bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Appraisal of Hepatic Resection in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Severe Thrombocytopenia
Authors: Sugimachi Keishi , Ikeda Yasuharu , Tomikawa Morimasa , Taketomi Akinobu , Tsukamoto Shuichi , Kawasaki Katsumi , Yamamura Shinji , Korenaga Daisuke , Maehara Yoshihiko , Takenaka Kenji 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackgroundHepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with liver cirrhosis and severe hypersplenic thrombocytopenia is risky and controversial.MethodsFrom 1989 to 2005, 341 patients underwent hepatic resection for HCC in our hospital. Of these, 15 patients were concomitant with severe thrombocytopenia (platelet count, ≤5 × 104/mm3), and their clinical outcomes were retrospectively reviewed.ResultsAmong the 15 patients, 11 underwent hepatectomy alone and 4 underwent concomitant splenectomy. The mean preoperative platelet count was 4.2 ± 0.8 × 104/mm3 (range, 1.9–5 x 104/mm3). The surgical procedures performed were partial resection in five patients, subsegmentectomy in three, and segmentectomy in seven. A blood transfusion was required for 11 of 15 patients, and 8 of these received a platelet‐rich plasma transfusion. With the exception of one patient who suffered from postoperative liver failure, all the patients had an uneventful postoperative course. The 3‐year cumulative survival rate of these patients was comparable to those without thrombocytopenia.ConclusionsSevere thrombocytopenia alone is not a contraindication for hepatectomy in patients with HCC associated with liver cirrhosis. For these patients, hepatic resection—hepatectomy alone or concomitant splenectomy—should be considered as a treatment option.
Expression of Parafibromin in Distant Metastatic Parathyroid Tumors in Patients with Advanced Secondary Hyperparathyroidism Due to Chronic Kidney Disease
Authors: Tominaga Yoshihiro , Tsuzuki Toyonori , Matsuoka Susumu , Uno Nobuaki , Sato Tetsuhiko , Shimabukuro Syuichi , Goto Norihiko , Nagasaka Takaharu , Uchida Kazuharu 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackgroundRecently, somatic inactivating mutations in HRPT2 have been reported in the majority of sporadic parathyroid carcinoma in primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT). Parafibromin is a tumor suppressor protein encoded by HRPT2, and loss of nuclear expression of parafibromin was found in approximately 70% of the carcinoma. In secondary HPT due to chronic kidney disease (CKD), parathyroid carcinoma is very rare and whether HRPT2 plays a role in the carcinogenesis in these cases is not clear. We evaluated the expression of parafibromin in hemodialysis patients with distant metastatic parathyroid tumors.MethodsBetween June 1973 and December 2006, 2,142 patients underwent parathyroidectomy (PTx) for secondary HPT in our department. We encountered five (0.23%) patients with distant metastatic parathyroid tumors. We evaluated the immunohistochemistry for parafibromin in eight primary parathyroid glands removed from the neck at the initial operation and/or at reoperation and seven distant metastatic tumors resected at reoperation.ResultsIn only one lung metastatic parathyroid tumor, negative staining for parafibromin was detected. In the other three lung, two regional node, and one chest wall metastatic parathyroid tumor, parafibromin was strongly stained in the nuclei of the parathyroid cells. Among eight primary glands, except for one with weakly positive staining, the expression of parafibromin was detected diffusely and strongly.ConclusionWe conclude that the inactivating mutations and/or allelic loss of the HRPT2 gene may not play a major role in parathyroid carcinogenesis in secondary HPT due to CKD, but in these cases cancer development may be associated with a heterogeneous genetic disorder.
Long‐term Follow‐up of Local Rectal Cancer Surgery by Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery
Authors: Serra‐Aracil Xavier , Vallverdú Helena , Bombardó‐Junca Jordi , Pericay‐Pijaume Carles , Urgellés‐Bosch Joan , Navarro‐Soto Salvador 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackgroundIn 1997 we launched a prospective program of transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) for the treatment of rectal cancer.MethodsSuitability for TEM was based on endorectal ultrasound results, classified as follows: (I) benign tumors; (II) adenocarcinomas uT0 and uT1 with uN0; (III) adenocarcinomas uT2‐ uN0, low histological grade with intention to cure; and (IV) advanced stage adenocarcinomas with palliative careResultsTransanal endoscopic microsurgery was performed in 218 patients: 122 adenomas, and 96 adenocarcinomas: group II–72, group III–19, and group IV–5. Follow‐up was >24 months (median 59 months) in 61 patients. Nine were lost to follow‐up, and so 52 patients were studied: group II–38, group III–11, and group IV–3. The Kaplan‐Meier probability of nonrecurrence of adenocarcinoma by group was 93% in tumors in situ (Tis) and T1; and 77.8% in T2. The Kaplan‐Meier probability of survival by group was 100% in Tis and T1 and 82% in T2.ConclusionsRates of recurrence and long‐term survival in Tis and T1 adenocarcinomas treated with TEM are similar to those in previously published reports using conventional surgery. Further studies are required in T2 adenocarcinomas to determine a definitive strategy.
Continuous Follow‐up of Surgical Site Infections for 30 Days After Colorectal Surgery
Authors: Kobayashi Minako , Mohri Yasuhiko , Inoue Yasuhiro , Okita Yoshiki , Miki Chikao , Kusunoki Masato 
Published: March 2008

