bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Radioisotope‐induced EDXRF investigation of elemental uptake in cauliflower grown at MSW‐contaminated site
Authors: Gupta D. , Chatterjee J. M. , Ghosh R. , Mitra A. K. , Roy S. , Sarkar M.
Published: October 2010

A 109Cd radioisotope‐induced energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (EDXRF) study has been performed on samples of cauliflower consisting of the flower, the leaves and the associated root soil. The cauliflowers are collected from farms near the main dumping site of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the city of Kolkata, India, and also from uncontaminated farms about 50 km away from the city. The systematic investigation is primarily aimed at achieving two correlated objectives. Firstly, a unified calibration approach is undertaken for the study tool viz., EDXRF spectrometer, through the use of same instrumental scattering constants for quantification in widely differing matrices like soil and plant. Quality control was done by quantitative reproduction of National Institute of Standards and Technology–Standard Reference Materials (NIST–SRMs). Subsequently, the second objective is to comparatively study elemental uptake in the cauliflower samples from contaminated and uncontaminated farms using the same calibration. This study suggests that the elemental concentrations in the root soils and leaves of the samples vary from farm to farm, whereby the concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb in root soils of MSW‐contaminated farms are higher by almost an order of magnitude compared to uncontaminated farms. But the most notable feature of this study is the strikingly similar elemental concentrations in the edible flower part of all samples irrespective of the soil type. Plots of the ratio of concentrations of elements in leaf to soil and in flower to leaf, observed from the present EDXRF study suggests that a preferential uptake of elements takes place at different stages. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Genetic Counseling for Early‐onset Familial Alzheimer Disease in Large Aboriginal Kindred from a Remote Community in British Columbia: Unique Challenges and Possible Solutions
Authors: Butler Rachel , Dwosh Emily , Beattie B. Lynn , Guimond Colleen , Lombera Sofia , Brief Elana , Illes Judy , Sadovnick A. Dessa
Published: October 2010

A novel, pathogenic presenilin 1 (PS1) mutation has recently been identified in a large Aboriginal kindred living in dispersed communities throughout British Columbia, Canada. Disseminating genetic information and ensuring that appropriate genetic counseling services are provided to all concerned relatives have posed several unique challenges. These challenges include knowledge exchange and continuity of care in a geographically remote and culturally distinct community. To our knowledge, this is the first time a specific genetic counseling approach has been needed for early‐onset familial Alzheimer disease (EOFAD) in a North American Aboriginal community.
Morphology and Microstructure of As-Synthesized Anodic TiO2 Nanotube Arrays
Authors: Cao Chunbin , Zhang Guoshun , Song Xueping , Sun Zhaoqi
Published: October 2010

The as-grown structure of electrochemically synthesized titania nanotube arrays is investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) in combination with transmission electron microscope (TEM) as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD). The analysis reveals a preferred growth direction of the nanotubes relative to the substrate surface and the well control on the nanotube arrays morphology. The crystal structure of the anatase phase is detected and exists in the tube walls without any thermal treatment, which makes it possible to realize the application of as-formed TiO2 nanotubes avoiding the degradation of the nanotube structures when sintering. In addition, a new growth, layered model of the anodic TiO2 nanotubes is presented to obtain further understanding of the growth mechanism.
Products deriving from microbial fermentation are linked to insulinaemic response in pigs fed breads prepared from whole-wheat grain and wheat and rye ingredients
Authors: Theil Peter Kappel , Jørgensen Henry , Serena Anja , Hendrickson Jessica , Bach Knudsen Knud Erik
Published: October 2010

The effects of wheat and rye breads made from whole-wheat grain (WWG), wheat aleurone flour (WAF) or rye aleurone flour (RAF) on net portal absorption of carbohydrate-derived nutrients (glucose, SCFA and lactate) and apparent insulin secretion were studied in a model experiment with catheterised pigs. The breads were similar in dietary fibre (DF, 120–125 g/kg DM) but differed in arabinoxylans (50–62 g/kg), β-glucans (4–9 g/kg) and content of soluble DF (13–29 g/kg). Six pigs in a repeated 3 × 3 crossover design were fitted with catheters in the portal vein and the mesenteric artery and a portal flow probe. Pigs were fed three meals daily (at 09.00, 14.00 and 19.00 hours), and blood profiles were collected repeatedly from 08.30 until 19.00 hours once weekly. Net portal absorption of glucose was similar among breads and between meals. In contrast, insulin secretion was lowest (P < 0·05) in pigs fed RAF bread (3·9 nmol/h), intermediate in pigs fed WAF bread (5·4 nmol/h) and highest in pigs fed WWG bread (5·9 nmol/h), indicating that RAF bread improved insulin economy. Portal concentrations of propionate, butyrate and valerate were high, intermediate and low (P < 0·05) when pigs were fed RAF, WAF and WWG breads, respectively. Insulin secretion was higher (P < 0·001), and portal absorption of SCFA was lower (P < 0·05) after the first daily meal than after the second daily meal (8·8v. 4·4 nmol/h). A low insulin response was associated with high portal absorption of SCFA. In conclusion, RAF bread was able to improve insulin economy compared to WWG bread.
Temporally Recursive Regression and Social Historical Inquiry: An Example of Cross-Movement Militancy Spillover
Authors: Isaac Larry , Christiansen Larry , Miller Jamie , Nickel Tim
Published: October 2010

