bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Relationship Between Foraging Ecology and Lizard Chemoreception: Can a Snake Analogue (Burton’s Legless Lizard,Lialis burtonis) Detect Prey Scent?
Authors: Wall Michael , Shine Richard 
Published: January 2009

AbstractIn lizards and snakes, foraging mode (active vs. ambush) is highly correlated with the ability to detect prey chemical cues, and the way in which such cues are utilized. Ambush‐foraging lizards tend not to recognize prey scent, whereas active foragers do. Prey scent often elicits strikes in actively‐foraging snakes, while ambushers use it to select profitable foraging sites. We tested the influence of foraging ecology on the evolution of squamate chemoreception by gauging the response of Burton’s legless lizard (Lialis burtonisGray, Pygopodidae) to prey chemical cues.Lialis burtonisis the ecological equivalent of an ambush‐foraging snake, feeding at infrequent intervals on relatively large prey, which are swallowed whole. CaptiveL. burtonisdid not respond to prey odour in any manner: prey chemical cues did not elicit elevated tongue‐flick rates or feeding strikes, nor were they utilized in the selection of ambush sites. Like other ambushing lizards,L. burtonisappears to be a visually oriented predator. In contrast, an active forager in the same family, the common scaly‐foot (Pygopus lepidopodus), did tongue‐flick in response to odours of its preferred prey. These results extend the correlation between lizard foraging mode and chemosensory abilities to a heretofore‐unstudied family, the Pygopodidae.
Predation Risks and Anti‐Predation Parental Care Behavior: An Experimental Study in a Tropical Skink
Authors: Huang Wen‐san , Wang Hurng‐Yi 
Published: January 2009

AbstractThe process of parental care can be complex, and it is rarely exhibited by reptiles. How predators influence the timing of parental care is still ambiguous in terrestrial vertebrates. In this study, we demonstrate that female skinks of Mabuya longicaudata adjusted to an experimental manipulation of interspecific intruders which were placed into skink nests. When the intrusion frequency of the reptile‐egg eating snake, Oligodon formosanus, increased, the time spent on maternal care by M. longicaudata was significantly extended. In contrast, female M. longicaudata recognized two sympatric lizards (Sphenomorphus incognitus and Japalura swinhonis) which do not prey upon eggs or adults of M. longicaudata and did not attack those species; consequently, the time spent on egg‐guarding did not significantly differ from the control treatment with intrusion by S. incognitus or J. swinhonis. Mabuya longicaudata also recognized the predatory snake, Elaphe carinata, and when that species entered a skink nest, the skink escaped and never returned. These results emphasize that the time spent on parental care is probably influenced by predators, and the duration of this behavior is dependent on the maternal defensive capability. As egg guarding is the most basic and primitive form of parental care, the current study provides evidence possibly leading to insights into the origin of parental care from reptiles to birds and mammals.
Lack of Sex‐Biased Maternal Investment in spite of a Skewed Birth Sex Ratio in White‐Headed Langurs (Trachypithecus leucocephalus)
Authors: Zhao Qing , Jin Tong , Wang Dezhi , Qin Dagong , Yin Lijie , Ran Wenzhong , Pan Wenshi 
Published: January 2009

