bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Chromosomal imbalances are associated with outcome of Helicobacter pylori eradication in t(11;18)(q21;q21) negative gastric mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas
Authors: Fukuhara Noriko , Nakamura Tsuneya , Nakagawa Masao , Tagawa Hiroyuki , Takeuchi Ichiro , Yatabe Yasushi , Morishima Yasuo , Nakamura Shigeo , Seto Masao 
Published: May 2007

AbstractApproximately 70% of gastric mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas can be successfully treated with H. pylori eradication. The translocation t(11;18)(q21;q21) characteristic of MALT lymphoma is recognized as a marker for H. pylori independency, but this marker is found in only a half of the MALT lymphomas resistant to H. pylori eradication. Detailed analyses of the genomic features of eradication resistant as well as responsive groups are important for understanding their molecular basis. We performed array‐based comparative genomic hybridization (array‐CGH) for 29 gastric MALT lymphomas treated with H. pylori eradication. These comprised ten cases of t(11;18) positive MALT, nine cases of t(11;18) negative MALT with H. pylori dependency, and ten cases of t(11;18) negative MALT with H. pylori independency. Array‐CGH analysis demonstrated that no significant genetic alterations were found in t(11;18) positive MALT lymphomas, but numerous genomic alterations were detected in t(11;18) negative MALT lymphomas. Many of these alterations were similar to those found in diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma with trisomy 3 being the most recurrent alteration. Within the t(11;18) negative MALT lymphoma without large cell components group, genomic imbalances occurred more frequently in the H. pylori independent than in the H. pylori dependent group (P = 0.02). Genomic imbalances are associated with H. pylori independency in t(11;18) negative gastric MALT lymphomas. They may thus play an important role in the development of H. pylori independency. This article contains Supplementary Material available at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1045‐2257/suppmat. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The morality of efficiency in health care—some uncomfortable implications
Authors: Culyer A. J. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThere are some general considerations which have implications for the delivery and finance of health care in all countries, not only Canada and the USA. Beginning with two propositions: that access to health care is a right of citizenship, which should not depend on individual income and wealth; and that the objective of health services is to maximise the impact on the nation's health of the resources available; the paper examines the ethical justification for pursuing efficiency in health care provision. The different meanings of efficiency are discussed in detail, and the use of quantitative indicators of health benefit, such as the QALY, placed in context. It is argued that the determination of health care resource allocations should take account of costs at both the macro planning level and the micro level of the individual doctor‐patient relationship. Given the starting points the overall conclusion is that it is ethical to be efficient, since to be inefficient implies failure to achieve the ethical objective of maximising health benefits from available resources.
The Canadian health care system: A model for America to emulate?
Authors: Naylor C. David 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe American health care system has the world's highest per capita costs and over 30 million citizens uninsured. The neighbouring Canadian system provides coverage for all basic medical and hospital services, at costs per capita that are about US$700 lower. Single‐agency public funding allows tighter control of Canadian expenditures, and reduces administrative overheads. Hospitals are run as non‐profit private corporations, funded primarily by a fixed annual allocation for operating costs. Most physicians are in private fee‐for‐service practice, but cannot charge more than the insured tariff negotiated between their provincial government and medical association. This approach, while attractive in its decentralization, tends to separate the funding and management of clinical services. Thus, hospital information systems lag a decade behind the USA, managed care initiatives are few, health maintenance organisations do not exist, and experimentation with alternative funding or delivery systems has been sporadic.Strengths of the system compared to the USA include: higher patient satisfaction, universal coverage, slightly better cost containment, higher hospital occupancy rates, and reduction in income‐related rationing with more equitable distribution of services. Weaknesses in common with the United States are: cost escalation consistently outstripping the consumer price index with costs per capita second highest in the world, ever rising consumption of services per capita, inadequate manpower planning and physician maldistribution, poor regional co‐ordination of services, inadequate quality assurance and provider frustration. Additional weaknesses include: an emerging funding crisis caused by the massive federal deficit, less innovation in management and delivery of care as compared to the USA, implicit rationing with long waiting lists for some services, and recurrent provider‐government conflicts that have reduced goodwill among stakeholders. Thus, while the Canadian model has important advantages, it does not offer a panacea for American health care woes.
Discounting and health benefits: Another Perspective
Authors: Cairns John 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis paper reviews the argument advanced by Parsonage and Neuburger that the non‐monetary benefits of health programmes should be discounted at lower rate than that used for financial flows. The conceptual issues raised in the paper are discussed and others, such as the tradability of non‐monetary benefits and the link between individual and social discount rates are introduced. The collection and assessment of more evidence is needed before Parsonage and Neuburger's Proposition can be supported.
