bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Identification of individuals susceptible to high-altitude pulmonary oedema at low altitude
Authors: Dehnert C. , Grünig E. , Mereles D. , von Lennep N. , Bärtsch P. 
Published: February 2005

Individuals susceptible to high-altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE) are characterised by an abnormal increase of pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) in hypoxia and during normoxic exercise, reduced hypoxic ventilatory response, and smaller lung volume.In 37 mountaineers with well-documented altitude tolerance, it was investigated whether any combination of these noninvasive measurements, including exercise in hypoxia, could improve the identification of HAPE-susceptible subjects at low altitude.HAPE-susceptible subjects showed a significant higher increase of PASP during hypoxia at rest (48±10 mmHg) compared with controls (38±3 mmHg), as well as during normoxic exercise (57±14versus38±7 mmHg) and hypoxic exercise (69±13versus49±8 mmHg). PASP could not be assessed in three and eight subjects during normoxic or hypoxic exercise, respectively, due to insufficient Doppler profiles or systemic arterial hypertension. Sensitivity (77–94%) and specificity (76–93%) were not significantly different between the various testing conditions. Additional assessment of hypoxic ventilatory response and lung function parameters did not improve identification of HAPE-susceptible subjects in a multivariate analysis.Due to the greater number of missing values in pulmonary artery systolic pressure measurements during hypoxic exercise, it was concluded that pulmonary artery systolic pressure measurements at rest during hypoxia or exercise in normoxia are most feasible for the identification of high-altitude pulmonary oedema-susceptible subjects.
Matrix metalloproteinase-9 in bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after lung transplantation
Authors: Hübner R. H. , Meffert S. , Mundt U. , Böttcher H. , Freitag S. , El Mokhtari N. E. , Pufe T. , Hirt S. , Fölsch U. R. , Bewig B. 
Published: February 2005

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is a severe complication after lung transplantation (LTX).In a retrospective cohort study 12 stable healthy recipients (non-BOS) and eight patients with BOS were enrolled after LTX and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-9, TIMP-1 and cell characteristics in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples (n = 145) were analysed. BALs from patients with BOS were further divided according to whether they were obtained before (pre-BOS) or after manifestation of BOS (BOS group).The MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio was significantly increased in the BOS group compared with non-BOS or pre-BOS; furthermore, the ratio was negatively correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second. In zymography, the active form of MMP-9 was detected predominantly in the BOS group. In addition, zymography showed the banding pattern of neutrophil-derived MMP-9, indicating that polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) were the main source of MMP-9. According to that, MMP-9 was significantly correlated with the number of PMN. In immunocytochemistry, MMP-9 was also associated predominantly with PMN.This is the first study to evaluate the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases-1 over time during manifestation of a fibroproliferative lung disease in patients. It demonstrates development of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after lung transplantation is associated with an imbalance of matrix metalloproteinases-9/tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase-1 ratio.
Endobronchial and endoscopic ultrasound-guided real-time fine-needle aspiration for mediastinal staging
Authors: Rintoul R. C. , Skwarski K. M. , Murchison J. T. , Wallace W. A. , Walker W. S. , Penman I. D. 
Published: February 2005

Accurate staging of the mediastinum in lung cancer is essential for optimising treatment strategies. Conventional transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) is a blind procedure, reliant upon prior computed tomography (CT) or ultrasound imaging, but has low sensitivity. The current study reports the initial experience of using a prototype endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) probe that allows TBNA under real-time imaging.In 20 patients selected by CT scanning, a linear-array ultrasound bronchoscope was used to visualise paratracheal and hilar lymph nodes, and TBNA was performed under direct ultrasonic control. In seven cases, sequential endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) was used to assess postero-inferior mediastinal lymph nodes. All procedures were performed under conscious sedation.EBUS-TBNA was undertaken in 18 out of 20 cases and EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration in six out of seven cases. Cytology showed node (N)2/N3 disease in 11 out of 18 EBUS-TBNA cases and provided a primary diagnosis for eight patients. EBUS-TBNA cytology was negative in six cases, which was confirmed by mediastinoscopy or clinical follow-up in four. EUS provided additional information in all cases. There were no procedural complications. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for EBUS-TBNA were 85%, 100% and 89%, respectively.In conclusion, endobronchial ultrasound with real-time transbronchial needle aspiration offers improved sensitivity and accuracy for staging of the middle mediastinum, and, combined with endoscopic ultrasound, should allow investigation of the majority of the mediastinum.
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis
Authors: Annema J. T. , Veseliç M. , Rabe K. F. 
Published: February 2005

