bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Severe maternal morbidity (near miss) as a sentinel event of maternal death. An attempt to use routine data for surveillance
Authors: Sousa Maria H , Cecatti Jose G , Hardy Ellen E , Serruya Suzanne J 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
To identify all the records within the Brazilian Hospital Information System (HIS) that contained information suggestive of severe maternal morbidity (near miss); to describe the diagnoses and procedures used; to identify variables associated with maternal death.

Methods
A descriptive population study with data from the HIS and Mortality Information System (MIS) files of records of women during pregnancy, delivery and in the postpartum period in all the capital cities of the Brazilian states in 2002. Initially, records of women between 10 and 49 years of age were selected; next, those records with at least one criterion suggestive of near miss were selected. For the linkage of HIS with MIS and HIS with itself, a blocking strategy consisting of three independent steps was established. In the data analysis, near miss ratios were calculated with corresponding 95% confidence interval and the diagnoses and procedures were described; a multiple logistic regression model was adjusted. Primary and secondary diagnoses and the requested and performed procedures during hospitalization were the main outcome measures.

Results
The overall maternal near miss ratio was 44.3/1,000 live births. Among the records indicating near miss, 154 maternal deaths were identified. The criteria of severity most frequently found were infection, preeclampsia and hemorrhage. Logistic regression analysis resulted in 12 variables, including four significant interactions.

Conclusion
Although some limitations, the perspective of routinely using this information system for surveillance of near miss and implementing measures to avoid maternal death is promising.
Job stress among community health workers: a multi-method study from Pakistan
Authors: Haq Zaeem , Iqbal Zafar , Rahman Atif 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
In low income countries, the task of providing primary health care is often the responsibility of community health workers. In Pakistan, community workers called Lady Health Workers (LHW) deliver basic health care at the doorstep in the rural areas and urban slums. Evaluations show that it is a successful programme but point out inconsistencies in the quality of service provided. In order achieve this, it would be important to obtain the workers' viewpoint on their job-description, the problems they face and the levels of stress they encounter.

Methods
We conducted a multi-method study to investigate the aforementioned issues. All LHWs from one typical rural sub-district in Rawalpindi were surveyed. Focus group discussions with a sub-set of these workers were also conducted.

Results
About a quarter of the LHWs were found to have significant occupational stress. Factors associated with stress included having low socio-economic status and having to travel long distances for work. Inconsistent medical supplies, inadequate stipends, lack of career structure and not being equipped to communicate effectively with families were the main factors for job dissatisfaction among these workers.

Recommendations
Improvement in remuneration, better administration of supplies and a structured career path should be ensured for better performance of community health workers. In addition, communication skills learning should be an essential part of their training programme.
Rapid telomere motions in live human cells analyzed by highly time-resolved microscopy
Authors: Wang Xueying , Kam Zvi , Carlton Peter M , Xu Lifeng , Sedat John W , Blackburn Elizabeth H 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
Telomeres cap chromosome ends and protect the genome. We studied individual telomeres in live human cancer cells. In capturing telomere motions using quantitative imaging to acquire complete high-resolution three-dimensional datasets every second for 200 seconds, telomere dynamics were systematically analyzed.

Results
The motility of individual telomeres within the same cancer cell nucleus was widely heterogeneous. One class of internal heterochromatic regions of chromosomes analyzed moved more uniformly and showed less motion and heterogeneity than telomeres. The single telomere analyses in cancer cells revealed that shorter telomeres showed more motion, and the more rapid telomere motions were energy dependent. Experimentally increasing bulk telomere length dampened telomere motion. In contrast, telomere uncapping, but not a DNA damaging agent, methyl methanesulfonate, significantly increased telomere motion.

