bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of the C2/C6 Ratio of High-molecular-weight Hydroxyethyl Starch on Pharmacokinetics and Blood Coagulation in Pigs
Authors: Schramm Sebastian , Thyes Caroline , Frascarolo Philippe , Buclin Thierry , Burki Marco , Fisch Andreas , Burmeister Marc-Alexander , Asmis Lars , Spahn Donat R. 
Published: August 2007

Background
High-molecular-weight, low-substituted hydroxyethyl starch (HES) may not affect blood coagulation more than low-molecular-weight, low-substituted HES. The authors assessed in vivo the effect of a lowered C2/C6 ratio on pharmacokinetic characteristics and the impact on blood coagulation of high-molecular-weight, low-substituted HES.

Methods
A prospective, randomized, parallel study in 30 pigs compared HES 650/0.42/2.8 with HES 650/0.42/5.6. Before, during, and after infusion of 30 ml/kg body weight HES, blood samples were collected over 630 min to measure HES concentrations and plasmatic coagulation and to assess blood coagulation in whole blood by Thrombelastography (TEG; Haemoscope Corporation, Niles, IL). Pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated using a two-compartment model.

Results
The elimination constant was 0.009 +/- 0.001 min(-1) for HES 650/0.42/2.8 and 0.007 +/- 0.001 min(-1) for HES 650/0.42/5.6 (P < 0.001); the area under the plasma concentration-time curve was 1,374 +/- 340 min x g/l for HES 650/0.42/2.8 and 1,697 +/- 411 min x g/l for HES 650/0.42/5.6 (P = 0.026). The measured plasma HES concentrations were not different between HES 650/0.42/2.8 and HES 650/0.42/5.6. Both HES solutions equally affected blood coagulation: Thrombelastographic coagulation index decreased similarly at the end of infusion of HES 650/0.42/2.8 and at the end of infusion of HES 650/0.42/5.6 (P = 0.293). Also, activated partial thromboplastin and prothrombin times increased similarly for HES 650/0.42/2.8 and HES 650/0.42/5.6 (P = 0.831).

Conclusion
Reducing the C2/C6 ratio in high-molecular, low-substituted HES solutions results in a slightly faster HES elimination. However, the blood coagulation compromising effect was unaffected.
Influence of Administration Rate on Propofol Plasma–Effect Site Equilibration
Authors: Struys Michel M. R. F. , Coppens Marc J. , De Neve Nikolaas , Mortier Eric P. , Doufas Anthony G. , Van Bocxlaer Jan F. P. , Shafer Steven L. 
Published: August 2007

Background
The authors hypothesized a difference in plasma-effect site equilibration, depicted by a first-order constant k(e0), depending on the injection rate of propofol.

Methods
Sixty-one patients received 2.5 mg/kg propofol given as a bolus or as a 1-, 2-, or 3-min infusion. The Bispectral Index was used to monitor drug effect. Propofol predicted plasma concentration was calculated using a three-compartment model and the effect site concentration over time as the convolution between the predicted plasma concentration and the disposition function of the effect site concentration. The authors evaluated the influence of the infusion rate on the k(e0) by comparing the model with one k(e0) for all groups with models estimating different k(e0) values for each group. The authors also assessed the accuracy of two pharmacokinetic models after bolus injection.

Results
The best model based was a fixed (Bispectral Index > or = 90) plus sigmoidal model (Bispectral Index < 90) with two values of k(e0), one for the bolus (t(1/2) k(e0) = 1.2 min) and one for the infusions (t(1/2) k(e0) = 2.2 min). However, the tested pharmacokinetic models poorly predicted the arterial concentrations in the first minutes after bolus injection. Simulations showed the requirement for two k(e0) values for bolus and infusion was mostly a compensation for the inaccurate prediction of arterial concentrations after a bolus.

