bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The first five years of euthanasia legislation in Belgium and the Netherlands: Description and comparison of cases
Authors: Rurup Mette L , Smets Tinne , Cohen Joachim , Bilsen Johan , Onwuteaka-Philipsen Bregje D , Deliens Luc 
Published: July 2011

Background: The Netherlands and Belgium legalized euthanasia in 2002. Aim: In this study we describe and compare cases of reported euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the first 5 years of legislation. Design/Setting/participants: The databases of the cases reported in Belgium and the Netherlands were made available by the review committees. We compared characteristics of all cases reported between September 2002–December 2007. Results: In the Netherlands 10,319 cases were reported, in Belgium 1917. Gender and age distributions were similar in both countries. Most patients suffered from cancer (83–87%), but patients more often suffered from diseases of the nervous system in Belgium (8.3% vs. 3.9%). In the Netherlands, reported euthanasia more often occurred at home compared with Belgium (81% vs. 42%), where it occurred more often in hospital (52% vs. 9%). In the Netherlands, all cases were based on the oral request of a competent patient. In Belgium, 2.1% of the reported cases was based on an advance directive. Conclusions: We conclude that countries debating legislation must realise that the rules and procedures for euthanasia they would agree upon and the way they are codified or not into law may influence the practice that develops once the legislation is effected or what part of that practice is reported.
Motor Neurone Disease family carers’ experiences of caring, palliative care and bereavement: An exploratory qualitative study
Authors: Aoun Samar M , Connors Sianne Lee , Priddis Lynn , Breen Lauren J , Colyer Sue 
Published: July 2011

Background: Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a neurodegenerative disease with a sudden onset, a rapid progression, a profile of complex disabilities and fatal consequences. Caring for a person with MND is an unremitting commitment, yet little research has examined the experiences and needs of carers for palliative care and bereavement care. Aim: This study explored the experiences of MND family carers, both during their time as carers and following bereavement. Particular attention was paid to the carers’ prolonged grief status and to the implications for service delivery, including palliative care. Design: A qualitative approach consisted of interviews with 16 bereaved family carers. The Prolonged Grief tool (PG-13) measured the carers’ prolonged grief. Setting/participants: sixteen family carers participated in the study, between one and four years after the death of their spouse from MND in Western Australia. Results: The thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed five themes – the work of family carers, the change in relationship from spouse to family carer, family caring as a series of losses, coping mechanisms of family carers and supportive and palliative care experiences of family carers. The six participants who met the criteria for prolonged grief disorder accessed palliative care at a later stage in the disease trajectory. Conclusions: The study provided a basis for more research into the role palliative care services has in supporting MND carers before and after the death of their spouse and in particular the provision of more tailored respite and bereavement support.
Mathematical models of malaria - a review
Authors: Mandal Sandip , Sarkar Ram Rup , Sinha Somdatta 
Published: July 2011

AbstractMathematical models have been used to provide an explicit framework for understanding malaria transmission dynamics in human population for over 100 years. With the disease still thriving and threatening to be a major source of death and disability due to changed environmental and socio-economic conditions, it is necessary to make a critical assessment of the existing models, and study their evolution and efficacy in describing the host-parasite biology. In this article, starting from the basic Ross model, the key mathematical models and their underlying features, based on their specific contributions in the understanding of spread and transmission of malaria have been discussed. The first aim of this article is to develop, starting from the basic models, a hierarchical structure of a range of deterministic models of different levels of complexity. The second objective is to elaborate, using some of the representative mathematical models, the evolution of modelling strategies to describe malaria incidence by including the critical features of host-vector-parasite interactions. Emphasis is more on the evolution of the deterministic differential equation based epidemiological compartment models with a brief discussion on data based statistical models. In this comprehensive survey, the approach has been to summarize the modelling activity in this area so that it helps reach a wider range of researchers working on epidemiology, transmission, and other aspects of malaria. This may facilitate the mathematicians to further develop suitable models in this direction relevant to the present scenario, and help the biologists and public health personnel to adopt better understanding of the modelling strategies to control the disease
The effect of substance P on asthmatic rat airway smooth muscle cell proliferation, migration, and cytoplasmic calcium concentration in vitro
Authors: Li Miao , Shang Yun-Xiao , Wei Bing , Yang Yun-Gang 
Published: July 2011

