bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Industry sponsored anti-smoking ads and adolescent reactance: test of a boomerang effect
Authors: Henriksen L , Dauphinee A L , Wang Y , Fortmann S P 
Published: January 2006

Objective:To examine whether adolescents’ exposure to youth smoking prevention ads sponsored by tobacco companies promotes intentions to smoke, curiosity about smoking, and positive attitudes toward the tobacco industry.Design:A randomised controlled experiment compared adolescents’ responses to five smoking prevention ads sponsored by a tobacco company (Philip Morris or Lorillard), or to five smoking prevention ads sponsored by a non-profit organisation (the American Legacy Foundation), or to five ads about preventing drunk driving.Setting:A large public high school in California’s central valley.Subjects:A convenience sample of 9th and 10th graders (n  =  832) ages 14–17 years.Main outcome measures:Perceptions of ad effectiveness, intention to smoke, and attitudes toward tobacco companies measured immediately after exposure.Results:As predicted, adolescents rated Philip Morris and Lorillard ads less favourably than the other youth smoking prevention ads. Adolescents’ intention to smoke did not differ as a function of ad exposure. However, exposure to Philip Morris and Lorillard ads engendered more favourable attitudes toward tobacco companies.Conclusions:This study demonstrates that industry sponsored anti-smoking ads do more to promote corporate image than to prevent youth smoking. By cultivating public opinion that is more sympathetic toward tobacco companies, the effect of such advertising is likely to be more harmful than helpful to youth.
Are comprehensive environmental changes as effective as health education for smoking cessation?
Authors: Kadowaki T , Kanda H , Watanabe M , Okayama A , Miyamatsu N , Okamura T , Hayakawa T , Hishida K , Kita Y , Ueshima H 
Published: January 2006

Objectives:To compare the effectiveness of health education on smoking cessation for all smokers regardless of their willingness to quit smoking and cumulative environmental changes including designation of smoking places, legislation, and price rise.Design:Comparison of smoking cessation rates over two time periods: the period of health education on smoking cessation (1997–1999), and the period of cumulative environmental changes (2002–2004).Setting:An occupational setting in a radiator manufacturing factory in Japan.Subjects:All habitual male smokers who remained in the worksite through the pertinent time period (n  =  202 in the period of health education and n  =  170 in the period of environmental changes).Main outcome measurements:Smoking cessation rates at the end of each time period.Results:The smoking cessation rates over the periods of health education and environmental changes were 8.9% and 7.1%, respectively. There was no difference between these two proportions in a χ2test (p  =  0.513). The age adjustment did not significantly alter the cessation rate.Conclusions:Cumulative environmental changes are fairly effective in promoting smoking cessation, and may yield similar smoking cessation rates as a health education intervention reaching all smokers regardless of their willingness to quit smoking.
Detection and properties of the human proliferative monocyte subpopulation
Authors: Clanchy Felix I L , Holloway Alice C , Lari Roya , Cameron Paul U , Hamilton John A 
Published: January 2006

AbstractPeripheral blood monocyte subpopulations have been reported and can give rise to diverse, differentiated phenotypes. A subpopulation(s) of human monocytes can proliferate in vitro in response to macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF; or CSF-1). This population, termed the proliferative monocyte (PM), is presumably less mature than other monocytes; however, it has not been defined further. Previous studies monitoring the frequency of the slowly cycling PM from different donors indicated that the assay for their reproducible measurement required improvement. We demonstrate that for optimal PM detection, high 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine concentrations are required over a delayed and wide time-frame. Surface marker phenotyping by flow cytometry showed that freshly isolated PM are CD14+ and could be distinguished from two other human monocyte subpopulations, namely, the CD14loCD16+ and CD14loCD64– subsets. PM express relatively high levels of CD64 and CD33 but have relatively low CD13 expression; they are also c-Fms+ and human leukocyte antigen-DR+. Labeling with carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) enabled the estimation of the number of PM divisions over time. Following CFSE labeling and culture, PM were sorted from the nonproliferating population and shown to have a distinctive, spindle-shaped morphology and higher capacity to form multinucleated, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase+ cells in the presence of M-CSF and receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand. The phenotype and properties of the PM subpopulation were examined as a prelude to determining its role in disease using methods that can be applied to clarify human monocyte heterogeneity.
Epidemiology of Vancomycin-Induced Neutropenia In Patients Receiving Home Intravenous Infusion Therapy
Authors: Pai Manjunath P , Mercier Renee-Claude , Koster Sarah A 
Published: January 2006

