bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A technique of chronic intravascular catheterization for monitoring haemodynamic and laboratory values in conscious swine
Authors: Haberstroh J. , Mand U. , Lücke I. , Breuer H. , Ahrens M. , von Specht B. U. 
Published: April 2007

In human and small animal intensive care medicine percutaneous sheath introducer (PSI) sets are commonly used for repeated insertion of an arterial or a venous catheter with only one vascular puncture. We used PSI for chronic catheterization of swine with a Swan-Ganz thermodilution catheter via a surgically exposed external jugular vein. In this way we were able to change defective catheters or correct the position of the catheter tip without renewed surgical intervention.
Co-variance of chemically and histologically analysed severity of dystrophic cardiac calcification in mice
Authors: van den Broek F. A. R. , Beems R. B. , vanTintelen G. , Lemmens A. G. , Fielmich-Bouwman A. X. M. , Beynen A. C. 
Published: April 2007

Dystrophic cardiac calcification (DCC) is a post-mortem finding in mice of various strains frequently used in biomedical research. The major aim of this study was to see whether DCC severity can be assessed by chemical analysis of calcium in the heart. Histological examination was used as the method of reference. Hearts of mice of four strains (BALB/c, C3H, C57BL/6 and DBA/2) were halved and the two resulting parts were subsequently subjected to histology or chemical analysis. Within hearts, the halves generally yielded similar results. The DCC scores and calcium contents were directly correlated within hearts. Thus, calcium analysis could serve as an alternative to histological examination in the assessment of DCC severity in mice. DBA/2 and C3H mice were found to be affected by DCC. Plasma magnesium concentrations were lower in these strains than in the DCC-free C57BL/6 and BALB/c strains. The tongue, lungs and diaphragm were also found to be calcified in DCC positive animals. Possibly, DCC is just one component of a generalized soft tissue calcification.
The influence of dietary phosphorus and magnesium concentrations on the calcium content of heart and kidneys of DBA/2 and NMRI mice
Authors: van den Broek F. A. R. , Beynen A. C. 
Published: April 2007

Dystrophic cardiac calcification (DCC) is often found in DBA/2 mice, reportedly in association with low plasma magnesium levels in this mouse strain. It was hypothesized that high-phosphorus diets and low-magnesium diets that are known to lower plasma magnesium concentrations would promote the development of DCC. DBA/2 mice were fed diets with either low-magnesium (0.02%, w/w) or high-phosphorus (0.8%) concentrations or a combination of the two variables. NMRI mice were given either a low-(0.2%) or high-(0.6%) phosphorus diet. Female, but not male, NMRI mice accumulated calcium in the heart when fed the high-phosphorus diet; neither gender developed kidney calcification. DBA/2 mice with either a low-magnesium or a high-phosphorus intake developed marked cardiac calcifications. The combination of low-magnesium and high-phosphorus intake caused severe calcification of the heart, kidney and tongue'. Increasing the dietary magnesium content (0.08%) and reducing phosphorus (0.2%) did not fully prevent cardiac calcification, but reduced heart calcium concentrations in male DBA/2 mice. It is concluded that diets for DCC-susceptib1e mice should contain adequate amounts of magnesium and low, but sufficient amounts of phosphorus in order not to additionally stimulate cardiac calcification.
Sampling of interstitial fluid and measurement of colloid osmotic pressure (COPi) in pigs: evaluation of the wick method
Authors: Heltne J. K. , Husby P. , Koller M.-E. , Lund T. 
Published: April 2007

