bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Route of drug use and its implications for drug effect, risk of dependence and health consequences
Authors: STRANG JOHN , BEARN JENNY , FARRELL MICHAEL , FINCH EMILY , GOSSOP MICHAEL , GRIFFITHS PAUL , MARSDEN JOHN , WOLFF KIM
Published: October 2005

Route of administration has a profound, but often overlooked, influence on the actual experience of the drug use itself, on the risk of resulting development of dependence, and on the nature of the harms to which drug users are exposing themselves. These three areas are reviewed. The influence of route of administration on drug effect is considered first with regard to overall effectiveness of absorption, and also with regard to speed of onset of effect. The implications for risk of dependence cover animal and human laboratory studies of reinforcement schedules, epidemiological studies, the attitudes of drug users themselves to the different routes of possible drug use and associated dependence risk and the postulated influences on progression to dependence. Finally, the relationship between route of drug use and health sequelae is explored for the three most widely used routes of administration of illicit drugs—snorting, smoking and injecting.
Women injecting drug users in London: the extent and nature of their contact with drug and health services
Authors: HUNTER GILLIAN M. , JUDD ALI
Published: October 2005

Improved access to drug treatment and other health services remains central to HIV prevention and other harm reduction strategies among injecting drug users (IDUs) in the UK. Efforts have therefore been focused upon making such services more accessible and ‘user friendly’. Women who use drugs are considered a ‘hard to reach’ population. This is largely based on data from a variety of official sources which have suggested that women are under‐represented as clients of drug services. While current literature provides numerous explanations for this, there have been few empirical studies exploring the nature and extent of women's contact with such services. This paper presents findings from an European Community funded survey of women IDUs in London. Data from this survey suggest that women IDUs have surprisingly high levels of contact with a range of specialist and generic health services in relation to their drug use.
Cohort trends in age of initiation to heroin use
Authors: LYNSKEY MICHAEL T. , HALL WAYNE
Published: October 2005

This paper examines gender differences and trends over time in the age of initiation to heroin use. Data from two large surveys: the Sydney component of the ANAIDUS, conducted in 1989, and the ASHIDU, conducted in 1994, were used to examine this issue. Together, these studies contained information on 1,292 individuals who identified themselves as heroin users. Results indicated that, while there were no significant gender differences in age of initiation to heroin use, there was a significant (p< 0.001) time trend in the mean age at which heroin was first used. Specifically, the mean age of first heroin use among individuals born during the interval 1940–1949 was 20.5 years while among those born during 1970–1979 the mean age of first heroin use was 16.5 years. These findings were confirmed by analyses of the National Household Survey. Further analysis of the ASHIDU data indicated that younger age of initiation to heroin use was associated with polydrug use, overdose and crime after the effects of duration of heroin use had been statistically controlled. These findings suggest that there has been both an increase in the willingness of young people to experiment with heroin and an increased availability of the drug over this time. In combination with evidence that there has been an increase in the amount of heroin being imported into Australia, and an increased demand for treatment for opiate dependence, these data suggest that Australia is experiencing an increase in the use of heroin, particularly among youth.
Survey of amphetamine prescribing in England and Wales
Authors: BRADBEER T. M. , FLEMING P. M. , CHARLTON P. , CRICHTON J. S.
Published: October 2005

A survey was undertaken of senior medical specialists in drug dependence in England and Wales, enquiring about their attitudes and practices concerning the prescription of amphetamines to dependent users. Of the 149 who replied, 60% saw a role for amphetamine prescribing, with 46% currently doing so. Of those who did not prescribe, 32% would like to have done so. Respondents often did not know if general practitioners in their area were prescribing amphetamines. Many could not estimate the percentage of injecting amphetamine users in their area. There was a wide range in the dosage of amphetamine prescribed with a mean maximum of 66 mg. There was agreement about entry criteria for prescribing programmes and also on ways of monitoring those receiving amphetamine. Our results indicate that amphetamine prescribing is widespread in England and Wales although there is little scientific evidence for its efficacy. We have developed some guidelines for good practice, drawing on our own and others' experience.
The benefit of alcohol in moderation
Authors: DOLL RICHARD
Published: October 2005

Small amounts of alcohol were held to be beneficial in the 19th century, but the idea died out. Scientific evidence that moderate amounts prolonged life, published in 1926, was ignored. Further evidence accumulated from the early 1950s but the belief that alcohol was only harmful had become so ingrained that the idea has been taken seriously only since the early 1980s. Now, the evidence that small amounts reduce the risk of vascular disease by about a third and reduce total mortality in middle and old age is massive. Alternative explanations for the observed inverse relationships have been ruled out and beneficial effects have been shown to be biologically plausible. The reduction in mortality is mainly attributable to ischaemic heart disease and cerebral thrombosis, but some other diseases may also contribute to it. The increasing mortality with larger amounts is attributable to many causes that have long been recognized. The optimum level varies with sex and age and may be zero under about age 45 years. The benefit is directly due to ethanol and the extra benefit attributed to wine is due to the pattern of drinking. Public policy needs to take account of medical and social effects other than mortality and will vary in different communities depending on background patterns of injury and disease.
Drinking patterns and alcohol‐related social problems: frameworks for analysis in developing societies
Authors: ROOM ROBIN
Published: October 2005

