bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effects of dietary modification as denned by NACNE on the eating habits of 28 people
Authors: Bradley Anna , Theobald Alison 
Published: April 2008

Twenty‐eight members of the general public, with little nutritional knowledge and no previous commitment to dietary change, completed 7‐day‐weighed dietary diaries. They then attempted to change their diets, where appropriate, in line with current nutritional guidelines.The panel achieved changes in diet that were consistent with the recent recommendations but several problems arose. In particular, although fat levels were reduced, energy levels fell and fibre goals were not reached; in addition, certain of the initial vitamin and mineral intakes gave cause for concern. These results emphasize the importance of giving advice not only about foods that might be reduced in the diet, but also about food that might be used as alternatives. They also illustrate the difficulty of persuading people to make radical changes to their eating habits even when given personal advice from a nutritionist.The panel was small and not necessarily representative, but the results illustrate the need for more dietary analysis studies. It is not enough simply to formulate appropriate guidelines from a nutritional point of view; it is also important to ensure that the public understands them and that people make sensible decisions about their diet.
Effects of Exercise on the Morphology of the Myenteric Neurons of the Duodenum of Wistar Rats during the Ageing Process
Authors: De Britto Mari R. , Clebis N. K. , Gagliardo K. M. , Guimarães J. P. , Stabille S. R. , De Mello Germano R. , De Souza R. R. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThis study aimed to evaluate the effects of regular physical activity on the morphology of the myenteric plexus of the duodenum in rats during the ageing process. To this end, 45 Wistar rats were divided into three groups: C (sedentary – 6 months old), S (sedentary – 12 months old) and T (trained – 12 months old). The animals of group S were given with a physical activity programme consisting of a 10‐min‐treadmill workout once a week. The animals of group T were submitted to the physical activity programme five times a week. Their duodenums were collected and submitted to the techniques of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH)‐diaphorase enzyme histochemistry for whole‐mount preparations and transmission electron microscopy. No differences in the constitution of the myenteric plexuses were found when the sedentary and trained groups were compared with the control group. The ultrastructural features were similar for the three groups. However, it was verified that the physical activity of the trained animals resulted in a similar myenteric neuron morphology to that of the adult animals (6 months old), thereby confirming its beneficial effect, as the sedentary animals had larger alterations in the collagen fibrils and the basal membrane that occur through ageing. The quantitative analysis showed that the NADH‐diaphorase positive neurons decreased with ageing and increased with physical activity (P > 0.05). No significant alteration (P > 0.05) in the neuronal profile area of the NADH‐diaphorase positive neurons has been observed with ageing.
Disentangling interactions between adaptive divergence and gene flow when ecology drives diversification
Authors: Räsänen Katja , Hendry Andrew P. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractAdaptive diversification is driven by selection in ecologically different environments. In absence of geographical barriers to dispersal, this adaptive divergence (AD) may be constrained by gene flow (GF). And yet the reverse may also be true, with AD constraining GF (i.e. ‘ecological speciation’). Both of these causal effects have frequently been inferred from the presence of negative correlations between AD and GF in nature – yet the bi‐directional causality warrants caution in such inferences. We discuss how the ability of correlative studies to infer causation might be improved through the simultaneous measurement of multiple ecological and evolutionary variables. On the one hand, inferences about the causal role of GF can be made by examining correlations between AD and the potential for dispersal. On the other hand, inferences about the causal role of AD can be made by examining correlations between GF and environmental differences. Experimental manipulations of dispersal and environmental differences are a particularly promising approach for inferring causation. At present, the best studies find strong evidence that GF constrains AD and some studies also find the reverse. Improvements in empirical approaches promise to eventually allow general inferences about the relative strength of different causal interactions during adaptive diversification.
An open‐label pilot study of alefacept for the treatment of pyoderma gangrenosum
Authors: Foss CE , Clark AR , Inabinet R , Camacho F , Jorizzo JL 
Published: April 2008

