bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
“Reproductive Health Care,” the “Demographic Imperative,” and the Real Health Needs of Women in the Developing World (Part One)
Authors: Mosher Steven W. 
Published: November 2012

Proponents of “reproductive health care” assert that the 1994 population conference in Cairo marked a watershed between two radically different approaches to reducing the fertility of women in the developing world. They concede that, prior to Cairo, population-control programs were driven solely by a narrow demographic imperative. Following Cairo, however, they maintain that a broad approach to improving reproductive health was adopted that not only encouraged smaller families, but also did so in the context of providing “client-centered” programs that conferred significant health and welfare benefits to their target population. In this two-part article, I will show that these several claims are misleading, if not altogether false. In the first article, which follows, I document the failure of population-control programs to address women's health needs, as they themselves perceive them. The rationalizations used to support an exclusive focus on contraception and sterilization (“latent demand,” and “unmet need”) are examined, as well as the harm done to women's health by the careless administration of such drugs and devices. In the second article, I will discuss the post-Cairo conference rhetorical shift to “reproductive health,” and the claims that such programs have reduced maternal mortality, infant mortality, and the absolute number of abortions. I will conclude with a discussion of how the health needs of women in the developing world could be better met by redirecting existing resources to primary health care, including obstetric care.
On the Psychogenesis of Homosexuality
Authors: van den Aardweg Gerard J.M. 
Published: November 2012

The best-established facts in relation to homosexuality point to developmental-psychological, not genetic or physiological, causation. The efforts of the last few decades to find evidence to support a biological theory have made it more doubtful than ever that such evidence will be found. In contrast, many studies have shown that the most significant factor which correlates with homosexuality is “gender nonconformity” or same-sex peer isolation. Another factor closely associated with homosexuality is an imbalance in parent-child interaction, notably forms of over-influence of the opposite-sex parent in combination with a deficient relationship with the same-sex parent. The third well-established correlation is with inherent, rather than discrimination-produced, “neuroticism” or emotional instability/immaturity. Structured around this pivotal evidence from statistical as well as clinical research, homosexuality is explained here as a character neurosis. Characteristics of this neurotic character syndrome include personality immaturity, self-victimization, and self-centeredness. This syndrome affects not only the emotional but also the moral and spiritual dimensions of the psyche and if indulged leads to generalized personality deterioration. Therapeutically, a holistic approach, simultaneously addressing the emotional, moral, and spiritual components of the psyche, offers the best opportunity for overcoming homosexuality. De-egocentrization and personality maturity, including the development of mature manhood/womanhood, are the goals of therapy.
The Distinction between Deep-Seated Homosexual Tendencies and Transitory Same-Sex Attractions in Candidates for Seminary and Religious Life
Authors: Kleponis Peter C. , Fitzgibbons Richard P. 
Published: November 2012

The sexual abuse crisis in the Church, in which the primary victims were adolescent males, highlights the importance of the 2005 document from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education on the selection of candidates for priesthood and religious life in regard to homosexuality. A thorough in-depth clinical interview that focuses on masculine identity and an evaluation of the development of a positive masculine identity through secure attachment relationships with the father, male peers, and a brother, as well as a positive body image and thorough psychological testing, can distinguish clearly between deep-seated homosexual tendencies and transitory same-sex attractions in candidates for priesthood. The lack of secure, accepting, and positive relationships with the male peers, the father, and a brother can result in weaknesses in male confidence, sadness, and anger which are major unconscious factors in the development of same-sex attractions. The process of resolving transitory same-sex attractions in candidates and in seminarians is also described in this article. The implementation of this Vatican document is important in the protection of minors from sexual abuse and of the Church from further shame and sorrow.
Striving for scientific stringency: a re-analysis of a randomised controlled trial considering first-time mothers’ obstetric outcomes in relation to birth position
Authors: Thies-Lagergren Li , Kvist Linda J , Christensson Kyllike , Hildingsson Ingegerd 
Published: November 2012

Abstract

Background
The aim of this study was to compare maternal labour and birth outcomes between women who gave birth on a birth seat or in any other position for vaginal birth and further, to study the relationship between synthetic oxytocin augmentation and maternal blood loss, in a stratified sample.

