bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Dialogue about Risk
Authors: May Peter J. 
Published: October 2006

But Is It True?: On the Relationship Between Knowledge and Action in the Great Environmental and Safety Issues of Our Time, Aaron Wildavsky, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1994) (in press). Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, Ulrich Beck, Sage Publications, Newbury Park (19921, 249 pp. (translated by Mark Ritter). Risk and Blame: Essays in Cultural Theory, Mary Douglas, Routledge, London and New York (1992), 313 pp. Organizations, Uncertainties, and Risk, James F. Short, Jr. and Lee Clarke (Eds.), Westview Press, Boulder (1992), 355 pp.
Enhancing Disaster Planning and Management: The 1990 Nyngan Flood in Australia
Authors: Wills Jules A. 
Published: October 2006

Crises have been characterized as situations of extreme collective stress which exhibit the ‘prompt overloading of communication channels, the massive invasion of volunteers on the scene of the crisis, the spreading of rumours, the seemingly irrational aversion of the population to smoothly organized professional relief and immediate allegations concerning who is to be blamed and who is taking advantage of the emergency situation’(Rosenthal, Hart‘t and Charles, 1989: 16). All of these phases, elements and characteristics were present to some degree when, on 23 April 1990, the Bogan River broke through the Nyngan levee in western New South Wales, Australia, and caused damage estimated at AUD$50 million.Floods occur occasionally in most Australian rivers. The main cause is excessive rainfall but flooding is exacerbated by clearing catchment areas or by blocking or obstructing water courses. In 1819, Governor Macquarie chastised new settlers for their ‘willful and wayward habits of placing their residences within the reach of floods, and in putting at defiance that impetuous element which it is not for man to contend with’(quoted in Higgins and Robinson, 1981). Given the history and frequency of major flooding in Australia (Douglas, 1979), it is reasonable to question why these natural hazards have the routine tendency to become disasters of varying degrees of severity (Jarman and Kouzmin, 1991).This paper looks at the flooding of Nyngan in 1990 and examines events as they relate to existing and extended models of disaster management and decision‐making.
Correlation between single nucleotide polymorphisms in a calprotectin subunit gene and risk of periodontitis in a Chinese population
Authors: Li QiYan , Meng HuanXin , Zhang Li , Xu Li , Chen ZhiBin , Shi Dong , Feng XiangHui , Zhu XiaoLing , Zhao HongShan , Cao CaiFang 
Published: October 2006

SummaryS100A8, the light subunit of calprotectin, has been known to be associated with periodontal inflammation. The present study looked to detect whether three polymorphisms in the upstream region of the S100A8 gene are correlated with periodontitis. Three hundred and twenty one subjects, including chronic periodontitis (CP) patients, aggressive periodontitis (AgP) patients and periodontally healthy controls, were recruited. The SNPs rs3795391, rs3806232 and rs3885688 were analyzed by PCR‐RFLP analysis. No person carried the rs3885688 polymorphism in this cohort. For the other two polymorphisms, the combined effects of genotype/allele and gender were shown to be associated with the risk of periodontitis using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The G+ genotype/G allele may be considered to exert a significant protective effect in males against AgP (Genotype: rs3795391: P= 0.032, rs3806232: P= 0.017; Allele: rs3795391: P= 0.024, rs3806232: P= 0.013). Although the combined effects of genotype and gender on CP susceptibility were not observed for these two polymorphisms, there does seem to be increased risk of CP in males with allele A compared to females with allele A (rs3795391: P= 0.008; rs3806232: P= 0.009). Hence we found an important association between polymorphisms in the S100A8 gene and periodontitis in a Chinese population.
Association of PSD‐95 with ErbB4 facilitates neuregulin signaling in cerebellar granule neurons in culture
Authors: Xie Fang , Padival Mallika , Siegel Ruth E. 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe growth factor neuregulin 1 (NRG) selectively induces an increase in the γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptor β2 subunit protein in rat cerebellar granule neurons in culture. We previously demonstrated that NRG acts by triggering ErbB4 receptor phosphorylation and subsequent signaling through the mitogen‐activated kinase (MAPK), phosphatidyl inositol‐3 kinase (PI‐3K) and cyclin‐dependent kinase 5 (cdk5) pathways. In this report we show that the scaffolding protein, PSD‐95, plays a key role in mediating the effects of NRG and that reducing its level attenuates the NRG‐induced increase in β2 subunit expression. PSD‐95 appears to facilitate the effects of NRG through its association with ErbB4, an interaction that is augmented by NRG‐activated cdk signaling. Inhibition of cdk activity with roscovitine attenuates the association of PSD‐95 with ErbB4. The effects of cdk5 are not blocked by U0126, an inhibitor of MAPK signaling, indicating that cdk5 functions independently of cross‐talk with this pathway. These findings raise the possibility that NRG‐induced activation of cdk5 works in part by recruiting PSD‐95, a protein involved in regulating synaptic plasticity, to associate with ErbB4. This interaction may be a positive feedback loop that augments NRG signaling and its downstream effects on GABAA receptor β2 subunit expression.
The role of history vs. demography in shaping genetic population structure across an ecotone: chukar partridges (Alectoris chukar) as a case study
Authors: Randi E. , Tabarroni C. , Kark S. 
Published: October 2006

