bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Moderate neonatal encephalopathy: Pre‐ and perinatal risk factors and long‐term outcome
Authors: LINDSTRÖM KATARINA , HALLBERG BOUBOU , BLENNOW MATS , WOLFF KERSTIN , FERNELL ELISABETH , WESTGREN MAGNUS 
Published: April 2008

AbstractBackground. The aim was to describe pre‐ and perinatal data and long‐term neurodevelopmental outcome (15–19 years) in children born at term with Apgar score <7 at 5 min and moderate neonatal encephalopathy. Methods. The study is based on a population‐based birth‐cohort of children born in Sweden in 1985. Maternal, delivery, neonatal, and neuropaediatric data were compiled. Neurodevelopmental status was classified according to the presence of 1. cerebral palsy or other major impairments, 2. exclusively cognitive impairments, and 3. no impairments. Results. The majority of the children (81%) had cognitive dysfunctions, with or without other impairments, such as cerebral palsy. The rates of post‐term birth (19% versus 8%) and breech presentation (12% versus 3%) were significantly higher than in the general Swedish population. Pre‐ and perinatal data did not differ notably between the three outcome groups. Questionable or suboptimal obstetric care was common (55%). Conclusions. The study shows that children born at term with moderate neonatal encephalopathy have a high rate of cognitive dysfunctions with or without cerebral palsy at long‐term follow‐up. Our pre‐ and perinatal data did not correlate with outcome.
Effects of pre‐pregnancy physical activity and maternal BMI on gestational weight gain and birth weight
Authors: LÖF MARIE , HILAKIVI‐CLARKE LEENA , SANDIN SVEN , WEIDERPASS ELISABETE 
Published: April 2008

AbstractBackground. Western women frequently exhibit excessive gestational weight gain (GWG). The effects of maternal physical activity level (PAL) and body mass index (BMI) on the timing of GWG are insufficiently known.Purpose. To assess the impact of pre‐pregnancy PAL and BMI on GWG during the second and third trimester and on birth weight.Methods. Body weight was measured in 223 healthy Swedish women in gestational weeks 12, 25 and 33, and GWG during the second (weeks 12–25) and third trimesters (weeks 25–33) was determined (kg/week). PAL was assessed using a questionnaire. Birth weights were obtained from birth records. The results were evaluated by the fitting of linear statistical models.Results.Some 50 and 80% of the women exhibited excessive GWG during the second and third trimesters, respectively. Women with a high pre‐pregnancy PAL gained 0.10 kg/week (p= 0.04) less weight during the third trimester than women with a medium PAL. A 5 kg/m2higher BMI was associated with a 0.06 kg/week lower GWG in the second trimester (p= 0.005), but with a 0.05 higher GWG in the third trimester (p= 0.03). Maternal BMI (p= 0.014) and total GWG (p= 0.05) correlated with birth weight.Conclusions.High BMI and low pre‐pregnancy PAL were associated with excessive GWG. BMI and GWG, but not pre‐pregnancy PAL, were linked to birth weight. However, together with smoking, parity, education and age, pre‐pregnancy PAL and BMI explained only 4% of the variation in GWG. Thus, identification of other factors that could explain excessive GWG is an important area of future research.
Interobserver agreement in the assessment of intrapartum automated fetal electrocardiography in singleton pregnancies
Authors: OJALA KATI , MÄKIKALLIO KAARIN , HAAPSAMO MERVI , IJÄS HILKKA , TEKAY AYDIN 
Published: April 2008

AbstractObjective. To study interobserver agreement in the assessment of intrapartum automated fetal electrocardiogram ST interval analysis (STAN). Design. Observational study. Setting. Labor ward in tertiary level university hospital. Sample. Two hundred (140 reassuring and 60 non‐reassuring) STAN recordings on non‐selected women with singleton, vertex, term pregnancies were selected from our archive. Samples of 60‐min were analysed from the end of each recording, excluding the last 30 min before delivery. Methods. Three consultants, who had undergone STAN training and had clinical experience in using STAN, reviewed the recordings using cardiotocography (CTG) and ST information with no clinical data. The reviewers were asked to follow STAN guidelines and (1) to classify the CTG as normal, intermediary, abnormal, or preterminal, and (2) to make a clinical decision on labor management. Main outcome measures. Interobserver agreement evaluated by weighted kappa (κw) values and the proportion of agreement. Results. In CTG classification, the interobserver agreement between three observers was moderate (κw, 0.47–0.48). The proportion of agreement was 56–59%. In clinical decision‐making, κw values varied from 0.47 to 0.60, and the proportion of agreement was 80–86%. Conclusions. In non‐selected term pregnancies, the interobserver agreement among experienced obstetricians in the classification of CTG and clinical decision‐making according to STAN guidelines is moderate at best.
