bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Intraseasonal Variability of the West African Monsoon and Atlantic ITCZ
Authors: Maloney Eric D. , Shaman Jeffrey 
Published: July 2008

Abstract
Intraseasonal variability of boreal summer rainfall and winds in tropical West Africa and the east Atlantic is examined using daily Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation and the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis during 1998–2006. Intraseasonal precipitation variability is dominated by two significant spectral peaks at time scales near 15 and 50 days, accompanied by corresponding peaks in eddy kinetic energy (EKE) and eddy enstrophy. Regional precipitation variability on 30–90-day time scales is significantly correlated (+0.6) with a global Madden–Julian oscillation time series based on equatorial zonal winds, supporting the results of A. J. Matthews. The overall amplitude of the 30–90-day West African monsoon precipitation variability during a given summer, however, does not appear to be strongly regulated by interannual variability in MJO amplitude.
Composite analysis and complex empirical orthogonal function analysis shows that 30–90-day precipitation anomalies are generally zonally elongated, grow and decay in place, and have maximum amplitude near the Gulf of Guinea and in the Atlantic ITCZ. Composite 30–90-day enhanced precipitation events are accompanied by a significant suppression of eastern North Atlantic trade winds. Suppressed 30–90-day precipitation events are associated with an enhancement of the Atlantic trade winds. Enhanced (suppressed) EKE occurs just to the north of the east Atlantic ITCZ during positive (negative) 30–90-day precipitation events, with the maximum EKE magnitude lagging precipitation events by about 5 days.
East Atlantic tropical cyclone activity is significantly modulated on intraseasonal time scales. The number of tropical cyclones that occur in the Atlantic’s main development region to the east of 60°W is suppressed about 5–10 days before maxima in a regional intraseasonal precipitation time series, and enhanced about 5–10 days after time series maxima. An analysis of east Atlantic tropical cyclone activity based on an equatorial MJO index produces similar results. Consistent with the results of K. C. Mo, variations in vertical shear may help explain this modulation of tropical cyclone activity.
New Vegetation Albedo Parameters and Global Fields of Soil Background Albedo Derived from MODIS for Use in a Climate Model
Authors: Houldcroft Caroline J. , Grey William M. F. , Barnsley Mike , Taylor Christopher M. , Los Sietse O. , North Peter R. J. 
Published: July 2008

Abstract
New values are derived for snow-free albedo of five plant functional types (PFTs) and the soil/litter substrate from data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on board Terra and Aqua. The derived albedo values are used to provide and test an improved specification of surface albedo for the land surface scheme known as the Joint U.K. Land Environment Simulator (JULES) that forms part of the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model (HadGEM) climate model. The International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP) global land cover map is used in combination with the MODIS albedo to estimate the albedo of each cover type in the IGBP classification scheme, from which the albedo values of the JULES PFTs are computed. The albedo of the soil/litter substrate, referred to as the soil background albedo, is derived from partially vegetated regions using a method that separates the vegetation contribution to the albedo signal from that of the soil/litter substrate. The global fields of soil background albedo produced using this method exhibit more realistic spatial variations than the soil albedo map usually employed in conjunction with the JULES model. The revised total shortwave albedo values of the PFTs are up to 8% higher than those in the existing HadGEM scheme. To evaluate the influence of these differences upon surface albedo in the climate model, differences are computed globally between mean monthly land surface albedo, modeled using the existing and revised albedo values, and MODIS data. Incorporating the revised albedo values into the model reduces the global rmse for snow-free July land surface albedo from 0.051 to 0.024, representing a marked improvement on the existing parameterization.
Effect of Exo- and Endothermic Blowing and Wetting Agents on Morphology, Density and Hardness of Thermoplastic Polyurethanes Foams
Authors: Nema Ajay K. , Deshmukh Abhijit V. , Palanivelu K. , Sharma S.K. , Malik Tarun 
Published: July 2008

