bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Leukocyte Score to Improve Clinical Outcome Predictions in Bacteremic Pneumococcal Pneumonia in Adults
Authors: Blot Mathieu , Croisier Delphine , Péchinot André , Vagner Ameline , Putot Alain , Fillion Aurélie , Baudouin Nicolas , Quenot Jean-Pierre , Charles Pierre-Emmanuel , Bonniaud Philippe , Chavanet Pascal , Piroth Lionel 
Published: August 2014

Abstract
Background.  Bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) is associated with high and early mortality. A simple procedure to predict mortality is crucial.
Methods.  All adult patients with BPP admitted from 2005 through 2013 to the University Hospital of Dijon, France, were enrolled to study 30-day mortality and associated factors, particularly leukocyte counts. A simple leukocyte score was created by adding 1 point each for neutropenia (&lt;1500 cells/mm3), lymphopenia (&lt;400), and monocytopenia (&lt;200).
Results.  One hundred and ninety-two adult patients (mean age, 69 years; standard deviation [SD], 19 years) who had developed and were hospitalized for BPP (58% community-acquired) were included. The 30-day crude mortality rate was 21%. The mean Pneumonia Severity Index score was high at 127.3 (SD = 41.3). Among the 182 patients who had a white blood cell count, 34 (19%) had a high leukocyte score (≥2). Multivariate analysis revealed that mortality was significantly associated with a high leukocyte score (odds ratio, 6.28; 95% confidence interval, 2.35–16.78), a high respiratory rate, a low serum bicarbonate level, and an altered mental status (all P &lt; .05). The leukocyte score was not significantly dependent on the previous state of immunosuppression, alcoholism, or viral coinfection, but it did correlate with an acute respiratory distress syndrome and a low serum bicarbonate level.
Conclusions.  This new leukocyte score, in combination with the well known predictive factors, seems of interest in predicting the risk of death in BPP. A high score correlated with organ dysfunction and probably reflects the level of immunoparalysis. Its predictive value has to be confirmed in other cohorts.
Agricultural Futures
Authors: Scoones Ian 
Published: August 2014

AbstractGlobal assessments have become central to international debates on a range of key policy issues. They attempt to combine “expert assessment” with processes of “stakeholder consultation” in what are presented as global, participatory assessments on key issues of major international importance. This chapter focuses on the IAASTD—the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development—through a detailed analysis of the underlying knowledge politics involved, centered particularly on the controversy over genetically modified crops. Global assessments contribute to a new landscape of governance in the international arena, offering the potential for links between the local and the global and new ways of articulating citizen engagement with global processes of decision making and policy. The chapter argues that in global assessments the politics of knowledge need to be made more explicit and that negotiations around politics and values must be put center stage. The black-boxing of uncertainty, or the eclipsing of more fundamental clashes over interpretation and meaning, must be avoided for processes of participation and engagement in global assessments to become more meaningful, democratic, and accountable. A critique is thus offered of simplistic forms of deliberative democratic practice and the need to “bring politics back in” is affirmed.
Power and the People in Russia
Authors: Hosking Geoffrey 
Published: August 2014

Abstract
Whereas many European states sought to dominate corporate associations in order to exploit their resources, the Russian monarchy had to create them in the late eighteenth century in order to transmit its own authority. Both before and after that, however, the Tsars mediated authority downwards through persons rather than institutions. This chapter highlights the paradoxes of a system which compensated for under-institutionalization through the workings of competing elite patron-client networks and small-scale popular communities of joint responsibility which survived long beyond 1917. Communists may have transformed and modernized society in appearance, but in reality that modernization perpetuated or even restored some of the archaic practices of pre-revolutionary society. The Soviet state, like the Tsarist one, depended on archaic social arrangements which lubricated its everyday functioning, but frustrated its ultimate purposes. Even at the start of the twenty-first century Russian politics were still in thrall to personalized power factions.
Geopolitics
Authors: LeDonne John P. 
Published: August 2014

