bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Associations between birthweight and weight change during infancy and later childhood, and systolic blood pressure at age 15 years: the COMPASS study
Authors: Kark Malin , Tynelius Per , Rasmussen Finn 
Published: January 2009

SummaryInconsistent findings have been reported on associations between postnatal weight change with later blood pressure. This study analysed the impact of weight change during fetal life, infancy and later childhood on systolic blood pressure (SBP) in adolescence. A longitudinal population‐based study was conducted in Stockholm, Sweden. Weight, length at birth and gestational age were extracted from the Medical Birth Register, weight and height in childhood was collected from child health records, and body size and SBP were measured during a health examination at 15 years of age. Complete data on 2438 individuals were analysed using linear regression.In fully adjusted models SBP increased 0.99 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.27, 1.71] in girls and 1.02 mmHg [0.31, 1.73] in boys per 1 SD increase in weight during the first year of life. The effect on SBP of weight change from 10 to 15 years among boys was 3.70 mmHg [2.67, 4.73] and among girls 1.30 mmHg [0.38, 2.22] per 1 SD increase in weight. Weight gain in infancy and later childhood was positively associated with SBP at age 15 years, while birthweight showed a weaker inverse association with SBP. No apparent effect of weight gain from 1 to 10 years of age was seen. Degree of weight change in infancy was equally important for SBP in both boys and girls, while growth during puberty showed a stronger association with SBP among boys than among girls.
Immunopathogenesis of human schistosomiasis
Authors: BURKE M. L. , JONES M. K. , GOBERT G. N. , LI Y. S. , ELLIS M. K. , McMANUS D. P. 
Published: January 2009

SUMMARYSchistosomiasis continues to be a significant cause of parasitic morbidity and mortality worldwide. This review considers the basic features of the pathology and clinical outcomes of hepatointestinal and genitourinary schistosomiasis, presents an overview of the numerous studies on animal models that have clarified many of the immunopathological features, and provides insight into our current understanding of the immunopathogenesis and genetic control of human schistosomiasis. In murine schistosomiasis, pathology is induced by a CD4+Th2 driven granulomatous response directed against schistosome eggs lodged in the host liver. The Th2 cytokines IL‐4 and IL‐13 drive this response, whereas IL‐10, IL13Rα2, IFN‐γ and a subset of regulatory T‐cells act to limit schistosome induced pathology. A variety of cell types including hepatic stellate cells, alternatively activated macrophages and regulatory T‐cells have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of schistosomiasis. Current knowledge suggests the immunopathogenic mechanisms underlying human schistosomiasis are likely to be similar. The review also considers the future development of anti‐pathology schistosome vaccines. As fibrosis is an important feature of many other diseases such as Crohn's disease and sarcoidosis, a comprehensive understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in schistosomiasis may also ultimately contribute to the development an effective disease intervention strategy for other granulofibrotic diseases.
Contact allergies in haemodialysis patients: a prospective study of 75 patients
Authors: Gaudy‐Marqueste C. , Jouhet C. , Castelain M. , Brunet P. , Berland Y. , Grob J. J. , Richard M. A. 
Published: January 2009

