bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of a score designed to predict sepsis in foals
Authors: Corley Kevin T. T. , Furr Martin O. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractObjective:To evaluate the accuracy of a published score designed to predict sepsis in foals in a clinical setting and to evaluate the association of clinical and clinicopathological variables with sepsis.Design:Observational study. Retrospective for data from 1998. Prospective in 1999–2001.Setting:Foal intensive care unit of a university hospital.Animals:Client‐owned foals of less than 10 days of age, presenting from 1998 to 2001.Interventions:None.Measurements and main results:Data from the history and physical examination, together with admission hematology, biochemistry and arterial blood gas analysis were used to generate the published sepsis scores. The same data were investigated for their statistical relationship with sepsis. The presence or absence of sepsis was determined from blood culture, culture of sites of suspected local infection, clinical course and/or post‐mortem examination.The modified sepsis score was calculated for 168 foals, which were classified as septic (86), non‐septic (45) or not possible to classify (37). The modified sepsis score correctly predicted sepsis in 58 out of 86 foals and non‐sepsis in 34 out of 45 foals, resulting in a sensitivity of 67%, a specificity of 76%, a positive predictive value of 84% and a negative predictive value of 55%. Abnormal neutrophil cytology, an immunoglobulin concentration of less than 400 mg/dl, and low blood glucose concentration had the strongest association with sepsis.Conclusions:The low negative predictive value of the sepsis score limited its clinical utility. The sepsis score should not be used to define sepsis in clinical studies, unless previously validated in the study center.
Alteration of apoptotic regulatory molecules expression during carcinogenesis and tumor progression of renal cell carcinoma
Authors: SEJIMA TAKEHIRO , ISOYAMA TADAHIRO , MIYAGAWA IKUO 
Published: August 2003

AbstractBackground: In order to characterize the alteration of apoptotic regulatory molecule expressions during carcinogenesis and tumor progression of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), we compared the expressions between tumor and normal tissues, and evaluated the relationships between expressions in tumors with pathological and clinical characteristics.Methods: Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) allowed the determination of Fas, Fas ligand (FasL), and bcl‐2 mRNA expressions in surgically resected tissues of 40 cases of RCC .Results: In comparing the mRNA expression incidence between tumor and normal tissues, RT‐PCR analysis demonstrated that the Fas and bcl‐2 incidence in tumors was significantly lower than that in normal tissues. An IHC analysis was supportive of the RT‐PCR results that higher immunoreactivity was recognized in mRNA positive cases than in negative cases. With regard to relationships with pathological and clinical characteristics, FasL mRNA expression was recognized significantly more frequently in pT3a tumors than in pT1 tumors, and also more frequently in G2 tumors than in G1 tumors. A similar result was obtained by IHC analysis. Five patients died of cancer. Four of these patients had tumors which showed positive mRNA expression and a strong immunoreactivity of FasL.Conclusion: It is suggested that the alteration of the down‐regulated expression of Fas and bcl‐2 might contribute to the carcinogenesis of RCC. It is also suggested that the alteration of up‐regulated expression of FasL in tumors, which establishes the immune evasion mechanism in some malignancies, might be characterized during the tumor progression of RCC.
Adjuvant hydrodistension under epidural anesthesia for interstitial cystitis
Authors: YAMADA TETSUO , MURAYAMA TETSUO , ANDOH MASAHIKO 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACTBackground: Hydrodistension is the first choice of treatment for interstitial cystitis because it allows for diagnosis, bladder biopsy and treatment. However, the method and efficacy of hydrodistension are variable. We performed adjuvant hydrodistension and examined the efficacy and factors that influence prognosis.Methods: Fifty‐two patients participated in the present study as subjects; they satisfied the diagnostic inclusion and exclusion criteria established by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) in 1987, USA. Under epidural anesthesia, the bladder was repeatedly distended up to the maximal bladder capacity for treatment, diagnosis and biopsy. Hydrodistension was performed again on the following day for approximately 30 min under epidural anesthesia in a ward until macroscopic hematuria disappeared.Results: Five patients were classified into the good, 30 into the moderate and 17 into the poor response group. In the good response group, three patients had type I allergy and one patient did not fulfil all of the positive factors in the NIDDK criteria. The poor response group included one patient with collagen disease. The poor response group was further divided into two subgroups based on bladder capacity. One subgroup included eight patients with a bladder capacity of less than 100 mL and vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). The other subgroup included nine patients with a bladder capacity of more than 100 mL. Among these nine patients there were five patients who lacked one or two positive factors in the NIDDK criteria.Conclusion: Adjuvant hydrodistension under epidural anesthesia is effective for about 70% of patients for more than 3 months. It can be performed in a ward without any serious complications. It was observed that patients lacking one or two positive factors were included in the good and poor response groups.
