bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Newborn human brain identifies repeated auditory feature conjunctions of low sequential probability
Authors: Ruusuvirta Timo , Huotilainen Minna , Fellman Vineta , Näätänen Risto 
Published: November 2004

AbstractNatural environments are usually composed of multiple sources for sounds. The sounds might physically differ from one another only as feature conjunctions, and several of them might occur repeatedly in the short term. Nevertheless, the detection of rare sounds requires the identification of the repeated ones. Adults have some limited ability to effortlessly identify repeated sounds in such acoustically complex environments, but the developmental onset of this finite ability is unknown. Sleeping newborn infants were presented with a repeated tone carrying six frequent (P = 0.15 each) and six rare (P ∼0.017 each) conjunctions of its frequency, intensity and duration. Event‐related potentials recorded from the infants' scalp were found to shift in amplitude towards positive polarity selectively in response to rare conjunctions. This finding suggests that humans are relatively hard‐wired to preattentively identify repeated auditory feature conjunctions even when such conjunctions occur rarely among other similar ones.
Functional neuroanatomy of the human near/far response to blur cues: eye‐lens accommodation/vergence to point targets varying in depth
Authors: Richter Hans O. , Costello Patricia , Sponheim Scott R. , Lee Joel T. , Pardo José V. 
Published: November 2004

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to identify the networks involved in the regulation of visual accommodation/vergence by contrasting the cortical functions subservient to eye‐lens accommodation with those evoked by foveal fixation. Neural activity was assessed in normal volunteers by changes in rCBF measured with PET. Thirteen right‐handed subjects participated in three monocular tasks: (i) resting with eyes closed; (ii) sustained foveal fixation upon a LED at 1.2 m (0.83 D); and (iii) accommodating alternately on a near (24 cm, 4.16 D) vs. a far (3.0 m, 0.33 D) LED alternately illuminated in sequential 2 s epochs. The contrast between the conditions of near/far accommodation and of constant foveal fixation revealed activation in cerebellar hemispheres and vermis; middle and inferior temporal cortex (BA 20, 21, 37); striate cortex and associative visual areas (BA 17/18). Comparison of the condition of constant fixation with the condition of resting with closed eyes indicated activation of cerebellar hemispheres and vermis; visual cortices (BA 17/18); a right hemisphere dominant network encompassing prefrontal (BA 6, 9, 47), superior parietal (BA 7), and superior temporal (BA 40) cortices; and bilateral thalamus. The contrast between the conditions of near/far accommodation with closed‐eye rest reflected an incremental summation of the activations found in the previous comparisons (i.e. activations associated with constant fixation). Neural circuits activated selectively during the near/far response to blur cues over those during constant visual fixation, occupy posterior structures that include occipital visual regions, cerebellar hemispheres and vermis, and temporal cortex.
Altered circadian locomotor activity in APP23 mice: a model for BPSD disturbances
Authors: Vloeberghs Ellen , Van Dam Debby , Engelborghs Sebastiaan , Nagels Guy , Staufenbiel Matthias , De Deyn Peter Paul 
Published: November 2004

AbstractOver the past decade, clinical Alzheimer's disease research has been challenged with an increased interest in noncognitive symptomatology, commonly referred to as behavioural and psychological signs and symptoms of dementia (BPSD). In accordance, major attention is being paid to behavioural alterations in the phenotyping of transgenic mouse models. Besides an age‐dependent decline of cognitive functions, the APP23 model was previously shown to exhibit cage activity disturbances, reminiscent of diurnal rhythm disturbances in Alzheimer patients. To further scrutinize these observations, circadian patterns of horizontal locomotor activity were assessed in 3‐, 6‐ and 12‐month‐old APP23 mice and wild‐type littermates in a test paradigm continuously recording cage activity over a period ranging from 1 to 3 days. At the age of 3 months, APP23 profiles resembled the wild‐type pattern to a large extent, although minor differences were already noticeable. Six‐month‐old APP23 mice displayed an altered activity profile with a first indication of increased activity during the second half of the active phase, reminiscent of sundowning behaviour in Alzheimer patients. This bimodal overnight activity pattern became even more evident at the age of 12 months. The APP23 model was therefore shown to display an age‐dependent development of cage activity disturbances and sundowning‐like behaviour. A comparison is made with actigraphic recordings of human Alzheimer patients exhibiting sundowning behaviour. This first report of diurnal rhythm disturbances and sundowning‐like phenomena in a transgenic mouse model greatly adds to the validity of the APP23 model.
Influence of control variables on mannequin temperature in a paediatric operating theatre
Authors: Cassey John , Strezov Vladimir , Armstrong Peter , Forsyth Robert , Lucas John , Jones Bryan , Farrell Patrick 
Published: November 2004

