bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Linkages between biodiversity conservation and global climate change in small island developing States (SIDS)
Authors: Cherian Anilla 
Published: May 2007

Abstract Global climate change is an important cause of biodiversity loss. The conservation, sustainable management and use of biodiversity resources are key factors that can be effectively used to minimize the adverse impacts of global climate change. Efforts to understand and address the linkages between global climate change and biodiversity loss are both urgent and timely. Integrating responses related to these two global environmental challenges is especially relevant for small island developing States (SIDS) because the adverse impacts of climate change can impose severe stresses on biodiversity resources that are fragile, vulnerable and already under stress and the people who depend upon them. This paper argues that comprehensive assessments of adverse impacts of global climate change on the biodiversity resources of SIDS, and an improved understanding of relevant climate change related adaptation measures and sustainable energy policies (that are based on the principles of conservation, sustainable management and use of biodiversity resources) will enable SIDS to become more resilient and to develop better response capacities.
Critical considerations for future action during the second commitment period: A small islands’ perspective
Authors: Nurse Leonard , Moore Rawleston 
Published: May 2007

Abstract If the objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is to be achieved, Parties must commit themselves to meeting meaningful long‐term targets that, based on current knowledge, would minimize the possibility of irreversible climate change. Current indications are that a global mean temperature rise in excess of 2–3 °C would enhance the risk of destabilizing the climate system as we know it, and possibly lead to catastrophic change such as a shutdown of the deep ocean circulation, and the disintegration of the West Arctic Ice Sheet. Observations have shown that for many small island developing States (SIDS), life‐sustaining ecosystems such as coral reefs, already living near the limit of thermal tolerance, are highly climate‐sensitive, and can suffer severe damage from exposure to sea temperatures as low as 1 °C above the seasonal maximum. Other natural systems (e.g., mangroves) are similarly susceptible to relatively low temperature increases, coupled with small increments of sea level rise. Economic and social sectors, including agriculture and human health, face similar challenges from the likely impacts of projected climate change. In light of known thresholds, this paper presents the view that SIDS should seek support for a temperature cap not exceeding 1.5–2.0 °C above the pre‐industrial mean. It is argued that a less stringent post‐Kyoto target would frustrate achievement of the UNFCCC objective. The view is expressed that all countries which emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases should commit to binding reduction targets in the second commitment period, but that targets for developing countries should be less stringent than those agreed for developed countries. Such an arrangement would be faithful to the principles of equity and would ensure that the right of Parties to attain developed country status would not be abrogated.
Feasibility Assessment of Telephone‐Administered Behavioral Treatment for Adolescent Migraine
Authors: Cottrell Constance , Drew Jana , Gibson Jessica , Holroyd Kenneth , O'Donnell Francis 
Published: May 2007

Objectives.—To examine the feasibility of administering behavioral migraine management training by telephone (TAT) and the acceptability of TAT to adolescents with episodic migraine.Methods.—34 adolescents (M = 14 years) with migraine (M = 3.6 migraines/month; M = 29.2 hours duration) were randomly assigned to a two‐month telephone administered behavioral migraine management program (TAT) or to a standard Triptan Treatment (TT). Outcome was assessed at three‐ and eight‐month evaluations. Participants completed a daily migraine diary that yielded information about number, duration and severity of migraines and migraine‐related disability, as well as the Migraine Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire ‐ Adolescent. In addition, TAT participants evaluated key aspects of the TAT program using 5‐point Likert‐like rating scales. Lastly, the ability of adolescents to demonstrate specific headache management skills following TAT was assessed.Results.—All fifteen adolescents who entered TAT successfully demonstrated either full or partial mastery of two or more skills and nearly half demonstrated at least partial mastery of all four skills evaluated. Ninety three percent of the TAT participants reported having a positive relationship with their phone counselor. They also reported a preference for the telephone‐based treatment over in‐clinic visits and rated the manual and tapes as helpful. Treatment effects (in terms of percent improvement) ranged from consistently large across both evaluations for improvement in number of migraines (54% and 71%), disability equivalent hours (80% and 63%) and quality of life (44% and 48%), to moderate or variable for migraine duration (35% and 23%) and severity (30% and 34%). The TT group also showed clinically meaningful reductions in headache parameters and improvements in quality of life.Conclusions.—Completion rates for TAT were high; adolescents evaluated their experience with TAT positively and were able to exhibit key behavioral headache management skills following treatment. While clinically significant improvements in migraine and migraine‐related disability/quality of life were observed with both TAT and treatment as usual (triptan therapy), the small study size and the absence of a control group do not permit conclusions about the effectiveness of either treatment. Nonetheless these results indicate TAT may be a promising treatment format for improving access to behavioral treatments for underserved adolescents and justifies further evaluation of TAT both alone and in combination with drug therapy.
Intrapatient Variability of Migraine Attacks: Stability Analysis of the MIGSEV Scale
Authors: Baha Monique , Nachit‐Ouinekh Fatima , Hasnaoui Abdelkader El 
Published: May 2007

