bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Gene-environment interactions in parkinsonism and Parkinson’s disease: the Geoparkinson study
Authors: Dick F D , De Palma G , Ahmadi A , Osborne A , Scott N W , Prescott G J , Bennett J , Semple S , Dick S , Mozzoni P , Haites N , Wettinger S Bezzina , Mutti A , Otelea M , Seaton A , Soderkvist P , Felice A 
Published: April 2007

Objectives:To investigate associations of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and parkinsonian syndromes with polymorphic genes that influence metabolism of either foreign chemical substances or dopamine and to seek evidence of gene-environment interaction effects that modify risk.Methods:A case-control study of 959 prevalent cases of parkinsonism (767 with PD) and 1989 controls across five European centres. Occupational hygienists estimated the average annual intensity of exposure to solvents, pesticides and metals, (iron, copper, manganese), blind to disease status.CYP2D6,PON1,GSTM1, GSTT1, GSTM3, GSTP1, NQO1, CYP1B1, MAO-A, MAO-B, SOD 2, EPHX,DAT1, DRD2andNAT2were genotyped. Results were analysed using multiple logistic regression adjusting for key confounders.Results:There was a modest but significant association betweenMAO-Apolymorphism in males and disease risk (G vs T, OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.66, adjusted). The majority of gene-environment analyses did not show significant interaction effects. There were possible interaction effects betweenGSTM1 nullgenotype and solvent exposure (which were stronger when limited to PD cases only).Conclusions:Many small studies have reported associations between genetic polymorphisms and PD. Fewer have examined gene-environment interactions. This large study was sufficiently powered to examine these aspects.GSTM1 nullsubjects heavily exposed to solvents appear to be at increased risk of PD. There was insufficient evidence that the other gene-environment combinations investigated modified disease risk, suggesting they contribute little to the burden of PD.
Minors and Informed Consent: A Comparative Approach
Authors: Stultiëns Loes , Dierickx Kris , Nys Herman , Goffin Tom , Borry Pascal 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThe European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe provides in article 6 for special protection of persons who are not able to give free and informed consent to an intervention in the health field, e.g. minors. According to the second paragraph of this article it is up to domestic law to decide whether and under which conditions a minor is capable of taking autonomous decisions in the health field.In the present article an overview is given of the legal regulations in place regarding the position of minors in a health care setting in the EU Member States that have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine namely Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. As the overview will show, the legal position of minor patients in a health care setting varies from country to country. This in view of the system they have opted for as well as the age and circumstances under which minors are allowed to take health care decisions autonomously.
Palliative Sedation in The Netherlands: Starting-points and Contents of a National Guideline
Authors: van Wijlick Eric , Verkerk Marian , de Graeff Alexander , Legemaate Johan 
Published: April 2007

AbstractIn December 2005 the first national guideline for palliative sedation in the Netherlands was published. This guideline was developed by a committee of the Royal Dutch Medical Association, at the request of the Dutch government. The guideline defines palliative sedation as 'the intentional lowering of consciousness of a patient in the last phase of his or her life'. According to the guideline the objective of palliative sedation is to relieve suffering, and lowering consciousness is a means to achieve this. It is very important that palliative sedation is given for the right indication, proportionally, and adequately. It is the degree of symptom control, not the level to which consciousness is lowered, which determines the dose and combinations of the sedatives used and duration of treatment. The assessment and decision-making processes must focus on adequate relief of the patient's suffering, so that a peaceful and acceptable situation is created. Palliative sedation is given in the last phase of life, in the imminently dying patient. Palliative sedation raises several legal questions. In this article we describe the structure and contents of the guideline, with special attention for the main legal issues involved, like the distinction between palliative sedation and euthanasia and the process of informed conesnt.
Patient Information on Drug Therapy. A Problem of Medical Malpractice Law: Between Product Safety and User Safety
Authors: Hart Dieter 
Published: April 2007

