bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Medical‐surgical nurses' perceived self‐confidence and leadership abilities as first responders in acute patient deterioration events
Authors: Hart Patricia L , Spiva LeeAnna , Baio Pamela , Huff Barbara , Whitfield Denice , Law Tammy , Wells Tiffany , Mendoza Inocenica G 
Published: January 2014

Aims and objectivesTo explore and understand medical‐surgical nurses' perceived self‐confidence and leadership abilities as first responders in recognising and responding to clinical deterioration prior to the arrival of an emergency response team.BackgroundPatients are admitted to hospitals with multiple, complex health issues who are more likely to experience clinical deterioration. The majority of clinical deterioration events occur on medical‐surgical units, and medical‐surgical nurses are frequently the first healthcare professionals to identify signs and symptoms of clinical deterioration and initiate life‐saving interventions.DesignA prospective, cross‐sectional, descriptive quantitative design using a survey method was used.MethodsNurses were recruited from an integrated healthcare system located in the south‐east United States. Nurses completed a demographic, a self‐confidence and a leadership ability questionnaire.ResultsOne hundred and forty‐eight nurses participated in the study. Nurses felt moderately self‐confident in recognising, assessing and intervening during clinical deterioration events. In addition, nurses felt moderately comfortable performing leadership skills prior to the arrival of an emergency response team. A significant, positive relationship was found between perceived self‐confidence and leadership abilities. Age and certification status were significant predictors of nurses' leadership ability.ConclusionAlthough nurses felt moderately self‐confident and comfortable with executing leadership abilities, improvement is needed to ensure nurses are competent in recognising patients' deterioration cues and making sound decisions in taking appropriate, timely actions to rescue patients. Further strategies need to be developed to increase nurses' self‐confidence and execution of leadership abilities in handling deterioration events for positive patient outcomes.Relevance to clinical practiceEducational provisions should focus on various clinical deterioration events to build nurses' self‐confidence and leadership abilities in handling clinical deterioration. Nurses should obtain national certification to increase their knowledge and clinical reasoning skills.
Agmatine ameliorates atherosclerosis progression and endothelial dysfunction in high cholesterol-fed rabbits
Authors: El-Awady Mohammed S , Suddek Ghada M 
Published: January 2014

Abstract

Objectives
The aim of this work was to explore possible effects of agmatine, an endogenous inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), against hypercholesterolemia-induced lipid profile changes and endothelial dysfunction.

Methods
Hypercholesterolemia was induced by feeding rabbits with a high-cholesterol diet (HCD, 0.5%) for 8 weeks. Another HCD-fed group was orally administered agmatine (10 mg/kg/day) during weeks 5 through 8. Serum lipid profile, malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were determined. Aorta was isolated to analyse vascular reactivity, atherosclerotic lesions and intima/media (I/M) ratio.

Key findings
HCD induced a significant increase in serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Agmatine administration significantly decreased HCD-induced elevations in serum TC and LDL-C, MDA, LDH and NO while significantly increased HDL-C levels. Additionally, agmatine significantly protected against HCD-induced attenuation of rabbit aortic endothelium-dependent relaxation to acetylcholine. HCD and agmatine did not significantly influence aortic endothelium-independent relaxation to sodium nitroprusside. Moreover, agmatine significantly reduced the elevation in aortic atherosclerotic lesion area and I/M ratio.

Conclusions
This study is the first to reveal that agmatine has the ability to ameliorate hypercholesterolemia-induced lipemic-oxidative and endothelial function injuries possibly by its antioxidant potential and/or iNOS inhibition.
The effect of complementary and alternative medicines on CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of three different substrates: 7-benzyloxy-4-trifluoromethyl-coumarin, midazolam and docetaxel
Authors: Mooiman Kim D , Maas-Bakker Roel F , Hendrikx Jeroen J M A , Bank Paul C D , Rosing Hilde , Beijnen Jos H , Schellens Jan H M , Meijerman Irma 
Published: January 2014

