bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cold stress induces lower urinary tract symptoms
Authors: Imamura Tetsuya , Ishizuka Osamu , Nishizawa Osamu 
Published: February 2013

AbstractCold stress as a result of whole‐body cooling at low environmental temperatures exacerbates lower urinary tract symptoms, such as urinary urgency, nocturia and residual urine. We established a model system using healthy conscious rats to explore the mechanisms of cold stress‐induced detrusor overactivity. In this review, we summarize the basic findings shown by this model. Rats that were quickly transferred from room temperature (27 ± 2°C) to low temperature (4 ± 2°C) showed detrusor overactivity including increased basal pressure and decreased voiding interval, micturition volume, and bladder capacity. The cold stress‐induced detrusor overactivity is mediated through a resiniferatoxin‐sensitve C‐fiber sensory nerve pathway involving α1‐adrenergic receptors. Transient receptor potential melastatin 8 channels, which are sensitive to thermal changes below 25–28°C, also play an important role in mediating the cold stress responses. Additionally, the sympathetic nervous system is associated with transient hypertension and decreases of skin surface temperature that are closely correlated with the detrusor overactivity. With this cold stress model, we showed that α1‐adrenergic receptor antagonists have the potential to treat cold stress‐exacerbated lower urinary tract symptoms. In addition, we showed that traditional Japanese herbal mixtures composed of Hachimijiogan act, in part, by increasing skin temperature and reducing the number of cold sensitive transient receptor potential melastatin channels in the skin. The effects of herbal mixtures have the potential to treat and/or prevent the exacerbation of lower urinary tract symptoms by providing resistance to the cold stress responses. Our model provides new opportunities for utilizing animal disease models with altered lower urinary tract functions to explore the effects of novel therapeutic drugs.
The challenges of implementing Enhanced Recovery Programme in urology
Authors: Koo Vincent , Brace Helen , Shahzad Ali , Lynn Naing 
Published: February 2013

AbstractEnhanced Recovery Programme (ERP) or fast‐track programme involves the application of evidence‐based best practice into surgery to optimize patient recovery post‐operatively. Results have been very promising especially in complex surgical procedures, where patient length of hospital stay had been significantly reduced and there has not been a significant increase in patient complication or readmission rate. These favourable outcomes are potentially cost‐effective for the health care team and hospital trust especially in the present economic climate. Within our department, we have recently implemented ERP in all patients undergoing radical cystectomy procedure since September 2009. In this paper, we discuss the elements of ERP, share our experiences and challenges in the implementation of ERP at different stages from prior‐ to post‐surgery. We concluded that the key for successful implementation of ERP is the active collaboration involving the whole health care team including the nurses, nurse specialists, doctors, surgeons and anaesthetist, to ensure every team member is accountable and contribute to the implementation process. From the nursing perspective, there is a significant role to be played especially in the pre‐ and post‐operative care of patients.
Tacrolimus‐induced thrombotic microangiopathy in orthotopic liver transplant patients: case series of four patients
Authors: Nwaba A. , MacQuillan G. , Adams L. A. , Garas G. , Delriviere L. , Augustson B. , DeBoer B. , Moody H. , Jeffrey G. P. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractThrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is a potentially fatal complication in solid organ and bone marrow transplant patients, with reported incidence of 0.5–3% and mortality of about 75%. To emphasise the importance of early diagnosis and prompt commencement of therapy results in improved clinical outcomes. A retrospective study of all patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTX) at the Western Australian Liver Transplantation Service from May 1994 to December 2010 was conducted to identify patients who developed tacrolimus‐induced TMA. We identified four patients with tacrolimus‐induced TMA post‐OLTX, derived from a cohort of 104 patients treated with tacrolimus in our institution. The mean age at diagnosis was 40 years, and the mean time of onset was 63 ± 7.5 weeks after OLTX. The indications for OLTX in the four patients were fulminant hepatic failure in three (Wilson disease, paracetamol overdose and post‐partum thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura) and hepatitis C virus‐related cirrhosis. All patients had tacrolimus post‐OLTX. At diagnosis, tacrolimus was discontinued in all patients, and three of the four patients underwent plasma exchange and all patients improved clinically. Mean duration of follow up was 15 ± 7.5 months. There was no mortality 6 months post‐TMA. Early diagnosis with immediate discontinuation or conversion of calcineurin inhibitors and plasma exchange should be offered to OLTX patients with TMA as it results in good outcomes.
Role of nurses in a nuclear disaster: experience in the Fukushima Dai‐ichi nuclear power plant accident
Authors: Noto Y. , Kitamiya C. , Itaki C. , Urushizaka M. , Kidachi R. , Yamabe H. 
Published: February 2013

