bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A prospective, randomized trial comparing the Vienna nomogram to an eight‐core prostate biopsy protocol
Authors: Lecuona Angus , Heyns Chris F. 
Published: November 2010

Study Type – Diagnostic (RCT)Level of Evidence 1b What’s known on the subject? and What does the study add? Several studies have shown that increasing the number of prostate biopsy cores will increase the detection rate of prostate cancer, but also risks overdiagnosing insignificant cancer, particularly in the elderly.Our study suggests that there is no significant advantage in using the Vienna nomogram to determine the number of prostate biopsies to be taken, compared to an eight‐core biopsy protocol.OBJECTIVE

To compare prostate cancer detection rates using the Vienna nomogram versus an 8‐core prostate biopsy protocol. To compare the complication rates of transrectal prostate biopsy in the two groups.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In a prospective randomized trial, men with a serum PSA ≥ 2.5 ng/ml were stratified according to serum PSA (I = PSA 2.5–10; II = PSA 10.1–30; III = PSA 30.1–50 ng/mL) and were then randomized to group A (number of cores determined according to the Vienna nomogram) or group B (8‐core prostate biopsy).
Statistical analysis was performed using Student’s t‐test for parametric data, Mann‐Whitney test for nonparametric data and Fisher’s exact test for contingency tables. A two‐tailed p‐value <0.05 was accepted as statistically significant.

RESULTS

In the period July 2006 to July 2009, 303 patients were randomized to group A (n = 152) or group B (n = 151). There were no significant differences in serum PSA, prostate volume, PSA density or post‐biopsy complications between the groups.
The cancer detection rate was lower in group A than in group B for the whole study cohort (35.5% vs 38.4%), for those with PSA < 10 ng/ml (28.1% vs 33%) and for those with prostate volume >50 ml (22% vs 25.8%). These differences were not statistically significant (NSS).

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that there is no significant advantage in using the Vienna nomogram to determine the number of prostate biopsy cores to be taken, compared to an 8‐core biopsy protocol.
The Clinical Nurse Leader – new nursing role with global implications
Authors: Baernholdt M. , Cottingham S. 
Published: November 2010

