bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Topical adrenaline in the control of intraoperative bleeding in adenoidectomy: a randomised, controlled trial
Authors: Teppo H. , Virkkunen H. , Revonta M. 
Published: July 2006

Objectives:  To evaluate the efficacy of topical racemic adrenaline (RA) (Micronefrin®; Bird Products, Palm Springs, CA, USA) in the control of intraoperative bleeding and the prevention of postoperative bleeding, laryngeal spasm and postoperative pain in adenoidectomy among children <6 years of age.Design:  Prospective, randomised, blinded and placebo‐controlled trial.Setting:  Kanta‐Hame Central Hospital, a district referral center in Finland.Patients: A consecutive sample of 93 children undergoing outpatient adenoidectomy.Intervention:  Patients were randomised to receive topical gauze sponges soaked in either 1 : 500 RA or 0.9% sodium chloride (physiological saline) for 3 min after adenoidectomy.Main outcome measures:  Amount of intraoperative bleeding (surgeons’ subjective estimate), need for additional packings, need for electrocautery, laryngeal spasm, postoperative bleeding and pain, duration of procedure and duration of patients’ stay in the operation room (OR).Results:  Adrenaline significantly decreased surgeons’ subjective estimate of the amount of intraoperative bleeding (proportion of patients with significant decrease 67 versus 21%, P < 0.001), reduced the mean number of packings needed (0.6 versus 1.2, P < 0.001) and use of electrocautery (22 versus 45%, P = 0.015), and shortened the mean duration of the procedure (13 versus 18 min, P = 0.043) and the mean stay in the OR (31 versus 35 min, P = 0.058). The impact of adrenaline was even more pronounced among patients with extensive adenoids and/or profuse intraoperative bleeding. A slight elevation of heart rate was observed more often in the adrenaline group (P = 0.043).Conclusions:  Use of topical adrenaline can be recommended in adenoidectomy among children. It helps control the intraoperative bleeding, reduces the use of electrocautery and shortens the durations of procedure and stay in the OR.
Patient's quality of life and hearing outcomes after stapes surgery
Authors: Subramaniam K. , Eikelboom R.H. , Marino R. , Atlas M.D. , Rajan G.P. 
Published: July 2006

Objectives:  To determine the quality of life (QOL) after stapes surgery and whether audiological parameters for hearing correlate with specific QOL factors.Design:  A retrospective cross‐sectional study.Setting:  A tertiary referral centre.Participants:  A series of 35 patients who underwent stapes surgery of which three were excluded because they were <18 years of age, chronically or mentally ill, or in a dependant relationship. Response rate was 93% (30/32). Nine were further excluded because they had revision or bilateral surgery, or missing data. Twenty‐one patients were included in this study.Main outcome measures:  The Glasgow Benefit Inventory (GBI) was used to evaluate general QOL and the Hearing Disability and Handicap Scale (HDHS) was used as a disease‐specific measure. The Belfast Rule of Thumb and Glasgow Benefit Plot assessed hearing outcomes.Results:  Operative success was 86% using the Belfast Rule of Thumb and 95% had closure of the air–bone gap to within 20 dB. 81.8% of patients reported a better overall QOL as surgery. Glasgow Benefit Inventory Social and GBI Physical scores correlated positively with the HDHS speech component (P < 0.05). The duration of hearing loss correlated inversely with the average HDHS score (P < 0.05).Conclusion:  The majority of patients report a better QOL as undergoing stapes surgery. Speech impacts on people's physical and social QOL of patients. Quality of life tools, in addition to objective audiologic measurements can provide clinicians with patients’ subjective perspective that helps guide clinical decision‐making and counselling.
Patients’ views on the utility of quality of life questionnaires in head and neck cancer: a randomised trial
Authors: Mehanna H.M. , Morton R.P. 
Published: July 2006