SummaryBackground : Core temperature drops in all children having general anaesthesia. Convection heating may be useful, but its effectiveness in the paediatric setting is not established. Additionally, its utility in many paediatric situations is limited by blanket design.Methods : Using a mannequin model in a sham operation, we assessed the likely safety and effectiveness of a draping technique in association with a ‘Bair Hugger’ and a heat dissipation unit (HDU). In Part 1 of the study, the influence of ambient temperature was assessed. In Part 2, a simulated laparotomy was set up and a more detailed assessment of air temperatures around the mannequin was made. In addition, the effect of a change in the HDU design was assessed.Results : Part 1: the technique achieved ‘near‐plateau’ temperature within 5–10 min. A difference of 8°C in ambient temperature (between 18 and 26°C) translated only to a 2–3°C difference under the drapes. Part 2: the technique produced sidestream cooler zones at the head and shoulders. Air temperature at these sites was 28–34°C, whereas at other points (irrespective of their distance from the heat source), it was 37–40°C. Warm air reached sufficient skin sites to anticipate adequate heat transfer in the clinical situation. Air temperature at ‘skin’ surface stayed below 40°C over the 90‐min study period.Conclusions : A customized HDU used in association with a ‘Bair Hugger’ unit and a careful surgical draping technique provides stable, safe and consistent air temperatures around a mannequin. Net heat gain by a child's body should occur with this arrangement. Further evaluation in a clinical study is underway.
Predictions and tests of climate‐based hypotheses of broad‐scale variation in taxonomic richness
Authors: Currie David J. , Mittelbach Gary G. , Cornell Howard V. , Field Richard , Guégan Jean‐Francois , Hawkins Bradford A. , Kaufman Dawn M. , Kerr Jeremy T. , Oberdorff Thierry , O'Brien Eileen , Turner J. R. G. 
Published: November 2004

AbstractBroad‐scale variation in taxonomic richness is strongly correlated with climate. Many mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain these patterns; however, testable predictions that would distinguish among them have rarely been derived. Here, we examine several prominent hypotheses for climate–richness relationships, deriving and testing predictions based on their hypothesized mechanisms. The ‘energy–richness hypothesis’ (also called the ‘more individuals hypothesis’) postulates that more productive areas have more individuals and therefore more species. More productive areas do often have more species, but extant data are not consistent with the expected causal relationship from energy to numbers of individuals to numbers of species. We reject the energy–richness hypothesis in its standard form and consider some proposed modifications. The ‘physiological tolerance hypothesis’ postulates that richness varies according to the tolerances of individual species for different sets of climatic conditions. This hypothesis predicts that more combinations of physiological parameters can survive under warm and wet than cold or dry conditions. Data are qualitatively consistent with this prediction, but are inconsistent with the prediction that species should fill climatically suitable areas. Finally, the ‘speciation rate hypothesis’ postulates that speciation rates should vary with climate, due either to faster evolutionary rates or stronger biotic interactions increasing the opportunity for evolutionary diversification in some regions. The biotic interactions mechanism also has the potential to amplify shallower, underlying gradients in richness. Tests of speciation rate hypotheses are few (to date), and their results are mixed.
Experimental warming causes large and rapid species loss, dampened by simulated grazing, on the Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Klein Julia A. , Harte John , Zhao Xin‐Quan 
Published: November 2004

