bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Feeding habits of delphinids (Mammalia: Cetacea) from Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil
Authors: Melo C.L.C. , Santos R.A. , Bassoi M. , Araújo A.C. , Lailson-Brito J. , Dorneles P.R. , Azevedo A.F. 
Published: February 2010

Stomach content analyses were performed in 28 dolphins stranded between 1994 and 2007 on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro State (23°06′S 44°18′W/22°14′S 41°54′W), Brazil, comprising six delphinid species: Stenella frontalis (N = 10), Steno bredanensis (N = 7), Tursiops truncatus (N = 4), Delphinus delphis (N = 5), Lagenodelphis hosei (N = 1) and Stenella coeruleoalba (N = 1). Fish otoliths and cephalopod beaks were used to identify the prey species and to estimate the original length and weight. Seven different cephalopod species from six families and 15 fish species belonging to 10 families were identified. Although the fish contribution could be underestimated, cephalopods constituted the group of higher importance, revealing that these invertebrates may represent an important source of energy for delphinids in the region. In this context, the squid Loligo plei should be highlighted due to its important contribution. Most preys were coastal and demersal, and such consumption could indicate coastal foraging habits of the quoted dolphin species. Although dolphins consumed many species of prey in common, they fed on different size-classes of prey. The foraging area of the dolphins could be the same region used by fishing operations, which would represent a risk for incidental capture.
The effects of situational variables on distance covered at various speeds in elite soccer
Authors: Lago Carlos , Casais Luis , Dominguez Eduardo , Sampaio Jaime 
Published: February 2010

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine the effect of match location, quality of opposition, and match status on distance covered at various speeds in elite soccer. Twenty‐seven Spanish Premier League matches played by a professional soccer team were monitored in the 2005–2006 season using a multiple‐camera match analysis system. The dependent variables were the distance covered by players at different intensities. Data were analysed using a linear regression analysis with three independent variables: match status (i.e. whether the team was winning, losing or drawing), match location (i.e. playing at home or away), and quality of the opponents (strong or weak). The top‐class players performed less high‐intensity activity (>19.1 km · h−1) when winning than when they losing, but more distance was covered by walking and jogging when winning. For each minute winning, the distance covered at submaximal or maximal intensities decreased by 1 m (P<0.05) compared with each minute losing. For each minute winning, the distance covered by walking and jogging increased by 2.1 m (P<0.05) compared with each minute losing. The home teams covered a greater distance than away teams during low‐intensity activity (<14.1 km · h−1) (P<0.01). Finally, the better the quality of the opponent, the higher the distance covered by walking and jogging. Our findings emphasize the need for match analysts and coaches to consider the independent and interactive effects of match location, quality of opposition, and match status during assessment of the physical component of football performance.
Effects of season period, team quality, and playing time on basketball players' game‐related statistics
Authors: Sampaio Jaime , Drinkwater Eric J. , Leite Nuno M. 
Published: February 2010

AbstractThe aim of this study was to identify within‐season differences in basketball players' game‐related statistics according to team quality and playing time. The sample comprised 5309 records from 198 players in the Spanish professional basketball league (2007–2008). Factor analysis with principal components was applied to the game‐related statistics gathered from the official box‐scores, which limited the analysis to five factors (free‐throws, 2‐point field‐goals, 3‐point field‐goals, passes, and errors) and two variables (defensive and offensive rebounds). A two‐step cluster analysis classified the teams as stronger (69±8 winning percentage), intermediate (43±5 winning percentage), and weaker teams (32±5 winning percentage); individual players were classified based on playing time as important players (28±4 min) or less important players (16±4 min). Seasonal variation was analysed monthly in eight periods. A mixed linear model was applied to identify the effects of team quality and playing time within the months of the season on the previously identified factors and game‐related statistics. No significant effect of season period was observed. A team quality effect was identified, with stronger teams being superior in terms of 2‐point field‐goals and passes. The weaker teams were the worst at defensive rebounding (stronger teams: 0.17±0.05; intermediate teams: 0.17±0.06; weaker teams: 0.15±0.03; P=0.001). While playing time was significant in almost all variables, errors were the most important factor when contrasting important and less important players, with fewer errors being made by important players. The trends identified can help coaches and players to create performance profiles according to team quality and playing time. However, these performance profiles appear to be independent of season period.
The effect of rituximab on humoral and cell mediated immunity and infection in the treatment of autoimmune diseases
Authors: Cooper Nichola , Arnold Donald M. 
Published: February 2010

