bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Rethinking research in breast-feeding: a critique of the evidence base identified in a systematic review of interventions to promote and support breast-feeding
Authors: Renfrew MJ , Spiby H , D'Souza L , Wallace LM , Dyson L , McCormick F 
Published: March 2007

AbstractObjectiveTo appraise critically the relevance and value of the evidence base to promote and support the duration of breast-feeding, with a specific focus on disadvantaged groups.DesignA systematic review was conducted of intervention studies relevant to enhancing the duration of breast-feeding; topics included public health, public policy, clinical issues, and education, training and practice change. A systematic search was conducted. Eighty studies met the inclusion criteria. Data were systematically extracted and analysed. Full results and recommendations are reported elsewhere. Here a critique of the evidence base – topics, quality and gaps – is reported.ResultsMany studies were substantially methodologically flawed, with problems including small sample sizes, inconsistent definitions of breast-feeding and lack of appropriate outcomes. Few were based on relevant theory. Only a small number of included studies (10%) were conducted in the UK. Very few targeted disadvantaged subgroups of women. No studies of policy initiatives or of community interventions were identified. There were virtually no robust studies of interventions to prevent and treat common clinical problems, or of strategies related to women's health issues. Studies of health professional education and practice change were limited. Cost-effectiveness studies were rare.ConclusionsPolicy goals both in the UK and internationally support exclusive breast-feeding until 6 months of age. The evidence base to enable women to continue to breast-feed needs to be strengthened to include robust evaluations of policies and practices related to breast-feeding; a step change is needed in the quality and quantity of research funded.
Heparanase: a target for drug discovery in cancer and inflammation
Authors: McKenzie E A 
Published: March 2007

The remodelling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) has been shown to be highly upregulated in cancer and inflammation and is critically linked to the processes of invasion and metastasis. One of the key enzymes involved in specifically degrading the heparan sulphate (HS) component of the ECM is the endo‐β‐glucuronidase enzyme heparanase. Processing of HS by heparanase releases both a host of bioactive growth factors anchored within the mesh of the ECM as well as defined fragments of HS capable of promoting cellular proliferation. The finding that heparanase is elevated in a wide variety of tumor types and is subsequently linked to the development of pathological processes has led to an explosion of therapeutic strategies to inhibit its enzyme activity. So far only one compound, the sulphated oligosaccharide PI88, which both inhibits heparanase activity and has effects on growth factor binding has reached clinical trials where it has shown to have promising efficacy. The scene has clearly been set however for a new generation of compounds, either specific to the enzyme or with dual roles, to emerge from the lab and enter the clinic. The aim of this review is to describe the current drug discovery status of small molecule, sugar and neutralising antibody inhibitors of heparanase enzyme activity. Potential strategies will also be discussed on the selection of suitable biomarker strategies for specific monitoring of in vivo heparanase inhibition which will be crucial for both animal model and clinical trial testing.British Journal of Pharmacology (2007) 151, 1–14. doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707182
Physiological activities of carbon monoxide‐releasing molecules: Ça ira
Authors: Chatterjee P K 
Published: March 2007

