bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Short‐and Long‐term Efficacy of Electroconvulsive Therapy for Late‐life Depression: A Pilot Study
Authors: Awata Shuichi , Suzuki Kazumasa , Matsuoka Hiroo 
Published: August 2007

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is often administered among the elderly, who are particularly likely to have concurrent medical conditions and medication intolerance.Objective: To examine the short‐and long‐term efficacy of ECT for late‐life depression, we performed a two‐phase, prospective, naturalistic follow‐up study that compared treatment outcome in old‐aged with that in middle‐aged subjects.Methods:Phase I study: Twenty‐one subjects who were consecutively referred for ECT, aged at least 50 years, and met the DSM‐IV criteria for a major depressive episode were enrolled. Before ECT, severity of concurrent medical conditions was assessed with the cumulative illness rating scale (CIRS). Before and after a course of ECT, the severity of depressive symptoms was evaluated with the 17‐item Hamilton rating scale for depression (HAM‐D).Phase II study: Seventeen subjects who responded to an acute ECT course in the phase I study were enrolled. Various continuation medications were administered, and symptoms were monitored and evaluated with the HAM‐D for 24 weeks or until relapse.Results: Overall the subjects had an 81 % short‐term response rate and a 47% relapse rate within 24 weeks after ECT. Response and relapse rates were not significantly different between the middle‐and old‐aged groups (response rates: 91% vs. 70%; relapse rates: 40% vs. 57%). However, the old‐aged patients had higher post‐ECT HAM‐D scores than the middle‐aged patients did (P<0.05), and CIRS scores positively correlated with post‐ECT HAM‐D scores (P<0.05). Relapsers tended to have higher CIRS scores than non‐relapsers did (P=0.06).Conclusion: In late‐life depression, the short‐term response rate to ECT is considerably good, but the relapse rate was relatively high. Clinicians need to take into consideration the age of patient and any concurrent medical conditions, when planning long‐term management of residual depressive symptoms and prevention of relapse after an initial good response to ECT.
A Psychopathological Study on Elderly Japanese Delusional Depressives in Relation to Collapse of Traditional Japanese Culture
Authors: Hirosawa Masataka , Nagata Toshihiko , Arai Heii 
Published: August 2007

Background: Since Japanese society is rapidly being “westernized”, particularly among younger generations who stress individualism, elderly Japanese people who have the traditional values of stressing the maintenance of interpersonal harmony and the suppression of one's feelings might experience strong psychological stress. The incidence of depression seems to be increasing among them. Careful examination of specific contents of thoughts of Japanese elderly depressives, considering the cultural background, may be valuable to understanding their psycho‐pathology. Methods and Cases: Six inpatients with severe delusional depression who seemed to have accepted the changes in values were selected from 88 elderly inpatients with depression who were admitted to Juntendo Koshigaya Hospital and the contents of their delusional thoughts were analyzed from the psychopathological and psychosocial viewpoints. For our study to be more meaningful, one inpatient from another hospital with characteristics similar to those of the six patients was also studied. Results: Despite being outwardly westernized, contents of their delusional thoughts seemed to be associated with the traditional Japanese culture in which the family unit took precedence over the individual and interpersonal relationship in the village were regarded as important. Their characteristic delusional thoughts of exclusion from the village were considered to indicate a loss of self‐existence and existential connection with all things, leading them to have delusions of negation. A further examination of their statements expressed in the course of remission revealed that their westernized way of life was actually a pseudo adaptation to the changes in culture and that it was made possible by a sense of “enryo” (modesty and respect of others) and “gaman” (suppressed anger and emotion) towards younger generations, thus concealing their traditional values. Conclusions: The present survey suggests that even those who have apparently adapted themselves to changes in culture may experience psychological stress and that paying particular attention to their concealed traditional values seems important in preventing elderly Japanese people from suffering depression and in treating elderly Japanese depressives.
Circumstances Related to Falls in the Dementia Special Care Unit of Geriatric Care Facility in Japan
Authors: Nakagawa Yasushi , Maki Satoshi , Yamanaka Takeharu , Ogomori Koji , Ichimiya Atsushi , Nakagawa Chiyuki , Maki Takeshi , Tashiro Nobutada 
Published: August 2007

