bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of ASA on platelet activation during apheresis and on in‐vitro properties of stored platelet concentrates
Authors: Zeiler Thomas , Gritzka Debora , Karger Ralf , Kretschmer Volker 
Published: August 2004

BACKGROUND:  Preventing the activation of PLTs may ameliorate (or mitigate) the PLT storage lesion (PSL), which encloses all structural and biochemical changes caused by collection, processing, and storage of PLT concentrates (PCs). Partial inhibition of PLT function due to ingestion of aspirin (ASA) by blood donors reduces the functional activity of the collected PLTs, however, by preventing premature PLT activation, it might reduce the PSL as well.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:  In a randomized crossover study, 10 healthy donors donated two single‐donor PCs (SDPCs) each, taking 500 mg ASA 12 hours before one of the aphereses (Group A) and taking no medication before the other donation (Group B). In‐vitro tests of PLT function were performed in donors before and after apheresis and in SDPCs during storage (Days 1, 3, and 5).RESULTS:  ASA ingestion resulted in a significant decrease of induced PLT aggregation in donors (p < 0.005) and SDPCs on Day 1 (p < 0.01). TRAP‐6–induced expression of p‐selectin (CD62p) was significantly reduced in Group A SDPCs only on Day 1 (p < 0.02). There were no significant differences of in‐vitro function (LDH, lactate, pH, morphology score, CD62p expression, fibrinogen binding) between Group A and B (SDPCs and donors). Apheresis did not result in a significant activation of PLTs in donors or SDPCs.CONCLUSIONS:  These limited data do not show a detectable beneficial effect of ASA ingestion on the PSL but do suggest that ASA ingestion before apheresis may not be detrimental to the clinical effectiveness of the stored product.
A retrospective analysis of the value of monocyte monolayer assay results for predicting the clinical significance of blood group alloantibodies
Authors: Arndt Patricia A. , Garratty George 
Published: August 2004

BACKGROUND:  Cellular assays (e.g., monocyte monolayer assays [MMAs]) have been used to predict the clinical significance of red blood cell (RBC) alloantibodies.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:  Twenty years of MMA data were retrospectively analyzed to 1) determine the optimal cut point (by correlating MMA results from 46 patients with RBC survival study results and/or laboratory and clinical signs of hemolytic transfusion reactions [HTRs] when incompatible blood was transfused), and 2) determine what percentage of 251 unusual alloantibodies (most to high‐incidence antigens) were predicted to be clinically significant.RESULTS:  Two MMA cut points (5% and 20%) were chosen using a receiver‐operating characteristics curve. No patients with MMA results less than or equal to 5 percent had clinical signs of a reaction; one‐third of patients with MMA results 5.1 to 20 percent versus two‐thirds with results greater than 20 percent had clinical signs of a HTR after transfusion of incompatible blood. Using 5‐percent or 20‐percent cut points, 173 (69%) or 97 (39%) of 251 unusual alloantibodies gave positive MMAs, respectively.CONCLUSION:  A negative MMA (≤5%) indicates that incompatible blood can be given without risk of an overt HTR but does not guarantee normal long‐term survival of those RBCs. Most unusual alloantibodies are predicted to cause shortened RBC survival, but transfusion of incompatible blood may not result in any clinical or laboratory signs of a HTR. We have used the MMA for approximately 20 years, instead of a 1‐hour chromium‐51 RBC survival, to aid in the decision to transfuse RBCs incompatible with antibodies to high‐incidence antigens.
Lack of correlation between HBsAg and HBV DNA levels in blood donors who test positive for HBsAg and anti‐HBc: implications for future HBV screening policy
Authors: Kuhns Mary C. , Kleinman Steven H. , McNamara Anne L. , Rawal Bhupat , Glynn Simone , Busch Michael P. 
Published: August 2004

BACKGROUND:  Studies showing a significant correlation between hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) levels have focused on the HBV seroconversion window period.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:  HBsAg levels relative to HBV DNA results in 200 HBsAg‐positive, anti‐hepatitis B core antigen (HBc)–reactive blood donations were analyzed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (detection limit 400 copies/mL), two research PCR assays with increasing sensitivities (65 copies/mL and 1.3 copies/mL, respectively), and a quantitative HBsAg assay; HBsAg and HBV DNA levels were correlated with HBV serologic profiles; and the potential for replacing HBsAg screening with nucleic acid testing (NAT) was analyzed.RESULTS:  Serologic profiles for over 90 percent of the donor samples were consistent with chronic HBV infection. Correlation between HBsAg and HBV DNA concentrations was weak (correlation coefficient = 0.33). Thirty‐six percent (72/200) of donor samples had DNA levels under 400 copies per mL. Retesting of the 72 samples by more sensitive PCR assays showed that 60 out of 200 (30%) were positive by PCR with sensitivity of 65 copies per mL, whereas 6 out of 200 (3%) required PCR sensitivity of 1.3 copies per mL for positivity. Three percent (6/200) were negative by all three NAT assays.CONCLUSIONS:  HBV DNA levels in HBsAg‐positive, anti‐HBc–reactive blood donations can be extremely low. About 6 percent of donations would be negative by current minipool HBV NAT methods. About 3 percent of donations would remain undetected by sensitive single‐donor NAT. These results indicate caution in any consideration of dropping HBsAg screening.
Maternal ABO‐mismatched blood for intrauterine transfusion of severe hemolytic disease of the newborn due to anti‐Rh17
Authors: Denomme G.A. , Ryan G. , Seaward P.G.R. , Kelly E.N. , Fernandes B.J. 
Published: August 2004

