bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal study of Chinese patients with pernicious anaemia
Authors: Chan J C W , Liu H S Y , Kho B C S , Lau T K H , Li V L , Chan F H Y , Leong I S , Pang H K , Lee C K , Liang Y S 
Published: February 2009

Abstract

Background
The survival of whites who have been treated for pernicious anaemia (PA) is unaffected, apart from incurring a greater risk of gastric cancers. The long term outcome of PA in Chinese is unknown.

Methods
A hospital based prospective longitudinal study of Chinese PA patients was conducted. Patients with known cancers were excluded.

Results
From 1994 to 2007, 199 intrinsic factor antibody (IFA) positive and 168 IFA negative patients were recruited. Both cohorts had similar baseline characteristics, except the IFA positive patients had more severe haematological findings and more thyrogastric immune features; also more IFA negative patients had type 2 diabetes mellitus and gastrointestinal (GI) disease or GI surgery. Both cohorts had a good haematological response but an unsatisfactory neurological response to treatment. Hypothyroidism developed in patients of both cohorts during follow-up. 24 IFA positive patients and 7 IFA negative patients developed cancers (p = 0.007) during follow-up. 20% of all cancers were gastric carcinoma. Mean survival of both cohorts was similar. Mean survival of IFA positive patients with and without cancers was 64 and 129 months, respectively (p&lt;0.001), and that of IFA negative patients 36 and 126 months, respectively (p&lt;0.001). Death rates were 31% in the IFA positive cohort and 21% in the IFA negative cohort (p = 0.028). Cancer related death rates of IFA positive and IFA negative cohorts were 37% and 14%, respectively (p = 0.014).

Conclusion
The survival period of Chinese with PA who have received treatment is good, but there is an increased risk of gastric cancers. IFA positive patients have a higher risk of developing all types of cancers and cancer related deaths than IFA negative patients.
Biomarkers in the assessment and management of airways diseases
Authors: Taylor D R , Pavord I D 
Published: February 2009

Abstract
A plethora of biomarkers are becoming available in the field of respiratory medicine, but their application in clinical practice has been limited. This is changing. There is increasing scope for biomarkers to be used to define pathological as well as treatment responder phenotypes in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In some situations, conventional diagnostic labelling is being superseded by this approach and clinical outcomes are improved. Biomarkers are potentially very important in the development and assessment of new therapeutic agents, particularly for the treatment of severe asthma. They also have a potential role in monitoring disease activity and predicting future clinical outcomes for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Current evidence in relation to these issues is explored in this review.
Non-surgical management of benign thyroid cysts: use of ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation
Authors: Kanotra S P , Lateef M , Kirmani O 
Published: February 2009

Abstract

Purpose
To determine the efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided percutaneous ethanol ablation for the management of benign thyroid cysts.

Study design
In this prospective study, 40 patients with fine-needle aspiration cytology-proven benign thyroid cysts underwent alcohol ablation. Sonographically, 24 nodules were predominantly cystic (simple cysts), and 16 showed both solid and cystic elements (complex cysts). The cyst fluid was aspirated, and an amount of sterile 95% ethanol equivalent to ∼ 50% of the aspirated fluid was injected. Initially, a 20-gauge needle on a 20 ml syringe was used. Later, a three-way cannula was used in which one port was used for aspiration of the cyst fluid and the other for injection of the alcohol.

Results
The pretreatment volume of the cysts was 5.8–18.5 ml (mean (SD) 12.26 (3.6)). Cyst volume after treatment was 0–8 ml (mean (SD) 3.73 (2.8)). Ten cysts had disappeared completely after treatment. Cosmetic symptoms disappeared in 90% of the patients. Twenty-four patients complained of a local burning sensation at the injection site. The use of the three-way cannula helped to decrease the procedure time by decreasing the chances of needle displacement.

