bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Intranasal cocaine use does not appear to be an independent risk factor for HCV infection
Authors: Galperim Bruno , Cheinquer Hugo , Stein Airton , Fonseca André , Lunge Vagner , Ikuta Nilo 
Published: July 2004

ABSTRACTAims  To determine the prevalence of HCV infection among intranasal cocaine users and evaluate underlying parental risk factors.Design, setting and participants  A cross‐sectional study evaluated prospectively 60 patients admitted to a chemical dependency unit.Measurements  A standardized questionnaire was designed to obtain epidemiological data. Aminotransferases and anti‐HCV antibodies were determined. Anti‐HCV antibody positivity was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Findings  Fifteen (25%) patients of 60 tested intranasal cocaine users were anti‐HCV positive. Ten (75%) of them had detectable HCV‐RNA. Comparison between 15 anti‐HCV positive and 45 anti‐HCV negative patients showed significant differences in mean age (35 versus 27 years), estimated time of drug use (10 versus 4 years), rate of elevated ALT and/or AST (60% versus 16%) and presence of parenteral risk factors (100% versus 7%). Comparison between patients with and without elevated aminotransferases showed significant difference in mean duration of drug use (8 versus 5 years) and rate of anti‐HCV positivity (56% versus 14%). Among 15 anti‐HCV positive patients, HCV‐RNA was detectable in all with elevated aminotransferases and only one of six with normal aminotransferases (100% versus 17%).Conclusions  While there was a high prevalence of anti‐HCV antibodies in this sample of intranasal cocaine users, the infection was highly correlated with the presence of intravenous (i.v.) drug use and duration of drug use. In this sample, therefore, intranasal cocaine use alone was not an important risk factor for HCV infection.
Weekend effects on binge drinking and homicide: the social connection between alcohol and violence in Russia
Authors: Pridemore William Alex 
Published: July 2004

ABSTRACTAims and design  This study employs unique newly available Russian mortality data to examine the social connection between binge drinking and homicide in the country.Setting, participants and measurements  All death certificates of those aged 20–64 years in the Udmurt Republic, Russia, were analyzed according to day and cause of death for the years 1994–98. Deaths due to alcohol poisoning were used as a proxy for binge drinking.Findings  There was a high bivariate correlation (r = 0.75) between the daily distribution of deaths due to alcohol and homicide. The number of alcohol deaths was significantly higher on Saturdays and Sundays (presumably as a result of drinking on Friday and Saturday nights) and the number of homicide deaths was significantly higher on Fridays and Saturdays.Conclusions  The levels of alcohol consumption and homicide in Russia are among the highest in the world, and there is mounting evidence that the two are related. Binge drinking, preference for distilled spirits and a high social tolerance for heavy drinking may act as social and cultural contextual factors that might increase the risk of violent outcomes. The high correspondence between the daily distribution of alcohol and homicide deaths provides indirect evidence for the social connection between them. While these findings do not represent a causal connection, when placed in the context of the growing literature on this topic they provide further support of an association between alcohol consumption and homicide rates in Russia and preliminary evidence for the intermediate role in this relationship played by social context.
Slow‐release oral morphine versus methadone: a crossover comparison of patient outcomes and acceptability as maintenance pharmacotherapies for opioid dependence
Authors: Mitchell Timothy B. , White Jason M. , Somogyi Andrew A. , Bochner Felix 
Published: July 2004

ABSTRACTAims  To evaluate slow‐release oral morphine (SROM) as an alternative maintenance pharmacotherapy to methadone for treatment of opioid dependence.Design  Open‐label crossover study.Setting  Out‐patient methadone maintenance programme.Participants  Eighteen methadone maintenance patients.Intervention  Participants were transferred from methadone to SROM (once‐daily Kapanol™) for approximately 6 weeks before resuming methadone maintenance.Measurements  Patient outcomes were assessed (1) during the transition between medications (dose requirements, withdrawal severity) and (2) after at least 4 weeks on a stable dose of each drug (treatment preference, patient ratings of treatment efficacy and acceptability, drug use, health, depression and sleep).Findings  Transfer from methadone to SROM was associated with relatively mild withdrawal for the first 5 days; the final mean SROM : methadone dose ratio was 4.6 : 1. Compared to methadone, SROM was associated with improved social functioning, weight loss, fewer and less troublesome side‐effects, greater drug liking, reduced heroin craving, an enhanced sense of feeling ‘normal’ and similar outcomes for unsanctioned drug use, depression and health. The majority of subjects preferred SROM (78%) over methadone (22%).Conclusions  These findings provide justification for further evaluation of SROM as a maintenance pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence.
