bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A novel micronutrient supplement in skin aging: a randomized placebo‐controlled double‐blind study
Authors: Béguin Alain 
Published: December 2005

SummaryBackground  Skin aging, a combination of intrinsic and environmentally induced processes, predominantly ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun, results in characteristic tissue alterations, such as the degradation of collagen and the formation of visible fine lines and wrinkles.Objective  To test the efficacy and safety of a novel micronutrient supplement (Estime®) in skin aging.Methods  A 4‐month randomized double‐blind controlled study including 40 subjects where the supplement was tested against placebo for 3 months followed by a 1‐month supplement‐free period for both groups to assess lasting effects. Efficacy measurements included skin surface evaluation, ultrasound measurement of sun‐exposed and protected areas of the skin (back of the hand and ventral forearms, respectively), and photographic assessment.Results  All investigated parameters showed a continuous and significant improvement in the active group during the 3 months of supplementation as compared to placebo. Photographs showed visible improvement of the overall skin appearance and reduction of fine lines. Ultrasound measurements showed an increase in dermis density of up to 78% in the active group (P < 0.0001). The final assessment after 1 month without supplementation showed no further improvements, but a slight decrease was observed in most improved parameters. No treatment‐related side effects were reported.Conclusion  The study demonstrated that the supplement appears to be effective and safe as an oral supplement to protect the skin and support its repair process. Recommendations are made for further evaluations.
Phosphatidylcholine treatment to induce lipolysis
Authors: Hasengschwandtner Franz 
Published: December 2005

SummaryThe medicine Lipostabil N® has been in widespread use in Europe since 2002 by doctors working in the field of esthetics to achieve a reduction in the volume of smaller fat deposits by means of injections into the subcutaneous fatty tissue.The lipases released from the adipocytes by means of phosphatidylcholine produce a local breakdown of fat that is then discharged over the liver and metabolized via beta‐oxidation. The medicine has been authorized for intravenous use in the prophylaxis and therapy of fat embolisms and liver diseases.
Validity of HoNOS in identifying frequently hospitalized patients with ICD‐10 mental disorders
Authors: Bech P. , Bille J. , Waarst S. , Wiese M. , Borberg L. , Treufeldt P. , Kessing L. 
Published: December 2005

Objective:  To identify frequently hospitalized patients by using the outcome and severity measure Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) in combination with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)‐10 in patients consecutively admitted to a psychiatric hospital.Method:  All full‐time in‐patients and all day‐hospital patients were considered. Frequently hospitalized patients were defined as those with 10 or more hospitalizations.Results:  The total HoNOS score at admission was found valid to discriminate between frequently and non‐frequently hospitalized patients as well as in ranking the ICD‐10 diagnosis by severity of symptoms and social problems. Frequently hospitalized patients were predominantly found within the diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorders. In these groups, high HoNOS scores were significantly associated with a longer stay in hospital. Improvement during hospitalization as measured by the HoNOS was significantly better for bipolar than for schizophrenic patients.Conclusion:  HoNOS was found to be a clinically relevant supplement to ICD‐10 in identifying frequently hospitalized patients.
Public beliefs about and attitudes towards people with mental illness: a review of population studies
Authors: Angermeyer M. C. , Dietrich S. 
Published: December 2005

Objective:  To provide a review of population‐based attitude research in psychiatry during the past 15 years.Method:  An electronic search using PubMed, Medline, and Academic Search Premier plus a hand search of the literature was carried out for studies on public beliefs about mental illness and attitudes towards the mentally ill published between 1990 and 2004.Results:  Thirty‐three national studies and 29 local and regional studies were identified, mostly from Europe. Although the majority are of descriptive nature, more recent publications include studies testing theory‐based models of the stigmatization of mentally ill people, analyses of time trends and cross‐cultural comparisons, and evaluations of antistigma interventions.Conclusion:  Attitude research in psychiatry made considerable progress over the past 15 years. However, there is still much to be done to provide an empirical basis for evidence‐based interventions to reduce misconceptions about mental illness and improve attitudes towards persons with mental illness.
Lower TSH and higher T4 levels are associated with current depressive syndrome in young adults
Authors: Forman‐Hoffman V. , Philibert R. A. 
Published: December 2005