In this issue of British Journal of Pharmacology, Megías and colleagues demonstrate how preincubation of human colonic Caco‐2 cells with CORM‐2, a carbon monoxide releasing molecule (CO‐RM), reduces the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, interleukin (IL)‐6 and IL‐8 caused by proinflammatory cytokines. A role for IL‐6 in the regulation of metalloproteinase (MMP)‐7 expression by CORM‐2 is described. However, it is the demonstration that CORM‐2 inhibits MMP‐7 or matrilysin expression, which is most intriguing as this small MMP has been implicated in carcinogenesis. Thus, CO‐RMs appear to now possess chemoprotective properties and, in this particular case, may influence inflammation‐induced colon carcinogenesis via modulation of nuclear factors participating in the transcription of genes implicated in the development of intestinal inflammation and cancer. This report opens yet another door for research involving these exciting molecules and it is now clear that further discoveries of the beneficial properties of CO‐RMs will go on.British Journal of Pharmacology (2007) 150, 961–962. doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707185
Capital Adequacy in Insurance and Reinsurance
Authors: Harrington Scott E. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThis chapter considers capital adequacy and capital regulation of insurers and reinsurers. A basic theme is that capital standards should be less stringent for financial sectors characterized by greater market discipline and less systemic risk. Because market discipline is greater and systemic risk is lower for insurance than in banking, capital requirements should be less stringent for insurers than for banks. Similarly, because market discipline is generally greater in reinsurance (wholesale) markets than in direct insurance (retail) markets, capital requirements and related regulation plausibly need not be as stringent for reinsurers as for direct insurers. Current capital requirements and related solvency regulation for US and EU insurers and reinsurers are largely consistent with significant market discipline in the insurance and reinsurance sectors. Any federal regulation of US insurers/reinsurers, harmonized regulation of EU reinsurers, consolidated oversight of financial conglomerates, and increased centralization of regulatory authority to supervise insurance and other financial activities should be designed with full recognition of the limited systemic risk and strong market discipline in insurance/reinsurance and avoid undermining that discipline.
Using a Mandatory Subordinated Debt Issuance Requirement to Set Regulatory Capital Requirements for Bank Credit Risks
Authors: Kupiec Paul 
Published: March 2007

AbstractImportant shortcomings limit the appeal of the direct use of bank internal models to set regulatory capital requirements for bank credit risks. Common approaches for calculating credit value for risk-based capital requirements produce biased estimates that do not control bank funding cost subsidies and the moral hazard externalities that mandate the need for bank capital regulation. If, alternatively, banks were required to issue subordinated debt that has both a minimum market value and maximum acceptable probability of default at issuance, banks would, thereby, be implicitly required to set their equity capital in a manner that limits both the probability of bank default and the expected loss on insured deposits. This mandatory subordinated debt issuance policy alone can control the externalities created by a government safety net without the need for a formal regulatory capital requirement for bank credit risk. This chapter demonstrates that the proposed subordinated debt requirement implicitly imposes a credit risk capital requirement that can be estimated using bank internal models. As such, the proposed subordinated debt policy can be viewed is an indirect way of imposing internal model based regulatory capital requirements for bank credit risks.
No Pain, No Gain? Effecting Market Discipline via “Reverse Convertible Debentures”
Authors: Flannery Mark J. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThe deadweight costs of financial distress limit many firms' incentive to include a lot of (tax-advantaged) debt in their capital structures. It is therefore puzzling that firms do not make advance arrangements to recapitalize themselves if large losses occur. Financial distress may be particularly important for large banking firms, which national supervisors are reluctant to let fail. The supervisors' inclination to support large financial firms when they become troubled mitigates the ex ante incentives of market investors to discipline these firms. This chapter proposes a new financial instrument that forestalls financial distress without distorting bank shareholders' risk-taking incentives. Reverse convertible debentures (RCD) would automatically convert to common equity if a bank's market capital ratio falls below some stated value. RCD provide a transparent mechanism for unlevering a firm if the need arises. Unlike conventional convertible bonds, RCD convert at the stock's current market price, which forces shareholders to bear the full cost of their risk-taking decisions. Surprisingly, RCD investors are exposed to very limited credit risk under plausible conditions.
Sizing Operational Risk and the Effect of Insurance: Implications for the Basel II Capital Accord
Authors: Kuritzkes Andrew P. , Scott Hal S. 
Published: March 2007

