bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Long‐term antiepileptic drug therapy contributes to the acceleration of atherosclerosis
Authors: Tan Teng‐Yeow , Lu Cheng‐Hsien , Chuang Hung‐Yi , Lin Tsu‐Kung , Liou Chia‐Wei , Chang Wen‐Neng , Chuang Yao‐Chung 
Published: March 2009

SummaryPurpose:  Long‐term antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy has been associated with an increase in risk of atherosclerosis. At issue is whether this risk is related to the duration of AED therapy. We evaluated the hypothesis that the cumulative effect of long‐term exposure to AEDs plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in patients with epilepsy.Methods:  One hundred ninety‐five patients under long‐term AED therapy and 195 healthy age‐ and sex‐matched control subjects received measurement of intima media thickness (IMT) at the far wall of the common carotid artery (CCA) by B‐mode ultrasonography to assess the extent of atherosclerosis. Other measurements included body mass index (BMI) and blood lipid profile or homocysteine, folic acid, uric acid, fasting blood sugar, high sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and total reduced thiols.Results:  CCA IMT was significantly increased in patients with epilepsy, with male subjects exhibiting thicker IMT than their female counterparts. Whereas BMI, homocysteine, hs‐CRP, and TBARS were significantly elevated, folic acid and thiols were significantly reduced in patients with epilepsy. Multiple linear regression analysis further revealed that duration of AED therapy, age, gender, and TBARS level (index for oxidative stress) were independently associated with CCA IMT. In addition, the log‐transformed CCA IMT increased linearly with duration of AED therapy after adjustments for age, gender, and TBARS level.Discussion:  The duration of AED therapy is significantly associated with the acceleration of atherosclerosis in patients with epilepsy, alongside independent contributions of age, gender, and oxidative stress to the atherosclerotic process.
Neuropsychological and functional MRI studies provide converging evidence of anterior language dysfunction in BECTS
Authors: Lillywhite Leasha M. , Saling Michael M. , Simon Harvey A. , Abbott David F. , Archer John S. , Vears Danya F. , Scheffer Ingrid E. , Jackson Graeme D. 
Published: March 2009

SummaryPurpose: Benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is the most common epilepsy syndrome of childhood and can be associated with language difficulties. The exact profile of these difficulties and their neurofunctional underpinnings, however, are not yet clear.Methods: To further understand the impact of the BECTS syndrome on language, we assessed language performance using standard neuropsychological measures, and patterns of language lateralization using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in children with typical BECTS (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 20).Results: The fMRI analyses revealed that language‐related activation was less lateralized to the left hemisphere in anterior brain regions in the patients relative to the control group. This finding was consistent with decreased performance in the BECTS group compared to the control group on the neuropsychological measure most dependent on the integrity of anterior aspects of the language axis, namely, sentence production.Discussion: The converging lines of evidence from the neuropsychological and activation methodologies support the view that BECTS is associated with language difficulties that are regional, and anterior, in nature.
Psychotic and behavioural symptoms in a population‐based sample of the very elderly subjects
Authors: Östling S. , Gustafson D. , Waern M. 
Published: March 2009

Objective: The aim was to elucidate the relationship between psychotic and behavioural symptoms in the elderly.Method: A representative sample of 85 year old subjects living in Gothenburg, Sweden (n = 451) was assessed with neuropsychiatric examinations, key informant interviews and record reviews.Results: Fourteen percent of these very elderly subjects had paranoid symptoms with concomitant anxious agitation and/or irritability/anger. Hallucinations and paranoid symptoms were both associated with a pattern of behavioural symptoms including both anxious agitation and irritability/anger simultaneously in both demented [hallucinations, Odds ratio (OR) 2.8, Confidence interval (CI) 1.2–6.7, paranoid symptoms OR 5.6 CI 2.2–14.2] and non‐demented(hallucinations OR 3.2 CI 1.2–8.3, paranoid symptoms OR 4.8 CI 2.0–11.8).Conclusion: Psychotic symptoms are associated with behavioural symptoms regardless of dementia status. Since these symptoms lead to decreased ability to function in daily life and increased caregiver burden, it is important for health professionals to identify and treat these symptoms also in non‐demented.