Background:  Haemodialysis exposes patients to many potentially sensitizing allergens.Objectives:  The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of delayed hypersensitivity in a population of haemodialysis patients. Secondary objectives were to identify the possible risk factors for contact sensitization and to propose a series of skin tests adapted to haemodialysis patients.Methods:  A prospective monocentric study was carried out in a nonselected population of haemodialysis patients. For each patient, medical history of atopy and allergic contact dermatitis, ongoing treatments (including topical ones), presence of eczema at the site of vascular access for haemodialysis were recorded. Allergological investigation included delayed hypersensitivity tests (European Environmental and Contact Dermatitis Research Group battery, tests GERDA, additional list and a battery of antiseptics and other dialysis‐specific allergens) and latex skin prick test.Results:  Seventy‐five patients (41 men, 34 women, mean age of 65 years old), with a mean 3.8 years under dialysis, were included. Nineteen patients (25%) had at least one positive skin test and 13 (17%) a positive patch test to at least one allergen relative to dialysis process including eight tests to lidocaine–prilocaine cream and three to povidone–iodine. Tests results seemed clinically relevant since nine patients had localized pruritus at the fistula site and six patients active eczema around it.Conclusion:  Contact sensitizations are frequent in haemodialysis patients and are linked to vascular access conditioning especially the use of lidocaine–prilocaine cream. Designing a specific test battery could help to diagnose the potential allergens and subsequently to give advice to avoid contact with sensitizing agents.
Population pharmacokinetics of sevoflurane in conjunction with the AnaConDa®: toward target‐controlled infusion of volatiles into the breathing system
Authors: ENLUND M. , KIETZMANN D. , BOUILLON T. , ZÜCHNER K. , MEINEKE I. 
Published: January 2009

Background: The Anesthetic Conserving Device (AnaConDa®) uncouples delivery of a volatile anesthetic (VA) from fresh gas flow (FGF) using a continuous infusion of liquid volatile into a modified heat–moisture exchanger capable of adsorbing VA during expiration and releasing adsorbed VA during inspiration. It combines the simplicity and responsiveness of high FGF with low agent expenditures. We performed in vitro characterization of the device before developing a population pharmacokinetic model for sevoflurane administration with the AnaConDa®, and retrospectively testing its performance (internal validation).Materials and methods: Eighteen females and 20 males, aged 31–87, BMI 20‐38, were included. The end‐tidal concentrations were varied and recorded together with the VA infusion rates into the device, ventilation and demographic data. The concentration–time course of sevoflurane was described using linear differential equations, and the most suitable structural model and typical parameter values were identified. The individual pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained and tested for covariate relationships. Prediction errors were calculated.Results: In vitro studies assessed the contribution of the device to the pharmacokinetic model. In vivo, the sevoflurane concentration–time courses on the patient side of the AnaConDa® were adequately described with a two‐compartment model. The population median absolute prediction error was 27% (interquartile range 13–45%).Conclusion: The predictive performance of the two‐compartment model was similar to that of models accepted for TCI administration of intravenous anesthetics, supporting open‐loop administration of sevoflurane with the AnaConDa®. Further studies will focus on prospective testing and external validation of the model implemented in a target‐controlled infusion device.
Effects of PEEP levels following repeated recruitment maneuvers on ventilator‐induced lung injury
Authors: KO S.‐C. , ZHANG H. , HAITSMA J. J. , CHENG K.‐C. , LI C.‐F. , SLUTSKY A. S. 
Published: January 2009

Background: Different levels of positive end‐expiratory pressure (PEEP) with and without a recruitment maneuver (RM) may have a significant impact on ventilator‐induced lung injury but this issue has not been well addressed.Methods: Anesthetized rats received hydrochloric acid (HCl, pH 1.5) aspiration, followed by mechanical ventilation with a tidal volume of 6 ml/kg. The animals were randomized into four groups of 10 each: (1) high PEEP at 6 cm H2O with an RM by applying peak airway pressure at 30 cm H2O for 10 s every 15 min; (2) low PEEP at 2 cm H2O with RM; (3) high PEEP alone; and (4) low PEEP alone.Results: The mean arterial pressure and the amounts of fluid infused were similar in the four groups. Application of the higher PEEP improved oxygenation compared with the lower PEEP groups (P<0.05). The lung compliance was better reserved, and the systemic cytokine responses and lung wet to dry ratio were lower in the high PEEP than in the low PEEP group for a given RM (P<0.05).Conclusions: The use of a combination of periodic RM and the higher PEEP had an additive effect in improving oxygenation and pulmonary mechanics and attenuation of inflammation.
Variation of Acoustic Courtship Signals in Insects and Amphibians: No Evidence for Bimodality, but Identical Dependence on Duration
Authors: Reinhold Klaus 
Published: January 2009