BAERNHOLDT M. & COTTINGHAM S. (2011) The Clinical Nurse Leader – new nursing role with global implications. International Nursing Review58, 74–78Aim:  This paper describes the development of the Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL©) role and education, the CNL's impact and potential to improve quality globally.Background:  The need for clinical nurse leadership to improve the quality of health care systems while controlling costs is recognized in reports internationally. In the USA, a new nursing role, the CNL, was developed in response to such reports.Conclusion:  CNLs are master's level nurse graduates (although not necessarily recruited from a nursing background) with the skills and knowledge to create change within complex systems and improve outcomes while they remain direct care providers. This innovative role can be adapted worldwide to improve the quality of health care systems.
Exploring the Resilience of Bt Cotton's ‘Pro‐Poor Success Story’
Authors: Glover Dominic 
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACTExpectations play a powerful role in driving technological change. Expectations are often encapsulated in narratives of technological promise that emphasize potential benefits and downplay potential negative impacts. Genetically modified (GM, transgenic) crops have been framed by expectations that they would be an intrinsically ‘pro‐poor’ innovation that would contribute powerfully to international agricultural development. However, expectations typically have to be scaled back in the light of experience. Published reviews of the socio‐economic impacts of GM crops among poor, small‐scale farmers in the developing world indicate that these effects have been very mixed and contingent on the agronomic, socio‐economic and institutional settings where the technology has been applied. These conclusions should modulate expectations about the pro‐poor potential of GM crop technology and focus attention on the conditions under which it might deliver substantial and sustainable benefits for poor farmers. However, the idea of GM crop technology as an intrinsically pro‐poor developmental success story has been sustained in academic, public and policy arenas. This narrative depends upon an analysis that disembeds the technology from the technical, social and institutional contexts in which it is applied. Agricultural development policy should be based on a more rigorous and dispassionate analysis, rather than optimistic expectations alone.
The Impact of Privatization on Land Inheritance among Samburu Pastoralists in Kenya
Authors: Lesorogol Carolyn K. 
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACTPrivatization of communal land among a community of pastoralists in northern Kenya creates a gap in social institutions relating to land inheritance. This analysis shows that the emergence of a new rule for inheritance is a complex social process and that new rules do not arise automatically. Using theories of institutions and collective action, this study examines the process through which rules of inheritance are emerging in Siambu since land privatization. Drawing on in‐depth interviews, observations and household surveys, this study reveals why collective action around inheritance norms has been difficult to achieve. In the absence of such action, no single norm of inheritance has emerged. Rather, several different practices currently co‐exist. A considerable amount of evidence suggests that livestock inheritance rules that favour eldest sons will become the norm for land as well, but there are also reasons to doubt this outcome. What this case demonstrates is that institutional gaps are not necessarily or automatically filled; institutions do not simply arise when needed. When collective action fails, multiple practices and norms may co‐exist leading to a certain degree of institutional instability.
Mungiki, Vernacular Organization and Political Society in Kenya
Authors: Frederiksen Bodil Folke 
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACTThis article uses the concept of ‘political society’ as unfolded by the ‘subaltern studies’ in India to shed new light on present‐day political actors and democratic transitions in Africa. It discusses the political practices and discursive terrains of organizations within ‘really existing’ civil society that are based on identities and regarded as outside legitimate civil society. It looks at politics from below, taking the example of the 2007 elections in Kenya, and the role of Mungiki, an organization characterized by the intersection of class, generation, religion and ethnicity. Mungiki builds on Kenya's history and rich archive of indigenous popular culture. It originated in the early 1990s’ turmoil of ‘ethnic clashes’ and population displacement and now operates in rural and poor urban areas, providing income opportunities, service delivery and extortion/protection. During elections, sections of Mungiki have been recruited by political leaders and functioned as violent militia; concurrently, it seeks representation in formal and parliamentary politics. The organization is distinct from ‘respectable’ segments of Kenya's civil society who participate in NGO activities and mainstream churches. The article ends by calling for an inclusive and non‐normative approach to the study of state–civil society engagement that recognizes culturally based discourses and organizations when analysing the transitions to and the broadening of democracy in post‐colonial societies.
Mental health and sense of coherence among Swedish adults with cystic fibrosis
Authors: Brucefors Agneta Bergsten , Hjelte Lena , Hochwälder Jacek 
Published: November 2010

Scand J Caring Sci; 2011; 25; 365–372

Mental health and sense of coherence among Swedish adults with cystic fibrosis The purpose of this study was to describe mental health among adult Swedish patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and to study if mental health and the salutogene factor sense of coherence (SOC) intercorrelate with good medical status. Women and men were compared. The patient group (n = 59) attended the Stockholm CF Center. Mental health was measured with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐28) and the salutogenesis by SOC‐3. Medical status included forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 second in per cent of predicted as well as Body Mass Index. The differences within and between groups were tested with t‐tests and the relations between the variables were described by Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The patients had on the whole good mental health, but the group with a risk of mental ill‐health (n = 19) experienced life as difficult to manage, meaningless and hard to understand compared to the group with a small risk of mental ill‐health (n = 40). Women at risk of mental ill‐health (n = 10) experienced difficulties in managing life to a greater extent than women with a small risk of mental ill‐health (n = 16). Men at risk of mental ill‐health (n = 9) found life hard to understand. Mental health and SOC did not correlate significantly with the medical status of the CF patients. The conclusion was that there were comparably few problems of mental health among the patients with CF. The problems that were found were not related to the seriousness of their CF. Women had a more complex pattern of problems in mental health and SOC than men had.
Initial resuscitation with plasma and other blood components reduced bleeding compared to hetastarch in anesthetized swine with uncontrolled splenic hemorrhage
Authors: Sondeen Jill L. , Prince M. Dale , Kheirabadi Bijan S. , Wade Charles E. , Polykratis I. Amy , de Guzman Rodolfo , Dubick Michael A. 
Published: November 2010

