bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Regular vs prn nebulized treatment in wheeze preschool children
Authors: Papi A. , Nicolini G. , Baraldi E. , Boner A. L. , Cutrera R. , Rossi G. A. , Fabbri L. M. ,   on behalf of the BEclomethasone and Salbutamol Treatment (BEST) for Children Study Group
Published: September 2009

Background:  International guidelines recommend regular treatment with inhaled glucocorticoids for children with frequent wheezing; however, prn inhaled bronchodilator alone or in combination with glucocorticoid is also often used in practice. We aimed to evaluate whether regular nebulized glucocorticoid plus a prn bronchodilator or a prn nebulized bronchodilator/glucocorticoid combination is more effective than prn bronchodilator alone in preschool children with frequent wheeze.Methods:  Double‐blind, double‐dummy, randomized, parallel‐group trial. After a 2‐week run‐in period, 276 symptomatic children with frequent wheeze, aged 1–4 years, were randomly assigned to three groups for a 3‐month nebulized treatment: (1) 400 μg beclomethasone bid plus 2500 μg salbutamol prn; (2) placebo bid plus 800 μg beclomethasone/1600 μg salbutamol combination prn; (3) placebo bid plus 2500 μg salbutamol prn. The percentage of symptom‐free days was the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes included symptom scores, use of relief medication and exacerbation frequency.Results:  As compared with prn salbutamol (61.0 ± 24.83 [SD]), the percentage of symptom‐free days was higher with regular beclomethasone (69.6%, SD 20.89; P = 0.034) but not with prn combination (64.9%, SD 24.74). Results were no different in children with or without risk factors for developing persistent asthma. The effect of prn combination was no different from that of regular beclomethasone on the primary and on several important secondary outcomes.Conclusions:  Regular inhaled glucocorticoid is the most effective treatment for frequent wheezing in preschool children. However, prn bronchodilator/glucocorticoid combination might be an alternative option, but it requires further study.
Influenza virus vaccination in kidney transplant recipients: serum antibody response to different immunosuppressive drugs
Authors: Salles Mauro J.C. , Sens Yvoty A.S. , Boas Lucy S.V. , Machado Clarisse M. 
Published: September 2009

Salles MJC, Sens YAS, Boas LSV, Machado CM. Influenza virus vaccination in kidney transplant recipients: serum antibody response to different immunosuppressive drugs. Clin Transplant 2010: 24: E17–E23. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S.Abstract:  Introduction:  This study prospectively accessed the immune response to the inactivated influenza vaccine in renal transplant recipients receiving either azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil (MMF). Side effects were investigated.Methods:  Sixty‐nine patients received one dose of inactivated trivalent influenza vaccine. Antihemagglutinin (HI) antibody response against each strain was measured before and one to six months after vaccination.Results:  Geometric mean HI antibody titers for H1N1 and H3N2 strains increased from 2.57 and 2.44 to 13.45 (p = 0.001) and 7.20 (p < 0.001), respectively. Pre‐ and post‐vaccination protection rates for H1N1 and H3N2 increased from 8.7% to 49.3% (p < 0.001); and 36.3% (p < 0.001) and seroconversion rates were 36% and 25.3%, respectively. There was no response to influenza B. The use of MMF reduced the H1N1 and H3N2 protection rates and the seroconversion rate for the H1N1 strain when compared with the use of azathioprine, and subjects transplanted less than 87 months also had inferior antibody response. Adverse events were mild and there were no change on renal function post‐vaccination.Conclusion:  Renal transplant patients vaccinated against influenza responded with antibody production for influenza A virus strains, but not for influenza B. Use of MMF and shorter time from transplantation decreased the immune response to the vaccine.
Antipredator Responses by Native Mosquitofish to Non‐Native Cichlids: An Examination of the Role of Prey Naiveté
Authors: Rehage Jennifer S. , Dunlop Katherine L. , Loftus William F. 
Published: September 2009

