bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Geographical difference in antimicrobial resistance pattern of Helicobacter pylori clinical isolates from Indian patients: Multicentric study
Authors: THYAGARAJAN SP , RAY PALLAB , DAS BIMAL KUMAR , AYYAGARI ARCHANA , KHAN ALEEM AHMED , DHARMALINGAM S , RAO USHA ANAND , RAJASAMBANDAM P , RAMATHILAGAM B , BHASIN DEEPAK , SHARMA MP , NAIK SR , HABIBULLAH CM 
Published: November 2003

AbstractAim:  To assess the pattern of antimicrobial resistance of Helicobacter pylori isolates from peptic ulcer disease patients of Chandigarh, Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Chennai in India, and to recommend an updated anti‐H. pylori treatment regimen to be used in these areas.Methods:  Two hundred and fifty‐nine H. pylori isolates from patients with peptic ulcer disease reporting for clinical management to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow; Deccan College of Medical Sciences and Allied Hospitals, Hyderabad; and hospitals in Chennai in collaboration with the Dr ALM Post Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences were analyzed for their levels of antibiotic susceptibility to metronidazole, clarithromycin, amoxycillin, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. The Epsilometer test (E‐test), a quantitative disc diffusion antibiotic susceptibility testing method, was adopted in all the centers. The pattern of single and multiple resistance at the respective centers and at the national level were analyzed.Results:  Overall H. pylori resistance rate was 77.9% to metronidazole, 44.7% to clarithromycin and 32.8% to amoxycillin. Multiple resistance was seen in 112/259 isolates (43.2%) and these were two/three and four drug resistance pattern to metronidazole, clarithromycin, amoxycillin observed (13.2, 32 and 2.56%, respectively). Metronidazole resistance was high in Lucknow, Chennai and Hyderabad (68, 88.2 and 100%, respectively) and moderate in Delhi (37.5%) and Chandigarh (38.2%). Ciprofloxacin and tetracycline resistance was the least, ranging from 1.0 to 4%.Conclusion:  In the Indian population, the prevalence of resistance of H. pylori is very high to metronidazole, moderate to clarithromycin and amoxycillin and low to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. The rate of resistance was higher in southern India than in northern India. The E‐test emerges as a reliable quantitative antibiotic susceptibility test. A change in antibiotic policy to provide scope for rotation of antibiotics in the treatment of H. pylori in India is a public health emergency.
Microstructures and adiabatic shear bands formed by ballistic impact in steels and tungsten alloy
Authors: DUAN Z. Q. , LI S. X. , HUANG D. W. 
Published: November 2003

ABSTRACTProjectiles of sintered tungsten alloy were fired directly at two kinds of steel target plates. The microstructures near the perforation of a medium, 0.45% carbon steel target plate can be identified along the radial direction as: melted and rapidly solidified layer, recrystallized fine‐grained layer, deformed fine‐grained layer, deformed layer and normal matrix. The adiabatic shear bands cannot be found in this intermediate strength steel. The microstructures along the radial direction of perforation of 30CrMnMo steel target plate are different from that of the medium carbon steel. There was a melted and rapidly solidified layer on the surface of the perforation, underneath there was a diffusing layer, and then fine‐grained layer appeared as streamlines. Several kinds of adiabatic shear bands were found in this higher strength steel; they had different directions and widths, which were relative to the shock waves, as well as the complex deformation process of penetration. The deformation of the projectiles was rather different when they impacted on target plates of medium carbon steel and 30CrMnMo steel. The projectile that impacted on the medium carbon steel target plate was tamped and its energy dissipated slowly, while that which impacted on the 30CrMnMo steel target plate was sheared and the energy dissipated quickly.
An effective method of stress intensity factor calculation for cracks emanating from a triangular or square hole under biaxial loads
Authors: YAN X. 
Published: November 2003

ABSTRACTThis paper is concerned with stress intensity factors for cracks emanating from a triangular or square hole under biaxial loads by means of a new boundary element method. The boundary element method consists of the constant displacement discontinuity element presented by Crouch and Starfied and the crack‐tip displacement discontinuity elements proposed by the author. In the boundary element implementation, the left or the right crack‐tip displacement discontinuity element is placed locally at the corresponding left or right crack tip on top of the constant displacement discontinuity elements that cover the entire crack surface and the other boundaries. The method is called a Hybrid Displacement Discontinuity Method (HDDM). Numerical examples are included to show that the method is very efficient and accurate for calculating stress intensity factors for plane elastic crack problems. In addition, the present numerical results can reveal the effect of the biaxial loads on stress intensity factors.
Women be Healthy: Evaluation of a Women's Health Curriculum for Women with Intellectual Disabilities
Authors: Lunsky Yona , Straiko Amy , Armstrong Sharon 
Published: November 2003

