bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Role of interleukin‐18 in the development of acute pulmonary injury induced by intestinal ischemia/reperfusion and its possible mechanism
Authors: Yang Yong‐jie , Chen Song‐hua , Ge Xi‐rui 
Published: September 2006

AbstractBackground and Aims: Lung injury is an important target for the systemic inflammatory response associated with intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). In the present study, the role of interleukin (IL)‐18 in the development of acute pulmonary injury induced by intestinal I/R and its possible mechanism in relation to the increased activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α were investigated.Methods: Mice were randomly divided into three groups: normal control group without operation; sham group with sham operation; and I/R group in which mice underwent superior mesenteric artery occlusion for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 3 h. Each group received pretreatment with exogenous IL‐18, anti‐IL‐18 neutralizing antibody or L‐NIL, the selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase, 30 min before ischemia. The expression of TNF‐α was detected by reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Lung injury was evaluated by means of Evans blue dye (EBD) concentration, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and morphological analysis.Results: The experimental results showed that both in the sham‐operated and I/R groups of animals, pretreatment with exogenous IL‐18 clearly enhanced pulmonary MPO activity, microvascular leakage and the expression of TNF‐α mRNA and protein. In contrast, IL‐18 did not increase the TNF‐α level and degree of lung injury, although it clearly enhanced the pulmonary MPO activity in normal animals. Meanwhile, IL‐18 antibody given prior to ischemia led to a reduction in the sequestration of neutrophils, extravasation of EBD and downregulation of the serum level of TNF‐α in the I/R group of animals. In addition, selective inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) that inhibited plasma extravasation and pulmonary injury without affecting the MPO activity could be demonstrated in all treated animals.Conclusions: These data suggested a role of IL‐18 in the activation and sequestration of neutrophils in lungs. Our results were consistent with the hypothesis that increased sequestration of neutrophils and microvascular leakage might, respectively, relate to the increased IL‐18 level and the elevation of TNF‐α/iNOS activity, and these two aspects might synergically contribute to intestinal I/R‐induced pulmonary dysfunction.
Is elective surgery traumatic for children and their parents?
Authors: Ben‐Amitay Galit , Kosov Irene , Reiss Ahuva , Toren Paz , Yoran‐Hegesh Roni , Kotler Moshe , Mozes Tamar 
Published: September 2006

Aim:  The emotional consequences of elective surgery to children and to their parents have not been sufficiently studied. The aim of the present study was to prospectively assess the prevalence and severity of post‐traumatic, anxiety and depressive symptoms in this population.Methods:  Forty children and adolescents consecutively admitted for elective surgery in a general hospital participated in the study. Their parents were also assessed. The assessments were made on the day of admission and surgery, and 1 and 6 months after the surgery.Results:  Minor post‐traumatic symptoms of the children were noted at the first and second assessments, decreasing significantly at the 6‐month assessment. Further, the prevalence of children with elevated post‐traumatic symptoms decreased significantly between the first and second assessments. Parents scored highest for anxiety and depression at the first assessment. Their symptoms, however, decreased significantly within 1 month. A significant decrease between the first and second assessments was also noted in the prevalence of parents with elevated anxiety symptoms. At the 1‐ and 6‐month follow‐up assessments, there was a significant correlation between the children’s symptoms and their parents’.Conclusion:  Mild post‐traumatic symptoms may accompany paediatric elective surgery and persist for at least 1 month. Parents may also manifest anxiety and depressive symptoms, which may diminish earlier, that is, immediately after the surgery or within 1 month.
Use of W‐plasty in stenotic stoma: a new solution for an old problem
Authors: Beraldo S. , Titley G. , Allan A. 
Published: September 2006

AbstractIndication  Amongst late complications of stomas, stenosis can be difficult to treat. Repeated dilatations rarely achieve long‐term resolution and re‐fashioning is not always successful. Application of an existing plastic surgical technique to treat stomal stenosis is described.Method  After marking the skin, a W‐plasty is made with a number of consecutive small triangular flaps through the skin. The corresponding mucosal margin is then made to interdigitate with this configuration and fixed using a Gillies corner stich with 5/0 Vycril rapide on a compound curved needle.Results  Five patients underwent W‐plasty reconstruction for a stenotic stoma. Median follow up was 12.5 months (range 11–15). No patient had stenosis of the stoma on review and the patient satisfaction rate was high.Conclusion  The W‐plasty technique is a new treatment for stenotic stoma.
Influence of constant positive airway pressure therapy on lipid storage, muscle metabolism and insulin action in obese patients with severe obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome
Authors: Trenell M. I. , Ward J. A. , Yee B. J. , Phillips C. L. , Kemp G. J. , Grunstein R. R. , Thompson C. H. 
Published: September 2006

