bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Identifying freshwater conservation priorities in the Upper Yangtze River Basin
Authors: HEINER MICHAEL , HIGGINS JONATHAN , LI XINHAI , BAKER BARRY 
Published: June 2010

Summary1. The Upper Yangtze River drains a catchment of c. 1 million km2 from its headwaters on the Tibetan Plateau to the city of Yichang below the Three Gorges Dam. The Upper Yangtze River Basin supports a diverse aquatic fauna, including 118 endemic fish species. The river basin has a long history of human use and environmental alteration and is further threatened by the demands of a large population and rapid economic development.2. We identified a set of areas that, with adequate protection and/or management, might maintain the aquatic biodiversity and ecological processes representative of the basin. Methods were developed to address the scope and scale of conservation planning across the entire Upper Yangtze Basin in a short time‐frame using available data. The analytical framework is a watershed hierarchy of five catchment size classes derived from a globally available hydrography dataset called HydroSHEDs. Catchments were assigned to ecosystem types according to catchment area and patterns of climate, catchment morphology, geology and sources of water. Catchments were also ranked by ecological condition using an index of cumulative anthropogenic impacts.3. We defined conservation priorities as a combination of expert‐designated focal areas that support endemic fish assemblages and habitat in good condition; sites selected with the conservation planning software MARXAN to meet representation targets for ecosystems and optimise ecological condition and longitudinal connectivity; and a set of rivers selected to provide refugia for fishes affected by a hydropower and flood control infrastructure development project.4. Areas selected as conservation priorities include 3200 km (27% of total length) of large rivers, 9900 km (39% of total length) of small rivers and 30% of small stream catchments in the basin. To evaluate the degree to which the set of conservation priority areas supports threatened and endemic fishes, we conducted a gap analysis using survey records and historic range maps of 131 threatened and/or endemic fish species. The conservation priority areas contain survey records or portions of the known historic range of 116 (88%) of the 131 species we evaluated, with an average of 49% of the survey records and/or 26% of the known historic ranges of each species.
Consumers’ disease information–seeking behaviour on the Internet in Korea
Authors: Yun Eun Kyoung , Park Hyeoun‐Ae 
Published: June 2010

Aim and objectives.  This study was conducted to explain the relationships of the factors affecting consumers’ disease information–seeking behaviour on the Internet in Korea.Background.  Similar to other countries, Korea is facing an increasing use of Internet as a resource of health information. With the paradigm shifts towards consumer‐centred health service, it is expected that more health care consumers will use the Internet actively in the future.Design.  A survey was conducted using a self‐selected convenience sample.Methods.  A conceptual model was derived by extending technology acceptance model and tested via structural equation modelling.Results.  The overall goodness of fit of the conceptual model was acceptable. Consumers’ health consciousness, perceived health risk and Internet health information use efficacy were found to influence consumers’ beliefs, attitude and intention of use disease information on the Internet. But Internet health information use efficacy did not significantly influence perceived usefulness. It was also identified that consumers’ perceived credibility of the information in the websites was the main determinant in forming of attitude towards disease information on the Internet.Conclusions.  Technology acceptance model has been extended and examined successfully in explaining consumers’ disease information–seeking behaviour on the Internet. It was found that consumers’ cognitive and affective characteristics, determined as initiators in health‐related behaviour, also impacted consumers’ disease information–seeking behaviour on the Internet.Relevance to clinical practice.  These findings may be used to help nurses to predict and identify the factors affecting individual’s use of disease information on the Internet. Based on this knowledge, nurses will be able to develop nursing intervention programmes for the patients’ health management.
Social reasoning skills in adults with Down syndrome: the role of language, executive functions and socio‐emotional behaviour
Authors: Hippolyte L. , Iglesias K. , Van der Linden M. , Barisnikov K. 
Published: June 2010

AbstractBackground  Although the prevalence of mental illness and behaviour problems is lower in adults with Down syndrome (DS) than in other populations with intellectual disabilities, they do present emotional and relational problems, as well as social integration difficulties. However, studies reporting on specific competences known to be central in developing appropriate social relationships (e.g. social reasoning, emotion processing, theory of mind) remain rare in the adult DS population and the mechanisms underlying these people's emotional and relational difficulties are unclear.Method  The present study investigated the ability to understand the appropriateness of others' social behaviour in 34 adults with DS, using the Social Resolution Task (SRT). Their results were compared with those of 34 typically developing (TD) children matched for gender and receptive vocabulary. The relationships among the SRT experimental task, cognitive competences (receptive and productive vocabulary, non‐verbal reasoning, inhibition, selective attention) and a caregiver‐rated measure of socio‐emotional behaviour were examined in the DS group.Results  The DS participants' global SRT scores did not differ from those of the controls. However, analyses of the SRT subscores revealed that the DS group identified significantly fewer inappropriate situations than the control group. Nevertheless, when they correctly identified the behaviour as inappropriate, they were as well as the controls to explain the rules underlying their responses. Regression analyses showed that receptive vocabulary and selective attention and a specific dimension of the socio‐emotional profile (social relating skills) constituted the best predictors of the DS adults' performance on the SRT.Conclusions  The main findings show that the DS participants demonstrate relatively good social reasoning skills in comparison with TD children matched for verbal age. However, the two groups present distinctions in their response patterns, and the influence of cognitive variables on success on the SRT also appears different. While selective attention skills are found to be significant predictors for both groups, the influence of receptive vocabulary level is much stronger in the DS group. The implications of particular cognitive and socio‐emotional factors for success on the SRT in this group are considered in more detail.
Profiling protein expression and interactions: proximity ligation as a tool for personalized medicine
Authors: Blokzijl A. , Friedman M. , Pontén F. , Landegren U. 
Published: June 2010

