bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Predictors of suicidality across the life span: The Isle of Wight study
Authors: Pickles A. , Aglan A. , Collishaw S. , Messer J. , Rutter M. , Maughan B. 
Published: November 2009

BackgroundData from a representative community sample were used to explore predictors of lifetime suicidality and to examine associations between distal adolescent and more proximal adult risks.MethodData are from a midlife follow-up of the Isle of Wight study, an epidemiological sample of adolescents assessed in 1968. Ratings of psychiatric symptoms and disorder, relationships and family functioning and adversity were made in adolescence; adult assessments included lifetime psychiatric history and suicidality, neuroticism and retrospective reports of childhood sexual abuse and harsh parenting.ResultsA wide range of measures of childhood psychopathology, adverse experiences and interpersonal difficulties were associated with adult suicidality; associations were particularly strong for adolescent irritability, worry and depression. In multivariate analyses, substantial proportions of these effects could be explained by their association with adult psychopathology and neuroticism, but additional effects remained for adolescent irritability and worry.ConclusionsFactors of importance for long-term suicidality risk are evident in adolescence. These include family and experiential adversities as well as psychopathology. In particular, markers of adolescent worry and irritability appeared both potent risks and ones with additional effects beyond associations with adult disorder and adult neuroticism.
Gender and the relationship between marital status and first onset of mood, anxiety and substance use disorders
Authors: Scott K. M. , Wells J. E. , Angermeyer M. , Brugha T. S. , Bromet E. , Demyttenaere K. , de Girolamo G. , Gureje O. , Haro J. M. , Jin R. , Karam A. Nasser , Kovess V. , Lara C. , Levinson D. , Ormel J. , Posada-Villa J. , Sampson N. , Takeshima T. , Zhang M. , Kessler R. C. 
Published: November 2009

BackgroundPrior research on whether marriage is equally beneficial to the mental health of men and women is inconsistent due to methodological variation. This study addresses some prior methodological limitations and investigates gender differences in the association of first marriage and being previously married, with subsequent first onset of a range of mental disorders.MethodCross-sectional household surveys in 15 countries from the WHO World Mental Health survey initiative (n=34493), with structured diagnostic assessment of mental disorders using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0. Discrete-time survival analyses assessed the interaction of gender and marital status in the association with first onset of mood, anxiety and substance use disorders.ResultsMarriage (versus never married) was associated with reduced risk of first onset of most mental disorders in both genders; but for substance use disorders this reduced risk was stronger among women, and for depression and panic disorder it was confined to men. Being previously married (versus stably married) was associated with increased risk of all disorders in both genders; but for substance use disorders, this increased risk was stronger among women and for depression it was stronger among men.ConclusionsMarriage was associated with reduced risk of the first onset of most mental disorders in both men and women but there were gender differences in the associations between marital status and onset of depressive and substance use disorders. These differences may be related to gender differences in the experience of multiple role demands within marriage, especially those concerning parenting.
Combating Child Poverty? A Multilevel Assessment of Family Policy Institutions and Child Poverty in 21 Old and New Welfare States
Authors: BÄCKMAN OLOF , FERRARINI TOMMY 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThis study analyses the links between family policy institutions and poverty in households with pre-school children in 21 old and new welfare democracies. New institutional information which enables a separation of different family policy dimensions is combined with micro data from the Luxembourg Income Study. Through statistical multilevel modelling, individual- and country-level data are combined in a simultaneous analysis of their relationships to child poverty risks. The results show that family policy transfers are related to lower child poverty risks at the micro level. However, the mechanisms by which such transfers reduce poverty vary by type of family support. Support to dual-earner families operates by enabling both parents to work and raise market income, while support to more traditional family structures in some instances has a more direct effect on poverty risks. The analysis also renders support to the hypothesis that dual-earner transfers also alleviate poverty most effectively among single-mother households.
Motoric characteristics of representational gestures produced by young children in a naming task
Authors: PETTENATI PAOLA , STEFANINI SILVIA , VOLTERRA VIRGINIA 
Published: November 2009

