bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The impact of idiopathic childhood‐onset growth hormone deficiency (GHD) on bone mass in subjects without adult GHD
Authors: Lange Martin , Müller Jørn , Svendsen Ole Lander , Kastrup Knud William , Juul Anders , Feldt‐Rasmussen Ulla 
Published: January 2005

Summaryobjective  Despite seemingly adequate growth hormone (GH) treatment during childhood, children with GH deficiency (GHD) have reduced bone mineral density (BMD) at final height. The aim was to evaluate BMD and bone mineral content (BMC) in adults treated for idiopathic childhood‐onset (CO) GHD, 18 years after stopping GH treatment.subjects and methods  Twenty‐six (11 females) patients with idiopathic CO GHD participated. All patients but two had been treated for isolated GHD in childhood. The childhood diagnosis was established by an insulin tolerance test (ITT) and reassessed in adulthood by an ITT (N = 21) or arginine test (n = 5), revealing that 10 patients had GHD according to adult criteria. Accordingly, the patient group was divided into (1) patients who did not have persistent GHD in adulthood and (2) patients who did have persistent adult GHD. Twenty‐six healthy subjects acted as age‐, gender‐ and body mass index (BMI)‐matched controls.results  The patients who did not have persistent GHD had significantly lower IGF‐I values and whole‐body, femoral neck and lumbar spine BMD compared to controls [0·994 ± 0·10 vs. 1·114 ± 0·11 g/cm2 (P = 0·003), 0·842 ± 0·12 vs. 0·962 ± 0·11 g/cm2 (P = 0·006) and 1·026 ± 0·14 vs. 1·127 ± 0·13 g/cm2 (P = 0·004), respectively]. Femoral neck BMD was significantly reduced in the patients who had persistent GHD, compared to controls (0·842 ± 0·09 vs. 0·938 ± 0·11, P = 0·04). Significant correlations were observed between all bone variables and IGF‐I in all subjects, whereas no correlations were observed between bone variables and GH peak levels in the 26 patients.conclusion  In conclusion, we found that (1) patients with idiopathic CO GHD, who at retest in adulthood did not have GHD according to adult criteria, had reduced serum IGF‐I and BMD/BMC compared to controls. (2) This observation was also made in the patients who did have persistent GHD in adulthood. The findings may reflect the fact that the present diagnostic criteria for adult GHD (i.e. response to the ITT) do not reflect the clinical consequences of disordered GH–IGF axis in CO GHD young adults who were treated with GH in childhood. Alternatively, despite seemingly adequate GH treatment in childhood an optimal peak bone mass in adolescence may never have been reached in either of the groups. (3) IGF‐I levels correlated with clinical signs of the adult GHD syndrome. We believe that further studies on the indications and diagnostic procedures for GH treatment after cessation of linear growth are necessary.
Impaired circulating glucagon‐like peptide‐1 response to oral glucose in women with previous gestational diabetes
Authors: Forbes Shareen , Moonan May , Robinson Stephen , Anyaoku Victor , Patterson Michael , Murphy Kevin G. , Ghatei Mohammed A. , Bloom Stephen R. , Johnston Desmond G. 
Published: January 2005

SummaryBackground and objective  Women with previous gestational diabetes (pGDM) are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) potentiates the insulin response to oral glucose, and its secretion is diminished in Type 2 diabetes. The aim of the study was to see if decreased GLP‐1 secretion might be an early abnormality in the progression to Type 2 diabetes and would therefore be diminished in women with pGDM.Patients and methods  Eleven women with pGDM and previously documented normal glucose tolerance and 11 control women underwent a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Circulating plasma glucose, insulin, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) and GLP‐1 concentrations were sampled.Results  One of the women with pGDM had impaired glucose tolerance and was excluded from the study. All other women had normal glucose tolerance. The women with pGDM had higher fasting glucose concentrations than controls (5·1; 4·9–5·3 vs. 4·8; 4·4–5·1 mmol/l, median; interquartile range, P = 0·04) and greater circulating glucose area under the curve (AUC) following the oral glucose load (930; 818–1015 vs. 668; 584–737 min × mmol/l, P = 0·0007). Fasting insulin concentrations and total insulin AUC were similar. The initial (0–30 min) insulin response was decreased in the pGDM women (AUC 3981; 2783–4795 vs. 6167; 5009–8145 min × pmol/l, P = 0·05). The initial (0–30 min) GLP‐1 response was reduced in the pGDM women (AUC 816; 663–984 vs. 1163; 872–2024 min × pmol/l, P = 0·02).Conclusion  A reduced initial GLP‐1 response to oral glucose may therefore be an early abnormality in the progression to Type 2 diabetes.
A controlled, prospective study of neuropsychological outcomes post parathyroidectomy in primary hyperparathyroid patients
Authors: Chiang Cherie Y. , Andrewes David G. , Anderson Dianne , Devere Michael , Schweitzer Isaac , Zajac Jeffrey D. 
Published: January 2005