AbstractIn an influential review, acoustic courtship traits of frogs were classified into the two categories, static and dynamic traits, based on their coefficients of variation and female preference functions. As stabilizing selection can be expected to diminish phenotypic variation, static traits showing comparatively low variation were assumed to be mainly influenced by stabilizing selection through female choice. The more variable dynamic traits on the other hand were proposed to be under directional or less severe selection. Such bimodality in variation would be very valuable, as the pattern of selection could be predicted from signal variability. To examine whether a bimodal pattern of signal variation is generally found in acoustic advertisement signals, I reviewed the literature for available and reliable data for insects and anurans. I found no evidence of bimodality, but detected that coefficients of variation increased with signal duration in accordance with a power law. This relationship between duration and variability seems to be virtually identical in both insects and amphibians. Moreover, such a dependence of the extent of variation on the examined time window seems to be a general pattern, since temporal variation in action potential density, stock market prices and time perception also show a similar pattern.
A Statistical Modelling Approach to the Occurrence and Timing of Reconciliation in Wild Japanese Macaques
Authors: Majolo Bonaventura , Ventura Raffaella , Koyama Nicola F. 
Published: January 2009

AbstractIn various social species, animals have been observed to share friendly relationships with some group members and to resolve conflicts through reconciliation, the exchange of affiliative behaviour soon after a conflict that functions to restore the relationship between the former opponents. The valuable relationship hypothesis predicts that reconciliation should be observed more often after conflicts between friends. Friendly relationships can be described by three dimensions (i.e. value, security and compatibility); however, research into the relative importance of these dimensions for the occurrence of reconciliation is sparse. Moreover, reconciliation may depend on factors other than the social relationship between opponents including, for example, their social status or the context of the conflict. Our study aimed at analysing which factors are important determinants of reconciliation and at testing the valuable relationship hypothesis, by analysing the relative effects of relationship value, security and compatibility on the occurrence and timing of reconciliation. We collected data on two troops of wild Japanese macaques living on Yakushima Island, Japan, and selected the best predicting variables of reconciliation using linear mixed models. Our results show that reconciliation occurs more frequently, and earlier, after conflicts between opponents who exchange a higher percentage of grooming. Two additional variables related to relationship security and value were selected in the best models: frequency of aggression and of approaches resulting in tolerated co‐feeding. Among the variables not related to relationship quality, distance between opponents at the end of the conflict, kinship, sex of the opponents and context of conflict (i.e. during feeding or social time) were included in our models. Our findings support the valuable relationship hypothesis and, in particular, highlight that the fitness‐related benefits of social relationships (i.e. the relationship value) are important determinants of the evolution of friendly relationships and reconciliation.
Calls in the Forest: A Comparative Approach to How Bats Find Tree Cavities
Authors: Ruczyński Ireneusz , Kalko Elisabeth K. V. , Siemers Björn M. 
Published: January 2009

AbstractAlthough tree cavities are a particularly critical resource for forest bats, how bats search for and find new roosts is still poorly known. Building on a recent study on the sensory basis of roost finding in the noctule (Ruczynski et al. 2007), here we take a comparative approach to how bats find roosts. We tested the hypothesis that species’ flight abilities and echolocation call characteristics play important roles in how well and by which cues bats find new tree roosts. We used the very manoeuvrable, faintly echolocating brown long‐eared bat (Plecotus auritus) and the less manoeuvrable, louder Daubenton’s bat (Myotis daubentonii) as study species. The species are sympatric in European temperate forests and both roost in tree cavities. We trained bats in short‐term captivity to find entrances to tree cavities and experimentally manipulated the sensory cues available to them. In both species, cue type influenced the search time for successful cavity detection. Visual, olfactory and temperature cues did not improve the bats’ performance over the performance by echolocation alone. Eavesdropping on conspecific echolocation calls played back from inside the cavity decreased search time in Daubenton’s bat (M. daubentonii), underlining the double function of echolocation signals – orientation and communication. This was not so in the brown long‐eared bat (P. auritus) that has low call amplitudes. The highly manoeuvrable P. auritus found cavities typically from flight and the less manoeuvrable M. daubentonii found more entrances during crawling. Comparison with the noctule data from Ruczyński et al. (2007) indicates that manoeuvrability predicts the mode of cavity search. It further highlights the importance of call amplitude for eavesdropping and cavity detection in bats.
Use of questionnaire infeasibility in order to detect cognitive disorders: Example of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale in psychiatry settings
Authors: Nishiyama Takeshi , Ozaki Norio , Iwata Nakao 
Published: January 2009

