bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Surgical treatment of haemorrhoidal disease with CO2 laser and Milligan–Morgan cold scalpel technique
Authors: Pandini L. C. , Nahas S. C. , Nahas C. S. R. , Marques C. F. S. , Sobrado C. W. , Kiss D. R. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractObjective  To prospectively compare immediate postoperative results of the surgical treatment of haemorrhoidal disease (HD) by Milligan–Morgan technique using either the CO2 laser or cold scalpel.Methods  Forty patients with grade III/IV HD were prospectively randomized to undergo surgical treatment (Milligan–Morgan) using either the CO2 laser (group A) or the cold scalpel method (group B). Data were compared regarding postoperative pain, complications, healing time, return to normal activity and patient satisfaction. Patients were blinded to treatment method until the completion of the study. Postoperative outcomes were assessed by patient questionnaire and outpatient follow‐up visits. Pain was assessed by Visual Analogue Scale and analgesic consumption.Results  Twenty patients were randomized into each group and were comparable relative to mean age, gender and grade of HD. There were no statistically significant differences regarding postoperative pain measured (P =0.17) or consumption of oral (P = 0.741) and parenteral analgesics (P = 0.18) between the two groups. Mean pain score at the first bowel movement was significantly higher in group A (P = 0.035), although the use of analgesics was similar in both the groups. There were no differences regarding complications, mean healing time, return to normal activities and patient satisfaction.Conclusion  There were no differences in the immediate results after Milligan–Morgan haemorrhoidectomy using either the CO2 laser or cold scalpel regarding postoperative pain, complications, healing time, return to normal activities or patient satisfaction.
Surgical manipulation of the large intestine increases bacterial translocation in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery
Authors: Reddy B. S. , Gatt M. , Sowdi R. , MacFie J. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractObjective  Several animal studies have suggested that surgical manipulation of the intestine alters the barrier function and promotes bacterial translocation (BT). Whether this occurs in humans has never been investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of surgical manipulation of the intestine on the prevalence of BT in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery.Method  This was a prospective observational study of 50 consecutive elective surgical patients in whom a sample of mesenteric lymph node (MLN) was harvested after mobilization of the colon, prior to ligation of the vascular pedicle. These results were compared with 472 historical controls, who had a sample of MLN taken before the mobilization of colon during laparotomy. A positive culture of MLN confirmed BT.Results  BT was identified in 39/49 (79.6%) patients in the study group compared with 54/472 (11.4%) patients in the control group. This difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001, χ2 test).Conclusion  Surgical manipulation of the bowel does increase the prevalence of BT and therefore is associated with changes in gut barrier function in elective surgical patients.
A prospective comparison between clinical outcome and open‐configuration magnetic resonance defecography findings before and after surgery for symptomatic rectocele
Authors: Hübner M. , Hetzer F. , Weishaupt D. , Hahnloser D. , Clavien P.‐A. , Demartines N. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractBackground  The correlation between clinical symptoms and anatomical findings by conventional imaging is poor in patients with rectoceles. The aim of this prospective study was to assess and to correlate symptomatic changes after anterior levatorplasty with morphologic changes visualized by magnetic resonance defecography (MRD).Method  Fourteen women with a median age of 57 (range 37–83) accepted to participate. Seven of 14 had previous hysterectomy. Patients underwent MRD before surgery and again 6 months postsurgery. Pre‐ and postoperative symptoms and quality of life (QoL) (Eypasch) were assessed. Faecal and urinary incontinence were graded (Wexner‐ / Hanley‐score).Results  The median Eypasch‐score improved from 90 (range 38–106) to 106 (range 29–133) after surgery (P = 0.016). Similarly, the Wexner‐score ameliorated from 8 (range 0–20) to 4.5 (range 0–18; P = 0.02). Seven patients described new dyspareunia postoperatively. The median follow up was 16.5 months (range 9–45). The median rectocele size decreased from 37 mm (range 30–48) preoperatively to 12 mm (range 0–42) postoperatively (P = 0.004). Furthermore, enteroceles were corrected and pelvic floor descent was significantly reduced after surgery. Only the clinical symptom of incomplete evacuation strongly correlated with the respective radiological finding of contrast dye trapping (Rho = 0.822; P = 0.001).Conclusion  Anterior levatorplasty improved QoL in patients with symptomatic rectocele. Postsurgical correction of rectocele is accurately documented by MRD. Only moderate correlation between morphologic and clinical improvements was observed.
Crohn's‐like colitis, enterocolitis and perianal disease in Hermansky–Pudlak syndrome
Authors: Hazzan D. , Seward S. , Stock H. , Zisman S. , Gabriel K. , Harpaz N. , Bauer J. J. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractHermansky–Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is a rare autosomal recessively inherited disorder consisting of the triad of oculocutaneous tyrosinase‐positive albinism, prolonged bleeding time secondary to platelet storage pool defect and ceroid depositions within the reticuloendothelial system. Some patients also reportedly have gastrointestinal (GI) complications related to chronic granulomatous colitis, enterocolitis and extensive granulomatous perianal disease, the later previously unreported in the literature. These observations suggest that the GI complications of HPS are due to the development of classical Crohn's disease. The implications for disease pathogenesis and surgical management are discussed.
Environmental social controls and capital investments: Australian evidence
Authors: Wood Dorothy , Ross Donald G. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractEnvironmental social controls (ESCs) such as mandatory disclosure, regulations, subsidies, and stakeholder opinion are intended to improve firm environmental performance. This paper reports ESC importance to Australian financial managers in making capital investment decisions. A decision‐making experiment showed managers to be most responsive to stakeholder opinion (42 per cent), followed by subsidization (26 per cent) and regulatory cost (22 per cent). Mandatory disclosure has very little influence (10 per cent). ESC interaction effects are limited so coordination of ESC policy is not a primary concern. High degrees of managerial self‐insight suggest policy changes would be enhanced by close consultations with the managers involved.
Unbalanced Growth and the Sustainability of the Current Account Deficit
Authors: Bonatti Luigi 
Published: August 2006