ABSTRACTRecent advances in molecular ecology allow better assessment of the role of ecological and evolutionary processes in determining the dynamics of genetic diversity in natural populations. The chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar) is abundant and continuously distributed in the mesic Mediterranean regions of Israel, becoming scarce and patchily distributed in the arid Negev Desert. This demographic transition occurs across a main environmental transition, the Northern Negev ecotone. Populations of chukars along this gradient have been shown to differ from other populations in morphology, bilateral asymmetry, and in allozyme variation. The aim of this study is to infer whether historical (i.e. secondary contact of formerly vicariant populations) or recurrent demographic events (i.e. restriction to gene flow across the ecotone) have shaped the observed patterns of genetic diversity in chukar populations in Israel. We analysed mtDNA control‐region sequences in 216 chukars collected from 28 localities (five distinct geographical regions). Results show that (1) average haplotype diversity is high (h = 0.93) while haplotype divergence is low (π= 0.8%), suggesting that extant populations diversified recently; (2) mtDNA gene diversity does not significantly differ across the distribution range; and (3) haplotype distribution differs among the sampling locations (amova; P < 0.00031). Mantel test and autocorrelation analyses indicate that isolation‐by‐distance may explain the geographical partitioning of genetic diversity. These patterns have likely been produced by complex dynamics between past fragmentation of northern vs. intermediate and southern populations. Late Pleistocene climatic changes, fostering cycles of range contraction and expansion, may have led to genetic differentiation in allopatry, followed by restricted gene flow across secondary contact zones.
Blood in Medieval Cultures
Authors: Bildhauer Bettina 
Published: October 2006

AbstractBlood was central to medieval medicine, literature, theology and devotion. This article traces some of the characteristic features of blood in medieval texts in these areas, primarily in German from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries: the invocation of blood as proof; the prohibitions against bloodshed; the misogynist and anti‐Semitic concepts of blood; and the importance of blood in social bodies.
Prospective, paired crossover comparison of multiple, single‐needle plateletpheresis procedures with the Amicus and Trima Accel cell separators
Authors: Fontana Stefano , Mordasini Livio , Keller Peter , Taleghani Behrouz Mansouri 
Published: October 2006

BACKGROUND: The Baxter Amicus Version 2.51 (A) and the Gambro BCT Trima Accel Version 5.0 (T) cell separators may produce multiple platelet (PLT) concentrates within a single donation.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The single‐needle multiple plateletpheresis procedures of the two devices were compared in a prospective, randomized, paired crossover study in 60 donors. The 120 donations were compared for donor comfort, collection efficiency, residual white blood cell (WBC) count, and (in selected patients) corrected count increment (CCI).RESULTS: The mean PLT yield and the resultant mean number of units per donation were significantly lower for A (6.06 × 1011 vs. 7.48 × 1011 and 2.57 vs. 3.19, respectively, both p < 0.001), in spite of a longer apheresis duration (89 min vs. 79 min; p < 0.001). This resulted in a higher collection rate of T (5.68 × 1011 PLTs/hr vs. 4.10 × 1011 PLTs/hr, p < 0.001). Residual WBC count of every unit was fewer than 5 × 106, but significantly fewer A‐PLT donations contained more than 105 WBCs per unit (1 vs. 9, p = 0.008). Although the ACD‐A consumption was slightly higher for A (489 mL vs. 469 mL, p = 0.04), a trend to a higher frequency of side effects was found for T (42.4% vs. 23.7%, p = 0.06). The 1‐hour CCIs of 33 transfused A‐PLT units were comparable with those of 43 T‐PLT units (11.8 vs. 13.9, p = 0.480).CONCLUSIONS: Both cell separators showed safe collections of up to 4 PLT units per donation with adequate CCI. T produced a higher PLT yield despite shorter apheresis duration, but with slightly higher residual WBC counts and a trend to a higher side‐effect frequency.
Predictive Power of Heart Rate Variability Used as a Stratifier of Cardiac Mortality After Myocardial Infarction in Patients Discharged With and Without Beta‐Blocker Therapy
Authors: Hartikainen Juha E.K. , Malik Marek , Staunton Anne , Poloniecki Jan , Camm A. John 
Published: October 2006

