bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Living on the edge – plants and global change in continental and maritime Antarctica
Authors: Robinson Sharon A. , Wasley Jane , Tobin Alyson K. 
Published: December 2004

AbstractAntarctic terrestrial ecosystems experience some of the most extreme growth conditions on Earth and are characterized by extreme aridity and subzero temperatures. Antarctic vegetation is therefore at the physiological limits of survival and, as a consequence, even slight changes to growth conditions are likely to have a large impact, rendering Antarctic terrestrial communities sensitive to climate change.Climate change is predicted to affect the high‐latitude regions first and most severely. In recent decades, the Antarctic has undergone significant environmental change, including the largest increases in ultraviolet‐B (UV‐B; 290–320 nm) radiation levels in the world and, in the maritime region at least, significant temperature increases. This review describes the current evidence for environmental change in Antarctica, and the impacts of this change on the terrestrial vegetation. This is largely restricted to cryptogams, such as bryophytes, lichens and algae; only two vascular plant species occur in the Antarctic, both restricted to the maritime region. We review the range of ecological and physiological consequences of increasing UV‐B radiation levels, and of changes in temperature, water relations and nutrient availability. It is clear that climate change is already affecting the Antarctic terrestrial vegetation, and significant impacts are likely to continue in the future. We conclude that, in order to gain a better understanding of the complex dynamics of this important system, there is a need for more manipulative, long‐term field experiments designed to address the impacts of changes in multiple abiotic factors on the Antarctic flora.
Acquired haemophilia: experience of two Italian centres with 17 new cases
Authors: Di Bona E. , Schiavoni M. , Castaman G. , Ciavarella N. , Rodeghiero F. 
Published: December 2004

Summary. Acquired haemophilia is a rare but often catastrophic haemorrhagic disorder associated with a high mortality rate. No single therapeutic approach has been consistently successful and clinical experience remains mainly anecdotal. This report describes 17 new cases diagnosed at two Italian haemophilia centres between 1979 and 1995.There was no difference in sex distribution. Mean age at diagnosis was 50 years. Fifty‐nine per cent of cases had associated disorders and 29% developed an inhibitor post‐partum. Eleven (64%) patients required substitutive therapy. Desmopressin was successfully used in five cases for minor bleeding. Immunosuppressive drugs (steroid, cyclophosphamide or experimental therapy) were used in 14 (82%) cases. Eight of 15 (52%) evaluable cases achieved complete remission (four post‐partum). Fatal haemorrhage occurred in 2/15 (13%) of patients within 2 days from diagnosis.Acquired haemophilia is a severe coagulopathy. Prompt diagnosis with characterization and intensive treatment is usually required. However, particular subsets of patients such as those with inhibitor occurring post‐partum or with low inhibitor titre at diagnosis usually show a more favourable clinical outcome.
Medical, reproductive and psychosocial experiences of women diagnosed with von Willebrand's disease receiving care in haemophilia treatment centres: a case–control study
Authors: Kirtava A. , Drews C. , Lally C. , Dilley A. , Evatt B. 
Published: December 2004

Summary.Objective: To assess the medical, gynaecological and reproductive experiences of women with von Willebrand's disease (VWD) and to evaluate the impact of VWD on mental health and life activities.Methods:A total of 102 women with VWD who were registered in haemophilia treatment Centres (HTCs) in the United States and 88 controls were interviewed regarding medical, gynaecological and reproductive history, life activities and symptoms of depression. Symptoms of depression were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D).Results:Excessive bleeding symptoms were reported in 74% of VWD cases compared with 6% of controls. Women with VWD had a higher prevalence of menorrhagia, excessive postpartum bleeding, other gynaecological conditions, arthritis and migraine headaches than did controls. More VWD cases than controls reported that menstruation had a negative impact on overall life activities. No difference in the prevalence of depression was found between cases and controls.Discussion:Women with VWD experience menorrhagia and other gynaecological conditions at a higher frequency than women without bleeding disorders. Menstruation in women with VWD has a negative impact on life activities. The prevalence of depression was not elevated in this group of women whose VWD is being managed in an HTC.
Development and evaluation of a breast cancer prevention decision aid for higher‐risk women
Authors: Stacey Dawn , O'Connor Annette M. , DeGrasse Cathy , Verma Shailendra 
Published: December 2004