Methods
A re-analysis of a randomized controlled trial in Sweden. An on-treatment analysis was used to study obstetrical outcomes for nulliparous women who gave birth on a birth seat (birth seat group) compared to birth in any other position for vaginal birth (control group). Data were collected between November 2006 and July 2009. The outcome measurements included perineal outcome, post partum blood loss, epidural analgesia, synthetic oxytocin augmentation and duration of labour.

Results
The major findings of this paper were that women giving birth on the birth seat had shorter duration of labour and were significantly less likely to receive synthetic oxytocin for augmentation in the second stage of labour. Significantly more women had an increased blood loss when giving birth on the birth seat, but had no difference in perineal outcomes. Blood loss was increased regardless of birth position if women had been exposed to synthetic oxytocin augmentation during the first stage of labour.

Conclusions
The results of this analysis imply that women with a straightforward birth process may well benefit from giving birth on a birth seat without risk for any adverse obstetrical outcomes. However it is important to bear in mind that, women who received synthetic oxytocin during the first stage of labour may have an increased risk for greater blood loss when giving birth on a birth seat. Finally it is of vital importance to scrutinize the influence of synthetic oxytocin administered during the first stage of labour on blood loss postpartum, since excessive blood loss is a well-documented cause of maternal mortality worldwide and may cause severe maternal morbidity in high-income countries.

Trial registration
Unique Protocol ID: NCT01182038 (http://register.clinicaltrials.gov)
A multiscale and multiparametric approach for modeling the progression of oral cancer
Authors: Exarchos Konstantinos P , Goletsis Yorgos , Fotiadis Dimitrios I 
Published: November 2012

Abstract

Background
In this work, we propose a multilevel and multiparametric approach in order to model the growth and progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) after remission. OSCC constitutes the major neoplasm of the head and neck region, exhibiting a quite aggressive nature, often leading to unfavorable prognosis.

Methods
We formulate a Decision Support System assembling a multitude of heterogeneous data sources (clinical, imaging tissue and blood genomic), aiming to capture all manifestations of the disease. Our primary aim is to identify the factors that dictate OSCC progression and subsequently predict potential relapses of the disease. The discrimination potential of each source of data is initially explored separately, and afterwards the individual predictions are combined to yield a consensus decision achieving complete discrimination between patients with and without a disease relapse. Moreover, we collect and analyze gene expression data from circulating blood cells throughout the follow-up period in consecutive time-slices, in order to model the temporal dimension of the disease. For this purpose a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) is employed which is able to capture in a transparent manner the underlying mechanism dictating the disease evolvement, and employ it for monitoring the status and prognosis of the patients after remission.

Results
By feeding as input to the DBN data from the baseline visit we achieve accuracy of 86%, which is further improved to complete discrimination when data from the first follow-up visit are also employed.

Conclusions
Knowing in advance the progression of the disease, i.e. identifying groups of patients with higher/lower risk of reoccurrence, we are able to determine the subsequent treatment protocol in a more personalized manner.
Finding malaria hot-spots in northern Angola: the role of individual, household and environmental factors within a meso-endemic area
Authors: Magalhães Ricardo J Soares , Langa Antonio , Sousa-Figueiredo José Carlos , Clements Archie CA , Nery Susana Vaz 
Published: November 2012

Abstract

Background
Identifying and targeting hyper-endemic communities within meso-endemic areas constitutes an important challenge in malaria control in endemic countries such like Angola. Recent national and global predictive maps of malaria allow the identification and quantification of the population at risk of malaria infection in Angola, but their small-scale accuracy is surrounded by large uncertainties. To observe the need to develop higher resolution malaria endemicity maps a predictive risk map of malaria infection for the municipality of Dande (a malaria endemic area in Northern Angola) was developed and compared to existing national and global maps, the role of individual, household and environmental risk factors for malaria endemicity was quantified and the spatial variation in the number of children at-risk of malaria was estimated.

