bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Factors associated with treatment nonadherence among US bipolar disorder patients
Authors: Baldessarini Ross J. , Perry Richard , Pike James
Published: December 2007

Objective

Since sustained treatment‐adherence is often problematic and may limit clinical outcomes among bipolar disorder (BPD) patients, we sought risk factors to guide clinical prediction of nonadherence.

Methods

Data were from a 2005 US national sample providing questionnaire responses by 131 randomly selected prescribing psychiatrists and their adult BPD patients. We contrasted demographic and clinical factors in treatment‐adherent versus nonadherent patients (strictly defined as missing ≥1 dose within 10 days) in univariate analyses followed by multivariate logistic‐regression modeling.

Results

Of 429 DSM‐IV BPD patients (79% type‐I; 62% women; 17% minorities), 34% reported missing ≥ 1 dose of psychotropic medication within 10 days, 20% missed entire daily doses at least once, and only 2.5% missed all doses for 10 days. However, their prescribing psychiatrists considered only 6% as treatment‐nonadherent. Factors significantly associated with nonadherence in multivariate modeling ranked: alcohol‐dependence > youth > greater affective morbidity > various side effects ≥ comorbid obsessive‐compulsive disorder ≥ recovering from mania‐hypomania. Unrelated were sex, diagnostic subtype, and other comorbidities. Since most patients received ≥ 2 psychotropics, potential relationships between treatment‐complexity and adherence were obscured.

Conclusions

Prevalent treatment‐nonadherence among American BPD patients, and striking underestimation of the problem by prescribing clinicians may encourage increasingly complex treatment‐regimens of untested value, but added expense, risk of adverse effects, and uncertain impact on treatment‐adherence itself. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rainfall network design using kriging and entropy
Authors: Chen Yen‐Chang , Wei Chiang , Yeh Hui‐Chung
Published: December 2007

The spatial distribution of rainfall is related to meteorological and topographical factors. An understanding of the weather and topography is required to select the locations of the rain gauge stations in the catchment to obtain the optimum information. In theory, a well‐designed rainfall network can accurately represent and provide the needed information of rainfall in the catchment. However, the available rainfall data are rarely adequate in the mountainous area of Taiwan. In order to provide enough rainfall data to assure the success of water projects, the rainfall network based on the existing rain gauge stations has to be redesigned.

A method composed of kriging and entropy that can determine the optimum number and spatial distribution of rain gauge stations in catchments is proposed. Kriging as an interpolator, which performs linear averaging to reconstruct the rainfall over the catchment on the basis of the observed rainfall, is used to compute the spatial variations of rainfall. Thus, the rainfall data at the locations of the candidate rain gauge stations can be reconstructed. The information entropy reveals the rainfall information of the each rain gauge station in the catchment. By calculating the joint entropy and the transmitted information, the candidate rain gauge stations are prioritized. In addition, the saturation of rainfall information can be used to add or remove the rain gauge stations. Thus, the optimum spatial distribution and the minimum number of rain gauge stations in the network can be determined. The catchment of the Shimen Reservoir in Taiwan is used to illustrate the method. The result shows that only seven rain gauge stations are needed to provide the necessary information. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hydrological control of dissolved organic carbon dynamics in a forested headwater catchment, Kiryu Experimental Watershed, Japan
Authors: Kawasaki Masatoshi , Ohte Nobuhito , Kabeya Naoki , Katsuyama Masanori
Published: December 2007

To evaluate the influence of hydrological processes on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) dynamics in a forested headwater catchment, DOC concentration was observed along the flow path from rainfall to stream water via throughfall, soil water, groundwater, and spring water for 4 years, and DOC flux through the catchment was calculated. The spatial and temporal variations in DOC concentration and flux were compared with physical hydrological observations and the mean residence time of water. In the upslope soil layer, DOC concentrations were not significantly correlated with water fluxes, suggesting that DOC concentrations were not strictly controlled by water fluxes. In the upslope perennial groundwater, DOC concentration was affected by the change in the amount of microbial degradation of DOC produced by changes in the mean residence time of water. In stream water, the temporal variation in DOC concentration was usually affected by changes in DOC concentration of the inflow component via vertical infiltration from above the perennial groundwater. During dry periods, however, the component from inflow via vertical infiltration was negligible and DOC in the upslope perennial groundwater became the major component of stream water DOC. The temporal variation in stream water DOC concentration during baseflow was affected by rainfall patterns over several preceding months. Therefore, records of rainfall over several preceding months are one of the most important factors for predicting changes in DOC concentration on a catchment scale. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Rapid simulated hydrologic response within the variably saturated near surface
Authors: Ebel Brian A. , Loague Keith
Published: December 2007

