bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of designed exercise programme on quality of life in women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy
Authors: Maryam Aghabarari , Fazlollah Ahmadi , Eesa Mohammadi , Ebrahim Hajizadeh , Abbas Varvani‐Farahani 
Published: March 2010

Scand J Caring Sci; 2010; 24; 251–258

The effect of designed exercise programme on quality of life in women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy Aim and objective:  The researchers sought to investigate the effect of a designed exercise programme on the quality of life (QOL) in women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy.Background:  Regarding the destructive effects of breast cancer and chemotherapy on women’s lifestyle and well‐being, health‐care providers have the responsibility of searching for effective and safe programmes in order to bring an improvement to the patients’ QOL.Methods:  In a quasi‐experimental design, 56 women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy in an Iranian cancer institution were chosen; and then divided into two control and experiment groups consisting of 28 participants each. The patients in the experiment group followed a designed exercise programme characterized with daily physical exercises, 3–5 days per week, which lasted for 9 weeks. The Quality of Life‐Breast Cancer (QOL‐BC) questionnaire was employed to measure the participants’ QOL in physical, emotional and social dimensions before and after the intervention. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized for data analysis.Results:  No significant differences were found in the QOL dimensions between two groups before the manipulation; but significant differences in physical (p = 0.004), emotional (p = 0.01), social (p = 0.02) and spiritual (p = 0.45) dimensions as well as the total QOL (p = 0.003) after the intervention, were indicative of the effectiveness of the programme.Conclusion:  Based on the study findings, it is recommended that this programme can be employed as an effective means of improving the QOL among patients with breast cancer.
In their own words: early childhood asthma and parents’ experiences of the diagnostic process
Authors: Finnvold Jon Erik 
Published: March 2010

Scand J Caring Sci; 2010; 24; 299–306

In their own words: early childhood asthma and parents’ experiences of the diagnostic process This paper explores the experiences of parents of asthmatic children in the period leading up to their child receiving a formal medical diagnosis. To what extent did the parents face difficulties in obtaining this diagnosis? How did they describe their encounters with the healthcare professionals? In particular, did parents portray themselves as passive and dominated or active and participating during the prediagnosis phase? In‐depth interviews with individuals and participants in a focus group exposed the prediagnosis phase as a distinct and memorable phase of the disease, often recalled as a period of frustration and uncertainty. Results show that instead of accepting the authority of the professional, parents eventually acquire knowledge elsewhere about the diagnosis and the healthcare system, and act according to that knowledge. As a fundamental uncertainty appears involved in the diagnostic process, parents dealing with this uncertainty use a number of strategies to gain control of the process of alleviating their child’s disease. The paper discusses the status of the information that the researcher obtained from parents. Lay narratives cannot be treated as simple reports of an external reality. As the parental role is rooted in normative conceptions about what constitutes ‘responsible parenthood’, information given to the observer may therefore be influenced by the informants’ concern with their appearance as moral persons or adequate parents. Although a research strategy based on one‐sided interviews has limitations, using parents as a source of information offers a rare glimpse into the realities of patient‐physician encounters.
The metabolic enhancer piracetam ameliorates the impairment of mitochondrial function and neurite outgrowth induced by ß‐amyloid peptide
Authors: Kurz C , Ungerer I , Lipka U , Kirr S , Schütt T , Eckert A , Leuner K , Müller WE 
Published: March 2010

Background and purpose:  β‐Amyloid peptide (Aβ) is implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease by initiating a cascade of events from mitochondrial dysfunction to neuronal death. The metabolic enhancer piracetam has been shown to improve mitochondrial dysfunction following brain aging and experimentally induced oxidative stress.Experimental approach:  We used cell lines (PC12 and HEK cells) and murine dissociated brain cells. The protective effects of piracetam in vitro and ex vivo on Aβ‐induced impairment of mitochondrial function (as mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP production), on secretion of soluble Aβ and on neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells were investigated.Key results:  Piracetam improves mitochondrial function of PC12 cells and acutely dissociated brain cells from young NMRI mice following exposure to extracellular Aβ1‐42. Similar protective effects against Aβ1‐42 were observed in dissociated brain cells from aged NMRI mice, or mice transgenic for mutant human amyloid precursor protein (APP) treated with piracetam for 14 days. Soluble Aβ load was markedly diminished in the brain of those animals after treatment with piracetam. Aβ production by HEK cells stably transfected with mutant human APP was elevated by oxidative stress and this was reduced by piracetam. Impairment of neuritogenesis is an important consequence of Aβ‐induced mitochondrial dysfunction and Aβ‐induced reduction of neurite growth in PC12 cells was substantially improved by piracetam.Conclusion and implications:  Our findings strongly support the concept of improving mitochondrial function as an approach to ameliorate the detrimental effects of Aβ on brain function.This article is commented on by Moncada, pp. 217–219 of this issue. To view this commentary visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476‐5381.2010.00706.x and to view related papers by Pravdic et al. and Puerta et al. visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476‐5381.2010.00698.x and http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476‐5381.2010.00663.x
Effect of aromatherapy on patients with Alzheimer's disease
Authors: JIMBO Daiki , KIMURA Yuki , TANIGUCHI Miyako , INOUE Masashi , URAKAMI Katsuya 
Published: March 2010