Aim:  To observe the effect of constant positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy on regional lipid deposition, muscle metabolism and glucose homeostasis in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS).Methods:  A total of 29 obese patients underwent assessment before and after a minimum of 12‐week CPAP therapy. Abdominal adipose tissue was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging. Intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) and skeletal muscle creatine were assessed using 1H‐magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Fasting venous and arterial blood were collected. Glucose control was assessed using the homeostatic model. A subgroup of six patients were also evaluated for skeletal muscle pH, phosphocreatine (PCr) and mitochondrial function using 31P‐magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The sample was divided according to CPAP therapy, with regular users defined as a minimum nightly use of ≥4 h; 19 subjects were regular and 10 were irregular CPAP users.Results:  Visceral adipose tissue volume and circulating leptin were reduced with regular CPAP use but not with irregular CPAP use. Regular CPAP use also produced an increase in skeletal muscle creatine and resting PCr and a decrease in muscle pH. Neither the regular nor irregular CPAP users showed any change in IMCL content, insulin sensitivity scores or mitochondrial function.Conclusions:  These data show that regular CPAP therapy reduces visceral adipose tissue and leptin and improves skeletal muscle metabolites. In obese patients with severe OSAS, regular CPAP use does not improve glucose control, suggesting that the influence of obesity on glucose control dominates over any potential effect of OSAS.
Capital Controls Re‐examined: The Case for ‘Smart’ Controls
Authors: Duasa Jarita , Mosley Paul 
Published: September 2006

The global financial crisis which began in east Asia in 1997 is not over, neither is the inquest into its implications for adjustment policy. In the wake of this crisis, we focus here on the role of capital controls, which formed a much publicised part of the crisis‐coping strategy in one country (Malaysia) and, less openly, were also deployed by other crisis‐afflicted countries. Evaluation so far has examined different target variables with different estimation methods, generally concentrating on efficiency and stability indicators and ignoring equity measures; it has also typically treated ‘control’ as a one‐zero dummy variable, ignoring the ‘quality’ of intervention and in particular the extent to which efficiency gains are obtained in exchange for controls. Partly because of these limitations, the literature has reached no consensus on the impact of controls; however, it is moving over towards acknowledging that the quality and type of controls is important, as well as their intensity. We propose an approach in which the government plays off short‐term political security against long‐term economic gain; the more insecure its political footing, the greater the weight it gives to political survival, which is likely to increase the probability of controls being imposed. The modelling of this approach generates a governmental ‘policy reaction function’ and an impact function for controls, which are estimated by simultaneous panel‐data methods across a sample of thirty developing and transitional countries between 1980–2003, using, for the period since 1996, the ‘new’ IMF dataset which differentiates between controls by type.We find that controls appear to cause increases in income equality, and are significantly associated with political insecurity and relatively low levels of openness to trade. They do not, in our analysis, materially influence the level of whole‐economy productivity or GDP across the sample of countries examined, although they do influence productivity in particular sectors. But the dispersion around this central finding is wide: the tendency for controls to depress productivity by encouraging rent‐seeking sometimes is, and sometimes is not, counteracted by purposive government policy actions to maintain competitiveness. Whether or not this happens is vital, on both efficiency and equity grounds. We make the case for ‘smart’ capital controls – controls which are time‐limited and contain an inbuilt incentive to increased productivity.
Estimating abundance for a savanna elephant population using mark–resight methods: a case study for the Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa
Authors: Morley R. C. , van Aarde R. J. 
Published: September 2006