Column and field experiments have shown that the hydrologic response to increases in rainfall rates can be more rapid than expected from simple estimates. Physics‐based hydrologic response simulation, with the Integrated Hydrology Model (InHM), is used here to investigate rapid hydrologic response, within the variably saturated near surface, to temporal variations in applied flux at the surface boundary. The factors controlling the speed of wetting front propagation are discussed within the Darcy–Buckingham conceptual framework, including kinematic wave approximations. The Coos Bay boundary‐value problem is employed to examine simulated discharge, pressure head, and saturation responses to a large increase in applied surface flux. The results presented here suggest that physics‐based simulations are capable of representing rapid hydrologic response within the variably saturated near surface. The new InHM simulations indicate that the temporal discretization and measurement precision needed to capture the rapid subsurface response to a spike increase in surface flux, necessary for both data‐based analyses and evaluation of physics‐based models, are smaller than the capabilities of the instrumentation deployed at the Coos Bay experimental catchment. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Two finite inverse Hilbert transform formulae for region‐of‐interest tomography
Authors: Zeng Gengsheng L. , You Jiangsjemg , Huang Qiu , Gullberg Grant T.
Published: December 2007

Recently we published two explicit formulae for finite inverse Hilbert transforms (You and Zeng, Inv Probl 22 (2006), L7‐L101). This paper presents a straightforward proof of the formulae, the data requirements, and some computer simulations to verify the formulae. Examples of region‐of‐interest tomography using truncated projections and the first formula of the finite inverse Hilbert transform are shown. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 17, 219–223, 2007
A hybrid image restoration approach: Using fuzzy punctual kriging and genetic programming
Authors: Chaudhry Asmatullah , Khan Asifullah , Ali Asad , Mirza Anwar M.
Published: December 2007

We present an intelligent technique for image denoising problem of gray level images degraded with Gaussian white noise in spatial domain. The proposed technique consists of using fuzzy logic as a mapping function to decide whether a pixel needs to be krigged or not. Genetic programming is then used to evolve an optimal pixel intensity‐estimation function for restoring degraded images. The proposed system has shown considerable improvement when compared both qualitatively and quantitatively with the adaptive Wiener filter, methods based on fuzzy kriging, and a fuzzy‐based averaging technique. Experimental results conducted using an image database confirms that the proposed technique offers superior performance in terms of image quality measures. This also validates the use of hybrid techniques for image restoration. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 17, 224–231, 2007
Influence of background and surround on image color matching
Authors: Mandic Lidija , Grgic Sonja , Grgic Mislav
Published: December 2007

In this article, the corresponding‐color data for complex images reproduced on different media were obtained by simultaneous matching using an adjustment method. In our experiment printed color images and images displayed on a monitor were compared in different viewing conditions. The viewing condition varied in surround relative luminance and background. The experimental data show that surround relative luminance has little influence on color matching between printed and monitor images while changes in background modify color appearance. These results were used to evaluate different chromatic adaptation transforms (CAT). We found that for the same viewing conditions the SHARP transform shows the best agreement between the experimental and predicted data. SHARP transform can not predict accurately corresponding colors for blue and black regions. Therefore, we proposed new CAT that shows better characteristics than other transforms for cyan, green, and black colors and similar characteristics for other colors. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 17, 244–251, 2007
A hybrid PET‐MRI: An integrated molecular‐genetic imaging system with HRRT‐PET and 7.0‐T MRI
Authors: Cho Zang‐Hee , Son Young‐Don , Kim Hang‐Keun , Kim Kyoung‐Nam , Oh Se‐Hong , Han Jae‐Yong , Hong In‐Ki , Kim Young‐Bo
Published: December 2007

A PET‐MRI fusion system is developed for molecular‐genetic imaging. The purpose of the system is to obtain images of the in‐vivo human brain using two high‐end imaging devices, an advanced PET and an ultrahigh‐field MRI. These are the HRRT‐PET, a high‐resolution research tomograph dedicated to brain imaging on the molecular level, and the 7.0‐T MRI, an ultrahigh field version used for morphological imaging. HRRT‐PET delivers high‐resolution molecular imaging with a resolution down to 2.5 mm FWHM, which is currently the highest spatial resolution available for the observation of the human brain's molecular activities, including enzymes and receptors, which are manipulated genetically, such as reporter genes and probes. The 7.0‐T MRI began to reveal submillimeter resolution images of the cortical as well as deep brain areas, down to 250 μm, which allows us to visualize the fine details of the cortical and brainstem areas, including the line of Gennari in the visual cortex and the corticospinal tracts in the pontine area. The current PET‐MRI fusion imaging system produces the highest quality images of molecular and genetic activities of the human brain in vivo. It is starting to provide many answers to the key questions about the neurological diseases. Some of these start providing answers to many cognitive neuroscience problems with clear molecular and genetic bases. There is great potential in the PET‐MRI for early diagnosis of cancers as well as other neurological diseases, which we were previously unable to diagnose, such as microscopic molecular changes that occur in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 17, 252–265, 2007
Effects of Nutrients, Fish, Charophytes and Algal Sediment Recruitment on the Phytoplankton Ecology of a Shallow Lake
Authors: Villena María‐José , Romo Susana
Published: December 2007

