bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Interpretation of plasma amino acids in the follow‐up of patients: The impact of compartmentation
Authors: Bachmann Claude 
Published: January 2008

SummaryResults of plasma or urinary amino acids are used for suspicion, confirmation or exclusion of diagnosis, monitoring of treatment, prevention and prognosis in inborn errors of amino acid metabolism. The concentrations in plasma or whole blood do not necessarily reflect the relevant metabolite concentrations in organs such as the brain or in cell compartments; this is especially the case in disorders that are not solely expressed in liver and/or in those which also affect nonessential amino acids. Basic biochemical knowledge has added much to the understanding of zonation and compartmentation of expressed proteins and metabolites in organs, cells and cell organelles. In this paper, selected old and new biochemical findings in PKU, urea cycle disorders and nonketotic hyperglycinaemia are reviewed; the aim is to show that integrating the knowledge gained in the last decades on enzymes and transporters related to amino acid metabolism allows a more extensive interpretation of biochemical results obtained for diagnosis and follow‐up of patients and may help to pose new questions and to avoid pitfalls. The analysis and interpretation of amino acid measurements in physiological fluids should not be restricted to a few amino acids but should encompass the whole quantitative profile and include other pathophysiological markers. This is important if the patient appears not to respond as expected to treatment and is needed when investigating new therapies. We suggest that amino acid imbalance in the relevant compartments caused by over‐zealous or protocol‐driven treatment that is not adjusted to the individual patient's needs may prolong catabolism and must be corrected.
Quality of life in subgroups of individuals with whiplash associated disorders
Authors: Wallin Mia K.M. , Raak Ragnhild I. 
Published: January 2008

AbstractBackground: The term whiplash associated disorders (WAD) includes a wide range of complaints, with neck pain as predominating symptom. Living with long term pain influences quality of life. In previous studies of other chronic pain patients, subgrouping has been made according to thermal pain thresholds measured in quantitative sensory testing (QST).Aims: The aims of the present study are threefold, (1) to evaluate thermal pain thresholds and health related quality of life in WAD patients compared to healthy pain‐free individuals, (2) to explore whether subgrouping of the WAD patients is possible according to thermal pain thresholds over trapezius, and if so (3) to explore differences between the subgroups.Methods: Twenty‐six patients with WAD and 18 healthy pain‐free controls took part in the study. Thermal pain thresholds were measured in two sites (over the thenar and the trapezius muscle) using quantitative sensory testing (QST). Health related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using the SF‐36. The visual analogue scale was used to rate pain intensity and unpleasantness related to the experimental situation.Results: WAD patients are more sensitive to thermal pain, and scored lower on the SF‐36 in all scales when compared with healthy pain‐free individuals. After analyzing clusters (K‐means algorithm) two subgroups of WAD emerge, pain insensitive and pain sensitive. The pain insensitive group differed significantly from the pain sensitive group in the Role Emotional subscale of SF‐36 (p=0.025).Conclusions: Thermal pain hyperalgesia, especially for cold, seems to be a determinant for subgrouping WAD patients. These results support that such a classification of a heterogenous group could be of importance in tailoring treatment and early interventions.
Comparison of clinical estimation of fetal weight at the beginning and end of labor
Authors: Fox Nathan S. , Chasen Stephen T. 
Published: January 2008

AbstractObjectiveTo compare the accuracy of clinically estimated fetal weight (EFW) obtained at the beginning and end of labor.MethodsThe clinical EFWs obtained by obstetricians at the beginning (initial EFW) and end (repeat EFW) of labor were compared to determine the accuracy of the estimates in 138 women with term pregnancies.ResultsThe initial clinical EFW was changed by obstetricians in 65% of patients over the course of their labor. There was a 66% chance that the repeat EFW was more accurate than the initial EFW (P = 0.003). This increased to 78% when the difference between the initial and repeat EFW was more than 300 g (P = 0.04). Duration and speed of labor, and change in fetal station were not correlated with a lower, higher, or more accurate EFW.ConclusionThe improved accuracy of a clinical EFW obtained at the end of labor is important for management decisions, such as whether to attempt operative vaginal delivery.
System Values and Understanding Legal Language
Authors: DEL MAR MAKSYMILIAN 
Published: January 2008

