bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A new dependence parameter approach to improve the design of cluster randomized trials with binary outcomes
Authors: Crespi Catherine M , Wong Weng Kee , Wu Sheng 
Published: November 2011

Background and Purpose Power and sample size calculations for cluster randomized trials require prediction of the degree of correlation that will be realized among outcomes of participants in the same cluster. This correlation is typically quantified as the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), defined as the Pearson correlation between two members of the same cluster or proportion of the total variance attributable to variance between clusters. It is widely known but perhaps not fully appreciated that for binary outcomes, the ICC is a function of outcome prevalence. Hence, the ICC and the outcome prevalence are intrinsically related, making the ICC poorly generalizable across study conditions and between studies with different outcome prevalences. Methods We use a simple parametrization of the ICC that aims to isolate that part of the ICC that measures dependence among responses within a cluster from the outcome prevalence. We incorporate this parametrization into sample size calculations for cluster randomized trials and compare our method to the traditional approach using the ICC. Results Our dependence parameter, R, may be less influenced by outcome prevalence and has an intuitive meaning that facilitates interpretation. Estimates of R from previous studies can be obtained using simple statistics. Comparison of methods showed that the traditional ICC approach to sample size determination tends to overpower studies under many scenarios, calling for more clusters than truly required. Limitations The methods are developed for equal-sized clusters, whereas cluster size may vary in practice. Conclusions The dependence parameter R is an alternative measure of dependence among binary outcomes in cluster randomized trials that has a number of advantages over the ICC.
Some methodological points to consider when performing systematic reviews in comparative effectiveness research
Authors: Berlin Jesse A , Cepeda M Soledad 
Published: November 2011

Background The purpose of comparative effectiveness research (CER) is to assist consumers, clinicians, purchasers, and policy makers to make informed decisions that will improve health care at both the individual and population levels. There is an ongoing discussion as to what types of evidence are appropriate to inform CER and how best to interpret various forms of evidence. Purpose The purpose of this article is primarily to highlight several interesting methodological issues in the conduct of CER reviews. Methods We describe several key challenges related to randomized trials, with a particular focus on noninferiority studies, which include active comparators used to assess ‘assay sensitivity’ (defined below), and on the use of randomized studies to perform indirect comparisons between therapies. We touch briefly on the use of observational studies in CER, particularly because of the importance of observational studies in assessing infrequently occurring harms. Results We argue that studies that may be perceived as unsuitable to address some CER questions may well be appropriate to address others. As an example, noninferiority studies (assuming they include an appropriate comparator at an appropriate dose), are sometimes discounted or excluded from consideration because of concerns that the sponsor’s incentive is to conduct a study that is biased toward showing no difference between the treatment groups. If the purpose of a systematic review of CER is to show superiority with respect to a purported benefit, including studies that may be biased toward equality of treatments would tend to underestimate the proposed benefit, that is, the bias works against the sponsor. Limitations This is not a comprehensive review of all methodological issues related to CER, and we recognize that there may be dissenting opinions regarding some of the points we raise. Conclusions In considering the use of systematic reviews, we believe it is sound advice to perform the head-to-head comparison when possible, in the relevant populations, using endpoints relevant to patients, caregivers, physicians, or payers. These endpoints should include patient-reported outcomes (e.g., symptoms), when relevant. Indirect comparisons and mixed treatment meta-analyses may be useful for simultaneously comparing multiple treatments, provided the assumptions underlying such analyses are plausible.
Transparency in the presentation of trial results may not increase patients’ trust in medical researchers
Authors: Mancini Julien , Genre Dominique , Dalenc Florence , Maylevin Françoise , Martin Anne-Laure , Viens Patrice , Julian-Reynier Claire 
Published: November 2011

Background One of the expected benefits of sharing trial results with participants is that it may enhance trust in medical researchers (TMRs). Purpose In a prospective study on a sample of clinical trial participants, we investigated the effect on the participants’ TMRs of providing final trial results to participants via the Internet. Methods Participants in the FNCLCC-PACS04 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00054587) were surveyed on average 6 years after enrollment, when the trial results were available. In the current study, they were randomized to receive (experimental group) or not to receive (control group) a letter informing them that the results of the trial could be consulted on a specific website. TMRs was measured before randomization and 6 months later using mailed self-administered questionnaires. Results The response rate was 93% ( N = 107). TMRs remained unchanged in the control group (mean effect size = −0.06, 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.28 to 0.17, p = 0.617) but decreased in the experimental group (−0.30, 95% CI: −0.53 to −0.06, p = 0.015). However, the difference between the two effect sizes was not statistically significant ( p = 0.144). Limitations The results obtained here on the disclosure of final trial results to breast cancer patients via the Internet cannot be generalized to all situations involving the disclosure of phase III randomized controlled trial results. Conclusions Transparency is an ethical research requirement, but it may not enhance participants’ TMRs.
‘I am not at risk – typical tourists are’! Social comparison of risk in tourists
Authors: Larsen Svein , Brun Wibecke 
Published: November 2011