AbstractObjective:  Recently, the importance of non‐pharmacological therapies for dementia has come to the fore. In the present study, we examined the curative effects of aromatherpay in dementia in 28 elderly people, 17 of whom had Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods:  After a control period of 28 days, aromatherapy was performed over the following 28 days, with a wash out period of another 28 days. Aromatherapy consisted of the use of rosemary and lemon essential oils in the morning, and lavender and orange in the evening. To determine the effects of aromatherpay, patients were evaluated using the Japanese version of the Gottfries, Brane, Steen scale (GBSS‐J), Functional Assessment Staging of Alzheimer's disease (FAST), a revised version of Hasegawa's Dementia Scale (HDS‐R), and the Touch Panel‐type Dementia Assessment Scale (TDAS) four times: before the control period, after the control period, after aromatherpay, and after the washout period.Results:  All patients showed significant improvement in personal orientation related to cognitive function on both the GBSS‐J and TDAS after therapy. In particular, patients with AD showed significant improvement in total TDAS scores. Result of routine laboratory tests showed no significant changes, suggesting that there were no side‐effects associated with the use of aromatherapy. Results from Zarit's score showed no significant changes, suggesting that caregivers had no effect on the improved patient scores seen in the other tests.Conclusions:  In conclusion, we found aromatherapy an efficacious non‐pharmacological therapy for dementia. Aromatherapy may have some potential for improving cognitive function, especially in AD patients.
Physical complications for elderly inpatients with senile dementia in the Imaise Branch of Ichinomiya City Hospital
Authors: UKAI Katsuyuki , MIZUNO Yutaka 
Published: March 2010

AbstractBackground:  In the present study, we investigated the physical complications of elderly patients with senile dementia in the Department of Psychogeriatrics, Imaise Branch, Ichinomiya City Hospital.Methods:  Physical complications that occurred in our ward in the 12 months from April 2007 to March 2008 were recorded. Our ward has 50 beds and, over the 12 months, the average occupation rate was approximately 90%. We subdivided physical complications into two categories: (i) serious emergencies occurring in the ward with a possible high risk of mortality within a few days (e.g. pneumonia and upper airway obstruction); and (ii) life‐threatening complications arising in the ward that required diagnosis and treatment by specialists from other medical departments (e.g. bone fracture and cancer).Results:  Serious emergencies with a high risk of mortality occurred 56 times. Six patients died. Life‐threatening complications requiring diagnosis and treatment by specialists from other departments occurred 44 times. Both categories of physical complications in occurred at a high rate, with various types of diseases recorded.Conclusions:  The present study confirms the high frequency of physical complications that require treatment in facilities for patients with senile dementia. It is necessary to diagnose and treat these various physical complications and to cooperate with specialists from other medical departments.
Impact of donepezil hydrochloride on the care burden of family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease
Authors: HASHIMOTO Mamoru , YATABE Yusuke , KANEDA Keiichiro , HONDA Kazuki , IKEDA Manabu 
Published: March 2010

AbstractBackground:  To evaluate the impact of donepezil hydrochloride on the care burden on family members of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). At present, donepezil is the only drug approved for the treatment of AD in Japan. Although the care burden on primary caregivers of AD patients comprises both physical and psychological burdens and donepezil is recognized to improve cognitive dysfunction and associated symptoms, there are few data on the effects of the drug on the care burden.Methods:  Of the uninstitutionalized AD patients who visited a dementia clinic between June 2008 and May 2009 with their primary family caregivers, 416 subjects who satisfied the enrollment criteria were registered for the study. All participants provided informed consent. Assessment included changes in scores on the Japanese version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (J‐ZBI) and the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE), as well as the presence of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Caregivers answered the questionnaires at baseline and after 12 weeks treatment with donepezil (starting dose 3 mg, p.o., once daily, followed by 5 mg after 1 or 2 weeks).Results:  There were significant changes in mean scores on the J‐ZBI (−1.9 ± 9.5; P < 0.01) and MMSE (+0.9 ± 2.9; P < 0.01) from baseline to Week 12, without significant correlation between these two scores. In patients with BPSD, there was a significant decrease in J‐ZBI scores over the 12 weeks (P = 0.013); in contrast, in patients without BPSD, the decrease in the J‐ZBI score did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.418).Conclusions:  The results indicate that donepezil improves cognitive function and some of the BPSD. As a possible consequence of improvements in BPSD, donepezil may also reduce caregivers' burden.
Foetal and adult cardiomyocyte progenitor cells have different developmental potential
Authors: Van Vliet Patrick , Smits Anke M. , De Boer Teun P. , Korfage Tom H. , Metz Corina H.G. , Roccio Marta , Van Der Heyden Marcel A.G. , Van Veen Toon A.B. , Sluijter Joost P.G. , Doevendans Pieter A. , Goumans Marie‐José 
Published: March 2010

