bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The impact of taxation on tobacco consumption in Mexico
Authors: Jiménez-Ruiz J A , de Miera B Sáenz , Reynales-Shigematsu L M , Waters H R , Hernández-Ávila M 
Published: February 2008

Background:The price of cigarettes to consumers in Mexico, and Latin America in general, remains low in comparison with other regions of the world. In Mexico, taxes represented 59% of the total price of cigarettes in 2006, compared to 75% or more in many high-income countries. The feasibility of raising taxes on cigarettes in Mexico—to both discourage consumption and increase revenues—is an important policy question.Methods:Using household survey data, we undertake a pooled cross-sectional analysis of the demand for cigarettes in Mexico. We use a two-part model to estimate the price elasticity of cigarettes. This model controls for the selection effect that arises from the fact that the impact of price on the decision to smoke or not is estimated using all households in the dataset.Results:The results indicate that price is a significant factor in household decisions concerning smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked. Holding other factors constant, our simulations show that a 10% increase in the cigarette tax in Mexico—calculated as a percentage of the price—yields a 12.4% increase in the price to the consumer, a 6.4% decrease in consumption of cigarettes and a 15.7% increase in the revenue yielded by the tax.Conclusion:In Mexico, there are strong arguments for increasing cigarette taxes. Revenue raised could be used to further prevent tobacco consumption and to finance current funding shortages for the treatment of diseases related to smoking.
Susceptibility to smoking among South East Asian youth: a multilevel analysis
Authors: Guindon G E , Georgiades K , Boyle M H 
Published: February 2008

Objective:To estimate the extent to which susceptibility to smoking is associated with between-context differences (schools and classes) and to identify factors at school, class and individual levels that influence individual susceptibility to smoking among young never-smokers in South East Asia.Methods:Cross-sectional data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted in Cambodia (2002), Laos (2003) and Vietnam (2003) are used to conduct multilevel analyses that account for the nesting of students in classes and classes in schools. The outcome variable is smoking susceptibility, defined as the absence of a firm decision not to smoke. Explanatory variables include school-level (current tobacco use prevalence in school, exposure to anti-smoking media messages and exposure to tobacco billboard advertising), class-level (classroom prevention) and individual-level influences (parents’ and friends’ smoking behaviour, knowledge of the harmful effects of and exposure to secondhand smoke at home, age, sex and pocket income).Results:Multilevel analyses indicate that 4.5 and 4.2 of the variation in smoking susceptibility is associated with school and class differences, respectively. Students who have parents or friends who smoke, who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home and those who have access to pocket income are found to be more susceptible while greater knowledge of the harmful effects of secondhand smoke appears to diminish susceptibility to smoking. For girls only, billboard tobacco advertising increases the risk of susceptibility and classroom prevention decreases risk while for boys only, attendance at schools with higher prevalence of tobacco use increases risk of susceptibility and anti-smoking media messages decreases risk.Conclusions:This study highlights a number of modifiable factors associated with smoking susceptibility and identifies interactions between teen sex and several factors associated with the susceptibility to smoking. This finding provides support for the call to move beyond gender-blind tobacco control policies.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of a community pharmacist-based smoking cessation programme in Thailand
Authors: Thavorn K , Chaiyakunapruk N 
Published: February 2008

Objective:To estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of a structured community pharmacist-based smoking cessation programme compared with usual care.Design:A cost-effectiveness study using a healthcare system perspectivePopulation:Two simulated cohorts of smokers: male and female aged 40, 50 and 60 years who regularly smoke 10–20 cigarettes per day.Intervention and comparator:A structured community pharmacist-based smoking cessation (CPSC) programme compared to usual care.Main outcome measure:Cost per life year gained (LYG) attributable to the smoking cessation programme.Results:The CPSC programme results in cost savings of 17 503.53 baht (£250; €325; $500) to the health system and life year gains of 0.18 years for men and; costs savings of 21 499.75 baht (£307; €399; $614) and life year gains of 0.24 years for women. A series of sensitivity analyses demonstrate that both cost savings and life year gains are sensitive to variations in the discount rate and the long-term smoking quit rate associated with the intervention.Conclusion:From the perspective of the health system, the CPSC programme yields cost savings and life year gains. This finding provides important information for health policy decision-makers when determining the magnitude of resources to be allocated to smoking cessation service in community pharmacy.
A CONCURRENT SPECIFICATION OF BRZOZOWSKI'S DFA CONSTRUCTION ALGORITHM
Authors: STRAUSS TINUS , KOURIE DERRICK G. , WATSON BRUCE W. 
Published: February 2008

