bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
5‐HT2Cantagonism blocks blood oxygen level‐dependent pharmacological‐challenge magnetic resonance imaging signal in rat brain areas related to feeding
Authors: Stark Jennifer A. , McKie Shane , Davies Karen E. , Williams Steve R. , Luckman Simon M. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractIn this study, pharmacological‐challenge magnetic resonance imaging was used to further characterize the central action of serotonin on feeding. In both feeding and pharmacological‐challenge magnetic resonance imaging experiments, we combined 5‐HT1B/2Cagonist m‐chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) challenge with pre‐treatment with the selective 5‐HT1Band 5‐HT2Creceptor antagonists, SB 224289 (2.5 mg/kg) and SB 242084 (2 mg/kg), respectively. Subcutaneous injection of mCPP (3 mg/kg) completely blocked fast‐induced refeeding in freely behaving, non‐anaesthetized male rats, an effect that was not modified by the 5‐HT1Breceptor antagonist but was partially reversed by the 5‐HT2Creceptor antagonist. mCPP alone induced both positive and negative blood oxygen level‐dependent (BOLD) responses in the brains of anaesthetized rats, including in the limbic system and basal ganglia. Overall, the 5‐HT2Cantagonist SB 242084 reversed the effects elicited by mCPP, whereas the 5‐HT1Bantagonist SB 224289 had virtually no impact. SB 242084 eliminated BOLD signal in nuclei associated with the limbic system and diminished activation in basal ganglia. In addition, BOLD signal was returned to baseline levels in the cortical regions and cerebellum. These results suggest that mCPP may reduce food intake by acting specifically on brain circuits that are modulated by 5‐HT2Creceptors in the rat.
DeltaFosB accumulation in ventro‐medial caudate underlies the induction but not the expression of behavioral sensitization by both repeated amphetamine and stress
Authors: Conversi D. , Bonito‐Oliva A. , Orsini C. , Colelli V. , Cabib S. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractBoth repeated psychostimulants and stress have the ability to promote behavioral sensitization, i.e. enhanced behavioral response to drug challenge. To test whether the behavioral phenotype is also accompanied by similar neuroplastic adaptations, the present study evaluated changes in Fos and FosB/DeltaFosB transcription factors induced in the brain of C57BL/6J mice behaviorally sensitized by repeated amphetamine or repeated restraint stress. Groups of mice received repeated injections ofd‐amphetamine or saline in group‐specific environments. Different groups of mice experienced 2 h of restraint daily for 10 consecutive days. Amphetamine‐ pre‐treated mice, drug‐challenged in the environment in which they received drug treatments (Paired), as well as repeatedly stressed mice expressed robust sensitization to the locomotor effects of amphetamine. Both stress‐ and amphetamine‐pre‐treated groups showed changes in amphetamine‐induced Fos expression; however, none of these changes was shared by the two sensitizing treatments. Instead, accumulation of FosB/DeltaFosB immunoreactivity in the ventro‐medial caudate was common to both pre‐treatments. These results support the hypothesis that a common neuroadaptive process involving DeltaFosB accumulation in the ventro‐medial caudate underlies the induction but not the expression of behavioral sensitization by different conditions.
Coding of images of materials by macaque inferior temporal cortical neurons
Authors: Köteles Károly , De Mazière Patrick A. , Van Hulle Marc , Orban Guy A. , Vogels Rufin 
Published: July 2010

