bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Self‐monitoring of blood glucose changed non‐insulin‐treated Type 2 diabetes patients’ beliefs about diabetes and self‐monitoring in a randomized trial
Authors: French D. P. , Wade A. N. , Yudkin P. , Neil H. A. W. , Kinmonth A. L. , Farmer A. J. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractAims  To determine whether differences in beliefs about diabetes and its treatment resulted from different intensities of self‐monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) in non‐insulin treated patients with Type 2 diabetes in the Diabetes Glycaemic Education and Monitoring (DiGEM) trial.Methods  Patients (n = 453) were randomized to usual care, less‐intensive SMBG and more intensive SMBG. Beliefs about diabetes were measured with a standard questionnaire (the revised Illness Perceptions Questionnaire; IPQ‐R). Changes in beliefs were analysed using analysis of covariance (ancova) with adjustment for baseline values. Mediation analyses assessed whether differences in behavioural outcomes between groups could be attributed to differences in beliefs.Results  Completed questionnaires were returned by 339 patients (74.8%). Respondents were mean (± sd) age 65.9 ± 10 years and with diabetes duration of 4.8 ± 4.7 years (median 36, range 1–384 months). Concerns about the consequences of diabetes increased in both self‐monitoring groups, relative to control subjects [P = 0.004; Cohen's d standardized effect size = 0.19 less intensive and d = 0.36 more intensive monitoring]. No other beliefs about diabetes differed between groups. Beliefs about the importance of self‐testing increased in both self‐monitoring groups relative to the usual‐care group (P < 0.001; d = 0.57 less intensive and d = 0.63 more intensive monitoring). Changes in psychological well‐being did not differ between groups, but control patients reported greater increases in general (P = 0.014) and specific (P < 0.001) dietary adherence than did patients in the self‐monitoring groups. These outcomes were not mediated by intervention‐related changes in beliefs.Conclusions  Despite changes in some beliefs about diabetes differing between groups there were no corresponding changes in self‐reported health behaviours. This suggests that changes in illness beliefs resulting from SMBG do not cause changes in diabetes‐related health behaviours.
Association between reduced pulmonary diffusing capacity and cardiac autonomic dysfunction in Type 1 diabetes
Authors: Pitocco D. , Santangeli P. , Fuso L. , Zaccardi F. , Longobardi A. , Infusino F. , Incalzi R. A. , Lanza G. A. , Crea F. , Ghirlanda G. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractBackground  In Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM), it has been suggested that autonomic nervous system dysfunction (NAD) impairs lung diffusion capacity. Heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of cardiac autonomic function, is a sensitive method of detecting NAD. To our knowledge, no previous study has assessed whether cardiac sympatho‐vagal balance is associated with lung diffusion capacity in diabetes.Methods  Twenty Type 1 DM patients without pulmonary abnormalities and systemic NAD underwent measurement of lung diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) by single‐breath method and assessment of cardiac autonomic function by HRV analysis on 24‐h electrocardiographic Holter recordings.Results  Standard respiratory function tests and peripheral autonomic tests were normal in all patients. DLCO was lower than normal reference values in six patients (30%). DLCO correlated significantly with most HRV variables, independent of the clinical and laboratory variables. The strongest correlation was found with standard deviation of all RR intervals (SDNN; r = 0.62, P = 0.003) in the time domain and low frequency (LF) power (r = 0.73, P < 0.001) in the frequency domain.Conclusions  In Type 1 diabetes, a significant association exists between cardiac NAD and reduced DLCO in the absence of clinical respiratory and autonomic abnormalities. Thus, NAD may be involved in the early reduction of DLCO in these patients, possibly through abnormalities in the regulation of pulmonary blood flow at the microvascular level.
Fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c as risk factors for Type 2 diabetes
Authors: Inoue Kazuo , Matsumoto Masatoshi , Akimoto Kimihiko 
Published: August 2008

AbstractAims   We examined the value of combining fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) as a predictor of diabetes, using the new American Diabetes Association (ADA) criteria of FPG and lower cut‐off point of HbA1c.Methods   A retrospective cohort study was conducted from 1998 to 2006, inclusive, in 10 042 persons (55 884 person‐years), with a mean age of 53.0 years at baseline. The cumulative incidence of diabetes (defined either as an FPG ≥ 7.0 mmol/l or as clinically diagnosed diabetes) was measured.Results   The cumulative incidence and incidence density of diabetes were 3.7% (368 cases) and 6.6/1000 person‐years over a mean follow‐up period of 5.5 years. The cumulative incidence of diabetes in subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and HbA1c 5.5–6.4% was 24.8% (172/694 persons) compared with 0.4% (25/6698 persons), 2.5% (15/605 persons), 7.6% (156/2045 persons) in those with normal fasting glucose (NFG) and HbA1c < 5.5%, NFG and HbA1c 5.5–6.4% and IFG and HbA1c < 5.5%, respectively. The hazard ratio for diabetes, adjusted for possible confounders, was 7.4 (95% confidence interval, 4.70 to 11.74) for those with NFG and HbA1c 5.5–6.4%, 14.4 (11.93 to 27.79) for those with IFG and HbA1c < 5.5% and 38.4 (24.63 to 59.88) for those with IFG and HbA1c 5.5–6.4%.Conclusions The combination of FPG and HbA1c identifies individuals who are at risk of progression to Type 2 diabetes at the new ADA criteria of FPG and a lower cut‐off point of HbA1c than previous studies.
The Contest to the Control in European Family Firms: How Other Shareholders Affect Firm Value
Authors: Jara‐Bertin Mauricio , López‐Iturriaga Félix J. , López‐de‐Foronda Óscar 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: This paper analyses the influence of large shareholders on firm value using a sample of firms from 11 European countries, specifically considering how the existence of a controlling coalition in family‐owned firms and the contestability of control of the largest shareholder affect the value of the family‐owned firms.Research Findings/Insights: We find that increased contestability of the control of the largest shareholder increases the value of family‐owned firms. Results also show that in firms in which the largest shareholder is a family, a second family shareholder reduces firm value. Conversely, an institutional investor as second shareholder increases firm value. Likewise, better legal protection of shareholders not members of the controlling coalition increases the value of family firms.Theoretical/Academic Implications: We explore an under‐examined aspect of agency conflict – contestability between large, dominant shareholders and minority shareholders. We highlight the role of the second and third largest shareholders, in terms of share and type of shareholder. We suggest the need for new avenues of research focused on the dynamics of power within the firm. Finally, we identify a situation in which conflict of interest becomes prominent.Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study corroborates policymakers' concerns regarding the protection of rights of minority shareholders. We suggest the need for a stronger macro governance environment to facilitate minority shareholder participation in corporate decision making. Our study also lends support to balanced ownership structures with multiple large shareholders as a way to increase the firm's performance. Managers would also better serve shareholders' interests by not limiting their attention to the current controlling coalition.
Are Socially Responsible Managers Really Ethical? Exploring the Relationship Between Earnings Management and Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Prior Diego , Surroca Jordi , Tribó Josep A. 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: This paper investigates the connection between earnings management and corporate social responsibility (CSR). We argue that earnings management practices damage the collective interests of stakeholders; hence, managers who manipulate earnings can deal with stakeholder activism and vigilance by resorting to CSR practices.Research Findings/Insights: Using archival data from a multi‐national panel sample of 593 firms from 26 countries between 2002 and 2004, we find a positive impact of earnings management practices on CSR; this relationship holds for different robustness checks. Also, we demonstrate that the combination of earnings management and CSR has a negative impact on financial performance.Theoretical/Academic Implications: This study draws on a generalized agency theory where managers are seen as the agents of all stakeholders and the earnings management literature to highlight that CSR can be used to garner support from stakeholders and, therefore, provides an opportunity for entrenchment to those managers that manipulate earnings. As such, it suggests new avenues of research for both the corporate governance literature, as well as for the stakeholder perspective.Practitioner/Policy Implications: This study offers insights for policy makers and managers interested in enhancing CSR. For managers, our findings suggest that projecting a socially‐friendly image in order to disguise earnings management cannot be sustained over time due to the detrimental effect on financial performance. In addition, this study provides a warning signal to policy makers that certain practices geared toward raising a firm's CSR may simply be a mechanism for hindering other devious practices.
