bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Applying modelling experiences from the past to shape crop systems biology: the need to converge crop physiology and functional genomics
Authors: Yin Xinyou , Struik Paul C. 
Published: March 2008

SummaryFunctional genomics has been driven greatly by emerging experimental technologies. Its development as a scientific discipline will be enhanced by systems biology, which generates novel, quantitative hypotheses via modelling. However, in order to better assist crop improvement, the impact of developing functional genomics needs to be assessed at the crop level, given a projected diminishing effect of genetic alteration on phenotypes from the molecule to crop levels. This review illustrates a recently proposed research field, crop systems biology, which is located at the crossroads of crop physiology and functional genomics, and intends to promote communications between the two. Past experiences with modelling whole‐crop physiology indicate that the layered structure of biological systems should be taken into account. Moreover, modelling not only plays a role in data synthesis and quantitative prediction, but certainly also in heuristics and system design. These roles of modelling can be applied to crop systems biology to enhance its contribution to our understanding of complex crop phenotypes and subsequently to crop improvement. The success of crop systems biology needs commitments from scientists along the entire knowledge chain of plant biology, from molecule or gene to crop and agro‐ecosystem.
GPS tracking of the foraging movements of Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus breeding on Skomer Island, Wales
Authors: GUILFORD T. C. , MEADE J. , FREEMAN R. , BIRO D. , EVANS T. , BONADONNA F. , BOYLE D. , ROBERTS S. , PERRINS C. M. 
Published: March 2008

We report the first successful use of miniature Global Positioning System loggers to track the ocean‐going behaviour of a c. 400 g seabird, the Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus. Breeding birds were tracked over three field seasons during the incubation and chick‐rearing periods on their foraging excursions from the large colony on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, UK. Foraging effort was concentrated in the Irish Sea. Likely foraging areas were identified to the north, and more diffusely to the west of the colony. No foraging excursions were recorded significantly to the south of the colony, conflicting with the conclusions of earlier studies based on ringing recoveries and observations. We discuss several explanations including the hypothesis that foraging may have shifted substantially northwards in recent decades. We found no obvious relationship between birds’ positions and water depth, although there was a suggestion that observations at night were in shallower water than those during the day. We also found that, despite the fact that Shearwaters can be observed rafting off‐shore from their colonies in the hours prior to making landfall at night, breeding birds are usually located much further from the colony in the last 8 h before arrival, a finding that has significance for the likely effectiveness of marine protection areas if they are only local to the colony. Short sequences of precise second‐by‐second fixes showed that movement speeds were bimodal, corresponding to sitting on the water (most common at night and around midday) and flying (most common in the morning and evening), with flight behaviour separable into erratic (indicative of searching for food) and directional (indicative of travelling). We also provide a first direct measurement of mean flight speed during directional flight (c. 40 km/h), slower than a Shearwater's predicted maximum range velocity, suggesting that birds are exploiting wave or dynamic soaring during long‐distance travel.
Do Family Firms Provide More or Less Voluntary Disclosure?
Authors: CHEN SHUPING , CHEN XIA , CHENG QIANG 
Published: March 2008

ABSTRACTWe examine the voluntary disclosure practices of family firms. We find that, compared to nonfamily firms, family firms provide fewer earnings forecasts and conference calls, but more earnings warnings. Whereas the former is consistent with family owners having a longer investment horizon, better monitoring of management, and lower information asymmetry between owners and managers, the higher likelihood of earnings warnings is consistent with family owners having greater litigation and reputation cost concerns. We also document that family ownership dominates nonfamily insider ownership and concentrated institutional ownership in explaining the likelihood of voluntary disclosure. Using alternative proxies for the founding family's presence in the firm leads to similar results.
Managerial Empire Building and Firm Disclosure
Authors: HOPE OLE‐KRISTIAN , THOMAS WAYNE B. 
Published: March 2008