Meditatio mortis bei Philippe Jaccottet – Zur Motivik der Quěte in der französischen Lyrik der Gegenwart
Authors: Simonis Ferdinand 
Published: March 2009

Zu Beginn wird versucht, einen Entwicklungsprozeß antagonistischer Dichtungskonzeptionen innerhalb der modernen französischen Lyrik zu skizzieren, der in Baudelaires Werk seinen Ursprung nimmt und im heutigen Frankreich sich in zwei unterschiedlichen Tendenzen manifestiert – auf der einen Seite als eine die Gegebenheiten des Gedichtes transzendierende Suche nach dem Absoluten oder dem Wesen des Seins, als quěte, eine Tendenz, die in den Zeitschriften L’Ephémère (1967–1972) und Argile (1973–1981) ihren Niederschlag findet, auf der anderen Seite als eine selbstgenügende, textimmanente Zielsetzung des Dichtens, die als fěte de l’intellect, ein Feiern der Textgegebenheiten ohne transzendierenden Sinnbezug, zu erachten ist und in der Zeitschrift Tel Quel (1960–1982) ihre programmatische Ausprägung erfährt.Philippe Jaccottet erscheint wie Bonnefoy, du Bouchet, Dupin und Tortel als Repräsentant jener Autoren, für die Dichten eine sowohl das gegenständliche Sein als auch die Textgegebenheit transzendierende Suche bedeutet. In dem Werk Jaccottets wird nunmehr eine besondere Schattierung der quěte aufzuweisen versucht, nämlich die Motivik des memento mori, ein die realen Formen der Landschaft im gleichen Maße wie die Empfindungsmomente der Liebe durchdringendes Bewußtsein, das in die Obsession von Verfall und drohendem Chaos einmündet und somit die Dichtung Jaccottets in jene Grundstimmung einbezieht, von der die meisten Werke der französischen Lyrik des 20. Jahrhunderts getragen sind.
Multi‐scale sampling and statistical linear estimators to assess land use status and change
Authors: Rocchini D. , Marignani M. , Bacaro G. , Chiarucci A. , Ferretti M. , De Dominicis V. , Maccherini S. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractQuestion: Multi‐temporal analysis of remotely sensed imagery has proven to be a powerful tool for assessment and monitoring of landscape diversity. Here the feasibility of assessing land‐use diversity and land‐use change was tested at multiple scales and over time by means of statistical linear estimators based on a probabilistic sampling design.Location: The study area (the district of Asciano, Tuscany, Italy) is characterized by erosional forms typical of Pliocene claystone (i.e. calanchi and biancane) that have been subject to the phenomenon of biancane reworking over the past 50 years, mainly owing to the expansion of intensive agriculture.Methods: Cells at two different scales (50 m × 50 m and 10 m × 10 m) were classified by two operators according to a multilevel legend, using 1954 and 2000 aerial photographs. Inter‐operator agreement and accuracy were tested by Cohen's K coefficient. Total land cover estimation for each class was carried out using a multistage estimator, while the variance was estimated by means of the Wolter estimator. Field‐based information on plant species composition was recorded in order to test for a relationship between land use and plant community composition by anova and indicator species analysis.Results: Agreement between photointerpreters and accuracy were significantly higher than those expected by chance, proving that the approach proposed is reproducible, as long as proper quality assurance methods are used. Our data show that, at the two scales considered (50 m × 50 m and 10 m × 10 m), crops have increased against woodlands and semi‐natural areas, the latter showing the highest and significantly different mean species richness. Meanwhile, an increase in the coverage of trees and shrubs was found within the semi‐natural areas, probably as a result of secondary succession occurring on typical landscape elements such as biancane.Conclusions: Inferential statistics made it possible to acquire quantitative information on the abundance of land cover classes, allowing formal multi‐temporal and multi‐scale analysis. Sampling design‐based statistical linear estimators were found to be a powerful tool for assessing landscape trends considering both time expenditure and other costs. They make it possible to maintain the same scale of analysis over time series data and to detect both coarse‐ and fine‐grained changes in spatial patterns.