AbstractWe investigated the independent and combined effects of experimental warming and grazing on plant species diversity on the north‐eastern Tibetan Plateau, a region highly vulnerable to ongoing climate and land use changes. Experimental warming caused a 26–36% decrease in species richness, a response that was generally dampened by experimental grazing. Higher species losses occurred at the drier sites where N was less available. Moreover, we observed an indirect effect of climate change on species richness as mediated by plant–plant interactions. Heat stress and warming‐induced litter accumulation are potential explanations for the species’ responses to experimental warming. This is the first reported experimental evidence that climate warming could cause dramatic declines in plant species diversity in high elevation ecosystems over short time frames and supports model predictions of species losses with anthropogenic climate change.
A modified yeast assay used on archival samples of localized prostate cancer tissue improves the detection of p53 abnormalities and increases their predictive value
Authors: Shi Xu‐Bao , Gandour‐Edwards Regina , Beckett Laurel A. , Deitch Arline D. , De Vere White Ralph W. 
Published: November 2004

OBJECTIVETo determine the frequency and predictive value of p53 mutations in localized prostate cancer, comparing the accuracy of detection using immunohistochemistry (IHC) with a modified yeast assay, on archival tissue samples.MATERIALS AND METHODSProstate cancer tissue was obtained from 98 patients who had ≥ 2 years of clinical follow‐up after radical prostatectomy. DNA sequencing was used to verify the presence of p53 mutations in samples that were immunopositive or that gave evidence for p53 alterations using the yeast assay. The IHC and yeast findings were compared with patient outcome to determine the predictive value of these two test types.RESULTSFifty‐five tumours (57%) were immunopositive, and 58 (59%) were positive using the yeast assay. Sequence‐confirmed p53 mutations occurred in 44 (45%) cases. The IHC protocol generated 49% (27/55) false‐positive and 36% (15/42) false‐negative results, and was 65% sensitive and 50% specific, with an overall accuracy of 57%. The yeast assay resulted in 24% (14/58) false‐positive results with a specificity of 74% and an accuracy of 86%. When the p53 status of these patients was correlated with their clinical outcome, patients who had sequence‐confirmed p53 mutations had a 2.6‐fold greater failure rate (P = 0.026) and a 2.5‐fold greater risk of dying from prostate cancer (P = 0.05). Notably, mutations in exon 6 predicted a six‐fold increase in treatment failure (P = 0.043) and a 5.3‐fold increase in the chance of dying from prostate cancer (P = 0.009). Abnormal yeast‐assay findings gave similar predictive results to those obtained for DNA sequencing, while immunopositivity did not correspond to patient outcome.CONCLUSIONSMutations of p53 occurred in 45% of localized prostate cancers. These alterations have important prognostic implications. The yeast assay was more accurate for detecting p53 mutations than the IHC protocol used and, unlike IHC, the results of the yeast assay were predictive of patient outcome.
Is povidone iodine an alternative to silver nitrate for renal pelvic instillation sclerotherapy in chyluria?
Authors: Goel Shailendra , Mandhani Anil , Srivastava Aneesh , Kapoor Rakesh , Gogoi Sanjay , Kumar Anant , Bhandari Mahendra 
Published: November 2004

