bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Management of biliary tract complications after orthotopic liver transplantation
Authors: Thethy Sanjeet , Thomson Benjamin NJ , Pleass Henry , Wigmore Stephen J , Madhavan Krishnakumar , Akyol Murat , Forsythe John LR , James Garden O 
Published: October 2004

Abstract: Introduction: Despite improved survival, biliary complications remain a significant cause of morbidity following orthotopic liver transplantation. The aim of this study was to review the incidence, treatment and optimum management pathway of biliary complications at the Scottish Liver Transplant Unit.Materials and methods: All patient data were collected prospectively onto a database at the Scottish Liver Transplant Unit with review of hospital records for validation.Results: A total of 379 consecutive orthotopic liver transplants were performed in 333 adult patients between November 1992 and September 2001. Biliary complications occurred in 55 grafts (51 patients) (14.6%) and their incidence decreased with time. Biliary complications occurred in 29 (10.9%) of the 265 choledocho‐choledochostomies compared with 14 (25%) of the 56 with T‐tubes. Twenty‐eight biliary leaks occurred, 22 of which were anastomotic. Seventeen anastomotic leaks were successfully treated non‐operatively. Eight patients with biliary leaks subsequently developed an anastomotic stricture. Of the 30 anastomotic strictures, stent insertion was successful in resolving six of 14 (42%) early anastomotic strictures compared with one of 12 (8%) late anastomotic strictures (p = 0.0479). Six (38%) of the 16 early anastomotic strictures required surgery for complete resolution, compared with 12 (86%) of the 14 late anastomotic strictures (p = 0.0106).Conclusion: The incidence of biliary complications has decreased with time. The abandonment of choledocho‐choledochostomy over a T‐tube has been justified. A combination of conservative, endoscopic, and radiological management has been effective in treating biliary leaks and early anastomotic stricture. However endoscopic or radiological stenting was ineffective in the management of late anastomotic strictures, which were best treated by surgical intervention.
Cyclosporine pharmacokinetics in anti‐HCV+ patients
Authors: Wolffenbüttel Luciano , Poli Débora D , Manfro Roberto C , Gonçalves Luiz Felipe S 
Published: October 2004

Abstract: Background: Cyclosporine (CsA) is a widely used immunosuppressive agent in kidney transplant patients. In Brazil, around 30% of patients awaiting kidney transplantation carry anti‐HCV antibodies. Previous observations suggest altered CsA pharmacokinetics in these patients.Methods: We conducted two pharmacokinetic studies. In the pre‐transplant (pre‐Tx) study, we examined 22 dialysis patients on chronic hemodialysis awaiting transplantation, 11 anti‐HCV+ [seven polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐positive] matched against 11 controls. In the post‐transplant (post‐Tx) study, we enrolled 24 kidney allograft recipients – 10 anti‐HCV+ (six PCR‐positive), and 14 controls. In the first study, all patients received an 8‐mg/kg dose of CsA microemulsion (ME). Secondly, the dosage was indicated by the patient's medical team. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated from 13 blood samples (0–12 h postdose) by fluorescence polarization immunoassay with specific monoclonal antibodies.Results: In both studies, maximum concentration (Cmax), minimum concentration (Cmin) and area under the CsA time–concentration curve from 0 to 12 h (AUC0−12) were higher for anti‐HCV+ patients than for controls, but significantly so only forAUC0−12in the pre‐Tx study (42%; p < 0.05). When PCR‐positive patients were compared with controls, differences were amplified. In the pre‐Tx study, differences were 58%, 69%, and 91% higher in PCR‐positive patients forCmax(p = 0.05),AUC0−12(p < 0.01), andCmin(p < 0.01), respectively. In the post‐Tx study, results were 50% (p < 0.01) and 32% (p < 0.01) higher in PCR‐positive patients forCmaxandAUC0−12, respectively. In the pre‐Tx study, the impact of viremia was significantly higher in female patients. CsA trough levels remained higher along the first year post‐transplantation in viremic patients.Conclusions: Anti‐HCV+ patients, especially those with viremia, present altered CsA pharmacokinetics, with higher peak levels and drug exposure than controls.
Spinal epidural lipomatosis following haploidentical allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for non‐Hodgkin lymphoma
Authors: Resnick Igor B , Gomori John M , Kiselgoff David , Lossos Alex , Zilberman Irina , Miron Svetlana , Bitan Menachem , Or Reuven , Slavin Shimon , Shapira Michael Y 
Published: October 2004