Our focus here is on time-series regression as a formal analytic tool in social historical inquiry. We have three interrelated purposes. First, we argue that conventional time-series regression is typically ill–suited for social historical inquiry because ahistorical assumptions and conventions regarding time undermine the historical character of social “process–as–analyzed”. Second, we present a modified time-series approach – temporally recursive regression – that takes time seriously and provides a more adequate analytic vehicle for social historical inquiry. Finally, we illustrate the promise of temporally recursive regression by using it to analyze how workplace militancy in post–war America was fueled by massive insurgency waves during successive phases of the civil rights movement.
Narrative as Data: Linguistic and Statistical Tools for the Quantitative Study of Historical Events
Authors: Franzosi Roberto
Published: October 2010

This paper illustrates some linguistic and statistical tools that can be profitably used by historians and social historians in the study of events (such as strikes, demonstrations and other types of collective conflict). More specifically, the paper shows that “semantic grammars” provide rigorous tools for the collection of rich event narratives. Semantic grammars structure information around the “canonical form” of the language: noun phrase/verb phrase, or subject, action, object and their modifiers (e.g. time, space). The fact that semantic grammars can be easily implemented in a computer environment using relational database systems (RDBMS) makes feasible the practical application of such powerful coding schemes. The data that computer-based semantic grammars make available are richer, more flexible and more reliable than those delivered by more traditional content analysis methods. They are also very well suited for the application of new tools of data analysis such as network models. Both semantic grammars and network models are fundamentally concerned with actors and their actions, with agents and agency. As such, these linguistic and statistical tools should draw sociology closer to history, traditionally much more concerned with issues of agency. I illustrate the power of both the linguistic and statistical tools using data that I collected from some 15,000 newspaper articles on the 1919-1922 period of Italian history, a period characterized by widespread working-class mobilization (1919–1920, the “red years”) and fascist counter-mobilization (1921-1922, the “black years”).
Narratives Serially Constructed and Lived: Ethnicity in Cross-Gender Strikes 1887–1903
Authors: DeVault Ileen A.
Published: October 2010

On 1 August 1893, already feeling the pinch of economic downturn, management at the Pray, Small & Co. shoe factory in Auburn, Maine, posted new wages for its employees. Twelve days later, facing their first lower pay checks, female stitchers in the factory walked off their jobs. The union which represented the stitchers declared the shop non-union a week later and called for all of its members to join the stitchers' strike. Only about a dozen male workers answered this call, as the two most highly-skilled groups of male workers, the lasters and the shoe cutters, remained on the job. These workers belonged to their own separate unions, which had either already agreed to the new wage list (the cutters) or were in the middle of negotiations over it with the company (the lasters). It took the cutters another week before they decided to join the stitchers' action; it would take the lasters a month and a half and a citywide expansion of the strike to make the same decision.
Industrious Households: Survival Strategies of Artisans in a Southwest German Town during the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
Authors: Frey Dennis A.
Published: October 2010

In the last two decades, scholars have significandy expanded, through die use of probate inventories, our purview of early-modern European households. Their work has tended to focus on the social and cultural implications of the material culture found in these inventories.1 Seldom, however, have they used these sources to study the family economy found in many early-modern European households, and since artisanal small-scale production remained the predominant mode of urban economic activity, this has produced a conspicuous gap in our knowledge.1 This essay, which contains a comprehensive investigation of probate inventories from artisanal households during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, is a modest attempt to fill some of that gap by providing a more nuanced understanding of the social, cultural, and economic survival strategies employed by the poorer households as they struggled to avoid the abject indigence of the truly destitute.
Food and Nutrition Security at Risk in Later Life: Evidence from the United Kingdom Expenditure & Food Survey
Authors: DEEMING CHRIS
Published: October 2010

