bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Science, sociability and the improvement of Ireland: the Galway Mechanics' Institute, 1826–51
Authors: NESWALD ELIZABETH
Published: November 2006

Irish mechanics' institutes have received little attention from historians of science, but their history presents intriguing questions. Whereas industrialization, Protestant dissent and the politics of liberal social reformers have been identified as crucial for the development of mechanics' institutes in Britain, their influence in Ireland was regionally limited. Nonetheless, many unindustrialized, provincial, largely Catholic Irish towns had mechanics' institutes in the first half of the nineteenth century. This paper investigates the history of the two mechanics' institutes of Galway, founded in 1826 and 1840, and analyses how local and national contexts affected the establishment, function and development of a provincial Irish mechanics' institute. Situating these institutes within the changing social and political constellations of early and mid-nineteenth-century Ireland, it shows how Catholic emancipation, the temperance movement and different strands of Irish nationalism affected approaches to the uses of science and science education in Ireland.
A Working Knowledge of the Insensible? Radiation Protection in Nuclear Generating Stations, 1962–1992
Authors: Parr Joy
Published: November 2006

Radiation is a workplace hazard that eludes the sensing body, or seems to. After Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, Kai Erickson described radiation as “an invisible threat,” “the very embodiment of stealth and treachery.” The first generation of Canadian nuclear power workers, from their four decades of experience around reactors has a different sense of the matter. They describe a physical awareness of the morphology and topography of radiation, a cultivated bodily knowledge that informed their actions as they produced power. They describe a “feel and a touch for the plant,” framed in theoretical studies, made through attentiveness and alert expectation, honed by being out and about in the station, being its intimate, “listening to its very cries.” By their telling, “doesn't feel right” ceased to be a metaphor about their workplace circumstance, and through study and practice, became a bodily effect, a report from the somatic. Key to work safety for Canadian nuclear workers were close study of the theory of ionizing radiation, adeptness with both the instruments which made radiation apparent and the calculations that made the readings on dials into qualitatively and spatially distinctive workplace presences, and skill in choosing, donning, building, and removing physical barriers between their bodies and radiation fields. Through this knowledge and practice, Canadian nuclear workers came to embody the hazards of the job. This working knowledge of the insensible enabled them to be responsible for their own radiation protection and for the safety of those with whom they worked.
Thinking with Ngangas: Reflections on Embodiment and the Limits of “Objectively Necessary Appearances”
Authors: Palmié Stephan
Published: November 2006

As Marcel Mauss (1967: 46) famously remarked, western societies draw a “marked distinction… between real and personal law, between things and persons.” Writing at the height of self-conscious early twentieth-century western modernism, Mauss was at pains to point out that it was “only our Western societies that quite recently turned man into an economic animal” (ibid.: 74), and that such a distinction was, historically speaking, a contingent elaboration. Commenting on Mauss' insights, James Carrier (1995: 30), thus, speaks of, “an increasing de-socialization of objects, their growing cultural separation from people and their social relationships” and the development of conceptions of “alienability and impersonality of objects and people in commodity relations” as characteristic of this moment. But Carrier is not entirely happy with the uses made of such insights by students of westerns societies. His intent, rather, is to qualify Mauss' famous distinction between forms of enacting object-relations as social relations shaped by sharply contrasting modes of gift or commodity exchange. Carrier, thus, expends much energy on expounding the extent to which “blocked exchanges” (Walzer 1983) “singularized goods” (Kopytoff 1986), conceptions of “market-inalienability” (Radin 1987) and “inalienable possessions” (Weiner 1992) are not random pre-capitalist survivals fortuitously lingering on within western cultures, but constitutive of forms of sociality indispensable to them. Of course, Carrier is largely concerned with dispelling the economistic fictions of forms of “occidentalist” discourse that systematically project a normative language of market functions and failures onto social practices which regularly produce, rather than merely accidentally throw up, what economists call “externalities” inhibiting optimal market allocations. Nevertheless, it is striking that both Mauss and most of his critics (Carrier being merely an example) take a principal, ontological distinction between people and things for granted. As a result, we are treated to sets of contrasting representations of how cultures (capitalist or other) construe such fundamental realities into different configurations of subjects and objects, so that the mystifications of one social formation or cultural order illuminate those of the other—to ultimately prove a Cartesian point.
Generation of magnetic fields in a positive–negative dusty plasma
Authors: SHUKLA NITIN , SHUKLA P.K. , LIU C.S. , MORFILL G.E.
Published: November 2006

It is shown that purely growing magnetic fields in a two-component dusty plasma can e generated due to the equilibrium drift of positive and negative dust grains. For this purpose, a linear dispersion relation has been derived by using the hydrodynamic equations for the charged dust fluids, the Maxwell equation and Faraday' law. The dispersion relation admits a purely growing instability, the growth rate of which is proportional to the equilibrium streaming speeds of positive and negative dust grains. A possible physical explanation for the instability is offered. Applications of our investigation to magnetic fields in the thin Martian environments, interplanetary spaces and dense molecular clouds are mentioned.
To inherit the Earth. Imagining world population, from the yellow peril to the population bomb
Authors: Connelly Matthew
Published: November 2006