AbstractObjective  To develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a breast cancer prevention decision aid for women aged 50 and older at higher risk of breast cancer.Design  Pre‐test–post‐test study using decision aid alone and in combination with counselling.Setting  Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Clinic.Participants  Twenty‐seven women aged 50–69 with 1.66% or higher 5‐year risk of breast cancer.Intervention  Self‐administered breast cancer prevention decision aid.Main outcome measures  Acceptability; decisional conflict; knowledge; realistic expectations; choice predisposition; intention to improve life‐style practices; psychological distress; and satisfaction with preparation for consultation.Results  The decision aid alone, or in combination with counselling, decreased some dimensions of decisional conflict, increased knowledge (P < 0.01), and created more realistic expectations (P < 0.01). The aid in combination with counselling, significantly reduced decisional conflict (P < 0.01) and psychological distress (P < 0.02), helped the uncertain become certain (P < 0.02), and increased intentions to adopt healthier life‐style practices (P < 0.03). Women rated the aid as acceptable, and both women and practitioners were satisfied with the effect it had on the counselling session.Conclusion  The decision aid shows promise as a useful decision support tool. Further research should compare the effect of the decision aid in combination with counselling to counselling alone.
Overcoming the challenges to consumer involvement in cancer research
Authors: Stevens Tony , Wilde David , Hunt John , Ahmedzai Sam H 
Published: December 2004

AbstractIntroduction  Within the last decade, there have been many government initiatives to promote consumer involvement in research, especially in cancer. At the same time, the number and influence of consumer groups themselves have expanded. However, the organizational infrastructure necessary to facilitate consumer involvement has not been developed. Consequently, consumer involvement has tended to remain essentially localized and project driven, with no strategic or regional lead.Opportunities for involvement and identification of consumers  The opportunities for consumers to influence the research process at each stage of the research process are identified. The different types of consumer involvement are also examined. Novel ways of identifying and recruiting consumers that have been adopted by one cancer network are discussed.The strategies used in one cancer network  An organizational model designed by one cancer network for involving consumers in research is illustrated. Three innovations are examined in detail. First, how three open consumer conferences have increased awareness of research among service users. Second, the recruitment of consumers to sit on project steering groups and a committee that provides a strategic overview of current research. Third, the establishment of a Consumer Panel for Research where reimbursed, trained consumers are able to provide a considered consumer perspective in a range of settings.Conclusions  Cancer networks need to take the lead in the development of an organizational infrastructure to facilitate consumer involvement. The model developed in Sheffield could be generalizable to other diseases and other health‐care settings.
When fish shoals meet: outcomes for evolution and fisheries
Authors: Croft Darren P , Krause Jens , Couzin Iain D , Pitcher Tony J 
Published: December 2004

AbstractThe mechanisms underlying the social structure of free‐ranging fish shoals have received little attention in comparison to functional studies on shoaling. Recently, however, a number of investigations, both in the marine and in the freshwater environment, have begun to address the underlying mechanisms by concentrating on interactions between free‐ranging shoals. The rates of shoal encounters can influence the opportunities for individual assortment by phenotype and selection of shoal size; act as a constraint on the observed patterns of shoal structure by restricting individual choice behaviour and were found to be high in several small freshwater species (where intershoal distances were small), but lower in marine species where shoals were more dispersed. The duration of encounters may play a role in that it affects both the time available for assessment (of the encountered shoal) as well as that for exchange of individuals. Scarce published information on the outcome of shoal encounters suggests that the outcome of shoal encounters is influenced by shoal composition but not by shoal size. Individual behaviour may have evolved to maintain shoal size when shoals encounter, but when fish populations are depleted by fishing, this trait can exacerbate range and stock collapse. Furthermore, an understanding of the dynamics of shoal encounters has important consequences for the evolution of reciprocal altruism and the transmission of information through social learning within populations. Finally, information on encounter rates between shoals and the number of individuals that are exchanged on such occasions could be important for making predictions about the spread of disease through fish populations.
Learning about danger: chemical alarm cues and local risk assessment in prey fishes
Authors: Brown Grant E 
Published: December 2004

AbstractAn individual's behaviour patterns can be conceptualized as a series of threat‐sensitive trade‐offs between ambient predation pressure and a suite of fitness‐related activities, such as resource defence, foraging and mating. Individuals that can reliably assess local predation risk could increase their fitness potential by exhibiting predator avoidance behaviours only at appropriate times. However, such learned risk assessment requires reliable information regarding current predation risks.A diverse range of prey fishes are known to possess chemical alarm cues, which when detected by conspecifics and some heterospecifics, elicit a variety of overt and covert responses. These chemical cues, either alone or as a part of a predator's dietary odour, provide reliable information regarding local predation risk. In this review, I describe recent works examining the role of chemosensory information in: (i) acquired predator recognition, (ii) predator inspection behaviour and (iii) the use of conspecific and heterospecific cues as social information sources.
Medical history for tomorrow—preserving the record of today
Authors: Pearson David 
Published: December 2004

