bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of interferon‐α treatment in Japanese children with chronic hepatitis C
Authors: NAKASHIMA EISUKE , FUJISAWA TAKUJI , KIMURA AKIHIKO , KAGE MASAYOSHI , YAMATO YASUHIKO , MAEDA KOHJI , KUMAGAI MASAMI , USHIJIMA KOSUKE , YAMASHITA YASUHIRO , MATSUISHI TOYOJIRO 
Published: December 2004

AbstractBackground: We investigated the efficacy of natural interferon (IFN)‐α treatment in 34 Japanese children with chronic hepatitis C.Methods: Thirty‐four children completed 6 months of therapy with natural IFN‐α and were followed for 12 months or longer. We examined the serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA titer and liver histology before, during, and after IFN treatment.Results: At 6 months after the cessation of IFN‐α treatment, 16 patients (47%) had normal serum alanine aminotransferase concentration and no detectable serum HCV RNA. There were no major side‐effects, excluding some influenza‐like symptoms during the IFN‐α treatment. Most genotype 2a patients had a complete response (80%). Moreover, patients who had a low HCV RNA titer (<102 copies/mL) after 1 month of IFN‐α treatment became complete responders at 6 months after the cessation of treatment. Histological improvement was observed in almost all patients after IFN‐α treatment.Conclusion: Interferon‐α treatment is safe and effective for children with chronic hepatitis C and has no serious side‐effects. A HCV RNA concentration of <102 copies/mL after 1 month of IFN‐α treatment and genotype 2a may be useful predictors of long‐term IFN efficacy.© 2003 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
Has education about Helicobacter pylori infection been effective? Worldwide survey of primary care physicians
Authors: HUANG JIAQING , LAM SHIU KUM , MALFERTHEINER PETER , HUNT RICHARD H 
Published: December 2004

AbstractBackground: Confusion exists among physicians about the management of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. We aimed to survey primary care physicians’ (PCP) knowledge and management of H. pylori‐related diseases.Methods: Four‐hundred and seventy randomly selected PCP from 29 countries were surveyed.Results: The pathological role of H. pylori was of less concern in South Africa than the rest of the world (63% compared to 93%). The causal relationship between H. pylori and gastric and duodenal ulcers and gastric cancer was accepted by 81%, 85%, and 61% of respondents, respectively. Endoscopy was used by 62% of respondents to diagnose the infection. Histology was used by 61% of European participants for diagnosis compared to 3% in North American and 0% in South Africa. Proton‐pump inhibitor (PPI)‐based triple therapies were prescribed by 89% of respondents. Physicians in Oceania (35%) and South Africa (45%) were less concerned about bacterial resistance than respondents elsewhere. Sixty‐three percent of respondents considered H. pylori relevant to dyspepsia management and 66% treated new dyspepsia empirically, compared to 18% who chose endoscopic diagnosis and 13% who used a H. pylori test and treat strategy. For persistent or recurrent infection, 56% of South African physicians treated with another regimen compared to 33% of PCP from elsewhere. Ninety‐one percent of European participants agreed that current information on H. pylori management is helpful and 68% of PCP from other regions considered the information to be adequate.Conclusions: Current guidelines on the management of H. pylori infection have been useful for PCP worldwide. Contrasting answers to some questions may reflect differences in health care systems, epidemiology and approaches to the management of H. pylori infection between countries.© 2003 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
Rapid absorption of luminal polyamines in a rat small intestine ex vivo model
Authors: UDA KATSUHIRO , TSUJIKAWA TOMOYUKI , FUJIYAMA YOSHIHIDE , BAMBA TADAO 
Published: December 2004

