bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of n‐3 Long‐chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Intake during Pregnancy on Maternal, Infant, and Child Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review
Authors: Imhoff‐Kunsch Beth , Briggs Virginia , Goldenberg Tamar , Ramakrishnan Usha 
Published: June 2012

AbstractEvidence from observational studies and randomised trials has suggested a potential association between intake of n‐3 long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) during pregnancy and certain pregnancy and birth outcomes. Marine foods (e.g. fatty sea fish, algae) and select freshwater fish contain pre‐formed n‐3 LCPUFA, which serve as precursors for bioactive molecules (e.g. prostaglandins) that influence a variety of biological processes. The main objective of this analysis was to summarise evidence of the effect of n‐3 LCPUFA intake during pregnancy on select maternal and child health outcomes. Searches were performed in PubMed, EMBASE, and other electronic databases to identify trials where n‐3 LCPUFA were provided to pregnant women for at least one trimester of pregnancy. Data were extracted into a standardised abstraction table and pooled analyses were conducted using RevMan software. Fifteen randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion in the meta‐analysis, and 14 observational studies were included in the general review. n‐3 LCPUFA supplementation during pregnancy resulted in a modest increase in birthweight (mean difference = 42.2 g; [95% CI 14.8, 69.7]) and no significant differences in birth length or head circumference. Women receiving n‐3 LCPUFA had a 26% lower risk of early preterm delivery (<34 weeks) (RR = 0.74; [95% CI 0.58, 0.94]) and there was a suggestion of decreased risk of preterm delivery (RR = 0.91; [95% CI 0.82, 1.01]) and low birthweight (RR = 0.92; [95% CI 0.83, 1.02]). n‐3 LCPUFA in pregnancy did not influence the occurrence of pre‐eclampsia, high blood pressure, infant death, or stillbirth. Our review of observational studies revealed mixed findings, with several large studies reporting positive associations between fish intake and birthweight and several reporting no associations. In conclusion, n‐3 LCPUFA supplementation during pregnancy resulted in a decreased risk of early preterm delivery and a modest increase in birthweight. More studies in low‐ and middle‐income countries are needed to determine any effect of n‐3 LCPUFA supplementation in resource‐poor settings, where n‐3 PUFA intake is likely low.
The urban underserved: attitudes towards gaining full access to electronic medical records
Authors: Dhanireddy Shireesha , Walker Jan , Reisch Lisa , Oster Natalia , Delbanco Thomas , Elmore Joann G. 
Published: June 2012

AbstractBackgroundAs the use of electronic medical records (EMRs) spreads, health‐care organizations are increasingly offering patients online access to their medical records. Studies evaluating patient attitudes towards viewing elements of their records through secure, electronic patient portals have generally not included medically underserved patients or those with HIV/AIDS. The goal of this study was to gain insight into such patients' attitudes towards online access to their medical records, including their doctors' visit notes.MethodsQualitative study of four focus groups with adult patients in general adult medicine and HIV clinics at a large county hospital. Transcripts were analysed for themes using an immersion/crystallization approach.ResultsPatients' baseline understanding of the health record was limited. Perceived benefits of online access were improved patient understanding of health and disease, convenience, empowerment and a stronger relationship with their provider. Concerns included threats to privacy, worries about being unable to understand their record, fear that the computer would replace direct provider contact and hesitancy about potential demands on a provider's time. Patients also recommended providing online visit reminders, links to credible health information and assistance for paying bills.ConclusionDespite their initial lack of knowledge of the health record, focus group participants were overwhelmingly positive about the prospect of online access to medical records. However, they worried about potential loss of privacy and interference with the patient–provider relationship. As EMRs increasingly offer patients open access to their medical records, vulnerable patient groups will likely join others in desiring and adopting such change, but may need targeted support during times of transition.
Response of Antioxidant Enzymes, Phytochelatins and Glutathione Production Towards Cd and Zn Stresses in Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. Genotypes Colonized by Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
Authors: Garg N. , Kaur H. 
Published: June 2012

AbstractMost metal polluted natural environments are contaminated with multiple metals, and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are among the extracellular strategies to avoid metal toxicity. To understand the interaction between Cd, Zn and AM fungi Glomus mosseae, two genotypes (Sel 85N and P792) of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.), differing in their metal tolerance, were chosen for study. Results revealed that root dry weights were more severely affected than shoot dry weights as both the metals were accumulated in roots than in the aerial parts. Mycorrhization promoted biomass yields by decreasing metal content in plant tissues. Exposure to the metals resulted in oxidative burst (high H2O2, malondialdehyde contents and electrolyte leakage), which was accompanied by decreased membrane stability. However, increase in the level of total non‐protein thiols (TNP‐SH) and the activity of antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and glutathione reductase (GR) suggested that all these parameters were synergistic in combating heavy‐metal‐induced oxidative stress. Zn supplementation proved to be inhibitory for Cd‐induced oxidative stress. AM fungi alleviated oxidative stress through enhanced production of TNP‐SH as well as through upregulation of antioxidant enzymes. Sel 85N exhibited lesser oxidative damage and more efficient defence mechanism than P792.
Impact of the Learn to Play program on play, social competence and language for children aged 5–8 years who attend a specialist school
Authors: Stagnitti Karen , O'Connor Chloe , Sheppard Loretta 
Published: June 2012