The objective of the current study was to assess the yield of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis in a large patient group.Bronchoscopy with transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) is nondiagnostic in 30% of patients with suspected sarcoidosis and has a risk of pneumothorax and haemoptysis. In order to obtain a diagnosis, mediastinoscopy is often performed as the next diagnostic procedure. EUS-FNA provides a nonsurgical alternative for the demonstration of noncaseating granulomas by aspirating mediastinal lymph nodes from the oesophagus.In total, 51 patients with suspected sarcoidosis stage ▒ and ▒▒ underwent EUS-FNA. Thirty-six patients (71%) previously underwent a nondiagnostic bronchoscopy. All patients were clinically followed (median 18 months) and surgical–pathological verification occurred in those patients with EUS aspirates that contained unrepresentative material.EUS-FNA demonstrated noncaseating granulomas without necrosis in 41 of 50 patients (82%) with the final diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Specific ultrasound features of clustered, well-demarcated iso-echoic lymph nodes were observed in 64% of patients with sarcoidosis. No complications occurred.Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration has a high yield in diagnosing sarcoidosis and qualifies as the next diagnostic step after a nondiagnostic bronchoscopy. The current authors expect that endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration will reduce the number of mediastinoscopies for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis dramatically.
The CFTR 3849+10kbC->T and 2789+5G->A alleles are associated with a mild CF phenotype
Authors: Duguépéroux I. , De Braekeleer M. 
Published: February 2005

Most cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane receptor mutations are rare. The French CF Registry offers an opportunity to study the genotype–phenotype relationship of these rare alleles.Since 1992, 39 CF patients carrying one copy of the 3849+10kbC->T mutation and 88 the 2789+5G->A allele have been seen at least once in a CF care centre. Among them, 16 carrying the 3849+10kbC->T/ΔF508 genotype and 34 with the 2789+5G->A/ΔF508 genotype were seen in 2000. Their age at diagnosis, sweat chloride concentration, anthropometric and lung function results, and clinical aspects were compared with those homozygous for the ΔF508 mutation matched for sex, age and CF care centre.Major differences, most of them statistically significant, in the age at diagnosis, prevalence of pancreatic insufficiency, and other clinical signs, anthropometric and lung function measures were observed between both compound heterozygote groups and their matched ΔF508/ΔF508 groups. The mean sweat chloride concentration was also lower (close to normal values) among 3849+10kbC->T/ΔF508 patients, but not among 2789+5G->A/ΔF508 patients.In conclusion, both mutations studied here are associated with a milder course of cystic fibrosis disease. The 3849+10kbC->T and 2789+5G->A alleles are splice site mutations, leading to abnormal mRNA; however, a small amount of normally spliced transcripts can also be detected. The presence of these small amounts of normal cystic fibrosis transmembrane receptor protein in these cystic fibrosis patients is likely to be responsible for the milder severity of disease and a better life expectancy.
Data monitoring in randomized controlled trials: surveys of recent practice and policies
Authors: Clemens Felicity , Elbourne Diana , Darbyshire Janet , Pocock Stuart ,   DAMOCLES Group
Published: February 2005