Objective:  The relationship of individual thyroid function indices to depression in those without a history of prior thyroid dysfunction is uncertain.Method:  We examined the relationship between thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroxine (T4) levels and current or lifetime history of depressive symptoms using information from 6869 participants, aged 17–39 years, in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey without history of thyroid‐related illness.Results:  We found that lower TSH and higher T4 levels were associated with current depressive syndrome in men, but only higher T4 levels correlated with current depressive syndrome in women. Lifetime depressive syndrome was associated with neither TSH level nor T4 levels in men or women.Conclusion:  These findings suggest that transient or ‘state dependent’ changes are associated with depression in those without a history of thyroid illness. Further studies to discern whether these depression‐associated changes represent distinct endophenotypes of depression should be encouraged.
&gt;VIMOS-VLT and Spitzer observations of a radio galaxy at z = 2.5
Authors: Villar-Martín M. , Sánchez S. F. , De Breuck C. , Peletier R. , Vernet J. , Rettura A. , Seymour N. , Humphrey A. , Stern D. , Di Serego Alighieri S. , Fosbury R. 
Published: December 2005

Abstract
We present: (i) a kinematic and morphological study of the giant Lyα nebula associated with the radio galaxy MRC 2104−242 (z= 2.49) based on integral field spectroscopic Visible Multiobject Spectrograph (VIMOS) data from the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and (ii) a photometric study of the host (proto?) galaxy based on Spitzer Space Telescope data. The galaxy appears to be embedded in a giant (≳120 kpc) gas reservoir that surrounds it completely. The kinematic properties of the nebula suggest that it is a rotating structure, which would imply a lower limit to the dynamical mass of ∼3 × 1011 M⊙. An alternate scenario is that the gas is infalling. Such a process would be able to initiate and sustain significant central starburst activity, although it is likely to contribute with less than 10 per cent of the total stellar mass.
The near- to mid-infrared spectral energy distribution of the radio galaxy suggests the existence of a reddened, E(B−V) = 0.4 ± 0.1, evolved stellar population of age ≳1.8 Gyr and mass (5 ± 2) × 1011 M⊙. The implied formation redshift is zf≳ 6. This stellar mass is similar to the stellar masses found for massive early-type galaxies at z∼ 2 in deep, near-infrared surveys.
Aquifer Sensitivity to Pesticide Leaching: Testing a Soils and Hydrogeologic Index Method
Authors: Mehnert Edward , Keefer Donald A. , Dey William S. , Wehrmann H. Allen , Wilson Steven D. , Ray Chittaranjan 
Published: December 2005

AbstractFor years, researchers have sought index and other methods to predict aquifer sensitivity and vulnerability to nonpoint pesticide contamination. In 1995, an index method and map were developed to define aquifer sensitivity to pesticide leaching based on a combination of soil and hydrogeologic factors. The soil factor incorporated three soil properties: hydraulic conductivity, amount of organic matter within individual soil layers, and drainage class. These properties were obtained from a digital soil association map. The hydrogeologic factor was depth to uppermost aquifer material. To test this index method, a shallow ground water monitoring well network was designed, installed, and sampled in Illinois. The monitoring wells had a median depth of 7.6 m and were located adjacent to corn and soybean fields where the only known sources of pesticides were those used in normal agricultural production. From September 1998 through February 2001, 159 monitoring wells were sampled for 14 pesticides but no pesticide metabolites. Samples were collected and analyzed to assess the distribution of pesticide occurrence across three units of aquifer sensitivity. Pesticides were detected in 18% of all samples and nearly uniformly from samples from the three units of aquifer sensitivity. The new index method did not predict pesticide occurrence because occurrence was not dependent on the combined soil and hydrogeologic factors. However, pesticide occurrence was dependent on the tested hydrogeologic factor and was three times higher in areas where the depth to the uppermost aquifer was <6 m than in areas where the depth to the uppermost aquifer was 6 to <15 m.
A GIS‐Based Ground Water Contamination Risk Assessment Tool for Pesticides
Authors: Sinkevich Michael G. , Walter M. Todd , Lembo Arthur J. , Richards Brian K. , Peranginangin Natalia , Aburime Sunnie A. , Steenhuis Tammo S. 
Published: December 2005

AbstractA process‐based preferential flow transport model was implemented in a geographic information system to locate areas in the landscape with high risk of contamination by agrochemicals, especially pesticides. Protecting ground water resources necessitates a reliable ground water quality monitoring strategy. It is valuable to be able to focus monitoring on areas with the highest risk of contamination because monitoring ground water is an expensive activity, especially at the landscape scale. The objective of this project was to develop a tool that quantifiably estimates distributed ground water contamination risk in order to develop reliable, cost‐effective ground water observation networks. The tool is based on a mechanistic model of chemical movement via preferential flow and uses land cover data, information about chemical properties, and modeled recharge to estimate the concentration of chemical reaching the ground water at each point in the landscape. The distributed risk assessment tool was tested by comparing the model‐predicted risk with observed concentrations from 40 sampling wells in Cortland County, New York, for atrazine (pesticide) and nitrate, the latter assumed to be an indicator of agricultural pollution. The tool predictions agreed well with observed nitrate concentrations and pesticide detections. An Internet‐based version of this tool is currently being developed for ready application to New York State.
Stable Isotope Analysis of MTBE to Evaluate the Source of TBA in Ground Water
Authors: Wilson John T. , Kolhatkar Ravi , Kuder Tomasz , Philp Paul , Daugherty Seth J. 
Published: December 2005

