bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Objective Assessment of the Immediate Postoperative Analgesia Using Pupillary Reflex Measurement
Authors: Aissou Mourad , Snauwaert Aurelie , Dupuis Claire , Atchabahian Arthur , Aubrun Frederic , Beaussier Marc 
Published: March 2012

Background
The evaluation of pain intensity during the immediate postoperative period is a key factor for pain management. However, this evaluation may be difficult in some circumstances. The pupillary dilatation reflex (PDR) has been successfully used to assess the analgesic component of a balanced anesthetic regimen. We hypothesized that PDR could be a reliable index of pain intensity and could guide morphine administration in the immediate postoperative period.

Methods
One hundred patients scheduled to undergo general surgery were included in this prospective observational study. Pain intensity was assessed by using a simple five-item verbal rating scale (VRS). After patients awoke from general anesthesia, those experiencing mild or more severe pain (VRS more than 1) received intravenous morphine titration. Before and after intravenous morphine titration, the PDR induced by a standardized noxious stimulus was measured with a portable pupillometer. A receiver-operating curve was built to estimate the accuracy of PDR in objectively detecting patients requiring morphine titration. Results are given as median (95% CI).

Results
On the initial evaluation, a correlation was found between VRS and PDR (ρ = 0.88 [0.83-0.92], P < 0.0001). In the 39 patients that had a VRS more than 1, PDR before and after morphine titration was respectively 35% (31-43) versus 12% (10-14); P < 0.0001. The PDR threshold value corresponding to the highest accuracy to have VRS more than 1 was 23%, with 91% and 94% sensitivity and specificity, respectively.

Conclusion
In the immediate postoperative period, the PDR is significantly correlated with the VRS. The pupillometer could be a valuable tool to guide morphine administration in the immediate postoperative period.
Investigating member commitment to virtual communities using an integrated perspective
Authors: Shih‐Tse Wang Edward , Shui‐Lien Chen Lily , Tsai Bi‐Kun 
Published: March 2012

PurposeAlthough the number of virtual communities has increased dramatically over the past few years, attracting and maintaining members remains the biggest challenge to establishing virtual social networks. This study seeks to integrate the roles of individual factors (issue involvement), social factors (social interaction), and system factors (system interactivity), and to explore how these factors contribute to member commitment in virtual communities.Design/methodology/approachA total of 402 undergraduate students, who are all current members of virtual communities, participated in this study. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe findings reveal that member commitment to communities was influenced more by their issue involvement compared to their perceived social interaction or perceived system interactivity.Originality/valueThis research contributes to online community literature by integrating critical antecedent factors in the field of community commitment behavior. The findings indicate that issue involvement is more important than social interaction and system interactivity for influencing member commitment to communities. Additionally, the findings suggest that online community administrators should consider community positioning and topic selecting programs when attempting to influence users to commit to communities.
A framework for assessing the impacts of community‐based enterprises on household poverty
Authors: Teerakul Nuttamon , Villano Renato A. , Wood Fiona Q. , Mounter Stuart W. 
Published: March 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a framework developed for assessing Community‐based Enterprises' (CBEs') impacts on poverty reduction at the household level in northern Thailand, in the context of the UN Millennium Development Goals. The focus is on the use of principal component analysis to develop a context‐specific definition of poverty.Design/methodology/approachThe paper explains how business performance measurement, impact assessment of development projects and poverty measurement have been integrated into a single poverty impact assessment framework in relation to CBEs. This framework has two key steps: identification of poverty groups and poverty components; and impact assessment of CBEs and other factors on household poverty.FindingsThe framework captures a number of qualitative and quantitative aspects of poverty necessary for an accurate relative measure for differing geographical, economic and cultural contexts.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper's approach lies in the design of the framework used to assess poverty impacts of CBEs at the household level. The framework combines three well‐known, but traditionally separately used, methodologies in order to better explore the economic dynamic of CBEs on households. The paper is expected to be of high relevance, both theoretically and methodologically, to researchers undertaking similar poverty, micro‐enterprise and social entrepreneurship studies in other developing countries.
Knowledge integration in systems integrator type project‐based companies: a systemic view
Authors: Koskinen Kaj U. 
Published: March 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how the systems integrator type project‐based companies integrate knowledge of different sub‐systems.Design/methodology/approachInitially, essential theoretical information is presented by reviewing the concept of systemic view. After that follows illustrations of the concepts of knowledge and knowledge integration. Then, the implications for project‐based companies acting as systems integrators through knowledge integration are discussed through the concepts of interaction, interface element, absorptive capacity, and motivation to transfer knowledge. The paper ends with a section on conclusions.FindingsThe main finding is: the existence of systems integrator type project‐based company can only be understood through systemic view, i.e. through relationships between parts and wholes.Originality/valueFinding a viable perspective and approach, with which project‐based companies acting as systems integrators can ensure that knowledge integration takes place efficiently, is a very important issue. Therefore, it is suggested that the systemic view provides a basic approach through which understanding of project‐based companies' knowledge integration may be advanced.
Capital province, political objectives and the post‐IPO policy burden
Authors: Sun Liang , Liu Chun 
Published: March 2012

