bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Properties of Ca2+‐dependent exocytosis in cultured astrocytes
Authors: Kreft Marko , Stenovec Matjaž , Rupnik Marjan , Grilc Sonja , Kržan Mojca , Potokar Maja , Pangršič Tina , Haydon Philip G. , Zorec Robert 
Published: April 2004

AbstractAstrocytes, a subtype of glial cells, have numerous characteristics that were previously considered exclusive for neurons. One of these characteristics is a cytosolic [Ca2+] oscillation that controls the release of the chemical transmitter glutamate and atrial natriuretic peptide. These chemical messengers appear to be released from astrocytes via Ca2+‐dependent exocytosis. In the present study, patch‐clamp membrane capacitance measurements were used to monitor changes in the membrane area of a single astrocyte, while the photolysis of caged calcium compounds by a UV flash was used to elicit steps in [Ca2+]i to determine the exocytotic properties of astrocytes. Experiments show that astrocytes exhibit Ca2+‐dependent increases in membrane capacitance, with an apparent Kd value of ∼20 μM [Ca2+]i. The delay between the flash delivery and the peak rate in membrane capacitance increase is in the range of tens to hundreds of milliseconds. The pretreatment of astrocytes by the tetanus neurotoxin, which specifically cleaves the neuronal/neuroendocrine type of SNARE protein synaptobrevin, abolished flash‐induced membrane capacitance increases, suggesting that Ca2+‐dependent membrane capacitance changes involve tetanus neurotoxin‐sensitive SNARE‐mediated vesicular exocytosis. Immunocytochemical experiments show distinct populations of vesicles containing glutamate and atrial natriuretic peptide in astrocytes. We conclude that the recorded Ca2+‐dependent changes in membrane capacitance represent regulated exocytosis from multiple types of vesicles, about 100 times slower than the exocytotic response in neurons. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Nursing Home version in an elderly neuropsychiatric population
Authors: Lange Rael T. , Hopp Grace A. , Kang Nirmal 
Published: April 2004

AbstractBackgroundThe Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) is an interview‐based instrument designed to elicit information from an informal caregiver to evaluate behavioral disturbances in persons with dementia. Minor modifications of this instrument have produced the Neuropsychiatric Inventory—Nursing Home version (NPI‐NH), a version specifically designed for interviewing professional care facility staff. The purpose of this investigation is to further understand the psychometric properties of the NPI‐NH by examining its reliability, validity, and factor structure in an elderly neuropsychiatric population.MethodParticipants were 204 elderly inpatients from a large provincial neuropsychiatric hospital in British Columbia, Canada. Data were collected as part of a patient needs assessment project.ResultsThe internal consistency reliability of the NPI‐NH was α=0.67. An exploratory principal axis analysis with varimax rotation revealed five factors that accounted for 63.2% of the variance. These factors reflect aspects of psychiatric disturbance associated with: (a) Agitation; (b) Mood; (c) Psychosis; (d) Sleep/Motor Activity; and (e) Elevated Behavior. Convergent and discriminant validity of the five factors by correlating them with other behavioral measures was considered satisfactory.ConclusionsThese results provide support for the clinical use of the NPI‐NH as a screen for neuropsychiatric symptoms in an elderly neuropsychiatric population. However, additional research is encouraged to further evaluate the clinical utility of the NPI‐NH in nursing home and inpatient geriatric settings. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Childlessness and psychological well‐being in Chinese older adults
Authors: Chou Kee‐Lee , Chi Iris 
Published: April 2004