AbstractAlthough tert‐butyl alcohol (TBA) has not been used as a fuel oxygenate in Orange County, California, the concentrations of TBA in ground water at gasoline spill sites are high compared those of the conventional fuel oxygenate methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE). In the year 2002, the geometric mean concentration of TBA was 839 μg/L compared to 627 μg/L for MTBE. There are two plausible sources of TBA, the TBA originally present in the gasoline and biodegradation of MTBE to TBA. Thirteen sites where the concentration of TBA was >10 mg/L were selected for study. Biodegradation was evaluated by determining the stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) of MTBE in the ground water. If MTBE was biodegraded, the residual MTBE should be enriched in the heavier carbon isotope 13C. The historical highest concentration of MTBE in each monitoring well and the δ13C of MTBE in the ground water were used to estimate the concentration of TBA produced from biodegradation of MTBE. Then, the estimated concentration of TBA was compared to the measured concentration. At each site, comparisons were made for the well in the source area, and the well in the plume outside the source area, that had the highest concentration of TBA. In the wells in the source areas, the estimate of TBA production accounted for the majority of TBA at 4 of the 13 sites. In the wells in the plume outside of the source area, the estimate accounted for the majority of TBA at six sites.
Die Heidin: A Late-Medieval Experiment in Cultural Rapprochement between Christians and Saracens
Authors: Classen Albrecht 
Published: December 2005

AbstractWhereas recent scholarship has primarily focused on the hostile attitudes against the Orient espoused by writers in the European Middle Ages, a number of intriguing narratives also indicate surprising open-minded attitudes. These might reflect utopian fantasies, but they still project noteworthy "tolerant" relationships between Christians and "heathens." This paper examines one of these narratives, the Middle High German Die Heidin (late thirteenth century), where courtly love and 'domestic violence' counterbalance each other, instigating the heathen protagonist to flee with her Christian suitor back to his country because her erstwhile loving husband (heathen) had turned toward brutal behavior. This narrative indicates how little European audiences obviously cared about religious and racial conflicts and subsumed them under the much more fascinating discourse on love.
Substituting a Judgment of Best Interests: Dignity and the Application of Objective Principles to PVS Cases in the U.K.
Authors: Pradella Geoffrey 
Published: December 2005

AbstractThe mêlée that surrounded the last days of Terri Schiavo's life was reminiscent of a classical Greek tragedy. Much like Antigone, Ms. Schiavo became enmeshed in irresistible and opposite forces, resolved to use her situation as an arena for the determination of political and legal issues as diverse as the exercise of states' rights, the extent of individual rights, the role of the judiciary, the re-opening of the abortion debate, and the regulation of stem cell research. As Europeans watched the drama unfold, the forces at play in the United States clashed head-on, in a rhetorically inflammatory spectacle which, on this side of the Atlantic, left many aghast. Most unsettling was the prospect of individuals wielding the power of state and national legislatures in what was, ultimately, an intensely personal affair.In the United Kingdom, the struggle was a stark reminder of the differences, not only between British and American political culture, but between our approaches to legal issues which present themselves at the end of life. The existence of well-established procedures and principles, and the extensive involvement of neutral third parties and the courts in pursuit of an objective determination of an individual patient's 'best interests', are key to the conclusion that Terri Schiavo's case would have been handled at least as effectively and efficiently as it was by the courts in Florida and the United States. That issues of consent and capacity can be determined by British courts on the basis of generally applicable principles leads to the subsequent conclusion that a 'best interests' determination leaves significantly less scope for conflict than the individualistic, much more personal and determinative construct of the 'substituted judgment' test in the United States.
Association of Testosterone, Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I, and C-Reactive Protein with Metabolic Syndrome in Chinese Middle-Aged Men with a Family History of Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Tong Peter C. Y. , Ho Chung-Shun , Yeung Vincent T. F. , Ng Maggie C. Y. , So Wing-Yee , Ozaki Risa , Ko Gary T. C. , Ma Ronald C. W. , Poon Emily , Chan Norman N. , Lam Christopher W. K. , Chan Juliana C. N. 
Published: December 2005

