bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Community‐based cross‐sectional study: The association of lipids with hepatitis C seropositivity and diabetes mellitus
Authors: Liu Ju‐Ling , Chen Jing‐Yi , Chen Chao‐Tung , Wang Jing‐Houng , Lin Chih‐Yun , Chen Pao‐Fei , Hung Chao‐Hung , Kee Kwong‐Ming , Lee Chuan‐Mo , Tsai Lin‐San , Chen Shu‐Chuan , Lin Sheng‐Che , Lu Sheng‐Nan 
Published: June 2012

AbstractBackground and Aims:  Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is reported to be associated with or to cause type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Our study aimed to elucidate the role of triglyceride (TG) and cholesterol (CHOL) levels in the association between anti‐HCV seropositivity and T2DM in an HCV‐endemic area.Methods:  We analyzed a computerized dataset of 56 338 residents from a community‐based comprehensive screening program in Tainan County in southern Taiwan. Fasting glucose, anti‐HCV status, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) status, platelet counts, TG levels, CHOL levels, age, gender, and body mass index were included in the analyses. Multivariate logistic analysis was used to identify factors independently associated with T2DM.Results:  Older age, being overweight, thrombocytopenia, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, anti‐HCV seropositivity, and HBsAg seronegativity were common factors independently associated with diabetes. Among all models of multiple logistic regression analysis used for identifying factors independently associated with T2DM, anti‐HCV seropositivity was only identified in the models that included either hypertriglyceridemia or hypercholesterolemia. When subjects were divided into hyperlipidemia (CHOL, > 200 or TG, > 150 mg/dL; n = 33 393) or non‐hyperlipidemia subgroups (CHOL, < 200 and TG, < 150 mg/dL; n = 22 945), anti‐HCV seropositivity was identified as an independent factor only in the non‐hyperlipidemia subgroup. The odds ratio was 1.35, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.17–1.55.Conclusions:  This study demonstrates that the lipid level is associated with the relationship between T2DM and anti‐HCV seropositivity in non‐hyperlipidemic individuals. However, the relationship between HCV and T2DM did not exist when the lipid level was not included in the analysis.
Functional role of peroxisome‐proliferator‐activated receptor γ in hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Wu Chung‐Wah , Farrell Geoffery C , Yu Jun 
Published: June 2012

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. Major risk factors of HCC include infection with hepatitis B or C viruses, alcohol and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease. HCC is difficult to diagnose at early stage, and has a very poor survival rate when diagnosed at a late stage. The majority of HCC‐related deaths result from local invasion (to cause liver failure) or distant metastases. There is an urgent need to identify effective molecular targets for the treatment of the disease. As the target of an established class of therapeutic agent thiazolidinediones (TZDs), peroxisome‐proliferator‐activated receptor γ (PPARγ) has been widely studied for its role in the development of HCC. A substantial body of evidence based on in vitro and in vivo models indicates that the activation of PPARγ is able to inhibit HCC cell proliferation and tumor growth through inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis via the regulation of a panel of downstream effector molecules. PPARγ activation also induces an inhibitory effect on HCC metastasis. Meanwhile, there is new evidence suggesting that PPARγ inhibition could also be anti‐tumorigenic. In the present review, we summarize the available information on the role of PPARγ in HCC development and spread, and discuss whether PPARγ activation by TZDs could play a role in the treatment of HCC, summarizing both in vitro and in vivo. Considering the available data, PPARγ seems to exert beneficial effects against HCC and may therefore represent as a therapeutic target.
Peginterferon alpha‐2a and ribavirin in patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 1 infection with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase levels
Authors: Calleja José‐Luis , García‐Samaniego Javier , Ruiz‐Antorán Belén , Trapero María , Morillas Rosa , de la Revilla Juan , Erdozaín José Carlos , Espinosa María‐Dolores , Suárez Dolores , Solá Ricard , Romero‐Gómez Manuel , Baños Fernando , Álvarez Marco‐Antonio ,   for the Management of HCV Infection and Normal Transaminases Spanish Study Group
Published: June 2012

