bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Stressors in the intensive care unit: comparing the perceptions of Chinese patients and their family
Authors: Pang Pounds S. K. , Suen Lorna K. P. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractAdmission into an intensive care unit (ICU) is deemed a stressful event by both patients and their families. It has been reported that relatives often have a different perception of the patients' stress levels in comparison with the patients themselves. This study aims to identify stressors in the ICU as perceived by the Chinese patients and their relatives. A convenience sample of 60 patients and 60 relatives was selected for this study. The Intensive Care Unit Stressor Questionnaire [Chinese] was tapped to collect the patients' perceptions of stressors. Their respective relatives were likewise asked to rate the stressors according to how they perceive the patients would rate them. A comparison between the two sets of questionnaires would reveal that the relatives evaluated the items to be more stressful than the actual perception of patients. The overall perceived stress level of ICU patients was significantly lower than their respective relatives' (z = −6.51, p < 0.001), with a mean difference of 44.71 (mean: 61.57 versus 106.28) between the two groups. It is therefore essential that appropriate strategies be implemented to alleviate the stressful feelings perceived by the patients and their families. The influence of cultural beliefs on the perceived stress level of the general Chinese population was likewise highlighted. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism impacts parahippocampal and amygdala volume in healthy humans: incremental support for a genetic risk factor for depression
Authors: Montag C. , Weber B. , Fliessbach K. , Elger C. , Reuter M. 
Published: April 2009

BackgroundThe role of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the pathogenesis of affective disorders such as depression has been controversial. Mounting evidence comes from structural imaging, that the functional BDNF Val66Met polymorphism influences the hippocampal volume with carriers of the 66Met allele (Val/Met and Met/Met group) having smaller hippocampi. Given that stress-induced atrophy of the hippocampus is associated with the pathogenesis of affective disorders, the functional BDNF Val66Met polymorphism could be an incremental risk factor.MethodEighty-seven healthy Caucasian participants underwent structural imaging and were genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism. Data were analysed by means of voxel-based morphometry (VBM).ResultsRegion of interest (ROI) analyses revealed an association between the 66Met allele and smaller parahippocampal volumes and a smaller right amygdala. In addition, the whole-brain analysis showed that the thalamus, fusiformus gyrus and several parts of the frontal gyrus were smaller in 66Met allele carriers.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that the impact of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism is not confined to the hippocampus but also extends to the parahippocampal gyrus and the amygdala.
Childhood and adolescent hyperactivity-inattention symptoms and academic achievement 8 years later: the GAZEL Youth study
Authors: Galéra C. , Melchior M. , Chastang J.-F. , Bouvard M.-P. , Fombonne E. 
Published: April 2009

BackgroundChildren with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk of negative academic outcomes. However, relatively few studies in this area have been based on long-term longitudinal designs and community-based settings. This study examined the link between childhood hyperactivity-inattention symptoms (HI-s) and subsequent academic achievement in a community setting, controlling for other behavioural symptoms, socio-economic status (SES) and environmental factors at baseline.MethodThe sample consisted of 1264 subjects (aged 12 to 26 years at follow-up) recruited from the longitudinal GAZEL Youth study. Psychopathology, environmental variables and academic outcomes were measured through self-reports. Multivariate modelling was performed to evaluate the effects of childhood HI-s and other risk factors on academic achievement 8 years later.ResultsHI-s independently predicted grade retention [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 3.58, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.38–5.39], failure to graduate from secondary school (adjusted OR 2.41, 95% CI 1.43–4.05), obtaining a lower-level diploma (adjusted OR 3.00, 95% CI 1.84–4.89), and lower academic performance. These results remained significant even after accounting for school difficulties at baseline. Negative academic outcomes were also significantly associated with childhood symptoms of conduct disorder (CD), even after accounting for adjustment variables.ConclusionsThis longitudinal survey replicates, in a general population-based setting, the finding of a link between HI-s and negative academic outcomes.
Short-term post-dispersal fate of seeds defecated by two small primate species (Saguinus mystaxandSaguinus fuscicollis) in the Amazonian forest of Peru
Authors: Culot Laurence , Huynen Marie-Claude , Gérard Paul , Heymann Eckhard W. 
Published: April 2009