Aim: The presented research aims to study the relationship between judgements of risks to oneself as a tourist as compared to risks to ‘typical tourists’, ‘average tourists’ and ‘typical tourist from your home country’. Methods: Altogether, 1,892 tourists visiting Norway (summer 2010) filled in a questionnaire on aspects of being a tourist. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Group 1 was asked about risk to themselves; Group 2 was asked to indicate their thoughts about ‘risk to typical tourists’; Group 3 indicated risks for ‘average tourists’; and Group 4 was asked about risks for typical tourists from their home country. Results: Results show that all risks were judged to be low, but significantly higher risks were attributed to the typical and average tourist than to ‘self’. Conclusions: The results are interpreted in terms of social cognitive processes such as the ‘optimistic bias’.
Nutritional and health benefits as the determinants of food choice in Polish consumers
Authors: Rejman Krystyna , Kasperska Aleksandra 
Published: November 2011

Aims: The aim of the study was to find out how nutritional value, health benefits of foods and relevant information on food labels affect consumers’ dietary choices and shopping behaviour. Methods: Data were collected using a questionnaire on a sample of 200 adult consumers, inhabitants of Poland’s capital city. The majority were young, well-educated and almost equally divided into four income groups. Results: The study showed that only 12% of the consumers never took into consideration the health impact of purchased foods, while 42% were deeply aware of it. This behaviour was the only one significantly influenced by consumer income, while the others were determined by education level and gender. Consumers revealed that food labels had a rather low influence on purchase decisions. Half of them always looked for obligatory information such as brand, producer, expiry date or price, and only 2% of the sample never looked. In contrast, only 3%–6% always checked the list of ingredients, nutrition facts, and nutritional or health claims, while one third of the group did not. Consumers looking for this information were interested mostly in energy value, total fat content and presence of artificial additives. The smallest attention was paid to saturated fat and trans-fatty acid content. This behaviour was in line with the finding that understanding the impact on health of these fat components was generally low. Health claims perception differed depending on the type of claim: the highest regarded was lowering cholesterol level, followed by ‘natural product’ and boosting immunity. However only one third of the group declared that health claims influenced their purchase decision and the same proportion negated the impact. The perception of labelling schemes (e.g. GDA, My choice) was even lower, so this information had very limited influence on food choice. Conclusions: Nutritional and healthy values of foods were found to be rather weak determinants of purchase decision and food choice. Consumers should have better knowledge of food–nutrition–health linkages and different labelling formats, otherwise nutritional marketing tools are not useful for them in making healthy, informed food choices.
Relationship between cooking habits and skills and Mediterranean diet in a sample of Portuguese adolescents
Authors: da Rocha Leal Fernanda Maria , de Oliveira Bruno Miguel Paz Mendes , Pereira Sara Simões Rodrigues 
Published: November 2011

Aims: To assess the cooking habits and skills of adolescents and its relation to Mediterranean diet adherence. Methods: Adolescents ( N = 390) from the seventh, eighth and ninth grades in a school from a semi-urban region in northern Portugal were asked to fill in a questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed self-reported cooking habits and skills, for example enjoying and knowing how to cook and wanting to cook and learn more. Answers were taken on a scale from 0 to 5, 0 being ‘no’ and 5 being ‘very much’. Learning sources, cooking frequency, and confidence in cooking ten particular foods were also assessed using the following answers: ‘no, never’, ‘yes, with help from family/friends’, ‘yes, all by myself’. Adherence to Mediterranean diet was evaluated using the KIDMED index. Results: Adolescents who said that they cooked, did so usually between one and four times a month (56.2%). A high proportion of respondents had never cooked vegetables (57%), fish (51%) and soup (49%). Girls were more likely to have cooked foods listed in the questionnaire ( p ≤ .002). Adolescents who did not know how to cook (8.7%) stated that the main reasons were that they had someone to cook for them (47%) and had no interest (35%). Those who knew how to cook mainly stated that they had learnt from their family (87.9%) and by themselves (7.9%). Most of our sample wanted ‘to learn how to cook better’ ( M = 3.8, SD = 1.5), preferably with family/friends (82%) or by taking culinary courses (10%). The KIDMED index was poor for 7.2% of the sample, average for 50.8% and good for 42.1%. Adolescents with higher KIDMED scores were younger ( p = .025), knew how to cook better ( p < .001), cooked more often ( p < .001), enjoyed cooking ( p < .001), would like to cook more frequently ( p < .001), and would like to learn how to cook better ( p < .001). Conclusion: Almost one in every ten adolescents did not know how to cook. Vegetables, fish and soup were found to be foods that nearly half of the adolescents had never cooked. Female adolescents were more involved in cooking than males. Better cooking habits and skills were positively related with adolescents’ adherence to the Mediterranean diet, which reinforces the idea that teaching cooking skills may have a positive impact in future food choice.
Forty days of free school meals as a tool for introducing market-based healthy school meal systems in 35 Danish schools
Authors: Brinck N , Hansen M Weinreich , Kristensen N Heine 
Published: November 2011