Abstract
Powers, great and small, cannot overcome their geography; great powers cannot resist practising geopolitics. The makers of Russian geopolitics always had a sense that the mastery of space was fundamental to the exercise of power; that space meant the great river and sea basins constituting the Eurasian amphitheatre; and that the purpose of geopolitics was to restructure the Eurasian space in such a way that Moscow would become its political, economic and civilizational centre. Analysing the inter-relationships between geography, foreign policy, clientele politics and economic development, this chapter charts the ways in which successive Russian elites attempted to achieve that aim.
Russia and the West
Authors: Lovell Stephen 
Published: August 2014

Abstract
Concentrating on the political and cultural capital that various elites have extracted from notions of the West, this chapter identifies four phases in the development of the most consistently articulated binary opposition in modern Russian culture: Russia’s entry into the European state system in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the era of national awakening from the Napoleonic wars to the 1860s; the era of mass national politics and decolonization from the 1860s to the 1950s; and the era of American hegemony, globalization and European peace from the 1950s onwards which has eventually caused the Russian nation to reinvent itself in a postcommunist guise.
Imperial Defence
Authors: Lieven Dominic 
Published: August 2014

Abstract
Contrary to the influential myth propagated by Tolstoy’s War and Peace, the Russian war effort in 1812–14 was in reality intelligently conceived and purposefully executed under the overall direction of Alexander I, who was his own foreign minister and also played a significant role in military planning. Having analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the Russian armies, the efficiency of their supply lines, the mobilization of Russian manpower, and the significance of the Russian horse industry, the chapter concludes by examining the consequences of victory over Napoleon. Russian backwardness as revealed in the Crimean War owed less to the failings of Nicholas I than to the fact that the Industrial Revolution originated on Europe’s Western periphery and then took several generations to extend first to central and then to southern and eastern regions of the continent.
Racial Redistricting and Descriptive Representation
Authors: Canon David T. 
Published: August 2014

Abstract
For most of our nation’s history, redistricting produced a partisan struggle as the two major parties tried to gain electoral advantage. In the past several decades, however, racial representation emerged as an important element of the redistricting process. The scholarly literature on this topic has examined three related questions: what role should racial redistricting play in the representation of racial interests, how may racial redistricting be used, and what is the connection between descriptive representation and the substantive representation of racial interests? The normative questions concerning how racial interests should be represented and empirical questions concerning how they are represented are discussed by other scholars in this volume. This essay will instead focus on the empirical and legal questions concerning the use of redistricting to produce descriptive representation.
Crime during and after Military Service
Authors: Emsley Clive 
Published: August 2014

AbstractUntil recently, there has been little serious research into the scale and nature of offending by military personnel during and after their service and virtually none into the history of the problem. This article focuses primarily on the nature and scale of offending by service personnel since the beginning of the First World War and on the extent to which the concept of brutalized veteran had any reality particularly during the twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. Much of the evidence is drawn from British examples, but comparisons are made with the experience of other countries where appropriate research and publication allows. The chapter emphasizes the temptations to offending provided or occasioned by military service and, occasionally, the authority given to commit crime during armed conflict. It stresses also the problems of identifying service personnel and veterans within the statistics and of assessing the way military service may have influenced post-service offending.
Pharmacological actions of thymol and an analogue at GABAB autoreceptors
Authors: Parker David AS , Marino Victor , Ong Jennifer 
Published: August 2014