Aim:  To examine the extent to which cognitive disorders influenced the feasibility and accuracy of both the 20‐item and the 10‐item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D).Methods:  Cross‐sectional analyses of 223 first‐visit patients in a psychiatric clinic and 108 patients in a psychiatric department in a general hospital were conducted. To assess the influence of age, gender, and the presence of cognitive disorders on the feasibility of both versions of the CES‐D, multiple logistic regression was performed with feasibility per se as the dummy dependent variable. In order to assess the accuracy of the CES‐D, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed.Results:  The infeasibility of both types of CES‐D were so strongly associated with the presence of cognitive disorders that it can be used as an indicator of cognitive impairment. Moreover, the 10‐item CES‐D had almost as acceptable an internal consistency reliability as the 20‐item CES‐D in the study settings.Conclusions:  Information obtained from both versions of the CES‐D could be utilized fully, using infeasibility as an indicator of cognitive disorders, in psychiatry settings. Other screening instruments with as heavy a cognitive load as the CES‐D can also be used in the same manner as an indicator of cognitive disorders to save the need for instruments specifically designed for dementia. Such usage can decrease the burden on both the respondent and the clinician in clinical practice.
Maintaining network activity in submerged hippocampal slices: importance of oxygen supply
Authors: Hájos Norbert , Ellender Tommas J. , Zemankovics Rita , Mann Edward O. , Exley Richard , Cragg Stephanie J. , Freund Tamás F. , Paulsen Ole 
Published: January 2009

AbstractStudies in brain slices have provided a wealth of data on the basic features of neurons and synapses. In the intact brain, these properties may be strongly influenced by ongoing network activity. Although physiologically realistic patterns of network activity have been successfully induced in brain slices maintained in interface‐type recording chambers, they have been harder to obtain in submerged‐type chambers, which offer significant experimental advantages, including fast exchange of pharmacological agents, visually guided patch‐clamp recordings, and imaging techniques. Here, we investigated conditions for the emergence of network oscillations in submerged slices prepared from the hippocampus of rats and mice. We found that the local oxygen level is critical for generation and propagation of both spontaneously occurring sharp wave–ripple oscillations and cholinergically induced fast oscillations. We suggest three ways to improve the oxygen supply to slices under submerged conditions: (i) optimizing chamber design for laminar flow of superfusion fluid; (ii) increasing the flow rate of superfusion fluid; and (iii) superfusing both surfaces of the slice. These improvements to the recording conditions enable detailed studies of neurons under more realistic conditions of network activity, which are essential for a better understanding of neuronal network operation.
Motion direction tuning in human visual cortex
Authors: Mercier Manuel , Schwartz Sophie , Michel Christoph M. , Blanke Olaf 
Published: January 2009