SummaryBackground  There is an increasing number of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) patients with neuropsychological or psychiatric symptoms. Many of these patients do not have osseous or renal complications to satisfy the criteria for parathyroidectomy according to the NIH guidelines.Objective  To assess whether there is any improvement in neuropsychological and mood symptoms following parathyroidectomy.Patients and Design  Twenty PHPT patients undergoing parathyroidectomy and 20 orthopaedic controls matched for age, gender and estimated intelligence were subjects to pre and postoperative assessment of cognition and mood with a mean surgery‐retest interval of 3 months.Results  Using two tests of attentional flexibility [the Stroop test, the Digit symbol test of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Revised (WAIS‐R)], and two memory tests for prose and nonverbal material, no significant change was found between the groups when comparing scores before and after surgery. There was no improvement between pre and postoperative measures of verbal (dominant hemisphere) as opposed to visuo‐spatial (nondominant hemisphere) function when compared to controls. There was no relationship between the reduction in serum calcium and the change in the neuropsychological measures postoperatively.Conclusion  This controlled, prospective study demonstrates no significant improvement in neuropsychological indices using objective, validated psychometric tools in an unselected cohort of PHPT patients. No relationship was found between serum calcium level and the degree of neuropsychological deficit. More studies are needed to assess whether the effect of parathyroidectomy is beneficial and sustainable in PHPT patients with neuropsychological symptoms alone.
A trial of nurse practitioner scope of practice
Authors: Gardner Anne , Gardner Glenn 
Published: January 2005

Aims.  The aim of this paper is to report a trial to investigate the feasibility of the nurse practitioner role in local health service delivery and to provide information about the educational and legislative requirements for nurse practitioner practice.Background.  Nurse practitioners have been shown to offer a beneficial service and fill a gap in health care provision. However, the lack of publications describing, critiquing, or defending the way that existing nurse practitioner roles have been developed may lead to a lack of clarity in comparing the nurse practitioner scope of practice internationally. In Australia, credible exploratory research is needed to realize the potential of nurse practitioners to bridge the divide of inequitable distribution of health services. A trial of nurse practitioner services in the Australian Capital Territory provided an excellent opportunity to investigate these scope and continuity issues.Methods.  This was an observational analytic study using multiple data sources. Four models of nurse practitioner service were chosen from a competitive field of applications that were evaluated according to efficacy, feasibility, and sustainability across specified selection criteria. Each model in the trial included a clinical support team, with the nurse practitioner candidate ‘working‐into‐the‐role’ and collecting demographic, clinical practice, patient outcome, and health service and consumer survey data over a 10 month period.Findings.  The trial identified the broad potential of the nurse practitioner role, its breadth and limitations, and its impact on selected health services in the Australian Capital Territory. Data from individual models were compared highlighting generic elements, and formed the basis for the development of the scope of practice for the Australian Capital Territory nurse practitioner models.Conclusions.  This study has validated a research‐based, iterative process for initial development of nurse practitioner scope of practice for any Australian specialization. Importantly, the study concluded with the scope of practice as a finding, rather than commencing with it a priori. Although general areas of health care need and under‐servicing were identified at the outset, the process tested both the expansion and parameters of the roles.
Evolutionary nursing: the case of infectious diseases
Authors: Purssell Edward 
Published: January 2005

Aim. The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of evolution on infectious diseases nursing, and propose a model that may help to increase understanding of how hosts and microorganisms co‐exist and how humans can alter the delicate balance between them.Background and rationale. Infectious diseases occur as the result of interactions between hosts and microorganisms. There is an increasing acceptance that the evolution of host and parasite is important in the development of infectious diseases. However, such views have made little impact in nursing, and the use of evolutionary interventions remains controversial.Method. The Medline database was searched from 1966 to present using the terms pathogen$, virulen$, evolution, bacteria, and all combinations of these. Additionally reference lists of text books and papers were hand searched for relevant papers. Papers were selected from a variety of disciplines, including infectious diseases, microbiology, evolutionary biology, and ecology. Recurrent themes from these papers were identified and a model of evolutionary nursing constructed.Results. Microorganisms are plentiful, ubiquitous, and rapidly evolving by comparison with humans and other animals. As a result of this, attempts to ‘outwit’ them have been, and are, doomed to failure. However, through careful management of public and personal health, a balance encouraging co‐existence may be possible. A number of specific interventions is proposed.Conclusions. There are a number of key interventions that may reduce the virulence of microorganisms. With an increasing world population, antibiotic resistance and international travel, such an approach may be one way of reducing the morbidity associated with infectious diseases.
Effects of nurse‐initiated telephone follow‐up on self‐efficacy among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Authors: Wong Kwan Wai , Wong Frances K.Y. , Chan Moon Fai 
Published: January 2005

