bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Increased expression of osteopontin in patients with triple‐negative breast cancer
Authors: Wang X. , Chao L. , Ma G. , Chen L. , Tian B. , Zang Y. , Sun J. 
Published: April 2008

ABSTRACTBackground  Patients with triple‐negative [oestrogen receptor (ER) negative, progesterone receptor (PR) negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER‐2/neu) negative] breast cancer, accounting for about 15% of breast cancer cases, are associated with aggressive histology, poor prognosis and shorter survival. Osteopontin is a chemokine‐like phosphorylated glycoprotein that plays important role in cancer progression and is found to be a metastasis‐associated protein in breast cancer. The goal of the study was to evaluate osteopontin protein expression levels in triple‐negative breast carcinomas to determine if they correlated with clinicopathological parameters, thus providing additional support for osteopontin functioning and better understanding of triple‐negative breast cancer.Materials and methods   A database of 239 patients, in whom all three markers (ER, PR, and HER‐2/neu) were available, was reviewed. We performed osteopontin protein expression analyses by means of immunohistochemistry on 117 breast carcinoma tissue samples, and then assessed the mean value of osteopontin expression against triple‐negative status and clinicopathological parameters.Results  Of the 239 patients in the study, 47 were classified as triple negative. Of the 117 osteopontin‐test patients in this cohort, mean osteopontin levels were significantly higher in the triple‐negative breast cancers than in non‐triple‐negative subtype (P = 0·035). TNM (tumours, nodes, metastases) stage were significantly associated with osteopontin levels (P = 0·038). Univariate analysis showed tumour cell osteopontin positivity above an optimized cut‐point to be significantly associated with decreased disease‐free survival, but not overall survival. In the multivariate model, osteopontin was an independent prognostic factor for disease‐free survival.Conclusions  Patients with osteopontin overexpression develop predominantly triple‐negative tumours. Osteopontin overexpression is associated with tumour aggressiveness and poor prognosis.
Evaluation of the factors affecting direct polarization solid state 31P‐NMR spectroscopy of bulk soils
Authors: Conte P. , ŠMejkalová D. , Piccolo A. , Spaccini R. 
Published: April 2008

Summary 31P‐NMR spectroscopy on bulk soils is a powerful tool for the identification of the different phosphorus forms in soils and for the evaluation of the dynamics of soil P. Up to now the majority of the papers dealt with liquid state 31P‐NMR spectroscopy on soluble soil organic substances. Only few papers were addressed to the study of the different phosphorus forms directly in bulk soils. In the present paper, some organic and inorganic phosphates of known structures, which are likely to be present in soil systems, were studied by direct polarization (DP) magic angle spinning (MAS) 31P‐NMR spectroscopy in order to understand the electronic factors responsible for chemical shifts of the phosphorus (P) nucleus and to serve as guidelines to assign P resonances in soil spectra. Number of hydrating water molecules, type of counter‐cation, degree of covalence, and spatial conformation of P in phosphate structures were found to affect signal positions in 31P‐NMR spectra. Both hydrating water and increase in degree of covalence of the X‐O‐P bonds (X=H, Na) enhanced the electronic density (ED) around P, thereby producing up‐field shifts in 31P‐NMR spectra. The exchange of the Na+ counter‐cation with NH4+ resulted in an increase of the cation potential (PC) that is a measure of the cation polarizing power, and induced a down‐field shift of P signals, due to a corresponding reduction in ED around the P nucleus. Both NMR down‐ and up‐field shifts were observed in organic phosphates, and were dependent on the spatial orientation of the phosphate groups that may have been fixed anisotropically in the solid state. Based on the factors that influence P chemical shifts for standard phosphates, attempts to assign 31P‐NMR signals in the spectra of five different unperturbed bulk soils were made.
Tocopherol metabolism, oxidation and recycling under high light stress in Arabidopsis
Authors: Kobayashi Naoko , DellaPenna Dean 
Published: April 2008