Dung Beetle Assemblages and Seasonality in Primary Forest and Forest Fragments on Agricultural Landscapes in Budongo, Uganda
Authors: Nyeko Philip 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTVery little is known about the diversity of arthropods in the fast‐disappearing fragments of natural forests in sub‐Saharan Africa. This study investigated: (1) the influence of forest fragment characteristics on dung beetle species richness, composition, abundance, and diversity; and (2) the relationship between dung beetle assemblages and rainfall pattern. Beetles were sampled through 12 mo using dung baited pitfall traps. A total of 18,073 dung beetles belonging to three subfamilies and 45 species were captured. The subfamily Scarabaeinae was the most abundant (99%) and species rich (89%). Fast‐burying tunnellers (paracoprids) were the most dominant functional group. Catharsius sesostris, Copris nepos, and Heliocopris punctiventris were the three most abundant species, and had the highest contributions to dissimilarities between forests. With few exceptions, dung beetle abundance, species richness, and diversity were generally higher in larger forest fragments (100–150 ha) than in smaller ones (10–50 ha) and the nature reserve (1042 ha). Forest fragment size had a highly significant positive relationship with beetle abundance, but only when the nature reserve is excluded in the analysis. Dung beetle abundance and species richness showed direct weak relationships with litter depth (positive) and groundcover (negative) but not tree density, tree species richness, and fragment isolation distance. Dung beetle abundance and species richness were strongly correlated with monthly changes in rainfall. Results of this study indicate that forest fragments on agricultural lands in the Budongo landscape, especially medium‐sized (100–150 ha) ones, represent important conservation areas for dung beetles.
Long‐Term Variation in Small Mammal Abundance in Forest and Savanna of Bolivian Cerrado
Authors: Emmons Louise H. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTSmall mammals were trapped annually in two savanna and two forest plots in cerrado habitats of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for 5–10 yr. Eighteen species were captured in forest and seven species in savanna. Species numbers and total number of individuals captured were tightly correlated. In forest, species and abundance varied interannually by up to fourfold in one plot and to 100‐fold in the other, and showed alternating highs and lows as is typical for small mammals. The largest faunal differences were due not to site differences, but to year differences, with markedly different patterns in forests and savannas. Abundance was not correlated with rainfall overall, but showed correlation in exceptional years of rainfall and ENSO drought. In savanna, species and overall abundance declined without recovery during 3 yr after reaching minimum numbers in 2004. One species, Cavia aperea, became extinct on both plots, and subsequently, apparently on the entire savanna. Both herbivorous and insectivorous species declined together. Rainfall, fire, and flooding do not seem to account for savanna rodent declines. I propose the novel hypothesis that smoke from anthropogenic burning raises nocturnal temperatures and prevents dew formation, and that a decrease in nightly dry season dewfall has been instrumental in rodent declines. Anecdotal and climatic data are consistent with this hypothesis, but it cannot yet be tested.
Seed Dispersal by Birds and Bats in Lowland Philippine Forest Successional Area
Authors: Gonzales Regielene S. , Ingle Nina R. , Lagunzad Daniel A. , Nakashizuka Tohru 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTIn the tropical forests of SE Asia, only a few studies have dealt with the role animal dispersal plays in early forest succession and rehabilitation, and a comparison of bird and bat dispersal is even rarer. We investigated seed dispersal by birds and bats in a successional area in the lowland dipterocarp forest of the Subic Watershed Forest Reserve (SWFR) in Luzon Island, Philippines. Using pairs of day and night traps, we collected seeds during 3 mo of wet season and 3 mo of dry season in a 1.2‐ha study site. Bird‐dispersed seeds predominated over those dispersed by bats in terms of both seed abundance and number of seed species. The most abundant endozoochorous seed species were significantly biased toward either bird or bat dispersal. Birds and bats appeared to compete more strongly for fruit resources during the dry season than during the wet season, and bats responded more to changes in the seasons than birds did. GLM analyses showed that the factor that had the strongest influence on overall seed distribution was the number of fleshy‐fruited trees surrounding the traps, and that the distribution pattern of day‐dispersed seeds was affected by more physical factors (number of trees, size of trees, presence of fleshy‐fruited and conspecific trees) in the study site than the pattern of night‐dispersed seeds were. Given that birds are the more important dispersers in the study site, restoration efforts in SWFR might benefit by focusing on attracting these dispersers into its degraded habitats.
