bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Microarray analysis of nitric oxide responsive transcripts in Arabidopsis
Authors: Parani Madasamy , Rudrabhatla Sairam , Myers Rachel , Weirich Heatherbea , Smith Bruce , Leaman Douglas W. , Goldman Stephen L. 
Published: June 2004

SummaryNitric oxide (NO) is emerging as an important signalling molecule with diverse physiological functions in plants. In the current study, changes in gene expression in response to 0.1 mm and 1.0 mm sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a donor of NO, were studied in Arabidopsis using the whole genome ATH1 microarray, representing over 24 000 genes. We observed 342 up‐regulated and 80 down‐regulated genes in response to NO treatments. These included 126 novel genes with unknown functions. Most of these changes were specific to NO treatment, as we observed a reverse trend when the plants were treated with NO scavenger, 2‐[4‐carboxyphenyl]‐4,4,5,5‐tetramethylimidazoline‐1‐oxy‐3‐oxide (c‐PTIO). Hierarchical clustering revealed 162 genes showing a dose‐dependent increase in signal from 0.1 mm SNP to 1.0 mm SNP treatment. We observed the up‐regulation of several genes encoding disease‐resistance proteins, WRKY proteins, transcription factors, zinc finger proteins, glutathione S‐transferases, ABC transporters, kinases and biosynthetic genes of ethylene, jasmonic acid, lignin and alkaloids. This report provides an insight into the molecular basis for the seemingly diverse biological functions of NO in plants. Interestingly, about 2.0% of the genes in Arabidopsis responded to NO treatment, about 10% of which were transcription factors. NO may also influence the plant's signal transduction network as indicated by the transcriptional activation of several protein kinases, including a mitogen‐activated protein (MAP) kinase. We identified many genes previously not shown to be associated with NO responses in plants, and this is the first report of NO responsive genes based on a whole genome microarray.
Funding and Assessment in British Universities: Impact on Theology and Religious Studies
Authors: Hinnells John R. 
Published: June 2004

Abstract.  This article looks at policies of the British Government relating to teaching, the curriculum, and research and how they impact Theology and Religious Studies (TRS). It reflects on the use of Government funding to steer research outputs and to focus such activity on a small number of selected institutions. It further discusses Government attempts to define degree standards and “the boundaries and the internal geography” of the subject by producing “benchmarking guidelines” to which each department must adhere. The paper concludes with reflections on the fears of Government control of the curriculum. Underlying much of the discussion is a sense of the differences between Theology and Religious Studies in North America and Britain.To emphasize the point that this paper expresses personal views based on my own experience I have used a more informal and personal style than is my custom in publications. It is relevant to outline the experience which has fashioned my views. Prior to moving to Liverpool I have held Chairs at Manchester in Comparative Religion, where I also served as Dean of the Faculty of Theology, and London University's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where I started the Department for the Study of Religion. I have served as President of the national body for the subject, the Association of University Departments of Theology and Religious Studies (AUDTRS) for three years; on the research panels of the two main bodies to which people in Theology and Religious Studies apply for research grants (the British Academy and the Arts and Humanities Research Board); on two national research assessment panels and co‐chaired the Benchmarking Panel for Theology and Religious Studies (the work of the panels is outlined below). I was a member of a team funded by the Home Office to produce a report to inform Government policy on possible legislation on Religious Discrimination. The relevance of each of these will become clear in the course of the article.
Ecological Inference for 2 × 2 Tables
Authors: Wakefield Jon 
Published: June 2004

SummaryA fundamental problem in many disciplines, including political science, sociology and epidemiology, is the examination of the association between two binary variables across a series of 2 × 2 tables, when only the margins are observed, and one of the margins is fixed. Two unobserved fractions are of interest, with only a single response per table, and it is this non-identifiability that is the inherent difficulty lying at the heart of ecological inference. Many methods have been suggested for ecological inference, often without a probabilistic model; we clarify the form of the sampling distribution and critique previous approaches within a formal statistical framework, thus allowing clarification and examination of the assumptions that are required under all approaches. A particularly difficult problem is choosing between models with and without contextual effects. Various Bayesian hierarchical modelling approaches are proposed to allow the formal inclusion of supplementary data, and/or prior information, without which ecological inference is unreliable. Careful choice of the prior within such models is required, however, since there may be considerable sensitivity to this choice, even when the model assumed is correct and there are no contextual effects. This sensitivity is shown to be a function of the number of areas and the distribution of the proportions in the fixed margin across areas. By explicitly providing a likelihood for each table, the combination of individual level survey data and aggregate level data is straightforward and we illustrate that survey data can be highly informative, particularly if these data are from a survey of the minority population within each area. This strategy is related to designs that are used in survey sampling and in epidemiology. An approximation to the suggested likelihood is discussed, and various computational approaches are described. Some extensions are outlined including the consideration of multiway tables, spatial dependence and area-specific (contextual) variables. Voter registration–race data from 64 counties in the US state of Louisiana are used to illustrate the methods.
Annotation: The savant syndrome
Authors: Heaton Pamela , Wallace Gregory L. 
Published: June 2004

