bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Choice as an Aspect of Quality of Life for People With Intellectual Disabilities
Authors: Brown Ivan , Brown Roy I. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractChoice, a concept included in the quality of life approach, is frequently referred to in quality of life and related literature, but its components have not been described clearly. Drawing on conceptual considerations and research reports, the authors review and extend what is known about choice, and set out a conceptualization of its two main components: available opportunities and choice‐making. The most important characteristics of opportunities are breadth and familiarity, and the most important characteristics of choice making are freedom, initiative, and skill. The authors consider the application of choice to supports and services by discussing numerous practical issues and providing suggestions for application. These are summarized as an overall four‐step strategy for moving forward that sets the scene for more specific strategies to be developed and evaluated.
Family Quality of Life: Moving From Measurement to Application
Authors: Zuna Nina I. , Turnbull Ann , Summers Jean Ann 
Published: March 2009

AbstractNoting the absence of sound theoretical underpinnings for family quality of life (FQoL) research and work, the authors note that, to guide FQoL practice, research findings must be schematically organized so as to enable practitioners to implement empirical findings effectively. One way to meet this goal is to introduce a theoretical model that clearly displays and describes the relationships among variables that explain FQoL. Thus, the authors propose a theory of FQoL designed to explain how various concepts—systems, performance, individuals, and family units—influence variations in FQoL. In defining each of the concepts, they describe the theory's application within the context of a family vignette, illustrating how professionals might apply theoretical propositions to their practice. In their application, they stress that the application of the FQoL theory they presented is not an end but rather a developmental stage that leads to further refinement of the FQoL theory. The application and development of this theory is a reciprocal process among researchers, practitioners, and families. Further, their FQoL theoretical model can serve to enable practitioners to examine which family, ecological, and programmatic variables are amenable to change to positively impact FQoL. Given this, they assert that FQoL is not a static concept but, instead, ebbs and flows during the course of raising a child with a disability. They call for further collaborative work among workers to continually improve the FQoL theory and to successfully implement it in practice.
Association of Lifestyle and Relationship Factors with Sexual Functioning of Women During Midlife
Authors: Hess Rachel , Conroy Molly B. , Ness Roberta , Bryce Cindy L. , Dillon Stacey , Chang Chung-Chou Ho , Matthews Karen A. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

Introduction
As women progress through menopause, they experience changes in sexual functioning that are multifactorial, likely encompassing biological, psychological, and social domains.

Aim
To examine the effects that physical activity, sleep difficulties, and social support have on partnered sexual activity and sexual functioning in women at different stages of the menopausal progression.

Methods
As part of an ongoing 5-year longitudinal study, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis of sexual functioning data.

Main Outcome Measures
Participation in partnered sexual activities, reasons for nonparticipation in such activities among sexually inactive women, and, among sexually active women, sexual functioning defined as engagement in and enjoyment of sexually intimate activities.

Results
Of 677 participants aged 41–68, 68% had participated in any partnered sexual activities (i.e., were sexually active) during the past 6 months. Reasons for sexual inactivity included lack of a partner (70%), lack of interest in sex (12%) or in the current partner (5%), and physical problems (4%). Sexually active participants tended to be younger, married, more educated, have more social support in general, fewer comorbid medical illnesses, a lower body mass index, and a higher prevalence of vaginal dryness. Among the sexually active participants, their scores for engagement in activities ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse were higher if they were physically active, had more social support, and lacked sleeping difficulties. Likewise, scores for sexual enjoyment were higher if they were physically active, had more social support, and lacked vaginal dryness. Engagement and enjoyment scores were not associated with marital status or other factors.

Conclusions
In midlife women, having social support and being physically active are associated with enhanced sexual engagement and enjoyment.
eNOS Gene Intron 4 VNTR and Exon 7-G894T Polymorphisms in Turkish Men with Erectile Dysfunction: A Case Control Study
Authors: Erol Bulent , Bozdogan Gurdal , Akduman Bulent , Dursun Ahmet , Bozdogan Sevcan , Onem Kadir , Mungan Aydin 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

Introduction
The associations between the gene polymorphisms and erectile dysfunction (ED) are limited.