AbstractBackground  Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes painful cutaneous ulcers that are difficult to treat. Currently, systemic immunosuppressants, often including prednisone, are the mainstay of therapy. Long‐term therapy with these agents is often required which exposes patients to possible adverse effects. An alternative treatment that is safe and effective is truly needed.Objective  To study the efficacy and safety of alefacept, which inhibits T‐cell activation and selectively reduces the T‐cell population, for treatment of PG.Method  In this prospective open‐label pilot study, four patients diagnosed with PG received weekly doses of 15 mg alefacept intramuscularly for 20 weeks with 12‐week treatment‐free follow‐up. The primary efficacy end point was the proportion of patients achieving remission as defined by a Physician Global Assessment (PGA) of ‘clear’ or ‘almost clear.’ Secondary endpoints included proportion of patients achieving 50% improvement in PG lesion size (measured in mm) and proportion of patients achieving resolution of inflammation (an erythema score of 0 and a border thickness of 0 on scales of 0–4).Results  By week 20, one (25%) of the four patients achieved remission, two showed marked improvement in severity on PGA, and one had slight improvement. One patient showed a 98% decrease in lesion size; two other patients evidenced a decrease in the number of small lesions as well as improvements in primary lesion sizes, but did not surpass the 50% criterion. All four patients showed improved erythema scores during treatment, though only one patient showed a complete resolution of inflammation.Limitations  It may be difficult to generalize the results of this study to a larger population of patients with PG due to the small sample size and lack of a control group. A longer treatment interval might have been required. Safety and efficacy of long‐term therapy is unknown.Conclusion  In this pilot study it appears that alefacept treatment may significantly reduce PG severity levels as evidenced by improvement in PGA, Subject Global Assessment, and inflammation scores in all patients. Alefacept may be a safe and effective alternative to current systemic immunosuppressants used to treat PG. Double‐blinded, controlled trials are necessary to further evaluate the safety and effectiveness of this treatment.
Alopecia areata in Turkey: demographic and clinical features
Authors: Kavak A , Yeşildal N , Parlak AH , Gökdemir G , Aydoǧan İ , Anul H , Baykal C 
Published: April 2008

AbstractBackground  Alopecia areata is a complex genetic disease with still many unknown aspects, and many studies have been tried to find some clues about it.Objective  We aimed to investigate the demographic and clinical characteristics of alopecia areata in Turkish patients.Methods  Demographic data, localization, attack number in addition to some parameters such as disease duration, severity, age of onset, family history and ophiasis pattern were evaluated in 539 alopecia areata patients.Results  The male to female ratio was 1.6 : 1. Occipital and beard‐moustache areas were mostly affected. Positive family history was noticed in 24.1% of the patients. The age of onset was earlier in women than in men (P = 0.04). Severe forms showed more persistent (≥ 1 year) disease duration (P = 0.00). Ophiasis was more common in severe, long duration (≥ 1 year) and early onset (≤ 18 years) disease (P = 0.00 for all parameters). Childhood alopecia areata (≤ 18 years) was also associated with long duration of the disease (P = 0.016) and positive family history (P = 0.008) when compared with adult onset (> 18 years) alopecia areata.
Serologic markers of celiac disease in psoriatic patients
Authors: Damasiewicz‐Bodzek A , Wielkoszyński T 
Published: April 2008

AbstractBackground  Aetiopathogenesis of psoriasis is complex and not yet well known. In recent years, it has been observed that psoriasis can coexist with clinically asymptomatic celiac disease and a gluten‐free diet helps to obtain remission, even in patients with very chronic lesions.Objective  The aim of our work was to investigate how often the positive titres of antibodies characteristic for celiac disease occur in psoriatics’ serum in exacerbation in comparison with controls.Patients/methods  Serum samples from 67 patients with intensified psoriatic lesions were investigated. Serum from healthy people at a comparable age and with no familial predisposition to psoriasis and celiac disease was the control material. Antibodies against human tissue transglutaminase (recombinant antigen), against tissue transglutaminase isolated from guinea pig's liver and against gliadin were determined by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay technique. Anti‐endomysial antibodies were determined by indirect immunofluorescence method.Results  Patients with psoriasis have significantly higher mean concentrations of antibodies against tissue transglutaminase (human recombinant and guinea pig‐derived antigen) and against gliadin for IgA. IgA antibodies against tissue transglutaminase (both antigens) and gliadin positively correlate with psoriasis activity. No anti‐endomysial antibodies for IgA were found in any serum.Conclusions  Our results seem to imply an association between psoriasis and asymptomatic celiac disease/gluten intolerance. High percentage of positive results to guinea pig‐derived tTG could be due to cellular activity of tissue transglutaminase in psoriasis.
A randomized, double‐blind study to assess the efficacy of addition of tetracycline to triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of moderate to severe atopic dermatitis
Authors: Schuttelaar MLA , Coenraads PJ 
Published: April 2008