AbstractMedicinal products are associated with risks as well as potential therapeutic benefits. This is reflected by the legal requirements for patient information on drug therapy which can be differentiated into general product information, regulated by pharmaceutical (i. e. product safety) law, and individual patient information on the treatment with the product, which is subject to medical malpractice law. The physician's duty to inform the patient comprises therapeutic information as well as information required for informed consent. Therapeutic information intends to empower the patient to comply with the requirements of treatment and to protect him/her against preventable danger and risk; it is part of the medical treatment, aimed at the individual patient and his/her personal situation. Information required for informed consent enables the patient to a self-determined decision on the treatment offered; it can be divided into information on the course of treatment and risk information. Product information and treatment information complement each other; the former should be the basis of individual information on the concrete treatment, provided by the physician in a mandatory oral conversation with the patient. Product information cannot replace the physician's individual information about the treatment.
The Limitations of Neo-Darwinism and Evidence for a Whiteheadian Theory of Evolution
Authors: Cobb John 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThe dominant neo-Darwinian theory of evolution locates the causes of evolutionary change in the random mutation of genes and in the environment. The animal organisms are viewed as passive in this process. However, there is a great deal of evidence that animal activity plays a large role in evolution. Some of this, no doubt, is random or even mechanically determined. However, there are good reasons to think that some of it is purposive and intelligent. Animals repeat successful actions and learn them from other members of the species. These actions may prove beneficial for survival; so genes that facilitate them are naturally selected. Animal action also changes the environment. Including human beings in an evolutionary development that is partly determined by intelligent and purposive behavior does not have the reductionistic and nihilistic implications of currently standard teaching about evolution.
Darwin and Contemporary Theology
Authors: Haught John 
Published: April 2007

AbstractDarwin's "dangerous idea" challenges religious trust in a providential God, that is, one who influences and eternally cares for the world. Our religious ancestors had no knowledge of biological evolution, although they were certainly aware of the suffering of humans and other living beings. Evolutionary science vastly extends the story of life and life's suffering (and creativity as well) beyond those of traditional theological awareness. In what sense, then, after Darwin, might the doctrine of divine providence still be credible, if at all? Is it perhaps possible that evolutionary portraits of life may open up fresh ways of thinking about divine providence?
Evolving Environmentalism: The Role of Ecotheology in Creation/Evolution Controversies
Authors: Sideris Lisa 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThe impact on ecological theology of green and postmodern critiques of science has led to disturbing parallels between the work of some Christian environmentalists and process theologians on the one hand, and the arguments of Intelligent Design (ID) proponents on the other. At the heart of these critiques is a rejection of mechanistic science and "neo-Darwinism". Both ID proponents and ecotheologians critique the disenchanted and reductionist worldview assumed to be central to neo-Darwinism. Both groups also redefine the traditional boundaries of scientific naturalism, presenting a form of biology that shows matter to be active and valuable, rather than dead and inert. This paper examines these parallels and argues for the possibility of enchanted and theistic interpretations of modern Darwinism without redefining naturalism.
Evolutionary Literacy: A Prerequisite for Theological Education?
Authors: Spencer Daniel 
Published: April 2007

