bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Different cut‐off values of the insulin tolerance test, the high‐dose short Synacthen test (250 μg) and the low‐dose short Synacthen test (1 μg) in assessing central adrenal insufficiency
Authors: Cho Hwa Y. , Kim Jung H. , Kim Sang W. , Shin Chan S. , Park Kyong S. , Kim Seong W. , Jang Hak‐Chul , Kim Seong Y. 
Published: January 2014

SummaryObjectiveThe short Synacthen test (SST) is widely used as alternative test to the insulin tolerance test (ITT) to investigate central adrenal insufficiency (CAI), but the methodology and cut‐off values of the SST are controversial. Our aim was to evaluate the cut‐off value of the ITT in normal subjects and to assess the different cut‐off values of the high‐dose SST (250 μg, HDT) and the low‐dose SST (1 μg, LDT) in subjects with suspected CAI.Subjects and MethodsWe conducted ITTs in 208 normal subjects to establish the cut‐off value for the ITT, and 28 of those subjects underwent the HDT and LDT. From 1999 to 2007, 182 patients with suspected CAI were recruited and underwent ITTs, LDTs and HDTs to establish cut‐off values and compare the diagnostic accuracy between the LDT and HDT.ResultsThe 95th percentile of the peak cortisol level during the ITT in the normal control subjects was 14·8 μg/dl. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) analysis revealed that the optimal cut‐off values of peak cortisol in the LDT and HDT in patients with suspected CAI were 15·8 and 17·4 μg/dl, respectively. However, the cut‐off values from normative data (mean – 2 SD) were 18·3 μg/dl for the LDT and 20·5 μg/dl for the HDT in normal control.ConclusionsThe optimal cut‐off values of SSTs needed to be individualized according to the type of SST and tested patient population.
Effect of 25 (OH) D replacements in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and coexistent vitamin D deficiency on serum 25(OH) D, calcium and PTH levels: a meta‐analysis and review of literature
Authors: Shah Viral N. , Shah Chirag S. , Bhadada Sanjay K. , Rao D. Sudhakar 
Published: January 2014

SummaryContextThe safety of vitamin D replacement in subjects with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) and coexistent vitamin D deficiency is not well established.ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety of vitamin D replacement in PHPT.Data SourceData were searched from Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL and abstracts form annual scientific meetings of various international bone and mineral societies.Study SelectionStudies examining the effect of preoperative vitamin D replacement in patients with PHPT and coexisting vitamin D deficiency, irrespective of year and language of the publication were included in the present meta‐analysis.Data ExtractionData were extracted from text of the included publications or abstract of conferences.Data SynthesisTen studies enrolling 340 subjects with PHPT were analysed in this meta‐analysis. After vitamin D replacement, there was significant increase in 25(OH) D levels by 55·3 nmol/l (95% CI 33·3–77·3), reduction in serum parathyroid hormone levels by 3·5 pmol/l (5·8 to −1·2) without change in serum calcium (−0·08 mmol/l, −0·2 to +0·03) and urinary calcium levels (0·72 mmol/24 h, P = 0·2) compared to baseline.ConclusionVitamin D replacement in subjects with PHPT and coexistent vitamin D deficiency increase 25 (OH) D and reduce serum PTH significantly without causing hypercalcaemia and hypercalciuria. The finding of the study needs to be confirmed by a large randomized trial in patient with PHPT and coexistent vitamin D deficiency.
Experience with 53 portal–duodenal drained solitary pancreas transplants
Authors: Perosa Marcelo , Noujaim Huda , Ianhez Luiz E. , Oliveira Rodrigo A. , Mota Leonardo T. , Branez Juan R. , Paredes Marcio M. , Giacaglia Luciano , Genzini Tercio 
Published: January 2014