Securing adequate food and nutrition is essential for the maintenance of our health and function in society. This article examines the household characteristics associated with food and nutrition security in the United Kingdom population aged 60 years and over. Data are taken from the Expenditure and Food Survey, a continuous cross-sectional survey of household expenditure, food consumption and income. Survey data for 2002–05 provided a total sample of 5,600 households. Household food consumption is evaluated using national Dietary Reference Values recommended by the Department of Health. A multivariate logistic regression model examines the risk of being food and nutrition insecure by individual and household characteristics. The results suggest that certain sections of the older population are significantly more at risk of food insecurity than others: low-income households, the oldest-old, elderly from black and minority ethnic groups, those with a disability and men living alone. Influencing nutrition of elderly people in the home is complex and poses a major challenge to social policy. Coordinated activity at national and local levels will be required to help ensure that some of the most vulnerable members of society achieve healthy balanced diets.
Welfare-to-Work and the Responsiveness of Employment Providers to the Needs of Refugees
Authors: SHUTES ISABEL
Published: October 2010

Improving the responsiveness of service providers to the needs of users has been a principal aim of welfare state reform. In the context of employment provision, this article explores the effects of a job outcome-oriented performance system on the responsiveness of providers to the needs of unemployed refugees. These effects concern, first, the type of refugees to whom providers are responsive and, second, the type of employment assistance provided. It is argued that an emphasis on short-term job outcomes may conflict with supporting refugees who are ‘harder to help’, particularly those with English language needs. It may also conflict with supporting refugees to access employment related to their skills and interests by encouraging providers to focus on placing refugees in ‘easy to access’, low-skilled and low-paid jobs. The effects may, therefore, serve to reproduce labour market inequalities experienced by refugees.
States and the future of global finance
Authors: Helleiner Eric
Published: October 2010

One of the central objectives of the field of international political economy (IPE) in the last 20 years has been to introduce insights from the field of international relations into the study of global economic affairs. Although this effort has been largely successful in the study of international trade, much less attention has been focused on the financial sector of the global economy. Seemingly highly technical and arcane, the study of international finance has been left largely to specialists in international economics, financial journalists, and international financial practitioners.
The possibility of judgement: moralizing and theorizing in international relations
Authors: Hutchings Kimberly
Published: October 2010

International relations is one of the areas of social science which most clearly brings home the tensions involved in the dual relation of inquirer to object of inquiry, as both scientific observer and moral judge, particularly in times of war. As social scientists, we are required to understand and explain our object, as moral beings, we are required to judge or evaluate it. Received wisdom in international relations premises the possibility of the former on its rigid separation from the latter, so that the understanding of, for example, war, is necessarily distinct from the question of the justice or injustice of war. The former is the task of the science of international relations, the latter task is within the province of the moral philosopher or the normative theorist. I will be arguing in this article that this separation of the realms of morality and politics, on which so much social science and moral philosophy is founded, can be traced back to Kant's critical philosophy, and that this separation has problematic consequences for the possibility of both explanation and evaluation in the international sphere. My argument falls into three parts. In the first part, I will put forward a condensed reading of the Kantian critical position and the problems that it poses. In the second and third parts, I will demonstrate how the discussion of international relations both in moral philosophy, and in political theory, is constructed by the Kantian morality/politics dichotomy, and how this limits and distorts both our moralizing and our theorizing. One contention in the third section of the paper will be that even the recent challenges to traditional international political theory, posed by critical theory and post-structuralism, are in danger of slipping back into a reliance on the morality/politics division, in spite of efforts to overcome it.
Evan Luard as a writer on international affairs
Authors: Roberts Adam
Published: October 2010

Evan Luard, a prolific author of works on international relations, died on 8 February 1991 at the age of 64. He had contracted throat cancer in the mid-1980s, and in the Spring of 1990 it has been confirmed that he had lung cancer. His reaction to the grim news was typical of him. Not a religious man, he could realistically and calmly accept death. His major concern was that his written work should survive him. This was a true reflection of the extraordinary part that his writing had in his life.
A rejoinder to Michael Cox
Authors: Heuser Beatrice
Published: October 2010

It is a great thrill to find that someone has picked up the gauntlet thrown into the arena at a time when the Cold War seems to many to be nothing but remote history. Here are my brief answers to Michael Cox's gallant repartee:

Tito did not ‘defect’ he was expelled from the Cominform by Stalin. Moscow did not ‘stay put’ altogether; Tito's expulsion was supposed to be followed by a putsch by the Stalinist faction within the CP of Yugoslavia, which failed, however. Here, as with the Berlin Blockade and later in condoning aggression in Korea (hardly ‘cautious, circumspect’ policy decisions), Stalin made a great mistake.

Western analysts did predict the attack on South Korea. In May 1950 Kennan himself thought Stalin was looking for an area to have a ‘limited war’, and thought Yugoslavia a likely danger area. Mr Kennan's later Memoirs and memory are here, once again, not very reliable.

The Communist victory in China and the Soviet explosion of an atomic device, far from being of little concern to the West, caused Truman to ask for NSC-68 to be written.