Abstract

Objective
Concomitant use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and anticancer drugs can affect the pharmacokinetics of anticancer drugs by inhibiting the metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) (EC 1.14.13.157). Several in vitro studies determined whether CAM can inhibit CYP3A4, but these studies revealed contradictory results. A plausible explanation for these conflicting results is the use only of a single model CYP3A4 substrate in each study. Therefore, the objective was to determine the potential of selected CAM (β-carotene, Echinacea, garlic, Ginkgo biloba, ginseng, grape seed extract, green tea extract, milk thistle, saw palmetto, valerian, vitamin B6, B12 and C) to inhibit CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of different substrates: 7-benzyloxy-4-trifluoromethyl-coumarin (BFC), midazolam and docetaxel. The effect of CAM on CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of an anticancer drug has never been determined before in vitro, which makes this study unique. The oncolytic CYP3A4 substrate docetaxel was used to establish the predictive value of the model substrates for pharmacokinetic interactions between CAM and anticancer drugs in vitro, and to more closely predict these interactions in vivo.

Methods
The inhibition of CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of 7-benzyloxy-4-trifluoromethyl-coumarin (BFC) by CAM was assessed in Supersomes, using the fluorometric CYP3A4 inhibition assay. In human liver microsomes (HLM) the inhibition of CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of midazolam and docetaxel was determined, using liquid-chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Key findings
The results confirmed grape seed and green tea as potent inhibitors and milk thistle as moderate inhibitor of CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of BFC, midazolam and docetaxel.

Conclusion
Clinical studies are required to determine the clinical relevance of the determined CYP3A4 inhibition by grape seed, green tea and milk thistle.
Samurai and Gentlemen: The Anglophone Japan Corpus and New Avenues into Orientalism (Part II)
Authors: Holt Jenny 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThe article as a whole seeks to explore new ways of looking at the literature of intercultural encounter using ideas of culture shock, cultural adaptation, and narrative theory. It also demonstrates the importance of Anglophone literature about Japan to the understanding of how writers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries sought to engage with people from other ethnic groups. From the 1850s, when Japan ended its policy of national isolation, until the beginning of World War II, the literary marketplace was flooded with numerous English‐language texts, which dealt with almost every aspect of Japanese life, covering subjects as diverse as art and design, botany, geology, women's rights, war, public health, theater, linguistics, and religion. However, despite the size of this Anglophone Japan corpus, only well‐known texts such as Isabella Bird's Unbeaten Tracks in Japan and the works of Lafcadio Hearn have attracted substantial in‐depth analysis. One reason for the neglect of the field is that previous decades of scholars regarded this literature as too ephemeral to be worth studying. Another may be that conventional Saidian frameworks for interpreting the literature of cultural encounter fail to provide a satisfactory understanding of relationships between westerners and the Japanese. However, this resistance to Saidian interpretation means that the Anglophone Japan corpus is ideal for testing alternative readings of cross‐cultural literature. After having made a brief overview of Anglophone literature on Japan and investigating some of the new strategies being put forward for interpreting these texts in the first section of the paper, I now go on to present a case study of one theme which dominated discussions of Japan in the early 20th century: the figure of the samurai and the idea of ‘Bushidō’ (the ‘way of the samurai’). By undertaking this analysis, I demonstrate how ideas of culture shock and narrative psychology can be used to give a more nuanced understanding of the personal and social motives behind the literature of intercultural encounter.
LeuO, a dormant sentinel for SPI‐1?
Authors: Bustamante Víctor H. , Calva Edmundo 
Published: January 2014