AbstractBackgroundSurgical site infection (SSI) prolongs hospital stay, increases medical costs, and occasionally leads to mortality. Our goal was to clarify the differences in SSI incidence between our own data and the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) data.MethodsFrom January 2003 to December 2006, we prospectively collected surveillance data from patients who were undergoing elective colorectal resection at the Mie University Graduate School of Medicine.ResultsThree hundred fifty‐five elective colorectal resections (144 colon surgeries, 211 rectal surgeries) were included. The median patient age was 57.4 years. SSIs were identified in 60 patients. Cumulative SSI incidence was 16.9%. The average SSI onset was 8.7 days (range = 3–20 days) after operation. Nineteen patients (19/30:31.7%) developed SSI within 6 days of the operation. The incidence of SSI occurring within 6 days after the operation was 5.4%.ConclusionSeventeen percent of SSIs occurred despite the use of perioperative management according to the CDC guidelines. We reported a much higher SSI incidence than that in the NNIS data. However, the SSI incidence within 6 days of surgery was similar to that of the NNIS data. The difference in SSI incidence between our data and that of the NNIS range may result from the different strict surveillance periods.
Chronic, but not acute, tricyclic antidepressant treatment alleviates neuropathic allodynia after sciatic nerve cuffing in mice
Authors: Benbouzid Malika , Choucair‐Jaafar Nada , Yalcin Ipek , Waltisperger Elisabeth , Muller André , Freund‐Mercier Marie José , Barrot Michel 
Published: March 2008

AbstractAntidepressant drugs act mainly by blocking the noradrenaline and/or serotonin uptake sites and require a chronic treatment. Tricyclic antidepressants are among the first line treatments clinically recommended against neuropathic pain. As observed against depression, a chronic treatment is required for a therapeutic effect. However, both in depression‐related and pain‐related research in rodents, it is difficult to design models that reproduce the clinical conditions and are sensitive to chronic but not to acute treatment by antidepressant drugs. In this study, we used a murine neuropathic pain model induced by the unilateral insertion of a polyethylene cuff around the main branch of the sciatic nerve. This model induced a long‐lasting ipsilateral mechanical allodynia. We evidenced that chronic, but not acute, treatment with the tricyclic antidepressants nortriptyline or amitriptyline suppressed the cuff‐induced mechanical allodynia. On the contrary, fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, remained ineffective. To understand which mechanism is recruited downstream in order to alleviate the allodynia, we tested the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone, the delta‐opioid receptor antagonist naltrindole and the kappa‐opioid receptor antagonist nor‐BNI. We show that the therapeutic effect of notriptyline implicates the endogenous opioid system, in particular the delta‐ and the kappa‐opioid receptors. For comparison, we tested the anticonvulsant gabapentin and showed that it alleviates neuropathic allodynia after 3 days of treatment. Naloxone had no effect on gabapentin therapeutic benefit, showing that antidepressants and anticonvulsants alleviate neuropathic allodynia through independent mechanisms. Our work provides a clinically relevant model to understand the mechanism by which chronic antidepressant treatment can alleviate neuropathic pain.
ON THE FUNDAMENTAL REGIONS OF A FIXED POINT FREE CONSERVATIVE HÉNON MAP
Authors: BESSA MÁRIO , ROCHA JORGE 
Published: March 2008

