bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Risk Analysis and Management of Dam Safety
Authors: Lave Lester B. , Balvanyos Tunde 
Published: May 2006

SUMMARYThe current safety criteria for a high hazard dam focus on protecting the dam during a large flood. While protecting the dam does help to protect downstream people and property, the two objectives are not the same. Instead, the criteria should focus on lowering property damage (including damage to the dam) and preventing flood deaths.High hazard dams must survive a design flood in the current safety criteria. However, experts don't agree on the size of the peak flow that meets this criteria.Statistical hydrologists have proposed an alternative to using professional judgment to specify the design flood. Unfortunately, peak flow distributions cannot be estimated with confidence for extreme floods given available data.A major safety goal is to prevent deaths from floods. Preventing deaths is a major reason for constructing the spillway to handle extreme floods so that the dam doesn't fail due to overtopping. However, even if the dam doesn't fail, the spilled floods could cause many deaths. A better approach is to warn people to get them out of harm's way if a flood is coming.Retrofitting existing dams that could pass a “probable maximum flood” (PMF) when built is almost never a good use of funds. Instead, funds would be spent better by focusing on preventing damage from small floods, lowering the damage from medium‐sized floods, and warning people in the event of a flood that could pose risks to life.
After VaR: The Theory, Estimation, and Insurance Applications of Quantile‐Based Risk Measures
Authors: Dowd Kevin , Blake David 
Published: May 2006

AbstractWe discuss a number of quantile‐based risk measures (QBRMs) that have recently been developed in the financial risk and actuarial/insurance literatures. The measures considered include the Value‐at‐Risk (VaR), coherent risk measures, spectral risk measures, and distortion risk measures. We discuss and compare the properties of these different measures, and point out that the VaR is seriously flawed. We then discuss how QBRMs can be estimated, and discuss some of the many ways they might be applied to insurance risk problems. These applications are typically very complex, and this complexity means that the most appropriate estimation method will often be some form of stochastic simulation.
Strategic Demand for Insurance
Authors: Seog S. Hun 
Published: May 2006

AbstractWe focus on the corporate demand for insurance under duopoly. We consider the case in which firms purchase insurance in order to enhance their competitiveness. We show that a higher level of corporate insurance makes a firm more aggressive and its competitor less aggressive in the output market (strategic effect). The optimal coverage of insurance is determined by comparing the strategic effect of insurance and the cost of insurance. The optimal coverage is positive if the strategic effect is greater than the cost of insurance. An interesting implication is that a risk‐neutral firm may purchase actuarially unfair insurance. The main strategic effect of insurance comes from the fact that firms purchase insurance before they produce outputs. Insurance makes firms more aggressive due to the limited risk costs of firms.
The Effects of Occupational Injuries After Returns to Work: Work Absences and Losses of On‐the‐Job Productivity
Authors: Butler Richard J. , Baldwin Marjorie L. , Johnson William G. 
Published: May 2006

AbstractWe extend the research on postinjury employment by estimating productivity losses for workers with permanent partial disabilities (PPDs) in the first three years after injury. Our method distinguishes between productivity losses attributed to spells of work absence versus reduced earnings during spells of employment. The method is applied to data for 800 Ontario workers with PPDs. The results document large productivity losses persisting at least three years after injury, with different loss patterns for workers returning to stable versus unstable employment. Human capital investments or job accommodations can reduce productivity losses, but the significant determinants of losses differ for the stable versus unstable employment groups.
Contact lens‐related corneal ulcers requiring hospitalization: A 7‐year retrospective study in Belgium
Authors: Verhelst Dominik , Koppen Carina , Van Looveren Jan , Meheus André , Tassignon Marie‐José ,   the Belgian Keratitis Study Group
Published: May 2006