Background.— Various tools now exist to define migraine and its impact on everyday life. Those are scales that help diagnosing the disease and managing treatment. However, there is no such emphasis on defining individual migraine attacks and their variability. Yet, as a chronic disease with variable frequency and intensity among individuals, there should be a way of developing the management of the disease based on knowledge of the attacks.Objectives.— To determine the variability of the severity of migraine attacks over time in individual patients using the MIGSEV scale.Methods.— A set of migraineurs recruited in general practice filled a diary about their attacks during a 3‐month period. The MIGSEV scale was used to determine the severity of their attacks, which could be mild, moderate, or severe. A Markov model was then adjusted with those 3 states and explanatory variables were considered as possible covariates.Results.— Probabilities were estimated that enabled to expect the severity of an attack to come, given the severity of the previous one. For instance, no matter the profile of the patient, the severity of an attack had more chances of being similar to the previous one: 74% of remaining mild, 60% of remaining moderate, and 55% of remaining severe. When it was not similar, having an attack milder than the previous one was more likely than having a more severe attack. For example, the probability of going from moderate to severe was 0.105 whereas the probability of going from moderate to mild was 0.219. Covariates had no significant effect on estimated probabilities.Conclusions.— An important aspect of the illness was defined here: the severity profile of patients. The MIGSEV is stable over time and severity of individual attacks represents a significant indicator in the characterization of the disease.
Prognostic Significance of Personality Profiles in Patients With Chronic Migraine
Authors: Luconi Roberta , Bartolini Marco , Taffi Ruja , Vignini Arianna , Mazzanti Laura , Provinciali Leandro , Silvestrini Mauro 
Published: May 2007

Background and Objective.—The aim of this study was to assess whether the psychological profile may have prognostic significance in chronic migraine patients.Methods.—The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory‐2 was used for the psychological assessment of patients with chronic migraine to explore personality traits. Patients with psychiatric disease and medication overuse were excluded. One hundred and two patients completed the study. Migraine‐related disability was measured using the Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaire at baseline (T0) and again after 2 years (T1), during which patients received prophylactic treatment for migraine. At T1 patients were classified into those exhibiting significant improvement (group 1: scores reduced by at least 50%) and those with unsatisfactory changes in headache‐related disability (group 2: scores reduced by less than 50%).Results.—At T1 49 patients were in group 1 and 53 in group 2; at T0, group 1 patients had significantly lower Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory‐2 scores in the neurotic (hypochondriasis: P < .01; depression: P < .001; hysteria: P < .01) and schizophrenia (P < .05) scales. None of the other variables studied, ie, age, sex, age at migraine onset, number of years from chronic migraine onset, T0 Migraine Disability Assessment score, T0 headache frequency, severity and temporal pattern (continuous vs intermittent) differed significantly between the groups.Conclusions.—Findings suggest that psychological factors can influence the clinical course of chronic migraine and that psychological evaluation with Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory‐2 may be a reliable approach to obtain prognostic data and information for therapy planning in patients with chronic migraine.
Interest Rate Risk and Equity Values of Life Insurance Companies: A GARCH–M Model
Authors: Brewer Elijah , Carson James M. , Elyasiani Elyas , Mansur Iqbal , Scott William L. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe importance of managerial decisions related to interest‐sensitive cash flows has received considerable attention in the insurance literature. Consistent with the interest‐sensitive nature of insurer assets and liabilities, empirical research has shown that insurer insolvency is significantly related to interest rate volatility. We investigate the interest rate sensitivity of monthly stock returns of life insurers based on a generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic in the mean (GARCH–M) model. We examine three different portfolios (equally weighted, risk‐based, and size‐based) with binary variables to explicitly account for varying interest rate strategies adopted by the Federal Reserve System. Results based on data for the period 1975 through 2000 indicate that life insurer equity values are sensitive to long‐term interest rates and that interest sensitivity varies across subperiods and across risk‐based and size‐based portfolios. The results complement insolvency research that links insurer financial performance to changes in interest rates.
Resistance (to Fraud) Is Futile
Authors: Boyer M. Martin 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis article studies a static principal–agent model ofinsurance fraudusing a costly state verification approach. In an economy where there are two types of agents, the Truths, who always report the true state of the world, and the Dares, who dare misreport the true state of the world, I show that no separating contract exists. Furthermore, if the proportion of Dares is large enough, then the pooling contract, the amount of fraud and the number of agents found to have committed fraud are independent of the Dares' exact proportion in the economy. Finally, I show that investment in prevention can be useless if the proportion of Dares is large enough, which means that investing in prevention becomes a waste of resources. This last result holds when the proportion of Dares is large. When their proportion is small, investing in prevention reduces fraud.
Effect of loading time on the success of complete mandibular titanium implant retained overdentures: a systematic review
Authors: Kawai Yasuhiko , Taylor Jane A. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractObjectives: The aim of this review was to compare conventional against early/immediate loading protocols of implant‐retained overdentures (IOD) in the edentulous mandible.Material and Methods: Medline search via Ovid to extract prospective comparative studies on trials comparing the effect of timing of loading initiation on the success of mandibular IOD. The outcome of major interest was marginal bone loss. Probing depth, plaque, bleeding index and mobility were also assessed. Indices at 12 and 24 months were compared and changes assessed. Outcomes were entered into RevMan (version 4.2.5) for meta‐analysis.Results: Of 239 articles, only nine trials fulfilled the criteria and involved 30 immediate, 71 early, 77 one‐stage conventional, and 66 two‐stage conventional subjects. Three immediate loading trials showed an increase in the amount of marginal bone loss over time, while the majority of early and conventionally loaded implants exhibited a decrease in the amount of bone loss in the second year compared with the first 12‐month period. Probing depth at 24 months showed a significant difference between early and conventional loading; SMD 0.5 (95% confidence interval 0.03, 0.97). No other statistically significant differences were found between either immediate or early and conventional loading for any indices.Conclusions: No deleterious effects up to 24 months have been shown from immediate or early loading. Conventional loading after a 3‐month healing period has not been proven to be the only acceptable protocol for mandibular IOD, but further long‐term studies are needed to confirm this.
Establishment of an ELISA system for the determination of Japanese monkey calreticulin and its application to plasma samples in macaques
Authors: Higashino A. , Yonezawa S. , Kageyama T. 
Published: May 2007

