bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Transpulmonary thermodilution-derived cardiac function index identifies cardiac dysfunction in acute heart failure and septic patients: an observational study
Authors: Ritter Simon , Rudiger Alain , Maggiorini Marco 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
Introduction
There is limited clinical experience with the single-indicator transpulmonary thermodilution (pulse contour cardiac output, or PiCCO) technique in critically ill medical patients, particularly in those with acute heart failure (AHF). Therefore, we compared the cardiac function of patients with AHF or sepsis using the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) and the PiCCO technology.

Methods
This retrospective observational study was conducted in the medical intensive care unit of a university hospital. Twelve patients with AHF and nine patients with severe sepsis or septic shock had four simultaneous hemodynamic measurements by PAC and PiCCO during a 24-hour observation period. Comparisons between groups were made with the use of the Mann-Whitney U test. Including all measurements, correlations between data pairs were established using linear regression analysis and are expressed as the square of Pearson's correlation coefficients (r2).

Results
Compared to septic patients, AHF patients had a significantly lower cardiac index, cardiac function index (CFI), global ejection fraction, mixed venous oxygen saturation (SmvO2) and pulmonary vascular permeability index, but higher pulmonary artery occlusion pressure. All patients with a CFI less than 4.5 per minute had an SmvO2 not greater than 70%. In both groups, the CFI correlated with the left ventricular stroke work index (sepsis: r2 = 0.30, P < 0.05; AHF: r2 = 0.23, P < 0.05) and cardiac power (sepsis: r2 = 0.39, P < 0.05; AHF: r2 = 0.45, P < 0.05).

Conclusions
In critically ill medical patients, assessment of cardiac function using transpulmonary thermodilution technique is an alternative to the PAC. A low CFI identifies cardiac dysfunction in both AHF and septic patients.
The role of pyrimidine nucleobase excimers in DNA photophysics and photoreactivity
Authors: González-Ramírez Israel , Climent Teresa , Serrano-Pérez Juan José , González-Luque Remedios , Merchán Manuela , Serrano-Andrés Luis 
Published: August 2009

AbstractQuantum chemical studies using the accurate CASPT2//CASSCF procedure show that π-stacked interactions in biochromophores such as pyrimidine (Pyr) DNA/RNA nucleobases pairs yield excimer-like situations which behave as precursors of processes like charge transfer (CT) or photoreactivity and are the source of the emissive properties in DNA. Examples are the CT between adjacent DNA nucleobases in a strand of oligonucleotides and the photodimerization taking place in cytosine (C) pairs leading to cyclobutanecytosine (CBC) mutants. These processes take place through nonadiabatic photochemical mechanisms whose evolution is determined by the presence and accessibility of conical intersections (CIs) and other surface crossings between different electronic states.
Near-field optical probes provide subdiffraction-limited excitation areas for fluorescence correlation spectroscopy on membranes
Authors: Vobornik Dusan , Banks Daniel S. , Lu Zhengfang , Fradin Cécile , Taylor Rod , Johnston Linda J. 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
Near-field optical probes have been used to produce a subdiffraction-limited observation area for fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) experiments on supported membranes. The design of a bent, etched fiber probe that is compatible with biological imaging in an aqueous environment is described. This probe design is used for proof of principle experiments to measure lipid diffusion in a fluid-supported bilayer. A reduction in excitation area of approximately one order of magnitude (relative to a confocal FCS experiment) is obtained with a probe aperture diameter of 140 nm. We also demonstrate a simple approach for modeling the autocorrelation decay due to diffusion within the excitation profile at the near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) probe aperture. The use of probes with smaller apertures is expected to provide an additional order of magnitude reduction in the observation area, thus enabling the study of cellular membranes with higher concentrations of fluorophores than is currently possible with diffraction-limited techniques.
The Low Countries and the English Agricultural Revolution
Authors: harskamp jaap 
Published: August 2009