SummaryTocopherols are synthesized and accumulated by all plants and many cyanobacteria. The quenching and scavenging of reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxy radicals by tocopherols can result in the formation of various tocopherol oxidation compounds. A targeted GC/MS profiling method was developed to quantify all tocopherols and pathway intermediates, and 23 potential α‐ and γ‐tocopherol oxidation products. This method was used to study the response of wild‐type Arabidopsis (Col) and the tocopherol biosynthetic mutants vte1, vte2 and vte4 during 12 h low‐ and high‐light treatments (LL and HL, 90 and 1500 μmol photon m−2 sec−1, respectively) and a subsequent 12 h dark recovery period. All tocopherols and pathway intermediates exhibited HL‐dependent increases except 2,3‐dimethyl‐6‐phytyl‐1,4‐benzoquinone (DMPBQ) in vte1 and β‐tocopherol in Col. Profiling of potential tocopherol oxidation products during HL treatment indicated the presence of only α‐tocopherolquinol (α‐TQH2) in Col and only γ‐tocopherolquinol (γ‐TQH2) in vte4, both of which accumulated to similar levels and with similar kinetics the two genotypes. However, during dark recovery, the level of α‐TQH2 in Col decreased several times faster than that of γ‐TQH2 in vte4, suggesting the presence of biochemical processes with higher specificity for α‐TQH2. 14C‐labeled α‐tocopherolquinone (α‐TQ) applied to isolated Col chloroplasts was converted to 14C‐α‐tocopherol, demonstrating the existence of a plastid‐based system for recycling oxidized α‐tocopherol. The accumulation of 14C‐trimethylphytylbenzoquinone (TMPBQ) by isolated vte1 plastids treated with 14C‐labeled α‐TQ is consistent with the tocopherolquinone‐recycling pathway utilizing a yet to be identified plastid‐localized dehydratase that converts tocopherolquinone to TMPBQ.
White matter abnormalities in bipolar disorder: a voxel‐based diffusion tensor imaging study
Authors: Bruno Stefania , Cercignani Mara , Ron Maria A 
Published: April 2008

Objectives:  In bipolar disorder (BD), dysregulation of mood may result from white matter abnormalities that disrupt fronto‐subcortical circuits. In this study, we explore such abnormalities using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an imaging technique capable of detecting subtle changes not visible with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and voxel‐based analysis.Methods:  Thirty‐six patients with BD, all but two receiving antidepressants or mood stabilizers, and 28 healthy controls matched for age and gender were studied. Diffusion‐weighted echoplanar images (DW‐EPI) were obtained using a 1.5T scanner. Voxel‐based analysis was performed using SPM 2. Differences between the groups in mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy (FA) were explored.Results:  In the patient group, mean diffusivity was increased in the right posterior frontal and bilateral prefrontal white matter, while FA was increased in the inferior, middle temporal and middle occipital regions. The areas of increased mean diffusivity overlapped with those previously found to be abnormal using volumetric MRI and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) in the same group of patients.Conclusions:  White matter abnormalities, predominantly in the fronto‐temporal regions, can be detected in patients with BD using DTI. The neuropathology of these abnormalities is uncertain, but neuronal and axonal loss, myelin abnormalities and alterations in axonal packing density are likely to be relevant. The neuroprotective effects of some antidepressants and mood stabilizers make it unlikely that medication effects could explain the abnormalities described here, although minor effects cannot be excluded.
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in bipolar disorder: effects of mood state and early course
Authors: Fleck David E , Shear Paula K , Madore Michelle , Strakowski Stephen M 
Published: April 2008

Objectives:  Patients experiencing an acute mood episode of bipolar disorder are impaired on cognitive tests of executive functioning when compared with healthy subjects. However, it is unclear to what extent executive dysfunction exists (i) during syndromal remission, when mood symptoms are attenuated, and (ii) during the early course of bipolar disorder.Methods:  To clarify these issues, we examined retrospective data on a standard clinical version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) administered to 25 euthymic, 21 first‐episode manic or mixed, and 34 multiple‐episode manic or mixed patients with bipolar I disorder, and 48 healthy comparison subjects. These groups were compared on five WCST measures of executive ability.Results:  On all but one measure the healthy group’s performance was superior to that of both first‐ and multiple‐episode groups. The euthymic group outperformed the multiple‐episode group, but performed similarly to the first‐episode group on all but one measure. The healthy and euthymic groups did not differ significantly on any measure. Effect sizes ranged from small to moderate.Conclusions:  Executive dysfunction may be a mediating vulnerability indicator of bipolar disorder that is strongly related to mood state, but only modestly related to chronicity of illness during the early disease course.
Television and Information
Authors: TORSVIK PER 
Published: April 2008