The relation of alcohol to social and casualty problems is considered, with particular attention to patterns in developing societies. Potential problems for the drinker include accidental and intentional injuries; problems in major social roles: in the family, at work and in public roles; and problems from the reaction of others to the drinking. Potential problems for those in the drinker's environment include mental health problems, injuries and social problems from role failure. Potential problems for a society or collectivity include social disintegration, and aggregate‐level equivalents of the problems for the drinker and those around the drinker. Cultures vary in the dominant type of drinking pattern and, accordingly, in the extent and mixture of alcohol‐related social and casualty problems. A series of cultural factors influencing the relation between drinking patterns and problems are considered.
Alcohol intoxication and school dropout
Authors: WICHSTRØM LARS
Published: October 2005

The aim of the study was to investigate if alcohol intoxications predict dropout from senior high school over and beyond the effect of alcohol consumption and to seek out potential confounding or mediating mechanisms in the form of a longitudinal cohort‐sequential survey. The participants were a nationally representative sample of Norwegian junior and senior high school students (n = 5308). Measures used were of alcohol consumption, number of intoxications, school dropout, conduct problems, drug use, friends' problem behaviour, truancy, attitude to school, educational aspirations, grades, homework, youth centrism, leisure time activities, religiosity, depression, academic self‐concept, attachment to parents. Intoxications did override the effect of alcohol consumption and predicted dropout. This effect was confounded by parental attachment, whereas truancy and associating with peers high in problem behaviour mediated the effect of intoxications. Frequent alcohol intoxications increase the risk for school dropout by means of increased truancy and differential association with counternormative peers.
Prescription of diamorphine, dipipanone and cocaine in England and Wales
Authors: SELL LOUISE , FARRELL MICHAEL , ROBSON PHILIP
Published: October 2005

The vast majority of substitute prescribing to opiate addicts in England and Wales is of oral methadone [1]. The prescription of diamorphine, dipipanone and cocaine to addicts is allowed subject to the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act. Prescription of these drugs has aroused international interest and controversy in the United Kingdom although research is scanty [2,3]. This report is a description of the current attitudes about, and practice of, prescribing diamorphine, dipipanone and cocaine by medical practitioners in the addiction field in England and Wales. A questionnaire was devised and sent to drug services in England and Wales which provided a prescribing service. Among respondents who reported that they currently hold a licence for heroin, dipipanone or cocaine, the number of patients treated by each doctor varied widely; from a handful of patients to 100 heroin patients. Dosage currently used ranged from a minimum of 10 mg to a maximum of 1000 mg daily for heroin. Doses of dipipanone were lower. More respondents thought that heroin and dipipanone were clinically justified in some situations than thought that they should never be prescribed, while the opinions were reversed in the case of cocaine.
Personality disorder and drug use: a review
Authors: SEIVEWRIGHT NICHOLAS , DALY CHRISTOPHER
Published: October 2005

The concept of personality disorder (PD) is more relevant in the clinical management of drug users than other approaches to personality assessment. A problem in diagnosis is separating behaviours inherent in the activity of drug misuse from true evidence of PD, especially the anti‐social type (ASPD), and rating instruments vary in their ability to do this. Nevertheless, the available evidence suggests that approximately two‐thirds of drug users in treatment have PD, with ASPD the most common. Studies have mainly been in opiate users, while the prevalence of PD may be lower across the range of drugs, and in non‐treatment settings. PD has been found to be associated with a range of complications and adverse outcomes in drug use, including psychiatric problems, poor social functioning, dropout from treatment, and increased HIV risk behaviours and infection rates. Outcomes for ASPD individuals in methadone maintenance treatment appear reasonable, however, and it may be that early recourse to such treatment is the most practical option for many PD opiate users, a potential criticism being that this does not directly address the PD problems.
Alcohol and suicide in Switzerland—an aggregate‐level analysis
Authors: GMEL GERHARD , REHM JÜRGEN , GHAZINOURI AMIR
Published: October 2005

At the aggregate‐data level, time‐series analysis of annual data for the period 1950–90 gives little support for a relation between alcohol consumption and suicide in Switzerland. Input series in the analysis were per capita consumption and rates of unemployment and divorce. Output series were gender‐specific and age‐adjusted suicide rates. Different time‐series techniques were used to assure stationarity and to avoid spurious correlation because of common trends. The Box‐Jenkins approach on differenced data was compared with simultaneous equation modelling, where time trends were modeled by means of dummy variables. The effects were weak and unstable for different methods. The advantage of simultaneous equation models is discussed. Furthermore, a single “harmonic” long‐term wave explained more of the variance in the suicide rates than any input variable examined. Its implication for a “natural suicide rate” is considered.
Support for harm‐reduction among staff of specialized addiction treatment services in Ontario, Canada
Authors: OGBORNE ALAN C. , BIRCHMORE‐TIMNEY CAROL
Published: October 2005