AbstractThis paper argues that the concerns and methodology of the recently completed Report of the International Law Commission (ILC) over the fragmentation of international law presuppose a particular way of understanding legal language which tends to separate the understanding of rules from their factual adaptability to certain recurring social problems faced within specific institutional contexts. The paper argues that separating rules from their factual adaptability focuses the analysis on surface coherence – coherence at the level of abstract terms and phrases. It is the argument of this paper that this presupposition is not warranted, and that the understanding of rules cannot be thus separated. An alternative model of the understanding of legal language is developed on the basis of the work of Bernard Jackson and Geoffrey Samuel. This is further supplemented by the approach to the study of institutional contexts in the recent work of Robert Summers and John Bell. Together, these resources can lead to the analysis of the deep coherence of the international legal order, that being one that prioritizes not the unity of that order, but its responsiveness. The ideal of responsive law is elaborated upon by reference to the work of Philip Selznick and Philippe Nonet. Finally, a different agenda for the ILC is offered on the basis of the methodology of deep coherence. The upshot is that the paper calls for a reorientation of international legal theory, away from concerns about ‘the law itself’ and towards an engagement with the responsiveness of legal work performed in international legal institutions.
Judicial Independence in The Hague and Freetown: A Tale of Two Cities
Authors: SHANY YUVAL , HOROVITZ SIGALL 
Published: January 2008

AbstractThis note evaluates the application of rules on judicial independence and impartiality in two international decisions issued in 2004 – the ICJ Order on Composition in the Wall Advisory Proceedings and the disqualification decision of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Sesay – and compares them with a code of judicial conduct recently prepared by an ILA study group (the Burgh House Principles on the Independence of the International Judiciary). We assert that the approach taken by the ICJ in Wall is excessively restrictive and is out of step with contemporary tendencies to embrace stricter standards of judicial independence and impartiality.
‘New Facts’ in ICTY and ICTR Review Proceedings
Authors: GALBRAITH JEAN 
Published: January 2008

AbstractThe Statutes of the ICTY and ICTR provide for the review of final judgments upon the discovery of a ‘new fact’ that could have affected the judgments. The Appeals Chambers of the two Tribunals interpret the term ‘new fact’ to mean new information related to a matter that was not at issue during the original trial, as opposed to simply meaning new information of a factual nature. The article argues that this interpretation of ‘new fact’ creates a risk that review will be denied on formalistic grounds even in situations where principles of justice would make review plainly warranted. The article proposes several ways in which the Appeals Chambers could alter their case law to ensure against such injustice. Finally, the article considers the implications of this issue for other international criminal tribunals.
A Review of the Experiences of the Pre-Trial and Appeals Chambers of the International Criminal Court Regarding the Disclosure of Evidence
Authors: SCHEFFER DAVID 
Published: January 2008

AbstractNegotiators of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) did not intend the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) to act as a de facto investigating judge; rather, their intent was that the PTC ensure that the Prosecutor act responsibly and within well-defined limits. Several opportunities have arisen in the Lubanga case before the ICC's PTC and the Appeals Chamber to examine the Prosecutor's duty and performance in disclosing documentary evidence and the identities of witnesses at the pre-trial stage. International criminal tribunals necessarily must bridge the evidentiary magnitude of atrocity crimes with a pragmatic focus on one person's role. The PTC judge should aggressively narrow the charges and focus the Prosecutor on the requirement of minimal evidence to meet the sufficiency standard for the remaining charges, direct the Prosecutor to share existing and emerging evidence with the accused in a timely manner and not wait until 30 days prior to confirmation hearing, and use statutory power to ensure timely non-disclosure requests and determinations.
Prescription drug co-payments and cost-related medication underuse
Authors: WAGNER TODD H. , HEISLER MICHELE , PIETTE JOHN D. 
Published: January 2008

AbstractCo-payments have been linked to the slowing growth in pharmaceutical spending over the last five years. However, patients with health problems frequently have difficulty affording their pharmacotherapy and fail to take their medication as prescribed. We examine the relationship between co-payment amounts and four types of cost-related underuse: taking fewer doses, postponing taking a medication, failing to fill a prescription at all, and taking medication less frequently than prescribed. We conducted a nationwide survey of US adults age 50 and over who take medication for a chronic condition. Participants provided information on 17 chronic conditions, medication they take for those conditions, and whether they underused any medication due to cost. We analyzed those who reported paying co-payments for their prescriptions (n = 2,869). Analysis involved multivariate logistic regression, with adjustments for survey weights and clustering. Our data show a strong positive association between co-payments and cost-related medication underuse. Although people differ in how they underuse medications, these behaviours are strongly associated with co-payment amount. Realigning the co-payments with cost-effectiveness data, also known as value-based insurance design, warrants further investigation.
The systematic position of Lauroiinae Skrjabin and Schikhobalova, 1951 (Nemata: Heterakoidea: Aspidoderidae), as revealed by the analysis of traits used in its diagnosis
Authors: Jiménez‐Ruiz F. Agustín , Gardner Scott L. , Noronha Dely , Pinto Roberto Magalhães 
Published: January 2008