This article narrates the development of a set of ideas and provocative imagery about population growth and movement that has shaped the way people think about world politics. It represented humanity in terms of populations that could and should be controlled to prevent degeneration and preserve civilization. During the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this discursive tradition supported a series of political projects that aimed to either exclude those deemed able to subsist on less and reproduce more or regulate reproduction worldwide. Conceiving of the world in terms of populations – rather than nation-states – led people to think of new ways in which it might be divided, unsettling diplomatic alignments and alliances. But it also contributed to critiques of state sovereignty, since population problems were said to affect everyone and require a united response. This intellectual history helps illuminate some of the local and parochial reasons why people began to ‘think globally’.
The illusions of encounter: Muslim ‘minds’ and Hindu revolutionaries in First World War Germany and after
Authors: Manjapra Kris K.
Published: November 2006

German political Orientalists in the era of the First World War thought that new ethnographic methods and insights would allow them to coax Muslim populations throughout the Middle East and South Asia into violent revolt against the British. The European imperial mindset insisted that non-Western peoples could be mastered and masterminded at whim. In fact, German pursuit of absolute control of Asian populations led to their loss of control, as their misrecognitions of the facts on the ground placed them in relationships of mutually-affecting lived encounter with Indian revolutionaries. While these interactions remained largely limited to the realm of military operations during the war, they opened up into ideological encounters on the radical fringes of Weimar society in the war’s aftermath. Yet far from a study of humanistic exchange or understanding, this essay seeks to historicize the meetings of Germans and Indian émigrés and show how misrepresentations and power asymmetries were endemic to the encounter between these groups.
Response of tropical turfgrasses to recycled water in southern Queensland
Authors: Menzel C. M. , Broomhall P.
Published: November 2006

The effects of recycled water (effluent) on 8 tropical grasses growing in 100-L bags of sand were studied in Murrumba Downs, just north of Brisbane in southern Queensland (27.4°S, 153.1°E). The species used were: Axonopus compressus (broad-leaf carpetgrass), Cynodon dactylon (bermudagrass ‘Winter Green’) and C. dactylon × C. transvaalensis hybrid (‘Tifgreen’), Digitaria didactyla (Queensland blue couch), Paspalum notatum (bahiagrass ‘38824’), Stenotaphrum secundatum (buffalograss ‘Palmetto’), Eremochloa ophiuroides (centipedegrass ‘Centec’) and Zoysia japonica (zoysiagrass ‘ZT-11’). From May 2002 to June 2003, control plots were irrigated with potable water and fertilised monthly. Plots irrigated with effluent received no fertiliser from May to August 2002 (deficient phase), complete fertilisers at control rates from September to December 2002 (recovery phase) and nitrogen (N) only at control rates from January to June 2003 (supplementary phase). In October 2002, the average shoot weight of plants from the effluent plots was 4% of that from potable plots, with centipedegrass less affected than the other species (relative growth of 20%). Shoot N concentrations declined by 40% in the effluent plots from May to August 2002 (1.8 ± 0.1%) along with phosphorus (P, 0.46 ± 0.02%), potassium (K, 1.6 ± 0.2%), sulfur (S, 0.28 ± 0.02%) and manganese (Mn, 19 ± 2 mg/kg) concentrations. Only the N and Mn concentrations were below the optimum for grasses. The grasses grew satisfactorily when irrigated with effluent if it was supplemented with N. Between January and June 2003 the average weight of shoots from the effluent plots was 116% of the weight of shoots from the control plots. Shoot nutrient concentrations were also similar in the 2 regimes at this time. The recycled water supplied 23% of the N required for maximum shoot growth, 80–100% of the P and K, and 500–880% of the S, calcium and magnesium. The use of recycled water represents savings in irrigation and fertiliser costs, and reductions in the discharge of N and P to local waterways. Effluent is currently about 50% of the cost of potable water with a saving of about AU$8000/ha.year for a typical sporting field.
Pmr1, a Golgi Ca
2+
/Mn
2+
-ATPase, is a regulator of the target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling pathway in yeast
Authors: Devasahayam Gina , Ritz Danilo , Helliwell Stephen B. , Burke Daniel J. , Sturgill Thomas W.
Published: November 2006

The rapamycin·FKBP12 complex inhibits target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase in TORC1. We screened the yeast nonessential gene deletion collection to identify mutants that conferred rapamycin resistance, and we identified
PMR1
, encoding the Golgi Ca
2+
/Mn
2+
-ATPase. Deleting
PMR1
in two genetic backgrounds confers rapamycin resistance. Epistasis analyses show that Pmr1 functions upstream from Npr1 and Gln-3 in opposition to Lst8, a regulator of TOR. Npr1 kinase is largely cytoplasmic, and a portion localizes to the Golgi where amino acid permeases are modified and sorted. Nuclear translocation of Gln-3 and Gln-3 reporter activity in
pmr1
cells are impaired, but expression of functional Gap1 in the plasma membrane of a
pmr1
strain in response to nitrogen limitation is enhanced. These two phenotypes suggest up-regulation of Npr1 function in the absence of Pmr1. Together, our results establish that Pmr1-dependent Ca
2+
and/or Mn
2+
ion homeostasis is necessary for TOR signaling.
A case–control study of scrapie Nor98 in Norwegian sheep flocks
Authors: Hopp Petter , Omer Mohamed K. , Heier Berit T.
Published: November 2006