Conclusion
Propofol plasma-effect site equilibration occurs more rapidly after a bolus than after rapid infusion, based on the electroencephalogram as a drug effect measure, mostly because of misspecification of the pharmacokinetic model in the first minutes after bolus.
Continuous Preperitoneal Infusion of Ropivacaine Provides Effective Analgesia and Accelerates Recovery after Colorectal Surgery
Authors: Beaussier Marc , El’Ayoubi Hanna , Schiffer Eduardo , Rollin Maxime , Parc Yann , Mazoit Jean-Xavier , Azizi Louisa , Gervaz Pascal , Rohr Serge , Biermann Celine , Lienhart André , Eledjam Jean-Jacques 
Published: August 2007

Background
Blockade of parietal nociceptive afferents by the use of continuous wound infiltration with local anesthetics may be beneficial in a multimodal approach to postoperative pain management after major surgery. The role of continuous preperitoneal infusion of ropivacaine for pain relief and postoperative recovery after open colorectal resections was evaluated in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.

Methods
After obtaining written informed consents, a multiholed wound catheter was placed by the surgeon in the preperitoneal space at the end of surgery in patients scheduled to undergo elective open colorectal resection by midline incision. They were thereafter randomly assigned to receive through the catheter either 0.2% ropivacaine (10-ml bolus followed by an infusion of 10 ml/h during 48 h) or the same protocol with 0.9% NaCl. In addition, all patients received patient-controlled intravenous morphine analgesia.

Results
Twenty-one patients were evaluated in each group. Compared with preperitoneal saline, ropivacaine infusion reduced morphine consumption during the first 72 h and improved pain relief at rest during 12 h and while coughing during 48 h. Sleep quality was also better during the first two postoperative nights. Time to recovery of bowel function (74 +/- 19 vs. 105 +/- 54 h; P = 0.02) and duration of hospital stay (115 +/- 25 vs. 147 +/- 53 h; P = 0.02) were significantly reduced in the ropivacaine group. Ropivacaine plasma concentrations remained below the level of toxicity. No side effects were observed.

Conclusions
Continuous preperitoneal administration of 0.2% ropivacaine at 10 ml/h during 48 h after open colorectal resection reduced morphine consumption, improved pain relief, and accelerated postoperative recovery.
Effects of the Antimicrobial Peptide LL-37 and Hyperthermic Preconditioning in Septic Rats
Authors: Torossian Alexander , Gurschi Eugeniu , Bals Robert , Vassiliou Timon , Wulf Hinnerk F. , Bauhofer Artur 
Published: August 2007

Background
The authors tested the effects of LL-37 prophylaxis or therapy on the outcome after intraabdominal sepsis and examined whether hyperthermic preconditioning plus LL-37 therapy augments host immune response and improves survival.

Methods
A rat model of peritoneal contamination and infection (PCI) with human stool was used to simulate clinical conditions. In trial 1, the authors compared (1) PCI, (2) LL-37 prophylaxis (0.5 mg/kg, 12 h before PCI), and (3) LL-37 therapy (0.5 mg/kg, 1 h after PCI). In trial 2, the authors compared (1) PCI, (2) LL-37 therapy, (3) hyperthermic preconditioning (41 degrees C for 1 h, 24 h before PCI), and (4) LL-37 therapy and hyperthermic preconditioning. The primary endpoint was mortality at 120 h. In trial 2, secondary endpoints were systemic levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 6, macrophage inflammatory protein 2, and heat shock protein 70; leukocyte counts; and neutrophil granulocyte phagocytosis.

Results
In trial 1, 30% of the control group compared with 70% of the LL-37 therapy group survived, but 55% after LL-37 prophylaxis survived (P = 0.038). In trial 2, 38% of the controls, 67% of the LL-37 therapy, 59% of the hyperthermic preconditioned, and 90% of the hyperthermic preconditioned plus LL-37 therapy group survived (P = 0.01). LL-37 therapy plus hyperthermic preconditioning reduced proinflammatory cytokine concentrations after sepsis; specifically compared with controls, macrophage inflammatory protein-2 and interleukin-6 levels were 1.5 +/- 1.5 versus 11 +/- 6 pg/ml (P = 0.028) and 13 +/- 8 versus 86 +/- 31 pg/ml, (P = 0.015), respectively.

Conclusions
In this model of intraabdominal sepsis, LL-37 therapy improved outcome. Hyperthermic preconditioning per se was not successful, but in combination with LL-37 therapy, the survival rate after sepsis was increased and the proinflammatory cytokine response was downgraded.
Systemic Antiinflammatory Corticosteroid Reduces Mechanical Pain Behavior, Sympathetic Sprouting, and Elevation of Proinflammatory Cytokines in a Rat Model of Neuropathic Pain
Authors: Li Huiqing , Xie Wenrui , Strong Judith A. , Zhang Jun-Ming 
Published: August 2007

Background
Chronic pain models are commonly defined as either nerve-injury or inflammation models, but recent work suggests inflammatory processes are important in nerve injury-induced pain.

