bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A systematic review of psychological interventions for children with asthma
Authors: Yorke Janelle , Fleming Sharon L. , Shuldham Caroline 
Published: December 2006

AbstractAim:Psychological factors may influence the symptoms and management of asthma in children in many ways. It is, therefore, suggested that psychological interventions may be appropriate for this population. This paper reports a systematic review assessing the efficacy of psychological interventions in improving health outcomes for children with asthma.Methodology:A review of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) was designed. RCTs assessing the effects of a psychological intervention in child participants were included in the review. Outcome measures included healthcare utilization, lung function, asthma symptoms, and psychological health status. The search was conducted until April 2005.Results:Twelve studies, involving 588 children, were included in the review; however, study quality was poor and sample sizes were frequently small. A meta‐analysis was performed on two studies, examining the effects of relaxation therapy on PEFR which favored the treatment group (SD 0.82, CI 0.41–1.24). No other meta‐analysis could be performed due to the diversity of interventions and the outcomes assessed. In addition, many studies reported insufficient data.Conclusions:This review was unable to draw firm conclusions for the role of psychological interventions for children with asthma. We recommend that valid outcome measures for evaluating the effectiveness of psychological interventions for children with asthma need to address adjustment to and coping with asthma, as well as other psychological indicators. The absence of an adequate evidence base is demonstrated, highlighting the need for well‐conducted RCTs in this area. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2007; 42:114–124. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Peripheral airway involvement in CF and asthma compared by inert gas washout
Authors: Gustafsson Per M. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractMultiple‐breath N2 washouts were performed before and after bronchodilation in 15 patients with moderately severe asthma (mean age 13 years), and in 11 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF; mean age 16 years) matched for FEV1. Eighteen healthy subjects (mean age 15 years) were studied before bronchodilation. The lung clearance index (LCI) was determined from the washout curve and gas trapping was assessed from five subsequent large breaths. Analysis of the progression of the concentration normalized phase III slopes (SnIII) over the washout was used to determine inhomogeneity in the conducting airways (Scond) and inhomogeneity close to or within the gas exchange zone (Sacin). Before bronchodilation all washout indexes were abnormal in the CF group, and all but Sacin in the asthma group. Two indexes were higher in CF than in asthma: LCI (11.5 (3.3) vs. 8.7 (1.3); P < 0.01), and Sacin (0.307 (0.207) vs. 0.142 (0.071); P < 0.01), while gas trapping indexes and Scond (0.151 (0.071) vs. 0.127 (0.041)) did not differ significantly. After bronchodilation, all indexes improved in asthma and only Scond remained abnormally elevated. In CF, only a modest but statistically significant Sacin improvement was seen and all indexes stayed abnormal. The study shows that overall ventilation inhomogeneity and particularly inhomogeneity in or close to the gas exchange zone are more pronounced in CF than in asthma matched for FEV1, while inhomogeneity in the conducting airway zone is similar. After bronchodilation, residual abnormalities of airway function are seen all through the airway tree in CF but only in the conducting airways in asthma. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2007; 42:168–176. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
X‐ray structure of the T. Aquaticus Ftsy:GDP complex suggests functional roles for the C‐terminal helix of the SRP GTPases
Authors: Gawronski‐Salerno Joseph , Coon V John S. , Focia Pamela J. , Freymann Douglas M. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractFtsY and Ffh are structurally similar prokaryotic Signal Recognition Particle GTPases that play an essential role in the Signal Recognition Particle (SRP)‐mediated cotranslational targeting of proteins to the membrane. The two GTPases assemble in a GTP‐dependent manner to form a heterodimeric SRP targeting complex. We report here the 2.1 Å X‐ray structure of FtsY from T. aquaticus bound to GDP. The structure of the monomeric protein reveals, unexpectedly, canonical binding interactions for GDP. A comparison of the structures of the monomeric and complexed FtsY NG GTPase domain suggests that it undergoes a conformational change similar to that of Ffh NG during the assembly of the symmetric heterodimeric complex. However, in contrast to Ffh, in which the C‐terminal helix shifts independently of the other subdomains, the C‐terminal helix and N domain of T. aquaticus FtsY together behave as a rigid body during assembly, suggesting distinct mechanisms by which the interactions of the NG domain “module” are regulated in the context of the two SRP GTPases. Proteins 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Length dependence of polarization in spontaneous edge emissions from InGaN/AlGaN MQWs laser diodes
Authors: Jia Chuanyu , Yu Tongjun , Hu Xiaodong , Zhang Bei , Yang Zhijian , Xu Ke , Zhang Guoyi 
Published: January 2007

