bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of telmisartan on cognition and regional cerebral blood flow in hypertensive patients with Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Kume Kazumasa , Hanyu Haruo , Sakurai Hirofumi , Takada Yusuke , Onuma Takeshi , Iwamoto Toshihiko 
Published: September 2011

Aim:  Recent studies have shown that some antihypertensive medications are associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, it remains uncertain whether antihypertensive drugs may have a preventive effect on cognitive decline in patients with AD. We investigated the effects of telmisartan, an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker with peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ‐stimulating activity, on cognition and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in elderly hypertensive patients with AD.Methods:  A total of 20 patients with probable AD and essential hypertension were randomly assigned to the telmisartan group (n = 10, 40–80 mg daily) or the amlodipine group (n = 10, 5–10 mg daily) for 6 months.Results:  The groups had a similar significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure after treatment. The telmisartan group did not show any changes in cognitive function test scores, while the amlodipine group showed significantly higher scores on the AD Assessment Scale‐Cognitive Subscale (Japanese version). Analysis of covariance to analyze treatment effect revealed that the telmisartan group showed increased rCBF in the right supramarginal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, cuneus, and lingual gyrus compared with the amlodipine group, while the amlodipine group showed increased rCBF only in the right cingulate gyrus compared with the telmisartan group at 6 months.Conclusion:  These findings suggest that telmisartan may have additional benefits and be useful for the treatment of elderly hypertensive patients with AD. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2012; 12: 207–214.
Factors associated with functional recovery and home discharge in stroke patients admitted to a convalescent rehabilitation ward
Authors: Mutai Hitoshi , Furukawa Tomomi , Araki Kasumi , Misawa Kousuke , Hanihara Tokiji 
Published: September 2011

Aims:  This study aimed to determine the predictive factors for functional recovery and home discharge in stroke patients receiving in‐hospital rehabilitation.Methods:  This study included a consecutive series of 174 stroke patients (average age 73.0 ± 10.8) admitted to the convalescent rehabilitation ward at Azumino Red Cross Hospital in Japan after acute rehabilitation. The main outcome measures were functional recovery (functional independence measure [FIM] at discharge and Montebello rehabilitation factor score [MRFS]) and home discharge.Results:  Total FIM improved from 72.6 ± 27.6 to 87.7 ± 29.9 during the hospital stay (P < 0.001). The average MRFS was 0.30 ± 0.28. Of the 174 patients, 151 were discharged home (87%). Age, stroke type, premorbid independence, motor FIM, and cognitive FIM at admission showed a significant association with FIM at discharge, while age, premorbid independence, motor FIM at admission, and cognitive FIM at admission were statistically significant predictors of MRFS. Female sex, not living with family, premorbid independence, and neglect were negatively associated with home discharge.Conclusions:  Premorbid disability and cognitive dysfunction at admission were both negatively associated with functional recovery and home discharge in patients undergoing inpatient stroke rehabilitation. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2012; 12: 215–222.
Massively parallel rRNA gene sequencing exacerbates the potential for biased community diversity comparisons due to variable library sizes
Authors: Gihring Thomas M. , Green Stefan J. , Schadt Christopher W. 
Published: September 2011

SummaryTechnologies for massively parallel sequencing are revolutionizing microbial ecology and are vastly increasing the scale of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene studies. Although pyrosequencing has increased the breadth and depth of possible rRNA gene sampling, one drawback is that the number of reads obtained per sample is difficult to control. Pyrosequencing libraries typically vary widely in the number of sequences per sample, even within individual studies, and there is a need to revisit the behaviour of richness estimators and diversity indices with variable gene sequence library sizes. Multiple reports and review papers have demonstrated the bias in non‐parametric richness estimators (e.g. Chao1 and ACE) and diversity indices when using clone libraries. However, we found that biased community comparisons are accumulating in the literature. Here we demonstrate the effects of sample size on Chao1, ACE, CatchAll, Shannon, Chao–Shen and Simpson's estimations specifically using pyrosequencing libraries. The need to equalize the number of reads being compared across libraries is reiterated, and investigators are directed towards available tools for making unbiased diversity comparisons.
ETHICAL REASONING IN PANDEMIC PREPAREDNES PLANS – SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE WESTERN PACIFIC
Authors: DERPMANN SIMON 
Published: September 2011