Conclusion
Ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation is a safe, highly effective, relatively rapid treatment modality that is both patient and surgeon friendly and should be considered as the treatment of choice for benign cystic thyroid nodules.
Ideas, Institutions and Poverty Reduction in the European Union: Questions for a Theology of Governance
Authors: Davis Francis 
Published: February 2009

AbstractThis article is based on new research focused on attempts by the pan-European Roman Catholic Caritas Europa social welfare federation to advocate for poverty reduction in twenty-four European Union Member States in the period 2006–2008. Addressing itself to the fresh challenges of Christian advocacy at the international and globalizing levels, it seeks to tease out questions for a theology of governance and appropriate ecclesiology in an environment where the idea of the 'local' is relocated to the 'national' level, where 'congregations' and individuals may not have the reach to engage in meaningful action, and where the consequent institutional design and organizational location of Christian reflection, ideas and praxis may influence, aid or hinder the prophetic task along with Christian authenticity.
Taming Prophetic Religion? Faith-Based Activism and Welfare Provision
Authors: Wood Richard 
Published: February 2009

AbstractThis article examines the current debate in the United States (primarily) and Britain regarding government-funded social service provision via faith-based institutions. By highlighting the tension between the 'priestly' and 'prophetic' roles of public religion, it argues for the critical importance of protecting religion's prophetic role even as society moves toward more extensive public financing of priestly social service provision. The article first outlines contemporary prophetic religion in the United States, especially faith-based community organizing (also known as broad-based community organizing) efforts, emphasizing three facets of the field: its scale, its role in building social capital, the issues it has addressed. Secondly, the article argues that, despite the narrow partisan tenor of recent faith-based social service provision in the US, it may have redeeming features that new leaders will want to preserve. However, H. R. Niebuhr's (1951) analysis of the relationship between religion and culture is invoked to characterize four key tensions between priestly and prophetic religion that may be exacerbated by governmental funding. The conclusion outlines several approaches through which practitioners, policymakers, the press, and scholars can help society maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of such funding.
Derivation of a 10-Year Radar-Based Climatology of Rainfall
Authors: Overeem Aart , Holleman Iwan , Buishand Adri 
Published: February 2009

Abstract
Weather radars give quantitative precipitation estimates over large areas with high spatial and temporal resolutions not achieved by conventional rain gauge networks. Therefore, the derivation and analysis of a radar-based precipitation “climatology” are highly relevant. For that purpose, radar reflectivity data were obtained from two C-band Doppler weather radars covering the land surface of the Netherlands (≈3.55 × 104 km2). From these reflectivities, 10 yr of radar rainfall depths were constructed for durations D of 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 h with a spatial resolution of 2.4 km and a data availability of approximately 80%. Different methods are compared for adjusting the bias in the radar precipitation depths. Using a dense manual gauge network, a vertical profile of reflectivity (VPR) and a spatial adjustment are applied separately to 24-h (0800–0800 UTC) unadjusted radar-based precipitation depths. Further, an automatic rain gauge network is employed to perform a mean-field bias adjustment to unadjusted 1-h rainfall depths. A new adjustment method is developed (referred to as MFBS) that combines the hourly mean-field bias adjustment and the daily spatial adjustment methods. The record of VPR gradients, obtained from the VPR adjustment, reveals a seasonal cycle that can be related to the type of precipitation. A verification with automatic (D ≤ 24 h) and manual (D = 24 h) rain gauge networks demonstrates that the adjustments remove the systematic underestimation of precipitation by radar. The MFBS adjustment gives the best verification results and reduces the residual (radar minus rain gauge depth) standard deviation considerably. The adjusted radar dataset is used to obtain exceedance probabilities, maximum rainfall depths, mean annual rainfall frequencies, and spatial correlations. Such a radar rainfall climatology is potentially valuable for the improvement of rainfall parameterization in weather and climate models and the design of hydraulic structures.
Structural Computation and the Role of Morphological Markings in the Processing of Japanese
Authors: Yamashita Hiroko 
Published: February 2009