The economically weak USSR was far from inferior to the West in manpower, as Dr Cox rightly notes, and it should be remembered that the Red Army had held its own against the formidable Wehrmacht for quite a while. The massive rearmament of the satellites of the USSR only started in 1948. Matthew Evangelista's article only deals with the period up to 1948, and its findings can not be applied to the 1949–1953 period. Satellite rearmament took off in 1950, peaking in 1952. By 1952 Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria alone had as many forces (including small naval and air forces) as the 800,000 Western troops available on the Central Front in 1948.
Research in a global context: a discussion of Toynbee's legacy
Authors: Brewin Christopher
Published: October 2010

Arnold Toynbee was Director of Studies at Chatham House from 1924 until his retirement in 1954. His fame rests on two monumental projects to establish a global perspective. The Annual Survey each year reviewed the world as a geographical whole, selecting four or five themes for special treatment. It was not an edited volume. The Study of History put Western civilization in the context of a historical survey of all previous civilizations. Quite apart from his considerable journalistic output, the thirty-four volumes of the Survey and the ten volumes of the Study show how seriously Toynbee had taken a schoolmaster's injunction ‘first to see your subject or your problem as a whole’. Toynbee believed that a global perspective in terms of both time and space was of practical use.
Secret origins of the state: the structural basis ofraison d'état
Authors: Rosenberg Justin
Published: October 2010

The Italian city-state system occupies a special place in the canon of orthodox international relations. For, as Martin Wight says, ‘it was among the Italian powers that feudal relationships first disappeared and the efficient, self-sufficient secular state was evolved, and the Italian powers invented the diplomatic system’. And of course this was not all they invented. In addition to the earliest modern discourse ofRealpolitik(‘Machiavelli’, Carr tells us, ‘is the first important political realist’), it is in the Italian city-states that we find the first routine use of double-entry book-keeping, of publicly traded state debt, of marine insurance, of sophisticated instruments of credit (such as the bill of exchange), of commercial and banking firms coordinating branch activity across the continent, and so on. Here, too, the citizen militias gave way earliest to the mercenary armies that would later characterize European Absolutism; and within the town walls, a population given over increasingly to commerce and manufacture elaborated new forms of urban class conflict.
Nationalism reconsidered and E. H. Carr
Authors: Gellner Ernest
Published: October 2010

E. H. Carr's Nationalism and After, which first appeared in 1945, receives little note in our recent discussions of nationalism. That it seems to have been forgotten is unjust; t i is certainly wrong on my own part. I know that I read this book in my youth, and that I was greatly impressed by it. What however had impressed me at the time was a kind of general characteristic of the book and of the intellectual orientation of its author: the fact that it was clearly about the real world. I was not at all used to that.
Grand strategy in a post-bipolar world: interpreting the final Soviet response
Authors: Taras Raymond , Zeringue Marshal
Published: October 2010

All great powers have a grand strategy—including great powers on the verge of collapse. Each power develops its code of national security ends and means differently. Among the myriad factors which explain particular grand strategies, the most important consideration is the distribution of power capabilities in the international system. Regardless of each state's desire to operate independently—to be master of its own grand strategy—the structure of world politics offers little latitude to do so. As in the case of decision-making processes in organizations and bureaucracies, the international system imposes its own constraints and incentives on the security goals of individual states. Primarily addressing the international environment, however, systems theory ‘provides criteria for differentiating between stable and unstable political configurations.’ The first objective of this essay is to explore the role of structure as an indirect influence on the behaviour of its constituent actors, in this case, states. ‘The effects [of structure] are produced in two ways: through socialization of the actors and through competition among them.’
The equality of states: contemporary manifestations of an ancient doctrine
Authors: James Alan
Published: October 2010

Whatever else the twentieth century is remembered for, one development which will assuredly rank high on the international list is the huge change which has occurred in the world's political configuration. In one quick but limited burst immediately after the First World War, the multinational empires which lay within Europe were largely recast in the shape of about a dozen successor states. And in the decades following the Second World War a series of more wide-ranging happenings on the other four continents saw the dismantling of colonial empires in a manner and on a scale which was truly heroic. Within one life span, the great European-based imperial edifices, which had hitherto seemed so permanent a part of the firmament, either collapsed or were abandoned. In their wake came getting on for 100 new states, leaving the map makers hard put to keep up with the tumble of events. Only now, as the century enters its final years, is the pace of this historical process relaxing.
Say it with documents: British policy overseas, 1945–1952.
Authors: Deighton Anne
Published: October 2010