AbstractBackground and Aim: Not only biosynthesis, but also uptake from the intestinal lumen, are important polyamine sources. However, there has been no information regarding dynamic polyamine transport in the small intestine. We evaluated polyamine uptake from the small intestine using a rat ex vivo model.Methods: The organ block consisting of the small intestine and blood vessels was used. The isolated small intestine was placed in a warmed saline bath and perfused in a non‐circulating manner via the superior mesenteric artery. Radio‐labeled putrescine, spermidine or spermine (7.4 × 104 Bq), with 1.0 mL of phosphate buffer saline (pH 7.4) was instilled into the jejunal lumen for 1 min. Blood samples from the portal vein were collected and sample radioactivity was determined. In another experiment, an immunohistochemical study of polyamine was performed.Results: After 14C‐polyamine instillation, radioactivity in the portal vein samples immediately increased and then decreased gradually. The absorptive pattern did not differ among the three polyamines. The recovery rates from radioactivity at the portal vein among the three polyamines were approximately 61–76% during the initial 10 min after the administration of 14C‐polyamine, and were not different from each other. Aminoguanidine, which inhibits putrescine degradation, significantly suppressed initial putrescine uptake and recovery percentage. The intraluminal administration of spermine caused an increase in the immunoreactivity of the spermine antibody in the intestinal villi.Conclusion: Luminal polyamines were rapidly absorbed by the intestinal mucosa and then subsequently transferred into the portal vein using a rat ex vivo model. The prior administration of aminoguanidine significantly inhibited initial putrescine transport into the portal vein.© 2003 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
Evidence for the critical role of interleukin‐12 but not interferon‐γ in the pathogenesis of experimental colitis in mice
Authors: TOZAWA KOTARO , HANAI HIROYUKI , SUGIMOTO KEN , BABA SATOSHI , SUGIMURA HARUHIKO , AOSHI TAIKI , UCHIJIMA MASATO , NAGATA TOSHI , KOIDE YUKIO 
Published: December 2004

AbstractBackground and Aims: The imbalance between helper T (Th)1/Th2 cytokines has been observed in human inflammatory bowel disease and various animal models. Because interleukin (IL)‐12 and interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) productions are known to be a hallmark of Th1‐dominant intestinal inflammation such as 2,4,6‐trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)‐induced colitis, we strictly addressed the roles of IFN‐γ and IL‐12 in the development of colitis, employing knockout mice with IFN‐γ receptor (IFN‐γR) or IL‐12 p40 gene disruptions and mice administered with neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against IFN‐γ or IL‐12.Methods: To induce colitis, 2.5 mg of the hapten reagent TNBS in 50% ethanol was administered into the colon. Two milligrams of rat anti‐mouse IFN‐γ mAb, rat anti‐mouse IL‐12 mAb, or control rat IgG were administered intraperitoneally into mice before TNBS administration. Change in the body weight of mice was evaluated and the degree of inflammation of the colon of these mice was investigated histologically. Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence analyses were performed to detect CD4+ T cells, macrophages and IL‐12 in TNBS‐induced colitis lesions. The profile of Th1 and Th2 cytokine expressions in colonic tissues was examined by cytokine‐specific semi‐quantitative reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR).Results: Single rectal administration of TNBS developed significant colitis in IFN‐R–/– mice and anti‐IFN‐γ mAb‐pretreated mice, as well as control wild‐type mice. Conversely, administration of TNBS produced no signs of colitis in IL‐12 p40–/– and anti‐IL‐12 mAb‐pretreated mice.Conclusions: IL‐12, but not IFN‐γ, plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of TNBS‐induced colitis.© 2003 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
Intestinal barrier: An interface between health and disease
Authors: FARHADI ASHKAN , BANAN ALI , FIELDS JEREMY , KESHAVARZIAN ALI 
Published: December 2004

Abstract The intestine constitutes the largest interface between a person and his or her environment, and an intact intestinal barrier is thus essential in maintaining health and preventing tissue injury and several diseases. The intestinal barrier has various immunological and non‐immunological components. The epithelial barrier is one of the most important non‐immunological components. Hyperpermeability of this barrier is believed to contribute to the pathogenesis of several gastrointestinal disorders including inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease and food allergy. Hence, assessing barrier integrity is of the utmost importance. One of the more quantitative gauges for this assessment is transepithelial permeability of various molecular probes, among which sugars are commonly used. Measures of intestinal permeability might also be useful as markers for assessment of prognosis and follow up in various gastrointestinal disorders. The present article is a review of the normal and abnormal functioning of the intestinal barrier, the diseases that can result from loss of barrier integrity, and some promising agents and strategies for restoring barrier normality and integrity.© 2003 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd
Modelling the effects of artificial mixing and copper sulphate dosing on phytoplankton in an Australian reservoir
Authors: Lewis David M. , Elliott J. Alex , Brookes Justin D. , Irish Anthony E. , Lambert Martin F. , Reynolds Colin S. 
Published: December 2004