Conclusion
New methods for seconds-scale, four-dimensional, live cell microscopic imaging and data analysis, allowing systematic tracking of individual telomeres in live cells, have defined a previously undescribed form of telomere behavior in human cells, in which the degree of telomere motion was dependent upon telomere length and functionality.
Phase I Dose Escalation and Pharmacokinetic Study of BI 2536, a Novel Polo-Like Kinase 1 Inhibitor, in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors
Authors: Mross Klaus , Frost Annette , Steinbild Simone , Hedbom Susanne , Rentschler Jochen , Kaiser Rolf , Rouyrre Nicolas , Trommeshauser Dirk , Hoesl Cornelia E. , Munzert Gerd 
Published: October 2008

Purpose BI 2536 is a novel, potent, and highly specific inhibitor of polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), which has an essential role in the regulation of mitotic progression. The aim of this trial was to identify the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of BI 2536 and to determine the safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity in patients who had advanced solid tumors. Patients and Methods This phase I trial followed an open label, toxicity-guided, dose-titration design. Single doses of BI 2536 (25 to 250 mg) were administered as a 1-hour intravenous infusion; patients who experienced clinical benefit were eligible for additional treatment courses. Safety and pharmacokinetics were investigated. Tumor response was evaluated according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors Group guidelines. Results The MTD was defined at 200 mg in a total of 40 patients entered; reversible neutropenia constituted the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and the most frequent adverse event at the MTD (grade 3 to 4; 56%). Nausea (52%), fatigue (52%), and anorexia (44%) also were common and were mostly of mild to moderate intensity (Common Terminology Criteria of Adverse Events ≤ grade 2). One patient experienced a transient partial response. At doses equal to or greater than the MTD, 23% of patients experienced disease stabilization for 3 or more months. Dose-proportional increases in the maximum plasma concentration and total exposure were observed. BI 2536 showed a high total clearance and high distribution into tissue. Conclusion The MTD of BI 2536 when administered as a single-dose, 1-hour infusion was 200 mg; BI 2536 was well tolerated and showed a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. Antitumor activity of BI 2536 was observed.
Cancer Treatment–Induced Bone Loss in Breast and Prostate Cancer
Authors: Saad Fred , Adachi Jonathan D. , Brown Jacques P. , Canning Leah A. , Gelmon Karen A. , Josse Robert G. , Pritchard Kathleen I. 
Published: October 2008

Purpose Bone loss resulting from the treatment of breast and prostate cancer is an emerging problem. Bisphosphonates have a potential role in the prevention of this cancer treatment–induced bone loss (CTIBL). Methods Studies evaluating the incidence and prevalence of CTIBL in early breast and prostate cancer patients and trials evaluating the preventative role of bisphosphonates were identified by a search of the PubMed and Cochrane Library databases through the end of March 2008. Reference lists from retrieved articles were cross referenced, and further information was obtained from relevant scientific meetings. Results Several therapies commonly used in the treatment of women and men with breast and prostate cancers, in particular the aromatase inhibitors (AIs) for breast cancer and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer, are associated with significant bone loss and with an increase in fracture risk. The use of bisphosphonates seems to attenuate the bone loss, although the long-term impact remains unclear because of insufficient follow-up. Conclusion Adjuvant endocrine therapy with an AI or androgen deprivation can be considered a risk factor for the development of osteopenia, osteoporosis, and bone fracture, which can be mitigated by appropriate bisphosphonate therapy. Clear identification of risk factors for osteoporosis in individual patients should aid treatment decisions about whether to use bisphosphonates when starting or switching to an AI or ADT. Patients need to be educated about this risk and other measures to avoid this complication, including lifestyle modifications that may benefit their general and bone health.
Exploring the relationships between trait emotional intelligence and objective socio‐emotional outcomes in childhood
Authors: Mavroveli Stella , Petrides K. V. , Sangareau Yolanda , Furnham Adrian 
Published: October 2008

