bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Critical realism as emancipatory action: the case for realistic evaluation in practice development
Authors: Wilson Valerie , McCormack Brendan 
Published: January 2006

Abstract  To provide rigour when preparing a research design, the researcher needs to carefully consider not only the methodology but also the philosophical intent of the study. This, however, is often absent from reported research and provides the reader with little evidence by which to judge the merits of the chosen methodology and its influence on the study. The purpose of this paper is to set out the case for critical realism as a framework to guide appropriate action in practice development and realistic evaluation for understanding the consequences of those actions.It is evident that critical realism and critical social science share common ground. Emancipatory practice development (ePD) is based on the philosophy of critical social science and therefore by virtue is linked to the tenets of critical realism. Until now, the evaluation of ePD programme has been well served by 4th‐generation evaluation. However, this paper outlines the need for a different approach to evaluation, one that is based on critical realism, that is concerned with emancipation, and that can be used in the ever‐changing environment of clinical practice. Realistic evaluation not only links strongly to ePD programmes, but also serves as the basis for effective research questions that will test the outcomes of the research and inform the transferability of ePD mechanisms into differing contexts.
Range size‐abundance relationships in Australian passerines
Authors: Symonds Matthew R. E. , Johnson Christopher N. 
Published: January 2006

ABSTRACTAim To investigate the relationship between geographical range size and abundance (population density) in Australian passerines.Location Australia (including Tasmania).Methods We analysed the relationship between range size and local abundance for 272 species of Australian passerines, across the whole order and within families. We measured abundance as mean and maximum abundance, and used a phylogenetic generalized least‐squares regression method within a maximum‐likelihood framework to control for effects of phylogeny. We also analysed the relationship within seven different habitat types.Results There was no correlation between range size and abundance for the whole set of species across all habitats. Analyses within families revealed some strong correlations but showed no consistent pattern. Likewise we found little evidence for any relationship or conflicting patterns in different habitats, except that woodland/forest habitat species exhibit a negative correlation between mean abundance and range size, whilst species in urban habitats exhibit a significant positive relationship between maximum abundance and range size. Despite the general lack of correlation, the raw data plots of range size and abundance in this study occupied a triangular space, with narrowly distributed species exhibiting a greater variation in abundances than widely distributed species. However, using a null model analysis, we demonstrate that this was due to a statistical artefact generated by the frequency distributions for the individual variables.Conclusions We find no evidence for a positive range size‐abundance relationship among Australian passerines. This absence of a relationship cannot be explained by any conflicting effects introduced by comparing across different habitats, nor is it explained by the fact that large proportions of Australia are arid. We speculate that the considerable isolation and evolutionary age of Australian passerines may be an explanatory factor.
Normative Trends in Children's Perceptions of Availability and Utilization of Attachment Figures in Middle Childhood
Authors: Kerns Kathryn A. , Tomich Patricia L. , Kim Patricia 
Published: January 2006

AbstractTwo studies addressed the normative aspects of attachments to mothers and fathers in middle childhood. Using both cross‐sectional and longitudinal comparisons, we tested the hypothesis that children show no changes in perceptions of availability of attachment figures across the later middle childhood years, but do utilize attachment figures less at older ages. The first study included a cross‐sectional comparison of third and sixth graders, and the second study was a follow‐up on the third graders when they were in fifth grade. Both studies suggested a decline in utilization, but not in perceptions of availability of attachment figures within the later middle childhood years. Study 1 also demonstrated that children turn to parents to meet attachment needs, and peers to meet companionship needs. Study 2 examined individual differences in attachment by exploring how changes in attachment to mothers from third to fifth grade were related to children's social adjustment at fifth grade. Increases in perceptions of availability forecast better emotional and behavioral regulation at fifth grade. Changes in utilization of attachment figures showed both linear and nonlinear relations to regulation.
Preschool Boys with Pervasive Hyperactivity: Early Peer Functioning and Mother–Child Relationship Influences
Authors: Keown Louise J. , Woodward Lianne J. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis study compared the peer functioning of a community sample of preschool boys with pervasive hyperactivity (N=33) and comparison boys (N=34), and examined the extent to which any differences in peer functioning between these groups could be explained by comorbid child conduct problems and parenting factors. The quality of boys’ peer relations was assessed on the basis of teacher and observer ratings of peer‐related behavior at preschool. The quality of parenting and boys’ behavior at home were assessed using the Parental Account of Children's Symptoms Interview, the Parenting Scale, and videotaped mother–son interactions. Boys with hyperactive behavior problems showed higher rates of aggressive, noncompliant, and nonsocial behaviors, and lower rates of prosocial behavior and peer acceptance than boys in the comparison group. These between‐group differences in social functioning remained significant following statistical control for the effects of conduct problems, highlighting the wide range of peer difficulties associated with preschool hyperactivity. Results of further analyses suggest that the quality of early mother–child interactions and the behavioral features of hyperactivity may make unique contributions to the 00development of peer relationship difficulties in preschool children with pervasive hyperactivity.