ABSTRACTThis study tests the agency cost hypothesis in the context of geographic earnings disclosures. The agency cost hypothesis predicts that managers, when not monitored by shareholders, make self‐maximizing decisions that may not necessarily be in the best interest of shareholders. These decisions include aggressively growing the firm, which reduces profitability and destroys firm value. Geographic earnings disclosures provide an interesting context to examine this issue. Beginning with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 131 (SFAS 131), most U.S. multinational firms are no longer required to disclose earnings by geographic area (e.g., net income in Mexico or net income in East Asia). Such nondisclosure potentially reduces the ability of shareholders to monitor managers' decisions related to foreign operations. Using a sample of U.S. multinationals with substantial foreign operations, we find that nondisclosing firms, relative to firms that continue to disclose geographic earnings, experience greater expansion of foreign sales, produce lower foreign profit margins, and have lower firm value in the post–SFAS 131 period. Our conclusions are strengthened by the fact that these differences do not exist in the pre–SFAS 131 period and do not relate to domestic operations. We find differences in the predicted direction only for foreign operations and only after adoption of SFAS 131. Our results are robust to the inclusion of an extensive set of control variables related to alternative corporate governance mechanisms, operating performance, and the firm's information environment. Overall, the results are consistent with the agency cost hypothesis and the important role of financial disclosures in monitoring managers.
Lactate: physiology and clinical utility
Authors: Allen Sarah E. , Holm Jennifer L. 
Published: March 2008

AbstractObjective:To review the physiology of lactate production and metabolism, the causes of lactic acidosis, and the current applications of lactate monitoring in humans and animals.Data sources:Human and veterinary studies.Summary:Lactate production is the result of anaerobic metabolism. Tissue hypoxia due to hypoperfusion is the most common cause of lactic acidosis. Studies in critically ill humans have shown that serial lactate monitoring can be used to assess the severity of illness and response to therapy. Several veterinary studies have also shown lactate as a useful tool to assess severity of illness.Conclusions:Lactate measurement in critically ill veterinary patients is practical and can provide information to assess severity of illness. Further veterinary studies are needed to establish the value of serial lactate measurements for prognostic and therapeutic purposes. Information regarding lactate measurement in cats is limited, and further studies are warranted.
Left atrial rupture in dogs: 14 cases (1990–2005)
Authors: Reineke Erica L. , Burkett Dennis E. , Drobatz Kenneth J. 
Published: March 2008

AbstractObjective:To describe the clinical parameters, treatment, and prognosis of dogs with left atrial rupture secondary to chronic mitral valve insufficiency.Design:Retrospective study.Setting:University referral hospital.Animals:14 dogs with left atrial rupture.Interventions:None.Measurements and main results:Mixed breed dogs (n=6, 43%) and Shetland Sheepdogs (n=3, 21%) were most commonly affected. The median age was 12 years (range 5.8–18 y). The median weight was 11 kg (range 4–30 kg). Eight dogs had been previously diagnosed with chronic valvular disease. The most common presenting complaints included collapse (13/14), cough (9/14), and dyspnea (8/14). Four dogs were presented in either respiratory or cardiac arrest. Pericardial effusion was present in 13 dogs. The median left atrium:aortic outflow ratio was 2.66 (range 1.66:1–5.52:1). Pericardiocentesis was performed to alleviate tamponade in 3 dogs. Five dogs were discharged from the hospital, 3 of which were euthanized within 35 days of initial diagnosis for recurrence of clinical signs (n=2) and for hematochezia and lethargy (n=1). Five dogs were euthanized while in the hospital for a variety of reasons including DIC, progressive azotemia, collapse and recurrence of pericardial effusion, or possible seizure episode.Conclusions:Although rare, left atrial rupture resulting in pericardial effusion should be considered in older small‐ to medium‐sized dogs presenting with collapse, cough, and dyspnea. The overall prognosis appears poor.
Pharmacokinetics of single‐dose intravenous levetiracetam administration in normal dogs
Authors: Dewey Curtis W. , Bailey Kerry S. , Boothe Dawn M. , Badgley Britton L. , Cruz‐Espindola Crisanta 
Published: March 2008