AbstractObjects vary not only in their shape but also in the material from which they are made. Knowledge of the material properties can contribute to object recognition as well as indicate properties of the object (e.g. ripeness of a fruit). We examined the coding of images of materials by single neurons of the macaque inferior temporal (IT) cortex, an area known to support object recognition and categorization. Stimuli were images of 12 real materials that were illuminated from three different directions. The material textures appeared within five different outline shapes. The majority of responsive IT neurons responded selectively to the material textures, and this selectivity was largely independent of their shape selectivity. The responses of the large majority of neurons were strongly affected by illumination direction. Despite the generally weak illumination‐direction invariance of the responses, Support Vector Machines that used the neural responses as input were able to classify the materials across illumination direction better than by chance. A comparison between the responses to the original images and those to images with a random spectral phase, but matched power spectrum, indicated that the material texture selectivity did not depend merely on differences in the power spectrum but required phase information.
Tactile responses of hindpaw, forepaw and whisker neurons in the thalamic ventrobasal complex of anesthetized rats
Authors: Aguilar J. , Morales‐Botello M. L. , Foffani G. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe majority of studies investigating responses of thalamocortical neurons to tactile stimuli have focused on the whisker representation of the rat thalamus: the ventral–posterior–medial nucleus (VPM). To test whether the basic properties of thalamocortical responses to tactile stimuli could be extended to the entire ventrobasal complex, we recorded single neurons from the whisker, forepaw and hindpaw thalamic representations. We performed a systematic analysis of responses to stereotyped tactile stimuli − 500 ms pulses (i.e. ON–OFF stimuli) or 1 ms pulses (i.e. impulsive stimuli) − under two different anesthetics (pentobarbital or urethane). We obtained the following main results: (i) the tuning of cells to ON vs. OFF stimuli displayed a gradient across neurons, so that two‐thirds of cells responded more to ON stimuli and one‐third responded more to OFF stimuli; (ii) on average, response magnitudes did not differ between ON and OFF stimuli, whereas latencies of response to OFF stimuli were a few milliseconds longer; (iii) latencies of response to ON and OFF stimuli were highly correlated; (iv) responses to impulsive stimuli and ON stimuli showed a strong correlation, whereas the relationship between the responses to impulsive stimuli and OFF stimuli was subtler; (v) unlike ON responses, OFF responses did not decrease when stimuli were moved from the receptive field center to a close location in the excitatory surround. We obtained the same results for hindpaw, forepaw and whisker neurons. Our results support the view of a neurophysiologically homogeneous ventrobasal complex, in which OFF responses participate in the structure of the spatiotemporal receptive field of thalamocortical neurons for tactile stimuli.
Alterations in serotonin signalling are involved in the hyperactivity of Pitx3‐deficient mice
Authors: Smits Simone M. , Noorlander Cornelle W. , Kas Martien J. H. , Ramakers Geert M. J. , Smidt Marten P. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractPitx3 deficiency in mice causes a dramatic loss of dopaminergic neurones located in the substantia nigra pars compacta during development. This early disruption of the nigrostriatal pathway in Pitx3‐deficient mice is characterized by increased spontaneous home‐cage activity levels during the habitual sleep phase of these animals. These findings are reminiscent of the spontaneous hyperactivity in mice neonatally lesioned with 6‐hydroxydopamine, which is caused by an extensive serotonergic hyperinnervation of the striatum. The present study investigated whether an imbalance between dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5‐HT) signalling is involved in the behavioural phenotype of Pitx3‐deficient mice. Serotonergic hyperinnervation was demonstrated by increased [3H]‐citalopram autoradiographic binding specifically in the dorsal striatum of adult Pitx3‐deficient mice, indicating alterations in 5‐HT transporter levels that correlated to DA dysfunction in Pitx3 deficiency. In addition, stimulus‐induced release of DA and 5‐HT indicated an altered balance between these neurotransmitters in the dorsal striatum of Pitx3–/– mice. To determine whether the increased 5‐HT signalling was involved in the spontaneous hyperactivity during the light phase observed in Pitx3 deficiency, we treated Pitx3‐deficient and control mice with the selective irreversible tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitorp‐chlorophenylalanine to decrease 5‐HT levels. Reduction of 5‐HT levels in Pitx3‐deficient mice decreased their locomotor activity to normal levels, whereas the same treatment increased the locomotor activity levels of control mice. Taken together, our results indicate alterations in 5‐HT signalling in Pitx3‐deficient mice that underlie their spontaneous hyperactivity.
The challenge of contributing to policy making in primary care: the gendered experiences and strategies of nurses
Authors: Hughes Alison 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThis paper explores nurses’ experiences as members of primary care organisations set up to develop and commission health services for local communities. Nurses, alongside GPs and other health professionals, were given a place on the governing bodies (boards) of Local Health Groups – a move widely welcomed by the nursing profession as long overdue recognition of the important contribution nurses and nursing could bring to the policy arena. Nurse board members faced a number of challenges in their attempts to contribute to and influence local health policy. This ethnographic study (which involved non‐participant observation of 33 board meetings and interviews with 29 board members including nurses) suggests that medical authority and control, and hierarchical power relations between doctors and nurses on the board, were seen by nurses as significant obstacles to their participation in this new policy arena. In response to their perceived lack of power and subordinate status, nurses employed a number of strategies to negotiate their participation as board members – these included ‘getting it right’, ‘achieving the right balance’, ‘self‐presentation’ and ‘unassertiveness’. These strategies reflected and reproduced gendered identities and relations of power and raise important questions regarding the influence of nurses and nursing within policy making.
Private Benefits, Warm Glow, and Reputation in the Free and Open Source Software Production Model
Authors: CONLEY JOHN P. , KUNG FAN‐CHIN 
Published: July 2010