Background: Elderly people with dementia are liable to fall. Herein we report the circumstances of falls in the dementia special care unit of the geriatric care facility “Assist Sakuradai” of Maki psychiatric hospital during the eight months from August 1, 1999 to March 31, 2000. Methods: The participants were 61 patients admitted to our dementia special care unit. The diagnosis of dementia was based on DSM‐IV criteria. Cognitive impairment was assessed with Folstein's Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the revised version of Hasegawa's dementia scale (HDS‐R). The evaluation of activity of daily living was assessed with Nishimura's activity of daily living scale (N‐ADL). Information related to falls was obtained from incident reports. Results: Forty‐one percent (n=25) of patients (n=61) suffered falls and a total of 69 falls were recorded at the dementia special care unit during the period. Mean scores ± SD (P value using the Mann‐Whitney test) of N‐ADL, HDS‐R, and MMSE for fallers vs. nonfallers were 25.1 ± 8.09 vs. 31.0 ± 9.33 (P=0.013), 8.72 ± 6.88 vs. 8.92 ± 6.67 (P=0.90) and 11.8 ± 7.28 vs. 11.4 ± 5.95 (P=0.747), respectively. Falling accidents occurred most often in the hall (n=34, 49%, P<0.01) and most in association with walking or transferring (n=29, 42%, P<0.01) at our dementia special care unit. The falling accident rate was defined as falls/time/number of staff and was ranked in the order of the greatest number of falls in specific time frames, as follows; 19:30–20:15 (1.8), 20:15–8:00 (1.02), 16:50–19:00 (0.81), 12:30–16:30 (0.50), 9:00–12:30 (0.41), and 8:15–9:00 (0.11). Conclusion: Our data suggest that the patients with low N‐ADL, patients who use the hall, or patients who were walking or transferring are the most liable to fall and that we should pay intense attention to the working hours between 19:30 and 8:00.
The Influence of the Stroop Interference Effect on an Event‐based Prospective Memory Task in Alzheimer's Disease Patients
Authors: Nakaaki Shutaro , Watanabe Hama , Nakamura Hikaru , Yoshida Shinichi , Matui Teruo , Kinoshita Yoshihiro , Furukawa Toshiaki 
Published: August 2007

Background: Prospective memory is known as the memory of a plan to carry out an intended action in the future. Although it is associated with many activities in everyday life, to date there have been no well controlled laboratory studies of prospective memory in patients with Alzheimer's dementia (AD). In this study, we investigated the ability of prospective memory in AD subjects using an event‐based prospective memory task in which prospective remembering is triggered by a specific external cue. Methods: Using a personal computer, we conducted event‐based prospective memory tasks embedded in the Stroop task. The concurrent cognitive task such as the Stroop task was called the ongoing task. In the event‐based prospective memory task, subjects were required to react by pressing a mouse key whenever a stimulus during the Stroop task (identification of the name of a color printed in black, of the correct color of a colored circle, or the name of a color printed in an incorrect color) appeared in a larger‐than‐normal size. This target stimulus was designed to appear eight times in each condition, i.e., word condition, color condition, and incorrect‐color condition, during the Stroop task. Results: Normal elderly people showed good event‐based prospective memory performance across all three conditions in the Stroop task. In contrast, AD subjects performed poorly in the event‐based prospective memory task under the incorrect‐color condition in the Stroop task. Conclusion: This study indicated that an ongoing concurrent task with a high attention demand affects the performance of event‐based prospective memory in AD subjects. The performance of event‐based prospective memory in AD subjects was more sensitive to the Stroop interference effect observed in the ongoing task than in normal elderly people. The breakdown of this event‐based prospective memory may reflect the limited attention capacity of AD subjects.
Repetition Priming in Dementia of Alzheimer's Type in Japanese
Authors: Motomura Naoyasu , Tomota Yoji , Seo Takashi 
Published: August 2007