BACKGROUND: Damage control resuscitation recommends use of more plasma and less crystalloid as initial resuscitation in treating hemorrhage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate resuscitation with either blood components or conventional fluids on coagulation and blood loss.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Isofluorane‐anesthetized, instrumented pigs (eight per group) underwent controlled hemorrhage of 24 mL/kg, 20‐minute shock period, splenic injury with 15‐minute initial bleeding, and hypotensive fluid resuscitation. Lactated Ringer's (LR) was infused at 45 mL/kg while hetastarch (high‐molecular‐weight hydroxyethyl starch 6%, Hextend, Hospira, Inc., Lake Forest, IL) and blood component (fresh‐frozen plasma [FFP], 1:1 FFP:[red blood cells] RBCs, 1:4 FFP : RBCs, and fresh whole blood [FWB]) were infused at 15 mL/kg. Postresuscitation blood loss (PRBL), hemodynamics, coagulation, hematocrit, and oxygen metabolism were measured postinjury for 5 hours.RESULTS: Resuscitation with any blood component reduced PRBL of 52% to 70% compared to Hextend, with FFP resulting in the lowest PRBL. PRBL with LR (11.5 ± 3.0 mL/kg) was not significantly different from Hextend (17.9 ± 2.5 mL/kg) or blood components (range, 5.5 ± 1.5 to 8.6 ± 2.6 mL/kg). The volume expansion effect of LR was transient. All fluids produced similar changes in hemodynamics, oxygen delivery, and demand despite the oxygen‐carrying capacity of RBC‐containing fluids. Compared with other fluids, Hextend produced greater hemodilution and reduced coagulation measures, which could be caused by an indirect dilutional effect or a direct hypocoagulable effect.CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that blood products as initial resuscitation fluids reduced PRBL from a noncompressible injury compared to Hextend, preserved coagulation, and provided sustained volume expansion. There were no differences on PRBL among RBCs‐to‐FFP, FWB, or FFP in this nonmassive transfusion model.
Building Consciousness: The Organization Workshop Comes to a Nicaraguan Cooperative
Authors: Fisher Josh 
Published: November 2010

AbstractBased on ethnographic research conducted in Nicaragua in 2007 during the early phases of the building of an industrial cotton spinning cooperative called Génesis, this article recounts an implementation of the Organization Workshop (OW), a large‐scale enterprise‐building and employment‐generation workshop based on the ideas of Brazilian scholar‐activists Clodomir Santos de Morais and Paulo Freire. The story of the Génesis OW, however, is not one of success. In fact, following the 40‐day “conscientization” workshop, the cooperative entered into a period of upheaval, ultimately leading to the ousting of the cooperative's leadership. As a way of explaining some of the unexpected consequences of the OW, I point to the disjuncture between the actually existing social and organizational dynamics of Génesis before the implementation of the OW and the OW's model for them.
Competition and the Limits of Solidarity among Unionized Construction Workers
Authors: Duke Michael R. , Bergmann Luke , Ames Genevieve 
Published: November 2010