Background:  Whilst interest has focused on the origin and nature of the savant syndrome for over a century, it is only within the past two decades that empirical group studies have been carried out.Methods:  The following annotation briefly reviews relevant research and also attempts to address outstanding issues in this research area. Traditionally, savants have been defined as intellectually impaired individuals who nevertheless display exceptional skills within specific domains. However, within the extant literature, cases of savants with developmental and other clinical disorders, but with average intellectual functioning, are increasingly reported.Results:  We thus propose that focus should diverge away from IQ scores to encompass discrepancies between functional impairments and unexpected skills. It has long been observed that savant skills are more prevalent in individuals with autism than in those with other disorders. Therefore, in this annotation we seek to explore the parameters of the savant syndrome by considering these skills within the context of neuropsychological accounts of autism. A striking finding amongst those with savant skills, but without the diagnosis of autism, is the presence of cognitive features and behavioural traits associated with the disorder.Conclusions:  We thus conclude that autism (or autistic traits) and savant skills are inextricably linked and we should therefore look to autism in our quest to solve the puzzle of the savant syndrome.
A test of the integrity of the components of Baddeley's model of working memory in attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Authors: Karatekin Canan 
Published: June 2004

Background:  The integrity of working memory in attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was tested within the framework of Baddeley's model.Methods‐1:  Buffers and rehearsal mechanisms were assessed by presenting children with or without ADHD (ages 8 to 15) with 1–7 target letters and a probe after 2–10 s. They decided if the probe was the same (verbal task) or in the same location (spatial task) as any of the targets.Results‐1:  There was no interaction between group and delay or memory load in either task.Methods‐2:  The central executive was assessed on a dual task.Results‐2:  Although children with ADHD did not differ from controls in simple response time (RT) or in digits recalled, they showed greater decrements in RT when performing the 2 tasks concurrently.Conclusions:  Findings suggest that children with ADHD (1) do not have generalized impairments in working memory, (2) rehearse verbal and spatial information in the same manner as healthy children, (3) may have an impairment in the central executive component of working memory, which controls ability to divide attention between two tasks.
The development of prosocial behaviour in children and adolescents: a twin study
Authors: Scourfield Jane , John Bethan , Martin Neilson , McGuffin Peter 
Published: June 2004

Background: Childhood psychopathology is associated with both high and low levels of prosocial behaviour. It has been proposed that the development of prosocial behaviour shows emerging and consolidating individual differences as children grow older. The influences on these individual differences have not previously been examined in children and adolescents using multiple raters in a genetically informative design.Methods: Twin data from 682 families based on parent and teacher reports were used to examine the genetic and environmental influences on prosocial behaviour in 5–16‐year‐olds. Effects of sex, age and rater were examined.Results: There were no significant differences in the magnitude of genetic and environmental influence on male and female prosocial behaviour. Declining common environment and increasing genetic influences were seen with age. This emerged as a trend in parent data and reached statistical significance in teacher data. When parent and teacher data were examined together in a rater bias model significant bias acting on the parent ratings emerged, in keeping with previous discrepancies between parental and observational measures. There was overlap in the phenotype rated by parents and teachers, with a highly heritable common underlying phenotype.Conclusions: The influences on the distribution of prosocial behaviour in children and adolescents show declining shared environmental and increasing genetic influences with age. Parental assessments of prosocial behaviour show significantly higher scores than teacher reports and whilst there is overlap in the phenotype rated by parents and teachers, parents show significant bias in their ratings.
Regression and word loss in autistic spectrum disorders
Authors: Lord Catherine , Shulman Cory , DiLavore Pamela 
Published: June 2004