Throughout the seventeenth century the Dutch and Flemish enjoyed the reputation of being the best-fed population in Europe. Immigrants and refugees from the Low Countries brought their know-how and eating habits with them. Their arrival in the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries coincided with the beginning of commercial market gardening in England. Dutch and Flemish immigrants were the first to grow them on a commercial scale.
The skill of Dutch and Flemish gardeners did much to alter the English landscape. Many varieties of flowers now considered native to England were brought over from the Low Countries, not to mention the cultivation of bulbs. The tulip became an object of insane speculation. Paintings were often cheaper than the flowers they depicted. Dutch flower painter Simon Pieterszoon Verelst (1644––1721?) became the best-paid artist in London after he settled there.
Immigrants from the Low Countries also engineered some of the most fertile areas of Britain today. Cornelius Vermuyden (1590––1677) was responsible for the draining the Fens (Cambridgeshire) which gave an enormous boost to England's agricultural development. In summary: the English agricultural revolution coincided with an influx of immigrants from the Low Countries who enriched almost every aspect of British agriculture.
Hypothalamic involvement predicts cardiovascular risk in adults with childhood onset craniopharyngioma on long-term GH therapy
Authors: Holmer Helene , Ekman Bertil , Björk Jonas , Nordstöm Carl-Henrik , Popovic Vera , Siversson AnnBritt , Erfurth Eva-Marie 
Published: August 2009

ContextCraniopharyngioma patients without GH therapy are at an increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and particularly concerning women. No previous study on long-term GH therapy in adults with childhood onset (CO) craniopharyngioma was identified.ObjectiveTo investigate CVD risk in adults with CO craniopharyngioma on complete hormone replacement, including long-term GH therapy, and to investigate the impact of disease-related factors on CVD risk.Design and participantsIn a cross-sectional study of operated CO craniopharyngiomas (1958–2000) from a defined area of Sweden (2.5 million), we enrolled 42 patients (20 women) with a median age of 28 years (range 17–57) and assessed CVD risk of 20 (4–40) years after first operation. Comparisons were made with matched controls and between patients with tumor growth into the third ventricle (TGTV) versus non-TGTV. GH therapy was 10–12 years in women and men.ResultsIn comparison with controls, both male and female patients had increased body mass index, fat mass, insulin, and leptin levels. Overall, while not significantly increased in male patients, 55–60% of female patients had a medium–high CVD risk, compared with 10–20% in controls. An increased CVD risk (all P<0.05) and higher levels of fat mass and insulin were recorded in the TGTV group versus the non-TGTV group. Late puberty induction and lack of androgens were shown in female patients.ConclusionsAdult patients with CO craniopharyngioma, especially those with TGTV, have persistently increased CVD risk. Conventional hormone substitution, including GH, is insufficient to normalize CVD risk, suggesting an important role for irreversible hypothalamic dysfunction.
Homology of Dipteran Bristles and Lepidopteran Scales: Requirement for the Bombyx mori achaete-scute Homologue ASH2
Authors: Zhou Qingxiang , Yu Linlin , Shen Xingjia , Li Yinü , Xu Weihua , Yi Yongzhu , Zhang Zhifang 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
Lepidopteran wing scales and Drosophila bristles are considered homologous structures on the basis of the similarities in their cell lineages. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying scale development are essentially unknown as analysis of gene function in Lepidoptera is sorely limited. In this study, we used the Bombyx mori mutant scaleless (sl), which displays a nearly complete loss of wing scales, to explore the mechanism of lepidopteran wing-scale formation. We found that Bm-ASH2, one of four Bombyx achaete-scute homologs, is highly expressed in early pupal wings of wild-type silkworms, but its expression is severely reduced in sl pupal wings. Through molecular characterization of the mutant locus using luciferase and gel shift assays, genetic analysis of recombining populations, and in vivo rescue experiments, we provide evidence that a 26-bp deletion within the Bm-ASH2 promoter is closely linked to the sl locus and leads to loss of Bm-ASH2 expression and the scaleless-wings phenotype. Thus, the Bm-ASH2 appears to play a critical role in scale formation in B. mori. This finding supports the proposed homology of lepidopteran scales and dipteran bristles and provides evidence for conservation of the genetic pathway in scale/bristle development at the level of gene function.
Effects of Chromosomal Rearrangements on Transvection at theyellowGene ofDrosophila melanogaster
Authors: Ou Sharon A , Chang Elaine , Lee Szexian , So Katherine , Wu C-ting , Morris James R 
Published: August 2009