Background: Vancomycin is frequently used to manage serious resistant gram-positive Infections. Neutropenia, whose epidemiology has not been well characterized, is a potentially serious adverse event associated with the use of vancomycin. Objective: To characterize the incidence and risk factors for development of vancomycin-induced neutropenia in patients treated with home intravenous vancomycin therapy. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted of adult patients receiving vancomycin therapy through the University of New Mexico Home Intravenous Infusion Clinic between January 1998 and December 2004. Data collection included demographics, comorbid conditions, dose and duration of vancomycin therapy, indications for vancomycin use, vancomycin concentrations, all concurrent medications, laboratory data, culture and susceptibility data, reasons for antibiotic alteration or discontinuations, all other recorded adverse events, management of adverse events, and outcomes of adverse events. Results: A total of 372 charts of patients managed through the clinic were reviewed and 114 patients treated with vancomycin were identified. Fourteen (12%) cases of vancomycin-induced neutropenia were identified; 4 (3.5%) cases included a reduction in absolute neutrophil count to 500 cells/mm3 or less. The mean ± SD duration of vancomycin therapy and time to neutropenia were 32 ± 29 and 26 ± 15 days, respectively. Laboratory monitoring was performed on a weekly basis and resolution of vancomycin-induced neutropenia occurred promptly after discontinuation. Total vancomycin doses used and serum concentrations were not associated with the development of neutropenia. Conclusions: Vancomycin-induced neutropenia may occur at a higher frequency than previously reported. Clinicians should monitor hematologic parameters at least weekly in patients receiving home intravenous vancomycin therapy.
Consolidation stress effects on the strength of stabilised Swedish soils
Authors: Åhnberg H. 
Published: January 2006

Common estimates of the design strength of soft soils stabilised by deep mixing do not take into account the effect of the confining stresses on the behaviour of the material. This is largely an effect of the limited knowledge of how different consolidation stresses affect the strength of such soils. Furthermore, an increasing variety of binders is used nowadays in deep mixing of soils, and it is uncertain whether these affect the stress dependence in different ways. To gain increased insight into this aspect, a series of triaxial compression tests, unconfined compression tests and oedometer tests has been performed on soils stabilised with cement, lime, cement–lime, cement–slag, cement–fly ash and slag–lime. The results show that both the drained and the undrained strength are dependent on the confining stresses. The extent of this stress dependence is affected by the stress and strength level. The type of binder used affects the achieved strength level to a great extent, but in principle is of less importance for the response of the material. The results provide a set of parameters for rough estimates of the stress dependence for both the undrained and drained strength of stabilised soils. By applying the concept of quasi-preconsolidation pressures, an improved method of modelling the strength of stabilised soils is proposed.Les évaluations courantes de la résistance nominale des sols tendres stabilisés par mixage profond ne prennent pas en compte l'effet des contraintes de confinement sur le comportement de la matière. Ceci est dû, en grande partie, au niveau de connaissance limité sur les effets de différentes contraintes de consolidation sur la résistance de ces sols. De plus, une variété croissante d'agents liants est utilisée aujourd'hui dans le mixage profond des sols; or, on ne peut déterminer dans quelle mesure ceux-ci affectent le rôle de la contrainte. Pour mieux étudier ce point, une série d'essais de compression triaxiale, d'essais de compression non confinée et d'essais oedométriques a été réalisée dans des sols stabilités au ciment, à la chaux, au ciment-chaux, au ciment-machefer, au ciment-cendre volante et au machefer-chaux. Les résultats montrent que tant la résistance drainée que la résistance non drainée dépendent des contraintes de confinement. L'étendue de cette dépendance est affectée par le niveau de contrainte et de résistance. Le type d'agent liant utilisé affecte dans une grande mesure le niveau de résistance atteint mais en principe, son importance est moindre quant à la réponse de la matière. Les résultats donnent un jeu de paramètres qui servira à des évaluations approximatives de la dépendance vis-à-vis de la contrainte pour la résistance non drainée et la résistance drainée des sols stabilisés. En appliquant le concept de pressions de quasi-préconsolidation, nous proposons une méthode améliorée pour la modélisation de la résistance des sols stabilisés.
Single‐step recovery and solid‐phase refolding of inclusion body proteins using a polycationic purification tag
Authors: Hedhammar My , Alm Tove , Gräslund Torbjörn , Hober Sophia 
Published: January 2006