Background Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self‐efficacy) is a constellation of emotion‐related self‐perceptions and dispositions located at the lower levels of personality hierarchies. This paper examines the validity of this construct, as operationalized by the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire‐Child Form (TEIQue‐CF), in primary schoolchildren.Aims The main aim was to examine the construct validity of trait EI in middle and late childhood by exploring its relationships with cognitive ability, emotion perception, and social behaviour.Sample The sample comprised 140 children aged between 8 and 12 years (M = 9.26 years, SD = 1.00 year; 63 girls) from two English state primary schools.Method Pupils completed the TEIQue‐CF, the standard progressive matrices (SPM), the guess who peer assessment, the social skills training (SST) test, and the assessment of children's emotion skills (ACES) during formal class periods. The procedure took approximately two hours with a short break between assessments.Results Trait EI scores were positively related both to peer‐rated prosocial behaviour and to overall peer competence. They also predicted emotion perception accuracy beyond overall peer competence. As hypothesized in trait EI theory, the construct was unrelated to IQ (Raven's matrices) and academic performance.Conclusions Trait EI is successfully operationalized through the TEIQue‐CF and has important and multifaceted implications for the socialization of primary schoolchildren.
A Critical Examination of Honor Cultures and Herding Societies in Africa
Authors: Moritz Mark 
Published: October 2008

Abstract:African pastoralists have historically used aggression strategically to restock after major losses. On the basis of anthropological studies of African pastoral societies, cultural psychologists have linked the psychological roots of pastoral aggression to the cultural complex of honor. This article is a critical examination of this link. It argues, first, that honor cultures are likely to be found among peasant pastoralists, but not among tribal pastoralists. It also argues that honor psychology and the pastoral personality are two analytically distinct psychological profiles, each of which is acquired through participation in different routines.
Rape in the Courts of Gusiiland, Kenya, 1940s–1960s
Authors: Shadle Brett L. 
Published: October 2008

Abstract:This article examines the history of rape prosecutions in the African courts of Gusiiland, Kenya, from the 1940s through the first years of independence. Drawing on transcripts from African courts, it demonstrates that Gusii court elders were quite sympathetic to women who lodged rape claims. Elders handed down stiff punishments to rapists, were willing to entertain a wide definition of “indecent assault,” and did not require the extensive evidence of rape so commonly demanded by judges in Western courts (and in British courts in Kenya). Perhaps most surprisingly, men who admitted to having had sex but claimed it had been consensual were forced to prove their claims. This article advances both the historical study of rape in Africa and suggests that we reassess—or at least reserve judgment—on the nature of sexual violence in the non—West.
Individualism, Community, and Cooperatives in the Development Thinking of the Union Soudanaise-RDA, 1946–1960
Authors: van Beusekom Monica M. 
Published: October 2008

Abstract:In the late 1940s and 1950s, nationalists and colonial officials in French Soudan (Mali) shared a language of development centered on the concepts of tradition, modernity, community, and individualism. This shared language permitted collaboration but also masked important differences in nationalist and colonial analyses of social change and the direction of rural development. Particular areas of contention were social evolutionary models of change, the likelihood of rising individualism, and the potential of communitarian development. The patterns of interaction in this debate reveal that intellectual exchanges between and among officials and nationalists were multidirectional and characterized not by borrowing but by exchange, adaptation, and reformulation.
Reading the Diary of Akinpelu Obisesan in Colonial Africa
Authors: Adeboye Olufunke 
Published: October 2008

Abstract:This article considers the private diary not just as a historical source or literary text, but mainly as a symbolic cultural creation with sociological and psychological dimensions. The multiple identities of Akinpelu Obisesan, a member of the colonial intelligentsia in Ibadan, are analyzed, giving us insight into the transformations in Yoruba masculinity in the colonial period and his own attempts at self-invention. The article also emphasizes the overlap between the personal and the general: between the private and the public domains and how the diarist straddles, and is in turn affected by, sociocultural currents reverberating from these two sites.
Polygyny and Christian Marriage in Africa: The Case of Benin
Authors: Falen Douglas J. 
Published: October 2008

