889 research outputs found
Evaluation of two automated enzyme-immunoassays for detection of thermophilic campylobacters in faecal samples from cattle and swine
No full textWe evaluated the performance of two enzyme-immunoassays (EIA) for the detection of naturally occurring, thermophilic Campylobacter spp. found in faecal samples from cattle (n = 21 and n = 26) and swine (n = 43) relative to the standard culture method, and also assuming that none of the tests was the definitive standard. The primary isolation both for the culture and the EIA methods was carried out by overnight selective enrichment in Preston broth. The results showed good sensitivities for both EIA methods in cattle (95% and 84%) and swine (88% and 69%) samples. However, when testing cattle samples, EIA-2 method resulted in a rather low specificity (32%). This seemed to be partially due to the isolation of nonthermophilic species. In conclusion, EIA-1 method may provide a simple and fast tool with good accuracy in cattle and swine samples for automated screening of large number of samples
Pushing the limits of democracy: concurrent elections and cognitive limitations of voters
No full textRepresentative democracy proposes to give “power to the people” by allowing the electorate to choose its own leadership. However, previous research in Political Science has demonstrated that the American electorate is woefully uninformed, lacking even the most basic political knowledge. Further complicating the problems facing the American electorate is the fact that they are not able to focus upon each vote choice individually, but are asked to learn about various campaigns concurrently and cast their votes all at once on Election Day. This does not rule out the possibility of a successful system of elections, as Political Psychology has also demonstrated that voters are able to make high-quality decisions even with minimal knowledge by relying upon political cues and heuristics, reducing the level of knowledge necessary to make a vote choice. Unfortunately, the vast bulk of this literature focuses upon the electorate’s ability to select a presidential candidate using cues particularly effective for that office, ignoring lower offices and leaving a level of uncertainty about how voters respond to an election environment featuring concurrent campaigns. Using American National Election Study (ANES) survey data over a 20 year period, as well as an original experiment featuring dynamic information boards, this dissertation examines whether the number of elections on the ballot affects how voters search for information about all of the candidates seeking elective office, what voters are able to remember about them, and how they react to the presence of concurrent campaigns. The findings demonstrate that voters are less able to recall candidates for lower offices when higher offices are contested. Additionally, as more offices compete against each other, voters seek out less information about each individual set of candidates, but prioritize learning about higher office candidates over lower office candidates. Finally, this analysis shows that the amount of information a voter views about a candidate directly affects how accurate the perceptions of that candidate are. In sum, this dissertation identifies structural weaknesses present in the American system of elections that limit the ability of voters to focus upon each office equally.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby David J. Anderse
Next-Generation Sequencing: Application in Liver Cancer—Past, Present and Future?