AbstractA strategy for purification of inclusion body‐forming proteins is described, in which the positively charged domain Zbasic is used as a fusion partner for capture of denatured proteins on a cation exchange column. It is shown that the purification tag is selective under denaturing conditions. Furthermore, the new strategy for purification of proteins from inclusion bodies is compared with the commonly used method for purification of His6‐tagged inclusion body proteins. Finally, the simple and effective means of target protein capture provided by the Zbasic tag is further successfully explored for solid‐phase refolding. This procedure has the inherited advantage of combining purification and refolding in one step and offers the advantage of eluting the concentrated product in a suitable buffer.
Production of D‐arabitol by a metabolic engineered strain of Bacillus subtilis
Authors: Povelainen Mira , Miasnikov Andrei N. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractA novel method for D‐arabitol production with a metabolically engineered Bacillus subtilis strain is described. A known transketolase‐deficient and D‐ribose‐producing mutant of B. subtilis (ATCC 31094) was further modified by disruption of its rpi (D‐ribose phosphate isomerase) gene to create a D‐ribulose‐ and D‐xylulose‐producing B. subtilis strain. Expression of the D‐arabitol phosphate dehydrogenase gene of Enterococcus avium in the D‐ribulose‐ and D‐xylulose‐producing strain resulted in a strain of B. subtilis capable of converting D‐glucose to D‐arabitol with a high yield (38%) and little by‐product formation.
Environmental behaviour in Chicago automotive repair micro‐enterprises (MEPs)
Authors: Mir Debby F. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis study analyzes the relationship between internal and external factors that influence environmental behaviour in traditional service micro‐enterprises, focusing on Chicago motor vehicle repair (MVR) firms five years after the Clean Break amnesty program and subsequent inspections of MVR firms. The survey explored the influence of firm and manager characteristics, government intervention, and market and social pressures and opportunities on environmental awareness and action. Environmental action was significantly higher in older firms (more experienced owners) and in auto‐refinishing firms practicing spray painting. While awareness levels were mixed for dealerships and franchises (contracted to larger organizations), environmental action was good for six out of the seven firms, which may reflect expectations for higher professional rather than environmental standards. However, environmental awareness and behaviour levels were mixed for trade association members. Owners obtain most environmental information from suppliers and government agencies, but confuse government responsibilities and attribute greater authority to non‐environmental agencies. Finally, micro‐enterprises avoid voluntary environmental compliance programs and prefer targeted enforcement and insurance requirements that promote a level playing field. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Synthesis and Structure—Activity Relationships of 1,2,4‐Triazoles as a Novel Class of Potent Tubulin Polymerization Inhibitors.
Authors: Ouyang Xiaohu , et al. et al. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access the actual ChemInform Abstract, please click on HTML or PDF.
Roots of cube polynomials of median graphs
Authors: Brešar Boštjan , Klavžar Sandi , Škrekovski Riste 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe cube polynomial c(G,x) of a graph G is defined as $\sum\nolimits_{i \ge 0} {\alpha _i ( G)x^i }$, where αi(G) denotes the number of induced i‐cubes of G, in particular, α0(G) = |V(G)| and α1(G) = |E(G)|. Let G be a median graph. It is proved that every rational zero of c(G,x) is of the form −((t + 1)/t for some integer t > 0 and that c(G,x) always has a real zero in the interval [−2,−1). Moreover, c(G,x) has a p‐multiple zero if and only if G is the Cartesian product of p trees all of the same order. Graphs of acyclic cubical complexes are characterized as the graphs G for which c(H, −2) = 0 holds for every 2‐connected convex subgraph H of G. Median graphs that are Cartesian products are also characterized. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 52: 37–50, 2006
Role of prednisolone treatment in severe Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia in children
Authors: Lee Kyung‐Yil , Lee Hyung‐Shin , Hong Ja‐Hyun , Lee Mi‐Hee , Lee Joon‐Sung , Burgner David , Lee Byung‐Churl 
Published: January 2006

AbstractMycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MP) is responsible for 10–40% of cases of pediatric community‐acquired pneumonia. Occasionally, progression to severe pneumonia occurs despite appropriate antibiotic therapy. We retrospectively evaluated the effect of prednisolone in 15 children with MP whose clinical and radiographic course worsened despite broad‐spectrum antibiotics, including appropriate macrolides. The mean ( ± SD) age was 6.1 ± 1.9 years, and 10 were boys. All children had received macrolides at presentation, but they had persistent fever and progressively worsening radiographic findings. In addition to broad‐spectrum antimicrobial therapy, we added prednisolone (1 mg/kg for 3–7 days, then tapered over 7 days) on day 6 (±1.5 days) of admission. Fourteen children became afebrile within 24 hr, and their clinical status and radiographic findings improved over several days. The white blood cell count at presentation was 7,500 ± 2,000/mm3, with a proportion demonstrating lymphopenia (lymphocyte differential, 19.7 ± 5.7%). In conclusion, corticosteroid treatment appeared to be temporally associated with clinical and radiographic improvement, and may be helpful for reducing morbidity in children with macrolide‐nonresponsive severe MP. Further studies may be warranted. Pediatr Pulmonol. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of a mutation on the structure and dynamics of an α‐helical antifreeze protein in water and ice
Authors: Graether Steffen P. , Slupsky Carolyn M. , Sykes Brian D. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractOne strategy of psychrophilic organisms to survive subzero temperature is to produce antifreeze protein (AFPs), which inhibit the growth of macromolecular ice. To better understand the binding mechanism, the structure and dynamics of several AFPs have been studied by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X‐ray crystallography. The results have shown that different organisms can use diverse structures (α‐helix, β‐helix, or different globular folds) to achieve the same function. A number of studies have focused on understanding the relationship between the α‐helical structure of fish type I AFP and its function as an inhibitor of ice growth. The results have not explained whether the 90% activity loss caused by the conservative mutation of two threonines to serines (Thr13Ser/Thr24Ser) is attributable to a change in protein structure in solution or in ice. We examine here the structure and dynamics of the winter flounder type I AFP and the mutant Thr13Ser/Thr24Ser in both solution and solid states using a wide range of NMR approaches. Both proteins remain fully α‐helical at all temperatures and in ice, demonstrating that the activity change must therefore not be attributable to changes in the protein fold or dynamics but differences in surface properties. Proteins 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
WHIM Descriptors of Shape
Authors: Gramatica Paola 
Published: January 2006

