bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Panbiogeography 1981-91: development of an earth/life synthesis
Authors: Grehan J.R. 
Published: March 2008

Contributions to the method and theory of panbiogeography are reviewed in relation to a New Zealand interest that arose from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Panbiogeography was developed by Leon Croizat in the 1950s, but ignored by prominent evolutionary theorists in favour of traditional explanations of geographic distribution established from Darwin's time. The New Zealand interest has provided a critical reappraisal of Croizat's work and its continued relevance to evolutionary theory through new developments in method and synthesis. Panbiogeography is presented in this review as an exploration of Hooker's paradox - the problem of integrating contradictory aspects of earth and life in space/time. Croizat's approach to biogeography involved analyses of geographic distribution by linking localities together to form line graphs called tracks. Analysis and interpretation of tracks has been developed by application of graph theory techniques for quantitative and statistical measures of track inter-relationships and their biogeog raphic significance. Panbiogeographic approaches have developed the application of defining features called 'baselines' that represent spatial characters for biogeographic homology. Ocean basins comprise important biogeographic features for the baseline orientation of tracks. This approach has resulted in a new classification system where ocean basins are the natural biogeographic regions while major landmasses are located at regional boundaries. This subsumes the conflicts and contradictions inherent in the geographic classifications developed from Wallace onwards. Panbiogeographic correlation of tracks with tectonic features provides a geographic basis for interpreting the evolutionary relationship between earth and life. Different standard tracks are compared in reference to the associated tectonic features such as spreading ridges, fault systems and suture zones. Novel geological predictions generated from distributional and tectonic congruence illustrated for the Americas, and for New Zealand where a novel parallel arcs model has been proposed for its natural history and evolution. The conceptual implications for evolutionary ecology are explored in terms of life evolving as a 'geological' layer where organism-environment relationships evolve through coconstruction of interdependent processes rather than by interaction of organisms and environments as separately preformed entities. Progress in panbiogeography over the last decade provides a significant contribution to evolutionary theory through the continued development of a spatiotemporal synthesis for understanding biological and geological processes responsible for local and global biodiversity.
Impact On Health of Chlorinated Dioxins and Other Trace Organic Emissions
Authors: Ahlborg Ulf G. , Victorin Katarina 
Published: March 2008

The potential health effects of incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW) have been studied by the Swedish National Institute of Environmental Medicine. The greatest concern for health effects relates to the emission of PCDDs and PCDFs ("dioxins"). MSW incineration is presently estimated to be a large source for the emission of these compounds into ambient air. Based upon animal experiments, and by applying safety factors in the range 200-1000, a highest tolerable daily intake (TDI) has been estimated to be 1-5 pg kg-1 of TCDD for humans. This TDI-value has been extended to cover all the congeners of PCDDs and PCDFs by the application of the concept of "TCDD-equivalents" (Eadon et al., 1983). The high concentrations found in human breast milk and fish indicate that the TDI value may be exceeded, especially among breast-milk fed babies. If the emission can be reduced to the proposed Swedish limit value of 0.1 ng m-3n TCDD-equivalents, or less, the contribution from this source will be lowered. MSW incineration can be considered acceptable when the following aspects are taken into account: the risk estimation for TDI is conservative; there is no indication that man belongs to the most sensitive species although infants may be particularly sensitive; available studies indicate that the concept of TCDD-equivalents used overestimates the effect of mixtures of PCDDs and PCDFs; present levels in fish and human milk reflect the cumulative effect of many years of emission. Besides PCDDs and PCDFs, MSW incineration also gives rise to relatively high emissions of PAH, chlorinated PAH, phenols, benzenes and mutagenic substances under less well controlled combustion conditions. The emission of organic compounds is generally dependent on the combustion efficiency. If the combustion process is optimized and advanced flue-gas cleaning is applied so that the emission of TCDD-equivalents does not exceed 0.1 ng m-3, the emission of other organics probably will not cause significant health hazards.
Cost Containment, Data Collection, and "Buying Right"
Authors: Tyson R. Robert 
Published: March 2008

Editor's Note: In 1986, Pennsylvania passed a Health Care Cost Containment Act mandating the collection and public dissemination by a Cost Containment Council of data on health care services. The statute is the first in the nation to require that data be collected on the quality as well as the cost of health care. To help implement the law, the Center for Policy Studies in Minneapolis, Minnesota, developed a strategy known as Buy Right to educate health care purchasers in the informed use of the data. The 3-year educational and demonstrational Buy Right project is now underway in Pennsylvania. R. Robert Tyson, M.D., President of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, participated in the study and the negotiations that resulted in the law. Since its passage, he has spoken on the need to balance cost and quality considerations. The following is adapted from a talk he delivered to the Pennsylvania Chapter, American College of Utilization Review Physicians on April 25, 1987. While it refers to programs specific to Pennsylvania, Dr. Tyson's call for strong physician leadership is relevant to us all.
Medical Care Value Purchasing: Medicolegal Promises, Pitfalls, and Progress
Authors: Couch James B. 
Published: March 2008