AbstractThe strong impact of non‐native predators in aquatic systems is thought to relate to the evolutionary naiveté of prey. Due to isolation and limited dispersal, this naiveté may be relatively high in freshwater systems. In this study, we tested this notion by examining the antipredator response of native mosquitofish,Gambusia holbrooki,to two non‐native predators found in the Everglades, the African jewelfish,Hemichromis letourneuxi,and the Mayan cichlid,Cichlasoma urophthalmus. We manipulated prey naiveté by using two mosquitofish populations that varied in their experience with the recent invader, the African jewelfish, but had similar levels of experience with the longer‐established Mayan cichlid. Specifically, we tested these predictions: (1) predator hunting modes differed between the two predators, (2) predation rates would be higher by the novel jewelfish predator, (3) particularly on the naive population living where jewelfish have not invaded yet, (4) antipredator responses would be stronger to Mayan cichlids due to greater experience and weaker and/or ineffective to jewelfish, and (5) especially weakest by the naive population. We assayed prey and predator behavior, and prey mortality in lab aquaria where both predators and prey were free‐ranging. Predator hunting modes and habitat domains differed, with jewelfish being more active search predators that used slightly higher parts of the water column and less of the habitat structure relative to Mayan cichlids. In disagreement with our predictions, predation rates were similar between the two predators, antipredator responses were stronger to African jewelfish (except for predator inspections), and there was no difference in response between jewelfish‐savvy and jewelfish‐naive populations. These results suggest that despite the novelty of introduced predators, prey may be able to respond appropriately if non‐native predator archetypes are similar enough to those of native predators, if prey rely on general antipredator responses or predation cues, and/or show neophobic responses.
Docetaxel‐based chemotherapy with zoledronic acid and prednisone in hormone refractory prostate cancer: Factors predicting response and survival
Authors: Nayyar Rishi , Sharma Nitin , Gupta Narmada P 
Published: September 2009

Objectives:  To evaluate the efficacy of docetaxel/prednisone and zoledronic acid in hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) patients and to analyze prognostic factors predicting overall survival.Methods:  Forty‐four HRPC patients were given docetaxel (75 mg/m2), prednisone and zoledronic acid (4 mg) every three weeks. Overall and progression‐free survival curves were calculated. Using the log–rank test, variables predicting overall survival (age, Gleason score, baseline prostate‐specific antigen [PSA], percentage PSA decline, nadir PSA, number of chemotherapy cycles) were calculated.Results:  Median age was 66 years and mean PSA 171.25 ng/mL. The average number of given cycles was 6.3. A good PSA response (>50% decline) was observed in 26/44 cases (59.1%). A total of 17/44 (38.6%) patients expired with a median overall survival of 62.4 weeks. Patients with a Gleason score less than 7, who received more than four cycles and with a more‐than‐50% decline in PSA had significantly better survival. Variables like age, baseline PSA and nadir PSA did not significantly affect survival.Conclusion:  The combination of docetaxel/zoledronic/prednisone is safe and effective in the management of HRPC. Patients with a Gleason score <7, PSA decline >50% and those who receive more than four cycles have significantly better survival.
A new arthropod resting trace and associated suite of trace fossils from the Lower Jurassic of Warwickshire, England
Authors: O’BRIEN LORNA J. , BRADDY SIMON J. , RADLEY JONATHAN D. 
Published: September 2009

Abstract:  A new suite of arthropod trace fossils, attributed to a decapod crustacean, is described from the Lower Jurassic Saltford Shale Member of the Blue Lias Formation of Southam Cement Works Quarry, eastern Warwickshire, England. Solusichnium southamensis igen. et isp. nov. consists of small, isolated, bilaterally symmetrical, suboval hypichnia, comprising three regions. The concave anterior region contains imprints of chelate appendages, antennae and antennules. The elongate middle region contains abdominal appendage imprints that extend laterally, separated by a bifurcated medial imprint. The convex posterior region terminates in a globular V‐shaped telson imprint. The large sample size and range of trace morphologies allows identification of five morphotypes within a taphoseries. S. southamensis is found on the base of siltstone lenses in what is otherwise a dysaerobic laminated mudstone unit, associated with epichnial Rusophycus, and the suite of trace fossils is interpreted as the resting traces (Cubichnia) and escape reactions (Fugichnia) of small decapods that were trapped below a distal storm deposit. The producer of S. southamensis was possibly an Eryon‐like decapod, similar to those known from the slightly older Wilmcote Limestone Member of southwestern Warwickshire.
Silicified Middle Cambrian trilobites from Kyrgyzstan
Authors: GHOBADI POUR MANSOUREH , POPOV LEONID E. 
Published: September 2009

