bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The use of serum bepridil concentration as a safe rhythm control strategy in patients with atrial tachyarrhythmias
Authors: Miura Seiji , Sumiyoshi Masataka , Tsuchiya Hiroto , Maruyama Masaki , Seigen I , Okai Iwao , Masaki Yoshiyuki , Okazaki Shinya , Inoue Kenji , Fujiwara Yasumasa , Komatsu Kaoru , Hayashi Hidemori , Sekita Gaku , Tokano Takashi , Nakazato Yuji , Daida Hiroyuki 
Published: July 2012

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of serum bepridil (Bep) concentration (SBC) for safely managing patients with atrial tachyarrhythmias (AT).Methods and resultsSBC was measured in 37 patients with AT, including atrial fribrillation (AF) (31 cases), AF+atrial flutter (AFL) (4 cases), AFL (1 case), and atrial tachycardia (1 case). The patients were administrated Bep for more than 4 weeks at the same dose. SBC was positively correlated with Bep dose per kilogram of body weight (p=0.015), QT interval (p=0.019), and QTc (p=0.034). The patients were divided into 2 groups according to their SBC: the high‐SBC (HSBC) group of 8 patients with an SBC≥500 ng/ml and a low‐SBC (LSBC) group of 29 patients with an SBC<500 ng/ml. There was no difference in maintenance of sinus rhythm between the groups. For clinical variables, QT and QTc were significantly longer in the HSBC than in the LSBC group (p=0.004 and p=0.016, respectively). Patients with QT>0.5 were more prominent in the HSBC group (37.5% vs. 3.4%, p=0.026), and torsade de points (TdP) occurred in only one patient in the HSBC group. However, there were several patients with normal QT/QTc despite having high SBC.ConclusionsIn patients treated with Bep, measurement of SBC is useful for preventing proarrhythmias.
Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: Past, present, and future directions
Authors: Yoshida Kentaro , Aonuma Kazutaka 
Published: July 2012

AbstractAtrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice. Because of inadequate efficacy of pharmacological therapy, catheter ablation of AF has evolved dramatically over the last decade. Although the success rate of ablation has improved, the ablation strategy is still extensive, and the ablation procedure is technically challenging. In the past decade, electrophysiologists were eager to obtain high success rates with extensive ablation. In the present decade, further clarification of the complex mechanism of AF is required to make ablation of AF safer and much more efficient. Because the mechanism of AF is very complex, and even somewhat mysterious, it may not be easy to attain a better understanding of the mechanism involved or to discover better guidance for catheter ablation. However, it is important to note that research into AF leads to better understanding of other cardiac and non‐cardiac diseases because AF develops multifactorially in association with underlying systemic pathophysiologies.
“Heparin bridging” increases the risk of bleeding complications in patients undergoing anticoagulation therapy and device implantation
Authors: Fujiwara Ryudo , Yoshida Akihiro , Takei Asumi , Fukuzawa Koji , Takami Kaoru , Takami Mitsuru , Tanaka Satoko , Ito Mitsuaki , Imamura Kimitake , Hirata Ken‐ichi 
Published: July 2012

AbstractBackgroundThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the rate of perioperative bleeding complications following anticoagulation therapy in patients undergoing implantable electronic device implantation.Methods and resultsWe retrospectively analyzed the data from 161 consecutive patients with new device implants or generator replacement performed between February 2008 and June 2009 in our hospital. Sixty‐five (40.3%) patients took warfarin, 55 (34.2%) took antiplatelet therapy, and 16 (9.9%) took dual antiplatelet therapy prior to implantation. Heparin bridging was performed in 7 of 65 patients taking warfarin. Pocket hematoma was observed in 10 (6.2%) patients and device infection was observed in 1 (0.6%) patient. No cases of thromboembolism were observed. There were no complications associated with warfarin (P=0.19) or antiplatelet therapy (P=0.69). However, the patients that had undergone heparin bridging were significantly more likely to have complications (3 of 10) (P=0.005). In multivariate analysis, heparin bridging was the only independent predictor of complications.ConclusionOur study suggests that heparin bridging increases the risk of perioperative bleeding complications in cardiac device implantation.
Prognosis of patients with coronary vasospasm after successful resuscitation from ventricular fibrillation
Authors: Ishihara Akiko , Tanaka Takahiro , Otsu MD, Yu , Yamada MD, Tomoyuki , Tamaki MD, Toru , Kosaka MD, Akihito , Kamoi MD, Yoshiro , Kira MD, Yuji 
Published: July 2012