BackgroundA severe earthquake occurred in Japan on 11 March 2011. The giant tsunami devastated many coastal communities in eastern Japan and caused the Fukushima Dai‐ichi nuclear power plant incident. The Japanese government conducted a large‐scale survey of residents affected by the nuclear and natural disasters in Fukushima prefecture and in response to the government's request, H University dispatched a Radiation Exposure Research Team to Fukushima.PurposeThis article explains the activities of the Radiation Exposure Research Team and the role of nurses in a nuclear disaster.ConclusionAs a nurse in the field of radiation medicine, our role is to protect the health of those affected and to reduce their anxiety. In addition, as the persons responsible for implementing these projects, it is also necessary that we educate and foster the development of medical care personnel with the appropriate knowledge and skills to carry out the measures required.
Detection of influenza C virus by a real‐time RT‐PCR assay
Authors: Pabbaraju Kanti , Wong Sallene , Wong Anita , May‐Hadford Jennifer , Tellier Raymond , Fonseca Kevin 
Published: February 2013

BackgroundInfluenza C virus can cause both upper and lower respiratory tract infections and has been reported to be prevalent in children. However, these infections have been under‐diagnosed, and epidemiological data available are limited due to the lack of convenient detection assays.ObjectiveDesign and validate a real‐time reverse‐transcriptase PCR (rt RT‐PCR) assay for the detection of influenza C.Study designRespiratory samples from two primary settings, namely, children who were hospitalized or seen in the emergency department, and respiratory outbreaks for which no other viral etiology was found were used for the detection of influenza C.Results and ConclusionsThe assay was sensitive and specific for the detection of influenza C. Eleven of 474 (2·32%) patients, all less than 10 years of age, were positive for influenza C. The strains clustered into two lineages, namely C/Kanagawa and C/Sao Paulo, based upon sequencing of the hemagglutinin‐esterase gene. Epidemiological data showed that a higher proportion of influenza C infections occur in younger children and during the winter months. This is the first report of the detection of influenza C in Alberta, Canada, and suggests that the detection of this virus should be included in respiratory virus testing panels.
Water‐bottom multiple attenuation by Kirchhoff extrapolation
Authors: Spadavecchia Emmanuel , Lipari Vincenzo , Bienati Nicola , Drufuca Giuseppe 
Published: February 2013

ABSTRACTDespite being less general than 3D surface‐related multiple elimination (3D‐SRME), multiple prediction based on wavefield extrapolation can still be of interest, because it is less CPU and I/O demanding than 3D‐SRME and moreover it does not require any prior data regularization. Here we propose a fast implementation of water‐bottom multiple prediction that uses the Kirchhoff formulation of wavefield extrapolation. With wavefield extrapolation multiple prediction is usually obtained through the cascade of two extrapolation steps. Actually by applying the Fermat’s principle (i.e., minimum reflection traveltime) we show that the cascade of two operators can be replaced by a single approximated extrapolation step. The approximation holds as long as the water bottom is not too complex. Indeed the proposed approach has proved to work well on synthetic and field data when the water bottom is such that wavefront triplications are negligible, as happens in many practical situations.
Mechanobiology in cardiac physiology and diseases
Authors: Takahashi Ken , Kakimoto Yoshihide , Toda Kensaku , Naruse Keiji 
Published: February 2013