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the reason for Chinese local officials' enthusiasm towards cultivating newly listed firms within their jurisdictions.Design/methodology/approachWith new initial public offering (IPO) firms on the Chinese A‐share market over 1999‐2003 as samples, and using excessive employment as a measure of the carrying level of firms for political objectives of local governments, this study systematically investigates the change in policy burden for Chines firms before and after going public, the influence factors and their economic consequences.FindingsThe authors show that compared with before going public, the excessive employment of firms substantially increased upon going public, among which firms, state‐owned enterprises with better performances and private enterprises with closer links with government are heavier burdened with excessive employment. Furthermore, it was found that the increase in excessive employment upon going public can substantially aggravate the underperformance of IPO firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings in this study indicate that the new IPO firms do help local officials better realize their political objectives, and the local governments do actively use their rights of control or influence in pursuing their political appeals, and the political appeals of local officials brought loss of real economic efficiency to newly increased IPO firms.Practical implicationsThis paper shows that the prime mover of Chinese local government in promoting securitization of local assets is effectively preserved by partial privatization, which is designed with the original intention of preserving governmental control over the economy.Originality/valueThe paper explains the Chinese local governments' enthusiasm for building capital provinces for reasons other than economic growth, i.e. political objectives; the paper provides evidence of how the political appeals of officials influence the capital market from the circumstance of government official selecting system, and builds a possible bridge in the relationship between government interventions and underperformance of the Chinese partially‐privatized firms.
Trajectories and nuclear arrangement of PML bodies are influenced by A‐type lamin deficiency
Authors: Stixová Lenka , Matula Pavel , Kozubek Stanislav , Gombitová Adriána , Cmarko Dušan , Raška Ivan , Bártová Eva 
Published: March 2012

AbstractBackground informationPromyelocytic leukaemia (PML) bodies are specific nuclear structures with functional significance for acute promyelocytic leukaemia. In this study, we analysed the trajectories of PML bodies using single‐particle tracking.ResultsWe observed that the recovery of PML protein after photobleaching was ATP dependent in both wild‐type (wt) and A‐type lamin‐deficient cells. The movement of PML bodies was faster and the nuclear area occupied by particular PML bodies was larger in A‐type lamin‐deficient fibroblasts compared with their wt counterparts. Moreover, dysfunction of the LMNA gene increased the frequency of mutual interactions between individual PML bodies and influenced the morphology of these domains at the ultrastructural level. As a consequence of A‐type lamin deficiency, PML protein accumulated in nuclear blebs and frequently appeared at the nuclear periphery.ConclusionsWe suggest that the physiological function of lamin A proteins is important for events that occur in the compartment of PML bodies. This observation was confirmed in other experimental models characterised by lamin changes, including apoptosis or the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells.
Addiction research centres and the nurturing of creativity
Authors: Thamarangsi Thaksaphon 
Published: March 2012

ABSTRACTThe Center for Alcohol Studies of Thailand (CAS) is a newly established research agency in Thailand. With support from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, CAS was established as the national research and knowledge management institute for addressing alcohol‐related harms. CAS possesses some rare qualities. First, it is one of a few alcohol‐specific research centres in low‐ and middle‐income countries, and the only one in the Southeast Asia region. Secondly, CAS both conducts research and grants research funding, allowing it to influence to some extent the direction of Thai alcohol research. Furthermore, CAS researchers engage in all components of the research and policy process. In line with the concept of ‘the Triangle that Moves the Mountain’, CAS interacts closely with partners from all sectors, prioritizes capacity development and frequently operates beyond conventional academic function.
Factors Affecting Pentose Phosphate Pathway Activity in Human Red Cells
Authors: Davidson W. D. , Tanaka K. R. 
Published: March 2012

Summary. The vibrating reed electrometer and ionization chamber have been adapted for the instantaneous and continuous measurement of pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) activity in human red cells. PPP activity was determined by measuring the conversion of glucose‐1‐14C to 14CO2.PPP activity was independent of ambient glucose concentration over the range of 50–500 mg % and was stimulated up to 36‐, 18‐ and 6‐fold by methylene blue, ascorbic acid and primaquine, respectively. PPP activity was increased 24% and 41% when incubation temperatures were raised to 39°C and 40.5°C, respectively. PPP activity in unstimulated RBC was twice as great in 95% O2 as in 20% O2 and in 10% O2 was only slightly less than in 20% O2. The PPP activity was found to be very pH‐dependent. PPP activity in plasma was about twice as great as in Krebs‐Ringer bicarbonate buffer.Thus, the activity of the PPP in red cells is altered significantly in vitro by incubation conditions designed to mimic various clinical states.
Role of common genetic variants in ovarian cancer susceptibility and outcome: progress to date from the ovarian cancer association consortium (OCAC)
Authors: Bolton K. L. , Ganda C. , Berchuck A. , Pharaoh P. D. P. , Gayther S. A. 
Published: March 2012

