bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Genetic alterations and chemosensitivity profile in newly established human renal collecting duct carcinoma cell lines
Authors: Wu Zheng‐Sheng , Lee Ju‐Han , Kwon Jung‐Ah , Kim Seo‐Hee , Han Sun‐Hee , An Jung‐Suk , Lee Ji‐Hye , Lee Eung‐Seok , Park Heum‐Rye , Kim Young‐Sik 
Published: January 2009

OBJECTIVETo determine the genetic alterations and chemosensitivity profile of collecting duct carcinoma (CDC) of the kidney, as it is a rare, highly aggressive malignant tumour with frequent distant metastases.MATERIALS AND METHODSWe first established and characterized two human CDC cell lines designated AP3 and AP8, respectively. The CDC cell lines were assessed using microarray‐based comparative genomic hybridization and chemosensitivity testing.RESULTSThe CDC cells grew in vitro as an adherent monolayer with epithelial morphology, but had different growth rates. The cell lines had the characteristic immunophenotype of CDC (high molecular weight cytokeratin‐+ve/cytokeratin 7‐+ve/vimentin‐+ve). Both cell lines shared copy number gains in chromosomes 20 and X. The loci showing a copy number gain were SOX22 at 20p tel, topoisomerse I (TOP1) at 20q12‐q13.1, TPD52L2 at 20q tel, 20QTEL14 at 20q tel, KAL at Xp22.3, STS 5′ at Xp22.3, OCRL1 at Xq25, AR3′at Xq11‐q12, and XIST at Xq13.2, respectively. Immunoblot analysis confirmed that the AP3 and AP8 cell lines showed moderate and high levels of TOP1 expression, respectively. By chemosensitivity testing, the AP8 cells were most sensitive to topoisomerase I and II inhibitors such as topotecan, epirubicin and doxorubicin, but the AP3 cells did not. The chemosensitivity to these drugs was paralleled by cell death via apoptosis.CONCLUSIONThe results suggest that TOP1 might be one of the molecular targets in AP8 CDC cells. Thus, these novel CDC cell lines will be useful for discovering therapeutic targets and developing effective anticancer drugs against CDC.
Retroperitoneal decortication of simple renal cysts vs decortication with wadding using perirenal fat tissue: results of a prospective randomized trial
Authors: Porpiglia Francesco , Fiori Cristian , Billia Michele , Renard Julien , Di Stasio Andrea , Vaccino Davide , Bertolo Riccardo , Scarpa Roberto Mario 
Published: January 2009

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate, in a pilot prospective randomized trial, the safety, effectiveness and radiological recurrence of retroperitoneal renal cyst decortication compared with retroperitoneal decortication with wadding using perirenal pedicled fat tissue.PATIENTS AND METHODSFrom March 2004 to December 2007, 40 patients with simple renal cysts were enrolled and randomized; 22 (group A) had a simple retroperitoneal decortication (SRD) and 18 (group B) a decortication with wadding of the cyst using perirenal fat tissue (RDCW). The following variables were recorded: age, gender, side, size on ultrasonography/computed tomography (CT), location, operative duration, blood loss, complications, pathology, presence or absence of flank pain, hypertension, urinary tract compression or urinary infection. The primary endpoint of this trial was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of both treatments. Secondary endpoints were safety and pain, hypertension and the resolution of urinary tract obstruction.RESULTSIn all, 40 cysts were treated; there were no bilateral cysts. The mean (sd) size on CT was 11.9 (1.84) cm in group A and 12.8 (1.25) cm in group B (P = 0.1). All the procedures were completed laparoscopically and no conversion was necessary. There were no intraoperative complications. The mean (range) hospital stay was 3.4 (3–6) days. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups for all variables assessed. There was a radiological recurrence in three patients (14%) in group A, but none in group B (all successful).CONCLUSIONTo be completely successful, with maximum safety and to prevent recurrences in the treatment of renal cysts, RCDW is recommended when a retroperitoneal approach is chosen, especially if the cyst is located anteriorly. When symptom relief is considered, RCDW duplicates the results obtained with SRD.
Screening by lower urinary tract symptoms vs asymptomatic prostate‐specific antigen levels leading to radical prostatectomy in Danish men: tumour characteristics and treatment outcome
Authors: Borre Michael 
Published: January 2009

