bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Alcohol, Europe and the developing countries
Authors: SAXENA SHEKHAR 
Published: January 2006

AbstractAlthough most of the developing countries currently have a lower overall per capita consumption of alcohol than the European countries, the rapid rate of increase in recent years is highly significant from a public health perspective. Excessive alcohol consumption in developing countries leads to substantial negative effects on the health and also on the quality of life of the drinking individuals and their families. It also causes massive direct and indirect costs to these countries that they can ill‐afford. Europe has played a major facilitatory role for alcohol consumption in the developing countries and its continues to have considerable influence directly and indirectly even now. Increased international cooperation on scientific as well as policy issues is likely to achieve the twin aims of limiting alcohol use and preventing alcohol‐related health and social problems not only in Europe but all over the world, including in the developing countries. Important initial steps in this direction may be increased exchange of information, developing compatible policies and evolving culturally relevant public health measures. In order to achieve any success in limiting alcohol related problems, the need to keep a global perspective on alcohol is paramount.
Lost productivity and costs to society
Authors: GODFREY CHRISTINE 
Published: January 2006

AbstractHaving a single monetary amount that provides an indicator of alcohol misuse can be a powerful instrument for those advocating policy action. Existing studies suggest that alcohol use in any year may yield costs that are equivalent to 2–5% of the gross national product. While useful, such figures do not indicate which combinations of policies could yield the greatest net benefits for their populations. There may also be interest in the effects of alcohol use on public finances or the fairness of both taxes and welfare payments across different groups of the population. Which items are identified as being relevant and how these effects are measured and valued will depend on which policy question is being addressed. There are, however, a number of common issues such as whether costing studies should be confined to the heaviest and problematic, how benefits of alcohol consumption should be measured, how future benefits in terms of health gains should be valued and whether the costs to the drinker are important or only those costs which are borne by third parties. There will not always be simple answers to these questions. However, even if costing studies are confined to third party effects and the most conservative assumptions are taken, it is clear that there is powerful evidence that many societies would be better off if action is taken to prevent alcohol problems. Research on the effects of alcohol use is becoming increasingly sophisticated and this will lead to improvements in costing studies. Productivity losses are likely to remain one of the most significant costs of alcohol misuse.
Alcohol policy and the public good
Authors: EDWARDS GRIFFITH 
Published: January 2006

AbstractDespite a diversity of cultural, social and economic experiences with alcohol at national level, a broad unity of purpose is emerging within the alcohol problems perspective. The scientific basis for that perspective finds its support in a sustained international research effort. With the publication in 1994 of the WHO report “Alcohol Policy and the Public Good”, that perspective has been given persuasive empirical underpinning and a sharp focus. Essentially the problems perspective suggests that the target for public policy is the prevention or alleviation of population‐wide alcohol‐related problems, with problems broadly defined. The test for any policy within this arena is then whether it contributes to the achievement of that target. The perspective is thus rational, empirical, rooted in the traditions of public health, and readily intelligible to the ordinary citizen. Key conclusions emanating from “Alcohol Policy and the Public Good” are summarized. That text is rounded off by the challenging assertion that “Drinking problems are not carried by an uncontrollable tide. With public will, and on the evidence, they are capable of amelioration.” A positive response to that challenge by the nations of Europe is both necessary and feasible.
Alcohol use and a safe environment
Authors: HOLDER HAROLD D. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThree areas are discussed which illustrate the potential for drinking to increase the threat to personal safety, i. e. family harm and disruption, violence and crime, and traffic safety. Such threats to safety are especially important in that they extend well beyond the individual drinker into the lives of family members, friends, work colleagues, and even strangers who can become injured or killed in a drinking and driving accident. Thus, alcohol policy is a concern for all citizens whose personal safety can be at risk. From this perspective, alcohol‐involved problems are public health and safety issues. Controlled evaluations of a number of strategies provide evidence of potential effectiveness to reduce problems related to safely.
The sanctuary of sobriety: the emergence of temperance as a feminine virtue in Tudor and Stuart England*
Authors: WARNER JESSICA 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis study examines the reasons why temperance was viewed as an appropriate virtue for women in sixteenth‐and seventeenth‐century England. It makes use of contemporary literature to document shifts in attitudes toward women who drank in a public and conspicuous fashion, and examines the economic and cultural changes that contributed to those shifts. The literature consulted in this study would suggest that up until the first decades of the sixteenth century men and women both enjoyed considerable freedom as to where and when they might consume alcohol, and would further suggest that it was only during the economic and social crises of the early modern period that two distinct drinking cultures starred to emerge, one centred in the home and exclusive of men, the other centred outside the home and exclusive of women. The emergence of temperance as a virtue specific to women happened to occur at a time when real wages were in sharp decline, and effectively sanctioned the redistribution of household income in favour of men, whose right to drink was never seriously challenged. Criticism of women who drank in a public and conspicuous fashion also happened to coincide with the rediscovery of classical texts commending the supposed temperance of the women of early Rome.
Hepatitis C virus serology in parenteral drug users with chronic liver disease
Authors: NOVICK DAVID M. , REAGAN KEVIN J. , CROXSON T. SCOTT , GELB ALVIN M. , STENGER RICHARD J. , KREEK MARY JEANNE 
Published: January 2006