Abstract.Purpose:  To evaluate the clinical and epidemiological aspects of contact lens‐related infectious corneal ulcers requiring hospitalization.Methods:  A retrospective analysis was performed on the files of patients hospitalized for contact lens‐induced corneal ulcer in the eight Belgian university hospitals over a 7‐year period (January 1997 to December 2003). Diagnoses for all hospitalized patients are obligatorily registered using the ICD‐9 code.Results:  A total of 107 patients with contact lens‐related corneal ulcers were documented: the number increased from five in 1997 to 22 in 2003. A total of 99 subjects used soft contact lenses, of whom nine used disposables, 73 planned replacement and 17 conventional lenses. Only six patients used extended wear lenses. Three patients used daily disposable lenses. The most frequently cultured organisms were Pseudomonas and other Gram‐negative germs (70%) and Acanthamoeba (16%). The majority (77%) of the corneal ulcerations were centrally located and resulted in an average visual loss of four lines.Conclusion:  During the study period, the number of patients hospitalized rose, which is only partially explained by the increasing prevalence of lens wearers: 3.5% and 6.5% of the Belgian population used lenses in 1995 and 2003, respectively. These factual data highlight the need for improvements in patient education.
Retrobulbar haemodynamics and contrast sensitivity improvements after CO2 breathing
Authors: Huber Klaudia K. , Adams Herbert , Remky Andreas , Arend Kay O. 
Published: May 2006

Abstract.Purpose:  Effects of gas mixtures have been widely studied. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is known to act as a vasodilator, whereas oxygen (O2) acts as a vasoconstrictor. Therefore, the interpretation of results is difficult. In this study, only the effect of an elevated CO2 level on retrobulbar hemodynamics and contrast sensitivity was investigated.Methods:  Thirty adults (age 31 ± 7) were examined under normocapnic and hypercapnic conditions. Colour Doppler imaging was used to measure the velocity in the ophthalmic and central retinal artery. Moreover, contrast sensitivity using the CSV‐1000 was investigated. Blood pressure, heart rate and intraocular pressure (IOP) were measured and ocular perfusion was calculated.Results:  Under hypercapnia, mean end tidal CO2 increased from 36.4 mmHg to 42.5 mmHg and blood oxygen saturation increased from 98.3% to 98.6% (p < 0.0001). Hypercapnia significantly reduced IOP by 0.94 mmHg (p < 0.0008). In the central retinal artery, the mean PSV increased by 18% (p < 0.0001) and the mean EDV by 21% (p = 0.0054). In the ophthalmic artery, the mean PSV increased by 13% (p < 0.0001) and the mean EDV by 26% (p = 0.0002). Furthermore, there was a significant increase of contrast sensitivity (spatial frequency: 3cpd: p = 0.0016; 6cpd: p = 0.005; 12cpd: p = 0.0012). Systolic blood pressure (p = 0.0225), mean arterial blood pressure (p = 0.0097) and ocular perfusion pressure (p = 0.0013) increased significantly.Conclusion:  This setting was able to detect an increase in blood flow velocity in normal subjects under hypercapnia. Furthermore, hypercapnia results in a functional improvement in contrast sensitivity, possible due to the increased blood flow or the increase in blood oxygen levels.
S‐100 as a useful auxiliary diagnostic aid in tuberculoid leprosy
Authors: Gupta Sanjeev Kumar , Nigam Sonu , Mandal Ashish K. , Kumar Vijay 
Published: May 2006

