bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Dietary predictors of serum total carotene in low-income women living in São Paulo, south-east Brazil
Authors: Tomita Luciana Y , Almeida Lana C , Roteli-Martins Cecília , D’Almeida Vania , Cardoso Marly A ,   for the BRINCA Study Team
Published: April 2009

AbstractObjectiveDietary intake and nutritional status of antioxidant vitamins have been reported to protect against some cancers. The objective of the present study was to assess the correlations between serum levels of carotenoids (including β-, α- and γ-carotene), lycopene, retinol, α- and γ-tocopherols, and dietary intakes estimated by an FFQ, among low-income women in the Brazilian Investigation into Nutrition and Cervical Cancer Prevention (BRINCA) study.DesignCross-sectional study of data for 918 women aged 21–65 years participating in the BRINCA study in São Paulo city. Multiple linear regression models were used with serum nutrient levels as the dependent variable and dietary intake levels as the independent variable, adjusted for confounding factors.ResultsIn energy-adjusted analyses, the intakes of dark green and deep yellow vegetables and fruits (partial R2 = 4·8 %), total fruits and juices (partial R2 = 1·8 %), vegetables and fruits (partial R2 = 1·8 %), carrots (partial R2 = 1·4 %) and citrus fruits and juices only (partial R2 = 0·8 %) were positively correlated only with serum total carotene levels, after adjusting for serum total cholesterol concentration, age, hospital attended, smoking status, BMI and presence of cervical lesions. Multiple-adjusted serum levels of carotenoids were positively correlated with intake quartiles of dark green and deep yellow vegetables and fruits and total fruits and juices independent of smoking status.ConclusionsThe intake of specific fruits and vegetables was an independent predictor of serum total carotene levels in low-income women living in São Paulo.
Mental health of current and former recipients of foster care: a review of recent studies in the USA
Authors: Pecora Peter J. , White Catherine Roller , Jackson Lovie J. , Wiggins Tamera 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTThis paper presents data about the emotional, behavioural and substance abuse disorders of youth in foster care and former recipients of foster care (‘alumni’) in the USA. The prevalence rates of these groups are compared to those of the youth and young adults in the US general population. The implications of these data for policy and program design are discussed.
Effect of atorvastatin on microRNA 221 / 222 expression in endothelial progenitor cells obtained from patients with coronary artery disease
Authors: Minami Y. , Satoh M. , Maesawa C. , Takahashi Y. , Tabuchi T. , Itoh T. , Nakamura M. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractBackground  Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important role in the maintenance of vascular integrity. Lipid lowering therapy (LLT) with statins may contribute to biologically relevant activities including the proliferation of endothelial cells. The physiological role of microRNA (miR)‐221/222, a newly discovered class of small RNA, is closely linked to the proliferation of endothelial cells. We therefore investigated whether LLT with statins might affect miR‐221/222 expression in EPCs obtained from patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).Materials and methods  This study included 44 patients with stable CAD and 22 subjects without CAD (non‐CAD). Patients with CAD were randomized to 12 months of LLT with atorvastatin (10 mg day−1) or pravastatin (10 mg day−1). EPCs were obtained from peripheral blood at baseline and after 12 months of statin therapy. Levels of miR‐221/222 in EPCs were measured by real‐time RT‐PCR.Results  Levels of miR‐221/222 were significantly higher in the CAD group than in the non‐CAD group (P < 0·01). Levels of miR‐221/222 were weakly negatively correlated with EPC number in the CAD group. After 12 months of therapy, changes in lipid profiles were greater in the atorvastatin group than in the pravastatin group. LLT with atorvastatin markedly increased EPC numbers and decreased miR‐221/222 levels (all P < 0·05), whereas LLT with pravastatin did not change EPC numbers or miR‐221/222 levels.Conclusions  This study demonstrates that LLT with atorvastatin increases EPC numbers and decreases miR‐221/222 levels in patients with CAD, possibly contributing to the beneficial effects of LLT with atorvastatin in this disorder.
CLAMOUR FOR GLAMOUR? CITY COMPETITION FOR HOSTING THE SWEDISH TRYOUTS TO THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
Authors: ANDERSSON IDA , NIEDOMYSL THOMAS 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTFor some time it has been argued that cities all over the world have become more entrepreneurial and increasingly competitive. Most research has focused on spectacular events in well‐known metropolises, but far less is known about how smaller cities engage in competitive activities. This paper focuses on how, why and what Swedish cities hope to achieve by engaging themselves in hosting the tryouts to the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which provides an opportunity for a critical case study of place marketing and city competition in Sweden. The empirical material is based on interviews with stakeholders in the tryouts. Our findings show that the local authorities do not compete in the same way as suggested by the literature, but instead collaborate to a great deal. While there are various motives behind arranging a tryouts tryout, it is noted that whereas the ESC presents an opportunity for a host city to ‘place itself on the map’, hosting a tryout is often mainly seen as an opportunity to show the organisers of the event the city's potential for hosting other events in the future. Our findings suggest that the main outcome of hosting a tryout, an outcome that the local authorities seem content with, is having arranged a glamorous party for the local inhabitants. The paper concludes by discussing why competition was found to be less outspoken than the literature suggests.
Update of a Retrospective Cohort Study of Changes in Hip Joint Phenotype of Dogs Evaluated by the OFA in the United States, 1989–2003
Authors: KANEENE JOHN B. , MOSTOSKY ULREH V. , MILLER ROSEANN 
Published: April 2009