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) combines the property characteristics of high quality polyurethane elastomers with the processing efficiency of thermoplastics. Foaming of TPU material inputs for existing applications also leads to improved material properties for new applications. The mixture of exo- and endothermic type of blowing agents is investigated for production of TPU foam technique. Azodicarbonamide (ADC) and sodium bicarbonate are used as exothermic and endothermic blowing agents, respectively. The thermal decomposition and foaming behaviors of blowing agent ADC with kicker and the combination of exo- and endothermic blowing agents are investigated systematically. The ingredients of the mixture of exothermic blowing agent are mixed to suit the processing of TPU. Injection molding of TPU exo- and endothermic blowing agents has been carried out successfully and the morphology is studied using scanning electron microscope. In addition, the effect of wetting agents on the decomposition temperature and processing is also studied. The effectiveness of the use of exo- and endothermic blowing agents is established with the uniform and consistent cell structure with a density reduction of 40% in the foam.
Giant cell arteritis: a systemic vascular disease
Authors: Tatò Federico , Hoffmann Ulrich 
Published: July 2008

Abstract Giant cell arterits (GCA) is increasingly being recognized as a systemic vascular disease, not confined to the cranial arteries. Epidemiological studies have shown that almost one-third of the patients with GCA develop serious peripheral vascular complications during long-term follow up, and there is growing evidence that unrecognized extracranial involvement may be even more common. GCA of large- and medium-sized peripheral arteries typically leads to long tapering and occlusion of the arterial lumen due to concentric intimal thickening, sometimes accompanied by spontaneous dissection. Depending on the extent of the arterial obliteration and on the anatomy of the involved arterial segment, this may result in severe ischemia of the limbs during the acute phase of the disease. GCA of the aorta usually remains asymptomatic for many years, and leads to a markedly increased risk of aneurysms and dissections, particularly of the thoracic aorta. Evolving vascular imaging techniques such as duplex ultrasound, computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and fluorine-18-desoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) have greatly improved our ability to detect and study arterial changes in large-artery vasculitis. Boosted by these advances in vascular imaging, vascular specialists are increasingly involved in the early diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of patients with large-vessel vasculitis.
Five-year incidence of cardiovascular disease and its predictors in Greece: the ATTICA study
Authors: Panagiotakos Demosthenes B , Pitsavos Christos , Chrysohoou Christina , Skoumas Ioannis , Stefanadis Christodoulos 
Published: July 2008

Abstract The 5-year incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its determinants, in a sample of men and women from Greece, was evaluated. From May 2001 to December 2002, 1514 men and 1528 women (> 18 years old) without any clinical evidence of CVD, living in the Attica area, Greece, were enrolled in the ATTICA study. In 2006, a group of experts performed the 5-year follow-up (941 of the 3042 (31%) participants were lost to follow-up). Development of CVD (coronary heart disease, acute coronary syndromes, stroke, or other CVD) during the follow-up period was defined according to WHO-ICD-10 criteria. The 5-year incidence of CVD was 11.0% in men and 6.1% in women ( p < 0.001); the case fatality rate was 1.6%. Multi-adjusted logistic regression analysis revealed that increased age (odds ratio per year = 1.09, p = 0.04), waist-to-hip ratio (odds ratio = 5.07, p = 0.02), hypertension (odds ratio = 4.53, p = 0.001), diabetes (odds ratio = 4.53, p = 0.001) and C-reactive protein levels (odds ratio per 1 mg/dl = 1.31, p = 0.02) were the most significant baseline bio-clinical predictors of CVD. Furthermore, an increased education level and greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet (among 35–65-year-old individuals) were associated with a lower CVD incidence (odds ratio per 3 years of school difference = 0.83, p < 0.001 and odds ratio per 1/55 units in diet score = 0.94, p < 0.001), irrespective of various potential confounders. In conclusion, aging, central fat, hypertension and diabetes, inflammation process, low social status and abstinence from a Mediterranean diet seem to predict CVD events within a 5-year period.
Environmental Control Interventions for Frontotemporal Dementia With Reversed Sleep—Wake Cycles
Authors: Yamakawa Miyae , Shigenobu Kazue , Makimoto Kiyoko , Canqun Zhu  , Ashida Nobuyuki , Tabushi Kaoru 
Published: July 2008