In this paper two concurrent versions of Brzozowski's deterministic finite automaton (DFA) construction algorithm are developed from first principles, the one being a slight refinement of the other. We rely on Hoare's CSP as our notation. The specifications that are proposed of the Brzozowski algorithm are in terms of the concurrent composition of a number of top-level processes, each participating process itself composed of several other concurrent processes. After considering a number of alternatives, this particular overall architectural structure seemed like a natural and elegant mapping from the sequential algorithm's structure. While we have carefully argued the reasons for constructing the concurrent versions as proposed in the paper, there are of course, a large range of alternative design choices that could be made. There might also be scope for a more fine-grained approach to updating sets or checking for similarity of regular expressions. At this stage, we have chosen to abstract away from these considerations, and leave their exploration for a subsequent step in our research.
TIME-RESOLVED FISSION OF METAL CLUSTERS AND NUCLEI
Authors: DINH P. M. , REINHARD P. G. , SURAUD E. 
Published: February 2008

We present a brief review of some static and dynamic properties of metal clusters. We emphasize relations with atomic nuclei and focus on cluster quantities which have counterparts in nuclei. We discuss in particular the case of the optical response which provides a key tool of analysis of the structure and shape of simple metal clusters. We use optical response and corresponding resonant ionization to propose a pump and probe scenario allowing a time resolved analysis of fission in small metal clusters. This gives access to fission time scales in metal clusters in a way similar to measurements of nuclear fission times in hot nuclei. This contribution is summarizing results presented in three previously published papers (P. M. Dinh et al, J. Phys. B 38 (2005) 1637, J. Navarro et al, Euro. Phys, J. A 30 (2006) 333 and P-G. Reinhard et al, Int. J. Mod. Phys E 15 (2006) 1549).
Does partnered dance promote health? The case of tango Argentino
Authors: Kreutz Gunter 
Published: February 2008

Aims: Cultural activities, including music, singing and dance, have often been conceptualised as enhancing well-being as well as promoting mental and physical health. This paper focuses on partnered dance in the context of `cultures of fitness'.1 Its purpose was to investigate the dancers of tango Argentino, and to explore potential health benefits in this group. Methods: Participants (N = 110) completed a self-developed inventory, which was, in part, based on interviews and observations as a participant observer. The inventory addresses educational, musical, and socio-economic background, motivation for and investment in dancing tango, and other leisure activities. Results: Dancers are characterized by high-level education and socio-economic status. Motivation appears to be predominantly driven by both hedonistic and social factors, accounting altogether for nearly 60% of the variance. The majority of individuals started dancing tango only in their 30s. Physical investment in terms of time and money indicate tango dancing as a highly important activity that seems to involve substantial opportunity of moderate physical exercise, social interaction and emotional reward. In consequence, tango dance was identified as the primary leisure activity. Conclusions: Tango dancers were identified as highly educated individuals, who are dedicated to the practice in many respects, including physical and emotional. They draw from similar motivations as compared to participants of other musical activities such as singing and listening to music. Notably, aspects of physical fitness are more prominent in this group. The intensity with which tango is practised seems to depend to some degree on individual lifestyles. Taken together, the results suggest a high degree of personal involvement in tango dance as a primary leisure activity. Implications of partnered dance for social, emotional, and physical well-being and health promotion demand further research.
Review: The impact of art, design and environment in mental healthcare: a systematic review of the literature
Authors: Daykin Norma , Byrne Ellie , Soteriou Tony , O'Connor Susan 
Published: February 2008

