bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A cross‐national meta‐analysis of alcohol and injury: data from the Emergency Room Collaborative Alcohol Analysis Project (ERCAAP)
Authors: Cherpitel Cheryl J. , Bond Jason , Ye Yu , Borges Guilherme , Macdonald Scott , Giesbrecht Norman 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To examine the relationship of acute alcohol consumption with an injury compared to a non‐injury event in the emergency room across ERs in five countries.Design  Meta‐analysis was used to evaluate the consistency and magnitude of the association of a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of arrival in the ER and self‐reported consumption within 6 hours prior to the event with admission to the ER for an injury compared to a non‐injury, and the extent to which contextual (socio‐cultural and organizational) variables explain effect sizes.Findings  When controlling for age, gender and drinking five or more drinks on an occasion at least monthly, pooled effect size was significant and of a similar magnitude for both BAC and self‐reported consumption, with those positive on either measure over half as likely again to be admitted to the ER with an injury compared to a medical problem. Effect sizes were found to be homogeneous across ERs for BAC, but not for self‐report. Trauma center status and legal level of intoxication were positively predictive of self‐reported consumption effect size on injury.Conclusions  These data suggest a moderate, but robust association of a positive BAC and self‐report with admission to the ER with an injury, and that contextual variables also appear to play a role in the alcohol–injury nexus.
Signs of intoxication and server intervention among 18–39‐year‐olds drinking at licensed premises in New South Wales, Australia
Authors: Donnelly Neil , Briscoe Suzanne 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To estimate the extent of responsible service of alcohol (RSA) practice to young adults showing signs of alcohol intoxication on licensed premises in New South Wales.Design  Telephone‐based cross‐sectional survey.Setting  New South Wales, Australia.Participants  A total of 1090 people aged 18–39 years old.Findings  Seventy‐five per cent of males and 64% of females reported that they had consumed at levels for acute alcohol‐related harm during the previous 12 months, with 34% of males and 24% of females reporting doing so weekly; 54% (95% CI: 51–58%) of both males and females who had consumed at acute‐risk levels, reported that this last drinking occasion occurred at a licensed premises. Of these, 56% (95% CI: 51–61%) reported that they had exhibited at least one sign of overt alcohol intoxication, while 19% (95% CI: 15–23%) reported showing three or more signs of intoxication. Among those reporting at least one sign of intoxication, only 10% (95% CI: 7–15%) reported that the licensed premises staff had provided at least one of seven different responsible service initiatives, while 55% (95% CI: 48–61%) reported that they were continued to be served alcohol. While these results suggest that intoxicated patrons are not being refused service as often as they should, there was evidence for some degree of responsible service provision with around half of the ‘non‐intoxicated’ patrons reporting that they had seen licensed premises staff intervene in some way with other ‘intoxicated’ patrons.Conclusions  While the majority of 18–39‐year‐olds report showing signs of intoxication while drinking at licensed premises in NSW, only a small minority report experiencing RSA initiatives from bar staff in response to these signs.
Prior opiate injection and incarceration history predict injection drug use among inmates
Authors: Calzavara Liviana M. , Burchell Ann N. , Schlossberg Julia , Myers Ted , Escobar Michael , Wallace Evelyn , Major Carol , Strike Carol , Millson Margaret 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To describe injection drug use among inmates, and to identify correlates of drug injection while incarcerated.Design  Cross‐sectional survey.Setting  Six provincial correctional centres in Ontario, Canada.Participants  Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with a random sample of 439 adult males and 158 females.Measurements  Inmates were asked about drug use in their lifetime, outside the year prior to their current incarceration, and while incarcerated in the past year. Among the 32% (189 / 597) with a prior history of drug injection, independent correlates of injection while incarcerated in the past year were identified using multiple logistic regression.Findings  Among all inmates while incarcerated in the past year, 45% (269 /597) used drugs and 19% (113 / 596) used non‐cannabis drugs. Among those with a prior history of injecting, 11% (20 / 189) injected while incarcerated in the past year. Rates of injection with used needles were the same pre‐incarceration as they were while incarcerated (32%). Independent correlates of drug injection while incarcerated were injection of heroin (OR = 6.4) or other opiates (OR = 7.9) and not injected with used needles (OR = 0.20) outside in the year prior to incarceration, and ever being incarcerated in a federal prison (OR = 5.3).Conclusions  The possibility of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C (HCV) or other blood‐borne diseases exists in Ontario correctional centres. In this setting, drug injection while incarcerated is primarily related to opiate use prior to incarceration. The correlation between injecting and extensive incarceration history suggests missed opportunities to improve inmates’ health.