AbstractIn an endogenous growth framework, a two‐country economy is modeled with an integrated product and asset markets. The countries differ with respect to the share of their GDP that is redistributed through the fiscal system, and the country where this share is smaller tends to grow faster. This high‐growth country finances a portion of its investment expenditures by attracting funds from the low‐growth country, whose growth rate is depressed by this outflow. The high‐growth country runs ever‐increasing current account deficits and its negative net international investment position rises without bounds. This notwithstanding, sustainability is guaranteed.
Speculative Attacks and Informational Structure: an Experimental Study
Authors: Cornand Camille 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of whether public information destabilizes the economy in the context of signals of a different nature. We present an experimental evaluation of the speculative attack game of Morris and Shin (1998). Our objective is two‐fold: to evaluate whether public information destabilizes the economy within a context of signals of different nature and to enlarge upon the results of Heinemann, Nagel, and Ockenfels (2004) (HNO). Our evidence suggests that in sessions with both private and common signals, the fact that the common signal plays a focal role enhances the central bank’s welfare: it reduces the probability of crisis and increases its predictability. Therefore, we raise doubts about the policy implications of HNO’s findings. The new policy lesson is that the central bank has more control over the beliefs of traders if it discloses one clear signal when agents also get private information from other sources.
The Production Possibility Frontier as a Maximum Value Function: Concavity and Non‐increasing Returns to Scale
Authors: Dalal Ardeshir J. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThis paper makes both a methodological as well as a substantive contribution to the literature on the concavity of the production possibility frontier (PPF). Rather than using the standard, calculus‐based techniques, the method here relies on the fact that the PPF is a maximum value function. The consequent simplification in analysis makes it possible to demonstrate that the conditions which are sufficient to guarantee global concavity of the PPF are considerably less stringent than those stated in the literature. Existing analyses have assumed that production functions are (a) concave and homothetic, or (b) display non‐increasing returns to scale (NIRS) and homogeneity. This paper shows that concavity without homotheticity, or NIRS and quasiconcavity without homogeneity (or even homotheticity) are sufficient, thus greatly increasing the generality of existing results. The analysis can be extended to include situations in which the input set includes industry‐specific factors.
INTERNATIONAL RELOCATION OF PRODUCTION: WHERE DO FIRMS GO?
Authors: Sleuwaegen Leo , Pennings Enrico 
Published: August 2006

