bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Reten‐World survey of the management of acute urinary retention: preliminary results
Authors: Emberton Mark , Fitzpatrick John M. 
Published: February 2008

Acute urinary retention (AUR) is a urological emergency characterized by a sudden and painful inability to pass urine. It represents a significant worldwide public health issue, as mortality within the year following an AUR episode appears much higher than in the general population, especially in younger patients. Management of AUR involves immediate bladder catheterization usually followed, until recently, by prostatic surgery. The greater morbidity and mortality associated with emergency surgery (within a few days after AUR), and the potential morbidity associated with prolonged catheterization (bacteriuria, fever, urosepsis) has led to an increasing use of a trial without catheter (TWOC). TWOC involves catheter removal after 1–3 days, allowing 23–40% of patients to void successfully, so that surgery can be performed at a later stage, if needed. Use of an α1‐blocker before a TWOC may also be of help, as it has been demonstrated that it increases the chances of successful voiding after catheter removal. In the UK, this TWOC policy has resulted in a progressive decrease in the number of surgical procedures following a first episode of AUR, with the detriment of a slight increase in the AUR recurrence rate.Currently, there is no consensus on the optimal management of AUR in terms of type of catheterization, duration of catheterization and management following catheterization. The Reten‐World survey is aimed at assessing current practice in the management of AUR in France, Asia, Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East. Interim results based on 3785 men with AUR associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia show that a urethral catheter is inserted in most cases (87%). Following this initial step, a TWOC after a median of 3 days’ catheterization has become standard practice worldwide, with only a minority of men (6%) undergoing immediate surgery. Treatment with an α1‐blocker before a TWOC improves the chances of success, regardless of the duration of catheterization. There is also evidence that prolonged catheterization (>3 days) is associated with a significantly higher rate of comorbidity and prolonged hospitalization due to adverse events. Every effort should thus be made to reduce the comorbidity and mortality associated with AUR.
Relationship between franking credits and the market risk premium: a comment
Authors: Lally Martin 
Published: February 2008

AbstractThis paper examines two arguments presented in Gray and Hall (2006). First, that the generally used estimate of 0.06 for the market risk premium within the Officer version of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the generally used estimate of 0.50 for the parameter ‘gamma’ within the Officer framework are jointly inconsistent with evidence concerning the market risk premium in the standard version of the CAPM. Second, that the first two of these parameter estimates are also jointly inconsistent with the observed cash dividend yield on the Australian market. To resolve these problems, Gray and Hall recommend setting gamma to zero. The present paper shows that the first argument does not account for the fact that imputation induces a reduction in the market risk premium as defined in the standard version of the CAPM. The present paper also shows that both arguments identify a problem that characterizes only parts of the Officer framework, and these parts are not generally used in Australia. Therefore, rather than suggesting that gamma should be zero, Gray and Hall's analysis identifies parts of the Officer framework that should be avoided.
Relation between franking credits and the market risk premium: a comment
Authors: Truong Giang , Partington Graham 
Published: February 2008

AbstractBased on the Officer (1994) model, Gray and Hall (2006) derive a relation between franking credits and the market risk premium. On the basis of this relation, the authors show that traditional estimates of the value of franking credits imply dividend yields that are inconsistent with historical equity market data. This inconsistency arises from assumptions about the franking credit payout ratio and the value of franking credits retained. With less than a 100 per cent payout ratio some franking credits are retained within the firm. Assuming that the retained franking credits have no value leads to the inconsistency in dividend yields. Current practice in the application of Officer's model makes this assumption and, therefore, leads to inconsistent results. Gray and Hall suggest resolving the inconsistency by setting the value of all franking credits to zero. An alternative solution is to recognize that retained franking credits might have a positive value.
Burden of Obesity – lessons learnt from Hong Kong Chinese
Authors: Ko G. T. C. , Chan J. C. N. 
Published: February 2008

SummaryThere is now a pandemic of chronic diseases in Asian countries, driven mainly by obesity, diabetes and cardio‐renal complications. In Hong Kong, the reported prevalence of obesity, defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg m−2, varied from one‐quarter to one‐third of the population. In a population‐based survey conducted in 1995, 16.7% of Hong Kong adults had the metabolic syndrome (MES) (National Cholesterol Education Programme criterion). Obesity is now a global concern not only in adults but also among children and adolescents. In 2003, a territory‐wide survey in Hong Kong reported the prevalence of central obesity and MES to be 9.0% and 2.4%, respectively, in Chinese adolescents. Overweight, positive family history of diabetes and studying at schools of lower academic grading were independent risk factors for the adolescent MES. Lifestyle modification with proper diet and exercise is essential for health protection. In accord with western data, a weight management programme in Hong Kong Chinese with a 4–6% reduction in body weight or waist circumference was associated with significant reductions in all cardiovascular risk factors. Psychosocial factors related to chronic diseases are also of growing concern. In Hong Kong Chinese, increasing BMI was associated with a lower number of sleeping hours and increasing working hours, suggesting an intimate relationship between physical health and psychosocial stress. Chronic non‐communicable diseases are therefore major health threats in Hong Kong, with obesity as one of the major risk factors. A multidimensional and multidisciplinary health promotion and disease management plan is urgently needed to control these epidemics.
International strategies to address obesity
Authors: Hill J. O. , Peters J. C. , Catenacci V. A. , Wyatt H. R. 
Published: February 2008

