bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Uncertainty and Trend Analysis—Radium in Ground Water and Drinking Water
Authors: Soderberg Keir , Hennet Remy J.‐C. 
Published: November 2007

AbstractRadium activity measurements in water samples are encumbered by relatively large error bars, including for activity values near the regulatory drinking water maximum contaminant level of 5 pCi/L. The large error bars create uncertainty in the evaluation of temporal trends. This uncertainty is often the object of debate and disagreement in regulatory determinations, the design of remedial actions, and/or in litigation. The Mann‐Kendall nonparametric test is perhaps the most commonly used test for trend evaluation in environmental sciences. The test is simple and easy to apply by nonstatisticians and is recommended in several regulations and guidance documents. As typically applied, the Mann‐Kendall test does not consider the uncertainty related to error bars for individual data values. Ignoring this uncertainty can result in misleading conclusions on the presence or absence of trends. In this article, a procedure for trend analysis that accounts for error bars is described. For each data series analyzed, the procedure creates 1000 new data series by randomly assigning values that fall within the error bar around each data point. Trend analysis is then performed on the randomly created data series. The approach is applied to the evaluation of a radium data base containing analytical results from 137 locations (407 water samples) in Escambia County, Florida. The evaluation of the radium data base using the Mann‐Kendall test without accounting for the uncertainty reveals 10 significant trends at the 90% confidence level. Only two of these trends are supported by the data when the uncertainty from analytical error is accounted for.
Seasonal Recharge and Replenishment of Sulfate Associated with Biodegradation of a Hydrocarbon Plume
Authors: Van Stempvoort Dale R. , Armstrong James , Mayer Bernhard 
Published: November 2007

AbstractThe downward flux of sulfate in a weathered clayey aquitard to a hydrocarbon plume in ground water was investigated at a gas well site in Alberta, Canada. The dissolved hydrocarbon plume includes monoaromatic BTEX compounds and extends less than 20 m downgradient from a natural gas condensate source in silt‐ and clay‐rich deposits. The vadose zone at the site has high concentrations of water soluble sulfate, which is apparently derived from pyrite oxidation. Seasonal infiltration of snowmelt water, most notably during the “wet” spring of 2003 and also in 2004, was focused in an excavation and recharged the water table. This recharge replenished the contaminated zone with sulfate that was flushed downward from the vadose zone. Recharge in 2003 resulted in episodic increases in sulfate concentrations in the ground water condensate plume of up to 1000 mg/L. After episodic increases in sulfate concentrations within the core of the contaminant plume associated with recharge, concentrations then decreased to less than 1 mg/L, accompanied by isotopic enrichment of the residual sulfate in 34S. The monitoring data provide strong field evidence that bacterial sulfate reduction is a dominant terminal electron‐accepting process in the natural attenuation of the hydrocarbon plume in the ground water. This result suggests that engineered infiltration and replenishment of sulfate to petroleum hydrocarbon plumes in ground water might enhance biodegradation of these plumes.
Evaluation of TCE and MTBE in situ Biodegradation: Integrating Stable Isotope, Metabolic Intermediate, and Microbial Lines of Evidence
Authors: McKelvie Jennifer R. , Hirschorn Sarah K. , Lacrampe‐Couloume Georges , Lindstrom Jon , Braddock Joan , Finneran Kevin , Trego Don , Lollar Barbara Sherwood 
Published: November 2007

