bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The public's information needs on analgesics: a descriptive study in a drug information centre
Authors: Turunen Juha H O , Mäntyselkä Pekka T , Ojala Raimo K , Kröger Petri O , Ahonen Riitta S 
Published: February 2008

Abstract

Background and objective
Pain is a very common symptom, and it is usually managed pharmacologically. In order to achieve successful pharmacotherapy, the patient must be well informed about various drug-related issues. Our aim was to describe inquiries made to a drug information centre (DIC) regarding use of analgesics and pain management.

Setting and method
We carried out a descriptive retrospective database study in a Finnish drug information centre (Kuopio Medicines Information Centre, KMIC). Content of the analgesic-related inquiries addressed to KMIC during the two-year study period from 1 September 2002 to 31 August 2004 is described.

Key findings
During the study period, KMIC received 2312 calls related to the use of analgesics and pharmacological pain management. Two thirds of the analgesic users were females and 19% were children aged under 16 years. The 2312 calls comprised 2683 inquiries. The most common topics in these inquiries were interactions (35%), dosing (15%), pain management and enhancement of analgesia (9%) and effects of analgesics (8%). The most commonly discussed analgesics were paracetamol (discussed in 24% of the 2312 calls), ibuprofen (23%), coxibs (15%) and naproxen (14%). The content of the inquiries differed slightly between the drugs in question.

Conclusion
Overall, the public's information needs were very wide. Thus, generic information provision recommendations suitable for every analgesic user cannot be made. Interactions were a major interest among the public. A desire for confirmation of the correct dosing and scheduling of the analgesic taken was also common, especially before administering the drug to a child. The relatively high proportion of inquiries on how to manage pain, and how to enhance the analgesia provided by prescribed drugs, signals that pain control may not always be optimal. Availability of both drug information and follow-up could work in favour of successful pharmacological pain management.
Measurement of Folate in Fresh and Archival Serum Samples as p-Aminobenzoylglutamate Equivalents
Authors: Hannisdal Rita , Svardal Asbjørn , Ueland Per Magne 
Published: February 2008

Abstract
Background: The development of accurate and precise folate assays has been difficult, mainly because of folate instability. Large interassay and interlaboratory differences have been reported. We therefore developed a serum folate assay that measures folate and putative degradation products as p-aminobenzoylglutamate (pABG) equivalents following oxidation and acid hydrolysis.
Methods: Serum was deproteinized with acid in the presence of 2 internal calibrators ([13C2]pABG and [13C5]5-methyltetrahydrofolate). 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate and other folate species in serum were converted to pABG by oxidation and mild acid hydrolysis. pABG and its internal calibrators were quantified by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
Results: The limit of quantification was 0.25 nmol/L, and the assay was linear in the range 0.25–96 nmol/L, which includes the 99.75 percentile for serum folate concentrations in healthy blood donors. Within- and between-day imprecision was ≤5%. We detected no residual folate in serum samples after sample preparation. Folate concentrations in fresh serum samples obtained with the pABG assay and with a microbiologic assay showed good agreement (r = 0.96). In stored samples containing low folate concentrations due to folate degradation, the pABG assay yielded substantially higher folate concentrations than the microbiologic assay.
Conclusions: The pABG assay combines automated sample preparation with LC-MS/MS analysis. It allows measurement of folate not only in fresh samples of serum/plasma but also in stored samples in which the folate has become oxidized and degraded to an extent that it cannot be assayed with traditional folate assays.
Genetic variants in IRF6 and the risk of facial clefts: single‐marker and haplotype‐based analyses in a population‐based case‐control study of facial clefts in Norway
Authors: Jugessur Astanand , Rahimov Fedik , Lie Rolv T. , Wilcox Allen J. , Gjessing Håkon K. , Nilsen Roy M. , Nguyen Truc Trung , Murray Jeffrey C. 
Published: February 2008