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to investigate the change in the relationship between play, language and social skills of children aged 5–8 years pre and post participation in the ‘Learn to Play’ program. The Learn to Play program is a child led play based intervention aimed at developing self‐initiated pretend play skills in children.MethodsAll 19 participants attended a specialist school, with 10 of the 19 children having a diagnosis of autism. The play, language and social skills of the children were assessed at baseline and at follow up. Children were assessed using the Child‐Initiated Pretend Play Assessment, the Preschool Language Scale and the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale. Follow up data collection occurred after the children had been participating in the Learn to Play program for 1 hour twice a week for 6 months.ResultsAfter 6 months in the program, typical indicators of play accounted for an increase of 47.3% in shared variance with social interaction and an increase of 36% in shared variance for social connection. For language, object substitution ability accounted for 50% of the shared variance, which was an increase of 27% from baseline.ConclusionThe ‘Learn to Play’ program was associated with increases in children's language and social skills over a 6‐month period within a special school setting, indicating the Learn to Play program is an effective intervention for children with developmental disabilities. This paper presents an example of how the Learn to Play program can be adapted into a classroom setting.
Fhit, E‐cadherin, p53, and activation‐induced cytidine deaminase expression in endoscopically resected early stage esophageal squamous neoplasia
Authors: Hayashi Akihiro , Yashima Kazuo , Takeda Yohei , Sasaki Shuji , Kawaguchi Koichiro , Harada Kenichi , Murawaki Yoshikazu , Ito Hisao 
Published: June 2012

AbstractBackground and Aim:  Abnormal expression of Fragile Histidine Triad (Fhit), E‐cadherin and p53 is observed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. It has recently been reported that aberrant expression of activation‐induced cytidine deaminase (AID) in gastric epithelium leads to the accumulation of nucleotide alterations in the p53 gene. However, little is known about the association between these molecular events and the clinicopathological characteristics of early stage esophageal squamous neoplasia, especially in endoscopically resected tumors.Methods:  Esophageal squamous neoplasias (n = 49) comprising nine cases of low‐grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN), 22 of high‐grade intraepithelial neoplasia/carcinoma in situ (HGIN/CIS) and 18 of invasive cancers, were endoscopically resected. Their expression of the tumor‐related proteins: Fhit, E‐cadherin, p53 and AID was assessed using immunohistochemical methods, and the relationship between protein expression and clinicopathological data was examined.Results:  Reduced or absent Fhit and E‐cadherin expression was detected in 22% and 0% of LGIN cases, 73% and 14% of HGIN/CIS cases, and 94% and 61% of invasive cancer cases, respectively, showing progressive increases during neoplastic progression (Fhit: P < 0.01, E‐cadherin: P < 0.01). Although p53 and AID were overexpressed in these samples, no change in their expression occurred during neoplastic progression. Moreover, p53 expression was not significantly associated with AID expression.Conclusions:  These results indicate that a decrease in Fhit and E‐cadherin expression could be related to the development and progression of esophageal squamous neoplasia, and that the expression of p53 was independent of aberrant AID expression in the early stage of esophageal carcinogenesis.
Hypermethylation of adenomatous polyposis coli gene promoter is associated with novel Wnt signaling pathway in gastric adenomas
Authors: Wang Zhen‐Kai , Liu Jiong , Liu Chan , Wang Fang‐Yu , Chen Chun‐Yan , Zhang Xin‐Hua 
Published: June 2012