Background: Memory is profoundly impaired in patients with dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT). However, the study of priming, which is thought to be implicit memory, is relatively scarce in DAT. In Japan there is only one study, which investigated repetition priming in DAT and the relationship between the severity of dementia and repetition priming in DAT has never been examined. Therefore, we studied repetition priming in patients with various severity of DAT from the standpoint of familiarity of words. Method: A new repetition priming task, which is constructed of 3 syllable Japanese Kana nouns and which contains high familiarity words and low familiarity words according to Chihara was used for an implicit memory task. The task was carried out by normal controls and patients with DAT. Each group was matched by age, sex, and educational level. Results: A clear repetition priming effect was found among the control and dementia groups both in low and high familiarity words. The priming effects of a high familiarity task demonstrated no statistical differences among the control and dementia group. However, the priming effect of the low familiarity task in the severe dementia group was revealed to be significantly low compared with that of the control group (p<0.01), mild (p<0.01) and moderate group (p<0.05), and there was also statistical significance between the normal control and moderate dementia group (p<0.05). Conclusion: These results indicate that dementia severity and word familiarity influences repetition priming in DAT.
Flash Visual Evoked Potentials of Various Derivations in Dementia of the Alzheimer Type and Vascular Dementia
Authors: Sakai Nami 
Published: August 2007

Background: Recently, evoked potentials have been used for objective monitoring of the cortical function in dementia. The aim of this study was to distinguish dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) from vascular dementia (VaD) using flash visual evoked potentials of various derivations. Methods: A total of 70 patients consulting Tachikawa Medical Center Kashiwazaki Kosei Hospital were divided into four groups, normal adult (29.5 ± 8.5 years, n=16), normal elderly (77.2 ± 4.7 years, n=17), VaD (81.1 ± 8.1 years, n=17) and DAT (77.4 ± 5.6 years, n=20). Red flash stimulation was provided by a pair of goggles. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) to flash were recorded in accordance with the International 10–20 Electrode System. Results: The latencies of N130 and P190 of frontal and central derivations were significantly reduced in DAT compared with all other groups (p<0.05). The N130 and P190 latencies were markedly delayed in the normal elderly group compared with the normal adult group (p<0.05). The P3 (P100) latency of occipital derivation was significantly delayed in normal elderly, VaD and DAT groups compared with the normal adult group (p<0.05). In the DAT group, the P190 latency was shortened at central and frontal derivations compared with that at occipital derivation (p<0.05). Conclusions: The N130 and P190 latencies decreased at frontal and central derivations in DAT. While the reason is still unclear, dysfunction in the central visual system induced by the degeneration of neuronal populations in DAT may cause the apparently reduced latency. Flash VEPs of frontal and central derivations may be useful for the differential diagnosis of DAT from VaD.
High Performance and Subambient Silicon Microchannel
Cooling
Authors: Colgan E. G. , Furman B. , Gaynes M. , LaBianca N. , Magerlein J. H. , Polastre R. , Bezama R. , Marston K. , Schmidt R. 
Published: August 2007

Abstract
High performance single-phase Si microchannel coolers have been designed and characterized in single chip modules in a laboratory environment using either water at 22°C or a fluorinated fluid at temperatures between 20 and −40°C as the coolant. Compared to our previous work, key performance improvements were achieved through reduced channel pitch (from 75 to 60 microns), thinned channel bases (from 425 to 200 microns of Si), improved thermal interface materials, and a thinned thermal test chip (from 725 to 400 microns of Si). With multiple heat exchanger zones and 60 micron pitch microchannels with a water flow rate of 1.25lpm, an average unit thermal resistance of 15.9Cmm2∕W between the chip surface and the inlet cooling water was demonstrated for a Si microchannel cooler attached to a chip with Ag epoxy. Replacing the Ag epoxy layer with an In solder layer reduced the unit thermal resistance to 12.0Cmm2∕W. Using a fluorinated fluid with an inlet temperature of −30°C and 60 micron pitch microchannels with an Ag epoxy thermal interface layer, the average unit thermal resistance was 25.6Cmm2∕W. This fell to 22.6Cmm2∕W with an In thermal interface layer. Cooling &gt;500W∕cm2 was demonstrated with water. Using a fluorinated fluid with an inlet temperature of −30°C, a chip with a power density of 270W∕cm2 was cooled to an average chip surface temperature of 35°C. Results using both water and a fluorinated fluid are presented for a range of Si microchannel designs with a channel pitch from 60 to 100 microns.
A Mathematical Model for Heat and Mass Transfer in Methane-Air
Boundary Layers With Catalytic Surface Reactions
Authors: Tong T. W. , Abou-Ellail M. M. M. , Li Y. 
Published: August 2007