SummaryIn this report we have been concerned with some of the consequences of the introduction of television. Actually, it has only been possible to isolate some areas in which to locate such effects: in the mobilization of the voters to election campaigns and in the resulting distribution of political information. The data have been collected in the region of Norway that includes the greatest proportion of peripheral communities, but in spite of this ecology the acquisition of television increased at a faster rate here than in the south central parts.The points made in the analysis emphasize the importance of television as a link to the central society and to central decision‐making bodies. In an earlier analysis we have found the effects of television most marked in the peripheral areas,70 and in this study we have indicated an effect in the social periphery, on the less educated, the less informed.The increase of the information level is not limited to television owners. It can hardly be explained by a panel effect alone, and further explanations may well be looked for in individual motivations and alternative information‐seeking habits as well as in altered conditions for the traditional media. One promising aspect is a between‐level analysis: How is the information relayed in pre‐ and post‐television communities or in communities with different degrees of television accessibility? What is the ecological effect of television?This effect may be mediated in a number of ways, some of which are more significant than others, such as occasional viewing by non‐owners, in the reporting by local newspapers of the television debates ‐ which has been frequently done and in the increased exchange of information by personal communication between the two groups. In the first case we have to deal with a direct effect of cornmunication; in the latter cases we can draw on well‐established theories of the two‐step flow of communication in order to explain how this effect takes place.The main findings have been established in the introductory phase of television. It may well be that the effect is limited to this phase, but the society in which we can put this to a test will be an entirely diEferent one; there will be a general increase in the level of education and a rapidly decreasing group of families without television.
AN APT PUNISHMENT FOR TOM JOAD: (RE)IDENTIFYING TOM JOAD FOR A MORAL JUDGMENT BASED ON THE PRA
Authors: Wilson Eddy 
Published: April 2008

SummaryOur basic intuition seems to suggest that the moral biography of an individual matters in our treatment of the individual. We do keep criminal records on file, and we do care about the moral progress of individuals. At times our desire to fix responsibility seems too strong, and in our zeal we invent a definite, metaphysical character on which to pin crimes. However, some moral philosophers have tried to redirect our attention to affix responsibility in a way that attends to actions, deeds done.Two ways to affix responsibility have been reviewed—the SR and the PRA. In the case of Tom Joad we could arrive at the conviction that Tom was responsible through use of either the SR or the PRA. In the end the difference was not that one method held Tom culpable and one exculpated him. The difference was seen in the way the PRA included the earlier commission of the same crime in its evaluation of responsibility.To include in the evaluation of Tom's murder of George the earlier murder of Herb is to entertain a definite theory about the relation of Herb's murderer to George's murderer. I have suggested one possible candidate for that theory, Derek Parfit's theory of person stages.
NO ONE IS GUILTY: CRIME, PATRIARCHY, AND INDIVIDUALISM*
Authors: Digby Tom 
Published: April 2008

Let us begin with a fundamental realization: No amount of thinking and no amount of public policy have brought us any closer to understanding and solving the problem of crime. The more we have reacted to crime, the farther we have removed ourselves from any understanding and any reduction of the problem. In recent years, we have floundered desperately in reformulating the law, punishing the offender, and quantifying our knowledge. Yet this country remains one of the most crime‐ridden nations. In spite of all its wealth, economic development, and scientific advances, this country has one of the worst crime records in the world.With such realization, we return once again—as if starting anew—to the subject of crime, a subject that remains one of our most critical indicators of the state of our personal and collective being. If what is to be said seems outrageous and heretical, it is only because it is necessarily outside the conventional wisdom both of our understanding of the problem and of our attempt to solve it.
IS “JUST WAR” THEORY JUSTIFIABLE?
Authors: Kainz Howard 
Published: April 2008