Aim.  This paper reports a study to determine whether a nurse‐initiated telephone follow‐up programme could increase patients’ self‐efficacy in managing dyspnoea and decrease health care service use.Background.  Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a worldwide health problem and has been labelled a burdensome disease. Because of the fear of activity‐induced dyspnoea, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease lack the confidence to perform daily activities. Studies of cardiac and diabetic patients have shown that telephone follow‐up care is an effective approach to increasing self‐efficacy. However, little such research has been done with patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Methods.  This was a randomized controlled study. A total of 60 participants (30 telephone follow‐up, 30 control) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were recruited from an acute care hospital in Hong Kong. The Chinese Self‐Efficacy Scale was used to assess self‐efficacy. Measures of health care use were numbers of visits to an accident and emergency department, hospitalizations, and unscheduled visits by physicians.Findings.  The self‐efficacy scores (U = 272·5, P = 0·009) of patients who were followed up by telephone improved significantly compared with those of patients in the control group. Multiple regression analyses showed that telephone follow‐up (Beta = 0·33, CI: 0·19–0·48, P = 0·001), the pulmonary rehabilitation programme (Beta = 0·44, CI: 0·16–0·72, P = 0·003), smoking (Beta = 0·34, CI: 0·09–0·57, P = 0·009), and health care use (Beta = −0·27, CI: −0·47–(−0·07), P = 0·008) were significant factors in predicting patient self‐efficacy.Conclusions.  Nurse‐initiated telephone follow‐up care was effective in increasing self‐efficacy in managing dyspnoea. The study needs to be replicated in other setting to strengthen its external validity.
The early development of stereotypy and self‐injury: a review of research methods
Authors: Symons F. J. , Sperry L. A. , Dropik P. L. , Bodfish J. W. 
Published: January 2005

AbstractBackground The origin and developmental course of stereotypic and self‐injurious behaviour among individuals with developmental disabilities such as intellectual disability (ID) or pervasive development disorders such as autism is not well understood.Method Twelve studies designed to document the prevalence, nature, or development of stereotypic and/or self‐injurious behaviour in children under 5 years of age and identified as at risk for developmental delay or disability were reviewed. Comparisons were made with similar studies with typically developing children.Results It appears that the onset of naturally occurring rhythmic motor stereotypies is delayed in young at‐risk children, but that the sequencing may be similar. A very small database, differences in samples, measures, and designs limited the degree to which comparisons could be made across studies.Conclusion Future work is needed based on appropriately designed prospective comparison studies and uniform quantitative measures to provide an empirical basis for new knowledge about the early development of one of the most serious behaviour disorders afflicting children with ID and related problems of development.
Coevolutionary arms races: increased host immune defense promotes specialization by avian fleas
Authors: Møller A. P. , Christe P. , Garamszegi L. Z. 
Published: January 2005

AbstractWe investigated the relationship between host defense and specialization by parasites in comparative analyses of bird fleas and T‐cell mediated immune response of their avian hosts, showing that fleas with few main host species exploited hosts with weak or strong immune defenses, whereas flea species that parasitized a large number of host species only exploited hosts with weak immune responses. Hosts with strong immune responses were exploited by a larger number of flea species than hosts with weak responses. A path analysis model with an effect of T‐cell response on the number of host species, or a model with host coloniality directly affecting host T‐cell response, which in turn affected the number of host species used by fleas, best explained the data. Therefore, parasite specialization may have evolved in response to strong host defenses.
Clinal variation and laboratory adaptation in the rainforest species Drosophila birchii for stress resistance, wing size, wing shape and development time
Authors: Griffiths J. A. , Schiffer M. , Hoffmann A. A. 
Published: January 2005

AbstractClinal variation has been described in many invertebrates including drosophilids but usually over broad geographical gradients. Here we describe clinal variation in the rainforest species Drosophila birchii from Queensland, Australia, and potential confounding effects of laboratory adaptation. Clinal variation was detected for starvation and development time, but not for size or resistance to temperature extremes. Starvation resistance was higher at southern locations. Wing shape components were not associated with latitude although they did differ among populations. Time in laboratory culture did not influence wing size or heat knockdown resistance, but increased starvation resistance and decreased recovery time following a cold shock. Laboratory culture also increased development time and altered wing shape. The results indicate that clinal patterns can be detected in Drosophila over a relatively narrow geographical area. Laboratory adaptation is unlikely to have confounded the detection of geographical patterns.
Escape behaviour and ultimate causes of specific induced defences in an anuran tadpole
Authors: Teplitsky C. , Plenet S. , Léna J. ‐P. , Mermet N. , Malet E. , Joly P. 
Published: January 2005

