bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A qualitative study of young people's sources of cigarettes and attempts to circumvent underage sales laws
Authors: Robinson Jude , Amos Amanda 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACTAims  To explore how young people continue to access cigarettes following an increase of the age of sale to 18 years and the implications for future smoking prevention policy and practice.Design  Qualitative study using 14 focus groups.Setting  Schools and community projects in disadvantaged areas of Birmingham, UK.Participants  Eighty‐five smokers and non‐smokers aged 12–15 years.Measurements  Focus group topic guides.Findings  While young people did use social sources to access cigarettes, most obtained cigarettes from small local shops. Smoking and non‐smoking participants knew which shops sold to underage children and what strategies to employ, suggesting a widespread acceptance of underage sales in some communities. Some young people bought directly from retailers, reporting that the retailers did not ask for identification. Some young people reported that retailers were complicit, knowingly selling to underage smokers. Young people waited outside shops and asked strangers to buy them cigarettes (proxy sales). Young people expressed cynicism about some shopkeepers' motives, who they believed knew that they were selling to under‐18s, but did not care as long as they made a profit.Conclusions  The ban in selling cigarettes to those under 18 in the United Kingdom appears to be easily circumvented, and one important route appears to be ‘proxy sales’ in which young people approach strangers outside retailers and ask them to purchase cigarettes on their behalf.
Alcohol dependence and anxiety increase error‐related brain activity
Authors: Schellekens Arnt F. A. , De Bruijn Ellen R. A. , Van Lankveld Christa A. A. , Hulstijn Wouter , Buitelaar Jan K. , De Jong Cor A. J. , Verkes Robbert J. 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACTAims  Detection of errors is crucial for efficient goal‐directed behaviour. The ability to monitor behaviour is found to be diminished in patients with substance dependence, as reflected in decreased error‐related brain activity, i.e. error‐related negativity (ERN). The ERN is also decreased in other psychiatric disorders with impaired response inhibition, such as attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder and borderline personality disorder, but increased in anxiety disorders. The objective of the current study was to assess error monitoring in alcohol‐dependent patients in relation to psychiatric comorbidity. We expected decreased error monitoring in alcohol‐dependent patients with impulse control disorders and increased error monitoring in anxious alcohol‐dependent patients.Design  In a case–control design alcohol‐dependent patients were compared with healthy controls.Setting and participants  A consecutive series of 29 male alcohol‐dependent patients, between 18 and 55 years of age, applying for in‐patient detoxification were recruited at Novadic Kentron Center for Addiction Treatment. Fifteen age‐matched healthy controls were recruited through advertisements in regional newspapers.Measurements  Event‐related potentials were recorded while performing a speeded choice‐reaction task, from which ERN amplitudes were calculated. Axis‐I and ‐II psychiatric comorbidity were assessed using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the Structured Interview for DSM‐IV Personality disorders. All participants completed the Temperament and Character Inventory and Profile of Mood States.Findings  ERN amplitudes were increased for alcohol‐dependent patients compared to healthy controls, particularly in patients with comorbid anxiety disorders.Conclusions  Increased error monitoring in alcohol‐dependent patients, particularly those with comorbid anxiety disorders, is in contrast with previous studies that suggested decreased error monitoring to be a general feature in substance use disorders. Psychiatric disorders co‐occurring with alcohol dependence, such as anxiety disorders, may indicate subpopulations of alcohol‐dependent patients, with distinct neurobiological and genetic characteristics, possibly requiring different treatment strategies.
Motor vehicle collision fatalities involving alcohol and illicit drugs in Greece: the need for management protocols and a reassessment of surveillance
Authors: Papadopoulos Iordanis N. , Bonovas Stefanos , Kanakaris Nikolaos K. , Konstantiadou Ioanna , Nikolopoulos Georgios , Konstantoudakis George , Leukidis Christos 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACTAims  The frequency and the effect of alcohol and illicit drugs on injury type, severity and location of death in motor vehicle collision (MVC) fatalities were investigated.Design  Retrospective case–control study based on autopsy and toxicology.Settings  Single faculty accepting referrals from Greater Athens and prefectures.Participants  Consecutive pre‐hospital and in hospital fatalities.Measurements  Demographics, toxicology, abbreviated injury scale (AIS), injury severity score (ISS), and location of death.Findings  Of the 1860 screened subjects, 612 (32.9%) constituted the positive toxicology group (PTG) for alcohol or illicit drugs or both and the 1248 (67.1%) the negative toxicology group (NTG). The median age was 34 (4–90) years for the PTG and 45 (3–97) years for the NTG. The PTG included significantly higher proportions of males and motorcyclists. The PTG had a 50% increased risk for a severe (AIS≥3) cervical spine and 85% for a severe upper extremity injury, compared to the NTG. A total of 29.2% of the PTG and 22.4% of the NTG deaths were non‐preventable (ISS = 75). The frequency of severe trauma (ISS≥16) was comparable between PTG and NTG (P = 0.87). The PTG presented with a median ISS of 43 (6–75) versus 41 (2–75) of the NTG, hence without significant difference (P = 0.11). The pre‐hospital death rate was 77.8% for the PTG versus 58% of the NTG (P < 0.001). The analysis confirmed that the odds of positive toxicology were considerably higher in the subjects who arrived dead at the hospital (OR 2.62, P < 0.001).Conclusions  In the greater Athens region, almost a third of motor vehicle collision‐related fatalities involved alcohol, illicit drugs or both. Individuals screened positive for alcohol or drugs were 2.6 times more likely to die before hospital admission than those with a negative toxicology screen, despite comparable injury severity. Specific evidence‐based management protocols and reassessment of surveillance are required.