AbstractNumerous hypotheses have been developed to explain sex allocation. In male‐dispersing, female cooperatively breeding species, the local resource competition model predicts male‐biased birth sex ratio, the local resource enhancement model predicts female‐biased birth sex ratio, and the population adjustment model predicts that biased birth sex ratio should not be favored if the two sexes are equally costly to rear. The male quality model predicts that, in polygynous species, females in better physical condition will either produce more sons than daughters or invest more heavily in sons than in daughters. White‐headed langurs are a female philopatry and female cooperatively breeding species. During a 11‐yr study, a total of 133 births were recorded, among which birth sex ratio (M:F = 73:49) was significantly male‐biased. This is consistent with the prediction of the local resource competition model. On the other hand, if mothers balanced their investment between the two sexes, according to Fisher’s population adjustment model, males should be the less‐costly‐to‐rear sex. However, we found no sex difference for infant mortality (12.3% in males and 12.2% in females), and sons induced slightly longer interbirth interval (son: 26.4 ± 1.1 mo, daughter: 24.1 ± 0.6 mo) and lactational period (son: 20.9 ± 1.0 mo, daughters: 19.6 ± 0.5 mo) for their mothers. Thus, the population adjustment model was not supported by this study. The local resource enhancement model was not supported because birth sex ratio did not bias to females who provided more reproductive assistance. On the individual level, probit regression showed no relation between birth sex ratio and group size. Because the group size was considered to be negatively related to female physical condition, our study did not support the male‐quality model. We suggested several possibilities to explain these results.
Current practice of antifungal prophylaxis and treatment in immunocompromised children and adults with malignancies: a single centre approach
Authors: Lehrnbecher Thomas , Mousset Sabine , Sörensen Jan , Böhme Angelika 
Published: January 2009

SummaryAlthough various guidelines on antifungal prophylaxis and treatment have been published, the practical approach in the individual clinical setting might considerably differ because of special local circumstances. In addition, there are major differences between paediatric and adult patients regarding antifungal strategies and the use of antifungal compounds. We here present the antifungal approach in the Departments of Hematology and Oncology of the University Hospital of Frankfurt, where per year approximately 350 children and adults are diagnosed with cancer and an additional 100 patients undergo haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The differences in the approach between the paediatric and adult setting are highlighted.
Cross‐reactivity among fungal allergens: a clinically relevant phenomenon?
Authors: Crameri Reto , Zeller Sabine , Glaser Andreas G. , Vilhelmsson Monica , Rhyner Claudio 
Published: January 2009

SummaryAtopic patients suffering from allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis, or atopic eczema often have detectable levels of serum IgE antibodies to fungi. Although the association between fungal sensitisation and different forms of allergic diseases, including allergic asthma and life‐threatening allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, is well established, the clinical relevance of cross‐reactivity among different fungal species remains largely unknown. Recent progress in molecular cloning of fungal allergens and the availability of more than 40 completely sequenced fungal genomes facilitates characterisation, cloning, and production of highly pure recombinant allergens, identification of homologous and orthologous allergens widespread among the fungal kingdom, in silico prediction, and experimental in vitro and in vivo verification of cross‐reactivity between homologous pan‐allergens. These studies indicate that cross‐reactivity is an important component of fungal sensitisation.
Astrocyte‐derived kynurenic acid modulates basal and evoked cortical acetylcholine release
Authors: Zmarowski A. , Wu H.‐Q. , Brooks J. M. , Potter M. C. , Pellicciari R. , Schwarcz R. , Bruno J. P. 
Published: January 2009

AbstractWe tested the hypothesis that fluctuations in the levels of kynurenic acid (KYNA), an endogenous antagonist of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor, modulate extracellular ACh levels in the medial prefrontal cortex in rats. Decreases in cortical KYNA levels were achieved by local perfusion of S‐ESBA, a selective inhibitor of the astrocytic enzyme kynurenine aminotransferase II (KAT II), which catalyses the formation of KYNA from its precursor l‐kynurenine. At 5 mm, S‐ESBA caused a 30% reduction in extracellular KYNA levels, which was accompanied by a two‐threefold increase in basal cortical ACh levels. Co‐perfusion of KYNA in the endogenous range (100 nm), which by itself tended to reduce basal ACh levels, blocked the ability of S‐ESBA to raise extracellular ACh levels. KYNA perfusion (100 nm) also prevented the evoked ACh release caused by d‐amphetamine (2.0 mg/kg). This effect was duplicated by the systemic administration of kynurenine (50 mg/kg), which resulted in a significant increase in cortical KYNA formation. Jointly, these data indicate that astrocytes, by producing and releasing KYNA, have the ability to modulate cortical cholinergic neurotransmission under both basal and stimulated conditions. As cortical KYNA levels are elevated in individuals with schizophrenia, and in light of the established role of cortical ACh in executive functions, our findings suggest that drugs capable of attenuating the production of KYNA may be of benefit in the treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.
Characterisation of tremor‐associated local field potentials in the subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Reck Christiane , Florin Esther , Wojtecki Lars , Krause Holger , Groiss Stefan , Voges Jürgen , Maarouf Mohammad , Sturm Volker , Schnitzler Alfons , Timmermann Lars 
Published: January 2009