AbstractBackground  Insufficient attention has been paid towards treating the unique health needs of women with intellectual disabilities. This paper describes an 8‐week curriculum, ‘Women Be Healthy’, developed for women with intellectual disabilities to help them become more equal partners in their health care. The curriculum includes psycho‐education, coping skills training, exposure to the medical setting and assertiveness training.Materials and methods  Twenty‐two women completed assessments of health knowledge, health behaviour beliefs and coping strategies, prior to and following participation in the 8‐week curriculum, which took place in a group setting at a clinic for people with intellectual disabilities.Results  Women showed significant improvements in health knowledge, health behaviour beliefs and coping strategies following intervention, and maintained some of these treatment gains (health knowledge and health behaviour beliefs) at a 10‐week follow‐up.Conclusions  ‘Women Be Healthy’ is an example of a group‐based intervention that helps women with intellectual disabilities become more knowledgeable and perhaps more comfortable with health‐care procedures.
Expression of Pax258 in the gastropod statocyst: insights into the antiquity of metazoan geosensory organs
Authors: O'brien Elizabeth K. , Degnan Bernard M. 
Published: November 2003

SummaryMost animals have sensory systems that allow them to balance and orient relative to the pull of gravity. Structures responsible for these functions range from very simple statocysts found in many aquatic invertebrates to the complex inner ear of mammals. Previous studies suggest that the specialized mechanosensory structures responsible for balance in vertebrates and insects may be homologous based on the requirement and expression of group II Pax genes (i.e., Pax‐2/5/8 genes). Here we report the expression of a Pax‐258 gene in the statocysts and other chemosensory and mechanosensory cells during the development of the gastropod mollusk Haliotis asinina, a member of the Lophotrochozoa. Based on the phylogenetic distribution of geo‐sensory systems and the consistent expression of Pax‐258 in the cells that form these systems, we propose that Pax‐258, along with POU‐III and ‐IV genes, has an ancient and conserved role in the formation of structures responsible for balance and geotaxis in eumetazoans.
Diagnosis‐Related Group–Adjusted Hospital Costs Are Higher in Older Medical Patients with Lower Functional Status
Authors: Chuang Kenneth H. , Covinsky Kenneth E. , Sands Laura P. , Fortinsky Richard H. , Palmer Robert M. , Landefeld C. Seth 
Published: November 2003

Objectives: To determine whether hospital costs are higher in patients with lower functional status at admission, defined as dependence in one or more activities of daily living (ADLs), after adjustment for Medicare Diagnosis‐Related Group (DRG) payments.Design: Prospective study.Setting: General medical service at a teaching hospital.Participants: One thousand six hundred twelve patients aged 70 and older.Measurements: The hospital cost of care for each patient was determined using a cost management information system, which allocates all hospital costs to individual patients.Results: Hospital costs were higher in patients dependent in ADLs on admission than in patients independent in ADLs on admission ($5,300 vs $4,060, P<.01). Mean hospital costs remained higher in ADL‐dependent patients than in ADL‐independent patients in an analysis that adjusted for DRG weight ($5,240 vs $4,140, P<.01), and in multivariate analyses adjusting for age, race, sex, Charlson comorbidity score, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation score, and admission from a nursing home as well as for DRG weight ($5,200 vs $4,220, P<.01). This difference represents a 23% (95% confidence interval=15–32%) higher cost to take care of older dependent patients.Conclusion: Hospital cost is higher in patients with worse ADL function, even after adjusting for DRG payments. If this finding is true in other hospitals, DRG‐based payments provide hospitals a financial incentive to avoid patients dependent in ADLs and disadvantage hospitals with more patients dependent in ADLs.
Age and Features of Movement Influence Motor Overflow
Authors: Bodwell Julie A. , Mahurin Roderick K. , Waddle Sally , Price Robert , Cramer Steven C. 
Published: November 2003

Objectives: To measure the magnitude and prevalence of motor overflow to the arm at rest during attempted unilateral arm movements.Design: Cross‐sectional assessment.Setting: Motor physiology laboratory.Participants: Healthy young (n=20) and elderly (n=20) adult subjects.Measurements: Surface electromyography (EMG) was obtained from bilateral forearm muscles during performance of 12 different unilateral finger‐tapping tasks.Results: For all subjects, faster movement rate (F=2.56–3.30, P<.05), cognitive distraction (F=4.09, P<.05), and fatigue (F=15.15, P<.001) were each associated with a significant increase in the magnitude of EMG in the arm intended to be at rest. In elderly subjects, tapping at maximum rate and fatigue were each associated with a further increase in motor overflow across the midline. In addition, better left hand dexterity correlated with greater motor overflow to the right hand during rapid left hand tapping (r=0.63, P<.005). Prevalence of motor overflow was also higher in older subjects for some tasks, for example during 1 Hz tapping by the right index finger (motor overflow present in 45%, vs 15% young subjects, P<.05).Conclusion: Several behavioral variables increase motor overflow across the midline in young and elderly adults. Motor overflow was even greater in elderly subjects with the most demanding tasks and was greater in those with better motor status, suggesting that this form of motor system change is a compensatory event of normal aging rather than age‐related dysfunction. The results support the hypotheses that healthy aging is associated with an increase in the degree to which brain function is bilaterally organized.
Alternative Therapy Use by Elderly African Americans Attending a Community Clinic
Authors: Sternberg Shelley A. , Chandran Anjana , Sikka Monica 
Published: November 2003