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental control interventions using an integrated chip tag monitoring system for a frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patient. Method: The subject was a male FTD patient (Pick type) with reversed sleep—wake cycles. For a 2-week period, the doors to all patients' rooms in the unit were kept open as a form of environmental control, and in the following 2 weeks, all doors were kept closed (intervention A). To increase his activity levels, a staff walked with him for 2 weeks (intervention B), while all the doors to patients' rooms in the unit were kept closed. Result: In intervention A, daytime ambulation increased, whereas nighttime ambulation decreased significantly. During intervention B, nighttime ambulation increased significantly. Conclusion: Environmental controls seem to be effective for restoring sleep—wake cycles in even an advanced-stage FTD patient, whereas exercise program by the staff aggravated the problem.
Absence of donor Th17 leads to augmented Th1 differentiation and exacerbated acute graft-versus-host disease
Authors: Yi Tangsheng , Zhao Dongchang , Lin Chia-Lei , Zhang Chunyan , Chen Ying , Todorov Ivan , LeBon Thomas , Kandeel Fouad , Forman Stephen , Zeng Defu 
Published: July 2008

AbstractTh17 is a newly identified T-cell lineage that secretes proinflammatory cytokine IL-17. Th17 cells have been shown to play a critical role in mediating autoimmune diseases such as EAE, colitis, and arthritis, but their role in the pathogenesis of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is still unknown. Here we showed that, in an acute GVHD model of C57BL/6 (H-2b) donor to BALB/c (H-2d) recipient, IL-17−/− donor T cells manifested an augmented Th1 differentiation and IFN-γ production and induced exacerbated acute GVHD. Severe tissue damage mediated by IL-17−/− donor T cells was associated with increased Th1 infiltration, up-regulation of chemokine receptors by donor T cells, and enhanced tissue expression of inflammatory chemokines. Administration of recombinant IL-17 and neutralizing IFN-γ in the recipients given IL-17−/− donor cells ameliorated the acute GVHD. Furthermore, the regulation of Th1 differentiation by IL-17 or Th17 may be through its influence on host DCs. Our results indicate that donor Th17 cells can down-regulate Th1 differentiation and ameliorate acute GVHD in allogeneic recipients, and that treatments neutralizing proinflammatory cytokine IL-17 may augment acute GVHD as well as other inflammatory autoimmune diseases.
Soluble CD22 as a tumor marker for hairy cell leukemia
Authors: Matsushita Kakushi , Margulies Inger , Onda Masanori , Nagata Satoshi , Stetler-Stevenson Maryalice , Kreitman Robert J. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractCD22 is an important immunotherapeutic target on B-cell malignancies, particularly hairy cell leukemia (HCL), but its soluble extracellular domain, sCD22, has not yet been reported in the blood. By immunoaffinity and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques using anti-CD22 monoclonal antibodies, we identified the 100-kDa extracellular domain of CD22 and an 80-kDa processed form in serum of patients with HCL. The median sCD22 level measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was 18 ng/mL for 93 patients with HCL. sCD22 levels varied from 2.1 to 163 ng/mL and were higher (P < .001) than 23 normal donors (median, 0.6 ng/mL). More than 95% of normal donors had sCD22 levels less than 1.9 ng/mL. sCD22 levels were proportional to concentrations of circulating HCL cells (P = .002), and HCL spleen size (P < .001). sCD22 levels normalized with complete but not partial response to treatment. sCD22 levels up to 300 ng/mL had less than a 2-fold effect on the cytotoxicity of the anti-CD22 recombinant immunotoxin BL22. sCD22 levels may be useful to follow in patients with HCL and may be more specific than sCD25 in patients with CD22+/CD25− disease. Trials are listed on www.cancer.gov as NCT00002765, NCT00021983, NCT00074048, NCT00085085, NCT00337311, and NCT00462189.
Methods for evaluating gene expression from Affymetrix microarray datasets
Authors: Jiang Ning , Leach Lindsey J , Hu Xiaohua , Potokina Elena , Jia Tianye , Druka Arnis , Waugh Robbie , Kearsey Michael J , Luo Zewei W 
Published: July 2008