Effects of androgen deprivation on chronic bacterial prostatitis in a rat model
Authors: SEO SEONG IL , LEE SEUNG‐JU , KIM JOON CHUL , CHOI YEONG‐JIN , SAE WOONG  , HWANG TAE KON , CHO YONG‐HYUN 
Published: August 2003

AbstractBackground:Many attempts have been made to improve the treatment success rate of chronic bacterial prostatitis (CBP). However, no treatment modality has achieved complete cure. The growth and development of the prostate is under direct hormonal control, and it is possible that prostatitis may be directly influenced by its hormonal milieu in a similar fashion to benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. Therefore, the effects of androgen deprivation on the treatment of CBP were investigated in rats.Methods:Experimental CBP was induced in one hundred, male Wistar rats by instillation of bacterial suspension (Escherichia coliZ17, O2: K1: H‐) containing 1 × 108 CFU/µL into the prostatic urethra. Microbiologically and histologically proven CBP was demonstrated in 62% (62 of 100) of the rats after 4 weeks of bacterial instillation. The 62 rats demonstrating CBP were randomly divided into five groups: control; castration; finasteride; estrogen; and levofloxacin groups. All drug treatments were conducted over a period of 4 weeks.Results:Microbiological cultures and histological findings of the prostate and urine samples demonstrated reduced bacterial growth and improved inflammatory responses in all four experimental groups compared with the control group. The castration and estrogen groups showed coherent trends of decrease in bacterial growth and improvements in prostatic inflammation compared with the control group, but not to a statistically significant degree (P > 0.05). However, the finasteride and levofloxacin groups did show statistically significant decreases in bacterial growth and improvements in prostatic inflammation compared with the control group (P < 0.05).Conclusion:These results suggest that androgen deprivation is an effective modality in CBP treatment. In particular, the finasteride treatment reduced the severity of CBP in the animal model without reducing the systemic testosterone level. The combination of finasteride and levofloxacin maybe one of the effective treatment modalities for CBP.
Weekly paclitaxel plus estramustine combination therapy in hormone‐refractory prostate cancer: A pilot study
Authors: KURUMA HIDETOSHI , FUJITA TETSUO , SHITARA TOSHIYA , EGAWA SHIN , YOKOYAMA EIJI , BABA SHIRO 
Published: August 2003

AbstractBackground: Paclitaxel used in combination with estramustine has been shown to exert synergistic cytotoxicity in patients with hormone‐refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). There have been few reports of this therapy in an Asian male population.Methods: Nine patients with progressive metastatic HRPC completed at least one cycle of combination therapy employing weekly paclitaxel plus estramustine. Paclitaxel was given weekly for 3 weeks as a 2‐h intravenous infusion at a dose of 100 mg/infusion. The cycle was repeated every 4 weeks. A dose of 280 mg of oral estramustine was administrated twice daily for 21 days from the first day of each cycle. Both efficacy and toxicity were recorded.Results: Grade 1 sensory neuropathy was seen in three patients (33%) and grade 4 thrombopenia/anemia was seen in one patient (11%). Performance status improved in three of seven patients (43%), while six patients (67%) showed a 50% or greater decline in prostate‐specific antigen levels. Two of these patients experienced significant improvement in bone pain. One patient died of cardiac infarction during this trial and another died of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy subsequent to gastrointestinal bleeding. An additional patient suffered non‐fatal pulmonary infarction. The one‐year median survival rate was 22.2% and the overall survival period was 36 weeks.Conclusion: Although weekly paclitaxel plus estramustine may pose a significant risk, this combination may have a beneficial effect on the quality of life HRPC patients. A well‐designed phase I–II trial in an Asian male population is highly recommended.
Fever and phenotype: transgenerational effect of disease on desert locust phase state
Authors: Elliot Sam L. , Blanford Simon , Horton Charlotte M. , Thomas Matthew B. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractNatural enemy attack can cause transgenerational shifts in phenotype such that offspring are less vulnerable to future attack. Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) show density‐dependent variation in their resistance to pathogens, such that they are less vulnerable to pathogens when in the high‐density gregarious phase state (when they would probably be more exposed to pathogens) than when in the solitarious phase state. We therefore hypothesized that infected gregarious parents would maintain this phenotype in their offspring. We infected gregarious desert locust nymphs with the fungal pathogen Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum, and allowed them to survive to reproduction by means of behavioural fever. The phase state of the locust offspring was assessed by their colouration and behavioural assays. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found an increase in solitarization in the infected population (14.6% solitarious offspring from infected parents, vs. <2% from uninfected counterparts at equivalent density). In a second experiment, we simulated behavioural fever temperatures and obtained a similar result (13.6% solitarious offspring vs. 4.4% from controls), implying that the phenomenon is probably a side‐effect of the hosts’ fever response. Identification of this novel environmental factor affecting locust phase state could have important implications for the biological control of these major pests.