AbstractA great deal of production and consumption behavior takes place in the context of social organizations that seem to fall outside of the traditional paradigm of profit/utility maximization. These organizations are voluntary in nature and rely on contributions from members to achieve their objectives. Examples include the Linux operating system and other FOSS projects, political movements, churches and religious groups, Habitat for Humanity, and similar charitable organizations. In this paper, we consider a world containing agents with heterogeneous abilities who may voluntarily choose to make effort contributions to one or more different public projects. Agents are motivated by a desire to be seen as significant contributors to important and valuable projects, the warm glow from the act of contributing, and a desire to directly enjoy the benefits of projects when complete. We find that contributions from others can be either strategic complements or substitutes. We show that Nash equilibria exist and study how agents’ abilities and project quality affect the equilibrium levels of contributions.
Half a Century of Public Software Institutions: Open Source as a Solution to Hold‐Up Problem
Authors: SCHWARZ MICHAEL , TAKHTEYEV YURI 
Published: July 2010

AbstractWe argue that the intrinsic inefficiency of proprietary software has historically created a space for alternative institutions that provide software as a public good. We discuss several sources of such inefficiency, focusing on one that has not been described in the literature: the underinvestment due to fear of hold‐up. An inefficient hold‐up occurs when a user of software must make complementary investments, when the return on such investments depends on future cooperation of the software vendor, and when contracting about a future relationship with the software vendor is not feasible. We also consider how the nature of the production function of software makes software cheaper to develop when the code is open to the end users. Our framework explains why open source dominates certain sectors of the software industry (e.g., programming languages), while being almost non existent in some other sectors (e.g., computer games). We then use our discussion of efficiency to examine the history of institutions for provision of public software from the early collaborative projects of the 1950s to the modern “open source” software institutions. We look at how such institutions have created a sustainable coalition for provision of software as a public good by organizing diverse individual incentives, both altruistic and profit‐seeking, providing open source products of tremendous commercial importance, which have come to dominate certain segments of the software industry.
The Effect of Status on Charitable Giving
Authors: KUMRU CAGRI S. , VESTERLUND LISE 
Published: July 2010

AbstractFundraisers often start their campaigns by soliciting the wealthier, more recognized, and respected individuals in a community. We examine whether the success of this solicitation ordering in part can be attributed to the fact that it enables individuals to select organizations that have a high‐status donor base. Assuming that individuals prefer to associate with individuals of higher social ranking we use a simple linear model to show that both aggregate donations and earnings are larger when high‐status donors are solicited first. We investigate the predicted comparative statics using the experimental laboratory. Inducing a status differential we reverse the contribution ordering between participants of high and low status. Consistent with current fundraising practice, we find that low‐status followers are likely to mimic donations by high‐status leaders and this encourages high‐status leaders to give. Donations are therefore larger when individuals of high status give before rather than after those of low status.
Leadership in Public Good Provision: A Timing Game Perspective
Authors: KEMPF HUBERT , GRAZIOSI GRÉGOIRE ROTA 
Published: July 2010