Abstract
Airway remodeling and airway hyper-responsiveness are prominent features of asthma. Neurogenic inflammation participates in the development of asthma. Neurokinin substance P acts by binding to neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R). Airway smooth muscle cells (ASMC) are important effector cells in asthma. Increases in ASMC proliferation, migration, and cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration are critical to airway remodeling and hyper-responsiveness. The effects of substance P on ASMC were investigated in Wistar rats challenged with a previously described asthmatic rat model. To exclude possible influences from other factors, the role of substance P was also investigated in primary cultured rat ASMC. Substance P and WIN62577-induced changes in cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration were observed by fluorescence microscopy, and expression of Ca2+ homeostasis-regulating genes was assessed with real-time PCR. We found that cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration increased in normal rat ASMC treated with substance P, but decreased in asthmatic rat ASMC treated with WIN62577, an antagonist of NK-1R. Real-time PCR analysis revealed increased Serca2 mRNA expression but decreased Ip3r mRNA expression after WIN62577 treatment in asthmatic rat ASMC. Flow cytometric analysis (FCM) revealed that most asthmatic rat ASMC stayed at G1 phase after combined treatment with WIN62577 and IL-13 in vitro. Transwell analysis suggested that ASMC migration was reduced after WIN62577 treatment. Therefore, we conclude that NK-1R is related to asthma mechanisms and a NK-1R antagonist downregulates calcium concentration in asthmatic ASMC by increasing Serca2 mRNA and decreasing Ip3r mRNA expression. The NK-1R antagonist WIN62577 inhibited ASMC IL-13-induced proliferation and ASMC migration in vitro and therefore may be a new therapeutic option in asthma.
Hyperpneumatization of the Skull Base: Case Report
Authors: Wemhoff Michael , Jain Rajan , Rock Jack , Rebol Janez , Kuker Wilhelm 
Published: July 2011

Abstract

Background and Importance:
Temporal bone and skull base pneumatization is a naturally occurring process that begins before birth and continues into early adulthood. Occasionally this process surpasses normal limits, resulting in hyperpneumatization, which is usually obvious, but on rare occasions may mimic more aggressive skull base disorders. An awareness of this rare anatomical variant may help clinicians avoid more extensive investigations.

Clinical Presentation:
We present the case of a 37-year-old man with severe headache and multiple, partially opacified lytic lesions in the skull base noted after minor head trauma. At presentation, a computed tomographic (CT) head scan revealed multiple lucent areas in the skull base after which magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) further suggested the diagnosis of an extensive lytic skull base process associated with a small clival fracture. Needle biopsy revealed nonspecific inflammation. An earlier head CT, not available at the time of admission, demonstrated extensive pneumatized air cells in the basiocciput. During the course of the 2-year follow-up, the originally pneumatized skull base was noted to become permanently opacified with areas of new bone growth.

Conclusion:
We concluded that the skull base abnormality was an anatomical variant associated with a clival fracture and hemorrhage, which led to opacification of the pneumatized air cells. No specific treatment was offered and symptoms resolved completely. Longterm follow-up CT demonstrated opacification of the skull base. This is one of very few cases in the literature reporting the clinical course of a patient with a hyperpneumatized skull base and the subsequent evolution of the disorder after minor head trauma.
The influence of feed rate on process damping in milling: modelling and experiments
Authors: Sims N D , Turner M S 
Published: July 2011

The performance of milling operations is limited by the onset of unstable self-excited vibrations known as regenerative chatter. Over the past few decades there has been a great deal of research to help predict and explain regenerative chatter. Consequently, high-speed milling operations are now frequently employed, with judicious choice of spindle speeds and depths of cut so as to avoid chatter whilst maintaining high productivity. However, many materials that are increasingly used in aerospace components are difficult to machine at high spindle speeds because of their thermal properties. Examples include titanium and nickel alloys. For these materials, low-speed machining must be employed, and in this regime the role of regenerative chatter is less clearly understood due to the phenomenon of process damping. In the present study, a time domain model of process damping is developed. This model is used to explore the relationship between cutting conditions and the amplitude of chatter vibrations. A qualitative agreement is found between experimental behaviour and the numerical model. In particular, the model predicts a strong relationship between the workpiece feed rate (expressed as a feed per tooth), and the acceptable chatter stability defined by the process damping wavelength. Further work is needed to properly calibrate some of the model parameters.
Nanobiodevices for Genome Analysis, Proteome Analysis, and Biomedical Applications
Authors: Baba Yoshinobu 
Published: July 2011

