bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Energy metabolism, body composition, and urea generation rate in hemodialysis patients
Authors: Sridharan Sivakumar , Vilar Enric , Berdeprado Jocelyn , Farrington Ken 
Published: March 2013

AbstractHemodialysis (HD) adequacy is currently assessed using normalized urea clearance (Kt/V), although scaling based on Watson volume (V) may disadvantage women and men with low body weight. Alternative scaling factors such as resting energy expenditure and high metabolic rate organ mass have been suggested. The relationship between such factors and uremic toxin generation has not been established. We aimed to study the relationship between body size, energy metabolism, and urea generation rate. A cross‐sectional cohort of 166 HD patients was studied. Anthropometric measurements were carried on all. Resting energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry, fat‐free mass by bio‐impedance and total energy expenditure by combining resting energy expenditure with a questionnaire‐derived physical activity data. High metabolic rate organ mass was calculated using a published equation and urea generation rate using formal urea kinetic modeling. Metabolic factors including resting energy expenditure, total energy expenditure and fat‐free mass correlated better with urea generation rate than did Watson volume. Total energy expenditure and fat‐free mass (but not Watson Volume) were independent predictors of urea generation rate, the model explaining 42% of its variation. Small women (<mean V) had a significantly higher urea generation rate per kg than women with higher V. Similarly urea generation rate normalized to fat‐free mass was significantly greater in small women than in all others (significant only in comparison to larger men). Exercise‐related energy expenditure correlated significantly with urea generation rate. Energy metabolism, body composition and physical activity play important roles in small solute uremic toxin generation in HD patients and hence may impact on minimum dialysis requirements. Small women generate relatively more small solute toxins than other groups and thus may have a higher relative need for dialysis.
Successful percutaneous transluminal balloon dilatation for hepatic venous outflow obstruction after pediatric liver transplantation: A series of cases
Authors: Rao Wei , Sun Li‐Ying , Zhu Zhi‐Jun , Chen Guang , Sun Xiao‐Ye , Gao Wei , Shi Rui 
Published: March 2013

AimWhether percutaneous transluminal balloon dilatation (PTBD) or stent placement should be used in children with hepatic venous outflow obstruction (HVOO) is still controversial. The aim of the present study was to retrospectively describe experience in diagnosis and treatment of HVOO and to evaluate the outcome of PTBD in HVOO patients after pediatric liver transplantation (P‐LT).MethodsFrom January 2001 to January 2011, 54 children received P‐LT at our center. The clinical features of children with HVOO analyzed included demography, type of donor and liver transplant, the new‐onset symptoms, liver function test, interventional examination, and treatment and outcome.ResultsThree children were treated successfully with PTBD without stenting. All patients received percutaneous interventional management successfully. In the total of eight episodes of PTBD across the stenosis, the mean pressure gradient ± standard deviation was 16.6 ± 7.90 mmHg before PTBD and 6.8 ± 2.27 mmHg after PTBD. The difference was significant (P < 0.05). All of the three HVOO patients were still surviving with primary graft functioning normally until the last follow up.ConclusionHVOO after P‐LT should be taken seriously. PTBD is an effective and safe treatment for HVOO in younger patients subjected to P‐LT and re‐venoplasty is recommended even in patients with recurrent HVOO.
The expression of chemokine receptors CCR6, CXCR2 and CXCR4 is not organ‐specific for distant metastasis in colorectal cancer: a comparative study
Authors: Hu Dongzhi , Du Changzheng , Xue Weicheng , Dou Fangyuan , Yao Yunfeng , Gu Jin 
Published: March 2013

AimsThe liver and lung are the organs most commonly affected by metastasis in colorectal cancer (CRC), and the interaction of chemokines and chemokine receptors (CKRs) plays an important role in the metastatic process. The aim of this study was to investigate the organ specificity of CKRs in CRC distant metastasis.Methods and resultsSurgical specimens of primary tumours from 46 patients with metachronous distant metastases were retrieved retrospectively (20 lung metastases; 26 liver metastases). As a control, the records of 29 patients without distant metastases were randomly retrieved from our database, and their specimens were reassessed. The expression rates of CKRs, including CCR6, CXCR2, and CXCR4, were determined by immunohistochemistry, and were compared among the groups. The expression rates of CCR6 and CXCR2 were both significantly higher in the metastasis group than in the non‐metastasis group (P < 0.05), but there was no statistical difference between the lung metastasis and liver metastasis subgroups. The expression of CXCR4 was not significantly different between the metastasis and non‐metastasis groups. Multivariable analysis suggested that preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen level, CCR6 and CXCR2 were independent factors associated with distant metastasis.ConclusionsThe expression of CCR6 and CXCR2 in CRC could predict metachronous distant metastasis, but they have no organ specificity for metastasis.
Hereditary red cell membrane disorders and laboratory diagnostic testing
Authors: King M.‐J. , Zanella A. 
Published: March 2013