Objectives:  (i) To evaluate head and neck cancer patient perspectives regarding the usefulness of quality of life questionnaires in communicating their health problems to clinicians and (ii) to identify the quality of life questionnaire that head and neck cancer patients find most useful.Design:  Randomised questionnaire study. Patients completed all four validated head and neck cancer quality of life questionnaires – European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale (FACT) HN35, Washington quality of life questionnaire, Auckland quality of life questionnaire. Order of questionnaire presentation was randomised to counterbalance order effects.Setting:  Tertiary referral head and neck cancer centre.Participants:  Eighty patients diagnosed and treated for head and neck cancer. Exclusion criteria: blindness, learning difficulties or inability to understand or read English.Main outcome measures:  Patient ratings of perceived usefulness and preferences of studied questionnaires.Results:  Patients reported high relevance to their problems and high ease of understanding of all questionnaires, with FACT scoring highest (79% and 89%, respectively); 58% of participants (67% respondents) would like to complete a questionnaire in clinic, as it would help them describe their health problems to their doctors; 28% of participants did not. Almost half preferred a particular quality of life questionnaire, FACT being most preferred. Length of questionnaire did not affect reported usefulness, but most would prefer a short questionnaire (<20 items).Conclusions:  Patients report that head and neck cancer quality of life questionnaires effectively describe their health concerns. Most are in favour of completing quality of life questionnaires in clinic, as an aid for describing health problems to clinicians. There appears to be a difference between clinicians and patients regarding the perceived usefulness of quality of life questionnaires in the clinic setting, which needs to be highlighted to clinicians.
Botulinum toxin in the management of sialorrhoea: a systematic review
Authors: Lim M. , Mace A. , Reza Nouraei S.A. , Sandhu G. 
Published: July 2006

Keypoints• Sialorrhoea can be a significant problem in both adults and children and can cause both physical and psychosocial problems.• Botulinum toxin has enjoyed an emergence in the treatment of sialorrhoea, a systematic review of the evidence for botulinum toxin reveals two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and four other trials that fulfilled our inclusion criteria.• Both RCTs demonstrate the effectiveness of botulinum toxin in the management of sialorrhoea.• There was no clear evidence for one antigenic type of botulinum toxin over another and minimal evidence for the optimal dose of botulinum toxin for each antigenic type. No advantage is conferred in using ultrasound guidance in injecting the glands.• None of the RCTs or other studies directly compared submandibular versus parotid injection or directly compared botulinum toxin against surgery. Minor side effects were reported in one of the RCTs but overall botulinum toxin is a safe, minimally invasive and effective means in the treatment of sialorrhoea with the potential to become the treatment of choice.• Our review demonstrates that further randomised controlled trials are required to more fully evaluate this new modality of treatment.
Effects of Caspofungin against
Candida guilliermondii
and
Candida parapsilosis
Authors: Barchiesi Francesco , Spreghini Elisabetta , Tomassetti Serena , Della Vittoria Agnese , Arzeni Daniela , Manso Esther , Scalise Giorgio 
Published: July 2006

ABSTRACT

The in vitro activity of caspofungin (CAS) was investigated against 28 yeast isolates belonging to
Candida albicans
(
n
= 5),
Candida guilliermondii
(
n
= 10), and
Candida parapsilosis
(
n
= 13). CAS MICs obtained by broth dilution and Etest methods clearly showed a rank order of susceptibility to the echinocandin compound with
C. albicans
>
C. parapsilosis
>
C. guilliermondii
. Similarly, time-kill assays performed on selected isolates showed that CAS was fungistatic against
C. albicans
and
C. parapsilosis
, while it did not exert any activity against
C. guilliermondii
. In a murine model of systemic candidiasis, CAS given at doses as low as 1 mg/kg of body weight/day was effective at reducing the kidney burden of mice infected with either
C. albicans
or
C. guilliermondii
isolates. Depending on the isolate tested, mice infected with
C. parapsilosis
responded to CAS given at 1 and/or 5 mg/kg/day. However, the overall CFU reduction for
C. guilliermondii
and
C. parapsilosis
was approximately 100-fold less than that for
C. albicans
. Our study shows that CAS was active in experimental systemic candidiasis due to
C. guilliermondii
and
C. parapsilosis
, but this activity required relatively high drug dosages.
Peptide Immunization as an Adjuvant to Chemotherapy in Mice Challenged Intratracheally with Virulent Yeast Cells of
Paracoccidioides brasiliensis
Authors: Marques A. F. , da Silva M. B. , Juliano M. A. P. , Travassos L. R. , Taborda C. P. 
Published: July 2006