Medical care value purchasing is the latest effort to promote cost containment while maintaining or enhancing the quality of medical care. The fuel driv ing this process is mandated health care cost and quality data disclosure to stimulate competition in oversupplied markets so that the highest quality and lowest cost providers achieve the greatest market share gains. States such as Pennsylvania, pursuant to Act 89, are in the vanguard of this national move ment, sometimes referred to as the "Buy Right Strat egy for Health Care Purchasing." The measurement of provider quality and cost-ef fectiveness will become a "growth industry" in the 1990s. Medical paternalism will give way to con sumer activism in health care decision making. How ever, there are certain medicolegal pitfalls arising from the promises associated with mandated data disclosure concerning provider cost and quality effec tiveness. One pitfall is that the unmeasurable quality attri butes (such as compassion and empathy) will fall into even greater disuse. Another pitfall may concern the further inflation of expectations of certain health care outcomes among consumers attending providers with the highest cost/quality ratings. Also, those pro viders losing patients will lose practical skills and any restraint they might have had from overutiliza tion on those few remaining fee-for-service patients left to them. All of these scenarios could result in increased litigation. Despite these potential pitfalls, medical care value purchasing represents a real advance in promoting quality and cost-effectiveness. Regardless of the un derlying motivation, these two worthy goals should be sought with increasing vigor in the days ahead. The ultimate benefit may well be the rising to prom inence of the "laser-beam" (as opposed to the "shot gun") approach to clinical diagnosis in our academic medical centers and other health care institutions nationwide.
The Leadership Role of Today's Middle Manager
Authors: Klagge Jay 
Published: March 2008

In a previous article this author identified a leadership role for top management. In this article he sets his sights on identifying the unique leadership role of today's middle manager. This author links the role of middle management with that of today's organizational leaders in response to the simultaneous calls for unity and diversity. Is there a legitimate need for middle managers in today's flattened organizations? What role might be left for the middle manager in light of trends toward team-based operations? Can middle managers supplement the work of teams? How can middle management complement the role of organizational leaders? How should middle managers respond to today's simultaneous calls for unity and diversity? After briefly reviewing the role of organizational leaders in response to simultaneous calls for unity and diversity, the author explores the leadership role of middle management today. In preparation for identifying the tasks of the middle manager in today's organizational environment, he covers some of the costs associated with the loss of middle managers. The author concludes that middle managers in today's flattened and team-based organization bring leadership as: integrators creating organizational unity; facilitators releasing human diversity into group processes; and implementers of necessary supporting systems for recognizing and rewarding actions that foster unity and unlock diversity.
Community Visioning and Leadership
Authors: Bargen Don 
Published: March 2008

"Community" is a powerful force. And healthy communities can be created. The most important factor in building and strengthening healthy communities is "community visioning." Community visioning is the process of effectively stating what we, as a community, really want to be. The sign of a strengthened community is that its citizens have made choices as to what they realistically want to be. This paper identifies the process of building healthy, strong communities. The process is developed with the premise that communities are unique, and that applying the visioning process presents profound challenges. Identifed in the visioning process are: six major forces driving the visioning process; steps in creating a community-shared vision; achieving the shared vision; and living the shared vision.
Identifying, measuring and responding to different market segments: price determination in air transport
Authors: di Vittorio Arianna 
Published: March 2008

The aim of this paper is to help to understand price determination in air transport, both international and national, and its connection with the customer satisfaction problem. Nowadays price determination is quite complex: in fact two passengers on the same flight may have paid different prices and this discrepancy is due to the fact that users are different and, generally speaking, the markets to which the service is applied are different. The price varies not only because of the different distances travelled, but also according to the different services which the passenger wishes to receive on board and on the ground. The additional flight services (which represent the so-called 'extended product') are many today and they satisfy the consumer's every possible need. Obviously, for this reason, the prices vary. Through market segmentation it is possible to identify various categories of consumers and to offer them the service they require, which varies depending on numerous factors, both social and economic. Moreover, in the last decade, the effects of deregulation have been decisive, as removing controls from flights and air fares has also gained ground in those countries which were once against liberalisation. Among these are those countries of Europe (UK, Scandinavia) which, following the American example, have lobbied for the introduction of deregulation in Europe. At this time deregulation is not present everywhere and this creates considerable difficulties in negotiating tariffs. Finally, this paper indicates customer satisfaction as a fundamental factor in building customer loyalty, since customers really determine the success or the failure of an initiative, a service or even a whole organisational structure.
Selling the Celtic Arc to the USA: a comparative analysis of the destination brochure images used in the marketing of Ireland, Scotland and Wales
Authors: Pritchard Annette , Morgan Nigel J. 
Published: March 2008