Abstract.  Blokzijl A, Friedman M, Pontén F, Landegren U (From the Department of Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden). Profiling protein expression and interactions: proximity ligation as a tool for personalized medicine. (Review) J Intern Med 2010; 268: 232–245.The ability to detect very low levels of expressed proteins has enormous potential for early diagnostics and intervention at curable stages of disease. An extended range of targets such as interacting or post‐translationally modified proteins can further improve the potential for diagnostics and patient stratification, and for monitoring response to treatment. These are critical building blocks for personalized treatment strategies to manage disease. The past few decades have seen a remarkably improved understanding of the molecular basis of disease in general, and of tumour formation and progression in particular. This accumulated knowledge creates opportunities to develop drugs that specifically target molecules or molecular complexes critical for survival and expansion of tumour cells. However, tumours are highly variable between patients, necessitating the development of diagnostic tools to individualize treatment through parallel analysis of sets of biomarkers.The proximity ligation assay (PLA) can address many of the requirements for advanced molecular analysis. The method builds on the principle that recognition of target proteins by two, three or more antibodies can bring in proximity DNA strands attached to the antibodies. The DNA strands can then participate in ligation reactions, giving rise to molecules that are amplified for highly sensitive detection. PLA is particularly well suited for sensitive, specific and multiplexed analysis of protein expression, post‐translational modifications and protein–protein interactions. The analysis of this extended range of biomarkers will prove critical for the development and implementation of personalized medicine.
A bacterial extracellular DNA inhibits settling of motile progeny cells within a biofilm
Authors: Berne Cécile , Kysela David T. , Brun Yves V. 
Published: June 2010

SummaryIn natural systems, bacteria form complex, surface‐attached communities known as biofilms. This lifestyle presents numerous advantages compared with unattached or planktonic life, such as exchange of nutrients, protection from environmental stresses and increased tolerance to biocides. Despite such benefits, dispersal also plays an important role in escaping deteriorating environments and in successfully colonizing favourable, unoccupied habitat patches. The α‐proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus produces a motile swarmer cell and a sessile stalked cell at each cell division. We show here that C. crescentus extracellular DNA (eDNA) inhibits the ability of its motile cell type to settle in a biofilm. eDNA binds to the polar holdfast, an adhesive structure required for permanent surface attachment and biofilm formation, thereby inhibiting cell attachment. Because stalked cells associate tightly with the biofilm through their holdfast, we hypothesize that this novel mechanism acts on swarmer cells born in a biofilm, where eDNA can accumulate to a sufficient concentration to inhibit their ability to settle. By targeting a specific cell type in a biofilm, this mechanism modulates biofilm development and promotes dispersal without causing a potentially undesirable dissolution of the existing biofilm.
Vancomycin tolerance in clinical and laboratory Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates depends on reduced enzyme activity of the major LytA autolysin or cooperation between CiaH histidine kinase and capsular polysaccharide
Authors: Moscoso Miriam , Domenech Mirian , García Ernesto 
Published: June 2010

SummaryVancomycin is frequently added to standard therapy for pneumococcal meningitis. Although vancomycin‐resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae strains have not been isolated, reports on the emergence of vancomycin‐tolerant pneumococci are a cause of concern. To date, the molecular basis of vancomycin tolerance in S. pneumoniae is essentially unknown. We examined two vancomycin‐tolerant clinical isolates, i.e. a purported autolysin negative (LytA‐), serotype 23F isolate (strain S3) and the serotype 14 strain ‘Tupelo’, which is considered a paradigm of vancomycin tolerance. S3 was characterized here as carrying a frameshift mutation in the lytA gene encoding the main pneumococcal autolysin. The vancomycin tolerance of strain S3 was abolished by transformation to the autolysin‐proficient phenotype. The original Tupelo strain was discovered to be a mixture: a strain showing a vancomycin‐tolerant phenotype (Tupelo_VT) and a vancomycin‐nontolerant strain (Tupelo_VNT). The two strains differed only in terms of a single mutation in the ciaH gene present in the VT strain. Most interestingly, although the vancomycin tolerance of Tupelo_VT could be overcome by increasing the LytA dosage upon transformation by a multicopy plasmid or by externally adding the autolysin, we show that vancomycin tolerance in S. pneumoniae requires the simultaneous presence of a mutated CiaH histidine kinase and capsular polysaccharide.
Living donor liver transplantation for giant cavernous hemangioma of liver in a child
Authors: Sood Disha , Mohan Neelam , Singh Amanjeet , Buxi Tarvinder Bir Singh , Nundy Samiran , Soin Arvinder Singh 
Published: June 2010