Aims: There has been a burgeoning interest in arts and the environment in healthcare. While research has been undertaken on the clinical impact of disciplines, relatively little research has studied the impact of broader arts for health interventions. This paper reports findings from a systematic review of the arts for health literature, encompassing research on the impact of visual art, design and the environment on the well-being of patients and staff in mental healthcare settings. Methods: A systematic review of over 600 papers published between 1985 and 2005 on the impact of arts, design and environments in mental healthcare was undertaken. The review includes a discussion of contextual and policy literature, as well as 19 reports of quantitative and qualitative studies that met our inclusion criteria. Results: The largest number of studies focused on the aspects of art, design and environment that were relevant to mental healthcare. These studies suggest that this can affect health, including physiological, psychological, clinical and behavioural effects. Exposure to stressful visual and aural environments may reduce levels of stress and enhance recovery. Architectural design consideration is important in mental health settings, especially for patients with conditions such as dementia that can make wayfinding difficult. Exposure to art in healthcare environments has been found to reduce anxiety and depression. Environment features have also been found to affect staff, and improvements in visual and acoustic conditions may reduce risks of errors in some care settings. Qualitative studies provide insights into factors affecting the impact of arts, including issues of power and control, perceptions and influence of key stakeholders, and user participation. A key issue to emerge from this study is that arts interventions do not necessarily address the lack of control exercised by patients in healthcare environments. Conclusions: While there is extensive literature on the impact of design, environment and the arts on health, there is still a need for further research that addresses methodological challenges of evaluating complex interventions. Our review found evidence that environmental enhancements can have a positive impact on health and well-being of staff and patients in mental healthcare. Arts, when considered within this framework of evidence-based design, can also contribute to well-being, offering reassurance and creating identity in healthcare settings. Further research is needed in this area, as well as research that explores the contribution of other models of art that do not fit within the framework of `evidence-based design'. Finally, responses to the arts are contingent on a number of complex social and political factors; further understanding of these is needed in order to inform future research and evaluation of the arts in healthcare.
`Singing for the Brain': reflections on the human capacity for music arising from a pilot study of group singing with Alzheimer's patients
Authors: Bannan Nicholas , Montgomery-Smith Chreanne 
Published: February 2008

The paper reports the activities of a pilot study of group singing for people with Alzheimer's and their carers, and presents data arising from the study. Aims: The project aimed to answer the following questions: Would people with Alzheimer's be able to participate in group singing? Would progress be identifiable in participants' singing? Would responses to the activity be positive? Would participating carers find the activity worthwhile? Additionally, the following question was posed: Within the supportive environment of group singing, might people with Alzheimer's be able to participate in a song that they had to learn? Methods: Songs were selected that would be familiar to participants aged over 40 years, and one original song was introduced by the group leader following a successful session. The group leader did not know which of the participants were patients with Alzheimer's and which were carers. Participants sat in a circle in a resonant hall. Sessions were filmed and a separate audio recording made and subsequently analysed, and questionnaires were completed by carers after sessions. Results: Nine hours of video recording, three hours of audio recording and three collated questionnaires (one for each session) were collected. Confidence grew over the three sessions, with a traceable development in the alertness of many of the people with Alzheimer's. It proved possible to divide the group so as to sing two songs simultaneously, and also so as to perform three- and four-part rounds. It proved possible to teach an unknown song. Carers generally felt that the sessions were of value. Conclusions: People with Alzheimer's are able to participate in group singing and some longer-term benefits are perceived by their carers. In a group activity such as Singing for the Brain it is difficult to be certain how the overall effect arises from the interaction of individuals. The data assembled is difficult to submit to clinical testing, relying as it does on the judgement of participants regarding reported recall of the content of sessions on the part of people with Alzheimer's. Further research questions are raised by the success of this project.
Risk-adjusted therapy of acute lymphoblastic leukemia can decrease treatment burden and improve survival: treatment results of 2169 unselected pediatric and adolescent patients enrolled in the trial ALL-BFM 95
Authors: Möricke Anja , Reiter Alfred , Zimmermann Martin , Gadner Helmut , Stanulla Martin , Dördelmann Michael , Löning Lutz , Beier Rita , Ludwig Wolf-Dieter , Ratei Richard , Harbott Jochen , Boos Joachim , Mann Georg , Niggli Felix , Feldges Andreas , Henze Günter , Welte Karl , Beck Jörn-Dirk , Klingebiel Thomas , Niemeyer Charlotte , Zintl Felix , Bode Udo , Urban Christian , Wehinger Helmut , Niethammer Dietrich , Riehm Hansjörg , Schrappe Martin 
Published: February 2008