ABSTRACTThe emergence of H1N1 in 2009 shows that it is a mistake to regard the scenario of having to implement pandemic plans as merely hypothetical. This recent experience provides an opportunity to inquire into the current state of pandemic preparedness plans with regard to their ethical adequacy. One aspect that deserves consideration in this context is the disclosure of ethical reasoning. Accordingly, the following is an analysis of examples of pandemic plans and drafts of plans from Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. It is an analysis of the occurrence of explicit ethical reflection in these documents as well an inquiry into the related question of how ethical reflection can be understood as a constitutive element of ethical pandemic preparedness.In the analysis, different fields of ethical consideration concerning equity, personal rights and accountability are distinguished. There are both pragmatic and genuinely ethical reasons to explicitly address issues of these types in pandemic plans. The extent to which ethical language appears in the national plans in South East Asia and the Western Pacific suggests that there is limited awareness of ethical considerations, or at least insufficient ethical substantiation of pandemic action. The aim of the analysis is to show that further inclusion of ethical considerations into pandemic plans is ethically demanded. It is of particular significance that these considerations are formulated and remain discernible as instances of ethical deliberation.
IAB PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: BIOETHICS IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD – CREATING SPACE FOR FLOURISHING HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
Authors: BILLER‐ANDORNO NIKOLA 
Published: September 2011

ABSTRACTBioethics in a globalized world is meeting a number of challenges – fundamentalism in its different forms, and a focus on economic growth neglecting issues such as equity and sustainability, being prominent among them. How well are we as bioethicists equipped to make meaningful contributions in these times? The paper identifies a number of restraints and proceeds to probe potential resources such as the capability approach, care ethics, cosmopolitanism, and pragmatism. These elements serve to outline a perspective that focuses on the preconditions for flourishing human relationships as a way to address bioethical challenges in a globalized world.
Egg donation for stem cell research: ideas of surplus and deficit in Australian IVF patients’ and reproductive donors’ accounts
Authors: Waldby Catherine , Carroll Katherine 
Published: September 2011

AbstractWe report on a study undertaken with an Australian in vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinic to understand IVF patients’ and reproductive donors’ perceptions of oocyte (egg) donation for stem cell research. Such perspectives are particularly valuable because IVF patients form a major recruitment group for oocyte donation for research, and because patients and donors have direct experience of the medical procedures involved. Similar studies of oocyte donation have been carried out elsewhere in the world, but to date very little social science research has been published that reports on donation for research, as distinct from donation for reproduction. Our respondents expressed a distinct unwillingness to donate viable oocytes for stem cell research. In our analysis we consider a number of factors that explain this unwillingness. These include the labour of oocyte production, the inscrutability of oocytes (the lack of a test to identify degrees of fertility) and the extent to which the oocytes’ fertility sets the parameters for all downstream reproductive possibilities. We draw on the science studies literature on affordances to make sense of the social intractability of oocytes, and compare them with the respondents’ much greater willingness to donate frozen embryos for human embryonic stem cells research.
Growth Optimal Investment Strategy: The Impact of Reallocation Frequency and Heavy Tails
Authors: Bamberg G. , Neuhierl A. 
Published: September 2011

Abstract
The strategy to maximize the long-term growth rate of final wealth (maximum expected log strategy, maximum geometric mean strategy, Kelly criterion) is based on probability theoretic underpinnings and has asymptotic optimality properties. This article reviews the allocation of wealth in a two-asset economy with one risky asset and a risk-free asset. It is also shown that the optimal fraction to be invested in the risky asset (i) depends on the length of the basic return period and (ii) is lower for heavy-tailed log returns than for light-tailed log returns.
Do generalists and specialists agree on descriptive acne morphology?
Authors: Yazdanyar S. , Bryld L.E. , Heidenheim M. , Jemec G.B.E. 
Published: September 2011

AbstractBackground  Acne is a common skin disease, which is treated by many different specialities. Clinical guidelines for treatment are based on the recognition of acne morphology. The assessment of acne morphology is therefore an important element of the proper diagnosis and treatment of acne.Objective  To evaluate the level of congruence in the assessment of acne morphology in General Practitioners (GPs) and Dermatologists compared to the assessment of an expert.Methods  The study was conducted during 2008–2009. Randomly selected GP and Dermatologists Practitioners, (DPs) from Denmark were invited to complete an on‐line questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on seven cases, each presented with digital photos and a short history. The respondents were asked to identify the morphology by marking their answer on a closed list. Congruence, variation and the participants’ assessment were compared with a priori expert assessment using odds ratios, Fishers exact test and Index of Qualitative Variation.Results  Of the 1700 GPs and 110 DPs invited, 355 GPs and 99 DPs participated. In all seven cases, DPs were more in accordance with expert opinion than were GPs. In addition, the GPs had a greater variation in the distribution of answers.Conclusion  GPs described acne morphology recognized clinical hallmarks of severity in acne less well than dermatologists and were far less consistent.
Glacial impacts on hydrologic processes in sedimentary basins: evidence from natural tracer studies
Authors: McINTOSH J. C. , SCHLEGEL M. E. , PERSON M. 
Published: September 2011