AbstractWe address in this paper the issue of leadership when two governments provide public goods to their constituencies with cross‐border externalities as both public goods are valued by consumers in both countries. We study a timing game between two different countries: before providing public goods, the two policymakers non‐cooperatively decide their preferred sequence of moves. We establish conditions under which a first‐ or second‐mover advantage emerges for each country, highlighting the role of spillovers and the complementarity or substitutability of public goods. As a result, we are able to prove that there is no leader when, for both countries, public goods are substitutable. When public goods are complements for both countries, each of them may emerge as the leader in the game. Hence a coordination issue arises. We use the notion of risk‐dominance to select the leading government. Finally, in the mixed case, the government for whom public goods are substitutable becomes the leader.
Resource Allocation in Public Agencies: Experimental Evidence
Authors: CARDENAS JUAN CAMILO , SETHI RAJIV 
Published: July 2010

AbstractMany organizations, including philanthropies and public agencies, require their employees to make resource allocation decisions that are intended to serve a broad social purpose or mission. In most cases, the criteria on the basis of which scarce funds are to be allocated are imprecisely specified, leaving agents with considerable discretionary power. This paper reports results from an experiment that explores the manner in which such power is exercised. Using a sample of public servants working in education, health, child care, and nutrition programs in Colombia, and a sample of potential and actual beneficiaries of such programs, we attempt to identify the set of recipient attributes that induce the most generous responses from officials. This is done using a design we call the “distributive dictator game,” which requires officials to rank recipients, with the understanding that a higher ranking corresponds to an increased likelihood of getting a voucher convertible into cash. We find that women (especially widows), individuals with many minor dependents, and refugees from political violence are generally favored. We also find significant interaction effects between ranker and recipient attributes, with rankings varying systematically by ranker age and gender.
A Core‐Equilibrium Convergence in a Public Goods Economy
Authors: ALLOUCH NIZAR 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThis paper shows a core‐equilibrium convergence in a public goods economy where consumers' preferences display warm glow effects. We demonstrate that if each consumer becomes satiated to other consumers' provision, then as the economy grows large the core shrinks to the set of Edgeworth allocations. Moreover, we show that an Edgeworth allocation can be decentralized as a warm glow equilibrium.
Balancing efficacy and safety in the management of atopic dermatitis: the role of methylprednisolone aceponate
Authors: Luger TA 
Published: July 2010

AbstractAlthough emollients can be sufficient to manage mild atopic dermatitis (AD), acute flares resulting in moderate‐to‐severe symptoms require treatment with anti‐inflammatory agents, such as topical corticosteroids (TCs) and topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs). This review examines the role of a member of the newest class of TCs, the fourth‐generation compound methylprednisolone aceponate (MPA) in AD management, with reference to the chemical structure, pharmacokinetics, efficacy in AD, safety assessed in preclinical and clinical trials and dosing considerations. MPA has an optimized efficacy/safety profile with minimal local or systemic adverse effects. In addition, it offers the opportunity for once‐daily dosing, which provides benefits in terms of patient compliance with treatment.
An exploration of the influence of food labels on South African consumers' purchasing behaviour
Authors: Kempen Elizabeth , Bosman Magdalena , Bouwer Carien , Klein Riana , van der Merwe Daleen 
Published: July 2010