AbstractSystemic–enteric drainage is currently the most common technique for pancreas transplantation (PT). A novel alternative technique, portal–duodenal drainage (PDD), has potential physiological benefits and provides improved monitoring of the pancreatic graft. The current study describes 53 solitary PT procedures (43 pancreas after kidney and 10 pancreas transplant alone) using the PDD technique over the last three yr. This method resulted in one‐yr patient survival at 96% and 83% graft survival. There were five cases (9.4%) of thrombosis, in which transplantectomy and two‐layer closure of the native duodenum were performed. No fistulas were observed. Here, we demonstrate that the PDD technique in PT was as safe and effective as current techniques in clinical use.
Order of onset of drug use and criminal activities in a sample of drug‐abusing women convicted of violent crimes
Authors: Baltieri Danilo Antonio 
Published: January 2014

AbstractIntroduction and AimsThis study aims to explore the temporal relationship between age of onset of substance use and criminal activity in women convicted of violent crimes as well as to subdivide them into clinically significant groups to which tailored treatment can be guided.Design and MethodOf the 353 female inmates randomised for this study, 38 (10.8%) refused to participate and 182 (51.6%) met inclusion criteria. Data were obtained only from substance‐abusing female inmates serving a sentence for robbery or homicide in a female penitentiary in Brazil. Participant information was gathered through face‐to‐face interviews during which alcohol and drug abuse, impulsiveness levels, depressive symptoms, and criminological aspects were investigated.Results. Age of first alcohol and drug use significantly preceded the age of onset of criminal activities in the overall sample. Onset ages of alcohol and drug use problems significantly preceded the beginning of criminal activities in women convicted of homicide only. Latent Class Analysis resulted in two groups: cluster 1 (n = 122; 67%), early‐onset alcohol and drug users; and cluster 2 (n = 60; 33%), late‐onset alcohol and drug users. Higher depression levels, higher incidence of committing robbery and less official history of recidivism were associated with cluster 1 inmates.Discussion and ConclusionsThe temporal relationship between the onset age of alcohol/drug use problems and age of the beginning of criminal activities can set apart women convicted of robbery from those convicted of homicide. Further, a distinctive therapeutic approach to early‐ and late‐onset offenders may be valuable. [Baltieri DA. Order of onset of drug use and criminal activities in a sample of drug‐abusing women convicted of violent crimes. Drug Alcohol Rev 2014;33:202–210]
Monthly haemostatic factor variability in women and men
Authors: Hill Alison M. , Stewart Paul W. , Fung Mark K. , Kris‐Etherton Penny M. , Ginsberg Henry N. , Tracy Russell P. , Pearson Thomas A. , Lefevre Michael , Reed Roberta G. , Elmer Patricia J. , Holleran Stephen , Ershow Abby G. ,   for the DELTA (Dietary Effects on Lipoproteins and Thrombogenic Activity) Investigators
Published: January 2014