AbstractVentricular fibrillation (VF) is an important cause of sudden cardiac death in patients with coronary vasospasm. Intensive medical treatment against coronary vasospasm is most important for prevention of VF recurrence, and the efficacy of implantable cardioverter‐defibrillator (ICD) devices is controversial. We examined 19 consecutive patients with coronary spasm who had been successfully resuscitated from VF between 1993 and 2010, 13 of whom underwent ICD implantation. There were no apparent differences in the results of coronary angiography and acetylcholine provocation test or in medical therapy among them. Six patients underwent electrophysiological tests during the acetylcholine provocation test, and 3 of them showed ventricular arrhythmia. Three patients had recurrent VF under treatment with single calcium channel blocker (CCB), nitrates, and/or nicorandil. Two of them were without ICDs and were left in vegetative states, and the third was successfully resuscitated by an appropriate ICD discharge. The results of our study suggest that dual or multiple CCB treatment is preferable to prevent VF recurrence, and that combined treatment with ICD may be effective for some patients with coronary vasospasm who have been successfully resuscitated from VF. However, reasonable risk stratification for ICD implantation in these patients needs to be established in the future.
Current strategies of antiarrhythmic drug therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation
Authors: Komatsu Takashi 
Published: July 2012

AbstractAtrial fibrillation is now recognized as a significant medical and social problem. Atrial fibrillation not only causes cardiovascular complications, including thromboembolism and heart failure, but also decreases the survival of patients with impaired left ventricular function; thus, it is considered an independent factor for cardiovascular death. The goal of antiarrhythmic drug therapy for atrial fibrillation is improvement of daily quality of life and cardiovascular prognosis in maintaining sinus rhythm, while ensuring the safety of antiarrhythmic drugs. Antiarrhythmic drugs are prescribed to prevent recurrence of atrial fibrillation; however, they demonstrate limited efficacy. Recently, catheter ablation has been established as a promising new therapy to prevent recurrence of atrial fibrillation, even though this procedure would be difficult to apply clinically because of its complications and the large number of patients requiring treatment. Since the antiarrhythmic drugs remain the first‐line, primary therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, clinicians should select appropriate antiarrhythmic drugs for treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation based on individual patient characteristics.Herein, I review the current strategies of antiarrhythmic drug therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation from the point of view of pharmacological prevention of atrial fibrillation recurrence, improvement of patient quality of life, and cardiovascular prognosis.
REALISTIC OPINION AGGREGATION: LEHRER-WAGNER WITH A FINITE SET OF OPINION VALUES
Authors: Bradley R. , Wagner C. 
Published: July 2012

AbstractAn allocation problem is a type of aggregation problem in which the values of individuals' opinions on some set of variables (canonically a set of mutually exclusive and exhaustive possibilities) sum to a constant. This paper shows that for realistic allocation problems, namely ones in which the set of possible opinion values is finite, the only universal aggregation methods that satisfy two commonly invoked conditions are the dictatorial ones. The two conditions are, first, that the aggregate opinion on any variable depends only on the individuals' opinions on that variable and not on their opinions on any other variable and, secondly, that the aggregate opinion minimally preserves unanimous individual opinion. Connections between this result and similar ones in the literature on judgment aggregation are explored and their significance assessed.
WE OUGHT TO AGREE: A CONSEQUENCE OF REPAIRING GOLDMAN'S GROUP SCORING RULE
Authors: Kopec Matthew 
Published: July 2012

AbstractInKnowledge in a Social World, Alvin Goldman presents a framework to quantify the epistemic effects that various policies, procedures, and behaviors can have on a group of agents. In this essay, I show that the framework requires some modifications when applied to agents with credences. The required modifications carry with them an interesting consequence, namely, that any group whose members disagree can become more accurate by forming a consensus through averaging their credences. I sketch a way that this result can be used to show that individual norms of rationality and group norms of rationality can dictate conflicting behaviors for the members of some groups. I conclude by discussing how some of the assumptions used to generate the consensus result might be loosened.
HOW CAN QUESTIONS BE INFORMATIVE BEFORE THEY ARE ANSWERED? STRATEGIC INFORMATION IN INTERROGATIVE GAMES
Authors: Genot Emmanuel J. , Jacot Justine 
Published: July 2012

AbstractWe examine a special case of inquiry games and give an account of the informational import of asking questions. We focus on yes-or-no questions, which always carry information about the questioner's strategy, but never about the state of Nature, and show how strategic information reduces uncertainty through inferences about other players' goals and strategies. This uncertainty cannot always be captured by information structures of classical game theory. We conclude by discussing the connection with Gricean pragmatics and contextual constraints on interpretation.
Maternal separation in childhood and diurnal cortisol patterns in mid-life: findings from the Whitehall II study
Authors: Kumari M. , Head J. , Bartley M. , Stansfeld S. , Kivimaki M. 
Published: July 2012