Background:  For many years, researchers and clinicians have described parent reports of an unusual developmental phenomenon in a substantial minority of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), the acquisition and then loss of communication skills during the second year of life.Methods:  As part of a longitudinal study of 110 children referred for assessments of possible autism at age 2 years or younger, 21 developmentally delayed children and 33 typically developing controls, 19 children were described by their parents at age 2 as having gained and lost spontaneous, meaningful words, and 12 children as having a history of less specific loss of imitated words or nonword vocalizations. A battery of diagnostic and cognitive tasks was administered to all children at study entrance, at ages 3 (for the referral children only) and 4 or 5 (for referral and developmentally delayed children).Results:  Results indicated that the acquisition of a small number of spontaneous words used meaningfully and consistently followed by loss of all words, often associated with other social changes, was unique to children diagnosed at 5 years with ASD. Few differences, besides those that defined the pattern of word loss, emerged between children with ASD with and without word loss. Loss of less specific, nonword vocalizations was associated with cognitive delay, with or without autism.Conclusions:  Word loss is a reliably identifiable phenomenon in early childhood that appears to be unique, but not universal to, ASD. Histories and outcome of children with word loss were not in keeping with a sudden change from normal to abnormal functioning, but did suggest that this type of loss in the second year of life may be a useful ‘red flag’ for ASD in a significant minority of cases.
How does childhood economic disadvantage lead to crime?
Authors: Fergusson David , Swain‐Campbell Nicola , Horwood John 
Published: June 2004

Background:  This study sought to examine the associations between indices of socio‐economic deprivation in childhood and later involvement in crime.Method:  Data were gathered as part of the Christchurch Health and Development Study. In this project a cohort of 1,265 children born in Christchurch in 1977 have been studied from birth to age 21 years. The measures collected included: self‐reported property and violent crime (15–16, 17–18, and 20–21 years); officially recorded convictions for property/violent crime; measures of childhood socio‐economic status; and a series of intervening factors, including parenting (use of physical punishment, maternal care, family change, parental attachment, parental offending), individual (conduct and attention problems), school (truancy, suspensions, examination performance, scholastic ability), and peer factors (affiliations with deviant and substance using peers).Results:  The results suggest that childhood socio‐economic disadvantage was associated with clear increases in rates of both self‐reported crime and officially recorded convictions. However, using block recursive negative binomial regression models a range of parental, individual, school, and peer factors were found to intervene between socio‐economic disadvantage and crime. Following introduction of these measures into the models, the association between socio‐economic disadvantage and crime became both statistically and practically non‐significant.Conclusions:  This study suggests that the higher rates of crime found amongst young people from socio‐economically disadvantaged families reflect a life course process in which adverse family, individual, school, and peer factors combine to increase individual susceptibility to crime.
Social communication deficits in conduct disorder: a clinical and community survey
Authors: Gilmour J. , Hill B. , Place M. , Skuse D.H. 
Published: June 2004

Background:  Increasing numbers of children are referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services because of disruptive behaviour. Recent reviews on the origins of conduct problems indicate that the most severe and persistent forms are found predominantly among males with a range of neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities, which are likely to have biological substrates. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that many children who are identified with conduct disorder actually have a primary deficit in pragmatic language skills, of a quality and degree that is similar to children on the autistic spectrum. We hypothesised that pragmatic difficulties may underlie the antisocial behaviour in a proportion of children who are labelled as conduct disordered.Methods:  Using the Children's Communication Checklist (Bishop, 1998), we surveyed 142 children who had been referred for clinical investigation, with a predominant diagnosis of either an autistic spectrum condition (n = 87) or conduct disorder (n = 55), and 60 typically developing comparison children. Among children with conduct disorders, males predominated 9:1.Results:  On the basis of parent and teacher ratings, two‐thirds of those with conduct disorders had pragmatic language impairments and other behavioural features similar in nature and degree to those of children with autism, independent of IQ. In a further study, we surveyed 54 children who had been excluded from elementary schools in a socio‐economically disadvantaged inner‐London borough and found over two‐thirds to have comparable deficits.Conclusions:  These findings have both theoretical and practical implications. First, they indicate the presence of communicative problems in a sub‐group of children in whom conduct rather than language had been the major concern. Second, they indicate that severe deficits in pragmatic abilities and autistic‐like behaviours can coexist with psychiatric conditions other than autism, especially in boys. Third, they imply that the management of many disruptive children could profitably be addressed to ameliorating their social and communicative skill deficits.
Is the discrepancy criterion for defining developmental disorders valid?
Authors: Dyck Murray J. , Hay David , Anderson Mike , Smith Leigh M. , Piek Jan , Hallmayer Joachim 
Published: June 2004