AbstractDuring our work on biodiversity of parasites of mammals of the Neotropics we collected numerous nematodes assignable to species of the family Aspidoderidae (Nemata: Heterakoidea). These nematodes occur as parasites of the cecum and large intestine of marsupials, rodents and xenarthrans (armadillos) only in the New World. As aspidoderid nematodes have been little studied beyond their alpha taxonomy, it is the purpose of the present paper to apply phylogenetic systematic methods to more completely understand the evolutionary relationships of the included species. Members of the aspidoderid subfamily Lauroiinae have had very little work applied to their systematic relationships and no systematic revisions exist that include all recognized species. Diagnostic characters that define species in this subfamily include plate‐like cuticular structures on the anterior end. Herein we define a suite of 52 characters derived from studies of specimens using both light and electron microscopy. Our phylogenetic systematic analysis included the eight known species in the Lauroiinae, seven of the Aspidoderinae and four outgroup taxa. The results indicate that the Lauroiinae is paraphyletic, that the cephalic plates on the anterior end are not synapomorphies for the Lauroiinae, and that structures forming the cordon are present in all species of the family. We propose elimination of the subfamily designations in the family Aspidoderidae and we show the utility of using additional characters in the diagnosis of the family and the genera within this family. The resulting hypothesis should serve as the foundation to understand the historical associations of the nematodes with the mammals they infect.© The Willi Hennig Society 2008.
Multivariate analysis of CPMAS 13C‐NMR spectra of soils and humic matter as a tool to evaluate organic carbon quality in natural systems
Authors: ŠMejkalová D. , Spaccini R. , Piccolo A. 
Published: January 2008

SummaryA series of humic and fulvic acids isolated from different sources, size‐fractions separated from a humic acid, and three soils of different origin were subjected to CPMAS 13C‐NMR spectroscopy to obtain the distribution of their carbon contents. The relative areas of chemical shift regions in NMR spectra were used to apply a principal component analysis (PCA) to the three sets of samples. The multivariate analysis was successful in efficiently differentiating samples on the basis of the quality of their organic carbon content. The PC biplots based on two principal components distinguished objectively among samples as accurately as it was possible to do by subjective qualitative evaluation of the original spectra. In the case of the soils, a discriminant analysis (DA) was applied to build a classification model that allowed the validation of the three soils according to their origin. Percentage of validation in the classification model is expected to increase when a large number of NMR spectra are accumulated and/or the concentration of organic carbon in samples is enhanced. The multivariate analyses described are likely to become a useful tool to increase the importance of CPMAS 13C‐NMR spectra in the appraisal of natural organic matter variations in heterogeneous natural systems.
Microsatellite analysis of relatedness structure in young of the year of the endangered Zingel asper (Percidae) and implications for conservation
Authors: DANANCHER DELPHINE , IZQUIERDO JORGE I. , GARCIA‐VAZQUEZ EVA 
Published: January 2008

Summary1. Zingel asper is one of the most endangered freshwater fish of Western Europe. Because of critical habitat loss and fragmentation, stocking or reintroduction protocols are sometimes considered even though few data are available about the behaviour and biology of the species.2. The present study is the first attempt to explore the population genetic structure of juveniles (young of the year, YOY) of this endangered species using genetic markers (microsatellite loci). In the Beaume River (ardeche, France), Z. asper exhibits very low densities (10–80 fish per hectare), and it was expected that annual recruitment would comprise only few clutches (full‐ or half‐sibs groups).3. However, sibship reconstruction in one YOY cohort showed that more than 60% of the adult population reproduced. Dispersal rate in early YOY was high: relatedness estimates showed that only few months after hatching, YOY sibs were mixed among study sites. A large number of breeders together with high dispersal rates explain the high genetic variability observed in small populations of Z. asper.4. Conservation strategies for the species are discussed based on these results, emphasizing the importance of conserving population genetic variability and preserving habitat connectivity for juveniles.
Testing species–stone area and species–bryophyte cover relationships in riverine macroinvertebrates at small scales
Authors: HEINO JANI , KORSU KAI 
Published: January 2008

Summary1. The species–area relationship is considered amongst the few genuine laws in ecology. Although positive species richness–stone area relationships have been found previously in stream systems, very few studies have simultaneously examined species–individuals, individuals–area, species–bryophyte biomass and individuals–bryophyte biomass relationships. We examined these relationships based on temporally replicated assessments of macroinvertebrates on stones at two river sites.2. We found only one significant species–area relationship out of six relationship tested, and two significant individuals–area relationships. Even these significant relationships were weak, however. By contrast, we detected significant and rather strong relationships between species richness and the number of individuals at both river sites on all three sampling dates. We also found significant relationships of both species richness and the number of individuals with bryophyte biomass at both river sites on all sampling occasions. One of the river sites was disturbed by a bulldozer, and the species–bryophyte biomass relationships were somewhat stronger after the disturbance event.3. Our findings are quite surprising, given that there were very weak species–area relationships on stream stones. By contrast, our results suggest a pivotal role for bryophyte biomass in determining the species richness and the number of individuals of stream macroinvertebrates at this small scale. The most probably origin of these relationships begins with bryophyte cover, which determines the number of individuals, and subsequently passively affects species richness. Thus, there is not necessarily a direct mechanism that determines the variability of species richness on stream stones.4. Experimental studies are needed to disentangle the various mechanisms (e.g. passive sampling, provision of more food, more niche space, flood disturbance refugia) by which bryophyte biomass affects stream macroinvertebrates.
Predicting the locations of naturally fishless lakes
Authors: SCHILLING EMILY GAENZLE , LOFTIN CYNTHIA S. , DEGOOSH KATIE E. , HURYN ALEXANDER D. , WEBSTER KATHERINE E. 
Published: January 2008