AbstractMutations in the gene encoding interferon regulatory factor 6 (IRF6) underlie a common form of syndromic clefting known as Van der Woude syndrome. Lip pits and missing teeth are the only additional features distinguishing the syndrome from isolated clefts. Van der Woude syndrome, therefore, provides an excellent model for studying the isolated forms of clefting. From a population‐based case‐control study of facial clefts in Norway (1996–2001), we selected 377 cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P), 196 cleft palate only (CPO), and 763 control infant‐parent triads for analysis. We genotyped six single nucleotide polymorphisms within the IRF6 locus and estimated the relative risks (RR) conferred on the child by alleles and haplotypes of the child and of the mother. On the whole, there were strong statistical associations with CL/P but not CPO in our data. In single‐marker analyses, mothers with a double‐dose of the ‘a’‐allele at rs4844880 had an increased risk of having a child with CL/P (RR=1.85, 95% confidence interval: 1.04–3.25; P=0.036). An RR of 0.38 (95% confidence interval: 0.16–0.92; P=0.031) was obtained when the child carried a single‐dose of the ‘a’‐allele at rs2235371 (the p.V274I polymorphism). The P‐value for the overall test was <0.001. In haplotype analyses, several of the fetal and maternal haplotype relative risks were statistically significant individually but were not strong enough to show up on the overall test (P=0.113). Taken together, these findings further support a role for IRF6 variants in clefting of the lip and provide specific risk estimates in a Norwegian population. Genet. Epidemiol. 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A computationally efficient estimator for mutual information
Authors: Evans Dafydd 
Published: February 2008

Mutual information quantifies the determinism that exists in a relationship between random variables, and thus plays an important role in exploratory data analysis. We investigate a class of non-parametric estimators for mutual information, based on the nearest neighbour structure of observations in both the joint and marginal spaces. Unless both marginal spaces are one-dimensional, we demonstrate that a well-known estimator of this type can be computationally expensive under certain conditions, and propose a computationally efficient alternative that has a time complexity of order

(
N
log
N
) as the number of observations
N
→∞.
Amazon Basin climate under global warming: the role of the sea surface temperature
Authors: Harris Phil P , Huntingford Chris , Cox Peter M 
Published: February 2008

The Hadley Centre coupled climate–carbon cycle model (HadCM3LC) predicts loss of the Amazon rainforest in response to future anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, the atmospheric component of HadCM3LC is used to assess the role of simulated changes in mid-twenty-first century sea surface temperature (SST) in Amazon Basin climate change.
When the full HadCM3LC SST anomalies (SSTAs) are used, the atmosphere model reproduces the Amazon Basin climate change exhibited by HadCM3LC, including much of the reduction in Amazon Basin rainfall. This rainfall change is shown to be the combined effect of SSTAs in both the tropical Atlantic and the Pacific, with roughly equal contributions from each basin. The greatest rainfall reduction occurs from May to October, outside of the mature South American monsoon (SAM) season. This dry season response is the combined effect of a more rapid warming of the tropical North Atlantic relative to the south, and warm SSTAs in the tropical east Pacific. Conversely, a weak enhancement of mature SAM season rainfall in response to Atlantic SST change is suppressed by the atmospheric response to Pacific SST. This net wet season response is sufficient to prevent dry season soil moisture deficits from being recharged through the SAM season, leading to a perennial soil moisture reduction and an associated 30% reduction in annual Amazon Basin net primary productivity (NPP). A further 23% NPP reduction occurs in response to a 3.5°C warmer air temperature associated with a global mean SST warming.
Calcium signalling in early embryos
Authors: Whitaker Michael 
Published: February 2008

