bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Alterations of cerebral cortex and hippocampal proteasome subunit expression and function in a traumatic brain injury rat model
Authors: Yao Xianglan , Liu Jiong , McCabe Joseph T. 
Published: October 2007

AbstractFollowing cellular stress or tissue injury, the proteasome plays a critical role in protein degradation and signal transduction. The present study examined the β‐subunit expression of constitutive proteasomes (β1, β2, and β5), immunoproteasomes (β1i, β2i, and β5i) and the 11S proteasome activator, PA28α, in the rat CNS after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Concomitant measures assessed changes in proteasome activities. Quantitative real time PCR results indicated that β1 and β2 mRNA levels were not changed, while β5 mRNA levels were significantly decreased in injured CNS following TBI. However, β1i, β2i, β5i, and PA28α mRNA levels were significantly increased in the injured CNS. Western blotting studies found that β1, β2, β5, β2i, and β5i subunit protein levels remained unchanged in the injured CNS, but β1i and PA28α protein levels were significantly elevated in ipsilateral cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Proteasome activity assays found that peptidyl glutamyl peptide hydrolase‐like and chymotrypsin‐like activity were significantly reduced in the CNS after TBI, and that trypsin‐like proteasome activity was increased in the injured cerebral cortex. Our results demonstrated that both proteasome composition and function in the CNS were affected by trauma. Treatments that preserve proteasome function following CNS injury may be beneficial as an approach to cerebral neuroprotection.
Differential distribution of proteins and lipids in detergent‐resistant and detergent‐soluble domains in rod outer segment plasma membranes and disks
Authors: Elliott Michael H. , Nash Zack A. , Takemori Nobuaki , Fliesler Steven J. , McClellan Mark E. , Naash Muna I. 
Published: October 2007

AbstractMembrane heterogeneity plays a significant role in regulating signal transduction and other cellular activities. We examined the protein and lipid components associated with the detergent‐resistant membrane (DRM) fractions from retinal rod outer segment (ROS) disk and plasma membrane‐enriched preparations. Proteomics and correlative western blot analysis revealed the presence of α and β subunits of the rod cGMP‐gated ion channel and glucose transporter type 1, among other proteins. The glucose transporter was present exclusively in ROS plasma membrane (not disks) and was highly enriched in DRMs, as was the cGMP‐gated channel β‐subunit. In contrast, the majority of rod opsin and ATP‐binding cassette transporter A4 was localized to detergent‐soluble domains in disks. As expected, the cholesterol : fatty acid mole ratio was higher in DRMs than in the corresponding parent membranes (disk and plasma membranes, respectively) and was also higher in disks compared to plasma membranes. Furthermore, the ratio of saturated : polyunsaturated fatty acids was also higher in DRMs compared to their respective parent membranes (disk and plasma membranes). These results confirm that DRMs prepared from both disks and plasma membranes are enriched in cholesterol and in saturated fatty acids compared to their parent membranes. The dominant fatty acids in DRMs were 16 : 0 and 18 : 0; 22 : 6n3 and 18 : 1 levels were threefold higher and twofold lower, respectively, in disk‐derived DRMs compared to plasma membrane‐derived DRMs. We estimate, based on fatty acid recovery that DRMs account for only ∼ 8% of disks and ∼ 12% of ROS plasma membrane.
Polymorphic microsatellite markers for the lizard Psammodromus algirus (Squamata: Lacertidae)
Authors: BLOOR P. , DÁVILA J. A. 
Published: October 2007

AbstractEight microsatellite loci are described for the lizard Psammodromus algirus, a species widely used as a model in behavioural and ecological studies. All loci were highly polymorphic (six alleles or more per locus) in a sample of 24 individuals from a single site near Navacerrada (central Spain). Observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.29 to 0.96. These markers will be used to study mating strategies and determinants of reproductive success in this species.
ARBITRATION IN PERSPECTIVE—A FURTHER COMMENT
Authors: Oxnam D.W. 
Published: October 2007

SummaryTo sum up: (1) The contribution of arbitration to the settlement of strikes varies very considerably as between different industries. In industry as a whole, the contribution of arbitration has risen very appreciably since the war but it would appear that this is due more to changes in the industrial composition of aggregate strike data rather than to a substitution of arbitration for other methods in particular industries. A more detailed industry split‐up of the data over a longer period of years would be required in order to reach any firm conclusions on this point. If account be taken of the disputes settled by the industrial tribunals before culminating in strike action, then the contribution of this institution towards industrial peace would be even more significant than indicated by the preceding analysis. (2) Apart from any influence which it may have had upon the course of the general level of real wages over the past half century, there can be no doubt that compulsory arbitration, as it has operated in this country, has been a powerful factor in bringing about a greater degree of relative wage justice in the sense that it has facilitated the application of the “rate for the job” principle on a national basis. This has been particularly beneficial to the weakly organized groups including the white collar workers. (3) Australian trade unionism owes much to the arbitration system in terms of its enhanced membership and extensive interstate and national coverage. (4) As against these substantial gains it must be recognized that under existing arbitration law, Australian trade unions are less free than are those in either the United Kingdom or the United States or indeed in any other democratic country except New Zealand.
The Tax Cut as an Anti‐Inflationary Measure*
Authors: Brennan G. , Auld D. A. L. 
Published: October 2007