AbstractChronic liver disease is a common complication of parenteral drug use, and liver cirrhosis is frequently seen in users of both parenteral drugs and alcohol. In 1978‐83, we studied 88 parenteral drug users with sufficient evidence of chronic liver disease to warrant liver biopsy. Current alcohol abuse was noted in 63 (72%), and six (7%) were former alcohol abusers. Cirrhosis was found in 33 (38%). Hepatitis C antibody (anti‐HCV) was detected in 86 (98%). Also, 40 of the anti‐HCV positive sera were tested with recombinant immunoblot assay and all of these were reactive. All but one of the 31 patients with anti‐HCV and cirrhosis were alcohol abusers. We conclude that parenteral drug users with chronic liver disease almost always have evidence of HCV infection. By 1978‐83, HCV infection had become well established in an addict population.
An Australian profile on the use of cocaine
Authors: HANDO JULIE , FLAHERTY BRUCE , RUTTER SCOTT 
Published: January 2006

AbstractData collected on cocaine in Australia in the mid to late 1980s, when law enforcement and treatment centres were concerned with possible increases in cocaine use, indicated a low prevalence of use. This artick reports findings from the Australian component of the 1993–94 World Health Organization study entitled “Initiative on Cocaine”, which provides an updated analysis of cocaine use patterns and consequences. The two components of this study were a “country profile” which summarized existing health, law enforcement and survey data on cocaine use from national, regional and city level records, and a key informant study which consisted of interviews with people from Sydney and Melbourne who were familiar with cocaine use through personal, professional or observational experience. Findings show that the prevalence of cocaine use has remained low among the general population in Australia (around 2%), and few people present to treatment services with primary cocaine problems or are arrested. However, the use of cocaine seems to have increased among inner Sydney injecting drug users. There have also been indications of larger police seizures of cocaine, reflecting a possible increase in availability. Recommendations are made to provide relevant interventions and continually monitor patterns of cocaine use, particularly among at‐risk groups.
Subgroups of smokers with different success rates after use of transdermal nicotine
Authors: SWAN GARY E. , JACK LISA M. , WARD MARCIA M. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractTo identify subgroups of smokers with different success rates, we applied “tree‐structured survival analysis” (TSSA) to data from a previously published trial of transdermal nicotine. The subjects who received active treatment (14 mg patch, n = 275, or the 21 mg patch, n = 262) constituted the sample for this analysis. Using age, gender, the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ), motivation to quit, number of cigarettes smoked at baseline, and body mass index (BMI) as classification variables, TSSA identified two subgroups within the 14 mg patch group and four subgroups of smokers within the 21 mg patch group. Among those receiving the 14 mg patch, individuals with a BMI greater than 26.4 kg/m2 relapsed sooner than did those with a BMI less than or equal to this value. Within the 21 mg patch group, the survival curve for males was significantly different from that observed in females, with males experiencing a longer time to relapse after treatment than did females. Among males, those who were less dependent relapsed significantly later than did those men who were more dependent. Among females, those with a higher motivation to quit relapsed more slowly than did those women with less motivation to quit. This information may be helpful to clinicians seeking to match specific patients to specific treatments with transdermal nicotine in order to maximize treatment outcomes.
A meta‐analysis of voucher‐based reinforcement therapy for substance use disorders
Authors: Lussier Jennifer Plebani , Heil Sarah H. , Mongeon Joan A. , Badger Gary J. , Higgins Stephen T. 
Published: January 2006