Methods
Bayesian geostatistical models were developed to predict small-scale spatial variation using data collected during a parasitological survey conducted from May to August 2010. Maps of the posterior distributions of predicted prevalence were constructed in a geographical information system.

Results
Malaria infection was significantly associated with maternal malaria awareness, households with canvas roofing, distance to health care centre and distance to rivers. The predictive map showed remarkable spatial heterogeneity in malaria risk across the Dande municipality in contrast to previous national and global spatial risk models; large high-risk areas of malaria infection (prevalence >50%) were found in the northern and most eastern areas of the municipality, in line with the observed prevalence.

Conclusions
There is remarkable spatial heterogeneity of malaria burden which previous national and global spatial modelling studies failed to identify suggesting that the identification of malaria hot-spots within seemingly mesoendemic areas may require the generation of high resolution malaria maps. Individual, household and hydrological factors play an important role in the small-scale geographical variation of malaria risk in northern Angola. The results presented in this study can be used by provincial malaria control programme managers to help target the delivery of malaria control resources to priority areas in the Dande municipality.
Apps for asthma self-management: a systematic assessment of content and tools
Authors: Huckvale Kit , Car Mate , Morrison Cecily , Car Josip 
Published: November 2012

Abstract

Background
Apps have been enthusiastically adopted by the general public. They are increasingly recognized by policy-makers as a potential medium for supporting self-management of long-term conditions. We assessed the degree to which current smartphone and tablet apps for people with asthma offer content and tools of appropriate quality to support asthma self-management.

Methods
We adapted systematic review methodology to the assessment of apps. We identified English-language asthma apps for all ages through a systematic search of official app stores. We systematically assessed app content using criteria derived from international guidelines and systematic review of strategies for asthma self-management. We covered three domains: comprehensiveness of asthma information, consistency of advice with evidence and compliance with health information best practice principles.

Results
We identified 103 apps for asthma in English, of which 56 were sources of information about the condition and 47 provided tools for the management of asthma. No apps offered both types of functionality. Only three information apps approached our definition of comprehensiveness of information about asthma. No apps provided advice on lay management of acute asthma that included details of appropriate reliever medication use. In 32 of 72 instances, apps made unequivocal recommendations about strategies for asthma control or prophylaxis that were unsupported by current evidence. Although 90% of apps stated a clear purpose, compliance with other best practice principles for health information was variable. Contact details were located for 55%, funding source for 18% and confidentiality policy for 17%.

Conclusions
No apps for people with asthma combined reliable, comprehensive information about the condition with supportive tools for self-management. Healthcare professionals considering recommending apps to patients as part of asthma self-management should exercise caution, recognizing that some apps like calculators may be unsafe; that no current app will meet the need of every patient; and that ways of working must be adapted if apps are to be introduced, supported and sustained in routine care. Policy-makers need to consider the potential role for assurance mechanisms in relation to apps. There remains much to be done if apps are to find broad use in clinical practice; clinicians cannot recommend tools that are inaccurate, unsafe or lack an evidence base.
Salinity-tolerant larvae of mosquito vectors in the tropical coast of Jaffna, Sri Lanka and the effect of salinity on the toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis to Aedes aegypti larvae
Authors: Jude Pavilupillai J , Tharmasegaram Tharmatha , Sivasubramaniyam Gobika , Senthilnanthanan Meena , Kannathasan Selvam , Raveendran Selvarajah , Ramasamy Ranjan , Surendran Sinnathamby N 
Published: November 2012

Abstract

Background
Dengue, chikungunya, malaria, filariasis and Japanese encephalitis are common mosquito-borne diseases endemic to Sri Lanka. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, the major vectors of dengue, were recently shown to undergo pre-imaginal development in brackish water bodies in the island. A limited survey of selected coastal localities of the Jaffna district in northern Sri Lanka was carried out to identify mosquito species undergoing pre-imaginal development in brackish and saline waters. The effect of salinity on the toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis larvicide to Ae. aegypti larvae at salinity levels naturally tolerated by Ae. aegypti was examined.