Abstract.  Bolton KL, Ganda C, Berchuck A, Pharaoh PDP, Gayther SA (National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, USA; EGA Institute for Women’s Health, University College London, London, UK; Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA; University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; and University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA). Role of common genetic variants in ovarian cancer susceptibility and outcome: progress to date from the ovarian cancer association consortium (OCAC) (Review). J Intern Med 2012; 271: 366–378.In this article, we review the current knowledge of the inherited genetics of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) susceptibility and clinical outcome. We focus on recent developments in identifying low‐penetrance susceptibility genes and the role of the ovarian cancer association consortium (OCAC) in these discoveries. The OCAC was established to facilitate large‐scale replication analyses for reported genetic associations for EOC. Since its inception, the OCAC has conducted both candidate gene and genome‐wide association studies (GWAS); the latter has identified six established loci for EOC susceptibility, most of which showed stronger association with the serous histological subtype. Future GWAS and sequencing studies are likely to result in the discovery of additional susceptibility loci and may result in established associations with clinical outcome. Additional rare and uncommon ovarian cancer loci will likely be uncovered from high‐throughput next‐generation sequencing studies. Applying these novel findings to establish improved preventative and clinical intervention strategies will be one of the major challenges of future work.
Bacterial biofilms in a ‘genes‐to‐ecosystems’ context
Authors: CRUTSINGER GREGORY M. 
Published: March 2012

AbstractIn ecology, there is an increasing amount of research dedicated to understanding how intraspecific genetic diversity can extend beyond the population level to influence the assembly of communities and the functioning of ecosystems. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Koh et al. (2012) take this exploration to a new level using bacterial biofilms and protozoan grazers. They show that there is heritable variation in the phenotypes of different variants of biofilms of Serratia marcescens and that these strains display complementarity when combined in a diverse assemblage. Mixtures of variants were significantly more resistant to protozoan grazing than either wild‐type or variant biofilms grown in monocultures. While similar biodiversity effects of genotype mixtures have been observed in other systems, Koh et al. (2012) link phenotype variation of the biofilms to a single nucleotide polymorphism in one regulatory gene. Importantly, the authors demonstrate that minimal changes in a genotype can result in substantial shifts in interspecific ecological interactions.
Protein elemental sparing and codon usage bias are correlated among bacteria
Authors: BRAGG JASON G. , QUIGG ANTONIETTA , RAVEN JOHN A. , WAGNER ANDREAS 
Published: March 2012

AbstractHighly expressed proteins can exhibit relatively small material costs, in terms of the quantities of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) or sulphur (S) atoms they contain. This ‘elemental sparing’ probably reflects selection to reduce the quantities of potentially growth‐limiting elements in abundant proteins, but the evolutionary mechanisms for adaptive elemental sparing are still poorly understood. Here, we predict that the extent of ‘elemental sparing’ in highly expressed proteins will vary among organisms, according to the effectiveness of selection in determining the fate of mutations. We test this hypothesis in bacteria by asking whether ‘elemental sparing’ is correlated with codon usage bias. Bacteria exhibit extraordinary variation in their life histories and demography and consequently in the effectiveness of selection in determining whether preferred codons are used in highly expressed genes. We find that C sparing and S sparing, but not N sparing, are significantly correlated with adaptive codon usage bias among 148 genera of bacteria, suggesting that selection for elemental sparing and codon bias are promoted by similar bacterial traits. Our study helps identify principles that determine how nutrient scarcity can shape the elemental composition of proteins.
Effect of electrical conductivity on survival of Phytophthora alni, P. kernoviae and P. ramorum in a simulated aquatic environment
Authors: Kong P. , Lea‐Cox J. D. , Hong C. X. 
Published: March 2012