Scrapie is a fatal, neurological disease of sheep and goats and belongs to the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In 1998, a new type of scrapie, designated scrapie Nor98, was detected in Norway. Scrapie Nor98 differs from classical scrapie in the distribution of pathological changes and of the scrapie prion protein, the Western blot profile of the prion protein, and with isolated cases usually being observed in the case flocks. In 2004, a case–control study was conducted on scrapie Nor98 with 28 cases and 102 randomly selected controls. The questionnaire included questions on demographic data, animal contact between sheep flocks, indirect contact with equipment, use of concentrate feed and supplemental feeds, and use of medicines and vaccines. The data were analysed by using logistic regression with the sheep flock as the statistical unit. In the final model, the detection of scrapie Nor98 was related to the practice of not removing all afterbirths, the use of vitamin and mineral feed supplements, the absence of concentrate feed of swine or poultry on the farm and the presence of dogs on the farm. The results show that the epidemiology of scrapie Nor98 differs from that of classical scrapie in that no risk factors that indicate transmission of scrapie Nor98 between flocks by movement or direct contact between animals were found. Furthermore, the association between scrapie Nor98 and mineral intake shown herein should be explored further. Although the possibility that scrapie Nor98 has a low transmissibility between animals under natural conditions cannot be ruled out, the results would also be in accordance with a spontaneous aetiology.
Phosphorylation of human respiratory syncytial virus P protein at threonine 108 controls its interaction with the M2-1 protein in the viral RNA polymerase complex
Authors: Asenjo Ana , Calvo Enrique , Villanueva Nieves
Published: November 2006

The human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) P protein is phosphorylated, with different turnover rates, at several serine (S) and threonine (T) residues. The role of phosphothreonines in viral RNA synthesis was studied by using P protein substitution variants and the HRSV-based minigenome pM/SH. By using liquid chromatography coupled to ion-trap mass spectrometry, it was found that P protein T108 was phosphorylated by addition of a high-turnover phosphate group. This phosphorylation occurs in P protein expressed transiently and during HRSV infection. The results suggest that phosphorylation at P protein T108 affects M2-1 transcriptional activities, because this modification prevents interaction between the P and M2-1 proteins. Therefore, P protein phosphorylation–dephosphorylation at T108 could distinguish the role of the P protein in viral transcription and replication.
Retention of 1.2 kbp of ‘novel’ genomic sequence in two European field isolates and some vaccine strains of Fowlpox virus extends open reading frame fpv241
Authors: Jarmin Susan A. , Manvell Ruth , Gough Richard E. , Laidlaw Stephen M. , Skinner Michael A.
Published: November 2006

The emergence of variant fowlpox viruses (FWPVs) and increasing field use of recombinants against avian influenza H5N1 emphasize the need to monitor vaccines and to distinguish them from field strains. Five commercial vaccines, two laboratory viruses and two European field isolates were characterized by PCR and sequencing at 18 loci differing between attenuated FP9 and its pathogenic progenitor. PCR failed to discriminate between the viruses and sequence determination revealed no significant differences at any locus, except for a polymorphic locus encompassed by deletion 24 (9.3 kbp) in FP9. Surprisingly, ‘novel’ previously unreported sequence (spanning 1.2 kbp) was found in both European field isolates and three of the vaccines. It was absent from the other two vaccines, removed by a 1.2 kbp deletion identical to that surprisingly also observed in the completely sequenced genome of FPV USDA. This locus (H9) adds a potentially useful tool for discriminating between FWPV field isolates and vaccines.
Clinical significance of organ‐ and non‐organ‐specific autoantibodies on the response to anti‐viral treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C
Authors: GATSELIS N. K. , GEORGIADOU S. P. , KOUKOULIS G. K. , TASSOPOULOS N. , ZACHOU K. , LIASKOS C. , HATZAKIS A. , DALEKOS G. N.
Published: November 2006

Background  Development of organ‐ and non‐organ‐specific autoantibodies has been reported in hepatitis C virus patients treated with interferon‐α plus/minus ribavirin.

Aims  To address whether prevalence and the titre of gastric parietal autoantibodies and non‐organ‐specific autoantibody in hepatitis C virus‐treated patients were affected by therapy, and if the development of these antibodies carries any clinical significance on the response to treatment, as few studies in adults have been strictly designed to address the above hypothesis.

Methods  Samples at three time‐points (baseline, end of treatment, end of follow‐up) from 102 hepatitis C virus patients (39 sustained responders, 26 relapsers, 33 non‐responders; four lost in follow‐up) were studied for gastric parietal autoantibodies and/or non‐organ‐specific autoantibody by indirect immunofluorescence, commercial and in‐house enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays.

Results  Sustained virological and biochemical response was associated with antinuclear antibody absence (end of treatment or end of follow‐up), decrease of smooth‐muscle antibody titres during therapy and gastric parietal autoantibodies negativity at baseline. However, after multivariate analysis only antinuclear antibody positivity at the end of treatment and increase of smooth‐muscle antibody titres were associated with worst treatment response, independently of known factors of worst treatment outcome.

