bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Role of uterine artery velocimetry using color‐flow Doppler and electromyography of uterus in prediction of preterm labor
Authors: Agarwal Neera , Suneja Amita , Arora Sunita , Tandon Om Prakash , Sircar Sabyasachi 
Published: November 2004

AbstractAim:  To evaluate the role of Doppler waveforms of uterine vessels and electromyography (EMG) of the uterus in predicting preterm labor.Methods:  One hundred ante‐natal women at ≥24 weeks of gestation who fulfilled the selection criteria were included in the study. A single Doppler recording for bilateral uterine vessels was taken at ≥26 weeks gestation using the transvaginal route. Transabdominal EMG of the uterus was recorded serially at 4‐week intervals from 24 weeks until delivery or until 37 weeks were completed.Results:  Women with a sensation of heaviness in the lower abdomen during pregnancy had a significant association with preterm delivery. Of the three Doppler indices, the systolic/diastolic ratio and the resistivity index of uterine vessels were found to have a sensitivity as high as 83–95% for the prediction of preterm labor. The electrical activity of uterine musculature, as recorded using EMG, showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the electrical activity recorded for the two groups at 31 weeks and later, while the duration of burst activity was significantly longer in the preterm group at 26 weeks and later.Conclusions:  Patients with a dull aching sensation in the lower abdomen should not be neglected. Doppler of the uterine vessels and EMG of the uterus could prove to be a good predictor of preterm labor.
Self‐Doubt: Why We are not Identical to Things of Any Kind
Authors: Persson Ingmar 
Published: November 2004

AbstractThere are two fundamental aspects of the notion of a self: (i) it is the owner of one’s experiences, that to which one’s experiences are properly attributed, and (ii) it perceives itself. (ii) is a condition on the self’s being capable of attributing experiences to itself or being introspectively aware of its experiences, which constitutes a third, higher‐order aspect of the self. I claim that it is a common sense assumption, enshrined in the use of ‘I’, that one’s body satisfies the first two aspects. I then argue that these two aspects are not really satisfied by one’s body, which is essentially a human organism. Nor are they satisfied by anything of any other kind. So we are not identical to things of any kind, since one can be identical only to that which is one’s self or is the referent of one’s uses of ‘I’.
Transcendence of the Ego (The Non‐Existent Knight)
Authors: Fraassen Bas C. van 
Published: November 2004

AbstractI exist, but I am not a thing among things; X exists if and only if there is something such that it=X. This is consistent, and it is a view that can be supported. Calvino’s novel The Non‐Existent Knight can be read so as to illustrate this view. But what is my relation to the things there are if I am not identical with any of them – things such as my arms, my garden, the city I live in? I name this the Gurduloo problem, after the Knight’s page. This relation must be one that admits of degrees; I suggest that we say that I manifest myself through the things thus associated with me. Several pseudo‐problems, pertaining to volitional action, supervenience, observability, and the emergence of consciousness, dissolve upon inspection.
Regulating a Monopolist with Unknown Demand: Costly Public Funds and the Value of Private Information
Authors: Aguirre Iñaki , Beitia Arantza 
Published: November 2004

AbstractIn this paper, we analyze the optimal regulation policy when the regulated firm has better information concerning the market demand than the regulator. We show that introducing a cost on public funds into the Planner's objective function does not lead to qualitative results similar to those obtained by introducing distributional considerations. In particular we show that under constant marginal cost the full information policy is not implementable and that the optimal regulatory policy results in informational rents. The social value of private information and the firm's informational rents are both increasing functions of the cost of the public funds.
Optimal Policy with Tradable and Bankable Pollution Permits: Taking the Market Microstructure into Account
Authors: Germain Marc , Van Steenberghe Vincent , Magnus Alphonse 
Published: November 2004

AbstractThis paper analyzes how the way emission permits are traded—their market microstructure—affects the optimal policy to be adopted by the environmental agency. The microstructure used is one of a quote driven market type, which characterizes many financial markets. Market makers act as intermediaries for trading the permits by setting an ask price and a bid price. The possibility of bank permits is also introduced in our dynamic two‐period model. We consider two models whether the market makers are perfectly informed about the technology of the producers or not. When the market makers have complete information, the equilibrium price of permits is the same as if the market is walrasian. When they are imperfectly informed, they may set a positive spread between bid and ask permit prices, which creates some inefficiency as the marginal abatement costs of polluters do not equalize. By allowing more flexibility in the use of the permits, banking may reduce the spread. Moreover, it may introduce price rigidities due to intertemporal arbitrage. In this framework, the circumstances under which banking should be allowed or not depend crucially on the evolution of the marginal willingness to pay for the environment.
Are Diagnostic Lumbar Facet Injections Influenced by Pain of Muscular Origin?
Authors: Ackerman William E. , Munir Muhammad A. , Zhang Jun‐Ming , Ghaleb Ahmed 
Published: November 2004