In 12‐step groups, helping helps the helper
Authors: Zemore Sarah E. , Kaskutas Lee Ann , Ammon Lyndsay N. 
Published: July 2004

ABSTRACTAims  The helper therapy principle suggests that, within mutual‐help groups, those who help others help themselves. The current study examines whether clients in treatment for alcohol and drug problems benefit from helping others, and how helping relates to 12‐step involvement.Design  Longitudinal treatment outcome.Participants  An ethnically diverse community sample of 279 alcohol‐ and/or drug‐dependent individuals (162 males, 117 females) was recruited through advertisement and treatment referral from Northern California Bay Area communities. Participants were treated at one of four day‐treatment programs.Measurements  A helping checklist measured the amount of time participants spent, during treatment, helping others by sharing experiences, explaining how to get help and giving advice on housing and employment. Measures of 12‐step involvement and substance use outcomes were administered at baseline and a 6 month follow‐up.Findings  Helping and 12‐step involvement emerged as important and related predictors of treatment outcomes. In the general sample, total abstinence at follow‐up was strongly and positively predicted by 12‐step involvement at follow‐up, but not by helping during treatment; still, helping positively predicted subsequent 12‐step involvement. Among individuals still drinking at follow‐up, helping during treatment predicted a lower probability of binge drinking, whereas effects for 12‐step involvement proved inconsistent.Conclusions  Findings support the helper therapy principle and clarify the process of 12‐step affiliation.
Substance abuse treatment needs and access in the USA: interstate variations
Authors: McAuliffe William E. , Dunn Ryan 
Published: July 2004

ABSTRACTAims  This study investigated interstate substance abuse treatment needs and access in the USA.Design  After assessing the validity of recently developed survey and indicator measures, the study analysed the geographic distribution and nature of state substance abuse treatment needs. Substance abuse treatment utilization index scores were regressed on the need measurements to identify differences among state populations in treatment access.Findings  The interstate substance abuse treatment need measures had evidence of reliability and construct validity. Treatment needs clustered in stable, distinct geographic patterns. The most severe problems, primarily reflecting alcoholism, were in the west. Drug and alcohol substance use disorders and related problems were not significantly correlated at this level of aggregation. There was evidence of regionalization of the drug‐of‐choice mix in treatment admissions. Only 21% of the variations in state treatment utilization rates stemmed from the prevalence of substance use disorders and related problems. The biggest treatment gaps were in the south and south‐west, regions with large minority populations.Conclusions  Development of interstate survey and indicator measures of treatment needs has created new opportunities to broaden our understanding of substance abuse epidemiology and treatment access in the USA. The nature and severity of drug and alcohol problems vary from state to state, but the interstate disparities in treatment services remain even after variations in treatment need have been discounted. Further research is needed to understand the causes of these differences in treatment access.