No full textHepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is the third most deadly malignancy worldwide characterized by phenotypic and molecular heterogeneity. In the past two decades, advances in genomic analyses have formed a comprehensive understanding of different underlying pathobiological layers resulting in hepatocarcinogenesis. More recently, improvements of sophisticated next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have enabled complete and cost-efficient analyses of cancer genomes at a single nucleotide resolution and advanced into valuable tools in translational medicine. Although the use of NGS in human liver cancer is still in its infancy, great promise rests in the systematic integration of different molecular analyses obtained by these methodologies, i.e., genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics. This strategy is likely to be helpful in identifying relevant and recurrent pathophysiological hallmarks thereby elucidating our limited understanding of liver cancer. Beside tumor heterogeneity, progress in translational oncology is challenged by the amount of biological information and considerable “noise” in the data obtained from different NGS platforms. Nevertheless, the following review aims to provide an overview of the current status of next-generation approaches in liver cancer, and outline the prospects of these technologies in diagnosis, patient classification, and prediction of outcome. Further, the potential of NGS to identify novel applications for concept clinical trials and to accelerate the development of new cancer therapies will be summarized
Discontinuous molecular dynamics for semiflexible and rigid bodies
No full textA general framework for performing event-driven simulations of systems with semiflexible or rigid bodies interacting under impulsive forces is outlined. The method consists of specifying a means of computing the free evolution of constrained motion, evaluating the times at which interactions occur, and determining the consequences of interactions on subsequent motion. Algorithms for computing the times of interaction events and carrying out efficient event-driven simulations are discussed. The semiflexible case and the rigid case differ qualitatively in that the free motion of a rigid body can be computed analytically and need not be integrated numerically. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.PT: J; CR: ABRAMOWITZ M, 1965, HDB MATH FUNCTIONS F ALDER BJ, 1959, J CHEM PHYS, V31, P459 ALDER BJ, 1960, J CHEM PHYS, V33, P1439 ALLEN MP, 1987, COMPUTER SIMULATION ALLEN MP, 1989, COMPUT PHYS REP, V9, P301 ANDERSEN HC, 1983, J COMPUT PHYS, V52, P24 BARAFF D, 1989, COMPUT GRAPH, V23, P223 BARAFF D, 1992, THESIS CORNELL U BRENT RP, 1973, ALGORITHMS MINIMIZAT CARTER EA, 1989, CHEM PHYS LETT, V156, P472 CHAPELA GA, 1984, MOL PHYS, V53, P139 CHAPELA GA, 1989, CHEM PHYS, V129, P201 CICCOTTI G, 2004, J STAT PHYS, V115, P701 DELAPENA LH, UNPUB DELAPENA LH, 2005, J CHEM PHYS, V126 DEMICHELE C, 2006, J PHYS CHEM B, V110, P8064 DONEV A, 2005, J COMPUT PHYS, V202, P737 DONEV A, 2005, J COMPUT PHYS, V202, P765 ERPENBECK JJ, 1977, STAT MECH B FIXMAN M, 1974, P NATL ACAD SCI USA, V71, P3050 FRENKEL D, 2004, UNDERSTANDING MOL DY GALASSI M, 2005, GNU SCI LIB REFERENC GOLDSTEIN H, CLASSICAL MECH JACOBI CGJ, 1849, J CRELLE, V39, P293 KNOPP K, 1947, THEORY FUNCTIONS 2 LANDAU LD, 1976, MECHANICS LUBACHEVSKY BD, 1991, J COMPUT PHYS, V94, P255 MARIN M, 1993, J COMPUT PHYS, V109, P306 MARIN M, 1995, COMPUT PHYS COMMUN, V92, P214 MARSDEN JE, 2002, INTRO MECH SYMMETRY MASUTANI Y, 1994, P IEEE INT C ROB AUT, V2, P1066 MELCHIONNA S, 2000, PHYS REV E A, V61, P6165 MOSHIER SL, 1989, METHODS PROGRAMS MAT PRESS WH, 1992, NUMERICLA RECIPES FO RAMSHAW JD, 1986, PHYS LETT A, V116, P110 RAPAPORT DC, 1980, J COMPUT PHYS, V34, P184 RAPAPORT DC, 2004, ART MOL DYNAMICS SIM RUEB AS, 1834, THESIS UTRECHT NETHE RYCKAERT JP, 1977, J COMPUT PHYS, V23, P327 TUCKERMAN ME, 1999, EUROPHYS LETT, V45, P149 TUCKERMAN ME, 2001, J CHEM PHYS, V115, P1678 VANZON R, IN PRESS J COMPUT PH VANZON R, 2002, PHYS REV E 1, V65 WHITTAKER ET, 1937, TREATISE ANAL DYMANI; NR: 44; TC: 1; J9: J CHEM PHYS; PG: 13; GA: 138VLSource type: Electronic(1
The Encyclopedia of Food and Health, Vol. 2
No full textCatherine J. Andersen is a contributing author, Eggs: Composition and Health Effects, 470-475.