ABSTRACT
Immunization with peptide P10, derived from gp43, and chemotherapy were used together in an attempt to improve treatment of paracoccidioidomycosis and prevent relapses. The combined treatment showed an additive protective effect when administered at 48 h or 30 days after intratracheal challenge. Its use is recommended to improve regular chemotherapy and reduce the duration of treatment.
Determination of the Antibacterial and Lipopolysaccharide-Neutralizing Regions of Guinea Pig Neutrophil Cathelicidin Peptide CAP11
Authors: Okuda Daiju , Yomogida Shin , Tamura Hiroshi , Nagaoka Isao 
Published: July 2006

ABSTRACTPreviously, we revealed that a cationic antibacterial polypeptide of 11 kDa (CAP11), a member of the cathelicidins isolated from guinea pig neutrophils, exhibits not only potent antibacterial activity but also lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-neutralizing activity. In this study, to determine the biologically active regions of CAP11, we isolated or synthesized the partial peptides of CAP11 and evaluated their antibacterial and LPS-neutralizing activities. Although CAP11 has a unique homodimeric structure with a disulfide bridge, the biological activities of dimeric and monomeric forms of CAP11 were almost the same. Moreover, the G1-E33peptide of CAP11 showed the same activities as CAP11, whereas the C-terminal region (Y34to I43) possessed no biological activities. In addition, the three 18-mer peptides (G1-R18, T9-K26, and L16-E33) with overlapping sequences were synthesized, and their activities were determined. The three 18-mer peptides retained the antibacterial activities, and G1-R18was the most potent. In contrast, the LPS-neutralizing activities of these peptides were markedly reduced. Together, these observations indicate that the active region with antibacterial activity is localized at G1to R18of CAP11, whereas longer sequences (such as G1to E33) would be required for the expression of LPS-neutralizing activity. Furthermore, the C-terminal region (Y34to I43) and a disulfide bridge are not essential for the antibacterial and LPS-neutralizing activities of CAP11.
In Vitro Activities of Daptomycin, Vancomycin, and Penicillin against
Clostridium difficile
,
C. perfringens
,
Finegoldia magna
, and
Propionibacterium acnes
Authors: Tyrrell Kerin L. , Citron Diane M. , Warren Yumi A. , Fernandez Helen T. , Merriam C. Vreni , Goldstein Ellie J. C. 
Published: July 2006

ABSTRACT

Daptomycin has in vitro activity against gram-positive anaerobic bacteria, although limited numbers of species have been tested. We studied the in vitro activities of daptomycin, vancomycin, and penicillin against more than 100 strains each of
Clostridium difficile
,
C. perfringens
,
Finegoldia magna
, and
Propionibacterium acnes
. Daptomycin Etest MICs and results from time-kill studies were determined for selected strains. For 392 of 421 strains (93%), daptomycin was inhibitory at ≤1 μg/ml, including 15 of 16 strains of
C. difficile
with elevated linezolid MICs of 8 and 16 μg/ml, all 32 strains with moxifloxacin MICs of ≥4 μg/ml, and all 16 strains resistant to clindamycin. Daptomycin MICs were also ≤1 μg/ml for all 16
F. magna
strains resistant to clindamycin and all 32 strains resistant to tetracycline. Only one strain, a
C. perfringens
strain, had a MIC of >2 μg/ml to daptomycin. Eighty-five and 92.5% of the Etest MICs were within 1 dilution of the agar dilution method for all drugs at 24 and 48 h, respectively. In time-kill studies, a
C. difficile
strain was inhibited by both daptomycin and vancomycin at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 24 h; colony counts were decreased by 2.3 to 2.9 log at 24 h. Vancomycin was not bactericidal for
C. perfringens
; however, daptomycin showed bactericidal activity as early as 1 h at four and eight times the MIC and at 2 and 4 h at two and four times the MIC.
Novel Real-Time Monitoring System for Human Cytomegalovirus- Infected Cells In Vitro That Uses a Green Fluorescent Protein-PML-Expressing Cell Line
Authors: Ueno T. , Eizuru Y. , Katano H. , Kurata T. , Sata T. , Irie S. , Ogawa-Goto K. 
Published: July 2006