Characteristics of drug users who do or do not have care of their children
Authors: Meier Petra S. , Donmall Michael C. , McElduff Patrick 
Published: July 2004

ABSTRACTAims  To compare the relative frequency of eight indicators of problem drug use and potentially adverse social circumstances in drug‐using parents and non‐parents and to explore whether a profile based on these characteristics differs according to whether or not dependent children live with their drug‐using parent.Design  The study utilizes a 5 year national UK treatment monitoring system data set.Sample  61 425 users with, and 105 473 without dependent children accessing drug treatment services in England and Wales between January 1996 and December 2000.Measurements  Information about parenthood and children's residence was routinely collected. Drug use and social circumstance indicators were daily heroin use, daily alcohol use, regular stimulant use, sharing of injecting equipment, living with another user, living alone, unstable accommodation, and criminal justice referral.Findings  There were clear differences between drug‐using parents according to where children live. Parents with children at home and non‐parents showed fewer of the indicators than parents with children in care or elsewhere. Sixty‐five percent of parents with none of the indicators lived with their children, compared with only 28% of those with three indicators and 9% of those with six or more indicators. Parents with children in care or living elsewhere showed the highest prevalence for each individual indicator.Conclusions  Drug‐using parents demonstrate a range of potentially unfavourable drug use behaviours and social circumstances, but those whose children live with them use drugs less frequently and live in more favourable conditions than those whose children live elsewhere. Protective factors may operate in family situations, while severe drug use and adverse social circumstances may result in a breakdown of family structures.
Inattentiveness, parental smoking and adolescent smoking initiation
Authors: Barman Satu K. , Pulkkinen Lea , Kaprio Jaakko , Rose Richard J. 
Published: July 2004

ABSTRACTAims  To examine how adolescents’ inattentive behaviour, together with parental smoking patterns, predicts smoking initiation by age 14.Design, settings  A prospective, longitudinal study: baseline at ages 11–12, follow‐up at age 14. A population‐based sample of Finnish twins, born 1983–1987, with parents and classroom teachers as additional informants. Two groups were formed, allocating the co‐twins of each family into separate groups: the study sample and a replication sample.Participants  Twin individuals (n = 4552), aged 11–12 at baseline and 14 (average 14.04 years) at follow‐up.Measurements  At baseline, inattentiveness was assessed with the Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory (MPNI, Teacher Form) and parental  smoking with individual questionnaires completed by each twins’ parents; at the age 14 follow‐up, adolescent smoking was assessed with a self‐report questionnaire.Findings  At age 14, 57% reported never having smoked, 34% had experimented with cigarettes and 9% were current smokers. Inattentiveness and parental smoking additively predicted both experimental and current smoking in adolescence. The effects were independent of each other.Conclusions  The risk related to inattentiveness itself is high, but in combination with the effects of parental smoking, the probability of current smoking can rise as high as 38%, compared with 5% without these two risk factors. For prevention purposes, parental commitment to non‐smoking should be emphasized.
Molecular cloning, expression and functional characterization of the cytochrome P450 2A6 gene in pig liver*
Authors: Lin Z. , Lou Y. , Squires E. J. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryRaising intact male pigs would have a significant economic impact on the pork industry because intact males have improved feed efficiency and a greater lean yield of the carcass compared with barrows. However, the presence of skatole, a major cause of boar taint, in meat from intact male pigs could be highly objectionable to consumers. It has been shown that CYP2A6 is a key enzyme in the hepatic metabolism of skatole and that the activity of CYP2A6 is negatively correlated with skatole accumulation in fat. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize CYP2A6 from pig liver, as well as identify genetic polymorphisms in the CYP2A6 gene, and examine the association between these polymorphisms and skatole level. We identified a single base deletion in CYP2A6, resulting in a frame shift in the coding region that produces a non‐functional enzyme, which was associated with high levels of skatole in fat tissue.