ABSTRACTThis study explores the form of representational gestures produced by forty-five hearing children (age range 2 ; 0–3 ; 1) asked to label pictures in words. Five pictures depicting objects and five pictures depicting actions which elicited more representational gestures were chosen for more detailed analysis. The range of gestures produced for each item varied from 3 to 27 for a total of 128 gestures. Gestures have been analyzed with the same parameters used to describe signs produced by deaf children: handshape, location and movement. Results show that gestures for a given picture exhibit similarities in many of the parameters across children. Some motor characteristics found in the production of hearing toddlers' gestures are similar to those described for early signs. Implications of this similarity between gestural and signed linguistic representations in young children are discussed.
Epidemiology of bloodstream infections in patients with haematological malignancies with and without neutropenia
Authors: CHEN C.-Y. , TSAY W. , TANG J.-L. , TIEN H.-F. , CHEN Y.-C. , CHANG S.-C. , HSUEH P.-R. 
Published: November 2009

SUMMARYAll bacterial isolates from 7058 patients admitted to haemato-oncology wards at National Taiwan University Hospital between 2002 and 2006 were characterized. In total 1307 non-duplicate bloodstream isolates were made from all patients with haematological malignancy; 853 (65%) of these were from neutropenic patients. Gram-negative bacteria predominated (60%) in neutropenic isolates with Escherichia coli (12%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (10%), Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-baumannii complex (6%), and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (6%) the most frequent. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (19%) and Staphylococcus aureus (4%) were the most common Gram-positive pathogens. Resistance to ciprofloxacin was found in 50% of E. coli and 20% of K. pneumoniae isolates from neutropenic patients. Extensively drug-resistant A. calcoaceticus-baumannii complex and vancomycin-resistant enterococci were also found during the study period. Emerging antimicrobial resistant pathogens are an increasing threat to neutropenic cancer patients.
Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage rate and associated risk factors in individuals in the community
Authors: HALABLAB M. A. , HIJAZI S. M. , FAWZI M. A. , ARAJ G. F. 
Published: November 2009

SUMMARYThe increasing prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains together with their disease impact on hospital patients and individuals in the community has posed a major challenge to healthcare workers. This study examined the prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriage, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, and possible risk factors in the community. Of 500 studied subjects (aged from 6 to 65 years) in Lebanon, the overall S. aureus nasal carriage rate was 38·4%, the highest (57·1%) being in children aged 6–10 years. Only eight individuals (1·6%) were carriers of MRSA. Risk factors for S. aureus nasal colonization were male gender, young age, contact with healthcare workers, use of needle injections, and having asthma. A significant decrease in colonization rate was associated with nasal wash with water, use of nasal sprays, and the presence of acne. These findings may assist in better understanding of control measures to decrease nasal colonization with S. aureus in Lebanon and elsewhere.
Developmental competence and expression of the MATER and ZAR1 genes in immature bovine oocytes selected by brilliant cresyl blue
Authors: Mota Gustavo Bruno , Batista Ribrio Ivan Tavares Pereira , Serapião Raquel Varella , Boité Mariana Cortes , Viana João Henrique Moreira , Torres Ciro Alexandre Alves , de Almeida Camargo Luiz Sergio 
Published: November 2009