‘…the Government is convinced that the right course at this juncture, and the best contribution it can make to the solution of the current problems of our economy, is a bold policy of reducing taxes—particularly those taxes which are levied directly upon individuals and upon business. We believe that this is the best form of assistance we can give in the attack on costs. Essentially, the cost problem is one to be solved by greater efforts and greater efficiency on the part of both labour and management. By reducing taxes and so making wages and profits more worth earning, the Government can provide an inducement to greater effort and greater efficiency…’‘…the Government proposes to reduce taxes up to the limit of budget capacity after making provision for essential expenditures… and it has devised the tax reductions in a way that will ensure the maximum incentive to effort while making whenever possible a direct reduction in costs. At the same time it has taken care to ensure that the Budget for the year will balance; for there could be no thought at a time like this of adding to the volume of spending power by the process of deficit‐financing… As in last year's Budget, the greatest weight should be given to reductions of Income Tax on individuals. By so doing the benefits will spread most widely and the greatest number of people will receive a further incentive to work and to save. The Government has, however, explored the possibilities of reducing indirect taxation, and it is proposing some very useful reductions in that field. Some of these reductions will make an important direct contribution to the problem of reducing costs’
Generalized Tâtonnement and the Solution of Economic Models*
Authors: GINSBURGH VICTOR , WAELBROECK JEAN 
Published: October 2007

The theoretical literature on tâtonnement processes leads to the conclusion that convergence is guaranteed only urrder fairly restrictive assumptions. Recently, however, large competitive equilibrium models have been successfully solved using algorithms inspired by tâtonnement processes. This paper stresses the idea that a model builder has more freedom to set up the process than a theoretician, for whom only one assignment of prices to excess demand is reasonable; for computational purposes, any assignment is acceptable. The diagonal dominance criterion provides guidelines to set up such an assignment. It is used to show that even intractable examples of global instability can easily be solved.
Unemployment, Real Wages and the Money Supply in Australia*
Authors: PITCHFORD J. D. 
Published: October 2007

Many observers have attributed the high unemployment experienced in Australia in the 1970s to the rises in real wages which have occurred in the decade. An alternative or additional hypothesis is that unemployment has resulted from policy directed at controlling inflation and that this has been exacerbated by the occurrence of adverse external factors, particularly bul not solely the oil price shocks, which have made inflation more difficult than otherwise to control. The results of econometric tests suggest that a significant portion of fluctuations in the unemployment rate can be explained by real wage movements, and as well monetary policy through its effects on the real money supply also seems to affect unemployment. Both real wage rises and monetary restrictions appear to have contributed to the jump in unemployment in 1974–75, and since then the continuing high and rising unemployment rate is closely associated with the low growth rate of the real money supply.
A Further Comment on the Zero Row‐Sum Property of Mean‐Variance Portfolio Allocation Models
Authors: VALENTINE T. J. 
Published: October 2007

This note considers the conditions under which asset demand equations arising out of mean‐variance portfolio allocation models have symmetric interest rate effects. If these conditions are satisfied, it is also valid to write the asset demand equations as functions of interest rate differentials rather than interest rate levels.The necessary condition for symmetry is that the ‘expected return effect’ be equal to zero. This will not always be the case and therefore symmetry of interest rate effects is an hypothesis which should be tested rather than a restriction which can be imposed on estimated asset demand equations. Statistical tests of this restriction often lead to its rejection.
Reflections on Econometric Methodology*
Authors: PHILLIPS P.C.B. 
Published: October 2007

General issues about the methodology of empirical econometric research are discussed. It is argued that the most successful paradigms for applied work are the ones that have a capacity to survive and to evolve into more useful forms as these are needed Paradigms that embrace progressive modelling principles, such as those espoused by David Hendry, seem most amenable to this criterion. It is also argued that econometric theory has a large role to ploy in helping us to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of a methodology and to codify what its prescriptions entail. The time‐series methodology of David Hendry is considered in some detail. It is shown that the Hendry methodology comes remarkably close to achieving an optimal inference procedure for long‐run structural relationships even though it is conducted on a single‐equation basis. The findings indicate that the methodology may be unproved further to achieve results that are equivalent to optimal estimation.Detailed responses are provided to the panel discussions on econometric methodology by Dennis Aigner, Clive Granger, Edward Learner and Hashem Pesaran that were presented at the 1988 Australasian Meetings of the Econometric Society in Canberra Some personal reflections are offered on the many issues that arise from this panel discussion, including the merits of Bayesian and classical approaches, asymptotic theory, experimental and non‐experimental data, model evaluation, diagnostic testing sharp prior hypotheses, the use of graphics, and the role of economic theory in empirical modelling.
The 1980s Economic Growth Weakness in Europe: Focusing on the Supply Side*
Authors: DONGES JUERGEN B. 
Published: October 2007