AbstractIntroduction:  Nonradicular low back pain can be a difficult entity to accurately diagnose and treat. Facet joints, muscle, ligaments, and fascia have all been reported to be etiologies of acute and chronic low back pain. However, the facet joint as a source of low back pain is controversial. The diagnosis of facet joint pain is made by diagnostic facet joint or median nerve branch injections with a local anesthetic. The purpose of this study was to determine if the results of diagnostic facet joint injections are influenced by the technique used to perform these injections.Methods:  Seventy‐five male patients aged 45 years or younger and 18 years or older who were injured while performing heavy work with nonradicular low back pain were included in this study. Diagnostic injection therapy was performed following Institutional Review Board approval and the patient's informed consent. Patients were assigned to one of five groups to receive diagnostic injections in a double‐blinded fashion as follows: Group I: facet joint injection with continuous lidocaine administration from the skin to the facet joint as the needle was advanced; Group II: facet joint injection with saline administration from the skin to the facet joint as the needle was advanced; Group III: median nerve branch injection with a lidocaine advancing needle technique; Group IV: median nerve branch injection with saline advancing needle technique; and Group V: injection of the paraspinous muscles with local anesthetic and steroid following noted areas of pain diagnosed with saline injection and radiopaque contrast. After one week, the patients in Groups I to IV who had no pain relief with facet joint or median nerve block injections subsequently received paraspinous muscle injections, while the patients in Group V who had no long‐term relief with muscle injections were given facet joint injections. The appropriate parametric and nonparametric tests were performed with statistical significance defined as P ≤ 0.05.Results:  There were no differences among the groups demographically. The incidence of pain relief was significantly higher in subjects who had a continuous injection of local anesthetic into their musculature than in those individuals who received continuous saline followed by an injection of local anesthetic into their facet joint or median nerve branch.Discussion:  The results of this study demonstrated that local anesthetic injections are useful for the diagnosis of nonradicular low back pain but may yield false positive results with respect to lumbar facet pain depending upon the technique utilized.
Anchoring of Suboccipital Lead: Case Report and Technical Note
Authors: Gofeld Michael 
Published: November 2004

Abstract:  Suboccipital stimulation is a relatively new method of neuromodulation for treatment of intractable occipital headache and occipital neuralgia.The most common complication besides an infection is a lead displacement. Anchoring of a lead at the entry place partially solves the problem. Migration of electrode's tip is a major problem so far.A case report of electrode migration and a technique of retrograde lead insertion and subcutaneous anchoring of the tip by means of contralateral incision and suturing of lead is described.
Improving management for higher reproduction accelerates genetic improvement in closed herd of swine
Authors: SATOH Masahiro 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTThe present study compared responses to selection at different conception rates and litter sizes at weaning in a simulated closed herd in a swine breeding program. The base population consisted of 10 males and 50 females, and 10 generations of selection was practiced by using individual phenotype or best linear unbiased prediction of breeding values for a trait with heritability (h2) of either 0.2 or 0.5. The probability of conception in a single mating was assumed to be 0.8, 0.9 or 1.0. Litter size at weaning was sampled randomly from a normal distribution with mean 8, 10 or 12 and variance 8.1225. Genetic response increased by approximately 6% for h2 = 0.2 and approximately 5% for h2 = 0.5 at generation 10 when conception rate was increased from 0.8 to 1.0. However, litter size at weaning did not affect response to selection. In conclusion, improving conception rate by environmental management increases genetic response indirectly in a breeding program of a closed swine herd.
Increased expression of the Abcg2 transporter during erythroid maturation plays a role in decreasing cellular protoporphyrin IX levels
Authors: Zhou Sheng , Zong Yang , Ney Paul A. , Nair Geeta , Stewart Clinton F. , Sorrentino Brian P. 
Published: November 2004

AbstractABCG2/BCRP is a member of the adenosine triphosphate–binding cassette (ABC) transporter family and is expressed in intestine, kidney, and liver, where it modulates the absorption and excretion of xenobiotic compounds. ABCG2 is also expressed in hematopoietic stem cells and erythroid cells; however, little is known regarding its role in hematopoiesis. Abcg2 null mice have increased levels of protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) in erythroid cells, yet the mechanism for this remains uncertain. We have found that Abcg2 mRNA expression was up-regulated in differentiating erythroid cells, coinciding with increased expression of other erythroid-specific genes. This expression pattern was associated with significant amounts of ABCG2 protein on the membrane of mature peripheral blood erythrocytes. Erythroid cells engineered to express ABCG2 had significantly lower intracellular levels of PPIX, suggesting the modulation of PPIX level by ABCG2. This modulating activity was abrogated by treatment with a specific ABCG2 inhibitor, Ko143, implying that PPIX may be a direct substrate for the transporter. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ABCG2 plays a role in regulating PPIX levels during erythroid differentiation and suggest a potential role for ABCG2 as a genetic determinant in erythropoietic protoporphyria.
Aspergillus fumigatus suppresses the human cellular immune response via gliotoxin-mediated apoptosis of monocytes
Authors: Stanzani Marta , Orciuolo Enrico , Lewis Russell , Kontoyiannis Dimitrios P. , Martins Sergio L. R. , St. John Lisa S. , Komanduri Krishna V. 
Published: November 2004