Term perinatal mortality and morbidity in monochorionic and dichorionic twin pregnancies: A retrospective study
Authors: LOPRIORE ENRICO , STROEKEN HISKE , SUETERS MARIEKE , MEERMAN ROBERT‐JAN , WALTHER FRANS , VANDENBUSSCHE FRANK 
Published: April 2008

AbstractAim. Perinatal mortality and morbidity in monochorionic (MC) twins appears to be increasing compared to dichorionic (DC) twins. The aim of our study was to determine the difference in perinatal mortality and morbidity in MC and DC twins born after 37 weeks’ gestation. Design. A retrospective, cross‐sectional study of medical records. Setting. Large tertiary care centre in the Netherlands. Population. All twins delivered ≥37 gestational weeks at the Leiden University Medical Centre between 1988 and 2004 were included in the study. Methods. Perinatal outcome was assessed in all term twins. Differentiation between a MC study group and a DC control group was made based on gender, intertwin membrane histology, or first trimester ultrasound. Main outcome measures. Perinatal mortality and morbidity was assessed. Morbidity was defined as admission to the neonatal nursery. Results. We included 383 DC and 74 MC twin pregnancies. Three fetuses died in utero in two MC pregnancies at 38 gestational weeks. One surviving MC co‐twin had a right‐sided hemiparesis due to a large parenchymal defect in the left cerebral hemisphere. Perinatal mortality was 2% (3/148) in MC and 0% (0/766) in DC twins (p = 0.004). The admission rate to the neonatal nursery was 27% in MC and 19% in DC twins (p = 0.031). Conclusions. At term, MC twins have a higher risk for perinatal mortality and a higher admission rate to the neonatal nursery compared to DC twins. Given the increased mortality, a prospective study is needed to determine the effects of elective delivery in uncomplicated MC twin pregnancies at around 37 weeks’ gestation.
Mapping practice onto theory: the speech and language practitioner's construction of receptive language impairment
Authors: Law J. , Campbell C. , Roulstone S. , Adams C. , Boyle J. 
Published: April 2008

Background:Receptive language impairment (RLI) is one of the most significant indicators of negative sequelae for children with speech and language disorders. Despite this, relatively little is known about the most effective treatments for these children in the primary school period.Aims:To explore the relationship between the reported practice of speech and language practitioners and the underlying rationales for the therapy that they provide.Methods & Procedures:A phenomenological approach was adopted, drawing on the experiences of speech and language practitioners. Practitioners completed a questionnaire relating to their practice for a single child with receptive language impairment within the 5–11 age range, providing details and rationales for three recent therapy activities. The responses of 56 participants were coded. All the children described experienced marked receptive language impairments, in the main associated with expressive language difficulties and/or social communication problems.Outcome & Results:The relative homogeneity of the presenting symptoms in terms of test performance was not reflected in the highly differentiated descriptions of intervention. One of the key determinants of how therapists described their practice was the child's age. As the child develops the therapists appeared to shift from a ‘skills acquisition’ orientation to a ‘meta‐cognitive’ orientation, that is they move away from teaching specific linguistic behaviours towards teaching children strategies for thinking and using their language. A third of rationales refer to explicit theories but only half of these refer to the work of specific authors. Many of these were theories of practice rather than theories of deficit, and of those that do cite specific theories, no less than 29 different authors were cited many of whom might best be described as translators of existing theories rather than generators of novel theories.Conclusions:While theories of the deficit dominate the literature they appear to play a relatively small part in the eclectic practice of speech and language therapists. Theories of therapy may develop relatively independent of theories of deficit. While this may not present a problem for the practitioner, whose principal focus is remediation, it may present a problem for the researcher developing intervention efficacy studies, where the theory of the deficit will need to be well‐defined in order to describe both the subgroup of children under investigation and the parameters of the deficit to be targeted in intervention.