The influence of nutrient levels, fish density and charophytes on the phytoplankton ecology of a shallow Mediterranean lake was studied by means of an in situ mesocosm experiment. Different levels of nutrients and fish were added over the course of an eight‐week experiment, during which charophytes were removed towards the end. After submerged plants were removed, phytoplankton biomass increased significantly in all the mesocosms, with a reduction of algal diversity and species richness and dominance of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria recruited from the sediment played an important role in sustaining planktonic populations of the dominant species. Oscillatorial species (Pseudanabaena galeata, Planktolyngbya limnetica) dominated at higher nutrient levels (0.5–1 mg L–1 P and 5–10 mg L–1 N) and chroococcal cyanobacteria (Merismopedia tenuissima) at lower nutrient levels. Density of planktivorous fish had little effect on the algal recruitment from the sediment and phytoplankton biomass and diversity. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Leaf Decomposition and Stream Macroinvertebrate Colonisation of Japanese Knotweed, an Invasive Plant Species
Authors: Braatne Jeffrey H. , Sullivan S. Mažeika P. , Chamberlain Erin
Published: December 2007

Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica Houtt. Ronse Decrane) is a highly invasive exotic plant that forms monocultures in riparian areas, effectively reducing plant diversity. This change in riparian plant composition alters the allocthonous input of leaf litter into adjacent streams. A field experiment was completed to understand how leaf decomposition and macroinvertebrate colonisation associated with the incorporation of exotic leaf litter. Leaf packs of Japanese knotweed, native alder (Alnus incana L.), native cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa Torr. and Gray), and two additional mixed pack types (alder and cottonwood; alder, cottonwood, and Japanese knotweed) were placed into a 50 m stream reach in Clear Creek, Idaho, and removed over a three‐month period. Leaf decomposition and macroinvertebrate assemblages were similar between leaf types, despite differences in nitrogen and phosphorus content. The diversity of leaf types within a given leaf pack also had no effect on leaf decomposition or macroinvertebrate dynamics. These findings suggest that allochthonous inputs of Japanese knotweed fulfill a detrital function similar to that of native leaf litter. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
A DFT study of solvation effects on the tautomeric equilibrium and catalytic ylide generation of thiamin models
Authors: Alstrup Lie Mette , Schiøtt Birgit
Published: December 2007

Thiamin diphosphate (ThDP) is the biologically active form of vitamin B1 and an essential cofactor for a number of enzymes. The effect of solvent polarity on the tautomeric equilibria of ThDP using three model systems of the 4′‐aminopyrimidine ring is studied by density functional theory calculations (B3LYP/6‐311+G(d,p)//B3LYP/6‐31G(d)) in the gas phase and selected solvents (cyclohexane, ether, dichloroethane, and water). Solvation effects are investigated using three different schemes: implicit solvation by a continuum model, explicit solvation by inclusion of three water molecules mimicking the first solvation shell of the enzymatic environment, and by a mixed implicit/explicit solvation model. The 4′‐aminopyrimidine tautomer is more stable than the 1′,4′‐iminopyrimidine tautomer in all solvation schemes employed; however, the trend for the stabilities of the 1′,4′‐iminopyrimidine tautomer in the solvents depends on the specific ThDP‐model. Formation of the catalytic important ylide for ThDP‐dependent enzymes by deprotonation of ThDP(C2) is also investigated by localization of transition states for two possible pathways. Only the less stable tautomer, 1′,4′‐iminopyrimidine ThDP, is able to form the catalytic active ylide. Generation of the ylide through a direct intramolecular proton transfer from ThDP(C2) to the ThDP(N4′) nitrogen lone pair is favored by 6 kcal/mol in the gas phase, as compared to a water‐mediated ylide generation. However, inclusion of a dielectric medium reduces this difference dramatically. Furthermore, inclusion of two water molecules to model the apoenzymatic environment lowers the activation energies of both direct and water‐mediated ylide generation. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2008
Simultaneous determination of antiepileptic drugs and their two active metabolites by HPLC
Authors: Budakova Lucie , Brozmanova Hana , Grundmann Milan , Fischer Jan
Published: December 2007

An HPLC procedure for the determination of lamotrigine (LAM) simultaneously with other antiepileptic drugs, primidone (PD), phenobarbital (PB), phenytoin (DPH), carbamazepine (CMZ), and two active metabolites 2‐phenyl‐2‐ethyl‐malonamide (PEMA) and 10,11‐dihydro‐10,11‐epoxycarbamazepine (EPO) was developed and validated. The method involves an ordinary RP system and a liquid–liquid extraction. The mobile phase consisting of water/ACN/methanol/triethylamine in the ratio 72 : 23 : 5 : 0.1 with pH 7.0 was selected as the best one after the assays testing both pH and triethylamine contents. UV detection was carried out at a wavelength of 220 nm and the whole analysis took 15 min. The method was linear in the range of 0.5–25 mg/L for PEMA and LAM; 1.25–25 mg/L for PD and CMZ; 0.625–12.5 mg/L for EPO; 1.5–60 mg/L for PB; and 1.25–50 mg/L for DPH, respectively. Within‐day CV% and between‐day CV% were within 10%. The developed HPLC method can be used for routine therapeutic drug monitoring both in children and adults.
Human papillomavirus, cervical carcinogenesis and chemoprevention with Indole derivates – a review of pathomechanisms
Authors: Rieck Gudrun C. , Fiander Alison N.
Published: December 2007