AbstractAn artificially destratified reservoir was simulated with the freshwater phytoplankton model PROTECH (Phytoplankton Responses To Environmental Change). The chosen site for validation was a highly managed drinking water supply reservoir (Myponga Reservoir, South Australia). Chemical dosing using copper sulphate (CuSO4) and artificial mixing via an aerator and two raft‐mounted mechanical surface mixers (hereafter referred to as surface mixers) are used at Myponga to manage water quality, in particular the threat of cyanobacteria growth. The phytoplankton community was adequately modelled and showed that the community was dominated by species tolerant of low light doses (R‐type strategists). The light limitation in the water body was found to be the controlling factor on phytoplankton succession. Subsequently, small fast‐growing species and larger motile phytoplankton (C and CS‐type, respectively) do not have the opportunity to dominate under all simulated conditions, diminishing the need for CuSO4 dosing. These simulations demonstrated that the individual and combined impact of the management strategies reduces the total algal biomass, but have minimal effect upon phytoplankton functional‐type succession, and R‐type species continued to dominate under all simulated scenarios. It was concluded that, due to the light‐limitation and current nutrient availability in Myponga Reservoir, the probability of persistent populations of undesirable scum‐forming cyanobacteria is minimal, even in the absence of artificial control.
Lake management in Italy: the implications of the Water Framework Directive
Authors: Premazzi G. , Dalmiglio A. , Cardoso A. C. , Chiaudani G. 
Published: December 2004

AbstractThis paper constitutes the first consideration of the implications of the lake management in Italy arising from the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), in comparison to the provisions of existing national legislation. As a matter of fact, the Italian decrees anticipated the principles of the WFD and have substantially modified the legislation in the field of water in Italy. Important changes were introduced, both in the monitoring systems and in the classification methods for surface waters. The environmental quality status will be determined not only by monitoring the aqueous matrix, but also the sediment and the biota. The new WFD is the major piece of European Union (EU) legislation with environment at its core; it will guide the efforts for attaining a sustainable aquatic environment in the years to come. In the WFD one can see elements from all the different forces that guided the reform of EU water policy: environmental protection, deregulation and subsidiarity. Moreover, elements of the economic instruments approach (introduction of the cost recovery principle), quantitative concerns (setting of minimum flow objectives for rivers and abstraction limits for ground waters) and the quest for integration (river basin management with representation of all stakeholders) are all reflected in the WFD. The paper summarizes the present condition of the most important lakes in the Italian lake district and also highlights the case of Lake Varese, representing a unique case of lake management in Italy. Preliminary results show that there are very few examples dealing with the elements thought appropriate to lake water assessment as required by the WFD. The application of the objectives of the type specified is a largely unknown issue.
Albumin fragments in normal rat urine are derived from rapidly degraded filtered albumin
Authors: CLAVANT Steven P , GREIVE Kerryn A , NIKOLOVSKI Julijana , REEVE Shane , SMITH A Ian , COMPER Wayne D 
Published: December 2004