Context: Age-related declines in testosterone and IGF-I are associated with deposition of visceral fat, a component of the metabolic syndrome (MES).
Objective: Testosterone and IGF-I may interact with familial disposition to diabetes mellitus to increase the association with MES.
Design: We conducted a cross-sectional cohort study.
Setting: The study was conducted in a university teaching hospital.
Subjects: Study subjects included 179 middle-aged men with a family history of diabetes (FH) (aged 39.1 ± 8.1 yr) and 128 men without FH (aged 43.8 ± 8.5 yr).
Main Outcome Measures: Clinical characteristics, frequency of MES using the World Health Organization criteria with Asian definitions of obesity (body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2), and serum levels of total testosterone, IGF-I, and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured.
Results: Men with FH had higher frequency of MES than those without FH [39.1 vs. 23.4% (P = 0.004)]. On multivariate analysis, smoking (former and current smokers), low total testosterone, and IGF-I but elevated hs-CRP levels explained 35% of the MES variance in men with FH. The frequency of MES increased with declining tertiles of total testosterone and IGF-I but increasing tertiles of hs-CRP. After adjustment for age and smoking history, subjects with all three risk factors had a 13-fold increase in risk association with MES compared with those without hormonal and inflammatory risk factors. These risk associations were not found in men without FH in whom only smoking (ex and current) and low total testosterone level were independent predictors for MES, which explained 14% of the variance.
Conclusions: Clustering of FH, hormonal abnormalities, and high hs-CRP is associated with MES in Chinese middle-aged men.
The Mimecan Gene Expressed in Human Pituitary and Regulated by Pituitary Transcription Factor-1 as a Marker for Diagnosing Pituitary Tumors
Authors: Hu San-Mei , Li Feng , Yu Hui-Min , Li Rong-Ying , Ma Qin-Yun , Ye Ting-Jun , Lu Zhen-Yu , Chen Jia-Lun , Song Huai-Dong 
Published: December 2005

Context: Mimecan, a secretory protein, belongs to a family of small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs). The physiological functions of mimecan have not been fully understood.Objective: We hypothesize that the mimecan gene expressed in the human pituitary and regulated by pituitary transcription factor-1 (Pit-1) might act as a marker for diagnosing pituitary tumors.Design: The clinical aspect of our work was a cross-sectional study.Setting and Patients: In total, 20 pituitary tumor samples were collected from January 1, 2002, to December 30, 2002, in Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, China.Intervention: The number of pituitary tumors was limited. Collection of more pituitary tumor samples for additional observation will be necessary.Main Outcome Measures: The main outcomes were measured by Northern blot, in situ hybridization, immunohistochemical analysis, and so on.Results: The mimecan gene was expressed at a moderate level in the mouse pituitary gland by Northern blot analysis. Expression of mimecan mRNA and protein is also observed in the human anterior pituitary gland. Luciferase reporter analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays show that Pit-1 activates the human mimecan promoter through Pit-1 response element sites. In addition, our data also show that almost all the ACTH- or GH-positive pituitary tumors likely express mimecan protein, and only a portion of prolactin-, TSH-, FSH-, and LH-positive pituitary tumors express mimecan protein.Conclusions: This work provides insight into the regulating mechanism of mimecan in pituitary and suggests that mimecan may be an unidentified pituitary secretory protein, and certain pituitary cells secreting ACTH or GH also secrete mimecan.
Variants in the Ghrelin Gene Are Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in the Old Order Amish
Authors: Steinle Nanette I. , Pollin Toni I. , O’Connell Jeffrey R. , Mitchell Braxton D. , Shuldiner Alan R. 
Published: December 2005

Context: Mature ghrelin has been shown to stimulate eating and to participate in the regulation of insulin signaling and glucose homeostasis. Its gene, GHRL, is located on chromosome 3 in a region where we have shown linkage to eating behavior, percentage body fat, and total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in subjects of the Amish Family Diabetes Study.
Objective: Our objective was to determine whether mutations in GHRL might influence eating behavior and risk for metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, and related traits.
Design: We genotyped 856 Amish samples for three missense polymorphisms in GHRL, Arg51Gln, Leu72Met (rs696217), and Gln90Leu (rs4684677) and performed association analyses with eating behavior traits and metabolic syndrome as defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines.
Subjects: Our subjects were adult participants in the Amish Family Diabetes Study.
Results: The allele frequencies of these variants were 0.03, 0.04, and 0.03, respectively. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was lower among those carrying the 51Gln allele (3.8 vs. 15.8%; age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio = 0.22; P = 0.031). Hunger scores tended to be lower among 51Gln allele carriers but did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.07). The Leu72Met variant was also associated with increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome (23.2 vs. 13.4%; age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio = 2.57; P = 0.02) as well as higher fasting glucose, lower high-density lipoprotein, and higher triglyceride levels (P = 0.02, P = 0.007, and P = 0.04, respectively). The two variants were not in linkage disequilibrium with each other, suggesting independent effects. We conclude that mutations in GHRL may confer risk for the metabolic syndrome.