OBJECTIVETo compare the tumour characteristics and treatment outcome in men undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) for prostate cancer diagnosed with or with no lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).PATIENTS AND METHODSIn Denmark, prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) testing is recommended only in men with a family history of prostate cancer, or those with LUTS that could be caused by prostate cancer. However, increasingly many men undergoing RP are asymptomatic and are diagnosed as a result of unsystematic PSA screening. Data were collected prospectively from The Aarhus PC‐project, comprising 585 consecutive Danish men treated with RP between 1997 and 2008 at Aarhus University Hospital; of these, 47 had a family history of prostate cancer and were therefore excluded.RESULTSIn all, 188 (35%) patients stated being asymptomatic at the diagnosis of cancer, while LUTS led to the diagnosis in 350 (65%). Except for tumour grade after RP there were no significant differences between these subpopulations in tumour characteristics and treatment outcome. Unexpectedly, the Gleason score of the RP specimen was a statistically significant prognostic indicator (P = 0.002) in favour of symptomatic patients.CONCLUSIONThis study showed no association between LUTS and tumour characteristics or treatment outcome between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients undergoing RP. The Gleason score at RP and thereby the long‐term prognosis in asymptomatic patients seems to be worse than in patients with LUTS.
The haphazard approach to the early detection of asymptomatic renal cancer: results from a contemporary executive health programme
Authors: Feldstein Murray S. , Rhodes Deborah J. , Parker Alex S. , Orford Robert R. , Castle Erik P. 
Published: January 2009

OBJECTIVETo compare the detection of asymptomatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in an executive health programme (EHP) that uses traditional methods of screening (history, physical examination and urine analysis) to programmes that screen by renal imaging.PATIENTS AND METHODSWe retrospectively reviewed case records from patients undergoing executive health examinations at Mayo Clinic between 1 January 2002 and 30 September 2007.ResultsOf 32 310 patients, 18 RCCs were detected; of these, 13 (72%) were detected by the EHP and five (28%) were missed by the initial EHP screening process but subsequently discovered within 4–24 months. Of the 13 detected through the EHP, eight were discovered incidentally, two because of symptoms, and three because of asymptomatic microscopic haematuria (AMH). Of the 13, 12 were classified as early‐stage cancers (Stage I). By contrast, of the five cancers missed by the EHP screening process, two were diagnosed because of the development of symptoms and only one was classified as Stage I. To date, two of these patients whose cancers were undetected by the EHP developed metastasis and one of them has died. Both had been followed in the EHP for years and neither had MH in multiple specimens.CONCLUSIONOur EHP follows standard policy and relies on a history, physical examination and urine analysis to decide who to evaluate for asymptomatic RCC. This practice missed >70% of the potentially diagnosable cancers. The patients with RCCs that were discovered initially by the EHP fared better than those whose diagnosis was delayed. Our detection rate of four per 10 000 was only a fraction of those reported by programmes using imaging as a screening tool. The logic behind our current approach to the early detection of asymptomatic RCC needs to be reassessed. AMH is coincidental in most cases and patients could forego imaging if they are unsuitable candidates for screening. However, AMH will miss most treatable cancers and is not an appropriate screening test for an early detection programme. In the absence of reliable biomarkers, renal imaging should be the primary screening tool for detecting asymptomatic RCC in informed, clinically suitable individuals enrolled in an early detection programme.
Speaker variability augments phonological processing in early word learning
Authors: Rost Gwyneth C. , McMurray Bob 
Published: January 2009

AbstractInfants in the early stages of word learning have difficulty learning lexical neighbors (i.e. word pairs that differ by a single phoneme), despite their ability to discriminate the same contrast in a purely auditory task. While prior work has focused on top‐down explanations for this failure (e.g. task demands, lexical competition), none has examined if bottom‐up acoustic‐phonetic factors play a role. We hypothesized that lexical neighbor learning could be improved by incorporating greater acoustic variability in the words being learned, as this may buttress still‐developing phonetic categories, and help infants identify the relevant contrastive dimension. Infants were exposed to pictures accompanied by labels spoken by either a single or multiple speakers. At test, infants in the single‐speaker condition failed to recognize the difference between the two words, while infants who heard multiple speakers discriminated between them.
Ten‐month‐old infants use prior information to identify an actor's goal
Authors: Sommerville Jessica A. , Crane Catharyn C. 
Published: January 2009

AbstractFor adults, prior information about an individual's likely goals, preferences or dispositions plays a powerful role in interpreting ambiguous behavior and predicting and interpreting behavior in novel contexts. Across two studies, we investigated whether 10‐month‐old infants’ ability to identify the goal of an ambiguous action sequence was facilitated by seeing prior instances in which the actor directly pursued and obtained her goal, and whether infants could use this prior information to understand the actor's behavior in a new context. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the goal preview impacted infants’ subsequent action understanding, but only if the preview was delivered in the same room as the subsequent action sequence. Experiment 2 demonstrated that infants’ failure to transfer prior goal information across situations arose from a change in the roomper seand not other features of the task. Our results suggest that infants may use their understanding of simple actions as a leverage point for understanding novel or ambiguous actions, but that their ability to do so is limited to certain types of contextual changes.
WEEKDAY‐ONLY POLLING AND PARTISAN SUPPORT LEVELS: EVIDENCE FROM NEW ZEALAND
Authors: Salmond Rob 
Published: January 2009