AbstractHomologous chromosomes are paired in somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster. This pairing can lead to transvection, which is a process by which the proximity of homologous genes can lead to a change in gene expression. At the yellow gene, transvection is the basis for several examples of intragenic complementation involving the enhancers of one allele acting in trans on the promoter of a paired second allele. Using complementation as our assay, we explored the chromosomal requirements for pairing and transvection at yellow. Following a protocol established by Ed Lewis, we generated and characterized chromosomal rearrangements to define a region in cis to yellow that must remain intact for complementation to occur. Our data indicate that homolog pairing at yellow is efficient, as complementation was disrupted only in the presence of chromosomal rearrangements that break ≤650 kbp from yellow. We also found that three telomerically placed chromosomal duplications, containing ∼700 or more kbp of the yellow genomic region, are able to alter complementation at yellow, presumably through competitive pairing interactions. These results provide a formal demonstration of the pairing-dependent nature of yellow transvection and suggest that yellow pairing, as measured by transvection, reflects the extent of contiguous homology flanking the locus.
Individual and Social Influences on Progression to Daily Smoking During Adolescence
Authors: Kim Min Jung , Fleming Charles B. , Catalano Richard F. 
Published: August 2009

OBJECTIVES: The goal was to identify individual and social predictors of progression to daily smoking by the end of high school among youths who initiated smoking by grade 8.
METHODS: The analysis sample of 270 adolescent smokers was taken from the Raising Healthy Children project. Data were taken from annual interviews in grades 7 and 12. Daily smoking was defined as having smoked ≥1 cigarette per day in the past 30 days at the time of each interview. Discrete-time survival analysis was used to assess associations with individual, family, peer, and school predictors.
RESULTS: A total of 58% (n = 156) of the analysis sample made the transition to daily smoking by grade 12. The likelihood of onset of daily smoking among those who had not yet demonstrated onset was smallest in grade 9 (probability: 0.12) and greatest in grade 12 (probability: 0.25). Youth depression, prosocial beliefs, and antisocial behavior had overall associations with risk of smoking escalation. In addition, parents' and peers' smoking, family management, academic grades, and school commitment had significant univariate associations with smoking progression. After adjustment for gender, low-income status, and other potential predictors, youths' antisocial behavior and parents' and peers' smoking predicted greater likelihood of escalation to daily smoking, whereas parental use of positive family management predicted lower likelihood of escalation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study supports preventing escalation in adolescent smoking by targeting parents' and peers' smoking and involvement in other forms of antisocial behavior and working with parents to improve their use of positive family management practices.
Sexual Intercourse Among Adolescents Maltreated Before Age 12: A Prospective Investigation
Authors: Black Maureen M. , Oberlander Sarah E. , Lewis Terri , Knight Elizabeth D. , Zolotor Adam J. , Litrownik Alan J. , Thompson Richard , Dubowitz Howard , English Diana E. 
Published: August 2009

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether child maltreatment (physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and neglect) predicts adolescent sexual intercourse; whether associations between maltreatment and sexual intercourse are explained by children's emotional distress, and whether relations among maltreatment, emotional distress, and sexual intercourse differ according to gender.
METHODS: The Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect was a multisite, longitudinal investigation. Participants ranged from at-risk to substantiated maltreatment. Maltreatment history was assessed through Child Protective Service records and youth self-report at age 12. Youth reported emotional distress by using the Trauma Symptom Checklist at the age of 12 years and sexual intercourse at ages 14 and 16. Logistic and multiple regressions, adjusting for gender, race, and site, were used to test whether maltreatment predicts sexual intercourse, the explanatory effects of emotional distress, and gender differences.
RESULTS: At ages 14 and 16, maltreatment rates were 79% and 81%, respectively, and sexual initiation rates were 21% and 51%. Maltreatment (all types) significantly predicted sexual intercourse. Maltreated youth reported significantly more emotional distress than non-maltreated youth; emotional distress mediated the relationship between maltreatment and intercourse by 14, but not 16. At 14, boys reported higher rates of sexual intercourse than girls and the association between physical abuse and sexual intercourse was not significant for boys.
CONCLUSIONS: Maltreatment (regardless of type) predicts sexual intercourse by 14 and 16. Emotional distress explains the relationship by 14. By 16, other factors likely contribute to intercourse. Maltreated children are at risk for early initiation of sexual intercourse and sexually active adolescents should be evaluated for possible maltreatment.
Commotio Cordis and the Epidemiology of Sudden Death in Competitive Lacrosse
Authors: Maron Barry J. , Doerer Joseph J. , Haas Tammy S. , Estes N.A. Mark , Hodges James S. , Link Mark S. 
Published: August 2009

