bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Availability and development of guidelines in a tertiary teaching hospital
Authors: Guo Yang , Adelstein Barbara‐Ann , Rubin George L. 
Published: August 2007

Abstract
Objective  The purpose of this study was to review existing guidelines in clinical departments and describe their characteristics, development and implementation at a large teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia.
Methods  The study was undertaken in two stages. First, from September to November 2005, we reviewed and classified documents from eight departments as clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), clinical procedural protocols (technology and technique) or administrative guidelines. We also collected information about the scope, format and target user of the guidelines. Second, from March to June 2006, we interviewed department staff in seven of eight participating departments about the guidelines’ development and implementation. A revised Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation questionnaire was used to collect data in both stages.
Results  A total of 368 of 509 documents reviewed were classified as CPGs. Almost 90% of the CPGs had five or fewer pages; nearly 80% had no references; and 90% had no application tools. The CPGs had been developed locally by each individual department. The departments used various methods to collect evidence. In six (albeit a different six departments in each case) of seven departments, clinicians’ clinical experience was used in the analysis of the evidence; informal expert consensus was used for formulating recommendations; internal peer review was the major method used to review the guidelines (after drafting); hard copy of guidelines was the major medium used; and provision of educational material was the major implementation strategy.
Conclusions  There was great variation in the number, availability and presentation of guidelines in the departments. There was a lack of standardized methods and narrow skills representation during guideline development.
Teaching evidence‐based practice: the teachers consider the content
Authors: Yousefi‐Nooraie Reza , Rashidian Arash , Keating Jennifer L. , Schonstein Eva 
Published: August 2007

Abstract
Objective  To identify the views of evidence‐based practice (EBP) experts about information that should be included in EBP courses.
Design  A two‐round Delphi process.
Setting and subject  The panel of experts in teaching EBP residing in developed and developing countries identified through purposive and snowball sampling.
Main outcome measures  We developed a list of 49 topics representing key educational topics. The panel scored the importance of topics for inclusion in introductory and advanced courses. In the second round, we sent a summary of results to the panel and asked them to re‐score in light of the group’s responses.
Results  We used email to invite 105 EBP teachers to participate in the study. Fifty‐one people from 15 countries agreed to participate, and 40 completed the second round. We achieved consensus that formulating clinical questions, searching pre‐appraised resources, introduction to systematic reviews and critical appraisal of studies about therapy should be covered earlier in EBP courses while other critical appraisal topics and quantitative decision‐making techniques should be left to more advanced levels.
Conclusion  Experts concur that introductory EBP courses should be simple and certain topics should be avoided. Specifically, critical appraisal and statistical methods should be left to advanced courses.
Mapping the Cochrane evidence for decision making in health care
Authors: El Dib Regina P. , Atallah Álvaro N. , Andriolo Regis B. 
Published: August 2007

Abstract
Rationale and aim  Over the past 12 years, thousands of authors working with the Cochrane Collaboration around the world have produced systematic reviews to reduce uncertainty in health care decision making. We evaluated the conclusions from Cochrane systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials in terms of their recommendations for clinical practice and research.
Methods  In our cross‐sectional study of systematic reviews published in the Cochrane Library, we randomly selected and analysed completed systematic reviews published across all 50 Cochrane Collaborative Review Groups.
Results  We analysed 1016 completed systematic reviews. Of these, 44% concluded that the interventions studied were likely to be beneficial, of which 1% recommended no further research and 43% recommended additional research. Also, 7% of the reviews concluded that the interventions were likely to be harmful, of which 2% did not recommend further studies and 5% recommended additional studies. In total, 49% of the reviews reported that the evidence did not support either benefit or harm, of which 1% did not recommend further studies and 48% recommended additional studies. Overall, 96% of the reviews recommended further research.
Conclusions  Cochrane systematic reviews were about evenly split between those in which the authors concluded that at least one of the interventions was beneficial and those in which the evidence neither supported nor refuted the intervention tested. The Cochrane Collaboration needs to include clinical trial protocol summaries with a study design optimized to answer the relevant research questions.
Psychological variables as correlates of adjustment in mothers of children with intellectual disabilities: cross‐sectional and longitudinal relationships
Authors: Lloyd T. , Hastings R. P. 
Published: August 2007