AbstractBackgroundChildless older adults will increase rapidly in the coming future due to delayed marriage, infertility, and high divorce rate. We examined whether childlessness is significantly related to loneliness and depression and whether the effect of childlessness persisted even when other factors including gender, marital status, age, education, self‐rated health status and financial strain were controlled for.MethodThis article analyzes cross‐sectional data collected from a representative community sample of 2003 Chinese elderly people aged 60 or above in Hong Kong. Respondents were interviewed in face‐to‐face format and data including socio‐demographic variables, health indicators, loneliness and depression were obtained.ResultLogistic regression analyses revealed that childlessness was significantly related to loneliness and depression even after marital status, gender, age, education, self‐reported health status, and financial strain were controlled for.ConclusionThe impact of childlessness on psychological well‐being among elderly Chinese is more robust than that found in older Americans. Moreover, consistent with the findings of previous studies, we found that the effect of childlessness on psychological well‐being has to be investigated in the context of marital status. Therefore, aged care service practitioners must take this risk factor into consideration in their preventive intervention and treatment for psychological well‐being. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Validation of short screening tests for depression and cognitive impairment in older medically ill inpatients
Authors: Goring Hannah , Baldwin Robert , Marriott Alison , Pratt Helen , Roberts Chris 
Published: April 2004

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the criterion validity of the four‐item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS4) and the six‐item Orientation‐Memory‐Concentration‐test (OMC) against longer widely used screening instruments.MethodParticipants were 153 patients (aged 65 or over) admitted to four acute medical wards of a northern UK town. The validity of the GDS4 was determined using the 30‐item geriatric depression scale (GDS30) as the comparator; the validity of the OMC was determined using the standardised mini‐mental state examination (MMSE) as the comparator. For both screens, the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated in addition to the number of true and false positives and the sensitivity and specificity for various cut‐off points.ResultsThe area under ROC curve was 0.80 for the GDS4 and 0.90 for the OMC. Using a cut‐off of 0/1, the GDS4 correctly classified 78.2% of participants, using the GDS30 as the standard. This cut‐off gave a sensitivity of 90.1% and specificity of 55.3%. With a cut‐off of 1/2 the GDS4 correctly classified 76.8% of participants and had sensitivity and specificity of 78% and 74.5% respectively. The GDS4 and GDS30 were highly correlated (rho=0.63, p < 0.0005). A cut‐off of 10/11 on the OMC gave optimum performance. With this cut‐off, it correctly classified 85.9% of participants, and had 85.6% sensitivity and 86.8% specificity. There was a significant correlation between the OMC and the SMMSE (rho = −0.827, p < 0.0005).ConclusionThe GDS4 and OMC appear to be useful instruments for screening for depression and cognitive impairment among older medical inpatients. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Intentions of first‐degree relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease to seek a cognitive status examination
Authors: Werner Perla , Heinik Jeremia 
Published: April 2004

AbstractAimsThe aim of the present study was to examine the factors influencing intentions to seek a cognitive status evaluation among first‐degree relatives of persons with Alzheimer's disease.MethodsPhone interviews were conducted with 93 first‐degree relatives of persons with Alzheimer's disease, recruited from a large memory clinic.MeasuresIntentions to seek a cognitive status examination were examined by asking participants to rate their willingness to seek a cognitive status examination during the next year and during the next five years. Independent variables included participants' and patients' characteristics, caregiving characteristics, knowledge about AD, worries about memory problems, and perceptions of the benefits and barriers of seeking a cognitive status examination.ResultsOverall, first‐degree relatives reported only moderate intentions to seek a cognitive status examination. Their willingness to seek an examination was related to the characteristics of the first‐degree relative (income and subjective memory), the characteristics of the patients (behavioral problems), the caregiving characteristics (primary caregiver), and to the perceptions of barriers associated with the examination.ConclusionsThese findings stress the complexity of the decision‐making process confronting first‐degree relatives regarding their intentions to seek a cognitive status examination, and suggest the need to provide information to reach an informed decision. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Method for bias field correction of brain T1‐weighted magnetic resonance images minimizing segmentation error
Authors: Gispert Juan D. , Reig Santiago , Pascau Javier , Vaquero Juan J. , García‐Barreno Pedro , Desco Manuel 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThis work presents a new algorithm (nonuniform intensity correction; NIC) for correction of intensity inhomogeneities in T1‐weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images. The bias field and a bias‐free image are obtained through an iterative process that uses brain tissue segmentation. The algorithm was validated by means of realistic phantom images and a set of 24 real images. The first evaluation phase was based on a public domain phantom dataset, used previously to assess bias field correction algorithms. NIC performed similar to previously described methods in removing the bias field from phantom images, without introduction of degradation in the absence of intensity inhomogeneity. The real image dataset was used to compare the performance of this new algorithm to that of other widely used methods (N3, SPM'99, and SPM2). This dataset included both low and high bias field images from two different MR scanners of low (0.5 T) and medium (1.5 T) static fields. Using standard quality criteria for determining the goodness of the different methods, NIC achieved the best results, correcting the images of the real MR dataset, enabling its systematic use in images from both low and medium static field MR scanners. A limitation of our method is that it might fail if the bias field is so high that the initial histogram does not show bimodal distribution for white and gray matter. Hum. Brain Mapping 22:133–144, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Expressive and receptive language skills of temperamentally shy preschoolers
Authors: Spere Katherine A. , Schmidt Louis A. , Theall‐Honey Laura A. , Martin‐Chang Sandra 
Published: April 2004