BACKGROUND: Clinically significant antibodies to high‐incident antigens present a challenge in hemolytic disease of the newborn. Antigen‐negative blood may be difficult to obtain for intrauterine transfusion (IUT). In these instances, maternal blood is de facto compatible regardless of an ABO mismatch.CASE REPORT: A group B/D‐‐ woman with a history of hemolytic disease of the newborn due to anti‐Rh17 (titer 256) presented to the obstetrical clinic at 12 weeks gestation for management of her third pregnancy. She consented to donate blood for possible IUT.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Washed maternal packed cells were suspended in saline to 75 percent Hct and irradiated before transfusion. The fetus was transfused via the intrahepatic vein.RESULTS: Ultrasound examination at 19 weeks indicated a hydropic fetus. The fetal blood group was O Rh+, direct antiglobulin test 4+, and hemoglobin 22 g per L. A total of 368 mL of maternal blood was transfused during seven procedures. Labor was induced at 38 weeks, and a 2560‐g male infant was delivered by Caesarian‐section due to fetal distress. The infant grouped as B Rh+, direct antiglobulin test negative. No group O red blood cells were detected. The hemoglobin level was 143 g per L rising to 209 g per L at discharge 3 days later. The indirect bilirubin was 55 µmol/L and remained stable during the hospital stay. Phototherapy was discontinued after 1 day, and the infant was discharged without an exchange or top‐up transfusion.CONCLUSIONS: Maternal ABO‐mismatched blood is an alternate source for IUT in instances when antigen‐compatible allogenic blood is unavailable.
A Systems Dilemma
Authors: HOFFMAN LYNN , LONG LORENCE , AUERSWALD EDGAR H. 
Published: August 2004

The current shift of interest, reflected in public policy, from the production of goods to the provision of services, has caused a major re‐examination of the nature of the services the individual can expect from his society. This re‐examination is producing a number of insights, some of them shocking. In particular, we are learning that many of the systems we have created to deliver services are, in the name of “progress” and “civilization,” contributing to the conditions of human distress they were designed to alleviate. Much has been written lately about how service systems of one kind or another subvert their announced goals—how a welfare system perpetuates poverty, or how the medical profession creates iatrogenic illness. There has not been very much written, however, about how several systems inadvertently combine in their day to day operations in such a way as to frustrate each others' activities, and how, in so doing, they destroy in varying degrees the lives of people, or render it difficult for them to improve their lives. We have all been much too tightly locked in our own niches by training, experience, and various types of private interest to see this kind of interlock. It comes into sharp perspective only when one studies the problems of a single person in terms of his total life space, his “ecology.” This paper represents an effort to describe one such situation in a family as viewed from a community health services program designed to approach human crises as ecological phenomena, and to explore and respond to them within this framework. We have found that the best way to organize our view of the environmental field people move in is according to the diverse systems which make it up, so we have labeled our theoretical base “ecological systems theory.” (1) What is of particular interest to the behavioral scientist in the situation described is that neither individual nor family diagnosis, nor the contributions of the larger systems (in this case a housing system and a system of medical care) will, if viewed separately, explain the state of the man in question. Only when the contributions of all of these systems are made clear, and their interrelationships explored, do the origins of the phenomena described begin to emerge.
Research on Family Interaction I: Static and Dynamic Models
Authors: TAYLOR WILLIAM R. 
Published: August 2004

A static and dynamic model of family structure are presented and illustrated in clinical application to a pilot study. The basic measure is a content‐free assessment of the sequence of states of interaction in family sessions. Using Markov process concepts, certain parallels between the behavioral variables (state transitions) and the more abstract clinical concepts of family structure can be identified. By subsuming the latter structural concepts under a framework of “balance theory” (Heider; Cartwright and Harary) considerable reduction in complexity is achieved without sacrificing clinical relevance.Still to be explored are the applications to the study of therapist‐family interaction and of treatment‐related changes in structural and behavioral measures.
A Four‐Day Diagnostic‐Therapeutic Home Visit in Turkey
Authors: GARDNER RICHARD A. 
Published: August 2004