Cervical cancer is the second most common female cancer worldwide with high risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection playing an essential aetiological role. Oestrogen interacts with HPV at a cellular level causing cell growth and inhibition of apoptosis. Indole derivatives, formed during digestion of cruciferous vegetables, have been shown to have chemopreventative properties inhibiting HPV transcription and influencing oestrogen metabolism. This review describes the interactions between HPV, oestrogen and indole derivatives. Further clinical research is required to evaluate the chemopreventative properties of these agents.
Evaluating the stress intensity factors of anisotropic bimaterials using boundary element method
Authors: Chen Chao‐Shi , Ke Chien‐Chung , Tu Chia‐Huei
Published: December 2007

This paper presents a boundary element method (BEM) procedure for a linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis in two‐dimensional anisotropic bimaterials. In this formulation, a displacement integral equation is only collocated on the uncracked boundary, and a traction integral equation is only collocated on one side of the crack surface. A fundamental solution (Green's function) for anisotropic bimaterials is also derived and implemented into the boundary integral formulation so that except for the interfacial crack part, the discretization along the interface can be avoided. A special crack‐tip element is introduced to capture the exact crack‐tip behavior. A computer program using FORTRAN has been developed to effectively calculate the stress intensity factors of an anisotropic bimaterial. This BEM program has been verified to have a good accuracy with previous studies. In addition, a central cracked bimaterial Brazilian specimen constituting cement and gypsum is prepared to conduct the Brazilian test under diametral loading. The result shows that the numerical analysis can predict relatively well the direction of crack initiation and the path of crack propagation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Enhanced assumed strain (EAS) and assumed natural strain (ANS) methods for one‐point quadrature solid‐shell elements
Authors: Cardoso Rui P. R. , Yoon Jeong Whan , Mahardika M. , Choudhry S. , Alves de Sousa R. J. , Fontes Valente R. A.
Published: December 2007

A reduced enhanced solid‐shell (RESS) finite element concept has been suggested recently by Alves de Sousa et al. (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2005; 62:952; Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2006; 67:160; Int. J. Plasticity 2007; 23:490). Developments on the ‘RESS’ element were motivated by the following reasons: first, solid‐shell elements automatically incorporate the normal stress along the thickness direction, which makes them more suitable for the simulations with double‐sided contact than their shell counterparts; second, they have only translational degrees of freedom, which alleviates some difficulties associated with formulating complex shell formulations using nodal rotations; third, general constitutive models can be used and a reformulation for plane‐stress conditions is not necessary. Furthermore, traditionally, solid elements have been developed based on fully integrated schemes with limited number of integration points per single element layers which renders them computationally expensive. On the contrary, the solid‐shell element by Alves de Sousa et al. (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2005; 62:952; Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2006; 67:160; Int. J. Plasticity 2007; 23:490) was developed for one single‐layer shell structure with reduced in‐plane and multiple integration points along the thickness direction of the shell. The formulation consists of several combinations of well‐known techniques to ameliorate locking problems as is the case of the enhanced assumed strain (EAS) method. However, the proposed ‘RESS’ solid shell did not consider the transverse shear components of hourglass (or physical stabilization) parts. This negligence produces a slightly flexible behavior of the element, but it can also cause the appearance of hourglass modes for several non‐linear applications including large rigid body rotations. Sometimes, the negligence brings a non‐positive‐definite status on the stiffness matrix. In order to overcome such drawbacks, a modified assumed natural strain (ANS) method considering the top and bottom surfaces of the element was incorporated for the transverse shear components. At the same time, new hourglass strains for the membrane field were constructed based on the stabilization vectors of Liu et al. (Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng 1998; 154:69). With these modifications, the improved element (called ‘M‐RESS’) passes both the membrane and bending patch tests and performs with remarkable stability and accuracy in sheet‐forming simulations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Study on sub‐cycling for flexible multi‐body dynamics based on Newmark method
Authors: Miao J. C. , Zhu P. , Shi G. L. , Chen G. L.
Published: December 2007

A sub‐cycling algorithm presented by Belytschko and Mullen (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 1978; 12(10):1575–1586) has been successfully applied in the finite element method. However, the problem of how to apply the sub‐cycling to flexible multi‐body dynamics (FMD) still lacks investigation. This paper presents a Newmark‐based sub‐cycling, which is suitable for solving condensed FMD models. Common‐step update formulae and sub‐step update formula for the sub‐cycling are established based on the original Newmark integration algorithm. Stability of the procedure is validated by means of energy balance checking during the integral process. Numerical examples indicate that the sub‐cycling is able to enhance the computational efficiency without dropping accuracy greatly. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An exploration of spousal separation and adaptation to long‐term disability: six elderly couples engaged in a horticultural programme
Authors: Martin Linda , Miranda Baldwin , BEAN Michelle
Published: December 2007