Conclusions  We were able to demonstrate a negative correlation between the efficacy of anti‐viral treatment for hepatitis C virus and the presence of antinuclear antibody and smooth‐muscle antibody before treatment, or their increase during therapy.
Effects of gastric emptying on oral mycophenolic acid pharmacokinetics in stable renal allograft recipients
Authors: Naesens Maarten , Verbeke Kristin , Vanrenterghem Yves , Kuypers Dirk
Published: November 2006

What is already known about this subject

• Strategies that are more elaborate than measuring predose plasma concentrations are required for the therapeutic monitoring of mycophenolic acid (MPA).

• Previous studies in healthy subjects and diabetes patients have suggested that MPA pharmacokinetics are influenced by gastric emptying, but this has not been demonstrated directly.

What this study adds

• This study has investigated the relationship between gastric emptying, measured directly (using the 14C octanoate and 13C glycine breath tests) and the steady‐state plasma concentration–time profile of MPA.

• Delayed gastric emptying was associated with a longer tmax and lower Cmax, but total exposure to MPA was not affected.

• The findings suggest that it could be misleading to rely fully on short‐term (<2 h) limited sampling strategies for MPA therapeutic monitoring in recipients with gastric emptying disorders, the latter occurring relatively frequently in solid organ transplantation.

Aim

To investigate the effect of gastric emptying on the pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid (MPA) in renal transplant patients.

Methods

We assessed the effect of gastric emptying on the disposition of MPA in 27 stable renal allograft recipients at 2 years after transplantation. Gastric emptying was measured by the 14C‐octanoate and 13C‐glycine breath test.

Results

Delayed gastric emptying was associated with a significantly longer MPA tmax[1.0 (0.33–2.0) h vs. 0.5 (0.33–1.0) h; mean difference 0.39 h, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.03, 0.75; P = 0.0289] and with a significant decrease in the maximum MPA concentration after dosing [10.6 (6.5–21.3) mg l−1vs. 20.1 (10.7–28.5) mg l−1; mean difference 6.5 mg l−1, 95% CI 2.1, 10.9; P = 0.0075]. Despite the substantial effect of delayed gastric emptying rates on MPA Cmax and tmax, total dose‐interval exposure, measured by the MPA AUC0−4, was not affected by the rate of gastric emptying [20.4 (13.9–43.0) mg h−1 l−1vs. 22.4 (13.1–29.8) mg h−1 l−1].

Conclusion

Delayed gastric emptying was associatedwith a slower absorption of MPA, a longer time to reach peak concentrations and lower maximum concentrations. These effects should be taken into account when validating limited (<2 h) sampling strategies to estimate total MPA exposure, which could be unreliable when monitoring patients with gastric emptying disorders.
Population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modelling of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis following treatment with GnRH analogues
Authors: Tornøe Christoffer W. , Agersø Henrik , Senderovitz Thomas , Nielsen Henrik A. , Madsen Henrik , Karlsson Mats O. , Jonsson E. Niclas
Published: November 2006

Aims

To develop a population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis describing the changes in luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone concentrations following treatment with the gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist triptorelin and the GnRH receptor blocker degarelix.

Methods

Fifty‐eight healthy subjects received single subcutaneous or intramuscular injections of 3.75 mg of triptorelin and 170 prostate cancer patients received multiple subcutaneous doses of degarelix of between 120 and 320 mg. All subjects were pooled for the population PK/PD data analysis. A systematic population PK/PD model‐building framework using stochastic differential equations was applied to the data to identify nonlinear dynamic dependencies and to deconvolve the functional feedback interactions of the HPG axis.

Results

In our final PK/PD model of the HPG axis, the half‐life of LH was estimated to be 1.3 h and that of testosterone 7.69 h, which corresponds well with literature values. The estimated potency of LH with respect to testosterone secretion was 5.18 IU l−1, with a maximal stimulation of 77.5 times basal testosterone production. The estimated maximal triptorelin stimulation of the basal LH pool release was 1330 times above basal concentrations, with a potency of 0.047 ng ml−1. The LH pool release was decreased by a maximum of 94.2% by degarelix with an estimated potency of 1.49 ng ml−1.

Conclusions

Our model of the HPG axis was able to account for the different dynamic responses observed after administration of both GnRH agonists and GnRH receptor blockers, suggesting that the model adequately characterizes the underlying physiology of the endocrine system.
Genetic risk factors for inhibitors to factors VIII and IX
Authors: OLDENBURG J. , PAVLOVA A.
Published: November 2006

Summary.  The formation of alloantibodies against factor VIII (FVIII) or factor IX (FIX) is the most severe complication of replacement therapy in patients with haemophilia. In the last decade, genetic factors have been shown to constitute a decisive risk determinant for the development of inhibitors. In severe haemophilia A and B, mutations that result in an absent or truncated FVIII/FIX protein are associated with a 20–80% risk of inhibitor formation. In mild to moderate haemophilia, missense mutations represent the main mutation type, with an inhibitor prevalence of 5%. These patients synthesize some endogenous, although non‐functional protein that is sufficient to induce immune tolerance. However, in patients with missense mutations clustered in the A2 and C2 domains (C1/C2 junction), the risk of inhibitor formation is fourfold greater than in patients with mutations outside this region, indicating that inhibitor prevalence in missense mutations is also dependent on localization of the mutation. Recently, a significant association between inhibitor formation and polymorphisms in genes coding for cytokines (IL‐10) and other immunoregulatory factors (TNF‐α) has been shown. These genetic factors constitute the individual genetic risk profile of a haemophilic patient. This risk is imprinted and fixed; however, environmental factors such as treatment schedule may increase or decrease the inhibitor risk in an individual patient. Improved understanding of these complex interactions may lead to the development of preventive measures to minimize inhibitor formation.
Inhibitor treatment in haemophilias A and B: inhibitor diagnosis
Authors: DIMICHELE D. M.
Published: November 2006