Abstract
Catalytic combustion of hydrocarbon mixtures involves the adsorption of the fuel and oxidant into a platinum surface, chemical reactions of the adsorbed species, and the desorption of the resulting products. Re-adsorption of some produced gases is also possible. The catalytic reactions can be beneficial in porous burners that use low equivalence ratios. In this case, the porous burner flame can be stabilized at low temperatures to prevent any substantial gas emissions, such as nitric oxide. The present paper is concerned with the numerical computation of heat transfer and chemical reactions in flowing methane-air mixtures over a platinum coated hot plate. Chemical reactions are included in the gas phase and in the solid platinum surface. In the gas phase, 16 species are involved in 49 elementary reactions. On the platinum hot surface, additional surface species are included that are involved in 24 additional surface chemical reactions. The platinum surface temperature is fixed, while the properties of the reacting flow are computed. The flow configuration investigated here is the parallel boundary layer reacting flow. Finite-volume equations are obtained by formal integration over control volumes surrounding each grid node. Up-wind differencing is used to ensure that the influence coefficients are always positive to reflect the physical effect of neighboring nodes on a typical central node. The finite-volume equations are solved iteratively for the reacting gas flow properties. On the platinum surface, surface species balance equations, under steady-state conditions, are solved numerically by an under-relaxed linear algorithm. A non-uniform computational grid is used, concentrating most of the nodes near the catalytic surface. Surface temperatures, 1150 K and 1300 K, caused fast reactions on the catalytic surface, with very slow chemical reactions in the flowing gas. These slow reactions produce mainly intermediate hydrocarbons and unstable species. The computational results for the chemical reaction boundary layer thickness and mass transfer at the gas-surface interface are correlated by non-dimensional relations, taking the Reynolds number as the independent variable. Chemical kinetic relations for the reaction rate are obtained which are dependent on reactants’ concentrations and surface temperature.
Soil organic carbon dynamics along a climatic gradient in a southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest
Authors: Tewksbury C.E. , Van Miegroet H. 
Published: August 2007

A field study was conducted in a high-elevation spruce–fir ( Picea rubens Sarg. – Abies fraseri (Pursh.) Poir) forest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to assess the effect of temperature on soil C storage and dynamics. In eight plots along an elevation gradient (1500–1900 m), we measured soil temperature, forest floor and mineral soil C, litter decomposition, soil respiration, and forest floor mean residence time. Mean annual soil temperature and annual degree-days above 5 °C were inversely correlated with elevation. Total soil C (166–241 Mg·ha–1) showed no trend with elevation, while forest floor C accumulation (16.3–35.9 Mg·ha–1) decreased significantly with elevation. Carbon dynamics did not follow a consistent elevation pattern; however, the cooler upper elevations showed the lowest C turnover as indicated by the lowest needle decomposition rate (k = 0.0231·year–1) and the longest mean residence time of forest floor C (22 years). Mean annual CO2efflux from the soil (1020–1830 kg C·ha–1·year–1) was negatively correlated with mean annual soil temperatures and annual degree-days above 5 °C. This gradient study offers useful insights into C release patterns under future warming scenarios, and suggests that the highest elevation may be most susceptible to global warming.
Role of Features and Second-order Spatial Relations in Face Discrimination, Face Recognition, and Individual Face Skills: Behavioral and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data
Authors: Rotshtein Pia , Geng Joy J. , Driver Jon , Dolan Raymond J. 
Published: August 2007