AbstractWe simultaneously recorded local field potentials (LFPs) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and surface electromyographic signals (EMGs) from the extensor and flexor muscles of the contralateral forearm in eight patients with idiopathic tremor‐dominant Parkinson’s disease (resting tremor) during the bilateral implantation of deep brain stimulation electrodes. Recordings were made at different heights (in 0.5‐ to 2.0‐mm steps beginning outside the STN) using up to five concentrically configured macroelectrodes (2 mm apart). The patients were instructed to relax their contralateral forearm (rest condition). We analysed the coherence between tremor EMGs and STN LFPs, which showed significant tremor‐associated coupling at single tremor and double tremor frequencies. Moreover, the EMG–LFP coherences were characterised by differences between antagonistic muscles (flexor, extensor) and by the spatial distribution of LFPs within the STN. Coherence at single and double tremor frequencies occurred significantly more frequently within STN than above STN (in the zona incerta). In this study, we were able to show that, within STN, tremor‐associated LFP activity varied with spatial distribution and with the contralateral antagonistic forearm muscles. These findings suggest the existence of distribution‐ and muscle‐specific tremor‐associated LFP activity at different tremor frequencies and an organisation of tremor‐related subloops within the STN.
α7 and non‐α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors modulate dopamine release in vitro and in vivo in the rat prefrontal cortex
Authors: Livingstone Phil D. , Srinivasan Jayaraman , Kew James N.C. , Dawson Lee A. , Gotti Cecilia , Moretti Milena , Shoaib Mohammed , Wonnacott Susan 
Published: January 2009

AbstractNicotine enhances attentional and working memory aspects of executive function in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) where dopamine plays a major role. Here, we have determined the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes that can modulate dopamine release in rat PFC using subtype‐selective drugs. Nicotine and 5‐Iodo‐A‐85380 (β2* selective) elicited [3H]dopamine release from both PFC and striatal prisms in vitro and dopamine overflow from medial PFC in vivo. Blockade by dihydro‐β‐erythroidine supports the participation of β2* nAChRs. However, insensitivity of nicotine‐evoked [3H]dopamine release to α‐conotoxin‐MII in PFC prisms suggests no involvement of α6β2* nAChRs, in contrast to the striatum, and this distinction is supported by immunoprecipitation of nAChR subunits from these tissues. The α7 nAChR‐selective agonists choline and Compound A also promoted dopamine release from PFC in vitro and in vivo, and their effects were enhanced by the α7 nAChR‐selective allosteric potentiator PNU‐120596 and blocked by specific antagonists. DNQX and MK801 inhibited [3H]dopamine release evoked by choline and PNU‐120596, suggesting crosstalk between α7 nAChRs, glutamate and dopamine in the PFC. In vivo, systemic (but not local) administration of PNU‐120596, in the absence of agonist, facilitated dopamine overflow in the medial PFC, consistent with the activation of extracortical α7 nAChRs by endogenous acetylcholine or choline. These data establish that both β2* and α7 nAChRs can modulate dopamine release in the PFC in vitro and in vivo. Through their distinct actions on dopamine release, these nAChR subtypes could contribute to executive function, making them specific therapeutic targets for conditions such as schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Class‐specific tests of spatial segregation based on nearest neighbor contingency tables
Authors: Ceyhan Elvan 
Published: January 2009