The wick method for sampling of interstitial fluid from subcutis was applied in fluid balance studies in young pigs. Colloid osmotic pressure was measured in serum (COPs) and interstitial fluid (COPi) using a membrane colloid osmometer. Our aims were to determine the 'true' COPi, and to find the optimal duration of wick implantation. In series I ( n=6) a 'crossover' experiment was performed using wicks soaked in different priming solutions (nondiluted and diluted serum protein solutions or isotonic salt solution). Circulatory arrest was induced just before wick insertion in order to eliminate the vascular part of the acute inflammation. In series II ( n=6) wicks were removed in sequence after 60, 90, 120 and 180 min sampling time in anaesthetized pigs in vivo. COPs, COPi and haematocrit (HCT) together with haemoglobin (Hgb), serum albumin and total protein concentrations were determined in the same animals. In series I average COPs and COPi were 13.7 (1.4) and 7.2 (1.4) mmHg respectively (SD). In series II the optimal wick implantation times were estimated to be 60–90 min for wicks soaked in diluted protein solution, and 90–120 min for dry and saline-soaked wicks. COPs averaged 13.0 (0.7) mmHg, HCT 30.0 (1.6)%, Hgb 8.3 (0.9) g/dl, s-albumin 22.7 (0.6) g/l and s-protein 47.3 (2.3) g/l. Compared to commonly reported reference values, we found surprisingly low values for most of the measured variables. This may be related to the fact that we used immature pigs. An analysis of the validity of the wick method based on our own results and published reports is presented. We conclude that sampling of interstitial fluid with subcutaneous wicks is easy to perform in young pigs. However, the COP-values measured in wick fluid have to be carefully evaluated especially when sampling is performed in vivo.
Effect of dietary fat level on the calcium content of heart and kidney in DBA/2 and C57BL/6 mice
Authors: van den Broek F. A. R. , Beynen A. C. 
Published: April 2007

High-fat and low-fat diets were fed for 24 weeks to two strains of mice differing in susceptibility to the development of dystrophic cardiac calcinosis (DCC). The severity of DCC was assessed by histological examination and measurement of heart calcium concentrations. Plasma and renal tissue mineral levels were also measured. On the basis of macroscopic examination, feeding the high-fat diet did not influence the severity of DCC in the susceptible DBA/2 mice. Heart calcium concentrations were reduced in both strains; in DBA/2 mice more than in DCC-resistant C57BL/6 mice. Cardiac concentrations of magnesium and phosphorus were similar in the two strains of mice and unaffected by the amount of dietary fat. Kidney calcium concentrations were higher in the DBA/2 than in the C57BL/6 mice and the high-fat diet also reduced kidney calcium concentrations in the DBA/2 mice. The amount of dietary fat, at least during growth and maintenance, did not appear to affect the development of DCC in DBA/2 mice.
Echocardiography, a non-invasive method for the investigation of heart morphology and function in laboratory dogs: 1. Method and reference values for M-mode parameters
Authors: Hanton G. , Geffray B. , Lodola A. 
Published: April 2007

We have set up M-mode echocardiographic (EC) recording in beagles in our laboratory and generated reference values for EC indicators of left ventricle function and morphology. Additionally we assessed the effects of sex, strain and body weight on these parameters and the correlation between parameters. M-mode EC under two-dimensional guidance in longitudinal section was performed on 59 male and 49 female beagles from Marshall (USA) and 13 males and 13 females from Harlan (France). The following parameters were measured or calculated: left ventricle internal diameter in diastole and systole (LVIDd and LVIDs), left ventricle end diastolic and end systolic and stroke volumes (EDV, ESV and SV), cardiac output and index (CO and CI), fractional shortening (FS), ejection fraction (EF), the thickness of the septum and left ventricle posterior wall in diastole (STd and LVPWd) and systole (STs and LVPWs), the percentage of thickening of the septum and left posterior wall (PST and PWT), and the mean and maximal velocities of the left ventricle posterior wall (PWVm and PWVM). Heart rate (HR) was measured by cardiac auscultation. Marshall dogs have higher left ventricle dimensions but lower amplitude and velocity of contraction than Harlan dogs. There were also statistically significant differences between sexes for a number of EC parameters mainly those relating to the size of the left ventricle walls or cavity in diastole. Overall these differences were explained by the correlation between these parameters and body weight. Heart rate correlated only with PWVm and PWVM. There were positive correlations between PST, PWT and EF or FS and between velocities and FS or EF. EDV correlates negatively with EF, FS, PST or PWT.
Influence of oral buprenorphine, oral naltrexone or morphine on the effects of laparotomy in the rat
Authors: Liles J. H. , Flecknell P. A. , Roughan J. , Cruz-Madorran I. 
Published: April 2007