In a mail survey of staff of specialized addiction treatment services in Ontario, respondents from different types of services varied in their level of support for a variety of harm reduction initiatives. Across all types of services support was common for needle exchange services (82–95% in favour) and for short‐term non‐abstinence goals for clients with alcohol or drug problems (51–98% in favour). However, mean ratings for the effectiveness of methadone maintenance were negative or near zero, and only in assessment/referral and out‐patient samples did the majority (61% in each case) have a positive view of methadone maintenance programmes. Only a minority of respondents (15% to 35%) indicated support for the prescription of heroin to heroin addicts. In multivariate analyses, support for harm‐reduction strategies was found to be positively related to belief in the effectiveness of pharmacological and cognitive‐behavioural interventions and working in an out‐patient treatment service, and negatively related to belief in interventions based on the disease model.
Prescribing Heroin
Authors: Carnwath Tom
Published: October 2005

Recent UK guidelines support the prescription of injectable heroin and methadone for opiate dependence, but many doctors disagree. Heroin has been prescribed in England for almost a hundred years, and the “British system” was once the subject of international curiosity. Since 1965, a prescriber licensing system has led to a great reduction in the proportion of opiate addicts treated with heroin. Recent trials in Switzerland and the Netherlands have prompted a review of British practice. It will probably remain somewhat different from continental practice, particularly with respect to long‐term supervised injecting, but without adequate funding it may disappear altogether.
Benefits of and Barriers to Providing Smoking Treatment in Methadone Clinics: Findings from a National Study
Authors: McCool Robert Mark , Richter Kimber Paschall , Choi Won S.
Published: October 2005

Although smoking increases morbidity and mortality among patients in addictions clinics, few clinics provide routine smoking treatment. To understand staff attitudes toward treatment, we surveyed leaders of outpatient methadone treatment clinics nationwide. Our response rate was 59% (408/697). Most clinic leaders thought they should provide smoking treatment (76%) or refer patients for care (91%); however, fewer than half of these had provided treatment in the month prior to the survey. Leaders said smoking treatment would benefit their clinics, patients and communities, but said barriers—primarily insufficient staff training—‐prevented routine care. Addressing these barriers could increase smoking treatment in addictions clinics and save lives.
Clinical Characterization of Use of Acamprosate and Naltrexone: Data from an Addiction Center in India
Authors: Basu Debasish , Jhirwal Om Prakash , Mattoo Surendra K.
Published: October 2005

There are several queries on the effectiveness of acamprosate in pharmacoprophylaxis of alcohol dependence despite studies conducted over the last decade regarding its efficacy. In this retrospective chart review, 62 patients with ICD‐10‐diagnosed alcohol dependence who received treatment from an addiction center in India were studied to compare those on acamprosate or naltrexone versus those on no prophylactic drugs with regard to their demographic and clinical background and short‐term outcome after treatment. Compared to those on naltrexone or no drugs, significantly more patients on acamprosate came from higher socioeconomic strata and had fewer family / marital complications and less comorbid use of opioids and other drugs; however, they also had more liver function impairment and alcoholic liver disease and a higher average duration of relapse in the past (p < 0.05 or less in each case). The group on no drugs had significantly less family / social support (p = 0.006) and poorer motivation rating (p < 0.001) than the other two groups on drugs. Intent‐to‐treat analysis showed that there was a non‐significant trend of a higher proportion of acamprosate patients remaining abstinent (77%) than those on naltrexone (36%) or no drug (50%). At follow‐up, acamprosate patients had significantly better functioning in several areas. However, because many of the baseline patient characteristics might themselves have influenced the outcome, no conclusion should be drawn from this data regarding the efficacy of the drug. Logistic regression analysis showed that both family/social support and acamprosate appeared to contribute modestly toward explaining the variance in short‐term outcome.
Resistance of grammatical impairment to computerized comprehension training in children with specific and non‐specific language impairments
Authors: Bishop D. V. M. , Adams C. V. , Rosen S.
Published: October 2005

Background: Receptive language impairments in school‐age children have a poor prognosis, yet there is a dearth of research on effective interventions.

Aims: Children's responses to a computerized grammatical training program were evaluated to consider whether repeated responding to spoken sentences with variable semantic content and the same syntactic structure would lead to consistent and fluent comprehension.

Methods & Procedures: Children with receptive language impairments aged from 8 to 13 years were randomly assigned to three groups: Group S (n= 12) responded to reversible sentences in a computerized game, using speech stimuli with pauses before critical phrases. Group M (n= 12) had the same stimuli acoustically modified to lengthen and amplify dynamic portions of the signal. Group U (n= 9) was an untrained control group. On average, children in groups S and M completed over 1000 training trials, focusing on training comprehension of reversible sentences.