AbstractIt is well known that an orientation-preserving homeomorphism of the plane without fixed points has trivial dynamics; that is, its non-wandering set is empty and all the orbits diverge to infinity. However, orbits can diverge to infinity in many different ways (or not) giving rise to fundamental regions of divergence. Such a map is topologically equivalent to a plane translation if and only if it has only one fundamental region. We consider the conservative, orientation-preserving and fixed point free Hénon map and prove that it has only one fundamental region of divergence. Actually, we prove that there exists an area-preserving homeomorphism of the plane that conjugates this Hénon map to a translation.
Topological entropy and partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms
Authors: HUA YONGXIA , SAGHIN RADU , XIA ZHIHONG 
Published: March 2008

AbstractWe consider partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms on compact manifolds. We define the notion of the unstable and stable foliations stably carrying some unique non-trivial homologies. Under this topological assumption, we prove the following two results: if the center foliation is one-dimensional, then the topological entropy is locally a constant; and if the center foliation is two-dimensional, then the topological entropy is continuous on the set of all $C^{\infty }$ diffeomorphisms. The proof uses a topological invariant we introduced, Yomdin’s theorem on upper semi-continuity, Katok’s theorem on lower semi-continuity for two-dimensional systems, and a refined Pesin–Ruelle inequality we proved for partially hyperbolic diffeomorphisms.
Toward Development of Artificial Viruses for Gene Therapy: A Comparative Evaluation of Viral and Non‐viral Transfection
Authors: Douglas Kimberly L. 
Published: March 2008

AbstractProblems related to the safety and efficacy of gene therapies have checked the enthusiasm once surrounding this field, though it remains a promising approach for the treatment of numerous diseases. Despite the high transfection efficiencies attainable using viral vectors, manufacturing difficulties, safety concerns, and limitations related to targeting and plasmid size have prompted considerable research into the development of non‐viral vectors. Non‐viral vectors demonstrate low toxicity, low immunogenicity, and ease of manufacture. However, they have not yet achieved the transfection efficiencies displayed by viruses. The inability to explain or predict transfection efficiencies results, in part, from insufficient understanding of the intracellular processes involved in gene delivery. Increasingly, research has been undertaken to probe the processes involved in overcoming the major obstacles to vector‐mediated transfection: (1) internalization, (2) intracellular trafficking, (3) escape to the cytosol, (4) nuclear translocation, and (5) gene transcription/expression. This paper reviews and compares the pathways and techniques involved in successful viral and non‐viral transfection. In addition, this review provides evidence that non‐viral vector development has been pursued successfully thus far, producing systems capable of evading almost all major obstacles to transfection. Evaluating the abilities of non‐viral and viral vectors to overcome specific cellular barriers reveals that the greatest advantage of viral vectors may be related to viral DNA, which is transcribed considerably more efficiently than plasmid DNA. Further study in this area should enable the development of non‐viral vectors that transfect as efficiently as viral vectors.
New Global Hydrography Derived From Spaceborne Elevation Data
Authors: Lehner Bernhard , Verdin Kristine , Jarvis Andy 
Published: March 2008