SummaryA new mechanism for the turning‐off of gene expression in Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1 (SPI‐1) is proposed by Espinosa and Casadesús, which involves the action of the LeuO quiescent regulator, by two different pathways. A major one through the activation of the hilE gene, where the HilE protein would in turn inactivate HilD, a major positive transcriptional regulator of SPI‐1; and a minor HilE‐HilD‐independent pathway. This could constitute a back‐up or an aid for the turn‐off of SPI‐1 genes mediated by the nucleoid protein H‐NS.
Warty dyskeratoma of the buccal mucosa
Authors: Steele J.C. , Dutton A.R. , Triantafyllou A. , Rajlawat B.P. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThe report illustrates a rare case of warty dyskeratoma on the oral mucosa of an elderly male and emphasises the correspondence of histopathological features (invagination of surface epithelium) with clinical appearance (cavitation). Warty dyskeratoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a centrally cavitated white oral lesion.
Molecular mapping of greenbug (Schizaphis graminum) resistance gene Rsg1 in barley
Authors: Azhaguvel Perumal , Mornhinweg Dolores , Vidya‐Saraswathi Dhanasekaran , Rudd Jackie C. , Chekhovskiy Konstantin , Saha Malay , Close Timothy J. , Dahleen Lynn S. , Weng Yiqun 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThe greenbug, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) is an extremely damaging aphid pest of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) particularly in the southern Great Plains of the USA. The simply inherited, dominant resistance gene Rsg1 is in all greenbug‐resistant US barley cultivars. In this study, we conducted molecular mapping of Rsg1 using an F2:3 population derived from a cross between the greenbug‐resistant Post 90*4/R015 and susceptible CI2260 inbred lines. Segregation of host responses to greenbug biotype E infestation confirmed that a single dominant gene is responsible for greenbug resistance in Post 90*4/R015. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers evenly distributed along the seven barley chromosomes were employed for the construction of a framework genetic map. Linkage analysis placed the Rsg1 locus in the long arm of chromosome 3H (3HL) flanked by SSR markers Bmag0877 and GBM1420 that were 35 cM apart. Polymorphic single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in 3HL were identified from an Illumina GoldenGate SNP assay and used for targeted mapping to locate Rsg1 to an 8.4‐cM interval. Comparative analysis identified syntenic genomic regions in Brachypodium distachyon chromosome 2, in which 37 putative genes were annotated including a NB‐LRR‐type resistance gene homologue that may be a potential candidate gene for the Rsg1 locus of barley. Results from this study offer a starting point for fine mapping and cloning of this aphid resistance gene in barley.
Leaf gas films delay salt entry and enhance underwater photosynthesis and internal aeration of Melilotus siculus submerged in saline water
Authors: TEAKLE NATASHA LEA , COLMER TIMOTHY DAVID , PEDERSEN OLE 
Published: January 2014

AbstractA combination of flooding and salinity is detrimental to most plants. We studied tolerance of complete submergence in saline water for Melilotus siculus, an annual legume with superhydrophobic leaf surfaces that retain gas films when under water. M. siculus survived complete submergence of 1 week at low salinity (up to 50 mol m–3 NaCl), but did not recover following de‐submergence from 100 mol m–3 NaCl. The leaf gas films protected against direct salt ingress into the leaves when submerged in saline water, enabling underwater photosynthesis even after 3 d of complete submergence. By contrast, leaves with the gas films experimentally removed suffered from substantial Na+ and Cl− intrusion and lost the capacity for underwater photosynthesis. Similarly, plants in saline water and without gas films lost more K+ than those with intact gas films. This study has demonstrated that leaf gas films reduce Na+ and Cl− ingress into leaves when submerged by saline water – the thin gas layer physically separates the floodwater from the leaf surface. This feature aids survival of plants exposed to short‐term saline submergence, as well as the previously recognized beneficial effects of gas exchange under water.
Clinical features of patients with designer‐drug‐related disorder in Japan: A comparison with patients with methamphetamine‐ and hypnotic/anxiolytic‐related disorders
Authors: Matsumoto Toshihiko , Tachimori Hisateru , Tanibuchi Yuko , Takano Ayumi , Wada Kiyoshi 
Published: January 2014