AbstractBackground and Aim:  To evaluate the efficacy and safety of peginterferon α‐2a plus ribavirin at standard doses in patients with hepatitis C virus (HVC) genotype 1 infection with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels.Methods:  Patients aged 18 to 65 years were included in this observational, prospective study if they had evidence of a HCV genotype 1 infection. The serum HCV RNA concentration was determined at baseline and week 12. A qualitative HCV RNA test was performed at baseline and at weeks 48 and 72. Liver function tests were performed at each study visit. The primary efficacy measure was the sustained virological response in the intention‐to‐treat population. Logistic regression analyses were also performed to explore predictors of virological response.Results:  A sustained virological response was observed in 100 of the 175 patients (57%). An early virological response and end‐of‐treatment response were seen in 159 patients (91%) and 133 patients (76%), respectively. Thirty‐seven of the 122 evaluable patients for this outcome (30%) showed a rapid virological response. A higher viral load was a significant predictor for a lack of rapid virological response and lack of sustained virological response. There were not any unexpected safety or tolerability findings.Conclusions:  Our study suggests that the efficacy of the combination of peginterferon α‐2a and ribavirin in patients with HCV genotype 1 infection and normal ALT levels is at least similar to that reported in patients with elevated ALT levels.
Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score for the detection of minimal hepatic encephalopathy in Korean patients with liver cirrhosis
Authors: Seo Yeon Seok , Yim Sun Young , Jung Jin Yong , Kim Chang Ha , Kim Jin Dong , Keum Bora , An Hyonggin , Yim Hyung Joon , Lee Hong Sik , Kim Chang Duck , Ryu Ho Sang , Um Soon Ho 
Published: June 2012

AbstractBackground and Aim:  Although the Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score (PHES) for the diagnosis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) has been validated in several countries, further validation is required for its use in different populations. The aims of this study were thus to standardize the PHES in a healthy Korean population and evaluate the prevalence of MHE among Korean patients with liver cirrhosis.Methods:  Two‐hundred healthy subjects without evidence of liver disease and 160 patients with liver cirrhosis without overt HE were included. Blood sampling for routine laboratory tests and determination of venous ammonia concentration was performed on the day of PHES neuropsychological testing.Results:  The age and education years of the control group were 41 ± 13 years and 13 ± 3 years, respectively; 100 of the subjects (50.0%) were men. The PHES for the control group was −0.31 ± 2.06 and the normal range was thus set at > −5 points. The age and education years of the liver cirrhosis group were 55 ± 8 and 11 ± 4 years, respectively; 102 of those in this group (63.8%) were men. Of the liver cirrhosis patients, 129 (80.6%), 21 (13.1%), and 10 (6.3%) had Child–Pugh grades A, B, and C, respectively. The PHES of the liver cirrhosis group was −2.94 ± 3.39. MHE was diagnosed in 41 patients (25.6%), of which 26 (20.2%), nine (42.9%), and six (60.0%) had Child–Pugh grades A, B, and C, respectively.Conclusions:  The PHES was useful for detecting patients with MHE. A significant proportion of Korean patients with liver cirrhosis suffer from MHE.
Factors associated with antipsychotic medication adherence in community‐based patients with schizophrenia in Hong Kong: A cross sectional study
Authors: Bressington Dan , Mui Jolene , Gray Richard 
Published: June 2012

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the present study was to examine the factors affecting adherence to antipsychotic medication in patients with schizophrenia registered with a community psychiatric nursing service in Hong Kong. The study was a cross‐sectional observational survey; symptoms, drug attitudes, insight, side‐effects, and sociodemographic characteristics were measured and explored in terms of their relationship with medication adherence. A total of 584 patients who were visited by community psychiatric nurses (CPN) participated, and 30% of these patients were non‐adherent with their antipsychotic medication. Positive treatment attitudes, awareness of the need for treatment, being prescribed clozapine, receiving state benefits, lower levels of symptoms, and fewer side‐effects were associated with adherence. The findings from this study suggest that the clinical efforts of CPN to improve adherence should aim to help patients amplify the personal relevance of treatment and modify patients' attitudes towards medication.
Abnormal modulation of corticospinal excitability in adults with Asperger’s syndrome
Authors: Oberman Lindsay , Eldaief Mark , Fecteau Shirley , Ifert‐Miller Fritz , Tormos Jose Maria , Pascual‐Leone Alvaro 
Published: June 2012

AbstractMost candidate genes and genetic abnormalities linked to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are thought to play a role in developmental and experience‐dependent plasticity. As a possible index of plasticity, we assessed the modulation of motor corticospinal excitability in individuals with Asperger’s syndrome (AS) using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). We measured the modulatory effects of theta‐burst stimulation (TBS) on motor evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by single‐pulse TMS in individuals with AS as compared with age‐, gender‐ and IQ‐matched neurotypical controls. The effect of TBS lasted significantly longer in the AS group. The duration of the TBS‐induced modulation alone enabled the reliable classification of a second study cohort of subjects as AS or neurotypical. The alteration in the modulation of corticospinal excitability in AS is thought to reflect aberrant mechanisms of plasticity, and might provide a valuable future diagnostic biomarker for the disease and ultimately offer a target for novel therapeutic interventions.
Fighting Corruption without the State: Civil Society Agency and the “Otokoto Saga”
Authors: ODOEMENE AKACHI 
Published: June 2012