AbstractBackgroundHormonal status influences haemostatic factors including fibrinogen, factor VII and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI‐1), and concentrations differ among men, premenopausal and postmenopausal women. This study examines how phases of the menstrual cycle influence variability of fibrinogen, factor VII and PAI‐1.DesignWe studied 103 subjects (39 premenopausal women, 18 postmenopausal women and 46 men) during three, randomized, 8‐week energy‐ and nutrient‐controlled experimental diets in the Dietary Effects on Lipids and Thrombogenic Activity (DELTA) Study. Fasting blood samples were collected weekly during the last 4 weeks of each diet period, and haemostatic factors were quantified. Two linear mixed‐effects models were used for fibrinogen, factor VII and PAI‐1: one to estimate and compare group‐specific components of variance, and the other to estimate additional fixed effects representing cyclical functions of day of menstrual cycle in premenopausal women.ResultsSystematic cyclical variation with day of menstrual cycle was observed for fibrinogen (P < 0·0001), factor VII (P = 0·0012) and PAI‐1 (P = 0·0024) in premenopausal women. However, the amplitude of cycling was small relative to the total magnitude of intra‐individual variability. In addition, the intra‐individual variance and corresponding coefficient of variation observed in premenopausal women did not differ from postmenopausal women and men.ConclusionsThe variability in haemostatic factors in premenopausal women is no greater than for postmenopausal women or men. Consequently, premenopausal women can be included in studies investigating haemostatic factor responses without controlling for stage of menstrual cycle.
Plastic and evolutionary responses to climate change in fish
Authors: Crozier Lisa G. , Hutchings Jeffrey A. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThe physical and ecological ‘fingerprints’ of anthropogenic climate change over the past century are now well documented in many environments and taxa. We reviewed the evidence for phenotypic responses to recent climate change in fish. Changes in the timing of migration and reproduction, age at maturity, age at juvenile migration, growth, survival and fecundity were associated primarily with changes in temperature. Although these traits can evolve rapidly, only two studies attributed phenotypic changes formally to evolutionary mechanisms. The correlation‐based methods most frequently employed point largely to ‘fine‐grained’ population responses to environmental variability (i.e. rapid phenotypic changes relative to generation time), consistent with plastic mechanisms. Ultimately, many species will likely adapt to long‐term warming trends overlaid on natural climate oscillations. Considering the strong plasticity in all traits studied, we recommend development and expanded use of methods capable of detecting evolutionary change, such as the long term study of selection coefficients and temporal shifts in reaction norms, and increased attention to forecasting adaptive change in response to the synergistic interactions of the multiple selection pressures likely to be associated with climate change.
Inferring influenza global transmission networks without complete phylogenetic information
Authors: Aris‐Brosou Stéphane 
Published: January 2014

AbstractInfluenza is one of the most severe respiratory infections affecting humans throughout the world, yet the dynamics of its global transmission network are still contentious. Here, I describe a novel combination of phylogenetics, time series, and graph theory to analyze 14.25 years of data stratified in space and in time, focusing on the main target of the human immune response, the hemagglutinin gene. While bypassing the complete phylogenetic inference of huge data sets, the method still extracts information suggesting that waves of genetic or of nucleotide diversity circulate continuously around the globe for subtypes that undergo sustained transmission over several seasons, such as H3N2 and pandemic H1N1/09, while diversity of prepandemic H1N1 viruses had until 2009 a noncontinuous transmission pattern consistent with a source/sink model. Irrespective of the shift in the structure of H1N1 diversity circulation with the emergence of the pandemic H1N1/09 strain, US prevalence peaks during the winter months when genetic diversity is at its lowest. This suggests that a dominant strain is generally responsible for epidemics and that monitoring genetic and/or nucleotide diversity in real time could provide public health agencies with an indirect estimate of prevalence.
Anethole induces apoptotic cell death accompanied by reactive oxygen species production and DNA fragmentation in Aspergillus fumigatus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Fujita Ken‐Ichi , Tatsumi Miki , Ogita Akira , Kubo Isao , Tanaka Toshio 
Published: January 2014