SummaryObesity rates are increasing in most countries throughout the world. The reasons for the increase are complex and involve biological, behavioural and environmental factors. We have unintentionally created environments that encourage over‐eating and discourage physical activity. Despite the recognition of the seriousness of obesity to public health, no interventions have been effective in reducing obesity rates on a population basis. Reversing obesity rates within populations will require addressing both individual behaviour and the obesogenic environment. Obesity rates could be reduced by treating affected individuals or by preventing the gradual increase in body weights of the population. Success in long‐term obesity treatment is poor and appears to require that large behaviour changes be made and sustained. An alternative approach is to promote small lifestyle changes to prevent the gradual increase in the body weight of populations. America On the Move is an initiative based on promoting small lifestyle changes to prevent weight gain in the US population. This is one strategy could be used in other countries to reduce obesity rates.
Nutrition transition and its relationship to the development of obesity and related chronic diseases
Authors: Astrup Arne , Dyerberg Jørn , Selleck Matthew , Stender Steen 
Published: February 2008

SummaryThe prevalence of overweight and obesity has also increased substantially in the nutritional transition countries, and the health burden of obesity‐related complications is growing. The introduction of fast‐food chains and Westernized dietary habits providing meals with fast‐food characteristics seems to be a marker of the increasing prevalence of obesity. The mechanisms involved are probably that the supply of foods is characterized by large portion sizes with a high energy density, and sugar‐rich soft drinks. The high energy density of foods is partly brought about by a high dietary fat content, and it has been shown that even in a Chinese population the increase from about 15% to 20% in the proportion of calories from fat is sufficient to explain some weight gain in the population. In addition, fast food from major chains in most countries still contains unacceptably high levels of industrially produced trans fatty acids that have powerful biological effects, and contribute to type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. New evidence also suggests that a high intake of trans fat may produce abdominal obesity, an important factor in the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The optimal diet for the prevention of weight gain, obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes is fat‐reduced, without any industrially produced trans fatty acids, fibre‐rich, high in low energy density carbohydrates (fruit, vegetables and whole grain products) and with a restricted intake of energy‐containing drinks.
The role of dietary factors in chronic disease control in China
Authors: Chen C. M. , Zhao W. , Yang Z. , Zhai Y. , Wu Y. , Kong L. 
Published: February 2008

SummaryUsing the dietary intake and chronic disease condition data of 39 843 adults aged over 18 years old from the 2002 National Nutrition and Health Survey in China (2002 CNHS) logistic regression analysis was applied to calculate the odd ratios (ORs) of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidaemia for the various dietary patterns of the subjects. The higher percentage of energy intake from cereals was significantly associated with lower body mass index (BMI), lower total serum cholesterol (TC) and lower low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), while it was significantly associated with lower risk of overweight/obesity, hypertension, high TC, high serum triglycerides (TG) and high LDL‐C, but the prevalence of underweight was significantly higher in the cluster of subjects with cereal energy share more than 75%. The higher percentage of energy intake of fat was related to higher BMI, higher TC and higher LDL‐C which were associated with a high risk of overweight/obesity, hypertension, TC and TG. The study confirmed the important role of dietary pattern in chronic disease control. In particular, an optimum energy contributed from cereals ranged from 55% to 65% of total dietary energy intake and dietary fat energy share no more than 30% which should be the focus of preventive measures.
Health implications of transition from a planned to a free‐market economy – an overview
Authors: Baillie K. 
Published: February 2008