Abstract:  A medium diversity silicified Middle Cambrian faunal assemblage occurs in an olistolith of bioclastic limestone within Silurian siliciclastic turbidites on the slopes of Arpatektyr Mountain in the eastern Alai Range, Kyrgyzstan. The fauna includes the trilobites Raragnostus cf. mirus, Altikolia kurshabica sp. nov., Corynexochina weberi, Dorypyge richthofeniformis, aff. Jincella sp., Olenoides comptus, Skreiaspis aff. spinosus and Suluktella mambetovi sp. nov. Three of these taxa (C. weberi, O. comptus and R. cf. mirus) are considered locally to be characteristic of the Pseudanomocarina Beds, although Pseudanomocarina itself is not present. Altikolia and Suluktella are endemic to early Palaeozoic terranes of Central Asia, Corynexochina also occurs in South China and Skreiaspis is known elsewhere exclusively from the Middle Cambrian of ‘West’ Gondwana. Because of preservation in full relief, the silicified trilobite fauna allows a detailed understanding of some morphological structures, related especially to trilobite enrolment, otherwise inadequately known for many Mid‐Cambrian polymerid trilobites.
Neighborhood Deprivation, Individual Socioeconomic Status, and Frailty in Older Adults
Authors: Lang Iain A. , Hubbard Ruth E. , Andrew Melissa K. , Llewellyn David J. , Melzer David , Rockwood Kenneth 
Published: September 2009

OBJECTIVES: To assess how individual socioeconomic status and neighborhood deprivation affect frailty.DESIGN: Nationally representative population‐based study, the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), analyzed cross‐sectionally.PARTICIPANTS: Four thousand eight hundred eighteen individuals aged 65 and older.MEASUREMENTS: Outcome was a frailty index (FI), based on 58 potential deficits, with a theoretical range from 0 to 1; exposures were individual wealth and neighborhood deprivation (lack of local resources, financial and otherwise), based on a set of standard indicators.RESULTS: The FI score varied independently according to wealth and neighborhood deprivation. The mean FI score for an individual in the highest 20% of wealth and least deprived 20% of neighborhoods was 0.09 (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.09–0.09) and for an individual in the lowest 20% of wealth and most deprived 20% of neighborhoods was 0.17 (95% CI=0.16–0.17).CONCLUSION: Frailty in older adults is independently associated with individual and neighborhood socioeconomic factors. Older adults who are poor and live in deprived neighborhoods are most vulnerable. Policies and interventions intended to prevent or reduce frailty must take into account individual circumstances and the broader social settings in which individuals are located.
Age and Persistent Use of Cardiovascular Medication After Acute Coronary Syndrome: Results from Medication Applied and Sustained Over Time
Authors: Ali Robin C. , Melloni Chiara , Ou Fang‐Shu , Schmader Kenneth , Ohman E. Magnus , Roe Matthew T. , Peterson Eric D. , Alexander Karen P. 
Published: September 2009

OBJECTIVES: To describe the persistent use of evidence‐based cardiovascular medications (EBCMs) 3 months after discharge from an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event and patient‐reported reasons for nonpersistence across age groups.DESIGN: Medication Applied and Sustained Over Time (MAINTAIN) is a longitudinal follow‐up cohort study of the Can Rapid Risk Stratification of Unstable Angina Patients Suppress ADverse Outcomes with Early Implementation quality improvement initiative and Acute Coronary Treatment and Intervention Outcomes Network registry.SETTING: Forty‐one acute care hospitals in the United States from January 2006 to September 2007.PARTICIPANTS: One thousand fifty‐four patients with a median age of 60 (interquartile range 52–71), including 27% aged 70 and older, admitted with an ACS.MEASUREMENTS: Three‐month posthospital discharge telephone follow‐up with EBCMs reviewed and reconciled. Patients who reported nonpersistence were surveyed regarding reasons for EBCM discontinuation.RESULTS: At 3‐month follow‐up, overall persistence was 71.2%. There was a significant trend toward lower overall persistence with prescribed EBCMs in older adults than in the other age groups (74.9% for <60, 71.0% for 60–69, 64.5% for ≥70; P=.02). Overall, 112 (10.6%) patients discontinued EBCMs with provider advice, and 178 (16.9%) self‐discontinued. Provider discontinuation increased across age groups (9.1%, 10.4%, and 13.6%, respectively). A similar trend was observed for EBCM self‐discontinuation (15.2%, 17.0%, and 19.9%, respectively). Reasons for self‐discontinuation included adverse effects, cost, and perception that the medication was not needed.CONCLUSION: Older patients are less likely to be persistent with EBCMs after an ACS event at 3‐month follow‐up. Understanding patient‐reported reasons for discontinuation can influence intervention strategies to improve long‐term adherence to EBCMs.
Physical activity recommendations for older Australians
Authors: Sims Jane , Hill Keith , Hunt Susan , Haralambous Betty 
Published: September 2009