ABSTRACTAims  To systematically investigate the effectiveness of voucher‐based reinforcement therapy for the treatment of substance use disorders.Methods  Effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for studies published between January 1991 and March 2004 that utilized voucher‐based reinforcement therapy (VBRT) or related monetary‐based incentives to treat substance use disorders (SUDs).Findings  Thirty studies involved interventions targeting abstinence from drug use using experimental designs where effects on treatment outcome could be attributed to the VBRT intervention. The estimated average effect size (r) for those studies was 0.32 (95% CI 0.26–0.38). Analyses of variables thought to moderate VBRT effect sizes revealed that more immediate voucher delivery and greater monetary value of the voucher were associated with larger effect sizes. Additional studies were identified wherein VBRT was used to target clinic attendance (n = 6) or medication compliance (n = 4). VBRT studies targeting attendance produced average effect sizes of 0.15 (95% CI 0.02–0.28), while those that targeted medication compliance produced an average effect of 0.32 (95% CI 0.15–0.47). No significant moderators were identified for these 10 studies.Conclusions  Overall, VBRT generated significantly better outcomes than did control treatments. These results further support the efficacy of VBRT, quantify the magnitude of its effects, identify significant moderators and suggest potential directions for future research.
Prediction of adolescent smoking from family and social risk factors at 5 years, and maternal smoking in pregnancy and at 5 and 14 years
Authors: O'Callaghan Frances V. , O'Callaghan Michael , Najman Jake M. , Williams Gail M. , Bor William , Alati Rosa 
Published: January 2006

ABSTRACTAims  This study examines associations between maternal smoking and family, social or child risk factors when the child is aged 5 and adolescent smoking. The influence of mothers who smoke in pregnancy or continue to smoke at 14 years was also examined.Design  The Mater‐University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy is a prospective cohort study.Participants  Participants included 8556 women enrolled between 1981 and 1984 at their first antenatal visit. Completed questionnaires were obtained for 7223 offspring, comprising the study birth cohort. Of the 7223 eligible children a total of 4541 had information on both maternal smoking when the child was aged 5 years and adolescent smoking at 14 years.Measurements  Measures included maternal smoking during pregnancy and when the child was aged 5 and 14 years, child smoking at 14 years, maternal alcohol use, child behaviour problems and social and demographic variables.Findings  Adolescent smoking was predicted by a risk score at 5 years involving maternal smoking and alcohol use, non‐married status, having a partner who had ever been arrested, having four or more children in the household, and child aggression at 5 years. Continued maternal smoking from 5 to 14 years was associated strongly with adolescent smoking. There was also evidence that smoking in late pregnancy may exert an independent effect on adolescent smoking.Conclusions  The results suggest the possibility of a direct effect of prenatal smoking on adolescent smoking and highlight a set of environmental risk factors in the development of adolescent smoking. These risk factors may be used as early warning signs that intervention may be needed, and given the similarities with risk factors for other adverse childhood outcomes, the benefits of early intervention may extend beyond smoking to other problem behaviours. The possibility of being able to predict other disorders, because of these associations, also warrants further investigation.
The Toll-like receptor 4 (Asp299Gly) polymorphism is a risk factor for Gram-negative and haematogenous osteomyelitis
Authors: Montes A H , Asensi Victor , Alvarez Victoria , Valle Eulalia , Ocaña M G , Meana A , Carton J A , Paz Jose , Fierer J , Celada A 
Published: January 2006