AbstractMechanosensitivity is essential for heart function just as for all other cells and organs in the body, and it is involved in both normal physiology and diseases processes of the cardiovascular system. In this review, we have outlined the relationship between mechanosensitivity and heart physiology, including the Frank–Starling law of the heart and mechanoelectric feedback. We then focused on molecules involved in mechanotransduction, particularly mechanosensitive ion channels. We have also discussed the involvement of mechanosensitivity in heart diseases, such as arrhythmias, hypertrophy and ischaemic heart disease. Finally, mechanobiology in cardiogenesis is described with regard to regenerative medicine.
Economic impact of childhood psychiatric disorder on public sector services in Britain: estimates from national survey data
Authors: Snell Tom , Knapp Martin , Healey Andrew , Guglani Sacha , Evans‐Lacko Sara , Fernandez Jose‐Luis , Meltzer Howard , Ford Tamsin 
Published: February 2013

BackgroundApproximately one in ten children aged 5–15 in Britain has a conduct, hyperactivity or emotional disorder.MethodsThe British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys (BCAMHS) identified children aged 5–15 with a psychiatric disorder, and their use of health, education and social care services. Service costs were estimated for each child and weighted to estimate the overall economic impact at national level.ResultsAdditional health, social care and education costs associated with child psychiatric disorders totalled £1.47bn in 2008. The lion's share of the costs falls to frontline education and special education services.ConclusionsThere are huge costs to the public sector associated with child psychiatric disorder, particularly the education system. There is a pressing need to explore ways to reduce these costs while improving health and well‐being.
Inhibition of preadipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis by zinc‐α2‐glycoprotein treatment in 3T3‐L1 cells
Authors: Zhu Hui‐Juan , Ding Hui‐Hua , Deng Jie‐Ying , Pan Hui , Wang Lin‐Jie , Li Nai‐Shi , Wang Xiang‐Qing , Shi Yi‐Fan , Gong Feng‐Ying 
Published: February 2013

AbstractAims/IntroductionZinc‐α2‐glycoprotein (ZAG) is associated with the loss of adipose tissue in cancer cachexia, and has recently been proposed to be a candidate factor in the regulation of bodyweight. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of ZAG on the proliferation and differentiation of 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes.Materials and Methods3‐(4,5‐Dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl) 2,5‐diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) spectrophotometry, Oil Red O staining, intracellular triglyceride assays, real‐time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and transient transfection methods were used to explore the action of ZAG.ResultsEctopic ZAG expression significantly stimulates 3T3‐L1 cells proliferation in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. The maximum influence of ZAG on proliferation was 1.43‐fold higher than what was observed in control cells. This effect was observed 144 h after transfection with 0.16 μg of murine ZAG (mZAG) plasmid (P < 0.001). The intracellular lipids content in mZAG over‐expressing cells were decreased as much as 37% when compared with the control cells after differentiation (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The messenger ribonucleic acid levels of peroxisome proliferators‐activated receptor‐γ (PPARγ), CCAAT enhancer‐binding protein‐α (C/EBPα) and the critical lipogenic gene, fatty acid synthase (FAS), are also downregulated by up to 50% in fully differentiated ZAG‐treated adipocytes. ZAG suppresses FAS messenger ribonucleic acid expression by reducing FAS promoter activity.ConclusionsZinc‐α2‐glycoprotein stimulates the proliferation and inhibits the differentiation of 3T3‐L1 murine preadipocytes. The inhibitory action of ZAG on cell differentiation might be a result of the attenuation of the expression of PPARγ, C/EBPα and the lipogenic‐specific enzyme FAS by reducing FAS promoter activity.
Distribution of the Matsuda Index in Japanese healthy subjects
Authors: Takahara Mitsuyoshi , Katakami Naoto , Kaneto Hideaki , Noguchi Midori , Shimomura Iichiro 
Published: February 2013