AbstractCompound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) was used to investigate biodegradation of trichloroethene (TCE) and methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE) at contaminated field sites in Alaska and New York State, respectively. At both sites, geochemical conditions and the presence of metabolic intermediates (cis‐1‐2‐dichloroethene and tert‐butyl alcohol [TBA]) suggested the potential for biodegradation of TCE and MTBE, respectively. Given that in both cases these metabolic intermediates could also have been present as cocontaminants in the source zone, CSIA was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of in situ biodegradation. At the TCE‐contaminated field site in Alaska, δ13C values of TCE in ground water determined in this study showed no evidence of biodegradation (mean δ13C of −27.0 ± 1.0‰ for nine wells), and quantitative‐polymerase chain reaction analyses of ground water from four wells found no evidence of dechlorinator Dehalococcoides sp. at this site. At the MTBE‐contaminated field site in New York, TBA was present in the ground water but was not present in gasoline sampled from underground storage tanks (UST) on‐site, suggesting that at this site, TBA was potentially a metabolite of MTBE biodegradation rather than a cocontaminant. However, at all sampling times and locations, δ13C and δ2H values of MTBE in ground water were within range of published values for undegraded MTBE in gasoline. While the occurrence of a small extent of in situ MTBE biodegradation cannot be ruled out, the findings suggest that it is more likely that multiple gasoline spills occurred through time, and while present day USTs do not contain TBA as a cocontaminant, gasoline spilled at the site in the past may have. At both contaminated field sites, CSIA, chemical, and microbiological lines of evidence suggest that biodegradation was not a significant attenuation process. The results of these two studies underscore the need for an integrated approach to site assessment that draws on measurements of metabolic intermediates, analysis of stable isotopes, and microbial evidence to give a reliable assessment of in situ biodegradation at contaminated field sites.
Investigation of Reductive Dechlorination Supported by Natural Organic Carbon
Authors: Rectanus Heather V. , Widdowson Mark A. , Chapelle Francis H. , Kelly Catherine A. , Novak John T. 
Published: November 2007

AbstractBecause remediation timeframes using monitored natural attenuation may span decades or even centuries at chlorinated solvent sites, new approaches are needed to assess the long‐term sustainability of reductive dechlorination in ground water systems. In this study, extraction procedures were used to investigate the mass of indigenous organic carbon in aquifer sediment, and experiments were conducted to determine if the extracted carbon could support reductive dechlorination of chloroethenes. Aquifer sediment cores were collected from a site without an anthropogenic source of organic carbon where organic carbon varied from 0.02% to 0.12%. Single extraction results showed that 1% to 28% of sediment‐associated organic carbon and 2% to 36% of the soft carbon were removed depending on nature and concentration of the extracting solution (Nanopure water; 0.1%, 0.5%, and 1.0% sodium pyrophosphate; and 0.5 N sodium hydroxide). Soft carbon is defined as organic carbon oxidized with potassium persulfate and is assumed to serve as a source of biodegradable carbon within the aquifer. Biodegradability studies demonstrated that 20% to 40% of extracted organic carbon was biodegraded aerobically and anaerobically by soil microorganisms in relatively brief tests (45 d). A five‐step extraction procedure consisting of 0.1% pyrophosphate and base solutions was investigated to quantify bioavailable organic carbon. Using the extracted carbon as the sole electron donor source, tetrachloroethene was transformed to cis‐1,2‐dichloroethene and vinyl chloride in anaerobic enrichment culture experiments. Hydrogen gas was produced at levels necessary to sustain reductive dechlorination (>1 nM).
The Binding Argument and Pragmatic Enrichment, or, Why Philosophers Care Even More Than Weathermen about ‘Raining’
Authors: Sennet Adam 
Published: November 2007

AbstractWhat is the proper way to draw the semantics‐pragmatics distinction, and is what is said by a speaker ever enriched by pragmatics? An influential but controversial answer to the latter question is that the inputs to semantic interpretation contains representations of every contribution from context that is relevant to determining what is said, and that pragmatics never enriches the output of semantic interpretation. The proposal is bolstered by a controversial argument from syntactic binding designed to detect hidden syntactic structure. The following contains an exposition and consideration of the argument.
After Freud: Phantasy and Imagination in the Philosophy of Religion
Authors: Clack Beverley 
Published: November 2007