The Remuneration Committee and Strategic Human Resource Management
Authors: Main Brian G. M. , Jackson Calvin , Pymm John , Wright Vicky 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: This study questions the adequacy of the agency approach in representing how remuneration committees design executive pay arrangements.Research Findings/Results: Using evidence collected from interviews conducted in late 2006, with 22 members of various UK remuneration committees, we find that concerns with legitimacy push remuneration committees towards an institutional isomorphism in processes and practice.Theoretical Implications: Any interpretation through an agency lens of the design of executive remuneration as being a key component in the toolbox of strategic human resource management needs to be qualified by considerations of neo‐institutionalism. There is scope for a melding of the two approaches.Practical Implications: The fulfillment of the expectations placed upon the remuneration committee necessitates an adequate allocation of time and resource plus self‐awareness on the part of the committee of the inherent tendency to follow the norms, rules of thumb, and customary practice of others. The remuneration committee chair emerges as a pivotal actor, and this position merits being treated as a weighty and onerous appointment, possibly on a par with that of the chair of the audit committee.
RISK AND THE SECURITISATION OF STUDENT MIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES
Authors: EWERS MICHAEL C. , LEWIS JOSEPH M. 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the construction of international students as objects of security in the United States during the period surrounding 11 September, 2001. Competing perceptions of international student migration as threatening or beneficial contributed to policy discourses that sought to mitigate the risk inherent in migration. The events of 9/11 prompted new evaluations of migration risk, and in particular, foreign students were securitised – that is, incorporated into policy dialogues as national security threats requiring immediate and strict controls. We examine the securitisation of international students through the evolutionary processes of risk perception and risk management, which are articulated in the construction and contesting of geopolitical storylines.
COMMON BELIEF, CONTESTED MEANINGS: DEVELOPMENT AND FAITH‐BASED ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
Authors: OLSON ELIZABETH 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTSince the 1990s, an increasing number of development agencies have attempted to incorporate faith‐based development organisations into mainstream ‘secular’ partnerships. Development scholars have responded to these trends by seeking to understand the range of ways that faith might matter in development. Far less emphasis has been placed on how development itself might be influencing faith organisations or their values of development. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between organisational culture and development within a Catholic prelature in the southern Andes of Peru. By examining changes in development practice and perspective over time and tracing the relationship between development values across scales of organisation, I analyse the various ways that religiously‐inspired development values are navigated, integrated and contested in the formulation and funding of development projects.
SHOPPING, BORDERS AND UNFAMILIARITY: CONSUMER MOBILITY IN EUROPE
Authors: SPIERINGS BAS , VAN DER VELDE MARTIN 
Published: August 2008

AbstractNational borders are often considered to constrain the international flow of products, services, people and capital. However, borders and differences between countries could also promote cross‐border mobility. This contribution investigates what discourages and encourages cross‐border shopping mobility. This is done by categorising differences between countries into more ‘rational differences’ on the one hand and more ‘emotional differences’ on the other hand. Furthermore, the ‘bandwidth of unfamiliarity’ concept is introduced to scrutinise how the interpretation by shoppers of both rational and emotional differences generates (im)mobility. In so doing, a ‘border paradox’ is discussed, where increasing cross‐border integration (e.g. in the form of regional ‘homogenisation’) could coincide with decreasing cross‐border mobility. This paradox is used here to reveal a possible flipside of the European Union policy to promote international mobility, by trying to dissolve borders between member states.