AbstractThe violent outburst of Owerri's civil society in September 1996 arguably signaled a new order in the fighting of corruption – through self‐help efforts. This outburst was a demonstration of public discontent over the activities of a few rich citizens in that town who were believed to have been involved in varied corrupt practices in making “fast” wealth. It was also a vociferous indictment on the State and its agents for ineptitude in fighting corruption, and complicity in criminal acts. Drawing from both primary and secondary sources in social research, this study critically examines the chain of events preceding, and the dynamics of the developments surrounding the societal conflicts in Owerri, Nigeria, popularly dubbed “Otokoto Saga.” It analyzes the varied dimensions of the societal conflicts, the authentic roles of civil society agency in a “self‐help strategy” and the responses of the State (and its actors) to the inadvertent eruptions. It further shows how Owerri's civil society agency “forced” the state to take critical steps towards the restoration of sanity in the town. The paper argues that civil society's critical awareness of its own roles in maintaining a corrupt‐free society was instrumental to their violent reactions. It concludes that deep‐seated fear and frustration underlined the reactions of the civil society, while moral panic and outrage triggered such reactions.
“Anarchy all over Baščaršija”: Yugoslavia's new socialist culture and the New Primitives poetics of the local
Authors: Mišina Dalibor 
Published: June 2012

AbstractThe paper analyses Sarajevo's music movement of New Primitives and its “poetics of the local” as a struggle against the cultural hypocrisy of Yugoslavia's “new socialist culture” and its privileging of “external‐cosmopolitan” as apotheosis of cultured refinement and sophistication while denigrating “local‐parochial” as epitome of uncultured primitiveness. I argue that the movement's praxis is best understood as a call to reject externally‐imposed frames of reference as the basis for self‐understanding, and to embrace a socio‐cultural awareness that the only way to be in the world is to be authentically “primitive”– i.e. to exist as a distinct and autochthon socio‐cultural self.
Widening Participation in Higher Education: Analysis Using Linked Administrative Data
Authors: Chowdry Haroon , Crawford Claire , Dearden Lorraine , Goodman Alissa , Vignoles Anna 
Published: June 2012

SummaryThe paper makes use of newly linked administrative education data from England to understand better the determinants of participation in higher education (HE) among individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds. The data are unique in being able to follow the population of two cohorts of pupils in England—those who might have entered HE between 2004–2005 and 2006–2007—from age 11 to age 20 years. The findings suggest that, although large differences in HE participation rates and participation rates at high status universities by socio-economic background remain, these differences are substantially reduced once prior achievement is included. Moreover, these findings hold for both state and private school pupils. This result suggests that poor achievement in secondary schools is more important in explaining lower HE participation rates among pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds than barriers arising at the point of entry to HE. These findings are consistent with the need for earlier policy intervention to raise HE participation rates among pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds.
The Risky Reliance on Small Surrogate End Point Studies When Planning a Large Prevention Trial
Authors: Baker Stuart G. , Kramer Barnett S. 
Published: June 2012

SummaryThe definitive evaluation of treatment to prevent a chronic disease with low incidence in middle age, such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, requires a trial with a large sample size of perhaps 20000 or more. To help to decide whether to implement a large true end point trial, investigators first typically estimate the effect of treatment on a surrogate end point in a trial with a greatly reduced sample size of perhaps 200 subjects. If investigators reject the null hypothesis of no treatment effect in the surrogate end point trial they implicitly assume that they would probably correctly reject the null hypothesis of no treatment effect for the true end point. Surrogate end point trials are generally designed with adequate power to detect an effect of treatment on the surrogate end point. However, we show that a small surrogate end point trial is more likely than a large surrogate end point trial to give a misleading conclusion about the beneficial effect of treatment on the true end point, which can lead to a faulty (and costly) decision about implementing a large true end point prevention trial. If a small surrogate end point trial rejects the null hypothesis of no treatment effect, an intermediate-sized surrogate end point trial could be a useful next step in the decision-making process for launching a large true end point prevention trial.
An Estimate of the Accuracy of Hedonic Real Estate Valuations Using the Orange County Bankruptcy
Authors: Evans Thomas A. 
Published: June 2012

It has become standard practice to estimate the value of amenities, such as environmental cleanliness, local school quality and crime, using hedonic valuations—typically changes in real estate prices. The accuracy of hedonic valuations depends critically on whether real estate prices adjust appropriately, which is difficult to verify. The 1994 Orange County, CA, bankruptcy offers a test of the accuracy of hedonic real estate valuations. Orange County's failed investment strategy resulted in unexpected county losses of $1.7 billion. In response, the aggregate value of Orange County real estate dropped by between $1.65 and $3.70 billion.
Effect of glatiramer acetate on disease reactivation in MS patients discontinuing natalizumab
Authors: Rossi S. , Motta C. , Studer V. , De Chiara V. , Barbieri F. , Monteleone F. , Fornasiero A. , Coarelli G. , Bernardi G. , Cutter G. , Stüve O. , Salvetti M. , Centonze D. 
Published: June 2012