AbstractIn the past years, cardiovascular progenitor cells have been isolated from the human heart and characterized. Up to date, no studies have been reported in which the developmental potential of foetal and adult cardiovascular progenitors was tested simultaneously. However, intrinsic differences will likely affect interpretations regarding progenitor cell potential and application for regenerative medicine. Here we report a direct comparison between human foetal and adult heart‐derived cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CMPCs). We show that foetal and adult CMPCs have distinct preferences to differentiate into mesodermal lineages. Under pro‐angiogenic conditions, foetal CMPCs form more endothelial but less smooth muscle cells than adult CMPCs. Foetal CMPCs can also develop towards adipocytes, whereas neither foetal nor adult CMPCs show significant osteogenic differentiation. Interestingly, although both cell types differentiate into heart muscle cells, adult CMPCs give rise to electrophysiologically more mature cardiomyocytes than foetal CMPCs. Taken together, foetal CMPCs are suitable for molecular cell biology and developmental studies. The potential of adult CMPCs to form mature cardiomyocytes and smooth muscle cells may be essential for cardiac repair after transplantation into the injured heart.
Effects of stocked trout on native fish communities in boreal foothills lakes
Authors: Nasmith Leslie E. , Tonn William M. , Paszkowski Cynthia A. , Scrimgeour Garry J. 
Published: March 2010

Nasmith LE, Tonn WM, Paszkowski CA, Scrimgeour GJ. Effects of stocked trout on native fish communities in boreal foothills lakes. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 2010: 19: 279–289. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/SAbstract –  Ecological effects of stocking nonnative trout into lakes are receiving increased attention, especially in alpine environments. We assessed effects of stocked trout on native forage fishes in the boreal foothills of Alberta (Canada) by comparing fish density, population size structure and spatial and temporal activities in stocked and unstocked lakes over 3 years (2005–2007). The numerically dominant dace (primarily Phoxinus spp.) were larger in stocked lakes, consistent with size‐limited predation. Dace were also more crepuscular and concentrated on the lake‐bottom in stocked lakes, compared to more daytime activity in the water column in unstocked lakes. There were, however, no demonstrable effects of trout on the abundance of forage fish. The lack of major population‐level impacts of stocked trout suggests that current stocking practices, characteristics of boreal foothill lakes (e.g. thermal structure, abundant invertebrates, dense macrophytes) and/or behavioural adjustments of forage fish contribute to healthy native fish populations in our stocked lakes.
Statistical analysis of binary data generated from multilocus dominant DNA markers
Authors: KHANG T. F. , YAP V. B. 
Published: March 2010

AbstractThe use of methodologies such as RAPD and AFLP for studying genetic variation in natural populations is widespread in the ecology community. Because data generated using these methods exhibit dominance, their statistical treatment is less straightforward. Several estimators have been proposed for estimating population genetic parameters, assuming simple random sampling and the Hardy–Weinberg (HW) law. The merits of these estimators remain unclear because no comparative studies of their theoretical properties have been carried out. Furthermore, ascertainment bias has not been explicitly modelled. Here, we present a comparison of a set of candidate estimators of null allele frequency (q), locus‐specific heterozygosity (h) and average heterozygosity () in terms of their bias, standard error, and root mean square error (RMSE). For estimating q and h, we show that none of the estimators considered has the least RMSE over the parameter space. Our proposed zero‐correction procedure, however, generally leads to estimators with improved RMSE. Assuming a beta model for the distribution of null homozygote proportions, we show how correction for ascertainment bias can be carried out using a linear transform of the sample average of h and the truncated beta‐binomial likelihood. Simulation results indicate that the maximum likelihood and empirical Bayes estimator of have negligible bias and similar RMSE. Ascertainment bias in estimators of is most pronounced when the beta distribution is J‐shaped and negligible when the latter is inverse J‐shaped. The validity of the current findings depends importantly on the HW assumption—a point that we illustrate using data from two published studies.
Design of phylum‐specific hybrid primers for DNA barcoding: addressing the need for efficient COI amplification in the Echinodermata
Authors: HOAREAU T. B. , BOISSIN E. 
Published: March 2010