AbstractObjective: To determine plasma pharmacokinetics of levetiracetam after a single intravenous dose (60 mg/kg) in normal dogs using a high‐performance liquid chromatography assay validated for canine plasma.Design: Pharmacokinetic study.Setting: A university‐based canine research facility.Animals: Six healthy adult dogs.Interventions: Intravenous drug administration, multiple blood sample procurement.Measurements and main results: There were no obvious adverse effects associated with the intravenous (IV) bolus administration of levetiracetam in any of the dogs. Plasma levetiracetam concentrations remained above or within the reported therapeutic range for humans (5–45 μg/mL) for all dogs, for all time periods evaluated. Mean and median (in parentheses) values for pharmacokinetic parameters included the following: maximum plasma concentration, 254 μg/mL (254 μg/mL); half‐life, 4.0 hours (4.0 hours); volume of distribution at steady state, 0.48 L/kg (0.48 L/kg); clearance, 1.4 mL/kg/min (1.5 mL/kg/min); and median residence time, 6.0 hours (6.0 hours).Conclusions: In normal dogs, a 60 mg/kg IV bolus dose of levetiracetam is well tolerated and achieves plasma drug concentrations within or above the therapeutic range reported for humans for at least 8 hours after administration. Based on the favorable pharmacokinetics and tolerability demonstrated for IV levetiracetam in this study, in addition to previously demonstrated efficacy of oral levetiracetam, IV levetiracetam may be a useful treatment option for emergency management of canine seizure activity.
The Iron Age World‐System
Authors: Stremlin Boris 
Published: March 2008

AbstractThis article aims to construct an overview of the Near Eastern Iron Age world‐system (1150–200bce). Utilizing Giovanni Arrighi's conceptualization of the modern world‐system, it argues that in contrast to civilizational empires and loosely integrated ecumenes, the Iron Age system exhibited many of the same features – a long‐term transformational logic, alternating cycles of hegemony, anarchy and chaos, and the increasing size of the containers of power. To this end, it examines the organization of the Iron Age system by commercially and maritime‐oriented Phoenician city‐states; its consolidation as a system of territorial states under the hegemony of the Neo‐Assyrian Empire; its apex under the Achaemenid Empire, which constructed a territorial empire that covered the entire Near Eastern heartland of this system; its final phase in the form of a Hellenistic condominium of kingdoms that were linked by knowledge networks; and its ultimate dissolution with the rise of a Eurasian trading ecumene, and of new durable civilizations that formed in the Mediterranean and on the Iranian Plateau and effected a core‐shift away from the Near East.
Local and National Identities in the Politics of Consumption: The Anti‐Chain Store Movement Reconsidered
Authors: Scroop Daniel 
Published: March 2008

AbstractUsing the anti‐chain store movement as a case study, this article explores the relationship between the local and the national in the twentieth‐century politics of consumption. It shows that independent merchants in the 1920s and 1930s articulated a potent form of localist politics. They believed that this politics was crucial both to the nation and to national well‐being. Historians who work on the relationship between the state and consumption, it argues, have not paid sufficient attention to this mode of localist politcs, in which the local was embedded in the national. Localist attachments, identities and movements are too often ignored, or treated as if they are not related to national level developments. This tendency can at least in part be explained by the surprising persistence in current historiography of a cosmopolitan form of liberalism deeply (and perhaps unduly) suspicious of ‘the local’.
Trigemino‐Cervical Reflex Abnormalities in Patients With Migraine and Cluster Headache
Authors: Nardone Raffaele , Ausserer Harald , Bratti Arianna , Covi Markus , Lochner Piergiorgio , Marth Roland , Florio Igor , Tezzon Frediano 
Published: March 2008