The author has presented his experiences during a four‐day home visit in Istanbul, where he was invited for the purpose of making a diagnosis and recommendations for the care of a 20‐year‐old English‐speaking Turkish patient.His preparations are described, as are the details of his conduct of the evaluation. His findings and recommendations have been presented. Emphasis is placed throughout on the importance of the examiner acquainting himself in detail with his patient's cultural, social, and ethnic milieu. The way in which such information contributed to a clearer understanding of the patient's psychological difficulties is demonstrated. A Greek and a Turkish psychiatrists' comments on the article are published together with a final note by the author.
Paranoia or Persecution: The Case of Schreber
Authors: SCHATZMAN MORTON 
Published: August 2004

Many psychoanalysts base their understanding of paranoia upon Freud's analysis of Schreber. Freud thought Schreber became paranoid as a “defense” against homosexual love. Freud, and those who analyzed Schreber after him, neglected an important source of data — the writings of Schreber's father about child‐rearing. The father had been an eminent German pedagogue.I show some striking similarities between the father's methods of rearing children and some of the son's strange experiences for which he was considered paranoid.I infer from reading the father's writings that he persecuted Schreber. Schreber did not imagine he was persecuted; he was persecuted.I propose a transactional theory of paranoia to explain Schreber's experiences. I link his experiences with his father's behavior. I part company here with all previous analyses of Schreber's paranoia. If my theory also explains other cases of paranoia, its effects could, and should be widespread.
The Qualified Pronoun Count as a Measure of Change in Family Psychotherapy
Authors: WINER LILIAN R. 
Published: August 2004

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the original Multiple Family Psychotherapy group at Georgetown University, Department of Psychiatry. The author, a clinician, used the technique of content analysis of recorded interviews and developed a “change ratio” which is called the “qualified pronoun count.” Although “therapeutic improvement” is not the main goal of the treatment strategy under research here, ordinarily anyone that exhibits the kind of change in differentiation from “family ego mass” (1) reflected in this study, also experiences diminution or remission of symptoms.Preliminary findings indicate this new system of observing change is useful in determining variations in differentiation, and that these families did change.
Cytokine and chemokine response of bone cells after dentin challenge in vitro
Authors: Silva TA , Lara VS , Rosa AL , Cunha FQ 
Published: August 2004

Objective:  The aim of this study was to characterize the effects of dentin extracts on cytokine, chemokine and nitric oxide (NO) production by primary rat bone cells.Study design:  Osteoblastic bone marrow cultures were exposed to particulate (D‐part), non‐particulate (D‐n‐part) and demineralized dentin extracts and evaluated for proliferative activity, cell morphology, alkaline phosphatase activity and bone‐like nodule formation. Cytokine production was assessed by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and NO release by the Griess method.Results:  The dentin extracts did not affect osteoblast numbering. Conversely, they up regulated in a dose‐dependent manner the production by the osteoblasts of the pro‐inflammatory interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β), tumor necrosis factor‐α, IL‐6, cytokine‐induced neutrophil chemoattractant‐1, and of the anti‐inflammatory cytokine, IL‐10. The NO production was stimulated only by D‐n‐part.Conclusion:  These results demonstrate that dentin induces the production of inflammatory cytokines by osteoblasts and suggest that pro‐resorptive pathways might be stimulated when dentin molecules come into contact with bone cells during pathological processes associated with dentin and bone matrix dissolution.
The validation of self‐reported smoking status by analysing cotinine levels in stimulated and unstimulated saliva, serum and urine
Authors: Binnie V , McHugh S , Macpherson L , Borland B , Moir K , Malik K 
Published: August 2004

Objectives:  Cotinine, a nicotine metabolite, can be used to measure exposure to tobacco smoke. The aim of this study was to compare cotinine levels in different biological fluids collected from both smokers and non‐smokers and to relate the findings to self‐reported smoking status. Data were also collected concerning the acceptability of the differing methods of sample collection.Material and method:  Patients recruited to the study were asked to provide samples of urine, blood and saliva (both stimulated and unstimulated). Data collected from patients by questionnaire included information on smoking behaviour such as daily number of cigarettes and environmental exposure to smoke. After the sample collection, patients were asked to rate the acceptability of each sampling method. Samples were analysed using enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kits.Results:  In total, 80 patients participated, with 49 being smokers and 31 being non‐smokers. There was clear differentiation between smokers and non‐smokers (P < 0.001) for all the different samples in terms of cotinine. A significant relationship was seen between cotinine and daily number of cigarettes for both salivas and urine (all P < 0.001) but not for serum. Participants found serum and urine collection methodologies ‘very acceptable’ (67 and 66%, respectively) whereas 9% found collection of stimulated saliva ‘not at all acceptable’.Conclusion:  Cotinine, whatever the collection method and analysed by EIA kits, shows good differentiation between smokers and non‐smokers. Salivary samples have the advantage of being non‐invasive, although collection methodology is important, as cotinine levels may vary.
Alterations in enzyme histochemical characteristics of the masseter muscle caused by long‐term soft diet in growing rabbits
Authors: Kitagawa Y , Mitera K , Ogasawara T , Nojyo Y , Miyauchi K , Sano K 
Published: August 2004

