in Type 2 diabetes treated with rosiglitazone.
An ecosystem model‐based estimate of changes in water availability differs from water proxies that are commonly used in species distribution models
Authors: Hickler Thomas , Fronzek Stefan , Araújo Miguel B. , Schweiger Oliver , Thuiller Wilfried , Sykes Martin T. 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTAim  To assess whether the water availability measures commonly used in species distribution models might be misleading because they do not account for the hydrological effects of changes in vegetation structure and functioning.Location  Europe.Methods  We compared different methods for estimating water availability in species distribution models with the soil water content predicted by a process‐based ecosystem model. The latter also accounted for the hydrological effects of dynamic changes in vegetation structure and functioning, including potential physiological effects of increasing CO2.Results  All proxies showed similar patterns of water availability across Europe for current climate, but when projected into the future, the changes in the simpler water availability measures showed no correlation with those projected by the more complex ecosystem model, even if CO2 effects were switched off.Main conclusions  Results from species distribution modelling studies concerning future changes in species ranges and biodiversity should be interpreted with caution, and more process‐based representations of the water balance of terrestrial ecosystems should be considered within these models.
Change in action: how infants learn to walk down slopes
Authors: Gill Simone V. , Adolph Karen E. , Vereijken Beatrix 
Published: April 2009

AbstractA critical aspect of perception–action coupling is the ability to modify ongoing actions in accordance with variations in the environment. Infants’ ability to modify their gait patterns to walk down shallow and steep slopes was examined at three nested time scales. Across sessions, a microgenetic training design showed rapid improvements after the first session in infants receiving concentrated practice walking down slopes and in infants in a control group who were tested only at the beginning and end of the study. Within sessions, analyses across easy and challenging slope angles showed that infants used a ‘braking strategy’ to curb increases in walking speed across increasingly steeper slopes. Within trials, comparisons of infants’ gait modifications before and after stepping over the brink of the slopes showed that the braking strategy was planned prospectively. Findings illustrate how observing change in action provides important insights into the process of skill acquisition.
Children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity
Authors: Kidd Evan , Holler Judith 
Published: April 2009

AbstractWe report on a study investigating 3–5‐year‐old children's use of gesture to resolve lexical ambiguity. Children were told three short stories that contained two homonym senses; for example, bat (flying mammal) and bat (sports equipment). They were then asked to re‐tell these stories to a second experimenter. The data were coded for the means that children used during attempts at disambiguation: speech, gesture, or a combination of the two. The results indicated that the 3‐year‐old children rarely disambiguated the two senses, mainly using deictic pointing gestures during attempts at disambiguation. In contrast, the 4‐year‐old children attempted to disambiguate the two senses more often, using a larger proportion of iconic gestures than the other children. The 5‐year‐old children used less iconic gestures than the 4‐year‐olds, but unlike the 3‐year‐olds, were able to disambiguate the senses through the verbal channel. The results highlight the value of gesture to the development of children's language and communication skills.
Inferring the size of a goal object from an actor's grasping movement in 6‐ and 9‐month‐old infants
Authors: Daum Moritz M. , Vuori Maria T. , Prinz Wolfgang , Aschersleben Gisa 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe present study applied a preferential looking paradigm to test whether 6‐ and 9‐month old infants are able to infer the size of a goal object from an actor's grasping movement. The target object was a cup with the handle rotated either towards or away from the actor. In two experiments, infants saw the video of an actor's grasping movement towards an occluded target object. The aperture size of the actor's hand was varied as between‐subjects factor. Subsequently, two final states of the grasping movement were presented simultaneously with the occluder being removed. In Experiment 1, the expected final state showed the actor's hand holding a cup in a way that would be expected after the performed grasping movement. In the unexpected final state, the actor's hand held the cup at the side which would be unexpected after the performed grasping movement. Results show that 6‐ as well as 9‐month‐olds looked longer at the unexpected than at the expected final state. Experiment 2 excluded an alternative explanation of these findings, namely that the discrimination of the final states was due to geometrical familiarity or novelty of the final states. These findings provide evidence that infants are able to infer the size of a goal object from the aperture size of the actor's hand during the grasp.
Categorical flexibility in preschoolers: contributions of conceptual knowledge and executive control
Authors: Blaye Agnès , Jacques Sophie 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe current study evaluated the relative roles of conceptual knowledge and executive control on the development of categorical flexibility, the ability to switch between simultaneously available but conflicting categorical representations of an object. Experiment 1 assessed conceptual knowledge and executive control together; Experiment 2 differentiated conceptual knowledge from costly executive processes. In Experiment 1, 3‐ to 5‐year‐olds were given a three‐choice (taxonomic, thematic, and nonassociate) match‐to‐sample task and asked to match two associates. In Experiment 2, same‐aged children were assessed on another match‐to‐sample task that reduced executive costs by presenting thematic and taxonomic associates on separate trials. By comparing performance across tasks, age‐related changes resulting from conceptual knowledge and executive control indicated that conceptual knowledge of superordinate relations showed gains between 3 and 4 years, whereas gains in executive control were seen between 4 and 5 years, suggesting a décalage in the development of conceptual and executive processes underlying categorical flexibility.
Lifespan differences in cortical dynamics of auditory perception
Authors: Müller Viktor , Gruber Walter , Klimesch Wolfgang , Lindenberger Ulman 
Published: April 2009