Abstract Background  Calreticulin (Crt) is a molecular chaperone in endoplasmic reticulum, assisting a correct folding of glycoproteins. Establishment of its assay method might be advantageous to determine the Crt level in cell or other biosystems.Methods  An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system for the determination of Crt of Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, was developed in this study. Japanese monkey Crt protein expressed in Escherichia coli was used as a standard protein.Results and discussion  The assay was sensitive even to <10 ng/ml of Crt. Since the amino acid sequence of Crt is quite similar (99%, similarity) between the Japanese and rhesus monkeys, the ELISA was applied to the determination of plasma Crt in these two species in association with various diseases. The Crt level increased significantly in monkeys suffering from pneumonia and diarrhea, suggesting that the ELISA might be applicable for preliminary diagnosis of inflammatory disease.
Coping with the changes in living environment faced by older persons who relocate to a health‐care facility in Japan
Authors: KOMATSU Misa , HAMAHATA Akiko , MAGILVY Joan K. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractAim:  The purpose of this study was to clarify how older people cope with the changes they faced in their living environment after relocating to a health‐care facility for the elderly and to consider their coping characteristics.Methods:  Employing a qualitative descriptive study design using multiple case studies, we continuously interviewed and observed eight older residents after they moved into a health‐care facility. We selected the model of Moos & Schaefer (1986) as a framework for analysis because it is thought to lead to an understanding of the experience of older people relocating to a nursing home and to effective nursing intervention.Results:  Although not shown in the constituent categories of the model, it became necessary to include the typical experiences of these Japanese residents of health‐care facilities for the elderly in the study as constituent categories of the model. With the addition of these experiences as constituent categories, the model is thought to become more appropriate for understanding people that have relocated to health‐care facilities for the elderly in Japan. There were the three categories of support influencing adaptive tasks, tasks for life integration, which are growth tasks for the elderly, and the resolution of unrecognized problems, which are adaptive tasks not recognized by the person in question.Conclusions:  The conceptual model in this study is thought to be useful in considering the care of older residents when they enter a health‐care facility.
Hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy with and without transarterial chemoembolization for small hepatocellular carcinoma not eligible for other ablation therapies: Preliminary results for efficacy and toxicity
Authors: Takeda Atsuya , Takahashi Masahiko , Kunieda Etsuo , Takeda Toshiaki , Sanuki Naoko , Koike Yuji , Atsukawa Kazuhiro , Ohashi Toshio , Saito Hidetsugu , Shigematsu Naoyuki , Kubo Atsushi 
Published: May 2007