Ability of children with language impairment to understand emotion conveyed by prosody in a narrative passage
Authors: Fujiki Martin , Spackman Matthew P. , Brinton Bonnie , Illig Tori 
Published: April 2008

Background: Several recent studies have indicated that children with language impairment experience difficulty with various aspects of emotion understanding. Because emotion understanding skills are critical to successful social interaction, it is possible that these deficits play a role in the social problems frequently experienced by children with language difficulties.Aims: To explore further the emotion understanding skills of children with language impairment, the investigation examined the ability of these children to understand emotion conveyed by prosody in a narrative passage.Methods & Procedures: Nineteen children with language impairment and their chronological age‐matched peers served as participants. Children were sampled from the age range of 8–10;10 years. These children were presented with a seven‐sentence narrative read by actors to express happiness, anger, sadness, and fear. They were then asked to indicate what emotion the speaker expressed.Outcomes & Results: Children with language impairment performed significantly more poorly than their typical peers in identifying the emotion expressed in the passage. There were also differences between emotions, with happiness being the easiest emotion to identify and fear the most difficult. The interaction between group and emotion type was not statistically significant.Conclusions: The results provide additional evidence that children with language impairment may have impairments in emotion understanding. If these findings are replicated, interventions designed to facilitate emotion understanding as an aspect of social communication should be considered for some children with language impairment.
THE ELEPHANT PROBLEM AT TSAVO
Authors: Glover J. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThe damage caused by the overcrowding of elephant after several years of drought in the Tsavo National Park has prompted the study of the number and distribution of the elephants within its confines and the possibly “safe” carrying capacity.Aerial surveys show that the population of the Park is not static and that as many as 10,000 elephants may be found there at certain times. Nearly all the animals are found within some 15 miles of permanent water supplies where damage is greatest. Not all the damage is caused directly by the animals: some, probably the most permanent, is caused by fires which sweep over the regenerating vegetation becoming increasingly devastating as the woody vegetation recedes.The East Park, the largest part, may be able to carry some 5,000 animals in moderate safety.
FIELD IMMOBILIZATION OF YOUNG WILDEBEEST WITH SUCCINYLCHOLINE CHLORIDE
Authors: Orr D. J. C. , Moore‐Gilbert S. M. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThe results of 112 cases of field immobilization of wildebeest, Gorgon taurinus hecki (Neumann), * with succinylcholine chloride are given, and compared with the results given by Talbot and Lamprey (1961), who reported field dose rates of 0.023 mg/lb. body weight as ineffective, 0.028–0.029 mg/lb. as effective, and 0.036 mg/lb. as lethal, when given to adult wildebeest. Doses in the present series were determined empirically in the field and it was found that the youngest age group of wildebeest tried with the drug (49 cases, 6–12 months old) survived ‘lethal’ doses of 0.036–0.037 mg/lb. Field experience suggested that not only were young wildebeest capable of surviving greater doses of succinylcholine than adults, but there was an absence of secondary complications. Adult animals suffered from regurgitation of ruminal contents and difficulty with breathing.In the field it proved easier to produce consistent results with young wildebeest, and it is suggested that in testing the possible use of succinylcholine for immobilizing other game animals the effect of the drug on both young and old animals should be compared.Use of an effective marking method, by branding, followed by field recording of marked animals has shown that six animals out of a total of 87 disappeared shortly after release. The casualty rate associated with the field marking is given.