ABSTRACTThe flexible relocation of capacity across countries by multinational enterprises has become an important source of concern. Using a unique sample of relocating firms in Belgium, we find that wages and market potential of host regions are important determinants for the location choice. Considering firm characteristics, we show that large firms have a higher propensity to relocate to remote countries. Public aid only plays a decisive role in the investment decision for relocations to adjacent countries, suggesting a potential harmful role in distorting competition. More proactive policies in line with changing comparative location advantages should be implemented to accommodate relocations.
GROWTH, R&D AND WELFARE: THE ROLE OF PUBLIC POLICY
Authors: Minniti Antonio 
Published: August 2006

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the normative side of an R&D growth model in which market structure and growth are jointly determined in the equilibrium of a one‐sector economy under monopolistic competition. We find that a distortion in the allocation of R&D, namely the presence of technological spillovers between firms, generates two market failures: insufficient growth and excessive entry of firms. We show that this result is driven by the interplay between market structure and growth. A simple tax/subsidy scheme to support the efficient solution is proposed.
The Marginal Costs and Benefits of Redistributing Income and the Willingness to Pay for Status
Authors: ALLGOOD SAM 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThe effect of status on aggregate welfare is ambiguous for marginal reforms that redistribute income. If average consumption falls, the change in relative consumption increases household utility but reinforces the decrease in household labor supply, raising welfare cost. For parameterizations of the model developed here, reforms which lower average consumption increase aggregate welfare. Numerical calculations show that status increases marginal welfare cost and marginal net benefit for a demogrant reform. Redistributing to high income households may increase aggregate welfare depending on the definition of average consumption and if the willingness to pay for status increases with income.
Budget Balancedness and Optimal Income Taxation
Authors: BERLIANT MARCUS , PAGE FRANK H. 
Published: August 2006

AbstractWe make two contributions to the theory of optimal income taxation. First, assuming conditions sufficient for existence of a Pareto optimal income tax and public goods mechanism, we show that if agents' preferences satisfy an extended notion of single crossing called capacity constrained single crossing, then there exists a Pareto optimal income tax and public goods mechanism that is budget balancing. Second, we show that, even without capacity constrained single crossing, existence of a budget balancing Pareto optimal income tax and public goods mechanism is guaranteed if the set of agent types contains no atoms.
Human Fallibility, Complementarity, and Fiscal Decentralization
Authors: NISHIMURA YUKIHIRO 
Published: August 2006

AbstractThis paper examines economic growth properties under alternative fiscal organizations when a bureau's decisions are fallible. A country consists of J jurisdictions, which need a public service. In a centralized government, one authority decides on services in every jurisdiction. In a decentralized government, J authorities are in charge of each public service. An authority can have high ability or low ability, and an authority with high ability draws a good project with higher probability. We first show that the decentralized government provides the same average quality of public services, with lower variance, than does the centralized government. We then apply this result to an economic growth model where the value of the Solow residual is a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) function of public services. We show that there is a critical value of the degree of complementarity below which fiscal decentralization is more desirable than fiscal centralization for an expected economic growth, and the decentralized government has a lower variance of GDP growth.
Decreased brain damage and curtailed inflammation in transcription factor CCAAT/enhancer binding protein β knockout mice following transient focal cerebral ischemia
Authors: Kapadia Ramya , Tureyen Kudret , Bowen Kellie K. , Kalluri Haviryaji , Johnson Peter F. , Vemuganti Raghu 
Published: August 2006