AbstractA number of electrophysiological studies have been conducted in recent years in order to clarify the dynamics of visual motion processing in the human brain. Using a variety of event‐related potential (ERP) measures, several parameters such as onset, offset, contrast and velocity have been investigated, while a critical aspect of visual motion, that of direction, has received less attention. Here we used multichannel electroencephalography and distributed source localization to study brain activity for different directions of visual motion using random dot stimuli. Our data reveal differential extrastriate activation at 164–226 ms after motion onset that coded for motion direction with different ERP maps and underlying electrical generators for each tested direction. This activation was paralleled initially (164–186 ms) by a distinct extrastriate activation encoding whether the motion stimulus consisted of directed motion stimuli (as above) or contained undirected incoherent motion (control stimulus). Application of a linear inverse solution localized the brain activity for each tested motion direction to distinct brain regions within the same larger network of extrastriate brain regions. These regions included bilateral temporo‐occipital and bilateral parieto‐occipital cortex. The present data in healthy subjects are compatible with extrastriate activity that is tuned to different directions of visual motion. This extends previous clinical data and suggests the presence of distributed macroscopic motion direction tuning in primate extrastriate cortex that may complement the classical microscopic motion tuning at the columnar level.
The development of melanopsin‐containing retinal ganglion cells in mice with early retinal degeneration
Authors: Ruggiero Linda , Allen Charles N. , Lane Brown R. , Robinson David W. 
Published: January 2009

AbstractIn mammals, the neuronal pathways by which rod and cone photoreceptors mediate vision have been well documented. The roles that classical photoreceptors play in photoentrainment, however, have been less clear. In mammals, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) that express the photopigment melanopsin project directly to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, the site of the circadian clock, and thereby contribute to non‐image‐forming responses to light. Classical photoreceptors are not necessary for photoentrainment as loss of rods and cones does not eliminate light entrainment. Conflicting evidence arose, however, when attenuated phase‐shifting responses were observed in the retinal‐degenerate CBA/J mouse. In this study, we examined the time course of retinal degeneration in CBA/J mice and used these animals to determine if maturation of the outer retina regulates the morphology, number and distribution of ipRGCs. We also examined whether degeneration during the early development of the outer retina can alter the function of the adult circadian system. We report that dendritic stratification and distribution of ipRGCs was unaltered in mice with early retinal degeneration, suggesting that normal development of the outer retina was not necessary for these processes. We found, however, that adult CBA/J mice have greater numbers of ipRGCs than controls, implicating a role for the outer retinal photoreceptors in regulating developmental cell death of ipRGCs.
Individual variations of serum testosterone in patients with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy
Authors: Morote Juan , Planas Jacques , Salvador Carlos , Raventós Carles X. , Catalán Roberto , Reventós Jaume 
Published: January 2009

OBJECTIVETo analyse individual variations in serum testosterone level, the cumulative rate of ‘breakthrough’ increases over castrate levels, and to evaluate whether the increases can be predicted.PATIENTS AND METHODSSerum testosterone levels were determined every 6 months over 3 years in 73 consecutive patients with prostate cancer who were medically castrated, prospectively enrolled in a single tertiary academic centre. Patients recruited for this study were being treated with a 3‐monthly depot of luteinizing hormone‐releasing hormone agonist over 6–48 months. Serum testosterone was measured using a chemiluminescent assay with a lower sensitivity level of 15 ng/dL and interassay coefficient of variation of 25% at low testosterone concentrations.RESULTSIndividual variations could not be explained by the interassay variation coefficient in 26% of the patients. The rate of breakthrough increases >50 ng/dL increased from 12.3% at the first determination to 24.7% at the third, then remaining stable. The rate of breakthrough increases of 20–50 ng/dL increased from 27.4% at the first determination to 31.5% at the second, and then remained stable. A first determination of <20 ng/dL provided an 11.4% probability for future increases of >50 ng/dL, with a 5.7% probability if two consecutive determinations were <20 ng/dL and a null probability when three consecutive determinations were <20 ng/dL.CONCLUSIONSIndividual variations in serum testosterone level cannot be explained by the coefficient of variation of the assay in a quarter of patients who are medically castrated. Breakthrough increases over castrate levels increase over time and those of >50 ng/dL can be predicted from the previous levels.