Self‐perceived Social Acceptance and Peer Social Standing in Children with Aggressive–Disruptive Behaviors
Authors: Pardini Dustin A. , Barry Tammy D. , Barth Joan M. , Lochman John E. , Wells Karen C. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractExamining children's perceptions of their social acceptance in conjunction with others’ ratings of their peer social standing can enhance our understanding of the heterogeneity in children exhibiting disruptive behavior problems. Using a sample of 213 youth rated in the top 31 percent of their class on aggressive–disruptive behaviors, the current study examined the interaction between children's perceptions of their social acceptance and their peer‐rated social standing in predicting emotional and behavioral problems. Overall, lower peer‐rated social standing was associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior, academic problems, and hyperactivity/inattention. On the other hand, higher self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased levels of peer‐rated fighting at school. For children who were rated as having high social standing among their peers, poorer self‐perceived social acceptance was associated with increased oppositional behaviors and conduct problems at home. In addition, children who reported lower self‐perceived social acceptance exhibited increased levels of depressive symptoms, even when they were relatively well liked by their peers. The potential implications for working with subgroups of children with aggressive–disruptive behaviors are discussed.
Children's and Adolescents’ Expectations of Aggressive Responses to Provocation: Females Predict More Hostile Reactions in Compatible Dyadic Relationships
Authors: Benenson Joyce F. , Sinclair Nancy , Dolenszky Eva 
Published: January 2006

AbstractChildren and adolescents between 6 and 15 years of age were asked to report on typical same‐sex peers’ aggressive responses to a hostile act that had occurred in dyads and groups that were either compatible or incompatible. Results demonstrated that females were expected to display the highest levels of aggression in compatible one‐on‐one relationships as opposed to in compatible group relationships or in incompatible relationships. Males did not differ across the type of relationship in the level of aggression that they were expected to display. The connection between investment in a relationship and aggression is considered.
Gender Differences in Verbal Communication between Popular and Unpopular Children During an Interactive Task
Authors: Murphy Suzanne M. , Faulkner Dorothy 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis study investigated gender differences in communication effectiveness between popular and unpopular 5‐ to 7‐year‐old children. Because previous research suggests that there may be gender differences in how popular and unpopular children communicate with each other, 24 same‐gender pairs (each containing a popular and an unpopular child) were videotaped playing a game. Communication effectiveness was assessed by measuring the incidence of forms of speech associated with successful collaboration (questions, directives, and elaborations). Results revealed a popularity by gender interaction. Popular girls used a greater incidence of these forms of speech compared to unpopular girls. By contrast, there was no difference in the speech of popular and unpopular boys. Findings are interpreted in relation to the nature of the task and the characteristics of popular and unpopular children.
Concepts of Real and Imaginary Friendships in Early Childhood
Authors: Gleason Tracy R. , Hohmann Lisa M. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis investigation focused on the friendship concepts of pre‐school‐aged children. Eighty‐four 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children responded to questions about social provisions, or benefits of relationships, available from reciprocal friends (both children in a pair nominate each other as friends), unilateral friends (one child nominates the other), non‐friends (neither child of a pair nominates the other), and imaginary friends (for those who had them). Results indicated that reciprocal and imaginary friends were the best sources of social provisions, followed by unilateral friends and non‐friends. Major implications are that children draw distinctions between reciprocal and unilateral friends based on the levels of social provisions available in these relationships, and that relationship schemas underlying relationships with imaginary companions may be akin to those for reciprocal friends. Children's friendship schemata may also differ by gender, as girls discriminated more than boys between reciprocal and unilateral friends for the social provision of companionship.
Triadic Interaction among Newly Acquainted 2‐year‐olds
Authors: Ishikawa Fumiko , Hay Dale F. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractAre children as young as 2 years old able to interact in groups of three? The study applied the family triad model first introduced by Parke, Power, and Gottman (1979) to the case of peer interaction. In Experiment 1, the model was refined for use in studies of peer interaction and applied to an existing dataset of 16 triads of newly acquainted 24‐month‐olds. In Experiment 2, the triadic coding system was further refined and applied to 12 single‐sex triads of newly acquainted 2‐year‐olds. The findings demonstrated that 2‐year‐olds are capable of triadic interaction although the predominant interaction pattern in triads is still dyadic. Contrary to past reports, triadic interaction was more likely to occur when the children were not in conflict. Both girls and boys were capable of triadic interaction.