OBJECTIVETo compare the efficacy and toxicity of 1% silver nitrate, 0.2% povidone iodine and 50% dextrose in renal pelvic instillation sclerotherapy (RPIS) for chyluria.PATIENTS AND METHODSIn a prospective randomized comparative study from January 1999 to June 2003, 106 patients (61 males and 45 females; mean age 36 years, sd 12, range 14–65) were randomized to receive 1% silver nitrate, 0.2% povidone iodine or 50% dextrose as RPIS. In all, nine doses were given at 8‐h intervals, and patients followed at 6 weeks and then at 3‐monthly intervals. Patients with ‘persistence’ or ‘recurrence’ of chyluria were treated with second course of RPIS using same sclerosant.RESULTSThe dextrose treatment was discontinued at mid‐term because of poor success (one of 21 patients, P < 0.001). Of 85 patients, 44 received silver nitrate and 41 povidone iodine; both groups were well‐matched and the mean follow‐up was 28.4 and 23.3 months, respectively. ‘Immediate clearance’ was recorded in 91% and 98%, and recurrence in 21% and 22% of patients after the first course of RPIS, after silver nitrate and povidone, respectively; Kaplan‐Meier estimates of ‘disease‐free duration’ in the two groups (23.6 vs 20.1 months) were also similar (P = 0.7906). The cumulative success rate after two courses of RPIS was 82% (silver nitrate) and 83% (povidone; P = 1.0). Five (11%) patients in the silver nitrate and one (2%) in the povidone group had significant flank pain during treatment.CONCLUSIONSPovidone iodine 0.2% is as effective for RPIS as 1% silver nitrate.
Single‐layer small intestinal submucosa or tunica vaginalis flap for correcting penile chordee
Authors: El‐Assmy Ahmed , El‐Hamid Mohamed Abd , Abo‐Elghar Mohamed E. , Hafez Ashraf T. 
Published: November 2004

In this section, techniques are evaluated by authors from Mansoura into the correction of penile chordee, and by authors from Kolkata into the tubularised incised plate in one‐stage hypospadias surgery. In the third article in this section, the authors from Los Angeles investigate methods of enhanced objective quantitative cystometric analysis of compliance and contractility.OBJECTIVETo evaluate the use of single‐layer small intestinal submucosa (SIS) and tunica vaginalis flap (TVF) for covering defects in the ventral surface of the tunica albuginea to correct severe penile chordee.MATERIALS AND METHODSIn all, 24 New Zealand white rabbits had a rectangular area excised from the ventral surface of tunica albuginea. In 12 rabbits TVF was used to cover the defect and in the remaining animals single‐layer SIS was used. Animals were killed in groups of four at 2‐, 6‐ and 12‐week intervals after surgery. Before death in the 12‐week group, an artificial erection was induced and cavernosography performed. Transverse sections of the penis at the graft site were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and Masson's trichrome, and examined microscopically.RESULTSNone of the animals developed haematoma or bleeding. The mean operative duration for TVF and SIS grafts were 56 and 29 min, respectively (P < 0.001). At the time of autopsy, there was no contracture in any of the rabbits. Of the 8 rabbits assessed, all had a straight rigid erection and cavernosography showed evidence of an intact corporal veno‐occlusive mechanism. Histologically at 6 and 12 weeks, the mesothelial layers of the TVF and the SIS graft were completely replaced by well‐collagenized tissue similar to that of normal tunica albuginea, with no inflammatory infiltrate.CONCLUSIONSBoth the TVF and single‐layer SIS graft are viable comparable options for corporal body grafting. The ‘off‐the‐shelf’ availability, significantly quicker operation and absence of donor site morbidity make single‐layer SIS better than TVF for correcting chordee.
Likelihood Ratio Tests in Linear Mixed Models with One Variance Component
Authors: Crainiceanu Ciprian M. , Ruppert David 
Published: November 2004

SummaryWe consider the problem of testing null hypotheses that include restrictions on the variance component in a linear mixed model with one variance component and we derive the finite sample and asymptotic distribution of the likelihood ratio test and the restricted likelihood ratio test. The spectral representations of the likelihood ratio test and the restricted likelihood ratio test statistics are used as the basis of efficient simulation algorithms of their null distributions. The large sample χ2 mixture approximations using the usual asymptotic theory for a null hypothesis on the boundary of the parameter space have been shown to be poor in simulation studies. Our asymptotic calculations explain these empirical results. The theory of Self and Liang applies only to linear mixed models for which the data vector can be partitioned into a large number of independent and identically distributed subvectors. One-way analysis of variance and penalized splines models illustrate the results.
Historians and Moral Evaluations
Authors: VANN RICHARD T. 
Published: November 2004