The spatial interaction between two or more classes might cause multivariate clustering patterns such as segregation or association, which can be tested using a nearest neighbor contingency table (NNCT). The null hypothesis is randomness in the nearest neighbor structure, which may result fromrandom labeling(RL) orcomplete spatial randomnessof points from two or more classes (which is henceforth calledCSR independence). We consider Dixon's class‐specific segregation test and introduce a new class‐specific test, which is a new decomposition of Dixon's overall chi‐squared segregation statistic. We analyze the distributional properties and compare the empirical significant levels and power estimates of the tests using extensive Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that the new class‐specific tests have comparable performance with the currently available tests based on NNCTs. For illustrative purposes, we use three example data sets and provide guidelines for using these tests.
Welchen Einfluss hat der Wechselkurs auf die internationale Rolle von US-Dollar und Euro?
Authors: Remsperger Hermann , Winkler Adalbert 
Published: January 2009

AbstractThis article analyses the impact of the exchange rate on the role of dollar and euro as international currencies. It is found that exchange rate fluctuations are a major determinant of the international role of currencies only if they reflect sizeable inflation differentials. Accordingly, major changes in the international role of dollar and euro are not to be expected given the continuation of a stability-oriented US monetary policy. However, a move towards more exchange rate flexibility in emerging market economies, reflecting the need for greater monetary policy autonomy, might lead to a relative strengthening of the international role of the euro.38C
Der Emissionshandel in Deutschland und Österreich – ein wirksames Instrument des Klimaschutzes?
Authors: Kemfert Claudia , Schneider Friedrich 
Published: January 2009

AbstractEurope has implemented in the year 2005 an emissions trading system in order to fulfill the Kyoto emissions reduction targets. In principle, the instrument should be a cost-efficient measure of climate protection. But within the first implementation phase because of a over-allocation of emissions permits the emissions price declined to almost zero. In order to improve the effectiveness of the emissions trading system, emission permits should be auctioned. In addition, more gases and sectors should ideally be covered.
Professor of Sociology at Tokyo Gakugei University.
Authors: Naoi Michiko 
Published: January 2009

Abstract  In this paper I discuss methods of integrating women into social stratification studies. Traditional stratification studies have focused only on the male “heads” of households. While considering this problem within a conceptual framework of theoretical assumptions and empirical evidence, I would like to review some of the earlier work in this area.I propose to differentiate social stratification into “occupational stratification” and “consumption stratification” in order to facilitate the integration of women into these studies. I shall use data from a nationwide survey to show how and why the traditional male head‐of‐household approach is inappropriate in determining the social stratification of households.Rather than considering the occupation of the male head of the household, I use the concept of “substantive complexity of work” to compare paid work with housework. If a married woman is working outside the home, I define her occupation as that which scores higher in this comparison.I also suggest that we further subcategorize consumption stratification. Finally, I propose integrating the suggestions made in this paper with the status inconsistency approach to social stratification.
“I” and Self‐Consciousness in the Japanese Language and in Sociology
Authors: Kamada Isamu 
Published: January 2009

Abstract  It is often said that the Japanese lack the firm consciousness of “self” namely, they yield to groups and are absorbed in an anonymous state. Some ascribe this to the Japanese language, in which the first and the second person are expressed by various pronouns (or, in many cases, are even omitted) in accordance with the relationships between persons. By contrast the Westerner's “I,” which is usually the only pronoun for the first‐person, is rarely omitted. They conclude from this that the Japanese individual does not possess as clearly defined a conception of “self” as does the Westerner.Underlying this issue are the fundamental, interwoven questions of language and self‐consciousness: does “self” really exist, and does the analysis of the I in language pertain to the first question? This paper discusses these questions by considering Wittgenstein's argument that “I” does not refer to self‐consciousness: rather, “self” is a metaphysical reification of “I.”These problems concern sociology, in which the “subject” of action has been the focal point of methodological arguments. I will show that Meadian interactionism and critical theory are deeply rooted in the metaphysical, subjectivist understanding of “I,” while ethnomethodology offers a perspective which overcomes both subjectivism and objectivism for studying communication.
Ruth Benedict's Original Wartime Study of the Japanese
Authors: Kent Pauline 
Published: January 2009