Outcomes & Results: Although responses speeded up over the course of training, and most children performed well above chance, accuracy typically remained below 95% correct for constructions such as above/below and reversible active/passive. Trained groups did not differ from untrained children on language or auditory outcomes. There was no evidence that acoustically modified speech input enhanced comprehension.

Conclusions: Rote training of comprehension of reversible sentences does not seem to be an effective approach to remediating such problems. For most children, the pattern of performance suggested that the problem was not a lack of syntactic knowledge, bur rather limited processing capacity that led to failures of on‐line computation of meaning.
Assessing attitude: The case of health-enhancing physical activity
Authors: Marttila Jukka , Nupponen Ritva
Published: October 2005

Objectives: The basic phases of constructing compact questionnaire scales for health-promotion interventions are demonstrated in the case of attitudes towards two modes of physical activity, outdoor aerobic exercise (OAE) and everyday commuting activity (ECA). The scales were to show good psychometric properties and to provide adequate indicators of attitude. Methods: Behaviours and criteria were specified for both OAE and ECA. The items describing the emotional (affect) and cognitive (outcome-expectations) aspects of attitude towards OAE and ECA behaviours were selected on the basis of a pilot study. The scales under development were used in a Finnish population survey on health, personal resources and physical activity (n=1,516). Item analyses were completed for purposes of refining the scale; principal component analyses and factor analyses were used to establish the dimensional structure of the scales. Evidence of discriminatory validity was provided by comparing the scale scores of the different groups of respondents with regular, with subcriterion, and without any OAE and ECA behaviours, respectively. Results: The purported psychometric properties were met in the case of the affective and, less obviously, the positive outcome-expectation scales. The negative expectation scales need to be reconstructed with additional items. Conclusions: The psychometric properties of the affective scales and the positive expectation scales allow conclusions to be drawn regarding group differences in attitudes towards OAE or ECA behaviours. These scales are ready to be cross-validated in a new sample. Test—retest reliability should also be established.
Can chronic muscular pain be understood?
Authors: Steihaug Sissel
Published: October 2005

Chronic muscular pain is often regarded as incomprehensible or indefinable when the doctor ``can't find anything'' on examination. However, the physiotherapist often detects physical signs in these patients: changes in posture, holding breath, tense and hard musculature, and poor balance. The findings are dependent on what is being sought. The view of the body as ambiguous, as something a person has and is, can shed light on the way life has left its traces in the body, such as changes in posture and poor balance. In this article it will be argued that combining a physiotherapeutic, a phenomenological, and a biological perspective can make chronic muscular pain more comprehensible. Chronic muscular pain can be perceived not as a sign representing a symbol of underlying factors but rather as a sign understood as an expression of the bodily state.
Plasma Membrane Organization Is Essential for Balancing Competing Pseudopod- and Uropod-promoting Signals during Neutrophil Polarization and Migration
Authors: Bodin Stéphane , Welch Matthew D.
Published: October 2005

Exposure of neutrophils to chemoattractant induces cell polarization and migration. These behaviors require the asymmetric activation of distinct signaling pathways and cytoskeletal elements in the protruding pseudopod at the front of cells and the retracting uropod at the rear. An important outstanding question is, how does the organization of the plasma membrane participate in establishing asymmetry during polarization and migration? To answer this question, we investigated the function of cholesterol, a lipid known to influence membrane organization. Using controlled cholesterol depletion, we found that a cholesterol-dependent membrane organization enabled cell polarization and migration by promoting uropod function and suppressing ectopic pseudopod formation. At a mechanistic level, we showed that cholesterol was directly required for suppressing inappropriate activation of the pseudopod-promoting Gi/PI3-kinase signaling pathway. Furthermore, cholesterol was required for dampening Gi-dependent negative feedback on the RhoA signaling pathway, thus enabling RhoA activation and uropod function. Our findings suggest a model in which a cholesterol-dependent membrane organization plays an essential role in the establishment of cellular asymmetry by balancing the activation and segregating the localization of competing pseudopod- and uropod-inducing signaling pathways during neutrophil polarization and migration.
TheAspergillus fumigatusStuA Protein Governs the Up-Regulation of a Discrete Transcriptional Program during the Acquisition of Developmental Competence
Authors: Sheppard Donald C. , Doedt Thomas , Chiang Lisa Y. , Kim H. Stanley , Chen Dan , Nierman William C. , Filler Scott G.
Published: October 2005