AbstractAlthough shy children speak less in social situations, the extent to which their language skills fall behind those of their more outgoing peers remains unclear. We selected 22 temperamentally shy and 22 non‐shy children from a larger group of 400 4‐year‐old children who were prescreened for temperamental shyness by maternal report, using the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory (CCTI). We then compared the two groups on widely used measures that index expressive and receptive language skills. We found that, although the temperamentally shy children scored lower on both expressive and receptive language skills compared with their non‐shy counterparts, they were nonetheless performing at their age equivalency. The non‐shy children, however, were performing significantly above their age level on expressive and receptive language skills. These findings suggest that the development of normal language skills is not compromised in temperamentally shy preschoolers. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Perceived mother‐infant relationship difficulties in postnatal depression
Authors: Loh Chun‐Chong , Vostanis Panos 
Published: April 2004

AbstractPostnatal depression has been associated with mother–infant relationship difficulties, but there has been less research in clinical populations. This study aims to identify characteristics of reported mother–infant relationship difficulties in mothers with postnatal depression who had been referred to a tertiary Mother and Baby Service. Forty‐one mothers with postnatal depression completed self‐report and interview measures with regards to their mental state, social adversity, and perceptions on their relationship with their infants. Almost one‐third of mothers (31.7%) reported severe difficulties, including rejection of the infant and maternal pathological anger. A low birth weight and maternal dissatisfaction towards their social role were found to be significantly related to perceived mother–infant interaction difficulties. Self‐reports correlated satisfactorily with interview schedules. A significant proportion of mothers reported difficulties in relating to their infants which can be reliably identified by means of the self‐report measures used. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Visuo‐spatial abilities in autism: A review
Authors: Mitchell Peter , Ropar Danielle 
Published: April 2004

AbstractIndividuals with autism show various signs of heightened abilities in visuo‐spatial functioning. First, it is long‐established that they excel on embedded figures and block design tests relative to comparison participants. Second, some evidence suggests that processing global features is affected by inappropriate processing of the constituent elements of a stimulus. Third, they are more accurate than comparison participants in judging the shape of a slanted circle in a context in which ambient visual cues are eliminated. This suggests that their perception of the shape is less influenced by prior knowledge. Fourth, they are fast at searching for feature and conjunctive targets in a visual array. Contrary to earlier reports, however, they are susceptible to visual illusions. Also, they do show evidence of utilising prior knowledge when pairing a colour with an atypically coloured target. Accordingly, we conclude that there is something distinctive about autistic visuo‐spatial functioning, but not necessarily in ways that are predicted by the ‘weak central coherence’ hypothesis. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Imaginary companions: An evaluation of parents as reporters
Authors: Gleason Tracy R. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractParents are often solicited as reporters on their children's imaginary companions (ICs), but the correspondence between their reports and children's descriptions of pretend friends has received little attention. Sixty 4‐year‐old children and their parents provided descriptions of the children's interest in fantasy play, and 40 of these pairs also reported on children's ICs (20 on invisible friends and 20 on personified objects such as dolls). Results indicated that reports from parents of children with ICs matched their children's reports for involvement in fantasy play better than those of parents of children without ICs. For both IC groups, parents' reports concurred with children's for IC form, sex and physical description, but overall, parent–child agreement was higher for invisible friends than for personified objects. Results imply that parents may be better reporters of normative developmental processes that are slightly atypical than those that are common to most children. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Modified adenoviruses for cancer gene therapy
Authors: Kanerva Anna , Hemminki Akseli 
Published: April 2004