Abstract:Post-dispersal fate of seeds dispersed by large primates is well studied but little is known about this process in small frugivores like tamarins. This study in the Amazonian forest of Peru aimed at investigating if characteristics related to the defecation patterns of tamarins (Saguinus mystaxandSaguinus fuscicollis) affected short-term post-dispersal seed fate, through secondary seed dispersal by dung beetles and removal by seed predators. Data on dung beetle activity were based on direct observations of 49 defecations while seed fate was studied using semi-controlled experiments (N = 458 for secondary dispersal and N = 398 for predation). Tamarins produce small defecations with a low number of seeds. Thirty-five per cent of defecations were visited by an average of 1.5 dung beetles that usually transport the faeces as pellets. Twenty-four per cent of seeds were buried by beetles at a mean depth of 3.5 cm. With increasing quantities of faecal matter, the probability of secondary seed dispersal increased but not the depth of burial. Seed predation pressure was low (17.6%) after 4 d and higher in faeces ofS. mystaxthan in faeces ofS. fuscicollis. Despite their small size, tamarins could be considered as high-quality seed dispersers, with a potential role for forest regeneration.
The latrine effect: impact of howler monkeys on the distribution of small seeds in a tropical rain-forest soil
Authors: Pouvelle Sandrine , Jouard Sylvie , Feer François , Tully Thomas , Ponge Jean-François 
Published: April 2009

Abstract:We studied the impact of dung deposition by the red howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus), and subsequent burial by dung beetles and other biotic and abiotic processes, on the distribution of small seeds in the soil seed bank (Nouragues Reserve, French Guiana). Seeds were collected from 54 soil samples taken under three sleeping sites and adjoining control sites, at three positions according to a fixed grid and at three different depths (0–2, 2–4 and 4–6 cm). Despite large differences between the three sites, defecation areas (latrines) were found to contain more seeds and higher seed diversity than control areas. Seed density decreased with depth in the top 6 cm in two sites but not in the third. Shannon diversity decreased with depth in both defecation and control areas. Differences in the distribution of seeds of different species were found according to size and growth habits (pioneer vs non-pioneer species). The viability of seeds, ascertained from toughness and integrity of the seed coat, varied according to depth, site and defecation. Seed viability was on average higher in defecation areas compared with control areas.
Predicting behavior problems in deaf and hearing children: The influences of language, attention, and parent–child communication
Authors: Barker David H. , Quittner Alexandra L. , Fink Nancy E. , Eisenberg Laurie S. , Tobey Emily A. , Niparko John K. ,   The CDaCI Investigative Team
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe development of language and communication may play an important role in the emergence of behavioral problems in young children, but they are rarely included in predictive models of behavioral development. In this study, cross-sectional relationships between language, attention, and behavior problems were examined using parent report, videotaped observations, and performance measures in a sample of 116 severely and profoundly deaf and 69 normally hearing children ages 1.5 to 5 years. Secondary analyses were performed on data collected as part of the Childhood Development After Cochlear Implantation Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hearing-impaired children showed more language, attention, and behavioral difficulties, and spent less time communicating with their parents than normally hearing children. Structural equation modeling indicated there were significant relationships between language, attention, and child behavior problems. Language was associated with behavior problems both directly and indirectly through effects on attention. Amount of parent–child communication was not related to behavior problems.
Diet quality – what is it and does it matter?
Authors: Wirt Annika , Collins Clare E 
Published: April 2009

AbstractObjectiveMeasures of diet quality have evolved with a number of scoring indices currently in use. They are increasingly being used to examine epidemiological associations between dietary intake and nutrition-related health outcomes. The present review aims to describe current diet quality tools and their applications, and to examine the relationship between diet quality and morbidity and mortality.DesignA search was conducted of MEDLINE, Cochrane, EMBASE, CINAHL and ProQuest electronic databases. Inclusion criteria were: English language; published from 2004 on; conducted in adult populations; longitudinal/cohort/case–control or cross-sectional study; included a theoretically defined measure of diet quality.ResultsA total of twenty-five indices of overall diet quality and/or variety were found, with components ranging from nutrients only to adherence to recommended food group servings, to variety within healthful food groups. The majority of studies reviewed had methodological weaknesses but demonstrated that higher dietary quality was consistently inversely related to all-cause mortality, with a protective effect of moderate magnitude. The associations were stronger for men and for all-cause and CVD mortality.ConclusionsThe limitations of both the indices and the studies that use them need to be considered when interpreting and comparing results. However, diet quality indices do appear to be able to quantify risk of some health outcomes, including biomarkers of disease and risk of CVD, some cancers and mortality. Further research is needed to improve the validity of these tools and to adapt them for use in clinical dietetic practice.
StatQuant: a post-quantification analysis toolbox for improving quantitative mass spectrometry
Authors: van Breukelen Bas , van den Toorn Henk W. P. , Drugan Madalina M. , Heck Albert J. R. 
Published: April 2009

Abstract
Motivation: Mass spectrometric protein quantitation has emerged as a high-throughput tool to yield large amounts of data on peptide and protein abundances. Currently, differential abundance data can be calculated from peptide intensity ratios by several automated quantitation software packages available. There is, however, still a great need for additional processing to validate and refine the quantitation results. Here, we present a software tool, termed StatQuant, that offers a set of statistical tools to process, filter, compare and represent data from several quantitative proteomics software packages such as MSQuant. StatQuant offers the researcher post-processing methods to achieve improved confidence on the obtained protein ratios.
Availability: StatQuant can be downloaded from: https://gforge.nbic.nl/projects/statquant/ (binary and source code).
Contact: b.vanbreukelen@uu.nl
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Reconstitution of Nucleosomal Arrays Using Recombinant Drosophila ACF and NAP1
Authors: Peterson Craig L. 
Published: April 2009