Members of the Asm1p, Phd1p, Sok2p, Efg1p, and StuAp (APSES) family of fungal proteins regulate morphogenesis and virulence in ascomycetes. We cloned the Aspergillus fumigatus APSES gene encoding StuAp and demonstrated that stuA transcription is markedly up-regulated after the acquisition of developmental competence. A. fumigatus ΔstuA mutants were impaired in their ability to undergo asexual reproduction. Conidiophore morphology was markedly abnormal, and only small numbers of dysmorphic conidia were produced, which exhibited precocious germination. Whole genome transcriptional analysis during the onset of developmental competence was performed and identified a subset of developmentally regulated genes that were stuA dependent, including a cluster of putative secondary metabolite biosynthesis genes, genes encoding proteins implicated in the regulation of morphogenesis, and genes encoding allergens and other antigenic proteins. Additionally, hyphae of the ΔstuA mutant displayed reduced expression of the catalase gene CAT1 and were hypersusceptible to hydrogen peroxide.
De Novo Kinetochore Assembly Requires the Centromeric Histone H3 Variant
Authors: Collins Kimberly A. , Castillo Andrea R. , Tatsutani Sean Y. , Biggins Sue
Published: October 2005

Kinetochores mediate chromosome attachment to the mitotic spindle to ensure accurate chromosome segregation. Budding yeast is an excellent organism for kinetochore assembly studies because it has a simple defined centromere sequence responsible for the localization of >65 proteins. In addition, yeast is the only organism where a conditional centromere is available to allow studies of de novo kinetochore assembly. Using a conditional centromere, we found that yeast kinetochore assembly is not temporally restricted and can occur in both G1phase and prometaphase. We performed the first investigation of kinetochore assembly in the absence of the centromeric histone H3 variant Cse4 and found that all proteins tested depend on Cse4 to localize. Consistent with this observation, Cse4-depleted cells had severe chromosome segregation defects. We therefore propose that yeast kinetochore assembly requires both centromeric DNA specificity and centromeric chromatin.
Electrical stimulation of unloaded muscles causes cardiovascular exercise by increasing oxygen demand
Authors: Banerjee Prithwish , Clark Andrew , Witte Klaus , Crowe Louis , Caulfield Brian
Published: October 2005

Background

The development of new strategies to encourage increased levels of physical activity can help to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease. A new system of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) has been developed that attempts to cause an increase in energy expenditure by mimicking the action of shivering in the body. The purpose of this study was to show that this form of EMS is capable of eliciting a cardiovascular exercise response in healthy adults.

Design

An observational study.

Methods

Ten healthy volunteers completed a maximal treadmill test and four EMS sessions using a hand-held EMS device that delivered current to the body via five silicone rubber electrodes on each leg. At each session subjects completed 3 min stimulation at each of four stimulation outputs (10, 20, 30 and 40% of maximum output) while cardiopulmonary gas exchange and heart rate (HR) were measured. Physiological responses at increasing levels of stimulation were evaluated.

Results

Average (±SD) HR and oxygen consumption (VO2) levels of 67 ± 11 bpm and 4.7 ± 1.2 ml/kg per min at rest, respectively, were increased to 186 ± 10 bpm and 44.9 ± 9.8 ml/kg per min at peak exercise intensity on treadmill testing. The electrical stimulation was generally well tolerated by the subjects. Subjects demonstrated statistically significant increases in all physiological variables measured with successive increases in stimulation intensity. Peak HR and VO2at 40% stimulation intensity were 101 ±12 bpm and 14.9 ± 4.3 ml/kg per min, respectively.

Conclusions

These results demonstrate that this form of EMS is capable of producing a physiological response consistent with cardiovascular exercise at mild to moderate intensities. It achieves this without producing gross movement of the limbs or loading of the joints. This EMS-induced cardiovascular exercise response could be used to promote increased levels of physical activity in populations unable to participate in voluntary exercise.
A comparison of the associations between risk factors and cardiovascular disease in Asia and Australasia
Authors:   Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration∗
Published: October 2005

Background

Cardiovascular disease is already the leading cause of death in many Asian populations. Relationships between vascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease may differ in Asian and western populations. Previously, a lack of prospective data has prevented the reliable quantification of such differences, which, if they were shown to exist, would suggest that novel cardiovascular prevention and treatment strategies are required for Asia.

Design

An individual participant data meta-analysis of 32 studies from the Asia-Pacific region involving 331 100 subjects (75% from Asia; 25% from the predominantly Caucasian populations of Australia and New Zealand).

Methods

Outcomes were death from coronary heart disease, ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke. Hazard ratios were estimated from Cox models for systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol, triglycerides, body mass index, diabetes and current cigarette smoking, stratified by study and sex and adjusted for age, the other risk factors and regression dilution.

Results

After an average period of follow-up of 4 years there were 2082 deaths from coronary heart disease, 600 from haemorrhagic stroke and 420 from ischaemic stroke. The direction and strength of the associations between risk factors and cardiovascular outcomes were similar in the two regions, although in two cases there were significant differences. Triglycerides were more strongly associated with coronary heart disease in Australia and New Zealand ( P = 0.03), whereas SBP showed a stronger relationship with haemorrhagic stroke in Asia ( P = 0.04).

