bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
New therapies for neovascular age‐related macular degeneration: critical appraisal of the current evidence
Authors: Virgili Gianni , Do Diana V. , Bressler Neil M. , Menchini Ugo 
Published: June 2006

Abstract.During the past 20 years, several multicentre clinical trials have investigated different therapies for neovascular age‐related macular degeneration (AMD). These landmark studies have provided the scientific community with powerful data regarding the ability of laser photocoagulation, verteporfin therapy, pegaptanib sodium and submacular surgery to treat particular choroidal neovascular lesion types. Accurate interpretation of data from these trials is essential to enable clinicians to make informed decisions about therapeutic interventions. Furthermore, several new treatment options are likely to become available in the next few years and clinicians will have to decide how effective these therapies may be, and how (or if) they should be used in clinical practice. It is therefore timely to review the strengths and weaknesses of the body of evidence for the currently available therapeutic options for patients with choroidal neovascularization due to AMD. Evaluation of the quality of reporting in past clinical trials will also enable critical review of new studies that will be published in the future. This review summarizes the design, reporting and results of key randomized clinical trials, in addition to evaluating the available evidence for new therapies and identifying the important issues that need to be considered when evaluating their efficacy.
Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of minor salivary glands: a clinical study of 16 cases and review of the literature
Authors: Triantafillidou K , Dimitrakopoulos J , Iordanidis F , Koufogiannis D 
Published: June 2006

Objective:  Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common malignant tumor of salivary glands with a widely diverse biologic behavior that is correlated with the histological grade of the tumor. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of MEC of minor salivary glands in a group of 16 patients, who were treated in our clinic, and to discuss the management of this carcinoma.Materials and methods:  Between 1985 and 2000, 16 patients with MEC of minor salivary glands were treated in the Clinic of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the ‘G. Papanikolaou’ General Hospital, in Thessaloniki. The age range was 16–65 years. The distribution of the primary sites was: hard plate (one), soft palate (two), hard and soft palate (three), hard and soft palate with spread in paranasal sinus and nasal cavity (one), buccal mucosa (three), hard palate, alveolar process and buccal mucosa (two), and retromolar triangle (our). The tumors were clinically staged according to the tumor nodes metastase (TNM) system (Seifert, 1991). All patients were treated radically with surgery. The surgery was combined with radiotherapy in nine patients. Radiotherapy was delivered using Co‐60. Doses ranged from 50 to 60 Gy and the duration of the therapy ranged from 25 to 35 days. Immunohistochemical assay of the expression of the Ki‐67 antigen was performed on a subset of 15 cases.Results:  The mean follow‐up range was 4–14 years. From the 16 patients with MECs 10 (62.5%) were alive and five (35.6%) had died from the disease. Four patients were free of the disease for more than 5 years (range 8–14), five patients were free of the disease for 5 years and one patient was free of the disease for 4 years. One patient lived more than 10 years and died from another cause. Local recurrence developed in one patient 10 years after the initial treatment. Lymph node metastases occurred in one patient within the first year after the initial surgical treatment. Distant metastases (two in bones and one in lungs) occurred in three patients within 2 years after completing the treatment. The Pearson chi‐square statistical analysis was used for comparing the Ki‐67 values in correlation with histological grade of the tumors. The Ki‐67 expression was only 1% in low‐grade MECs, while in intermediate‐grade tumors it was estimated between 3 and 4%. The high‐grade tumors had increased expression (10%) of tumor cells.Conclusion:  Complete surgical excision is the treatment of choice for MECs. Adequate excision is important in all grades of tumors. Prognosis of MECs is a function of the histological grade, adequacy of excision and clinical staging. The immunohistochemical study of Ki‐67 expression may provide additional prognostic information for this tumor.