Objective—To determine whether there has been improvement in canine hip joint phenotype classifications of dogs whelped from 1989 to 2003 by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA), by examining results of radiographic evaluations and identifying any trends in percentages of dogs classified as having desirable hip joint phenotypes.Study Design—Retrospective cohort study.Sample Population—OFA radiographic classifications (n=431,483) on dogs whelped between 1989 and 2003.Methods—Numbers and percentages of dogs classified by hip joint phenotypes were determined for 2‐year cohorts. Differences between breeds and sexes were assessed using the Fisher's exact test, and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to express associations. The Cochran–Armitage test for trend was calculated to identify significant trends over time.Results—There were statistically significant (P<.05) increases in the proportion of all breeds of dogs evaluated as excellent and good from 1993 to 2003, controlling for gender and age at evaluation. Labrador Retrievers, Bernese Mountain Dogs, and Rottweilers had the highest proportions of excellent and good scores, and the highest rates of improvement in excellent and good scores were seen in Bernese Mountain Dogs and Rottweilers.Conclusions—Results support the contention that there have been improvements in hip joint phenotype classifications in dogs in the United States since the previous study (1989–1992), through increases in the proportion of dogs receiving excellent and good classifications.Clinical Relevance—Hip joint phenotype classifications can be used by dog breeders to develop breeding programs to improve the hip joints of future generations of dogs.
Laparoscopic Mesh Incisional Hernioplasty in Five Horses
Authors: CARON JOHN P. , MEHLER STEVEN J. 
Published: April 2009

Objective—To report a technique for incisional hernioplasty in horses using laparoscopic placement of a prosthetic mesh.Study Design—Case series.Animals—Horses (n=5) with ventral median abdominal incisional hernia.Methods—A telescope and 2 instrument portals were established bilaterally, lateral to and distant from the hernia margins. After exposure of the internal rectus sheath by removal of retroperitoneal fat with endoscopic scissors and monopolar cautery, a prosthetic mesh was introduced into the abdomen and secured intraperitoneally using transfascial sutures with or without supplemental endoscopic hernia fixation devices.Results—Successful placement of the prostheses was achieved without major intra‐ or postoperative complications. Repairs were intact in all horses (follow‐up range: 6–23 months) without evidence of adhesion formation. Cosmetic results compared favorably with those typically achieved using conventional, open hernioplasty techniques.Conclusion—Incisional hernia repair in horses can be successfully achieved with a laparoscopic intraperitoneal mesh onlay technique.Clinical Relevance—Laparoscopic mesh hernioplasty has promise as a safe and effective method for repair of incisional hernias in horses.
Surface phenotype and rapid quantification of blood dendritic cell subsets in the rhesus macaque
Authors: Brown Kevin N. , Barratt‐Boyes Simon M. 
Published: April 2009

AbstractBackground  The study of dendritic cell (DC) biology in the rhesus macaque is becoming increasingly important but is limited by incomplete characterization and the lack of a rapid assay to quantify cells.Methods  We characterized the surface phenotype of myeloid (mDC) and plasmacytoid DC (pDC) subsets in healthy rhesus macaque blood and developed a flow cytometry‐based assay for absolute DC determinations.Results  Rhesus CD11c+ mDC were CD16+ CD11b+ CD56lo CD8− CD1c− whereas CD123+ pDC lacked expression of these markers. Precise DC determinations were performed using a rapid two‐step assay combining the analysis of whole blood and peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL).Conclusions  Antibodies to CD11b, CD56 and CD16 must be omitted from the lineage antibody cocktail to prevent inadvertent gating‐out of DC when analyzing rhesus blood. The combined whole‐blood/PBL quantification assay will be invaluable for the rapid and repeated monitoring of blood DC counts in this species.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Leukocyte Activation and Circulating Leukocyte‐Derived Microparticles in Preeclampsia
Authors: Lok Christianne A.R. , Jebbink Jiska , Nieuwland Rienk , Faas Marijke M. , Boer Kees , Sturk Augueste , Van Der Post Joris A.M. 
Published: April 2009