The main objective of the present study was to explore the impact of separation on couples where one spouse lives in a skilled nursing facility and the other spouse lives alone in the community. Six couples participated in a 10‐week gardening group. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted at the beginning of the study and observations were made and discussions engaged through the 10‐week horticultural programme. Thematic analysis of interviews and discussions revealed reduced social participation of community‐dwelling spouses in an effort to maintain their marital role. In one or more cases the non‐institutionalized spouse adapted to separation by developing social roles and relationships within the skilled nursing facility and continuing as a caregiver to their spouse. Occupational therapists are encouraged to include spouses in programmes to nurture healthy spousal roles. Further research is needed to explore how elderly couples may support each other through purposeful occupation while one spouse is in a long‐term care facility. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Towards self‐sterilizing medical devices: controlling infection
Authors: Madkour Ahmad E , Tew Gregory N
Published: December 2007

Medical devices are an important component of modern medicine. In many cases, medical devices are used to improve the ‘quality of life’ for the patient, and their use is increasing dramatically. At the same time, the emergence of multi‐drug‐resistant bacteria, or ‘super‐bugs’, is a global crisis. At least in part, biomedical devices proliferate the growth of resistant bacteria. This has spurred new research aimed at the development of medical devices that prevent or control bacterial colonization, and this perspective discusses the current efforts in this area. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry
Effect of oxidatively damaged DNA on the active site preorganization during nucleotide incorporation in a high fidelity polymerase from Bacillus stearothermophilus
Authors: Venkatramani Ravindra , Radhakrishnan Ravi
Published: December 2007

We study the effect of the oxidative lesion 8‐oxoguanine (8oxoG) on the preorganization of the active site for DNA replication in the closed (active) state of the Bacillus fragment (BF), a Klenow analog from Bacillus stearothermophilus. Our molecular dynamics and free energy simulations of explicitly solvated model ternary complexes of BF bound to correct dCTP/incorrect dATP opposite guanine (G) and 8oxoG bases in DNA suggest that the lesion introduces structural and energetic changes at the catalytic site to favor dATP insertion. Despite the formation of a stable Watson‐Crick pairing in the 8oxoG:dCTP system, the catalytic geometry is severely distorted to possibly slow down catalysis. Indeed, our calculated free energy landscapes associated with active site preorganization suggest additional barriers to assemble an efficient catalytic site, which need to be overcome during dCTP incorporation opposite 8oxoG relative to that opposite undamaged G. In contrast, the catalytic geometry for the Hoogsteen pairing in the 8oxoG:dATP system is highly organized and poised for efficient nucleotide incorporation via the “two‐metal‐ion” catalyzed phosphoryl transfer mechanism. However, the free energy calculations suggest that the catalytic geometry during dATP incorporation opposite 8oxoG is considerably less plastic than that during dCTP incorporation opposite G despite a very similar, well organized catalytic site for both systems. A correlation analysis of the dynamics trajectories suggests the presence of significant coupling between motions of the polymerase fingers and the primary distance for nucleophilic attack (i.e., between the terminal primer O3′ and the dNTP Pα. atoms) during correct dCTP incorporation opposite undamaged G. This coupling is shown to be disrupted during nucleotide incorporation by the polymerase with oxidatively damaged DNA/dNTP substrates. We also suggest that the lesion affects DNA interactions with key polymerase residues, thereby affecting the enzymes ability to discriminate against non‐complementary DNA/dNTP substrates. Taken together, our results provide a unified structural, energetic, and dynamic platform to rationalize experimentally observed relative nucleotide incorporation rates for correct dCTP/incorrect dATP insertion opposite an undamaged/oxidatively damaged template G by BF. Proteins 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Current approaches to the management of osteoarthritis
Authors: Daymond Terry
Published: December 2007

Our series Prescribing in older people gives practical advice for successful management of the special problems experienced by this patient group. Here, the author describes the current recommended management of osteoarthritis. Copyright © 2007 Wiley Interface Ltd
Current management options for chronic constipation
Authors: Mohsen Abdul , Wilkinson Mark
Published: December 2007

Constipation is a common and often difficult‐to‐treat problem. Our Drug review considers the current range of laxatives available to manage the condition, followed by sources of further information and the Datafile of prescribable agents. Copyright © 2007 Wiley Interface Ltd
PPI prescribing and dosage: can hospitals help primary care?
Authors: Pavlides Michael , Wilcock Mike , Murray Iain
Published: December 2007

The authors describe the results of a study showing how a hospital trust has increased the use of first‐line proton pump inhibitors, though a high proportion of patients remain on treatment doses. Copyright © 2007 Wiley Interface Ltd
Nonmedical prescribing: dealing with a wide variety of patients
Authors: Hird Magnus
Published: December 2007

Our series Nonmedical prescribing gives an overview of the work that can be done by nonmedical prescribers and what can be achieved. Here, a supplementary prescriber describes the wide range of conditions he deals with. Copyright © 2007 Wiley Interface Ltd
Statistical analysis of donation–transfusion data with complex correlation
Authors: Reilly Marie , Szulkin Robert
Published: December 2007