To study the Earth system and to better understand the implications of global environmental change, there is a growing need for large‐scale hydrographic data sets that serve as prerequisites in a variety of analyses and applications, ranging from regional watershed and freshwater conservation planning to global hydrological, climate, biogeochemical, and land surface modeling. Yet while countless hydrographic maps exist for well‐known river basins and individual nations, there is a lack of seamless high‐quality data on large scales such as continents or the entire globe. Data for many large international basins are patchy, and remote areas are often poorly mapped.In response to these limitations, a team of scientists has developed data and created maps of the world's rivers that provide the research community with more reliable information about where streams and watersheds occur on the Earth's surface and how water drains the landscape. The new product, known as HydroSHEDS (Hydrological Data and Maps Based on Shuttle Elevation Derivatives at Multiple Scales), provides this information at a resolution and quality unachieved by previous global data sets, such as HYDRO1k [U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 2000].
Forest Disturbance and North American Carbon Flux
Authors: Goward Samuel N. , Masek Jeffrey G. , Cohen Warren , Moisen Gretchen , Collatz G. James , Healey Sean , Houghton R. A. , Huang Chengquan , Kennedy Robert , Law Beverly , Powell Scott , Turner David , Wulder Michael A. 
Published: March 2008

North America's forests are thought to be a significant sink for atmospheric carbon. Currently, the rate of sequestration by forests on the continent has been estimated at 0.23 petagrams of carbon per year, though the uncertainty about this estimate is nearly 50%. This offsets about 13% of the fossil fuel emissions from the continent [Pacala et al., 2007]. However, the high level of uncertainty in this estimate and the scientific community's limited ability to predict the future direction of the forest carbon flux reflect a lack of detailed knowledge about the effects of forest disturbance and recovery across the continent.The North American Carbon Program (NACP), an interagency initiative to better understand the distribution, origin, and fate of North American sources and sinks of carbon, has highlighted forest disturbance as a critical factor constraining carbon dynamics [Wofsy and Harris, 2002]. National forest inventory programs in Canada, the United States, and Mexico provide important information, but they lack the needed spatial and temporal detail to support annual estimation of carbon fluxes across the continent. To help with this, the NACP recommends that scientists use detailed remote sensing of the land surface to characterize disturbance.
The AGL62 MADS Domain Protein Regulates Cellularization during Endosperm Development inArabidopsis
Authors: Kang Il-Ho , Steffen Joshua G. , Portereiko Michael F. , Lloyd Alan , Drews Gary N. 
Published: March 2008

AbstractEndosperm, a storage tissue in the angiosperm seed, provides nutrients to the embryo during seed development and/or to the developing seedling during germination. A major event in endosperm development is the transition between the syncytial phase, during which the endosperm nuclei undergo many rounds of mitosis without cytokinesis, and the cellularized phase, during which cell walls form around the endosperm nuclei. The molecular processes controlling this phase transition are not understood. In agl62 seeds, the endosperm cellularizes prematurely, indicating that AGL62 is required for suppression of cellularization during the syncytial phase. AGL62 encodes a Type I MADS domain protein that likely functions as a transcription factor. During seed development, AGL62 is expressed exclusively in the endosperm. During wild-type endosperm development, AGL62 expression is strong during the syncytial phase and then declines abruptly just before cellularization. By contrast, in mutant seeds containing defects in some FERTILIZATION-INDEPENDENT SEED (FIS) class Polycomb group genes, the endosperm fails to cellularize and AGL62 expression fails to decline. Together, these data suggest that AGL62 suppresses cellularization during the syncytial phase of endosperm development and that endosperm cellularization is triggered via direct or indirect AGL62 inactivation by the FIS polycomb complex.
On the Formation of Haemosiderin and its Relation to Ferritin II. A Radioisotopic Study*
Authors: Shoden A. , Sturgeon P. 
Published: March 2008