War is only the sad recourse in the state of nature (where there is no tribunal which could judge with the force of law) by which each state asserts its right by violence and in which neither party can be adjudged unjust (for that would presuppose a juridical decision); in lieu of such a decision, the issue of the conflict (as if given by a so‐called “judgment of God”) decides on which side justice lies. We may well be astonished that the word “law” has not yet been banished from war politics as pedantic, and that no state has yet been bold enough to advocate [this banishment]. Up to the present, Hugo Grotius, Pufendorf, Vattel, and many other irritating comforters have been cited in justification of war, though their code, philosophically or diplomatically formulated, has not and cannot have the least legal force, because states as such do not stand under a common external power.—Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace1
Evaluation of the effects of a preparation containing asiaticoside on periocular wrinkles of human volunteers
Authors: Lee J. , Jung E. , Lee H. , Seo Y. , Koh J. , Park D. 
Published: April 2008

SynopsisSkin ageing is accompanied by wrinkle formation. In particular, periorbital wrinkle formation is a relatively early sign of skin ageing. We evaluated the effects of a preparation containing asiaticoside on the periorbital wrinkles of a group of volunteers. The effectiveness of the active compound, asiaticoside, in a base‐cream preparation for the treatment of temporal periorbital wrinkles was tested on 27 female volunteers as follows: the women applied the cream twice a day to the region of interest for 12 weeks. Same women also applied a vehicle control cream to the periorbital skin around the other eye. Negative replicas were taken of the periorbital skin before treatment and 4, 8, and 12 weeks after application of the cream. The results were evaluated by semi‐automated morphometry of the plastic replicas. After 12 weeks of treatment, there was a significant improvement of the periorbital wrinkles in majority of the volunteers who tested the cream. Of the 27 women examined with periocular wrinkles, 65% showed an improvement at the end of the treatment. In three cases, the improvement was 100% (disappearance of the crow’s feet), 75% ± 1.97 and 79% ± 2.82. On six eyes, there was no significant change after the treatment. With 12 weeks of treatment with the asiaticoside‐containing cream, most of the periorbital wrinkles were attenuated to some degree, and some women experienced a significant improvement of the periorbital wrinkles on one of their eyes.
Preparation and characterization of herbal creams for improvement of skin viscoelastic properties
Authors: Ahshawat M. S. , Saraf S. , Saraf S. 
Published: April 2008

SynopsisThe aim of this study was to formulate and evaluate herbal cosmetic creams for their improvement of skin viscoelastic and hydration properties. The cosmetic cream formulations were designed by using ethanolic extracts of Glycyrriza glabra, Curcuma longa (roots), seeds of Psorolea corlifolia, Cassia tora, Areca catechu, Punica granatum, fruits of Embelica officinale, leaves of Centella asiatica, dried bark of Cinnamon zeylanicum and fresh gel of Aloe vera in varied concentrations (0.12–0.9%w/w) and characterized using physicochemical and physiological measurements. The ethanolic extracts of herbs were incorporated in a cream base that is prepared by a phase inversion emulsification technique. The cream base was prepared by utilizing oil of Prunus amagdalus, Sesamum indicum, honey, cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, polysorbate monoleate, sorbitan monostearate, propylene glycol and glycerin. Physicochemical assessments and microbiological testing were completed for all formulations according to the methods of the Indian Standard Bureau. The studies were carried out for 6 weeks on normal subjects (6 males and 12 females, between 22 and 50 years) on the back of their volar forearm for evaluation of viscoelastic properties in terms of extensibility via a suction measurement, firmness using laboratory fabricated instruments such as ball bouncing and skin hydration using electric (resistance) measurement methods. The physicochemical parameters of formulations CAA1–CAA6, i.e. pH, acid value, saponification value, viscosity, spreadability, layer thickness microbial count and skin sensitivity were found to be in the range of 5.01 ± 0.4–6.07 ± 0.6, 3.3–5.1 ± 0.2, 20–32, 5900–6755 cps, 60–99%, 25–50 μm, 31–46 colony‐forming units (CFU) and a 0–1 erythema score. The formulations, CAA4 and CAA5, showed an increase in percentage extensibility (32.27 ± 1.7% and 29.89 ± 1.64%, respectively), firmness (28.86 ± 0.86% and 29.89 ± 2.8%, respectively) and improved skin hydration (15.97 ± 0.55 and 18.27 ± 0.99%, respectively) and were found more effective compared with the control product (C7) after the 6‐ week study.
The psychological impact of genital anomalies on the parents of affected children
Authors: Duguid A , Morrison S , Robertson A , Chalmers J , Youngson G , Ahmed S F ,   the Scottish Genital Anomaly Network
Published: April 2008