AbstractCCAAT/enhancer binding protein β (C/EBPβ) is a leucine‐zipper transcription factor that regulates cell growth and differentiation in mammals. Expression of many pro‐inflammatory genes including the cytokine interleukin‐6 is known to be controlled by C/EBPβ. We report that focal cerebral ischemia induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) significantly increases C/EBPβ gene expression in mouse brain at between 6 and 72 h of reperfusion. To understand the functional significance of C/EBPβ in postischemic inflammation and brain damage, we induced transient MCAO in cohorts of adult C/EBPβ null mice and their wild‐type littermates. At 3 days of reperfusion following transient MCAO, C/EBPβ null mice showed significantly smaller infarcts, reduced neurological deficits, decreased terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP nick‐end labeling‐positive cells, decreased intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1) immunopositive vessels, decreased extravasated neutrophils and fewer activated microglia/macrophages, compared with their wild‐type littermates. Furthermore, GeneChip analysis showed that postischemic induction of many transcripts known to promote inflammation and neuronal damage was less pronounced in the brains of C/EBPβ–/– mice compared with C/EBPβ+/+ mice. These results suggest a significant role for C/EBPβ in postischemic inflammation and brain damage.
Changes in brain gene expression after long‐term sleep deprivation
Authors: Cirelli Chiara , Faraguna Ugo , Tononi Giulio 
Published: August 2006

AbstractLong‐term sleep deprivation in rats produces dramatic physiological changes including increase in energy expenditure, decrease in body weight, and death after 2–3 weeks. Despite several studies, the sleep deprivation syndrome remains largely unexplained. Here, to elucidate how prolonged sleep loss affects brain cells we used microarrays and screened the expression of > 26 000 transcripts in the cerebral cortex. Rats were sleep deprived using the disk‐over‐water method for 1 week. Seventy‐five transcripts showed increased expression in these animals relative to controls that had been spontaneously awake or sleep deprived for a few hours. Most of them were induced as a result of chronic sleep loss and not non‐specific effects of the disk stimulation. They include transcripts coding for several immunoglobulins, stress response proteins (macrophage inhibitor factor‐related protein 14, heat‐shock protein 27, α‐B‐crystallin), minoxidil sulfotransferase, globins and cortistatin. Twenty‐eight transcripts decreased their expression in long‐term sleep‐deprived rats. Sixteen of them were specifically decreased as a result of chronic sleep loss, including those coding for type I procollagen and dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase. We also compared sleeping rats to short‐term and long‐term sleep‐deprived rats, and found that acute and chronic sleep loss led to some differences at the molecular level. Several plasticity‐related genes were strongly induced after acute sleep deprivation only, and several glial genes were down‐regulated in both sleep deprivation conditions, but to a different extent. These findings suggest that sustained sleep loss may trigger a generalized inflammatory and stress response in the brain.
Actin‐associated neurabin–protein phosphatase‐1 complex regulates hippocampal plasticity
Authors: Hu Xiao Dong , Huang Qing , Roadcap David W. , Shenolikar Shirish S. , Xia Houhui 
Published: August 2006