Association of uncultivated oral phylotypes AU126 and X112 with periodontitis
Authors: Li CL , Liang JP , Jiang YT 
Published: June 2006

Objective:  To discuss the relationship between uncultivated pathogenic bacteria and periodontitis.Subjects and methods:  Specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers were designed for phylotypes AU126 and X112; PCRs were applied to determine the prevalence of these phylotypes in 35 patients with chronic periodontitis, 26 patients with plaque‐induced gingivitis and 20 healthy control subjects.Results:  The specificity of each primer is validated on the basis of the results from sequence analysis of PCR products. AU126 and X112 were detected in the subgingival plaque samples in all the three groups. The prevalence of AU126 in subgingival plaque in chronic periodontitis (77.1%) and plaque‐induced gingivitis (61.5%) is relatively higher than that in the healthy subjects (10.0%), and the difference is statistically significant (P < 0.01). The prevalence of X112 in subgingival plaque in periodontitis patients (85.7%) is higher than that in healthy subjects (30.0%), the difference (P < 0.01) being equally statistically significant. The difference between the chronic periodontitis group and the plaque‐induced gingivitis group (50.0%) is statistically significant (P < 0.05).Conclusions:  It might be assumed that the novel uncultivated AU126 phylotype could possibly be related to chronic periodontitis and plaque‐induced gingivitis, and that X112 might play a role in the progress of lesion from gingivitis to periodontitis.
Law and Literature in the Romantic Era: The Law’s Fictions
Authors: Chaplin Sue 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThis essay examines the emerging ideological relation between literature and law in the Romantic era and the significance of this relation to modern Western conceptualisations of what constitutes ‘law’ and ‘literature’. In particular, the article explores the problematics of juridical textuality in the Romantic period – the extent to which the law comes to be regarded as text– and seeks to set this within the context of developing conceptualisations of ‘literature’ as a juridically defined commodity. The modern understanding of ‘literature’ began to be shaped in the Romantic era by a juridical re‐formulation of the relation between the author, the text, the reader and the publisher: creative, original writing –‘literature’– becomes a commodity copyrighted to an author/publisher. This development is accompanied by the State’s recognition of the growing cultural and political power of new and diverse textual forms in an era of the mass production and consumption of ‘literature’, and the article considers alongside the contemporaneous formulation of copyright regulations the draconian censorship of textual production in this period. With reference to diverse juridical and literary sources (Clara Reeve’s The Progress of Romance, Blackstone’s Commentaries, Bentham’s Fragment on Government, Godwin’s Enquiry and Caleb Williams, amongst others), I examine the extent to which these various phenomena reveal the subjection of textuality in the Romantic era to the modern force of law.
Chaucer and the Theory Wars: Attack of the Historicists? The Psychoanalysts Strike Back? Or a New Hope?
Authors: Sebastian John T. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThis essay surveys recent exchanges between historicism and psychoanalysis in the criticism of Chaucer’s poetry. Some of these exchanges have been heated. In some accounts the differences appear irreconcilable. However, other accounts suggest that historicism and psychoanalysis share much common ground.
Managing older adults with diabetes
Authors: Hainer Theresa A. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractPurpose: To review special considerations in the management of adults 65 years of age and older with diabetes mellitus (DM) with particular attention to initiation of insulin in the management of type 2 DM (DM2), Medicare eligibility for insulin pump therapy, and intensive insulin therapy in both type 1 DM (DM1) and DM2 in older adults.Data sources: American Diabetes Association Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes, selected research articles, textbooks, and Internet sources.Conclusions: American Diabetes Association, American Association of Diabetes Educators, and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist acknowledge that no long‐term studies have been conducted in older adults with DM. Furthermore, these groups as well as the American Geriatric Society conclude that a person’s functional capacity and not age should determine the treatment modality most beneficial in each situation.Implications for practice: Management of diabetes in the older adult is a common clinical scenario for primary care providers (PCPs). Treatment strategies follow a continuum over time from lifestyle modification to intensive management. Intensive insulin therapy, through the use of either multiple daily injections or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion using insulin pumps, has demonstrated benefit in both DM1 and DM2; however, there is evidence that PCPs are reluctant to initiate insulin. Moreover, in the management of older adults with diabetes, evidence‐based outcomes regarding intensive management are lacking. Further studies are needed.