Inan SOV' strictly head-final language with otherwise relatively free wordorder such as Japanese, disambiguating information including verb information is not available until the end of a clause. In such a language, a sentence theoretically has numerous possible syntactic structures before the verb information becomes available. The current study investigated (1) whether syntactic computation takes place in an ambiguous sentence fragment in Japanese and (2) if and how information from constituents other than the verb is utilized. Two experiments were conducted using automated, word-by-word visual presentations with a lexical decision task on an extrasentential target. The results suggest that syntactic computation takes place in Japanese before verb information becomes available. A strong preference was observedfor a simplex clause when three differently Case- marked arguments belonged to the same clause. The findings also indicate that information from surface Case marking is utilized productively' and when there is ambiguity in marking between arguments and adjuncts, the distinction is made before incorporating the constituents into the existing structure.
Prosodic Finality and Sentence Type in French
Authors: Smith Caroline L. 
Published: February 2009

Prosodic boundaries are marked in speech by modifications to dimensions such as F0, duration, and segmental quality. The experiment reported here tests the hypothesis that modifications at the end of a prosodic domain may be amplified or attenuated depending on the type of sentence (statement or question). The prosodic modifications investigated here for French are sentence-final lengthening and vowel devoicing, which is related to changes in voice quality. Six native speakers of French read 10 matched sets of sentences, which included both statements and questions. Measurements were made of the last vowel in each test sentence and of sentence-medial vowels in control sentences. Statement-final vowels were less periodic and more often devoiced than vowels at the end of questions or sentencemedial vowels, but question-final vowels were lengthened more than statement-final vowels. These results occurred in questions both with and without a final pitch rise, suggesting that sentence type is more important than final intonation contour in determining how prosodic finality is marked. The difference between statements and questions thus appears to be in the relative importance of lengthening and voice quality modification in marking finality, not in the overall extent to which it is marked.
Tone Perception Ability of Cantonese-Speaking Children
Authors: Yuet Sheung Lee Kathy , Sung Nok Chiu  , van Hasselt Charles Andrew 
Published: February 2009

Studies have shown that while children acquire all Cantonese tones by age two, they are not able to label them reliably until approximately age 10. One possible explanation for the large age discrepancy may be the different methodologies used. This study aimed to (1) investigatea new research design for the collection of reliable tone perception data from young children; (2) compare lexical and nonlexical items for testing tone perception ability; and (3) identify the relative ease of perceiving the three basic tone contrasts in Cantonese, that is, high level/high rising (T1 /T2), high level/low falling (T1/T4), and, high rising/low falling tones (T2/T4). The three tone pairs were presented to 31 children in the form of word and nonword stimuli. It was found that the research design could be used to assess the tone perception knowledge of children as young as 2;09. Significant differences were found between word and nonword stimuli and also in the identification of the T2/T4 contrast in comparison with the other two pairs. Children's overall tone perception abilities are discussed in detail with reference to the role of lexical knowledge and the potential for tone perception confusions arising from differences in fundamental frequencies for tone onset and offset.
Introduction: Indications of the Knowledge Society
Authors: Portella Eduardo 
Published: February 2009

AbstractIs ‘knowledge society’ yet another empty slogan? More than ever, ‘knowledge is power’. But we can hardly affirm that the society we live in is based on the vigour of knowledge. The market price placed on knowledge fails to provide it with the needed qualitative impetus. Inequities remain the blind spot of technological systems. To be sure, we are living in an information society at higher scales of exchange, with ‘a great deal of information, but little knowledge’. We may indeed be restoring a sort of enlightened despotism of a technologically neo-positivistic type, a realm of experts whose ‘know-how’ is but another term for ‘doing without knowing’. In a truly democratic sense, the knowledge society is a basic human right. Knowledge is nourished in society. Conversely, societies find in knowledge a compass for their peaceful co-existence.
Numbers of bilingual children in speech and language therapy
Authors: Winter Kirsten 
Published: February 2009