Aim
To examine a potential association between variable number of tandem repeats (intron 4 VNTR), G894T polymorphisms, and ED in Turkish men.

Methods
Sixty-four men with ED and 82 healthy men as a control group were included in the study. The patients were evaluated by medical history, International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), serum glucose, and lipid profiles. VNTR and G894T polymorphism were assessed by isolated DNA blood samples obtained from the patient group with ED and controls.

Main Outcome Measures
Assesment of IIEF and VNTR and G894T polymorphism in the isolated DNA blood samples.

Results
Genotype distributions of endothelial nitric oxide syntase (eNOS) gene intron 4 VNTR polymorphisms in the patient group were similar to those in the healthy group (P &gt; 0.05). The frequency of the eNOS gene intron 4 genotype was found as bb: 55 (67.1%), ab: 26 (31.7%), and aa: 1 (1.2%) in the controls and bb: 43 (67.2%), ab: 19 (29.7%), and aa: 2 (3.1%) in the patient group. The frequency of the G894T was found as gg: 61 (74.4%), gt: 21 (25.6%), and tt: 0 (0.0%) in the controls and gg: 32 (50.0%), gt: 27 (42.1%), and tt: 5 (7.8%) in the patient group (P = 0.002). The frequencies of the “t” allele were 21 (12.8%) in the control group and 37 (28.9%) in the patient group (P = 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that G894T polymorphism was an independent risk factor for ED.

Conclusions
We found significant differences in allelic and genotypic frequencies between patients and controls for the G894T eNOS polymorphisms. The presence of 894T allele in carriers increased the risk of ED. No association was found between VNTR polymorphism and in patients with ED.
Experimental and seasonal exposure to birch pollen in allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma with regard to the inflammatory response
Authors: Kämpe Mary , Janson Christer , Stålenheim Gunnemar , Stolt Ingrid , Carlson Marie 
Published: March 2009

AbstractBackground and Aims:  Seasonal allergy is an interesting model to study the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in allergic inflammation. However, experimental allergen exposure is easier to perform and standardise. The primary aim of this study was to compare the inflammatory responses to high‐dose bronchial challenge and natural exposure during birch pollen season. The second aim was to compare the responses of patients with allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma, respectively to both types of allergen exposure.Methods:  Fifteen birch pollen‐allergic patients (seven with asthma and eight with rhinitis) and five healthy individuals were studied during pollen season and after challenge with birch allergen. Symptoms, medication and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) were recorded, and blood samples, spirometry and induced sputum were analysed during season and after challenge.Results:  Patients with allergic asthma demonstrated a greater bronchial responsiveness to bronchial provocation with birch allergen than patients with rhinitis (P = 0.04) whereas no difference was found regarding nasal challenge. No significant association was found between the level of responsiveness and the inflammatory response after seasonal exposure. Seasonal exposure was related to a more marked systemic inflammatory blood–eosinophil increase than bronchial challenge [(median) (0.25 vs 0.11 × 109/L, P = 0.03)] and after nasal challenge, respectively [(median) (0.25 vs 0.04 × 109/L, P = 0.003)]. A significant correlation in eosinophil cationic protein in induced sputum was found between the experimental and seasonal exposure (rho = 0.62, P = 0.02).Conclusions:  Bronchial allergen challenge with inhalation of birch pollen gives a similar inflammatory response in the airway but less systemic inflammation than seasonal exposure in birch pollen allergic patients with asthma and rhinitis.Please cite this paper as: Kämpe M, Janson C, Stålenheim G, Stolt I and Carlson M. Experimental and seasonal exposure to birch pollen in allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma with regard to the inflammatory response. The Clinical Respiratory Journal 2009; DOI:10.1111/j.1752‐699X.2009.00140.x.
Cinnamic acid, from the bark of Cinnamomum cassia, regulates glucose transport via activation of GLUT4 on L6 myotubes in a phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase‐independent manner
Authors: LAKSHMI Baddireddi Subhadra , SUJATHA Sundaresan , ANAND Singaravelu , SANGEETHA Kadapakkam Nandhabalan , NARAYANAN Rangarajan Badri , KATIYAR Chandrakanth , KANAUJIA Anil , DUGGAR Rajeev , SINGH Yogendra , SRINIVAS Konasubrahmanya , BANSAL Vinay , SARIN Simi , TANDON Ruchi , SHARMA Suchitra , SINGH Suchita 
Published: March 2009