Background:  The diagnosis of tuberculoid leprosy is often difficult on hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) due to the absence of demonstrable nerve destruction. This study evaluates the utility of S‐100 staining in identifying nerve fragmentation and differentiation of tuberculoid leprosy from other cutaneous granulomatous diseases.Methods:  Fifty cases of leprosy including 38 borderline tuberculoid (BT), two tuberculoid (TT), and 10 indeterminate leprosy (IL) were studied. Eleven controls of non‐lepromatous cutaneous granulomatous lesions were included. S‐100 was used for identifying the following dermal nerve patterns: infiltrated (A), fragmented (B), absent (C), and intact (D) nerves.Results:  On H&E, only 18/38 (47.4%) BT cases and 1/2 (50%) TT cases revealed neural inflammation. On S‐100 staining of BT cases, 28/38 (73.7%) showed pattern B followed by patterns C and A in 8/38 (21.1%) and 2/38 (5.3%) cases, respectively. Both the TT cases showed pattern B. Only intact nerves (D) were seen in all the control cases. S‐100 identified nerve damage in 4/10 (40%) IL cases. The patterns A, B, and C had sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 100% in diagnosing tuberculoid (BT + TT) leprosy.Conclusions:  S‐100 is superior to H&E in identifying nerve fragmentation (p < 0.01). It also aids the differential diagnosis of tuberculoid leprosy.
Bcl‐2‐positive epidermal dendritic cells in inverted follicular keratoses but not squamous cell carcinomas or seborrheic keratoses
Authors: Ko Christine J. , Kim Jenny , Phan Jenny , Binder Scott W. 
Published: May 2006

Aim:  In our previous research, bcl‐2‐positive dendritic cells were seen in increased numbers in suprabasal areas of inverted follicular keratoses (IFKs) compared to seborrheic keratoses (SKs). The purpose of this study was twofold; firstly, to support that these dendritic cells are Langerhans cells and secondly, to contrast the epidermal dendritic cells in IFKs, squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), and SKs.Methods:  Ten IFKs and five SKs previously showing bcl‐2‐positive dendritic cells within the epidermis were stained with CD1a. Fifteen other IFKs were stained with CD1a alone. Ten SCCs were stained with bcl‐2 and CD1a.Results:  In the 10 IFKs stained with both bcl‐2 and CD1a, the density of CD1a‐positive cells correlated well with the density of bcl‐2‐positive dendritic cells; in the five SKs, the density of CD1a‐positive cells was similar to that seen in IFKs but was higher compared to the density of bcl‐2‐positive dendritic cells in SKs (p < 0.05). The IFKs had a significantly higher number of CD1a‐positive cells compared to SCCs (p < 0.01). SCCs showed bcl‐2‐positive cells only within the basal layer of the normal epidermis flanking the carcinomas.Conclusion:  These results suggest that there is different bcl‐2 regulation of CD1a‐positive cells in IFKs, SKs, and SCCs.
Morphology of Malassez's epithelial rest‐like cells in the cementum: transmission electron microscopy, immunohistochemical, and TdT‐mediated dUTP‐biotin nick end labeling studies
Authors: Suzuki M. , Matsuzaka K. , Yamada S. , Shimono M. , Abiko Y. , Inoue T. 
Published: May 2006

Background and Objective:  It is known that epithelial islands are embedded in the cementum during tooth root formation, but details of this process remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic characteristics of Malassez's epithelial rest cells in the cementum during tooth root formation in pigs in vivo.Material and Methods:  The first molars of 6‐mo‐old pigs were used in this study. Specimens were decalcified before being embedded in paraffin. Paraffin sections were investigated using TdT‐mediated dUTP‐biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL), immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural techniques.Results:  Malassez's epithelial rest cells were located close to the root surface at the apical one‐third of the periodontal ligament, and epithelial clusters surrounded by distinct lamina cementia were sometimes observed in the cementum. TUNEL‐positive cells were detected only in the cementum. Malassez's epithelial rest cells in the periodontal ligament were completely surrounded by basement membranes, but epithelial clusters in the cementum were only intermittently surrounded by such membranes. Cytokeratin‐positive cells in the superstratum of the cementum were directly connected by cementocytes and by desmosome‐like structures. However, organelles were scarce in the cytokeratin‐positive cells in the substratum of the cementum, and the matrix of the cementum was deposited in the cells.Conclusion:  These results suggest that the majority of the fragmented Hertwig's root sheath remains in the periodontal ligament and that some cells, which are connected to cementoblasts, are embedded in the cementum and progress to apoptosis.
Tri‐trophic effects of plant defenses: chickadees consume caterpillars based on host leaf chemistry
Authors: S. Müller Martina , R. McWilliams Scott , Podlesak David , R. Donaldson Jack , M. Bothwell Helen , L. Lindroth Richard 
Published: May 2006