SummaryChina and the Former Soviet Union have both undergone substantial political and economic change in recent years as they began the transition from planned to more liberal market economies. The approaches to market liberalization in Russia (privatization in the minimum time) and China (gradual liberalization of prices and slow withdrawal of agricultural subsidies) were quite different. This paper examines some of the health implications associated with these changes, particularly in relation to the increasing burden of diet‐related chronic diseases. The changing patterns of tobacco and alcohol use, increase in sedentary lifestyles and increased consumption of non‐traditional, energy‐dense processed foods, high in salt, fat and sugar are examined, as are the strategies used by foreign direct investors in these emerging markets to ensure market penetration, to gain a fuller understanding of how children and adults' choices of food are being influenced as a result of these socioeconomic changes. Some of the threats and opportunities facing Chinese and foreign food producers in these new conditions are assessed. It is suggested that to ensure successful prevention of future diet‐related chronic diseases in such rapidly changing conditions, there needs to be a move beyond reliance solely on health education programmes and individual or local community‐based interventions. A series of strategies involving multiple stakeholders should be considered as options for intervention.
Agro‐food industry growth and obesity in China: what role for regulating food advertising and promotion and nutrition labelling?
Authors: Hawkes C. 
Published: February 2008

SummaryTaking a food supply chain approach, this paper examines the regulation of food marketing and nutrition labelling as strategies to help combat obesity in China in an era of rapid agro‐food industry growth. China is the largest food producer and consumer in the world. Since the early 1980s, the agro‐food industry has undergone phenomenal expansion throughout the food supply chain, from agricultural production to trade, agro‐food processing to food retailing, and from food service to advertising and promotion. This industry growth, alongside related socioeconomic changes and government policies, has encouraged a ‘nutrition transition’. China's population, especially in urban areas, is now consuming significantly more energy from dietary fat, which is leading to higher rates of obesity. Regulation of food advertising and promotion and nutrition labelling has the potential to help prevent the further growth of obesity in China and encourage the agro‐food industry to supplier healthier foods. Government legislation and guidance, as well as self‐regulation and voluntary initiatives, are needed to reduce children's exposure to food advertising and promotion, and increase the effectiveness of nutrition labelling. Policies on food marketing and nutrition labelling should be adapted to the China context, and accompanied by further action throughout the food supply chain. Given China's unique characteristics and position in the world today, there is an opportunity for the government and the agro‐food industry to lead the world by creating a balanced, health promoting model of complementary legislation and industry action.
The good, the bad and the wiki: Evaluating student‐generated content for collaborative learning
Authors: Wheeler Steve , Yeomans Peter , Wheeler Dawn 
Published: February 2008

AbstractThis paper explores the potential for wiki‐type open architecture software to promote and support collaborative learning through the use of student‐created content. It delineates some of the affordances and constraints of wiki software as an open architecture that has the potential to facilitate collaborative learning through community‐focused enquiry. It seeks to promote debate in this key area of development, and highlights some recent key contributions to the developing discourse on social software in what has been termed ‘the architecture of participation’.
Ethical dilemma associated with the off‐label use of antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia
Authors: IHARA Hiroshi , ARAI Heii 
Published: February 2008

AbstractThe term ‘off‐label use’ is generally taken to mean the prescription of a drug without approved official authorization. The present article deals with ethical problems associated with the off‐label use of antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in Japan. Before the introduction of the Law of Protection of Private Information, the off‐label use of antipsychotics was an almost open secret in Japan. Indeed, users of mental health care make strong requests that they receive the best and newest treatment available. Here, a huge gap exists between what psychiatrists consider ‘best’ and what the health service authority approves. For the sake of patients' interest, psychiatrists cannot help prescribing a drug for an unapproved indication or in a dose outside the usual range, otherwise they are unable to effect a therapeutic outcome. Although thioridazine and vegetamin are officially approved for the treatment of geriatric psychosis in Japan, they are not used commonly compared with atypical neuroleptics. Clinicians' preference for atypical agents over conventional neuroleptics is based on ethical motivation regarding the safe use of the drug rather than profitability. The failure to follow the information on the drug label should not necessarily preclude a psychiatrist from making a good clinical judgment in the interest of the patient. Even so, the psychiatrist should be aware that the patient retains the right to redress for possible medical malpractice. Japanese psychiatrists should take into account the evidence concerning the effectiveness of the drug for any unlicensed indication when they prescribe it off‐label. They should also inform patients of the fact that the prescription is off‐label and of any risks and benefits involved in the prescription of that particular drug. Whenever there is evidence of benefit, a trial of the drug should always be performed under careful clinical monitoring.
City Building and the Rhetoric of “Readability”: Architectural Debates in the New Berlin
Authors: Murray George J.A. 
Published: February 2008