AbstractLabor unions strive to reduce competitiveness and promote solidarity among their membership, and those in the U.S. construction industry also serve as job brokers between workers and employers. In this capacity, the attempts of unions to address the temporary nature of construction work through regulating the distribution of job assignments may inadvertently promote fierce competition between laborers. As workers struggle to make sense of their own fortunes in a tightening labor market and the diminished political clout of unions overall, the organizational structuring of competition produces labor fragmentation and calls into question appeals to solidarity. This paper examines the relationship between job brokerage, labor competition, and the organization of work among unionized construction workers in the Western United States. As the focus of building trade unions shifts from protecting workers' interests against the exploitation of management to functioning essentially as staffing agencies, our study illuminates the ways in which these unions become a locus for the articulation of difference rather than solidarity. It also illustrates the challenges faced by organized labor in addressing its seemingly contradictory role in facilitating both individualist and collectivist identity formations.
Role of Semen in HIV‐1 Transmission: Inhibitor or facilitator?
Authors: Doncel Gustavo F. , Joseph Theresa , Thurman Andrea R. 
Published: November 2010

Citation Doncel GF, Joseph T, Thurman AR. Role of semen in HIV‐1 transmission: inhibitor or facilitator? Am J Reprod Immunol 2011; 65: 292–301Sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) accounts for 60‐90% of new infections, especially in developing countries. During male‐to‐female transmission, the virus is typically deposited in the vagina as cell‐free and cell‐associated virions carried by semen. But semen is more than just a carrier for HIV‐1. Evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies supports both inhibitory and enhancing effects. Intrinsic antiviral activity mediated by cationic antimicrobial peptides, cytotoxicity, and blockage of HIV–dendritic cell interactions are seminal plasma properties that inhibit HIV‐1 infection. On the contrary, neutralization of vaginal acidic pH, enhanced virus–target cell attachment by seminal amyloid fibrils, opsonization by complement fragments, and electrostatic interactions are factors that facilitate HIV‐1 infection. The end result, i.e., inhibition or enhancement of HIV mucosal infection, in vivo, likely depends on the summation of all these biological effects. More research is needed, especially in animal models, to dissect the role of these factors and establish their relevance in HIV‐1 transmission.
OPTIMIZATION OF EMULSIFICATION AND MICROENCAPSULATION OF EVENING PRIMROSE OIL AND ITS OXIDATIVE STABILITY DURING STORAGE BY RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY
Authors: LIU TAI‐TI , YANG TSUNG‐SHI 
Published: November 2010

ABSTRACTMicroencapsulation is a technique by which small droplets of liquid or solid particles are coated with a thin film of wall materials to protect susceptible ingredients in food products to assure their quality or effectiveness. Microencapsulation of liquid lipid into powdery matrixes of wall materials includes two unit operations: emulsification of the lipid with an aqueous solution of wall material and drying of the emulsion. The effects of hydrophile–lipophile balance (HLB) value, emulsifier content and oil content on the evening primrose oil‐in‐water emulsion stability were studied by response surface methodology (RSM). The HLB value, emulsifier content and oil content all had significant effects on the emulsion stability (P < 0.05). Of them, the HLB value and emulsifier content contributed more effects than the oil content. The optimized HLB value, emulsifier content and oil content were used to mix with wall materials: gum arabic (GA), maltodextrin (MD) and/or sodium caseinate (NaC). The oil was encapsulated with these materials individually or in combination by spray‐drying, and their oxidative stability during storage was compared. The microcapsules with a single wall material were relatively susceptible to oxidation than those with multiple wall materials. The most desirable composition of the mixture of GA, MD and NaC by RSM was 17.2, 75 and 7.8%, respectively.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSResponse surface methodology (RSM) provided a valuable means to help us understand the relative or interactive effects of three important parameters: HLB value, emulsifier content and oil content on the emulsion stability of the oil‐in‐water (o/w) system. The information obtained would be useful for the preparation of similar o/w emulsion system as needed in some product development for foods. In addition, the effects of gum arabic, maltodextrin and sodium caseinate on the oxidative stability of microencapsulated oil were also studied by RSM. The results revealed the relative or interactive effects of these materials and gave the optimal conditions in minimizing the oxidative instability in this study. Since these wall materials are readily available and widely used in a variety of products, the information provided by this study would be useful for product‐developing professionals to use these materials more efficiently in terms of obtaining optimal microencapsulated products against lipid oxidation and cost effectiveness.
Natural products for cancer chemotherapy
Authors: Demain Arnold L. , Vaishnav Preeti 
Published: November 2010