AbstractPhilosophers of religion have tended to focus on Freud's dismissal of religion as an illusion, thus characterising his account as primarily hostile. Those who wish to engage with psychoanalytic ideas in order to understand religion in a more positive way have tended to look to later psychoanalysts for more sympathetic sources. This paper suggests that other aspects of Freud's own writings might, surprisingly, provide such tools. In particular, a more subtle understanding of the relationship between illusion and reality emerges in his theory, that itself offers a useful way of understanding the meaning and significance of religion for the human animal. By exploring these sources a view of religion emerges which connects it closely with the processes of imagination and creativity. Under this view, religion is more than just a set of hypotheses to be proved or disproved. In religion, we have access to the most deeply rooted wishes and anxieties of the human heart, and thus its investigation enables a deeper understanding of what it is to be a human being.
Predictors of medication compliance among older heart failure patients
Authors: Cholowski Krystyna , Cantwell Robert 
Published: November 2007

Aim. To examine relationships between psycho‐social and patho‐physiological measures in explaining medication compliance in older heart failure (HF) patients.Background. Self‐efficacy is a predictor not only of medication compliance, but also health recovery. How older HF patients conceptualize and manage this life‐threatening event is central to ongoing rehabilitation. Regulating ongoing medical and lifestyle changes in the rehabilitation process requires that any underlying negative affect be productively managed by the use of appropriate coping strategies.Method. Using an exploratory correlational design, 51 older HF patients were asked to complete the Beck Depression Inventory, Beliefs about Medication and Diet Questionnaire, Reactions to Daily Events Questionnaire and Self‐regulation scale. A self‐report measure of medication compliance was obtained as part of a semi‐structured interview. The study was conducted in 2003–2004.Results. Using descriptive statistics, patho‐physiological and psychosocial characteristics were given. Independent t‐tests were used to assess the gender effects. Pairwise correlations were used to examine the relationships between presenting circumstances, psychosocial characteristics, medication compliance beliefs and self‐reported medication compliance behaviours.All positive coping strategies and self‐regulation were associated with positive intentions in medication compliance. Males were more inclined towards proactive coping and self‐regulatory strategies than were females. Increased depressive symptoms were linked to carelessness in compliance. A belief in medication compliance was associated with a reduced likelihood of carelessnessConclusion. Bandura’s three conditions for agency in rehabilitation, self‐efficacy and goal‐directed intention appeared to be important even in the early phase of the programme. Positive coping strategies and self‐regulation suggests a positive basis for medication compliance and more successful ongoing rehabilitation for older HF patients. We identify a significantly enhanced educative role for nurses in this context.Relevance to clinical practice. We suggest that nurses dealing with compliance issues among older patients need to monitor behaviour through addressing both the quality of affect during the patient's response to HF (self‐concept, ‐esteem and ‐efficacy) as well as the quality of health‐related metacognitive knowledge underlying the self‐regulatory decisions (such as the patients conceptions of ‘wellness’ and the strategic knowledge underpinning its achievement and maintenance).
How nursing home staff deal with residents who talk about death
Authors: Wadensten Barbro , Condén Emelie , Wahlund Lena , Murray Kerstin 
Published: November 2007

Aims.  The overall aim of this study was to gain knowledge about how nursing staff treat and communicate with residents who talk about death and about their reasons for their treatment as well as to investigate how staff explain residents’ reasons for talking about death.Background.  Studies have established that nursing staff have problems in dealing with patients who talk about death and that staff do not know how they should relate to talking about death.Method.  A qualitative explorative design. Interviews with staff were performed and analysed using a qualitative content analysis.Findings.  Staff descriptions of their various ways of dealing with a situation in which residents talk about death could be divided into two qualitatively different main categories: ‘allow and facilitate talk about death’ and ‘avoid talk about death’. The most common explanation provided by staff in all categories was that they acted the way they did because they did not know how to address discussions about death. Staff members’ descriptions of residents’ reasons for talking about death were quite different.Conclusions.  The study indicates that nursing staff need to reflect on their own attitudes towards death and that they need to develop further. Their behaviour may depend on each staff member’s individual attitudes and development. Nursing staff need training in and knowledge about how to communicate with residents who talk about death. This knowledge could be acquired through training, guidance and joint reflection in groups.
What Family Organization Tells Us about Fairness and Power in Marital Relationships
Authors: Poeschl Gabrielle 
Published: November 2007