It has not been easy for those in the relatively new field of international relations to find an intellectual niche, and a great deal of ink has been spilled in debates about the nature, sources and role of the discipline. The most basic area of the debate is between the largely British-based historical traditions and the North American behaviourist and ‘scientific’ schools. No doubt many international historians have winced at the vague phrase ‘history shows us that...’, which still appears in some textbooks. And no doubt international relations theorists have despaired of international history monographs in which the author appears to fail to draw any general conclusions after years of painstaking study in the archives. In institutions of higher education the professionals continually struggle to get the balance right between the different elements of an international relations degree, and the paucity of departments devoted solely to international relations is witness to the still ambiguous place of the discipline in the academic world. despite unrelenting student demand—but it also shows that the discipline is very much alive, vigorous, developing and innovative. It is also fairly obvious that intellectual disciplines do not have to be mutually exclusive, and perhaps one of the closest, even symbiotic, relationships is the key one between the study of international history and international relations, particularly foreign policy analysis.
The hijacking of a pact: the formation of the Baghdad Pact and Anglo-American tensions in the Middle East, 1955—1958
Authors: Ashton Nigel John
Published: October 2010

The creation of the Baghdad Pact, a regional defence organization linking Britain to Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, in 1955, has been surrounded by historiographical confusion. Much of this is explicable in terms of the impact of rapid international changes on long-term strategy, the importance of which has tended to be neglected by historians of the pact. So, one school of thought focuses on the American promotion of the ‘Northern Tier’ concept during the period 1953–4, and on the British preference for an organization based on her Suez Canal Zone Base in Egypt.1 Applyingthis concept to the year 1955, the Baghdad Pact can become ‘the United States’ final victory over Great Britain during the Cold War, a victory which the Suez Crisis of 1956 served to confirm.
New political thinking reassessed
Authors: Shearman Peter
Published: October 2010

New political thinking on international relations during the Gorbachev era of Soviet politics received considerable attention in the West from government agencies and academics. Much of the analysis was concerned with matters of immediate policy relevance, and the relatively few attempts to assess new thinking in more theoretical terms tended to assume that one state-directed ideology (or official belief system) was now giving way to another in order to justify the radical shifts in policy being dictated by domestic economic factors.
Information needs of health technology assessment units and agencies in Spain
Authors: Galnares-Cordero Lorea , Gutiérrez-Ibarluzea Iñaki
Published: October 2010

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the information needs of Spanish health technology assessment (HTA) agencies and units to facilitate access to the resources they require to substantiate their reports.

Methods: A questionnaire was designed and distributed among HTA bodies to ascertain the actual situation of subscriptions to information resources and what information specialists from these bodies considered would be the ideal subscription situation. Their information needs were then studied, and the resources that best met these needs were put forward. Following this definition, a subscriptions policy was adopted with suppliers and publishers.

Results: The survey showed that HTA bodies share a minimum of core subscriptions that includes open sources (MEDLINE, DARE) and sources that the government subscribes to for the health community (ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library Plus). There was no common approach to determining which databases to subscribe to (UpToDate, EMBASE, Ovid EBMR, CINAHL, or ECRI). After identifying the information needs, a list of resources was proposed that would best cover these needs and, of these, subscription to the following was proposed: Scopus, Ovid EBMR, Clinical Evidence, DynaMed, ECRI, and Hayes.

Conclusions: There are differences in the way that HTA agencies and units access the different resources of biomedical information. Combined subscription to several resources for documentation services was suggested as a way of resolving these differences.
Information on ethical issues in health technology assessment: How and where to find them
Authors: Droste Sigrid , Dintsios Charalabos-Markos , Gerber Andreas
Published: October 2010

Background: Comprehensive health technology assessments (HTAs) include thorough reflections on ethical issues associated with health technologies, their use, and value-based decisions in the assessment process. As methods of information retrieval for effectiveness assessments are not applicable to information retrieval on ethical issues, a specific methodological approach is necessary.

Objectives: In the absence of existing adapted methods, our objective was to develop a methodological approach for the systematic retrieval of information on ethical issues related to health technologies.

Method and Results: A literature search was conducted to verify the non-existence of published comprehensive methodological approaches for the information retrieval on ethical issues for HTAs, and resulted in no hits. We, therefore, developed a step-by-step workflow following the workflow of information retrieval for effectiveness assessments: Step 1: Translation of the search question using the PICO scheme and additional components. Step 2: Concept building by modeling and linking search components. Step 3: Identification of synonyms in all relevant languages. Step 4: Selection of relevant information sources. Step 5: Design of search strategies for bibliographic databases. Step 6: Execution of search strategies and information seeking, including hand-searching. Step 7: Saving of retrieval results and standardized reporting of the process and results. Step 8: Final quality check and calculation of precision and recall.