AbstractUsing electroencephalographic recordings (EEG), we assessed differences in oscillatory cortical activity during auditory‐oddball performance between children aged 9–13 years, younger adults, and older adults. From childhood to old age, phase synchronization increased within and between electrodes, whereas whole power and evoked power decreased. We conclude that the cortical dynamics of perceptual processing undergo substantial reorganization from childhood to old age, and discuss possible reasons for the inverse relation between age trends in phase synchronization and power, such as lifespan differences in neural background activity, or a lifespan shift from rate coding in children to temporal coding in adults.
Language‐specific stress perception by 9‐month‐old French and Spanish infants
Authors: Skoruppa Katrin , Pons Ferran , Christophe Anne , Bosch Laura , Dupoux Emmanuel , Sebastián‐Gallés Núria , Limissuri Rita Alves , Peperkamp Sharon 
Published: April 2009

AbstractDuring the first year of life, infants begin to have difficulties perceiving non‐native vowel and consonant contrasts, thus adapting their perception to the phonetic categories of the target language. In this paper, we examine the perception of a non‐segmental feature, i.e. stress. Previous research with adults has shown that speakers of French (a language with fixed stress) have great difficulties in perceiving stress contrasts (

Dupoux, Pallier, Sebastián & Mehler, 1997

), whereas speakers of Spanish (a language with lexically contrastive stress) perceive these contrasts as accurately as segmental contrasts. We show that language‐specific differences in the perception of stress likewise arise during the first year of life. Specifically, 9‐month‐old Spanish infants successfully distinguish between stress‐initial and stress‐final pseudo‐words, while French infants of this age show no sign of discrimination. In a second experiment using multiple tokens of a single pseudo‐word, French infants of the same age successfully discriminate between the two stress patterns, showing that they are able to perceive the acoustic correlates of stress. Their failure to discriminate stress patterns in the first experiment thus reflects an inability to process stress at an abstract, phonological level.
Approximate Bayesian Inference for Latent Gaussian models by using Integrated Nested Laplace Approximations
Authors: Rue Håvard , Martino Sara , Chopin Nicolas 
Published: April 2009