AimThe aim of this study was to clarify the clinical features of designer‐drug‐abusing patients through comparisons with methamphetamine‐abusing patients and hypnotics/anxiolytics‐abusing patients.MethodsInformation on 126 designer‐drug‐abusing patients, 138 methamphetamine‐abusing patients, and 87 hypnotics/anxiolytics‐abusing patients was extracted from the 2012 database of ‘The Nationwide Mental Hospital Survey on Drug‐related Psychiatric Disorders’ and the clinical variables of designer‐drug‐abusing patients compared with those of the other two groups.ResultsMultivariate analysis indicated the following significant differences between designer‐drug‐abusing patients and the other two types of patients: designer‐drug‐abusing patients were younger, included more men, had higher education and fewer relationships with antisocial groups, and included more patients meeting ICD‐10 F1 sub‐classification categories of ‘Harmful use’ and ‘Psychotic disorders’ than methamphetamine‐abusing patients. Compared with hypnotics/anxiolytics‐abusing patients, designer‐drug‐abusing patients were younger, included more men and more patients meeting criteria for ‘Psychotic disorders’, and more frequently cited ‘peer pressure’, ‘unable to refuse’, and ‘seeking stimulation’ as reasons for using the drug.ConclusionThe advent of designer drugs has created a new class of drug abuse, and abuse of designer drugs may carry a strong psychosis‐inducing risk, exceeding that of methamphetamine.
Physiological history may mask the inherent inducible desiccation tolerance strategy of the desert moss Crossidium crassinerve
Authors: Stark L. R. , Greenwood J. L. , Brinda J. C. , Oliver M. J. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractShoots of bryophytes collected in the desiccated state from the field are likely to be hardened to desiccation tolerance (DT) to varying degrees. To account for this, most studies on DT include a relatively short deacclimation period. However, no study has experimentally determined the appropriate deacclimation time for any bryophyte species. Our purposes are to (i) determine if ‘field effects’ are biologically relevant to DT studies and how long a deacclimation period is required to remove them; and (ii) utilise field versus cultured shoot responses within the context of a deacclimation period to elucidate the ecological strategy of DT. Our hypothesis (based on an extensive literature on DT) is that a deacclimation period from 24 to 72 h should be sufficient to eliminate historical stress effects on the physiology of the shoots and allow an accurate determination of the inherent ecological DT strategy (constitutive or inducible). We determined, however, using chlorophyll fluorescence and visual estimates of shoot damage, that field‐collected shoots of the desert moss Crossidium crassinerve required an experimental deacclimation period of >7 days before field effects were removed, and revealed an ecological DT strategy of inducible DT. If the deacclimation period was <6 days, the shoot response conformed to an ecological strategy of constitutive protection. Thus the presence of field effects can obscure the ecological strategy of desiccation tolerance exhibited by the species, and this translates into a need to re‐evaluate previous mechanistic and ecological studies of desiccation tolerance in plants.
Differential interactions between strains of Rhizorhapis,Sphingobium,Sphingopyxis or Rhizorhabdus and accessions of Lactuca spp. with respect to severity of corky root disease
Authors: van Bruggen A. H. C. , Ochoa O. , Francis I. M. , Michelmore R. W. 
Published: January 2014

