bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Response to docetaxel/carboplatin‐based chemotherapy as first‐ and second‐line therapy in patients with metastatic hormone‐refractory prostate cancer
Authors: Nakabayashi Mari , Sartor Oliver , Jacobus Susanna , Regan Meredith M. , McKearn David , Ross Robert W. , Kantoff Philip W. , Taplin Mary‐Ellen , Oh William K. 
Published: September 2008

OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the efficacy of docetaxel/carboplatin (DC)‐based chemotherapy as first‐ and second‐line chemotherapy for patients with hormone‐refractory prostate cancer (HRPC).PATIENTS AND METHODSWe retrospectively identified all patients with HRPC treated with DC‐based chemotherapy at the Dana‐Farber Cancer Institute. Regimens either included estramustine (EDC) or not (DC). We identified patients who received EDC as first‐line chemotherapy and patients who received DC as second‐line or subsequent chemotherapy. Patients treated with EDC received 20–70 mg/m2docetaxel every 1–4 weeks, estramustine 140 mg three times daily and carboplatin (area under the curve, AUC), (4–6) every 3–4 weeks. Patients treated with DC received docetaxel 50–70 mg/m2and carboplatin AUC (4–6) every 3–4 weeks.RESULTSIn all, the study included 54 patients; 24 received EDC and 30 DC (median age 62.8 and 66.9 years, respectively); their prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) level at the start of chemotherapy was 112.7 and 213.3 ng/mL, respectively. There were declines of ≥50% in PSA level in 88% and 20% in the two groups, respectively. The median overall survival was 17.7 and 14.9 months in the EDC and DC groups, respectively. The most common reversible grade 4 toxicity with either regimen was neutropenia (4% and 7% in EDC and DC, respectively).CONCLUSIONSDC‐based chemotherapy is well tolerated and active in HRPC. Adding carboplatin to docetaxel provides an additional activity in 20% of patients as a second‐line or subsequent chemotherapy.
Cystic phaeochromocytoma is a distinctive subgroup with special clinical, imaging and histological features that might mislead the diagnosis
Authors: Andreoni Cassio , Krebs Rodrigo K. , Bruna Paulo C. , Goldman Suzan M. , Kater Claudio E. , Alves Maria T.S. , Ortiz Valdemar 
Published: September 2008

OBJECTIVETo report and analyse cases of cyctic phaeochromocytoma at our institution and in previous publications, as adrenal cystic masses are usually associated with nonfunctional lesions, but they can be phaeochromocytoma.PATIENTS AND METHODSThe prospective adrenalectomy database at our institution was reviewed to identify patients with phaeochromocytoma and cystic lesions. The clinical, radiological and histological features of cystic phaeochromocytoma were evaluated. Other previously published data were identified and compared with the present series.RESULTSIn all, there were 107 adrenalectomies at our institution from November 2000 to March 2007; 31 of these patients had a confirmed diagnosis of phaeochromocytoma and six (19%) were cystic phaeochromocytomas. Three of the six cases were asymptomatic and had a negative biochemical evaluation (one male and five females, mean tumour size 6.6 cm); the imaging diagnosis was mainly based on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, and the foremost feature was the enhancement of the tumour rim associated with a central cystic mass. Nine other previously published cases were reviewed.CONCLUSIONSFrom the present large series and previous anecdotally reported cases, patients with cystic phaeochromocytomas are more likely to be asymptomatic, to complain of chronic abdominal pain, and to have a negative biochemical evaluation, which might deter physicians from conducting a full evaluation for phaeochromocytoma and mislead the final diagnosis. As such, there could be an even higher prevalence of this entity that is yet to be determined.
High‐level expression of human immunodeficiency virus antigens from the tobacco and tomato plastid genomes
Authors: Zhou Fei , Badillo‐Corona Jesus A. , Karcher Daniel , Gonzalez‐Rabade Nuria , Piepenburg Katrin , Borchers A.‐M. Inka , Maloney Alan P. , Kavanagh Tony A. , Gray John C. , Bock Ralph 
Published: September 2008

SummaryTransgene expression from the plant's plastid genome represents a promising strategy in molecular farming because of the plastid's potential to accumulate foreign proteins to high levels and the increased biosafety provided by the maternal mode of organelle inheritance. In this article, we explore the potential of transplastomic plants to produce human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antigens as potential components of an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) vaccine. It is shown that the HIV antigens p24 (the major target of T‐cell‐mediated immune responses in HIV‐positive individuals) and Nef can be expressed to high levels in plastids of tobacco, a non‐food crop, and tomato, a food crop with an edible fruit. Optimized p24‐Nef fusion gene cassettes trigger antigen protein accumulation to up to approximately 40% of the plant's total protein, demonstrating the great potential of transgenic plastids to produce AIDS vaccine components at low cost and high yield.
The Standard Metre in Paris
Authors: Avital Doron 
Published: September 2008