AbstractAfter retracing the origins of traditional family organization and describing the present‐day distribution of tasks in occidental societies, this paper presents results from studies on prevalent explanations for the unequal family practices that highlight the simultaneous effects of the trend toward equality and the pressure toward conformity in the family organization. It analyzes work undertaken in the distributive justice framework, which suggests that women's wants and values and their readiness to accept justifications for unequal practices contribute, more than social comparison processes, to the maintenance of the status quo. The complexity of family power is described and spouses’ motivation for power is looked at, as well as its possible implications for the distribution of family tasks and the perception of inequalities as fair. The consequences of the traditional family organization for the maintenance of the asymmetry between men and women in society are highlighted and suggestions for future research proposed.
Amiloride Derivatives Inhibit Coxsackievirus B3 RNA Replication
Authors: Harrison David N. , Gazina Elena V. , Purcell Damian F. , Anderson David A. , Petrou Steven 
Published: November 2007

ABSTRACT

Amiloride derivatives are known blockers of the cellular Na
+
/H
+
exchanger and the epithelial Na
+
channel. More recent studies demonstrate that they also inhibit ion channels formed by a number of viral proteins. We previously reported that 5-(
N
-ethyl-
N
-isopropyl)amiloride (EIPA) modestly inhibits intracellular replication and, to a larger extent, release of human rhinovirus 2 (HRV2) (E. V. Gazina, D. N. Harrison, M. Jefferies, H. Tan, D. Williams, D. A. Anderson and S. Petrou, Antiviral Res. 67:98-106, 2005). Here, we demonstrate that amiloride and EIPA strongly inhibit coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) RNA replication and do not inhibit CVB3 release, in contrast to our previous findings on HRV2. Passaging of plasmid-derived CVB3 in the presence of amiloride generated mutant viruses with amino acid substitutions in position 299 or 372 of the CVB3 polymerase. Introduction of either of these mutations into the CVB3 plasmid produced resistance to amiloride and EIPA, suggesting that they act as inhibitors of CVB3 polymerase, a novel mechanism of antiviral activity for these compounds.
Amino Acid Substitutions in the S2 Subunit of Mouse Hepatitis Virus Variant V51 Encode Determinants of Host Range Expansion
Authors: McRoy Willie C. , Baric Ralph S. 
Published: November 2007

ABSTRACT
We previously described mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) variant V51 derived from a persistent infection of murine DBT cells with an expanded host range (R. S. Baric, E. Sullivan, L. Hensley, B. Yount, and W. Chen, J. Virol. 73:638-649, 1999). Sequencing of the V51 spike gene, the mediator of virus entry, revealed 13 amino acid substitutions relative to the originating MHV A59 strain. Seven substitutions were located in the amino-terminal S1 cleavage subunit, and six were located in the carboxy-terminal S2 cleavage subunit. Using targeted RNA recombination, we constructed a panel of recombinant viruses to map the mediators of host range to the six substitutions in S2, with a subgroup of four changes of particular interest. This subgroup maps to two previously identified domains within S2, a putative fusion peptide and a heptad repeat, both conserved features of class I fusion proteins. In addition to an altered host range, V51 displayed altered utilization of CEACAM1a, the high-affinity receptor for A59. Interestingly, a recombinant with S1 from A59 and S2 from V51 was severely debilitated in its ability to productively infect cells via CEACAM1a, while the inverse recombinant was not. This result suggests that the S2 substitutions exert powerful effects on the fusion trigger that normally passes from S1 to S2. These novel findings play against the existing data that suggest that MHV host range determinants are located in the S1 subunit, which harbors the receptor binding domain, or involve coordinating changes in both S1 and S2. Mounting evidence also suggests that the class I fusion mechanism may possess some innate plasticity that regulates viral host range.
In Vivo Efficacy of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Neutralizing Antibodies: Estimates for Protective Titers
Authors: Trkola Alexandra , Kuster Herbert , Rusert Peter , von Wyl Viktor , Leemann Christine , Weber Rainer , Stiegler Gabriela , Katinger Hermann , Joos Beda , Günthard Huldrych F. 
Published: November 2007