SummarySome scholars have argued that opinion polls conducted only on weekday evenings are likely to be biased in favour of right‐wing parties, but there is no scholarly consensus on this. This paper presents evidence from New Zealand suggesting that weekday‐only polling consistently increases the reported support levels for right‐wing parties. Polls conducted only on weekdays in New Zealand give estimated support levels for the major right‐leaning party approximately five percentage points higher than do concurrent polls that survey voters both on weekdays and during the weekend. Results for left‐leaning parties are also broadly consistent with this effect.
HIGH‐DIMENSIONAL PARAMETRIC MODELLING OF MULTIVARIATE EXTREME EVENTS
Authors: Stephenson Alec G. 
Published: January 2009

SummaryMultivariate extreme events are typically modelled using multivariate extreme value distributions. Unfortunately, there exists no finite parametrization for the class of multivariate extreme value distributions. One common approach is to model extreme events using some flexible parametric subclass. This approach has been limited to only two or three dimensions, primarily because suitably flexible high‐dimensional parametric models have prohibitively complex density functions. We present an approach that allows a number of popular flexible models to be used in arbitrarily high dimensions. The approach easily handles missing and censored data, and can be employed when modelling componentwise maxima and multivariate threshold exceedances. The approach is based on a representation using conditionally independent marginal components, conditioning on positive stable random variables. We use Bayesian inference, where the conditioning variables are treated as auxiliary variables within Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate these methods with an application to sea‐levels, using data collected at 10 sites on the east coast of England.
MULTIPLE‐RECORD SYSTEMS ESTIMATION USING LATENT CLASS MODELS
Authors: Wang Yan , Thandrayen Joanne 
Published: January 2009

SummaryCapture–recapture methods (also referred to as ‘multiple‐record systems’) have been widely used in enumerating human populations in the fields of epidemiology and public health. In this article, we introduce latent class models into multiple‐record systems to account for unobserved heterogeneity in the population. Two approaches, the full and the conditional likelihood, are proposed to estimate the unknown population abundance. We also suggest rules to diagnose identifiability of the proposed latent class models. The methodologies are illustrated by two real examples: the first is to count the undercount of homelessness in the Adelaide central business district, and the second concerns the incidence of diabetes in a small Italian town.
Non-Linear Oil Price Dynamics: A Tale of Heterogeneous Speculators?
Authors: Reitz Stefan , Slopek Ulf 
Published: January 2009

AbstractWhile some of the recent surges in oil prices can be attributed to a robust global demand at a time of tight production capacities, commentators occasionally also blame the impact of speculators for part of the price pressure. We propose an empirical oil market model with heterogeneous speculators. Whereas trend-extrapolating chartists may tend to destabilize the market, fundamentalists exercise a stabilizing effect on the price dynamics. Using monthly data for West Texas Intermediate oil prices, our STR-GARCH estimates indicate that oil price cycles may indeed emerge due to the non-linear interplay between different trader types.
Did the Hartz Reforms Speed-Up the Matching Process? A Macro- Evaluation Using Empirical Matching Functions
Authors: Fahr René , Sunde Uwe 
Published: January 2009

Abstract
Starting in January 2003, Germany implemented the first two so-called Hartz reforms, followed by the third and fourth packages of Hartz reforms in January 2004 and January 2005, respectively. The aim of these reforms was to accelerate labor market flows and reduce unemployment duration.Without attempting to evaluate the specific components of these Hartz reforms, this paper provides a first attempt to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the first two reform waves, Hartz I/II and III, in speeding up the matching process between unemployed and vacant jobs. The analysis is conceptually rooted in the flow-based view underlying the reforms, estimating the structural features of the matching process. The results indicate that the reforms indeed had an impact in making the labor market more dynamic and accelerating the matching process.
Does German Development Aid Promote German Exports?
Authors: Martínez-Zarzoso Inmaculada , Klasen Stephan , Nowak-Lehmann D. Felicitas , Larch Mario 
Published: January 2009

Abstract
This paper uses a static and dynamic gravity model of trade to investigate the link between German development aid and exports from Germany to the recipient countries. The findings indicate that, in the long run, German aid is associated with an increase in exports of goods that is larger than the aid flow, with a point estimate of 140% of the aid given. In addition, the evolution of the estimated coefficients over time shows an effect that is consistently positive but that oscillates over time. Interestingly, after a decrease in the 1990s, the estimated coefficients of the effect of aid on trade show a steady increase in the period between 2001 and 2005. The paper distinguishes among recipient countries and finds that the return on aid measured by German exports is higher for aid to countries considered ‘strategic aid recipients’ by the German government.We also find some evidence that aid given by other EU members reduces German exports.
The Relationship between Components of the Behavioural Phenotype in Prader‐Willi Syndrome
Authors: Oliver Chris , Woodcock Kate A. , Humphreys Glyn W. 
Published: January 2009