SummaryThe objective of this work was to evaluate the selection of immature bovine oocytes by brilliant cresyl blue dye (BCB) and expression of transcripts MATER and ZAR1. Cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) from slaughterhouse ovaries were exposed to BCB diluted in mDPBS and incubated for 60 min at 38.5 °C in humidified air. After exposure those COCs were distributed in two groups, according to their cytoplasm colour: BCB+ (coloured cytoplasm) or BCB− (colourless cytoplasm). The control group was submitted to in vitro maturation (IVM) immediately after morphological selection and holding control group COCs were exposed to mDPBS without BCB but in the same incubation conditions of BCB+ and BCB− group. The COCs of all groups were submitted to IVM, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro culture (IVC). Cleavage rate (72 h post-insemination) was similar between control (65.3%) and BCB+ (64.4%) groups, but greater than (p < 0.05) holding control (49.8%) and BCB− (51.3%) groups. Blastocyst rate (192 h post-insemination) was not different between BCB+ (18.5%) and control (16.3%) groups, but greater (p < 0.05) than BCB− (8.4%) group. No difference was found for blastocyst rate between holding control group (14.2%), control and BCB+ groups. The relative expression of MATER and ZAR1 genes was evaluated by real-time PCR in immature oocytes collected from the control, holding control, BCB+ and BCB− groups. Despite the relative expression of MATER in holding control, BCB+ and BCB− were down regulated in comparison to control group there was no statistical difference (p > 0.05) in the relative expression of MATER and ZAR1 transcripts among groups. The results indicate that the BCB dye detects immature oocyte populations with different developmental competence, although no improvement in in vitro embryo production using oocytes exposed or not to BCB was observed. Development competence of immature oocytes exposed to BCB does not seem to be associated with variations in the expression of MATER and ZAR1 transcripts.
Possible participation of calmodulin in the decondensation of nuclei isolated from guinea pig spermatozoa
Authors: Zepeda-Bastida Armando , Chiquete-Felix Natalia , Ocampo-López Juan , Uribe-Carvajal Salvador , Mújica Adela 
Published: November 2009

SummaryThe guinea pig spermatozoid nucleus contains actin, myosin, spectrin and cytokeratin. Also, it has been reported that phalloidin and/or 2,3-butanedione monoxime retard the sperm nuclear decondensation caused by heparin, suggesting a role for F-actin and myosin in nuclear stability. The presence of an F-actin/myosin dynamic system in these nuclei led us to search for proteins usually related to this system. In guinea pig sperm nuclei we detected calmodulin, F-actin, the myosin light chain and an actin-myosin complex. To define whether calmodulin participates in nuclear-dynamics, the effect of the calmodulin antagonists W5, W7 and calmidazolium was tested on the decondensation of nuclei promoted by either heparin or by aXenopus laevisegg extract. All antagonists inhibited both the heparin- and theX. laevisegg extract-mediated nuclear decondensation. Heparin-mediated decondensation was faster and led to loss of nuclei. TheX. laevisegg extract-promoted decondensation was slower and did not result in loss of the decondensed nuclei. It is suggested that in guinea pig sperm calmodulin participates in the nuclear decondensation process.
Patterns in weight reduction behaviour by weight status in schoolchildren
Authors: Kelly Colette , Molcho Michal , Nic Gabhainn Saoirse 
Published: November 2009

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the relationships between weight reduction behaviour among non-overweight schoolchildren and dietary habits, perception of health, well-being and health complaints.DesignAnalysis of the 2006 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey, a cross-sectional study involving schoolchildren aged 10–17 years.SettingSchools in the Republic of Ireland.ResultsThe proportion of children (n3599) engaged in weight reduction behaviour (‘dieting’ among non-overweight students) was 10·3 %. Older children, females and those from higher social classes (SC) were more likely to report such behaviour. Non-overweight schoolchildren who reported weight reduction behaviour were less likely than those not engaged in such behaviour to frequently consume sweets, soft drinks, crisps and chips/fried potatoes (OR from 0·39 (95 % CI 0·17, 0·89) to 0·72 (95 % CI 0·53, 0·99)); were more likely to consume diet soft drinks (OR 1·50 (95 % CI 1·03, 2·18); and were more likely to miss breakfast during the week (OR 0·62 (95 % CI 0·48, 0·80). The risk of subjective health complaints increased (OR from 1·47 (95 % CI 1·13, 1·91) to 1·92 (95 % CI 1·48, 2·49)); as did body dissatisfaction (OR 9·17 (95 % CI 6·99, 12·02)), while perception of health and well-being decreased (OR 0·47 (95 % CI 0·36, 0·61)) to 0·54 (95 % CI 0·41, 0·70)). All analyses were controlled for age, gender and SC.ConclusionsWeight reduction behaviour among non-overweight schoolchildren is associated with considerable risk to physical health and emotional well-being. Since the risks associated with such behaviour varies by weight status, health professionals and researchers need to consider these issues in parallel.
Chief executive officers and the pay–pension tradeoff
Authors: GERAKOS JOSEPH 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThe theory of equalizing differences predicts that workers trade pay for benefits, but empirical confirmation of such tradeoffs is rare. This study investigates the extent to which chief executive officers (CEOs) trade pay for pension benefits. For a sample of S&P 500 CEOs, I find that an additional dollar of pension benefits is associated with a 48 cent decrease in pay. Although the tradeoff estimate is significantly different from zero, it is also significantly less than the anticipated rate of dollar-for-dollar, especially for CEOs with relatively more bargaining power over their boards of directors. This implies that the implicit price of pension benefits decreases with the CEO's bargaining power, so pooling datasets on CEOs with varying degrees of power blurs the size of the pay–pension tradeoff.
Impact of a contemplative end-of-life training program: Being with dying
Authors: Rushton Cynda Hylton , Sellers Deborah E. , Heller Karen S. , Spring Beverly , Dossey Barbara M. , Halifax Joan 
Published: November 2009