SummaryDepletion of B lymphocytes using the anti‐CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab has wide‐spread use in the treatment of patients with autoimmune disorders. As haematopoietic progenitor cells and only a fraction of differentiated plasma express CD20, the effect of rituximab on immune function appears to be minimal. However, hypogammagobulinaemia can occur with repeated doses and emerging data from large studies suggest a subtle increase in the risk of infection. Reactivation of latent JC virus, resulting in progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy, and hepatitis B virus, resulting in hepatoxicity, have been documented in patients receiving rituximab; although confounding effects of concomitant immunosuppressive therapies and immune dysregulation due to the underlying disease make causal associations of infections problematic. This review discusses the efficacy of B cell depletion therapy in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, the effect of B cell depletion on infection and immunity including the role of the B cell in autoimmunity, and identifies areas of controversy.
Competence of Polish primary‐care doctors in the pharmacological treatment of hypertension
Authors: Windak Adam , Gryglewska Barbara , Tomasik Tomasz , Narkiewicz Krzysztof , John Yaphe , Grodzicki Tomasz 
Published: February 2010

AbstractRationale, aims and objectives  Compliance with treatment guidelines for hypertension is variable. This study assessed the competence of Polish general practitioners in compliance with hypertension treatment guidelines, and doctor and patient characteristics associated with compliance.Methods  The study was conducted on a random sample of Polish primary‐care doctors working in clinics contracted by the national health insurance funds. Doctors completed a questionnaire consisting of eight case vignettes describing patients with elevated blood pressure. The cases differed on three variables relating to the level of blood pressure, the presence or absence of diabetes mellitus, and the presence or absence of other risk factors. Doctors were asked to give their treatment decision for each case. Demographic data and details of the doctor's practice were also collected. Treatment decisions were tabulated, and associations between doctor and patient characteristics and treatments were assessed.Results  One hundred twenty‐five doctors (65% response rate) completed the questionnaire. Compliance with treatment guidelines was judged to be 51%. Poor compliance with guidelines was noted for patients with diabetes mellitus. The level of blood pressure was the strongest predictor of drug treatment. Angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors were the most frequently prescribed medications. Appropriate decisions were associated with practice in large cities.Conclusions  Compliance with hypertension treatment guidelines was judged to be poor in this study of a sample of Polish primary‐care doctors using case vignettes to test competence. Additional emphasis on hypertension guidelines in training doctors is needed, especially for diabetic patients and for doctors outside urban centres.
Key interventions and outcomes in joint arthroplasty clinical pathways: a systematic review
Authors: Van Herck Pieter , Vanhaecht Kris , Deneckere Svin , Bellemans Johan , Panella Massimiliano , Barbieri Antonietta , Sermeus Walter 
Published: February 2010

SummaryRationale, aims and objectives  Clinical pathways are globally used to improve quality and efficiency of care. Total joint arthroplasty patients are one of the primary target groups for clinical pathway development. Despite the worldwide use of clinical pathways, it is unclear which key interventions multidisciplinary teams select as pathway components, which outcomes they measures and what the effect of this complex intervention is. This literature study is aimed at three research questions: (1) What are the key interventions used in joint arthroplasty clinical pathways? (2) Which outcome measures are used? (3) What are the effects of a joint arthroplasty clinical pathway?Method  Systematic literature review using a multiple reviewer approach. Five electronic databases were searched comprehensively. Reference lists were screened. Experts were consulted. After application of inclusion and exclusion criteria and critical appraisal, 34 of the 4055 publications were included.Results  Joint arthroplasty clinical pathways address pre‐admission education, pre‐admission exercises, pre‐admission assessment and testing, admission and surgical procedure, postoperative rehabilitation, minimal manipulation, symptoms management, thrombosis prophylaxis, discharge management, primary caregiver involvement, home‐based physiotherapy and continuous follow‐up. An overview of target dimensions and corresponding indicators is provided. Clinical pathways for joint arthroplasty could improve process and financial outcomes. The effects on clinical outcome are mixed. Evidence on team and service outcome is lacking.Conclusions  A set of key interventions and outcome measures is available to support joint arthroplasty clinical pathways. Team and service outcomes should be further addressed in practice and research. Meta‐analysis on the outcome indicators should be performed. Future studies should more rigorously comply with existing reporting standards.
Errors in completion of referrals among older urban adults in ambulatory care
Authors: Weiner Michael , Perkins Anthony J. , Callahan Christopher M. 
Published: February 2010