Genomic characterization of a novel pair of ID genes in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Authors: Gahr S. A. , Palti Y. , Rexroad C. E. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryThe ID (inhibitors of DNA binding/differentiation) proteins represent a family of dominant negative regulators of the basic helix‐loop‐helix transcription factors whose activities result in delayed cell differentiation and prolonged proliferation. A pair of expressed sequence tag clones with homologies to the ID proteins were identified and used to screen a rainbow trout bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library to identify clones containing homologues sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of the predicted amino acid sequences revealed close similarities to the rainbow trout ID1 protein, the genes were therefore classified as rainbow trout ID1B and ID1C. Genome characterization based on BAC sequencing showed each gene to have two exons separated by a small intron. The genes are 83% similar in their transcribed regions, yet they are only 64 and 65% similar in the upstream and downstream sequences, respectively. Using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, we found both genes to be expressed in a variety of tissues in the adult rainbow trout.
Linkage arrangement of Na,K‐ATPase genes in the tetraploid‐derived genome of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Authors: Gharbi K. , Semple J. W. , Ferguson M. M. , Schulte P. M. , Danzmann R. G. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryAs part of our efforts to characterize Na,K‐ATPase isoforms in salmonid fish, we investigated the linkage arrangement of genes coding for the α and β‐subunits of the enzyme complex in the tetraploid‐derived genome of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Genetic markers were developed from four of five previously characterized α‐subunit isoforms (α1b, α1c, α2 and α3) and four expressed sequence tags derived from yet undescribed β‐subunit isoforms (β1a, β1b, β3a and β3b). Sex‐specific linkage analysis of polymorphic loci in a reference meiotic panel revealed that Na,K‐ATPase genes are generally dispersed throughout the rainbow trout genome. A notable exception was the colocalization of two α‐subunit genes and one β‐subunit gene on linkage group RT‐12, which may thus share a conserved orthologous segment with linkage group 1 in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Consistent with previously reported homeologous relationships among the chromosomes of the rainbow trout, primers designed from the α3‐isoform detected a pair of duplicated genes on linkage groups RT‐27 and RT‐31. Similarly, the evolutionary conservation of homeologous regions on linkage groups RT‐12 and RT‐16 was further supported by the map localization of gene duplicates for the β1b isoform. The detection of homeologs within each gene family also raises the possibility that novel isoforms may be discovered as functional duplicates.
Exclusion ofgalectin 9as a candidate gene for hyperuricosuria in the Dalmatian dog
Authors: Bannasch D. L. , Ryun J. R. , Bannasch M. J. , Schaible R. H. , Breen M. , Ling G. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryAll Dalmatian dogs have an inherited defect in purine metabolism leading to high levels of uric acid excretion in their urine (hyperuricosuria) rather than allantoin, the normal end product of purine metabolism in all other breeds of dog. Transplantation experiments have demonstrated that the defect is intrinsic to the liver and not the kidney. Uricase, the enzyme involved in the breakdown of urate into allantoin, has been shown to function in Dalmatian liver cells. Therefore, candidate genes for this defect include transporters of urate, a salt of uric acid, across cell membranes. We excluded one such urate transporter candidate,galectin 9, using a Dalmatian × Pointer backcross in which hyperuricosuria was segregating.
Ovine alpha‐amylase genes: isolation, linkage mapping and association analysis with milk traits
Authors: Calvo J. H. , Marcos S. , Beattie A. E. , Gonzalez C. , Jurado J. J. , Serrano M. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryOn the basis of comparisons between cattle and sheep genome mapping information the ovine α‐amylase gene was examined as a possible genetic marker for milk traits in sheep. The objective of the present study was to isolate, map and determine whether this gene is a candidate gene for milk traits. DNA fragments (832 and 2360 bp) corresponding to two different AMY genes were isolated, and one SNP in intron 3 and one GTG deletion in exon 3 of the 2360 bp DNA fragment were found. The 2360 bp ovine AMY DNA fragment was located on chromosome 1 by linkage mapping using the International Mapping Flock. No association was found between estimated breeding values for milk yield, protein and fat contents and AMY genotypes in a daughter design comprising 13 Manchega families with an average of 29 daughters (12–62) per sire.