AbstractWHIM descriptors are 3D structural descriptors obtained from the (x,y,z)‐atomic coordinates of a molecular conformation of a chemical, and are used successfully in QSAR modelling. They are built in so as to capture relevant 3D information regarding different features of molecular structure: size, shape, symmetry and atom distribution. Different weights are used to obtain particular information for each set of descriptors. Recently, some doubts have been raised in the literature regarding the ability of Weighted Holistic Invariant Molecular (WHIM) descriptors of shape (the K non‐directional WHIM descriptors) to describe the difference between linear and non‐linear molecules. A data set of seventy aliphatic and aromatic chemicals of different shape (linear and branched congeners) has been studied here, and is represented by K descriptors (global non‐directional WHIM descriptors of shape) based on different weights. The K descriptors range from 0 for a spherical molecule to 1 for a perfectly linear molecule. The present study confirms the findings, already reported by the author, that the WHIM descriptors of shape (K) are unequivocally able to differentiate linear and non‐linear molecules.
The Bounding Hyperplanes of a Configuration of Traits
Authors: Thurstonb L. L. 
Published: January 2006

The purpose of this paper is to describe one of the methods of analyzing a configuration of psychological tests or traits in the problem of isolating primary factors. In factorial analysis a set of traits or tests is represented by a set of radial vectors which are so related to each other that the scalar product of each pair is equal to the corresponding experimentally observed correlation coefficient. Each radial vector represents a trait. The dimensionality of the trait configuration is the rank of the reduced correlational matrix. The reduced correlational matrix has communalities in the diagonal cells.If there are n trait vectors in the configuration and if the dimensionality is r, then each of the n traits can be described as a linear function, a weighted sum, of any set of r linearly independent vectors. It is assumed here that n > r. These r traits in terms of vchich one may describe or comprehend each of the traits in the configuration have been denoted reference traits.
A Note on the Relation between Coefficient Alpha and Guttman’s “split-half” Lower Bounds
Authors: Jackson Paul H. 
Published: January 2006

Use of the same term “split-half” for division of an n-item test into two subtests containing equal [Cronbach], and possibly unequal [Guttman], numbers of items sometimes leads to a misunderstanding about the relation between Guttman’s maximum split-half bound and Cronbach’s coefficient alpha.Coefficient alpha is the average of split-half bounds in the Cronbach sense and so is not larger than the maximum split-half bound in either sense when n is even. When n is odd, however, splithalf bounds exist only in the Guttman sense and the largest of these may be smaller than coefficient alpha.
Renal function in tyrosinaemia type I after liver transplantation: A long‐term follow‐up
Authors: Pierik L. J. W. M. , van Spronsen F. J. , Bijleveld C. M. A. , van Dael C. M. L. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryHereditary tyrosinaemia type I is an autosomal recessive inborn error of tyrosine catabolism caused by a deficiency of the enzyme fumarylacetoacetase that results in liver failure, hepatocellular carcinoma, renal tubular dysfunction and acute intermittent porphyria. When treated with liver transplantation, tyrosinaemia type I was considered to be cured. Some years after the first liver transplantations in these patients, some reports focused on the renal function after transplantation. These reports showed that urinary succinylacetone excretion remained but that tubular function normalized. In this report we discuss the long‐term renal follow‐up (mean follow‐up time 11 years, range 7–14 years) after liver transplantation in 9 patients with tyrosinaemia type I treated by liver transplantation in our centre. An evaluation was made of renal function and succinylacetone excretion in urine. In all patients we found a persistent excretion of succinylacetone in the urine. With respect to the glomerular function, we can conclude that there is no clear change in GFR. At the same time, tubulopathy persisted in some patients. We consider that excretion of metabolites such as succinylacetone will be an important contributing factor to tubular dysfunction after liver transplantation in patients with tyrosinaemia type I. Therefore, notwithstanding the major effect of liver transplantation on tyrosine metabolism, renal tubular dysfunction remains at risk and needs careful monitoring. Progressive tubular dysfunction can cause glomerular damage. The use of low‐dose NTBC might be considered after liver transplantation in case of tubulopathy to prevent progression of tubular and glomerular dysfunction.