Methods
In the rat spinal nerve ligation model, the authors examined effects of systemic corticosteroid triamcinolone acetonide (TA) on the cytokine protein profile and sympathetic sprouting in the axotomized sensory ganglia, excitability of sensory neurons, and mechanical sensitivity.

Results
By postoperative day 3, marked increases (5- to 16-fold) in monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, growth-related oncogene (GRO/KC or CXCL1), and interleukin (IL)-6 were observed, whereas IL-4 and IL-2 levels fell more than fourfold. The increased cytokines and number of sympathetic basket formations in the sensory ganglia were reduced toward normal values by TA given starting at the time of injury. Interleukin-4 and IL-2 levels were not restored by TA. Systemic TA also reduced the firing rate and incidence of bursting activity, but not the overall incidence of spontaneous activity, in large- and medium-sized neurons. Mechanical hypersensitivity on postoperative day 3 was reduced by TA, and some effect could still be observed 4 days after cessation of TA. However, starting TA at day 7 was ineffective.

Conclusions
Several components of the spinal nerve injury model are responsive to corticosteroid, suggesting inflammatory processes are important in the development of neuropathic pain. The observation that TA was effective when given starting at the time of injury suggests that steroid treatment might alter the development of chronic pain after surgical procedures that involve nerve injury, such as amputation or hernia repair.
Twenty‐year trends in fatal injuries to very young children: the persistence of racial disparities
Authors: Reading Richard 
Published: August 2007

.

Pressley J. C.,
Barlow B.,
Kendig T. &
Paneth‐Pollak R.
(
2007
)

,
119
,
e875
–
84
.
Objective  Mortality trends across modifiable injury mechanisms may reflect how well effective injury prevention efforts are penetrating high‐risk populations. This study examined all‐cause, unintentional and intentional injury‐related mortality in children who were aged 0–4 years for evidence of and to quantify racial disparities by injury mechanism.Methods  Injury analyses used national vital statistics data from 1 January 1981 to 31 December 2003 that were available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rate calculations and chi‐squared test for trends (Mantel extension) used data that were collapsed into 3‐year intervals to produce cell sizes with stable estimates. Percentage change for mortality rate ratios used the earliest (1981–1983) and the latest (2001–2003) study periods for black, American Indian/Alaskan Native and Asian/Pacific Islander children, with white children as the comparison group.Results  All‐cause injury rates declined during the study period, but current mortality ratios for all‐cause injury remained higher in black and American Indian/Alaskan Native children and lower in Asian/Pacific Islander children compared with white children. Trend analyses within racial groups demonstrated significant improvements in all groups for unintentional but not intentional injury. Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native children had higher injury risk as a result of residential fire, suffocation, poisoning, falls, motor vehicle traffic and firearms. Disparities narrowed for residential fire, pedestrian and poisoning, and widened for motor vehicle occupant, unspecified motor vehicle and suffocation for black and American Indian/Alaskan Native children.Conclusions  These findings identify injury areas in which disparities narrowed, improvement occurred with maintenance or widening of disparities, and little or no progress was evident. This study further suggests specific mechanisms whereby new strategies and approaches to address areas that are recalcitrant to improvement in absolute rates and/or narrowing of disparities are needed, and where increased dissemination of proven efficacious injury prevention efforts to high‐risk populations are indicated.
Diagnosing abuse: a systematic review of torn frenum and intra‐oral injuries
Authors: Reading Richard 
Published: August 2007

.

Maguire S. A.,
Hunter B.,
Hunter L. M.,
Sibert J.,
Mann M. K. &
Kemp A. M.
(
2007
)

,
ePub(ePub): ePub.