AbstractAdenoviral gene therapy is an exciting novel approach for treating cancers resistant to currently available therapies. However, currently there is little evidence supporting significant clinical benefits with replication‐incompetent adenoviruses. Recent data suggest that expression of the primary receptor, the coxsackie‐adenovirus receptor (CAR), may be highly variable on tumor cells, resulting in resistance to infection. Consequently, various strategies have been evaluated to modify adenovirus tropism in order to circumvent CAR deficiency, including retargeting complexes or genetic capsid modifications. To improve tumor penetration and local amplification on the antitumor effect, selectively oncolytic agents, i.e., conditionally replicating adenoviruses, have been constructed. Infection of tumor cells results in replication, oncolysis and subsequent release of the virus progeny. Normal tissue is spared due to lack of replication. This review focuses on the various modifications that have been investigated for improving the antitumor effect of adenoviral gene therapy. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Education and risk of breast cancer in the Norwegian‐Swedish women's lifestyle and health cohort study
Authors: Braaten Tonje , Weiderpass Elisabete , Kumle Merethe , Adami Hans‐Olov , Lund Eiliv 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA positive relationship between level of education and female breast cancer risk is well supported by scientific evidence, but few previous studies could adjust for all relevant potential confounding factors. The authors' purpose was to examine how risk for breast cancer varies with level of education and to identify factors that explain this variation, using data from a prospective cohort study including 102,860 women from Norway and Sweden who responded to an extensive questionnaire in 1991/1992; 1,090 incident primary invasive breast cancer cases were revealed during follow‐up, which ended in December 1999. The Cox Proportional Hazards Model was used to calculate relative risks (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Women with more than 16 years of education had a 36% increased risk compared to the lowest educated (7–9 years) (Age adjusted RR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.68). This relationship was slightly stronger among postmenopausal (RR 1.51) than among premenopausal (RR 1.25) women. In both groups, however, the relative risk estimates turned close to unity by adjustment for parity, age at first birth, body mass index (BMI), height, age at menarche, menopausal status, use of oral contraceptives and consumption of alcohol. The overall multivariate relative risk among the highest educated women was 1.04 (95% CI 0.82–1.32). The results of our study suggest a clear positive gradient in risk for breast cancer by level of education, which can be fully explained by established breast cancer risk factors. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mammography benefit in the Canadian National Breast Screening Study‐2: A model evaluation
Authors: Rijnsburger Adriana J. , van Oortmarssen Gerrit J. , Boer Rob , Draisma Gerrit , To Teresa , Miller Anthony B. , de Koning Harry J. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe CNBSS‐2 among women aged 50–59 did not show any significant difference in breast cancer mortality between a control arm screened annually by CBE and a study arm screened by CBE and mammography. Because of this design, the benefit of screening compared to no screening could not be evaluated. We therefore conducted a modeling effort to estimate the benefit of mammography or CBE compared to no screening. We incorporated demographic, epidemiologic and screening characteristics of the CNBSS‐2 in MISCAN. Stage‐specific sensitivities of CBE, with and without mammography, and breast cancer incidence rate in the trial were estimated by comparing observed trial data with model predictions. We predicted the number of breast cancer deaths for both study arms of the CNBSS‐2 and in the absence of screening, assuming improvement in prognosis by early detection. We estimated a 24–29% higher breast cancer incidence rate in the CNBSS‐2 than the average Canadian rate. Estimated sensitivity of CBE (control arm) varied from 0.29 to 0.48 for stage T1c and from 0.6 to 0.65 for stage T2+. Estimated sensitivity of CBE supplemented with mammography (study arm) varied from 0.5 to 0.79 for stage T1c and was 0.95 for stage T2+. Expected breast cancer mortality reduction by annual CBE screening is 20.5% compared to no screening. Estimated breast cancer mortality reduction by mammography screening compared to no screening for the CNBSS‐2 fell within the range 13.6–34.1%. Enrolled women had above average risk. Screening sensitivity in both arms was high. A benefit of mammography screening is supported by our modeling of the CNBSS‐2 results. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Serum insulin‐like growth factor‐I, insulin‐like growth factor binding protein‐3, and the risk of pancreatic cancer death
Authors: Lin Yingsong , Tamakoshi Akiko , Kikuchi Shogo , Yagyu Kiyoko , Obata Yuki , Ishibashi Teruo , Kawamura Takashi , Inaba Yutaka , Kurosawa Michiko , Motohashi Yutaka , Ohno Yoshiyuki 
Published: April 2004