AbstractBackground: There is scarce information on how parents cope with children with genital anomalies.Participants & methods: Twenty‐six parents of 25 children with a median age of 0.5 years (r, 5 days–10.8 years) were recruited through the Scottish Genital Anomaly Network and had a quantitative assessment of parenting stress and coping patterns; a qualitative assessment by a semi‐structured interview was also performed in19 parents.Results: In five parents, the total stress score was above the 85th centile, denoting clinical levels of stress. Three parents showed reduced coping pattern scores for social support, self‐esteem and psychological stability and three showed a reduction in utilization of communication with medical professionals. The scores did not correlate with each other or the extent of genital anomaly in the child. Semi‐structured interview analysis revealed parents' need for more knowledge about the imminent surgery, post‐operative care and their desire for written information that could complement the time‐restricted contact with the clinical team.Conclusion: In the majority of cases, parents did not display abnormal levels of stress or coping on quantitative assessment. The semi‐structured interview provided further information about the parents' level of coping and potential for stress and highlighted the need for more effective exchange of clinical information at a critical period of the parent–child relationship.
Intercountry adoptees in out‐of‐home care: a national cohort study
Authors: Elmund Anna , Lindblad Frank , Vinnerljung Bo , Hjern Anders 
Published: April 2008

AbstractAim: To investigate risks of placements in out‐of‐home care for non‐European adoptees.Methods: Intercountry adoptees born outside Europe 1973–1984 (n = 16 522) were compared with same age peers from the majority population (n = 1 026 523) using national demographic and child welfare registers. Multivariate analyses were performed using logistic regression models, and odds ratios (OR) for different forms of out‐of‐home care placements were calculated.Results: After adjustments for socio‐demographic background variables, the OR:s for placements of intercountry adoptees in residential care from age 10 were 5.1 (95% CI 4.6–5.8) and 3.0 (95% CI 2.6–3.6) for placements in foster care from age 10. For placements in all forms of out‐of home care up to age 10, the odds were on par with the majority population. Higher child age at adoption, origin from Latin America, single parent adoption and maternal age above 35 at birth of the child were identified as significant predictors of out‐of‐home care from age 10.Conclusion: Intercountry adoptees emerge as a risk group for placements in out‐of home care during adolescence, especially for entries into residential care (in Sweden usually triggered by persistent behaviour problems).
Understanding diagnostic tests 1: sensitivity, specificity and predictive values
Authors: Akobeng Anthony K 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe usefulness of diagnostic tests, that is their ability to detect a person with disease or exclude a person without disease, is usually described by terms such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. In this article, the first of the series, a simple, practical explanation of these concepts is provided and their use and misuse discussed. It is explained that while sensitivity and specificity are important measures of the diagnostic accuracy of a test, they are of no practical use when it comes to helping the clinician estimate the probability of disease in individual patients. Predictive values may be used to estimate probability of disease but both positive predictive value and negative predictive value vary according to disease prevalence. It would therefore be wrong for predictive values determined for one population to be applied to another population with a different prevalence of disease.Conclusion: Sensitivity and specificity are important measures of the diagnostic accuracy of a test but cannot be used to estimate the probability of disease in an individual patient. Positive and negative predictive values provide estimates of probability of disease but both parameters vary according to disease prevalence.