The effects of oral administration of buprenorphine ('buprenorphine jello'), a partial μ opioid agonist, oral naltrexone, a μ antagonist and morphine, a μ agonist, were investigated in rats following laparotomy. Food and water consumption and body weight were reduced in rats that underwent surgery. Rats undergoing anaesthesia alone showed only a small reduction in water consumption. Administration of oral buprenorphine (0.5 mg/kg in flavoured gelatin) decreased the effects of surgery on body weight and water intake when compared to untreated (vehicle alone) controls. The magnitude of this beneficial effect was similar to that seen in previous studies using subcutaneous administration of buprenorphine. The fall in body weight and food and water intake following surgery was similar in the groups which received morphine and the control group which received vehicle (jelly). Neither the magnitude of the fall in body weight, and food and water intake, nor the behavioural scores differed between naltrexone and control (vehicle alone) rats following surgery. This suggests that the beneficial effects of partial agonist analgesics are mediated by a reduction in pain rather than by antagonism of endogenous opioids. Both anaesthesia and surgery caused changes in behaviour, but the major effects of buprenorphine in normal (unoperated) rats severely limited the value of behavioural parameters as a means of assessing possible beneficial effects of analgesic administration.
Africa's New Territorial Politics: Regionalism and the Open Economy in Côte d'Ivoire
Authors: Boone Catherine 
Published: April 2007

Abstract:This paper considers implications of the neoliberal shift for forms of national integration that were achieved during the era of state-led development. These national integration strategies (1960s–1980s) helped define and manage regional competition within the juridical boundaries of the territorial state. In today's “open economy” settings, old strategies of national integration are difficult to sustain. What has emerged is a new territorial politics, which revolves around attempts to consolidate power within subunits of the state and reorder relations among them, to enforce political control within communities, and to reorder rural property rights. Cote d'Ivoire provides a case in point.
Framing Reparations Claims: Differences between the African and Jewish Social Movements for Reparations
Authors: Howard-Hassmann Rhoda E. , Lombardo Anthony P. 
Published: April 2007

Abstract:Africans interested in reparations from the West frequently ask why the Jewish movement for reparations for the Holocaust was successful, whereas Africans have been unable to obtain reparations for the slave trade, colonialism, and post-colonial relations with the West. This article addresses this question using social movement theory and argues that success depends to a large extent on how the claim for reparations is framed. Past treatment of Africans by the West violated key contemporary norms of bodily integrity, equality, and private property. Yet the victims are no longer living, the perpetrators are diffuse, some of the harms were legal when they were committed, and the causal chain of harm is long and complex.
Is It Ethical to Study Africa? Preliminary Thoughts on Scholarship and Freedom
Authors: Mama Amina 
Published: April 2007

Abstract:This article explores the manner in which ethical concerns have been addressed within Africa's progressive intellectual tradition through the eras of anti-colonial, pan-African, and nationalist struggles for freedom, and into the era of globalization. Africa is characterized as the region bearing the most negative con-sequences of globalization, a reality that offers a critical vantage point well-attuned to the challenge of demystifying the global policy dictates currently dominating the global landscape. Ethical considerations are conceptualized as being framed by considerations of identity, epistemology, and methodology. It is suggested that Africa's radical intellectuals have effectively pursued anti-imperialist ethics, and developed regional and national intellectual communities of scholars who have worked for freedom, often challenging and subverting the constraints of dominant and received disciplinary approaches and paradigms. However, it is suggested that the liberatory promise of the anticolonial nationalist eras has not been fulfilled. While the fortunes of higher education and research in Africa have declined, scholars have established independent research networks in and beyond the campuses to keep African intellectual life alive. However, it is argued that Africa's intellectuals need to engage more proactively with the methodological implications of their own liberatory intellectual ethics. To do so requires that we address the intellectual challenges of Africa's complicated and contradictory location in the world and ensure that our unique vantage points inform methodological and pedagogical strategies that pursue freedom.
Political Transition without Transformation: The Dialectic of Liberalization without Democratization in Kenya and Zambia
Authors: Nasong'o Shadrack Wanjala 
Published: April 2007