Exploring Correlation Coefficients with Golf Statistics
Authors: Quinn Robert J 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThis article explores the relationships between several pairs of statistics kept on professional golfers on the PGA tour. Specifically, two measures related to the player's ability to drive the ball are compared as are two measures related to the player's ability to putt. An additional analysis is made between one statistic related to putting and another that measures how effectively the player tends to reach the green. An analysis of which statistic has the most impact on a player's score is also included. The article concludes with an interesting extension relating the statistics of professionals to the performance of an amateur golfer.
Height, Foot Length and Threat to Woodland: Positive Learning from Pupil Relevant Data
Authors: Turner Claire 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThis article shows how the CensusAtSchool project can be implemented in the classroom to make data handling much more real and relevant. It includes full lesson plans and notes on what the pupils achieved.Editor's NoteThe lesson plans for this article are provided in figure 4, which has been placed at the end of the article for convenience. The plans are based directly on CensusAtSchool material.Overview of Year 9 Project: Lesson Plans.image
Reasoning with Data – Time for a Rethink?
Authors: Nicholson James , Ridgway Jim , McCusker Sean 
Published: January 2006

SummaryReasoning with data is already pervasive in society, and its importance as a life skill is increasing. We argue that the current statistics curriculum in the United Kingdom at the secondary level does not prepare our young people adequately, and suggest ways in which it could be improved.
PGH2‐derived levuglandin adducts increase the neurotoxicity of amyloid β1–42
Authors: Boutaud Olivier , Montine Thomas J. , Chang Lei , Klein William L. , Oates John A. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe body of evidence indicating that oligomers of amyloid β1−42 (Aβ1−42) produce toxicity to neurons, together with our demonstration that prostaglandin H2 (PGH2) oligomerizes amyloid β1−42, led to the examination of the neurotoxicity of amyloid β1−42 treated with PGH2. The neurotoxic effects of Aβ1−42 incubated with PGH2 was examined in primary cultures of cerebral neurons of mice, monitoring the reduction of 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazole‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) as an indicator of cell toxicity. Whereas Aβ1−42 itself, incubated for 24 h, has little or no effect on MTT reduction, Aβ1−42 24 h after exposure to PGH2 produced a marked inhibition of MTT reduction, comparable with the inhibition resulting from Aβ1−42 that has been oligomerized by incubation for 6 days. Similar results were obtained when Aβ1−42 was incubated with levuglandin E2 (LGE2), a reactive aldehyde formed by spontaneous rearrangement of PGH2. The oligomers formed from reaction of Aβ1−42 with LGE2 exhibit immunochemical similarity with amyloid‐derived diffusible ligands (ADDLs), as determined by analysis of the products of reaction of Aβ1−42 with LGE2 using western blotting with an antibody that is selective for ADDLs.
Sialylation enhances the secretion of neurotoxic amyloid‐β peptides
Authors: Nakagawa Kazuhiro , Kitazume Shinobu , Oka Ritsuko , Maruyama Kei , Saido Takaomi C. , Sato Yuji , Endo Tamao , Hashimoto Yasuhiro 
Published: January 2006

AbstractAlzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid‐β peptide (Aβ) deposition in the brain. Aβ is produced by sequential cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β‐secretase (BACE1: β‐site APP‐cleaving enzyme 1) and γ‐secretase. Previously, we demonstrated that BACE1 also cleaves β‐galactoside α2,6‐sialyltransferase (ST6Gal‐I) and down‐regulates its transferase activity. Here, we report that overexpression of ST6Gal‐I in Neuro2a cells enhanced α2,6‐sialylation of endogenous APP and increased the extracellular levels of its metabolites [Aβ by two‐fold, soluble APPβ (sAPPβ) by three‐fold and sAPPα by 2.5‐fold). Sialylation‐deficient mutant (Lec‐2) cells secreted half as much Aβ as wild‐type Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Furthermore, wild‐type CHO cells showed enhanced secretion of the APP metabolites upon ST6Gal‐I overexpression, whereas Lec‐2 cells did not, indicating that the secretion enhancement requires sialylation of cellular protein(s). Secretion of metabolites from a mutant APP (APP‐Asn467,496Ala) that lacked N‐glycosylation sites was not enhanced upon ST6Gal‐I overexpression, suggesting that the N‐glycans on APP itself are required for the enhanced secretion. In the mouse brain, the amount of α2,6‐sialylated APP appeared to be correlated with the sAPPβ level. These results suggest that sialylation of APP promotes its metabolic turnover and could affect the pathology of AD.