INTRODUCTIONThe goal of chromatin assembly procedures is to prepare extended nucleosomal arrays from cloned DNA templates and purified core and linker histones. The assembled chromatin should be highly defined in its protein content and resemble bulk chromatin isolated from living cell nuclei in terms of periodicity and nucleosome positioning. This protocol describes how to assemble minichromosome templates in an ATP-dependent fashion from circular plasmid DNA and purified core histones. This system can also be used to assemble minichromosomes from linear DNA (plasmid and λ) and can also incorporate proteins other than core histones (linker histone H1, HMG17, and DNA-binding transcription factors). The products of the chromatin assembly reaction can be used directly (or after purification) in assays to study transcription, DNA replication, recombination, and repair. The system uses purified recombinant Drosophila chromatin assembly factors ACF (ATP-utilizing chromatin assembly and remodeling factor) and NAP1 (nucleosome assembly protein 1).
Induction of Larval Metamorphosis in the Snail Ilyanassa: Figure 1.
Authors: Gharbiah Maey , Cooley James , Leise Esther M. , Nakamoto Ayaki , Rabinowitz Jeremy S. , Lambert J. David , Nagy Lisa M. 
Published: April 2009

INTRODUCTIONThe marine gastropod Ilyanassa obsoleta is a long-standing and very useful model for studies of embryonic development. It is an especially important model for spiralian development, and for studies of asymmetric cell division. The embryos are amenable to classic embryological manipulation techniques as well as a growing number of molecular approaches. Ilyanassa is also an important model for studies of metamorphosis, the ecology of parasitism, the effects of environmental contaminants on morphology and sexual function, and comparative neurobiology. Ilyanassa adults are readily obtainable and easy to keep in the laboratory, and they can produce high-quality embryos nearly year-round in the laboratory. After hatching from capsules, larval Ilyanassa can be maintained in culture, feeding on single-celled algae. The larvae will become competent to undergo metamorphosis after ~3 wk in culture. Metamorphosis can be induced artificially by treating with either the neurotransmitter serotonin or the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor 7-nitroindazole. Both of these reagents have been shown to induce metamorphosis in >75% of larvae within 48 h. This protocol describes the induction of metamorphosis in snail larvae.
Enzymatic Synthesis of Multi-Milligram Quantities of Large, Linear DNA Molecules for Structural Studies
Authors: Jeruzalmi David 
Published: April 2009

INTRODUCTIONStructural analyses of large protein-DNA complexes (such as those associated with replication initiation, eukaryotic transcription activation or chromatin remodeling, among others) remain a challenge because of difficulties in obtaining multi-milligram quantities of high-quality preparations of large, linear DNA molecules. This protocol describes a three-stage DNA amplification procedure for making such molecules in amounts that are suitable for structural studies. In the first step, conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specialized primer sequences is used to prepare a DNA molecule suitable for self-primed DNA synthesis. This molecule, which consists of the sequence of interest flanked by the cohesive end sequences from bacteriophage λ as well as endonuclease recognition sites, is then submitted to self-primed DNA synthesis in the second step. Amplification produces long polymers of DNA, tens of kilobases in length, which harbor many copies of the sequence of interest. The yield from the second step is increased in the third phase, which consists of another round of amplification. Finally, endonuclease digestion of these polymers, followed by chromatographic purification, yields high-quality preparations of DNA. The molecules produced by this procedure consist of the DNA sequence of interest with three base pairs at either end. This procedure typically yields 400-800 μg of purified DNA per milliliter of amplification reaction.
Recovery of DNA Sequences Flanking P-Element Insertions in Drosophila: Inverse PCR and Plasmid Rescue
Authors: Huang Audrey M. , Rehm E. Jay , Rubin Gerald M. 
Published: April 2009