Conclusions: Systematic searching for information on ethical issues related to health technologies can be performed following the common retrieval workflow for effectiveness assessments, but should be performed separately applying adapted procedures and search terms on ethical issues relevant to the research question.
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination databases: Value, content, and developments
Authors: Booth Alison M. , Wright Kath E. , Outhwaite Helen
Published: October 2010

Background: The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) funded through the United Kingdom National Institute for Health Research undertakes systematic reviews evaluating the research evidence on health and public health questions of national and international importance. CRD is involved in methods research and produces internationally accepted guidelines for undertaking systematic reviews. A core product of the Centre are the CRD databases; a key resource for health professionals, policy makers, and researchers around the world. Research evidence evaluating the effects and cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions is growing year on year, and can be difficult and time consuming to identify and appraise. The databases assist decision makers by systematically identifying and critically describing systematic reviews and economic evaluations, appraising their quality and highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses; and providing a comprehensive listing of ongoing and published health technology assessments.

Methods and Results: This article briefly outlines the processes behind each of the three databases, gives details of the records, the information they contain and the value added by CRD. An overview of the new public interface for the CRD databases to be launched later this year is given. Improvements and innovations to supplement existing functions are listed, including enhanced and new search options, the addition of quick links to relevant material from within individual records, an integrated PubMed search and the ability to select personal preferences.

Conclusions: CRD's databases provide free access to an important knowledge base and are used widely to underpin evidence informed healthcare decisions in the United Kingdom and internationally.
Classification of evidence in decision-analytic models of cost-effectiveness: A content analysis of published reports
Authors: Paisley Suzy
Published: October 2010

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess systematically the scope of evidence and purposes for which evidence is used in decision-analytic models of cost-effectiveness and to assess the implications for search methods.

Methods: A content analysis of published reports of models was undertaken. Details of cited sources were extracted and categorized according to three dimensions; type of information provided by the evidence, type of source from which the evidence was drawn and type of modeling activity supported by the evidence. The analysis was used to generate a classification of evidence. Relationships within and between the categories within the classification were sought and the implications for searching considered.

Results: The classification generated fourteen types of information, seven types of sources of evidence and five modeling activities supported by evidence. A broad range of evidence was identified drawn from a diverse range of sources including both research-based and non–research-based sources. The use of evidence was not restricted to the population of model parameters but was used to inform the development of the modeling framework and to justify the analytical and methodological approach.

Conclusions: Decision-analytic models use evidence to support all aspects of model development. The classification of evidence defines in depth the role of evidence in modeling. It can be used to inform the systematic identification of evidence.
Longitudinal strain and strain rate by tissue Doppler are more sensitive indices than fractional shortening for assessing the reduced myocardial function in asphyxiated neonates
Authors: Nestaas Eirik , Støylen Asbjørn , Brunvand Leif , Fugelseth Drude
Published: October 2010

The function of the heart was studied in 20 asphyxiated term neonates by measuring the longitudinal peak systolic strain and peak systolic strain rate by tissue Doppler in 18 segments of the heart on days 1, 2, and 3 of life. The fractional shortening was assessed at each examination as well. Measurements were compared against measurements in 48 healthy term neonates examined by the same protocol. The function of the heart was lower in the asphyxiated neonates – peak systolic strain (mean (95% confidence interval) −19.4% (−20.4, −18.5), peak systolic strain rate −1.65 (−1.74, −1.56) per second) than in the healthy term neonates (peak systolic strain −21.7% (−22.3, −21.0), peak systolic strain rate −1.78 (−1.84, −1.74) per second; p < 0.001). Fractional shortening was similar in the asphyxiated (29.2% (26.8, 31.5)) and healthy term neonates (29.0% (27.9, 30.1); p = 0.874). The peak systolic strain differed significantly between the asphyxiated and healthy term neonates for the left basal and right basal groups of segments (p < 0.05) but not for the left apical, right apical, septum apical, or septum basal groups of segments. The peak systolic strain rate differed significantly only for the septum apical group of segments. The differences were largest on the second day of life. Measurements were similar in asphyxiated neonates with elevated and normal cardiac troponin T levels. The peak systolic strain and strain rate were in this study more sensitive indices than fractional shortening for assessing the reduced myocardial function in asphyxiated term neonates.
Ten-year experience with surgical treatment of adults with congenital cardiac disease
Authors: Wauthy Pierre , Massaut Jacques , Sanoussi Ahmed , Demanet Hélène , Morissens Marielle , Damry Nasroolla , Dessy Hughes , Malekzadeh-Milani Sophie G. , Deuvaert Frank E.
Published: October 2010