Summary1. Fish have been introduced into many previously fishless lakes throughout North America over the past 100+ years. It is difficult to determine the historical distribution of fishless lakes, however, because these introductions have not always been well‐documented.2. Due to its glacial history and low human population density, the state of Maine (U.S.A.) may host the greatest number of naturally fishless lakes in the northeastern United States. However, less than one‐quarter of Maine’s 6000+ lakes have been surveyed for fish presence, and no accurate assessments of either the historical or current abundance and distribution of fishless lakes exist.3. We developed methods to assess the abundance and distribution of Maine’s naturally fishless lakes (0.6–10.1 ha). We hypothesized that the historical distribution of fishless lakes across a landscape is controlled by geomorphic and geographic conditions.4. We used ArcGIS to identify landscape‐scale geomorphic and geographic factors (e.g. connectivity, surrounding slope) correlated with fish absence in two geomorphic regions of Maine – the western and interior mountains and the eastern lowlands and foothills. By using readily available geographic information systems data our method was not limited to field‐visited sites. We estimated the likelihood that a particular lake is fishless with a stepwise logistic regression model developed for each region.5. The absence of fish from western lakes is related to altitude (+), minimum percent slope in the 500 m buffer (+), maximum percent slope in the 500 m buffer (+) and percent cover of herbaceous‐emergent wetland in 1000 m buffer (−). The absence of fish from eastern lakes is related to the lack of a stream within 50 m of the lake.6. The models predict that a total of 4% (131) of study lakes in the two regions were historically fishless, with the eastern region hosting a greater proportion than the western region.7. We verified the model predictions with two complementary approaches. First we visited 21 lakes predicted to be fishless and assessed current fish presence with gillnetting. Second, we used paleolimnological techniques based on the abundance of Chaoborus americanus mandibles in the bottom segments of sediment cores. Fifteen of the 21 lakes predicted to be fishless currently contain fish. Paleolimnological evidence, however, suggests that nine of the 15 lakes were historically fishless and thus were subject to undocumented fish introductions.8. Our approach efficiently predicts the distribution Maine’s naturally fishless lakes, and our results indicate that these habitats have declined due to fish introductions. Our method could be applied to other regions with similar geographic and geomorphic constraints on fish distributions as a tool to enhance conservation of a limited resource that provides habitat for unique biological communities.
Climatic change and fire potential in South‐Central British Columbia, Canada
Authors: NITSCHKE CRAIG R. , INNES JOHN L. 
Published: January 2008

AbstractThe incidence and severity of forest fires are linked to the interaction between climate, fuel and topography. Increased warming and drying in the future is expected to have a significant impact on the risk of forest fire occurrence. An increase in fire risk is linked to the synchronous relationship between climate and fuel moisture conditions. A warmer, drier climate will lead to drier forest fuels that will in turn increase the chance of successful fire ignition and propagation. This interaction will increase the severity of fire weather, which, in turn, will increase the risk of extreme fire behaviour. A warmer climate will also extend fire season length, which will increase the likelihood of fires occurring over a greater proportion of the year. In this study of the North Okanagan area of British Columbia, Canada, the impacts of climate change of fire potential were evaluated using the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System and multiple climate scenario analysis. Utilizing this approach, a 30% increase in fire season length was modelled to occur by 2070. In addition, statistically significant increases in fire severity and fire behaviour were also modelled. Fire weather severity was predicted to increase by 95% during the summer months by 2070 while fire behaviour was predicted to shift from surface fire‐intermittent crown fire regimes to a predominantly intermittent‐full crown fire regime by 2070 onwards. An increase in fire season length, fire weather severity and fire behaviour will increase the costs of fire suppression and the risk of property and resource loss while limiting human‐use within vulnerable forest landscapes. An increase in fire weather severity and fire behaviour over a greater proportion of the season will increase the risks faced by ecosystems and biodiversity to climatic change and increase the costs and difficulty of achieving sustainable forest management.