AbstractBackground and Aim:  Gastric adenomas (GAs) are considered as premalignant lesions of gastric adenocarcinoma. The role of Wnt signaling pathway in GAs is rarely identified. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether Wnt signaling plays a role in the pathogenesis of GAs, and to clarify the mechanism of Wnt signaling in GAs.Methods:  The study investigated the relationship between clinicopathological characteristics, Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection, adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) promoter methylation, APC and β‐catenin immunohistochemistry expression and mutation status, compared with 38 gastric adenoma and periadenomatous tissues (PTs).Results:  The abnormal expression of β‐catenin in PTs, low‐grade adenomas (LGAs) and high‐grade adenomas (HGAs) was 0%, 9.09% and 81.25%. For APC, immunoreactive score (IRS) was 5.50 ± 0.5 in PTs, 3.59 ± 1.4 in LGAs and 1.8 ± 2.0 in HGAs. The scores in LGAs and HGAs were significantly lower than those in PTs (P = 0.000). IRS reflected significantly reduced expression of APC in HGAs (P = 0.002). The absent expression of APC had a correlation with the expression of β‐catenin (P = 0.000). Four LGAs (18.18%) and nine HGAs (56.25%) had methylation of APC. APC promoter methylation correlated with the grade (P = 0.014) and the expression of β‐catenin and APC (P = 0.000). Genes mutation was detected in only two adenomas (5.3%). The presence of Hp in HGAs (43.8%) was significantly higher than in LGAs (13.6%) (P = 0.038). But there was no statistical correlation to growth pattern, size, APC hypermethylation and gene mutation.Conclusion:  Hypermethylation of APC promoter, instead of mutations involving APC and β‐catenin, may play a role in the development and progression of GAs contributing to moderate activation of Wnt signaling. Helicobacter pylori may accelerate the progress of gastric adenoma, but the pathogenesis needs further research.
Power of mental health nursing research: A statistical analysis of studies in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing
Authors: Gaskin Cadeyrn J. , Happell Brenda 
Published: June 2012

ABSTRACTHaving sufficient power to detect effect sizes of an expected magnitude is a core consideration when designing studies in which inferential statistics will be used. The main aim of this study was to investigate the statistical power in studies published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. From volumes 19 (2010) and 20 (2011) of the journal, studies were analysed for their power to detect small, medium, and large effect sizes, according to Cohen's guidelines. The power of the 23 studies included in this review to detect small, medium, and large effects was 0.34, 0.79, and 0.94, respectively. In 90% of papers, no adjustments for experiment‐wise error were reported. With a median of nine inferential tests per paper, the mean experiment‐wise error rate was 0.51. A priori power analyses were only reported in 17% of studies. Although effect sizes for correlations and regressions were routinely reported, effect sizes for other tests (χ2‐tests, t‐tests, ANOVA/MANOVA) were largely absent from the papers. All types of effect sizes were infrequently interpreted. Researchers are strongly encouraged to conduct power analyses when designing studies, and to avoid scattergun approaches to data analysis (i.e. undertaking large numbers of tests in the hope of finding ‘significant’ results). Because reviewing effect sizes is essential for determining the clinical significance of study findings, researchers would better serve the field of mental health nursing if they reported and interpreted effect sizes.
Multispecies fisheries management and conservation: tactical applications using models of intermediate complexity
Authors: Plagányi Éva E , Punt André E , Hillary Richard , Morello Elisabetta B , Thébaud Olivier , Hutton Trevor , Pillans Richard D , Thorson James T , Fulton Elizabeth A , Smith Anthony D M , Smith Franz , Bayliss Peter , Haywood Michael , Lyne Vincent , Rothlisberg Peter C 
Published: June 2012

AbstractStakeholders increasingly expect ecosystem assessments as part of advice on fisheries management. Quantitative models to support fisheries decision‐making may be either strategic (‘big picture’, direction‐setting and contextual) or tactical (focused on management actions on short timescales), with some strategic models informing the development of tactical models. We describe and review ‘Models of Intermediate Complexity for Ecosystem assessments’ (MICE) that have a tactical focus, including use as ecosystem assessment tools. MICE are context‐ and question‐driven and limit complexity by restricting the focus to those components of the ecosystem needed to address the main effects of the management question under consideration. Stakeholder participation and dialogue is an integral part of this process. MICE estimate parameters through fitting to data, use statistical diagnostic tools to evaluate model performance and account for a broad range of uncertainties. These models therefore address many of the impediments to greater use of ecosystem models in strategic and particularly tactical decision‐making for marine resource management and conservation. MICE are capable of producing outputs that could be used for tactical decision‐making, but our summary of existing models suggests this has not occurred in any meaningful way to date. We use a model of the pelagic ecosystem in the Coral Sea and a linked catchment and ocean model of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia, to illustrate how MICE can be constructed. We summarize the major advantages of the approach, indicate opportunities for the development of further applications and identify the major challenges to broad adoption of the approach.
Resisting medications: moral discourses and performances in illness narratives
Authors: Murdoch Jamie , Salter Charlotte , Cross Jane , Smith Jane , Poland Fiona 
Published: June 2012