AbstractBackgroundAffymetrix high density oligonucleotide expression arrays are widely used across all fields of biological research for measuring genome-wide gene expression. An important step in processing oligonucleotide microarray data is to produce a single value for the gene expression level of an RNA transcript using one of a growing number of statistical methods. The challenge for the researcher is to decide on the most appropriate method to use to address a specific biological question with a given dataset. Although several research efforts have focused on assessing performance of a few methods in evaluating gene expression from RNA hybridization experiments with different datasets, the relative merits of the methods currently available in the literature for evaluating genome-wide gene expression from Affymetrix microarray data collected from real biological experiments remain actively debated.ResultsThe present study reports a comprehensive survey of the performance of all seven commonly used methods in evaluating genome-wide gene expression from a well-designed experiment using Affymetrix microarrays. The experiment profiled eight genetically divergent barley cultivars each with three biological replicates. The dataset so obtained confers a balanced and idealized structure for the present analysis. The methods were evaluated on their sensitivity for detecting differentially expressed genes, reproducibility of expression values across replicates, and consistency in calling differentially expressed genes. The number of genes detected as differentially expressed among methods differed by a factor of two or more at a given false discovery rate (FDR) level. Moreover, we propose the use of genes containing single feature polymorphisms (SFPs) as an empirical test for comparison among methods for the ability to detect true differential gene expression on the basis that SFPs largely correspond tocis-acting expression regulators. The PDNN method demonstrated superiority over all other methods in every comparison, whilst the default Affymetrix MAS5.0 method was clearly inferior.ConclusionA comprehensive assessment of seven commonly used data extraction methods based on an extensive barley Affymetrix gene expression dataset has shown that the PDNN method has superior performance for the detection of differentially expressed genes.
Assessing emergency medical care in low income countries: A pilot study from Pakistan
Authors: Razzak Junaid A , Hyder Adnan A , Akhtar Tasleem , Khan Mubashir , Khan Uzma R 
Published: July 2008

Abstract

Background
Emergency Medical Care is an important component of health care system. Unfortunately it is however, ignored in many low income countries. We assessed the availability and quality of facility-based emergency medical care in the government health care system at district level in a low income country – Pakistan.

Methods
We did a quantitative pilot study of a convenience sample of 22 rural and 20 urban health facilities in 2 districts – Faisalabad and Peshawar – in Pakistan. The study consisted of three separate cross-sectional assessments of selected community leaders, health care providers, and health care facilities. Three data collection instruments were created with input from existing models for facility assessment such as those used by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Hospitals and the National Center for Health Statistics in USA and the Medical Research Council in Pakistan.

Results
The majority of respondents 43/44(98%), in community survey were not satisfied with the emergency care provided. Most participants 36/44(82%) mentioned that they will not call an ambulance in health related emergency because it does not function properly in the government system. The expenses on emergency care for the last experience were reported to be less than 5,000 Pakistani Rupees (equivalent to US$ 83) for 19/29(66%) respondents. Most health care providers 43/44(98%) were of the opinion that their facilities were inadequately equipped to treat emergencies. The majority of facilities 31/42(74%) had no budget allocated for emergency care. A review of medications and equipment available showed that many critical supplies needed in an emergency were not found in these facilities.

