bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of acidification on the breeding ecology of a stream‐dependent songbird, the Louisiana waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla)
Authors: MULVIHILL ROBERT S. , NEWELL FELICITY L. , LATTA STEVEN C. 
Published: July 2008

Summary1. We compared breeding ecology of the Louisiana waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla) on acidified and circumneutral streams in the Appalachian Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania from 1996 to 2005.2. Headwater streams impacted by acid mine drainage and/or acidic precipitation showed reduced pH (range 4.5–5.5) compared to four circumneutral streams (pH c. 7). Acid‐sensitive taxa, including most mayflies (Ephemeroptera), were almost completely absent from acidified streams, whereas several acid‐tolerant taxa, especially stonefly (Plecoptera) genera Leuctra and Amphinemura, were abundant.3. Louisiana waterthrush breeding density (c. 1 territory km−1) was significantly reduced on acidified streams compared to circumneutral streams (>2 territories km−1). Territories on acidified streams were almost twice as long as on circumneutral streams. Territories usually were contiguous on circumneutral streams, but they were often disjunct on acidified streams. Breeding density declined on one acidified stream that we studied over a 10‐year period.4. Clutch initiation was significantly delayed on acidified streams, on average by 9 days in comparison to circumneutral streams, and first‐egg dates were inversely related to breeding density. Birds nesting along acidified streams laid smaller clutches, and nestlings had shorter age‐adjusted wing lengths. Stream acidity had no effect on nest success or annual fecundity (fledglings/female). However, the number of young fledged km−1 was nearly twice as high on circumneutral streams as on acidified streams.5. Acidified streams were characterized by a younger, less site‐faithful breeding population. Individuals were less likely to return multiple years to breed, allowing inexperienced breeders to settle on acidified streams. Pairing success was lower on acidified streams, and we observed four cases of waterthrushes emigrating from territories on acidified streams to nearby circumneutral streams in the following year.6. We conclude that acidified headwaters constitute lower quality habitat for breeding Louisiana waterthrush. However, breeding birds can apparently compensate for reduced prey resources to fledge young on acidified streams by increasing territory size, foraging in peripheral non‐acidified areas, and by provisioning young with novel prey.
A snail prefers native over exotic freshwater plants: implications for the enemy release hypotheses
Authors: XIONG WEN , YU DAN , WANG QIANG , LIU CHUNHUA , WANG LIGONG 
Published: July 2008

Summary1. One of the most popular single‐factor hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the naturalization and spread of introduced species is the enemy release hypothesis (ERH). Most studies have considered how specialist consumers might affect the success of exotics, but the importance of generalist herbivores has received little attention2. In this study, we compared the palatability of native and exotic freshwater plants in both phylogenetic pairings and in region‐wide assays, using a generalist consumer (the pond snail Radix swinhoei).3. Our study indicated that, when plants were paired by taxonomic relatedness, the snail preferred native over exotic freshwater plants by a 2 : 1 ratio. The snail also preferred native over exotic plants when tested across 20 native and seven exotic species found growing in Liangzi Lake.4. Snails consumed more biomass of native than exotic plants, providing support for the ERH and suggesting that exotic species have a potential advantage in most lakes of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, thus helping their invasion.
Life history of a dipteran predator (Scathophagidae: Acanthocnema) of insect egg masses in a northern California stream
Authors: PURCELL ALISON H. , HOFFMANN ANDREAS , RESH VINCENT H. 
Published: July 2008

Summary1. Little is known about the predators of insect eggs in fresh waters. This study describes aspects of the life history of a scathophagid fly (Acanthocnema sp.), whose larvae are predators of aquatic insect eggs.2. Because the Acanthocnema predator oviposits its eggs on the surface of aquatic insect egg masses, all insect egg masses were collected regularly within a 200‐m reach of Redwood Creek (California, U.S.A.) between September 2003 and June 2007. Acanthocnema predators were found predominantly within egg masses of the caddifly Neophylax rickeri (Trichoptera: Uenoidae).3. There was a mean of 0.25 Acanthocnema individuals per N. rickeri egg mass (n = 2367 egg masses). In general, N. rickeri egg masses were more commonly found clustered in aggregations (93.7%) than singly (6.3%), and Acanthonema were found more often within the aggregations of N. rickeri (98.7%) compared to singly laid egg masses (1.3%).4. The duration of the Acanthocnema predator life stages was: egg 2.9 ± 0.8 (mean ± SD) days, larva 15.6 ± 10.2 days, pupa 80.3 ± 24.9 days and adult 7.2 ± 4.8 days. The short duration of the Acanthocnema egg stage (1–7 days) compared to that of its prey N. rickeri (2–4 weeks) raises the probability that the undeveloped eggs of N. rickeri would be available to the young predators upon hatching. Egg consumption of N. rickeri eggs by Acanthocnema averaged 262.6 eggs per larval period.5. Acanthocnema had a bivoltine life cycle in which the first generation fed exclusively on N. rickeri egg masses in the winter and the second generation fed on the egg masses of several species, including other Trichoptera (Brachycentridae) and Diptera (Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae) in the spring. These findings suggest differing feeding strategies by the first and second generations of Acanthocnema in response to the seasonal availability of prey species. This type of autecological information is important for understanding mechanisms of community interactions.
Impact of precocious male parr on the effective size of a wild population of Atlantic salmon
Authors: SAURA M. , CABALLERO A. , CABALLERO P. , MORÁN P. 
Published: July 2008