AbstractAdherence research has been dominated by attitudinal approaches that isolate individual statements made in interviews and then assign a fixed attitude to the individual who made that statement. Despite much sociological research having raised questions about the notion of fixed attitudes, little research has theorised the process by which individual utterances about medicine‐taking are produced as a form of resistance to medications within interviews. Using Goffman’s concept of performance as a starting point, this article offers an alternative framework for conceptualising adherence presentations when provided in the form of a rhetorical narrative. Through the presentation of case material taken from interviews with participants who had not taken prophylactic asthma medications as prescribed, we develop Goffman’s concept of performance to theorise the production of adherence talk in two important ways. First, individual performances can be seen to be shaped by how moral discourses of illness management transfer across contexts. Second, performances are subject to inequalities in the resources interactants have access to. An extended definition of Goffman’s concept of performance is thus offered, arguing that the ‘meaning’ of individual performances is produced by a combination of which moral discourses interactants orientate to and which discourses are used to categorise individuals.
Using Paradata to Explore Item Level Response Times in Surveys
Authors: Couper Mick P. , Kreuter Frauke 
Published: June 2012

SummaryWe analyse item level keystroke data from cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth, which is a survey on fertility and related topics that is conducted in the USA. The National Survey of Family Growth is conducted among both males and females by using computer-assisted personal visit interviews and an audio computer-assisted self-interviewing component for the most sensitive topics. Our analyses focus on the time taken to answer a question as a function of item level characteristics, respondent characteristics and interviewer characteristics. Using multilevel models, we explore how these factors influence response times. Our exploratory study suggests that factors at all three levels (item, respondent and interviewer) influence response times. These results demonstrate that question features that explain variation in response times can be automatically derived from standard computer-assisted personal interviewing paradata. The effects of respondent characteristics that we observe are in line with prior findings from more controlled studies conducted in supervised telephone facilities. Some demographic characteristics of interviewers contributed to the variation in response times, though they failed to explain large portions of the between-interviewer variance.
Variance Estimation of the Gini Index: Revisiting a Result Several Times Published
Authors: Langel Matti , Tillé Yves 
Published: June 2012

SummarySince Corrado Gini suggested the index that bears his name as a way of measuring inequality, the computation of variance of the Gini index has been subject to numerous publications. We survey a large part of the literature related to the topic and show that the same results, as well as the same errors, have been republished several times, often with a clear lack of reference to previous work. Whereas existing literature on the subject is very fragmented, we regroup references from various fields and attempt to bring a wider view of the problem. Moreover, we try to explain how this situation occurred and the main issues that are involved when trying to perform inference on the Gini index, especially under complex sampling designs. The interest of several linearization methods is discussed and the contribution of recent references is evaluated. Also, a general result to linearize a quadratic form is given, allowing the approximation of variance to be computed in only a few lines of calculation. Finally, the relevance of the regression-based approach is evaluated and an empirical comparison is proposed.
Photodynamic therapy using topical 5‐aminolaevulinic acid vs. surgery for basal cell carcinoma
Authors: Cosgarea R. , Susan M. , Crisan M. , Senila S. 
Published: June 2012

AbstractBackground  Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an attractive modality for the treatment of BCC, based on its generally favorable efficacy, adverse effect profile and its excellent cosmetic outcome.Objectives  The purpose of the study is to compare the efficacy and cosmetic outcome of photodynamic therapy with topical 5‐aminolaevulinic acid (ALA‐PDT) vs. simple excision surgery for superficial and nodular basal cell carcinoma (BCC).Methods  A total of 72 patients, 32 with 48 lesions, were treated with ALA‐ PDT, and 40 with 46 lesions treated by excision were included in this prospective, comparative, controlled, clinical study. The patients have been followed for 16–37 months (mean 25 months). The PDT was performed in combination with 5‐aminolaevulinic acid twice, one month apart. Surgical excision was performed under local anesthesia with a 3‐mm margin, followed by histological examination. The cosmetic outcome was evaluated by the physician according to a 4‐point scale.Results  Overall 94 BCC were treated. Complete healing rates did not differ significantly between groups, P = 0.64 (46/48 [95.83%] lesions treated with PDT vs. 44/46 [95.65%] lesions with surgery). In the first 12 months of follow‐up, 4 lesions had recurred, 2 of which were in the PDT group while 2 lesions after surgery. The mean follow‐up was 25 months. The recurrence rate in the ALA‐PDT group was 4.16% vs. 4.34% in the surgery group, p = 0.64. The cosmetic outcome was superior for ALA‐PDT at all time points. At 12 months, 100% lesions treated with ALA‐PDT had an excellent or good cosmetic outcome, according to the investigator, compared with 88.86% with surgery, P = 0.01.Conclusion  ALA‐PDT offers a similarly high efficacy, and a better cosmetic outcome than simple excision surgery in the treatment of BCC.