SummaryThis overview describes two groups of nonimmune hereditary hemolytic anemias caused by defects in membrane proteins located in distinct layers of the red cell membrane. Hereditary spherocytosis (HS), hereditary elliptocytosis (HE), and hereditary pyropoikilocytosis (HPP) represent disorders of the red cell cytoskeleton. Hereditary stomatocytoses represents disorders of cation permeability in the red cell membrane. The current laboratory screening tests for HS are the osmotic fragility test, acid glycerol lysis time test (AGLT), cryohemolysis test, and eosin‐5′‐maleimide (EMA)‐binding test. For atypical HS, SDS‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of erythrocyte membrane proteins is carried out to confirm the diagnosis. The diagnosis of HE/HPP is based on abnormal red cell morphology and the detection of protein 4.1R deficiency or spectrin variants using gel electrophoresis. None of screening tests can detect all HS cases. Some testing centers (a survey of 25 laboratories) use a combination of tests (e.g., AGLT and EMA). No specific screening test for hereditary stomatocytoses is available. The preliminary diagnosis is based on presenting a compensated hemolytic anemia, macrocytosis, and a temperature or time dependent pseudohyperkalemia in some patients. Both the EMA‐binding test and the osmotic fragility test may help in differential diagnosis of HS and hereditary stomatocytosis.
Improving blood disorder diagnosis: reflections on the challenges
Authors: Hayward C. P. M. 
Published: March 2013

SummaryHematology laboratories have a vital role in providing diagnostic testing for a wide range of blood disorders. Improvements in hematology laboratory diagnostics are highly dependent on new discoveries on blood disorder pathology, the translation of new knowledge into assays for clinical testing purposes, and research that assesses, compares, and optimizes diagnostic practices. This article reviews the author's experiences with research leading to improved blood disorder diagnosis, including research studies on Quebec platelet disorder and other bleeding disorders, evaluations of practice, and research on the external quality assessment of diagnostic testing for platelet function disorders. The importance of research to advancing diagnostic testing for blood disorders is emphasized.
Laboratory testing for bleeding disorders: strategic uses of high and low‐yield tests
Authors: Hayward C. P. M. , Moffat K. A. 
Published: March 2013

SummaryLaboratory testing is essential for diagnosing bleeding disorders. The tests and panels that laboratories currently use for bleeding disorder evaluation are not standardized, although most offer coagulation screening tests in bleeding disorder panels. Some tests for bleeding disorders, including von Willebrand factor multimer assays and tests for rarer disorders, are not widely available. Accordingly, clinicians and laboratories need tailored strategies for evaluating common and rare bleeding disorders. Coagulation screening tests have high specificity, however, false positives and false negatives do occur among subjects evaluated for bleeding disorders and more specific tests (e.g., factor assays) are required to further assess abnormalities. Tests for defects in primary hemostasis have similar high specificity but much greater sensitivity for common bleeding disorders than coagulation screening tests. Nonetheless, extensive testing fails to establish a diagnosis in a significant number of individuals considered to have significant bleeding problems. Rare bleeding disorder investigations are important to diagnose some conditions, particularly those with delayed‐onset bleeding, such as factor XIII deficiency, α2 antiplasmin deficiency, plasminogen activator inhibitor‐1 deficiency, and Quebec platelet disorder. These issues need careful consideration when assessing patients for congenital and acquired bleeding problems.
Tumour necrosis factor receptors and apoptosis of alveolar macrophages during early infection with attenuated and virulent Mycobacterium bovis
Authors: Rodrigues Michele F. , Alves Caio C. S. , Figueiredo Bárbara B. M. , Rezende Alice B. , Wohlres‐Viana Sabine , Silva Vânia Lúcia da , Machado Marco Antônio , Teixeira Henrique C. 
Published: March 2013

SummaryApoptosis of macrophages has been reported as an effective host strategy to control the growth of intracellular pathogens, including pathogenic mycobacteria. Tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) plays an important role in the modulation of apoptosis of infected macrophages. It exerts its biological activities via two distinct cell surface receptors, TNFR1 and TNFR2, whose extracellular domain can be released by proteolysis forming soluble TNF receptors (sTNFR1 and sTNFR2). The signalling through TNFR1 initiates the majority of the biological functions of TNF‐α, leading to either cell death or survival whereas TNFR2 mediates primarily survival signals. Here, the expression of TNF‐α receptors and the apoptosis of alveolar macrophages were investigated during the early phase of infection with attenuated and virulent mycobacteria in mice. A significant increase of apoptosis and high expression of TNFR1 were observed in alveolar macrophages at 3 and 7 days after infection with attenuated Mycobacterium bovis but only on day 7 in infection with the virulent M. bovis. Low surface expression of TNFR1 and increased levels of sTNFR1 on day 3 after infection by the virulent strain were associated with reduced rates of apoptotic macrophages. In addition, a significant reduction in apoptosis of alveolar macrophages was observed in TNFR1−/− mice at day 3 after bacillus Calmette–Guérin infection. These results suggest a potential role for TNFR1 in mycobacteria‐induced alveolar macrophage apoptosis in vivo. In this scenario, shedding of TNFR1 seems to contribute to the modulation of macrophage apoptosis in a strain‐dependent manner.
A simulation‐based differential evolution algorithm for stochastic parallel machine scheduling with operational considerations
Authors: Zhang Rui , Song Shiji , Wu Cheng 
Published: March 2013