Summary
Osteomyelitis is a bone infection caused mostly by Staphylococcus aureus but also by Gram-negative bacteria. Toll-like receptors (TLRs), after recognizing microbial products, induce a signal in neutrophils, leading to NF-κB activation and transcription of pro-inflammatory genes. Polymorphisms in TLR2 (Arg753Gln) and TLR4 (Asp299Gly, Thr399Ile) genes are associated with bacterial infections, we therefore studied these polymorphisms in osteomyelitis patients. Homozygotes for the TLR4 (Asp299Gly) polymorphism were significantly more frequent among the 80 osteomyelitis patients than in the 155 healthy controls (3/80, 3·8%versus 0/155, 0%; P = 0·038). Carriers of one or two G alleles of this tlr4 polymorphism were more likely to have Gram-negative, haematogenous and/or chronic osteomyelitis than those without this mutation (P &lt; 0·031). Patients with the TLR4 (Thr399Ile) mutant, which cosegregates with the TLR4 (Asp299Gly), were also carriers of this second polymorphism. No differences for the TLR2 (Arg753Gln) genotypes were found between patients and controls. Neutrophils of patients homozygous for the TLR4 (Asp299Gly) polymorphism showed lower LPS-induced apoptosis reduction, phosphorylation of the inhibitor of NF-κB, and lower IL-6 and TNF-α levels (P &lt; 0·05). We report here for the first time an association between this TLR4 polymorphism and susceptibility to Gram-negative bacteria and haematogenous osteomyelitis.
Elevated levels of mannan-binding leptin (MBL) and eosinophilia in patients of bronchial asthma with allergic rhinitis and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis associate with a novel intronic polymorphism in MBL
Authors: Kaur S , Gupta V K , Shah A , Thiel S , Sarma P U , Madan T 
Published: January 2006

SummaryMannan-binding lectin (MBL), an important component of innate immunity, binds to a range of foreign antigens and initiates the lectin complement pathway. Earlier studies have reported high plasma MBL levels in allergic patients in comparison to healthy controls. In view of varied plasma MBL levels being determined by genetic polymorphisms in its collagen region, we investigated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the collagen region of human MBL with respiratory allergic diseases. The study groups comprised patients of bronchial asthma with allergic rhinitis (n = 49) and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (APBA) (n = 11) and unrelated age-matched healthy controls of Indian origin (n = 84). A novel intronic SNP, G1011A of MBL, showed a significant association with both the patient groups in comparison to the controls (P &lt; 0·01). Patients homozygous for the 1011A allele showed significantly higher plasma MBL levels and activity than those homozygous for the 1011G allele (P &lt; 0·05). The 1011A allele also showed a significant correlation with high peripheral blood eosinophilia (P &lt; 0·05) and low forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) (P &lt; 0·05) of the patients. We conclude that the 1011A allele of MBL may contribute to elevated plasma MBL levels and activity and to increased severity of the disease markers in patients of bronchial asthma with allergic rhinitis and ABPA.
Historical biogeography of amphibian parasites, genus Polystoma (Monogenea: Polystomatidae)
Authors: Bentz Sophie , Sinnappah‐Kang Neeta D. , Lim Lee‐Hong Susan , Lebedev Boris , Combes Claude , Verneau Olivier 
Published: January 2006