AbstractBackground:  Cinnamomum cassia (Family: Lauraceae) is an Ayurvedic medicinal plant used traditionally for the treatment of a number of diseases, including diabetes. The hypoglycemic effect of this plant has been established in vivo. However, the effects of cinnamic acid, isolated from C. cassia, on the insulin signaling cascade in an in vitro model have not been elucidated. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the anti‐diabetic effect of cinnamic acid on glucose transport by L6 myotubes.Methods: The mechanism of action of cinnamic acid was determined using specific targets in the insulin signaling pathway, including protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) 1B, phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3‐K) and the glucose transporter GLUT4. After differentiation of myoblast to myotubes, the cells were serum deprived for 5 h and then treated with 1 ng/mL cinnamic acid and 50 μmol/L rosiglitazone for 18 h and 100 nmol/L insulin for 20 min for gene expression studies.Results: Expression of GLUT4 mRNA was increased following treatment of L6 myotubes with 1 ng/mL cinnamic acid. Furthermore, cinnamic acid inhibited PTP1B activity (by 96.5%), but had no significant effect on PI3‐K activity.Conclusion: On the basis of the results of the present study, we postulate that cinnamic acid isolated from the hydro‐alcoholic extract of Cinnamomum cassia activates glucose transport by a PI3‐K‐independent pathway. However, the detailed mechanism of action requires further analysis.
Effects of systolic and diastolic blood pressures on incident coronary heart disease and all‐cause death in Chinese women with Type 2 diabetes: The Hong Kong Diabetes Registry
Authors: MA Ronald Ching Wan , YANG Xilin , KO Gary Tin Choi , SO Wing Yee , KONG Alice Pik Shan , HO Chung Shun , LAM Christopher Wai Kei , CHOW Chun Chung , TONG Peter Chun Yip , CHAN Juliana Chung Ngor 
Published: March 2009

AbstractBackground:  Elevated blood pressure (BP) is an important risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease (CHD), although the threshold above which the risk increases has not been clearly defined. The aim of the present study was to examine the full‐range association between BP and CHD.Methods:  A prospective cohort of 3861 Chinese women with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was followed for a median of 5.61 years. Restricted cubic spline analysis was used to examine the relationship between BP and CHD.Results:  Subjects who developed CHD were older, more likely to be smokers, had a significantly longer duration of diabetes, higher systolic BP (SBP), glycated hemoglobin, albuminuria, low‐density lipoprotein–cholesterol, and triglycerides, and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate and high‐density lipoprotein–cholesterol. Mortality was higher in those who developed CHD compared with those who did not, with all‐cause death in 30.2% and 7.8% of patients, respectively. Over 21 641 and 22 049 person‐years follow up, 4.4% of patients (n=169) developed CHD and 8.8% (n=340) died, respectively. The relative risk of SBP for CHD was constant up to 120 mmHg, after which it started to rise: from 130 mmHg, each 10‐mmHg increase in SBP was associated with a 1.13‐fold increased risk of CHD.Conclusions:  We identified 130 mmHg as the threshold of SBP for increased risk of CHD in Chinese female patients with T2DM. It appears that 67–77 mmHg is the optimal range for diastolic BP, within which the risk of CHD is lowest.
Qualitative analysis of future flood risk in the Taihu Basin, China
Authors: Harvey G.L. , Thorne C.R. , Cheng X. , Evans E.P. , J.D. Simm S. Han , Wang Y. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractThis paper presents the results of a qualitative analysis of future flood risk in the Taihu Basin, China, performed using an adaptation of the UK Foresight Future Flooding approach. Drivers of increased flood risk were identified and ranked according to their importance in contributing to future flooding by experts and stakeholders working within an inclusive, participatory framework. Management responses to increasing flood risk were also identified and assessed in terms, first, of their potential to reduce flood risks and, second, their sustainability. This analysis provides the foundation for quantitative flood risk modelling to be performed in the next phase of the project. It has also added value to flood risk management in the Taihu Basin by bringing stakeholders together to develop a shared understanding of the flooding system and the relative importance of multiple flood risk drivers and responses. Together, the qualitative and quantitative analyses will provide a comprehensive vision of possible future flood risk to inform policy development and decision making.
Groundwater flood risk management: advances towards meeting the requirements of the EU floods directive
Authors: Cobby D. , Morris S. , Parkes A. , Robinson V. 
Published: March 2009