Background Data Monitoring Committees (DMCs) are increasingly involved in the conduct of randomized controlled trials, but there is little documented evidence of what they do. Three interlinked surveys were carried out as part of the DAMOCLES project to explore recent and current DMC practice and policy. Methods 1) A questionnaire about DMC practice was sent to sample of 45 authors of trials published in selected journals in 2000. The sample was stratified by centre (single/multiple), disease area, and presence of DMC. 2) A sample of investigators in trials ongoing in the United Kingdom in 2001–02 was also sent a questionnaire about DMC practice. The sample was drawn from trials funded by the Medical Research Council, the United Kingdom Department of Health's Health Technology Assessment Programme, and a local and a multicentre research ethics committee. The sample was additionally stratified by funder (public/industry), centre (single/ multiple), and disease area. 3) A sample of major organisations involved in randomised controlled trials was sent a questionnaire about DMC policies. Results Information about DMC practice from the first survey was obtained from 31 trials (69%), of which four had a DMC. Information about DMC practice from the second survey was obtained about 36 trials (90%), of which 20 had a DMC. Information about DMC policy from the third survey was obtained from 25 out of 25 organisations. There was general agreement about the sorts of trials particularly needing independent DMCs, but there were few uniform approaches to their modes of functioning, and few of the organisations surveyed had developed formal policies. Conclusions The roles of existing DMCs and policies governing DMC functioning vary widely across trials and organisations that sponsor or oversee trials, both within the UK and internationally. These findings reinforce previous calls for development of such policies across a wider range of organisations, better means to monitor their implementation within trials, and wider use of structured “charters”, which set out DMC modus operandi in advance.
Evaluating the quality of informed consent
Authors: Sugarman Jeremy , Lavori Philip W. , Boeger Maryann , Cain Carole , Edson Robert , Morrison Vicki , Yeh Shing Shing 
Published: February 2005

Context Although informed consent is a critical means of protecting the rights and interests of participants in clinical research, effective and efficient means of evaluating the quality of consent are needed. Having such means will be important to monitoring consent and testing potential improvements in the consent process. Objective To develop and test a practical and general means of evaluating the quality of informed consent for clinical research. Methods We developed and tested the Brief Informed Consent Evaluation Protocol (BICEP), a short telephone-based assessment of informed consent. As soon as patient-participants completed the informed consent process for a participating VA Cooperative Studies Program clinical trial they called an interviewer who administered the BICEP. Results 632 participants completed BICEP, representing eight ongoing studies from 14 VA and one non-VA medical centers across the country. Site coordinators reported little to no difficulty implementing BICEP. The average duration of BICEP was 8.8 minutes (SD 3.6). Overall, patient-participants evaluated the informed consent process positively. A reliable coding system was then developed to analyze the verbatim responses of the final 191 participants. An Informed Consent Aggregate Score (ICAS) had a mean score of 8.23 (SD 1.17) with a range of 0–10, with 10 a perfect score; and a Therapeutic Misconception Aggregate Score (TMAS) had a mean of 1.62 (SD 0.93) with a range of 0–5, with 5 a perfect score. Conclusions The BICEP is an efficient means of evaluating informed consent that is acceptable to research participants and research personnel. While participants tend to be satisfied with the informed consent process, the BICEP indicates there is room for improvement in the informed consent process for research.
Is the future for clinical trials internet-based? A cluster randomized clinical trial
Authors: Litchfield Jennifer , Freeman Jenny , Schou Henrik , Elsley Mark , Fuller Robert , Chubb Barrie 
Published: February 2005