SUMMARY: Filtered albumin is excreted as a heterogeneous population of albumin‐derived molecules resulting from degradation during renal passage. In order to understand the dynamics of this degradation process, albumin clearance was studied over a short‐term (minutes) and a long‐term (7 days) by both radioactivity and radioimmunoassay. The radiolabelled material in the urine was also analysed extensively by using size exclusion chromatography, size selective filtration and high performance liquid chromatography. These studies demonstrate that during renal passage, albumin degradation to fragments in the size range of 500–10 000 occurs in a matter of minutes. The fragments are not detected by using radioimmunoassay. Steady state excretion rates or fractional clearance of radiolabelled albumin occur over a similar time period. Both rates of degradation and approach to steady‐state clearance, while rapid, were considerably slower than the transit time for molecules in the Bowman's capsule and early tubular lumen. The results are consistent with an extremely rapid lysosomal uptake of filtered albumin, and degradation and regurgitation of the albumin‐derived peptide fragments into the tubular lumen prior to excretion.
Transcultural nursing in Australian nursing curricula
Authors: Pinikahana Jaya , Manias Elizabeth , Happell Brenda 
Published: December 2004

AbstractAs a result of the fact that Australia is a multicultural society with many people who come from non‐English speaking backgrounds (NESB), the objective of the present study was to discuss the extent to which transcultural nursing education is incorporated into undergraduate nursing curricula. A survey was undertaken to determine the availability of nursing modules for undergraduate nursing students through Australian university websites on ‘transcultural nursing’ or related modules. Although the inclusion of these modules into nursing education provide an opportunity for nurses to perceive and respond to different patient behaviors in multicultural societies, it is not sufficient to understand the complexity of the health care needs of a multicultural society. The survey findings suggest that many universities have not included transcultural nursing modules in their nursing curricula. To address this problem, more transcultural nursing modules need to be introduced into nursing curricula and nursing academics need to refine their attitudes about the importance of cultural aspects of patient care within nursing education.
Use of intravenous immunoglobulins as an adjunct in the conservative management of chylothorax
Authors: H. FRCSA(I)  , PAES M. L. , HAYNES S. 
Published: December 2004

SummaryTwo children who developed chylothorax after surgery for congenital heart disease are presented. The conservative management of chylothorax is reviewed and the use of immunoglobulins in the treatment of sepsis is discussed. One patient survived.
A rare case of upper airway obstruction in an infant caused by basal encephalocele complicating facial midline deformity
Authors: SHIMIZU TOMOAKI , KITAMURA SEIJI , KINOUCHI KEIKO , FUKUMITSU KAZUO 
Published: December 2004

SummaryA four‐month‐old male infant with basal encephalocele of the transsphenoidal type presented with upper airway obstruction and facial midline deformity, including cleft lip, cleft palate, hypertelorism and exophthalmos. Basal encephalocele is a rare disease, and usually not detectable from the outside. In this case, initially the cause of an upper airway obstruction was considered to be posterior rhinostenosis, and posterior rhinoplasty with inferior nasal conchectomy was scheduled. However, in preoperative examination, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a bony defect in the sphenoidal bone and a cystic mass in communication with cerebrospinal fluid, herniating into the nasal cavity through the bony defect. The mass was diagnosed as a transsphenoidal encephalocele, the scheduled operation cancelled, and tracheostomy performed for airway management. The possibility of basal encephalocele should be considered in the case of upper airway obstruction with facial midline deformity.
Can a dose of 2μg??kg−1> caudal clonidine cause respiratory depression in neonates?
Authors: BRESCHAN CHRISTIAN , KRUMPHOLZ RUTH , LIKAR RUDOLF , KRASCHL RAIMUND , SCHALK HANNES V. 
Published: December 2004

SummaryA case of multiple life‐threatening postoperative apnoeas in a term neonate undergoing inguinal herniorrhaphy and orchidopexy who received light inhalation anaesthesia combined with caudal block with 1 ml.kg‐1 ropivacaine 0.2% plus 2 μg??kg−1 clonidine is reported. The patient showed no apparent risk factors for postanaesthetic apnoea. Oxycardiorespirography five days after surgery only showed minor abnormalities. Clonidine though administered caudally in the usual dose of 2 μg??kg‐1 appeared to be the most likely cause for postanaesthetic apnoea in this neonate.
Gadow's contribution to our philosophical interpretation of nursing
Authors: Bishop Anne H. , Scudder Jr John R. 
Published: December 2004