Sood D, Mohan N, Singh A, Buxi TBS, Nundy S, Soin AS. Living donor liver transplantation for giant cavernous hemangioma of liver in a child. Pediatr Transplantation 2011: 15: E135–E139. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.Abstract:  A 10‐yr‐old girl presented with a seven‐month history of upper abdominal discomfort and weight loss. Physical examination revealed an abdominal lump in the right hypochondrium and epigastrium. Ultrasound examination and a computerized tomographic scan showed a large lobulated mass arising from segments I, 1V, and VIII of liver with arteriovenous shunting and multiple small masses in segments VI and VII. An initial diagnosis of hemangioendothelioma with metastasis was made elsewhere following which she received chemotherapy. She had persistent abdominal discomfort because of which she became dependent on narcotics. The patient had fever because of tumor necrosis and also developed peripheral neuropathy. Finally, owing to progressively worsening of symptoms, she underwent left lobe living donor liver transplantation. Histopathological examination showed the mass to be a cavernous hemangioma, and the patient is now well.
Does living donation have advantages over deceased donation in liver transplantation?
Authors: Kaido Toshimi , Uemoto Shinji 
Published: June 2010

AbstractLiver transplantation (LT) is the best treatment option for patients with end‐stage liver disease. Living donor LT (LDLT) has developed as an alternative to deceased donor LT (DDLT) in order to overcome the critical shortage of deceased organ donations, particularly in Asia. LDLT offers several advantages over DDLT. The major advantage of LDLT is the reduction in waiting time mortality. Especially among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), LDLT can shorten the waiting time and lower the dropout rate. The Hong Kong group reported that median waiting time was significantly shorter for LDLT than for DDLT. Intention‐to‐treat survival rates of HCC patients with voluntary live donors were significantly higher than those of patients without voluntary live donors. In contrast, a multicenter adult‐to‐adult LDLT retrospective cohort study reported that LDLT recipients displayed a significantly higher rate of HCC recurrence than DDLT recipients, although LDLT recipients had shorter waiting times than DDLT recipients. The advantage of LDLT involves the more liberal criteria for HCC compared with those for DDLT. Various preoperative interventions including nutritional treatment can also be planned for both the donor and recipient in LDLT. Conversely, LDLT has marked unfavorable characteristics in terms of donor risks. Donor morbidity is not infrequent and the donor mortality rate is estimated at around 0.1–0.3%. In conclusion, living donation is not necessarily advantageous over deceased donation in LT. Taking the advantages and disadvantages of each option into consideration, LDLT and DDLT should both be used to facilitate effective LT for patients requiring transplant.
Serum aminotransferase levels instead of etiology affects the accuracy of transient elastography in chronic viral hepatitis patients
Authors: Cho Hye Jin , Seo Yeon Seok , Lee Kwang Gyun , Hyun Jong Jin , An Hyonggin , Keum Bora , Kim Ji Hoon , Yim Hyung Joon , Jeen Yoon Tae , Lee Hong Sik , Chun Hoon Jai , Um Soon Ho , Kim Chang Duck , Ryu Ho Sang 
Published: June 2010

AbstractBackground and Aim:  It is still uncertain whether the accuracy of transient elastography (TE) in predicting the fibrosis stage is similar in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC). The present study was carried out to evaluate whether the underlying cause of chronic viral hepatitis affects the predictive accuracy of TE.Methods:  Patients with CHB or CHC who were admitted for a liver biopsy were enrolled. Patients underwent TE and laboratory tests on the same day as the liver biopsy. The predictive accuracy was analyzed by comparing the areas under the receiver‐operating characteristic curves (AUCs).Results:  Two‐hundred and seven patients were enrolled, comprising 121 CHB patients and 86 CHC patients). The patients were aged 44 ± 14 years, and 121 (58.5%) of them were men. AUCs for predicting significant fibrosis were significantly lower in CHB patients than in CHC patients (P = 0.043). The serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level was associated with overestimation and underestimation of the fibrosis stage, while the cause of chronic hepatitis was not. AUCs for predicting significant fibrosis were significantly lower in patients with ALT levels >70 IU/L (AUC, 0.830; 95% CI, 0.742–0.898) than in patients with ALT levels ≤70 IU/L (0.944; 0.882–0.979; P = 0.015).Conclusions:  Although the predictive accuracy of TE in predicting significant fibrosis differed significantly with the cause of chronic hepatitis, this difference was due to the degree of serum ALT levels rather than to the cause of hepatitis itself. Avoiding performing TE in patients with elevated ALT levels is recommended to guarantee the predictive accuracy of TE.
New endoscopic and surgical treatment options for early esophageal adenocarcinoma
Authors: Gan Susan , Watson David I 
Published: June 2010