What happens to women's self‐reported cigarette consumption and urinary cotinine levels in pregnancy?
Authors: Lawrence Terry , Aveyard Paul , Croghan Emma 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To describe the pattern of self‐reported cigarette consumption and nicotine consumption, measured by urinary cotinine concentration, in a cohort of pregnant women who did not stop smoking.Design  Cohort study.Setting  Randomly selected general practices from the West Midlands, UK.Participants  Five hundred and fifty‐nine pregnant women in a clinical trial who were enrolled at booking for maternity care (about 12 weeks of gestation), who were followed up in mid and late pregnancy and 10 days post‐natal and who did not stop smoking during that period.Measurements  Retrospectively collected self‐reported cigarette consumption prior to pregnancy and contemporaneously collected self‐reported cigarette consumption and urinary cotinine concentrations at booking for maternity care, 20 weeks of gestation, 30 weeks of gestation and 10 days post‐natal.Findings  Women reported smoking a median of 10–19 cigarettes per day prior to pregnancy and a median of 5–9 cigarettes per day at booking for maternity care. At booking, women reported consuming a mean [95% confidence interval (CI)] of 6.3 (5.6–7.0) cigarettes per day. At 20 weeks of pregnancy this had risen to mean (95% CI) 11.5 (10.9–12.2), and remained at 11 cigarettes per day when measured again at 30 weeks of gestation and 10 days post‐natal. Mean (95% CI) urinary cotinine levels at booking were 6.0 (5.4–6.6) µg/mL, and did not change much through pregnancy. There were statistically significant associations between urinary cotinine and reported cigarette consumption at all time points except at booking.Conclusions  Women smokers report lower cigarette consumption at booking for maternity care than they do prior to pregnancy or from mid pregnancy onwards, but cotinine data imply that their intake of toxins does not change throughout pregnancy. Reports suggesting many women reduce their smoking in pregnancy have probably been over‐optimistic.
Sporting activity and drug use: alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use among elite student athletes
Authors: Peretti‐Watel Patrick , Guagliardo Valérie , Verger Pierre , Pruvost Jacques , Mignon Patrick , Obadia Yolande 
Published: August 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To study the relationship between sporting activity and alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use among adolescents and young adults, by focusing on elite student athletes (ESAs).Design, setting, subjects  Cross‐sectional survey (Spring 2002), in a sample of 460 ESAs (ages 16–24 years) recruited at 40 public centres gathering the young sporting elite from 30 different sports in South‐Eastern France, comparison with samples of the general population of adolescents in South‐Eastern France.Measures  Respondents were asked confidentially by a self‐administered questionnaire about their use of licit and illicit drugs, their sporting activity and other aspects of their life‐style.Findings  Prevalences of cigarette, alcohol and cannabis use were markedly lower for ESAs than for other adolescents (generally twice or three times as low). Among ESAs, when compared with the practice of an individual sport, the practice of a team sport was correlated positively with alcohol use (OR = 2.7 for girls, OR = 1.8 for boys), and the practice of a sliding sport was correlated positively with cannabis use (for girls: OR = 2.3) and with alcohol use (for boys: 4.3). Girls who entered competition at international level were more prone to smoke cigarettes and cannabis (OR = 6.1 and 2.4, respectively).Conclusions  As a whole, practising sports as an elite student‐athlete can be considered as correlated negatively with cigarette, alcohol and cannabis use. Nevertheless, this relationship depends on the kind of sport practised as well as the level of competition, and further research is needed to understand specific elite athletes’ motives for use.
The pore–solid fractal model of soil density scaling
Authors: Bird N.R.A. , Perrier E.M.A. 