AbstractElephants living in dense woodlands are difficult to count. Many elephant populations in Africa occur in such conditions. Estimates of these populations based on total counts, aerial counts and dung counts often lack information on precision and accuracy. We use standard mark–recapture field methods to obtain estimates of population size with associated confidence limits. We apply this approach to a closed elephant population in the Tembe Elephant Park (300 km2), South Africa. A registration count completed in 4 months gives a known population size. We evaluate mark–recapture models against the known population size. Individual identification profiles obtained for elephants during the registration count and mark–recapture events indicate that at least 167 elephants live in the park. We consider this value as an estimate of the minimum number alive. We include 189 sightings of bulls and 37 sightings of breeding herds in the mark–recapture modelling. Of the models we test (Petersen, Schnabel, Schumacher, Jolly–Seber, Bowden's, Poisson and negative binomial), Bowden's gives an estimate closest to the registration count. Assumptions of the model are not violated. For all models except one (negative binomial), our estimates improve with increased sampling intensity. Confidence intervals do not improve with increased effort except for the Schnabel model. Mark–recapture methods should be considered as reliable estimators of population size for elephants occurring in dense woodlands and forests when other methods cannot be relied on.
Feeding responses of an oligophagous bean aphid, Megoura crassicauda, to primary and secondary substances in Vicia angustifolia
Authors: Takemura Masami , Kuwahara Yasumasa , Nishida Ritsuo 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThe feeding behaviour of the aphid Megoura crassicauda Mordivilko (Homoptera: Aphididae), which feeds selectively on plants in the genus Vicia (Fabaceae), was studied. The aphids deposited proteinaceous stylet sheaths intercellularly towards the phloem tissues of host plants. Similar stylet sheaths were formed on a Parafilm membrane when host‐specific acylated flavonoid glycosides [two 2″‐O‐(E)‐p‐coumaroyl esters of quercetin 3‐O‐diglycosides] present in the extracts of the narrow vetch, Vicia angustifolia L., were supplied in the solution covered by the membrane. In contrast, their corresponding deacyl analogues, present more abundantly in the host plant tissues, were not stimulatory, which suggested specificity in the structural requirements of the probing stimulants. While the aphids imbibed an artificial diet composed of primary nutrients (e.g., sucrose and amino acids) and produced a large quantity of honeydew, acylated flavonoids alone and non‐acylated flavonoids supplied with the nutrients more or less suppressed honeydew production. These findings implied that the acylated flavonoids serve as a cue to navigate the stylet sheath towards the phloem prior to sap‐sucking, whereas non‐acylated flavonoids may serve as a negative stimulus to refrain from sucking during tissue penetration before tapping the phloem, although the distribution of these compounds in the plant tissues remains unknown. Thus, the feeding behaviour of M. crassicauda appears to be controlled by multiple chemical stimuli in the process of the settling on its host plant.
Host‐plant‐mediated interaction between populations of a true omnivore and its herbivorous prey
Authors: Zhi Junrui , Margolies David C. , Nechols James R. , Boyer John E. 
Published: September 2006

AbstractWestern flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), are competitors with twospotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), for plant resources and potential predators on spider mites when the opportunity arises. Which interaction predominates may depend on relative population densities and individual species’ responses to the plants on which they co‐occur. We examined interactions between populations of thrips and spider mites on several cultivars of two bedding plants: impatiens (Impatiens wallerana Hook.f) cultivars ‘Impulse Orange’ and ‘Cajun Carmine’, and ivy geranium [Pelargonium peltatum (L.) L’Her ex Aiton] cultivars ‘Sybil Holmes’ and ‘Amethyst 96’. Four combinations of thrips and mite numbers were studied: thrips alone, mites alone, and two densities of thrips and mites together. We compared population numbers after 4 weeks. Overall, mite numbers increased more rapidly than thrips did, but both species increased more rapidly on impatiens than on ivy geraniums. Between impatiens cultivars, thrips and mites increased more slowly on ‘Cajun Carmine’ (i.e., it was more resistant) than on ‘Impulse Orange’. On ivy geraniums, spider mites increased more slowly on ‘Sybil Holmes’ than on ‘Amethyst 96’ but the reverse was the case for thrips. Regardless of plant species or cultivar, thrips had a strong negative effect on spider mites whenever they co‐occurred, suppressing mite population growth by around 50% compared to when mites were alone. However, the effect of spider mites on western flower thrips depended on the quality of the plant species. On impatiens, thrips co‐occurring with spider mites increased slightly more than thrips alone did, while on ivy geranium mites had a small negative effect on thrips. Contrary to expectations, thrips had a larger negative impact on spider mites on plants that were more susceptible to thrips than they did on plants more resistant to thrips. We suggest that host plants mediate the interaction between an omnivore and its herbivorous prey not only by altering individual diet choice but by changing the relative population dynamics of each species.
Host stage selection of the mealybug parasitoid Anagyrus spec. nov near sinope
Authors: Chong Juang‐Horng , Oetting Ronald D. 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThe mealybug parasitoid Anagyrus spec. nov near sinope (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is an undescribed parasitoid of the Madeira mealybug, Phenacoccus madeirensis Green (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae). We investigated the preference of Anagyrus spec. nov near sinope for six developmental stadia (first‐ and second‐instar nymphs, third‐instar immature females, third‐ or fourth‐instar immature males, pre‐reproductive adult females, and ovipositing adult females) of P. madeirensis and the fitness consequences of the host stage selection behavior. In the no‐choice test, Anagyrus spec. nov near sinope parasitized and completed development in all host stadia except third‐instar immature males. When all host stadia were offered simultaneously, the parasitoids preferred third‐instar immature and pre‐reproductive adult females. Dissection of the stung mealybugs revealed that the clutch size (number of eggs per host) was approximately four and three in the third‐instar and pre‐reproductive females, respectively, and one egg per first‐instar nymph. Parasitoids emerged from P. madeirensis parasitized at third‐instar or pre‐reproductive adult female completed development in the shortest duration, achieved a higher progeny survival rate, larger brood and body size, and the lowest proportion of males. We showed that the continued development of mealybugs had significant influence on the fitness of the parasitoids. Although deposited as eggs in first‐ or second‐instar nymphs, parasitoids emerged from mummies that had attained third‐instar or adult development achieved similar progeny survival rate, brood size, body size, and sex ratio as those parasitoids deposited and developed in third‐instar or adult mealybugs. By delaying larval development in young mealybugs, Anagyrus spec. nov near sinope achieved higher fitness by allowing the parasitized mealybugs to grow and accumulate body size and resources. We suggest that the fitness consequence of host stage selection of a koinobiont parasitoid should be evaluated on both the time of parasitism and the time of mummification.
Outdoor flight activity and immigration of Rhyzopertha dominica into seed wheat warehouses
Authors: Toews Michael D. , Campbell James F. , Arthur Frank H. , Ramaswamy Sonny B. 
Published: September 2006