AbstractThis study reviews and synthesizes the results from geochemical and isotopic case studies across Europe, North America, Antarctica, and Greenland to evaluate the effects of Pleistocene glaciation on continental‐scale groundwater circulation in sedimentary basins. The most effective studies, in terms of delineating high‐resolution records of paleorecharge to aquifers, combine solute chemistry, stable isotopes of water, age tracers, and dissolved noble gases. Some of the lowest δ18O values (−22‰), and noble gas temperatures (0°C), and high excess air concentrations were found in confined groundwaters in northern Estonia, likely derived from Scandinavian Ice Sheet subglacial recharge. These results are consistent with groundwater systems in North America that were recharged beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Late Pleistocene precipitation may have also been an important source of recharge, as indicated by low‐temperature, isotopically enriched groundwaters in several basins. Detectable age gaps have been observed in several aquifer systems in North America and Europe, likely caused by a hiatus of groundwater recharge in areas covered by permafrost during the Last Glacial Maximum (10–21 ka). Aquifers that were not covered by ice sheets or permafrost contain continuous records of Pleistocene to Holocene recharge with variable δ18O values and low paleotemperatures (4–9°C lower than today). The maximum depth of glacial meltwater penetration into sedimentary basins is approximately 50–1000 m. Infiltration of dilute meltwaters dissolved large quantities of halite in evaporite‐bearing basins. The presence of clay‐rich glacial deposits and bedrock confining units enhanced the storage of meltwaters within low‐permeability sediments and limited flushing of paleowaters in underlying aquifers. These results demonstrate the importance of continental glaciation as a driver for basinal‐scale fluid and solute transport and have implications for long‐term storage of radioactive waste and carbon dioxide at depth in high‐latitude sedimentary basins.
Stress‐induced temperature variations in groundwater of the Monferrato area (north‐western Italy)
Authors: DE GREGORIO S. , FEDERICO C. , CAPPUZZO S. , FAVARA R. , GIUDICE G. , GURRIERI S. , BOSCHI E. 
Published: September 2011

AbstractAlthough characterized by low seismicity, the Monferrato area of north‐western Italy was affected by earthquakes, of magnitude M5.1 and M4.8, in 2000 and 2001. At the same time, marked changes were recorded in water temperature and chemistry in several wells within the epicentral area. In May 2004, an automatic network for the continuous monitoring of groundwater was installed in selected wells to study the phenomenon. Here, we report on data collected during a 3‐year period of groundwater monitoring. During the first year, episodes of water heating (by up to 20°C) were observed in one monitored well. The temporal analysis of the seismic activity recorded in the area revealed as almost all seismic events occurred during the period of elevated water temperatures. The similar timing of earthquakes and groundwater‐temperature anomalies suggests that both may be triggered by the same processes acting in the crust.
Is New Zealand vegetation really ‘problematic’? Dansereau's puzzles revisited
Authors: Wilson J. Bastow , Lee William G. 
Published: September 2011

Over four decades ago, Pierre Dansereau, the noted North American ecologist, proposed six features of New Zealand vegetation as being problematic or unusual in a global context. We examine his propositions in the light of current ecological knowledge to determine whether or not these can still be considered unusual characteristics of New Zealand vegetation.(1) ‘Climatic change is still progressing’ resulting in disequilibrium between species' distributions and the present climate. New data and methods of analysis now available have removed the impression that Dansereau gained of imprecise zonation, unclear vegetation/climate relations and missing vegetation types. Communities cited as having regeneration failure can now be seen as even‐aged stands that developed after major disturbance, although there are other, also non‐climatic, explanations. However, the cause of the Westland ‘Nothofagus gap’ has become more, rather than less, controversial.(2) ‘Continuity of community composition defies classification’ and ‘Very few New Zealand associations have faithful species' are correct observations, but perhaps equally true of vegetation elsewhere. Dansereau's assertion of low species richness in New Zealand is not supported by the comparative data available.(3) ‘Lack of intolerant [i.e. mid‐seral] trees …’ is not evident with newer information. The order of species in succession, seen as unclear by Dansereau, has been determined by a range of approaches, largely confirming each other.(4) ‘Discrepancies of form and function …’ in divaricate shrubs and widespread heteroblasty are still controversial, with many more explanations. Several abiotic explanations have failed to stand up to investigation. Explanations in terms of herbivory have been well supported, although the extinction of the large avian herbivores makes certainty impossible.(5) ‘Incidence of hybridization …’ remains problematic. We do not know whether the incidence is unusually high, as Dansereau alleged, but the limited comparative data available suggest not.(6) The ‘overwhelming … competing power of exotics' is strongly context dependent. They are prominent in many non‐forest habitats. It seems that they are drivers of the vegetation change in some habitats, yet passengers after disturbance in others. Invasions can be slow, and may still be very incomplete in some ecosystem types. Whether exotics will eventually take over in most communities, or whether the native species will ‘laugh them to scorn’ as Cockayne suggested, only time will tell.In conclusion, some aspects of New Zealand's vegetation seem less unusual with increased knowledge, but others remain ‘problems’.
Electrodermal activity reliably captures physiological differences between wins and losses during gambling on electronic machines
Authors: Lole Lisa , Gonsalvez Craig J. , Blaszczynski Alex , Clarke Adam R. 
Published: September 2011