AbstractBackground  Existing research studies suggest that parenting a child with intellectual disabilities (ID) can be a stressful experience. However, there are few data addressing the question of how or why parents might experience considerable distress. In the present study, psychological variables (acceptance, mindfulness, avoidant coping) are explored that may explain some variance in maternal distress.Method  Questionnaire data were gathered from mothers of children attending special schools at two time points, 18 months apart (n = 91 at Time 1; n = 57 at Time 2). In addition to measures of the child's functioning, the questionnaire pack included: a measure of acceptance of unwanted thoughts/feelings; a measure of attention to the present (mindfulness); a measure of active avoidance coping; measures of maternal anxiety, depression and stress; and a measure of mothers' positive perceptions of their child.Results  In cross‐sectional analysis, acceptance was negatively associated with maternal anxiety, depression and stress, such that mothers who were generally more accepting reported fewer psychological adjustment problems. Longitudinal analysis showed that acceptance is bidirectionally related to anxiety and depression. Mindfulness was not significantly related to maternal distress, and avoidance coping was positively cross‐sectionally associated with depression only. There were no associations between psychological variables and maternal positive perceptions.Conclusions  These data suggest that acceptance, in particular, may be a construct that explains some variance in maternal distress. Further research could focus on the utility of acceptance‐based interventions (e.g. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) in the support of families with a child with ID.
Microalbuminuria is a negative correlate for cognitive function in older adults with peripheral arterial disease: results from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2002
Authors: Kuo H.‐K. , Lin L.‐Y. , Yu Y.‐H. 
Published: August 2007

Abstract.Objectives.  Microalbuminuria (MA) has been increasingly identified as a marker of cardiovascular risk. Although poor cognitive function has been implicated as a sequelae of increased cardiovascular burden, little is known about the association between MA and cognitive function.Design.  Population‐based cross‐sectional study.Settings.  National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2002 in the USA.Subjects.  2049 noninstitutionalized adults (≥60 years) with nonmissing values in cognitive test, urinary albumin‐to‐creatinine ratio (UACR) and ankle‐brachial blood pressure index (ABPI) was analysed. Participants with UACR >300 μg mg−1 were excluded.Main outcome measures.  The UACR, in the unit of μg mg−1, was calculated by dividing the urinary albumin value by the urinary creatinine concentration. MA was defined as UACR between 30 and 300 μg mg−1. Cognitive function was measured by a 2‐min Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Peripheral artery disease (PAD) was defined as an ABPI <0.9 in either leg.Results.  Overall speaking, MA was inversely associated with DSST score after controlling for age, sex, race, body mass index and educational level (regression coefficient = −2.8, P = 0.002). There was an effect modification of PAD on the association between MA and the DSST score. Amongst participants with PAD, the DSST score for those with MA was lower than those without MA (β = −6.3, P = 0.003) after multivariate adjustment. Moreover, participants with PAD in the highest quartile of UACR had significantly lower DSST score compared to those in the lowest quartile (β = −8.7, P = 0.001). There was no association between MA and cognitive function amongst participants without PAD. We observed an additive effect of MA and PAD on DSST score. Participants with both MA and PAD had a lower mean DSST score compared to those without both conditions (β = −6.2, P = 0.003).Conclusions.  The presence of MA or a higher level of urinary albumin excretion was inversely associated with cognitive function in participants with PAD.
Genetic adaptation to captivity in species conservation programs
Authors: FRANKHAM RICHARD 
Published: August 2007

AbstractAs wild environments are often inhospitable, many species have to be captive‐bred to save them from extinction. In captivity, species adapt genetically to the captive environment and these genetic adaptations are overwhelmingly deleterious when populations are returned to wild environments. I review empirical evidence on (i) the genetic basis of adaptive changes in captivity, (ii) factors affecting the extent of genetic adaptation to captivity, and (iii) means for minimizing its deleterious impacts. Genetic adaptation to captivity is primarily due to rare alleles that in the wild were deleterious and partially recessive. The extent of adaptation to captivity depends upon selection intensity, genetic diversity, effective population size and number of generation in captivity, as predicted by quantitative genetic theory. Minimizing generations in captivity provides a highly effective means for minimizing genetic adaptation to captivity, but is not a practical option for most animal species. Population fragmentation and crossing replicate captive populations provide practical means for minimizing the deleterious effects of genetic adaptation to captivity upon populations reintroduced into the wild. Surprisingly, equalization of family sizes reduces the rate of genetic adaptation, but not the deleterious impacts upon reintroduced populations. Genetic adaptation to captivity is expected to have major effects on reintroduction success for species that have spent many generations in captivity. This issue deserves a much higher priority than it is currently receiving.
Stability of genetic variance and covariance for reproductive characters in the face of climate change in a wild bird population
Authors: GARANT DANY , HADFIELD JARROD D. , KRUUK LOESKE E. B. , SHELDON BEN C. 
Published: August 2007