AbstractScientific literacy in evolutionary theory and scientific methods should be a required component of graduate theological education in the United States, so that pastors and theologians may participate constructively in contemporary debates about religion and evolution. Four areas of deficiency in theological education that should be addressed include the need to (1) reintegrate scientific literacy back into theological education; (2) integrate the history of science and particularly evolution into Christian and church history courses; (3) engage in serious theological encounter with evolution; (4) integrate science into Christian ethics. I suggest that the following texts provide helpful resources for this project: Eugenie Scott's Evolution and Creationism: An Introduction; Edward Larson's Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory; Ted Peters and Martinez Hewlitt's Evolution from Creation to New Creation: Conflict, Conversation, and Convergence; and the work of the Center for Process Studies and John Cobb, Jr in engaging process theology with evolution.
Kweli ndugu yanga—the Religious Horizons of "Humans Are Primates"
Authors: Waldau Paul 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThe opening Swahili phrase, meaning "Truly my kin", was uttered by Dian Fossey's guide when both encountered their first free-living gorilla. The theme of kinship, often deemed the ultimate in evolutionary connection and a privileged relationship recognized by all ethical systems, can be used to connect our species not only to primates and mammals, but to all life. But examples abound of religious leaders who have resisted this connection, denying that humans really belong in the categories "mammal" or "primate" or, perish the thought, "ape" or "animal". Less well known is that many religious and cultural traditions have recognized these connections in profound ways, thereby providing a religious horizon for the evolutionary point of view.
The Politics of Religion In Samuel Holdheim's Thought
Authors: Koltun-Fromm Ken 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThis paper offers a thorough description and analysis of Samuel Holdheim's distinction between the religious and the political, one that begins to analyze the different meanings of religion, Mosaic religion, Judaism, tradition, and interpretation in his thought. Holdheim erects a protective barrier to thwart religious critique and interpretation. This protective strategy shields religious ideals from the turmoil and complexity of political discourse and action. Yet Holdheim's understanding of the religious is a political interpretation of religion (even according to Holdheim's own view of religious and political discourse). To put this another way, there cannot be religious interpretation in Holdheim's schema. The human interpretive act is always a political one. Holdheim's biblical exegesis reveals a severely constricted view of the religious as a necessary and eternal promise by God to all human beings, and a view of the political as the realm of human free response to this covenantal promise. What many of us might want to label 'religious activity' (the human response to a divine initiative) is not counted as such in Holdheim's thought. Biblical interpretation is always political, in Holdheim's view, and must be to safeguard the timeless purity of religious truth. Even Holdheim plays the game of the politics of religion.
Philosophy of Religion or Political Philosophy? The Debate Between Leo Strauss and Julius Guttmann
Authors: Adorisio Chiara 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThe article reconstructs and examines the debate between Leo Strauss (1899–1973) and Julius Guttmann (1880–1950) on the interpretation of the essence of Jewish medieval philosophy. Is Jewish medieval philosophy characterised by being essentially a philosophy of religion or, as Strauss objected in his critique of Guttmann, is it better understood if we consider that Jewish medieval rationalists conceived the problem of the relationship between philosophy and Judaism primarily as the problem of the relationship between philosophy and the law?Though both Guttmann and Strauss seem to discuss in their works the question of the interpretation of medieval Jewish philosophy in a historical way, their arguments were in fact rooted in a theoretical and philosophical interest. Strauss and Guttmann followed different philosophical methods, had different personal attitudes toward Judaism and faith, but both tried to learn from medieval and ancient philosophy to understand the problems of modern and contemporary rationalism.
A Synoptic Climatology and Composite Analysis of the Alberta Clipper
Authors: Thomas Blaine C. , Martin Jonathan E. 
Published: April 2007

Abstract
Surface and upper-air analyses from the ECMWF Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) dataset are used to construct a climatology of 177 Alberta clippers over 15 boreal cold seasons (October–March) from 1986/87 to 2000/01. The Alberta clipper (hereafter simply clipper) occurs most frequently during December and January and substantially less frequently during October and March. These cyclones generally move southeastward from the lee of the Canadian Rockies toward or just north of Lake Superior before progressing eastward into southeastern Canada or the northeastern United States, with less than 10% of the cases in the climatology tracking south of the Great Lakes. Characteristics of the structure and evolution of clippers during a 36-h period leading up to departure of the cyclone from the lee of the Canadian Rockies and a 60-h period after departure as the cyclone traverses central and eastern North America are examined through composite analyses. Over the course of the predeparture period, a cyclone over the Gulf of Alaska approaches the west coast of North America, and through its interaction with the mountainous terrain of western North America spawns a surface lee trough, characterized by a thermal ridge at 850 hPa, to the east of the Canadian Rockies. This thermal ridge dampens considerably as the composite clipper moves into central North America away from the immediate lee of the Canadian Rockies. The composite clipper system evolves from a lee cyclone with its nonclassical thermal structure to a more classically structured midlatitude cyclone as it moves through central and eastern North America largely as a result of rotation of the low-level thermal gradient and the increasing westward tilt with height of the composite clipper over the last 36 h of the postdeparture period. The thermal gradient rotation is dynamically linked to convergence of the along-isentrope component of the Q vector and thus to the ascent that sustains the clipper and creates some of its characteristic sensible weather elements. Such dynamical forcing is a direct consequence of the persistent westward displacement of the 500-hPa vorticity maximum with respect to the composite clipper sea level pressure minimum that characterizes the postdeparture period.
The Effect of Upstream Convection on Downstream Precipitation
Authors: Mahoney Kelly M. , Lackmann Gary M. 
Published: April 2007