Abstract:  Objectives:  Spinal epidural lipomatosis, is a very rare condition, usually seen as an uncommon complication of Cushing's syndrome secondary to chronic steroid therapy leading to increased fat deposits in the epidural space.Case report:  We report the first documented case of acute symptomatic spinal epidural lipomatosis in a patient with relapsed non‐Hodgkin lymphoma. The patient underwent an allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and a month of steroid treatment for acute graft vs. host disease (GvHD). He presented with a mild to moderate Cushing's syndrome and minimal obesity. He progressed rapidly to paraparesis, sensory deficit, urinary incontinence and finally respiratory arrest complicated with staphylococcal sepsis.Conclusion:  Epidural lipomatosis, with subacute thecal sac compression, is a possible life‐threatening complication of relatively short‐term systemic glucocorticoid therapy for GvHD in BMT setting.
Platelet aggregation is significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality in elderly patients
Authors: Kin Kyoko , Iwamoto Toshihiko , Kanaya Kiyoshi , Takasaki Masaru 
Published: October 2004

Background:  The relationship between cardiovascular mortality and platelet function in elderly patients remains unclear.Methods:  The outcomes for 347 consecutive patients aged 60 or older (mean age 77.5 years; 161 men and 186 women) who were treated without antiplatelet drugs on registration, were retrospectively studied after platelet aggregatability tests. The grading curve (GC) type, as an index of platelet aggregatability, was determined with an aggregometer and adenosine‐5′‐diphosphate as an agonist. Patients were classified into three groups according to GC type: Group I with suppressed aggregation (n = 40); Group II, normal aggregation (n = 208); and Group III, increased aggregation (n = 99). The mean follow‐up was 3.9 years.Results:  There were three deaths in Group I, 33 in Group II, and 30 in Group III. The mean annual mortality rate was 2.1% in Group I, 4.0% in Group II and 7.5% in Group III. Although the most common cause of death was pneumonia in all three groups, the annual mortality rates due to vascular events were 0.7% in Group I, 0.6% in Group II and 4.2% in Group III. Cox proportional hazards models for vascular death yielded a hazard ratio of 1.5 in the increased GC type.Conclusion:  These findings indicated that elderly patients with accelerated aggregation had higher mortality rates due to vascular events. Therefore, accelerated aggregation in the elderly suggested not only the progress of arteriosclerosis, but indications of antiplatelet therapy to prevent vascular events.
White matter changes in early‐onset Alzheimer's disease brains
Authors: Umahara Takahiko , Tsuchiya Kuniaki , Kiuchi Akihiro , Kanaya Kiyoshi , Iwamoto Toshihiko , Takasaki Masaru 
Published: October 2004

Background:  The pathogenesis of white matter changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not completely clear.Methods:  We histologically and immunohistochemically examined white matter lesions in 11 brains with early onset Alzheimer's disease.Results:  All 11 early onset AD brains had subcortical white‐matter pale lesions, but corpus callosum and optic radiation fibers were relatively well preserved. Some cases had severe white matter atrophy in the temporal lobe, and this is one cause of lateral ventricle inferior horn enlargement. Five of the 11 cases had white‐matter lesions without vascular changes, causing ischemic changes. It was difficult to clarify whether or not white‐matter changes were caused by secondary degeneration due to neuronal loss (Wallerian degeneration), because we could not explain why secondary degeneration occurred only in subcortical white matter excluding communicating fibers. Subcortical white‐matter beta protein deposits may not be associated with white‐matter lesions, because those beta deposits are located at marginal zones, while the myelin sheaths of those zones were relatively preserved.Conclusion:  We believe that some AD brains had definite white‐matter lesions without ischemic changes.
Association of a single‐nucleotide polymorphism in the promoter region of leukemia inhibitory factor receptor gene with low bone mineral density in adult women
Authors: Sudo Yoshihiro , Ezura Yoichi , Ishida Ryota , Kajita Mitsuko , Yoshida Hideyo , Suzuki Takao , Hosoi Takayuki , Inoue Satoshi , Shiraki Masataka , Orimo Hajime , Ito Hiromoto , Emi Mitsuru 
Published: October 2004