AbstractGlobal warming has had numerous effects on populations of animals and plants, with many species in temperate regions experiencing environmental change at unprecedented rates. Populations with low potential for adaptive evolutionary change and plasticity will have little chance of persistence in the face of environmental change. Assessment of the potential for adaptive evolution requires the estimation of quantitative genetic parameters, but it is as yet unclear what impact, if any, global warming will have on the expression of genetic variances and covariances. Here we assess the impact of a changing climate on the genetic architecture underlying three reproductive traits in a wild bird population. We use a large, long‐term, data set collected on great tits (Parus major) in Wytham Woods, Oxford, and an ‘animal model’ approach to quantify the heritability of, and genetic correlations among, laying date, clutch size and egg mass during two periods with contrasting temperature conditions over a 40‐year period (1965–1988 [cooler] vs. 1989–2004 [warmer]). We found significant additive genetic variance and heritability for all traits under both temperature regimes. We also found significant negative genetic covariances and correlations between clutch size and egg weight during both periods, and among laying date and clutch size in the colder years only. The overall G matrix comparison among periods, however, showed only a minor difference among periods, thus suggesting that genotype by environment interactions are negligible in this context. Our results therefore suggest that despite substantial changes in temperature and in mean laying date phenotype over the last decades, and despite the large sample sizes available, we are unable to detect any significant change in the genetic architecture of the reproductive traits studied.
The genetic structure of cattle populations (Bos taurus) in northern Eurasia and the neighbouring Near Eastern regions: implications for breeding strategies and conservation
Authors: LI MENG‐HUA , TAPIO ILMA , VILKKI JOHANNA , IVANOVA ZOYA , KISELYOVA TATYANA , MARZANOV NURBY , ĆINKULOV MIRJANA , STOJANOVIĆ SRDJAN , AMMOSOV INNOKENTY , POPOV RUSLAN , KANTANEN JUHA 
Published: August 2007

AbstractWe investigated the genetic structure and variation of 21 populations of cattle (Bos taurus) in northern Eurasia and the neighbouring Near Eastern regions of the Balkan, the Caucasus and Ukraine employing 30 microsatellite markers. By analyses of population relationships, as well as by a Bayesian‐based clustering approach, we identified a genetic distinctness between populations of modern commercial origin and those of native origin. Our data suggested that northern European Russia represents the most heavily colonized area by modern commercial cattle. Further genetic mixture analyses based on individual assignment tests found that native Red Steppe cattle were also employed in the historical breeding practices in Eastern Europe, most probably for incorporating their strong and extensive adaptability. In analysis of molecular variance, within‐population differences accounted for ~90% of the genetic variation. Despite some correspondence between geographical proximity and genetic similarity, genetic differentiation was observed to be significantly associated with the difference in breeding purpose among the European populations (percentage of variance among groups and significance: 2.99%, P = 0.02). Our findings give unique genetic insight into the historical patterns of cattle breeding practices in the former Soviet Union. The results identify the neighbouring Near Eastern regions such as the Balkan, the Caucasus and Ukraine, and the isolated Far Eastern Siberia as areas of ‘genetic endemism’, where cattle populations should be given conservation priority. The results will also be of importance for cost‐effective management of their future utilization.
Cross‐species transfer of nuclear microsatellite markers: potential and limitations
Authors: BARBARÁ THELMA , PALMA‐SILVA CLARISSE , PAGGI GECELE M. , BERED FERNANDA , FAY MICHAEL F. , LEXER CHRISTIAN 
Published: August 2007

AbstractMolecular ecologists increasingly require ‘universal’ genetic markers that can easily be transferred between species. The distribution of cross‐species transferability of nuclear microsatellite loci is highly uneven across taxa, being greater in animals and highly variable in flowering plants. The potential for successful cross‐species transfer appears highest in species with long generation times, mixed or outcrossing breeding systems, and where genome size in the target species is small compared to the source. We discuss the implications of these findings and close with an outlook on potential alternative sources of cross‐species transferable markers.
Genetic variation and differentiation in captive and wild zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)
Authors: FORSTMEIER WOLFGANG , SEGELBACHER GERNOT , MUELLER JAKOB C. , KEMPENAERS BART 
Published: August 2007

AbstractThe zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is a small Australian grassland songbird that has been domesticated over the past two centuries. Because it is easy to breed in captivity, it has become a widely used study organism, especially in behavioural research. Most work has been conducted on domesticated populations maintained at numerous laboratories in Europe and North America. However, little is known about the extent to which, during the process of domestication, captive populations have gone through bottlenecks in population size, leading to inbred and potentially genetically differentiated study populations. This is an important issue, because (i) behavioural studies on captive populations might suffer from artefacts arising from high levels of inbreeding or lack of genetic variation in such populations, and (ii) it may hamper the comparability of research findings. To address this issue, we genotyped 1000 zebra finches from 18 captive and two wild populations at 10 highly variable microsatellite loci. We found that all captive populations have lost some of the genetic variability present in the wild, but there is no evidence that they have gone through a severe bottleneck, as the average captive population still showed a mean of 11.7 alleles per locus, compared to a mean of 19.3 alleles/locus for wild zebra finches. We found significant differentiation between the captive populations (FST = 0.062). Patterns of genetic similarity closely match geographical relationships, so the most pronounced differences occur between the three continents: Australia, North America, and Europe. By providing a tree of the genetic similarity of the different captive populations, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of variation in research findings obtained by different laboratories.
Molecular analysis of dispersal in giant pandas
Authors: ZHAN X. J. , ZHANG Z. J. , WU H. , GOOSSENS B. , LI M. , JIANG S. W. , BRUFORD M. W. , WEI F. W. 
Published: August 2007