Problem  Preeclampsia shows characteristics of an inflammatory disease including leukocyte activation. Analyses of leukocyte‐derived microparticles (MP) and mRNA expression of inflammation‐related genes in leukocytes may establish which subgroups of leukocytes contribute to the development of preeclampsia.Method of Study  Blood samples were obtained from preeclamptic patients, normotensive pregnant and non‐pregnant controls. sL‐selectin and elastase were measured by ELISA. mRNA was isolated from leukocytes and gene expression was determined by multiplex ligation‐dependent probe amplification (MLPA). MP were characterized by flow cytometry.Results  Altered concentrations of sL‐selectin and elastase confirmed leukocyte activation in preeclampsia. These leukocytes showed up‐regulation of Nuclear Factor of Kappa light chain gene enhancer in B Cells inhibitor (NFκB‐1A) and cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKN)‐1A compared with normotensive pregnant women. interleukin‐1 Receptor Antagonist (IL‐1RA) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐R1 were increased compared with those in non‐pregnant controls. Monocyte‐derived MP were elevated in preeclamptic patients compared with pregnant women. The numbers of cytotoxic T‐cell‐derived and granulocyte‐derived MP were elevated compared with those of non‐pregnant women.Conclusion  Leukocytes are activated in preeclampsia. A pro‐inflammatory gene expression profile is not prominent, although differences in mRNA expression can be detected. Increased levels of particular subsets of leukocyte‐derived MP reflect activation of their parental cells in preeclampsia.
New Directions in Recent Milton Criticism
Authors: West John 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis article considers the state of Milton criticism in 2008. It suggests that Milton criticism is emerging from a period when historicist criticism that investigated the politics of Milton's work was dominant and is now characterised by variety and change. The article considers how some historicist political criticism continues. It goes on to show how there is a new foregrounding of literary issues such as form and aesthetics and also how some Milton criticism is displaying an increasing interest in how Milton matters to the present. The article suggests that such changes could constitute a reaction against the historicist legacy but also argues that they build upon the insights of the past few decades by re‐examining the interactions of literature and politics.
Neurofuzzy Modeling to Determine Recurrence Risk Following Radical Cystectomy for Nonmetastatic Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder
Authors: Catto James W.F. , Abbod Maysam F. , Linkens Derek A. , Larré Stéphane , Rosario Derek J. , Hamdy Freddie C. 
Published: April 2009

Abstract
Purpose: Bladder cancer recurrence occurs in 40% of patients following radical cystectomy (RC) and pelvic lymphadenectomy (PLND). Although recurrence can be reduced with adjuvant chemotherapy, the toxicity and low response rates of this treatment restrict its use to patients at highest risk. We developed a neurofuzzy model (NFM) to predict disease recurrence following RC and PLND in patients who are not usually administered adjuvant chemotherapy.
Experimental Design: The study comprised 1,034 patients treated with RC and PLND for bladder urothelial carcinoma. Four hundred twenty-five patients were excluded due to lymph node metastases and/or administration of chemotherapy. For the remaining 609 patients, we obtained complete clinicopathologic data relating to their tumor. We trained, tested, and validated two NFMs that predicted risk (Classifier) and timing (Predictor) of post-RC recurrence. We measured the accuracy of our model at various postoperative time points.
Results: Cancer recurrence occurred in 172 (28%) patients. With a median follow-up of 72.7 months, our Classifier NFM identified recurrence with an accuracy of 0.84 (concordance index 0.92, sensitivity 0.81, and specificity 0.85) and an excellent calibration. This was better than two predictive nomograms (0.72 and 0.74 accuracies). The Predictor NFMs identified the timing of tumor recurrence with a median error of 8.15 months.
Conclusions: We have developed an accurate and well-calibrated model to identify disease recurrence following RC and PLND in patients with nonmetastatic bladder urothelial carcinoma. It seems superior to other available predictive methods and could be used to identify patients who would potentially benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.
Living by the Cratylus Hermeneutics and Philosophic Names in the Roman Empire
Authors: Tarrant Harold 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis paper is about an aspect of philosophic life, showing, in the case of one Platonic dialogue in particular, that the texts that later Platonists employed in a quasi-scriptural capacity could influence their lives in important ways. The Cratylus was seen as addressing the question of how names could be regarded as 'correct', raising the role of the name-giver to the level of the law-giver. It begins with the question of how a personal name could be correct. The ancient text that offers us most evidence of the philosophic manipulation of proper names is Porphyry's Life of Plotinus, which makes it quite clear that the revision of individuals' names, and in particular the giving of a Greek name to those of non-Greek origins, had become a regular practice. The name, it seems, was intended to capture something of the actual nature of the individual in question. There is evidence that the practice goes back to the age of Lucian, and specifically to the circle of Numenius, whose own name is also that of a bird. His religious dialogue Hoopoe suggests that there was something special in bird-names; Lucian's Gallus reincarnates Pythagoras as a bird, while his Death of Peregrinus has the eponymous sham philosopher ultimately adopting a bird-name too. Curiously, the final name that Porphyry bears also closely recalls the name of a bird. This may be explained as the apt naming of one who rose to the highest philosophic vision in accordance with the 'flight of the mind' passage in Plato's Phaedrus.
A Multimodel Analysis for the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP)
Authors: Bosilovich Michael G. , Mocko David , Roads John O. , Ruane Alex 
Published: April 2009