Background:  Most developmental disorders are defined by an achievement discrepancy in which achievement on one or more specific abilities is substantially less than a person's measured intelligence. We evaluated the validity of this discrepancy criterion by assessing parameters that determine variability across abilities and by assessing relationships between achievement discrepancies and behavioral disturbances.Methods:  Measures of intelligence, language, motor coordination, empathic ability, and attentional control were administered to a representative sample of 390 children aged 3 to 12 years. Parent ratings of child behavior were obtained.Results:  Results indicate that achievement discrepancies are a function of the correlation between ability measures, the shape of the ability distributions, and position on an index ability dimension. Discrepancies in achievement were not related to behavioral disturbance, but underachievement relative to age peers was invariably related to behavioral disturbance.Conclusions:  We conclude that developmental disorders need to be redefined in ways that are consistent with how Mental Retardation is now defined, by (a) underachievements, (b) of defined magnitude, (c) using standardized measures, (d) with known relations to normal development, and (e) concurrent deficits on standardized measures of impaired function.
Effects of induced rumination and distraction on mood and overgeneral autobiographical memory in adolescent Major Depressive Disorder and controls
Authors: Park R.J. , Goodyer I.M. , Teasdale J.D. 
Published: June 2004

Background:  In adults there is evidence that the affective‐cognitive processes of rumination and overgeneral autobiographical memory retrieval may play a part in maintaining depression. This study investigated the effects of induced rumination as compared to distraction on mood and categoric overgeneral memory in adolescents with first episode Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and the specificity of any effects to MDD.Method:  Three subject groups; adolescents with first episode MDD (N = 75), non‐depressed psychiatric participants (N = 26) and community controls (N = 33) were recruited. An experimental design was used, with repeated measures of ‘in the moment’ depressed mood and categoric overgeneral memory before and after rumination and distraction, induced on separate occasions and counterbalanced in order across participants.Results:  In adolescents with MDD, induced rumination as compared to distraction differentially increased depressed mood. There were no significant differences in this effect between full current MDD participants and those in partial remission. This differential effect was also seen in community controls but was absent in non‐MDD psychiatric participants. In addition, rumination as compared to distraction increased overgeneral memories to negative cues in MDD participants, but this increase was not significantly related to mood change, and was specific to MDD, being absent in non‐MDD psychiatric and community control groups.Conclusions:  Experimentally induced rumination as compared to distraction increases depressed mood and negative categoric memories in adolescents with first episode MDD. These results suggest that rumination has a deleterious effect on mood and memory retrieval processes in adolescents with first episode MDD. Increased negative overgeneral memories with rumination may be a process of particular importance for adolescents with MDD rather than psychiatric disorder in general. The findings imply that strategies to interrupt ruminative processes may be helpful in minimising persistence of first episode MDD in adolescence.
Long‐term effects of psychological trauma on psychosocial functioning
Authors: Bolton Derek , Hill Jonathan , O'Ryan Dominic , Udwin Orlee , Boyle Stephanie , Yule William 
Published: June 2004

Background:  Most studies of the effects of trauma on mental health have generally not separately assessed psychosocial functioning, and in those that have key issues have received little attention, such as the relation between the time courses of the two kinds of outcome, and detailed assessment of social functioning in a range of domains. The present study made separate assessments with a view to testing four hypotheses. First, that the experience of trauma itself (independently of effects on mental health) has a negative effect on psychosocial functioning; second, that psychopathology following trauma is associated with poorer psychosocial functioning; third, that psychosocial functioning recovers when psychiatric conditions remit; fourth, that post‐traumatic stress and depression have different associations with impairments of psycho‐social functioning.Method:  One hundred and fifteen young adults who had survived a shipping disaster (the sinking of the Jupiter in 1988) between 5 and 8 years previously, and 50 control participants were assessed for psychopathology, and for psychosocial functioning using the Adolescent to Adult Personality Functioning Assessment (ADAPFA).Results:  Results did not support the first hypothesis: survivors who, although experiencing a traumatic event, did not develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or other psychopathology warranting diagnosis, when compared with Controls who had no psychopathology since the time of the disaster, showed no significant differences on any ADAPFA domains or on total score. There was partial support for the second hypothesis: survivors with diagnosable disorder during the rating period showed poorer psychosocial functioning in total ADAPFA score and in the domains of Education/Work, Love Relationships, and Non‐specific Social Contacts, though not in other domains. The third hypothesis was supported: recovered Survivors showed no psychosocial impairments compared with unaffected Controls. Results also supported the fourth hypothesis, showing differential effects of post traumatic stress and depression in relation to the extent and kind of psycho‐social impairments.Conclusions:  The results lend support to the general model that effects on psychosocial functioning following traumatic experience are mediated by psychopathology, though further research is needed to establish whether the present pattern of findings applies to other kinds of trauma.