OBJECTIVE: Athletic field risks associated with blunt, nonpenetrating chest blows (commotio cordis) are receiving increasing attention, but the epidemiology of these events is incomplete.
METHODS: We assessed our Sudden Death in Young Athletes Registry, 1980–2008, to formulate a clinical profile of those sudden deaths attributed to commotio cordis (and other causes) occurring in competitive lacrosse, the most rapidly growing youth sport in the United States.
RESULTS: Twenty-three sudden deaths or cardiac arrests were identified in high school and college lacrosse participants. Ages were 18 ± 2 years; each athlete was male. Ten died after blunt precordial blows, including 4 goalies wearing commercially available chest protectors. Twelve others collapsed because of presumed or documented cardiovascular disease, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, long QT syndrome, mitral valve prolapse, or ruptured cerebral aneurysm. The mortality rate associated with lacrosse was 1.46 deaths per 100000 person-years and was similar to that of other sports including baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. However, deaths attributed to commotio cordis were more frequent in lacrosse (0.63 deaths per 100000 person-years) than in other sports (P &lt; .02), with the exception of hockey.
CONCLUSIONS: Sudden deaths in competitive lacrosse participants are rare and no more common than in most other sports. These catastrophic events were caused disproportionately by commotio cordis and included athletes wearing chest barriers, thereby underscoring the importance of developing effective chest protection to create a safer athletic environment for our youth.
Low Childhood IQ and Early Adult Mortality: The Role of Explanatory Factors in the 1958 British Birth Cohort
Authors: Jokela Markus , Batty G. David , Deary Ian J. , Gale Catharine R. , Kivimäki Mika 
Published: August 2009