AbstractThe polarization of spontaneous edge‐emitting electroluminescence from near‐UV LDs with different cavity lengths (from 400 μm to 1000 μm) was studied. It was found that TE mode dominates in InGaN/AlGaN MQWs LDs, which is consistent with the theoretical calculation results of similar MQWs. An obvious polarization decrease from P = 0.57 to 0.42 as the LD cavity length changed from 400 μm to 1000 μm was also observed, corresponding to a ratio r changing from 3.67 to 2.43, which indicated that, the TE mode attenuated more grievously than the TM mode with increasing cavity length. This is due to the inherent property of polarization selective emission from the alloys. The optical loss coefficient of TE mode was determined to be 35 cm–1, while, 10 cm–1 for TM mode, which is in good agreement with the results obtained from other methods. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
The growth and rare‐earth doping of GaN quantum dots on AlxGa1–xN layer by plasma‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy
Authors: Hori Y. , Andreev T. , Bellet‐Amalric E. , Oda O. , Le Si Dang D. , Daudin B. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractWe report on the self organized growth of GaN quantum dots deposited on Alx Ga1–x N layer by plasma‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that the relaxation of Alx Ga1–x N layer on AlN depends on Al composition and thickness. The measurement of the variation of lattice parameter indicated that GaN quantum dots do not relax completely on Alx Ga1–x N layer. Optical properties of undoped and Eu‐doped quantum dots on AlGaN layer were studied. Visible light emission from Eu3+ ions has been observed and showed strong thermal stability. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Low frequency noise in InGaN/GaN MQW‐based photodetector structures
Authors: Navarro A. , Rivera C. , Cuerdo R. , Pau J. L. , Pereiro J. , Muñoz E. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractNoise characteristics of InGaN/GaN multiple‐quantum‐well (MQW) photodiodes (PD) and photoconductors (PC) were studied. 1/f ‐type noise was examined in MQW PDs as a function of reverse bias, In content and temperature. Superposed multilevel Random Telegraph Signal Noise was observed under reverse and forward biases. The dominant presence of this type of noise in MQW PCs seems to indicate that its origin was related to localization effects in the InGaN QWs. Detectivity of the MQW PDs was determined at various voltages for a wide range of temperatures. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Recommended criteria for the mass spectrometric identification of target peptides and proteins (<8 kDa) in sports drug testing
Authors: Thevis Mario , Loo Joseph A. , Loo Rachel R. Ogorzalek , Schänzer Wilhelm 
Published: January 2007