Background: Depressed heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with increased risk for sudden cardiac death after myocardial infarction. Beta‐blocker therapy reduces the risk of sudden cardiac death in patients with recent infarction. There is also evidence that beta‐blockers improve HRV in postinfarction patients. In this study, we investigated whether the association between HRV and cardiac mortality in postinfarction patients is different in those who, on clinical grounds are and are not discharged on beta‐blocker therapy.Methods: HRV was assessed from 24‐hour ambulatory electrocardiograms before hospital discharge in 438 survivors of acute myocardial infarction. After the recordings, 147 patients were prescribed beta‐blockers and 291 were discharged without beta‐blocker therapy. The patients were followed for at least 2 years using cardiac death and arrhythmic death as clinical endpoints. Patients were dichotomized to depressed and normal HRV at the lowest 30 percentile.Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that HRV was a sigificant determinant of cardiac (P < 0.001) and arrhythmic mortality (P < 0.001) in patients who were not on beta‐blocker therapy, whereas it was not a predictor of cardiac or arrhythmic mortality in patients who were taking beta‐blockers. Beta‐blocker therapy was associated with a significantly lower total cardiac mortality and arrhythmic mortality in patients with depressed HRV (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). In patients with normal HRV, the reduction of mortality was smaller and remained nonsignificant.Conclusion: HRV was not a predictor of cardiac mortality in postinfarction patients who were prescribed beta‐blockers before hospital discharge. In addition, beta‐blocker therapy was associated with a lower cardiac mortality, particularly in patients with depressed HRV. Thus, depressed HRV might be considered as an additional indication for beta‐blocker therapy in postinfarction patients.
Autonomic Effects on the QT Interval
Authors: Ahmed Mizra W. , Kadish Alan H. , Goldberger Jeffrey J. 
Published: October 2006

Background: This study was designed to evaluate the effects of autonomic tone on the QT interval, using conventional and heart rate independent analysis. Effects of autonomic tone on the QT interval have been studied either using rate correction formulae or during fixed rate atrial pacing, both of which have been associated with problems. Since most autonomic interventions are associated with heart rate changes, separation of “true” autonomic effects from rate related effects on the QT interval is essential.Methods: Electrocardiographic recordings were performed in 14 healthy volunteers during: (1) sympathetic stimulation (tilt, epinephrine infusion, isoproterenol infusion, and exercise); (2) β‐adrenergic blockade; (3) parasympathetic blockade; (4) autonomic blockade; (5) tilt following autonomic blockade; (6) parasympathetic stimulation (phenylephrine infusion); and (7) isolated α‐adrenergic stimulation (phenylephrine infusion following atropine). The QT interval was adjusted for heart rate using Bazett's formula. Heart rate independent analysis was performed between conditions with similar cycle lengths.Results: QT interval measurements were reproducible and exhibited the typical QT‐RR relationship. Sympathetic stimulation decreased the RR interval and prolonged the QTc interval. Parasympathetic blockade also increased the QTc. Heart rate independent analysis of the effects of β‐blockade showed a shortening of the QT (from 368.5 ± 20.5 ms to 355.9 ± 17.9 ms; n = 8). Alpha‐adrenergic stimulation also decreased the QT interval from 302.4 ± 16.8 ms to 294.3 ± 17.7 ms (n = 7).Conclusion: Sympathetic stimulation prolongs the QT interval, while β‐blockade shortens it. Alpha‐adrenergic stimulation also shortens the QT interval. Autonomic effects on the QT interval as assessed by heart rate independent analysis may help separate the true autonomic effects from rate related effects.
Adverse Prognosis of ST Depression on the Resting Electrocardiogram in Stable Patients Following Acute Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Dwyer Edward M. , Case Robert B. , Gillespie John A. , Greenberg Henry M. , Krone Ronald J. , Lichstein Edgar , Moss Arthur J. ,   Multicenter Myocardial Ischemia Research Group
Published: October 2006