The impact of baryons on dark matter haloes
Authors: Pedrosa Susana , Tissera Patricia B. , Scannapieco Cecilia 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
We analyse the dark matter (DM) distribution in an ≈ 1012 M⊙ halo extracted from a simulation consistent with the concordance cosmology, where the physics regulating the transformation of gas into stars was allowed to change producing galaxies with different morphologies. Although the DM profiles get more concentrated as baryons are collected at the centre of the haloes compared to a pure dynamical run, the total baryonic mass alone is not enough to fully predict the reaction of the DM profile. We also note that baryons affect the DM distribution even outside the central regions. Those systems where the transformation of gas into stars is regulated by supernova (SN) feedback, so that significant disc structures are able to form, are found to have more concentrated DM profiles than a galaxy which has efficiently transformed most of its baryons into stars at early times. The accretion of satellites is found to be associated with an expansion of the DM profiles, triggered by angular momentum transfer from the incoming satellites. As the impact of SN feedback increases, the satellites get less massive and are even strongly disrupted before getting close to the main structure causing less angular momentum transfer. Our findings suggest that the response of the DM halo is driven by the history of assembly of baryons into a galaxy along their merger tree.
Relation of School Environment and Policy to Adolescent Physical Activity*
Authors: Durant Nefertiti , Harris Sion K. , Doyle Stephanie , Person Sharina , Saelens Brian E. , Kerr Jacqueline , Norman Gregory J. , Sallis James F. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTBackground:  Physical activity (PA) declines as children and adolescents age. The purpose of this study was to examine how specific school factors relate to youth PA, TV viewing, and body mass index (BMI).Methods:  A sample of 12‐ to 18‐year‐old adolescents in 3 cities (N = 165, 53% females, mean age 14.6 ± 1.7 years, 44% nonwhite) completed surveys assessing days of physical education (PE) class per week, school equipment accessibility, after‐school supervised PA, and after‐school field access. Regression analyses were conducted to examine relationships between these school factors and PA at school facilities open to the public (never active vs active), overall PA level (days per week physically active for 60 minutes), BMI z score, and TV watching (hours per week).Results:  Adjusting for demographics, days of PE per week and access to school fields after school were correlated with overall PA (β= 0.286, p = .002, semipartial correlation .236 and β= 0.801, p = .016, semipartial correlation .186, respectively). The association between after‐school field access and overall PA was mediated by use of publicly accessible school facilities for PA. After‐school supervised PA and school PA equipment were not associated with overall PA. In adjusted regression analyses including all school factors, days of PE remained correlated to overall PA independent of other school factors (β= 0.264, p = .007, semipartial correlation = .136). There were no associations between school factors and BMI or TV watching.Conclusions:  Based on these study findings, PE is a promising intervention to address improving overall adolescent PA within the school setting.
Patterns of Vaginal, Oral, and Anal Sexual Intercourse in an Urban Seventh‐Grade Population
Authors: Markham Christine M. , Fleschler Peskin Melissa , Addy Robert C. , Baumler Elizabeth R. , Tortolero Susan R. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTBackground:  This study examines the prevalence of vaginal, oral, and anal intercourse among a population of urban, public middle school students, the characteristics of early sexual initiators, and the sequence of sexual initiation. Such data are limited for early adolescents.Methods:  A total of 1279 seventh‐grade students (57.3% female, 43.6% black, and 41.8% Hispanic), mean age 12.5 years (SD = 0.63) from 10 middle schools in a large southeastern US public school district completed a cross‐sectional survey using audio computer‐assisted self‐interviews. Main outcomes included lifetime and past 3‐months’ experience of vaginal, oral, and anal sex; condom use; age of initiation; and number of lifetime partners.Results:  Overall, 12.0% of students had engaged in vaginal sex, 7.9% in oral sex, and 6.5% in anal sex. Among students who had initiated intercourse, approximately two thirds were currently sexually active and one quarter reported ≥4 lifetime partners. Six percent had engaged in 1 type of intercourse, 4% in 2 types of intercourse, and 4% in all 3 types of intercourse; vaginal sex was typically initiated at an earlier or at the same age as other types of intercourse. Only 2% had engaged in oral sex without engaging in vaginal sex. Although black students were significantly more likely to have initiated sex compared to other racial/ethnic groups, Hispanic students who had initiated each type of intercourse were more likely to be currently sexually active and to have engaged in recent unprotected sex.Conclusions:  A small percentage of early adolescents are engaging in multiple sexual behaviors. These findings have implications for early adolescent school‐based sexual health education.