AbstractObjective  To assess the efficacy of tetracycline in triamcinolone acetonide ointment compared with triamcinolone acetonide ointment in patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis.Design  Randomised, double‐blind parallel group study of 8 weeks’ duration.Setting  Outpatient clinic in a university hospital.Participants  Forty‐four adult patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (objective SCORAD > 25).Interventions  Initial phase (2 weeks): 3% tetracycline 0.1% triamcinolone acetonide vs. 0.1% triamcinolone acetonide twice daily all over the body.Maintenance phase (6 weeks)  0.1% triamcinolone acetonide once daily for 2 weeks, followed by every other day for 2 weeks. In the last 2 weeks, two applications a week were done. An emollient was used additionally once daily.Main outcome measures  Primary outcomes were the disease severity scores assessed by objective SCORAD and SASSAD at week 2. Secondary outcomes were the objective SCORAD and SASSAD at weeks 4 and 8, and Staphylococcus aureus colonization at weeks 0 and 2.Results  No significant differences in disease severity outcomes were found between the two groups. Both groups showed clinically relevant improvements in disease severity compared with baseline at weeks 2 and 4. At week 8, there was some worsening in disease severity in both groups, but the disease severity was still significantly lower than at the beginning of the study. Improvement of bacterial colonization was seen in 14 (63.6%) out of the 22 patients in the 3% tetracycline 0.1% triamcinolone acetonide group and in 5 (22.7%) out of the 22 patients in the 0.1% triamcinolone acetonide group.Conclusion  The addition of tetracycline was effective on skin colonization by S. aureus but did in our patients with atopic dermatitis not result in a significantly different improvement compared with the group treated without tetracycline.
‘When Your Child Dies You Don’t Belong in That World Any More’– Experiences of Mothers Whose Child with an Intellectual Disability has Died
Authors: Reilly Deirdre E. , Huws Jaci C. , Hastings Richard P. , Vaughan Frances L. 
Published: April 2008