BackgroundAnimal studies suggest that maternal separation is associated with alterations in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis through effects that occur in a critical period following birth. Evidence for an association of the diurnal cortisol rhythm with maternal separation in humans is equivocal.MethodWe examined whether maternal separation in childhood is associated with diurnal cortisol pattern in 3712 middle-aged men and women. Two aspects of cortisol release were examined: the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and the diurnal slope in cortisol throughout the day.ResultsMaternal separation in childhood was reported by 12% of participants. Those participants who reported maternal separation had a larger CAR and flatter slopes in cortisol levels compared to those who did not report maternal separation [adjusted mean CAR in those reporting no separation versus separation: 7.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 6.7–7.5 v. 8.4, 95% CI 7.3–9.5, p = 0.02, corresponding to adjusted mean diurnal slope: −0.129 (95% CI −0.130 to −0.128) v. −0.126 (95% CI −0.128 to −0.124), p = 0.01]. In participants who reported maternal separation, the age of separation was not associated with either cortisol measure (p = 0.11). The association between maternal separation and slope in cortisol secretion was largely explained by smoking behaviour and marital status at the time of sample collection whereas that of the CAR was explained by childhood psychosocial, material factors and adult health behaviours.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that maternal separation in childhood is associated with alterations in the diurnal cortisol pattern in middle age. These associations are predominantly accounted for by adult circumstances and behaviours.
The balanced care model for global mental health
Authors: Thornicroft G. , Tansella M. 
Published: July 2012

BackgroundFor too long there have been heated debates between those who believe that mental health care should be largely or solely provided from hospitals and those who adhere to the view that community care should fully replace hospitals. The aim of this study was to propose a conceptual model relevant for mental health service development in low-, medium- and high-resource settings worldwide.MethodWe conducted a review of the relevant peer-reviewed evidence and a series of surveys including more than 170 individual experts with direct experience of mental health system change worldwide. We integrated data from these multiple sources to develop the balanced care model (BCM), framed in three sequential steps relevant to different resource settings.ResultsLow-resource settings need to focus on improving the recognition and treatment of people with mental illnesses in primary care. Medium-resource settings in addition can develop ‘general adult mental health services’, namely (i) out-patient clinics, (ii) community mental health teams (CMHTs), (iii) acute in-patient services, (iv) community residential care and (v) work/occupation. High-resource settings, in addition to primary care and general adult mental health services, can also provide specialized services in these same five categories.ConclusionsThe BCM refers both to a balance between hospital and community care and to a balance between all of the service components (e.g. clinical teams) that are present in any system, whether this is in low-, medium- or high-resource settings. The BCM therefore indicates that a comprehensive mental health system includes both community- and hospital-based components of care.
Neuroticism, depressive symptoms and white-matter integrity in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
Authors: McIntosh A. M. , Bastin M. E. , Luciano M. , Maniega S. Muñoz , del C.Valdés Hernández M. , Royle N. A. , Hall J. , Murray C. , Lawrie S. M. , Starr J. M. , Wardlaw J. M. , Deary I. J. 
Published: July 2012

BackgroundClinical depression is associated with reductions in white-matter integrity in several long tracts of the brain. The extent to which these findings are localized or related to depressive symptoms or personality traits linked to disease risk remains unclear.MethodMembers of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC936) were assessed in two waves at mean ages of 70 and 73 years. At wave 1, they underwent assessments of depressive symptoms and the personality traits of neuroticism and extraversion. Brain diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were obtained at the second wave and mood assessments were repeated. We tested whether depressive symptoms were related to reduced white-matter tract fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of integrity, and then examined whether high neuroticism or low extraversion mediated this relationship.ResultsSix hundred and sixty-eight participants provided useable data. Bilateral uncinate fasciculus FA was significantly negatively associated with depressive symptoms at both waves (standardized β=0.12–0.16). Higher neuroticism and lower extraversion were also significantly associated with lower uncinate FA bilaterally (standardized β=0.09–0.15) and significantly mediated the relationship between FA and depressive symptoms.ConclusionsTrait liability to depression and depressive symptoms are associated with reduced structural connectivity in tracts connecting the prefrontal cortex with the amygdala and anterior temporal cortex. These effects suggest that frontotemporal disconnection is linked to the etiology of depression, in part through personality trait differences.
Pathways and processes of risk in associations among maternal antisocial personality symptoms, interparental aggression, and preschooler's psychopathology
Authors: Davies Patrick T. , Sturge-Apple Melissa L. , Cicchetti Dante , Manning Liviah G. , Vonhold Sara E. 
Published: July 2012