Summary.  The clinical diagnosis and quantitative measurement of polyclonal IgG inhibiting antibodies are the subjects of this review. Inhibitors in congenital haemophilia are usually diagnosed either as part of a routine surveillance schedule or following a bleeding episode that responds poorly to standard specific replacement therapy. Routine surveillance schedules for paediatric haemophilia A patients during high‐risk incidence periods are variable and the subject of ongoing discussion. There have never been any published recommendations for following haemophilia B patients at high risk for inhibitor development. The Factor VIII/IX Subcommittee of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis scientifically endorsed the Nijmegen method for inhibitor measurement in 1996. However, there are many unresolved issues surrounding inhibitor diagnosis using these assays. These issues include: (i) questions of accuracy and inter‐assay variability inherent to the one‐stage clotting assay; (ii) lack of consensus regarding the assay cut‐off for negative determination; (iii) lack of assay standardization and (iv) the clinical importance of capturing non‐neutralizing antibodies currently not measured in the functional assays. Ongoing efforts to resolve these issues will be discussed.
Assessing the costs for clinical care of patients with high‐responding factor VIII and IX inhibitors
Authors: ULLMAN M. , HOOTS W. K.
Published: November 2006

Summary.  The costs of haemophilia‐related care and the impact of unusually expensive, or outlier, patients on these costs have been explored in numerous European, American and Canadian studies during the last decade. In particular, antibodies that neutralize infused factor VIII or IX (high‐responding inhibitors) make treatment responses, and thereby costs, much less predictable. There is little debate that the health care costs of haemophilic patients with high‐responding inhibitors are routinely higher and more variable than those of non‐inhibitor patients. However, the extent to which this is attributable to the few outlier inhibitor patients whose expenditures tend to skew the data is not as clear. To compare the variation and range in health care expenditures among patients with inhibitors and those without, we reviewed data originally gathered during a 24‐month period in 1995–1997 from a prospectively created cohort as part of a broader cost and utilization study conducted at a large haemophilia treatment centre. We conclude that although the use of outpatient factor replacement products was not significantly greater or more expensive among inhibitor patients, their hospital‐related costs greatly increased overall expenditures. Among our study population, the overall costs associated with inhibitor patients are not only higher in absolute monetary terms, but also in terms of the degree of variation. This variation was demonstrated by: (i) the extremely wide range of costs over an extended timeframe among individual inhibitor patients when compared with those without inhibitors, and (ii) the much larger year‐to‐year variation in costs among the inhibitor group.
Overview of the use of implantable venous access devices in the management of children with inherited bleeding disorders
Authors: KOMVILAISAK P. , CONNOLLY B. , NAQVI A. , BLANCHETTE V.
Published: November 2006

Summary.  Frequent infusion of factor concentrates may be challenging in young boys with haemophilia, especially if their disease is complicated by inhibitors. A central venous access device (CVAD) is often placed in young patients in need of repeated infusions for prophylaxis or immune tolerance induction. Although user friendly and capable of providing reliable venous access, these devices are associated with a high complication rate over time. In the haemophilia population, major complications include CVAD‐associated infections and deep venous thrombosis, which is most often silent. Established risk factors for catheter‐related infection include age less than 6 years at the time of CVAD placement and use of an external CVAD when compared with a totally implantable device such as a port. Avoidance of CVAD‐related infections is facilitated by strict adherence to aseptic technique. The risk of deep venous thrombosis appears related to the duration for which the catheter is in place, with the risk increasing beyond 4 years. The promotion of a strict clinic policy in which CVADs are left in place for as short a time as possible should decrease the risk of complications. In rare cases where a totally implantable CVAD cannot be placed for technical reasons, an arteriovenous fistula may provide reliable venous access. In all cases, however, venous access via peripheral veins is preferred over CVADs.
Recombinant vs. plasma‐derived products, especially those with intact VWF, regarding inhibitor development
Authors: ETTINGSHAUSEN C. ESCURIOLA , KREUZ W.
Published: November 2006

Summary.  The development of inhibitors in previously untreated patients (PUPs) with haemophilia A is correlated with a variety of endogenous and exogenous risk factors. It is still controversial whether recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) products pose a higher risk for inhibitor development than plasma‐derived (pd) FVIII concentrates, particularly with intact von Willebrand factor (VWF). A systematic review on the epidemiology of inhibitors in haemophilia A investigated the influence of different FVIII products on inhibitor formation. Patients treated with a single pd product had a lower cumulative incidence (0–12.4%) than those treated with a single recombinant concentrate (36.0–38.7%) independent of disease severity, study size, or inhibitor testing frequency. However, this analysis does not take into account the heterogeneity of the study populations. A study investigating the effects of different variables on inhibitor development in PUPs was started 13 years ago by the Paediatric Committee of the German, Austrian and Swiss Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Research. This prospectively conducted study revealed a slight difference (P = 0.08) in terms of type of concentrate. In the group of severe haemophiliacs treated with pdFVIII concentrate (n = 57), 12 patients developed an inhibitor (21%), whereas 17 of 47 patients receiving rFVIII (36%) were affected by this complication. This observation was substantiated by retrospective Italian and French analyses. These results, as well as hypothetical considerations, indicate that there is a body of evidence that FVIII products with VWF may be less immunogenic in PUPs. However, in order to provide more evidence a well‐designed randomized study is needed.
Developing a mid‐range theory of patient advocacy through concept analysis
Authors: Bu Xiaoyan , Jezewski Mary Ann
Published: November 2006