AbstractSally Gadow influenced our work when we first began exploring the meaning of nursing philosophically. In this article, we discuss two major themes of Gadow's work that have influenced us: existential advocacy and treating the body objectively without reducing the patient to the moral status of an object. Our treatment of these issues is appreciative but not uncritical. We argue that existential advocacy makes an important contribution to the meaning of nursing but that it cannot be its essential meaning. We contend that Gadow, by making self‐direction the essence of care, tends to diminish the intersubjective nature of care. Then we show how Gadow recovers the intersubjective nature of care by disclosing how nurses and patients both become subjects in personal relationships, even when tending to the body objectively. We show how hermeneutic phenomenology, which we favour, can contribute to Gadow's existential phenomenology by using examples from nursing practice to disclose the meaning of nursing. Gadow's major contribution to our work has been in the ways her work has evoked creative thought from us concerning the meaning of nursing.
Gadow's relational narrative: an elaboration
Authors: Hess Joanne D. 
Published: December 2004

AbstractNurse philosopher Sally Gadow (1999) has proposed the relational narrative between patient and nurse as a ‘postmodern turn’ for nursing ethics. She has conceptualized this moral approach as the construction by patient and nurse of a coauthored narrative describing the good they are seeking, as well as the means to achieve this good. The purpose of this article is to provide an elaboration of Gadow's seminal conceptualization of relational narrative based on her writings and those of other philosophers. The article will further develop relational narrative's foundations in relationship and narrative and will explore engagement as a dimension essential to its creation and growth. The elaboration first builds on the notion of relationship as foundational to this postmodern moral perspective. Narrative then is advanced as being at the heart of the patient–nurse relationship and their relational narrative, based on an exploration of narrative's role in the moral realm as an epistemology for patient and nurse. Finally, the dialogic and embodied engagement expressed by a relational narrative is developed as a critical element of the ethic.
Cultivating a worldly repose: the contribution of Sally Gadow's work to interpretive inquiry
Authors: McIntyre Marjorie 
Published: December 2004

AbstractThis paper discusses the contribution that the work of Sally Gadow makes to understandings of interpretive inquiry and it's potential to inform and influence nursing practice, research, and education. The discussion draws on several of Gadow's published works that make explicit her understandings of what it means to be interpretive, to be open to multiple truths, to hear multiple voices, to have a history, to be experienced, and to recognize agency in language. Situating this discussion of Gadow's contribution in opposition to a metaphysics of genius is intended to move our understanding of particular work past the subjectivity that produced it, past the subjectivized responses to the work, past the reporting on myself – my thoughts, my perspectives, my experiences – to explore, to see the worthwhileness or even the possibilities of exploring the work itself and the worlds it evokes. This paper is a deliberate attempt to disrupt the call to the author to save us from the task of interpreting the questions that the work itself places us under. Gadow's work itself points us away from a valorization of the voice of the author of the work, a single voice, and towards a cultivation of a worldly repose where each interpretive account points us to some longstanding whole to which the work belongs and from which it gains its sense and significance.
The relational narrative: implications for nurse practice and education
Authors: Romyn Donna M. 
Published: December 2004

AbstractNurses frequently encounter situations in which they are compelled to make ethical decisions about what is good and right to do in their day‐to‐day practice. Often existing moral edicts prove to be inadequate in light of the patient's particular circumstances. To what, then, can the nurse turn? In response to this question, Gadow (1999) proposes a dialectical framework comprised of three ethical approaches: subjective immersion (ethical immediacy), objective detachment (ethical universalism), and intersubjective engagement (relational narrative). In this paper, the dialectic framework proposed by Gadow (1999) is examined with respect to some of its potential implications for nursing practice and education. This endeavour is undertaken in the spirit of extending the dialogue that Gadow has so eloquently initiated. Questions related to whether it is possible (or necessary) to reconcile the contradictory tenets of these ethical approaches or the potential disjunction between the knowledge embedded in the relational narrative and ensuing action on the part of the nurse are discussed. In addition, some of the potential implications of this dialectical framework for nurse education are explored, including the question of how nurses learn to enter into a relational narrative with another and the relevance of relational narratives to teacher–student relationships.