Summary1. There is growing evidence that sexually mature but morphologically juvenile males of Atlantic salmon (precocious or mature male parr) actively participate in reproduction and, therefore, in the genetic composition of the populations of this species. The impact of mature male parr on the effective population size (Ne) of such populations has been previously studied under experimental settings, but no studies have been performed directly on natural populations.2. Continuous monitoring and sampling of all sea returns is possible in the Lérez River (northwest of Spain). From demographic data on variances of reproductive success and genetic data from six microsatellite marker loci we carried out parentage assignment and assessed the impact of male parr on demographic and genetic estimates of Ne in two consecutive years.3. Our results reveal that: (i) approximately 60% of the total sire paternity is attributable to mature parr; (ii) mature parr decrease the variance of reproductive success of males by a threefold factor and increase the effective population size of males by a 10‐fold factor; (iii) however, they do not substantially affect the variance of reproductive success and the effective size of females; (iv) mature parr increase two‐to threefold the overall effective size of the population but the ratio Ne/N, where N is the population size including or not mature parr in each case, is not affected.
Health beliefs and breast self‐examination in a sample of Turkish nursing students and their mothers
Authors: Kara Belgüzar , Acikel Cengiz Han 
Published: July 2008

Aim.  To describe health beliefs and breast self‐examination practice of Turkish female nursing students and their mothers.Background.  Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among Turkish women. Breast self‐examination is one of the primary methods for early detection of breast cancer in asymptomatic women.Design.  The study was designed as a cross‐sectional and comparative survey. The data were obtained from 392 participants, including female nursing students (n = 196) and their mothers (n = 196) in Ankara, Turkey.Methods.  Data were collected by using a personal data form and the Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale. Descriptive statistics, paired samples t‐test, chi‐square test, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation coefficients and logistic regression analysis were conducted.Results.  The percentage of nursing students who performed breast self‐examination regularly was statistically higher than that of their mothers. The scores of health motivation, benefits and confidence were significantly higher in nursing students. The mothers’ perceived susceptibility and barriers were significantly higher than their daughters. The frequency of breast self‐examination practice was affected by the level of education, the mother’s or daughter’s monthly performance of breast self‐examination and the level of perceived barrier to breast self‐examination.Conclusions.  There were differences in health beliefs related to breast self‐examination and its practice between nursing students and their mothers. The results of this study showed that monthly performance of breast self‐examination was more common among women who graduated from high school and university, whose mother or daughter performed breast self‐examination regularly every month and those with lower levels of perceived barriers.Relevance to clinical practice.  It is essential that nurses be aware of the factors that contribute to monthly performance of breast self‐examination. Cultural factors should be considered in planning educational programmes about breast self‐examination practice. Interventions should be designed to enhance nursing students’ proficiency in performing breast self‐examination.
An overview of patients’ preference for, and satisfaction with, care provided by general practitioners and nurse practitioners
Authors: Laurant Miranda GH , Hermens Rosella PMG , Braspenning Jozé CC , Akkermans Reinier P , Sibbald Bonnie , Grol Richard PTM 
Published: July 2008