In vivo biochemical studies on rabbits have shown that, with the intravenous injection of iron dextran, the rate of liver ferritin formation limits the uptake of iron by this organ. When ferritin production reaches 25‐30 mg. Fe per day, increased rates of iron dextran injection result only in increased serum concentrations of the compound. Regardless of the rate of injection, haemosiderin (insoluble iron) forms at a rate of approximately one‐tenth that of ferritin (soluble iron) until the total liver ferritin iron reaches 150‐200 mg. Therefore, when iron dextran is injected, the rate of haemosiderin formation is limited by the liver ferritin concentration. When this concentration reaches the ‘critical’level of 150‐200 mg. of iron and loading is continued, a process begins whereby ferritin production gradually decreases until the ferritin content of the liver reaches a maximum. Simultaneously the rate of haemosiderin production increases until all subsequent iron deposition is reflected in increased haemosiderin content (Shoden and Sturgeon, 1962a).Histochemical studies have shown that there is no appreciable deposition of stainable iron in the Kupffer cells of the liver when iron dextran is administered intravenously. When saccharated iron oxide is given, however, there is immediate and marked deposition of stainable iron in the Kupffer cells, even when relatively small amounts of iron are injected at slow rates. In contrast to the Kupffer cell insoluble iron, deposition of histochemically demonstrable iron in the parenchymal cells does not begin until the total liver ferritin iron reaches approximately the 150‐200 mg. level. At this level, regardless of the type of iron compound given, faint bluish areas or vacuoles, some of which may contain discrete blue granules, appear in the parenchymal cells. As the iron load is increased beyond this point, the number and size of the parenchymal cell granules increase. When iron dextran is given, the appearance of the blue granules is paralleled by a marked increase in the water‐insoluble iron fraction. Extraction with normal saline of small liver cubes, preceding the fixation and staining, shows that ferritin is removed, but not the haemosiderin granules (Shoden and Sturgeon, 1962b).From the above observations, the hypothesis was advanced that liver ferritin is a precursor of the haemosiderin granules found in the parenchymal liver cells (Shoden and Sturgeon, 1961). The present study was designed to test this hypothesis. It was planned to establish in the two iron storage ‘compartments’(ferritin and parenchymal haemosiderin) known specific activities (concentrations) of radioactive iron. Then, to study the pathway taken by new iron, non‐radioactive iron in form of iron dextran was administered. The sequence in the dilution of radioactive iron in the two compartments, and the shift of radioactivity between them,
The Fate of Prothrombin and Factors VIII, IX and X Transfused to Patients Deficient in these Factors
Authors: Biggs Rosemary , Denson K. W. E. 
Published: March 2008

The treatment of patients with coagulation defects consists of an attempt temporarily to replace in their blood the factor they lack. This is achieved by giving whole plasma or concentrates of the appropriate factor prepared from human or animal blood. There is now no reasonable doubt that this treatment is effective. With increasing precision of the methods used to assay the different factors it is becoming possible to relate the blood level achieved in the patient to the dose of material administered and to study the rate of disappearance of the factor from the patient's circulation. Accumulation of this information for all treated patients should improve treatment. If bleeding is related to the concentration of a particular factor in the patient's blood, it is clearly important to be able to predict what concentration is likely to be reached after a given dose and to predict how long it is likely to be maintained. If the response of patients to therapeutic material prepared by different methods is not the same, this again is important because allowances must be made for the variations in calculating the effective dose.The purpose of the present communication is to present the results of studies recently made at Oxford during the routine treatment of patients admitted to the Oxford hospitals. Assays were made of the blood levels of the relevant factor before and after the administration of a variety of therapeutic materials. The blood levels achieved were related to the calculated amount of the factor given and the rate of its disappearance from the blood was recorded. In this study the case records are not given in detail, nor is there any discussion of the therapeutic effectiveness of treatment in any particular case.