Post–Hurricane Katrina challenge: Vibrio vulnificus
Authors: Rhoads Jacqueline 
Published: June 2006

AbstractPurpose: To describe the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Vibrio vulnificus, a rare organism that surfaced following Huricane Katrina and caused serious problems for many victims.Data sources: Selected scientific literature supplemented with case presentations of patients seen following Katrina.Conclusions: After Hurricane Katrina and as a result of extensive flooding of below–sea‐level New Orleans, toxic waters contaminated many areas of the city. As a result of this extensive flooding of toxic waters, people were exposed to V. vulnificus.Implications for practice: Consider V. vulnificus in the differential diagnosis and culture all wounds for this organism in any patients exposed to contaminated seawater. Prompt initiation of antibiotic treatment, especially before the onset of septic shock, provides the best outcomes.
Knowledge and practices of Ohio nurse practitioners regarding food access of patients
Authors: Tscholl Elizabeth , Holben David H. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractPurposes: To assess the self‐identified food security knowledge and practices of nurse practitioners (NPs) in Ohio and the relationships of food security knowledge and practices to NP characteristics.Data sources: This study utilized a survey approach for data collection. Participants were licensed NPs with prescriptive authority in Ohio who were randomly selected from the Ohio licensure list and responded to a questionnaire (n= 288) with demographic and food security–related questions.Conclusions: Less than one third of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were knowledgeable about the topic of food security. Education of NPs about food insecurity and about incorporation of food security principles into the healthcare process is needed.Implications for practice: Food insecurity can negatively impact compliance to prescribed treatments. NPs should address food security issues in order to provide specialized, individualized care to patients in order to achieve positive outcomes. Through evaluation of patients’ food access, and factors that are related to food insecurity, this can be achieved.
Efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in preventing the symptoms of muscle damage
Authors: Connolly D A J , McHugh M P , Padilla-Zakour O I 
Published: June 2006

Background:Numerous antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents have been identified in tart cherries.Objective:To test the efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in preventing the symptoms of exercise induced muscle damage.Methods:This was a randomised, placebo controlled, crossover design. Fourteen male college students drank 12 fl oz of a cherry juice blend or a placebo twice a day for eight consecutive days. A bout of eccentric elbow flexion contractions (2 × 20 maximum contractions) was performed on the fourth day of supplementation. Isometric elbow flexion strength, pain, muscle tenderness, and relaxed elbow angle were recorded before and for four days after the eccentric exercise. The protocol was repeated two weeks later with subjects who took the placebo initially, now taking the cherry juice (and vice versa). The opposite arm performed the eccentric exercise for the second bout to avoid the repeated bout protective effect.Results:Strength loss and pain were significantly less in the cherry juice trial versus placebo (time by treatment: strength p<0.0001, pain p  =  0.017). Relaxed elbow angle (time by treatment p  =  0.85) and muscle tenderness (time by treatment p  =  0.81) were not different between trials.Conclusions:These data show efficacy for this cherry juice in decreasing some of the symptoms of exercise induced muscle damage. Most notably, strength loss averaged over the four days after eccentric exercise was 22% with the placebo but only 4% with the cherry juice.