AbstractAspergillus fumigatus (AF) is a ubiquitous mold and is the most common cause of invasive aspergillosis, an important source of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised hosts. Using cytokine flow cytometry, we assessed the magnitude of functional CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses following stimulation with Aspergillus antigens. Relative to those seen with cytomegalovirus (CMV) or superantigen stimulation, responses to Aspergillus antigens were near background levels. Subsequently, we confirmed that gliotoxin, the most abundant mycotoxin produced by AF, was able to suppress functional T-cell responses following CMV or staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) stimulation. Additional studies demonstrated that crude AF filtrates and purified gliotoxin inhibited antigen-presenting cell function and induced the preferential death of monocytes, leading to a marked decrease in the monocyte-lymphocyte ratio. Analysis of caspase-3 activation confirmed that gliotoxin preferentially induced apoptosis of monocytes; similar effects were observed in CD83+ monocyte-derived dendritic cells. Importantly, the physiologic effects of gliotoxin in vitro were observed below concentrations recently observed in the serum of patients with invasive aspergillosis. These studies suggest that the production of gliotoxin by AF may constitute an important immunoevasive mechanism that is mediated by direct effects on antigen-presenting cells and both direct and indirect effects on T cells.
The critical role of arginine residues in the binding of human monoclonal antibodies to cardiolipin
Authors: Giles Ian , Lambrianides Nancy , Latchman David , Chen Pojen , Chukwuocha Reginald , Isenberg David , Rahman Anisur 
Published: November 2004

AbstractPreviously we reported that the variable heavy chain region (VH) of a human beta2 glycoprotein I-dependent monoclonal antiphospholipid antibody (IS4) was dominant in conferring the ability to bind cardiolipin (CL). In contrast, the identity of the paired variable light chain region (VL) determined the strength of CL binding. In the present study, we examine the importance of specific arginine residues in IS4VH and paired VL in CL binding. The distribution of arginine residues in complementarity determining regions (CDRs) of VH and VL sequences was altered by site-directed mutagenesis or by CDR exchange. Ten different 2a2 germline gene-derived VL sequences were expressed with IS4VH and the VH of an anti-dsDNA antibody, B3. Six variants of IS4VH, containing different patterns of arginine residues in CDR3, were paired with B3VL and IS4VL. The ability of the 32 expressed heavy chain/light chain combinations to bind CL was determined by ELISA. Of four arginine residues in IS4VH CDR3 substituted to serines, two residues at positions 100 and 100 g had a major influence on the strength of CL binding while the two residues at positions 96 and 97 had no effect. In CDR exchange studies, VL containing B3VL CDR1 were associated with elevated CL binding, which was reduced significantly by substitution of a CDR1 arginine residue at position 27a with serine. In contrast, arginine residues in VL CDR2 or VL CDR3 did not enhance CL binding, and in one case may have contributed to inhibition of this binding. Subsets of arginine residues at specific locations in the CDRs of heavy chains and light chains of pathogenic antiphospholipid antibodies are important in determining their ability to bind CL.
The impact of physical therapy on functional outcomes after stroke: what's the evidence?
Authors: Van Peppen R PS , Kwakkel G , Wood-Dauphinee S , Hendriks H JM , Van der Wees Ph J , Dekker J 
Published: November 2004