Lessons in long‐term care: The benefits of a northern exposure
Authors: Kane Robert L. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractCanada stands as an important lesson for the United States. At the very minimum it represents the art of the possible. For those interested in long‐term care, it suggests that it is possible to include long‐term care in a programme of universally accessible care without national bankruptcy. Although Canada has brought medical and social services closer together and has brought acute and chronic care under the same aegis, not all the problems of coordinating such efforts have been solved. For others, the Canadian example shows that care can be provided to all persons who need it without creating uncontrollable expenses or removing families' motivations to care for their own. In so doing, universal coverage creates the opportunity for better coordination of services and ultimately for more efficient care.
Appraising the use of contingent valuation
Authors: Morrison Gwendolyn C. , Gyldmark Marlene 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe valuation of treatments and health states has been pursued in a number of ways. Most predominant are contingent valuation (CV), QALYs, and HYEs. CV—that is, willingness to pay and willingness to accept—is the only one of these methods that can be consistent with welfare economic theory, but, as discussed by Gafni (1990), in order to do so three criteria must be met. This article argues that the fulfilment of these criteria is not sufficient to obtain useful results, and some additional criteria are suggested. Several CV studies carried out in the area of health are reviewed, and their compliance or non‐compliance, with both sets of criteria, is discussed. Finally, it is argued that, although CV is the more theoretically correct method, it is not a superior tool to QALYs and HYEs, and that the decision as to which is the appropriate valuation method depends on the policy issue at hand.
Qaly league tables: Handle with care
Authors: Gerard Karen , Mooney Gavin 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis paper examines some of the difficulties in using QALY league tables in priority setting. Such tables sometimes are seen as being ‘the’ way to prioritise in health care and in particular, at present, with respect to priority setting among purchasers in the UK NHS. However the paper highlights the fact that the base on which such tables is built is small—relatively few studies in the English language using CUA have been conducted anywhere. Further, four issues which require handling with care are set out: (i) the relevant measure of cost in QALY league tables has to be restricted to health service resource use; (ii) the relevant measure of benefit in QALY league tables is clearly restricted to QALYs, thereby the utility of health gains and indeed the maximisation of the utility of health gains; (iii) in incorporating the results of CUA studies into QALY league tables there is a need for greater clarification on what the margin constitutes; and (iv) those who might use CUA results in QALY league tables need to ascertain whether the original context of the study will allow the results to be transferred to the local context of the decision maker. The paper suggests that there is a need to be quite clear what goal QALY league tables serve. The authors argue that the only legitimate (and clearly important) goal of QALY league tables is the maximisation of the utility of health gains within a health service budget.The thinking underlying QALY league tables, adjusted to take account of the caveats in this paper, is the key to rational priority setting at a local level. It is this thinking that is to be emphasised rather than the use of ‘imported’ league tables or the use of results from CUA studies conducted elsewhere in the country or indeed in other countries. If results from elsewhere are to be used, the study context has to be examined carefully to establish the extent of its relevance to the local circumstances facing the purchasing authority.
Equitable access to health care: Methodological extensions to the analysis of physician utilization in Canada
Authors: Birch Stephen , Eyles John , Newbold K. Bruce 
Published: May 2007

AbstractIn this paper we analyse the distribution of family physician use in Canada to explore whether the stated goal of reasonable access to care has been achieved. We test hypotheses to see whether (a) variations in incidence and quantity of use are independent of need for care as proxied by self‐assessed health status and (b) any observed relationship between variations in use and need is independent of other population characteristics.Previous research has conceptual, statistical and data limitations which bring into question the validity of the findings. These limitations are addressed by using more appropriate data, a conditional model for service utilization and correction for self‐selectivity of users in the statistical analysis.Variations in need are identified as important and significant in explaining variations in both incidence and quantity of use with the estimated relationship between use and need being positive. Other population characteristics were found to be important and significant in explaining variations in use although household income is not among them. The relationship between use and need is associated with other variables including education, social support and region of residence.These findings suggest that analyses of utilization based on simple multivariate techniques and aggregate data can produce a picture of utilization that conceals important, policy relevant relationships while revealing other relationships that are essentially artifacts of inappropriate aggregation in ways which provide a false sense of achievement.
A cell based approach to modelling public expenditure
Authors: Propper Carol 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe paper examines the use of a cell based model to analyse the effects of demographic change on the level and distribution of public expenditure. The nature and advantages of a cell based model for this purpose are described. The level and distribution of the key components of welfare state expenditure—health, education, social security—and of direct taxes, is examined for the base year of 1985. The net transfer of resources is compared to the distribution of income across cells. The effect of demographic change on the level and distribution of health and education expenditure is analysed. Issues in the further development of this approach are then reviewed.