AbstractIn Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein argues that we can neither say of the standard One Metre in Paris that it is a single metred length, nor that it is not. Kripke's reply to the puzzle is well known: the sentence expressing the assertion that the standard One Metre is one metre in length (at time t0) is a true, a priori and contingent sentence. In this paper, I would like to show the nature of the intuition that runs behind Kripke's reply to the puzzle, and why, in the final analysis, it is not satisfactory, with respect to the point made by Wittgenstein. In addition, I will show that the case of the One Metre in Paris exemplifies the radical break Wittgenstein makes with traditional concepts of meaning. I then draw a general lesson that shows that the structure of concepts and functions (measures) in Wittgenstein is given by the idea of an arbitrary choice of “an object of comparison.” Concepts and functions (measures) are materialised and internalised in the form of objects that are arbitrarily sampled from a sample space of same logical‐type objects.
Investments in agricultural water management for poverty reduction in Africa: Case studies of Limpopo, Nile, and Volta river basins
Authors: Hanjra Munir A. , Gichuki Francis 
Published: September 2008

Abstract Much of Sub‐Saharan Africa is burdened with water scarcity and poverty. Continentally, less than four percent of Africa's renewable water resources are withdrawn for agriculture and other uses. Investments in agricultural water management can contribute in several ways to achieving the Millennium Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and ensuring environmental sustainability. Increased yield and cropping area and shifts to higher valued crops could help boost the income of rural households, generate more employment, and lower consumer food prices. These investments can also stabilize output, income and employment, and have favourable impacts on education, nutrition and health, and social equity. Investments in agricultural water management can cut poverty by uplifting the entitlements and transforming the opportunity structure for the poor. The overall role of investments in agricultural water management in eradicating hunger and poverty is analyzed. This paper contributes to the present debate and efforts to identify strategies and interventions that can effectively contribute to poverty reduction in Africa. It provides an overview of population growth, malnutrition, income distribution and poverty for countries in three case study river basins — Limpopo, Nile, and Volta. With discussions on the contribution of agriculture to national income and employment generation, the paper explores the linkages among water resources investments, agricultural growth, employment, and poverty alleviation. It examines the potential for expansion in irrigation for vertical and horizontal growth in agricultural productivity, via gains in yield and cropping area to boost the agricultural output. Factors constraining such potential, in terms of scarcity and degradation of land and water resources, and poor governance and weak institutions, are also outlined. The paper argues that increased investments in land and water resources and related rural infrastructure are a key pathway to enhance agricultural productivity and to catalyze agricultural and economic growth for effective poverty alleviation.
Water management in the world of globalization
Authors: Orlóci István , Szesztay Károly 
Published: September 2008

Abstract Water management is changing its paradigm. The millennia of economic indoctrination are to be replaced by the logic of ecology. The economic sector satisfying the demands for water and water‐related services guided until now by its own ideology and institutions, is gradually becoming an integral part of environmental protection and eco‐economy. Within the great diversity of national water policies, efforts towards sustainability are a dominant common objective. Discussions of the World Water Fora and other initiatives indicate that ecologically oriented water management is the emerging new challenge for achieving this objective. Ecological orientation emphasizes the unified system of the world water balance processes as transmitters of various human impacts leading to economic externalities. Water management is becoming a component of the processes of globalization primarily through its externalities requiring a comprehensive informational infrastructure as well as adequate institutional competence for their management. The paper analyzes fundamental features of the conceptual models incorporating such informational and institutional arrangements. The outlook of water is inseparably tied to the world order of the future, and water management in the world of globalization can either promote a genuine worldwide collaboration or can become a source of dangerous international tensions and conflicts.
Re‐thinking water scarcity: Can science and technology solve the global water crisis?
Authors: Lopez‐Gunn Elena , Ramón Llamas Manuel 
Published: September 2008

Abstract This paper provides examples from the last fifty years of scientific and technological innovations that provide relatively easy, quick and affordable means of addressing key water management issues. Scientific knowledge and technological innovation can help open up previously closed decision‐making systems. Four of these tools are discussed in this paper: a) the opportunities afforded by virtual water trade; b) the silent revolution for beneficial use of groundwater; c) salt water desalination; and finally, d) the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). Together these advances are changing the options available to address water and food security that have been predominant for centuries in the minds of most water decision‐makers.
Dryland characteristics and its optimized eco‐productive paradigms for sustainable development in China
Authors: Yang Xiaohui , Ci Longjun , Zhang Xinshi 
Published: September 2008