AbstractWe consider a parallel machine scheduling problem with the objective of minimizing two types of costs: the cost related to production operations and the cost related to due date performances. The former could be reduced by reasonable settings of the operational variables (e.g., the number of workers, the frequency of maintenance), while the latter could be reduced by appropriate scheduling of the production process. However, the optimization of both targets is significantly complicated by the influence of human factors that play a dominant role in real‐world manufacturing systems. To cope with this issue, a simulation‐based optimization framework is adopted in this paper for obtaining high‐quality robust solutions to the integrated scheduling problem. Meanwhile, differential evolution, a metaheuristic algorithm based on swarm intelligence, is applied for a systematic search of the huge solution space. Finally, numerical computations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Sensitivity analysis and practical implications are also presented.
Mother’s experience of the support from a bereavement follow‐up intervention after the death of a child
Authors: Nikkola Ida , Kaunonen Marja , Aho Anna Liisa 
Published: March 2013

Aims and objectives.  To describe the mothers’ experience of the support they received in a bereavement follow‐up intervention after the death of a child and their experiences of the intervention programme. The intervention included three complementary components: (1) a support package, (2) peer supporters’ contact with mothers and (3) health professionals’ contact with mothers.Background.  Although several types of intervention have been targeted at grieving parents or mothers, there exists a lack of knowledge of what kind of intervention is supportive and enhances the coping of parents after the death of a child.Design.  An intervention was implemented in two university‐level hospitals in Southern Finland. The study participants were grieving mothers (n = 86) whose child had died at the age of three or younger. The data were collected by using a structured questionnaire within six months of the death of a child.Methods.  The data were analysed with descriptive statistical methods.Results.  The mothers felt that the support they received helped them in coping with the situation. Among the different forms of received support, the mothers felt they received the most emotional support from peer supporters and health professionals. The mothers considered the support intervention to be useful.Conclusion.  The collaborative support intervention between health professionals and peer supporters enabled versatile, immediate and long‐term support that helped the mothers cope after the death of a child.Relevance to clinical practice.  Health professionals should collaborate systematically with the third sector to provide support for mothers after the death of their child. In addition to the support given in hospital, health professionals should arrange more contacts and meetings with bereaved mothers on a long‐term basis, after the mothers have left the hospital.
Bodily cleanliness in modern nursing
Authors: Boge Jeanne , Kristoffersen Kjell , Martinsen Kari 
Published: March 2013

AbstractWhy are bodily washing practices the way they are in nursing? Michel Foucault argues that modern democratic societies discipline human bodies in accordance with political interests. In the extension of that argumentation we will show that bodily cleanliness in modern nursing may have been used as a disciplining tool. The first part of our discussion takes as its point of departure the second half of the 19th/the beginning of the 20th centuries, the period in which modern nursing emerged. At that time scientific theories on hygiene seem to have legitimized the political effort to produce a clean, pleasant‐smelling, decent, obedient, and productive population. Doctors, nurses and teachers played important roles in the implementation of hygienic bodily washing practices. The second part of the discussion focuses on the post‐War period. At that time humanistic needs theories seem to have legitimized political argumentation for independent patients who washed themselves if possible. Those who could not manage on their own, should, as far as possible, be washed by cheaper staff, so that nurses could concentrate on medical treatment. Finally we argue that present day bodily washing practices in nursing are in accordance with the norms of appearance and smell that arose in the second half of the 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries. We further argue that staff with little or no education perform much of the bodily nursing work. Self‐care seems to be of interest only when it reduces public expenses.
An internal morality of nursing: what it can and cannot do
Authors: Newham Roger A. 
Published: March 2013