AbstractDifferential patterns of physiological arousal to win and loss events during gambling is central to psychological conceptualizations of gambling behaviors but is poorly researched. We recorded heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCRs) to wins and losses while 23 healthy participants played for small incentives on a simulated electronic gambling task. Wins produced largeSCRswhereas losses did not, and large wins produced largerSCRsthan small wins. Electrodermal measures also correlated with reward responsiveness on a personality measure and with ratings of excitement during gambling.HRevidenced a slight deceleration before event outcomes, and the reboundHRwas larger after wins than after losses. The study demonstrates that physiological changes to gambling events can be reliably captured, and that these changes are sensitive to differential outcomes. These findings establish a foundation for future research in field settings.
Engaging with, and understanding children whose parents have a dual diagnosis
Authors: Reupert Andrea , Goodyear Melinda , Maybery Darryl 
Published: September 2011

Background:  The perspective of children whose parents have a mental health and a substance use disorder (dual diagnosis) are rarely considered in either research or clinical practice. This study sought to (i) identify the issues when engaging children whose parents have a dual diagnosis into research, and (ii) present their needs and preferred supports.Method:  Semi‐structured, qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 children whose parent had a dual diagnosis. Analyses involved thematic analysis, inter‐rater reliability and respondent validation.Results:  Building trust with parents was crucial to gain access to children. Children described the importance of family, the secrecy around their parent’s substance abuse, and various maladaptive coping strategies. Children requested more positive times in their families and specific support for their parent’s substance abuse.Conclusion:  The primacy of family in the child’s life is highlighted. The need to acknowledge and work with the individual needs of children and parents, as well as family dynamics, is indicated.
Review: A systematic review of the impact of physical activity programmes on social and emotional well‐being in at‐risk youth
Authors: Lubans David R. , Plotnikoff Ron C. , Lubans Nicole J. 
Published: September 2011

Background:  Physical activity programmes have been identified as a potential strategy for improving social and emotional well‐being in at‐risk youth, who have a prevalence of depression and low self‐esteem exceeding the general population.Methods: A systematic search of six electronic databases (EMBASE, OVID MEDLINE, PsychINFO, PubMed, Scopus and SPORTDiscus) was conducted to identify physical activity programmes designed to improve social and emotional well‐being in at‐risk youth.Results:  The search identified 15 studies, which reported the effects of three types of physical activity programmes (i.e. outdoor adventure, sport and skill‐based and physical fitness programmes) on social and emotional well‐being. While many of the interventions resulted in significant positive effects, the risk of bias was high in all of the included studies.Conclusion:  Due to the mixed findings and the high risk of bias, it is difficult to determine the efficacy of physical activity programmes for improving social and emotional well being in at‐risk youth.
Chronic Morphine Increases Fos‐Positive Neurons After Concurrent Cornea and Tail Stimulation
Authors: Robbins Ashlee , Schmitt David , Winterson Barbara J. , Meng Ian D. 
Published: September 2011

Objective.— The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of chronic morphine exposure on diffuse noxious inhibitory controls in a large population of neurons throughout the medullary dorsal horn, as assessed using immunocytochemistry for c‐Fos protein.Background.— Overuse of medications, including the opioids, to treat migraine headache can lead to progressively more frequent headaches. In addition, chronic daily headache sufferers and chronic opioid users both lack the inhibition of pain produced by noxious stimulation of a distal body region, often referred to as diffuse noxious inhibitory controls.Methods.— In urethane anesthetized rats, Fos‐positive neurons were quantified in chronic morphine and vehicle‐treated animals following 52°C noxious thermal stimulation of the cornea with and without the application of a spatially remote noxious stimulus (placement of the tail in 55°C water).Results.— When compared to chronic morphine‐treated animals that did not receive the spatially remote noxious stimulus, chronic morphine‐treated animals given corneal stimulation along with the spatially remote noxious stimulus demonstrated a 163% increase (P < .05) in the number of Fos‐positive neurons in the superficial laminae of the medullary dorsal horn and a 682% increase (P < .01) in deep laminae that was restricted to the side ipsilateral to the applied stimulus. In contrast, no significant difference was found in Fos‐like immunoreactivity in vehicle‐treated animals given concurrent cornea and tail stimulation or only cornea stimulation in either superficial or deep laminae.Conclusions.— It is proposed that an increase in descending facilitation and subsequent loss of diffuse noxious inhibitory controls contributes to the development of medication overuse headache.