Aim:  The aim of this research was to produce evidence‐based recommendations on physical activity designed to improve and maintain the health of older Australians.Methods:  The authors reviewed existing guidelines and consensus statements, systematic reviews, meta‐analyses and research articles. Draft recommendations were circulated to stakeholder agencies and to an expert advisory group. Final recommendations were then forwarded to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing for Ministerial approval.Results:  The physical activity recommendations for older Australians complement the current National Physical Activity Guidelines for adults and the American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association recommendations for older adults. The recommendations provide advice developed specifically for older Australians.Conclusion:  Although the recommendations may be manifested in different ways, according to specific populations or settings, they apply to older people across all levels of health and have application to community dwelling people and those in residential care accommodation.
Hybrid Activism: Paths of Globalisation in the Brazilian Environmental Movement
Authors: Alonso Angela 
Published: September 2009

SummaryFocusing on two case studies of environmental activism in Brazil, this paper argues against theories that consider local and global activism as two separate realms. Instead, it is argued here that transnational activists circulate across the two spaces. In the global spaces, they build alliances with foreign groups, and in the local ones, they deal with the national state, other organised groups and ordinary communities living inside environmental areas they aim to protect. Activists live in both spheres and as they move, they carry with them local and global meanings, knowledge and forms of action and organising, mixing them through the continuous action of two mechanisms: adaptation and emulation. In this way, activists' biographies – their lived experience, their meanings and strategies – intermingle with both spaces in one single trajectory of activism. Discussing the existing literature on transnational social movements, I will argue that they forge hybrid identities in the sense of being at the same time localandglobal.
Mutational Upregulation of a Resistance-Nodulation-Cell Division-Type Multidrug Efflux Pump, SdeAB, upon Exposure to a Biocide, Cetylpyridinium Chloride, and Antibiotic Resistance in
Serratia marcescens
Authors: Maseda Hideaki , Hashida Yumiko , Konaka Rumi , Shirai Akihiro , Kourai Hiroki 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACT

Serratia marcescens
is an important opportunistic pathogen in hospitals, where quaternary ammonium compounds are often used for disinfection. The aim of this study is to elucidate the effect of a biocide on the emergence of biocide- and antibiotic-resistant mutants and to characterize the molecular mechanism of biocide resistance in
Serratia marcescens
. A quaternary ammonium compound-resistant strain, CRes01, was selected by exposing a wild-type strain of
S. marcescens
to cetylpyridinium chloride. The CRes01 cells exhibited 2- to 16-fold more resistance than the wild-type cells to biocides and antibiotics, including cetylpyridinium chloride, benzalkonium chloride, chlorhexidine gluconate, fluoroquinolones, tetracycline, and chloramphenicol, and showed increased susceptibilities to β-lactam antibiotics and
N
-dodecylpyridinium iodide. Mutant cells accumulated lower levels of norfloxacin than the parent cells in an energized state but not in a de-energized state, suggesting that the strain produced a multidrug efflux pump(s). To verify this assumption, we knocked out a putative efflux pump gene,
sdeAB
, in CRes01 and found that the knockout restored susceptibility to most quaternary ammonium compounds and antibiotics, to which the CRes01 strain showed resistance. On the basis of these and other results, we concluded that
S. marcescens
gains resistance to both biocides and antibiotics by expressing the SdeAB efflux pump upon exposure to cetylpyridinium chloride.
In Vitro Sensitivity Testing of
Leishmania
Clinical Field Isolates: Preconditioning of Promastigotes Enhances Infectivity for Macrophage Host Cells
Authors: Inocêncio da Luz Raquel , Vermeersch Marieke , Dujardin Jean-Claude , Cos Paul , Maes Louis 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACT

Diagnostic material from patients with leishmaniasis is generally available as promastigotes, and proper testing for susceptibility to first-line drugs by the intracellular amastigote assay is frequently hampered by the poor infectivity of the promastigotes for the macrophage host cell. Several conditions for optimization of the in vitro metacyclogenesis and cell infectivity of
Leishmania donovani
,
L. guyanensis
, and
L. braziliensis
field strains obtained from patients receiving standard antimony medication were investigated. Triggering log-phase promastigotes to become amastigote-like by increasing the temperature or acidifying the culture medium was not successful. Adequate metacyclogenesis and the highest levels of macrophage infection were obtained after 5-day-old late-log-phase promastigote cultures were preconditioned at 25°C to pH 5.4 for 24 h in Schneider's medium prior to infection. The susceptibility assay with primary peritoneal mouse macrophages included pentavalent antimony (Sb
V
; sodium stibogluconate), trivalent antimony (Sb
III
; potassium antimonyl tartrate), miltefosine, and the experimental drug PX-6518. All strains were sensitive to miltefosine (50% inhibitory concentration [IC
50
] < 10 μM) and PX-6518 (IC
50
< 2 μg/ml) but showed distinct susceptibility to Sb
V
and/or Sb
III
, depending on whether they were derived from cured, relapse, or nonresponder patients. Within the available set of
Leishmania
species and strains, simultaneous Sb
V
-Sb
III
resistance was clearly associated with treatment failure; however, a larger set of isolates is still needed to judge the predictive value of Sb
V
-Sb
III
susceptibility profiling on treatment outcome. In conclusion, the proposed conditioning protocol further contributes toward a more standardized laboratory model for evaluation of the drug sensitivities of field isolates.
In Vivo Activity of a Novel Anti-Methicillin-Resistant
Staphylococcus
aureus
Cephalosporin, Ceftaroline, against Vancomycin-Susceptible and -Resistant
Enterococcus
faecalis
Strains in a Rabbit Endocarditis Model: a Comparative Study with Linezolid and Vancomycin
Authors: Jacqueline Cédric , Caillon Jocelyne , Le Mabecque Virginie , Miègeville Anne-Françoise , Ge Yigong , Biek Donald , Batard Eric , Potel Gilles 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACT

We assessed the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of the novel parenteral broad-spectrum cephalosporin ceftaroline against
Enterococcus
faecalis
in time-kill experiments and in a rabbit endocarditis model with simulated human dosing. Ceftaroline was more active than either vancomycin or linezolid against vancomycin-sensitive and -resistant isolates of
E
.
faecalis
.
Malaria Ookinete Surface Protein-Based Vaccination via the Intranasal Route Completely Blocks Parasite Transmission in both Passive and Active Vaccination Regimens in a Rodent Model of Malaria Infection
Authors: Arakawa Takeshi , Tachibana Mayumi , Miyata Takeshi , Harakuni Tetsuya , Kohama Hideyasu , Matsumoto Yasunobu , Tsuji Naotoshi , Hisaeda Hajime , Stowers Anthony , Torii Motomi , Tsuboi Takafumi 
Published: September 2009

ABSTRACTMalaria vaccines based on ookinete surface proteins (OSPs) of the malaria parasites block oocyst development in feeding mosquitoes and hence disrupt the parasite life cycle and prevent the disease from being transmitted to other individuals. To investigate whether a noninvasive mucosal vaccination regimen effectively blocks parasite transmission in vivo,Plasmodium yoeliiPys25, a homolog of the Pfs25 and Pvs25 OSPs ofPlasmodium falciparumandPlasmodium vivax, respectively, was intranasally (i.n.) administered using a complement-deficient DBA/2 mouse malaria infection model, in which a highly elevated level of oocysts develops in feeding mosquitoes. Vaccinated mice developed a robust antibody response when the vaccine antigen was given together with cholera toxin adjuvant. The induced immune serum was passively transferred to DBA/2 mice 3 days after infection withP. yoelii17XL, andAnopheles stephensimosquitoes were allowed to feed on the infected mice before or after serum transfusion. This passive immunization completely blocked oocyst development; however, immune serum induced by the antigen or adjuvant alone did not have such a profound antiparasite effect. Further, when i.n. vaccinated mice were infected with the parasite and then mosquitoes were allowed to directly feed on the infected mice, complete blockage of transmission was again observed. To our knowledge, this is the first time that mucosal vaccination has been demonstrated to be efficacious for directly preventing parasite transmission from vaccinated animals to mosquitoes, and the results may provide important insight into rational design of nonparenteral vaccines for use against human malaria.