The onset of development in most species studied is triggered by one of the largest and longest calcium transients known to us. It is the most studied and best understood aspect of the calcium signals that accompany and control development. Its properties and mechanisms demonstrate what embryos are capable of and thus how the less-understood calcium signals later in development may be generated. The downstream targets of the fertilization calcium signal have also been identified, providing some pointers to the probable targets of calcium signals further on in the process of development.In one species or another, the fertilization calcium signal involves all the known calcium-releasing second messengers and many of the known calcium-signalling mechanisms. These calcium signals also usually take the form of a propagating calcium wave or waves.Fertilization causes the cell cycle to resume, and therefore fertilization signals are cell-cycle signals. In some early embryonic cell cycles, calcium signals also control the progress through each cell cycle, controlling mitosis.Studies of these early embryonic calcium-signalling mechanisms provide a background to the calcium-signalling events discussed in the articles in this issue.
Influence of Green Leaf Herbivory by Manduca sexta on Floral Volatile Emission by Nicotiana suaveolens
Authors: Effmert Uta , Dinse Claudia , Piechulla Birgit 
Published: February 2008

Abstract
Plants have to cope with various abiotic and biotic impacts as a consequence of changing environments, which can impair their ability to sexually reproduce. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether green leaf herbivory, having one of the most hazardous biotic impacts, would have any direct effect on the production and emission of floral volatiles because volatiles are known to play a crucial role in pollination. Nicotiana suaveolens plants were challenged with Manduca sexta feeding on leaves, and alterations in the quality and quantity of the floral blend, shifts in emission patterns, and changes in expression patterns of the floral benzoic/salicylic acid carboxyl-methyltransferase were monitored in noninfested and infested plants. Leaves responded to larval feeding by herbivory-induced diurnal emission of semiochemicals, whereas the emission of floral volatiles remained unchanged in comparison to the noninfested control. Neither the volatile composition nor the quantity of components or the nocturnal emission patterns was altered. The mRNA and protein levels of the benzoic/salicylic acid carboxyl-methyltransferase, as well as its enzyme activity, also did not show any significant differences. These results indicate that metabolism in flowers at and postanthesis is an autonomous process and is independent of metabolic changes in green leaves. By this sustaining mechanism, N. suaveolens plants ensure sexual reproduction even under unfavorable conditions.
Functional Conservation of Clock-Related Genes in Flowering Plants: Overexpression and RNA Interference Analyses of the Circadian Rhythm in the Monocotyledon Lemna gibba
Authors: Serikawa Masayuki , Miwa Kumiko , Kondo Takao , Oyama Tokitaka 
Published: February 2008

Abstract
Circadian rhythms are found in organisms from cyanobacteria to plants and animals. In flowering plants, the circadian clock is involved in the regulation of various physiological phenomena, including growth, leaf movement, stomata opening, and floral transitions. Molecular mechanisms underlying the circadian clock have been identified using Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana); the functions and genetic networks of a number of clock-related genes, including CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED1, LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL (LHY), TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION1, GIGANTEA (GI), and EARLY FLOWERING3 (ELF3), have been analyzed. The degree to which clock systems are conserved among flowering plants, however, is still unclear. We previously isolated homologs for Arabidopsis clock-related genes from monocotyledon Lemna plants. Here, we report the physiological roles of these Lemna gibba genes (LgLHYH1, LgLHYH2, LgGIH1, and LgELF3H1) in the circadian system. We studied the effects of overexpression and RNA interference (RNAi) of these genes on the rhythmic expression of morning- and evening-specific reporters. Overexpression of each gene disrupted the rhythmicity of either or both reporters, suggesting that these four homologs can be involved in the circadian system. RNAi of each of the genes except LgLHYH2 affected the bioluminescence rhythms of both reporters. These results indicated that these homologs are involved in the circadian system of Lemna plants and that the structure of the circadian clock is likely to be conserved between monocotyledons and dicotyledons. Interestingly, RNAi of LgGIH1 almost completely abolished the circadian rhythm; because this effect appeared to be much stronger than the phenotype observed in an Arabidopsis gi loss-of-function mutant, the precise role of each clock gene may have diverged in the clock systems of Lemna and Arabidopsis.
Shoot Calcium and Magnesium Concentrations Differ between Subtaxa, Are Highly Heritable, and Associate with Potentially Pleiotropic Loci in Brassica oleracea
Authors: Broadley Martin R. , Hammond John P. , King Graham J. , Astley Dave , Bowen Helen C. , Meacham Mark C. , Mead Andrew , Pink David A.C. , Teakle Graham R. , Hayden Rory M. , Spracklen William P. , White Philip J. 
Published: February 2008