Aim and objectives. To assess patients’ views on the care provided by nurse practitioners compared with that provided by general practitioners and to determine factors influencing these views.Background. Many countries have sought to shift aspects of primary care provision from doctors to nurses. It is unclear how patients view these skill mix changes.Design. Cross‐sectional survey.Method. Patients (n = 235) who received care from both nurse and doctor were sent a self‐administered questionnaire. The main outcome measures were patient preferences, satisfaction with the nurses and doctors and factors influencing patients’ preference and satisfaction.Results. Patients preferred the doctor for medical aspects of care, whereas for educational and routine aspects of care half of the patients preferred the nurse or had no preference for either the nurse or doctor. Patients were generally very satisfied with both nurse and doctor. Patients were significantly more satisfied with the nurse for those aspects of care related to the support provided to patients and families and to the time made available to patients. However, variations in preference and satisfaction were mostly attributable to variation in individual patient characteristics, not doctor, nurse or practice characteristics.Conclusion. Patient preference for nurse or doctor and patient satisfaction both vary with the type of care required and reflect usual work demarcations between nurses and doctors. In general, patients are very satisfied with the care they receive.Relevance to clinical practice. In many countries, different aspects of primary care provision have shifted from doctors to nurses. Our study suggests that these skill mix changes meet the needs of patients and that patients are very satisfied with the care they receive. However, to implement skill mix change in general practice it is important to consider usual work demarcations between nurses and doctors.
The use of behavioural change techniques in the treatment of paediatric obesity: qualitative evaluation of parental perspectives on treatment
Authors: Stewart L. , Chapple J. , Hughes A. R. , Poustie V. , Reilly J. J. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractBackground  Treatment for childhood obesity is characterized by nonattendance and widespread failure to achieve weight maintenance. The use of behavioural change methods is suggested for engaging families in changing lifestyles. Qualitative methods may improve understanding of patient perceptions, thus improving treatment. The present study aimed to explore the thoughts and feelings of parents whose children had undertaken dietetic consultations either employing behavioural change techniques or delivered by dietitians with no formal training in these techniques.Methods  The study used purposive sampling, interviewing 17 parents of children attending 6‐month outpatient treatments for obesity (body mass index > 98th percentile). Parent’s perceptions of the dietetic treatment were explored by in‐depth interviews and analysed using Framework methods.Results  Parents who had taken part in the behavioural change techniques applauded the process, finding it child‐friendly and talked of ‘forming a partnership’. Conversely, standard care treatment was less well received. Developing a rapport with the dietitian was significant for the parents in their perception of a positive experience.Conclusions  The present study may help inform future treatments for childhood obesity by providing insights into the aspects of treatment and approaches applauded by parents. It highlights the possible value of use of behavioural change skills by dietitians to engage with families of obese children.
Evaluation of cognitively accessible software to increase independent access to cellphone technology for people with intellectual disability
Authors: Stock S. E. , Davies D. K. , Wehmeyer M. L. , Palmer S. B. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractBackground  There are over two billion telephones in use worldwide. Yet, for millions of Americans with intellectual disabilities (ID), access to the benefits of cellphone technology is limited because of deficits in literacy, numerical comprehension, the proliferation of features and shrinking size of cellphone hardware and user interfaces. Developments in smart phone technology and PDA‐based cellphones provide an opportunity to make the social and safety benefits of cellphones more independently accessible to this population.Method  This project involved employment of universal design and other specialised software development methods to create a multimedia cellphone interface prototype which was compared with a typical mainstream cellphone in a usability evaluation for individuals with ID. Participants completed a structured set of incoming/outgoing phone tasks using both the experimental and control conditions. Usability measurements included the amount of assistance needed and errors made in completing the cellphone use sequence.Results  A total of 22 individuals with ID participated in the research by engaging in a series of incoming and outgoing cellphone calls using both the multimedia cellphone prototype system and a mainstream Nokia 6360 cellphone. Test subjects required significantly less help (P = 0.001) and made significantly fewer errors (P < 0.001) when completing eight calls using the specialised multimedia phone system as compared with the mainstream phone.Conclusions  The statistical evidence of both usability results provide promising evidence of the feasibility of implementing universal design and other specialised software development methodologies for increasing independent access to the benefits of cellphone technologies for students and adults with ID. Issues related to designing cognitively accessible interfaces, study limitations and future directions are discussed.
Checklists for general practitioner diagnosis of depression in adults with intellectual disability
Authors: Torr J. , Iacono T. , Graham M. J. , Galea J. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractBackground  In Australia, diagnosis and management of depression in adults with intellectual disability (ID) often occurs within the primary care setting. Few tools are available to assist general practitioners (GPs) in the diagnostic process. The study aim was to assess properties of carer and GP checklists developed to address this problem.Method  Participants were 49 adults with ID and their paid carers (support workers), and GPs for 27 adults. Data from carer and GP checklists were gathered, in addition to carer completed Developmental Behaviour Checklist – Adults (DBC‐A). Adults with ID also received a comprehensive psychiatric assessment.Results  Both checklists demonstrated good internal consistency (KRS‐20 = 0.90). A factor analysis of the carer checklist indicated a single factor on which three section totals had loadings of greater than 0.722 (depressed mood, loss of interest, and social interaction and communication). This factor was interpreted to be depression. The GP checklist data were insufficient for factor analysis, but section totals were moderately correlated with most corresponding carer checklist section totals. Carer section totals related to depression also correlated highly with the DBC‐A Depression sub‐scale, demonstrating good concurrent validity. Contrasting results were obtained for the GP checklist. Most (n = 42) of the participants were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, precluding the testing of checklist specificity and sensitivity.Conclusion  The carer checklist shows promise as a means of gathering information needed by a GP in the diagnosis of depression in adults with ID. Further research into its underlying properties and clinical uses of a combined depression checklist is warranted.
A novel upstream regulator of WRKY53 transcription during leaf senescence in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Miao Y. , Smykowski A. , Zentgraf U. 
Published: July 2008