Both under-representati on and over-representation of bilingual children exist in different contexts of speech and language therapy(SLT) provision. The research on which this paper is based investigated possible influences on “ misrepresentation ” in England. This paper explores concepts behind measuring the representation of bilingual children in SLT, with relevance to other services, and discusses practicalities. Telephone interviews were conducted with speech and language therapists (SLTs) or their managers in nine SLT departments. In case studies of two SLT departments face-to-face interviews then explored misrepresentation. In different contexts relative numbers of bilingual and monolingual children receiving SLT were compared with a) each other, and b) their proportions in the general population. Findings showed that SLTs' and managers' perceptions of the linguistic composition of caseload and population were unreliable. Interviewees' views on the importance of finding out numbers of children speaking different languages and the barriers to collecting such data are considered. This information can strongly support proposals for a bilingual co-worker which may, in turn, improve bilingual clients' representation. Methodological difficulties in conducting numerical comparisons are described, along with solutions. Comparisons of caseload and population data are recommended in SLT, other services, and to researchers. They illuminate linguistic demography, highlight those missing out and the resulting theorization stimulates practical solutions to misrepresentation.
Towards standardizing and sharing bilingual data
Authors: Gardner-Chloros Penelope , Moyer Melissa , Sebba Mark , van Hout Roeland 
Published: February 2009

We describe a project (the LIPPS project) whose purpose is to set up a computerized database of bilingual texts to be used by researchers in the field of “language interaction” (i.e., codeswitching, borrowing, and other outcomes of contact between varieties). Current work includes an adaptation of the CHILDES system(MacWhinney,1995) to take account of the different needs of researchers in this area, for example, solving the problems of distinguishing, coding, and representing language interaction phenomena; providing a gloss / translation in user-friendly format; and developing qualitative as well as quantitative tools for comparing data-sets. Problems and some advantages of such a comparison are illustrated through a pilot project conducted by Gardner-Chloros using two sets of data: Greek-Cypriot/English data and Punjabi /English. Practical problems included giving transcribers/coders the necessary training in using the system and ensuring a consistent approach. Coding problems derived from interlinguistic differences were also highlighted. Clear advantages ensued, however, from being able to compare the type/quantity of codeswitches and so forth across data-sets, as this allows an assessment of the relative weight of linguistic and sociolinguistic factors in determining the form of language interaction.
A Review of Current Practice for Boys Undergoing Hypospadias Repair: From Pre-Operative Work up to Removal of Dressing Post-Surgery
Authors: Sanders Caroline 
Published: February 2009

The aim of this article was to examine an area from clinical practice, in this instance, paediatric urology and to look at the information needs of families prior to their young sons’ having surgery to correct a hypospadias. Involving families and promoting informed decision-making with families prior to hypospadias repair for their child is important. To be able tofacilitate real involvement the information has to be shared and parents and families given adequate support and opportunity to seek answers to questions. Providing an environment to undertake this, to then learn from the families for the future and to support the development of a National Support group, www.hypospadias.co.uk have been outcomes from setting up a pre-admission clinic. Literature in respect of after-care is very sparse. It became evident from clinical practice that the rationale for applying a dressing postoperatively needed to be explored. Furthermore limited evidence about dressing removal, coupled with the anxiety and upset this caused parents, identified the need to consider two issues (i) a better method of removal of dressings and (ii) the effects on pain scores. A blinded randomized controlled feasibility study was developed and implemented, with completion due at the end of 2001.
Parents’ Needs for Knowledge concerning the Medical Diagnosis of their Children
Authors: Starke Mikaela , Möller Anders 
Published: February 2009