This study investigated survival of the pathogens Phytophthora ramorum, P. alni and P. kernoviae as zoospores or sporangia in response to an important water quality parameter, electrical conductivity (EC), at its range in irrigation water reservoirs and irrigated cropping systems. Experiments with different strengths of Hoagland’s solution showed that all three pathogens survived at a broad range of EC levels for at least 3 days and were stimulated to grow and sporulate at ECs > 1·89 dS m−1. Recovery of initial populations after a 14‐day exposure was over 20% for P. alni subsp. alni and P. kernoviae, and 61·3% and 130% for zoospores and sporangia of P. ramorum, respectively. Zoospore survival of these pathogens at ECs < 0·41 dS m−1 was poor, barely beyond 3 days in pure water; only 0·3% (P. alni), 2·9% (P. kernoviae) and 15·1% (P. ramorum) of the initial population survived after 14 days at EC = 0·21 dS m−1. The variation in rates of survival at different EC levels suggests that these pathogens survive better in cropping systems than in irrigation water. Containment of run‐off and reduction in EC levels may therefore be non‐chemical control options to reduce the risk of pathogen spread through natural waterways and irrigation systems.
Meta‐analysis of clinical trials on traditional Chinese herbal medicine for treatment of persistent allergic rhinitis
Authors: Wang Shijun , Tang Qiaofei , Qian Wei , Fan Yu 
Published: March 2012

AbstractBackgroundChinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used for the prevention and treatment of persistent allergic rhinitis (PAR), but results are still equivocal. This study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of CHM in patients with PAR.Materials and methodsDatabases searched included articles published in the Cochrane library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang database from 1999 to 2011. The studies included were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing CHM to placebo if they included patients with PAR. The main outcomes were the changes in the standardized mean difference (SMD) of nasal symptom scores and total serum IgE level. Methodological quality was assessed by the modified Jadad's scale.ResultsSeven RCTs with 533 patients were identified and analyzed. In the meta‐analysis, CHM reduced the total nasal symptom scores compared to placebo (SMD, −1.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], −3.03 to −0.62; P = 0.003). The effect estimate was in favor of the CHM intervention (SMD, −1.09; 95% CI, −2.74 to 0.55) in reducing the total serum IgE level, although this was not significant (P = 0.19).ConclusionsCHM interventions appear to have beneficial effects in patients with PAR. However, the published efficacy studies are too small to draw firm conclusion.
A novel role for interleukin‐1 receptor signaling in the developmental regulation of immune responses to endotoxin
Authors: Martino David , Holt Patrick , Prescott Susan 
Published: March 2012

To cite this article: Martino D, Holt P, Prescott S. A novel role for Interleukin‐1 receptor signaling in the developmental regulation of immune responses to endotoxin. Pediatric Allergy Immunology 2012: 23: 567–572.AbstractNeonatal Innate immunity is distinct compared with later ages with some inflammatory cytokines produced in excess of adult levels in response to microbial products such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The molecular mechanisms underpinning this specific pattern of neonatal immunity are unknown. In this study, we compared gene expression and cytokine production from LPS stimulated mononuclear cell cultures from 60 individuals at birth and at 12‐months. Neonatal mononuclear cell responses were characterized by high levels of IL‐1β, IL‐10, and IFNγ compared with mononuclear cell responses at 12 months. Microarray analysis of gene expression revealed widespread differences between the neonatal versus infant LPS response. We found expression of a subset of interleukin‐1 receptor/Toll‐like receptor (IL‐1R/TLR) signaling genes was highly expressed in the neonatal period and rapidly down regulated by 12 months. The data suggest that IL‐1R1 expression in the neonatal period provides an additional level of Myd88‐dependent signaling during this period of heighted susceptibility to infection.
Oxidative stress in the airways of children with asthma and allergic rhinitis
Authors: Celik Melda , Tuncer Ayfer , Soyer Ozge U. , Saçkesen Cansın , Tanju Besler H , Kalayci Omer 
Published: March 2012

To cite this article: Celik M, Tuncer A, Soyer OU, Saçkesen C, Tanju Besler H, Kalayci O. Oxidative stress in the airways of children with asthma and allergic rhinitis. Pediatric Allergy Immunology 2012: 23: 556–561.AbstractIntroduction:  Even though it is well known that oxidant stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma, less is known about allergic rhinitis. Moreover, it is not known whether the co‐existence of the two diseases augments the level of oxidant stress within a united airway concept.Aim:  To define the level of oxidative stress in children with asthma and/or allergic rhinitis in nasal and oral exhaled breath condensates (EBC) of children.Method:  Children aged 6–18 years with asthma (n = 28), allergic rhinitis (n = 17), asthma and allergic rhinitis (n = 100), and healthy controls (n = 74) were enrolled in the study. Levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) as a marker of oxidative stress and reduced glutathione (GSH) as an antioxidant were measured by High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography in the EBC.Results:  Malondialdehyde levels were higher, and GSH levels were lower in all patient groups compared to healthy controls in both nasal and oral EBC samples (p < 0.01) but there were no differences among the different patient groups. Interestingly, oral MDA levels were lower in patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis [17.78 nm (11.62–23.94)] compared to patients with asthma only [25.71 nm (18.81–32.61)] (p < 0.01).Discussion:  Both asthma and allergic rhinitis are associated with increased oxidative stress in the airways in children. However, the co‐existence of the two diseases does not augment the oxidant stress further.