Abstract Arabidopsis WRKY proteins comprise a family of zinc finger‐type transcription factors involved in the regulation of gene expression during pathogen defence, wounding, trichome development and senescence. To better understand the regulatory role of the senescence‐related WRKY53 factor, we identified upstream regulatory factors using the yeast one‐hybrid system. Among others, we identified a DNA‐binding protein with a so far unknown function that contains a transcriptional activation domain and a kinase domain with similarities to HPT kinases. In vitro studies revealed that this activation domain protein (AD protein) can phosphorylate itself and that phosphorylation increases its DNA‐binding activity to the WRKY53 promoter region. Using the yeast two‐hybrid system, an interaction with proteins that were previously shown to bind to the WRKY53 promoter was tested. The AD protein interacted with MEKK1. The interaction with MEKK1 was confirmed in vivo by bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC); however, the AD protein was not phosphorylated by MEKK1 in vitro and vice versa. This indicates that there may be competition between WRKY53 and AD protein for binding of MEKK1 at the WRKY53 promoter. Overexpression and knockout of the respective gene resulted in changes in transcription levels of WRKY53, indicating that AD protein is a positive regulator of WRKY53 expression. Expression of the AD protein gene can be induced by hydrogen peroxide treatment and reduced by jasmonic acid treatment, as previously shown for WRKY53.
Senescence‐associated degradation of chloroplast proteins inside and outside the organelle
Authors: Martínez D. E. , Costa M. L. , Guiamet J. J. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractLeaf proteins, and in particular the photosynthetic proteins of plastids, are extensively degraded during senescence. Although this involves massive amounts of protein, the mechanisms responsible for chloroplast protein degradation are largely unknown. Degradation within the plastid itself is supported by the observation that chloroplasts contain active proteases, and that chloroplasts isolated from senescing leaves can cleave Rubisco to release partially digested fragments. It is less clear whether chloroplasts can complete Rubisco degradation. Chloroplastic proteases are likely involved in the breakdown of the D1 and LHCII proteins of photosystem II. Small senescence‐associated vacuoles (SAVs) with high‐proteolytic activity develop in senescing leaf cells, and there is evidence that SAVs contain chloroplast proteins. Thus, an extra‐plastidic pathway involving SAVs might participate in the degradation of some chloroplast proteins. Plastidic and extra‐plastidic pathways might cooperate in the degradation of chloroplast proteins, or they might represent alternative, redundant pathways for photosynthetic protein degradation.
Identification and characterization of novel senescence‐associated genes from barley (Hordeum vulgare) primary leaves
Authors: Ay N. , Clauß K. , Barth O. , Humbeck K. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractLeaf senescence is the final developmental stage of a leaf. The progression of barley primary leaf senescence was followed by measuring the senescence‐specific decrease in chlorophyll content and photosystem II efficiency. In order to isolate novel factors involved in leaf senescence, a differential display approach with mRNA populations from young and senescing primary barley leaves was applied. In this approach, 90 senescence up‐regulated cDNAs were identified. Nine of these clones were, after sequence analyses, further characterized. The senescence‐associated expression was confirmed by Northern analyses or quantitative RealTime‐PCR. In addition, involvement of the phytohormones ethylene and abscisic acid in regulation of these nine novel senescence‐induced cDNA fragments was investigated. Two cDNA clones showed homologies to genes with a putative regulatory function. Two clones possessed high homologies to barley retroelements, and five clones may be involved in degradation or transport processes. One of these genes was further analysed. It encodes an ADP ribosylation factor 1‐like protein (HvARF1) and includes sequence motifs representing a myristoylation site and four typical and well conserved ARF‐like protein domains. The localization of the protein was investigated by confocal laser scanning microscopy of onion epidermal cells after particle bombardment with chimeric HvARF1‐GFP constructs. Possible physiological roles of these nine novel SAGs during barley leaf senescence are discussed.