Abstract
Nanobiodevices are developed to analyze biomolecules and cells for genome and proteome analysis. In this article, I describe numerous advantages of nanobiodevices, especially in biological, medical, and clinical applications. I also describe the development of a nanopillar device for the ultrafast separation of DNA and nanoball materials for the fast separation of wide range of DNA fragments. Bacterial cellulose is applied to the separation of DNA and SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism) analysis of cancer genes for diagnosis of cancer. I developed a new synthetic method for quantum dots (QDs) based on appropriate cluster confirmation by ab initio molecular orbital calculation. QDs are applied to the screening of siRNA, highly sensitive detection of disease related proteins, and development of theranostic device for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Because of the high efficiency of nanobiodevices in the biomolecular and cellular analysis, numerous types of nanobiodevices are developed and applied to the diagnosis of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and infectious diseases.
Chemistry of Anthracene–Acetylene Oligomers. XIX. Construction of Higher 1,8-Anthrylene–Alkynylene Macrocycles: Synthesis, Structures, and Conformational Analysis of Cyclic Hexamer and Dodecamer
Authors: Toyota Shinji , Harada Hiroaki , Miyahara Hiroaki , Kawakami Takahiro , Wakamatsu Kan , Iwanaga Tetsuo 
Published: July 2011

Abstract
Macrocyclic 1,8-anthrylene hexamer and dodecamer with acetylene and diacetylene linkers were synthesized by the metal-catalyzed cyclization of an acyclic hexamer with terminal alkyne units, and characterized by NMR and mass spectroscopy. The structure and conformational mobilities of their macrocyclic frameworks were analyzed by DFT calculations and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The cyclic hexamer takes various parallelogram structures with the diacetylene linkers located at various positions, and those structures interconvert rapidly on the NMR time scale. The dodecamer tends to exist as highly folded structures that undergo exchange between several conformations rather slowly at room temperature. The intramolecular π···π interactions between anthracene units have a distinct effect on the structural features as well as the electronic spectra.
Prothrombin Complex Concentrate Versus Standard Therapies for INR Reversal in Trauma Patients Receiving Warfarin
Authors: Chapman Scott A , Irwin Eric D , Beal Alan L , Kulinski Nichole M , Hutson Katherine E , Thorson Melissa AL 
Published: July 2011

Background: Prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) is recommended as a therapy to be considered for the reversal of warfarin's effects. Few published data are available on the use of PCC for this indication in traumatically injured patients. Objective: To determine whether the addition of PCC to standard approaches to warfarin reversal more rapidly corrects the international normalized ratio (INR) in injured patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed in trauma patients who were on warfarin preinjury from January 2007 to September 2009 at North Memorial Medical Center. Data were collected from medical records and the trauma registry. Patients were separated based on whether or not they received PCC. The groups were compared on the basis of demographics, units of fresh frozen plasma (FFP), vitamin K use, units of PCC, number of patients achieving an INR of 1.5 or less, time to an INR of 1.5 or less, mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay, and the incidence of thromboembolic events during hospitalization. Results: Thirty-one patients were included in the analysis; 13 patients who received a total mean (SD) dose of 2281 (1053) units (25.6 [12.2] units/kg) of PCC (Profilnine SD) were compared to 18 patients who did not receive PCC. There was no significant difference between groups in FFP units received or the number of patients who received vitamin K. Most patients in both groups achieved an INR of 1.5 or less (92% PCC vs 89% no PCC). However, the mean time to achieve an INR of 1.5 or less was 16:59 (20:53) hours in the PCC group versus 30:03 (23:10) hours in the no PCC group (p = 0.048). There were 3 deaths in the PCC group and no deaths in the no PCC group (p = 0.06). ICU and hospital length of stay and number of thromboembolic events did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. Conclusions: PCC, when added to FFP and vitamin K, resulted in a more rapid time to reversal of the INR.
Factors Associated with Antidepressant Adherence for Medicaid-Enrolled Children and Adolescents
Authors: Fontanella Cynthia A , Bridge Jeffrey A , Marcus Steven C , Campo John V 
Published: July 2011

Background: Antidepressants have been shown to be efficacious for the treatment of pediatric depression. However, many youths do not receive an adequate duration of treatment, and factors associated with nonadherence in this population remain poorly understood. Objective: To examine rates of antidepressant adherence for depressed youth and identify factors associated with adherence during the acute and continuation phases of treatment. Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using claims data from a state Medicaid-enrolled population of 1650 youths (aged 5-17 years) with new episodes of depression between January 1, 2005, and December 30, 2007. These patients were treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or newer antidepressants and followed for 6 months from the first prescription fill date. Adherence measures were derived from the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) quality indicators on antidepressant management (3 months of continuous treatment for the acute phase and 6 months for the continuation phase) and assessed using the medication possession ratio. Multivariate logistic regression analyses evaluated the association between demographic, clinical, medication, and treatment factors, and adherence. Results: About half (49.5%) of the youths were adherent to antidepressant medication during the acute phase, and 42% of these were adherent during the continuation phase; 21% were adherent across both treatment phases. Optimal follow-up visits and adequate antidepressant dosing was associated with better adherence during both treatment phases, as was use of other psychotropic medications. Youths prescribed trazodone for sleep had higher adherence rates during the acute phase. Minority youths and adolescents had lower adherence rates during the acute phase. Youths in foster care had higher adherence rates during both treatment phases. Conclusions: Nonadherence with antidepressant medications is common among Medicaid-covered children and adolescents. Study findings underscore the need for clinicians to deliver guideline-concordant care, assess adherence, and develop interventions that improve adherence, particularly for vulnerable subgroups.
Heparin Dosing in Obese Pediatric Patients in the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory
Authors: Moffett Brady S , Teruya Jun , Petit Christopher 
Published: July 2011