Addiction treatment outcomes, process and change: Texas Institute of Behavioral Research at Texas Christian University
Authors: Simpson D. Dwayne , Joe George W. , Dansereau Donald F. , Flynn Patrick M. 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACTFor more than 40 years the Texas Institute of Behavioral Research (IBR) has given special attention to assessment and evaluation of drug user populations, addiction treatment services and various cognitive and behavioral interventions. Emphasis has been on studies in real‐world settings and the use of multivariate methodologies to address evaluation issues within the context of longitudinal natural designs. Historically, its program of addiction treatment research may be divided into three sequential epochs—the first era dealt mainly with client assessment and its role in treatment outcome and evaluation (1969–89), the second focused upon modeling the treatment process and the importance of conceptual frameworks (1989–2009) in explaining the relationships among treatment environment, client attributes, treatment process and outcome, and the third (and current) era has expanded into studying tactical deployment of innovations and implementation. Recent projects focus upon adapting and implementing innovations for improving early engagement in adolescent residential treatment settings and drug‐dependent criminal justice populations. Related issues include the spread of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome and other infectious diseases, organizational and systems functioning, treatment costs and process related to implementation of evidence‐based practices.
Effects of restricting pub closing times on night‐time assaults in an Australian city
Authors: Kypri Kypros , Jones Craig , McElduff Patrick , Barker Daniel 
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACTAims In March 2008 the New South Wales judiciary restricted pub closing times to 3 a.m., and later 3.30 a.m., in the central business district (CBD) of Newcastle, Australia. We sought to determine whether the restriction reduced the incidence of assault.Design Non‐equivalent control group design with before and after observations.Setting Newcastle, a city of 530 000 people.Participants People apprehended for assault in the CBD and nearby Hamilton, an area with a similar night‐time economy but where no restriction was imposed.Measurements Police‐recorded assaults in the CBD before and after the restriction were compared with those in Hamilton. Cases were assaults occurring from 10 p.m.–6 a.m. from January 2001–March 2008, with April 2008–September 2009 as the post‐restriction period. We also examined changes in assault incidence by time of night. Negative binomial regression with time, area, time × area interaction terms and terms for secular trend and seasonal effects was used to analyse the data. Autocorrelation was examined using generalized estimating equations.Findings In the CBD, recorded assaults fell from 99.0 per quarter before the restriction to 67.7 per quarter afterward [incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.55–0.80]. In the same periods in Hamilton, assault rates were 23.4 and 25.5 per quarter, respectively (IRR: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.79–1.31). The relative reduction attributable to the intervention was 37% (IRR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.47–0.81) and approximately 33 assault incidents were prevented per quarter.Conclusion This study indicates that a restriction in pub closing times to 3/3.30 a.m. in Newcastle, NSW, produced a large relative reduction in assault incidence of 37% in comparison to a control locality.
eDrugCalc: an online self‐assessment package to enhance medical students' drug dose calculation skills
Authors: McQueen Daniel S. , Begg Michael J. , Maxwell Simon R. J. 