SOME NOTES ON THE BEARING OF YOUNG AFRICAN ELEPHANTS
Authors: Bellinge W. H. S. , Woodley F. W. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryIn October, 1963 an attempt was made to rear a very young elephant calf, during which time numerous difficulties were encountered. The basic problem was the lack of any available notes and data from experiences of other attempts, which would have been invaluable to us.The following observations on diet and management, are taken from the detailed diary kept during the attempt to rear “Kasigau”, the young elephant referred to above, and also the well‐known “Eleanor”, for the benefit of those who may, one day, find themselves confronted with a helpless orphaned elephant and may wish to make an attempt at rearing it.
SOME PRINCIPLES OF TSETSE CONTROL AND LAND‐USE WITH EMPHASIS ON WILDLD7E HUSBANDRY
Authors: Lambrecht Frank L. , Hooper G. W. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryNatural animal populations are adapted to and in equilibrium with their natural environment. Sudden changes in composition of flora or fauna of climax communities may cause serious consequences and even the collapse of the system. This is especially true in Africa where shallow soil and precarious energy cycles are easily upset. With this in mind, it is suggested that serious consideration be given in tsetse‐control schemes and land‐use plans to the feasibility of game‐farming, especially when marginal lands are involved. It would be advantageous in many instances to keep all large and some smaller tracts of marginal lands for wildlife conservation purposes; the large areas as national parks and as a valuable source of government income and prestige, the smaller areas as a permanent animal‐protein supply through game‐harvesting operations. The advantages of game‐farming over domestic livestock‐raising are discussed in detail. A schematized tsetse‐control plan is also presented as an example of land‐use in savannah tsetse belts.
THE VALIDITY OF CENSUSING BLACK RHINOCEROS POPULATIONS FROM THE AIR
Authors: Goddard John 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThe efficacy of censusing black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis Linnaeus) populations from the air was tested. Repeated aerial counts were made of the black rhinoceros population centered on Qlduvai Gorge, Tanzania, where the number of rhinoceros on the ground is known accurately. Even under the most ideal conditions only 50% of the population was detected by observers in an aircraft, and factors accounting for this are considered. It is concluded that the light aircraft is of limited value in providing estimates of black rhinoceros populations, and estimates based purely on aerial counts are subject to considerable variation.
FOOD PREFERENCES OF TWO BLACK RHINOCEROS POPULATIONS
Authors: Goddard John 
Published: April 2008

SummaryFood preferences of two discrete black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis L.) populations were studied in northern Tanzania from 1964–1966 Feeding rhinoceros were watched for a period of one hour, and the plants which they selected and rejected were identified, either as they were feeding or when they had moved on. A technique was used which provided an indication of the relative importance of certain plants in the diet. Observations were made in six different habitat types used by the rhinoceros during the wet and dry seasons. A total of 307 hours was spent actually watching feeding rhinoceros. During this period they were observed eating 191 plant species from 49 botanical families. In all habitat types rhinoceros consume a wide variety of the spectrum of plants available, but are highly selective for herbs and shrubs. At certain periods of the year stenophagous characteristics are apparent, and the species shows a marked preference for legumes. Grasses make up a small proportion of the diet.
APPLIED TOPOGRAPHIC‐ANATOMICAL STUDIES OF EAST AFRICAN GAME RUMINANTS
Authors: Hofmann R. R. , Scholz P. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThe topographic relationships of the so‐called “vital centres” like the spinal chord brain, heart and major blood vessels of East African game ruminants are discussed, using the impala and the buffalo as type animals for a series of diagrams. Anatomical conditions in relation to the effect of shots in the various body regions are demonstrated with the aim of reducing irresponsible and painful wounding of game animals. Investigations and diagrams are based upon material from 59 animals of 18 species; of these, 47 animals were formalin‐fixed and dissected in a natural standing position.