Blood‐borne transmission of disease is estimated from linked data records from blood donors and transfusion recipients. However, such data are characterized by complex correlation due to donors typically contributing many donations and recipients being transfused with multiple units of blood product. In this paper, we present a method for analysing such data, by using a modification of a nested case–control design. For recipients who develop the disease of interest (cases) and their matched controls, all donors who contributed blood to these individuals define clusters or ‘families’ of related individuals. Using a Cox regression model for the hazard of the individuals within clusters of donors, we estimate the risk of transmission, and a bootstrap step provides valid standard errors provided the clusters are independent. As an illustration, we apply the method to the analysis of a large database of Swedish donor and recipient records linked to the population cancer register. We investigate whether there is an increased risk of cancer in recipients transfused with blood from donors who develop cancer after donating. Our method provides a powerful alternative to the small ‘look‐back’ studies typical of transfusion medicine and can make an important contribution to haemovigilance efforts. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Selection of important variables and determination of functional form for continuous predictors in multivariable model building
Authors: Sauerbrei Willi , Royston Patrick , Binder Harald
Published: December 2007

In developing regression models, data analysts are often faced with many predictor variables that may influence an outcome variable. After more than half a century of research, the ‘best’ way of selecting a multivariable model is still unresolved. It is generally agreed that subject matter knowledge, when available, should guide model building. However, such knowledge is often limited, and data‐dependent model building is required. We limit the scope of the modelling exercise to selecting important predictors and choosing interpretable and transportable functions for continuous predictors. Assuming linear functions, stepwise selection and all‐subset strategies are discussed; the key tuning parameters are the nominalP‐value for testing a variable for inclusion and the penalty for model complexity, respectively. We argue that stepwise procedures perform better than a literature‐based assessment would suggest.

Concerning selection of functional form for continuous predictors, the principal competitors are fractional polynomial functions and various types of spline techniques. We note that a rigorous selection strategy known as multivariable fractional polynomials (MFP) has been developed. No spline‐based procedure for simultaneously selecting variables and functional forms has found wide acceptance. Results of FP and spline modelling are compared in two data sets. It is shown that spline modelling, while extremely flexible, can generate fitted curves with uninterpretable ‘wiggles’, particularly when automatic methods for choosing the smoothness are employed. We give general recommendations to practitioners for carrying out variable and function selection. While acknowledging that further research is needed, we argue why MFP is our preferred approach for multivariable model building with continuous covariates. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Molecular Structure of Starch from Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi Relative to Kuzu Starch
Authors: Du Xianfeng , Jia Jianhua , Xu Shiying , Zhou Yibin
Published: December 2007

The molecular structures of starches from Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi were examined and compared with those of other tuberous and root starches. The fresh tubers were collected from three Chinese main Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi growing regions. The chain distributions of the amylopectins as determined by gel permeation chromatography were similar to those of the amylopectins of other starches. Among the three amylopectins studied, the respective β‐amylolysis limits were 55%, 56% and 58% which were similar to that of kuzu amylopectin. The number average degree of polymerization ($\displaystyle \overline {{\tf="PS_HENI"DP}_n } $) values of the amylopectins were 8.7‐9.7×103, lower than those of sweet potato and potato amylopectins (9.9×103 and 11.2×103, respectively). The number of branch chains per amylose molecule was 5.0. The average chain length ($\displaystyle \overline {{\tf="PS_HENI"CL}} $) of the Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi amyloses was similar to those of kuzu (310), sweet potato (310) and tapioca amyloses (340), but lower than those of lily (475) and potato (670).
Effect of Heat‐Moisture Treatment on Structural and Thermal Properties of Rice Starches Differing in Amylose Content
Authors: Khunae Parida , Tran Thierry , Sirivongpaisal Piyarat
Published: December 2007

Starches from glutinous rice (1.4% amylose), Jasmine rice (15.0% amylose) and Chiang rice (20.2% amylose) were exposed to heat‐moisture treatment (HMT) at 100 °C for 16 h and at different moisture levels (18, 21, 24 and 27%). The effect of heat‐moisture treatment on structural and thermal properties of these three rice starches was investigated. The HMT did not change the size, shape and surface characteristics of rice starch granules. The A‐type crystalline pattern of rice starches remained unchanged after HMT. The relative crystallinity (RC) and the ratio of short‐range molecular order to amorphous (RSA) of heat‐moisture treated glutinous and Jasmine rice starches decreased with increasing moisture level of the treatments. In contrast, the RC of the treated Chiang rice starch remained practically unchanged. A peak of crystalline V‐amylose‐lipid complexes was clearly presented in all treated Chiang rice starches. The peak became progressively stronger with increasing moisture level of the treatment. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of all treated rice starches showed a shift of the gelatinization temperature to higher values. Increasing moisture level of the treatments increased the onset gelatinization temperature (To) but decreased the gelatinization enthalpy (ΔH) of rice starches. A broad gelatinization temperature range (Tc‐To) with a biphasic endotherm was found for all treated Chiang rice starches and Jasmine rice starch after HMT27 (HMT at 27% moisture level). Additionally the (Tc‐To) of treated Chiang rice starches increased linearly with increasing moisture level of the treatments.
Structural Transformation of Sago Starch by Heat‐Moisture and Osmotic‐Pressure Treatment
Authors: Pukkahuta Chirdchan , Varavinit Saiyavit
Published: December 2007