Background:  Osteoporosis is believed to result from the interaction among multiple environmental and genetic determinants that regulate bone‐mineral density (BMD).Methods:  To investigate a potentially predisposing genetic factor in the onset of osteoporosis, we looked for a possible association between BMD in adult Japanese women and known polymorphisms in the leukemia inhibitory factor receptor gene (LIFR).Results:  An association analysis of chromosomes from 384 volunteer subjects revealed significant correlation between the −603T > C variant of LIFR and radial BMD (r = 0.11, P = 0.032) in this test population. Comparisons of mean values of adjusted radial BMD among separate genotypic groups implied an allelic dosage effect, because homozygous carriers of T alleles of that SNP had the highest adjusted BMDs (0.403 ± 0.054 g/cm2); women homozygous for the C‐allele had the lowest (0.373 ± 0.042 g/cm2), and heterozygous individuals had intermediate scores (0.394 ± 0.056 g/cm2).Conclusion:  This polymorphism in LIFR may be an important determinant of predisposition to postmenopausal osteoporosis.
Integration planning for technology intensive acquisitions
Authors: Bannert Valerie , Tschirky Hugo 
Published: October 2004

Rapid technological change, growing technological complexity and shortening product life cycles increasingly force companies to source technologies externally. One means of building up competencies and fostering innovation based on external resources such as knowledge is through the acquisition of technology‐based companies. However as literature and practice have shown, technologically motivated and intensive acquisitions are highly vulnerable to failure. One of the main reasons for this value destruction lies in the miscarried and inappropriate integration of the technology‐based company after the acquisition.Based on eight in‐depth case studies on technology intensive acquisitions in multi‐national technology‐based companies this paper aims to identify the main causes of failure in internalizing external knowledge during the integration of technology intensive acquisitions. It was derived that a lack of integrative decision‐making, of systemic processes and of a holistic change of both companies during the integration hinders successful knowledge sourcing through acquisitions. Based on these findings, a concept for integration planning which is tailored towards the specific characteristics of technology intensive acquisitions is proposed. This concept is embedded in the acquisition process and encompasses the development of an appropriate integration strategy and the determination, assessment and planning of the required integration projects thus fostering successful knowledge sourcing.
Implementing industrial sustainability: the research issues in technology management
Authors: Paramanathan Subashini , Farrukh Clare , Phaal Rob , Probert David 
Published: October 2004

This paper ties together issues in the implementation of industrial sustainability and the contribution that technology management research has to offer. The idea of sustainability seems to be slowly attracting more attention. Discussion occurs not only amongst world governments, academics and NGOs, but also in industry. Industrial sustainability now appears to be moving up the management agenda in many organisations. Corporate reputation and shareholder value may be at stake for organisations which cannot demonstrate a rational position on sustainability. However, despite this increasing awareness, in practice there are a number of barriers to the implementation of industrial sustainability ideas. For a start, it is unclear what industrial sustainability means in practical terms. The business case for implementation is often built on individual conviction or motivational case examples, rather than being grounded in solid theory with associated frameworks, guidelines and tools. Particular challenges facing organisations include the choice of appropriate product and process technologies, lifecycle valuation techniques, changing employee and other stakeholder mindsets, and possibly most importantly, creating a new business model altogether.In light of these issues, this paper sets out to review the contribution that technology management research can make towards the effective implementation of industrial sustainability. Considerations include the cross‐functional and cross‐organisational issues of implementation – bringing together various business units and functions within a company, and the many players in a supply chain, with the goal of improving environmental, social and economic performance in parallel. There is a need to develop new methods for technology valuation which integrate the concept of triple bottom line accountability and existing technology strategy in organisations could be extended, to include the wider set of values that underpin the concepts of industrial sustainability. The critical research needs for this to be achieved are identified.
Supporting the technology‐push of a discontinuous innovation in practice
Authors: Schwery Alexander , Raurich Vicente F. 
Published: October 2004