Abstract
A collection of eight operational global analyses over a 27-month period have been processed to common data structures to facilitate comparisons among the analyses and global observational datasets. The present study evaluated the global precipitation, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) at the top of the atmosphere, and basin-scale precipitation over the United States. In addition, a multimodel ensemble was created from a linear average of the available data, as close to the analysis time as each system permitted. The results show that the monthly global precipitation and OLR from the multimodel ensemble compares generally better to the observations than any single analysis. Likewise, the daily precipitation from the ensemble exhibits better statistical comparison (in space and time) to gauge observations over the Mississippi River basin. However, the comparisons have seasonality, when the members of the ensemble exhibit generally more skill, during winter. There is notably higher skill of the summertime basin precipitation by the ensemble. Using the global precipitation and OLR, the sensitivity was tested to selectively choose the members with the best statistical comparisons to the reference data. Only small improvements in the statistics were found when comparing a selective ensemble to the full ensemble. Additionally, terms of the global energy budget were compared among the ensemble and to other estimates. The ensemble data and the variance of the ensemble should make a useful point of comparison for the development of model and assimilation components of global analyses.
Intraseasonal Variability Associated with Summer Precipitation over South America Simulated by 14 IPCC AR4 Coupled GCMs
Authors: Lin Jia-Lin , Shinoda Toshiaki , Liebmann Brant , Qian Taotao , Han Weiqing , Roundy Paul , Zhou Jiayu , Zheng Yangxing 
Published: April 2009

Abstract
This study evaluates the intraseasonal variability associated with summer precipitation over South America in 14 coupled general circulation models (GCMs) participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Eight years of each model’s twentieth-century climate simulation are analyzed. Two dominant intraseasonal bands associated with summer precipitation over South America are focused on: the 40- and the 22-day band. The results show that in the southern summer (November–April), most of the models underestimate seasonal mean precipitation over central-east Brazil, northeast Brazil, and the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ), while the Atlantic intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is shifted southward of its observed position. Most of the models capture both the 40- and 22-day band around Uruguay, but with less frequent active episodes than observed. The models also tend to underestimate the total intraseasonal (10–90 day), the 40-, and the 22-day band variances. For the 40-day band, 10 of the 14 models simulate to some extent the 3-cell pattern around South America, and 6 models reproduce its teleconnection with precipitation in the south-central Pacific, but only 1 model simulates the teleconnection with the MJO in the equatorial Pacific, and only 3 models capture its northward propagation from 50° to 32°S. For the 7 models with three-dimensional data available, only 1 model reproduces well the deep baroclinic vertical structure of the 40-day band. For the 22-day band, only 6 of the 14 models capture its northward propagation from the SACZ to the Atlantic ITCZ. It is found that models with some form of moisture convective trigger tend to produce large variances for the intraseasonal bands.
On the Remote Drivers of Rainfall Variability in Australia
Authors: Risbey James S. , Pook Michael J. , McIntosh Peter C. , Wheeler Matthew C. , Hendon Harry H. 
Published: April 2009

Abstract
This work identifies and documents a suite of large-scale drivers of rainfall variability in the Australian region. The key driver in terms of broad influence and impact on rainfall is the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO is related to rainfall over much of the continent at different times, particularly in the north and east, with the regions of influence shifting with the seasons. The Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) is particularly important in the June–October period, which spans much of the wet season in the southwest and southeast where IOD has an influence. ENSO interacts with the IOD in this period such that their separate regions of influence cover the entire continent. Atmospheric blocking also becomes most important during this period and has an influence on rainfall across the southern half of the continent. The Madden–Julian oscillation can influence rainfall in different parts of the continent in different seasons, but its impact is strongest on the monsoonal rains in the north. The influence of the southern annular mode is mostly confined to the southwest and southeast of the continent. The patterns of rainfall relationship to each of the drivers exhibit substantial decadal variability, though the characteristic regions described above do not change markedly. The relationships between large-scale drivers and rainfall are robust to the selection of typical indices used to represent the drivers. In most regions the individual drivers account for less than 20% of monthly rainfall variability, though the drivers relate to a predictable component of this variability. The amount of rainfall variance explained by individual drivers is highest in eastern Australia and in spring, where it approaches 50% in association with ENSO and blocking.