Background.— Head pain arises within the trigeminal nociceptive system. Current theories propose that the trigeminal system is intimately involved in the pathogenesis of migraine. Short‐latency responses can be recorded in sternocleidomastoid muscles after stimulation of the trigeminal nerve (trigemino‐cervical reflex). This brainstem reflex could be a suitable method to evaluate the trigeminal system in migraine and CH.Objective.— The aim of the present study was to further elucidate the pathophysiology of migraine and cluster headache (CH) with special reference to the involvement of the central trigeminal system in the different forms of primary headache.Methods.— The trigemino‐cervical reflex was investigated in 15 healthy subjects, in 15 patients having migraine with aura, in 15 patients with migraine without aura, and in 10 patients with CH.Results.— Significant abnormalities were observed in a great number of patients with both types of migraine and CH during the headache attacks, but only in migraine patients during the interictal period. The alterations are bilateral in migraine, unilateral in CH.Conclusions.— Our results further support the relevance of brainstem mechanisms in the pathogenesis of migraine rather than of CH. These data, taken together with that from experimental head pain and functional imaging studies, demonstrate that primary headache syndromes may be distinguished on a functional basis by areas of activation specific to the clinical syndrome.
Predictors of Disability in Migraineurs Referred to a Tertiary Clinic: Neck Pain, Headache Characteristics, and Coping Behaviors
Authors: Ford Sutapa , Calhoun Anne , Kahn Kevin , Mann John , Finkel Alan 
Published: March 2008

Objective.— The aim of this retrospective study was to determine if neck pain, select headache characteristics, and migraine‐related coping response predicted disability in migraineurs referred to a tertiary headache clinic.Methods.— Patients seeking treatment at a neurology‐based headache clinicwere included if they met diagnostic criteria for migraine with or without aura according to the International Headache Society (1.1, 1.2). Subjects completed a self‐report headache history form and a detailed headache and neurologic examination. The headache history form assessed: 1)weekly headache frequency; 2) number ofweekly severe headaches; 3) presence of migrainerelated neck pain; 4) photophobia; 5) phonophobia; 6) headache duration; 7) vomiting; 8) monthly headache‐free days; and 9) behavioral coping style. Disability was assessed using a self‐report inventory (HIT‐6).Results.— Self‐reported headache severity, frequency, and headache‐free days were strongly associated with disability. The presence of neck pain during migraine and one's coping response to migraine significantly predicted disability independent of headache characteristics.Conclusions.— These data suggest the need for prospective research exploring the causal mechanisms by which neck pain and coping response influence disability and underscores the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to headache management.
The Anatomic Relationship of Femoral Vein to Femoral Artery in Euvolemic Pediatric Patients by Ultrasonography: Implications for Pediatric Femoral Central Venous Access
Authors: Warkentine Fred H. , Pierce Mary Clyde , Lorenz Doug , Kim In K. 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackground:  Knowledge of the femoral vein (FV) anatomy in pediatric patients is important in the selection of appropriate size central line catheters as well as the approach to central venous access. This knowledge may avoid potential complications during central line access.Objectives:  To describe the relationship of the FV to the femoral artery (FA). To measure FV diameter and FV depth using ultrasonography (US) in newborns, infants, and children up to 9 years of age.Methods:  This study was a prospective descriptive study at a tertiary care children’s hospital. A convenience sample of euvolemic children was enrolled aged 0–9 years presenting to an urban pediatric emergency department. All patients underwent a standardized US evaluation using a Sonosite Titan bedside machine by a single emergency physician. The FA and FV were identified by four criteria: relative positions, FV compressibility, FV enlargement by Valsalva maneuver, and absence of FV pulsatility. The position of the FV relative to the FA was described as being completely overlapped by the FA, having partial (<50%) overlap by the FA, and having no overlap by the FA. The FV depth was measured from the skin to the superior border of the vein using the US machine’s caliper function.Results:  A total of 84 patients were studied. The FV was found to be completely overlapped by the FA in 8% of subjects and partially overlapped by the FA in 4% of subjects. The mean FV diameter ranged from 4.5 mm in young infants to 10.8 mm in patients 9 years of age. The mean FV depth ranged from 6.5 mm in neonates to 11.2 mm in patients 9 years of age.Conclusions:  External landmarks were not always predictive of internal anatomy. The FV was completely or partially overlapped by the FA in 12% of cases. Thus, visualization of femoral vessels should be recommended prior to attempting pediatric femoral central venous access.
Brief Motivational Intervention to Increase Self‐reported Safety Belt Use among Emergency Department Patients
Authors: Fernandez William G. , Mitchell Patricia M. , Jamanka Amber S. , Winter Michael R. , Bullock Holly , Donovan Jacqueline , George Jill St. , Feldman James A. , Gallagher Susan S. , McKay Mary Pat , Bernstein Edward , Colton Ted 
Published: March 2008