ABSTRACT
The definition of plasma neutralizing antibody titers capable of controlling human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in vivo is considered a critical step in vaccine development. Here we provide estimates for effective neutralization titers by assessing samples from a recent passive immunization trial with the neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) 2G12, 2F5, and 4E10 using an analytic strategy that dissects the contributions of these MAbs to the total neutralization activity in patient plasma. Assessment of neutralization activities for six responding patients with partial or complete control of viremia during the MAb treatment and for the eight nonresponding patients revealed a significant difference between these groups: Among responders, MAb-mediated activity exceeded the autologous neutralization response by 1 to 2 log units (median difference, 43.3-fold), while in the nonresponder group, the autologous activity prevailed (median difference, 0.63-fold). In order to reach a 50% proportion of the responders in our study cohort, MAb neutralizing titers higher than 1:200 were required based on this analysis. The disease stage appears to have a significant impact on the quantities needed, since titers above 1:1,000 were needed to reach the same effect in chronic infection. Although our analysis is based on very small sample numbers and thus cannot be conclusive, our data provide a first estimate on how in vitro-measured neutralizing antibody activity can relate to in vivo efficacy in controlling HIV infection and may therefore provide valuable information for vaccine development. Interestingly, lower neutralizing antibody levels showed an effect in acute compared to chronic infection, suggesting that in early disease stages, therapeutic vaccination may show promise. Equally, this raises hopes that a preventive vaccine could become effective at comparatively lower neutralizing antibody titers.
High risk occupations for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in New Zealand: case–control study
Authors: Mannetje A ’t , Dryson E , Walls C , McLean D , McKenzie F , Maule M , Cheng S , Cunningham C , Kromhout H , Boffetta P , Blair A , Pearce N 
Published: November 2007

Objectives:Previous studies into occupational risk factors for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) in New Zealand have indicated that farmers and meat workers are at increased risk for these neoplasms. A new nationwide case–control study was conducted to assess whether previously observed associations persist and to identify other occupations that may contribute to the risk of NHL in the New Zealand population.Methods:A total of 291 incident cases of NHL (age 25–70 years) notified to the New Zealand Cancer Registry during 2003 and 2004, and 471 population controls, were interviewed face-to-face. The questionnaire collected demographic information and a full occupational history. The relative risk for NHL associated with ever being employed in particular occupations and industries was calculated by unconditional logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, smoking, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Estimates were subsequently semi-Bayes adjusted to account for the large number of occupations and industries being considered.Results:An elevated NHL risk was observed for field crop and vegetable growers (OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.04 to 7.25) and horticulture and fruit growing (OR 2.28, 95% CI 1.37 to 3.79), particularly for women (OR 3.44, 95% CI 0.62 to 18.9; OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.50 to 6.61). Sheep and dairy farming was not associated with an increased risk of NHL. Meat processors had an elevated risk (OR 1.97, 95% CI 0.97 to 3.97), as did heavy truck drivers (OR 1.98, 95% CI 0.92 to 4.24), workers employed in metal product manufacturing (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.28) and cleaners (OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.21 to 3.65). After semi-Bayes adjustment the elevated risks for horticulture and fruit growing, metal product manufacturing and cleaners remained statistically significant, representing the most robust findings of this study.Conclusions:This study has confirmed that crop farmers and meat workers remain high risk occupations for NHL in New Zealand, and has identified several other occupations and industries of high NHL risk that merit further study.