INTRODUCTIONThe Drosophila melanogaster P-transposable element is a powerful and widely used research tool. Sequences flanking the P-element can be recovered and the site of insertion can be mapped to the nucleotide, to connect the genetic and physical maps and facilitate molecular analysis of the gene of interest. The Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP) has assembled a well-characterized collection of lethal mutations induced by single P-element insertions generated by a number of laboratories. The genomic DNA sequences adjacent to these insertions have been recovered by either plasmid rescue or inverse polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The combination of a complete genomic DNA sequence and relatively fast and easy molecular methods for mapping P-element insertion sites to the nucleotide enhances the use of P-elements as tools in Drosophila research. This protocol provides detailed procedures for isolating DNA flanking P-element insertions.
High‐risk children with challenging behaviour: changing directions for them and their families
Authors: Rose Wendy , Aldgate Jane , McIntosh Miranda , Hunter Helen 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper is about an evaluation of three centre‐based projects established by a voluntary organization under the Scottish Government's Youth Crime Prevention Fund, to work with primary school‐aged children displaying challenging and antisocial behaviour. Following a brief overview of what is known about effective interventions, the paper describes the projects' ways of working, including their remit and ethos. The core intervention chosen was the well‐tested Webster‐Stratton training programme,The Incredible Years. Wrap around services were also developed and staff modelled the projects' ethos, promoting children's participation and parents' empowerment. The evaluation is described, noting the limited time and resources at the disposal of the evaluation team. The evaluation team adopted a broad definition of evidence, using a range of measures to explore the processes of project development and service intervention, the meaning to the children and families who used the services, and the impact on children's behaviour and parents' levels of stress. The results were modest but encouraging. They suggested that the projects had provided valuable turning points for some of the children with out‐of‐control behaviour and their families. Finally, it is suggested that a better way to evaluate such projects could be to use complexity theory
Using an evidence‐based CBT group intervention model for adolescents with depressive symptoms: lessons learned from a school‐based adaptation
Authors: Ruffolo Mary C. , Fischer Daniel 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper highlights the process of implementing and adapting an evidence‐based cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) depression group intervention model for adolescents (ages 11–18) in two middle schools and one alternative high school in the USA. The paper describes the process of moving an evidence‐based intervention from a clinic‐based setting to a school‐based setting by engaging in the following steps: (1) reviewing the literature and selecting the evidence‐based intervention with the greatest chance of success in the school environment; (2) adapting the evidence‐based intervention to address delivery issues in a school setting; (3) preparing social workers to deliver the evidence‐based intervention with fidelity; (4) evaluating the fidelity and outcomes of the implementation of the evidence‐based intervention; and (5) addressing issues of sustainability or continuous quality improvement of the evidence‐based intervention. The paper concludes with a section on lessons learned from piloting an adaptation of an evidence‐based intervention in a real world setting.
Darwin’s changing views on evolution: from centres of origin and teleology to vicariance and incomplete lineage sorting
Authors: Heads Michael 
Published: April 2009

AbstractIt is a strange fact that in many ways the first edition of Charles Darwin’sOrigin of Speciesis closer to modern neodarwinism than the sixth and last edition. Sometimes this is attributed to a decline in the quality of the argument, but the opposite interpretation is given here. It is suggested that Darwin’s early work on evolution is naïve and based on the two creationist principles of centre of origin and teleology (panselectionism). This fusion later became the ‘modern synthesis’. However, after the first edition of theOrigin, Darwin developed a non‐teleological synthesis that integrated natural selection with what he called ‘laws of growth’– phylogenetic/morphogenetic trends or tendencies. Discussion of Darwin’s later, more sophisticated model of evolution has been suppressed in the teleological modern synthesis, but similar ideas are re‐emerging in current work on molecular phylogenetics and biogeography. This indicates that the ancestor of a group can be diverse in its morphology and its ecology, that this diversity can be inherited, and that groups usually originate over a broad region and not at a single point.
Spatial and temporal population genetic structure of four northeastern Pacific littorinid gastropods: the effect of mode of larval development on variation at one mitochondrial and two nuclear DNA markers
Authors: JE LEE HYUK , BOULDING ELIZABETH G. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractWe investigated the effect of development mode on the spatial and temporal population genetic structure of four littorinid gastropod species. Snails were collected from the same three sites on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada in 1997 and again in 2007. DNA sequences were obtained for one mitochondrial gene, cytochrome b (Cyt b), and for up to two nuclear genes, heat shock cognate 70 (HSC70) and aminopeptidase N intron (APN54). We found that the mean level of genetic diversity and long‐term effective population sizes (Ne) were significantly greater for two species, Littorina scutulata and L. plena, that had a planktotrophic larval stage than for two species, Littorina sitkana and L. subrotundata, that laid benthic egg masses which hatched directly into crawl‐away juveniles. Predictably, two poorly dispersing species, L. sitkana and L. subrotundata, showed significant spatial genetic structure at an 11‐ to 65‐km geographical scale that was not observed in the two planktotrophic species. Conversely, the two planktotrophic species had more temporal genetic structure over a 10‐year interval than did the two direct‐developing species and showed highly significant temporal structure for spatially pooled samples. The greater temporal genetic variation of the two planktotrophic species may have been caused by their high fecundity, high larval dispersal, and low but spatially correlated early survivorship. The sweepstakes‐like reproductive success of the planktotrophic species could allow a few related females to populate hundreds of kilometres of coastline and may explain their substantially larger temporal genetic variance but lower spatial genetic variance relative to the direct‐developing species.