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the association between childhood IQ and later mortality risk was explained by early developmental advantages or mediated by adult sociodemographic factors and health behaviors.PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Participants were 10 620 men and women from the 1958 British Birth Cohort Study whose IQ was assessed at the age of 11 years and who were followed up to age 46. Childhood covariates included birth weight, childhood height at 11 years of age, problem behaviors, father's occupational class, parents' interest in child's education, family size, and family difficulties. Adult risk factors were assessed at ages 23, 33, and 42 years, and they included education, occupational class, marital status, smoking, BMI, alcohol use, and psychosomatic symptoms.RESULTS: Between ages 23 and 46 years, 192 participants died. Higher childhood IQ was related to lower mortality risk (standardized odds ratio [OR]: 0.80 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.69–0.93]) with no gender differences (OR: 0.81 [95% CI: 0.67–0.98] [men] and 0.79 [95% CI: 0.63–0.98] [women]). Adjusting for parents' interest in child's education attenuated the IQ-mortality association by 15% to 20%, and adult education and psychosomatic symptoms both attenuated the association by 25%. Other covariates were less influential.CONCLUSIONS: In a cohort of British men and women, the most important explanatory factors for the lower mortality rate among individuals with high IQ were parental interest in child's education, high adult educational level, and low prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms. However, common sociodemographic risk factors and health behaviors may not be sufficient to explain the association between IQ and early mortality completely.
Aquatic photochemistry of chlorinated triclosan derivatives: Potential source of polychlorodibenzo-P-dioxins
Authors: Buth Jeffrey M. , Grandbois Matthew , Vikesland Peter J. , McNeill Kristopher , Arnold William A. 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
Triclosan (TCS; 5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol), a common antimicrobial agent, may react with residual chlorine in tap water during transport to wastewater treatment plants or during chlorine disinfection of wastewater, generating chlorinated TCS derivatives (CTDs): 4,5-dichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol (4-Cl-TCS), 5,6-dichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol (6-C1-TCS), and 4,5,6-trichloro-2-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)phenol (4,6-Cl-TCS). The photochemistry of CTDs was investigated due to the potential formation of polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD) photoproducts. Photolysis rates were highly dependent upon CTD speciation, because the phenolate species degraded 44 to 586 times faster than the phenol forms. Photolysis quantum yield values for TCS, 4-Cl-TCS, 6-Cl-TCS, and 4,6-Cl-TCS of 0.39, 0.07, 0.29, and 0.05, respectively, were determined for the phenolate species. Photolyses performed in Mississippi River and Lake Josephine (USA) waters gave similar quantum yields as buffered, pure water at the same pH, indicating that indirect photolysis processes involving photosensitization of dissolved organic matter are not competitive with direct photolysis. The photochemical conversion of the three CTDs to PCDDs under solar irradiation was confirmed in natural and buffered, pure water at yields of 0.5 to 2.5%. The CTD-derived PCDDs possess higher toxicities than 2,8-dichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, a previously identified photoproduct of TCS, due to their higher chlorine substitution in the lateral positions. The load of TCS- and CTD-derived PCDDs to United States surface waters is estimated to be between 46 and 92 g toxicity equivalent units per year. Other identified photoproducts of each CTD were 2,4-dichlorophenol and reductive dechlorination products.
Ring elements as sums of units
Authors: Lanski Charles , Maróti Attila 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
In an Artinian ring R every element of R can be expressed as the sum of two units if and only if R/J(R) does not contain a summand isomorphic to the field with two elements. This result is used to describe those finite rings R for which Γ(R) contains a Hamiltonian cycle where Γ(R) is the (simple) graph defined on the elements of R with an edge between vertices r and s if and only if r - s is invertible. It is also shown that for an Artinian ring R the number of connected components of the graph Γ(R) is a power of 2.
Fixed point results for multivalued contractions on ordered gauge spaces
Authors: Petruşel Gabriela 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
The purpose of this article is to present fixed point results for multivalued E
≤-contractions on ordered complete gauge space. Our theorems generalize and extend some recent results given in M. Frigon [7], S. Reich [12], I.A. Rus and A. Petruşel [15] and I.A. Rus et al. [16].
Approximation by the Bézier variant of the MKZ-Kantorovich operators in the case α < 1
Authors: Zeng Xiao-Ming , Gupta Vijay 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
The pointwise approximation properties of the Bézier variant of the MKZ-Kantorovich operators $$
\hat M_{n,\alpha } (f,x)
$$ for α ≥ 1 have been studied in [Comput. Math. Appl., 39 (2000), 1-13]. The aim of this paper is to deal with the pointwise approximation of the operators $$
\hat M_{n,\alpha } (f,x)
$$ for the other case 0 < α < 1. By means of some new techniques and new inequalities we establish an estimate formula on the rate of convergence of the operators $$
\hat M_{n,\alpha } (f,x)
$$ for the case 0 < α < 1. In the end we propose the q-analogue of MKZK operators.
A generalization of peripherally-multiplicative surjections between standard operator algebras
Authors: Miura Takeshi , Honma Dai 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
Let A and B be standard operator algebras on Banach spaces X and Y, respectively. The peripheral spectrum σπ (T) of T is defined by σπ (T) = z ∈ σ(T): |z| = maxw∈σ(T) |w|. If surjective (not necessarily linear nor continuous) maps φ, ϕ: A → B satisfy σπ (φ(S)ϕ(T)) = σπ (ST) for all S; T ∈ A, then φ and ϕ are either of the form φ(T) = A
1
TA
2
−1 and ϕ(T) = A
2
TA
1
−1 for some bijective bounded linear operators A
1; A
2 of X onto Y, or of the form φ(T) = B
1
T*B
2
−1 and ϕ(T) = B
2
T*B
−1 for some bijective bounded linear operators B
1;B
2 of X* onto Y.