Abstract:Since the arrival of European missionaries in Africa, there has been charged debate over people's marriage choices. This article outlines the major elements in the academic, theological, and popular discourses on marriage in Africa, focusing on two topics: the conceptual divide between monogamous Christian marriage and African polygyny, and the claim that women automatically prefer monogamy. By comparing the assumptions in the literature with ethnographic data from the Republic of Benin, this article demonstrates that marital choices cannot necessarily be predicted by a person's gender and rarely are characterized by a definitive conceptual divide. Instead, personal motives related to economics, prestige, and competition for power are the main factors in marriage choices.
Wage Labor, Precarious Employment, and Social Inclusion in the Making of South Africa's Postapartheid Transition
Authors: Barchiesi Franco 
Published: October 2008

Abstract:During South Africa's first decade of democracy, policies of social inclusion and social citizenship have emphasized productive employment and the work ethic in a context of fiscal discipline and public spending thrift. The government's institutional discourse contrasts, however, with a social reality in which most black workers have confronted growing economic precariousness and the inability of waged occupations to provide stable livelihoods above poverty levels. The article discusses workers' responses to these conditions with case studies of private and public employment. It finds that official rhetoric about the centrality of productive employment does not reflect the diversity of practices and discourses with which workers address the crisis facing wage labor.
Presentation and Management of Congenital Dacryocystocele
Authors: Wong Rupa Krishnamurthy , VanderVeen Deborah K. 
Published: October 2008

OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to report the presentation, complications, and treatment strategies for infants with congenital dacryocystocele.
PATIENTS AND METHODS. We performed a retrospective chart review of all patients presenting with dacryocystoceles to Children's Hospital Boston between the years of 1997 and 2006. This study was approved by the institutional review board.
RESULTS. Forty-two patients (46 eyes) were identified (18 male, 24 female), presenting at a median age of 7 days of life. Twenty-eight (65%) patients presented with cellulitis or dacryocystitis and required systemic antibiotics. Four (9.5%) patients presented with respiratory compromise. Resolution occurred with conservative treatment for 10 eyes, but 36 (78%) required surgical intervention. Seventeen (37%) eyes received probing in the office or nursery, and 13 (76%) were successful. Probing in the operating room was required for 21 patients, 8 of whom required marsupialization of an intranasal cyst.
CONCLUSIONS. Although congenital dacryocystoceles may resolve with conservative measures, many become infected and require systemic antibiotic treatment, and most require surgical intervention. Referral in the early neonatal period can aid in timely intervention before complications such as infection occur.
Evaluation of a simple and sensitive sensory method for measuring rancidity in soybean oils
Authors: López-Aguilar J. R. , Valerio-Alfaro G. , Monroy-Rivera J. A. , Medina-Juárez L. A. , O’Mahony M. , Angulo O. 
Published: October 2008

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the 2 Alternative Forced Choice (2-AFC) sensory method in detecting rancidity in soybean oils. Additionally, correlations between the physico-chemical quality and the sensory attributes of edible soybean oils were studied. Soybean oil samples from four different plants were analyzed for their fatty acid profile, Free fatty acid (FFA), Anisidine Value (AV), Peroxide Value (PV), Conjugated Dienes (CD), Colour, Rancimat and TOTOX. The sensory attributes of the oils were measured using The American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) sensory method and additionally, rancidity was assessed using the 2-AFC sensory method. All oil samples fit the quality control criteria for edible soybean oil. The 2-AFC The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the 2 Alternative Forced Choice (2-AFC) sensory method in detecting rancidity in soybean oils. Additionally, correlations between the physico-chemical quality and the sensory attributes of edible soybean oils were studied. Soybean oil samples from four different plants were analyzed for their fatty acid profile, Free fatty acid (FFA), Anisidine Value (AV), Peroxide Value (PV), Conjugated Dienes (CD), Colour, Rancimat and TOTOX. The sensory attributes of the oils were measured using The American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) sensory method and additionally, rancidity was assessed using the 2-AFC sensory method. All oil samples fit the quality control criteria for edible soybean oil. The 2-AFC method was sensitive to small differences in rancidity. Differences in anisidine value and Rancimat were correlated to the difference in rancidity (d') among oils
Antioxidant activity of various plant extracts under ambient and accelerated storage of sunflower oil
Authors: Anwar Farooq , Jamil Amer , Iqbal Shahid , Sheikh Munir A. 
Published: October 2008