Background and purposeMultiple sclerosis (MS) patients discontinuing natalizumab are at risk of rebound of disease activity.MethodsIn the present multi‐center, open‐label, non‐randomized, prospective, pilot study, we tested whether treatment with glatiramer acetate (GA) is safe and effective after natalizumab in MS patients. The study was performed at academic tertiary medical centers. Forty active relapsing–remitting MS patients who never failed GA therapy and who discontinued natalizumab after 12–18 months of therapy were enrolled. GA was initiated 4 weeks after the last dose of natalizumab.Results62.5% of patients were relapse‐free 12 months after GA initiation. Annualized relapse rate and time to relapse were significantly lower than before natalizumab. Notably, the frequency of relapses was significantly lower amongst those patients who had experienced ≤2 relapses the year before initiation of natalizumab therapy, compared with patients who had had three or more relapses. No evidence of rebound was observed in magnetic resonance imaging scans. Furthermore, Expanded Disability Status Scale and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite were stable in our patients, again suggesting that 12 months of post‐natalizumab–GA therapy is not associated with clinical deterioration.ConclusionsFollowing discontinuation of natalizumab, 12 months of therapy with GA is safe and well tolerated in MS patients. GA can reduce the risk of early reactivation/rebound of disease activity in this setting.
Consent and sex in vulnerable adults: a review of case law
Authors: Curtice Martin , Mayo Jonathan , Crocombe Juli 
Published: June 2012

Accessible summary
People with learning disabilities may not know about sexual relationships.
People with learning disabilities may need education about sexual relationships.
People with learning disabilities may need education about contraception.
SummaryThe introduction of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 has brought to the fore issues regarding capacity in various clinical settings. One important area where capacity assessment is often vital is regarding vulnerable people being able to consent to sexual relations. Case law from courts has evolved with regard to this sometimes complex and emotive issue both before and after the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. This article describes and analyses the evolution of such case law which predominantly involves people with learning disabilities. In doing so, it explains key principles and tests both for consenting to sexual relations and for the use of contraception which can be applied and used in clinical practice. The article also discusses the associated human rights issues for vulnerable adults in trying to balance the right to sexual relations as part of an individual's private life whilst managing potential abuse issues.
One Man's Authenticity is Another Man's Betrayal: A Reply to Levy
Authors: Erler Alexandre 
Published: June 2012

abstractThis article responds to Neil Levy's recent suggestion that: (1) the use of pharmaceutical enhancers can be understood as promoting our authenticity, no matter which of the two main contemporary conceptions of authenticity we adopt; and that (2) we do not need to decide between these two rival models (the ‘self‐discovery’ and the ‘self‐creation’ conception) in order to assess the common worry that enhancements will undermine our authenticity. Levy's core argument is based on a comparison between cases of people with ‘Gender Identity Disorder’ (GID) seeking sex reassignment surgery, and cases of enhancement via pharmaceuticals. While conceding the plausibility of Levy's claim (1), I offer reasons to resist (2), by pointing out structural differences between GID cases and some paradigmatic cases of pharmacological enhancement. I argue that these differences prevent the latter sort of cases from counting as authenticity‐promoting on the self‐discovery view. I conclude that Levy's proposed way of ‘breaking the stalemate’ in this debate is unsuccessful: we cannot avoid settling the dispute between the two models if we are to adequately address the authenticity worry about pharmacological enhancement.
Astrocytic cytoskeletal atrophy in the medial prefrontal cortex of a triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Kulijewicz‐Nawrot Magdalena , Verkhratsky Alexei , Chvátal Alexander , Syková Eva , Rodríguez José J. 
Published: June 2012

AbstractAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of cognitive functions, reflecting pathological damage to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as well as to the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex. Astrocytes maintain the internal homeostasis of the CNS and are fundamentally involved in neuropathological processes, including AD. Here, we analysed the astrocytic cytoskeletal changes within the mPFC of a triple transgenic mouse model of AD (3 × Tg‐AD) by measuring the surface area and volume of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)‐positive profiles in relation to the build‐up and presence of amyloid‐β (Aβ), and compared the results with those found in non‐transgenic control animals at different ages. 3 × Tg‐AD animals showed clear astroglial cytoskeletal atrophy, which appeared at an early age (3 months; 33% and 47% decrease in GFAP‐positive surface area and volume, respectively) and remained throughout the disease progression at 9, 12 and 18 months old (29% and 36%; 37% and 35%; 43% and 37%, respectively). This atrophy was independent of Aβ accumulation, as only a few GFAP‐positive cells were localized around Aβ aggregates, which suggests no direct relationship with Aβ toxicity. Thus, our results indicate that the progressive reduction in astrocytic branching and domain in the mPFC can account for the integrative dysfunction leading to the cognitive deficits and memory disturbances observed in AD.