AbstractMass spectrometry has become an invaluable tool for the identification of prohibited peptide hormones and proteins in doping control analysis. Regulatory authorities have established criteria for identifying banned drugs in doping control specimens, but these criteria do not address the specific issues for high molecular weight protein drugs such as molecular weight determination of multiply charged molecules, analysis of chemically or enzymatically derived degradation products, identification of amino acid sequence tags, etc. Technical considerations such as sample preparation methods (e.g. immunoaffinity purification), resulting analytes (e.g. intact compounds vs. chemically or enzymatically derived peptides), ionization modes, analyzer resolution, and the information provided by respective techniques are discussed in light of sports drug testing requirements using typical application examples. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effective teaching results in increased science achievement for all students
Authors: Johnson Carla C. , Kahle Jane Butler , Fargo Jamison D. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractThis study of teacher effectiveness and student achievement in science demonstrated that effective teachers positively impact student learning. A general linear mixed model was used to assess change in student scores on the Discovery Inquiry Test as a function of time, race, teacher effectiveness, gender, and impact of teacher effectiveness in prior years, over a 3‐year period. Effective teaching was identified through a series of classroom observations using the Local Systemic Change Classroom Observation Protocol (Horizon Research, 1999). This study found that effective teaching increases student achievement and closes achievement gaps for all students. Findings from this study provide evidence that effective teaching each year may be the key to eliminating achievement gaps in science. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 91:371–383, 2007
Striving for equitable classroom assessments for linguistic minorities: Strategies for and effects of revising life science items
Authors: Siegel Marcelle A. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractStriving for equitable assessments that can contribute to classroom learning for linguistic minorities is a goal of increasing importance as the national population of English language learners continues to rise. This study investigated classroom assessments for English learners in middle school life science courses in two California schools. A framework for equitable classroom assessments, “McCes—Sounds like Success,” was used to refine and evaluate assessments in the study. Ways to improve two written assessments for advanced English learners were developed through teacher research and tested with a pretest/posttest design. Eleven changes to the items were developed, such as adding visual supports and dividing prompts into smaller units. Regression analyses of raw and Rasch modeled data from the pretest/posttest showed that both English only students and advanced English learners scored significantly better on the modified classroom assessments. A new perspective on validating equitable classroom assessments as opposed to standardized assessments for English learners is discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 864–881, 2007
Immediate and long‐term outcomes in children with prenatal diagnosis of selected isolated congenital heart defects
Authors: Fuchs I. B. , Müller H. , Abdul‐Khaliq H. , Harder T. , Dudenhausen J. W. , Henrich W. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractObjectivesTo compare the immediate postinterventional and long‐term outcomes of children with a prenatal and those with a postnatal diagnosis of isolated congenital heart defects.MethodsThis was a retrospective study of 257 children admitted over a 10‐year period to our pediatric cardiology unit with one of four different cardiac lesions: transposition of the great arteries, atrioventricular canal defect, tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary atresia; 208 were diagnosed postnatally and 49 prenatally. Management was identical in the two patient groups.ResultsThe median age at admission was 22 days in the postnatal group and 10 days in the prenatal group. In the prenatal group there was a higher median preoperative O2 saturation level (P = 0.07), fewer cases of preoperative cardiac failure (P = 0.03), fewer cases of preoperative closure of the duct (P = 0.04), a shorter median duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation (P = 0.03), less need for resurgery (P = 0.02) and a shorter median duration of stay in the intensive care unit (P = 0.05). Postoperative survival was 96% in the prenatal group and 90% in the postnatal group. Assessment of long‐term survival revealed a longer catheter intervention‐free interval in the prenatal group (P = 0.03). At the 1‐year follow‐up, residual impaired cardiac function was less frequent in the prenatal than in the postnatal group (P = 0.04). Overall survival at maximum follow‐up was 92% in the prenatal and 84% in the postnatal group.ConclusionsPrenatal diagnosis of isolated congenital heart defects allows admission for surgery in a more stable condition and is associated with lower short‐term and long‐term morbidity and mortality. Copyright © 2007 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Targeted therapy for threatened preterm labor based on sonographic measurement of the cervical length: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Alfirevic Z. , Allen‐Coward H. , Molina F. , Vinuesa C. P. , Nicolaides K. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractObjectiveFalse positive diagnosis of preterm labor is common. As a consequence, medications including corticosteroids to promote fetal lung maturity and tocolysis are prescribed unnecessarily. We tested the hypothesis that management of threatened preterm labor based on measurement of cervical length by ultrasonography can reduce the number of women who receive inappropriate treatment.MethodsForty‐one women with threatened preterm labor for whom a clinical decision was made to prescribe antenatal corticosteroids and tocolysis were randomized to have their cervical length measured by transvaginal ultrasound (n = 21) or to receive therapy as planned (n = 20). Fourteen women in the ultrasound group had a cervix longer than 15 mm and the therapy was withheld, while the other seven with a short cervix were managed in the same way as the control group.ResultsThree women (14%) in the ultrasound group were treated inappropriately with antenatal corticosteroids because they remained undelivered for more than a week. This compared favorably with the control group where 18 out of 20 (90%) received corticosteroids unnecessarily (relative risk (RR) 0.16; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.05–0.39). Tocolysis was given to only seven women (33.3%) in the ultrasound group compared with 20 (100%) in the control group (RR 0.3; 95% CI, 0.15–0.54). There were no babies in either group who were born prematurely without being given a full course of antenatal corticosteroid therapy.ConclusionWomen with threatened preterm labor and cervical length more than 15 mm should not receive tocolysis. The issue of the safety of withholding corticosteroid therapy in this clinical scenario warrants further study. Copyright © 2007 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Carbon–nitrogen stoichiometry in the tritrophic food chain willow, leaf beetle, and predatory ladybird beetle
Authors: Kagata Hideki , Ohgushi Takayuki 
Published: December 2006

AbstractAlthough plant quality can indirectly increase the performance of the third trophic level by bottom‐up cascading effects, the mechanisms of this indirect effect are still unclear. In this study the carbon–nitrogen stoichiometry in a tri‐trophic system consisting of the willow, a leaf beetle, and a predatory ladybird beetle were examined to determine the mechanisms of the bottom‐up cascading effect. The bottom‐up cascade is initiated by increasing leaf nitrogen, because of artificial cutting of willow trees. The relative growth rate (RGR) of the leaf beetle increased when fed on cut willow leaves, because of the high leaf nitrogen in the cut willows. Ladybird beetle RGR also increased when fed on leaf beetles fed on cut willow leaves. The increased RGR of the ladybirds cannot be explained by the quality of the prey, however, because leaf beetle nitrogen was not affected by host plant quality. Thus, the carbon–nitrogen stoichiometry could not be a mechanism of the bottom‐up cascade through multiple trophic levels.
Adolescent adjustment disorder: Precipitant stressors and distress symptoms of 89 outpatients
Authors: Pelkonen Mirjami , Marttunen Mauri , Henriksson Markus , Lönnqvist Jouko 
Published: December 2006