This paper evaluates the extent to which the marketing objectives of three similar destinations competing in the same market are reflected in their projected brochure images. Its principal contribution to the destination image literature, however, is its focus on the roles of brand imagery and 'destination specific icons' in the marketing of emerging, established and mature destinations. It is argued that in the increasingly competitive tourism world, emerging destinations will attempt to carve out a niche and to create images emphasising the uniqueness of their product. In order to achieve this individuality destinations use images which are specifically associated with themselves both to create and to reinforce their destination image, projected images which are here termed 'destination specific icons'. The paper examines the vacation brochure images of Ireland, Scotland and Wales using a content analysis which categorises images into seven groups: heritage; scenery and wild-life; activities; people; urban and rural life; consumption activities and destination specific icons. Specifically, the paper examines brochures targeted at the US market, the largest single source of overseas visitors for each of the three destinations. In view of their differing positions in this market, these three destinations provide excellent case studies for a comparative evaluation of their marketing objectives and the projected brochure images produced by their national tourism agencies. The paper concludes that Wales, a 'new' destination, is using imagery to commmunate a unique identity to a target audience, while Scotland, as an established destination, is using imagery to reinforce its brand identity. Ireland, in marked contrast, as a mature destination, does not need to use 'destination specific imagery' to reinforce its existing, strong identity. Evaluating imagery in this way has implications for tourism marketing planners both in the case study countries and in other destinations which may be attempting to establish or enhance an identity as a vacation destination.
Prognosis of adolescent partial syndromes of eating
disorder
Authors: Patton George C. , Coffey Carolyn , Carlin John B. , Sanci Lena , Sawyer Susan 
Published: March 2008

BackgroundPartial syndromes of eating disorder are common in adolescents but the
health significance of these syndromes remains uncertain.AimsTo document the health and social adjustment in young adulthood of
females assessed as having a partial syndrome of eating disorder in
adolescence.MethodA community sample of 1943 participants was tracked over 10 years in an
eight-wave cohort study. A partial syndrome was defined as the fulfilment
of at least two DSM-IV criteria for either anorexia or bulimia nervosa at
one assessment or more between the ages of 15 years and 17 years.ResultsPartial syndromes were found in 9.4% of 15- to 17-year-old female
participants and 1.4% of males. There were few instances of progression
of partial syndromes to fully fledged anorexia and bulimia nervosa.
However, among those with partial syndromes depressive and anxiety
symptoms were two to three times higher in young adulthood, substance
misuse was common, and a majority of those with a partial syndrome of
anorexia nervosa were still underweight in their mid-20s.ConclusionsGiven the level of subsequent psychopathology and social role impairment,
there may be justification for initiating trials of preventive and early
clinical intervention strategies for adolescent partial syndromes.
Anxiety disorders in mothers and their children: Prospective
longitudinal community study
Authors: Schreier Andrea , Wittchen Hans-Ulrich , Höfler Michael , Lieb Roselind 
Published: March 2008

SummaryThe relationship between DSM-IV anxiety disorders and their clinical
characteristics in mothers and anxiety in offspring was examined in 933
mother–child pairs from a longitudinal community study. Offspring of mothers
with an anxiety disorder had an elevated risk of developing any anxiety
disorder, compared with offspring of mothers with no anxiety disorder.
Increased risk of anxiety in the offspring was especially associated with
maternal social phobia and generalised anxiety disorder, and with maternal
diagnoses of early onset, greater number and more severe impairment. These
results suggest that the type of maternal anxiety disorder and its severity
of manifestation contribute to mother-offspring aggregation of anxiety.
Psychosocial and clinical correlates of suicidal acts: Results
from a national population survey
Authors: Blackmore Emma Robertson , Munce Sarah , Weller Iris , Zagorski Brandon , Stansfeld Stephen A. , Stewart Donna E. , Caine Eric D. , Conwell Yeates 
Published: March 2008

BackgroundClinical samples have identified a number of psychosocial risk factors
for suicidal acts but it is unclear if these findings relate to the
general population.AimsTo describe the prevalence of and psychosocial risk factors for suicidal
acts in a general adult population.MethodData were obtained from a Canadian epidemiological survey of 36 984
respondents aged 15 years and older (weighted sample
n=23 662 430).ResultsOf these respondents, 0.6% (weighted n=130 143) endorsed
a 12-month suicidal act. Female gender (OR=4.27, 95% CI 4.05–4.50), being
separated (OR=37.88, 95% CI 33.92–42.31) or divorced (OR=7.79, 95% CI
7.22–8.41), being unemployed (OR=1.70, 95% CI 1.50–1.80), experiencing a
chronic physical health condition (OR=1.70, 95% CI 1.67–1.86) and
experiencing a major depressive episode in the same 12-month period as
the act (OR=9.10, 95% CI 8.65–9.59) were significantly associated with a
suicidal act.ConclusionsThe psychosocial correlates of suicidal acts in this sample are
consistent with those previously reported in clinical and general
population samples. These findings reinforce the importance of the
determination of suicide risk and its prevention not only of psychiatric
illness but of physical and psychosocial factors as well.
Severity of depressive episodes during the course of depressive disorder
Authors: Kessing Lars Vedel 
Published: March 2008