Objectives: To describe the use of orally ingested alternative therapies (OAT) by a community‐dwelling, primarily African‐American sample of elders.Design: Face‐to‐face survey.Setting: University‐affiliated geriatric medicine primary care clinic.Participants: One hundred two elderly OAT users and 100 nonusers who had an appointment between June and August 2000.Measurements: Demographic characteristics, OAT products used, reasons for use, and influencing factors leading to use.Results: Two hundred ninety‐two subjects were screened: 102 (35%) OAT users, 100 (34%) nonusers, and 90 (31%) who refused to participate. The OAT users were 78% female and 67% African American, with a mean age±standard deviation of 79.7±6.2. They were a frail group, with an average of 5.2±2.3 medical conditions, 4.5±2.3 medications, and 52% with at least one impairment in activities of daily living. Nonusers had more documented medical conditions and medications and a lower median household income. The most popular OAT products were multivitamins (65%), vitamin E (42%), and calcium (31%). Ninety‐seven percent of users reported concurrent OAT and prescription medication use. The patients took OATs to supplement their diet (23%) and stay well (15%), as well as for various medical conditions. Influencing factors for OAT use were media advertisements (37%), physicians' advice (36%), and immediate family members (19%). Sixty percent of elders discussed their OAT use with their physiciansConclusion: Community‐dwelling, primarily African‐American, elders are using OATs despite physical frailty and limited financial resources. OAT users are healthier and wealthier than nonusers. More subjects used concurrent OAT and prescription medications and discussed their use with their physicians than would be expected from the literature. A large national survey of OAT use by minority elders could explore these findings.
The Politics of Aging: Globalization and the Restructuring of Youth and Childhood
Authors: Ruddick Sue 
Published: November 2003

This paper explores the ways that constitutive elements of globalization—including a celebration of risk, reduction in state funding for social reproduction in developed nations and pressures to modernize in underdeveloped ones—are being “smuggled in” in the guise of new discourses around youth and childhood. Far from being a byproduct of capitalism in its various phases, youth and childhood can be located at its literal and figurative core.In a crude characterization of the global map as it has emerged in over the past twenty years, one would find a world drawn roughly into three parts—and in each of these parts, youth and childhood is being restructured in a distinct way. These divisions look suspiciously like the earlier global models of developed, developing and underdeveloped nations, but the nature of the exclusions that sustain them spell particularly bad news for the world's young people. Modern ideals of youth and childhood that became hegemonic in the West over the past century are being exported to non‐Western contexts in which resources to adequately reproduce these forms are sadly lacking. At the same time, in Western settings over the past two decades, such resources have been eroded for children and young people, and celebrated aspects of “youthfulness” have been displaced to adults to justify lifelong learning and the increasing assumption of risk by older workers.The paper urges a move away from the study of behaviors of “children and adults” as static categories and towards an exploration of shifting norms and forms of “childhood and aging” as dynamic processes that both help to constitute and are constituted by a new political economy.
Mortality and cancer morbidity in a cohort of Canadian petroleum workers
Authors: Lewis R J , Schnatter A R , Drummond I , Murray N , Thompson F S , Katz A M , Jorgensen G , Nicolich M J , Dahlman D , Thériault G 
Published: November 2003

Aims:To assess mortality and cancer morbidity in Canadian petroleum workers and explore exposure-response relations for specific petroleum agents.Methods:A total of 25 292 employees hired between 1964 and 1994 were linked to the Canadian tumour registry and national mortality database. Exposure-response trends were assessed for hydrocarbon solvents/fuels, hydrocarbon lubricants, petroleum coke/spent catalyst, and hydrogen sulphide (H2S).Results:External comparison analyses (mortality and incidence) showed deficits for all causes and all malignant neoplasms combined and were consistent with expectation for most malignant and non-malignant sites analysed. Gall bladder cancer mortality was increased among males based on four deaths, but cases had no common job assignments and the increase was focused in workers employed <10 years. Mesothelioma incidence was increased. Most exposure-specific analyses were compromised by small numbers. Statistically significant increases were observed for H2S exposure and a subgroup of accidental deaths as well as for petroleum coke/spent catalyst exposure and lung cancer. While both findings have a degree of biologic plausibility, the H2S association, which exhibited a clearer exposure-response pattern, could be subject to unmeasured confounders. Additionally, interpretation was complicated by the high correlation between hydrocarbon and H2S exposures. With regard to lung cancer, the analysis could not adequately control for smoking, was based on small numbers, and exhibited a tenuous exposure-response pattern.Conclusion:The findings for mesothelioma suggest the need for continued attention to asbestos in the petroleum industry. The relation between accidental deaths and H2S exposure deserves closer scrutiny in similarly exposed populations. Further analyses of lung cancer are underway and will be reported separately.
From insecure to secure employment: changes in work, health, health related behaviours, and sickness absence
Authors: Virtanen M , Kivimäki M , Elovainio M , Vahtera J , Ferrie J E 
Published: November 2003