It is reported that parents can handle their reactions of having a child with a chronic illness by seeking information and gaining knowledge about the diagnosis. It has been suggested that this is a way for parents to restore order in a chaotic existence. A complement to this perspective is to focus on what it means to be a parent and what is included in parenthood. The purpose of the present study was to increase our understanding of parents’ need for knowledge. Interviews were conducted with parents ( n = 44) who have experienced receiving a diagnosis of Turner Syndrome (TS) for their daughter, in order to explore the parents’ motives and strategies forseeking information about the condition. Out of the 44 parents interviewed, 26 (21 mothers and 5 fathers) had sought information. It was found that the motives for seeking information were, to some extent, related to the parents’ experiences of the consultation at the time of diagnosis. Twenty-three parents (21 mothers and 2 fathers) were dissatisfied with the information provided by the physician, while 21 (12 mothers and 9 fathers) were satisfied. Among the dissatisfied parents 16 (15 mothers and 1 father) sought information, and among the satisfied 10 parents (6 mothers and 4 fathers) sought information when they received the diagnosis for their daughter. The mothers described different strategies to gain information. They attended the library to borrow medical literature, looked up the syndrome in reference books, read articles in newspapers and asked questions of other mothers who had daughters with TS. However, it was found that the dissatisfied mothers used more and different strategies to find information compared with the fathers and the mothers who were satisfied. The motives of all the parents were to learn more about the condition. However, the dissatisfied mothers reported that they sought information because they found it important to control the actions of the professionals. The mothers that were satisfied with the information argued that they sought information in order to be able to explain the condition to others.
Circulating Ly-6C+ myeloid precursors migrate to the CNS and play a pathogenic role during autoimmune demyelinating disease
Authors: King Irah L. , Dickendesher Travis L. , Segal Benjamin M. 
Published: February 2009

AbstractMature myeloid cells (macrophages and CD11b+ dendritic cells) form a prominent component of neuroinflammatory infiltrates in multiple sclerosis and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The mechanism by which these cells are replenished during relapsing and chronic neuroinflammation is poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that CD11b+CD62L+Ly6Chi monocytes with colony-forming potential are mobilized into the bloodstream by a granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-dependent pathway immediately before EAE relapses. Circulating Ly6Chi monocytes traffic across the blood-brain barrier, up-regulate proinflammatory molecules, and differentiate into central nervous system dendritic cells and macrophages. Enrichment of Ly6Chi monocytes in the circulating pool is associated with an earlier onset and increased severity of clinical EAE. Our studies indicate that granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor–driven release of Ly6Chi precursors from the bone marrow prevents exhaustion of central nervous system myeloid populations during relapsing or chronic autoimmune demyelination, suggesting a novel pathway for therapeutic targeting.
Transformation of follicular lymphoma to diffuse large B-cell lymphoma may occur by divergent evolution from a common progenitor cell or by direct evolution from the follicular lymphoma clone
Authors: Carlotti Emanuela , Wrench David , Matthews Janet , Iqbal Sameena , Davies Andrew , Norton Andrew , Hart Jason , Lai Raymond , Montoto Silvia , Gribben John G. , Lister T. Andrew , Fitzgibbon Jude 
Published: February 2009

Abstract
To investigate the cell of origin linking follicular (FL) and transformed (t-FL) lymphomas, we analyzed the somatic hypermutation (SHM) pattern of the variable region of the immunoglobulin heavy gene (IgH-VH) in 18 sequential FL/t-FL samples and a father (donor) and son (recipient), who developed FL and t-FL, after transplantation. Genealogic trees showed a pattern compatible with a common progenitor cell (CPC) origin in 13 cases. The identification of the t-FL clonotype in the previous FL sample and of the putative CPC sequence in both the FL/t-FL biopsies showed that the intraclonal diversity of FL and t-FL germinal centers (GCs) is more intricate than previously described, and all 3 clonotypes (CPC, FL, t-FL) may occur simultaneously within the same lymph node. On the basis of the father/son model, this CPC must be long-lived, providing a possible explanation for the incurable nature of this disease.