Conclusions

Classical vascular risk factors act similarly in Asian and Caucasian populations; prevention and treatment strategies should thus be similar. Blood pressure reduction should be particularly effective in Asia.
Building prediction models for coronary heart disease by synthesizing multiple longitudinal research findings
Authors: Hu Guizhou , Root Martin M.
Published: October 2005

Background

No methodology is currently available to allow the combining of individual risk factor information derived from different longitudinal studies for a chronic disease in a multivariate fashion. This paper introduces such a methodology, named Synthesis Analysis, which is essentially a multivariate meta-analytic technique.

Design

The construction and validation of statistical models using available data sets.

Methods and results

Two analyses are presented. (1) With the same data, Synthesis Analysis produced a similar prediction model to the conventional regression approach when using the same risk variables. Synthesis Analysis produced better prediction models when additional risk variables were added. (2) A four-variable empirical logistic model for death from coronary heart disease was developed with data from the Framingham Heart Study. A synthesized prediction model with five new variables added to this empirical model was developed using Synthesis Analysis and literature information. This model was then compared with the four-variable empirical model using the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study data set. The synthesized model had significantly improved predictive power ( x2 = 43.8, P < 0.00001).

Conclusions

Synthesis Analysis provides a new means of developing complex disease predictive models from the medical literature.
Kin competition promotes dispersal in a male pollinating fig wasp
Authors: Moore Jamie C , Loggenberg Antoinette , Greeff Jaco M
Published: October 2005

Despite theoretical predictions, there is little empirical evidence that kin competition avoidance promotes dispersal. We show that dispersal by malePlatyscapa awekeipollinating fig wasps is promoted by both low returns in the natal fig and kin competition avoidance, with strategies depending on the interaction between phenotype (body size) and local conditions. We discuss the paucity of similar work, how males might assess conditions, and then contrast male dispersal and fighting behaviour. This indicates that differences in the scale at which behaviours affect competition can mean that they are the product of dissimilar selective forces even when they have the same recipients. More generally, this could explain why other social interactions are often mixtures of cooperation and conflict.
Avian mothers create different phenotypes by hormone deposition in their eggs
Authors: Eising Corine M , Müller Wendt , Groothuis Ton G.G
Published: October 2005

An increasing number of studies in a variety of taxa demonstrate the role of maternal sex steroids on offspring development. In avian species, mothers deposit substantial amounts of androgens in their eggs, and experimental evidence indicates that these maternal androgens influence the chick's early development. Despite the well-known organizing role of sex steroids on brain and behaviour, studies on avian maternal egg hormones almost exclusively focus on the chick phase. Here, we show experimentally that in Black-headed gulls maternal androgens in the egg enhance the development of the nuptial plumage and the frequency of aggressive and sexual displays almost 1 year after hatching. We conclude that maternal sex steroids may be a key factor for the determination of subtle but important individual differences within the same sex and species, which may have important consequences for Darwinian fitness and evolutionary processes.
Hyperelastic modelling of arterial layers with distributed collagen fibre orientations
Authors: Gasser T. Christian , Ogden Ray W , Holzapfel Gerhard A
Published: October 2005

Constitutive relations are fundamental to the solution of problems in continuum mechanics, and are required in the study of, for example, mechanically dominated clinical interventions involving soft biological tissues. Structural continuum constitutive models of arterial layers integrate information about the tissue morphology and therefore allow investigation of the interrelation between structure and function in response to mechanical loading. Collagen fibres are key ingredients in the structure of arteries. In the media (the middle layer of the artery wall) they are arranged in two helically distributed families with a small pitch and very little dispersion in their orientation (i.e. they are aligned quite close to the circumferential direction). By contrast, in the adventitial and intimal layers, the orientation of the collagen fibres is dispersed, as shown by polarized light microscopy of stained arterial tissue. As a result, continuum models that do not account for the dispersion are not able to capture accurately the stress–strain response of these layers. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a structural continuum framework that is able to represent the dispersion of the collagen fibre orientation. This then allows the development of a new hyperelastic free-energy function that is particularly suited for representing the anisotropic elastic properties of adventitial and intimal layers of arterial walls, and is a generalization of the fibre-reinforced structural model introduced by Holzapfel & Gasser (Holzapfel & Gasser 2001
Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Eng
.
190
, 4379–4403) and Holzapfel
et al
. (Holzapfel
et al
. 2000
J. Elast
.
61
, 1–48). The model incorporates an additional scalar structure parameter that characterizes the dispersed collagen orientation. An efficient finite element implementation of the model is then presented and numerical examples show that the dispersion of the orientation of collagen fibres in the adventitia of human iliac arteries has a significant effect on their mechanical response.
Wave propagation in shape memory alloy rods under impulsive loads
Authors: Chen Yi-Chao , Lagoudas Dimitris C
Published: October 2005