AbstractRecent research has shown the usefulness of the Folmer region of the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) as a genetic barcode to assist in species delimitation of echinoderms. However, amplification of COI is often challenging in echinoderms (low success or pseudogenes). We present a method that allows the design of phylum‐specific hybrid primers, and use this to develop COI primers for the Echinodermata. We aligned COI sequences from 310 echinoderm species and designed all possible primers along the consensus sequence with two methods (standard degenerate and hybrid). We found much lower degeneracy for hybrid primers (4‐fold degeneracy) than for standard degenerate primers (≥48‐fold degeneracy). We then designed the most conserved hybrid primers to amplify a >500‐bp region within COI. These primers successfully amplified this gene region in all tested taxa (123 species across all echinoderm classes). Sequencing of 30 species among these confirmed both the quality of the sequences (>500 bp, no pseudogenes) and their utility as a DNA barcode. This method should be useful for developing primers for other mitochondrial genes and other phyla. The method will also be of interest for the development of future projects involving both community‐based genetic assessments on macroorganisms and biodiversity assessment of environmental samples using high‐throughput sequencing.
Design of occupancy studies with imperfect detection
Authors: Guillera‐Arroita Gurutzeta , Ridout Martin S. , Morgan Byron J. T. 
Published: March 2010

Summary1. Occupancy is an important concept in ecology. To obtain an unbiased estimator of occupancy it is necessary to address the issue of imperfect detection, which requires conducting replicate surveys at the sites being sampled. As the allocation of total effort can be done in different ways, occupancy studies should be designed carefully to ensure an efficient use of available resources.2. In this paper we address the design of single‐season single‐species occupancy studies with a focus on: (1) issues relating to small sample sizes and (2) the potential relevance of including the precision of the detectability estimator as a criterion for design. We explore analytically the model with constant probabilities and examine how bias and precision are affected by the numbers of sites and replicates used.3. We show how, for small sample sizes, the estimator properties depart from those predicted by large sample approximations, emphasize the need to use simulations when designing for small sample sizes and provide a new software tool that can assist in this process.4. We offer advice on the amount of replication needed when the probability of detection is a quantity of interest and show that, in this case, it is more efficient to reduce the number of sites and increase the amount of replication per site compared with situations where only occupancy is of concern.5. Synthesis and applications. It is essential to have clearly stated objectives before starting a study and to design the sampling accordingly. As the allocation of effort into replication and sites can be done in different ways, occupancy studies should be designed carefully to ensure an efficient use of available resources. To avoid waste, it is crucial to anticipate the quality of the estimates that can be expected from a particular study design. The discussion and guidance provided here is of special interest for those designing occupancy studies with small sample sizes, something not uncommon in the context of ecology and conservation.
Numerical
Simulation of Transient Thermal Transport on a Rotating Disk Under Partially Confined Laminar Liquid
Jet Impingement
Authors: Lallave Jorge
C. , Rahman Muhammad
M. 
Published: March 2010

Abstract
This paper considers the transient conjugate heat transfer characterization of a partially confined liquid jet impinging on a rotating and uniformly heated solid disk of finite thickness and radius. A constant heat flux was imposed at the bottom surface of the solid disk at t=0, and heat transfer was monitored for the entire duration of the transient until the steady state condition was reached. Calculations were done for a number of disk materials using water as the coolant, covering a range of Reynolds numbers (225–900), Ekman numbers (7.08×10−5−∞), nozzle-to-target spacing (β=0.25–1.0), confinement ratios (rp/rd=0.2–0.75), disk thicknesses to nozzle diameter ratios (b/dn=0.25–1.67), and solid to fluid thermal conductivity ratios (36.91–697.56). It was found that a higher Reynolds number decreases the time to achieve the steady state condition and increases the local and average Nusselt number. The duration of the transient increases with the increment of the Ekman number and disk thickness, and the reduction in the thermal diffusivity of the disk material.
Constructal
Allocation of Nanoparticles in Nanofluids
Authors: Bai Chao , Wang Liqiu 
Published: March 2010

Abstract
We perform a constructal design of heat conduction in a blade-configured disk-shaped domain with uniform heat generation and periphery heat-sink by introducing a transition line from two-path conduction to one-path conduction in the domain. This orderly arranged blade configuration can offer significantly smaller constructal overall temperature difference than that of the dispersed configuration and thus performs much better. The constructal allocation of nanoparticles inside the base fluids and thus the heat-conduction design inside the nanofluids are very important for better system performance. This work shows that the search for heat-flow configuration is a key to performance, and the constructal theory is the strategy for discovering the configuration and the significantly better performance.