AbstractIt has been claimed that there are certain acts that nurses as people practising nursing (nurses qua nurses) must never do because they are nurses and this is regardless of what the same agent (when not acting in the role of a nurse) should do; that certain actions are not part of proper nursing practice. The concept of an internal morality has been discussed in relation to medicine and has been used to ground the actions proper to medicine in a realist tradition. Although the concept of an internal morality of nursing is not explicitly mentioned in the literature the underpinning ideas about the proper practice of nursing based on philosophical realism I argue equate with it and a discussion of the method of an internal morality can help to understand how arguments against euthanasia (amongst other acts) related to the profession of nursing are far from clear. Ultimately, although the idea of particular acts proper to nurses qua nurses is not clear, the concept of an internal morality can help to get practitioners to see how the profession is tightly linked to moral actions, even so the hard problems in bioethics such as the morality of euthanasia remain hard for all and the easy ones easy for all.
Nurses as ‘guests’– a study of a concept in light of Jacques Derrida's philosophy of hospitality
Authors: Öresland Stina , Lutzén Kim , Norberg Astrid , Rasmussen Birgit H. , Määttä Sylvia 
Published: March 2013

AbstractAs revealed in previous empirical research, nurses describe their position in home‐based nursing care (HBNC) as that of ‘guests’ in the patient's home. Such a description is problematic as ‘guests’ might not be considered to belong to the realm of professionalism. As Jacques Derrida's work on hospitality has received wide publicity, sparking theoretical and philosophical discussion about host and guest, the aim of this study was to explore how the concept ‘guests’ can be understood in the light of Derrida's philosophy of hospitality. The study revealed that (a) guest must be considered a binary concept; and (b) hospitality should be regarded as an exchange of giving and receiving between a host and a guest. The present study demonstrated that it is important to reflect on the meaning of the concepts used by nurses in HBNC. Further theoretical and empirical exploration of the concept ‘hospitality’ would be fruitful, i.e. what is patients' understanding of ‘hospitality’ and ‘hostility’ related to nurses' descriptions of themselves as ‘guests’ in the patient's home.
Metacommunity, mainland‐island system or island communities? Assessing the regional dynamics of plant communities in a fragmented landscape
Authors: May Felix , Giladi Itamar , Ristow Michael , Ziv Yaron , Jeltsch Florian 
Published: March 2013

Understanding the regional dynamics of plant communities is crucial for predicting the response of plant diversity to habitat fragmentation. However, for fragmented landscapes the importance of regional processes, such as seed dispersal among isolated habitat patches, has been controversially debated. Due to the stochasticity and rarity of among‐patch dispersal and colonization events, we still lack a quantitative understanding of the consequences of these processes at the landscape‐scale.In this study, we used extensive field data from a fragmented, semi‐arid landscape in Israel to parameterize a multi‐species incidence‐function model. This model simulates species occupancy pattern based on patch areas and habitat configuration and explicitly considers the locations and the shapes of habitat patches for the derivation of patch connectivity. We implemented an approximate Bayesian computation approach for parameter inference and uncertainty assessment. We tested which of the three types of regional dynamics – the metacommunity, the mainland‐island, or the island communities type – best represents the community dynamics in the study area and applied the simulation model to estimate the extinction debt in the investigated landscape.We found that the regional dynamics in the patch‐matrix study landscape is best represented as a system of highly isolated ‘island’ communities with low rates of propagule exchange among habitat patches and consequently low colonization rates in local communities. Accordingly, the extinction rates in the local communities are the main drivers of community dynamics. Our findings indicate that the landscape carries a significant extinction debt and in model projections 33–60% of all species went extinct within 1000 yr.Our study demonstrates that the combination of dynamic simulation models with field data provides a promising approach for understanding regional community dynamics and for projecting community responses to habitat fragmentation. The approach bears the potential for efficient tests of conservation activities aimed at mitigating future losses of biodiversity.
Frequency of angiotensin II type 1 receptor gene polymorphism in Turkish acute stroke patients
Authors: Hulyam Kurt , Aysegul Bayramoglu , Veysi Gunes Hasan , Demet Ozbabalik , Irfan Degirmenci , Ertugrul Colak , Didem Cosan Turgut , Banu Bayram , Miris Dikmen 
Published: March 2013

AbstractThis study was performed in acute stroke patients in the Turkish population to determine the frequency of the A1166C polymorphism in the AT1 gene and to examine the role of this polymorphism in acute stroke development. In this study, 257 genomic DNA samples were analysed (from 206 acute stroke patients and 51 healthy individuals). Genomic DNA was prepared from peripheral blood using the salt‐extraction method. The presence of the A1166C polymorphism in the AT1 gene was determined using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. PCR products were separated by 2% agarose gel electrophoresis and visualized by a charge‐coupled device (CCD) camera. In this study, the allele frequency at the A1166C position was 92% A and 8% C for control and 97% A and 3% C for patients. This difference in allele frequency between the control group and the patient group was not statistically significant. However, genotype and allele frequencies showed a significant difference (P < 0.001) in the control and the patient groups. The results of this study show no relationship between the A1166C polymorphism in the AT1 gene and acute stroke in the Turkish population.