Objective: To determine the evidence for physical therapy interventions aimed at improving functional outcome after stroke. Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, DARE, PEDro, EMBASE and DocOnline were searched for controlled studies. Physical therapy was divided into 10 intervention categories, which were analysed separately. If statistical pooling (weighted summary effect sizes) was not possible due to lack of comparability between interventions, patient characteristics and measures of outcome, a bestresearch synthesis was performed. This best-research synthesis was based on methodological quality (PEDro score). Results: In total, 151 studies were included in this systematic review; 123 were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 28 controlled clinical trials (CCTs). Methodological quality of all RCTs had a median of 5 points on the 10-point PEDro scale (range 2–8 points). Based on high-quality RCTs strong evidence was found in favour of task-oriented exercise training to restore balance and gait, and for strengthening the lower paretic limb. Summary effect sizes (SES) for functional outcomes ranged from 0.13 (95% CI 0.03–0.23) for effects of high intensity of exercise training to 0.92 (95% CI 0.54–1.29) for improving symmetry when moving from sitting to standing. Strong evidence was also found for therapies that were focused on functional training of the upper limb such as constraint-induced movement therapy (SES 0.46; 95% CI 0.07–0.91), treadmill training with or without body weight support, respectively 0.70 (95% CI 0.29–1.10) and 1.09 (95% CI 0.56–1.61), aerobics (SES 0.39; 95% CI 0.05–0.74), external auditory rhythms during gait (SES 0.91; 95% CI 0.40–1.42) and neuromuscular stimulation for glenohumeral subluxation (SES 1.41; 95% CI 0.76–2.06). No or insufficient evidence in terms of functional outcome was found for: traditional neurological treatment approaches; exercises for the upper limb; biofeedback; functional and neuromuscular electrical stimulation aimed at improving dexterity or gait performance; orthotics and assistive devices; and physical therapy interventions for reducing hemiplegic shoulder pain and hand oedema. Conclusions: This review showed small to large effect sizes for task-oriented exercise training, in particular when applied intensively and early after stroke onset. In almost all high-quality RCTs, effects were mainly restricted to tasks directly trained in the exercise programme.
Coadministration of Gatifloxacin and Multivitamin Preparation Containing Minerals: Potential Treatment Failure in an Elderly Patient
Authors: Mallet Louise , Huang Allen 
Published: November 2004

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of probable treatment failure in a patient receiving gatifloxacin and a multivitamin preparation containing minerals. CASE SUMMARY: A 77-year-old white woman was prescribed gatifloxacin for hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia. She was also receiving calcium carbonate 500 mg twice daily and a multivitamin preparation containing minerals once a day. Three days after gatifloxacin was started, the patient was still febrile, coughing, and not responding clinically. It was noted that nurses were administering the gatifloxacin tablet at the same time as the multivitamin tablet. The time of administration for gatifloxacin was changed to 6 hours after the patient received her multivitamin preparation. Two days later, she clinically improved. DISCUSSION: Studies have shown that the bioavailability of gatifloxacin is decreased with concurrent administration of antacids containing aluminum or magnesium; dietary supplements containing zinc, magnesium, and iron; multivitamin preparations containing minerals; and sucralfate. An objective causality assessment revealed that the adverse drug effect was probable. CONCLUSIONS: This case illustrates the need to recognize this potential interaction and to know how to avoid possible treatment failure.
Multivariate relationships between groundwater chemistry and toxicity in an urban aquifer
Authors: Dewhurst Rachel E. , Wells N. Claire , Crane Mark , Callaghan Amanda , Connon Richard , Mather John D. 
Published: November 2004

Abstract
Multivariate statistical methods were used to investigate the causes of toxicity and controls on groundwater chemistry from 274 boreholes in an urban area (London) of the United Kingdom. The groundwater was alkaline to neutral, and chemistry was dominated by calcium, sodium, and sulfate. Contaminants included fuels, solvents, and organic compounds derived from landfill material. The presence of organic material in the aquifer caused decreases in dissolved oxygen, sulfate and nitrate concentrations, and increases in ferrous iron and ammoniacal nitrogen concentrations. Pearson correlations between toxicity results and the concentration of individual analytes indicated that concentrations of ammoniacal nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, ferrous iron, and hydrocarbons were important where present. However, principal component and regression analysis suggested no significant correlation between toxicity and chemistry over the whole area. Multidimensional scaling was used to investigate differences in sites caused by historical use, landfill gas status, or position within the sample area. Significant differences were observed between sites with different historical land use and those with different gas status. Examination of the principal component matrix revealed that these differences are related to changes in the importance of reduced chemical species.
Effects of nonylphenol on zooplankton in aquatic microcosms
Authors: Severin Gabriele F. , Welzl Gerhard , Jüttner Ingrid , Pfister Gerd , Schramm Karl-Werner 
Published: November 2004

Abstract
We investigated the effects of the endocrine disruptor nonylphenol (NP) on the zooplankton assemblages of 230 L aquatic microcosms during a four-week preapplication period, a six-week NP treatment via controlled release, and a six-week postapplication period. Zooplankton assemblage change, investigated by ordination principal response curves (PRC), was due to lower abundances of copepoda, rotifera, and cladocera. The most sensitive groups/taxa were copepoda larvae, followed by the rotifers Synchaeta spp., Polyarthra spp., and the cladocerans Daphnia longispina and Chydorus sphaericus. The mean no-observedeffect concentrations for the community (NOECCommunity) was 30 μg/L. Cladocera densities recovered during the postapplication period at all but the highest NP concentrations (maximum 120 μg/L); copepod densities did not recover at the three highest concentrations (maximum 96-120 μg/L).