AbstractNew labelling legislation in South Africa is expected to help consumers sustain a healthy lifestyle through the food choices they make. This study was undertaken to explore a sample of South African consumers' reasons for reading labels and the influence of food labels on their purchasing behaviour. The study was conducted using focus group discussions held with label reading consumers in Potchefstroom in the North West Province of South Africa. Findings suggested that these participants read food labels to assess the nutritional value, personal benefits, health attributes and product quality. Various purchasing influences were also identified, suggesting that consumers are in some cases motivated by food labels to purchase a product, or may be unresponsive to the label or indifferent by being aware of the information but not reluctant to buy a product that does not indicate essential information. Several indirect consideration factors such as situational factors (e.g. family), extrinsic (e.g. price) and intrinsic (e.g. taste) may contribute to the purchasing behaviour of some consumers. These findings are useful to propose a perceptual model of the way in which food labels influence purchasing behaviour of a sample of South African consumers and explain the role of food labels in the purchasing decision of label‐reading consumers. This information is especially significant for new packaging and labelling initiatives as it highlights the reasons why label‐reading South African consumers read label information.
Association Between Borrower and Lender State Ownership and Accounting Conservatism
Authors: CHEN HANWEN , CHEN JEFF ZEYUN , LOBO GERALD J. , WANG YANYAN 
Published: July 2010

ABSTRACTWe examine the association between borrower (firm) and lender (bank) state ownership and accounting conservatism for a sample of Chinese firms. We hypothesize that state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) adopt less conservative accounting than non‐state‐owned enterprises (NSOEs) because lenders are less concerned with downside risk for SOEs than for NSOEs. We also hypothesize a negative relation between conservatism and the fraction of total loans a firm borrows from state‐owned banks (SBs) because SBs have weaker demand for assurance of sufficient net assets to cover loan repayments than non‐state‐owned banks (NSBs). We find support for both hypotheses. Further analyses reveal that: (1) firms that borrow from commercial SBs exhibit more conservative accounting than firms that borrow from policy SBs and (2) firms adopt more conservative accounting as they get more loans from banks with foreign ownership or exclusively foreign banks. However, the results of these additional analyses are to some extent sensitive to alternative measures of accounting conservatism.
The Quality of Warfarin Prescribing and Monitoring in Veterans Affairs Nursing Homes
Authors: Aspinall Sherrie L. , Zhao Xinhua , Handler Steven M. , Stone Roslyn A. , Kosmoski Janine C. , Libby Elizabeth A. , Francis Susan Dove , Goodman David A. , Roman Rebecca D. , Bieber Heather L. , Voisine Jennifer M. , Jeffery Sean M. , Hepfinger Charley A. , Hagen Diane G. , Martin Micki M. , Hanlon Joseph T. 
Published: July 2010

OBJECTIVES: To describe the quality of warfarin prescribing and monitoring in Veterans Affairs (VA) nursing homes and to assess the factors associated with maintaining a therapeutic international normalized ratio (INR).DESIGN: Retrospective cohort.SETTING: Five VA nursing homes.PARTICIPANTS: All veterans who received warfarin between January 1 and June 30, 2008, at the nursing homes.MEASUREMENTS: Using medical records, the percentage of person‐time spent in the target INR range, the proportion of patients with INRs in the therapeutic range on 50% or more of their person‐days, and the frequency of INR monitoring were estimated. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with maintaining a therapeutic INR 50% or more of the time.RESULTS: Over 6 months, 160 patients received 10,380 person‐days of warfarin. INRs were in the therapeutic range for 55% of the person‐days, and 99% of the INR tests were repeated within 4 weeks of the previous result. On an individual level, 49% of patients had INRs in the target range for 50% or more of their person‐days. Achieving this outcome was more likely in patients with prevalent warfarin use than with new use (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=2.86, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.06–7.72). Conversely, patients with a history of a stroke (AOR=0.38, 95% CI =0.18–0.80) were less likely to have therapeutic INRs for 50% or more of their days.CONCLUSION: Warfarin appears to be prescribed and monitored effectively in VA nursing home patients. Future studies should focus on increasing time in therapeutic range in patients with poor INR control.