Over 100 isolates of Rhizorhapis suberifaciens, Sphingobium (Sb.) sp., Sb. mellinum, Sb. xanthum, Rhizorhabdus sp., and Sphingopyxis sp. (Sphingomonodaceae) were tested for pathogenicity on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) cultivars Salinas and Green Lakes, susceptible and resistant, respectively, or their resistant descendent breeding line (B.L.) 440‐8, to R. suberifaciens type strain CA1T. Rhizorhabdus sp. CA15 and NL2, R. suberifaciens CA3, and Sphingopyxis CA32 were equally virulent to Green Lakes or B.L. 440‐8 and Salinas. Over 40 accessions from four Lactuca species were tested for resistance to R. suberifaciens CA1T/CA3 or Rhizorhabdus sp. CA15/NL2. All lettuce accessions with resistance to CA1T were susceptible to isolates CA15, NL2 and/or CA3. None of the Lactuca lines were highly resistant to all four isolates. There was a significant differential interaction between eight Lactuca lines and ten isolates of Rhizorhapis and related genera with respect to corky root severity. Three strains of isolates were distinguished: (i) isolates with a similar virulence pattern as R. suberifaciens CA1T, (ii) isolates with a virulence pattern similar to that of R. suberifaciens CA3 and Sphingopyxis sp. CA32, and (iii) isolates of Rhizorhabdus being moderately aggressive to all Lactuca lines. Thus, strains belonging to several genera can cause similar symptoms (a rare phenomenon) but have different virulence patterns on Lactuca species and cultivars.
Comparison of Different Biaxial Tests for the Inverse Identification of Sheet Steel Material Parameters
Authors: Schmaltz S. , Willner K. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTThe aim of this work is to compare different biaxial specimen geometries and loading conditions concerning their applicability as experimental database for an inverse finite element model updating procedure to identify the material parameters of sheet steel. Therefore, the deformation of the specimens is recorded with an optical, three‐dimensional full‐field deformation measurement system, and the utilised displacement data at the surface of the specimens are calculated via digital image correlation.The numerical material model for the simulations is based on a three‐dimensional, anisotropic elasto‐plastic ansatz and is implemented into a commercial finite element software code. The material parameters that are identified with the different specimen geometries are the hardening variables and the anisotropic plastic values. Based on the identification results, a selection criterion for the evaluation of specimen geometries for the inverse parameter identification is presented.
HLA‐class II alleles in patients with drug‐resistant pulmonary tuberculosis in Kazakhstan
Authors: Kuranov A. B. , Kozhamkulov U. A. , Vavilov M. N. , Belova E. S. , Bismilda V. L. , Alenova A. H. , Ismailov S. S. , Momynaliev K. T. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThe human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system has a major role in the regulation of the immune response as it is involved in the defense against pathogens. Some studies have reported that HLA class II genes play a strong role in severe cases of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in several populations. Thus the aim of the study was to compare the HLA‐class II alleles of patients with drug resistant tuberculosis with those of healthy controls from the same ethnic group in Kazakhstan. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation of HLA‐class II alleles by patients with drug resistant tuberculosis and the healthy controls of the same ethnic group in Kazakhstan. The HLA‐class II alleles of 76 patients with tuberculosis (TB) and 157 healthy volunteers were investigated using sequence‐based typing (SBT)‐method. HLA‐DQA1*03:02 HLA‐DRB1*08:01 and DRB1*08:03 occurred more frequently (P = 0.05) in patients with drug resistant tuberculosis than in controls. We observed a possible association between certain HLA alleles and TB that are specific for the Kazakh population. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings using a larger number of patients with drug resistant tuberculosis.
Haematological and biochemical reference values of Gambian infants
Authors: Odutola Aderonke A. , Afolabi Muhammed O. , Jafali James , Baldeh Ignatius , Owolabi Olumuyiwa A. , Owiafe Patrick , Bah Gibril , Jaiteh Boto , Mohammed Nuredin I. , Donkor Simon A. , Ndure Jorjoh , Adetifa Jane , Flanagan Katie L. , Ota Martin O. C. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractObjectiveTo establish haematological and biological reference values for Gambian infants.MethodsBasic haematological and biochemical indices were analysed in blood samples obtained from healthy infants from Sukuta in the Western Division of The Gambia. The 2.5 and the 97.5 centiles for these indices were estimated.ResultsReference ranges for haematological and biochemical indices were determined. Haemoglobin, total white cell count (WBC) and platelet levels decreased with age (P < 0.001), whereas most of the white cell count subsets except monocytes did not vary with age. Potassium and alkaline phosphatase fell significantly with increasing age (P < 0.001; P < 0.001), whereas urea and creatinine rose with increasing age (P = 0.002; P < 0.001, respectively).ConclusionOur set of haematological and biochemical reference values for healthy infants in The Gambia differs from values in other settings, thus underscoring the importance of establishing region‐specific paediatric reference ranges to ensure optimal patient management and evaluate the impact of interventions in clinical research.