Abstract
This chapter addresses the issue of whether and to what extent banks should be required by regulation to hold capital against operational risks. It argues that the types of operational risk for which Basel II requires capital, internal or external event risks, are and should be dealt with by other means — better controls, loss provisions, or insurance. Basel's definition of “operational risk” excludes the major category of non-financial risk for which banks do hold capital — namely, business risk. It is estimated that business risk accounts for slightly more than half of a bank's total non-financial risk, which, in turn, averages about 25 to 30% of economic capital. Analysing legal risk, as a type of operational risk, the chapter shows the difficulties in defining or predicting such risk, and that the amount of such risk will vary depending on the legal jurisdictions to which a bank is subject. It also argues that the Basel II limit of 20% on capital mitigation achievable through insurance is arbitrary and creates a perverse incentive for banks to be underinsured. It generally concludes that banks should not be required by regulation to hold capital for operational risks; the issue would be better dealt with through supervision and market discipline.
A new infusion syringe label system designed to reduce task complexity during drug preparation
Authors: Merry A. F. , Webster C. S. , Connell H. 
Published: March 2007

SummaryA new safety‐orientated drug infusion label was studied and was compared with conventional methods by prospectively collecting incident reports from November 1998 to November 2003. Anaesthetists were asked to return an incident form for every anaesthetic (87% response rate), the vast majority indicating that no error had occurred. One error was reported with the use of the new label. However, this was due to an incorrect patient weight being recorded in the notes, and the dose was correct for the information available. Therefore, this data point was not included in the analysis. Seven errors were reported in the calculation of dosage using conventional infusion labels during 18 491 anaesthetics compared with no calculation errors in 10 655 anaesthetics with the new label (p = 0.045, Chi‐squared test). Despite the difficulties of demonstrating significant benefit from safety initiatives in medicine, these data suggest that targeted system redesign can be effective inreducing error.
Concerns regarding a call for pluralism of information theory and hypothesis testing
Authors: LUKACS PAUL M. , THOMPSON WILLIAM L. , KENDALL WILLIAM L. , GOULD WILLIAM R. , DOHERTY PAUL F. , BURNHAM KENNETH P. , ANDERSON DAVID R. 
Published: March 2007

Summary

Stephens et al. (2005) argue for ‘pluralism’ in statistical analysis, combining null hypothesis testing and information‐theoretic (I‐T) methods. We show that I‐T methods are more informative even in single variable problems and we provide an ecological example.
I‐T methods allow inferences to be made from multiple models simultaneously. We believe multimodel inference is the future of data analysis, which cannot be achieved with null hypothesis‐testing approaches.
We argue for a stronger emphasis on critical thinking in science in general and less reliance on exploratory data analysis and data dredging. Deriving alternative hypotheses is central to science; deriving a single interesting science hypothesis and then comparing it to a default null hypothesis (e.g. ‘no difference’) is not an efficient strategy for gaining knowledge. We think this single‐hypothesis strategy has been relied upon too often in the past.
We clarify misconceptions presented by Stephens et al. (2005).
We think inference should be made about models, directly linked to scientific hypotheses, and their parameters conditioned on data, Prob(Hj | data). I‐T methods provide a basis for this inference. Null hypothesis testing merely provides a probability statement about the data conditioned on a null model, Prob(data | H0).
Synthesis and applications. I‐T methods provide a more informative approach to inference. I‐T methods provide a direct measure of evidence for or against hypotheses and a means to consider simultaneously multiple hypotheses as a basis for rigorous inference. Progress in our science can be accelerated if modern methods can be used intelligently; this includes various I‐T and Bayesian methods.
The effects on terrestrial invertebrates of reducing pesticide inputs in arable crop edges: a meta‐analysis
Authors: FRAMPTON GEOFF K. , DORNE JEAN LOU C. M. 
Published: March 2007