Background  Individuals with intellectual disability are at higher risk of premature death compared with individuals without intellectual disability, and therefore parents of people with intellectual disability are more likely to outlive their children. However, there has been relatively little research investigating the bereavement experiences of parents of deceased children with intellectual disability.Method  Semi‐structured interviews were used to explore the experiences of nine mothers whose child with intellectual disability had died. The transcripts were analysed qualitatively using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.Results  Five themes emerged from the analysis: loss, benefit finding, coping, sources of support and medical relationships. An analysis of the accounts indicated similarities and differences between the experiences of the mothers. In particular, continuing in their caring role by working within the world of intellectual disability following the death of their child was important to all of the mothers. Support from similarly bereaved parents was the most useful source of support, although it was not always readily accessible.Conclusions  Implications for theory and practice are described including suggestions that service providers should aim to maintain links with families after the death of their child, a parent‐to‐parent programme that enables parents to contact others in a similar situation might be beneficial, and further research into the functions of coping strategies and supports in loss would be worthwhile.
The evolutionary history of the hominin hand since the last common ancestor of Pan and Homo
Authors: Tocheri Matthew W. , Orr Caley M. , Jacofsky Marc C. , Marzke Mary W. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractMolecular evidence indicates that the last common ancestor of the genus Pan and the hominin clade existed between 8 and 4 million years ago (Ma). The current fossil record indicates the Pan‐Homo last common ancestor existed at least 5 Ma and most likely between 6 and 7 Ma. Together, the molecular and fossil evidence has important consequences for interpreting the evolutionary history of the hand within the tribe Hominini (hominins). Firstly, parsimony supports the hypothesis that the hand of the last common ancestor most likely resembled that of an extant great ape overall (Pan, Gorilla, and Pongo), and that of an African ape in particular. Second, it provides a context for interpreting the derived changes to the hand that have evolved in various hominins. For example, the Australopithecus afarensis hand is likely derived in comparison with that of the Pan–Homo last common ancestor in having shorter fingers relative to thumb length and more proximo‐distally oriented joints between its capitate, second metacarpal, and trapezium. This evidence suggests that these derived features evolved prior to the intensification of stone tool‐related hominin behaviors beginning around 2.5 Ma. However, a majority of primitive features most likely present in the Pan‐Homo last common ancestor are retained in the hands of Australopithecus, Paranthropus/early Homo, and Homo floresiensis. This evidence suggests that further derived changes to the hands of other hominins such as modern humans and Neandertals did not evolve until after 2.5 Ma and possibly even later than 1.5 Ma, which is currently the earliest evidence of Acheulian technology. The derived hands of modern humans and Neandertals may indicate a morphological commitment to tool‐related manipulative behaviors beyond that observed in other hominins, including those (e.g. H. floresiensis) which may be descended from earlier tool‐making species.
The environmental context of human evolutionary history in Eurasia and Africa
Authors: Elton Sarah 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThis review has three main aims: (1) to make specific predictions about the habitat of the hypothetical last common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo–human clade; (2) to outline the major trends in environments between 8–6 Ma and the late Pleistocene; and (3) to pinpoint when, and in some cases where, human ancestors evolved to cope with the wide range of habitats they presently tolerate. Several lines of evidence indicate that arboreal environments, particularly woodlands, were important habitats for late Miocene hominids and hominins, and therefore possibly for the last common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo–human clade. However, as there is no clear candidate for this last common ancestor, and because the sampling of fossils and past environments is inevitably patchy, this prediction remains a working hypothesis at best. Nonetheless, as a primate, it is expected that the last common ancestor was ecologically dependent on trees in some form. Understanding past environments is important, as palaeoenvironmental reconstructions provide the context for human morphological and behavioural evolution. Indeed, the impact of climate on the evolutionary history of our species has long been debated. Since the mid‐Miocene, the Earth has been experiencing a general cooling trend accompanied by aridification, which intensified during the later Pliocene and Pleistocene. Numerous climatic fluctuations, as well as local, regional and continental geography that influenced weather patterns and vegetation, created hominin environments that were dynamic in space and time. Behavioural flexibility and cultural complexity were crucial aspects of hominin expansion into diverse environments during the Pleistocene, but the ability to exploit varied and varying habitats was established much earlier in human evolutionary history. The development of increasingly complex tool technology facilitated re‐expansion into tropical forests. These environments are difficult for obligate bipeds to negotiate, but their exploitation was accomplished by archaic and/or anatomically modern humans independently in Africa and south‐east Asia. Complex social behaviour and material culture also allowed modern humans to reach some of the most hostile regions of the globe, above the Arctic Circle, by the late Pleistocene. This, with colonization of the Americas and Australasia, establishedHomo sapiensas a truly cosmopolitan species.
Inferences regarding the diet of extinct hominins: structural and functional trends in dental and mandibular morphology within the hominin clade
Authors: Lucas Peter W. , Constantino Paul J. , Wood Bernard A. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThis contribution investigates the evolution of diet in the Pan–Homo and hominin clades. It does this by focusing on 12 variables (nine dental and three mandibular) for which data are available about extant chimpanzees, modern humans and most extinct hominins. Previous analyses of this type have approached the interpretation of dental and gnathic function by focusing on the identification of the food consumed (i.e. fruits, leaves, etc.) rather than on the physical properties (i.e. hardness, toughness, etc.) of those foods, and they have not specifically addressed the role that the physical properties of foods play in determining dental adaptations. We take the available evidence for the 12 variables, and set out what the expression of each of those variables is in extant chimpanzees, the earliest hominins, archaic hominins, megadont archaic hominins, and an inclusive grouping made up of transitional hominins and pre‐modern Homo. We then present hypotheses about what the states of these variables would be in the last common ancestor of the Pan–Homo clade and in the stem hominin. We review the physical properties of food and suggest how these physical properties can be used to investigate the functional morphology of the dentition. We show what aspects of anterior tooth morphology are critical for food preparation (e.g. peeling fruit) prior to its ingestion, which features of the postcanine dentition (e.g. overall and relative size of the crowns) are related to the reduction in the particle size of food, and how information about the macrostructure (e.g. enamel thickness) and microstructure (e.g. extent and location of enamel prism decussation) of the enamel cap might be used to make predictions about the types of foods consumed by extinct hominins. Specifically, we show how thick enamel can protect against the generation and propagation of cracks in the enamel that begin at the enamel–dentine junction and move towards the outer enamel surface.
PPAR: a therapeutic target in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Chaturvedi Rajnish K. , Beal M. Flint 
Published: April 2008

AbstractParkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive and chronic neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra. The etiology and pathogenesis of PD is still elusive, however, a large body of evidence suggests a prominent role of oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction and proteosomal dysfunction in the pathogenesis of PD. Due to multifactorial nature of the disease, currently available drug therapy cannot halt / slow down the disease progression, and only provides symptomatic relief. Peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor (PPAR), a member of nuclear receptor superfamily, regulates development, tissue differentiation, inflammation, mitochondrial function, wound healing, lipid metabolism and glucose metabolism. Recently, several PPAR agonists were shown to exert neuroprotective activity against oxidative damage, inflammation and apoptosis in several neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis. Similarly, regular intake of PPAR activating non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs such as indomethacin and ibuprofen was associated with reduced incidence and progression of neurodegenerative disorders in several epidemiological studies. In this article, we review studies relating to the neuroprotective effect of PPAR agonists in in vitro and in vivo models of PD. Similarly, the pharmacological mechanism in neuroprotective actions of PPAR agonists is also reviewed. In conclusion, PPAR agonists exert neuroprotective actions by regulating the expression of a set of genes involved in cell survival processes, and could be a therapeutic target in debilitating neurodegenerative illnesses such as PD.