Title. Developing a mid‐range theory of patient advocacy through concept analysis

Aim. The aim of this paper is to clarify and refine the concept of patient advocacy through synthesizing the advocacy literature in nursing and to establish a theoretical basis for future studies on patient advocacy in nursing.

Background. Patient advocacy is an essential component of the Registered Nurse professional role. During the past 30 years, the patient advocacy role has become more important, but the concept of patient advocacy lacks a consistent definition and research into nurses’ patient advocacy roles is limited. There have been few quantitative empirical studies on patient advocacy in nursing.

Method. Walker and Avant's method of concept analysis was used as a guideline in examining the concept of patient advocacy through synthesizing the advocacy literature in English (1974–2006).

Findings. A mid‐range theory of patient advocacy emerges during the process of synthesizing and analysing the advocacy literature. Three core attributes of the concept of patient advocacy are identified: (1) safeguarding patients’ autonomy; (2) acting on behalf of patients; and (3) championing social justice in the provision of health care. They reflect nurses’ patient advocacy roles at both macro‐ and micro‐social levels. Antecedents of patient advocacy occur at both macro‐ and micro‐social levels and call for nurses’ advocacy roles in the healthcare system. Consequences produced by nurses’ patient advocacy behaviours are contextual. Nurses’ patient advocacy behaviours not only can positively influence the patients, other nurses and the nursing profession, but also can cause negative consequences for nurses who take action to advocate for patients.

Conclusion. The proposed mid‐range theory may be useful in guiding advocacy practice in nursing and in guiding research in the advocacy area. The proposed theory needs to be furthered refined and tested in the future.
A pilot audit of weight loss in upper gastrointestinal oncology outpatients
Authors: Chate A.
Published: November 2006

Background  Patients with upper gastrointestinal malignancies have a high incidence of weight loss and malnutrition which has been associated with a reduced quality of life, performance status, increased risk of chemotherapy induced toxicity and decreased response to treatment.

Aim  The aim of the pilot audit was to identify how many patients attending an upper gastrointestinal oncology outpatient clinic had lost weight or had nutritional problems.

Method  A short questionnaire on present weight, weight loss and occurrence of symptoms was completed by 40 patients attending an upper gastrointestinal oncology outpatient clinic.

Results  Nutritional screening, including weight, was not routinely carried out on all patients. Only 40% of patients had been weighed at their clinic visit and 65% self‐reported that they had lost weight. The frequency of symptoms in the weight loss group was higher than in the nonweight loss group and the incidence of nausea and dysphagia was significantly higher. Only 35% of patients had received dietary advice, but 68% of the remaining patients would have liked some.

Conclusion  A significant number of patients reported weight loss and this was linked with a higher occurrence of symptoms influencing appetite and oral intake.
Energy and nutrient intake of Swiss women aged 75–87 years
Authors: Dumartheray E. Wynn , Krieg M.‐ A. , Cornuz J. , Whittamore D. R. , Lanham‐New S. A. , Burckhardt P.
Published: November 2006

Objective  Reliable data about the nutrient intake of elderly noninstitutionalized women in Switzerland is lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the energy and nutrient intake in this specific population.

Subjects  The 401 subjects were randomly selected women of mean age of 80.4 years (range 75–87) recruited from the Swiss SEMOF (Swiss Evaluation of the Methods of Measurement of Osteoporotic Fracture Risk) cohort study. A validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was submitted to the 401 subjects to assess dietary intake.

Results  The FFQ showed a mean daily energy intake of 1544 kcal (±447.7). Protein intake was 65.2 g (±19.9), that is 1.03 g kg−1 body weight per day. The mean daily intake for energy, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, D and E were below the RNI. However, protein, phosphorus, potassium, iron and vitamin B6 were above the RNI.

Conclusion  The mean nutrient intake of these free living Swiss elderly women was low compared with standards. Energy dense foods rich in carbohydrate, magnesium, calcium, vitamin D and E as well as regular sunshine exposure is recommended in order to optimise dietary intake.
High incidence of hepatitis C virus reinfection within a cohort of injecting drug users
Authors: Micallef J. M. , Macdonald V. , Jauncey M. , Amin J. , Rawlinson W. , Van Beek I. , Kaldor J. M. , White P. A. , Dore G. J.
Published: November 2006