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics of stable patients with resting ST segment depression on the resting electrocardiogram (ECG) following an acute ischemic event (i.e., infarction or unstable angina) to better understand its association with subsequent cardiac death and nonfatal infarction. The recent Multicenter Study of Myocardial Ischemia (MSMI) demonstrated that the resting ST segment depression had an independent prognostic value.Methods: We studied clinical features, noninvasive test results and coronary arteriography findings in 99 patients with ST depression on the resting ECG and 837 patients without ST segment depression with respect to endpoints of cardiac death and hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina.Results: Our results showed that patients with resting ECG ST depression were significantly older with a higher incidence of hypertension, angina, claudication, and tobacco use. ST depression on the resting ECG correlated closely with ST segment depression on the 24‐hour ambulatory ECG and the exercise ECG but not with redistribution on the thallium perfusion scan. Left ventricular diastolic pressure was higher and exercise duration less in patients with ST depression. Although not achieving statistical significance, patients with ST depression did show more extensive coronary disease and a lower ejection fraction.Conclusions: ECG ST depression was associated with cardiac death and nonfatal reinfarction over the follow‐up period only in patients originally admitted with an acute infarction but not in patients hospitalized for unstable angina. The reason for this appears to be an association of ST depression with increased age, the presence of hypertension, the presence of more severe coronary disease, and more extensive myocardial damage.
Detection of Silent Myocardial Ischemia During Ambulatory Monitoring by Time‐Frequency Power Spectral Analysis
Authors: Kamath Markad V. , Fallen Ernest L. , McArthur Amanda , Runions Joanne 
Published: October 2006

Background: The nonstationary conditions of unrestricted ambulatory ECG monitoring preclude any meaningful detection of short‐term transient events by conventional time series methods. Time‐frequency analysis offers a unique approach that tracks the frequency content of the signal as it is changing in time.Methods: We compared the ability of three methods: time‐frequency, RR interval time series, and global HR power spectra to detect the occurrence of silent ischemia (ST depression > 1.5 mm × 80 ms for at least 2 min) among 17 Holter records. The records were obtained from five patients (age 52 ± 2 years) with angiographic coronary artery stenosis > 70%. Individual segments were analyzed in a blinded fashion by three of the authors (MK, EF, AM).Results: Neither changes in the RR interval series nor sequential 2.2‐minute power spectra was significantly predictive of ischemia. Conversely, an abrupt loss of variance in the time‐frequency plot was associated with ST depression 82.3% of the time (Chi square = 3.41; P < 0.055). There was a weaker correspondance between the duration of ST depression and loss of autospectral power.Conclusions: Although a significant correlation (r2= 0.863) was seen between the maximum low frequency power (sympathetic modulation) and sudden decreases in RR interval, there were at least three instances where no detectable change in HR occurred during episodes of ischemia. These preliminary observations offer hope that time‐frequency methods may prove useful in the detection of transient events in the ambulatory ECC record.
Enhanced ECG Signal‐Averaging Techniques: New Applications and Improved Performance
Authors: Lander Paul 
Published: October 2006

Background: The signal‐averaged ECG is a widely used and accepted technique for analysis of low‐level cardiac signals. This article reviews a new and enhanced form of ECG signal averaging: the time‐frequency plane Wiener (TFPW) filter.Methods: The TFPW filter accelerates the process of noise reduction. It facilitates use of signal averaging in settings previously unexplored with the technique, where a limited number of beats may be available.Conclusion: Example applications of the TFPW filter include improved analysis of ventricular late potentials and analysis of dynamic events, such as transient ischemia.
Classification Accuracy of Electrocardiographic Criteria for Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in Normal Weight and Overweight Older Adults
Authors: Rautaharju Pentti M. , Manolio Teri A. , Siscovick David , Zhou Sophia H. , Gardin Julius M. , Furberg Curt D. , Borhani Nemat O. , Newman Anne ,   CHS Collaborative Research Group
Published: October 2006