Objective To compare the efficiency and ease of use of internet data capture compared with conventional paper based data recording in the conduct of a clinical trial. Design Multicentre, cluster randomized clinical trial. Setting General practice in the UK. Main outcome measures Timings for study landmarks, queries, data entry and monitoring time; Investigator Questionnaire Results. Results The internet-derived database was ready for release 33 days after the last patient visit compared with 48 days for the paper-derived database, despite much higher numbers of patients in the internet group. The mean times from visit to data entry were 10.2 (SD 18.9) days and 95.4 (SD 44.6) days respectively (P, 0.01). The mean times from a visit to a query being resolved were 121.4 (SD 58.3) days and 182.1 (SD 58.9) days respectively (P, 0.01). The post-study responses from investigators were positive. Seventy-one percent of centressaid they would prefer to use the internet rather than paper CRFs for future studies. Conclusions There were efficiency gains seen with the use of an internet-based system when compared with a paper-based system in terms data entry, query resolution and the time to the release of the data base. The investigators'response to the internet system was generally favourable although on average investigators reported increased time spent on the study. Further efficiency might be gained with improved programming, increased investigator familiarity with the internet system, and with newly adapted working practices for sponsors' monitors and database personnel.
Idea Habitats: How the Prevalence of Environmental Cues Influences the Success of Ideas
Authors: Berger Jonah A. , Heath Chip 
Published: February 2005

AbstractWe investigate 1 factor that influences the success of ideas or cultural representations by proposing that they have a habitat, that is, a set of environmental cues that encourages people to recall and transmit them. We test 2 hypotheses: (a) fluctuation: the success of an idea will vary over time with fluctuations in its habitat, and (b) competition: ideas with more prevalent habitats will be more successful. Four studies use subject ratings and data from newspapers to provide correlational support for our 2 hypotheses, with a negative factoid, positive rumor, catchphrases, and variants of a proverb. Three additional experimental studies manipulate the topic of actual conversations and find empirical support for our theory, with catchphrases, proverbs, and slang. The discussion examines how habitat prevalence applies to a more extensive class of ideas and suggests how habitats may influence the process by which ideas evolve.
Consequences of the Serial Nature of Linguistic Input for Sentenial Complexity
Authors: Grodner Daniel , Gibson Edward 
Published: February 2005

AbstractAll other things being equal the parser favors attaching an ambiguous modifier to the most recent possible site. A plausible explanation is that locality preferences such as this arise in the service of minimizing memory costs—more distant sentential material is more difficult to reactivate than more recent material. Note that processing any sentence requires linking each new lexical item with material in the current parse. This often involves the construction of long‐distance dependencies. Under a resource‐limited view of language processing, lengthy integrations should induce difficulty even in unambiguous sentences. To date there has been little direct quantitative evidence in support of this perspective. This article presents 2 self‐paced reading studies, which explore the hypothesis that dependency distance is a fundamental determinant of reading complexity in unambiguous constructions in English. The evidence suggests that the difficulty associated with integrating a new input item is heavily determined by the amount of lexical material intervening between the input item and the site of its target dependents. The patterns observed here are not straightforwardly accounted for within purely experience‐based models of complexity. Instead, this work supports the role of a memory bottleneck in language comprehension. This constraint arises because hierarchical linguistic relations must be recovered from a linear input stream.
Processing Coordinated Structures: Incrementality and Connectedness
Authors: Sturt Patrick , Lombardo Vincenzo 
Published: February 2005

AbstractWe recorded participants' eye movements while they read sentences containing verb‐phrase coordination. Results showed evidence of immediate processing disruption when a reflexive pronoun embedded in the conjoined verb phrase mismatched the sentence subject. We argue that this result is incompatible with models of human parsing that employ only bottom‐up parsing procedures, even when flexible constituency is employed. Models need to incorporate a mechanism similar to the adjoining operation in Tree‐Adjoining Grammar, in which one structure is inserted into another.
Stereoselective Tandem Aldol-Tishchenko Reaction with Acylsilanes
Authors: Honda Mitsunori , Iwamoto Ryota , Nogami Yoshie , Segi Masahito 
Published: February 2005

Abstract
The treatment of acetyltrimethylsilane with LDA, followed by reaction of the resulting enolate with the excess amount of aldehydes gave the corresponding 1,3-diol derivatives in moderate yields with perfect diastereoselectivity as a single regioisomer via tandem aldol-Tishchenko reaction, whereas the reaction with α-branched aldehydes under similar conditions gives a mixture of two regioisomers. The reaction using benzyl trimethylsilyl ketone afforded the corresponding 1,3-diol monoesters having three contiguous stereogenic centers with perfect levels of stereochemical control in one-pot.
A Novel Modification for Silicalite-1 with High Stability and Selectivity in Vapor Phase Beckmann Rearrangement of Cyclohexanone Oxime
Authors: Tao Weichuan , Mao Dongsen , Xia Jianchao , Chen Qingling , Hu Ying 
Published: February 2005