Keeping the herds healthy and alert: implications of predator control for infectious disease
Authors: Packer Craig , Holt Robert D. , Hudson Peter J. , Lafferty Kevin D. , Dobson Andrew P. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractPredator control programmes are generally implemented in an attempt to increase prey population sizes. However, predator removal could prove harmful to prey populations that are regulated primarily by parasitic infections rather than by predation. We develop models for microparasitic and macroparasitic infection that specify the conditions where predator removal will (a) increase the incidence of parasitic infection, (b) reduce the number of healthy individuals in the prey population and (c) decrease the overall size of the prey population. In general, predator removal is more likely to be harmful when the parasite is highly virulent, macroparasites are highly aggregated in their prey, hosts are long‐lived and the predators select infected prey.
Present patterns and future prospects for biodiversity in the Western Hemisphere
Authors: Andelman Sandy J. , Willig Michael R. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractCreating networks of nature reserves to protect areas rich in biodiversity from the adverse impacts of anthropogenic change is a critical and urgent task. We illustrate the skewed geographical and size distributions of protected areas in the Western Hemisphere. For instance, 811 of 1413 reserves in the Western Hemisphere are smaller than 10 km2, and 35% of the total area of these reserves is in Alaska. We compile ranges for all bats in the continental Western Hemisphere and find that 82% of threatened and small‐range species are not protected adequately. Many of the most vulnerable species occur in the areas of highest human density. We provide maps delineating areas where conservation investments may have the greatest impact in preventing biodiversity losses.
Reverse latitudinal trends in species richness of pitcher‐plant food webs
Authors: Buckley Hannah L. , Miller Thomas E. , Ellison Aaron M. , Gotelli Nicholas J. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractLatitudinal patterns in species richness have been well documented for guilds and individual trophic groups, but comparable patterns for entire, multitrophic communities have not been described. We studied the entire food web that inhabits the water‐filled leaves of the pitcher plantSarracenia purpureaacross North America at two spatial scales: among sites and among leaves within sites. Contrary to the expectation, total species richness at both scales increased with latitude, because of increasing species richness at the lower trophic levels. This latitudinal pattern may be driven by a top‐down effect. The abundance of the mosquitoWyeomyia smithii, a ubiquitous top predator in this system, decreases from south to north and may permit greater species richness of prey trophic levels at higher latitudes.
Biodiversity and biocontrol: emergent impacts of a multi‐enemy assemblage on pest suppression and crop yield in an agroecosystem
Authors: Cardinale Bradley J. , Harvey Chad T. , Gross Kevin , Ives Anthony R. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractThe suppression of agricultural pests has often been proposed as an important service of natural enemy diversity, but few experiments have tested this assertion. In this study we present empirical evidence that increasing the richness of a particular guild of natural enemies can reduce the density of a widespread group of herbivorous pests and, in turn, increase the yield of an economically important crop. We performed an experiment in large field enclosures where we manipulated the presence/absence of three of the most important natural enemies (the coccinellid beetle Harmonia axyridis, the damsel bug Nabis sp., and the parasitic wasp Aphidius ervi) of pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) that feed on alfalfa (Medicago sativa). When all three enemy species were together, the population density of the pea aphid was suppressed more than could be predicted from the summed impact of each enemy species alone. As crop yield was negatively related to pea aphid density, there was a concomitant non‐additive increase in the production of alfalfa in enclosures containing the more diverse enemy guild. This trophic cascade appeared to be influenced by an indirect interaction involving a second herbivore inhabiting the system – the cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora. Data suggest that high relative densities of cowpea aphids inhibited parasitism of pea aphids by the specialist parasitoid, A. ervi. Therefore, when natural enemies were together and densities of cowpea aphids were reduced by generalist predators, parasitism of pea aphids increased. This interaction modification is similar to other types of indirect interactions among enemy species (e.g. predator–predator facilitation) that can enhance the suppression of agricultural pests. Results of our study, and those of others performed in agroecosystems, complement the broader debate over how biodiversity influences ecosystem functioning by specifically focusing on systems that produce goods of immediate relevance to human society.