SummaryThere is an increasing awareness of the need to evaluate critically the effectiveness of environmental conservation measures, and to ensure that agri‐environment policies are based on the best available scientific evidence.A systematic review and meta‐analysis investigated the impact of pesticide restriction in arable crop edges on naturally occurring terrestrial invertebrates. Twenty‐three relevant experimental studies yielded 1094 pesticide contrasts. A standardized effect size (Hedges’g) could be calculated for 685 of these.Empirical data were available for 12 broad types of pesticide manipulation in crop edges. The majority of the data concerned the exclusion or selective use of herbicides. No reliable information was available on the ecological consequences for naturally occurring arthropods of excluding fungicides or insecticides separately from crop edges.Studies have focused on Carabidae, Heteroptera, Staphylinidae, Lepidoptera and grouped chick‐food insects. Abundance of Heteroptera was up to 12·9 times higher where pesticide use was restricted. For other invertebrates, restricted use of pesticides generally either increased abundance or had no impact. Only two species exhibited a significant decrease in abundance.Restricting pesticide use in crop edges in most cases did not significantly affect Carabidae. This might be an artefact of the sampling method, which predominantly involved pitfall trapping.Generalization of the findings is hindered by ambiguous reporting in the primary studies. In most (20 out of 23) studies, the possibility of confounding between pesticide and fertilizer inputs could not be discounted.Synthesis and applications. Meta‐analysis confirms that restriction of pesticide inputs in crop edges benefits arthropod populations at the edges of arable fields. However, an assumption in risk assessment that such benefits extend to invertebrate populations in adjacent sprayed areas is not supported. Moreover, the generality of the effects within crop edges is limited mainly to herbicides. This review highlights a lack of information on the ecological consequences of excluding insecticides and fungicides from crop edges, and identifies a need to improve the clarity of reporting in agro‐ecology studies.
Distinguishing between the nests of sympatric chimpanzees and gorillas
Authors: SANZ CRICKETTE , MORGAN DAVID , STRINDBERG SAMANTHA , ONONONGA JEAN ROBERT 
Published: March 2007

SummaryOur current inability to estimate precisely the population sizes of chimpanzees and gorillas across much of the Congo Basin has been detrimental to the development of conservation strategies for the preservation of these endangered apes. Systematic counts of nests are currently the most commonly used method to estimate ape abundance, but distinguishing between the nests of sympatric chimpanzees and gorillas has proven to be an enduring obstacle to estimating species‐specific abundance. In general, the builder of more than 75% of nests recorded during surveys is undetermined. We hypothesized that sleeping habits and nest building patterns would allow us to differentiate between the nests of these apes.We constructed a predictive model using stepwise discriminant function analysis to determine characteristics that accurately distinguished between chimpanzee and gorilla nests. We analysed 13 variables associated with 3425 ape nests from three independent surveys conducted in the Goualougo Triangle of the Nouabalé‐Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo.The model correctly classified more than 90% of nests in our validation subsample. Nest height, nest type, forest type and understorey closure were identified as important variables for distinguishing between chimpanzee and gorilla nests at this site. Attributing nests to either species increased the precision of resulting density estimates, which enhanced the statistical power to detect trends in population fluctuation.Although specific variables may differ between study sites, we have demonstrated that predictive models to distinguish between the nests of sympatric chimpanzee and gorillas provide a promising approach to improving the quality of ape survey data.Synthesis and applications. Our study introduces an innovative solution to the dilemma of discriminating between the nests of sympatric chimpanzees and gorillas, which increases the specificity and precision of resulting ape abundance estimates. There is an urgent need to improve methods to evaluate and monitor remaining ape populations across western and central Africa that are experiencing the imminent threats of emergent diseases, poaching and expanding human development. Increasing the quality of density estimates from field survey data will aid in the development of local conservation initiatives, national strategies and international policies on behalf of remaining ape populations.
Predicting potential drop‐out and future commitment for first‐time donors based on first 1·5‐year donation patterns: the case in Hong Kong Chinese donors
Authors: Yu P. L. H. , Chung K. H. , Lin C. K. , Chan J. S. K. , Lee C. K. 
Published: March 2007