Abstract
We compared the contribution of featural information and second-order spatial relations (spacing between features) in face processing. A fully factorial design has the same or different “features” (eyes, mouth, and nose) across two successive displays, whereas, orthogonally, the second-order spatial relations between those features were the same or different. The range of such changes matched the possibilities within the population of natural face images. Behaviorally, we found that judging whether two successive faces depicted the same person was dominated by features, although second-order spatial relations also contributed. This influence of spatial relations correlated, for individual subjects, with their skill at recognition of faces (as famous, or as previously exposed) in separate behavioral tests. Using the same repetition design in functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found feature-dependent effects in the lateral occipital and right fusiform regions. In addition, there were spatial relation effects in the bilateral inferior occipital gyrus and right fusiform that correlated with individual differences in (separately measured) behavioral sensitivity to those changes. The results suggest that featural and second-order spatial relation aspects of faces make distinct contributions to behavioral discrimination and recognition, with features contributing most to face discrimination and second-order spatial relational aspects correlating best with recognition skills. Distinct neural responses to these aspects were found with functional magnetic resonance imaging, particularly when individual skills were taken into account for the impact of second-order spatial relations.
Relapse following discontinuation of imatinib mesylate therapy for FIP1L1/PDGFRA-positive chronic eosinophilic leukemia: implications for optimal dosing
Authors: Klion Amy D. , Robyn Jamie , Maric Irina , Fu Weiming , Schmid Laura , Lemery Steven , Noel Pierre , Law Melissa A. , Hartsell Marilyn , Talar-Williams Cheryl , Fay Michael P. , Dunbar Cynthia E. , Nutman Thomas B. 
Published: August 2007

Abstract
Although imatinib is clearly the treatment of choice for FIP1L1/PDGFRA-positive chronic eosinophilic leukemia (CEL), little is known about optimal dosing, duration of treatment, and the possibility of cure in this disorder. To address these questions, 5 patients with FIP1L1/PDGFRA-positive CEL with documented clinical, hematologic, and molecular remission on imatinib (400 mg daily) and without evidence of cardiac involvement were enrolled in a dose de-escalation trial. The imatinib dose was tapered slowly with close follow-up for evidence of clinical, hematologic, and molecular relapse. Two patients with endomyocardial fibrosis were maintained on imatinib 300 to 400 mg daily and served as controls. All 5 patients who underwent dose de-escalation, but neither of the control patients, experienced molecular relapse (P < .05). None developed recurrent symptoms, and eosinophil counts, serum B12, and tryptase levels remained suppressed. Reinitiation of therapy at the prior effective dose led to molecular remission in all 5 patients, although 2 patients subsequently required increased dosing to maintain remission. These data are consistent with suppression rather than elimination of the clonal population in FIP1L1/PDGFRA-positive CEL and suggest that molecular monitoring may be the most useful method in determining optimal dosing without the risk of disease exacerbation. This trial was registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov as no. NCT00044304.
New insights into the collapsing of cylindrical thin-walled tubes under axial impact load
Authors: Shakeri M , Mirzaeifar R , Salehghaffari S 
Published: August 2007

The current paper presents further investigations into the crushing behaviour of circular aluminium tubes subjected to axial impact load. Experiments prove that in order to achieve the real collapsing shape of tubes under axial loads in numerical simulations, an initial geometric imperfection corresponding to the plastic buckling modes should be introduced on the tube geometry before the impact event. In this study, it is shown that the collapsing shape of tube is affected by this initial imperfection and consequently it is shown that by applying an initial geometric imperfection similar to the axisymmetric plastic buckling mode, the tubes tend to collapse in a concertina mode. This phenomenon is studied for circular tubes subjected to axial impact load and two design methods are suggested to activate the axisymmetric plastic buckling mode, using an initial circumferential edge groove and using one- and two-rigid rings on the tube. In each case the broadening of the concertina collapsing region is estimated using numerical simulations. Experimental tests are performed to study the influence of cutting the edge groove on the collapsing mode. In order to optimize the crashworthiness parameters of the structure such as the absorbed energy, maximum deflection in axial direction, maximum reaction force, and mean reaction force, a system of neural networks is designed to reproduce the crushing behaviour of the structure, which is often non-smooth and highly non-linear in terms of the design variables (diameter, thickness, and length of tube). The finite-element code ABAQUS/Explicit is used to generate the training and test sets for the neural networks. The response surface of each objective function (crashworthiness parameters) against the change of design variables is calculated and both single-objective and multi-objective optimizations are carried out using the genetic algorithm.