Few studies have addressed how plant chemical defenses that directly affect herbivores in turn affect consumption patterns of vertebrates at higher trophic levels. We studied how variable foliar chemistry of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) affects the diet preferences of an avian insectivore feeding on an introduced herbivore, the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.).Black‐capped chickadees (Poecile atricapilla) were offered paired choices of gypsy moth caterpillars feeding on one of three genotypes of aspen that differed in chemical composition. Chickadees chose to eat caterpillars fed aspen foliage with low levels of both condensed tannins and phenolic glycosides, or caterpillars fed foliage with high levels of tannins and low levels of phenolic glycosides, over caterpillars fed foliage with low levels of condensed tannins and high levels of phenolic glycosides. In addition, diet choices of the birds were affected by their previous experience. These findings are consistent with the “extended phenotype” concept, in that genetically‐based chemical traits in an ecologically dominant plant influence the feeding behavior of third trophic level organisms, whose efficacy as regulators of herbivore populations may in turn be modified.
DEFINITION AND ANALYSIS OF A WAVELET/FICTITIOUS DOMAIN SOLVER FOR THE 2D-HEAT EQUATION ON A GENERAL DOMAIN
Authors: BACCOU JEAN , LIANDRAT JACQUES 
Published: May 2006

This paper is devoted to the setting and analysis of a Petrov–Galerkin wavelet-fictitious domain numerical method for the approximation of the solution of multi-dimensional parabolic equations on a general domain. In this method, the original parabolic equation, set on a domain ω, is first discretized in time using a finite difference scheme. At each time step, the corresponding elliptic equation on ω is transformed into a saddle point problem on a functional space defined on a bigger but simply shaped domain Ω where the initial boundary conditions on ω are enforced using surface Lagrange multipliers (Ref. 2). The solution of this problem is then approximated, thanks to a Petrov–Galerkin formulation, using wavelets and time scheme associated "vaguelettes" (Ref. 8). Existence, uniqueness and convergence of the approximated solution, when finite dimension spaces are used, are established and the efficiency as well as the stability of the numerical algorithm (namely the Uzawa algorithm) used in the resolution are analyzed. The constraint of a discrete inf-sup condition as well as ill-conditioning associated to the trace operator are investigated in the wavelet framework. Numerical results related to the 2D heat equation are presented.
Nitric oxide agents impair insulin-mediated signal transduction in rat skeletal muscle
Authors: Badal Simone , Brown Paul D , Ragoobirsingh Dalip 
Published: May 2006

Abstract

Background
Evidence demonstrates that exogenously administered nitric oxide (NO) can induce insulin resistance in skeletal muscle. We have investigated the modulatory effects of two NO donors, S-nitroso-N-acetyl-D, L-penicillamine (SNAP) and S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) on the early events in insulin signaling in rat skeletal myocytes.

Results
Skeletal muscle cells from 6–8 week old Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with SNAP or GSNO (25 ng/ml) in the presence or absence of glucose (25 mM) and insulin (100 nM). Cellular insulin receptor-β levels and tyrosine phosphorylation in IRS-1 were significantly reduced, while serine phosphorylation in IRS-1 was significantly increased in these cells, when compared to the insulin-stimulated control. Reversal to near normal levels was achieved using the NO scavenger, 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4, 4, 5, 5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-oxide (carboxy-PTIO).