AbstractWe investigated the cut‐off point of the Matsuda Index in Japanese according to the guideline from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. A total of 1,596 subjects free from medications for diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and/or hypertension, and without cardiovascular diseases or chronic renal failure underwent a health check‐up and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). We recruited 204 healthy reference individuals with normal glucose tolerance without obesity, any component of metabolic syndrome or elevated alanine aminotransferase. The Matsuda Index was calculated with 0‐ and 120‐min data during OGTT. As the index was not normally distributed (P < 0.001 by the Shapiro–Wilk test), the log‐transformed value (P = 0.876 by the Shapiro–Wilk test) was used. The mean ± 2 standard deviations were taken as the reference limits. The lower reference limit of the Matsuda Index was then calculated to be 4.3. Our result shows that a Matsuda Index <4.3 indicates the presence of insulin resistance in Japanese.
Genetic changes during laboratory domestication of an olive fly SIT strain
Authors: Zygouridis N. E. , Argov Y. , Nemny‐Lavy E. , Augustinos A. A. , Nestel D. , Mathiopoulos K. D. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractEarly attempts to apply the SIT on the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, were unsuccessful, mainly due to the low competitiveness of the sterile mass‐reared males compared with the wild ones. Recently, new efforts are underway in Israel to develop a vigorous and efficient mass‐reared olive fly laboratory strain. To understand the genetics of the adaptation process and possibly link the corresponding loss of competitiveness to genetic markers, we followed the fluctuation of genotypic frequencies of ten microsatellite markers during the course of 22 generations of the colonization of a wild Israeli population in laboratory conditions. Effective and observed allele number is halved after 11 generations, so is mean heterozygosity. Practically, there is very little change between F0 and F1, there are substantial changes between F1 and F2–F5, and there is a virtual complete adaptation to the new laboratory environment by F11, because no more changes are observed between F11 and F22. If we assume that the loss of allele number and heterozygosity also reflects the loss of the ‘wild’ character of the colonized strain and, possibly, the loss of a substantial part of its natural vigour, our results indicate that there is an apparent need to refresh a mass‐reared colony with wild material at about every five to eight generations. Furthermore, simulation models indicated that while most of the observed allele frequency fluctuations were due to random drift, some alleles were probably under selection.
Creative Collaboration and the Self‐Concept: A Study of Toy Designers
Authors: Elsbach Kimberly D. , Flynn Francis J. 
Published: February 2013

AbstractIn this paper, we explored how collaborative behaviours were related to the self‐concepts of creative workers. Our findings, derived from a qualitative study of corporate toy designers, showed that thepersonal (vs. social) identitiesof toy designers were most strongly related to collaborative behaviours. Further, collaborative behaviours defined asidea givingwere mostcongruentwith all toy designers' personal identities, while collaborative behaviours defined asidea takingwere mostincongruentwith those identities. Finally, specific collaborative behaviours related to specific types of personal identities (e.g. the collaborative behaviour of ‘incorporating the ideas of others’ was especially incongruent with ‘artistic’ personal identities). Together, these results suggest that promoting collaboration among creative workers may require attention to not only idea‐giving behaviours and social identities (as suggested by most extant theories), but also to idea‐taking behaviours and personal identities. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of creative collaboration and identity in organizations.
Over‐expression and potential role of cyclophilin A in human periodontitis
Authors: Liu L. , Li C. , Xiang J. , Dong W. , Cao Z. 
Published: February 2013