Book description:
The Encyclopedia of Food and Health provides users with a solid bridge of current and accurate information spanning food production and processing, from distribution and consumption to health effects. The Encyclopedia comprises five volumes, each containing comprehensive, thorough coverage, and a writing style that is succinct and straightforward. Users will find this to be a meticulously organized resource of the best available summary and conclusions on each topic. Written from a truly international perspective, and covering of all areas of food science and health in over 550 articles, with extensive cross-referencing and further reading at the end of each chapter, this updated encyclopedia is an invaluable resource for both research and educational needs.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/biology-books/1008/thumbnail.jp
The usability of a Norwegian adaptation of the Childrens Communication Checklist Second Edition (CCC-2) in differentiating between language impaired and non-language impaired 6-to 12-year-olds
No full textThe usability of a Norwegian adaptation of the Childrens Communication Checklist Second Edition (CCC-2) in differentiating between language impaired and non-language impaired 6- to 12-year-olds. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if the Norwegian adaptation of the Childrens Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2) differentiates between a language impaired and a non-language impaired population and to make a first evaluation of the psychometric qualities of the questionnaire on a Norwegian sample. A total of 153 children aged 6-12 years participated in the study (45 language impaired and 108 non-language impaired). The Norwegian adaptation of the CCC-2 distinguished language impaired from non-language impaired children and thus seems to provide a useful screening tool for communication impairments in Norwegian children. The reliability of the CCC-2 appeared to be reasonable with internal consistency values ranging from 0.73 to 0.89.This is the author version of the following article:Wenche Andersen Helland, Eva Biringer, Turid Helland and Mikael Heimann , The usability of a Norwegian adaptation of the Childrens Communication Checklist Second Edition (CCC-2) in differentiating between language impaired and non-language impaired 6-to 12-year-olds, 2009, SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY, (50), 3, 287-292.which has been published in final form at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00718.xCopyright: Blackwell Publishing Ltdhttp://www.blackwellpublishing.com
The good, the bad, and the ugly: Esping-Andersen's regime typology and the religious roots of the Western welfare state
No full textEsping-Andersen's 'Three World of Welfare Capitalism' has been the most influential contribution of recent years to the comparative welfare state research literature. According to Esping-Andersen, the welfare state basically comes in three variants: as a social-democratic, a conservative, or as a liberal regime. Yet, at a closer look particularly the conservative regime type proves to be a highly problematic category. The article claims that major problems of the 'three worlds'-typology originate from Esping-Andersen's sole focus on the class conflict, whereas he only very selectively accounts for the importance of religious cleavages. Major empirical problems of his approach vanish once we take into account not only the impact of the Catholic social doctrine on the development of the welfare state, but consider also the influence of social Protestantism, especially that of reformed, 'free', disestablished or dissenting Protestantism. The paper substantiates this claim with data-analysis for the early formative period of welfare state formation (1890-1920) and for its times of growth and crisis (1960s-1990). -- Folgt man dem einflussreichsten Beitrag zur vergleichenden Wohlfahrtsstaatsforschung der letzten Zeit, Esping-Andersens 'Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism', so tritt der entwickelte westliche Sozialstaat in drei Varianten auf: entweder als sozialdemokratisches, oder als konservatives, oder als liberales Wohlfahrtsstaatsregime. Ein genauerer Blick zeigt jedoch, dass Esping-Andersens Typenbildung und Länderzuordnungen insbesondere im Fall des konservativen Regimes problematisch sind. In diesem Papier argumentiere ich, dass gravierende Probleme daherrühren, dass seine Theorie vornehmlich den Klassenkonflikt, nur sehr selektiv aber den Einfluss konfessioneller Faktoren in den Blick nimmt. Wesentliche empirische Unstimmigkeiten seines Ansatzes lassen sich lösen, wenn man neben der Bedeutung der katholischen Soziallehre für den institutionellen Entwicklungspfad des entwickelten Wohlfahrtsstaates auch den Einfluss des Protestantismus, und hier insbesondere den Einfluss der reformierten protestantischen Strömungen, in den Blick nimmt. Der Beitrag zeigt dies mit vergleichenden Daten sowohl für die Frühphase (1890-1920) als auch für die Hochzeit des entwickelten Wohlfahrtsstaats (1960-1990).