The number of adults with congenital cardiac disease continues to increase, and adult patients are now more numerous than paediatric patients. We sought to identify risk factors for perioperative death and report our results with surgical management of adult patients with congenital cardiac disease. We retrospectively analysed in-hospital data for 244 consecutive adult patients who underwent surgical treatment of congenital cardiac disease in our centre between January, 1998 and December, 2007. The mean patient age was 27.2 plus or minus 11.9 years, 29% were in functional class III or IV, and 25% were cyanosed. Of the patients, half were operated on for the first time. A total of 61% of patients underwent curative operations, 36% a reoperation after curative treatment, and 3% a palliative operation. Overall mortality was 4.9%. Predictive factors for hospital death were functional class, cyanosis, non-sinus rhythm, a history of only palliative previous operation(s), and an indication for palliative treatment. Functional class, cyanosis, type of initial congenital cardiac disease (single ventricle and double-outlet right ventricle), and only palliative previous operation were risk factors for prolonged intensive care stay (more than 48 hours). The surgical management of adult patients with congenital cardiac disease has improved during recent decades. These generally young patients, with a complex pathology, today present a low post-operative morbidity and mortality. Patients having undergone palliative surgery and reaching adulthood without curative treatment present with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Univentricular hearts and double-outlet right ventricles were associated with the highest morbidity.
Ready-meal consumption: associations with weight status and cooking skills
Authors: van der Horst Klazine , Brunner Thomas A , Siegrist Michael
Published: October 2010

Objective

The ready-meal market has grown considerably in recent years. At the same time, a degradation of traditional cooking skills has been observed. Ready meals are often rich in energy, fat and sugar and lack vegetables; however, studies investigating associations between ready-meal consumption, overweight and cooking skills are lacking. The present study examines whether demographic factors, overweight, beliefs about the nutritional value and taste of ready meals and cooking skills are associated with ready-meal consumption.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting

Ready-meal consumption, weight status, cooking skills, beliefs about the taste and nutritional value of ready meals and demographic variables were assessed with self-administered questionnaires. Data were analysed with one-way ANOVA and multiple regression analysis.

Subjects

A total of 1017 adults from the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Results

Men reported being more positive about ready meals and having fewer cooking skills compared with women. Overweight adults (BMI > 25 kg/m2) were more positive about nutrients and vitamins in ready meals compared with normal-weight adults. Ready-meal consumption was associated with cooking skills (β= −0·192), age (β=− 0·228), overweight (β= 0·129), nutritional value (β= −0·131), taste (β= −0·126), working status (β= 0·096) and gender (β= 0·084).

Conclusions

Cooking skills were identified as a strong predictor of ready-meal consumption. The importance of cooking skills as a barrier to healthy eating should be explored, as it is plausible that cooking skills will further decrease in the future. Next, the study provided evidence for an association between ready-meal consumption and overweight. Further research should examine the importance of ready meals for the overweight epidemic.
Genetic diversity and traditional uses of wild apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) in high-altitude north-western Himalayas of India
Authors: Malik S. K. , Chaudhury Rekha , Dhariwal O. P. , Mir Salim
Published: October 2010

Wild apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) is an economically important fruit crop for folk and marginal farmers and local tribal populations in the high-altitude difficult terrains of north-western Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh states of India. This is a multi-purpose fruit tree species which, besides its fresh edible fruits, is preserved for use in diverse ways depending upon the type of cultivar. Seed kernel of apricot is used as edible nut and for the production of edible oil. In the present study, 147 diverse accessions of wild and cultivated apricot belonging to 28 folk cultivars were collected and characterized for fruit, stone and kernel characters. Indigenous traditional uses and importance of fruits and kernels of these folk cultivars have been recorded and described. Promising table-type cultivars identified were Margulam, Lodi, Shakarpara, Narmo and Khurmani, while drying-type cultivars were Halman, Shakarpara, Rakchey Karpo and Tachu. Cultivars Chuli and Shadi were the most common types and widely distributed with vast variability, while other cultivars had localized presence. Some of these folk cultivars have high potential for promotion as commercial cultivars of apricot in this high-altitude area basically depending upon traditional production system. Genetic resource management including collection, characterization and documentation of existing variability of apricot is of immense importance for safe conservation and commercialization of potential cultivars to enhance farmer's livelihood in this fragile agroecosystem.
Summertime columnar content of atmospheric water vapor from ground‐based Sun‐sky radiometer measurements through a new in situ procedure
Authors: Campanelli M. , Lupi A. , Nakajima T. , Malvestuto V. , Tomasi C. , Estellés V.
Published: October 2010