Aims: When approaching school meal systems, different concepts can guide the design of the food preparation and serving activities. This paper presents a government-planned intervention concept of 40 days of free school meals. The argument behind this intervention was to kick-start the implementation of healthy school meal systems in Danish schools. This paper argues that the initiative (in reality) invited the establishment of a service system concept, which dominated the initiative and led to a lack of involvement of important key players needed in health promotion. Methods: The method used for data collection was semi-structured, qualitative interviews. Results: The main results from a systematic examination of the 35 participating schools show that the systems were mainly organized with external suppliers, and only a few of the 35 schools succeeded in establishing a user-paid school meal system afterwards. Conclusions: The established meal systems contained a lack of embedding factors, which is pointed to as one of the main challenges to a user-financed school meal system. The experiences of these 35 participating schools show that a period of free school meals is not a sustainable tool for achieving the goal of establishing new, healthy and user-paid school meals.
Enucleation of human erythroblasts involves non-muscle myosin IIB
Authors: Ubukawa Kumi , Guo Yong-Mei , Takahashi Masayuki , Hirokawa Makoto , Michishita Yoshihiro , Nara Miho , Tagawa Hiroyuki , Takahashi Naoto , Komatsuda Atsushi , Nunomura Wataru , Takakuwa Yuichi , Sawada Kenichi 
Published: November 2011

AbstractMammalian erythroblasts undergo enucleation, a process thought to be similar to cytokinesis. Although an assemblage of actin, non-muscle myosin II, and several other proteins is crucial for proper cytokinesis, the role of non-muscle myosin II in enucleation remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of various cell-division inhibitors on cytokinesis and enucleation. For this purpose, we used human colony-forming unit-erythroid (CFU-E) and mature erythroblasts generated from purified CD34+ cells as target cells for cytokinesis and enucleation assay, respectively. Here we show that the inhibition of myosin by blebbistatin, an inhibitor of non-muscle myosin II ATPase, blocks both cell division and enucleation, which suggests that non-muscle myosin II plays an essential role not only in cytokinesis but also in enucleation. When the function of non-muscle myosin heavy chain (NMHC) IIA or IIB was inhibited by an exogenous expression of myosin rod fragment, myosin IIA or IIB, each rod fragment blocked the proliferation of CFU-E but only the rod fragment for IIB inhibited the enucleation of mature erythroblasts. These data indicate that NMHC IIB among the isoforms is involved in the enucleation of human erythroblasts.
Myosin II activity dependent and independent vinculin recruitment to the sites of E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion
Authors: Sumida Grant M , Tomita Tyler M , Shih Wenting , Yamada Soichiro 
Published: November 2011

Abstract

Background
Maintaining proper adhesion between neighboring cells depends on the ability of cells to mechanically respond to tension at cell-cell junctions through the actin cytoskeleton. Thus, identifying the molecules involved in responding to cell tension would provide insight into the maintenance, regulation, and breakdown of cell-cell junctions during various biological processes. Vinculin, an actin-binding protein that associates with the cadherin complex, is recruited to cell-cell contacts under increased tension in a myosin II-dependent manner. However, the precise role of vinculin at force-bearing cell-cell junctions and how myosin II activity alters the recruitment of vinculin at quiescent cell-cell contacts have not been demonstrated.

Results
We generated vinculin knockdown cells using shRNA specific to vinculin and MDCK epithelial cells. These vinculin-deficient MDCK cells form smaller cell clusters in a suspension than wild-type cells. In wound healing assays, GFP-vinculin accumulated at cell-cell junctions along the wound edge while vinculin-deficient cells displayed a slower wound closure rate compared to vinculin-expressing cells. In the presence of blebbistatin (myosin II inhibitor), vinculin localization at quiescent cell-cell contacts was unaffected while in the presence of jasplakinolide (F-actin stabilizer), vinculin recruitment increased in mature MDCK cell monolayers.