Abstract
Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) are the most abundant group II elements in both plants and animals. Genetic variation in shoot Ca and shoot Mg concentration (shoot Ca and Mg) in plants can be exploited to biofortify food crops and thereby increase dietary Ca and Mg intake for humans and livestock. We present a comprehensive analysis of within-species genetic variation for shoot Ca and Mg, demonstrating that shoot mineral concentration differs significantly between subtaxa (varietas). We established a structured diversity foundation set of 376 accessions to capture a high proportion of species-wide allelic diversity within domesticated Brassica oleracea, including representation of wild relatives (C genome, 1n = 9) from natural populations. These accessions and 74 modern F1 hybrid cultivars were grown in glasshouse and field environments. Shoot Ca and Mg varied 2- and 2.3-fold, respectively, and was typically not inversely correlated with shoot biomass, within most subtaxa. The closely related capitata (cabbage) and sabauda (Savoy cabbage) subtaxa consistently had the highest mean shoot Ca and Mg. Shoot Ca and Mg in glasshouse-grown plants was highly correlated with data from the field. To understand and dissect the genetic basis of variation in shoot Ca and Mg, we studied homozygous lines from a segregating B. oleracea mapping population. Shoot Ca and Mg was highly heritable (up to 40%). Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for shoot Ca and Mg were detected on chromosomes C2, C6, C7, C8, and, in particular, C9, where QTL accounted for 14% to 55% of the total genetic variance. The presence of QTL on C9 was substantiated by scoring recurrent backcross substitution lines, derived from the same parents. This also greatly increased the map resolution, with strong evidence that a 4-cM region on C9 influences shoot Ca. This region corresponds to a 0.41-Mb region on Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) chromosome 5 that includes 106 genes. There is also evidence that pleiotropic loci on C8 and C9 affect shoot Ca and Mg. Map-based cloning of these loci will reveal how shoot-level phenotypes relate to Ca2+ and Mg2+ uptake and homeostasis at the molecular level.
FIONA1 Is Essential for Regulating Period Length in theArabidopsisCircadian Clock
Authors: Kim Jeongsik , Kim Yumi , Yeom Miji , Kim Jin-Hee , Nam Hong Gil 
Published: February 2008