The evolutionary ecology ofPlasmodium
Authors: Paul R. E. L. , Ariey F. , Robert V. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractPlasmodium, the aetiological agent of malaria, imposes a substantial public health burden on human society and one that is likely to deteriorate. Hitherto, the recent Darwinian medicine movement has promoted the important role evolutionary biology can play in issues of public health. Recasting the malaria parasite two‐host life cycle within an evolutionary framework has generated considerable insight into how the parasite has adapted to life within both vertebrate and insect hosts. Coupled with the rapid advances in the molecular basis to host–parasite interactions, exploration of the evolutionary ecology ofPlasmodiumwill enable identification of key steps in the life cycle and highlight fruitful avenues of research for developing malaria control strategies. In addition, elucidating the extent to whichPlasmodiumcan respond to short‐ and long‐term changes in selection pressures, i.e. its adaptive capacity, is even more crucial in predicting how the burden of malaria will alter with our rapidly evolving ecology.
Invasional ‘meltdown’ on an oceanic island
Authors: O'Dowd Dennis J. , Green Peter T. , Lake P. S. 
Published: August 2003

AbstractIslands can serve as model systems for understanding how biological invasions affect community structure and ecosystem function. Here we show invasion by the alien crazy ant Anoplolepis gracilipes causes a rapid, catastrophic shift in the rain forest ecosystem of a tropical oceanic island, affecting at least three trophic levels. In invaded areas, crazy ants extirpate the red land crab, the dominant endemic consumer on the forest floor. In doing so, crazy ants indirectly release seedling recruitment, enhance species richness of seedlings, and slow litter breakdown. In the forest canopy, new associations between this invasive ant and honeydew‐secreting scale insects accelerate and diversify impacts. Sustained high densities of foraging ants on canopy trees result in high population densities of host‐generalist scale insects and growth of sooty moulds, leading to canopy dieback and even deaths of canopy trees. The indirect fallout from the displacement of a native ‘keystone’ species by an ant invader, itself abetted by introduced/cryptogenic mutualists, produces synergism in impacts to precipitate invasional ‘meltdown’ in this system.
The scaling of reproductive variability in trees
Authors: Kerkhoff Andrew J. , Ballantyne Ford 
Published: August 2003

AbstractSeed output in perennial plant populations is temporally variable and often synchronous over large regions. The similarly complex spatiotemporal dynamics of animal populations have been characterized by the power‐law scaling of the variance in population numbers with mean abundance. Here we show that a large compilation of published reproductive time series exhibits largely invariant mean–variance scaling properties across both angiosperm and conifer tree species. A simple model of seed production in tree stands shows that observed values of the scaling exponent reflect very general aspects of plant ecology and life history as well as the temporal dynamics of seed production. Together, these results suggest that the continuum of reproductive variability and synchrony observed in trees may reflect the influence of a common set of ecological processes.
Cyclooxygenase‐2 promotes angiogenesis in pTa/T1 urothelial bladder carcinoma but does not predict recurrence
Authors: Friedrich M.G. , Toma M.I. , Petri S. , Huland H. 
Published: August 2003

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) on microvessel density (MVD) and on the clinical prognosis in patients with non‐muscle invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder, as COX‐2 expression is significantly greater in epithelial tumours and there is increasing evidence that COX‐2 might contribute to tumour neovascularization.PATIENTS AND METHODSWe assessed tumour samples from 110 patients undergoing transurethral resection for primary pTa/pT1 bladder carcinoma (pTa, 84; pT1, 26; grade 1, 22; grade 2, 81; grade 3, seven). Paraffin sections were assessed immunohistochemically using antibodies against COX‐2, CD34 (endothelial cells) and CD105 (proliferating vessels). COX‐2 expression was quantified by the number of stained cells (negative, +, ++) and the MVD calculated as vessels per field.RESULTSOf the 110 tumours, 45 (41%) had no immunostaining for COX‐2, 40 had faint staining with at least isolated positive cells (+) and 25 stained ++. COX‐2 positive tumours had significantly greater vascularization for proliferating vessels. In COX‐2 negative tumours the MVD was 22.1, identified by CD34 immunostaining, and 3.4 for proliferating vessels (CD105), whereas COX‐2 positive tumours had a MVD of 18.3 (CD34), and of 5.8, respectively (CD105). Complete follow‐up data were available in 91 patients; after a mean follow‐up of 25 months, 18 (20%) had tumour recurrences. There was no significant difference in the recurrence rates or disease‐free survival between COX‐2‐positive (19%, 25.6 months) or ‐negative patients (21%, 25.2 months).CONCLUSIONThese results confirm the involvement of COX‐2 in angiogenesis in bladder cancer, as COX‐2 promoted blood vessel proliferation in the tumour zone, and indicate the usefulness of COX‐2‐inhibiting drugs in preventing and treating superficial bladder cancer.