Abstract Dryland area occupies 37% of the national territory in China. Desertification and other disasters have limited dryland sustainable development. Here we overview the dryland characteristics and desertification status and introduce four regionally optimized eco‐productive paradigms for dryland sustainable development, i.e., the mountain‐oasis paradigm in arid desert; the small watershed‐based paradigm on the Loess Plateau; the integrated animal husbandry paradigm on the Inner Mongolia Steppe and the agro‐pastoral transitional region; and three circle paradigm on the Ordos Plateau. These paradigms are established on the basis of regional landscape patterns and their underlying material and energy flow rules, and different functional belts are determined and capitalized upon with the integrated consideration of regional biogeophysical processes, biogeochemical cycles and biogeosocial relations. These paradigms cannot cover all complex landscape types, but provide theoretical frameworks and practicable models for dryland sustainable development in China.
Acute Migraine Medications and Evolution From Episodic to Chronic Migraine: A Longitudinal Population‐Based Study
Authors: Bigal Marcelo E. , Serrano Daniel , Buse Dawn , Scher Ann , Stewart Walter F. , Lipton Richard B. 
Published: September 2008

Background.— Though symptomatic medication overuse is believed to play a major role in progression from episodic to chronic or transformed migraine (TM), population‐based longitudinal data on these agents are limited.Objectives.— To assess the role of specific classes of acute medications in the development of TM in episodic migraine (EM) sufferers after adjusting for other risk factors for headache progression.Methods.— As a part of the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention study (AMPP), we initially surveyed a population sample of 120,000 individuals to identify a sample of migraineurs to be followed annually over 5 years. Using logistic and linear regression, we modeled the probability of transition from EM in 2005 to TM in 2006 in relation to medication use status at baseline. Adjustments were made for gender, headache frequency and severity, and prevention medication use.Results.— Of 8219 individuals with EM in 2005, 209 (2.5%) had developed TM by 2006. Baseline headache frequency was a risk factor for TM. Using acetaminophen user as the reference group, individuals who used medications containing barbiturates (OR = 2.06, 95%CI = 1.3‐3.1) or opiates (OR = 1.98, 95%CI = 1.4‐2.2) were at increased risk of TM. A dose–response relationship was found for use of barbiturates. Use of triptans (OR = 1.25, 95%CI = 0.9‐1.7) at baseline was not associated with prospective risk of TM. Overall, NSAIDs (OR = 0.85, 95%CI = 0.63‐1.17) were not associated with TM. Indeed, NSAIDs were protective against transition to TM at low to moderate monthly headache days, but were associated with increased risk of transition to TM at high levels of monthly headache days.Conclusion.— EM sufferers develop TM at the rate of 2.5% per year. Any use of barbiturates and opiates was associated with increased risk of TM after adjusting for covariates, while triptans were not. NSAIDs were protective or inducers depending on the headache frequency.
U.S. Tobacco Control: Public Health, Political Economy, or Morality Policy?
Authors: Studlar Donley T. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractTobacco control policy usually has been framed in terms of public health and political economy, but it also has been called a morality issue. Through a systematic historical analysis, this paper examines dimensions of morality policy and evaluates tobacco control in the United States for its fit with those characteristics. Moral concerns have been a part of tobacco control policy at certain times, first in the early twentieth century, and, more recently, since the mid‐1980s with the rise of “denormalization” of tobacco as a goal of some antitobacco organizations. Drawing from recent studies of other “morality” policy issues, it argues that tobacco control is a “blended” issue, one which can take on different dimensions depending on successful interest group framing. The adoption of Healthy Public Policy as a governmental goal has coincided with a movement toward a “secular morality” in the political culture, facilitating a broader appeal to the public.
Not‐for‐Profit Advocacy: Challenging Policy Images and Pursuing Policy Change
Authors: Vaughan Shannon K. , Arsneault Shelly 
Published: September 2008

AbstractThe not‐for‐profit sector has long played an important role in the policy process through encouraging political engagement, policy research and advocacy, and service delivery. This paper examines two not‐for‐profit organizations, National Children's Alliance and National Alliance on Mental Illness, both of which are grassroots organizations formed to radically change public and professional perceptions of their respective issues and reform the way services are offered to those in need. Borrowing from the literature on policy image and agenda setting, we identify the strategies used by these two highly successful not‐for‐profit groups in their efforts to change the system through redefining problems, reframing issues, and securing legislation with the help of policy entrepreneurs and politicians sympathetic to their causes.
Coastal Oil Spill Preparedness and Response: The Morris J. Berman Incident
Authors: Kurtz Rick S. 
Published: September 2008