For some years now, most West European economies (including Germany) have been operating with a striking lack of dynamic growth The consequences are that (i) domestic unemployment stays stubbornly at high levels. (ii) the capital stock is ageing, which makes European firms more vulnerable to growing international competition; (iii) the production structure does not shift sufficiently to keep abreast of current technological breakthroughs (iv) the attractiveness of Europe as a location for investment suffers, and (v) the correction of the large external imbalances among the major trading nations is delayed.The paper emphasizes that Europe's predicament is basically due to supply rigidities of various kind They have been created on the one hand by the governments' persistence in completing the Welfare State up to a point at which behaviour patterns and attiudes in society have been seriously deformed On the other hand governments have been caught in a train of well‐organized special‐interest groups and as a result, have spread defensive interventions in markets over ever wider areas of the economy.The key to getting Europe's economies back onto a path of sustained non‐inflationary, job‐creating growth, for which there is certainly much potential, lies in the provision of a climate favourable to imaginative and risk‐taking investors and innovators As domestic demand is expanding it is now essential to enhance the supply responsiveness of the economic system Steady and foreseeable policies at the microeconomic level can help a lot They must aim at (i) dismantling non‐tariff barriers in international trade, including the long overdue overhaul of the Common Agricultural Policy; (ü) cutting public subsidies across‐the‐board and using the corresponding budget savings for significant tax cuts; and (iii) deregulating the economy where needed, in particular in services and the labour market The official commitment to complete a truly common market in the EC by the end of 1992 should impart a strong momentum to supply‐oriented policies, since widespread deregulation is central to the prospects of reaching this objective efficiently.
The New View of Minerals and Economic Growth*
Authors: TILTON JOHN E. 
Published: October 2007

Resource economists have long been fascinated by the relationship between minerals and economic growth. This interest has historically been based in pan on the concern that mineral resources may someday constrain world economic growth, or worse, force a painful reduction in the living standards of the industrialized countriesIn recent years, however, a very different view of minerals and economic growth has emerged. This new view maintains that economic growth has over the last decade or two become ‘uncoupled’ or independent of minerals and other primary products. Economic growth no longer requires an increase in mineral consumption, and no longer stimulates the demand for metals and other mineral commodities. The new view offers an explanation for the stagnation in metal and mineral consumption since the early 1970s, and presumably was fostered by the depressed conditions of mineral markets over the past decade.An examination of the forces behind the stagnation, however, suggests that the new view is only partially correct Sectoral shifts, the rise of high technology products within manufacturing, resource‐saving technology, and material substitution have together caused intensity‐of‐use trends to deteriorate. As a result, metal consumption can now remain constant or even decline at the same time the economy is expanding, if rate of economic expansion is less than the rate of decline in intensity‐of‐use.While the relationship between minerals and economic growth has changed in recent years, the two are not independent Faster economic growth requires and stimulates faster growth (or a slower decline) in mineral consumption. This finding has implications for both the short‐ and long‐run behaviour of metal and mineral markets.
Intellectual and language functions in children of mothers with epilepsy
Authors: Thomas Sanjeev V. , Sukumaran Sajith , Lukose Neetha , George Annamma , Sarma P. S. 
Published: October 2007

Summary
Purpose: To compare the intellectual and language functions of children of mothers with epilepsy (CME) with that of controls matched for age and socioeconomic status.
Methods: Cases were CME, aged six years or more (n = 71), drawn from a prospective cohort in the Kerala Registry of Epilepsy and Pregnancy. Controls were 201 children of parents without epilepsy, matched for age and socioeconomic status. The outcome measures included Indian adaptation of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children and MLT—a locally developed proficiency test for regional language. All relevant data were abstracted from the registry records.
Results: The Full Scale IQ and MLT scores were significantly lower for the cases (87.7 ± 22.6 and 73.4 ± 17.3) compared to controls (93.0 ± 14.4 and 83.2 ± 11.8). Compared to controls, CME scored poor on all subtests of MLT but their impairment was confined to only some of the subtests of IQ. Maternal education and maternal IQ significantly correlated with low IQ and MLT scores for CME whereas type of epilepsy, seizures during pregnancy or low birth weight did not have any significant association with these outcome measures. Polytherapy and higher dosage of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were associated with significant impairment in outcome measures. Infants with low developmental quotient at one year of age continued to have low scores on outcome measures at six years.
Conclusions: Low maternal IQ, maternal education, and antenatal AED exposure were associated with significant impairment of intellectual and language functions for CME at six years.
A new animal model of infantile spasms with unprovoked persistent seizures
Authors: Lee Chong L. , Frost James D. , Swann John W. , Hrachovy Richard A. 
Published: October 2007