AbstractThe trial ALL-BFM 95 for treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia was designed to reduce acute and long-term toxicity in selected patient groups with favorable prognosis and to improve outcome in poor-risk groups by treatment intensification. These aims were pursued through a stratification strategy using white blood cell count, age, immunophenotype, treatment response, and unfavorable genetic aberrations providing an excellent discrimination of risk groups. Estimated 6-year event-free survival (6y-pEFS) for all 2169 patients was 79.6% (± 0.9%). The large standard-risk (SR) group (35% of patients) achieved an excellent 6y-EFS of 89.5% (± 1.1%) despite significant reduction of anthracyclines. In the medium-risk (MR) group (53% of patients), 6y-pEFS was 79.7% (± 1.2%); no improvement was accomplished by the randomized use of additional intermediate-dose cytarabine after consolidation. Omission of preventive cranial irradiation in non–T-ALL MR patients was possible without significant reduction of EFS, although the incidence of central nervous system relapses increased. In the high-risk (HR) group (12% of patients), intensification of consolidation/reinduction treatment led to considerable improvement over the previous ALL-BFM trials yielding a 6y-pEFS of 49.2% (± 3.2%). Compared without previous trial ALL-BFM 90, consistently favorable results in non-HR patients were achieved with significant treatment reduction in the majority of these patients.
Identification of biomarkers for genotyping Aspergilli using non-linear methods for clustering and classification
Authors: Kouskoumvekaki Irene , Yang Zhiyong , Jónsdóttir Svava Ó , Olsson Lisbeth , Panagiotou Gianni 
Published: February 2008

Abstract

Background
In the present investigation, we have used an exhaustive metabolite profiling approach to search for biomarkers in recombinant Aspergillus nidulans (mutants that produce the 6- methyl salicylic acid polyketide molecule) for application in metabolic engineering.

Results
More than 450 metabolites were detected and subsequently used in the analysis. Our approach consists of two analytical steps of the metabolic profiling data, an initial non-linear unsupervised analysis with Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) to identify similarities and differences among the metabolic profiles of the studied strains, followed by a second, supervised analysis for training a classifier based on the selected biomarkers. Our analysis identified seven putative biomarkers that were able to cluster the samples according to their genotype. A Support Vector Machine was subsequently employed to construct a predictive model based on the seven biomarkers, capable of distinguishing correctly 14 out of the 16 samples of the different A. nidulans strains.

Conclusion
Our study demonstrates that it is possible to use metabolite profiling for the classification of filamentous fungi as well as for the identification of metabolic engineering targets and draws the attention towards the development of a common database for storage of metabolomics data.
Characterization of paralogous protein families in rice
Authors: Lin Haining , Ouyang Shu , Simons Rain , Nobuta Kan , Haas Brian J , Zhu Wei , Gu Xun , Silva Joana C , Meyers Blake C , Buell C Robin 
Published: February 2008