AbstractThe flight activity of lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica F. (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae), was monitored at two Foundation seed wheat warehouses during the 2003 and 2004 field seasons, using pheromone‐baited Lindgren funnel traps positioned indoors and outdoors. General stored‐product insect activity was also monitored using unbaited sticky traps positioned inside the warehouses around overhead doors. Pheromone‐baited traps were useful for monitoring R. dominica activity, however insect captures decreased when lures were not changed weekly. Flight peaks were documented in early May and again from September through October, and insect captures inside warehouses correlated with timing of outdoor captures. Multiple regression analyses showed that slightly more than half of the variability in R. dominica captures could be explained by mean ambient air temperature and wind speed during the 2 h preceding sunset. Stored‐product Coleoptera captured on unbaited glue boards around overhead doors included Ahasverus advena, Cryptolestes ferrugineus, R. dominica, Sitophilus oryzae, Tribolium castaneum, Trogoderma variabile, and Typhaea stercorea. Door gaskets significantly reduced the number of insect captures on glue boards placed around the overhead doors, and generally restricted their entry to ground level. These studies demonstrated that outdoor pheromone‐baited traps are effective monitoring tools for determining when grain‐handling facilities are most susceptible to infestation and that exclusion may be an effective component of a pest management program.
Patterns of social distance towards people suffering from schizophrenia in Austria: a comparison between the general public, relatives and mental health staff
Authors: Grausgruber A. , Meise U. , Katschnig H. , Schöny W. , Fleischhacker W. W. 
Published: September 2006

Objective:  The aims of this study were to identify the different aspects of the attitudes towards people suffering from schizophrenia and to find factors influencing these attitudes – especially the willingness to contact people suffering from schizophrenia – as well as to obtain information on how to reduce stigma and discrimination.Method:  We conducted a study to investigate these attitudes in Austria. A representative sample of the general public, different professional groups working in the field and relatives of mentally ill people were interviewed. The public, relatives and people working in the mental health field were asked a number of the same questions, to allow for comparisons between groups.Results:  We found great differences in key dimensions of the attitude towards people suffering from schizophrenia between groups: these included different causal attributions to schizophrenia, different attitudes concerning the perceived success of the treatment of schizophrenia, different fears concerning perceived dangerousness and a different willingness to interact voluntarily with schizophrenia patients.Conclusion:  The factors influencing the distance towards people suffering from schizophrenia differ between groups. Our findings should help to optimize campaigns fighting against stigma and discrimination.
Research Awareness: An Important Factor for Evidence‐Based Practice?
Authors: McSherry Robert , Artley Angela , Holloran Jan 
Published: September 2006

ABSTRACT Background: Despite the growing body of literature, the reality of getting evidence into practice remains problematic. Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish levels of research awareness amongst registered health care professionals (RHCPs) and the influence of research awareness on evidence‐based practice activities. Design and Methods: This was a descriptive quantitative study. A convenience sample of 2,126 registered RHCPs working in a large acute hospital in Northeast England, the United Kingdom was used. A self‐completion Research Awareness Questionnaire (RAQ) was directed towards measuring RHCP: attitudes towards research, understanding of research and the research process, and associations with practising using an evidence base. Data were entered into a Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) database and descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Findings: A total of 843 questionnaires were returned. Seven hundred and thirty‐three (91%) RHCPs overwhelmingly agreed with the principle that evidence‐based practice has a large part to play in improving patient care. This point was reinforced by 86% (n= 701) of respondents strongly agreeing or agreeing with the idea that evidence‐based practice is the way forward to change clinical practice. Significant associations were noted between levels of confidence to undertake a piece of research and whether the individual had received adequate information about the research process, had basic knowledge and understanding of the research process, or had research awareness education or training. Conclusions: The study shows that RHCPs, regardless of position or grade, have a positive attitude towards research but face many obstacles. The key obstacles are lack of time, support, knowledge, and confidence. To address these obstacles, it is imperative that the organisation adopts a structured and coordinated approach to enable and empower individuals to practice using an evidence base.