Background  Repetitive questions and temper outbursts form part of the behavioural phenotype of Prader‐Willi syndrome (PWS). We investigated the phenomenology of temper outbursts in PWS and their relationship with other PWS behavioural characteristics.Method  Four individuals with PWS were observed (5–10 h), during a number of experimental and natural environment challenges, some of which were expected to trigger temper outbursts. Individual behaviours including crying, ignoring, arguing, questioning, stereotypy, frowning and posture changes were recorded and subjected to lag sequential analysis.Results  All participants were significantly more likely to show repetitive questioning before more challenging behaviours such as crying, arguing or ignoring requests. Precursor behaviours such as frowning and stereotypical behaviour were identified in three participants.Conclusions  Temper outbursts in PWS may be associated with other PWS behavioural phenotypic characteristics such as repetitive questions and ‘stubbornness’. A progression of behaviours may lead up to the most challenging temper outburst behaviours. This may have important implications for effective coping strategies.
Frequency of Use and Characteristics of People with Intellectual Disabilities Subject to Physical Interventions
Authors: McGill Peter , Murphy Glynis , Kelly‐Pike Amanda 
Published: January 2009

Background  The use of physical intervention (PI) with people with intellectual disabilities continues to cause concern. This study sought to clarify the frequency and circumstances of PI use and gather data on the characteristics of individuals subject to PI.Method  Data on individuals subject to PI were gathered by postal questionnaire completed by service providers from three samples: people who (i) had attended a PI conference and/or purchased a PI policy document; (ii) operated in a specific geographical area of England and (iii) operated specialist assessment and treatment settings for children/adults with intellectual disabilities throughout the UK.Results  Frequent PI use was reported. Restraint was most commonly reported – monthly or more frequently with most individuals. Overall, those receiving PI were more likely to be young, male, not legally restricted and identified as having an autistic spectrum disorder than those who did not receive PI.Conclusions  The relatively frequent use of PI is consistent with routine rather than last resort use. Such use carries risk of physical and psychological damage. Service providers should systematically reduce the frequency of use of PI.
Predictors of Restrictive Reactive Strategy Use in People with Challenging Behaviour
Authors: Allen David , Lowe Kathy , Brophy Sam , Moore Kate 
Published: January 2009

Background  Intrusive reactive strategies (physical restraint, emergency medication and seclusion) are frequently used procedures in the management of challenging behaviour. The present study identifies predictors for reactive strategy use in an attempt to more clearly delineate at risk service users.Method  Eight hundred and thirty‐nine agencies and service settings in a large area of South Wales were screened to identify children and adults with challenging behaviour against a number of defined operational criteria. Full data were available for 901 participants. Univariate and multivariate statistics were employed to identify predictors for reactive strategy use.Results  The individuals most at risk of the use of reactive strategies were those who were subject to formal detention under the Mental Health Act (restraint and sedation), had more severe challenging behaviour (seclusion), showed destructive behaviour (restraint and seclusion) were placed out of area (seclusion) and had behavioural plans in place for specific topographies (restraint and sedation).Conclusions  Individual differences such as challenging behaviour and service practices, such as detention under the Mental Health Act, predicted the use of restrictive procedures. The identification of those service users most at risk of reactive strategy use may enable the specific targeting of therapeutic interventions that may reduce or eliminate their use.
Mindful Staff Can Reduce the Use of Physical Restraints When Providing Care to Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
Authors: Singh Nirbhay N. , Lancioni Giulio E. , Winton Alan S. W. , Singh Ashvind N. , Adkins Angela D. , Singh Judy 
Published: January 2009

Background  The use of physical restraints has generated immense controversy in the delivery of services to individuals with intellectual disabilities. The current zeitgeist is that effective positive approaches obviate the need for using physical restraints. In a multiple baseline design, we sought to assess how training staff members in mindfulness affected their use of physical restraints for aggressive and destructive behaviours of individuals with intellectual disabilities.Methods  Twenty‐three members of staff working in four group homes participated in a 12‐week mindfulness‐training programme. Objective data were collected on the number of incidents, staff observations of incidents, staff verbal redirections, restraints used, Stat medications administered, staff injuries and peer injuries. Data were collected during baseline, mindfulness training and mindfulness practice phases.Results  As mindfulness training progressed, the use of restraints decreased, with almost no use being recorded by the end of the study. Any use of physical restraints was correlated with new admissions and on‐call staff who had not received training in mindfulness. Stat medications administered also decreased and staff and peer injuries were close to zero levels during the latter stages of mindfulness practice.Conclusions  Data from this initial study suggest that staff training in mindfulness is potentially beneficial to both staff and the individuals with intellectual disabilities, particularly in reducing the use of physical restraints and Stat medication for aggressive and destructive behaviours.