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Selected AbstractsThe role of perseveration in children's symbolic understanding and skillDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2003Tanya Sharon In the first few years of life, children become increasingly sensitive to the significance of a variety of symbolic artifacts. An extensive body of research has explored very young children's ability to use symbol-based information as a guide to current reality. In one common task, for example, children watch as a miniature toy is hidden in a scale model, and are then asked to retrieve a larger version of the toy from the corresponding place in the room itself. Two-and-a-half-year-old children perform very poorly in most versions of this task. Their most common error is to perseverate; that is, they search again at the location where the toy was last hidden. Two studies examined the degree to which 21/2 -year-olds' high rate of perseveration and poor performance stem from problems with inhibitory control. Results showed that problems with inhibitory control contribute very little to 21/2 -year-old children's difficulty with the task. Instead, the results confirm young children's great difficulty appreciating and exploiting symbol,referent relations. [source] Oxidative stress as a multiple effector in Fanconi anaemia clinical phenotypeEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2005Giovanni Pagano Abstract:, Fanconi anaemia (FA) is a genetic disease characterised by bone marrow failure with excess risk of myelogenous leukaemia and solid tumours. A widely accepted notion in FA research invokes a deficiency of response to DNA damage as the fundamental basis of the ,crosslinker sensitivity' observed in this disorder. However, such an isolated defect cannot readily account for the full cellular and clinical phenotype, which includes a number of other abnormalities, such as malformations, endocrinopathies, and typical skin spots. An extensive body of evidence pointing toward an involvement of oxidative stress in the FA phenotype includes the following: (i) In vitro and ex vivo abnormalities in a number of redox status endpoints; (ii) the functions of several FA proteins in protecting cells from oxidative stress; (iii) redox-related toxicity mechanisms of the xenobiotics evoking excess toxicity in FA cells. The clinical features in FA and the in vivo abnormalities of redox parameters are here reconsidered in view of the pleiotropic clinical phenotype and known biochemical and molecular links to an in vivo prooxidant state, which causes oxidative damage to biomolecules, resulting in an excessive number of acquired abnormalities that may overwhelm the cellular repair capacity rather than a primary deficiency in DNA repair. FA may thus represent a unique model disease in testing the integration between the acquisition of macromolecular damage as a result of oxidative stress and the ability of the mammalian cell to respond effectively to such damage. [source] Evidence on Value Creation in the Financial Services Industries through the Use of Joint Ventures and Strategic AlliancesFINANCIAL REVIEW, Issue 2 2003Kimberly C. Gleason G21/G29/G14 Abstract While an extensive body of literature has examined merger, acquisition, and consolidation activity in commercial banks and other financial services firms, little attention has been paid to examining how these institutions use the cooperative activities of joint ventures and strategic alliances to accomplish their growth objectives. We analyze the effects of the use of joint ventures and strategic alliances by a sample of firms in the banking, investment services, and insurance industries. Our results show that commercial banks, investment services firms, and insurance companies experience significant abnormal returns of 0.66% on average when they announce their participation in a joint venture or strategic alliance. These abnormal returns are significantly positive across the four strategic motives of domestic, international, horizontal, and diversifying cooperative activities. Using a matched sample, we also show that our sample firms enjoy significant, positive, abnormal returns for holding periods of six, 12, and 18 months after the announcement of the cooperative activity. [source] The Johnson family and the Reformation, 1542,52HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 210 2007Danae Tankard The Johnsons were a family of merchants who left behind an extensive body of correspondence, covering the period 1542,52, preserved in The National Archives. By 1542 the Johnsons and many of their social network were already ,Protestant', although when they converted and why is unknown. Through their letters we get a first-hand account of many of the events of the Reformation, both in England and Europe, and their authors' opinions on them. Using the correspondence, which remains almost completely unknown, this article analyses the nature of their Protestantism within the context of the early Reformation. [source] Combining Stated and Revealed Preferences on Typical Food Products: The Case of Dry-Cured Ham in SpainJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2010Helena Resano-Ezcaray C25; D12; Q13; Q18 Abstract An extensive body of research concerns the valuation of EU certification schemes of quality based on the origin of food products. This literature focuses mainly on