Abstract
Operational forecasters in the southeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States have noted a positive quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) bias in numerical weather prediction (NWP) model forecasts downstream of some organized, cold-season convective systems. Examination of cold-season cases in which model QPF guidance exhibited large errors allowed identification of two representative cases for detailed analysis. The goals of the case study analyses are to (i) identify physical mechanisms through which the upstream convection (UC) alters downstream precipitation amounts, (ii) determine why operational models are challenged to provide accurate guidance in these situations, and (iii) suggest future research directions that would improve model forecasts in these situations and allow forecasters to better anticipate such events. Two primary scenarios are identified during which downstream precipitation is altered in the presence of UC for the study region: (i) a fast-moving convective (FC) scenario in which organized convective systems oriented parallel to the lower-tropospheric flow are progressive relative to the parent synoptic system, and appear to disrupt poleward moisture transport, and (ii) a situation characterized by slower-moving convection (SC) relative to the parent system. Analysis of a representative FC case indicated that moisture consumption, stabilization via convective overturning, and modification of the low-level flow to a more westerly direction in the postconvective environment all appear to contribute to the reduction of downstream precipitation. In the FC case, operational Eta Model forecasts moved the organized UC too slowly, resulting in an overestimate of downstream moisture transport. A 4-km explicit convection model forecast from the Weather Research and Forecasting model produced a faster-moving upstream convective system and improved downstream QPF. In contrast to the FC event, latent heat release in the primary rainband is shown to enhance the low-level jet ahead of the convection in the SC case, thereby increasing moisture transport into the downstream region. A negative model QPF bias was observed in Eta Model forecasts for the SC event. Suggestions are made for precipitation forecasting in UC situations, and implications for NWP model configuration are discussed.
Two Generations of Slovenian Suicidal Adolescent Inpatients
Authors: Radobuljac Maja , Groleger Urban , Ovsenik Nada , Tomori Martina 
Published: April 2007

Background: The political and socio-economic situation in Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic, a country in transition and a country with a high suicide rate, which joined the European Union in 2004, has changed steadily since the beginning of the 1970s. Literature shows constancy in suicide statistics in Slovenia during these times. Aim: The present study examines whether the suicidal adolescent inpatient population in Slovenia reflects recent social changes and upheavals. Method: Data on two groups of patients admitted to a specialized adolescent psychiatry department after attempting suicide were collected. The first group (n = 74) were patients admitted from 1975 to 1977, the second group (n = 73) from 2002 to 2004. They were compared on general characteristics, family and living circumstances, risk behaviors, suicide attempts and diagnoses. Results: The comparison revealed statistically significant differences between groups on educational level, number of siblings, frequency of smoking and psychoactive medication misuse as well as number of previous suicide attempts. No differences were found in other family and living circumstances, methods used in the index suicide attempt, other risk behaviors or diagnoses. Conclusions: The post-independence suicidal inpatient population in Slovenia shows a tendency towards higher morbidity, but has changed less than expected considering the vast changes in the society. These results suggest a certain constancy in adolescent suicidal behavior.
Technical note: An investigation of possible improvements in accuracy of regressions between diffuse and global solar irradiation
Authors: Clarke P. , Munawwar S. , Davidson A. , Muneer T. , Kubie J. 
Published: April 2007

Horizontal hourly and sub-hourly diffuse and beam irradiance are required for the estimation of global irradiance on a given tilted surface. This information is used by engineers and architects for various solar energy applications and also to calculate solar heat gain in buildings. Although horizontal global irradiance is a commonly measured parameter for many sites, horizontal diffuse irradiance is not so readily obtainable. For such sites that measure global irradiation alone a simple but reasonably accurate method is required to estimate diffuse irradiance from its global counterpart. The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracies of estimation of diffuse irradiance by developing annual, seasonal and monthly regressions between sub-hourly diffuse-ratio and clearness-index. An error analysis has been undertaken to compare these regression models. Practicalapplications: Diffuse and beam components of global irradiation are required to accurately simulate solar heat gain in buildings. The UK Meteorological office keeps records of diffuse and global irradiances for 9 stations, but there are a further 84 stations that solely record global irradiance. Hence there is a need to estimate diffuse or beam irradiance for these sites. This paper presents an investigation into the uses of annual, seasonal and monthly regressions between diffuse and global horizontal sub-hourly solar irradiation. These regressions have proven to be a simple but reasonably accurate method of estimating diffuse irradiance from its global counterpart.