In dem Gebiet der Geschichte liegt die ganze moralische Welt.–SchillerABSTRACTThe reappearance of the question of moral judgments by historians makes a reappraisal of the issues timely. Almost all that has been written on the subject addresses only the propriety of moral judgments (or morally charged language) in the written texts historians produce. However, historians have to make moral choices when selecting a subject upon which to write; and they make a tacit moral commitment to write and teach honestly.Historians usually dislike making explicit moral evaluations, and have little or no training in how to do so. They can argue it's not their job; they are only finders of fact. Historians holding a determinist view of actions do not think it appropriate to blame people for doing what they couldn't help doing; for those believing there is an overall pattern to history, individual morality is beside the point. Finally, since earlier cultures had values different from ours, it seems unjust to hold them to contemporary standards.This essay modifies or rejects these arguments. Some historians have manifested ambivalence, acknowledging it is difficult or impossible to avoid making moral evaluations (and sometimes appropriate to make them). Ordinary‐language philosophers, noting that historiography has no specialized vocabulary, see it as saturated by the values inherent in everyday speech and thought.I argue that the historicist argument about the inevitably time‐bound limitation of all values is exaggerated. Historians who believe in the religious grounding of values (like Lord Acton) obviously disagree with it; but even on a secular level, morals are often confused with mores. If historians inevitably make moral evaluations, they should examine what philosophical ethicists—virtue ethicists, deontologists, and consequentialists—have said about how to make them; and even if they find no satisfactory grounding for their own moral attitudes, it is a brute fact that they have them.I end with an argument for “strong evaluations”—neither treating them as a troublesome residue in historiography nor, having despaired of finding a solid philosophical ground for moral evaluations, concluding that they are merely matters of taste. I believe historians should embrace the role of moral commentators, but that they should be aware that their evaluations are, like all historical judgments, subject to the criticisms of their colleagues and readers. Historians run little risk of being censorious and self‐righteous; the far greater danger is acquiescing in or contributing to moral confusion and timidity.
The changing union and bargaining landscape: union concentration and collective bargaining trends
Authors: Ebbinghaus Bernhard 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTUnions in Western Europe have tended to merge in larger organisations, straddling across traditional bargaining demarcations. Despite the trend towards union concentration, cross‐national differences remain in the degree of fragmentation and the balance across private and public sectors. In the past years, wage moderation was common to nearly all bargaining systems, partly as a result of coordinated incomes policies or pattern‐setting wage settlements. Tripartite concertation has proven more difficult because of increased dissatisfaction with modest pay increases and insufficient employment effects.
Qualitätssicherung in der volkswirtschaftlichen Auftragsforschung: Eine Fallstudie und ein Vorschlag
Authors: Bönte Werner , Lucke Bernd 
Published: November 2004

AbstractThis paper presents a case study on commissioned economic research in Germany. We find deplorable methodological and empirical shortcomings in a prominent study by Munich’s ifo-Institute, on aspects of horizontal fiscal revenue sharing between German states. We suspect that this may not be an exceptional case but may point out problems of quality control in economic consultancy as a whole. Therefore, we suggest establishing a certified referee system in order to improve research quality.
„Nachhaltige Entwicklung“ – Zur Ökonomik des Bangens und des Hoffens
Authors: Endres Alfred 
Published: November 2004

AbstractThe paper starts with a critical assessment of attempts to measure sustainability. Moreover, incentives for the present generation to follow a sustainable path are a key issue. Sustainability is threatened by discounting and by the open access structure of the relationship between present and future generations. On the other hand, there are economic causes for optimism. Particularly if the present generation corrects market failures, positive intertemporal externalities are generated. In addition to this “main stream” economic reasoning, the paper investigates whether sustainability is more likely if decision makers are not guided by the rules of homo oeconomicus.
Practice in focus: A hermeneutic approach to research ethics
Authors: Clegg Jennifer 
Published: November 2004

SummaryThis article argues that the interpretative and negotiating approach of hermeneutic ethics can inform research into the experiences of people with learning disability more usefully than bioethics. Terms and ideas are defined; philosophers and researchers who have employed them are described; arguments for and against the proposition are considered; it concludes by summarizing the position and its implications. Two final reflections pose questions researchers may find it fruitful to consider, or to discuss with users, carers and professionals.