The present study was conducted to investigate the antioxidant potential of 11 medicinally or economically important plant materials indigenous to Pakistan. The materials were extracted with 80% methanol and examined for their antioxidant activity under different storage conditions using sunflower and soybean oils as oxidation substrates. Preliminary antioxidant activity assessment among the extracts was conducted with the TLC-test and by measuring percent inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation. The rhizome of Iris germanica, leaves of Lawsonia alba, and M. oleifera, coffee (Coffee arabica) beans, rice (Oryza sativa) bran, wheat bran and oats (Avenis sativa) groats and hull, which showed higher antioxidant activity among the extracts, were further evaluated using soybean and sunflower oils as oxidation substrates. The vegetable oils were stabilized with extracts at a dosage of 0.12% (w/w), and individually subjected to accelerated (65 oC, 15 days) and ambient (6 months) storage. The oxidative deterioration level was monitored for the measurement of antioxidant activity index (AI), peroxide value (PV), conjugated dienes and trienes contents. Overall, the extracts of coffee beans, oat groats and hull, Iris germanica and M. oleifera leaves were found to be the most effective in extending oxidative stability, and retarding PV, primary and secondary oxidation products of soybean and sunflower oils. The order of efficiency of the plant extracts for stabilization of the subject oils was as follows: oat groats and hull > coffee beans > M. oleifera leaves > Lawsonia alba > Iris germanica > rice bran > wheat bran. Significant differences in the antioxidant potential of some of the extracts for stabilization of substrate oils were observed under ambient and accelerated storage conditions and thus demonstrated a variable antioxidant prospective of the extracts under different analytical protocols.
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), essentiality and requirements: why and how to provide supplementation
Authors: Valenzuela Alfonso , Julio Sanhueza B. , Nieto Susana 
Published: October 2008

Lipids comprize from 50-60% of the structural matter of the brain and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6, DHA) is the most important omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid in the brain phospholipids comprizing 25% of the total fatty acids of the grey matter. The majority of the DHA present in the human brain is incorporated during the brain growth spurt which starts at week 26 of gestation and imposes a high demand for the fatty acid until about 2 years of age. DHA is required during brain development when neuronal and glial differentiation and migration, and active myelination and synaptogenesis take place. The fatty acid must be incorporated into the brain lipids as preformed DHA because less than 5% of its precursor (alpha linolenic acid, LNA) is converted to DHA. The human foetus has a limited ability to synthesize DHA from LNA, and therefore it must be largely supplied from maternal sources. Maternal DHA available for foetal nutrition can be provided from three main sources: adipose tissue, which is the main reservoir for the fatty acid; through biosynthesis from the precursor LNA, which occurs mainly in the liver; and as preformed DHA from dietary sources. In the postnatal period DHA is provided by the mother to the newborn through milk secretion. Western nutrition provides low LNA and DHA and Expert Nutrition Committees suggest that mothers should receive DHA supplementation during pregnancy and lactation. At present DHA supplementation can be provided from different sources: as purified free DHA, as an ethyl ester derivative, extracted from single-cell algae oils, from egg yolk phospholipids, or in the form of sn-2 DHA monoacylglycerol. In this review we revise and discuss the evidence of DHA requirements for the newborn, the need for maternal supplementation during pregnancy and nursing, and the alternatives at present for providing DHA supplementation.