Summary.  A retrospective cohort study was established of injecting drug users (IDUs) to assess evidence for hepatitis C virus (HCV) protective immunity through a comparison of incidence of initial HCV infection and HCV reinfection. Incidence of initial HCV infection was determined among HCV seronegative IDUs, and HCV reinfection determined among IDUs with newly acquired HCV infection, HCV viraemia and subsequent HCV RNA clearance. Serum was available for HCV RNA analysis from stored samples taken at the time of prior blood‐borne virus screening. Potential HCV reinfection was defined as a positive HCV RNA following at least one negative HCV RNA. Incidence of initial HCV infection was 17/100 person‐years (95% CI, 14–20/100 person‐years). The incidence of potential HCV reinfection was 42/100 person‐years (95% CI, 25–61/100 person‐years), and after excluding cases without a change in HCV genotype and less than three consecutive HCV RNA negative assessment, incidence of reinfection was 31/100 person‐years (95% CI, 17–62/100 person‐years). Following adjustment for HCV risk behaviour variables the incidence rate ratio of HCV reinfection to initial infection was 1.11 (P = 0.8). Several cases of HCV reinfection appear to have developed persistent infection.
Distribution and characteristics of hepatitis B virus genotype C subgenotypes in China*
Authors: Wang Z. , Hou J. , Zeng G. , Wen S. , Tanaka Y. , Cheng J. , Kurbanov F. , Wang L. , Jiang J. , Naoumov N. V. , Mizokami M. , Qi Y.
Published: November 2006

Summary.  Genetic diversity within the same hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype indicates the presence of several subgenotypes. We have found that genotype C is the most common in China, and this study aimed to determine the geographical distribution and characteristics of HBV‐C subgenotypes in the country. A cohort of 534 patients with chronic HBV genotype C infection, collected across China, was analysed by nucleotide sequencing or polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism. HBV‐C1/Cs (n = 112, 21%) and HBV‐C2/Ce (n = 397, 74%) were the most common HBV‐C subgenotypes and showed different geographical distribution in China. No significant differences were found between patients infected with HBV‐C1 and HBV‐C2 when comparing liver function tests, hepatitis B e antigen positive rate and clinical manifestations. We identified two other types of HBV‐C provisionally designated as HBV‐CD1 and HBV‐CD2, which have particular virological features and clustered in one geographic area. These two types of C/D hybrids have emerged through recombination with genotype D and encode serotype ayw2 hepatitis B surface antigen. In conclusion, there are at least four subtypes of HBV genotype C: subgenotypes C1, C2 and two types of C/D recombinants CD1 and CD2 in China, which have a distinct geographic distribution. Whether HBV‐C subgenotypes differ in their impact on liver disease progression requires prospective studies.
Impaired ability of interferon‐alpha‐primed dendritic cells to stimulate Th1‐type CD4 T‐cell response in chronic hepatitis C virus infection
Authors: Miyatake H. , Kanto T. , Inoue M. , Sakakibara M. , Kaimori A. , Yakushijin T. , Itose I. , Miyazaki M. , Kuzushita N. , Hiramatsu N. , Takehara T. , Kasahara A. , Hayashi N.
Published: November 2006

Summary. In interferon‐alpha (IFN‐α)/ribavirin combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C (CHC), an enhanced T helper 1 (Th1) response is essential for the eradication of hepatitis C virus (HCV). We aimed to elucidate the role of IFN‐αor IFN‐α/ribavirin in dendritic cell (DC) ability to induce Th1 response in HCV infection. We generated monocyte‐derived DC from 20 CHC patients and 15 normal subjects driven by granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor and interleukin 4 (IL‐4) without IFN‐α(GM/4‐DC), with IFN‐α(IFN‐DC), with ribavirin (R‐DC) or with IFN‐α/ribavirin (IFN/R‐DC) and compared their phenotypes and functions between the groups. We also compared them in 14 CHC patients between who subsequently attained sustained virological response (SVR) and who did not (non‐SVR) by 24 weeks of IFN‐α/ribavirin therapy. Compared with GM/4‐DC, IFN‐DC displayed higher CD86 expression, but lesser ability to secrete IL‐10 and were more potent to prime CD4+T cells to secrete IFN‐γand IL‐2. Such differences were more significant in healthy subjects than in CHC patients. No additive effect of ribavirin was observed in DC phenotypes and functionsin vitroeither which was used alone or in combined with IFN‐α. However, in the SVR patients, an ability of IFN/R‐DC to prime T cells to secrete IFN‐γand IL‐2 was higher than those of IFN‐DC and those of IFN/R‐DC in the non‐SVR group, respectively. In conclusion, DC from CHC patients are impaired in the ability to drive Th1 in response to IFN‐α. Such DC impairment is restoredin vitroby the addition of ribavirin in not all but some patients who cleared HCV by the combination therapy.
Geological evaluation of climate General Circulation Models and model implications for Mesozoic cloud cover
Authors: Sellwood Bruce W. , Valdes Paul J.
Published: November 2006

General Circulation Models (GCMs) are currently used to predict future global change. However, the robustness of GCMs can, and should, be evaluated by their ability to simulate past climate regimes. Their success in ‘retrodiction’ can then be assessed by reference to the testimony of the geological record. Geological evidence provides a database which can be used in the estimation of sea surface temperatures and other proxy data useful in palaeoclimatic studies. These data can then be used to refine the prescribed boundary conditions for running GCMs themselves. Results of modelling experiments confirm a generally warmer Mesozoic earth with arid tropics and convective rainfall higher over the oceans than at present. Circum‐polar wetlands are also indicated. Modelled cloudiness is also higher in the Mesozoic, contributing to greenhouse conditions and possibly influencing terrestrial biomes and marine ecosystems.
EPR microplates, a model for the Oman Ophiolite
Authors: Boudier F. , Nicolas A. , Ildefonse B. , Jousselin D.
Published: November 2006