AbstractOn January 7, 1994, the disabled tank barge Morris J. Berman ran aground spilling 750,000 gallons of heavy‐grade fuel oil on the beaches of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The spill impacted a variety of resources and temporarily shut down a portion of the tourist industry during the height of the winter season. The spill is noteworthy as the first major incident in U.S. coastal waters following passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90). A landmark provision passed as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez catastrophe. The Berman spill provides a test case for assessing the robustness of policy mandates incorporated in the OPA 90. Mandates that compelled the oil transportation and response network to assume high‐reliability organization characteristics. The study finds that although high‐reliability characteristics were seemingly adopted their implementation during the Berman spill evidenced a significant number of shortcomings.
Intravenous immune globulin reduces the need for exchange transfusions in Rhesus and AB0 incompatibility
Authors: Huizing KMN , Røislien J , Hansen TWR 
Published: September 2008

AbstractAim: To conduct a quality control review of a single institution experience with intravenous immune globulin in the treatment of Rhesus and AB0 incompatibility.Methods: Intravenous immune globulin as treatment for Rhesus and AB0 incompatibility was introduced in our hospital in 1998. We performed a chart review of 176 infants with Rhesus or AB0 incompatibility treated in our hospital between 1993 and 2003, divided into a historical control group (1993–1998) and a treatment group (1999–2003). The project was approved through institutional ethics procedures.Results: The use of exchange transfusion as a therapeutic modality was significantly reduced in the cohort treated with intravenous immune globulin (OR 0.11; 95% CI 0.046–0.26, p < 0.001). We found no difference between the intravenous immune globulin group and the infants receiving only exchange transfusion as far as the duration of phototherapy. Infants with Rhesus incompatibility had a higher need for top‐up transfusions than those with AB0 incompatibility.Conclusion: This study supports the evidence from previous studies suggesting that intravenous immune globulin significantly reduces the need for exchange transfusion in infants with Rhesus and AB0 incompatibility.
Hereditary urea cycle diseases in Finland
Authors: Keskinen Päivi , Siitonen Anna , Salo Matti 
Published: September 2008

AbstractAim: To estimate the incidence of urea cycle diseases (UCDs) in Finland and determine the course of the various disorders as well as the outcome.Methods: The original data were collected in the years 1998–2001. The diagnoses made after 2001, as well as the current status of the patients, were updated by surveys in the spring of 2007.Results: We found a total of 55 cases of UCDs in Finland by 2007: 30 cases of ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency, 20 of argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) deficiency, 3 of carbamyl phosphate synthetase (CPS‐I) deficiency, 1 of type 1 citrullinaemia and 1 of argininaemia. The estimated total incidence of UCDs was 1:39 000. The incidences of individual disorders were: OTC deficiency 1:62 000, ASL deficiency 1:144 000, CPS deficiency 1:539 000 and citrullinaemia 1:1 616 000. Eighteen (33%) of the patients with a diagnosis of UCD have died, most during their first hyperammonaemic crisis. One patient with OTC deficiency has had a liver transplant. Neurological symptoms of varying severity are common among these patients, particularly those with ASL deficiency.Conclusion: The first survey on the incidence of UCDs in Finland shows some differences in the occurrence rates compared to other countries. Hyperammonaemia, and the neurological symptoms caused by it, can be avoided in most patients with late‐onset UCDs with a standard treatment. However, in patients with ASL deficiency, the development of neurological symptoms seems to be inevitable in spite of careful treatment and avoidance of hyperammonaemia.
Academic achievement, behavioural outcomes and MRI findings at 15 years of age in very low birthweight children
Authors: Gäddlin Per‐Olof , Finnström Orvar , Samuelsson Stefan , Wadsby Marie , Wang Chen , Leijon Ingemar 
Published: September 2008

AbstractAim: To assess cognitive, academic and behavioural functions in 15‐year‐old very low birthweight (VLBW) children and relate results to gender, neonatal risk factors, growth and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.Methods: Sixty‐one out of 86 VLBW children and 57/86 term controls born in the south‐east region of Sweden were assessed regarding cognition (WISC III), school outcome, behaviour and growth. VLBW children were examined using cerebral MRI.Results: VLBW children performed significantly lower than their term controls on WISC III and 49% had IQ lower than 85. Ten VLBW children with IQ < 70 had not been clinically identified earlier and a majority of these children attended mainstream school. VLBW girls had significantly lower total problems scores. Using MRI, white matter damage (WMD) was detected in 16 (27%) children. VLBW boys with WMD had significantly lower IQ than those without. Small occipito‐frontal circumference (OFC) correlated with low IQ. Mechanical ventilation and intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) showed significant correlations with lower IQ and reading skills.Conclusion: VLBW children achieved poorer results compared with their controls in cognitive tests. Mechanical ventilation and IVH were related to poorer academic outcome. Many of the children with low IQ had not been identified earlier. Therefore, we recommend that VLBW children undergo an IQ test before beginning school in order to receive adequate support.