Berlin represents an unusual case vis–à–vis the international architectural debate about rebuilding cities. The debate generally takes place between neotraditionalists on the one hand and various avant–gardists on the other. But in Berlin, the main representatives of the first camp are not, for once, members of the New Urbanism movement, nor are they neotraditionalists tout court; they are, at least on their own self–understanding, pioneers of a kind of ‘Third Way’ between the two extremes of neotraditionalism and avant–gardism. Nevertheless, a closer look at their rhetoric reveals deeper–lying affinities with the cultural conservatism characteristic of New Urbanism: the image of the city that they favor for Berlin is one of clarity, order, permanence, weightiness, etc.—a surprising image, given the city's troubled past. I examine the Architektenstreit (“Architects’ Debate”) that arose among planners, architects, critics, and others concerning the rebuilding of the central city in Berlin after reunification, and I discuss, in particular, the doctrine of critical reconstruction that has come to dominate this debate. I locate the origins of critical reconstruction's peculiar rhetoric in a longing for stability amidst the perceived flux of modernity. More generally, I argue (contra many commentators on the Architektenstreit) that a debate on the representations and images of the city is not merely a distraction from, but rather an essential element in, the politics of the city. In Berlin today the substitution of culture for politics is particularly manifest. One sometimes has the impression that architectural form is the most important form of political expression ( Lepenies, 2003 , p. 322). 1
Integration of Three‐Dimensional Left Atrial Magnetic Resonance Images into a Real‐Time Electroanatomic Mapping System: Validation of a Registration Method
Authors: BERTAGLIA EMANUELE , BRANDOLINO GLAUCO , ZOPPO FRANCO , ZERBO FRANCESCA , PASCOTTO PIETRO 
Published: February 2008

Background: The alignment of three‐dimensional (3D) left atrial images acquired by magnetic resonance (MR) with the anatomical information yielded by 3D mapping systems is one of the most critical issues in image integration techniques for catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). We assessed the accuracy of a simplified method of superimposing 3D MR left atrial images on real‐time left atrial electroanatomic maps (registration).
Methods: MR data on the left atrium in 40 patients with drug‐refractory AF were imported into the CartoMerge™ (Biosense Webster, Inc., Diamond Bar, CA, USA) electroanatomic mapping system. Registration was obtained by combining “visual alignment” of one endocardial point and “surface registration” of a limited number of points sampled on the posterior wall of the left atrium. The accuracy of the registration process was assessed through a statistical algorithm incorporated into the CartoMerge™ system, and through the percentage of pulmonary veins (PVs) in which electrical isolation was achieved after anatomical ablation.
Results: The mean registration surface‐to‐point distance and ablation surface‐to‐point distance were 1.33 ± 0.96 mm and 1.47 ± 1.15 mm, respectively. Upon completion of the circumferential anatomical ablation around the PVs, electrical PV isolation was confirmed by a multipolar circular mapping catheter in 129 of 146 PVs (89%).
Conclusions: Our registration method, which is mainly based on the surface registration of the posterior wall of the left atrium, enables almost 90% of PVs to be isolated by means of an anatomically based catheter ablation approach.
Use of Three‐Dimensional Catheter Guidance and Trans‐Esophageal Echocardiography to Eliminate Fluoroscopy in Catheter Ablation of Left‐Sided Accessory Pathways
Authors: CLARK JOHN , BOCKOVEN J.R. , LANE JOHN , PATEL C.R. , SMITH GRACE 
Published: February 2008

Background: Newer technologies such as three‐dimensional mapping and echocardiography can decrease x‐ray exposure during catheter ablation. Many right‐sided tachycardias can now be ablated without fluoroscopy. Left‐sided tachycardias, however, have not yet been ablated using a zero fluoroscopy approach.
Objective: This study sought to examine the utility of trans‐esophageal echocardiography (TEE) in providing adequate imaging as an alternative to fluoroscopy for transseptal puncture. When combined with NavX guidance (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN, USA), fluoroscopy may not be necessary.
Methods: Ten pediatric patients with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) had accessory pathways mapped to the left side. Right atrial and coronary sinus geometries were created using NavX. Once a left‐sided pathway was confirmed, a transseptal puncture was performed. A guide wire was placed in the SVC and confirmed by TEE. A transseptal sheath and dilator were advanced over the wire and positioned with TEE guidance so that the tip of the dilator was tenting the fossa ovalis. A transseptal needle was advanced across the fossa. Left atrial location of the needle tip was confirmed on TEE by saline contrast injection. The sheath and dilator were advanced over the needle with continuous pressure monitoring and TEE. Once the sheath was appropriately positioned, the ablation was completed using NavX guidance.
Results: All patients had acutely successful ablations and none required the use of fluoroscopy. Number of cryo lesions ranged from five to 19, with a mean of 9. Mean procedure time was 4.4 hours, with a range of 3.2 hours to 7.2 hours. There were no complications. One patient had recurrence.
Conclusions: Three‐dimensional mapping combined with TEE shows potential for eliminating fluoroscopy use during catheter ablation.