Convergent validity of two measures of the quality of life
Authors: Whynes David K. , Neilson Aileen R. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractIn the paper, a test of convergent validity is undertaken for two methods of quality of life assessment, one based on a shortened version of the Health Measurement Questionnaire and the other based on professional clinical judgement. The Nottingham Health Profile is used as the comparator, and the data derive from a sample of colorectal cancer patients. Criteria for convergent validity are established and both methods yield outcomes broadly consistent with such criteria.
Time preferences for health gains: An empirical investigation
Authors: Olsen Jan Abel 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to elicit the implied discount rates to be used in economic evaluations of health care programmes. The paper presents results from two Norwegian surveys in which a random sample of the population and a sample of health planners were asked to prioritise between alternative health care programmes, and make trade‐offs between future health gains and more immediate gains. The questionnaire had four hypothetical choice situations; two for life saving and two for health improvement.
Expected social utility of life time in the presence of a chronic disease
Authors: Mulder Paul G. H. , Hempenius Anton L. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractInterventive action aimed at reducing the incidence of an irreversible chronic noncommunicable disease in a population has various effects. Hopefully, it increases total longevity in the population and it causes the disease to develop later in time in a smaller portion of the population. In this paper a statistical model is built by which these effects can be estimated. A three dimensional probability density function that underlies this model is changed by the interventive action. It is shown how a three dimensional utility function can be defined to appropriately judge this change.
The contingent valuation method—appraising the appraisers
Authors: Johannesson Magnus 
Published: May 2007

AbstractMorrison & Gyldmark (MG)1 in a recent issue of health economics reviewed the use of the contingent valuation (CV) method of measuring willingness to pay in the health area. Although it is useful to examine the appropriate role of the CV method in the health care field, the appraisal by MG has a number of limitations which are pointed out in this paper. These relate to some inaccuracies in the review of the literature, the limited nature of the criteria proposed by MG to evaluate CV studies, and finally I argue that the comparison between CV, QALYs, and HYEs is premature and confuses rather than clarifies the debate.
Is vaccination against hepatitis b efficient? A review of world literature
Authors: Jefferson Tom , Demicheli Vittorio 
Published: May 2007

AbstractWe report on the result of a study aimed at assessing the variability of assumptions upon which economic models for the introduction of vaccination against Hepatitis B are based, the conclusions reached and define a minimum set of methodological standards upon which future economic studies on vaccines should be based. We identified 116 published and unpublished works by Medline literature searches, consulting private databases and corresponding with all authors and researchers active in economic evaluation of vaccines.All works were assessed but we included in our review only those which were original economic analyses (90 studies). Principal epidemiological and economic variables were extracted and compared where possible. Rough manipulations were carried out to make the data comparable. We found profound variability on the main parameters of the efficiency equation (disease incidence, costing methods, use of marginal theory, discounting and study timespan, sensitivity analysis and reporting methods). We also found inconsistencies in definition and study design in 38% of a subset of studies. Although we found scarce decision‐making impact, we believe that due to uncertain or unclear methodology, few studies reach valid conclusions. In future decisions may be based on biased evidence and scarce resources committed to untested programmes. There is an urgent need to standardise study methods and define a common set of procedures.
PAR1‐mediated RhoA activation facilitates CCL2‐induced chemotaxis in PC‐3 cells
Authors: Loberg Robert D. , Tantivejkul Kwanchanit , Craig Matthew , Neeley Chris K. , Pienta Kenneth J. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractPatients with advanced prostate cancer often exhibit increased activation of the coagulation system. The key activator of the coagulation cascade is the serine protease thrombin which is capable of eliciting numerous cellular responses. We previously reported that the thrombin receptor PAR1 is overexpressed in prostate cancer. To investigate further the role of PAR1 in prostate cancer metastasis, we examined the effects of thrombin activation on cell adhesion and motility in PC‐3 prostate cancer cells. Activation of PAR1‐induced dynamic cytoskeletal reorganization and reduced PC‐3 binding to collagen I, collagen IV, and laminin (P < 0.01) but not fibronectin. Expression of the cell surface integrin receptors did not change as assessed by flow cytometry. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that PAR1 stimulation caused reorganization of the focal adhesions, suggesting that PAR1 activation in PC‐3 cells may be modulating cell adhesion through integrin function but not expression. Furthermore, RhoA was activated upon stimulation with thrombin with subsequent cell contraction, decreased cell adhesion, and induced migration towards monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP‐1; CCL2). Thus, it appears that thrombin stimulation plays a role in prostate cancer metastasis by decreasing cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix and positioning the cell in a “ready state” for migration in response to a chemotactic signal. Further exploration is needed to determine whether PAR1 activation affects other signaling pathways involved in prostate cancer. J. Cell. Biochem. 101:1292–1300, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Marfella CG, Ohkawa Y, Coles AH, Garlick DS, Jones SN, Imbalzano AN. 2006. Mutation of the SNF2 family member Chd2 affects mouse development and survival. J Cell Physiol 209:162–171.