Conclusion
These data suggest that NO is a potent modulator of insulin-mediated signal transduction and may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Improving the specificity of high-throughput ortholog prediction
Authors: Fulton Debra L , Li Yvonne Y , Laird Matthew R , Horsman Benjamin GS , Roche Fiona M , Brinkman Fiona SL 
Published: May 2006

Abstract

Background
Orthologs (genes that have diverged after a speciation event) tend to have similar function, and so their prediction has become an important component of comparative genomics and genome annotation. The gold standard phylogenetic analysis approach of comparing available organismal phylogeny to gene phylogeny is not easily automated for genome-wide analysis; therefore, ortholog prediction for large genome-scale datasets is typically performed using a reciprocal-best-BLAST-hits (RBH) approach. One problem with RBH is that it will incorrectly predict a paralog as an ortholog when incomplete genome sequences or gene loss is involved. In addition, there is an increasing interest in identifying orthologs most likely to have retained similar function.

Results
To address these issues, we present here a high-throughput computational method named Ortholuge that further evaluates previously predicted orthologs (including those predicted using an RBH-based approach) – identifying which orthologs most closely reflect species divergence and may more likely have similar function. Ortholuge analyzes phylogenetic distance ratios involving two comparison species and an outgroup species, noting cases where relative gene divergence is atypical. It also identifies some cases of gene duplication after species divergence. Through simulations of incomplete genome data/gene loss, we show that the vast majority of genes falsely predicted as orthologs by an RBH-based method can be identified. Ortholuge was then used to estimate the number of false-positives (predominantly paralogs) in selected RBH-predicted ortholog datasets, identifying approximately 10% paralogs in a eukaryotic data set (mouse-rat comparison) and 5% in a bacterial data set (Pseudomonas putida – Pseudomonas syringae species comparison). Higher quality (more precise) datasets of orthologs, which we term "ssd-orthologs" (s upporting-s pecies-d ivergence-orthologs), were also constructed. These datasets, as well as Ortholuge software that may be used to characterize other species' datasets, are available at http://www.pathogenomics.ca/ortholuge/ (software under GNU General Public License).

Conclusion
The Ortholuge method reported here appears to significantly improve the specificity (precision) of high-throughput ortholog prediction for both bacterial and eukaryotic species. This method, and its associated software, will aid those performing various comparative genomics-based analyses, such as the prediction of conserved regulatory elements upstream of orthologous genes.
Demonstration of two novel methods for predicting functional siRNA efficiency
Authors: Jia Peilin , Shi Tieliu , Cai Yudong , Li Yixue 
Published: May 2006

Abstract

Background
siRNAs are small RNAs that serve as sequence determinants during the gene silencing process called RNA interference (RNAi). It is well know that siRNA efficiency is crucial in the RNAi pathway, and the siRNA efficiency for targeting different sites of a specific gene varies greatly. Therefore, there is high demand for reliable siRNAs prediction tools and for the design methods able to pick up high silencing potential siRNAs.

Results
In this paper, two systems have been established for the prediction of functional siRNAs: (1) a statistical model based on sequence information and (2) a machine learning model based on three features of siRNA sequences, namely binary description, thermodynamic profile and nucleotide composition. Both of the two methods show high performance on the two datasets we have constructed for training the model.

Conclusion
Both of the two methods studied in this paper emphasize the importance of sequence information for the prediction of functional siRNAs. The way of denoting a bio-sequence by binary system in mathematical language might be helpful in other analysis work associated with fixed-length bio-sequence.
Bartonella quintana coinfection with Mycobacterium aviumcomplex and CMV in an AIDS patient: case presentation
Authors: Rovery Clarisse , Rolain Jean Marc , Lepidi Hubert , Zandotti Christine , Moreau Jacques , Brouqui Philippe 
Published: May 2006

Abstract

Background
As a greater number of HIV-infected patients survive despite profound immunodepression due to medical progress, we face complex infection with multiple agents in AIDS-patients.

Case presentation
We report the case of an AIDS patient with a primary clinical presentation suggestive of bacillary angiomatosis. We also found in cutaneous lesions Mycobacterium avium complex and cytomegalovirus.

Conclusion
This clinical case illustrates the possibility of multiple coinfections in AIDS patients and the need to be exhaustive in evaluating infectious diseases in severely immunocompromised patients.