Methods
Larvae collected at the selected sites along the Jaffna coast were identified and salinity of habitat water determined in the laboratory. The LC50 and LC90 of B. thuringiensis toxin, the active ingredient of a commercial formulation of the larvicide BACTIVEC®, were determined with Ae. aegypti larvae. Bioassays were also carried out at salinities varying from 0 to18 ppt to determine the toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis to fresh and brackish water-derived larvae of Ae. aegypti.

Results
Larvae of four Anopheles, two Aedes, one Culex and one Lutzia species were collected from brackish and saline sites with salinity in the range 2 to 68 ppt. The LC50 and LC90 of B. thuringiensis toxin for the second instar larvae of Ae. aegypti in fresh water were 0.006 ppm and 0.013 ppm respectively, with corresponding values for brackish water populations of 0.008 and 0.012 ppm respectively. One hundred percent survival of second instar fresh water and brackish water-derived Ae. aegypti larvae was recorded at salinity up to 10 and 12 ppt and 100% mortality at 16 and 18 ppt, yielding an LC 50 for salinity of 13.9 ppt and 15.4 ppt at 24 h post-treatment respectively for the two populations. Statistical analysis showed significantly reduced toxicity of B. thuringiensis to fresh and brackish water-derived Ae. aegypti larvae at high salinities.

Conclusion
A variety of mosquito vectors of human diseases undergo pre-imaginal development in brackish or saline waters in coastal areas of the Jaffna district in northern Sri Lanka. Salinity has a small but significant negative impact on the toxicity of B. thuringiensis toxin to Ae. aegypti larvae at salinity levels where Ae. aegypti larvae are found in the environment. This has implications for the use of B. thuringiensis toxin as a larvicide in brackish waters.
Challenges and policy lessons for the growth-employment-poverty nexus in developing countries
Authors: Fields Gary S 
Published: November 2012

Abstract
Of the world’s 6.7 billion people (as of 2008), 1.3 billion lived on less than $1.25 Purchasing Power Parity dollars per person per day and another 1.7 billion lived on between $1.25 and $2.50 PPP dollars (Chen and Ravallion, 2012). The scourge of absolute economic misery among billions of the world’s people is one of the most serious problems facing humankind today. Unemployment (defined below) befalls about 200 million of the world’s people - a sizeable number but small compared to the three billion people who are poor using the $2.50 PPP dollar poverty line. A much larger number - 900 million - are employed but earning so little that they and their families are unable to reach even $2 per person per day (ILO, 2012). They are working hard and they are working poor. (Working Hard, Working Poor is the title of my latest book (Fields, 2012). To achieve more and better employment (where “better” depends on such factors as rate of pay, job security, employment protections, and type of work), analysts and donors need to understand better how employment, growth, poverty and other factors interact, how unemployment is caused, and how employment can be improved. At the same time, drawing on practical experience, research can identify knowledge gaps that to date pose limits to successful employment creation policy.
High Prevalence and Diminished Awareness of Overweight and Obesity in a Mediterranean Population. An Alarming Call for Action
Authors: Andrikopoulos George , Richter Dimitrios , Sakellariou Dimitrios , Tzeis Stylianos , Goumas George , Kribas Panagiotis , Athanasias Dimitrios , Toutouzas Pavlos 
Published: November 2012

Introduction:
The epidemic proportions of overweight, obesity and diabetes in most European countries stress the need for the implementation of an effective action plan for the prevention of cardiovascular (CV) disease. This ques-tionnaire study was designed to evaluate the viewpoint of the general population regarding the relative significance of CV risk factors in the cumulative risk of CV disease.

Methods:
All participants answered a questionnaire regarding the self-reported presence of CV disease risk factors and the perceived notion of having excess weight. They were also asked to list CV disease risk factors, ranking them in order of perceived relative significance. Participants were also subjected to total cholesterol measurement using a portable total cholesterol testing meter.