AbstractBackgroundHigh gene numbers in plant genomes reflect polyploidy and major gene duplication events.Oryza sativa, cultivated rice, is a diploid monocotyledonous species with a ~390 Mb genome that has undergone segmental duplication of a substantial portion of its genome. This, coupled with other genetic events such as tandem duplications, has resulted in a substantial number of its genes, and resulting proteins, occurring in paralogous families.ResultsUsing a computational pipeline that utilizes Pfam and novel protein domains, we characterized paralogous families in rice and compared these with paralogous families in the model dicotyledonous diploid species,Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis, which has undergone genome duplication as well, has a substantially smaller genome (~120 Mb) and gene complement compared to rice. Overall, 53% and 68% of the non-transposable element-related rice and Arabidopsis proteins could be classified into paralogous protein families, respectively. Singleton and paralogous family genes differed substantially in their likelihood of encoding a protein of known or putative function; 26% and 66% of singleton genes compared to 73% and 96% of the paralogous family genes encode a known or putative protein in rice and Arabidopsis, respectively. Furthermore, a major skew in the distribution of specific gene function was observed; a total of 17 Gene Ontology categories in both rice and Arabidopsis were statistically significant in their differential distribution between paralogous family and singleton proteins. In contrast to mammalian organisms, we found that duplicated genes in rice and Arabidopsis tend to have more alternative splice forms. Using data from Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing, we show that a significant portion of the duplicated genes in rice show divergent expression although a correlation between sequence divergence and correlation of expression could be seen in very young genes.ConclusionCollectively, these data suggest that while co-regulation and conserved function are present in some paralogous protein family members, evolutionary pressures have resulted in functional divergence with differential expression patterns.
Effect of montelukast on platelet activating factor- and tachykinin induced mucus secretion in the rat
Authors: Schmidt Rene , Staats Petra , Groneberg David A , Wagner Ulrich 
Published: February 2008

Abstract

Background
Platelet activating factor and tachykinins (substance P, neurokinin A, neurokinin B) are important mediators contributing to increased airway secretion in the context of different types of respiratory diseases including acute and chronic asthma. Leukotriene receptor antagonists are recommended as add-on therapy for this disease. The cys-leukotriene-1 receptor antagonist montelukast has been used in clinical asthma therapy during the last years. Besides its inhibitory action on bronchoconstriction, only little is known about its effects on airway secretions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of montelukast on platelet activating factor- and tachykinin induced tracheal secretory activity.

Methods
The effects of montelukast on platelet activating factor- and tachykinin induced tracheal secretory activity in the rat were assessed by quantification of secreted 35SO4 labelled mucus macromolecules using the modified Ussing chamber technique.

Results
Platelet activating factor potently stimulated airway secretion, which was completely inhibited by the platelet activating factor receptor antagonist WEB 2086 and montelukast. In contrast, montelukast had no effect on tachykinin induced tracheal secretory activity.

Conclusion
Cys-leukotriene-1 receptor antagonism by montelukast reverses the secretagogue properties of platelet activating factor to the same degree as the specific platelet activating factor antagonist WEB 2086 but has no influence on treacheal secretion elicited by tachykinins. These results suggest a role of montelukast in the signal transduction pathway of platelet activating factor induced secretory activity of the airways and may further explain the beneficial properties of cys-leukotriene-1 receptor antagonists.
Acute jejunoileal obstruction due to a pseudopolyp in a child with undiagnosed crohn disease: A case report
Authors: Christianakis Efstratios , Pashalidis Nikolaos , Kokkinou Stavroula , Pitiakoudis Michael , Mplevrakis Evangelos , Chorti Maria , Rizos Spiros , Filippou Dimitrios 
Published: February 2008

Abstract

Introduction
Crohn's disease (CD) can affect any part of the alimentary tract from the mouth to the anus, with most common site being the terminal ileum.

Case presentation
A child suffering from undiagnosed Crohn disease (CD), presented with an acute abdominal obstruction due to a large pseudopolyp in the jejunoileal area. At laparotomy, a jejunoileal segment of 45 cm, containing multiple areas of damage to the small intestine, was excised and a primary end – to – end anastomosis was performed.

Conclusion
The coexistence of an intestinal pseudopolyp with undiagnosed Crohn's disease may be the cause of acute abdominal obstruction in children.