Firm Growth in Advanced Stages of Economic Transition: Evidence from Slovak Industry
No full textThis article analyzes the reaction of firms to transition in adjusting firm size. The author offers an empirical analysis in the context of the firm-growth model with emphasis on the presence of ownership and corporate-structure effects.There is no evidence for a general firm-growth/firm-size relationship. On the other hand, the author finds evidence that firm growth is a function of size for firms of a particular type. Specifically, there is an inverse growth-size relationship for privately owned joint-stock companies. Examining the character of these effects, the author concludes that their character is transitory: It corresponds to events related to exogenous settings of economic privatization and the economic restructuring process rather than tangible ownership or corporate-governance effects.firm growth; firms; transition; ownership; industry; Slovak Republic
Handbook of Cholesterol: Biology, function and role in health and disease, Human Health Handbooks
No full textCatherine J. Andersen is a contributing author, The relationship between cholesterol metabolism and inflammation in chronic disease, 297-316.
Book description:
The handbook of cholesterol - biology, function and role in health and disease - gathers a substantial set of contributions supporting the modern view that dietary and blood cholesterols are safe or even beneficial in a balanced omega-6/3 fatty acids environment, whereas they may turn into unsafe or detrimental to health in a typical omega-6 fatty acid environment. Dietary and blood cholesterols, including LDL-cholesterol, are secondary risk factors which belong to the human omnivorous diet and physiology, which may represent clinical valid surrogates of the outcome, cardiovascular diseases. However, the primary risk factors, the omega-6/3 fatty acids, determine whether human health is in the safe evolutionary zone or not. Omega-6/3 fatty acids are essential to human physiology. They must be present and maintained in physiologically-defined essential amounts and balanced in blood and tissue lipid pools, through the diet. Chronic deviations from omega-6/3 fatty acids make LDL-cholesterol valid indicators of cardiovascular disease. The handbook takes preventive and acute approaches, based on biochemical and clinical evidence, to the management of cholesterol - a per se non-essential nutrient, yet an essential blood and tissue component. The reviews, especially when combined, will help understand the essentiality of dietary and blood cholesterol as (risk) factors in human health.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/biology-books/1009/thumbnail.jp
Das Verhaltensmodell der Inanspruchnahme gesundheitsbezogener Versorgung von Andersen re-revisited: ein systematischer Review von Studien zwischen 1998-2011
No full textObjective: This systematic review aims to assess the use and implementation of the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use developed by Ronald M. Andersen in recent studies explicity using this model.Methods: A systematic search was conducted using PubMed in April 2011. The search strategy aimed to identify all articles in which the Andersen model had been applied and which had been published between 1998 and March 2011 in English or German. The search yielded a total of 328 articles. Two researchers independently reviewed the retrieved articles for possible inclusion using a three-step selection process (1. title/author, 2. abstract, 3. full text) with pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria for each step. 16 studies met all of the inclusion criteria and were used for analysis. A data extraction form was developed to collect information from articles on 17 categories including author, title, population description, aim of the study, methodological approach, use of the Andersen model, applied model version, and main results. The data collected were collated into six main categories and are presented accordingly.Results: Andersen's Behavioral Model (BM) has been used extensively in studies investigating the use of health services. The studies identified for this review showed that the model has been used in several areas of the health care system and in relation to very different diseases. The 1995 version of the BM was the version most frequently applied in the studies. However, the studies showed substantial differences in the variables used. The majority of the reviewed studies included age (N=15), marital status (N=13), gender/sex (N=12), education (N=11), and ethnicity (N=10) as predisposing factors and income/financial situation (N=10), health insurance (N=9), and having a usual source of care/family doctor (N=9) as enabling factors. As