Differential regulation of corticotropin releasing factor 1α receptor endocytosis and trafficking by β‐arrestins and Rab GTPases
Authors: Holmes Kevin D. , Babwah Andy V. , Dale Lianne B. , Poulter Michael O. , Ferguson Stephen S. G. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) type 1α receptor, a member of the G protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR) subfamily B, is involved in the aetiology of anxiety and depressive disorders. In the present study, we examined the internalization and trafficking of the CRF1α receptor in both human embryonic kidney (HEK)293 cells and primary cortical neurons. We found that CRF1α receptor activation leads to the selective recruitment of β‐arrestin2 in both HEK293 cells and neurons. We observed distinct distribution patterns of CRF1α receptor and β‐arrestin2 in HEK293 cells and cortical neurons. In HEK293 cells, β‐arrestin2‐green fluorescent protein (GFP) co‐localized with CRF1α receptor in vesicles at the plasma membrane but was dissociated from the receptor in endosomes. In contrast, in primary cortical neurons, β‐arrestin2 and CRF1α receptor were internalized in distinct endocytic vesicles. By bioluminescence resonance energy transfer, we demonstrated that β‐arrestin2 association with CRF1α receptor was increased in cells transfected with G protein‐coupled receptor kinase (GRK)3 and GRK6 and decreased in cells transfected with GRK2 and GRK5. In both HEK293 cells and cortical neurons, internalized CRF1α receptor transited from Rab5‐positive early endosomes to Rab4‐positive recycling endosomes and was not targeted to lysosomes. However, CRF1α receptor resensitization was blocked by the overexpression of wild‐type, but not dominant‐negative, Rab5 and Rab4 GTPases. Taken together, our results suggest that β‐arrestin trafficking differs between HEK293 cells and neurons, and that CRF1α receptor resensitization is regulated in an atypical manner by Rab GTPases.
Substrate‐mediated enhancement of phosphorylated tyrosine hydroxylase in nigrostriatal dopamine neurons: evidence for a role of α‐synuclein
Authors: Drolet Robert E. , Behrouz Bahareh , Lookingland Keith J. , Goudreau John L. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractTyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein, phosphorylated at serine‐40, serine‐31 and serine‐19, and enzyme catalytic activity were compared under basal conditions and in activated nigrostriatal dopamine (NSDA) neurons of wild‐type and homozygous α‐synuclein knockout mice. Mice were injected with the D2 antagonist raclopride to stimulate NSDA neuronal activity in the presence or absence of supplementall‐tyrosine. There was no difference in phosphorylated TH levels or TH catalytic activity between wild‐type and α‐synuclein knockout mice under basal conditions or following raclopride‐induced acceleration of NSDA activity. In wild‐type animals, tyrosine administration potentiated the raclopride‐induced increase in phosphorylated TH and enzyme activity. However, tyrosine administration did not enhance phosphorylated TH levels or enzyme catalytic activity in raclopride‐stimulated NSDA neurons in α‐synuclein knockout mice. These findings suggest that α‐synuclein plays a role in the ability of tyrosine to either enhance TH phosphorylation or hinder TH inactivation during accelerated neuronal activity. The present study supports the hypothesis that α‐synuclein functions as a molecular chaperone protein that regulates the phosphorylation state of TH in a substrate and activity‐dependent manner.
Compensation in pre‐synaptic dopaminergic function following nigrostriatal damage in primates
Authors: McCallum S. E. , Parameswaran N. , Perez X. A. , Bao S. , McIntosh J. M. , Grady S. R. , Quik M. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractClinical symptoms of Parkinson's disease only become evident after 70–80% reductions in striatal dopamine. To investigate the importance of pre‐synaptic dopaminergic mechanisms in this compensation, we determined the effect of nigrostriatal damage on dopaminergic markers and function in primates. MPTP treatment resulted in a graded dopamine loss with moderate to severe declines in ventromedial striatum (approximately 60–95%) and the greatest reductions (approximately 95–99%) in dorsolateral striatum. A somewhat less severe pattern of loss was observed for striatal nicotinic receptor, tyrosine hydroxylase and vesicular monoamine transporter expression. Declines in striatal dopamine uptake and transporter sites were also less severe than the reduction in dopamine levels, with enhanced dopamine turnover in the dorsolateral striatum after lesioning. The greatest degree of adaptation occurred for nicotine‐evoked [3H]dopamine release from striatal synaptosomes, which was relatively intact in ventromedial striatum after lesioning, despite > 50% declines in dopamine. This maintenance of evoked release was not due to compensatory alterations in nicotinic receptor characteristics. Rather, there appeared to be a generalized preservation of release processes in ventromedial striatum, with K+‐evoked release also near control levels after lesioning. These combined compensatory mechanisms help explain the finding that Parkinson's disease symptomatology develops only with major losses of striatal dopamine.