AbstractObjective:Health care professionals report a lack of skills in the psychosocial and spiritual aspects of caring for dying people and high levels of moral distress, grief, and burnout. To address these concerns, the “Being with Dying: Professional Training Program in Contemplative End-of-Life Care” (BWD) was created. The premise of BWD, which is based on the development of mindfulness and receptive attention through contemplative practice, is that cultivating stability of mind and emotions enables clinicians to respond to others and themselves with compassion. This article describes the impact of BWD on the participants.Methods:Ninety-five BWD participants completed an anonymous online survey; 40 completed a confidential open-ended telephone interview.Results:Four main themes—the power of presence, cultivating balanced compassion, recognizing grief, and the importance of self-care—emerged in the interviews and were supported in the survey data. The interviewees considered BWD's contemplative and reflective practices meaningful, useful, and valuable and reported that BWD provided skills, attitudes, behaviors, and tools to change how they worked with the dying and bereaved.Significance of results:The quality of presence has the potential to transform the care of dying people and the caregivers themselves. Cultivating this quality within themselves and others allows clinicians to explore alternatives to exclusively intellectual, procedural, and task-oriented approaches when caring for dying people. BWD provides a rare opportunity to engage in practices and methods that cultivate the stability of mind and emotions that may facilitate compassionate care of dying patients, families, and caregivers.
What are the core elements of oncology spiritual care programs?
Authors: Sinclair Shane , Mysak Marlene , Hagen Neil A. 
Published: November 2009

AbstractObjective:Tending to the spiritual needs of patients has begun to be formally recognized by professional spiritual care providers, health care councils, and health delivery systems over the last 30 years. Recognition of these programs has coincided with evidence-based research on the effect of spirituality on health. Palliative care has served as a forerunner to an integrated professional spiritual care approach, recognizing the importance of addressing the spiritual needs of the dying from its inauguration within Western medicine almost 50 years ago. Oncology programs have also begun to recognize the importance of spirituality to patients along the cancer continuum, especially those who are approaching the end of life. Although standards and best practice guidelines have been established and incorporated into practice, little is known about the actual factors affecting the practice of spiritual care programs or professional chaplains working within an oncology setting.Methods:Participant observation and interactive interviews occurred at five cancer programs after we conducted a literature search.Results:This study identified underlying organizational challenges, cultural and professional issues, academic program development challenges, administrative duties, and therapeutic interventions that determined the success of oncology spiritual care programs in practice.Significance of results:Although spiritual care services have developed as a profession and become recognized as a service within oncology and palliative care, organizational and operational issues were underrecognized yet significant factors in the success of oncology spiritual care programs. Spiritual care programs that were centrally located within the cancer care center, reported and provided guidance to senior leaders, reflected a multifaith approach, and had an academic role were better resourced, utilized more frequently, and seen to be integral members of an interdisciplinary care team than those services who did not reflect these characteristics.
Palliative family caregivers' accounts of health care experiences: The importance of “security”
Authors: Funk Laura M. , Allan Diane E. , Stajduhar Kelli I. 
Published: November 2009