AbstractIdentifying areas that may be susceptible to groundwater flooding through both hazard and risk maps is a requirement of the EU Floods Directive. For groundwater flooding, hazard maps could show flood extent and depth or water level (velocity would not generally be appropriate) with risk maps additionally showing the potential adverse consequences. The EU Floods Directive allows Member States to limit groundwater flood maps to floods with a low probability, or extreme events. This paper focuses on feasible techniques, available data and current limitations for producing groundwater flood maps that could meet the requirements of the Floods Directive. In addition, to set mapping in the wider context of groundwater flood risk management, advances in data collection and flood warning are also reviewed. Specifically, determining the likelihood and the likely depth of groundwater flooding will be particular challenges where further work will have to build on the advances already made.
Space and Symbol in the Tales of Edgar Allan Poe
Authors: Hoffmann Gerhard 
Published: March 2009

AbstractThis article confines itself to E. A. Poe's use of setting as spatial symbol and as a medium for conveying atmosphere in his tales. Close analyses of “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Masque of the Red Death” reveal that setting, with Poe, is an expressive atmospheric unity that rigorously excludes any isolation of an object as a symbol unrelated to the whole. This atmospheric unity is achieved through a unique correlation between observer and setting and/or participant in the story and the environment with which he interacts. ‘Objectively’ seen, the technical means for establishing this correlation are these: the stylization and circumscription of space, and the arrangement of individual details within patterns of orientation such as east‐west, above‐below, outside‐inside, and so forth. ‘Subjectively’ seen, the fusion of vivid illustrative details, the emotional response of the spectator‐narrator, and the mental process of reflection are of chief importance. Considered as a part of the symbolic pattern of the tale, the spatial symbol is based upon the atmospheric unity of a room, house, and/or landscape with the spectator or participant. Different kinds of space symbols may be distinguished on the spectrum between associative symbol at the one extreme and rational allegory at the other; these are designated as the ‘open’ and the ‘closed’ symbol, the latter approaching allegory but maintaining its symbolic structure by means of its manifold relationships with an epic [i.e., narrative] context. In addition, a ‘milieu symbol’ may be differentiated from an ‘analogical symbol,’ the former purveying the influence on the epic [narrative] character of the ideas and powers present in his environment, the latter embodying analogies between spirit and matter, character and setting. The use that Poe makes of the expressive ambiguity of the spatial pattern is indicative of an artistic design that aims at a mixture of different spheres of reality and approximates modern technique, even if the blending of the subjective and the objective is not as yet achieved by employing a montage of particles of reality but through the atmosphere of the expressive setting as such. (GH)
A German Scholar on Poe's Folio Club Tales
Authors: Forclaz Roger 
Published: March 2009

Sybille Haage. Edgar Allan Poes “Tales of the Folio Club” Versuch der Rekonstruition einer zyklischen Rahmsnerzdhiung.Edgar Allan Poe. “Tales of the Folio Club” and Three Other Stories. Edited, with an Introduction, by Sybille Haage
Discussing the age of the Earth in 1779 in Portugal
Authors: Pinto Manuel S. , Amador Filomena 
Published: March 2009