AbstractObjectives:  Brief motivational interventions have shown promise in reducing harmful behaviors. The authors tested an intervention to increase safety belt use (SBU) among emergency department (ED) patients.Methods:  From February 2006 to May 2006, the authors conducted a randomized trial of adult ED patients at a teaching hospital in Boston. ED patients were systematically sampled for self‐reported SBU. Those with SBU other than “always” were asked to participate. At baseline, participants answered a 9‐item series of situational SBU questions, each scored on a 5‐point Likert scale. SBU was defined as a continuous variable (9‐item average) and as a dichotomous variable (response of “always” across all items). Participants were randomized to an intervention or a control group. The intervention group received a 5‐ to 7‐minute intervention, adapted from classic motivational interviewing techniques, by a trained interventionist. Participants completed a 3‐month follow‐up phone survey to determine changes from baseline SBU. Continuous and dichotomous SBU were analyzed via analysis of covariance and chi‐square testing.Results:  Of 432 eligible patients, 292 enrolled (mean age 35 years, standard deviation [SD] ±11 years; 61% male). At baseline, the intervention and control groups had similar mean (±SD) SBU scores (2.8 [±1.1] vs. 2.6 [±1.1], p = 0.31) and SBU prevalence (each 0%). At 3 months, 81% completed follow‐up. The intervention group had significantly greater improvement in mean (±SD) SBU scores than controls (0.76 [±0.91] vs. 0.34 [±0.88], p < 0.001). Also, SBU prevalence of “always” was higher for the intervention group than controls (14.4% vs. 5.9%, p = 0.03).Conclusions:  Participants receiving a brief motivational intervention reported higher SBU at follow‐up compared to controls. An ED‐based intervention may be useful to increase SBU.
Mesenchymal stem cells expressing TRAIL lead to tumour growth inhibition in an experimental lung cancer model
Authors: Mohr Andrea , Lyons Mark , Deedigan Laura , Harte Tina , Shaw Georgina , Howard Linda , Barry Frank , O'Brien Tim , Zwacka Ralf 
Published: March 2008

AbstractLung cancer is a major public health problem in the western world, and gene therapy strategies to tackle this disease systemically are often impaired by inefficient delivery of the vector to the tumour tissue. Some of the main factors inhibiting systemic delivery are found in the blood stream in the form of red and white blood cells (WBCs) and serum components. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to home to tumour sites and could potentially act as a shield and vehicle for a tumouricidal gene therapy vector. Here, we describe the ability of an adenoviral vector expressing TRAIL (Ad.TR) to transduce MSCs and show the apoptosis‐inducing activity of these TRAIL‐carrying MSCs on A549 lung carcinoma cells. Intriguingly, using MSCs transduced with Ad.enhanced‐green‐fluorescent‐protein (EGFP) we could show transfer of viral DNA to cocultured A549 cells resulting in transgenic protein production in these cells, which was not inhibited by exposure of MSCs to human serum containing high levels of adenovirus neutralizing antibodies. Furthermore, Ad.TR‐transduced MSCs were shown not to induce T‐cell proliferation, which may have resulted in cytotoxic T‐cell‐mediated apoptosis induction in the Ad.TR‐transduced MSCs. Apoptosis was also induced in A549 cells by Ad.TR‐transduced MSCs in the presence of physiological concentrations of WBC, erythrocytes and sera from human donors that inhibit or neutralize adenovirus alone. Moreover, we could show tumour growth reduction with TRAIL‐loaded MSCs in an A549 xenograft mouse model. This is the first study that demonstrates the potential therapeutic utility of Ad.TR‐transduced MSCs in cancer cells and the stability of this vector in the context of the blood environment.