Abstract:The decade from 1990 to 2000 saw a total of seventy-eight top leadership elections involving forty-three of the forty-eight sub-Saharan African countries. Of these, only twenty-one elections led to power transition from an incumbent to an opposition political party in nineteen countries. Paradoxically, even where there was such transition, authoritarian tendencies persisted. Focusing on Kenya and Zambia, this article argues and seeks to demonstrate that the limited number of transitions from an incumbent regime to an opposition party and the persistence of authoritarianism are a function of political liberalization without democratization of political institutions and rules of the political game.
A Strong Interaction between Serum γ-Glutamyltransferase and Obesity on the Risk of Prevalent Type 2 Diabetes: Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Authors: Lim Ji-Sun , Lee Duk-Hee , Park Joo-Yun , Jin Soo-Hee , Jacobs David R 
Published: May 2007

Abstract
Background: Some studies have found an association of obesity with type 2 diabetes only among individuals with high normal serum γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) activity, not in those with low serum GGT. If this interaction reflected pathophysiology, it would have scientific and clinical importance. The findings failed to reach statistical significance, however, and no articles have focused on the topic. We investigated possible interactions between serum GGT and body mass index (BMI) and their effects on the risk of prevalent type 2 diabetes and homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) insulin resistance.
Methods: We analyzed 4011 adults ≥40 years old who participated in the 3rd US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Results: BMI was associated with prevalent diabetes only among persons with high normal serum GGT activity (P for interaction = 0.002). In the highest serum GGT quartile, adjusted odds ratios for BMI 25–29.9, 30–34.5, and ≥35 kg/m2 compared with BMI&lt;25 kg/m2 were 3.1, 5.1, and 6.2, respectively (P for trend &lt;0.001). In the lowest serum GGT quartile, BMI was not associated with diabetes; corresponding adjusted odds ratios were 1.0, 0.9, 1.8, and 0.8 (P for trend = 0.551). After prevalent diabetes was excluded, there was a parallel interaction with HOMA levels (P for interaction &lt;0.001).
Conclusions: BMI was not associated with prevalent type 2 diabetes when GGT was low normal, suggesting that obesity itself may not be a sufficient risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Practically, this interaction can be useful in clinical settings to identify individuals at high risk for type 2 diabetes.
Assessing the Quality of Glucose Monitor Studies: A Critical Evaluation of Published Reports
Authors: Mahoney John , Ellison John 
Published: May 2007