Abstract

In 1779 a paper in Portuguese was published in
Jornal Enciclopedico
, Lisbon, on the age of the Earth. ‘Defending the Chronology of the Holy Scripture’ was written by A. F. Castrioto, who published in the same issue an essay on philosophy and religion attacking the French Encyclopaedists. The paper was mainly a translation of sections from two books, by Edward Gibbon and Richard Watson, the former supporting the idea of an age of 14 000 years for the Earth and the latter defending an age of some 6000 years. Castrioto possibly published the paper and the essay because in 1778 he had been subject to religious censorship and he wanted to reassure the authorities that he was not impious. The idea of a young Earth prevailed in Portugal in the 1700s. Castrioto's paper presented arguments that are not original; he omitted ideas of naturalists that were not in accordance with his own ideas; and he apparently used his periodical to redeem himself of past ‘sins’. However, the paper had merits: it was about a geological subject not commonly discussed in Portugal at the time and was possibly the first on that topic to be published there; the author was aware of the discussion on science and religion that was going on abroad; he defended ideas that were accepted at the time by many naturalists; and he produced a paper of interest for the history of geology in Portugal and for the history of creationism.
On the Earth's revolutions: floods and extinct volcanoes in northern Italy at the end of the eighteenth century
Authors: Candela Andrea 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
During the second half of the eighteenth century, the study of volcanism was related to the question of orogenesis and the controversial lithogenesis of basalt. In the Italian peninsula, the key outcrops occurred mainly along the foothills of the Alps of Veneto. Moreover, the question of the origin of columnar basalts and other rocks (porphyry, granite) involved theories on the age of the Earth and the possible recognition of an evolutionary process of the making of lithosphere. Consequently, following explorations in the Alps and Prealps several scientists began to regard the basaltic formations as evidence of the relationships between mountains and ancient volcanoes. Nevertheless, especially from the 1780s, the spread of Wernerian theory in some Italian States led to criticism of the vulcanists' conclusions. Thus, some naturalists working in Lombardy tried to re-establish the idea of a great flood to explain the morphology of the Central Alps. Discussing this complex situation, the paper analyses the development of regional geology, based on fieldwork, which emphasized the function of volcanic activity in the history of building the Earth's crust and mountains.
Scheuchzer, von Haller and de Luc: geological world-views and religious backgrounds in opposition or collaboration?
Authors: Schweizer Claudia 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
This paper describes the influence exerted by religious belief on the scientific accomplishments of three distinctive naturalists of three successive generations in the era of Enlightenment: Johann Jacob Scheuchzer (1672–1733), Albert von Haller (1708–1777), and Jean-André de Luc (1727–1817). The religious attitudes and their impact on the geological views of these naturalists are compared, with focus on the belief in the biblical Flood and its geological interpretation. In all three cases, a religious belief proved to benefit scientific knowledge; furthermore, the attempt to prove the account in Genesis by scientific means united two contrasting views of the Enlightenment: rationalism and biblical dogma. The Enlightenment thus became the ground on which a new, rational–religious world-view started growing.
Biblical Flood and geological deluge: the amicable dissociation of geology and Genesis
Authors: Rudwick Martin J. S. 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
This paper summarizes debates, among European geologists in the early nineteenth century, about the possible equivalence (or non-equivalence) between the biblical account of Noah's Flood, and new and cumulative evidence for an exceptional watery catastrophe or ‘geological deluge’ in very recent Earth history. The ‘diluvial theory’ deserves to be taken seriously as an attempted explanation of some extremely puzzling physical features (many of them reinterpreted later as traces of a glacial ‘catastrophe’ or Ice Age). The ‘geological deluge’ was eventually recognized as having been far earlier in Earth history than any event recorded by literate human societies. Among geologists, although not always among the wider public, this gradual dissociation between biblical Flood and geological deluge was generally amicable, not acrimonious. It was facilitated by the concurrent development of biblical scholarship, which showed that earlier literalistic interpretations were no longer tenable (and were also destructive of religious meaning). What was transposed into geology in the course of these debates was the strong Judaeo-Christian sense that the world has had a directional and contingent history, which might have been punctuated by occasional catastrophic events.