SummaryFor over 40 years, natural products have served us well in combating cancer. The main sources of these successful compounds are microbes and plants from the terrestrial and marine environments. The microbes serve as a major source of natural products with anti‐tumour activity. A number of these products were first discovered as antibiotics. Another major contribution comes from plant alkaloids, taxoids and podophyllotoxins. A vast array of biological metabolites can be obtained from the marine world, which can be used for effective cancer treatment. The search for novel drugs is still a priority goal for cancer therapy, due to the rapid development of resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. In addition, the high toxicity usually associated with some cancer chemotherapy drugs and their undesirable side‐effects increase the demand for novel anti‐tumour drugs active against untreatable tumours, with fewer side‐effects and/or with greater therapeutic efficiency. This review points out those technologies needed to produce the anti‐tumour compounds of the future.
Body weight: a risk factor for subtherapeutic antithrombotic therapy in neurovascular stenting
Authors: Drazin Doniel , Choulakian Armen , Nuño Miriam , Kornbluth Penelope , Alexander Michael J 
Published: November 2010

BackgroundPatients with cervical carotid and intracranial stenting are routinely premedicated with antithrombotic agents, clopidogrel and aspirin (ASA), and intraprocedurally with heparin. The levels of antithrombotic therapy necessary for these neurovascular therapies have yet to be well defined.MethodA retrospective review of 52 patients who underwent neurovascular stenting procedures was carried out. Measurements obtained intraoperatively included: activating clotting time, antiplatelet inhibition (from Accumetrics) recorded as ASA reaction units (ARU), P2Y12 reaction units (PRU), baseline (BASE), and percentage inhibition. Percentage P2Y12 platelet inhibition <20% and ARU >550 were defined as suboptimal clopidogrel and ASA responses, respectively.Results52 patients (mean age 62.6 years) underwent stent implantation for wide necked aneurysms (28, 54%), symptomatic intracranial stenosis (13, 25%) and cervical carotid stenosis (11, 21%). Mean ARU assays were 463.0±84.7. The response was suboptimal in seven patients. For clopidogrel, the mean BASE, PRU and percentage inhibition were 374.0±54.9, 279.5±78.5 and 30.7%±22.6%, respectively. 19 patients (36.5%; p<0.01) showed suboptimal responses for percentage inhibition. Multivariate analysis showed that body weight (82.0±11 vs 73.6±14 kg; p =0.04) and body mass index were significant predictors (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.18; p =0.003) in the suboptimal group. One case of intraprocedural thrombosis (2%) was observed in the suboptimal group and no cases were seen in the therapeutic group.ConclusionData obtained in this study suggest a suboptimal clopidogrel response in patients with greater body weight and body mass index. Adjusted dosing according to weight may help achieve adequate therapeutic platelet inhibition and reactivity while decreasing thromboembolic complications.
IMAGE SEGMENTATION BASED ON EDGE DETECTION AND REGION GROWING FOR THINPREP-CERVICAL SMEAR
Authors: LIN CHUEN-HORNG , CHEN CHUN-CHIEH 
Published: November 2010

This study has developed an object detection and segmentation technique for processing cytoplasm and cell nucleus on ThinPrep-cervical smear images at various magnifications. Both edge detection techniques and region growing for adaptive threshold were applied to a segment cell nucleus, a cytoplasm, and backgrounds using a cervical cell image. To validate the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed method, we took a variety of cervical cell images to perform a series of experiments. The images were of superficial cells, intermediate cells, and abnormal cells, with each taken from ThinPrep smears at various magnifications. The results indicate that the proposed method can automatically segment cell nucleus and cytoplasm regions while accurately extracting object contours. These results can serve as a reference for examiners of cell pathologies.