Background: Unfractionated heparin (UFH) dosing may need to be adjusted when used in obese patients. The prevalence of pediatric obesity is increasing and, to our knowledge, no data exist to determine the effect of obesity on UFH therapy in children. Objective: To determine whether obese pediatric patients who receive a weight-based dose of UFH in the cardiac catheterization laboratory exhibit an enhanced response compared with those of normal body habitus. Methods: The records of pediatric patients who underwent a cardiac catheterization procedure from September 2006 to September 2010 at Texas Children's Hospital were reviewed. Patients were included if they had received a bolus dose of UFH during their procedure, and had pre- and post-UFH bolus activated clotting time (ACT) values determined. Patients were identified as obese if their body mass index (BMI) was at the 95th percentile or more for age and sex and were matched by age, sex, and catheterization procedure to a control group of patients with a BMI lower than the 95th percentile. Differences in demographic, UFH, and ACT variables were compared between obese and nonobese paired groups. Results: Seventy-eight patients (39 obese) met study criteria; 46 (58.9%) patients were male. The primary catheterization procedure was radiofrequency ablation (n = 32). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean (SD) dose per kilogram of UFH administered (72.3 [24.9] vs 63.6 [23.6] units/kg; p = 0.12) and no statistically significant difference in the time after the UFH bolus that the ACT was measured (52 [26] vs 56 [26] minutes; p = 0.59) between the 2 groups. No statistically significant difference was noted in the percent change in ACT after UFH bolus in obese compared to nonobese pediatric patients (196% [106] vs 165% [97]; p = 0.17). Conclusions: No significant difference in response to UFH was identified in obese pediatric patients compared to nonobese pediatric patients as measured by ACT in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.
Thermal and Electrical Response of Unsaturated Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Granular Materials
Authors: Kim Daehyun , Kim Young Jin , Lee Jong-Sub , Yun Tae Sup 
Published: July 2011

Abstract
The thermal and electrical properties of unsaturated soils have been less investigated, compared with geomechanical characteristics, despite the wide range of engineering implications. Moreover, the wettability of soil surface commonly accepted in unsaturated soil mechanics is often assumed to be wettable, whereas water-repellent (hydrophobic) soils can exist in natural systems. This study presents the synthesizing method of water-repellent soils and experimental procedure to evaluate the evolution of thermal and electrical properties of unsaturated wettable (hydrophilic) and water-repellent (hydrophobic) soils. Sands are chemically treated with an organic silane to make the particle surface water-repellent. The transient plane source method is used to obtain the thermal conductivity of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic specimens. The electrical conductance is measured by the two-electrode system as well. The degree of saturation varies for both experimentations to assess the surface wettability effect that is captured by thermal and electrical conduction. The different capillarity, driven by surface wettability of soils and corresponding spatial distribution of water phase in pore space, influences thermal and electrical properties for tested specimens. The synthesis of hydrophobic soils in conjunction with simple experimental techniques enables one to evaluate physical properties of unsaturated soils at the particle-scale.
A Method to Measure the Relative Brine Release Capacity of Geologic Material
Authors: Stormont John C. , Hines Joleen S. , O’Dowd Daniel N. , Kelsey James A. , Pease R. Eric 
Published: July 2011

Abstract
A method to estimate the brine released by pumping a brine-saturated geologic unit has been developed. This method addresses the need of those evaluating mineral-rich brine-saturated deposits for a rapid screening test that is suitable for multiple samples and textures and that avoids issues associated with brine as the pore fluid. The method involves applying a vacuum to a group of saturated samples in a parallel configuration. The parallel configuration allows rapid analysis of up to 10 samples simultaneously. The amount of brine produced in response to the vacuum, referred to as the “relative brine release capacity” (RBRC), provides a basis for comparison of the amount of brine produced from different samples. The RBRC is related to the specific yield of a material, which is principally a function of material texture. In this study the method was first applied to sand, clay, and sandstone samples saturated with tap water so that the results could be compared to water retention data developed from standard methods. The results were consistent with the water retention data as well as with the range of published specific yield values for these textures. Subsequent measurements on several hundred brine-saturated samples produced RBRC values in an expected range consistent with the texture of the samples.