SummaryGABAB autoreceptors inhibit release of GABA from GABAergic nerve terminals. Agonists of these receptors (e.g. baclofen) inhibit, whereas antagonists (e.g. (+)‐(S)‐5,5‐dimethylmorpholinyl‐2‐acetic acid; Sch 50911) enhance release of the transmitter. The actions of thymol (2‐isopropyl‐5‐methylphenol) and the structurally related compound 2‐tert‐butyl‐4‐methylphenol, (4MP) on the release of [3H]‐GABA were examined in rat neocortical slices where the GABAergic nerves had been preloaded with [3H]‐GABA and subsequently stimulated electrically on two occasions (S1 and S2). Test agents, baclofen and Sch 50911 were added to the superfusion medium prior to the second period of stimulation (S2). Stimulation‐induced overflow (SIO) of [3H]‐GABA as a consequence of these stimulations (SIO1 and SIO2) were calculated and the effects of agents determined by comparing the SIO2/SIO1 ratio in the presence of each agent with that in control tissue. Thymol potentiated the release of [3H]‐GABA (EC50 170 μmol/L), an action reversed by baclofen (2 μmol/L). Baclofen alone had little effect on GABA release. Release of [3H]‐GABA was inhibited by 4MP (IC50 3 μmol/L) and this effect was blocked by Sch 50911 (10 μmol/L). Alone, Sch 50911 markedly potentiated the release of GABA. These results imply that 4MP is an agonist of GABAB autoreceptors; however, further studies are needed to confirm that thymol is indeed a GABAB autoreceptor antagonist. Of interest are structural differences in these agents. Thymol has a propyl group in the ortho position relative to the phenolic hydroxyl, whereas in 4MP this is a butyl group and the methyl group moves from position 5 to 4. Whether one or both of these changes was responsible for the above actions is unknown.
Characterization of a double‐hit murine model of acute respiratory distress syndrome
Authors: Voelker Maria Theresa , Fichtner Falk , Kasper Michael , Kamprad Manja , Sack Ulrich , Kaisers Udo X , Laudi Sven 
Published: August 2014

SummaryThe aim of the present study was to characterize a murine model of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) abiding by the Berlin definition of human ARDS and guidelines for animal models of ARDS. To this end, C57BL/6NCrl mice were challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 15 mg/kg, i.p.) followed 18 h later by injection of oleic acid (OA; 0.12 mL/kg, i.v.). Controls received saline injection at both time points. Haemodynamics were monitored continuously. Arterial blood gas analyses were performed just before and every 30 min after OA challenge. Ninety minutes after OA challenge, the chest of mice was scanned using micro‐computed tomography (CT). Cytokine concentrations were measured in plasma samples. Lungs were harvested 90 min after OA challenge for histology, immunohistochemistry, lung weight measurements and tissue cytokine detection. A histological lung injury score was determined. Eighteen hours after LPS challenge, mice exhibited a severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Oxygenation declined significantly after OA injections (Pao2/Fio2 283 ± 73 and 256 ± 71 mmHg at 60 and 90 min, respectively; P < 0.001). Bilateral patchy infiltrates were present on the micro‐CT scans. Histology revealed parenchymal damage with accumulation of polymorphonuclear neutrophils, intra‐alveolar proteinacous debris and few hyaline membranes. The lung wet : dry ratio indicated damage to the alveolar capillary membrane. Cytokine patterns evidenced a severe local and systemic inflammatory state in plasma and lung tissue. In conclusion, the described two‐hit model of ARDS shows a pathological picture of ARDS closely mimicking human ARDS according to the Berlin definition and may facilitate interpretation of prospective experimental results.
Considering the fate of electronic tags: interactions with stakeholders and user responsibility when encountering tagged aquatic animals
Authors: Hammerschlag Neil , Cooke Steven J. , Gallagher Austin J. , Godley Brendan J. 
Published: August 2014

Summary

The use of electronic tagging (e.g. acoustic, archival and satellite telemetry) to study the behavior and ecology of aquatic animals has increased dramatically over the past decade. As scientists continue to use these tools, it is inevitable that other researchers and the public at‐large will encounter animals carrying such tags with increasing frequency. If the animals appear burdened or injured by the tag (e.g. showing signs of trauma), or if the tag is functionally impaired (e.g. cracked or severely biofouled), these encounters have the potential to generate conflict with various wildlife stakeholders (e.g. tourists/operators, divers, fishers, hunters) that can negatively affect research efforts and undermine conservation work. Yet, these encounters also present an unparalleled opportunity to advance the field of biotelemetry by improving animal welfare, tagging technology and practices, while also gaining the trust and support of wildlife stakeholders. Therefore, as scientists, it is important to consider the fate of our electronic tags.

Here we consider tagged animals as encountered by different user groups and discuss the potential steps and recommendations that scientists can take to improve tagging techniques and animal welfare as a result. We also discuss interactions with stakeholders and the manifold benefits if such interactions are taken into account and embraced.