AbstractAim  The present‐day geographical distribution of parasites with a direct biological life cycle is guided mostly by the past dispersal and vicariance events that have affected their hosts. The Amphibia–Polystoma association (which satisfies these criteria) also exhibits original traits, such as host specificity and world‐wide distribution. This biological model was thus chosen to investigate the common historical biogeography of its widespread representatives.Location  North and South America, Eurasia and Africa.Methods  We investigated the phylogeny of 12 species of neobatrachian parasites sampled from North and South America, Eurasia and Africa. Hosts belonged mostly to hyloids and ranoids of families Bufonidae, Hylidae, Leptodactylidae, Ranidae and Hyperoliidae. Phylogenetic reconstructions were inferred from maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony analyses from complete ITS1 sequences.Results  The group of American species appeared paraphyletic with one species at the base of a Eurafrican clade, within which two lineages were seen: one composed of only Eurasian species, and the other of European and African species, with the two European species basal to an African clade.Main conclusions  The route of Polystoma evolution is deduced from the phylogenetic tree and discussed in the light of host evolution. We conclude that Polystoma originated in South America on hyloids, after the separation of South America from Africa. The genus must have colonized North America in Palaeocene times and Eurasia by the mid‐Cainozoic, taking advantage of the dispersal of either ancestral bufonids or hylids. Africa, however, appears to have been colonized more recently, during the Messinian period.
The development of picture cards and their use in ascertaining characteristics of Chinese surgical patients’ decision‐making preferences
Authors: Henderson Amanda , Shum David , Chien Wai‐Tong 
Published: January 2006

AbstractAim  This exploratory pilot study developed and tested the validity of picture cards as a strategy to ascertain patients’ desired participation in decision making. These were then used to ascertain characteristics of Hong Kong Chinese patients’ decision‐making preferences for surgery.Validation of tool  Two sets of analyses tested the validity of picture cards in an Australian and Hong Kong Chinese population. First, the ratings of the two groups of participants using the picture cards for three scenarios (severe, moderate and mild medical conditions) were correlated with mean ratings of three decision‐making subscales of a self‐report questionnaire for the three scenarios. Second, a 3 (Scenario) × 2 (Ethnic Group) mixed anova examined whether the picture cards are sensitive to differences relating to severity of medical conditions and ethnicity.Setting and participants  A convenience sample of initially 35 Hong Kong and 24 Australian patients was used to validate the picture card tool. A convenience sample of a further 186 Hong Kong Chinese surgical inpatients used the tool.Design  Participants selected the picture card that best represented their decision‐making preference.Main variables  Demographic factors, prior knowledge, nature of surgery and preference for participation in decision making.Results  Significant correlations were made between the questionnaire and the picture card tool. Using the tool, a significant difference was found between males’ and females’ decision‐making preference, yet, no significant difference was found with respect to type or previous surgical operation.Conclusion  Results indicate that demographic variables do have an effect, however undergoing previous surgery or type of surgery does not affect decision‐making preference.
Perceptions of communication between people with communication disability and general practice staff
Authors: Murphy Joan 
Published: January 2006

AbstractObjective  To explore consultation between people with communication disability and General Practice (GP) staff from the perspectives of both patients and staff.Background  Communication disability causes a particular problem in primary care. This issue has not yet been investigated from the perspective of both patients and GP staff.Design  Eight focus groups were held – four with GP practices, two with people with intellectual disability and two with people who had had a stroke. Picture symbols and Talking Mats®, a visual communication framework, were used to assist the participants with communication disability. Discussions were audio recorded and analysed thematically.Participants  Twenty GP staff, 12 people with aphasia and six people with learning disability were interviewed.Results  GP staff expressed frustration with not being understood and not understanding but there was a lack of awareness of the reasons behind these difficulties. They all said they mainly relied on carers. They recognized the significance of poor communication in terms of access to health services and agreed that the extent of the problem was greater than they had previously believed. People with communication disability described significant problems before, during and after the consultation. Although some acknowledged that they needed help from their carer, most objected to staff speaking to the carer and not to them.Conclusions  The main priorities for GP staff were the need for relevant training and simple resources. The main priorities for people with communication difficulty were continuity of staff, trust, better GP staff communication skills, and less reliance on carers.