AbstractThis paper addresses the need to recognize the importance, and the challenges, of preserving the hugely expanding record of medicine today for historians of the future. We are faced not only with an increase in traditional publishing formats, but also with the rapid growth in electronic communications. Two celebrated medical cases, one from the late seventeenth century and one from the late twentieth, are used to illustrate the differences and the difficulties. The need for active and effective professional collaboration is stressed; libraries should work together to address these issues.
Using SERVQUAL in health libraries across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall
Authors: Martin Susan 
Published: December 2004

AbstractThis study provides the results of a survey conducted in the autumn of 2001 by ten NHS library services across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The aim of the project was to measure the service quality of each individual library and to provide an overall picture of the quality of library services within the south‐west peninsula. The survey was based on SERVQUAL, a diagnostic tool developed in the 1980s, which measures service quality in terms of customer expectations and perceptions of service. The survey results have provided the librarians with a wealth of information about service quality. The service as a whole is perceived to be not only meeting but also exceeding expectations in terms of reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance. For the first time, the ten health library services can measure their own service quality as well as benchmark themselves against others.
‘Rescue’ Therapy with Rifabutin after Multiple Helicobacter pylori Treatment Failures
Authors: Gisbert Javier P. , Calvet Xavier , Bujanda Luis , Marcos Santiago , Gisbert José Luis , Pajares José María 
Published: December 2004

abstractAim. Eradication therapy with proton pump inhibitor, clarithromycin and amoxicillin is extensively used, although it fails in a considerable number of cases. A ‘rescue’ therapy with a quadruple combination of omeprazole, bismuth, tetracycline and metronidazole (or ranitidine bismuth citrate with these same antibiotics) has been recommended, but it still fails in approximately 20% of cases. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a rifabutin‐based regimen in patients with two consecutive H. pylori eradication failures.Patients and Methods. Design: Prospective multicenter study. Patients: Consecutive patients in whom a first eradication trial with omeprazole, clarithromycin and amoxicillin and a second trial with omeprazole, bismuth, tetracycline and metronidazole (three patients) or ranitidine bismuth citrate with these same antibiotics (11 patients) had failed were included. Intervention: A third eradication regimen with rifabutin (150 mg bid), amoxicillin (1 g bid) and omeprazole (20 mg bid) was prescribed for 14 days. All drugs were administered together after breakfast and dinner. Compliance with therapy was determined from the interrogatory and the recovery of empty envelopes of medications. Outcome: H. pylori eradication was defined as a negative 13C‐urea breath test 8 weeks after completing therapy.Results. Fourteen patients have been included. Mean age ± SD was 42 ± 11 years, 41% males, peptic ulcer (57%), functional dyspepsia (43%). All patients took all the medications and completed the study protocol. Per‐protocol and intention‐to‐treat eradication was achieved in 11/14 patients (79%; 95% confidence interval = 49–95%). Adverse effects were reported in five patients (36%), and included: abdominal pain (three patients), nausea and vomiting (one patient), and oral candidiasis (one patient); no patient abandoned the treatment due to adverse effects.Conclusion. Rifabutin‐based rescue therapy constitutes an encouraging strategy after multiple previous eradication failures with key antibiotics such as amoxicillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole and tetracycline.
Interleukin‐6 Genetic Polymorphisms are not Related to Helicobacter pylori‐Associated Gastroduodenal Diseases
Authors: Hwang Il‐Ran , Hsu Ping‐I. , Peterson Leif E. , Gutierrez Oscar , Kim Jong G. , Graham David Y. , Yamaoka Yoshio 
Published: December 2004

abstractBackground. Polymorphisms in the promoter region of the proinflammatory cytokine, interleukin (IL)‐6 have been related to several chronic inflammatory diseases. Inter‐individual variation in the severity of gastric inflammation may be important in determining the clinical outcome of an Helicobacter pylori infection and relate to polymorphisms in this region.Materials and Methods. We studied H. pylori‐infected patients with duodenal ulcer or gastric cancer. In addition six gastric cancer cell lines, AGS, SNU‐668, MKN‐1, MKN‐7, MKN28 and KATOIII, were cocultured with both cag pathogenicity island‐positive and ‐negative H. pylori. Single nucleotide polymorphisms at positions −174, −572, and −597 in the IL‐6 promoter region were identified by PCR‐RFLP. The IL‐6 production from the cancer cells was determined by ELISA.Results. Sixty patients with gastric cancer and 60 with duodenal ulcer were studied. The alleles at positions −174 and −597 were closely linked (−174G/−597G or −174C/−597A) regardless of the ethnic group or disease presentation. There was no difference in the allele frequency at any of the sites among patient groups. H. pylori‐induced IL‐6 production from the gastric cancer cell lines was also independent of the IL‐6 polymorphisms or the presence of the cag pathogenicity island.Conclusions. The genetic polymorphisms in IL‐6 can be attributable to ethnicity and appear to be independent of the clinical outcome of an H. pylori infection.
Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of Headache in a Rural Community in Oman
Authors: Deleu Dirk , Khan Mushtaq A. , Al Shehab Tariq A. H. 
Published: December 2004