AbstractInduced defences, such as the predator avoidance morphologies in amphibians, result from spatial or temporal variability in predation risk. One important component of this variability should be the difference in hunting strategies between predators. However, little is known about how specific and effective induced defences are to different types of predators. We analysed the impact of both pursuing (fish, Gasterosteus aculeatus) and sit‐and‐wait (dragonfly, Aeshna cyanea) predators on tadpole (Rana dalmatina) morphology and performance (viz locomotive performance and growth rate). We also investigated the potential benefits of the predator‐induced phenotype in the presence of fish predators. Both predators induced deeper tail fins in tadpoles exposed to threat of predation, and stickleback presence also induced longer tails and deeper tail muscles. Morphological and behavioural differences resulted in better escape ability of stickleback‐induced tadpoles, leading to improved survival in the face of stickleback predation. These results clearly indicate that specific morphological responses to different types of predators have evolved in R. dalmatina. The specific morphologies suggest low correlations between the traits involved in the defence. Independence of traits allows prey species to fine‐tune their response according to current predation risk, so that the benefit of the defence can be maximal.
Possible coevolution of male and female genital form and function in a calopterygid damselfly
Authors: Córdoba‐Aguilar A. 
Published: January 2005

AbstractIn this paper some evolutionary changes of genitalia in the damselfly Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis are investigated by determining their current and past function. Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis males stimulate females by aedeagal frictioning on a set of vaginal sensilla. The aedeagus is considerably variable and positively correlates with volumes of ejected sperm from the spermatheca. Interestingly, females show a significantly reduced sensillum number compared with other family members. Here I explore whether there existed directional selection for aedeagal width at its evolutionary onset; and whether the sensillum reduction evolved to make sperm ejection less effective. Using C. haemorrhoidalis aedeagi in females whose species retained the ancestral conditions (no stimulatory ability and large sensillum numbers), Hetaerina cruentata and C. xanthostoma, my results corroborated these assumptions: variation in aedeagal width inversely correlated with sperm ejection rate while sperm ejection was higher in species with high sensillum numbers. A suggested coevolutionary interpretation of these results in C. haemorrhoidalis is that aedeagal width was favoured which was followed by a sensillum reduction.
Maintenance of genetic differentiation across a transition zone in the sea: discordance between nuclear and cytoplasmic markers
Authors: Lemaire C. , Versini J.‐J. , Bonhomme F. 
Published: January 2005

AbstractTo investigate the origin and maintenance of the genetic discontinuity between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the common sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) we analysed the genetic variation at a fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence for 18 population samples. The result were also compared with new or previously published microsatellite data. Seven mitochondrial haplotypes and an average nucleotidic divergence of 0.02 between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations that matches a Pleistocene allopatric isolation were found. The frequency variation at the cytochrome b locus was many times greater between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations ( = 0.67) than at microsatellite loci ( = 0.02). The examination of the different evolutionary forces at play suggests that a sex‐biased hybrid breakdown is a likely explanation for part of the observed discrepancy between mitochondrial and nuclear loci. In addition, an analysis is made of the correlation between microsatellite loci points towards the possible existence of a hybrid zone in samples from the Alboran Sea.
In vivo gene delivery of urokinase‐type plasminogen activator with regulatable lentivirus induces behavioural changes in chronic cocaine administration
Authors: Bahi Amine , Boyer Frederic , Gumy Christèle , Kafri Tal , Dreyer Jean‐Luc 
Published: January 2005

AbstractSerine proteases play a key function in extracellular processes affecting central nervous system plasticity. Recently, the role of extracellular proteolytic processes in regulating synaptic structure and function has been described. However, to date direct evidence linking extracellular serine protease activity with drug‐related behavioural changes has not been documented. Importantly, in a screening for genes induced after drug treatment we found that urokinase plasminogen‐type activator (uPA) was strongly regulated by cocaine in several protocols of drug administration. Cocaine‐induced up‐regulation could be verified on microarray analysis under several protocols of drug administration, then further fully confirmed by means of qRT‐PCR. As a result, we chose to investigate further uPA function in the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway, a major target area of cocaine and drugs of misuse. Our approach was based on the characterization of cocaine‐induced behavioural changes following lentiviral vector delivery of a doxycycline‐regulated uPA expression cassette (or of its mutated form), into specific rat brain areas (the hippocampus, the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area). We show that doxycycline‐dependent over‐expression of uPA in these regions yields a 10‐ to 12.3‐fold increase in locomotor activity after cocaine administration. These behavioural effects were completely abolished when the active site of the protease was point‐mutated and used as a dominant negative. The physiological relevance of these drastic behavioural changes is discussed.