We examine the situation where a researcher encounters, and is able and trained to handle a previously tagged animal equipped with a functionally impaired tag and/or the animal is exhibiting signs of burden due to the tag. We generate a decision tree for scientists faced with such a scenario and discuss the best course of action, whereas such a situation was relatively unlikely in the past, but is now a reality in all aquatic animal tagging studies.

The framework in which these issues are discussed is novel and failure to address them can significantly impede advances in the development and use of biotelemetry and even one's ability to conduct research. It is our hope that our essay stimulates further discourse, debate, technological improvements and consideration of the fate of electronic tagging.
Non‐infectious skin disease in Indigenous Australians
Authors: Heyes Christopher , Tait Clare , Toholka Ryan , Gebauer Kurt 
Published: August 2014

AbstractThe burden of non‐infectious skin disease in the Indigenous Australian population has not been previously examined. This study considers the published data on the epidemiology and clinical features of a number of non‐infectious skin diseases in Indigenous Australians. It also outlines hypotheses for the possible differences in the prevalence of such diseases in this group compared with the general Australian population. There is a paucity of literature on the topic but, from the material available, Indigenous Australians appear to have a reduced prevalence of psoriasis, type 1 hypersensitivity reactions and skin cancer but increased rates of lupus erythematosus, kava dermopathy and vitamin D deficiency when compared to the non‐Indigenous Australian population. This article profiles the prevalence and presentation of non‐infectious skin diseases in the Indigenous Australian population to synthesise our limited knowledge and highlight deficiencies in our understanding.
Prognostic significance of perineural invasion in stage IIA colon cancer
Authors: Yun Jung‐A , Kim Hee Cheol , Kim Seok‐Hyung , Cho Yong Beom , Yun Seong Hyeon , Lee Woo Yong , Chun Ho‐Kyung 
Published: August 2014

AbstractBackgroundPerineural invasion (PNI) may influence the prognosis of colon cancer, but little is known about its predictive value. The aim of this study was to reveal the role of PNI in predicting prognosis after curative resection of colon cancer, especially T3N0.MethodsTwo hundred and fifty‐five patients who underwent curative resection for colon cancer at Samsung Medical Center and were later diagnosed with stage T3N0 by a pathological report between November 2004 and December 2007 were retrospectively recruited into the study.ResultsAmong the 255 patients, 156 were male and 99 were female. The mean age was 61 years (range, 25 to 88 years). The most common tumour location was the sigmoid colon (93 patients, 36.5%). The median follow‐up period was 61 months (range, 1 to 98 months). PNI was detected in 18 patients (7.1%). Adjuvant chemotherapy was performed in 205 patients (80.4%). The 5‐year disease‐free survival rate was greater for patients with PNI negative tumours compared with those with PNI positive tumours (92.0% versus 76.0%, P = 0.025). Adjuvant chemotherapy was not associated with significant differences in survival rate (94.8% versus 96.9%, P = 0.625). On multivariate analysis, PNI was an independent prognostic factor for disease‐free and overall survival (P = 0.046, hazard ratio (HR) = 3.113, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.020–9.505 and P = 0.019, HR = 9.395, 95% CI = 1.453–60.755 respectively).Conclusions
PNI is the only significant prognostic factor affecting disease‐free and overall survival in patients with T3N0 colon cancer.
Low cord blood Foxp3/CD3γ mRNA ratios: a marker of increased risk for allergy development
Authors: Bullens D. M. A. , Seys S. , Kasran A. , Dilissen E. , Dupont L. J. , Ceuppens J. L. 
Published: August 2014