AbstractAlthough the outcome for advanced stage esophageal cancer is poor, the early detection and treatment of early stage disease is usually associated with a much better outcome. Until recently, esophagectomy has been the treatment of choice in fit patients. However, morbidity is significant, and this has encouraged the development of newer endoscopic treatments that preserve the esophagus. These techniques include ablation and mucosal resection. Promising results are described, and endoscopic methods might provide a reasonable alternative for the treatment of early esophageal cancer. However, follow‐up remains short and endoscopic treatment does not deal with potential lymphatic spread. Hence, careful selection is required. Minimally invasive techniques for esophageal resection have also been shown to be feasible, although there is only limited evidence that they reduce postoperative morbidity. Better data are still required to demonstrate improved outcomes from endoscopic treatment and minimally invasive esophagectomy.
A systematic review of interventions to support siblings of children with chronic illness or disability
Authors: Hartling Lisa , Milne Andrea , Tjosvold Lisa , Wrightson Dawn , Gallivan Jennifer , Newton Amanda S 
Published: June 2010

Aim:  Chronic illness or disability in children can have a deleterious effect on the psychosocial health of well siblings. This systematic review synthesised evidence from studies evaluating sibling‐oriented care aimed at improving behavioural and emotional outcomes in well siblings of children with chronic illness or disability.Methods:  Twenty electronic databases were searched. Study selection, data extraction and assessment of methodological quality were performed by two independent reviewers.Results:  Five controlled and nine uncontrolled studies were included. In higher‐quality controlled trials, benefits of sibling‐oriented care included reduced anxiety, improved mood and behavioural adjustment; however, these findings were not consistently demonstrated across studies. Study differences made it difficult to determine which sibling care features were most salient.Conclusions:  Study findings highlight the potential for enhancing emotional and behavioural outcomes in well siblings. Future evaluations need to clearly identify the intended purpose of the care (what improvements are intended) and which types of siblings are most likely to benefit. This approach may yield more consistent and clinically important results.
Power to the paediatricians: The Australian Paediatric Research Network is born
Authors: Hiscock Harriet , Efron Daryl , Wasserman Richard , Wake Melissa 
Published: June 2010

AbstractIn late 2007, we established the Australian Paediatric Research Network (APRN) – a 350 member strong research network – which aims to facilitate high quality research into common, child health conditions seen in secondary care settings. Through this network we hope to engage paediatricians working at ‘the coal face’ to generate research ideas, take part in projects and ultimately contribute to better health care and policy for Australian children. As for adults, tertiary institutions remain the predominant site of paediatric research. Tertiary research however, is biased towards severe illness, isolated conditions, highly selected patients and single interventions. This is not always relevant to the real world that paediatricians confront every day.The APRN is off to a strong start. We have worked with members to establish their research priorities and conducted a prospective audit of their caseload to inform the relevance, feasibility and design of future APRN studies. We have developed a website (http://www.aprn.org.au) which will house useful tools for conducting research including child health measures and project design needs. We plan to call for member‐initiated research proposals on an annual basis and to conduct a ‘multi‐topic’ survey addressing up to six research topics at any one time. Although conducting research in secondary care settings poses time, cost and process challenges, all of these are firmly within the APRN's sights.
Engaging parents in child obesity prevention: Support preferences of parents
Authors: Wolfenden Luke , Bell Colin , Wiggers John , Butler Michelle , James Erica , Chipperfield Kelly 
Published: June 2010

AbstractHelping parents engage in practices that are likely to prevent childhood obesity is a considerable challenge for health professionals, policy makers and researchers. The aim of the study was to determine who is likely to use services designed to help parents prevent overweight and obesity and what types of services they prefer. Two hundred and forty randomly selected parents of children 4–15 years from the Hunter New England region of New South Wales completed a 15 min telephone survey. Most parents would use a service to help them prevent obesity in their children but particularly parents of households from higher socioeconomic areas, female parents, parents of younger children and parents of children who are not consuming sufficient serves of fruits and vegetables, or are less active. Parents preferred personalised mailed print materials (85%), specialist appointments (61%) and emailed information (58%). Parents are interested in using a range of services to support them to encourage their children to eat healthily and be active. Researchers should test the efficacy of promising services.