Published: September 2010

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT • Dose calculation errors are an important cause of some of the most serious medication incidents in advanced healthcare systems.• A number of small studies have shown that dose calculations are poorly performed by hospital doctors, nurses and medical students. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS • The performance of dose calculations was highly variable amongst a large cohort of medical students from a leading UK medical school.• Calculations that involved converting concentrations expressed as percentage or calculating infusion rates were identified as major weaknesses.• The availability of an online self‐assessment and education package, coupled with encouragement and twice‐yearly formative assessment, led to a significant improvement in performance.AIMSDose calculation errors can cause serious life‐threatening clinical incidents. We designed eDrugCalc as an online self‐assessment tool to develop and evaluate calculation skills among medical students.METHODSWe undertook a prospective uncontrolled study involving 1727 medical students in years 1–5 at the University of Edinburgh. Students had continuous access to eDrugCalc and were encouraged to practise. Voluntary self‐assessment was undertaken by answering the 20 questions on six occasions over 30 months. Questions remained fixed but numerical variables changed so each visit required a fresh calculation. Feedback was provided following each answer.RESULTSFinal‐year students had a significantly higher mean score in test 6 compared with test 1 [16.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 16.2, 17.0 vs. 12.6, 95% CI 11.9, 13.4; n= 173, P < 0.0001 Wilcoxon matched pairs test] and made a median of three vs. seven errors. Performance was highly variable in all tests with 2.7% of final‐year students scoring < 10/20 in test 6. Graduating students in 2009 (30 months' exposure) achieved significantly better scores than those in 2007 (only 6 months): mean 16.5, 95% CI 16.0, 17.0, n= 184 vs. 15.1, 95% CI 14.5, 15.6, n= 187; P < 0.0001, Mann–Whitney test. Calculations based on percentage concentrations and infusion rates were poorly performed. Feedback showed that eDrugCalc increased confidence in calculating doses and was highly rated as a learning tool.CONCLUSIONSMedical student performance of dose calculations improved significantly after repeated exposure to an online formative dose‐calculation package and encouragement to develop their numeracy. Further research is required to establish whether eDrugCalc reduces calculation errors made in clinical practice.
Inflammatory conditions affect gene expression and function of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells
Authors: Crop M J , Baan C C , Korevaar S S , IJzermans J N M , Pescatori M , Stubbs A P , Van IJcken W F J , Dahlke M H , Eggenhofer E , Weimar W , Hoogduijn M J 
Published: September 2010

SummaryThere is emerging interest in the application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for the prevention and treatment of autoimmune diseases, graft-versus-host disease and allograft rejection. It is, however, unknown how inflammatory conditions affect phenotype and function of MSC. Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASC) were cultured with alloactivated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) (mixed lymphocyte reaction: MLR), with proinflammatory cytokines [interferon (IFN)-γ, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6] or under control conditions, and their full genome expression and function examined. Proinflammatory cytokines mainly increased indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase expression, whereas ASC cultured with MLR showed increased expression of COX-2, involved in prostaglandin E2 production. Both conditions had a stimulatory, but differential, effect on the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, while the expression of fibrotic factors was decreased only in response to proinflammatory cytokines. Functional analysis demonstrated that inflammatory conditions affected morphology and proliferation of ASC, while their differentiation capacity and production of trophic factors was unaffected. The immunosuppressive capacity of ASC was enhanced strongly under inflammatory conditions. In conclusion, ASC showed enhanced immunosuppressive capacity under inflammatory conditions, while their differentiation capacity was preserved. Therefore, in vitro preconditioning provides ASC with improved properties for immediate clinical immune therapy.
Effects of cardiac glycosides on 24‐h ambulatory blood pressure in healthy volunteers and patients with heart failure
Authors: Grossmann M. , Kirch W. 
Published: September 2010

AbstractBlood pressure effects of cardiac glycosides in humans have been infrequently reported. Although direct infusion of ouabain or digoxin causes vasoconstriction, indirect effects of cardiac glycosides may have the opposite effect, owing to changes in sympatho‐vagal balance.This paper summarises three studies on the effects of cardiac glycosides on circadian blood pressure, utilizing automatic 24‐h ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM). In healthy volunteers, 10 days of oral digoxin or digitoxin caused decreases in diastolic blood pressure and heart rate during overnight sleep. No effect was detectable during daytime activities. In patients with heart failure (NYHA stage II), 7 days of oral digoxin also caused a decrease in diastolic blood pressure but only a small increase in systolic pressure during overnight sleep. Again, no effect was detectable during the day.Cardiac glycosides have significant effects on blood pressure, which only appear during overnight sleep, i.e. a phase when sympathetic background activity is lowest. Regular daytime activities may ‘overwrite’ these effects. Effects of cardiac glycosides on blood pressure may have therapeutic impact, depending on the stage of heart failure and concomitant diseases.
Ambulatory blood pressure in heart failure
Authors: Jamieson M. J. , Jamieson C. 