Aim:  To investigate the efficacy and toxicity of hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for the treatment of patients presenting with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a single institutional setting.Methods:  Sixteen patients who presented with solitary HCC, including two patients with a tumor thrombus of the portal veins, were treated with stereotactic radiotherapy with or without transarterial chemoembolization. The criteria for stereotactic radiotherapy were existence of technical difficulties for other ablation therapies, inoperable disease or refusal to undergo surgery, tumor staged as Grade A or B according to the Child–Pugh classification, and solitary tumor distant from the gastrointestinal tract and kidney with a tumor volume <100 cm3. In 14 of 16 patients, a total dose of 35– 50 Gy was delivered in 5–7 fractions over 5–9 days.Results:  At the end of a mean follow‐up of 612 days (median 611 days; range 244–994 days), all patients were alive. Eight of 16 patients had complete responses and seven others were judged as stable with lipiodol accumulation. In one patient, local recurrence developed after 489 days. Intrahepatic recurrences developed outside the treated volume in six patients and no extrahepatic metastases developed during follow‐up. No serious treatment‐related toxic manifestations developed.Conclusions:  Stereotactic radiotherapy for HCC with or without transarterial chemoembolization is feasible therapy and provides good local control with a short treatment period. Stereotactic radiotherapy may be of clinical benefit in patients who are inoperable or for whom there are difficulties in other ablation therapies.
Quality Assurance and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Testing at
Forschungszentrum Juelich
Authors: Haanappel V. A. C. , Smith M. J. 
Published: May 2007

Abstract
Standardization of fuel cell testing to allow comparisons presents one of the major challenges to the fuel cell community. This becomes more critical when there is a need to take commercial decisions on the direction of the technology. One part of the development toward such standardization is the formalization of what measurements are made and how they are made, including the control of external and environmental parameters. This presentation details some of the elements of the standardized measuring system in place at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) and explains some of the rationale behind this system. The established measurement system adopts many of the principles employed by generic international quality assurance standards and commercial organizations. An analysis of the testing process identifies critical control points, e.g., those parameters that must be controlled to ensure internally consistent test results and repeatability. The FZJ solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) testing process is illustrated by means of a flowchart. This chart details critical control points and shows how the parameter measurements are documented in a systematic fashion. Specific examples are given of SOFC test data to illustrate how FZJ determined some of the critical control parameter values used in our testing, those included are the effects of Ni-cermet reduction temperature, the effect of the chosen time intervals between individual I-V measurement points, and finally, the effect of the hydrogen flow rate. Standardization within the SOFC community can prove a contentious issue, but whatever standard test parameters are finally chosen by the community, to allow comparison of SOFC options organizations will have a need to introduce a well-designed, controlled, and formalized measurement system. We have found that adopting a generic QA systems approach has been successful internally and recommend this option to other organizations.
Phylogenetic Diversity and Microsphere Array-Based Genotyping of Human Pathogenic Fusaria, Including Isolates from the Multistate Contact Lens-Associated U.S. Keratitis Outbreaks of 2005 and 2006
Authors: O'Donnell Kerry , Sarver Brice A. J. , Brandt Mary , Chang Douglas C. , Noble-Wang Judith , Park Benjamin J. , Sutton Deanna A. , Benjamin Lynette , Lindsley Mark , Padhye Arvind , Geiser David M. , Ward Todd J. 
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACT

In 2005 and 2006, outbreaks of
Fusarium
keratitis associated with soft contact lens use occurred in multiple U.S. states and Puerto Rico. A case-control study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed a significant association between infections and the use of one particular brand of lens solution. To characterize the full spectrum of the causal agents involved and their potential sources, partial DNA sequences from three loci (
RPB
2,
EF
-1α, and nuclear ribosomal rRNA) totaling 3.48 kb were obtained from 91 corneal and 100 isolates from the patient's environment (e.g., contact lens and lens cases). We also sequenced a 1.8-kb region encoding the RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (
RPB
2) from 126 additional pathogenic isolates to better understand how the keratitis outbreak isolates fit within the full phylogenetic spectrum of clinically important fusaria. These analyses resulted in the most robust phylogenetic framework for
Fusarium
to date. In addition,
RPB
2 nucleotide variation within a 72-isolate panel was used to design 34 allele-specific probes to identify representatives of all medically important species complexes and 10 of the most important human pathogenic
Fusarium
in a single-well diagnostic assay, using flow cytometry and fluorescent microsphere technology. The multilocus data revealed that one haplotype from each of the three most common species comprised 55% of CDC's corneal and environmental isolates and that the corneal isolates comprised 29 haplotypes distributed among 16 species. The high degree of phylogenetic diversity represented among the corneal isolates is consistent with multiple sources of contamination.