trans‐Anethole (anethole), a major component of anise oil, has a broad antimicrobial spectrum, and antimicrobial activity that is weaker than that of other antibiotics on the market. When combined with polygodial, nagilactone E, and n‐dodecanol, anethole has been shown to possess significant synergistic antifungal activity against a budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a human opportunistic pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans. However, the antifungal mechanism of anethole has not been completely determined. We found that anethole stimulated cell death of a human opportunistic pathogenic fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, in addition to S. cerevisiae. The anethole‐induced cell death was accompanied by reactive oxygen species production, metacaspase activation, and DNA fragmentation. Several mutants of S. cerevisiae, in which genes related to the apoptosis‐initiating execution signals from mitochondria were deleted, were resistant to anethole. These results suggest that anethole‐induced cell death could be explained by oxidative stress‐dependent apoptosis via typical mitochondrial death cascades in fungi, including A. fumigatus and S. cerevisiae.
Horizontal gene transfer and the rock record: comparative genomics of phylogenetically distant bacteria that induce wrinkle structure formation in modern sediments
Authors: Flood B. E. , Bailey J. V. , Biddle J. F. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractWrinkle structures are sedimentary features that are produced primarily through the trapping and binding of siliciclastic sediments by mat‐forming micro‐organisms. Wrinkle structures and related sedimentary structures in the rock record are commonly interpreted to represent the stabilizing influence of cyanobacteria on sediments because cyanobacteria are known to produce similar textures and structures in modern tidal flat settings. However, other extant bacteria such as filamentous representatives of the family Beggiatoaceae can also interact with sediments to produce sedimentary features that morphologically resemble many of those associated with cyanobacteria‐dominated mats. While Beggiatoa spp. and cyanobacteria are metabolically and phylogenetically distant, genomic analyses show that the two groups share hundreds of homologous genes, likely as the result of horizontal gene transfer. The comparative genomics results described here suggest that some horizontally transferred genes may code for phenotypic traits such as filament formation, chemotaxis, and the production of extracellular polymeric substances that potentially underlie the similar biostabilizing influences of these organisms on sediments. We suggest that the ecological utility of certain basic life modes such as the construction of mats and biofilms, coupled with the lateral mobility of genes in the microbial world, introduces an element of uncertainty into the inference of specific phylogenetic origins from gross morphological features preserved in the ancient rock record.
Characterization of biogenic iron oxides collected by the newly designed liquid culture method using diffusion chambers
Authors: Kikuchi S. , Makita H. , Takai K. , Yamaguchi N. , Takahashi Y. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractWe designed a new culture method for neutrophilic iron‐oxidizing bacteria using liquid medium (i) to study the formation and mineralogical characteristics of biogenic iron oxides (BIOS) and (ii) to apply BIOS to various scientific and engineering applications. An iron‐oxidizing bacterium, Mariprofundus ferrooxydans PV‐1T (ATCC, BAA–1020), was cultured using a set of diffusion chambers to prepare a broad anoxic–oxic interface, upon which BIOS formation is typically observed in natural environments. Iron oxide precipitates were generated in parallel with bacterial growth. A scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated that the morphological features of the iron oxide precipitates in the medium (in vitro BIOS) were similar to those of BIOS collected from natural deep‐sea hydrothermal environments in the Northwest Eifuku Seamount field in the northern Mariana Arc (in situ BIOS). Further chemical speciation of both the in vitro and in situ BIOS was examined with X‐ray absorption fine structure (XAFS). A bulk XAFS analysis showed that the minerals in both BIOS were mainly ferrihydrite and oligomeric stages of amorphous iron oxyhydroxides with edge‐sharing octahedral linkages. The amount of in vitro BIOS produced with the diffusion‐chamber method was greater than those produced previously with other culture methods, such as gel‐stabilized gradient and batch liquid culture methods. The larger yields of BIOS produced with the new culture method will allow us to clarify in the future the mineralization mechanisms during bacterial growth and to examine the physicochemical properties of BIOS, such as their adsorption to and coprecipitation with various elements and substances.
Expression of matriptase correlates with tumour progression and clinical prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Cheng Ming‐Fang , Huang Mao‐Suan , Lin Chun‐Shu , Lin Li‐Han , Lee Herng‐Sheng , Jiang Jhih‐Cheng , Hsia Kan‐Tai 
Published: January 2014

AimsTo investigate the relationship of matriptase expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) to clinicopathological characteristics, patient survival and cell‐invasive properties.Methods and resultsMatriptase expression in OSCC was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining, and its relationship to clinicopathological features and outcomes was assessed statistically. The shRNA‐mediated stable knockdown of matriptase in OSCC cells was used to analyse cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. Matriptase immunostaining score was correlated with histopathological grade, clinical stage, positive lymph node and distant metastasis, and higher matriptase immunostaining score was associated significantly with poor prognosis. Elevated matriptase expression in oral cancer cell lines was a significant promoter of oral cancer cell migration and invasion.ConclusionsMatriptase expression correlates with tumour progression and invasive capability in OSCC and may be an adverse prognostic marker for this cancer.
Tobacco use habits among Swedish female youth athletes and the influence of the social environment
Authors: Rolandsson M , Wagnsson S , Hugoson A 
Published: January 2014