Abstract Benedict's classic work on Japanese society,The Chrysanthemum and the Sword(1946). is still cited frequently in studies on Japanese society and culture, despite the fact that it is now nearly 50 years since it was published. However, although this book has exerted enormous influence on subsequent generations of scholars, her research into the work on the Japanese that preceded the writing ofChrysanthemum. is virtually non‐existant. This paper first traces the process through which Benedict progressed during her war‐time study of cultures at a distance. It then examines the eventual report she wrote on the Japanese and the significance of this report. Benedict's report, which stresses the importance of“girito one's name” within the code of Japanese ethics but devotes very little space to the discussion of “shame”. raises questions about the excessive attention devoted to repetitive references concerning her depiction of Japan as a “shame culture” by numerous social scientists.As this paper demonstrates through a consideration of her background research, the importance placed on the concept of “shame culture” by others was not shared by Benedict herself.
Japanese Historical Experience and Japanese Modernity
Authors: Eisenstadt S. N. 
Published: January 2009

Abstract It has long been recognized that Japanese modern society, policy and economy exhibit some very distinct characteristics, a distinct mode of structuration of modern institutions and organizations which are structured in ways radically different from those which have developed in other —especially Western— societies. Such differences are not just local variations. They pertain to the very basic ways in which the various modern institutional arenas are regulated, defined, and the broader social and cultural contexts in which they operate.The common denominator of these characteristics is a very high level of structural differentiation. mobility, openness and dynamics grounded in conceptions of service to social contexts, ideally (as promulgated in the Meiji ideology) to the national community. Neither the emphasis on equality nor the strong emphasis on achievement were grounded in any conception of principled transcendentally oriented individuality or of transcendental legitimation of different functional (e.g. political or economic) activities.Such a rather strong structural similarity, together with a distinct institutional dynamics. can be identified in comparing Japan and Western Europe already in the premodern period, when there were only but minimal contacts between them.The analysis in a comparative framework of this unusual combination is of central importance for the understanding of Japanese modernity and in the following pages I would like to present some preliminary steps for such analysis.
Comparing Protest and Conflict: A Time‐Series Analysis of Peasant Unrest in Japan, 1800‐1877
Authors: Nomiya Daishiro 
Published: January 2009

Abstract  The objective of this study is to explore the mechanisms of peasant political protest and social conflict in nineteenth‐century Japan. While political protest and social conflict have often been referred to as constituting two major categories of peasant unrest throughout feudal Japan, past studies on nineteenth‐century peasant uprisings, based mainly on a class conflict paradigm, did not treat them as such. This study aims at examining differential mechanisms between protest and conflict, and at assessing the applicability of the class conflict paradigm.A time‐series analysis is performed using the annual data of peasant uprisings and antecedent socioeconomic and political conditions during the period 1800‐1877. The study results strongly suggest that differential mechanisms between political protest and social conflict existed in the nineteenth‐century, and that the applicability of a class conflict paradigm is, at the very least, dubious. Based on the results, combined with historical‐contextual knowledge, an alternative explanation is also suggested.
SOCIAL PRISMS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON OF CHILDREARING MANUALS1
Authors: Boocock Sarane Spence 
Published: January 2009

Abstract  This paper presents findings from a comparative study of childrearing values and practices in four countries–Japan, People's Republic of China, France, and United States–based upon a content analysis of the ten best‐selling childrearing manuals in each country during the last decade of the twentieth century. A uniform set of procedures was used to classify and analyze the content of the manuals. Selected findings are discussed regarding: (1) management of the child's body and bodily functions: 12) management and shaping of the child's behavior; and (3) roles and role relationships within the family and outside.While cultural differences remain, two general trends emerge from the analysis. One is a trend toward more flexible child care practices and greater sensitivity to the character and needs of the individual child. The second is a convergence of opinion on many aspects of children's upbringing. Global trends that are affecting the production and dissemination of childrearing advice are also discussed.