stated preferences (SPs) and reported behaviours by the consumers. We combine consumers' SPs, obtained through a conjoint ranking experiment, with revealed preferences (RP), obtained through a retail scanner database. We evaluate SPs as predictors of RP, and investigate whether SPs and RPs are consistent. Dry-cured ham in Spain is chosen as the anchor product, mainly because of its broad customer base and long history of origin certification. A ,trick' nested logit model with non-identical and identical samples of consumers is estimated to answer each of the objectives. Results show that, irrespective of the analysed samples, SP can predict general market trends and choices but not accurately predict market shares, and that consumers' actual behaviour is partly consistent with their SPs. We find that consumers prefer ham produced in Teruel, compared with unspecified Spanish origin. Quality Certification and a Distributor's Brand are preferred over the alternatives of no quality label or identified with a brand owned by the producer. Interestingly, SPs for the Quality Certification and the distributor's brand lead to an over- and under-estimation, respectively, of the market share. [source] Impact of a Social Skills Intervention on the Hostile Attributions of Children With Prenatal Alcohol ExposureALCOHOLISM, Issue 2 2010Vivien Keil Background:, Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been linked to a wide array of developmental deficits, including significant impairments in social skills. Given the extensive body of evidence linking social information-processing patterns with social behavior, it is possible that social information-processing may represent one mechanism of behavioral change. The present investigation sought to answer the question of whether a well-established social skills intervention decreased the hostile attributions of children with PAE. Further, was there a differential impact of the intervention on hostile attributions in the context of peer provocation versus group entry scenarios? Methods:, Participants consisted of 100 children (51% male) with PAE between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Participants were randomly assigned to either a social skills intervention, Children's Friendship Training (CFT), or to a Delayed Treatment Control (DTC) condition. Results:, Analyses indicated that the social skills intervention resulted in a significantly lower proportion of hostile attributions in peer group entry, but not peer provocation, scenarios. This decrease was maintained over a 3-month follow-up period. Conclusions:, Deficits in social information-processing among individuals with PAE can be improved through social skills intervention, and these changes may lead to more positive developmental outcomes. [source] Julio Cortázar quotes on normal and abnormal movements: Magical realism or reality?MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 8 2006Marcelo Merello MD Abstract Together with Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar was one of the most representative authors of the Latin American magical realism genre. Within his extensive body of work, many descriptions of characters suffering physical disabilities, as well as situations suggesting such medical conditions, can be extracted. In this review, two short stories by Cortázar are presented. In the first one, the main character could easily be a man suffering from corticobasal degeneration; in the second, an old woman with symptoms suggestive of progressive supranuclear palsy is clearly depicted. Despite the fact that one of the main ingredients in Cortázar's magical realism is fiction, cases described here fit real medical conditions quite well, making it hard to believe that they represent purely fantastic descriptions rather than the product of Cortázar's inquisitive observation and the description of real patients. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society [source] Suicidal disorders: A nosological entity per se?AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS, Issue 1 2005Marion Leboyer Abstract An extensive body of data has repeatedly shown in the past decades that suicidal behaviors are associated with several external validators such as low serotonergic activity in body fluids and in brains of suicide victims, genetic transmission of suicide risk independently of transmission of associated major psychiatric disorders, and more recently association with several serotonin-related genes. Despite these concordant findings, suicidal behaviors are still not considered as a nosological entity per se in standardized classification. The aim of this study is to review the existing literature establishing the validity of this entity through clinical, genetic, biochemical, and therapeutic arguments all leading to the need to recognizing suicidal behavior as an independent and possibly dimensional clinical entity. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Annotation: Deconstructing the attention deficit in fragile X syndrome: a developmental neuropsychological approachTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 6 2004K.M. Cornish Background:, Fragile X syndrome is one of the world's leading hereditary causes of developmental delay in males. The past decade has witnessed an explosion of research that has begun to unravel the condition at its various levels: from the genetic and brain levels to the cognitive level, and then to the environmental and behavioural levels. Our aim in this review is to attempt to integrate some of the extensive body of knowledge to move the research a step closer to understanding how the dynamics of atypical development can influence the specific cognitive and behavioural end-states frequently observed in children and adolescents with fragile X syndrome. Methods:, We conducted a review of the current neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric approaches that have attempted to delineate the pattern of ,spared' and ,impaired' functions associated with the phenotype. Results:, The profile of findings suggests that fragile X syndrome should not be viewed merely as a catalogue of spared and impaired cognitive functions or modules. Instead, there appears to be a process of almost gradual modularisation whereby cognitive mechanisms become domain specific as a function of development itself (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992). The results of a decade of intense research point towards an early weakness in one or more components of executive control rather than single, static higher-level deficits (e.g., spatial cognition, speech processing). This weakness affects both the development of more complex functions and current performance. Conclusions:, The prevailing tendency to interpret developmental disorders in terms of fixed damage to distinct modular functions needs to be reconsidered. We offer this review as an example of an alternative approach, attempting to identify an initial deficit and its consequences for the course of development. Through better definition of the cognitive and behavioural phenotype, in combination with current progress in brain imaging techniques and molecular studies, the next decade should continue to hold exciting promise for fragile X syndrome and other neurodevelopmental disorders. [source] The jungle of quality of life: Mapping measures and meanings for eldersAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 1 2009Penny Hambleton The literature on quality of life (QOL) can be described as a jungle: vast, dense and difficult to penetrate, especially for those entering the field without a specialist QOL background. While QOL as a term is entwined in an extensive body of work from many disciplines and covering diverse perspectives, it has been most extensively documented and operationalised within the domains of health-related socioeconomic drivers and is largely quantitative in nature. Subjective and qualitative measurement is less fully developed and documented. This review paper provides a map through the QOL literature by constructing a tabular framework to position the measures and meanings of QOL prior to undertaking a phenomenological study with older people. It concludes by arguing for attention to the further development of qualitative experiential measures specific to life-stage QOL for older people, having found these perspectives rarely visible. [source] Constraints on the evolution of asexual reproductionBIOESSAYS, Issue 11-12 2008Jan Engelstädter Sexual reproduction is almost ubiquitous among multicellular organisms even though it entails severe fitness costs. To resolve this apparent paradox, an extensive body of research has been devoted to identifying the selective advantages of recombination that counteract these costs. Yet, how easy is it to make the transition to asexual reproduction once sexual reproduction has been established for a long time? The present review approaches this question by considering factors that impede the evolution of parthenogenesis in animals. Most importantly, eggs need a diploid chromosome set in most species in order to develop normally. Next, eggs may need to be activated by sperm, and sperm may also contribute centrioles and other paternal factors to the zygote. Depending on how diploidy is achieved mechanistically, further problems may arise in offspring that stem from ,inbreeding depression' or inappropriate sex determination systems. Finally, genomic imprinting is another well-known barrier to the evolution of asexuality in mammals. Studies on species with occasional, deficient parthenogenesis indicate that the relative importance of these constraints may vary widely. The intimate evolutionary relations between haplodiploidy and parthenogenesis as well as implications for the clade selection hypothesis of the maintenance of sexual reproduction are also discussed. BioEssays 30:1138,1150, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Representative marketing-oriented study on implants in the Austrian population.CLINICAL ORAL IMPLANTS RESEARCH, Issue 5 2003Abstract: Oral implantology is an established subspecialty of restorative dental and oral surgery. While an extensive body of evidence on the fundamentals of osseointegration and associated factors has been published, marketing-oriented analyses based on representative public opinion polls of implant acceptance, patient-perceived cost and patient satisfaction are scarce. In this study, an attempt was made to address these points by questioning a representative sample of 1000 adults in the household setting. The interviewees were presented with 14 questions. Of those familiar with implants as one of the treatment alternatives, 61% reported they would accept implants if the need arose. Implant acceptance was highest