AbstractAimThis study examined the prevalence of tobacco habits and the influence of the social environment among Swedish female athletes representing both individual and team sports in Sweden.Material and methodA self‐reported cross‐sectional survey was performed with 791 female athletes 15–24 years old representing ten of the most common sports in Sweden. The questions related to the participants' involvement in sports and their tobacco habits.ResultsFindings revealed that a large proportion of the female athletes had never smoked (65%) or used snus (74%). However, a considerable portion of the participants had tried smoking (27%) or using snus (20%), especially those involved in team sports. Results also showed statistically significant associations between female athletes' smoking habits and those of both their mothers and their peers, but not with the tobacco habits of their coaches, indicating that coaches do not influence the female athletes' use of tobacco.ConclusionIn conclusion, this study indicated that the vast majority of female athletes did not use tobacco. A significant portion had sometimes tried tobacco, especially members of team sports, but this behaviour did not seem to be influenced by the tobacco habits of their coaches.
Influenza‐related hospitalization of adults associated with low census tract socioeconomic status and female sex in New Haven County, Connecticut, 2007‐2011
Authors: Tam Karman , Yousey‐Hindes Kimberly , Hadler James L. 
Published: January 2014

ObjectivesTo help guide universal influenza vaccination efforts in the United States, it is important to know which demographic groups are currently at highest risk of costly complications of influenza infection. Few studies have examined the relationship between hospitalization with influenza and either socioeconomic status (SES) or sex. We examined associations between census tract‐level SES and sex and incidence of influenza‐related hospitalizations among adults.DesignDescriptive analysis of data collected by active population‐based surveillance for persons >18 years old hospitalized with laboratory confirmed influenza during the 2007–2008 through 2010–2011 influenza seasons. Case residential addresses were geocoded and linked to data from the 2006–2010 American Community Survey to obtain census‐tract level (neighborhood) SES measures. Census‐tract level SES variables included measures of poverty, education, crowding, primary language, and median income. Four levels were created for each.SettingNew Haven, County, Connecticut.SampleEntire New Haven County population >18 years old.Main Outcome MeasuresAge‐adjusted incidence of influenza hospitalizations and relative risk by sex and by each of five SES measures.ResultsCrude and age‐adjusted incidence progressively increased with decreasing neighborhood SES for each measure both overall and for each influenza season. Female incidence was higher than male for each age group, and female age‐adjusted incidence was higher for each SES level and influenza season.ConclusionsFemale sex and lower neighborhood SES were independently and consistently associated with higher incidence of hospitalization of adults with influenza. If this is more broadly the case, these findings have implications for future influenza vaccination efforts. Analysis using census tract SES measures can provide additional perspective on health disparities.
Insulation Failure with Externalized Conductor of a Linox SD Lead: A Case Report
Authors: MANFREDI JOSEPH A. , SMITHGALL STEVEN M. , KIRCHER CHARLES M. , LOLLIS MARY A. 
Published: January 2014

Insulation Failure with Externalized ConductorA 53‐year‐old man with a dual‐chamber implantable cardioverter‐defibrillator presented to the electrophysiology (EP) lab for an EP study in evaluation of supraventricular tachycardia despite medical therapy. Fluoroscopic imaging during placement of diagnostic catheters demonstrated insulation failure with an externalized conductor on the right ventricular defibrillator lead just distal to the proximal defibrillator coil. Device interrogation revealed normal pacing, and shock impedances, normal sensing, and stable pacing thresholds.