A new in situ technique for the retrieval of atmospheric water vapor content (i.e., precipitable water content) from Sun photometric direct solar irradiance measurements, taken at the 940 nm wavelength during clear‐sky conditions, is presented. The procedure is applied to summer data recorded in 2007, 2008, and 2009 with a Sun‐sky radiometer at the San Pietro Capofiume station in the Po valley, Italy. It is a preliminary development of the retrieval procedure providing the columnar water vapor content from measurements performed with PREDE Sun‐sky radiometers. The technique brings improvement and innovation by retrieving the best values of constants (a and b), characterizing atmospheric water vapor transmittance while reducing simulation errors, and potentially contains information on seasonal changes in vertical profiles of temperature, air pressure, and moisture at measurement sites. Initially, the in situ procedure needs at least 1 week of independent measurements of precipitable water content taken over a range of solar zenith angles simultaneously with radiometric measurements, but it was also tested for cases in which independent measurements are not available. In the latter, the procedure was started using monthly precipitable water content estimates derived from surface observations of relative humidity, pressure, and temperature. Time patterns and absolute values of precipitable water content retrieved using the in situ procedure were in good agreement with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer retrievals and radiosonde measurements, with correlation coefficients of 0.8–0.9 and low percentage median differences of 7%–13%.
21st century trends in Antarctic temperature and polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) area in the GEOS chemistry‐climate model
Authors: Hurwitz M. M. , Newman P. A.
Published: October 2010

This study examines trends in Antarctic temperature and APSC, a temperature proxy for the area of polar stratospheric clouds, in an ensemble of Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) chemistry‐climate model (CCM) simulations of the 21st century. A selection of greenhouse gas, ozone‐depleting substance, and sea surface temperature scenarios is used to test the trend sensitivity to these parameters. One scenario is used to compare temperature trends in two versions of the GEOS CCM. An extended austral winter season is examined in detail. In May, June, and July, the expected future increase in CO2‐related radiative cooling drives temperature trends in the Antarctic lower stratosphere. At 50 hPa, a 1–3 K cooling is expected between 2000 and 2100. Ozone levels increase, despite this robust cooling signal and the consequent increase in APSC, suggesting the enhancement of stratospheric transport in future. In the lower stratosphere, the choice of climate change scenarios does not affect the magnitude of the early winter cooling. Midwinter temperature trends are generally small. In October, APSC trends have the same sign as the prescribed halogen trends. That is, there are negative APSC trends in “realistic future” simulations, where halogen loading decreases in accordance with the Montreal Protocol and CO2 continues to increase. In these simulations, the speed of ozone recovery is not influenced by either the choice of sea surface temperature and greenhouse gas scenarios or by the model version.
Application of the atmospheric Lagrangian particle dispersion model MLDP0 to the 2008 eruptions of Okmok and Kasatochi volcanoes
Authors: D'Amours Réal , Malo Alain , Servranckx René , Bensimon Dov , Trudel Serge , Gauthier‐Bilodeau Jean‐Philippe
Published: October 2010

The atmospheric transport and dispersion model Modèle Lagrangien de Dispersion de Particules d'ordre zéro (MLDP0) has been in use at the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) for several years. The model is employed to support environmental emergency response activities, in the context of CMC's national and international mandates. MLDP0 is a Lagrangian model in which diffusion is modeled according to a random displacement equation (RDE). MLDP0 is an off‐line model and is driven with meteorological fields from CMC's Numerical Weather Analysis and Prediction (NWP) system. MLDP0 can be executed in forward and inverse modes. During the summer of 2008, the important eruptions at Okmok and Kasatochi, in the Aleutians, were cause of considerable concern to aviation, and the model was used extensively to support the Montreal Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC). Qualitative comparisons of satellite imagery and MLDP0 outputs show that the model accurately simulated the behavior of volcanic plumes. Inverse simulations based on SO2 observations of the Okmok plume, at the Washington State University campus in Pullman, Washington, yield emission estimates that agree well with those derived from AURA/OMI. Forward simulations using AURA/OMI SO2 emission estimates for the Kasatochi eruption of 7 August also compare quite well quantitatively with observations from Environment Canada's Brewer spectrophotometers in Toronto, as well as with concentration maps reconstructed from AURA/OMI scans.
Clear and cloudy sky infrared brightness temperature assimilation using an ensemble Kalman filter
Authors: Otkin Jason A.
Published: October 2010

A regional‐scale Observation System Simulation Experiment was used to examine how the assimilation of window infrared brightness temperatures for both clear‐sky and cloudy sky conditions impacts the accuracy of atmospheric analyses at convection‐permitting scales when using an ensemble Kalman filter data assimilation system. The case study tracked the evolution of a large extratropical cyclone and associated cloud features across the central United States during 4–5 June 2005. Overall, the assimilation results revealed that the infrared brightness temperatures had a large positive impact on the simulated cloud field with the best results achieved when both clear‐sky and cloudy sky observations were assimilated. The infrared brightness temperatures substantially reduced the bias and root mean square error in the cloud top pressure, cloud water path, 6.95 and 11.2 μm brightness temperatures, and vertical profiles of cloud condensate. Inspection of the thermodynamic variable statistics showed that the assimilation of conventional surface and upper‐air observations produced more accurate temperature and wind analyses. When both cloud‐affected and thermodynamic variables are considered, however, the best analysis was achieved when conventional observations and clear‐sky and cloudy sky 8.5 μm brightness temperatures were assimilated simultaneously.