Abstract
This paper presents a novel modification of highly siliceous MFI zeolites with hydrofluoric acid treatment: Silicalite-1 undergone such treatment exhibited remarkable improvements in stability and selectivity for Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime, which are even much better than those obtained by basic modification.
New Method for Preparation of Isolable N-tert-Alkoxyarylaminyl Radicals
Authors: Miura Yozo , Muranaka Yoshikazu 
Published: February 2005

Abstract
Stable N-tert-alkoxy-2,4-diphenyl-6-tert-butylphenylaminyl radicals were prepared by heating 2,4-diphenyl-6-tert-butylphenylnitrosobenzenes and azo compounds in refluxing benzene and isolated as radical crystals. Their structures were confirmed by the elemental analyses, ESR, and X-ray crystallography.
The First Isolation of 1,3-Diaza-2-sila-4-cyclopentene Radical Cation Salt: The X-ray Structure and Electronic Properties
Authors: Ishida Shintaro , Nishinaga Tohru , Komatsu Koichi 
Published: February 2005

Abstract
The first TPFPB salt of 1,3-diaza-2-sila-4-cyclopentene (DASCP) radical cation was isolated as an orange crystalline solid by one-electron oxidation of the neutral DASCP with Ag(I) ion. The X-ray structural analysis and theoretical studies showed that the silicon atom plays an important role in stabilization of this cationic species.
Synthesis of Na-A Zeolite from 10 Å Halloysite and a new Crystallization Kinetic Model for the Transformation of Na-A into HS Zeolite
Authors: Novembre Daniela , Di Sabatino Bruno , Gimeno Domingo 
Published: February 2005

AbstractThe present work deals with the synthesis of Na-A zeolite using 10 Å halloysite (collected near Grosseto, Italy) as the starting material, instead of the more expensive chemicals currently used in industry (Na aluminates and Na silicates). The process of synthesizing Na-A zeolite from 10 Å halloysite is rather simple as the reaction of halloysite with alkali occurs very readily and is achieved without prior thermal activation at high temperature. The optimal conditions of crystallization of Na-A zeolite from 10 Å halloysite are reached at 80°C. At lower temperatures, transformation of halloysite into an amorphous material requires more time, and the field within which Na-A zeolite exists overlaps that of 7 Å halloysite, G and HS zeolites. The products of synthesis at 80°C were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy. We also propose a model to study the reaction kinetics of zeolite (Na-A and HS) nucleation and growth by real-time X-ray powder diffraction data.
A Smectite Dehydration Model in a Shallow Sedimentary Basin: Model Development
Authors: Liu Chen-Wuing , Lin Wen-Sheng 
Published: February 2005

AbstractTraditionally, land subsidence resulting from groundwater over-pumping has often been described by the theory of consolidation. The mechanism of land subsidence due to the dehydration of clay minerals has not been well addressed. Therefore, this study develops a smectite dehydration model to describe the effect of the release of water from the smectite interlayer upon land subsidence. Using a thermodynamic solid-solution model and laboratory studies of clay-water systems, a complete description of the dehydration relationships among the swelling pressure, basal spacing and mw/mc in a Na-smectite water system at 25°C under variable pressure conditions was derived. Accordingly, the evaluation model of the ‘hydration state of smectite’, and the ‘solid-solution model of smectite dehydration’ were formulated rigorously. These two models were applied to quantify the effects of smectite dehydration on the accumulated land subsidence in the Yun Lin offshore industrial infrastructure complex and in the Tai-Shi area. The result reveals that smectite dehydration is of importance in assessing and predicting land subsidence in a shallow sedimentary basin.