SummaryBackgroundData from birth cohort studies suggest that increased cord blood total IgE and reduced cord blood regulatory T cells increase the risk of developing allergic sensitization and atopic dermatitis.ObjectiveWe here addressed whether serum total IgE and hen's egg‐specific IgE levels at birth and at age 1 year differed between healthy and allergic children in a Belgian birth cohort (FONIA). We furthermore studied whether these parameters as well as cord blood Foxp3/CD3γ mRNA levels might predict the allergic outcome.Methods and resultsChildren (n = 84) were clinically assessed at the ages of 6, 12, 18, and 24 months and at 6 years. Cord blood total IgE levels above 0.35 kU/L predicted early (i.e. before or at the age of 2 years) allergy development. Presence of serum IgE antibodies to hen's egg (cut‐off 0.05 Ua/mL) at the age of 1 year was associated with early as well as late (i.e. between the age of 2 and 6 years) allergy development. Cord blood Foxp3/CD3γ mRNA ratios were significantly lower in early allergic children and levels below 0.32 predicted the allergic outcome.Conclusions and clinical RelevanceLow cord blood Foxp3/CD3γ mRNA ratios are highly predictive for early allergy development, whereas specific IgE levels to hen's egg white above 0.05 Ua/mL at age 1 year predict allergy development in general.
Infection with human rhinovirus 16 promotes enhanced IgE responsiveness in basophils of atopic asthmatics
Authors: Agrawal R. , Wisniewski J. , Yu M. D. , Kennedy J. L. , Platts‐Mills T. , Heymann P. W. , Woodfolk J. A. 
Published: August 2014

SummaryBackgroundRhinovirus and IgE act in concert to promote asthma exacerbations. While basophils are the principal cell type in the blood that is activated by IgE, their role in virus‐induced asthma episodes remains elusive.ObjectiveTo monitor IgE responsiveness in circulating basophils of rhinovirus‐infected atopic asthmatics during acute infection and convalescence.MethodsThe capacity for basophils to respond to IgE was assessed by testing the effects of allergen, or cross‐linking anti‐FcεRI and anti‐IgE antibodies, on surface TSLP receptor in 24‐hour PBMC cultures. Activation profiles of basophils from atopic asthmatics challenged intranasally with human rhinovirus 16 were monitored directly ex vivo or else in 24‐hour cultures, at baseline (day 0), and then at days 4 and 21 post‐challenge.ResultsBasophils in atopic asthmatics, but not in non‐atopic controls, upregulated TSLP receptor upon IgE receptor ligation. The magnitude of this response was correlated with the proportion of serum total IgE that was allergen‐specific (r = 0.615, P < 0.05). Following rhinovirus infection, all subjects developed nasal symptoms that peaked 3–5 days after viral challenge. Basophils displayed maximal IgE responsiveness 3 weeks post‐challenge as judged by TSLP receptor levels in 24‐hour cultures. No significant change in total IgE or specific IgE antibodies was detected during rhinovirus infection. By contrast, levels of IgE receptor‐associated spleen tyrosine kinase, Syk, were increased on day 4 (P < 0.05), and elevated levels were also detected three weeks post‐challenge.Conclusions and Clinical RelevanceCirculating basophils display increased IgE responsiveness 3 weeks after rhinovirus infection in atopic asthmatics. This observation, coupled with increased expression of Syk, implicates basophils in promoting, or else prolonging, rhinovirus‐induced inflammation in atopic asthmatics.
Paediatric hereditary angioedema: a survey of UK service provision and patient experience
Authors: Read N , Lim E , Tarzi M D , Hildick-Smith P , Burns S , Fidler K J 
Published: August 2014

SummaryHereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare disease characterized by episodes of potentially life-threatening angioedema. For affected children in the United Kingdom, there are relatively few data regarding disease prevalence, service organization and the humanistic burden of the disease. To improve knowledge in these areas, we surveyed major providers of care for children with HAE. A questionnaire was sent to major paediatric centres to determine patient numbers, symptoms, diagnostic difficulties, management and available services. In addition, all patients at a single centre were given a questionnaire to determine the experiences of children and their families. Sixteen of 28 centres responded, caring for a total of 111 UK children. Seven children had experienced life-threatening crises. One-third of patients were on long-term prophylactic medication, including C1 inhibitor prophylaxis in four children. Eight centres reported patients who were initially misdiagnosed. Broad differences in management were noted, particularly regarding indications for long-term prophylaxis and treatment monitoring. We also noted substantial variation in the organization of services between centres, including the number of consultants contributing to patient care, the availability of specialist nurses, the availability of home therapy training and the provision of patient information. Ten of 12 patient/carer questionnaires were returned, identifying three common themes: the need to access specialist knowledge, the importance of home therapy and concerns around the direct effect of angioedema on their life. To our knowledge, this study represents the first dedicated survey of paediatric HAE services in the United Kingdom and provides useful information to inform the optimization of services.