AbstractProtein phosphatase‐1 (PP1) has been implicated in the control of long‐term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) in rat hippocampal CA1 neurons. PP1 catalytic subunits associate with multiple postsynaptic regulatory subunits, but the PP1 complexes that control hippocampal LTP and LTD in the rat hippocampus remain unidentified. The neuron‐specific actin‐binding protein, neurabin‐I, is enriched in dendritic spines, and tethers PP1 to actin‐rich postsynaptic density to regulate morphology and maturation of spines. The present studies utilized Sindbis virus‐mediated expression of wild‐type and mutant neurabin‐I polypeptides in organotypic cultures of rat hippocampal slices to investigate their role in synaptic plasticity. While wild‐type neurabin‐I elicited no change in basal synaptic transmission, it enhanced LTD and inhibited LTP in CA1 pyramidal neurons. By comparison, mutant neurabins, specifically those unable to bind PP1 or F‐actin, decreased basal synaptic transmission, attenuated LTD and increased LTP in slice cultures. Biochemical and cell biological analyses suggested that, by mislocalizing synaptic PP1, the mutant neurabins impaired the functions of endogenous neurabin–PP1 complexes and modulated LTP and LTD. Together, these studies provided the first biochemical and physiological evidence that a postsynaptic actin‐bound neurabin‐I–PP1 complex regulates synaptic transmission and bidirectional changes in hippocampal plasticity.
Antigen‐Specific Therapy Promotes Repair of Myelin and Axonal Damage in Established EAE
Authors: Wang Chunhe , Gold Bruce G. , Kaler Laurie J. , Yu Xiaolin , Afentoulis Michael E. , Burrows Gregory G. , Vandenbark Arthur A. , Bourdette Dennis N. , Offner Halina 
Published: August 2006

AbstractInflammation results in CNS damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. It is uncertain how much repair of injured myelin and axons can occur following highly selective anti‐inflammatory therapy in EAE and MS. In this study, SJL/J mice with established EAE were treated successfully with an antigen‐specific recombinant T cell receptor ligand (RTL), RTL401, a mouse I‐As/PLP‐139–151 construct, after the peak of EAE. To define the mechanisms by which late application of RTL401 inhibits EAE, we evaluated mice at different time points to assess the levels of neuroinflammation and myelin and axon damage in their spinal cords. Our results showed that RTL401 administered after the peak of acute EAE induced a marked reduction in inflammation in the CNS, associated with a significant reduction of demyelination, axonal loss and ongoing damage. Electron microscopy showed that RTL‐treated mice had reduced pathology compared with mice treated with vehicle and mice at the peak of disease, as demonstrated by a decrease in continued degeneration, increase in remyelinating axons and the presence of an increased number of small, presumably regenerative axonal sprouts. These findings indicate that RTL therapy targeting encephalitogenic T cells may promote CNS neuroregenerative processes.
The key role of electrophysiology in the diagnosis of visually impaired children
Authors: Van Genderen Maria , Riemslag Frans , Jorritsma Frank , Hoeben Frank , Meire Francoise , Stilma Jan 
Published: August 2006

Abstract.Purpose:  To describe the outcome of specialized electrophysiology in visually impaired children.Methods:  We carried out a retrospective evaluation of 340 electrophysiological examinations performed in 298 children over a 3‐year period (2001–2003), with regard to demographic data, referral pattern, degree of compliance, and diagnostic results. Electrophysiology was performed without sedation or anaesthesia. In electroretinograms, DTL electrodes were used in combination with online selection of responses. Visual evoked potentials testing was performed with seven active occipital electrodes.Results:  The mean age of the children was 7 ± 5 years; 72 (24%) of the children were mentally as well as visually impaired. Main reasons for referral were suspected posterior segment disease, abnormal visual development, unexplained low vision, high myopia, and suspected albinism. Compliance was good in 302/340 (88%), partial in 24/340 (7%), and absent in 14/340 (4%) of the examinations. Of the 326 successful procedures, 215 (66%) showed abnormal results. Tapetoretinal dystrophy (22%), opticopathy (16%), congenital stationary night blindness (13%), and cone dystrophy (11%) were the most frequently established diagnoses. Albinism was confirmed in 14 of 24 suspected patients; additionally, unsuspected misrouting was found in six. In 26 (9%) of the patients, a previously established diagnosis was changed.Conclusions:  In a specialized setting, electrophysiological examinations can be performed successfully in visually impaired children. The results are essential for the final ophthalmological diagnosis and have important consequences for rehabilitation.