AbstractBackground: In recent years, a large number of studies have been published on the performance of glucose monitors. The quality of these reports is not known.Methods: We searched the PubMed database for performance evaluations of handheld glucose monitors published from August 2002 to November 2006. Relevant articles were compared to 20 recommendations from the Standards for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) and 18 recommendations from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI).Results: A total of 52 reports met our inclusion criteria and were reviewed. None (0%) of the reports conformed to all 38 STARD and CLSI recommendations. The range of compliance to these recommendations varied widely (median 53%; range 21%–84%). Only 1 study of the 52 reported following a CLSI recommendation for checking reference test results. Fewer than half (42%) of the reports contained STARD-recommended statements regarding how and when comparative measurements were performed.Conclusions: None of the glucose monitor reports from our review conformed to all STARD and CLSI recommendations. Our finding that the average rate of compliance to recommendations was low suggests that many of the researchers did not follow published recommendations for study design, methodology, and reporting and that study quality and conclusions may have been affected. Future studies evaluating the performance of glucose monitoring systems should be carefully designed and follow published recommendations for methodological and reporting quality.
Genetic Determinants and Personality Correlates of Sociopolitical Attitudes in a Polish Sample
Authors: Oniszczenko Wlodzimierz , Jakubowska Urszula 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe aim of the study was to assess the heritability as well as the personality correlates of sociopolitical attitudes in a Polish sample. Attitudes were examined on two separate dimensions: (1) moral conservatism and liberalism; and (2) free market economy and state interventionism. The studied sample comprised three groups of participants: (1) 242 twin pairs aged 18 to 25 years (119 monozygotic [MZ] and 123 dizygotic [DZ] same-sex twins reared together); (2) 358 females and males (‘nontwins’) of various professions aged 35 to 64 years; and (3) 197 male and female technical university students aged 19 to 25 years (‘nontwins’). We detected substantial genetic factor input exclusively in the variability of results on the conservatism–liberalism scale (.28). Results on both scales were explained to a large extent by the impact of shared environment, and to a lesser extent by the nonshared environment. Only in the student group was a significant negative correlation found between attitudes toward economy and neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Openness to experience correlated negatively with attitudes towards issues of morality in the adult female and male group (the remaining correlations were statistically insignificant).
Comparative Rating Measures of Health and Environmental Exposures: How Well Do Twins Agree?
Authors: Reynolds Chandra A. , Turner Adam , Gatz Margaret , Pedersen Nancy L. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractTwins are sometimes used as proxy informants but little is known about reliability and validity of the information thus obtained. The present study asks: (1) to what extent do twin pairs agree with each other on comparative ratings of health, psychosocial traits, and environmental exposures?; and (2) how well do comparative ratings agree with usual self-reported information about the exposures? Using 55 monozygotic (MZ) and 71 dizygotic (DZ) same-sex pairs reared together, percentage agreement was calculated for 44 comparative ratings. Pairs agreed on average about half of the time. Agreement was higher for more discrete exposures, such as smoking, but lower for more subjective variables, such as the degree to which life is experienced as stressful. Signed rank tests were used to contrast comparative ratings to differences in self- reports. Differences between twin partners in their self-report indices, where available, were in the direction suggested by the comparative rating. Comparative ratings appear most accurate for smoking and alcohol use, and less consistent for mental health symptoms and self-rated health.
Maternal Serum Steroid Levels Are Unrelated to Fetal Sex: A Study in Twin Pregnancies
Authors: Cohen-Bendahan Celina C. C. , van Goozen Stephanie H. M. , Buitelaar Jan K. , Cohen-Kettenis Peggy T. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractIncreased prenatal exposure to testosterone (T) in females of an opposite-sex (OS) twin pair may have an effect on the development of sex-typical cognitive and behavioral patterns. The prenatal exposure to T due to hormone transfer in OS twin females may occur in two ways, one directly via the feto–fetal transfer route within the uterus, the other indirectly through maternal–fetal transfer and based in the maternal–fetal compartment. Although some studies in singletons indeed found that women pregnant with a male fetus have higher T levels during gestation than women pregnant with a female fetus, many other studies could not find any relation between the sex of the fetus and maternal serum steroid levels. Therefore at present it is unclear whether a pregnant woman bearing a male has higher levels of T than a woman bearing a female. Up to this point, no-one has investigated this issue in twin pregnancies. We examined the relationship between maternal serum steroid levels and sex of fetus in 17 female–female, 9 male–male and 29 OS twin pregnancies. No differences were observed between the maternal serum steroid levels of women expecting single-sex and mixed-sex offspring. It is concluded that the source of prenatal T exposure in females probably comes from the fetal unit, which is the direct route of fetal hormone transfer.
Memories of the Child Development Center Study of Adopted Monozygotic Twins Reared Apart: An Unfulfilled Promise
Authors: Perlman Lawrence M. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis month's News, Views and Comments column differs from those that have appeared in previous issues. The first of the companion papers presented here offers the first in-depth historical overview of Dr. Peter Neubauer's controversial study of infant identical twins separated at birth, launched in the 1950s. The author, Dr. Lawrence Perlman, was a research assistant on the project while earning his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from New York University. His paper is followed by my own critical appraisal of issues raised by that study, some of which are still timely today. Readers are invited to forward their comments to me (nsegal@fullerton.edu) for possible consideration in future columns of Twin Research and Human Genetics.