AbstractTwo studies examined the nature and processes underlying the joint role of interparental aggression and maternal antisocial personality as predictors of children's disruptive behavior problems. Participants for both studies included a high-risk sample of 201 mothers and their 2-year-old children in a longitudinal, multimethod design. Addressing the form of the interplay between interparental aggression and maternal antisocial personality as risk factors for concurrent and prospective levels of child disruptive problems, the Study 1 findings indicated that maternal antisocial personality was a predictor of the initial levels of preschooler's disruptive problems independent of the effects of interparental violence, comorbid forms of maternal psychopathology, and socioeconomic factors. In attesting to the salience of interparental aggression in the lives of young children, latent difference score analyses further revealed that interparental aggression mediated the link between maternal antisocial personality and subsequent changes in child disruptive problems over a 1-year period. To identify the family mechanisms that account for the two forms of intergenerational transmission of disruptive problems identified in Study 1, Study 2 explored the role of children's difficult temperament, emotional reactivity to interparental conflict, adrenocortical reactivity in a challenging parent–child task, and experiences with maternal parenting as mediating processes. Analyses identified child emotional reactivity to conflict and maternal unresponsiveness as mediators in pathways between interparental aggression and preschooler's disruptive problems. The findings further supported the role of blunted adrenocortical reactivity as an allostatic mediator of the associations between parental unresponsiveness and child disruptive problems.
Early predictors of boys' antisocial trajectories
Authors: Shaw Daniel S. , Hyde Luke W. , Brennan Lauretta M. 
Published: July 2012

AbstractDespite the large number of studies tracing patterns of youth antisocial behavior (AB) during adolescence, few have prospective data on the developmental precursors of AB beginning during infancy. Using a cohort of 268 low-income boys first assessed at 18 months, the current study examined predictors of early- and late-starting trajectories of AB assessed during early childhood and early adolescence. Four trajectory groups were identified, including early- and late-starting groups, a low stable group, and a high decreasing group, characterized by multiple risk factors during early childhood and early adolescence. During early childhood, parenting and maternal depression discriminated two AB trajectory groups, an early-starting and a high decreasing group, who would go on to demonstrate a high preponderance of juvenile court involvement (60% to 79%) and elevated rates of clinical depression 13 to 15 years later. The results were discussed in reference to targeting malleable family risk factors during early childhood associated with patterns of AB and mental health disorders during adolescence.
Intergenerational influences on early alcohol use: Independence from the problem behavior pathway
Authors: Kerr David C. R. , Capaldi Deborah M. , Pears Katherine C. , Owen Lee D. 
Published: July 2012

AbstractConduct problems are a general risk factor for adolescent alcohol use. However, their role in relation to alcohol-specific risk pathways of intergenerational transmission of alcohol use is not well understood. Further, the roles of alcohol-specific contextual influences on children's early alcohol use have been little examined. In a 20-year prospective, multimethod study of 83 fathers and their 125 children, we considered the predictors of child alcohol use by age 13 years. The predictors included fathers' adolescent antisocial behavior and alcohol use, both parents' adult alcohol use, norms about and encouragement of child use, parental monitoring, child-reported exposure to intoxicated adults, and parent-reported child externalizing behaviors. Path models supported an association between fathers' adolescent alcohol use and children's use (β = 0.17) that was not better explained by concurrent indicators of fathers' and children's general problem behavior. Fathers' and mothers' adult alcohol use uniquely predicted child use, and exposure to intoxicated adults partially mediated the latter path. Other family risk mechanisms were not supported. However, parental alcohol use and child alcohol use were linked in expected ways with family contextual conditions known to set the stage for alcohol use problems later in adolescence.
Aggression as an equifinal outcome of distinct neurocognitive and neuroaffective processes
Authors: Gatzke-Kopp Lisa M. , Greenberg Mark T. , Fortunato Christine K. , Coccia Michael A. 
Published: July 2012

AbstractEarly onset aggression precipitates a cascade of risk factors, increasing the probability of a range of externalizing and internalizing psychopathological outcomes. Unfortunately, decades of research on the etiological contributions to the manifestation of aggression have failed to yield identification of any risk factors determined to be either necessary or sufficient, likely attributable to etiological heterogeneity within the construct of aggression. Differential pathways of etiological risk are not easily discerned at the behavioral or self-report level, particularly in young children, requiring multilevel analysis of risk pathways. This study focuses on three domains of risk to examine the heterogeneity in 207 urban kindergarten children with high levels of aggression: cognitive processing, socioemotional competence and emotion processing, and family context. The results indicate that 90% of children in the high aggression group could be characterized as either low in verbal ability or high in physiological arousal (resting skin conductance). Children characterized as low verbal, high arousal, or both differed in social and emotional competence, physiological reactivity to emotion, and aspects of family-based contextual risk. The implications of this etiologic heterogeneity of aggression are discussed in terms of assessment and treatment.