ABSTRACT
Promyelocytic leukemia (PML) bodies are discrete nuclear foci that are intimately associated with many DNA viruses. In human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, the IE1 (for “immediate-early 1”) protein has a marked effect on PML bodies via de-SUMOylation of PML protein. Here, we report a novel real-time monitoring system for HCMV-infected cells using a newly established cell line (SE/15) that stably expresses green fluorescent protein (GFP)-PML protein. In SE/15 cells, HCMV infection causes specific and efficient dispersion of GFP-PML bodies in an IE1-dependent manner, allowing the infected cells to be monitored by fluorescence microscopy without immunostaining. Since a specific change in the detergent solubility of GFP-PML occurs upon infection, the infected cells can be quantified by GFP fluorescence measurement after extraction. With this assay, the inhibitory effects of heparin and neutralizing antibodies were determined in small-scale cultures, indicating its usefulness for screening inhibitory reagents for laboratory virus strains. Furthermore, we established a sensitive imaging assay by counting the number of nuclei containing dispersed GFP-PML, which is applicable for titration of slow-growing clinical isolates. In all strains tested, the virus titers estimated by the GFP-PML imaging assay were well correlated with the plaque-forming cell numbers determined in human embryonic lung cells. Coculture of SE/15 cells and HCMV-infected fibroblasts permitted a rapid and reliable method for estimating the 50% inhibitory concentration values of drugs for clinical isolates in susceptibility testing. Taken together, these results demonstrate the development of a rapid, sensitive, quantitative, and specific detection system for HCMV-infected cells involving a simple procedure that can be used for titration of low-titer clinical isolates.
Dynamics of Synoptic Eddy and Low-Frequency Flow Interaction. Part III: Baroclinic Model Results
Authors: Pan L-L. , Jin F-F. , Watanabe M. 
Published: July 2006

Abstract
In this three-part study, a linear closure has been developed for the synoptic eddy and low-frequency flow (SELF) interaction and demonstrated that internal dynamics plays an important role in generating the leading low-frequency modes in the extratropical circulation anomalies during cold seasons.
In Part III, a new linearized primitive equation system is first derived for time-mean flow anomalies. The dynamical operator of the system includes a traditional part depending on the observed climatological mean state and an additional part from the SELF feedback closure utilizing the observed climatological properties of synoptic eddy activity. The latter part relates nonlocally all the anomalous eddy-forcing terms in equations of momentum, temperature, and surface pressure to the time-mean flow anomalies. Using the observational data, the closure was validated with reasonable success, and it was found that terms of the SELF feedback in the momentum and pressure equations tend to reinforce the low-frequency modes, whereas those in the thermodynamic equation tends to damp the temperature anomalies to make the leading modes equivalent barotropic. Through singular vector analysis of the linear dynamical operator, it is highlighted that the leading modes of the system resemble the observed patterns of the Arctic Oscillation, Antarctic Oscillation, and Pacific–North American pattern, in which the SELF feedback plays an essential role, consistent with the finding of the barotropic model study in Part II.
An Elicitation of the Dynamic Nature of Water Vapor Feedback in Climate Change Using a 1D Model
Authors: Hallegatte Stéphane , Lahellec Alain , Grandpeix Jean-Yves 
Published: July 2006