Angiogenesis in nodal B cell lymphomas: a high throughput study
Authors: Tzankov Alexandar , Heiss Simone , Ebner Stephanie , Sterlacci William , Schaefer Georg , Augustin Florian , Fiegl Michael , Dirnhofer Stephan 
Published: June 2006

Aim:To assess the biological significance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) A, VEGF receptor (Flk-1) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) expression with respect to microvessel density (MVD), proliferative activity (Ki-67), expression of p53 and clinical presentation in a large cohort of nodal B cell lymphomas.Methods:An immunohistochemical and morphometric study was performed on a validated tissue microarray containing 271 B cell lymphoma specimens, 197 of which included follow-up data. Statistical assessment was done by Pearson’s χ2test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, analysis of variance and survival analysis.Results:266 (98%) cases were evaluable. Strong VEGF expression was observed in only 20 diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCLs). Flk-1 and COX2 were expressed in 53 and 21 cases, respectively, mainly in DLBCLs, follicular lymphoma (FL) grade 3 and mantle cell lymphomas (MCLs), in a low proportion of cells. MVD decreased in the following order: DLBCLs, FLs, MCLs and small lymphocytic lymphomas/chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (SLL/CLLs). VEGF expression correlated with Ki-67, p53 and COX2 expression in the whole cohort and in DLBCLs. Flk-1 expression correlated with Ki-67 in the cohort and in SLL/CLL and FL grade 1 and 2. COX2 expression correlated with Ki-67 and p53. The analysed angiogenesis parameters did not correlate with clinical parameters or survival.Conclusions:Angiogenesis plays a differential role in various B cell lymphomas. Aggressive lymphomas express the potential molecular therapeutic targets VEGF and COX2, and have higher MVD. In a few low proliferation-fraction lymphomas, Flk-1 might have a role in proliferative advantage. Therapeutic strategies aimed at angiogenesis should take into account lymphoma heterogeneity.
Insurer Stock Price Responses to Hurricane Floyd: An Event Study Analysis Using Storm Characteristics
Authors: Ewing Bradley T. , Hein Scott E. , Kruse Jamie Brown 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
This research uses an event study methodology to examine the effect of Hurricane Floyd and the associated scientific and media releases on the market value of insurance firms. The research is unique in that information describing the development of the storm over time and space is incorporated to determine how the financial market reacted to changing news about a storm's characteristics. Key empirical results can be summarized as follows. Overall, there was a negative effect on insurer stock price changes around the synoptic life cycle of the storm; however, this effect was neither constant nor was it always negative on each day of the cycle. Significant market reaction to the news concerning the path and strength of the storm prior to the storm landfall was found. The results herein suggest that markets find reliable time-sensitive reports provided by the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center, and other media outlets to be valuable information.
The Use of a Modified Ebert–McBride Technique to Evaluate Mesoscale Model QPF as a Function of Convective System Morphology during IHOP 2002
Authors: Grams Jeremy S. , Gallus Willam A. , Koch Steven E. , Wharton Linda S. , Loughe Andrew , Ebert Elizabeth E. 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
The Ebert–McBride technique (EMT) is an entity-oriented method useful for quantitative precipitation verification. The EMT was modified to optimize its ability to identify contiguous rain areas (CRAs) during the 2002 International H2O Project (IHOP). This technique was then used to identify systematic sources of error as a function of observed convective system morphology in three 12-km model simulations run over the IHOP domain: Eta, the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5), and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF). The EMT was fine-tuned to optimize the pattern matching of forecasts to observations for the scales of precipitation systems observed during IHOP. To investigate several error measures provided by the EMT, a detailed morphological analysis of observed systems was performed using radar data for all CRAs identified in the IHOP domain. The modified EMT suggests that the Eta Model produced average rain rates, peak rainfall amounts, and total rain volumes that were lower than observed for almost all types of convective systems, likely because of its production of overly smoothed and low-variability quantitative precipitation forecasts. The MM5 and WRF typically produced average rain rates and peak rainfall amounts that were larger than observed in most linear convective systems. However, the rain volume for these models was too low for almost all types of convective systems, implying a sizeable underestimate in areal coverage. All three models forecast rainfall too far northwest for linear systems. The results for the WRF and MM5 are consistent with previous observations of mesoscale models run with explicit microphysics and no convective parameterization scheme, suggesting systematic problems with the prediction of mesoscale convective system cold pool dynamics.