AbstractObjective:When providing care for a loved one with a terminal illness, family members often look to health care providers for guidance and expertise. The objective of this study is to explore family caregiver accounts of their experiences within the health care system and with individual providers.Methods:A thematic analysis of secondary qualitative data was performed. Data are from a subsample of bereaved and current family caregivers (N = 31) in a prior study of coping in end-of-life cancer situations. Data from these participants referring to experiences with health care providers was thematically coded and the concept of “security” was used as an analytic lens to facilitate conceptual development and exploration.Results:Considered together, the findings can be viewed as manifestations of a need and desire for security in palliative family caregiving. Specifically, family caregivers' accounts illustrate the importance of feeling secure that health care services will be provided by competent professionals; feeling secure in their timely access to needed care, services, and information; and feeling secure in their own identity and self-worth as a caregiver and individual. In addition, the findings suggest a conceptualization of security that extends beyond trust in individuals to include a generalized sense of institutional trust in the health care system.Significance of results:The concept of security moves beyond description of individual satisfaction or dissatisfaction with health care to identify a common, foundational need underlying such evaluations. Further empirical research is needed that explicitly focuses on caregivers' experiences of security and insecurity in the domains identified in this article. This will contribute to theory building as well as assist in identifying the causes and consequences of security.
“Caring as if it were my family”: Health care aides' perspectives about expert care of the dying resident in a personal care home
Authors: McClement Susan , Wowchuk Suzanne , Klaasen Kathleen 
Published: November 2009

AbstractObjective:A qualitative pilot study was conducted to identify and describe expert behaviors in care of the dying resident in a personal care home setting from the perspective of health care aides (N= 5) nominated by their peers as demonstrating excellence in end-of-life care.Methods:Data was collected through audio-taped semi-structured interview, and transcribed verbatim using constant-comparative analysis procedures.Results:The over-arching theme emerging from the data was “caring as if it were my family.” Subsumed within this main theme included the sub-themes of: (1) care of the resident; (2) tending to the environment; (3) care of the family; (4) going to bat; and (5) processing loss.Significance of results:The findings from this pilot study provide preliminary empirical evidence that could inform educational programs for and performance evaluation of, health care aides providing end-of-life care in personal care home environments.
“The healthy me appears”: Palliative cancer patients' experiences of participation in a physical group exercise program
Authors: Paltiel Hanne , Solvoll Edel , Loge Jon Håvard , Kaasa Stein , Oldervoll Line 
Published: November 2009

AbstractObjective:Tentative results from a pilot study showed that patients with advanced cancer were willing and able to take part in a group exercise intervention. Limited knowledge exists, though, about the meaning and significance of such programs. The purpose of the present study was to understand the meaning of such an intervention for the individual participant and thereby to provide knowledge for shaping future clinical practice.Methods:Thirty-four palliative cancer patients with a life expectancy of less than 1 year completed a 6-week group exercise program. Five randomly selected individuals were interviewed 7 months after completion. Results from a self-report evaluation questionnaire identified relevant themes that formed the basis of an interview guide. These were addressed in a semistructured interview. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed with a phenomenological–hermeneutical approach.Results:Two main themes emerged from the interviews: (1) perceptions of the group and (2) a secure and caring setting for the group. Themes identified regarding perception of the group were a sense of belonging and commitment. Themes identified regarding a secure and caring setting for the group were a life-empowering group as a setting for enhancing coping, the qualifications of those who led the group, and a public gym as an unsuitable setting.Significance of results:Our study indicates that an individually adjusted group exercise program, with competent leaders, can provide a setting to enhance psychological well-being in cancer patients with life expectancy below 1 year. Small sample size, however, limits the possibility to generalize the findings.