SHACKLE AND MODERN DECISION THEORY
Authors: Basili Marcello , Zappia Carlo 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTThe paper discusses the role of George L.S. Shackle in fostering an unconventional approach to individual decision making. Up until the early 1970s Shackle was the single critic of the probabilistic approach to decision making who proposed an alternative formal corpus for dealing with uncertainty. The main aim of the paper is to analyse Shackle's non‐probabilistic conceptualization of individual decisions under uncertainty from a specific viewpoint, namely that of a possible connection between his theory and one of the most interesting recent approaches to decision under uncertainty, the so‐called non‐additive probability approach of Gilboa and Schmeidler. The paper shows that these developments in modern decision theory take Shackle's issue seriously and confirm that the reliance of strict Bayesian theory on probabilistic judgements based on point‐probability estimates, a reliance that Shackle intended to oppose, is untenable. Non‐additive decision theory also provides a usage of non‐additive probability distributions in choice that is an alternative to Shackle's approach of using a qualitative notion of probability, such as potential surprise.
Reduced oxygen due to high‐altitude exposure relates to atrophy in motor‐function brain areas
Authors: Paola M. D. , Bozzali M. , Fadda L. , Musicco M. , Sabatini U. , Caltagirone C. 
Published: August 2008

Background and purpose:  At high altitudes barometric pressure is reduced and, thus, less oxygen is inhaled. Reduced oxygen concentration in brain tissue can lead to cerebral damage and neurological and cognitive deficits. The present study was designed to explore the effects of high‐altitude exposure using a quantitative MRI technique, voxel‐based morphometry.Methods:  We studied nine world‐class mountain climbers before (baseline) and after (follow‐up) an extremely high‐altitude ascent of Everest and K2. We investigated the effects of repeated extremely high‐altitude exposures by comparing mountain climbers’ scans at baseline with scans of 19 controls. In addition, we measured the effects of a single extremely high‐altitude expedition by comparing mountain climbers’ scans at baseline and follow‐up.Results:  A region of reduced white matter density/volume was found in the left pyramidal tract near the primary (BA 4) and supplementary (BA 6) motor cortex when mountain climbers at baseline were compared with controls. Further, when mountain climbers’ scans before and after the expedition were compared, a region of reduced grey matter density/volume was found in the left angular gyrus (BA 39).Conclusion:  These findings suggest that extremely high‐altitude exposures may cause subtle white and grey matter changes that mainly affect brain regions involved in motor activity.
Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth type X: unusual phenotype of a novel CX32 mutation
Authors: Mazzeo A. , Di Leo R. , Toscano A. , Muglia M. , Patitucci A. , Messina C. , Vita G. 
Published: August 2008

Background:  X‐linked Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth disease (CMTX), caused by mutations in the gene encoding connexin32, is the second most common form of inherited demyelinating neuropathy, next to CMT 1A, and accounts for 10–20% of all hereditary demyelinating neuropathies.Aims of the study:  To describe clinical and electrophysiological data of an Italian family carrying a novel mutation in the Cx32 gene.Patients and methods:  Clinical, electrophysiological, and genetic findings of three patients carrying the Ser128Leu mutation in the intracellular domain of the Cx32 gene were reported. Brain MRI studies were also performed.Results:  In our family the disease was characterized by a moderate‐to‐severe polyneuropathy affecting similarly males as well females. In the proband the phenotype was quite unusual in terms of late‐onset, rapidity of evolution and severity. Abnormal brain MRI in association with CNS symptoms were also observed. Both sons had also clinical evidence of CNS involvement.Conclusions:  The Ser128Leu mutation in the Cx‐32 gene is a novel substitution, which has not been reported so far. This novel mutation could be added to the group of Cx‐32 mutations with CNS phenotypes. The identification of new CMTX causing mutations is a crucial step for carrier detection and pre‐symptomatic diagnosis.
Modulatory effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on perception and pain thresholds in healthy volunteers
Authors: Boggio P. S. , Zaghi S. , Lopes M. , Fregni F. 