DOI: 10.1136/adc.2006.113001.
Objective  A torn labial frenum is widely regarded as ‘pathognomonic’ of abuse. We systematically reviewed the evidence for this, and to define other intra‐oral injuries found in physical abuse.Methods  An all‐language literature search of primary studies, conference abstracts and references from 1950 to June 2006. Each study underwent independent reviews by two of 31 reviewers, drawn from paediatrics and paediatric or forensic dentistry. Standardized critical appraisal and data extraction were performed. Studies were ranked by study design and confirmation of abuse.Results  Nineteen of 154 studies reviewed were included, representing 591 children. There were no comparative studies of accidental and abusive torn labial frenum to enable a probability of abuse to be determined. Nine studies documented abusive torn labial frena in 27 children; 22 were less than 5 years old and 24 fatally abused. Only a direct blow to the face was substantiated as a mechanism of injury. Two studies noted accidentally torn labial frena, both from intubation. Abusive intra‐oral injuries were widely distributed to the lips, gums, tongue and palate, and included fractures, intrusion and extraction of the dentition, bites and contusions.Conclusions  Current literature does not support the diagnosis of abuse based on a torn labial frenum in isolation. The intra‐oral hard and soft tissue should be examined in all suspected abuse cases and a dental opinion sought where abnormalities are found.
Below‐ground hydraulic conductance is a function of environmental conditions and tree size in Scots pine
Authors: MARTÍNEZ‐VILALTA J. , KORAKAKI E. , VANDERKLEIN D. , MENCUCCINI M. 
Published: August 2007

Summary

Variations in water tension in a transpiring tree cause elastic changes in stem diameter. To better understand the dynamics of these variations, stem diameter changes and sap flow rates were monitored simultaneously in trees from two Scots pine chronosequences in Scotland.
Tree below‐ground hydraulic conductance (kbg) was estimated from the relationship between leaf‐specific sap flow rates and the difference between stem and soil water potentials estimated from diameter variations in the stem.
In a given tree, kbg varied both within and among days, with conductance increasing as a function of sap flow and evaporative demand. These patterns could be explained in terms of a composite model of root water transport and possible changes in the gating of aquaporins.
We interpreted these trends of increasing kbg with evaporative demand as a mechanism to enhance the ability of trees to control leaf water potential and keep it within physiologically acceptable limits, with potential implications for our general understanding of plant water relations, and for the estimation and modelling of ecosystem water fluxes.
Across trees, kbg declined with increasing tree age/size, but the proportional contribution of below‐ground to whole‐tree hydraulic resistance also declined. This is consistent with an increase in below‐ground carbon allocation in old/tall trees and a partial acclimation of tall trees to hydraulic limitations. It is argued that these trends have to be considered when discussing the importance of tree height for water transport and growth.
Lymphangiogenesis in myocardial remodelling after infarction
Authors: Ishikawa Y , Akishima‐Fukasawa Y , Ito K , Akasaka Y , Tanaka M , Shimokawa R , Kimura‐Matsumoto M , Morita H , Sato S , Kamata I , Ishii T 
Published: August 2007

Aims:  The lymphatic system is involved in fluid homeostasis of the cardiac interstitium, but lymphangiogenesis in myocardial remodelling has not previously been examined histopathologically. The aim was to investigate by D2‐40 immunohistochemistry the sequential changes in lymphatic distribution in the process of myocardial remodelling after myocardial infarction (MI).Methods and results:  Myocardial tissues in various phases of healing after MI were obtained from 40 autopsied hearts. D2‐40+ lymphatic vessel density (LD) and CD34+ blood vessel density (BD) in the lesion were determined. BD decreased with advance of myocardial necrosis, subsequently increased at the early stage of granulation and thereafter decreased with the progression of scar formation. In contrast, lymphatic vessels were not detected in lesions with coagulation necrosis, and newly formed lymphatics first appeared in the early stages of granulation. A subsequent increase in LD was demonstrated in the late stages of granulation, and lymphatics remained up to the scar phase. Vascular endothelial growth factor‐C was consistently expressed in viable cardiomyocytes around the lesion in all of these stages.Conclusion:  In myocardial remodelling after MI, lymphangiogenesis lags behind blood vessel angiogenesis; newly formed lymphatics may be involved mainly in the maturation of fibrosis and scar formation through the drainage of excessive proteins and fluid.
Prognostic significance of p53 gene mutations and protein overexpression in localized gastrointestinal stromal tumours
Authors: Ryu M H , Kang Y K , Jang S J , Kim T W , Lee H , Kim J S , Park Y H , Lee S S , Ryoo B Y , Chang H M , Lee J L , Yook J H , Kim B S , Lee J S 
Published: August 2007