BackgroundIt is not clear whether the severity of depressive episodes changes during the course of depressive disorder.AimsTo investigate whether the severity of depressive episodes increases during the course of illness.MethodUsing a Danish nationwide case register, all psychiatric inpatients and out-patients with a main ICD-10 diagnosis of a single mild, moderate or severe depressive episode at the end of first contact were identified. Patients included in the study were from the period 1994–2003.ResultsA total of 19 392 patients received a diagnosis of a single depressive episode at first contact. The prevalence of severe depressive episodes increased from 25.5% at the first episode to 50.0% at the 15th episode and the prevalence of psychotic episodes increased from 8.7% at the first episode to 25.0% at the 15th episode. The same pattern was found regardless of gender, age at first contact and calendar year.ConclusionsThe increasing severity of depressive episodes emphasises the importance of early and sustained prophylactic treatment.
Major depression, 5HTTLPR genotype, suicide and antidepressant influences on thalamic volume
Authors: Young Keith A. , Bonkale Willy L. , Holcomb Leigh A. , Hicks Paul B. , German Dwight C. 
Published: March 2008

BackgroundThe 5HTTLPR genetic variant of the serotonin transporter gene (SERT or 5-HTT), which is comprised of a short (SERT-s) and a long (SERT-l) allele, is associated with major depressive disorder and post-traumatic brain disorder.AimsThe present study sought to determine whether the total thalamus and major subregions are altered in size in major depressive disorder and in relation to the 5HTTLPR genotype.MethodWe investigated the influence of 5HTTLPR genotype, psychiatric diagnosis, suicide and other clinical factors on the volume of the entire post-mortem thalamus.ResultsMajor depressive disorder, SERT-ss genotype and suicide emerged as independent factors contributing to an enlargement of the total thalamus. The majority of the volume enlargement associated with the SERT-ss genotype occurred in the pulvinar, whereas enlargement associated with major depressive disorder occurred in the limbic nuclei and in other regions of the thalamus. A history of antidepressant treatment was associated with reduced thalamic volume.ConclusionsThe 5HTTLPR genetic variation may affect behaviour and psychiatric conditions, in part, by altering the anatomy of the thalamus.
Virtual reality study of paranoid thinking in the general population
Authors: Freeman Daniel , Pugh Katherine , Antley Angus , Slater Mel , Bebbington Paul , Gittins Matthew , Dunn Graham , Kuipers Elizabeth , Fowler David , Garety Philippa 
Published: March 2008

BackgroundJudging whether we can trust other people is central to social interaction, despite being error-prone. A fear of others can be instilled by the contemporary political and social climate. Unfounded mistrust is called paranoia, and in severe forms is a central symptom of schizophrenia.AimsTo demonstrate that individuals without severe mental illness in the general population experience unfounded paranoid thoughts, and to determine factors predictive of paranoia using the first laboratory method of capturing the experience.MethodTwo hundred members of the general public were comprehensively assessed, and then entered a virtual reality train ride populated by neutral characters. Ordinal logistic regressions (controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, education, intellectual functioning, socio-economic status, train use, playing of computer games) were used to determine predictors of paranoia.ResultsThe majority agreed that the characters were neutral, or even thought they were friendly. However, a substantial minority reported paranoid concerns. Paranoia was strongly predicted by anxiety, worry, perceptual anomalies and cognitive inflexibility.ConclusionsThis is the most unambiguous demonstration of paranoid ideation in the general public so far. Paranoia can be understood in terms of cognitive factors. The use of virtual reality should lead to rapid advances in the understanding of paranoia.
Effects of cannabidiol on schizophrenia-like symptoms in people who use cannabis
Authors: Morgan Celia J. A. , Curran H. Valerie 
Published: March 2008

SummaryCannabis contains various cannabinoids, two of which have almost opposing actions: δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) is psychotomimetic, whereas cannabidiol (CBD) has antipsychotic effects. Hair samples were analysed to examine levels of Δ9-THC and CBD in 140 individuals. Three clear groups emerged: ‘THC only’, ‘THC+CBD’ and those with no cannabinoid in hair. The THC only group showed higher levels of positive schizophrenia-like symptoms compared with the no cannabinoid and THC+CBD groups, and higher levels of delusions compared with the no cannabinoid group. This provides evidence of the divergent properties of cannabinoids and has important implications for research into the link between cannabis use and psychosis.