The hydraulic power generation business is usually faced with continuous innovation, meaning that progress is rather made in small than in large steps. Nevertheless, there are currently some examples of discontinuous innovation, the Powerformer‐technology being one of them. The implying difficulties for successful innovation are internal communication and linking the technology to the most suitable markets. In order to proficiently push the Powerformer‐technology onto the markets, an appropriate procedure is identified and implemented to practice.First, a SWOT‐analysis is used for assessing the competitive product concept of this discontinuous innovation. This contributed the specific calls for action. Second, the identified procedure for leveraging this technology‐push aggregates the technology choice tool, roadmapping and a process for technology commercialization. As a result, specified market segments, a market penetration schedule as well as development and design aims were defined. This paper intends to give a practice example on how the mentioned methodologies were applied for the technology‐push of a discontinuous innovation.
The importance of internal and external R&D network linkages for R&D organisations: evidence from Singapore
Authors: Helble Yvonne , Chong Li Choy 
Published: October 2004

This paper examines the importance of internal and external R&D networks for R&D organisations of multinational firms (MNCs) in Singapore and investigates corresponding R&D management requirements in this context, namely a late‐industrialising country in Asia. A unique feature of Singapore is its ability to attract ‘high quality’ foreign direct investment, involving activities of higher value added and more complex technology without having developed full‐fledged R&D activities among its business organisations, thus creating a challenging situation for subsidiary R&D managers, both in the internal R&D organisation as well as in the external research environment. This paper analyses these issues.Based on in‐depth interviews with 53 R&D subsidiaries of MNCs operating in Singapore, this paper identifies internal and external R&D management needs. Through our analysis of data gleaned from these interviews, we found that subsidiary R&D managers need to increase and/or maintain the strategic importance of their R&D site internally within their global corporate R&D organisation. This requires constant upgrading of the technological level at the R&D subsidiary and intense communication with headquarters as well as other R&D subsidiaries. Furthermore, our findings indicate that in the external research environment, subsidiary R&D managers need to create an efficient local network of external players. If these internal and external issues are properly addressed, the R&D subsidiary can effectively contribute to the corporate R&D organisation and be a critical partner in the local research network. Lessons learned from the Singapore experience include the need to develop sufficient local expertise as well as to change the mindset of managers to focus on creativity rather than precise execution.
Progressive Lending as an Enforcement Mechanism in Microfinance Programs
Authors: Egli Dominik 
Published: October 2004

AbstractMicrofinance programs are often characterized by progressive lending. A typical borrower receives at first very small amounts, which increase with good repayment conduct. The author rationalizes this feature of microfinance. It is shown that there is a strong tendency to split up projects into subprojects, and that it might be necessary to perform less productive projects first in order to keep pressure on the borrower to repay.
Measuring Poverty Reduction and Targeting Performance Under Multiple Government Programs
Authors: Makdissi Paul , Wodon Quentin 
Published: October 2004

AbstractEvaluation of the poverty impact and targeting performance of a given social program may depend on how other programs are treated in the analysis. Using well‐known results from cooperative game theory, this paper proposes an empirically simple yet theoretically sound method for allocating between various programs the overall poverty reduction obtained from a set of programs, and for assessing the targeting performance of each program.
Wages and Other Determinants of Corruption
Authors: Sosa Luis A. 
Published: October 2004