AbstractRecent epidemiological studies have shown that high serum levels of insulin‐like growth factor‐I (IGF‐I) are associated with an increased risk of lung, colon, breast and prostate cancer. Since very few studies have addressed the role of serum levels of IGF‐I in the development of pancreatic cancer, we conducted a nested case‐control study to examine this association. The analysis involved 69 case subjects who died from pancreatic cancer during the follow‐up period of the study, and 207 control subjects matched for sex, age(±1 year) and study area, selected randomly from a cohort of 10,364 individuals. Serum levels of IGF‐I and IGF binding protein‐3 (IGFBP‐3) were measured by immunoradiometric assay, using commercially available kits. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using conditional logistic models. The levels of IGF‐I were positively correlated with IGFBP‐3 (r=0.55). There was a positive, but statistically insignificant association between serum levels of IGF‐I and risk of death from pancreatic cancer, with subjects in the highest quartile having an OR of 2.31 (95% CI=0.70–2.64) compared to those in the lowest quartile. The risk of pancreatic cancer death increased significantly with increasing serum levels of IGFBP‐3 (trend p=0.03). Further adjustment for IGFBP‐3 or IGF‐I slightly attenuated the positive associations. This nested case‐control study showed that high serum levels of IGF‐I and IGFBP‐3 may be associated with an increased risk of death from pancreatic cancer. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Linear relationship between Wnt activity levels and apoptosis in colorectal carcinoma cells exposed to butyrate
Authors: Lazarova Darina L. , Bordonaro Michael , Carbone Rocco , Sartorelli Alan C. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractWe have reported that butyrate, a fatty acid produced by dietary fiber that induces cell cycle arrest, differentiation and/or apoptosis in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cells in vitro, modulates Wnt activity in 2 CRC cell lines (Bordonaro et al., Int. J. Cancer, 2002; 97:42–51). Our study determines how changes in the levels of Wnt activity induced by butyrate relate to the effects of butyrate on apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and differentiation of CRC cells. In 10 human CRC cell lines a direct relationship was shown between apoptosis and butyrate‐induced increase in Wnt activity, as well as between suppressed clonal growth and increased Wnt activity. No correlation existed between butyrate‐induced increase in Wnt activity and differentiation. The direct relationship between apoptosis and Wnt activity was supported by analyses of DLD‐1 and HCT‐116 cells expressing a dominant negative form of Tcf4, and therefore, with repressed Wnt activity, as well as by measuring the ratio of apoptotic to live cells in flow cytometry‐sorted cell fractions with high and low Wnt activity. Novel flow cytometric methodology was utilized to show that butyrate differentially increases the number of cells with Wnt activity in different CRC cell lines. Thus, CRC cell lines in which butyrate upregulated Wnt activity to relatively high levels were most susceptible to the apoptotic effects of butyrate, whereas cell lines in which butyrate modestly modulated Wnt activity were less affected. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.