AbstractAlthough dispersal in the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a demographic mechanism which can potentially counteract the negative effect of habitat fragmentation, little is known about dispersal in this species because of difficulties in observing individuals. Using data from faecal microsatellite genotyping, we compared the spatial distribution of giant pandas in two populations and the proximity of relatives in one key population to infer their dispersal pattern. We conclude that giant pandas exhibit female‐biased dispersal because: (i) vAIc (variance of assignment index) for females was significantly larger than for males, suggesting that females comprise both ‘local’ and ‘foreign’ genotypes; (ii) the average spatial distance of related female dyads was significantly larger than that of males; (iii) largerr(relatedness),FST(genetic variance among populations) andmAIc(mean of assignment index) values were found in males using the software FSTAT, although the differences were not significant; (iv) males set up territories neighbouring to their birth place; (v) significant population structure using microsatellites with a concomitant lack of mitochondrial structure was found in a previous study, possibly indicating more extensive female dispersal; and (vi) female‐biased dispersal was strongly supported by evidence from concomitant ecological studies. Considering previous ecological data and life‐history characteristics of the giant panda, female‐biased dispersal is most likely to be due to competition for birth dens among females, inbreeding avoidance and enhancing inclusive fitness among related males.
Structural similarity between the DnaA‐binding proteins HobA (HP1230) from Helicobacter pylori and DiaA from Escherichia coli
Authors: Natrajan Ganesh , Hall David R. , Thompson Alex C. , Gutsche Irina , Terradot Laurent 
Published: August 2007

SummaryIn prokaryotes, DNA replication is initiated by the binding of DnaA to the oriC region of the chromosome to load the primosome machinery and start a new replication round. Several proteins control these events in Escherichia coli to ensure that replication is precisely timed during the cell cycle. Here, we report the crystal structure of HobA (HP1230) at 1.7 Å, a recently discovered protein that specifically interacts with DnaA protein from Helicobacter pylori (HpDnaA). We found that the closest structural homologue of HobA is a sugar isomerase (SIS) domain containing protein, the phosphoheptose isomerase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Remarkably, SIS proteins share strong sequence homology with DiaA from E. coli; yet, HobA and DiaA share no sequence homology. Thus, by solving the structure of HobA, we unexpectedly discovered that HobA is a H. pylori structural homologue of DiaA. By comparing the structure of HobA to a homology model of DiaA, we identified conserved, surface‐accessible residues that could be involved in protein–protein interaction. Finally, we show that HobA specifically interacts with the N‐terminal part of HpDnaA. The structural homology between DiaA and HobA strongly supports their involvement in the replication process and these proteins could define a new structural family of replication regulators in bacteria.
Polyhead formation in phage P22 pinpoints a region in coat protein required for conformational switching
Authors: Parent Kristin N. , Suhanovsky Margaret M. , Teschke Carolyn M. 
Published: August 2007

SummaryEighteen single amino acid substitutions in phage P22 coat protein cause temperature‐sensitive folding defects (tsf). Three intragenic global suppressor (su) substitutions (D163G, T166I and F170L), localized to a flexible loop, rescue the folding of several tsf coat proteins. Here we investigate the su substitutions in the absence of the original tsf substitutions. None of the su variant coat proteins displayed protein folding defects. Individual su substitutions had little effect on phage production in vivo; yet double and triple combinations resulted in a cold‐sensitive (cs) phenotype, consistent with a defect in assembly. During virus assembly and maturation, conformational switching of capsid subunits is required when chemically identical capsid subunits form an icosahedron. Analysis of double‐ and triple‐su phage‐infected cell lysates by negative‐stain electron microscopy reveals an increase in aberrant structures at the cs temperature. In vitro assembly of F170L coat protein causes production of polyheads, never seen before in phage P22. Purified procapsids composed of all of the su coat proteins showed defects in expansion, which mimics maturation in vitro. Our results suggest that a previously identified surface‐exposed loop in coat protein is critical in conformational switching of subunits during both procapsid assembly and maturation.