Sago starch was modified by osmotic‐pressure treatment (OPT) and heat‐moisture treatment (HMT) and physicochemical characteristics were compared. In OPT, sago starch was suspended in saturated sodium sulfate solution and heated for 1 h at 100, 110 and 120°C, corresponding to a calculated osmotic pressure of 32,728, 33,640 and 34,552 kPa (assuming sodium sulfate dissociates completely), respectively, and in HMT, sago starch with 20% moisture content was used. Change of X‐ray diffraction pattern from C‐type to A‐type was obtained for OPT and HMT starch at 110°C and 120 °C, respectively. RVA viscograms of both OPT and HMT starch exhibited a decrease of peak and breakdown viscosity but increase of final viscosity and pasting temperature. Onset (To), peak (Tp), and conclusion temperature (Tc) of gelatinization of both OPT and HMT starch increased significantly with increase of treatment temperature. Biphasic broadening of Tp was observed for HMT starch indicating an inhomogeneous heat transfer during HMT. The observed narrow peaks of DSC curves indicated better homogeneity of OPT. These properties suggest that OPT starch is more suitable for large‐scale production.
Comparison of Starch Physicochemical Properties from Medium‐Grain Rice Cultivars Grown in California and Arkansas
Authors: Cameron Devon K. , Wang Ya‐Jane , Moldenhauer Karen A.
Published: December 2007

The starch molecular structure and physicochemical properties of two medium‐grain rice cultivars from Arkansas (Bengal, Medark) and from California (M202, M204) were determined and compared when they were grown in their respective locations and grown together in Arkansas to better understand the impacts of genetics and environment on starch characteristics. Both M202 and M204 contained significantly higher amylose contents (13.2‐15.3%) compared with the Arkansas cultivars (11.6‐12.4%). Starch from the Arkansas rice cultivars exhibited higher pasting and gelatinization temperatures and higher enthalpy values. Rice amylopectin from the California cultivars consisted of a smaller proportion of intermediate chains (DP 13‐24), and had a lower molecular weight and a smaller radius of gyration. When the four cultivars were grown together in Arkansas, the ranges for amylose content narrowed (10.6‐12.4%), their differences in thermal and pasting properties became smaller, and the molecular characteristics of amylose and amylopectin changed for all four cultivars. This study demonstrated that genetics, location, and crop year all contributed to variations in rice starch fine structure and physicochemical properties.
Seeking evidence for “curricular relevancy” within undergraduate, liberal arts chemistry textbooks
Authors: Naughton Wendy , Schreck James , Heikkinen Henry
Published: December 2007

Interviews with representatives of nine municipal agencies involved in air‐quality education were analyzed for concepts and skills perceived as important for citizens in addressing air‐quality concerns. Interviewees focused mainly on general air quality‐related understandings (60.2%), although cognitive skills (22.0%) and specific concepts (17.8%) were also mentioned. The major categories of desired air‐quality understandings identified in interviews included sources, impact, detection, and transport of air pollutants. Identified cognitive skills focused on information‐gathering and ‐evaluating abilities, enabling informed air‐quality decision making. Eight Learning Goal Sets generated from interview data and validated via peer and member checks helped guide a content analysis of six undergraduate liberal arts chemistry textbooks. Overall, sampled chemistry textbooks supported the previously identified air‐quality concepts and skills. However, few textbooks directly confronted interviewee‐reported, air quality‐related misconceptions and inabilities. Instructional and research implications of these validated air‐quality learning goals and subsequent textbook analyses are discussed. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 174–196, 2008.
Prenatal diagnosis of dumbbell neuroblastoma
Authors: Delahaye S. , Doz F. , Sonigo P. , Saada J. , Mitanchez D. , Sarnacki S. , Benachi A.
Published: December 2007

A neuroblastoma that develops in the sympathetic nodes can infiltrate the intervertebral foramina and invade the spinal canal, leading to spinal cord and nerve root compression and neurological impairment. Dumbbell neuroblastomas are now considered to be unresectable tumors and preoperative chemotherapy is recommended. We report the prenatal diagnosis of a dumbbell neuroblastoma successfully managed through premature delivery followed by immediate chemotherapy. We suggest that delivering prematurely in such cases is only of benefit if chemotherapy can be administered under favorable conditions. Chemotherapy should proceed immediately after delivery in order to reduce the size of the tumoral mass and its effects on the spine. Copyright © 2007 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Localization of networks using various ranging bias models
Authors: Picard Joseph Shmuel , Weiss Anthony Joseph
Published: December 2007