Objectives.—To perform a prospective epidemiological study of headache in a rural community in Oman, assessing prevalence, symptom profile, and health care utilization pattern.Methods.—Using a door‐to‐door survey prevalence estimates were based on a detailed structured headache assessment questionnaire performed in 1158 subjects. Migraine and tension‐type headache were diagnosed according to the International Headache Society criteria.Results.—The crude lifetime and last‐year prevalence of headache were 83.6% and 78.8%, respectively, with a female preponderance. The last‐year prevalence of migraine and tension headache was 10.1% and 11.2%, respectively. There was no significant gender difference in migraine prevalence (4.5% in male and 5.6% in female), but tension‐type headache was 2.6 times more common in females (3.1% in male and 8.1% in female). Last‐year prevalence of frequent headaches was 5.4%. Forty eight percent of respondents sought medical assistance for their headaches and 79% were using medication, 40% of them used self‐medication.Conclusions.—This prospective study shows that headache is also highly prevalent in this community. Migraine and tension‐type headache have the same prevalence, but the sex distribution for migraine is different from that observed in the Western world. Tension‐type headache prevalence was substantially lower than that observed in other parts of the world. Frequent headaches were as common as in other population‐based studies worldwide. Analgesic use/overuse probably also coexisted with headache, because self‐medication was quite common.
Costs and Outcomes of Early Versus Delayed Migraine Treatment with Sumatriptan
Authors: Halpern Michael T. , Lipton Richard B. , Cady Roger K. , Kwong W. Jacqueline , Marlo Karen O. , Batenhorst Alice S. 
Published: December 2004

Objective.—To evaluate the impact on costs and outcomes of early migraine treatment with sumatriptan while pain is mild versus sumatriptan treatment of moderate to severe pain.Background.—Migraines result in substantial pain, impairment, and costs. Recent clinical studies have shown that early treatment with sumatriptan when migraine pain is mild is more effective than sumatriptan treatment when pain is moderate to severe.Design/Methods.—We developed a decision analytical model to assess the costs and outcomes per treated migraine attack, comparing early treatment while pain is mild versus delayed treatment when pain may become moderate/severe using 50 and 100 mg of sumatriptan. Parameters for the model were derived from published literature and analysis of migraine patient diary data. For each patient group the model determined the duration of mild and moderate/severe migraine pain, the proportion of patients pain free at 4 hours after initial therapy with no recurrence, medical care costs, and work loss costs (from migraine‐related absenteeism and decreased productivity) during a 24‐hour period. Total costs were calculated as the sum of medical care costs plus work loss costs.Results.—Early treatment with sumatriptan when migraine pain is mild resulted in substantially decreased total costs per treated attack as compared with treatment when pain is moderate/severe. Early treatment also resulted in decreased time with headache pain, an increased proportion of patients pain free at 4 hours without recurrence, and decreased physician and emergency department visits. Treatment with 100 mg sumatriptan resulted in better outcomes than did treatment with 50 mg sumatriptan, but outcomes with either dose for early treatment of mild pain were superior to those for either dose in delayed treatment when pain may be moderate/severe.Conclusions.—Model‐based results indicate that on a treated attack basis, early treatment of migraine with sumatriptan while pain is mild leads to decreased costs and improved outcomes compared to delayed sumatriptan treatment.
Prevalence and incidence of cluster headache in the Republic of San Marino.
Authors: Tonon C , Guttmann S , Volpini M , Naccarato S , Cortelli P , D'Alessandro R 
Published: December 2004

Neurology. 2002 May 14;58(9):1407‐1409Based on a preceding survey performed in 1985, the authors estimated the prevalence and incidence of cluster headache (CH) in the Republic of San Marino (26 628 inhabitants at 31 December 1999). All cases were diagnosed by direct interview according to International Headache Society criteria. The prevalence rate was 56/100 000 (95% CI 31.3 to 92.4), and the incidence rate was 2.5/100 000/year (95% CI 1.14 to 4.75). Most cases showed rare clusters. This is the first prospective study on the incidence of CH.Comment: There continues to be debate on the prevalence of cluster in the general population. Since San Marino is small, the entire cluster population, with a smaller denominator for the general population, could be estimated, making this a very important study. SJT