AbstractRaising wages has commonly been viewed as an anticorruption policy by policymakers from both governments and multilateral development organizations. Conventional wisdom and recent theoretical work suggest that low wages encourage corruption. Nevertheless, the empirical studies done on the wage– corruption tradeoff are econometric estimates that find no conclusive support for the effectiveness of increasing wages as an anticorruption measure. The unique contributions of this paper are the application of an expected utility model to explain the emergence of corruption, and the use of comparative static results that are consistent with the empirical evidence and useful for the design of anticorruption policies. The most important result from the expected utility model is that anticorruption policies designed to increase the net income of potentially corrupt agents not only may be ineffective but may actually encourage corruption.
Exchange Rate Volatility and Macroeconomic Performance in Hong Kong
Authors: Crosby Mark 
Published: October 2004

AbstractThe paper presents evidence on whether Hong Kong’s currency board arrangement, in place since 1983, has affected the volatility of real macroeconomic variables. Simple evidence on the relative volatilities of relevant macroeconomic variables before and after 1983 is presented, before a more formal econometric framework is utilized to examine the linkages between the exchange rate and the real economy. It is found that the currency board period has been one of relative stability in Hong Kong, though it has also been a period where external factors have been relatively benign. Even after controlling for the external environment, it is found that the currency board period is one of low macroeconomic volatility.
Poverty, Growth, and Redistribution: a Study of Iran
Authors: Assadzadeh Ahmad , Paul Satya 
Published: October 2004

AbstractThe paper examines changes in the extent of poverty in Iran in the period 1983 to 1993. More specifically, it investigates the contributions of growth and redistribution factors to changes in poverty over this period of ten years. The analysis is based on household‐level data relating to three Household Income and Expenditures Surveys of 1983, 1988, and 1993. The study reveals that the extent of poverty in the rural sector declined slightly, whereas in the urban sector it increased significantly. Decomposition of changes in poverty into growth and redistribution components indicates that in each sector the redistribution component was positive, implying that the deterioration of income inequality contributed to the worsening of poverty. The growth component, however, affected the two sectors differently: it contributed to a reduction in poverty in rural areas and an increase in urban areas.
Metropolitan comparisons: London as a city-state*
Authors: Keene Derek 
Published: October 2004

Abstract
This article explores ideas associated with the term ‘metropolis’, especially when used concerning London, and then takes the notion of the city-state as a heuristic device to identify recurrent and fundamental characteristics of this particular metropolis. The comparisons are between successive phases in London's history, including the present; between London and other metropolises; and between London and that elusive ideal type, the ‘city-state’.
St. Giles' church and Charles I's coronation visit to Scotland
Authors: Shaw Dougal 
Published: October 2004

Abstract
In the seventeenth century, St. Giles' was Edinburgh's main church, located, where it still stands today, at the heart of the capital. Yet, during the course of protracted negotiations between 1628 and 1633, Charles and his Scottish privy council vacillated over the suitability of St. Giles' as a venue for the monarch's impending coronation. It remained the favourite in the running until a late stage, before ultimately losing out to Holyrood abbey. This article reconstructs and analyses the story of the church's rejection. It suggests that a caucus of influential Edinburgh citizens mounted a negative campaign to resist the church's selection, anticipating the Caroline court's favoured brand of religious ceremonial. An analysis of Edinburgh's political infrastructure, empowered by absentee monarchy, underpins this reading. It is further substantiated in the closing part of the article by an account of the events that took place at St. Giles' in the immediate aftermath of the coronation. The article concludes by discussing how this particular case study confirms and confounds different strands of early modern British historiography.
How ‘cod war’ came: the origins of the Anglo-Icelandic fisheries dispute, 1958–61*
Authors: Jóhannesson Gudni Thorlacius 
Published: October 2004

Abstract
This article describes the origins of the first ‘cod war’ between Britain and Iceland in 1958–61. First, it examines the underlying factors which made it very likely that a fishing dispute of some kind would break out between the two countries. Second, it describes the actual events of 1958, when the Icelanders extended their fishing limits to twelve nautical miles and the Royal Navy was sent to protect British trawlers from harassment by Icelandic gunboats. The article is based on archival sources in Britain, Iceland, the United States, Canada, Norway and Denmark.