Structural mapping in the Southern half of the Oman ophiolite has revealed a palaeoridge organization with similarities to an EPR microplate, forming in superfast spreading conditions. A NW‐trending propagator was rapidly opening in a lithosphere no more than 1 Myr older and itself created in a NE‐SW ridge system. The NW‐trending propagator, underlined by small mantle diapirs, was active or dying when detached as part of a future ophiolite. Local thrusting of the future ophiolite was also initiated very early, between 1 and 5 Myr after ridge accretion; it was accompanied by a 40° rotation within this time lapse. Such an activity supports the comparison of the Oman palaeoridge system with an oceanic microplate, and provides evidence to suggest the existence of thrusts at active microplates.
Barium, SiO2(excess), and P2O5as proxies of biological productivity in the Middle East during the Palaeocene and the latest Palaeocene benthic extinction event
Authors: Schmitz Birger , Charisi Stella D. , Thompson Elisabet I. , Speijer Robert P.
Published: November 2006

The distribution of barium and other elements related to biological productivity has been studied in two Palaeocene sections from the Middle East. In the bathyal Ben Gurion section, Israel, Ba* (= Ba/Al2O3× 15%) concentrations are low, in the range 0.04% to 0.3% in the lower Palaeocene, and very high, 1% to 2%, throughout most of the upper Palaeocene. In the neritic Gebel Aweina section in Egypt Ba* values are low, < 0.1%, throughout the entire Palaeocene. The Ba* enrichments at Ben Gurion and their correlations with increases in P2O5and opaline silica, and local and global δ13C maxima, indicate that upwelling and high productivity were important in this region during the late Palaeocene. The absence of Ba* enrichments in the shallower Gebel Aweina section probably reflects the strong depth dependence of biobarium deposition.

In the uppermost Palaeocene, at the level where the global benthic extinction event is registered, Ba* concentrations in the Ben Gurion section increase to anomalous 6%. which suggests that upwelling and possibly wind strengths intensified during this event. The results speak against deep‐water formation in this region since downwelling and not upwelling is required.
3D soft‐sediment deformation structures: evidence for Quaternary seismicity in the Madrid basin, Spain
Authors: Silva Pablo G. , Cañaveras Juan C. , Sanchez‐Moral Sergio , Lario Javier , Sanz Enrique
Published: November 2006

Three‐dimensional patterns of soft‐sediment deformation, affecting middle Pleistocene fluvial deposits in the Lower Manzanares Valley (SW Madrid City), are reported. They promote a small‐scale hummocky topography, defined by different‐sized domes, mud volcanoes, wavy ridges and fissures on an ancient flood plain surface. Related channel fill deposits are pervasively dewatered, indicating liquefaction. The sedimentological context reveals that the deformation of both floodplain surface and channel‐fill deposits, were contemporaneous (singular deformed level) and generated at, or near, the ground surface; this rules out the possibility of sediment‐loading and indicates a possible earthquake‐induced origin.
Imported quartz cement in aeolian sandstone grew from water of uniform composition but has complex zonation
Authors: Sullivan M. D. , Macaulay C. I. , Fallick A. E. , Haszeldine R. S.
Published: November 2006

The origins and volumes of waters which mass‐transport silica in sedimentary basins remain obscure. Many previous analytical studies have illustrated cases where quartz cements in sandstones originate from complex and variable fluids. By contrast we show, by using a combination of separation and analytical techniques, that in Lower Permian sandstones of the southern North Sea the cementing fluid was isotopically uniform during growth of quartz cement with a δ1BO of 19.6 + 1.0%‰ V‐SMOW. In this relatively uniform fluid quartz cements grew and developed complex cathodoluminescence (CL) zonations. Petrographic data show that 8–10% quartz cement (locally 30%) was imported into this 380 km2× 180 m thick aeolian sandstone, and cement distribution controlled by depositional permeabilities. We infer a large‐scale, high volume, flux of evolved meteoric fluid during 2 km deep burial, and show that complex CL zonation may arise from relatively subtle changes in water composition.
Magma pulses in the Central Variscan Belt: episodic melt generation and emplacement during lithospheric thinning
Authors: Schaltegger Urs
Published: November 2006

Magmatism in the central part of the Variscan orogenic belt in Europe has occurred in several distinct episodes. Each episode spanned a few million years and was characterized by a distinct geochemical signature and geodynamic setting: (i) between 340 and 330 Ma (Visean), high‐K diorites and granitoids within a zone extending parallel the orogen axis, possibly tracing a palaeosuture; (ii) at 310–307 Ma (Westphalian), calc‐alkaline granitoids in the Intra‐Alpine domain; (iii) at 304–295 Ma (Stephanian), subalkaline granitoids in Intra‐Alpine and Pennine domains; and finally (iv) at 280–270 Ma (Permian) granitoids in Pennine, Austroalpine and South‐Alpine domains. The generation and emplacement of granitoid melts in the Variscan crust are suggested to be short‐term pulses that are controlled by extensional processes in the lithosphere such as thermal erosion and relaxation of the lithospheric mantle, and decompressional melting.