Aims:  Mutation of c‐kit is a relatively early event in the tumorigenesis of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs). The aim was to determine the prognostic significance of p53 alterations as an additional genetic change in GISTs.Methods and results:  We reviewed 125 patients with localized GISTs subjected to complete resection between 1990 and 2002. Mutational analyses of c‐kit exons 9, 11, 13 and 17, p53 exons 4–8 and immunohistochemistry for p53 protein were conducted using paraffin‐embedded tissues. Alterations of p53 were observed in 50 patients (40.0%). Based on the National Institutes of Health’s risk category, p53 alterations were noted more frequently in the higher risk categories (P = 0.041). With a median follow‐up of 56.5 months (range: 2.3–126.8), 5‐year relapse‐free survival (RFS) rates were 61.7% without p53 alterations, compared with only 40.2% with p53 alterations (P = 0.009). Multivariate analysis indicated that p53 alterations comprised an independent, poor prognostic factor for RFS, in addition to c‐kit mutations, large size, a high mitotic count and non‐gastric primary sites.Conclusions:  Alterations in p53 were more commonly observed in localized GISTs at higher risk of relapse. This suggests that they are significant as an independent, poor prognostic factor.
Individual patterns of habitat and nest‐site use by hosts promote transgenerational transmission of avian brood parasitism status
Authors: HOOVER JEFFREY P. , HAUBER MARK E. 
Published: August 2007

SummaryBrood parasitic birds impose variable fitness costs upon their hosts by causing the partial or complete loss of the hosts’ own brood. Growing evidence from multiple avian host–parasite taxa indicates that exposure of individual hosts to parasitism is not necessarily random and varies with habitat use, nest‐site selection, age or other phenotypic attributes. For instance, nonrandom patterns of brood parasitism had similar evolutionary consequences to those of limited horizontal transmission of parasites and pathogens across space and time and altered the dynamics of both population productivity and co‐evolutionary interactions of hosts and parasites.We report that brood parasitism status of hosts of brown‐headed cowbirdsMolothrus ateris also transmitted across generations in individually colour‐banded female prothonotary warblersProtonotaria citrea. Warbler daughters were more likely to share their mothers’ parasitism status when showing natal philopatry at the scale of habitat patch. Females never bred in their natal nestboxes but daughters of parasitized mothers had shorter natal dispersal distances than daughters of nonparasitized mothers. Daughters of parasitized mothers were more likely to use nestboxes that had been parasitized by cowbirds in both the previous and current years.Although difficult to document in avian systems, different propensities of vertical transmission of parasitism status within host lineages will have critical implications both for the evolution of parasite tolerance in hosts and, if found to be mediated by lineages of parasites themselves, for the difference in virulence between such extremes as the nestmate‐tolerant and nestmate‐eliminator strategies of different avian brood parasite species.
Experimental evidence for the effects of dung beetle functional group richness and composition on ecosystem function in a tropical forest
Authors: SLADE ELEANOR M. , MANN DARREN J. , VILLANUEVA JEROME F. , LEWIS OWEN T. 
Published: August 2007

SummaryMuch of the literature on the relationship between species richness or functional group richness and measures of ecosystem function focuses on a restricted set of ecosystem function measures and taxonomic groups. Few such studies have been carried out under realistic levels of diversity in the field, particularly in high diversity ecosystems such as tropical forests.We used exclusion experiments to study the effects of dung beetle functional group richness and composition on two interlinked and functionally important ecological processes, dung removal and secondary seed dispersal, in evergreen tropical forest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.Overall, both dung and seed removal increased with dung beetle functional group richness. However, levels of ecosystem functioning were idiosyncratic depending on the identity of the functional groups present, indicating an important role for functional group composition. There was no evidence for interference or competition among functional groups.We found strong evidence for overyielding and transgressive overyielding, suggesting complementarity or facilitation among functional groups. Not all mixtures showed transgressive overyielding, so that complementarity was restricted to particular functional group combinations.Beetles in a single functional group (large nocturnal tunnellers) had a disproportionate influence on measures of ecosystem function: in their absence dung removal is reduced by approximately 75%. However, a full complement of functional groups is required to maximize ecosystem functioning.This study highlights the importance of both functional group identity and species composition in determining the ecosystem consequences of extinctions or altered patterns in the relative abundance of species.