The Role of Sublimational Cooling in a Late-Season Midwestern Snow Event
Authors: Market Patrick S. , Przybylinski Ronald W. , Rochette Scott M. 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
Analysis is provided of a surprise late-season snow event over eastern Missouri and western Illinois. While snow totals failed to exceed 15 cm (6 in.) at any single location, the system was noteworthy because of the poor performance of public, private, and media forecasts in anticipating the event. Using observed data and a successful simulation with a mesoscale numerical model, the event is scrutinized to determine the forcing mechanisms for the precipitation over a small area. A region of enhanced frontogenesis is diagnosed over the region both in the observed data as well as the model output. That the precipitation fell as snow is shown to be the result of a dry layer of air between the surface and the cloud base that saturated and cooled due largely to snow sublimation–evaporation in just a few hours to permit the fall of snow uninhibited from the cloud base to the ground.
Value of Human-Generated Perturbations in Short-Range Ensemble Forecasts of Severe Weather
Authors: Homar Victor , Stensrud David J. , Levit Jason J. , Bright David R. 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
During the spring of 2003, the Storm Prediction Center, in partnership with the National Severe Storms Laboratory, conducted an experiment to explore the value of having operational severe weather forecasters involved in the generation of a short-range ensemble forecasting system. The idea was to create a customized ensemble to provide guidance on the severe weather threat over the following 48 h. The forecaster was asked to highlight structures of interest in the control run and, using an adjoint model, a set of perturbations was obtained and used to generate a 32-member fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) ensemble. The performance of this experimental ensemble is objectively evaluated and compared with other available forecasts (both deterministic and ensemble) using real-time severe weather reports and precipitation in the central and eastern parts of the continental United States. The experimental ensemble outperforms the operational forecasts considered in the study for episodes with moderate-to-high probability of severe weather occurrence and those with moderate probability of heavy precipitation. On the other hand, the experimental ensemble forecasts of low-probability severe weather and low precipitation amounts have less skill than the operational models, arguably due to the lack of global dispersion in a system designed to target the spread over specific areas of concern for severe weather. Results from an additional test ensemble constructed by combining automatic and manually perturbed members show the best results for numerical forecasts of severe weather for all probability values. While the value of human contribution in the numerical forecast is demonstrated, further research is needed to determine how to better use the skill and experience of the forecaster in the construction of short-range ensembles.
Forecasting Tornadic Thunderstorm Potential in Alberta Using Environmental Sounding Data. Part II: Helicity, Precipitable Water, and Storm Convergence
Authors: Dupilka Max L. , Reuter Gerhard W. 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
Sounding parameters are examined to determine whether they can help distinguish between Alberta, Canada, severe thunderstorms that spawn significant tornadoes (F2–F4), weak tornadoes (F0–F1), or nontornadic severe storms producing large hail. Parameters investigated included storm-relative helicity (SRH), precipitable water (PW), and storm convergence. The motivation for analyzing these parameters is that, in theory, they might affect the rate of change of vertical vorticity generation through vortex stretching, vortex tilting, and baroclinic effects. Precipitable water showed statistically significant differences between significant tornadic storms and those severe storms that produced weak tornadoes or no tornadoes. All significant tornadic cases in the dataset used had PW values exceeding 22 mm, with a median value of 24 mm. Values of PW between 19 and 23 mm were generally associated with weak tornadic storms. Computed values of storm convergence, height of the lifted condensation level, and normalized most unstable CAPE did not discriminate between any of the three storm categories. The SRH showed discrimination of significant tornadoes from both weak tornadic and nontornadic severe storm groups. The Alberta data suggest that significant tornadoes tended to occur with SRH &gt; 150 m2 s−2 computed for the 0–3-km layer whereas weak tornadoes were typically formed for values between 30 and 150 m2 s−2. Threshold values of SRH were lower than those suggested in studies based on storm observations throughout much of the United States.