Published: September 2010

AbstractAmbulatory blood‐pressure monitoring (ABPM) is accepted in the evaluation and management of hypertension. The use of ABPM in heart failure has received considerably less attention. Many patients with advanced heart failure experience disabling fatigue, orthostatic dizziness and symptoms of coronary and cerebrovascular insufficiency that may relate to periods of hypotension. These may be exacerbated by vasodilator drug therapy and may be difficult to evaluate by casual clinic recordings. ABPM in heart failure may help in the following: (i) evaluating time‐dependent pharmacodynamic drug effects, such as peak and end‐of‐dose phenomena, tolerance and rebound; (ii) titrating ACE inhibitors and other drugs to highest‐tolerated doses; and (iii) correlating circadian blood‐pressure profiles with symptoms, quality of life, severity of heart failure, progression of ventricular and renal dysfunction, risks of stroke and myocardial infarction, and life expectancy. Devices for ABPM have been beset by problems of inaccuracy and unreliability. Standards for their manufacture and sale (including bench tests of accuracy against sphygmomanometry and intra‐arterial recordings, and field tests of reliability) have been devised independently by several agencies, including the British Hypertension Society (BHS) and US Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). A joint BHS/AAMI set of guidelines is in preparation. These guidelines emphasize the suitability of ABPM devices for hypertensive patients and those under general anesthesia, and may not be applicable to ambulant individuals with heart failure and blood pressures at or below the lower end of the evaluated ranges. Prospective studies of the accuracy and reliability of ABPM devices, their clinical utility and research potential should be undertaken in patients with heart failure before their informal and uncontrolled use in this population becomes widespread.
Direct effect of statins on homocysteine‐induced endothelial adhesiveness: potential impact to human atherosclerosis
Authors: Lin C. P. , Chen Y. H. , Lin W. T. , Leu H. B. , Liu T. Z. , Huang S. L. , Chen J. W. 
Published: September 2010

AbstractBackground  Although homocysteine (HCY) is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, recent clinical trials failed to show the benefits by reducing plasma HCY. Alternative strategy with 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, statins, might be feasible. This study investigated HCY‐induced endothelial adhesiveness with mononuclear cells (MNCs) from patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The direct endothelial protective effects of statins were also examined.Materials and methods  Circulating MNCs were isolated from 14 stable CAD patients and 7 age‐ and gender‐matched healthy subjects. Superoxide production of MNCs was determined by Ultra‐weak and luminol‐enhanced chemiluminescence. Human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were used for endothelial adhesiveness to MNCs or U937 human monocytic cells. Endothelial expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 (VCAM‐1) and intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) were examined by Western blot.Results  Superoxide production of MNCs and plasma HCY and high‐sensitive CRP levels were significantly increased in CAD patients than in healthy subjects. Stimulation with HCY enhanced the endothelial adhesiveness to MNCs from CAD patients or to U937 cells in a dose‐dependent manner, whereas it was obscure with MNCs from healthy subjects. HCY stimulated endothelial VCAM‐1 but not ICAM‐1 expression in a dose‐dependent manner. Monoclonal antibodies to VCAM‐1 attenuated HCY‐induced endothelial adhesiveness. Simvastatin or pravastatin significantly reduced HCY‐induced VCAM‐1 expression and endothelial adhesiveness to MNCs from CAD patients.Conclusion  Circulating MNCs were activated in CAD patients, which was critical to HCY‐induced endothelial adhesiveness. Statins could directly reduce HCY‐induced endothelial‐MNC adhesion via VCAM‐1 inhibition, suggesting its potential implication in HCY‐related atherosclerosis disease.
Larval fish assemblages and water mass structure off the oligotrophic south‐western Australian coast
Authors: MUHLING B. A. , BECKLEY L. E. , KOSLOW J. A. , PEARCE A. F. 
Published: September 2010

AbstractLarval fish assemblages were sampled using replicated oblique bongo net tows along a five‐station transect extending from inshore (18 m depth) to offshore waters (1000 m depth) off temperate south‐western Australia. A total of 148 taxa from 93 teleost families were identified. Larvae of Gobiidae and Blenniidae were abundant inshore, while larvae of pelagic and reef‐dwelling families, such as Clupeidae, Engraulidae, Carangidae and Labridae were common in continental shelf waters. Larvae of oceanic families, particularly Myctophidae, Phosichthyidae and Gonostomatidae, dominated offshore assemblages. Multivariate statistical analyses revealed larval fish assemblages to have a strong temporal and spatial structure. Assemblages were distinct among seasons, and among inshore, continental shelf and offshore sampling stations. Inshore larval fish assemblages were the most seasonal, in terms of species composition and abundance, with offshore assemblages the least seasonal. However, larval fish assemblages were most closely correlated to water mass, with species distributions reflecting both cross‐shelf and along‐shore oceanographic processes and events. Similarity profile (SIMPROF) analysis suggested the presence of twelve distinct larval fish assemblages, largely delineated by water depth and season. The strength and position of the warm, southward flowing Leeuwin Current, and of the cool, seasonal, northward flowing Capes Current, were shown to drive much of the variability in the marine environment, and thus larval fish assemblages.