Background: We evaluated classification accuracy of ECG criteria at varying levels of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) severity according to echocardiographically measured left ventricular mass (LVM) adjusted to body size.Methods: The test population was derived from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), a population‐based sample of 5201 men and women aged 65 and older, and consisted of 1844 women and 1119 men with adequate quality ECGs and echocardiograms for LVM determination. The criteria evaluated were Sokolow‐Lyon, Cornell voltage, Cornell product, Framingham modification of the Cornell voltage, and the left ventricular mass index (LVMI) of the Novacode ECG program.Results: With LVH thresholds at upper 95% normal limit for weight adjusted LVM for the CHS population and ECG thresholds adjusted for 95% specificity in normal weight and overweight subgroups, the sensitivity of ECG criteria for LVH was relatively low. It was highest (40.8%) for the Novacode LVMI in normal weight men and for the Framingham criteria (30.9%) in normal weight women, but it deteriorated for both of these criteria in the presence of obesity. The overall performance of the Cornell product and Cornell voltage criteria was least influenced by obesity. The Framingham adjustment for the Cornell voltage criteria for obesity substantially reduced their sensitivity.Conclusion: The choice of echocardiographic standard, LVH severity level and overweight in the test groups have a strong influence on ECG evaluation results.
A Prospective Study of Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery
Authors: Hutchinson Leigh Ann , Steinberg Jonathan S. 
Published: October 2006

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a commonly encountered arrhythmia following cardiac surgery and when sustained, may be associated with significant morbidity.Methods: This large prospective investigation examined a variety of clinical and P wave signal‐averaged electrocardiogram (SAECG) parameters to identify independent predictors of AF following cardiac surgery. A total of 272 patients underwent P wave SAECG recording and analysis prior to surgery. Information on their clinical, surgical, and hemodynamic characteristics as well as hospital course was collected. Patients were followed during their postoperative course with telemetry and ECGs.Results: During an observation period of up to 14 days, 79 patients (29%) developed AF 2.5 ± 1.9 days after surgery. Patients who developed AF following cardiac surgery were more likely to be older, undergo valve surgery, to have ejection fraction (EF) < 40%, to have P wave duration on SAECG >140 ms (all P < 0.01), and to take digoxin preoperatively (P < 0.05). A multivariate analysis found that only P wave duration on SAECG >140 ms and EF < 40% were independent predictors of AF following cardiac surgery. The odds ratio of P wave duration on SAECG >140 ms and EF < 40% for the development of AF following cardiac surgery was 3.1 and 2.8, respectively, and 8.7 when combined.Conclusions: Thus, the presence of preexisting abnormal atrial substrate as detected by P wave prolongation on SAECG, and implicated by EF < 40%, clearly predicted a higher risk of AF following cardiac surgery and may provide clinicians with an effective means of identifying those at greatest risk.
A Comparative Analysis of Commercial Software for Signal‐Averaged Electrocardiography
Authors: Turitto Gioia , Mansoor Shahid , Rao Srisha , Edward B. Caref M.A.  , El‐Sherif Nabil 
Published: October 2006

Background: Lack of standardization of software algorithms to identify the end of QRS for time‐domain analysis of the signal‐averaged electrocardiogram may limit the comparison of results obtained with different machines.Methods: To study this problem, 50 normal volunteers underwent signal‐averaged electrocardiogram with ART 1200 EPX and Corazonix Predictor units in random sequence, collecting an equal number of beats. Data were analyzed with five different commercial softwares by ART and Corazonix.Results: Comparison of QRS duration, duration of low amplitude signals, and root mean square voltage of last 40 ms of QRS at two high‐pass filter settings (25 and 40 Hz) showed significant differences among softwares.Conclusions: Standardization of software for time‐domain analysis of the signal averaged electrocardiogram is warranted; until then, normal values for signal averaged electrocardiogram parameters will have to be appropriately selected for each study, according to the software utilized.