among males and interviewees below the age of 30 years. The interest in implants increased with increasing family incomes. Four percent of those questioned already had implants. Twenty-five percent knew someone who had undergone implant treatment. All those questioned found implant-supported rehabilitation to be very expensive. Many of them blamed the dentists for the high cost. One detail was particularly evident: satisfaction among implanted patients was clearly higher than satisfaction rates perceived by them from what they were told about implants by others. First-hand experiences with implants proved to be less biased than reported second-hand information. Résumé L'implantologie buccale est une technique appliquée dans certaines spécialités de médecine dentaire. Tandis que la proportion d'évidences s'accroît en ce qui concerne la recherche sur l'ostéoïntégration et les facteurs associés, les analyses orientées sur le marketing et l'opinion du public sur l'acceptation de l'implant, le prix et la satisfaction se font rares. Cette étude a été réalisée pour analyser ces différents points via un échantillon de 1 000 adultes. Les interviewés ont répondu à quatorze questions. De ceux qui étaient familiers à l'idée que les implants pouvaient être une alternative au traitement, 61 % ont répondu qu'ils pourraient si nécessaire y recourir. L'acceptation de l'implant était plus importante chez les hommes et les personnes âgées de moins de trente ans. L'intérêt à propos des implants augmentait parallèlement aux revenus de la famille. Quatre pour cent des personnes étaient déjà porteurs d'implants. Vingt-cinq pour cent connaîssaient une personne ayant subi un traitement d'implant buccal. Parmi toutes les personnes interrogées, la réhabilitation sur implants semblait trop chère. Beaucoup d'entre-eux rejetaient la responsabilité des prix trop élevés sur les dentistes. Un détail était particulièrement évident : la satisfaction parmi les patients possèdant des implants était clairement plus importante que le taux de satisfaction perçu par ceux n'en portant pas mais ayant reçu l'information par d'autres personnes. L'expérience personnelle était moins déformée que celle obtenue de manière indirecte. Zusammenfassung Die orale Implantologie ist eine etablierte Subspezialität der restaurativen Zahnmedizin und der Oralchirurgie. Während extensive Evidenz über die Grundlagen der Osseointegration und der assoziierten Faktoren publiziert worden ist, sind marketing-orientierte Analysen basierend auf repräsentativen Meinungsumfragen über die Akzeptanz von Implantaten, über die von Patienten empfundenen Kosten und über die Patientenzufriedenheit rar. In dieser Studie wird der Versuch unternommen, diese Punkte mit Hilfe einer Befragung einer repräsentativen Gruppe von 1000 Erwachsenen anzusprechen. Den Befragten wurden 14 Fragen gestellt. Von denen, welche über Implantate als Behandlungsalternative Bescheid wussten, gaben 61% an, sie würden Implantate bei sich akzeptieren, falls die Notwendigkeit dafür besteht. Die Akzeptanz von Implantaten war bei Männern und Befragten unter 30 Jahren am grössten. Das Interesse an Implantaten nahm mit zunehmendem Familieneinkommen zu. Vier Prozent der Befragten hatten bereits Implantate. Fünfundzwanzig Prozent kannten jemanden, der sich einer Implantation unterzogen hat. Alle Befragten empfanden Implantatversorgungen zu kostspielig. Viele davon fanden, der Zahnarzt sei schuld an den hohen Kosten. Ein Detail war von besonderem Interesse: Die Zufriedenheit bei mit Implantaten versorgten Patienten war deutlich grösser als die von anderen Leuten empfundene Zufriedenheit, welche über Implantatversorgung von anderen gehört haben. Erfahrungen mit Implantaten aus erster Hand waren mit weniger Vorurteilen behaftet als Informationen aus zweiter Hand, über die berichtet wurde. Resumen La implantología oral es una subespecialidad establecida de restauración dental y cirugía oral. Mientras que se ha publicado una gran cantidad de evidencias sobre los fundamentos de la osteointegración y factores asociados, los análisis orientados al marketing basados en encuestas representativas de la opinión pública sobre aceptación de los implantes, costo percibido por el paciente y satisfacción del paciente son escasos. En este estudio se hizo un intento de dirigir estos puntos encuestando una muestra representativa de 1000 adultos en su hogar. A los entrevistados se les presentaron 14 preguntas. De aquellos familiarizados con los implantes como una de las alternativas de tratamiento, el 61% respondió que aceptarían los implantes llegada la necesidad. La aceptación de los implantes fue mayor en varones y entrevistados menores de 30 años. El interés en los implantes creció con ingresos familiares crecientes. El 4% de los encuestados ya tenían implantes. El 25% conocía a alguien que se había sometido a tratamiento de implantes. Todos los encuestados encontraron la rehabilitación con implantes demasiado cara. Muchos de ellos culparon a los dentistas del alto costo. Un detalle fue particularmente evidente: La satisfacción entre los pacientes implantados fue claramente mas alta que los índices de satisfacción percibidos por ellos de lo que se les dijo sobre los implantes por otros. Las experiencias de primera mano con implantes demostraron ser menos viciadas que las informaciones reportadas de segunda mano. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||