Summary
Purpose: Infantile spasms is one of the most severe epileptic syndromes of infancy and early childhood. Progress toward understanding the pathophysiology of this disorder and the development of effective therapies has been hindered by the lack of a relevant animal model. We report here the creation of such a model.
Methods: The sodium channel blocker, tetrodotoxin (TTX), was chronically infused into the developing neocortex or hippocampus of infant rats by way of an osmotic minipump starting on postnatal day 10–12.
Results: After a minimum of 10 days of infusion, approximately one‐third of these rats began to display very brief (1–2 s) spasms, which consisted of symmetric or asymmetric flexion or extension of the trunk and sometimes involvement of one or both forelimbs. The typical ictal EEG pattern associated with the behavioral spasms consisted of an initial generalized, high amplitude, slow wave followed by an electrodecrement with superimposed fast activity. The interictal EEG revealed multifocal spikes and sharp waves, and in most animals that had spasms a hypsarrhythmic pattern was seen, at least intermittently, during NREM sleep. Like in humans, the spasms in the rat often occurred in clusters especially during sleep–wake transitions. Comparison of the ictal and interictal EEGs recorded in this model and those from humans with infantile spasms revealed that the patterns and the frequency components of both the ictal events and hypsarrhythmia were very similar.
Discussion: The TTX model of infantile spasms should be of value in furthering an understanding of the pathophysiology of this seizure disorder.
Herbal medicine and epilepsy: Proconvulsive effects and interactions with antiepileptic drugs
Authors: Samuels Noah , Finkelstein Yoram , Singer Shepherd Roee , Oberbaum Menachem 
Published: October 2007

SummaryThe use of complementary and alternative medicine is on the rise, including among patients with epilepsy. Herbal medicine, one of the most popular forms of CAM, is considered to be both safe and effective by most consumers. Yet many herbs may increase the risk for seizures, through intrinsic proconvulsant properties or contamination by heavy metals, as well as via effects on the cytochrome P450 enzymes and P‐glycoproteins, altering antiepileptic drug (AED) disposition. Herb–drug interactions may be difficult to predict, especially since the quality and quantity of active ingredients are often unknown. Since most patients do not inform their physicians that they are taking herbal medicines, health care professionals must initiate a dialogue in order to prevent complications with the combined regimen. At the same time, further research is required regarding the effect of herbs on seizure activity and interactions with AED treatment.
Cognitive Performance in Long‐Term Abstinent Elderly Alcoholics
Authors: Fein George , McGillivray Shannon 
Published: October 2007

Background: To date, there is a wealth of literature describing the deleterious effects of active alcoholism on cognitive function. There is also a growing body of literature on the extent of cognitive recovery that can occur with abstinence. However, there is still a dearth of published findings on cognitive functioning in very long‐term abstinence alcoholics, especially in the elderly population.Methods: The current study examines 91 elderly abstinent alcoholics (EAA) (49 men and 42 women) with an average age of 67.3 years, abstinent for an average of 14.8 years (range 0.5 to 45 years), and age and gender comparable light/nondrinking controls. The EAA group was divided into 3 subgroups: individuals that attained abstinence before age 50 years, between the ages 50 and 60 years, and after age 60 years. Attention, verbal fluency, abstraction/cognitive flexibility, psychomotor, immediate memory, delayed memory, reaction time, spatial processing, and auditory working memory were assessed. The AMNART and cranium size were used as estimates of brain reserve capacity, and the association of all variables with alcohol use measures was examined.Results: Overall, the EAA groups performed comparably to controls on the assessments of cognitive function. Only the abstinent in group before 50 years of age performed worse than controls, and this was only in the domain of auditory working memory. EAAs had larger craniums than their controls. This effect was strongest for those who drank the longest and had the shortest abstinence. Such individuals also performed better cognitively.Conclusions: Our data showed that elderly alcoholics that drank late into life, but with at least 6 months abstinence can exhibit normal cognitive functioning. Selective survivorship and selection bias probably play a part in these findings. Cognitively healthier alcoholics, with more brain reserve capacity, may be more likely to live into their 60s, 70s, or 80s of age with relatively intact cognition, and to volunteer for studies such as this. Our results do not imply that all elderly alcoholics with long‐term abstinence will attain normal cognition.