A dynamic analysis is given of the wave propagation in a polycrystalline shape memory alloy semi-infinite rod subject to an impulsive load described by a rectangular loading function. This is a continuation of the previous study for which the impact load is described by a step loading function, and for which the rod undergoes martensitic phase transformation only. In the presence of unloading, the rod also undergoes reverse transformation from martensite to austenite. A maximum internal dissipation criterion is proposed to select a unique dynamic solution, in which an elastic unloading wave front precedes the reverse transformation wave front. This elastic unloading wave will meet with the forward transformation wave at a later time, leading to a sequence of wave encounters and progressively more complicated profiles of the state variables. The asymptotic behaviour of the solution and the energy dissipation are discussed.
Helical structure of the waves propagating in a spinning Timoshenko beam
Authors: Chan K.T , Stephen N.G , Reid S.R
Published: October 2005

The aim of the paper is to study the cause of a frequency-splitting phenomenon that occurs in a spinning Timoshenko beam. The associated changes in the structure of the progressive waves are investigated to shed light on the relationship between the wave motion in a spinning beam and the whirling of a shaft. The main result is that travelling bending waves in a beam spinning about its central axis have the topological structure of a revolving helix traced by the centroidal axis with right-handed or left-handed chirality. Each beam element behaves like a gyroscopic disc in precession being rotated at the wave frequency with anticlockwise or clockwise helicity. The gyroscopic effect is identified as the cause of the frequency splitting and is shown to induce a coupling between two interacting travelling waves lying in mutually orthogonal planes. Two revolving waves travelling in the same direction in space appear, one at a higher and one at a lower frequency compared with the pre-split frequency value. With reference to a given spinning speed, taken as clockwise, the higher one revolves clockwise and the lower one has anticlockwise helicity, each wave being represented by a characteristic four-component vector wavefunction.

Two factors are identified as important, the shear-deformation factor
q
and the gyroscopic-coupling phase factor
θ
. The
q
-factor is related to the wavenumber and the geometric shape of the helical wave. The
θ
-factor is related to the wave helicity and has two values, +
π
/2 and −
π
/2 corresponding to the anticlockwise and clockwise helicity, respectively. The frequency-splitting phenomenon is addressed by analogy with other physical phenomena such as the Jeffcott whirling shaft and the property of the local energy equality of a travelling wave. The relationship between Euler's formula and the present result relating to the helical properties of the waves is also explored.
Orographically generated nonlinear waves in rotating and non-rotating two-layer flow
Authors: Johnson E.R , Esler J.G , Rump O.J , Sommeria J , Vilenski G.G
Published: October 2005

This paper reports experimental observations of finite amplitude interfacial waves forced by a surface-mounted obstacle towed through a two-layer fluid both when the fluid is otherwise at rest and when the fluid is otherwise rotating as a solid body. The experimental apparatus is sufficiently wide so that sidewall effects are negligible even in near-critical flow when the towing speed is close to the interfacial long-wave speed and the transverse extent of the forced wavefield is large. The observations are modelled by a simple forced Benjamin–Davis–Acrivos equation and comparison between integrations of both linear and nonlinear problems shows the fundamental nonlinearity of the near-critical flow patterns. In both the experiments and integrations rotation strongly confines the wavefield to extend laterally over distances only of order of the Rossby radius and also introduces finite-amplitude sharply pointed lee waves in supercritical flow.
Weyl transforms and a degenerate elliptic partial differential equation
Authors: Wong M.W
Published: October 2005

We give a formula for the inverse of a degenerate elliptic partial differential operator
P
on

related to the Heisenberg group. The formula is in terms of pseudo-differential operators of the Weyl type, i.e. Weyl transforms. The technique is to use the Fourier–Wigner transforms of Hermite functions, which form an orthonormal basis for

. Using the formula for the inverse, we give an estimate for the
L

p

norm of the solution
u
of the partial differential equation
Pu
=
f
on

in terms of the
L
2
norm of
f
, 2≤
p
≤∞.
First-ever observations of a live giant squid in the wild
Authors: Kubodera Tsunemi , Mori Kyoichi
Published: October 2005

The giant squid,
Architeuthis
, is renowned as the largest invertebrate in the world and has featured as an ominous sea monster in novels and movies. Considerable efforts to view this elusive creature in its deep-sea habitat have been singularly unsuccessful. Our digital camera and depth recorder system recently photographed an
Architeuthis
attacking bait at 900 m off Ogasawara Islands in the North Pacific. Here, we show the first wild images of a giant squid in its natural environment. Recovery of a severed tentacle confirmed both identification and scale of the squid (greater than 8 m).
Architeuthis
appears to be a much more active predator than previously suspected, using its elongate feeding tentacles to strike and tangle prey.
A within-species warning function for an aposematic signal
Authors: Papaj Daniel R , Newsom Ginny M
Published: October 2005