Aims:To determine whether change in employment status (from fixed term to permanent employment) is followed by changes in work, health, health related behaviours, and sickness absence.Methods:Prospective cohort study with four year follow up. Data from 4851 (710 male, 4141 female) hospital employees having a fixed term or permanent job contract on entry to the study were collected at baseline and follow up.Results:At baseline, compared to permanent employees, fixed term employees reported lower levels of workload, job security, and job satisfaction. They also reported greater work ability. All fixed term employees had a lower rate of medically certified sickness absence at baseline. Baseline rate ratios for those who remained fixed term were 0.64 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.75), and were 0.50 (95% CI 0.34 to 0.75) for those who later became permanent. Continuous fixed term employment was not associated with changes in the outcome measures. Change from fixed term to permanent employment was followed by an increase in job security, enduring job satisfaction, and increased medically certified sickness absence (compared to permanent workers rate ratio 0.96 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.16)). Other indicators of work, health, and health related behaviours remained unchanged.Conclusion:Receiving a permanent job contract after fixed term employment is associated with favourable changes in job security and job satisfaction. The corresponding increase in sickness absence might be due to a reduction in presenteeism and the wearing off of health related selection.
Increased occupational physical activity does not improve physical fitness: Table 1
Authors: Ruzic L , Heimer S , Misigoj-Durakovic M , Matkovic B R 
Published: November 2003

Aim:To determine the possible influence of high physical load in the workplace on the physical fitness of employees.Methods:The subjects (494 men) were tested by means of Baecke’s questionnaire for evaluation of the Work Index, measuring occupational physical load. The EUROFIT battery of tests was used for testing the functional and motor abilities of the subjects.Results:Subjects with a higher Work Index (n = 274) performed worse than the subjects with a lower Work Index (n = 220), indicating that high physical load in the workplace does not necessarily mean improvement in functional and motor abilities. The “heavy” workers were only found to have a stronger handgrip. This could be attributed to the fact that physical activity performed at the workplace did not have adequate intensity, volume, and duration to effect positive changes in other motor and functional capacities.
Protein Metabolism in Health and Diabetes
Authors: Liu Zhenqi , Barrett Eugene J. 
Published: November 2003

AbstractAs for carbohydrate and fat, insulin exerts a major role in regulating the metabolism of proteins and amino acids. This is manifestly apparent from the protein wasting that accompanies uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. However, extensive studies have demonstrated that protein homeostasis is maintained by complex interactions between hormones (including insulin, insulin‐like growth factor 1, growth hormone, glucocorticoids, and gonadal steroids) and amino acids (which themselves play a regulatory role). Our understanding of the regulation of protein metabolism has evolved considerably over the past 30–40 years, influenced considerably by evolving understanding of the regulation of gene expression, messenger RNA translation, and of the activity of lysosomal and proteasomal protein degradation pathways. With the use of tracer turnover techniques and tissue biopsy methods our understanding has progressed from experimental manipulations in isolated cells through to clinical investigations. Based upon this an emerging picture of the regulation of body protein metabolism and the impact of diabetes on protein metabolism is now apparent.
Monitoring Diabetes with Urine Tests
Authors: Shera A. Samad 
Published: November 2003

Abstract
One of the most indisputable symptoms of diabetes, the sweet flavor of urine, was identified in the seventeenth century, but it was not until some time later that the “honey sweetness” of diabetic urine was identified as sugar and finally as glucose. Glucose in urine has been used as a monitoring device in diabetes for a long time. It can be used to monitor glycemic control for those who have normal renal threshold and who cannot afford the cost of home blood glucose monitoring. Although urine tests are relatively easy to use, interpretation of results in patients with type 1 diabetes can be difficult and patients need to be taught that it provides only limited information. Self‐monitoring of glycosuria in patients with type 2 diabetes is more effective. Although urine tests do have limitations, they can be helpful by reducing the frequency of blood glucose tests required by the patient.