AGE CRITERIA AND VITAL STATISTICS OF A BLACK RHINOCEROS POPULATION
Authors: Goddard J. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryTsavo National Park, in Kenya, probably contains the largest population of black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis (L.)) left in existence. Large‐scale damage of the vegetation initiated by elephants and aggravated by fire has changed considerable areas of the park. The ecology of the black rhinoceros in this changing environment has been studied; the present status and population structure is considered here, including the development of detailed ageing criteria for the species, an analysis of natural mortality and survivorship, and a record of the structure of the living populations within the major habitat types.Crania and mandibles were collected from 506 rhinoceros found dead in all areas of the park. This material was divided into 20 relative age classes based on dental characteristics. Crude chronological ages, based on an estimate of the maximum expectation of life and the examination of seven known‐age dental records of captive animals, were assigned to each age class. These crude ages were then refined by examination of 16 dental records of known‐age wild rhinoceros, and a chronological age scale established.A survivorship curve of the population was thus constructed. Annual mortality during the first and second year of life is about 16%, and the indicated mean annual mortality from 5–25 y is 9.8%. A theoretical model of the population structure is shown, and analysis of the annual mortality and recruitment at birth suggests that the population was stable during the 1960's. Assuming the data represent a stable population the mean expectation of life at birth is 8.4 y.Thirteen major habitat types are described. The characteristics of the rhinoceros population within each habitat type were established both from ground studies and aerial observations. Nearly 700 rhinoceros were identified and catalogued on the ground, in sample areas selected for intensive study. Population structures, cow: calf ratios, and recruitment appear to be average in most habitat types. The analysis of recruitment at birth and mortality during the first year of life, both from computations from the survivorship curve and from the structure of the living populations, support the validity of the ageing criteria, and further suggest that the population was stable during the 1960's.Finally, the relationship between the elephant and the rhinoceros in the changing environment is discussed with reference to recent findings in elephant ecology. In conclusion it is recommended that population reduction of the Tsavo elephants should be initiated.
ELEPHANTS AND HABITATS IN NORTH BUNYORO, UGANDA
Authors: Laws R. M. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThe paper is concerned with the changing relation between elephant populations and vegetation in north Bunyoro, Uganda.The history of the area over the past 100 years is briefly described, particularly in terms of changing human populations and contraction of the elephant range. The main features of the environment, including vegetation types and distribution, annual burning, other species of large mammals (including the results of aerial counts) and birds are described.The main results of investigations on the elephant populations in the area, dealing with numbers, distribution and movements, population density distributions, and social organisation iocluding group size frequencies and structure, are presented. From a population of about 10,000 elephants over 1,000 have been cropped or shot on control in the area since 1965. The results of detailed analyses of material derived from these operations are presented and discussed. Material from the cropping operations represents a cross‐section of the population and all animals sampled have been aged from the dentition.It is concluded that the mean daily food intake (wet weight) is 4% of live weight for all classes except lactating females; results of studies of food quality are discussed and a possible explanation for the de‐barking of trees presented. The physical condition of elephants in several populations has been compared and appears to be poorer when less browse is available. Growth equations are presented for height and weight; the male shows a post‐pubertal growth spurt. Various reproductive parameters are examined including age at puberty, pregnancy rate, and the seasonal cycle. Seasonal conceptions are delayed in North Bunyoro in relation to their timing north of the River Nile and it is suggested that the delay is nutritionally‐induced. Recruitment has been falling in this population and this decline is likely to continue in the absence of effective management. Some undesirable consequences of extensive control‐shooting are mentioned.The analysis of the elephant populations indicates that they are at densities in excess of the carrying capacities of the habitats, and the continuing changes in these habitats are described. In the grassland and wooded grassland areas the destruction of woodland has progressed radially, a zone of damage about 15–20 km wide having moved outwards through the range. This is consistent with destruction mainly by elephants rather than by fire. The influence of elephants on the forest edge and on the areas of regeneration inside the forest, created by management, is described.Finally specific proposals that have been presented to the National Parks and Forest Department are discussed. These involve rational cropping of over 4,000 elephants over the range and the construction of elephant‐proof barriers, the control of fire, and the declaration of a Conservation Area with a statutory Authority on which the various interests concerned would be represented.