need factors, most of the studies included evaluated health status (N=13) and self-reported/perceived health (N=9) as well as a very wide variety of diseases. Although associations were found between the main factors examined in the studies and the utilization of health care, there was a lack of consistency in these findings. The context of the studies reviewed and the characteristics of the study populations seemed to have a strong impact on the existence, strength and direction of these associations. Conclusions: Although the frequently used BM was explicitly employed as the theoretical background for the reviewed studies, their operationalizations of the model revealed that only a small common set of variables was used and that there were huge variations in the way these variables were categorized, especially as it concerns predisposing and enabling factors. This may stem from the secondary data sets used in the majority of the studies, which limited the variables available for study. Primary studies are urgently needed to enrich our understanding of health care utilization and the complexity of the processes shown in the BM.Zielsetzung: Ziel dieses systematischen Reviews ist es, einen Überblick zum Verständnis und zur Anwendung des von Ronald M. Andersen entwickelten 'Behavioral Model of Health Services Use' (BM) in aktuellen empirischen Studien zu geben, die dieses Modell explizit verwendet haben. Methoden: Im April 2011 wurde eine systematische Suche in PubMed durchgeführt. Die Suchstrategie hatte das Ziel, alle Publikationen zu identifizieren, in denen das BM in seinen unterschiedlichen Versionen zur Anwendung kam. Die Suche schloss Publikationen ein, die im Zeitraum von 1998 bis März 2011 in englischer oder deutscher Sprache veröffentlicht wurden. Insgesamt konnten 328 Artikel identifiziert werden. Das Auswahlverfahren wurde von zwei Gutachterinnen unabhängig voneinander in drei Arbeitsschritten (1. Titel/Autor, 2. Abstract, 3. Volltext) mit a priori festgelegten Einschluss- und Ausschlusskriterien durchgeführt. Für die Analyse konnten 16 Publikationen eingeschlossen werden. Die Datenextraktion dieser Publikationen erfolgte zunächst mit 17 Kategorien, die u.a. Angaben zum Autor, Titel, Studienpopulation, Studienziel, Methodologie enthielten. In einem weiteren Analyseschritt wurden diese in sechs Hauptkategorien zusammengeführt, welche primär zur Deskription der Ergebnisse genutzt werden.Ergebnisse: Die Vielzahl der Treffer zeigt, wie weitflächig das BM im Analysezeitraum eingesetzt wurde. Die Publikationen beziehen sich dabei auf sehr unterschiedliche Bereiche des Versorgungssystems und umfassen eine Vielzahl von Erkrankungen. Es zeigte sich, dass die BM-Version, publiziert in 1995, am häufigsten verwendet wurde. Obgleich sich alle Publikationen auf das BM beziehen, findet sich in der Operationalisierung dessen eine hohe Heterogenität. Zur Erfassung der 'predisposing factors' des BM wurden meist folgende Variablen verwendet: Alter (n=15), Familienstatus (n=13), Geschlecht (n=12), Schulbildung (n=11) und Ethnizität (n=10). Die am häufigsten verwendeten Variablen zur Beschreibung der 'enabling factors' waren Einkommen/finanzielle Situation (n=10), Krankenversicherung (n=9) und ein "feste/r" Hausarzt/-ärztin (n=9). Als 'need factors' berücksichtigten nahezu alle Studien den allgemeinen Gesundheitsstatus (n=9) und die subjektive Einschätzung des eigenen Gesundheitszustandes (n=13) sowie eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Erkrankungen. Trotz der in den einzelnen Studien berichteten Zusammenhänge zwischen den einzelnen Faktoren und der Inanspruchnahme der Gesundheitsversorgung, zeigte sich in der Gesamtschau der Ergebnisse eine erhebliche Inkonsistenz. Insbesondere scheinen die den Studien zugrunde liegenden Kontextbedingungen und die unterschiedlichen Studienpopulationen einen erheblichen Einfluss auf die Existenz eines Zusammenhangs und desen Stärke und Richtung zu haben.Schlussfolgerungen: Das BM dient zahlreichen Studien als theoretisches Analysemodell. Die damit verbundene Vorstellung einer hohen Vergleichbarkeit der Studienergebnisse wird durch die großen Unterschiede in der Operationalisierung des Modells reduziert. Zwar besteht ein gewisser "Standardkatalog" von Variablen, der jedoch klein ist und sich durch erhebliche Unterschiede bei der Variablenkonstruktion auszeichnet. Besonders betroffen sind die 'predisposing factors' und die 'enabling factors'. Eine Ursache könnte darin bestehen, dass die Mehrzahl der Studien Sekundärdatenanalysen und damit in der Variablenauswahl Einschränkungen unterworfen sind. Damit ist zum besseren Verständnis der im BM dargelegten Wirkungspfade die Durchführung von Primärstudien dringend geboten
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