Authors: Marfella Concetta G.A. , Ohkawa Yasuyuki , Coles Andrew H. , Garlick David S. , Jones Stephen N. , Imbalzano Anthony N. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe original article to which this erratum refers was published in J Cell Physiol 2006; 209:162–171.
Karyotype of the human insulinoma CM cell line—Beta cell model in vitro?
Authors: Jonnakuty Catherine , Gragnoli Claudia 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe CM cell line is derived from a human pancreatic insulinoma and is used as a beta cell model for the study of the pathogenesis of diabetes, as it appears to maintain the characteristics of beta cells. However, a karyotype study of the CM cell line was not previously performed. We aimed at karyotyping the CM cell line to confirm its human origin, diploid karyotype, and chromosomal structure. We karyotyped the CM cells at earlier passages with the standard Giemsa technique. The karyotyping procedure confirmed the human origin of the CM cell line. However, the karyotype showed 64 chromosomes with structural abnormalities, including chromosome 11, in which the insulin gene is located. Our Medline search of other existing insulinoma cell lines of rodent, mouse and hamster origin did not show any karyotype performed. As the CM cell karyotype reveals significant structural and numerical chromosomal abnormalities, we question the use of such a cell line as an in vitro beta cell model. We suggest that insulinoma cell lines established in vitro to study beta cell function should have a karyotype performed to exclude chromosomal aberrations. J. Cell. Physiol. 213:661–662. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Identification of molecular compounds critical to Alzheimer's‐like plaque formation
Authors: Gellermann Gerald P. , Ullrich Kathrin , Unger Christiane , Fändrich Marcus , Sauter Simon , Diekmann Stephan 
Published: May 2007

AbstractAmyloid diseases are characterized by the formation of insoluble amyloid fibrils from previously soluble polypeptides. In Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyloid fibrils, formed from β‐amyloid peptides, are deposited as extracellular amyloid plaques only inside the brain. As previously shown, Alzheimer's‐like plaque formation in human monocyte culture recapitulates the features of in vivo amyloid plaque formation. Here we show that this cell model can be used to screen compounds that potentially influence amyloid formation in a throughput manner. We found that cellular amyloid fibril formation can be enhanced by dextran sulfate as well as heparin and can be impaired by stabilization of a micell‐like β‐amyloid conformer by using myoinositol or by inhibition of phagocytosis with cytochalasin D. Altogether, our data demonstrate the utility of this cell model for investigating pathways and molecular interactions critical to amyloidogenesis. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Trophism of neural progenitor cells to embryonic stem cells: Neural induction and transplantation in a mouse ischemic stroke model
Authors: Fong Shu Pan , Tsang Kam Sze , Chan Amy Bik Wan , Lu Gang , Poon Wai Sang , Li Karen , Baum Larry William , Ng Ho Keung 
Published: May 2007

AbstractEmbryonic stem cell (ESC)–derived products have emerged as a promising cell source for neuroregeneration. C17.2 neural precursor cells were noted to express genes of neurotrophins and neuroprotective factors and to be enable to enhance proliferation, neuritogenesis, and differentiation of SH‐SY5Y and SK‐N‐AS neuroblasts, suggesting their neurotrophic potential. We used C17.2 cells as neurotrophic chaperones to induce ESCs, D3, and E14TG2a into neural lineage cells. Significantly greater numbers of Sox‐2+, Musashi‐1+, and nestin+ neurospheres developed in noncontact cocultures than in cultures of ESCs without C17.2 support or with 50% conditioned medium after 8 days. Immunoreactivity of the neuronal, astrocytic and oligodendrocytic markers was evident in cultures further differentiated for 10 days. Expression of Pax‐6, Otx‐1, and Nurr‐1 genes suggested neuroectodermal precursors in products encompassing neural stem cells, dopaminergic neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. α‐Fetoprotein, GATA‐4, Brachyury, Nkx‐2.5, and Myf‐5 genes were not detected, indicating any mesodermal and endodermal cells. However, weak expression of Oct‐4 was noted. Behavioral assessment of ischemic mice 2 weeks after transplantation revealed significant improvement in cognitive function compared with that in ischemic sham‐operated mice. Tracking bromodeoxyuridine‐labeled products demonstrated that mostly implanted cells were localized along the needle track of the injection in the brain parenchyma, whereas some migrated to the striatum, cortex, nerve fiber bundle of the corpus callosum, and hippocampus in the ipsilateral hemisphere. One episode (of 22) of teratoma development was noted. Data from this study suggest a paradigm of trophism of neural progenitor cells for induction of ESCs into neural lineage cells. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.