Abstract
The concept of feedback has been used by several authors in the field of climate science to describe the behavior of models and to assess the importance of the different mechanisms at stake. Here, a simple 1D model of climate has been built to analyze the water vapor feedback. Beyond a static quantification of the water feedback, a more general formal definition of feedback gain based on the tangent linear system is introduced. This definition reintroduces the dynamical aspect of the system response to perturbation from Bode's original concept.
In the model here, it is found that, even though the water vapor static gain proves consistent with results from GCMs, it turns out to be negative for time scales below 4 yr and positive only for longer time scales. These results suggest two conclusions: (i) that the water vapor feedback may be fully active only in response to long-lived perturbations; and (ii) that the water vapor feedback could reduce the natural variability due to tropospheric temperature perturbations over short time scales, while enhancing it over longer time scales. This second conclusion would be consistent with studies investigating the influence of air–sea coupling on variability on different time scales.
An Idealized Nonlinear Model of the Northern Hemisphere Winter Storm Tracks
Authors: Chang Edmund K. M. 
Published: July 2006

Abstract
In this paper, a nonlinear dry model, forced by fixed radiative forcing alone, has been constructed to simulate the Northern Hemisphere winter storm tracks. A procedure has been devised to iterate the radiative equilibrium temperature profile such that at the end of the iterations the model climate closely resembles the desired target climate.
This iterative approach is applied to simulate the climatological storm tracks in January. It is found that, when the three-dimensional temperature distribution in the model resembles the observed distribution, the model storm tracks are much too weak. It is hypothesized that this is due to the fact that eddy development is suppressed in a dry atmosphere, owing to the lack of latent heat release in the ascending warm air. To obtain storm tracks with realistic amplitudes, the static stability of the target climate is reduced to simulate the enhancement in baroclinic energy conversion due to latent heat release. With this modification, the storm tracks in the model simulation closely resemble those observed except that the strength of the Atlantic storm track is slightly weaker than observed. The model, when used as a forecast model, also gives high-quality forecasts of the evolution of observed eddies.
The iterative approach is applied to force the model to simulate climate anomalies associated with ENSO and the interannual variations of the winter Pacific jet stream/storm tracks. The results show that the model not only succeeds in simulating the climatology of storm tracks, but also produces realistic simulations of storm track anomalies when the model climate is forced to resemble observed climate anomalies.
An extended run of the control experiment is conducted to generate monthly mean flow and storm track statistics. These statistics are used to build a linear statistical model relating storm track anomalies to mean flow anomalies. This model performs well when used to hindcast observed storm track anomalies based on observed mean flow anomalies, showing that the storm track/mean flow covariability in the model is realistic and that storm track distribution is not sensitive to the exact form of the applied forcings.
Tales of the Venerable Honolulu Tide Gauge*
Authors: Colosi John A. , Munk Walter 
Published: July 2006

AbstractSurface expressions of internal tides constitute a significant component of the total recorded tide. The internal component is strongly modulated by the time-variable density structure, and the resulting perturbation of the recorded tide gives a welcome look at twentieth-century interannual and secular variability. Time series of mean sea level hSL(t) and total recorded M2 vector aTT(t) are extracted from the Honolulu 1905–2000 and Hilo 1947–2000 (Hawaii) tide records. Internal tide parameters are derived from the intertidal continuum surrounding the M2 frequency line and from a Cartesian display of aTT(t), yielding aST = 16.6 and 22.1 cm, aIT = 1.8 and 1.0 cm for surface and internal tides at Honolulu and Hilo, respectively. The proposed model aTT(t) = aST + aIT cosθIT(t) is of a phase-modulated internal tide generated by the surface tide at some remote point and traveling to the tide gauge with velocity modulated by the underlying variable density structure. Mean sea level hSL(t) [a surrogate for the density structure and hence for θIT(t)] is coherent with aIT(t) within the decadal band 0.2–0.5 cycles per year. For both the decadal band and the century drift the recorded M2 amplitude is high when sea level is high, according to δaTT = O(0.1δhSL). The authors attribute the recorded secular increase in the Honolulu M2 amplitude from aTT = 16.1 to 16.9 cm between 1915 and 2000 to a 28° rotation of the internal tide vector in response to ocean warming.