Conclusion
These results demonstrate that vinculin plays an active role at adherens junctions under increased tension at cell-cell contacts where vinculin recruitment occurs in a myosin II activity-dependent manner, whereas vinculin recruitment to the quiescent cell-cell junctions depends on F-actin stabilization.
Complete genome sequence of Corynebacterium variabile DSM 44702 isolated from the surface of smear-ripened cheeses and insights into cheese ripening and flavor generation
Authors: Schröder Jasmin , Maus Irena , Trost Eva , Tauch Andreas 
Published: November 2011

Abstract

Background

Corynebacterium variabile is part of the complex microflora on the surface of smear-ripened cheeses and contributes to the development of flavor and textural properties during cheese ripening. Still little is known about the metabolic processes and microbial interactions during the production of smear-ripened cheeses. Therefore, the gene repertoire contributing to the lifestyle of the cheese isolate C. variabile DSM 44702 was deduced from the complete genome sequence to get a better understanding of this industrial process.

Results
The chromosome of C. variabile DSM 44702 is composed of 3, 433, 007 bp and contains 3, 071 protein-coding regions. A comparative analysis of this gene repertoire with that of other corynebacteria detected 1, 534 predicted genes to be specific for the cheese isolate. These genes might contribute to distinct metabolic capabilities of C. variabile, as several of them are associated with metabolic functions in cheese habitats by playing roles in the utilization of alternative carbon and sulphur sources, in amino acid metabolism, and fatty acid degradation. Relevant C. variabile genes confer the capability to catabolize gluconate, lactate, propionate, taurine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid and to utilize external caseins. In addition, C. variabile is equipped with several siderophore biosynthesis gene clusters for iron acquisition and an exceptional repertoire of AraC-regulated iron uptake systems. Moreover, C. variabile can produce acetoin, butanediol, and methanethiol, which are important flavor compounds in smear-ripened cheeses.

Conclusions
The genome sequence of C. variabile provides detailed insights into the distinct metabolic features of this bacterium, implying a strong adaption to the iron-depleted cheese surface habitat. By combining in silico data obtained from the genome annotation with previous experimental knowledge, occasional observations on genes that are involved in the complex metabolic capacity of C. variabile were integrated into a global view on the lifestyle of this species.
Hakai reduces cell-substratum adhesion and increases epithelial cell invasion
Authors: Rodríguez-Rigueiro Teresa , Valladares-Ayerbes Manuel , Haz-Conde Mar , Aparicio Luis A , Figueroa Angélica 
Published: November 2011

Abstract

Background
The dynamic regulation of cell-cell adhesions is crucial for developmental processes, including tissue formation, differentiation and motility. Adherens junctions are important components of the junctional complex between cells and are necessary for maintaining cell homeostasis and normal tissue architecture. E-cadherin is the prototype and best-characterized protein member of adherens junctions in mammalian epithelial cells. Regarded as a tumour suppressor, E-cadherin loss is associated with poor prognosis in carcinoma. The E3 ubiquitin-ligase Hakai was the first reported posttranslational regulator of the E-cadherin complex. Hakai specifically targetted E-cadherin for internalization and degradation and thereby lowered epithelial cell-cell contact. Hakai was also implicated in controlling proliferation, and promoted cancer-related gene expression by increasing the binding of RNA-binding protein PSF to RNAs encoding oncogenic proteins. We sought to investigate the possible implication of Hakai in cell-substratum adhesions and invasion in epithelial cells.

Methods
Parental MDCK cells and MDCK cells stably overexpressing Hakai were used to analyse cell-substratum adhesion and invasion capabilities. Western blot and immunofluoresecence analyses were performed to assess the roles of Paxillin, FAK and Vinculin in cell-substratum adhesion. The role of the proteasome in controlling cell-substratum adhesion was studied using two proteasome inhibitors, lactacystin and MG132. To study the molecular mechanisms controlling Paxillin expression, MDCK cells expressing E-cadherin shRNA in a tetracycline-inducible manner was employed.

Results
Here, we present evidence that implicate Hakai in reducing cell-substratum adhesion and increasing epithelial cell invasion, two hallmark features of cancer progression and metastasis. Paxillin, an important protein component of the cell-matrix adhesion, was completely absent from focal adhesions and focal contacts in Hakai-overexpressing MDCK cells. The expression of Paxillin was found to be regulated by a proteasome-independent mechanism, possibly due to the decreased abundance of E-cadherin.

Conclusions
Taken together, these results suggest that Hakai may be involved in two hallmark aspects of tumour progression, the lowering cell-substratum adhesion and the enhancement of cell invasion.