Microsatellite diversity, population subdivision and gene flow in the Lipizzan horse
Authors: Achmann R. , Curik I. , Dovc P. , Kavar T. , Bodo I. , Habe F. , Marti E. , Sölkner J. , Brem G. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryBlood samples of 561 Lipizzan horses from subpopulations (studs) of seven European countries representing a large fraction of the breed's population were used to examine the genetic diversity, population subdivision and gene flow in the breed. DNA analysis based on 18 microsatellite loci revealed that genetic diversity (observed heterozygosity = 0.663, gene diversity = 0.675 and the mean number of alleles = 7.056) in the Lipizzan horse is similar to other horse breeds as well as to other domestic animal species. The genetic differentiation between Lipizzan horses from different studs, although moderate, was apparent (pairwise FSTcoefficients ranged from 0.021 to 0.080). Complementary findings explaining the genetic relationship among studs were revealed by genetic distance and principal component analysis. One genetic cluster consisted of the subpopulations of Austria, Italy and Slovenia, which represent the classical pool of Lipizzan horse breeding. A second cluster was formed by the Croatian, Hungarian and Slovakian subpopulations. The Romanian subpopulation formed a separate unit. The largest genetic differentiation was found between the Romanian and Italian subpopulation. Genetic results are consistent with the known breeding history of the Lipizzan horse. Correct stud assignment was obtained for 80.9% and 92.1% of Lipizzan horses depending on the inclusion or exclusion of migrant horses, respectively. The results of the present study will be useful for the development of breeding strategies, which consider classical horse breeding as well as recent achievements of population and conservation genetics.
B‐F DNA sequence variability in Brazilian (blue‐egg Caipira) chickens
Authors: Lima‐Rosa C. A. V. , Canal C. W. , Streck A. F. , Freitas L. B. , Delgado‐Cañedo A. , Bonatto S. L. , Salzano F. M. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryA total of 100 chickens from the Brazilian (blue‐egg Caipira) native breed were studied in relation to exon 2 of the B‐F genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region. After a first screening on 100 birds, 22 animals were selected for amplification, cloning and sequencing experiments of exons 2–4 (a total of 1048 bp) of their DNA. Twenty‐three sequences were obtained, of which at least 10 appear novel. Inferred protein sequences were compared with those previously described, totalling 41 different sequences with amino acid changes in 33 of the 88 sites in α1, and 34 of the 91 sites in α2 domains. Allele expression was investigated in these animals through cloning experiments. The blue‐egg Caipira chickens may provide a source of novel B‐F alleles for genetic improvement programmes.
Comparative mapping of human chromosome 10 to pig chromosomes 10 and 14*
Authors: Nonneman D. , Rohrer G. A. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryIdentification of predictive markers in QTL regions that impact production traits in commercial populations of swine is dependent on construction of dense comparative maps with human and mouse genomes. Chromosomal painting in swine suggests that large genomic blocks are conserved between pig and human, while mapping of individual genes reveals that gene order can be quite divergent. High‐resolution comparative maps in regions affecting traits of interest are necessary for selection of positional candidate genes to evaluate nucleotide variation causing phenotypic differences. The objective of this study was to construct an ordered comparative map of human chromosome 10 and pig chromosomes 10 and 14. As a large portion of both pig chromosomes are represented by HSA10, genes at regularly spaced intervals along this chromosome were targeted for placement in the porcine genome. A total of 29 genes from human chromosome 10 were mapped to porcine chromosomes 10 (SSC10) and 14 (SSC14) averaging about 5 Mb distance of human DNA per marker. Eighteen genes were assigned by linkage in the MARC mapping population, five genes were physically assigned with the IMpRH mapping panel and seven genes were assigned on both maps. Seventeen genes from human 10p mapped to SSC10, and 12 genes from human 10q mapped to SSC14. Comparative maps of mammalian species indicate that chromosomal segments are conserved across several species and represent syntenic blocks with distinct breakpoints. Development of comparative maps containing several species should reveal conserved syntenic blocks that will allow us to better define QTL regions in livestock.