Objective:  Recently young people have an increasing tendency to intake an easily chewable diet and spend less time on mastication. The aim of the present study was to investigate the histochemical effects of long‐term soft diet on the masseter muscle in growing rabbits.Materials and methods:  Twelve young male Japanese white rabbits were divided into two groups (n = 6 each) at weaning (1 month after birth) and fed a solid diet (control group) or a powder diet (soft‐diet group). The duration of the experimental period was 6 months. Masseter fibers from the superficial and the deep portions were histochemically defined as type 1, 2A, 2B, or 2C fibers.Results:  As compared with that of the control, the deep masseter of the soft‐diet group showed a significantly lower ratio of type 1 fiber cross‐sectional area to total area (6.3 and 10.1% for the soft‐diet and control group, respectively), significantly more type 2A fibers (74.0%vs 50.3%) and significantly fewer type 2B fibers (4.3%vs 12.5%). However, fiber size did not differ between the two groups. NADH‐tetrazolium‐reductase (NADH‐TR) of the masseter was less reactive in the soft‐diet group, reflecting a lower oxidative capacity.Conclusions:  These findings indicate that the alteration of the functional activities contributed to selective disuse influences on the type 1 and type 2B fibers, and a resultant increase in type 2A fibers. This study suggests that long‐term alteration of jaw function induced by a soft diet can lead to adaptations of the masseter muscle.
Intracellular localization of Porphyromonas gingivalis thiol proteinase in periodontal tissues of chronic periodontitis patients
Authors: Rautemaa R , Järvensivu A , Kari K , Wahlgren J , DeCarlo A , Richardson M , Sorsa T 
Published: August 2004

Objectives:  Porphyromonas gingivalis is a significant periodontal pathogen that has been shown in vitro to be able to invade gingival epithelial cells and grow intracellularly. The aim of the present study was to detect P. gingivalis in gingival tissues from chronic periodontitis (CP) patients.Materials and methods:  Monoclonal antibodies specific to a cell membrane‐bound thiol proteinase of P. gingivalis were used to detect the microbe in gingival tissues of CP patients (n = 13) by immunohistochemistry. The presence of P. gingivalis was also analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Results:  Immunohistochemical analysis of the periodontal tissues revealed positive staining for P. gingivalis thiol proteinase in 11 of the 13 patients. Positive staining was mainly located intracellularly in the perinuclear region of the cytoplasm in the periodontal epithelial cells and it could be detected throughout the whole depth of both pocket and oral epithelium. The sensitivity of immunohistochemistry was found to be comparable with that of PCR.Conclusions:  Our results provide in vivo evidence of the ability of P. gingivalis to enter human gingival epithelial cells. Intracellular localization of P. gingivalis contributes to its evasion of the host immune surveillance and eventually increases its resistance to conventional treatments of periodontal diseases.
Lack of evidence of hepatic disease in patients with oral lichen planus in Serbia
Authors: Bokor‐Bratic M 
Published: August 2004

Objective:  The reported frequency of chronic liver disease, and particularly, Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) shows geographical variation. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of chronic hepatic disease, Hepatitis B virus and HCV infection in patients with OLP and control subjects resident in Serbia.Patients and Methods:  In this prospective study 48 patients with OLP (33 women and 15 men, with a mean age of 49.7 years) and 60 control subjects (38 women and 22 men, with a mean age of 46.7 years) were examined for the presence of serological evidence of chronic hepatic disease, Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti‐HCV seropositivity.Results:  All patients with OLP had normal liver function. HBsAg was not found in any of the patients with OLP or control group. None of the patients with OLP or control subjects were HCV seropositive.Conclusion:  Patients with OLP resident in Serbia do not have evidence of chronic liver disease or infection with HBV or HCV. The exact aetiological role between hepatic disease and OLP remains unclear.
Know Your Students
Authors: Knight Randy 
Published: August 2004

Welcome to your new role as physics teacher. I hope you will find the suggestions in this column useful as you try to put into practice all the strategies you have learned about teaching. Experienced teachers provide a wealth of ideas to help you develop skills to help your students learn physics. We all want to see you succeed not only at developing your skills as a teacher but also at building a love for the profession that will keep you with us for years to come.
The following suggestions come from Randy Knight, a professor of physics at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. He is the author of Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching and the new textbook Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach, both published by Addison-Wesley.