Given a network of stations with incomplete and possibly imprecise inter‐station range measurements, it is required to find the relative positions of the stations. Several models for the bias in the range estimates are discussed. We present a set of iterative algorithms that cope successfully with the various bias models and provide Maximum Likelihood position estimates. Proof of convergence is provided. A procedure, albeit designed for precise measurements, is also proposed for the initialization of the iterative algorithms. We also present compact, matrix form expression for the Cramér—Rao Bound (CRB). Numerical examples are provided to corroborate the results. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An efficient and attack‐resistant key agreement scheme for secure group communications in mobile ad‐hoc networks
Authors: Balachandran Ravi K. , Zou Xukai , Ramamurthy Byrav , Thukral Amandeep , Variyam Vinodchandran N.
Published: December 2007

As a result of the growing popularity of wireless networks, in particular mobile ad hoc networks (MANET), security over such networks has become very important. Trust establishment, key management, authentication, and authorization are important areas that need to be thoroughly researched before security in MANETs becomes a reality. This work studies the problem of secure group communications (SGCs) and key management over MANETs. It identifies the key features of any SGC scheme over such networks. AUTH‐CRTDH, an efficient key agreement scheme with authentication capability for SGC over MANETs, is proposed. Compared to the existing schemes, the proposed scheme has many desirable features such as contributory and efficient computation of group key, uniform work load for all members, few rounds of rekeying, efficient support for user dynamics, key agreement without member serialization and defense against the Man‐in‐the‐Middle attack, and the Least Common Multiple (LCM) attack. These properties make the proposed scheme well suited for MANETs. The implementation results show that the proposed scheme is computationally efficient and scales well to a large number of mobile users. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
MUSAQ: a multimedia session‐aware QoS provisioning scheme for cellular networks
Authors: Rizvi Mona El‐Kadi , Olariu Stephan
Published: December 2007

Networked multimedia applications involve a set of cooperating streams that together form amultimedia session. Existing QoS provisioning schemes for multimedia applications in cellular networks either allow composite streams to compete with one another for resources or else provide QoS to a session as an atomic entity, leaving to the application the task of managing QoS for the individual streams. The main contribution of this work is to propose a novel local QoS provisioning scheme for cellular networks that is aware of the relationships between the streams that compose a session. Our new Multimedia Session‐Aware QoS (MUSAQ) provisioning scheme manages the QoS of the individual streams in a session, and, with the knowledge of their relationships, it prevents destructive competition between the streams. Further, by allowing application‐specified prioritization between streams in a session, MUSAQ features a significant improvement in performance over session‐unaware schemes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Formalizing non-interference for a simple bytecode language in Coq
Authors: Kammüller Florian
Published: December 2007

In this paper, we describe the application of the interactive theorem prover Coq to the security analysis of bytecode as used in Java. We provide a generic specification and proof of non-interference for bytecode languages using the Coq module system. We illustrate the use of this formalization by applying it to a small subset of Java bytecode. The emphasis of the paper is on modularity of a language formalization and its analysis in a machine proof.
Heuristic Implementation of Dynamic Programming for Matrix Permutation Problems in Combinatorial Data Analysis
Authors: Brusco Michael J. , Köhn Hans-Friedrich , Stahl Stephanie
Published: December 2007

Dynamic programming methods for matrix permutation problems in combinatorial data analysis can produce globally-optimal solutions for matrices up to size 30×30, but are computationally infeasible for larger matrices because of enormous computer memory requirements. Branch-and-bound methods also guarantee globally-optimal solutions, but computation time considerations generally limit their applicability to matrix sizes no greater than 35×35. Accordingly, a variety of heuristic methods have been proposed for larger matrices, including iterative quadratic assignment, tabu search, simulated annealing, and variable neighborhood search. Although these heuristics can produce exceptional results, they are prone to converge to local optima where the permutation is difficult to dislodge via traditional neighborhood moves (e.g., pairwise interchanges, object-block relocations, object-block reversals, etc.). We show that a heuristic implementation of dynamic programming yields an efficient procedure for escaping local optima. Specifically, we propose applying dynamic programming to reasonably-sized subsequences of consecutive objects in the locally-optimal permutation, identified by simulated annealing, to further improve the value of the objective function. Experimental results are provided for three classic matrix permutation problems in the combinatorial data analysis literature: (a) maximizing a dominance index for an asymmetric proximity matrix; (b) least-squares unidimensional scaling of a symmetric dissimilarity matrix; and (c) approximating an anti-Robinson structure for a symmetric dissimilarity matrix.
One-pot Synthesis of Soluble Nanoscale CIGS Photoactive Functional Materials
Authors: Lin Ying , Chen Yu , Feng Miao , Yan Aixia , Zhuang Xiaodong
Published: December 2007

Promising alternatives for solar energy utilization are thin film technologies involving various new materials. This contribution describes an easy and inexpensive synthetic method that can be used to prepare soluble nanoscale triphenyl phosphine-coordinated CIGS (TPP-CIGS) photoactive functional materials. This complex is stable in the solid state under the irradiation of the ambient light, but its solution becomes a little bit unstable under the illumination of the low intensity laser.