Otoacoustic Emissions: A Valid, Efficient First‐Line Hearing Screen for Preschool Children
Authors: Yin Larry , Bottrell Christine , Clarke Noreen , Shacks Janice , Poulsen Marie K 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTBackground:  Normal hearing during the preschool years is essential for speech, language, social, emotional, and preacademic development. Children of low socioeconomic status may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of late identification and intervention. While a mass‐screening effort focused on preschool children does not have broad support, focused screening remains important to identify children at risk. This project was conducted to address 3 primary aims: develop and implement an initial hearing screen using transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) for at‐risk preschoolers, verify speed and tolerability of the screen, and assess the test performance of TEOAEs screening compared to pure tone audiometry in a group of 142 preschool children.Methods:  A total of 744 preschool children attending preschools in an underserved, urban community completed TEOAEs screening by a school nurse. A secondary cohort of 142 children was screened first by TEOAEs and then followed by pure tone audiometry and results compared.Results:  A total of 680 children passed screening. Forty‐one children (5.5%) had a “refer” result. Two‐year‐olds had the highest refusal rate (10.5%). Mean testing time was 43 seconds per ear. Secondary cohort analysis revealed 1 subject did not pass either TEOAEs or pure tone screening; no subject passed TEOAEs and then did not pass pure tone audiometry. TEOAEs screening test sensitivity was 1.00 (95% confidence interval 0.054‐1.00) and specificity 0.94 (0.88‐0.97).Conclusions:  TEOAEs screening performed by school nurses is a fast, efficient, and feasible model. Children who pass TEOAEs screening have a very high likelihood of being free from hearing impairment. Application may be particularly relevant in underserved communities.
Social Environments and Physical Aggression Among 21,107 Students in the United States and Canada
Authors: Pickett William , Iannotti Ronald J. , Simons‐Morton Bruce , Dostaler Suzanne 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTBackground:  Physical aggression is an important issue in North American populations. The importance of students’ social environments in the occurrence of physical aggression requires focused study. In this study, reports of physical aggression were examined in relation to social environment factors among national samples of students from Canada and the United States.Methods:  Students in grades 6‐10 from the United States (n = 14,049) and Canada (n = 7058) who had participated in the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children Survey (HBSC) were studied. Rates of students’ physical aggression were compared between the 2 countries. School, family, socioeconomic, and peer‐related factors were considered as potential risk factors. A simple social environment risk score was developed using the US data and was subsequently tested in the Canadian sample.Results:  Risks for physical aggression were consistently higher among United States versus Canadian students, but the magnitude of these differences was modest. The relative odds of physical aggression increased with reported environmental risk. To illustrate, US boys in grades 6‐8 reporting the highest social environment risk score (5+) experienced a relative odds of physical aggression 4.02 (95% CI 2.7‐5.9) times higher than those reporting the lowest score (adjusted OR for risk scores 0 through 5+ was 1.00, 1.19, 2.10, 2.01, 3.71, and 4.02, respectively, ptrend < .001).Conclusions:  Unexpectedly, rates of physical aggression and associations between social environments and students’ aggression were remarkably similar in Canada and the United States. Family, peer, and school social environments serve as risk or protective factors, with significant cumulative impact on physical aggression in both countries. Given the observed high rates and the many negative effects of aggression on long‐term health, school policies aimed at the reduction of such behavior remain a clear priority.