The development of political science in Central and Eastern Europe : bibliometric perspective, 1996–2013

This research aims to develop a deeper insight into the development of political science from the bibliometric perspective by analysing peer-reviewed journal articles (n = 1117) indexed in the Scopus database and published by authors from fifteen Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in the period 1996–2013. Results indicate that the majority of articles (84%) by CEE authors have been published in international journals and in the English language. The visibility of these articles in international journals, measured by the mean number of citations, is 5.2 per paper, while the same indicator for CEE journal articles amounts to 0.2. Authorship analysis indicates a gradual but continuous increase in co-authorships. Additionally, there are significant differences in citations between single-authored and co-authored articles, both in international and CEE journals. Co-authorship among CEE authors is present in only 1% of the analysed articles, confirming weak collaboration between political scientists in CEE countries

Late cardiac events after childhood cancer: Methodological aspects of the pan-european study pancaresurfup

Background and Aim Childhood cancer survivors are at high risk of long-Termadverse effects of cancer and its treatment, including cardiac events. The pan-European PanCareSurFup study determined the incidence and risk factors for cardiac events among childhood cancer survivors. The aim of this article is to describe the methodology of the cardiac cohort and nested case-control study within PanCareSurFup. Methods Eight data providers in Europe participating in PanCareSurFup identified and validated symptomatic cardiac events in their cohorts of childhood cancer survivors. Data onsymptomatic heart failure, ischemia, pericarditis, valvular disease and arrhythmia were collected and graded according to the Criteria for Adverse Events. Detailed treatment data, data on potential confounders, lifestyle related risk factors and general health problems were collected. Results The PanCareSurFup cardiac cohort consisted of 59,915 5-year childhood cancer survivors with malignancies diagnosed between 1940 and 2009 and classified according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer 3. Different strategies were used to identify cardiac events such as record linkage to population/ hospital or regional based databases, and patient-And general practitioner-based questionnaires. Conclusion The cardiac study of the European collaborative research project PanCareSurFup will provide the largest cohort of 5-year childhood cancer survivors with systematically ascertained and validated data on symptomatic cardiac events. The result of this study can provide information to minimize the burden of cardiac events in childhood cancer survivors by tailoring the follow-up of childhood cancer survivors at high risk of cardiac adverse events, transferring this knowledge into evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and providing a platformfor future research studies in childhood cancer patients. © 2016 Feijen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Visual attention and action: How cueing, direct mapping, and social interactions drive orienting

Despite considerable interest in both action perception and social attention over the last 2 decades, there has been surprisingly little investigation concerning how the manual actions of other humans orient visual attention. The present review draws together studies that have measured the orienting of attention, following observation of another’s goal-directed action. Our review proposes that, in line with the literature on eye gaze, action is a particularly strong orienting cue for the visual system. However, we additionally suggest that action may orient visual attention using mechanisms, which gaze direction does not (i.e., neural direct mapping and corepresentation). Finally, we review the implications of these gaze-independent mechanisms for the study of attention to action. We suggest that our understanding of attention to action may benefit from being studied in the context of joint action paradigms, where the role of higher level action goals and social factors can be investigated

Measurement of the mass difference m(D-s(+))-m(D+) at CDF II

We present a measurement of the mass difference m(D-s(+))-m(D+), where both the D-s(+) and D+ are reconstructed in the phipi(+) decay channel. This measurement uses 11.6 pb(-1) of data collected by CDF II using the new displaced-track trigger. The mass difference is found to be m(D-s(+))-m(D+)=99.41+/-0.38(stat)+/-0.21(syst) MeV/c(2)

Cultures’ outcomes on entrepreneurship, innovation, and national quality of life

This theoretical and empirical study applies complexity theory tenets to deepen understanding, explanation, and prediction of how configurations of national cultures and need motivations influence national entrepreneurial and innovation behavior and nations’ quality of life (QOL). Also, the study examines whether or not high national ethical behavior is sufficient for indicating nations high in quality of life. Applying core tenets of complexity theory, the study constructs asymmetric, case-based (nations), explanation, and predictive models of cultures’ consequences (via Schwartz’s seven value dimensions) and implicit need motivations (via McClelland’s three need motivations) indicating national entrepreneur and innovation activities and subsequent national quality of life and ethical behavior. The study includes testing configuration models empirically for predictive accuracy. The empirical examination is for a set of data for 24 nations in Asia, Europe, North and South America, and the South Pacific. The findings confirm the usefulness of applying complexity theory to learn how culture and motivation configurations support versus have negative consequences on nations’ entrepreneurship, innovation, and human well-being. Nurturing of entrepreneur activities supports the nurturing of enterprise innovation activity, and their joint occurrence indicates nations achieving high quality of life. The findings advance the perspective that different sets of cultural value configurations indicate nations high versus low in entrepreneur and innovation activities. High entrepreneur activities without high innovation activity are insufficient for achieving high national quality of life. Achieving high ethical behavior supports high quality of life. This study is one of the first to apply complexity theory tenets in the field of entrepreneurship research. The study here advances the perspective that case-based asymmetric modeling of recipes is necessary to explain and predict entrepreneur activities and outcomes rather than examining whether or not variable relationships are statistically significant from zero.</p

Denervation-activated STAT3-IL-6 signalling in fibro-adipogenic progenitors promotes myofibres atrophy and fibrosis

Fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) are typically activated in response to muscle injury, and establish functional interactions with inflammatory and muscle stem cells (MuSCs) to promote muscle repair. We found that denervation causes progressive accumulation of FAPs, without concomitant infiltration of macrophages and MuSC-mediated regeneration. Denervation-activated FAPs exhibited persistent STAT3 activation and secreted elevated levels of IL-6, which promoted muscle atrophy and fibrosis. FAPs with aberrant activation of STAT3-IL-6 signalling were also found in mouse models of spinal cord injury, spinal muscular atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in muscles of ALS patients. Inactivation of STAT3-IL-6 signalling in FAPs effectively countered muscle atrophy and fibrosis in mouse models of acute denervation and ALS (SODG93A mice). Activation of pathogenic FAPs following loss of integrity of neuromuscular junctions further illustrates the functional versatility of FAPs in response to homeostatic perturbations and suggests their potential contribution to the pathogenesis of neuromuscular diseases

FTIR and Raman Spectra Compared with Ab Initio Calculated Frequency Modes for 5-Aminouracil

Infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of 5-aminouracil were recorded in the region 200–4,000 cm − 1. Assuming under the Cs point group that the distribution of the normal mode of vibrations between the two species are planar (a′) and non-planar (a″), given by 25a′ + 11a″ of which 30 modes (21a′ + 9a″) correspond to the uracil moiety and six modes (4a′ + 2a″) correspond to the NH2 group, with a comparison of theoretically ab initio calculated frequencies, the results are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental IR and Raman spectra. Consistent assignments have been made for the internal modes of the NH2 group, especially for the anti-symmetric NH2 stretching and bending modes. The non-equivalence of the two NH bonds of the NH2 group suggests a difference in the strength of the two hydrogen bonds on the pyrimidine ring. Symmetry and anti-symmetry NH stretching modes of the NH2 group show the invalidity of the empirical relationship. These two NH2 stretching frequencies are distinctly separated from the CH/NH ring stretching frequencies. A strong and sharp IR band that acts at 3,380 cm − 1 could be identified as the anti-symmetric NH2 mode whereas the band at 3,290 cm − 1 smaller density could be identified as the symmetric NH2 stretching mode