SummaryStructured additive regression models are perhaps the most commonly used class of models in statistical applications. It includes, among others, (generalized) linear models, (generalized) additive models, smoothing spline models, state space models, semiparametric regression, spatial and spatiotemporal models, log-Gaussian Cox processes and geostatistical and geoadditive models. We consider approximate Bayesian inference in a popular subset of structured additive regression models, latent Gaussian models, where the latent field is Gaussian, controlled by a few hyperparameters and with non-Gaussian response variables. The posterior marginals are not available in closed form owing to the non-Gaussian response variables. For such models, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods can be implemented, but they are not without problems, in terms of both convergence and computational time. In some practical applications, the extent of these problems is such that Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling is simply not an appropriate tool for routine analysis. We show that, by using an integrated nested Laplace approximation and its simplified version, we can directly compute very accurate approximations to the posterior marginals. The main benefit of these approximations is computational: where Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms need hours or days to run, our approximations provide more precise estimates in seconds or minutes. Another advantage with our approach is its generality, which makes it possible to perform Bayesian analysis in an automatic, streamlined way, and to compute model comparison criteria and various predictive measures so that models can be compared and the model under study can be challenged.
Prescribed fire and conservation of a threatened mountain grassland specialist: a capture–recapture study on the Orsini's viper in the French alps
Authors: Lyet A. , Cheylan M. , Prodon R. , Besnard A. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractBurning has traditionally been used in the southern French Alps to maintain open lands for grazing. In the context of land use abandonment, prescribed burning may be the only realistic practical tool available to oppose encroachment by woody plants in numerous mountainous landscapes. Although only recently developed as a modern tool for wildfire prevention and management of pastoral grasslands, this practice is now becoming widespread, which raises the issue of its impact on the fauna in general, and on endangered species in particular. We studied the impact of a prescribed fire on the survival and small‐scale movements of one of the rarest snakes in Europe, the Orsini's viper Vipera ursinii, in order to evaluate its potential threat to population sustainability. We evaluated the body condition of snakes and the quality of their habitat, more precisely the abundance of grasshoppers as the main food resource, and the vegetation cover as shelter. About 3.6 ha of a 8.8 ha study site was burnt in autumn 2003. Snake population parameters were estimated using multi‐state capture–mark–recapture methods. We demonstrate that burning reduced the survival of the vipers by more than half during the first year following the fire. Contrary to what was expected, there was no evidence of emigration from the burned to the unburned area immediately after the fire. Despite the decrease in grasshopper density and vegetation cover in the burned area, there was no evidence of mid‐term mortality in snakes that could result from an increased predation rate or from the reduced body condition of snakes. As such high mortality, mainly or entirely due to the direct effect of fire, is likely to have large repercussions on population sustainability, we suggest several improvements of prescribed fire protocols to minimize their impact and strongly emphasize the need for a prescribed fire policy that takes into account specific recommendations for threatened species like Orsini's viper. The case of the Orsini's viper is very typical of conservation problems in open mountain lands, and we believe that our research will help determine the most suitable approach for long‐term conservation of biodiversity in such semi‐natural ecosystems.
A warm thermal enclave in the Late Pleistocene of the South‐eastern United States
Authors: Russell Dale A. , Rich Fredrick J. , Schneider Vincent , Lynch‐Stieglitz Jean 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTPhysical and biological evidence supports the probable existence of an enclave of relatively warm climate located between the Southern Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean in the United States during the Last Glacial Maximum. The region supported a mosaic of forest and prairie habitats inhabited by a “Floridian” ice‐age biota. Plant and vertebrate remains suggest an ecological gradient towards Cape Hatteras (35°N) wherein forests tended to replace prairies, and browsing proboscideans tended to replace grazing proboscideans. Beyond 35°N, warm waters of the Gulf Stream were deflected towards the central Atlantic, and a cold‐facies biota replaced “Floridian” biota on the Atlantic coastal plain. Because of niche diversity and relatively benign climate, biodiversity may have been greater in the south‐eastern thermal enclave than in other unglaciated areas of North America. However, the impact of terminal Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions may also have been shorter and more severe in the enclave than further north. A comparison with biotic changes that occurred in North America approximately 55 million years (ma) ago at the Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum suggests that similar processes of change took place under both ice‐house and greenhouse climates.
Consumptive emasculation: the ecological and evolutionary consequences of pollen theft
Authors: Hargreaves Anna L. , Harder Lawrence D. , Johnson Steven D. 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTMany of the diverse animals that consume floral rewards act as efficient pollinators; however, others ‘steal’ rewards without ‘paying’ for them by pollinating. In contrast to the extensive studies of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of nectar theft, pollen theft and its implications remain largely neglected, even though it affects plant reproduction more directly. Here we review existing studies of pollen theft and find that: (1) most pollen thieves pollinate other plant species, suggesting that theft generally arises from a mismatch between the flower and thief that precludes pollen deposition, (2) bees are the most commonly documented pollen thieves, and (3) the floral traits that typically facilitate pollen theft involve either spatial or temporal separation of sex function within flowers (herkogamy and dichogamy, respectively). Given that herkogamy and dichogamy occur commonly and that bees are globally the most important floral visitors, pollen theft is likely a greatly under‐appreciated component of floral ecology and influence on floral evolution. We identify the mechanisms by which pollen theft can affect plant fitness, and review the evidence for theft‐induced ecological effects, including pollen limitation. We then explore the consequences of pollen theft for the evolution of floral traits and sexual systems, and conclude by identifying key directions for future research.
Fear potentiated startle at short intervals following conditioned stimulus onset during delay but not trace conditioning
Authors: Åsli Ole , Kulvedrøsten Silje , Solbakken Line E. , Flaten Magne Arve 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe latency of conditioned fear after delay and trace conditioning was investigated. Some argue that delay conditioning is not dependent on awareness. In contrast, trace conditioning, where there is a gap between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US), is assumed to be dependent on awareness. In the present study, a tone CS signaled a noise US presented 1000 ms after CS onset in the delay conditioning group. In the trace conditioning group, a 200‐ms tone CS was followed by an 800‐ms gap prior to US presentation. Fear‐potentiated startle should be seen at shorter intervals after delay conditioning compared to trace conditioning. Analyses showed increased startle at 30, 50, 100, and 150 ms after CS onset following delay conditioning compared to trace conditioning. This implies that fear‐relevant stimuli elicit physiological reactions before extended processing of the stimuli occur, following delay, but not trace conditioning.
The impact of menstrual cycle phase on cardiac autonomic regulation
Authors: Mckinley Paula S. , King Arlene R. , Shapiro Peter A. , Slavov Iordan , Fang Yixin , Chen Ivy S. , Jamner Larry D. , Sloan Richard P. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis study investigated menstrual cycle phase differences in heart rate (HR) and RR interval variability (RRV) in 49 healthy, premenopausal, eumenorrheic women (age 30.2±6.2 years). HR and RRV were computed from ambulatory 24‐h electrocardiogram, collected for up to 6 days, with at least 1 day each during early to midfollicular and midluteal menstrual phases. Phase effects on HR and RRV were assessed using linear mixed effects models with a random intercept to account for the correlation of observations within each subject as well as intrasubject variation. During follicular phase monitoring, women had significantly lower average HR (−2.33 bpm), and higher standard deviation, the root mean squared successive difference, and high frequency (0.04–0.15 Hz) and low frequency (0.15–0.40 Hz) RRV than during the luteal phase. These results provide strong support for the influence of menstrual phase on cardiac autonomic regulation in premenopausal women.
Autonomic reactions to mutilation pictures: Positive affect facilitates safety signal processing
Authors: Oliveira Laura A. S. , Oliveira Leticia , Joffily Mateus , Pereira‐Junior Pedro P. , Lang Peter J. , Pereira Mirtes G. , Figueira Ivan , Volchan Eliane 
Published: April 2009