Background and Objectives  Adequate blood supply is crucial to the health‐care system. To maintain a stable donor pool, donation‐promotion strategies should not only be targeted in recruitment but also focus on retaining donors to give blood regularly. A study using statistical modelling is conducted to understand the first 4‐year donation patterns for drop‐out and committed first‐time blood donors and to build model for the donor‐type identification based on their first 1·5‐year donation patterns.Subjects and Methods  First‐time whole blood (n= 20 631) adult donors recruited in year 2000 and 2001 in Hong Kong were observed for more than 4 years. Cluster analysis was first applied to group donor type by their similarities in donation behaviour under the surveillance period. A decision tree model based on a shorter surveillance period (1·5 years) is then built to predict the donor type.Results  Three donation patterns – one‐time, drop‐out, and committed donor behaviour – were identified in cluster analysis. Three variables – donation frequencies in the first‐year and in the half‐year period after first year, and the number of donation centre visits in the following half year after first year, were able to predict drop‐out donors with potential to become committed and committed donors with relatively lower donation frequency.Conclusions  The present statistical modelling is able to identify those donors with potential to become committed donors and those committed donors who can donate more frequently. This information is useful for development of targeted donor retention strategies.
Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Cowpea Genotypes to Water Stress Under Glasshouse and Field Conditions
Authors: Hamidou F. , Zombre G. , Braconnier S. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractFive cowpea genotypes, Gorom local (Go), KVX61‐1 (KV), Mouride (Mo), Bambey 21 (B21) and TN88‐63 (TN), differing in their susceptibility to water stress, were studied under glasshouse and field conditions, to determine their physiological, biochemical and agronomic responses to water deficit at flowering stage. Effect of water deficit on leaf water potential (ψl), canopy temperature, gaseous exchange, leaf proline content, total protein and starch contents, maximal quantum yield (ϕp0) and yield components was examined. Water deficit significantly increased the canopy temperature and the proline content of the five genotypes while ψl, gaseous exchanges, ϕp0 and starch content decreased significantly. Yield components, with the exception of seed number per pod, of the five genotypes, were also significantly affected. Under glasshouse and field conditions, the results showed that stomatal closure is the common strategy used by the five genotypes to avoid dehydration. Go, Mo and TN tolerated water stress better than B21 and KV. Furthermore, Go and Mo recovered more rapidly after rewatering than B21 and KV. These latter genotypes are revealed to be sensitive with low recovery capacity. The results suggest that the maintenance of net photosynthesis and solute accumulation seem to be traits conferring water stress tolerance in Go, Mo and TN. These traits and recovery capacity could be valuable selection criteria for higher yields under water deficit conditions.
A Mixture Model for Multivariate Extremes
Authors: Boldi M.-O. , Davison A. C. 
Published: March 2007

SummaryThe spectral density function plays a key role in fitting the tail of multivariate extre-mal data and so in estimating probabilities of rare events. This function satisfies moment con-straints but unlike the univariate extreme value distributions has no simple parametric form. Parameterized subfamilies of spectral densities have been suggested for use in applications, and non-parametric estimation procedures have been proposed, but semiparametric models for multivariate extremes have hitherto received little attention. We show that mixtures of Dirichlet distributions satisfying the moment constraints are weakly dense in the class of all non-parametric spectral densities, and discuss frequentist and Bayesian inference in this class based on the EM algorithm and reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. We illustrate the ideas using simulated and real data.
An Optimal Experimental Design Criterion for Discriminating Between Non-Normal Models
Authors: López-Fidalgo J. , Tommasi C. , Trandafir P. C. 
Published: March 2007

SummaryTypically T-optimality is used to obtain optimal designs to discriminate between homoscedastic models with normally distributed observations. Some extensions of this criterion have been made for the heteroscedastic case and binary response models in the literature. In this paper, a new criterion based on the Kullback–Leibler distance is proposed to discriminate between rival models with non-normally distributed observations. The criterion is coherent with the approaches mentioned above. An equivalence theorem is provided for this criterion and an algorithm to compute optimal designs is developed. The criterion is applied to discriminate between the popular Michaelis–Menten model and a typical extension of it under the log-normal and the gamma distributions.