Background and ObjectiveWe previously demostrated that EMMPRIN participates in the periodontitis and its interaction with Cyclophilin A possibly exists in animal periodontitis models. This study is aimed to address the expression and potential role of cyclophilin A (CypA) in human periodontitis.Material and MethodsGingival tissues and peripheral blood were collected from patients with moderate to severe periodontitis or from healthy donors. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were performed to detect the expression and distribution of CypA in the gingival tissues. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and neutrophils were isolated from the peripheral blood by Ficoll–Paque density‐gradient centrifugation. Chemotaxis assays were applied to evaluate the effects of different concentrations of CypA (100, 300 and 500 ng/mL) on the migration of PBMCs and neutrophils. Supernatants of human THP‐1 cells were collected after treatment with 200 ng/mL of CypA for different periods of time (1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h) to detect the levels of interleukin (IL)‐1β, IL‐8 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) by ELISA.ResultsWestern blot analyses revealed an increase of CypA expression in inflamed gingival tissues compared with healthy tissues. Immunohistochemistry identified that the over‐expressed CypA was localized in the infiltrating cells and/or in the extracellular matrix in the inflamed gingival connective tissues. The positive infiltrating cells contained mononuclear cells and lobulated‐nuclei neutrophils. Chemotactic assays showed that 300 ng/mL of CypA apparently facilitated the chemotaxis of PBMCs/neutrophils from healthy donors, compared with the no‐treatment control (p < 0.01 for PBMCs, p < 0.05 for neutrophils), whereas 100 and 500 ng/mL of CypA only weakly enhanced the chemotaxis of PBMCs/neutrophils (p > 0.05 for PBMCs/neutrophils, not significant). The PBMCs/neutrophils from patients with periodontitis exhibited a stronger ability to migrate when stimulated with 300 ng/mL of CypA than did PBMCs/neutrophils from healthy donors (p < 0.05 for PBMCs, p < 0.01 for neutrophils). ELISA revealed that the level of TNF‐α secreted by THP‐1 cells was elevated after treatment with 200 ng/mL of CypA for 12 h compared with the no‐treatment 0‐h control (p < 0.05). The IL‐8 level was sharply raised after 3 h of stimulation with 200 ng/mL of CypA (p < 0.01 compared with 0 h), but no significant change was observed at the other time points (p > 0.05). There was no statistical difference at any of the treatment time points for the secretion of IL‐1β (p > 0.05 for 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h compared with 0 h).ConclusionsCypA participates in the pathogenesis of human periodontitis. It may be involved in the inflammatory response of periodontal tissues through inducing the chemotaxis of PBMCs/neutrophils and the secretion of TNF‐α/IL‐8.
Assessment of viable periodontal pathogens by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction
Authors: Polonyi M. , Prenninger N. , Arweiler N. B. , Haririan H. , Winklehner P. , Kierstein S. 
Published: February 2013

Background and ObjectiveMolecular biological methods for the detection of periodontitis‐associated bacteria based on DNA amplification have many advantages over classical culture techniques. However, when it comes to assessing immediate therapeutic success, e.g. reduction of viable bacteria, DNA‐based polymerase chain reaction is unsuitable because it does not distinguish between live and dead bacteria. Our objective was to establish a simple RNA‐based method that is easily set up and allows reliable assessment of the live bacterial load.Material and MethodsWe compared conventional quantitative real‐time PCR (qPCR), propidium monoazide‐qPCR and reverse transcription qPCR (RT‐qPCR) for the detection of periodontal pathogens after antibiotic treatment in vitro. Applicability was tested using clinical samples of subgingival plaque obtained from patients at different treatment stages.ResultsThe bacterial load was remarkably stable over prolonged periods when assessed by conventional qPCR, while both propidium monoazide intercalation as well as cDNA quantitation showed a decline according to decreasing numbers of viable bacteria after antibiotic treatment. Clinical samples of subgingival plaque were directly subjected to DNase I treatment and RT without previous extraction or purification steps. While the results of the DNA‐ and RNA‐based methods are comparable in untreated patients, the classical qPCR frequently detected substantial bacterial load in treated patients where RT‐qPCR no longer indicates the presence of those pathogens. The disagreement rates ranged between 4 and 20% in first visit patients and 8–50% in the group of currently treated patients.ConclusionWe propose to use RNA‐based detection methods to verify the successful eradication of periodontal pathogens.