AbstractRationale, aims and objectives  Clinical care often requires referrals, but many referrals never result in completed evaluations. We determined the extent to which referral‐based consultations were completed in a US medical institution. Factors associated with completion were identified.Method  In a cross‐sectional analysis, we analysed billing records and electronic and paper‐based medical records for patients aged 65 years or older receiving health care between July 2000 and June 2002 in an integrated, urban, tax‐supported medical institution on an academic campus. All referrals in ambulatory care, scheduling of consultation within 180 days, and completion were assessed. We conducted a multivariate survival analysis to identify factors associated with completion.Results  We identified 6785 patients with encounters. Mean age was 72 years, and, of the participants, 66% were women, 55% were African‐American and 32% were Medicaid eligible. Of the 81% with at least one primary‐care visit in ambulatory care, 63% had at least one referral. About 8% of referrals required multiple orders before an appointment was scheduled. Among 7819 orders for specialty consultation in ambulatory care, 71% led to appointments, and 70% of appointments were kept (completed = 0.71*0.70 or 50%). Scheduling of consultations varied (12% to 90%) by specialty. Medicare, singular orders, location of referral and lack of hospitalization were independently significantly associated with scheduling of appointments.Conclusions  Among older adults studied, half of medical specialty referrals were not completed. Multiple process errors, including missing information, misguided referrals and faulty communications, likely contribute to these results. Information systems offer important opportunities to improve the referrals process.
The impact of record‐linkage bias in the Cox model
Authors: Baldi Ileana , Ponti Antonio , Zanetti Roberto , Ciccone Giovannino , Merletti Franco , Gregori Dario 
Published: February 2010

AbstractRationale, aims and objectives Record linkage (RL) has become increasingly useful in health care administration, demographic studies, provision of health statistics and medical research. Linkage failure may occur when databases are affected by missing or inaccurate information. In particular, if the subsets of those who are not linked are not representative of the original population, the results obtained from linked data may be biased. This paper discusses the impact of incomplete RL on survival analysis.Methods In our study we assess by simulations the potential impact of such bias, that we will refer to as RL, on the effect of the covariates in the Cox regression model. We also evaluate the RL bias introduced by an incomplete linkage procedure on the analysis of survival in a cohort of patients with breast cancer.Results Our simulation study shows that the relative bias of the factors, which the linking probability depends on, reaches the threshold of 20%, and is never less than 5%. The bias observed in the simulation for a comparable scenario is consistent with the actual one estimated from the breast cancer records.Conclusions Incomplete RL is rarely explicitly taken into account in the models for survival analysis. This study indicates that such a practice is potentially leading to inefficient and biased results, in particular in presence of medium or small sample sizes.
Chaperone policy in accident and emergency departments: a national survey
Authors: Loizides Sofronis , Kallis Andreas , Oswal Ashwini , Georgiou Panayiotis , Kallis George , Gavalas Manolis 
Published: February 2010

AbstractBackground  Medico‐legal societies and the General Medical Council have been urging a greater use of chaperones during intimate examinations. However, research into the use of chaperones has been limited only to general practice. The objectives of this national survey were to find out: (1) whether formal chaperone policy exists in accident and emergency (A&E) departments; (2) the frequency of chaperone use; and (3) clinical applications.Methods  A simple questionnaire was submitted to the lead clinicians/clinical directors of 460 A&E departments in the UK. The departments were identified through the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine Directory. The completed questionnaires were either posted or faxed back to our department.Results  In total, 270 of 460 forms were returned (58.7%), of which only 246 were useable. Although 81.71% of A&E lead clinicians/clinical directors believe that formal policies are needed, only 3.65% of the departments have a formal policy. The highest percentage of chaperone use was observed for male doctors examining female patients (91.46%), while the lowest percentage was observed for male doctors examining male patients (7.32%). Worryingly, 25.61% reported incidents of complaints regarding inappropriate examination by doctors.Conclusion  We have demonstrated deficiencies in chaperone use and have identified specific factors that render A&E departments particularly vulnerable to allegations of inappropriate practice. We believe that policies should be designed and implemented focusing on the specific needs of A&E departments to counteract the rising numbers of medico‐legal cases, thus safeguarding patient care and protecting the health providers.
Sensitivity of clinical assessments of sagittal head posture
Authors: Gadotti Inae Caroline , Biasotto‐Gonzalez Daniela Aparecida 
Published: February 2010