AbstractIn plants, the circadian clock controls daily physiological cycles as well as daylength-dependent developmental processes such as photoperiodic flowering and seedling growth. Here, we report that FIONA1 (FIO1) is a genetic regulator of period length in the Arabidopsis thaliana circadian clock. FIO1 was identified by screening for a mutation in daylength-dependent flowering. The mutation designated fio1-1 also affects daylength-dependent seedling growth. fio1-1 causes lengthening of the free-running circadian period of leaf movement and the transcription of various genes, including the central oscillators CIRCADIAN CLOCK-ASSOCIATED1, LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL, TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION1, and LUX ARRHYTHMO. However, period lengthening is not dependent upon environmental light or temperature conditions, which suggests that FIO1 is not a simple input component of the circadian system. Interestingly, fio1-1 exerts a clear effect on the period length of circadian rhythm but has little effect on its amplitude and robustness. FIO1 encodes a novel nuclear protein that is highly conserved throughout the kingdoms. We propose that FIO1 regulates period length in the Arabidopsis circadian clock in a close association with the central oscillator and that the circadian period can be controlled separately from amplitude and robustness.
Library and information resources and users of digital resources in the humanities
Authors: Warwick Claire , Terras Melissa , Galina Isabel , Huntington Paul , Pappa Nikoleta 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to discuss the results of the Log Analysis of Internet Resources in the Arts and Humanities (LAIRAH) study. It aims to concentrate upon the use and importance of information resources, physical research centres and digital finding aids in scholarly research.Design/methodology/approachResults are presented of web server log analysis of portals for humanities scholars: the arts and humanities data service (AHDS) website and Humbul Humanities Hub. These are used to determine which resources were accessed most often, or seldom. Questionnaire data about perceptions of digital resource use were also gathered.FindingsInformation resources such as libraries, archives museums and research centres, and the web pages that provide information about them are vital for humanities scholars. The university library website was considered to be the most important resource, even compared to Google. Secondary finding aids and reference resources are considered more important than primary research resources, especially those produced by other scholars, whose output is less trusted than publications produced by commercial organisations, libraries, archives and museums.Practical implicationsDigital resources have not replaced physical information resources and the people who staff them, thus both types of information continue to require funding. Scholars trust the judgment of information professionals, who therefore need to be trained to evaluate and recommend specialist digital research resources.Originality/valueLAIRAH was the first research project to use quantitative data to investigate resource use. Findings about the type of resources used are based on evidence rather than opinions alone. This gives a clearer picture of usage that may be used to plan future information services.
Coping strategies in web searching
Authors: Mansourian Yazdan 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to report selective findings of a wider study to identify the mechanisms that end users employ to overcome their information seeking failure on the web.Design/methodology/approachData collection was conducted by semi‐structured and in‐depth interviews. The study adopted a qualitative approach and was carried out based on grounded theory. The biology community at the University of Sheffield was selected as the research population.FindingsIdentified coping strategies are divided into active and passive categories. Active strategies such as revising and help‐seeking require further actions to obtain more satisfactory results. In contrast, passive strategies entail less action to modify the situation and mainly relate to accepting the existing circumstances. Web users prioritise their coping strategies according to the importance of the search topic and their determination to fulfil the search successfully. They develop coping strategies through training courses, using trial and error, knowledge sharing and employing pre‐web coping strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was limited to a small group of web users in academia that cannot be easily considered as an acceptable representative of the heterogeneous population of web users. Moreover, the collected data was based on web users' perception of their search failure rather than an objective measure of it.Originality/valueMost studies in this area are concerned with users' information seeking behaviour and focus on how people find what they want. However, this paper addresses an aspect of this process that has received little attention up to now. The paper explores users' reaction to, and conceptualisation of, information seeking failure and their coping strategies to overcome the failure in web searching. The findings provide us with a better understanding of users' information seeking behaviour on the web.
Open access, open source and digital libraries
Authors: Krishnamurthy M. 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the open access and open source movement in the digital library world.Design/methodology/approachA review of key developments in the open access and open source movement is provided.FindingsOpen source software and open access to research findings are of great use to scholars in developing nations.Originality/valueThis paper provides useful information about software for institutions introducing digital library concepts.
Using peer review to foster good teaching
Authors: Samson Sue , McCrea Donna E. 
Published: February 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to describe the implementation of a peer review of teaching (PROT) instructional improvement program at the Mansfield Library at The University of Montana. The success of the PROT program is based on its teacher‐friendly collegial mentoring. This article provides a model for effective implementation in other academic libraries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes a program implemented to improve teaching by librarians through a peer appraisal model. Built on best practices, the PROT program implementation is a three‐step process that provides a framework for integrating formative assessment into teaching.FindingsProgram evaluation documented that librarians valued their participation as both teachers and observers. Designed to encourage instructional improvement through formative and structured feedback provided by peers, the program has continued to grow as part of the assessment opportunities integrated into the library instruction program.Practical implicationsThis paper provides a model for the effective implementation of PROT in academic libraries as a formative method to strengthen quality teaching.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on good teaching and formative assessment, both of which are vital to a quality information literacy program, and establishes the effectiveness of the mentoring environment to foster instructional improvement. It further identifies how this process can be integrated into a full spectrum of library instruction and instructional assessment initiatives.