AbstractObjectiveResearch on adolescent adjustment disorder (AD) is scarce. We characterized adolescent outpatients with AD in psychosocial background and treatment received compared with patients with other non-psychotic disorders (OND). Furthermore, we explored precipitant stressors, distress symptoms and behavioral problems among males and females with AD.MethodData were collected prospectively on 290 consecutive psychiatric outpatients, aged 12–22 yrs, at a secondary care clinic in Finland. DSM-III-R diagnoses were assigned, based on all available information, at the end of treatment.ResultsAD was the second most common diagnosis among non-psychotic patients (31% of 290). Compared to OND-patients, those with AD were predominantly female and had less severe psychosocial impairment. In multivariate comparisons school-related stressors, problems with law and restlessness characterized males, and parental illness and internalizing symptoms females with AD. Intensity and duration of treatment of AD-patients varied widely.ConclusionsAdjustment disorder comprised a common clinical entity among adolescent outpatients. Psychiatric assessment and treatment should be individually targeted by taking into account gender-specific stressors and distress symptoms among young people with AD.
A history of research in service operations: What's the big idea?
Authors: Chase Richard B. , Apte Uday M. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to trace the history of research in service operations. After discussing the role of services in national economies and the importance of research in service operations, we discuss major trends in service operations research. For simplicity of exposition, this discussion is organized in terms of big ideas that have proved to be influential in setting the research agenda in service operations. In the final section, we identify high‐potential research areas where research needs are particularly urgent in the near future.
Plio-Pleistocene climatic transition and the lifting of the Teton Range, Wyoming
Authors: Leopold Estella B. , Liu Gengwu , Love J. David , Love David W. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractFine-grained lacustrine, riverine and ash-fall sediments of the Shooting Iron Formation, whose late Pliocene age is established by Blancan gastropods and vertebrates, yield a pollen flora that is essentially similar in composition to the modern pollen rain in the Jackson Hole area. The Pliocene assemblage suggests a climate like that of the Jackson valley and foothills today. These spectra also resemble a Pliocene pollen flora from Yellowstone Park dated at ∼ 2.02 Ma. However, the underlying Miocene Teewinot sediments differ by containing pollen of four exotic deciduous hardwoods (Tertiary relicts) that suggest a summer–moist climate, unlike that of today. The Shooting Iron sediments lie with an angular unconformity on and above the Miocene lake sediments of the Teewinot Formation. Both of these deposits probably preceded the main uplift of the Teton Range based on the absence of Precambrian clasts in the Tertiary valley deposits. Because the Pliocene floras were modern in aspect, a Plio-Pleistocene transition would be floristically imperceptible here. The sequence denotes a protracted period of relative stability of climate during Teewinot time, and a shift in vegetational state (summer–wet trees drop out) sometime between the latest Miocene and latest Pliocene. The Pliocene spectra suggest a dry, cooler climate toward the end of Shooting Iron time.
Direct Payments in England: Factors Linked to Variations in Local Provision
Authors: FERNÁNDEZ JOSÉ-LUIS , KENDALL JEREMY , DAVEY VANESSA , KNAPP MARTIN 
Published: December 2006

Direct payments have moved to the heart of the government's drive for increased user choice. At the same time, implementation has remained disappointing. This article explores the demand, supply and related factors associated with patterns of local variability in uptake and intensity of care package provision. Statistical analyses are conducted for key client groups – people with physical disabilities, older people, people with learning disabilities and people who use mental health services – using data for England from 2000–01 to 2002–03. The results suggest that direct payments variability reflects a complex array of factors, both within and beyond the control of local public actors. In particular, while local policy preferences appear to shape the extent of direct payments growth, the results also demonstrate that understanding levels of activity requires attention to local circumstances.I see direct payments, personal cash budgets, and other ways of extending choice and control as key to developing social care for the twenty-first century (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Community Care, Department of Health, 2004).
Enrichment or depletion of a GO category within a class of genes: which test?
Authors: Rivals Isabelle , Personnaz Léon , Taing Lieng , Potier Marie-Claude 
Published: December 2006

AbstractMotivation: A number of available program packages determine the significant enrichments and/or depletions of GO categories among a class of genes of interest. Whereas a correct formulation of the problem leads to a single exact null distribution, these GO tools use a large variety of statistical tests whose denominations often do not clarify the underlying P-value computations.Summary: We review the different formulations of the problem and the tests they lead to: the binomial, χ2, equality of two probabilities, Fisher's exact and hypergeometric tests. We clarify the relationships existing between these tests, in particular the equivalence between the hypergeometric test and Fisher's exact test. We recall that the other tests are valid only for large samples, the test of equality of two probabilities and the χ2-test being equivalent. We discuss the appropriateness of one- and two-sided P-values, as well as some discreteness and conservatism issues.Contact: isabelle.rivals@espci.frSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.