Results:
The survey population consisted of 32,736 individuals (49.1% males). According to participant self reporting, 32.9% were smokers, 24.7% had hypertension, 9.8% had diabetes, 74.8% reported having stress, 41.9% had insufficient physical activity and 43.3% had hyperlipidemia. The prevalence of overweight was 43.9% and the prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) was 18.6%. Only 24.4% of participants reported that they had excess weight. The 45.2% of the ques-tioned individuals considered that stress was the most important CV risk factor.

Conclusions:
Despite the high prevalence of overweight and obesity, the majority of participants were unaware of the contribution of these well-established risk factors to the occurrence of CV disease. Improving public awareness is impor-tant in order to control the epidemic proportions of these modifiable risk factors.
Effect of Nickel Chloride on Cell Proliferation
Authors: D’Antò Vincenzo , Valletta Rosa , Amato Massimo , Schweikl Helmut , Simeone Michele , Paduano Sergio , Rengo Sandro , Spagnuolo Gianrico 
Published: November 2012

Objective:
Metal alloys used in dentistry and in other biomedical fields may release nickel ions in the oral environment. The release of nickel might influence the normal biological and physiological processes, including tissue wound healing, cell growth and proliferation. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vitro the effects of nickel ions on cell cycle, viability and proliferation.

Materials and Methods:
Human osteosarcoma cells (U2OS) and human keratinocytes (HaCat) were exposed to different nickel chloride (NiCl2) concentrations (0 - 5mM) for various periods exposure. The viability of cultured cells was estimated by flow cytometry using Annexin V-FITC and Propidium Iodide (PI). Cell proliferation was evaluated by using carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFDA-SE) and flow cytometry. Finally, the effects of NiCl2 on cell cycle were assessed and quantified by flow cytometry. Statistical analysis was performed by means of ANOVA followed by Tukey’s test.

Results:
NiCl2 induced a dose and time dependent decrease in cell viability. After 24h, 1mM NiCl2 caused a similar and significant reduction of viability in U2OS and HaCat cells, while higher NiCl2 concentrations and longer exposure times showed a reduced cytotoxic effect in HaCat as compared to U2OS cells.
Exposure to NiCl2 caused a dose- and time-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation in both cell lines tested, with a prominent effect on U2OS cells. Furthermore, both cell lines exposed to NiCl2 exhibited significant changes in cell cycle distribution after 24h exposure 2mM NiCl2, as compared to untreated cells (p<0.05).

Conclusion:
Our results indicate that release of nickel ions may affect cell proliferation. The inhibition of cell growth by NiCl2 is mediated by both cell cycle arrest and by induction of cell death.
Mean values connected with the Dedekind zeta-function of a non-normal cubic field
Authors: Lü Guangshi 
Published: November 2012

Abstract
After Landau’s famous work, many authors contributed to some mean values connected with the Dedekind zetafunction. In this paper, we are interested in the integral power sums of the coefficients of the Dedekind zeta function of a non-normal cubic extension K
3/ℚ, i.e. $$
S_{l,K_3 } (x) = \sum\nolimits_{m \leqslant x} {M^l (m)}
$$, where M(m) denotes the number of integral ideals of the field K
3 of norm m and l ∈ ℕ. We improve the previous results for $$
S_{2,K_3 } (x)
$$ and $$
S_{3,K_3 } (x)
$$.
Martensite transformation of sub-micron retained austenite in ultra-fine grained manganese transformation-induced plasticity steel
Authors: Lee Seok-Jae , Lee Seawoong , De Cooman Bruno C. 
Published: November 2012

AbstractThe influence of the chemical composition and the grain size of retained austenite in an ultra-fine grained medium manganese steel on the martensite transformation kinetics was investigated by means of dilatometry. A modified Koistinen–Marburger type exponential function was developed for the martensite transformation kinetics, which includes the influence of the size and the composition of the austenite. Whereas the ultra-fine grained retained austenite had a remarkably lowMstemperature, the kinetics of its transformation to martensite was accelerated.