AbstractRationale, aims and objectives  Historically, clinicians visually evaluate posture using anatomical landmarks. Advances in technology made digital photographs now feasible to use in clinical practice. Photogrammetry may increase the reliability of the assessment of postural changes. However, differences between visually estimated and photogrammetric recorded changes in posture need to be tested. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of visual assessments of changes in head posture in the sagittal plane in relation to photogrammetric recorded data.Methods  The head posture of 29 female subjects in a sagittal plane was assessed visually and photogrammetrically. The visual assessment of head posture was conducted using a postural grid with a plumb for checking the alignment. The patients were classified as having forward head posture (FHP), slight FHP or no FHP. Photogrammetry of head posture was performed using the Alcimage software® (Alcimar B. Soares, Uberlândia, MG, Brasil). Three reference points were used to measure the head posture angle: mentus, external auditory meatus and manubrium. The visually classified groups were compared in relation to the photogrammetric angles using one‐way anova.Results  A significant difference was found between the FHP and no FHP groups (P = 0.001), and between the FHP and slight FHP groups (P = 0.002). However, no significant difference was found between the slight FHP and no FHP groups.Conclusions  Visual assessments of sagittal head posture were sensitive to detect differences between no FHP and FHP groups, but were not sensitive to detect differences between no FHP and slight FHP groups. Head posture photogrammetry is recommended to quantitatively detect less evident differences in head posture.
Using propensity score‐based weighting in the evaluation of health management programme effectiveness
Authors: Linden Ariel , Adams John L. 
Published: February 2010

AbstractWhen the randomized controlled trial is unfeasible, programme evaluators attempt to emulate the randomization process in observational studies by creating a control group that is essentially equivalent to the treatment group on known characteristics and trust that the remaining unknown characteristics are inconsequential and will not bias the results. In recent years, adjustment procedures based on the propensity score, such as matching and subclassification, have become increasingly popular. A new technique that has particular appeal for evaluating health management programmes uses the propensity score to create a weight based on the subject's inverse probability of receiving treatment. This weighting mechanism removes imbalances of pre‐intervention characteristics between treated and non‐treated individuals, and is then used within a regression framework to provide unbiased estimates of treatment effects. This paper presents a non‐technical introduction of this technique by illustrating its implementation with data from a recent study estimating the impact of a motivational interviewing‐based health coaching on patient activation measure scores in a chronically ill group of individuals. Because of its relative simplicity and tremendous utility, propensity‐score weighting adjustment should be considered as an alternative procedure for use with observational data to evaluate health management programme effectiveness.
Motivational interviewing‐based health coaching as a chronic care intervention
Authors: Linden Ariel , Butterworth Susan W. , Prochaska James O. 
Published: February 2010

AbstractObjective  To evaluate the impact of motivational interviewing‐based health coaching on a chronically ill group of participants compared with non‐participants. Specifically, measures that could be directly attributed to a health coaching intervention on chronic illness were assessed.Design  Quasi‐experimental study design.Setting  A large medical university in the north‐west United States.Methods  One hundred and six chronically ill programme participants completed a health risk survey instrument prior to enrolment and again at approximately 8 months. Outcomes were compared with 230 chronically ill non‐participants who completed the survey twice over a similar time frame. Inverse probability of treatment weights were used in conjunction with the propensity score to correct for selection bias.Results  Compared with non‐participants, programme participants improved their self‐efficacy (P = 0.01), patient activation (P = 0.02), lifestyle change score (P = 0.01) and perceived health status (P = 0.03). Fewer participants increased their stages of change risk over time than non‐participants (P < 0.01), and more participants decreased their stages of change risk over time than non‐participants (P = 0.03).Conclusion  These results support motivational interviewing‐based health coaching as an effective chronic care management intervention in impacting outcome measures that could also serve well as a proxy in the absence of other clinical or cost indices.
A comparative epizootiologic study of the two fish‐pathogenic serovars of Vibrio vulnificus biotype 2
Authors: Fouz B , Llorens A , Valiente E , Amaro C 
Published: February 2010

Abstract Vibrio vulnificus biotype 2 is subdivided into two main serovars, serovar E, able to infect fish and humans, and serovar A, only virulent for fish. Serovar E emerged in 1976 as the causative agent of a haemorrhagic septicaemia (warm‐water vibriosis) affecting eels cultured in brackish water. Serovar A emerged in 2000 in freshwater‐cultured eels vaccinated against serovar E, causing warm‐water vibriosis with fish showing a haemorrhagic intestine as the main differential sign. The aim of the present work was to compare the disease caused by both serovars in terms of transmission routes, portals of entry and host range. Results of bath, patch‐contact and oral‐anal challenges demonstrated that both serovars spread through water and infect healthy eels, serovar A entering mainly by the anus and serovar E by the gills. The course of the disease under laboratory conditions was similar for both serovars in terms of transmission and dependence of degree of virulence on water parameters (temperature and salinity). However, the decrease in degree of virulence in fresh water was significantly greater in serovar E than in serovar A. Finally, both serovars proved pathogenic for tilapia, sea bass and rainbow trout, but not for sea bream, with significant differences in degree of virulence only in rainbow trout. In conclusion, serovar A seems to represent a new antigenic form of V. vulnificus biotype 2 with an unusual portal of entry and is better adapted to fresh water than serovar E.