Published: August 2008

Background and purpose:  We aimed to evaluate whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is effective in modulating sensory and pain perception thresholds in healthy subjects as to further explore mechanisms of tDCS in pain relief.Methods:  Twenty healthy subjects received stimulation with tDCS under four different conditions of stimulation: anodal tDCS of the primary motor cortex (M1), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), occipital cortex (V1), and sham tDCS. The order of conditions was randomized and counterbalanced across subjects. Perception threshold and pain threshold to peripheral electrical stimulation of the right index finger were evaluated by a blinded rater.Results:  The results showed a significant effect of the interaction time versus stimulation condition for perception (P = 0.046) and pain threshold (P = 0.015). Post hoc comparisons revealed that anodal stimulation of M1 increased both perception (P < 0.001, threshold increase of 6.5%) and pain (P = 0.001, threshold increase of 8.3%) thresholds significantly, whilst stimulation of the DLPFC increased pain threshold only (P = 0.046, threshold increase of 10.0%). There were no significant effects for occipital or sham stimulation.Conclusions:  These results show that both M1 and DLFPC anodal tDCS can be used to modulate pain thresholds in healthy subjects; thus, the mechanism of tDCS in modulating pain involves pathways that are independent of abnormal pain‐related neural activity.
Programmed cell death and new discoveries in the genetics of parkinsonism
Authors: Burke Robert E. 
Published: August 2008

AbstractThe concept that activation of cellular pathways of programmed cell death (PCD) may lead to the death of neurons has been an important hypothesis for adult neurodegenerative diseases. For Parkinson’s disease (PD), up until now, the evidence for this hypothesis has largely been of two types: clear evidence of a role for PCD in neurotoxin models of the disease, and somewhat controversial evidence from human postmortem studies. With the rapid pace of discoveries in recent years of the genetic basis of PD, a new form of evidence has emerged. The prevailing concept of the role for PCD in PD has been that its mediators are ‘downstream’ effectors of more proximate and specific causes related to genetic or environmental factors. However, recent studies of three genes which cause autosomal recessive forms of parkinsonism, parkin, PTEN‐induced kinase, and DJ‐1, suggest that they may have more intimate relationships with the mediators of PCD and that loss‐of‐function mutations may result in an increased propensity for neurons to die. Intriguingly, independent studies of the function of these genes have suggested that they may share roles in regulating survival signaling pathways, such as those mediated by the survival signaling kinase Akt. Further elucidation of these relationships will have implications for the pathogenesis and neuroprotective treatment of PD.
Interaction of caveolin‐1, nitric oxide, and nitric oxide synthases in hypoxic human SK‐N‐MC neuroblastoma cells
Authors: Shen Jiangang , Lee Waisin , Li Yue , Lau Chi Fai , Ng Kwong Man , Fung Man Lung , Liu Ke Jian 
Published: August 2008

AbstractNeuroblastoma cells are capable of hypoxic adaptation, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. We hypothesized that caveolin‐1 (cav‐1), a plasma membrane signal molecule, might play a role in protecting neuroblastoma cells from oxidative injury by modulating nitric oxide (NO) production. We investigated the alterations of cav‐1, cav‐2, nitric oxide synthases (NOS), and NO levels in human SK‐N‐MC neuroblastoma cells exposed to hypoxia with 2% [O2]. The major discoveries include: (i) cav‐1 but not cav‐2 was up‐regulated in the cells exposed to 15 h of hypoxia; (ii) NO donor 1‐[N, N‐di‐(2‐aminoethyl) amino] diazen‐1‐ium‐1, 2‐diolate up‐regulated the expression of cav‐1, whereas the non‐selective NOS inhibitor NG‐nitro‐l‐arginine methyl ester and inducible NOS (iNOS) inhibitor 1400W each abolished the increase in cav‐1 expression in the hypoxic SK‐N‐MC cells. These results suggest that iNOS‐induced NO production contributes to the up‐regulation of cav‐1 in the hypoxic SK‐N‐MC cells. Furthermore, we studied the roles played by cav‐1 in regulating NO, NOS, and apoptotic cell death in the SK‐N‐MC cells subjected to 15 h of hypoxic treatment. Both cav‐1 transfection and cav‐1 scaffolding domain peptide abolished the induction of iNOS, reduced the production of NO, and reduced the rates of apoptotic cell death in the hypoxic SK‐N‐MC cells. These results suggest that increased expression of cav‐1 in response to hypoxic stimulation could prevent oxidative injury induced by reactive oxygen species. The interactions of cav‐1, NO, and NOS could be an important signal pathway in protecting the neuroblastoma cells from oxidative injury, contributing to the hypoxic tolerance of neuroblastoma cells.