Aposematic, or warning, signals are generally interspecific in form: one species advertises noxiousness to a predator or parasite species. In a study of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly (
Battus philenor
), we show that a pattern of colouration in the caterpillars that is considered to be aposematic in the context of attack by natural enemies also deters oviposition by conspecific females. In field and laboratory assays, females avoided oviposition on plants bearing live conspecific larvae. Females avoided oviposition on plants bearing artificially constructed models identical to larvae in shape, size and colour pattern. Finally, oviposition on plants harbouring a model bearing the larval colour pattern was reduced relative to plants bearing a leaf-green model, suggesting that the larval colour pattern was essential for avoidance. We discuss how intraspecific and interspecific processes might interact in the evolution of an aposematic signal.
A candidate locus for variation in dispersal rate in a butterfly metapopulation
Authors: Haag Christoph R , Saastamoinen Marjo , Marden James H , Hanski Ilkka
Published: October 2005

Frequent extinctions of local populations in metapopulations create opportunities for migrant females to establish new populations. In a metapopulation of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia), more mobile individuals are more likely to establish new populations, especially in habitat patches that are poorly connected to existing populations. Here we show that flight metabolic rate and the frequency of a specific allele of the metabolic enzyme phosphoglucose isomerase (pgi) were both highest in newly established, isolated populations. Furthermore, genotypes with thispgiallele had elevated flight metabolic rates. These results suggest that genetic variation inpgior a closely linked locus has a direct effect on flight metabolism, dispersal rate, and thereby on metapopulation dynamics in this species. These results also contribute to an emerging understanding of the mechanisms by which population turnover in heterogeneous landscapes may maintain genetic and phenotypic variation across populations.
Sex and segregation in temperate bats
Authors: Senior Paula , Butlin Roger K , Altringham John D
Published: October 2005

Many temperate insectivorous bats show marked sexual segregation during the summer, but in spectacular, pre-hibernation swarming, gather at caves to mate. In many species, sexual segregation is probably due to a gradient in aerial insect availability that confines females to lower elevations, where high reproductive costs are met by an abundant and reliable food supply. In the hawking and trawling
Myotis daubentonii
, we show that alongside inter-sexual segregation, there is intra-male segregation and suggest that this results from the exclusion of most males from high-quality habitat. These apparently excluded males suffer reduced foraging efficiency and mating success relative to males that roost with the females in summer. Changes in resources and behaviour at the end of the summer lead to a change in strategy that gives all males a chance to mate during swarming, but this does not overcome the paternity advantage to males that spend the summer with the females.
Reinterpretation of gizzard sizes of red knots world-wide emphasises overriding importance of prey quality at migratory stopover sites
Authors: van Gils Jan A , Battley Phil F , Piersma Theunis , Drent Rudi
Published: October 2005

The size of digestive organs can be rapidly and reversibly adjusted to ecological circumstances, but such phenotypic flexibility comes at a cost. Here, we test how the gizzard mass of a long-distance migrant, the red knot (Calidris canutus), is adjusted to (i) local climate, (ii) prey quality and (iii) migratory fuelling demands. For eight sites around the world (both wintering and stopover sites), we assembled data on gizzard masses of free-living red knots, the quality of their prey and the local climate. Using an energetic cost–benefit approach, we predicted the gizzard size required for fastest fuelling (net rate-maximization, i.e. expected during migration) and the gizzard size required to balance daily energy budgets (satisficing, expected in wintering birds) at each site. The measured gizzards matched the net rate-maximizing predictions at stopover sites and the satisficing predictions at wintering sites. To our surprise, owing to the fact that red knots selected stopover sites with prey of particularly high quality, gizzard sizes at stopovers and at wintering sites were nevertheless similar. To quantify the benefit of minimizing size changes in the gizzard, we constructed a model incorporating the size-dependent energy costs of maintaining and carrying a gizzard. The model showed that by selecting stopovers containing high-quality prey, metabolic rates are kept at a minimum, potentially reducing the spring migratory period by a full week. By inference, red knots appear to time their stopovers so that they hit local peaks in prey quality, which occur during the reproductive seasons of the intertidal benthic invertebrates.
Fear in animals: a meta-analysis and review of risk assessment
Authors: Stankowich Theodore , Blumstein Daniel T
Published: October 2005

The amount of risk animals perceive in a given circumstance (i.e. their degree of ‘fear’) is a difficult motivational state to study. While many studies have used flight initiation distance as a proxy for fearfulness and examined the factors influencing the decision to flee, there is no general understanding of the relative importance of these factors. By identifying factors with large effect sizes, we can determine whether anti-predator strategies reduce fear, and we gain a unique perspective on the coevolution of predator and anti-predator behaviour. Based on an extensive review and formal meta-analysis, we found that predator traits that were associated with greater risk (speed, size, directness of approach), increased prey distance to refuge and experience with predators consistently amplified the perception of risk (in terms of flight initiation distance). While fish tolerated closer approach when in larger schools, other taxa had greater flight initiation distances when in larger groups. The presence of armoured and cryptic morphologies decreased perception of risk, but body temperature in lizards had no robust effect on flight initiation distance. We find that selection generally acts on prey to be sensitive to predator behaviour, as well as on prey to modify their behaviour and morphology.