Conclusion
Assessment of emergency care should be part of health systems analysis in Pakistan. Multiple deficiencies in emergency care at the district level in Pakistan were noted in our study. Priority should be given to make emergency care responsive to needs in Pakistan. Specific efforts should be directed to equip emergency care at district facilities and to organize an ambulance network.
Analysis of risk factors for T. brucei rhodesiensesleeping sickness within villages in south-east Uganda
Authors: Zoller Thomas , Fèvre Eric M , Welburn Susan C , Odiit Martin , Coleman Paul G 
Published: July 2008

AbstractBackgroundSleeping sickness (HAT) caused byT.b. rhodesienseis a major veterinary and human public health problem in Uganda. Previous studies have investigated spatial risk factors forT.b. rhodesienseat large geographic scales, but none have properly investigated such risk factors at small scales, i.e. within affected villages. In the present work, we use a case-control methodology to analyse both behavioural and spatial risk factors for HAT in an endemic area.MethodsThe present study investigates behavioural and occupational risk factors for infection with HAT within villages using a questionnaire-based case-control study conducted in 17 villages endemic for HAT in SE Uganda, and spatial risk factors in 4 high risk villages. For the spatial analysis, the location of homesteads with one or more cases of HAT up to three years prior to the beginning of the study was compared to all non-case homesteads. Analysing spatial associations with respect to irregularly shaped geographical objects required the development of a new approach to geographical analysis in combination with a logistic regression model.ResultsThe study was able to identify, among other behavioural risk factors, having a family member with a history of HAT (p = 0.001) as well as proximity of a homestead to a nearby wetland area (p < 0.001) as strong risk factors for infection. The novel method of analysing complex spatial interactions used in the study can be applied to a range of other diseases.ConclusionSpatial risk factors for HAT are maintained across geographical scales; this consistency is useful in the design of decision support tools for intervention and prevention of the disease. Familial aggregation of cases was confirmed forT. b. rhodesienseHAT in the study and probably results from shared behavioural and spatial risk factors amongmembers of a household.
Mitochondrial haplogroup H1 is protective for ischemic stroke in Portuguese patients
Authors: Rosa Alexandra , Fonseca Benedita V , Krug Tiago , Manso Helena , Gouveia Liliana , Albergaria Isabel , Gaspar Gisela , Correia Manuel , Viana-Baptista Miguel , Simões Rita Moiron , Pinto Amélia Nogueira , Taipa Ricardo , Ferreira Carla , Fontes João Ramalho , Silva Mário Rui , Gabriel João Paulo , Matos Ilda , Lopes Gabriela , Ferro José M , Vicente Astrid M , Oliveira Sofia A 
Published: July 2008

Abstract

Background
The genetic contribution to stroke is well established but it has proven difficult to identify the genes and the disease-associated alleles mediating this effect, possibly because only nuclear genes have been intensely investigated so far. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been implicated in several disorders having stroke as one of its clinical manifestations. The aim of this case-control study was to assess the contribution of mtDNA polymorphisms and haplogroups to ischemic stroke risk.

Methods
We genotyped 19 mtDNA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) defining the major European haplogroups in 534 ischemic stroke patients and 499 controls collected in Portugal, and tested their allelic and haplogroup association with ischemic stroke risk.

Results
Haplogroup H1 was found to be significantly less frequent in stroke patients than in controls (OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.45–0.83, p = 0.001), when comparing each clade against all other haplogroups pooled together. Conversely, the pre-HV/HV and U mtDNA lineages emerge as potential genetic factors conferring risk for stroke (OR = 3.14, 95% CI = 1.41–7.01, p = 0.003, and OR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.13–7.28, p = 0.021, respectively). SNPs m.3010G>A, m.7028C>T and m.11719G>A strongly influence ischemic stroke risk, their allelic state in haplogroup H1 corroborating its protective effect.

Conclusion
Our data suggests that mitochondrial haplogroup H1 has an impact on ischemic stroke risk in a Portuguese sample.