AbstractFor survival, humans are continuously vigilant for signs of danger. Equally important, but less studied, is our ability to detect and respond to safety cues. The trait of positive affect may be a key component determining human variability in safety detection. Here we investigate autonomic and self‐report reactivity to pictures of mutilated bodies, after reading a text about the art of mimicking injuries in the movies. Participants that scored high in positive affect trait showed attenuated autonomic reactions to the mutilation pictures. Thus, high positive affect facilitated engagement in safety cues and modulated reflexive reactions of the brain's defense system.
When beef primes reef more than leaf: Orthographic information affects phonological priming in spoken word recognition
Authors: Perre Laetitia , Midgley Katherine , Ziegler Johannes C. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis study was designed to investigate orthographic effects on spoken word recognition by combining the priming paradigm with a measure of event‐related brain potentials (ERPs). Primes and targets either shared both orthography and phonology of the rhyme (beef‐reef) or they shared rhyme phonology only (leaf‐reef). The two “related” conditions were compared against an “unrelated” condition (sick‐reef). The results revealed a significant orthographic priming effect that was present on the early part of the N400 and that occurred as early as the phonological priming effect itself. Importantly, phonological and orthographic priming effects had different topographic distributions: The phonological priming effect was localized over centro‐posterior regions, whereas the orthographic priming effect was more anterior. These results support a theory according to which orthographic information is coactivated online in spoken word recognition.
Impaired response selection in schizophrenia: Evidence from the P3 wave and the lateralized readiness potential
Authors: Luck Steven J. , Kappenman Emily S. , Fuller Rebecca L. , Robinson Benjamin , Summerfelt Ann , Gold James M. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractReaction times (RTs) are substantially prolonged in schizophrenia patients, but the latency of the P3 component is not. This suggests that the RT slowing arises from impairments in a late stage of processing. To test this hypothesis, 20 schizophrenia patients and 20 control subjects were tested in a visual oddball paradigm that was modified to allow measurement of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), an index of stimulus‐response translation processes. Difference waves were used to isolate the LRP and the P3 wave. Patients and control subjects exhibited virtually identical P3 difference waves, whereas the LRP difference wave was reduced in amplitude and delayed in latency in the patients. These results indicate that, at least in simple tasks, the delayed RTs observed in schizophrenia are primarily a consequence of impairments in the response selection and preparation processes that follow perception and categorization.