Published: August 2003

SummaryWe have developed the fractal approach to modelling variations in soil bulk density and porosity with scale of measurement or sample size. A new expression is derived for each quantity based on the pore–solid fractal (PSF) model of soil structure. This new general expression covers a range of fractal media and accommodates existing fractal models as special cases. Model outputs cover a range of scaling behaviour expressed in terms of monotonic functions, from increasing density and decreasing porosity, through constant porosity and density to decreasing density and increasing porosity with increasing scale of measurement. We demonstrate the link between this new model for the scaling of porosity and bulk density and the water retention model for the PSF. The model for scaling bulk density is fitted to data on aggregate bulk density and shown to yield good fits describing bulk density decreasing with increasing aggregate size. Porosity scaling is also inferred from the fitting of water retention data. Inferred porosities from different fittings are shown to follow decreasing, scale‐invariant and increasing values with decreasing size of structural unit, and these theoretical results emphasize the need for further experimental investigation on the basic issue of density scaling in soil science.
Modelling carbon and nitrogen dynamics in a bare soil with and without straw incorporation
Authors: Garnier P. , Néel C. , Aita C. , Recous S. , Lafolie F. , Mary B. 
Published: August 2003

SummaryIncorporating straw into the ploughed layer of soil affects the dynamics of carbon and nitrogen. A precise quantification of its short‐term effect in agricultural fields is difficult because biological and physical processes interact and take place simultaneously. As an alternative to experimentation, investigations have turned to simulations using mechanistic models, and we have taken this approach. The goal of our study was to test a mechanistic and one‐dimensional model of transport and biotransformation (PASTIS) against a data set obtained in a field experiment in northern France. We tested carbon and nitrogen dynamics by measuring C mineralization rates, the rates of gross immobilization and mineralization of N (using 15N tracing), and inorganic pools of N in the soil profile during 1 year in a bare soil with or without addition of wheat straw. Most of the model parameters were determined in independent experiments. We estimated the biological parameters from incubation experiments in the laboratory. The simulated results were in good agreement with experimental data, particularly for gross N rates. Hypotheses concerning the pathway of microbial assimilation and the dependence of decomposition on the size of the biomass were tested. The simulated net N immobilization due to addition of straw (8000 kg dry matter ha−1) reached a maximum of 64 kg N ha−1 after 2 months, whereas the observed value was 66 kg N ha−1. The model indicated that after 13 months the incorporation of straw had reduced the net amount of nitrogen mineralized by 13% and the amount of leached nitrate by 27%. The sensitivity analysis to the depth of straw incorporation indicated that the deeper was the incorporation the less was the leaching and the mineralization of nitrogen.
Dependence of the surface fractal dimension of soil pores on image resolution and magnification
Authors: Dathe A. , Baveye P. 
Published: August 2003

SummaryTwo recent investigations have reported contradictory trends concerning the effect of image resolution on the surface fractal dimension of soil pores, evaluated via image analysis. In one case, dealing with a preferential flow pathway and an ideal fractal, image resolution had no influence on the estimated fractal dimension, whereas in the other case, involving images of soil thin sections, the surface fractal dimension decreased significantly with image resolution. In the present paper, we try to determine the extent to which these conflicting observations may have been due to the different ways in which image resolution was varied. By narrowing down (up to 400 times) the field of view on progressively smaller portions of a textbook surface fractal, the von Koch island, one causes its apparent surface fractal dimension to decrease significantly. On the other hand, changing the resolution of images of soil thin sections (up to 6 times), while keeping the magnification constant, does not lead to appreciable changes in the surface fractal dimension. These results demonstrate that there is no real conflict in earlier reports, as long as both the resolution and the magnification of images are taken into account in image‐based evaluations of surface fractal dimensions of soil pores.
Measuring N2O emissions from organic soils by closed chamber or soil/snow N2O gradient methods
Authors: Maljanen M. , Liikanen A. , Silvola J. , Martikainen P. J. 
Published: August 2003

SummaryDrained organic soils contribute substantial amounts of nitrous oxide to the global atmosphere, and we should be able to estimate this contribution. We have investigated when the fluxes of N2O from drained forested or cultivated organic soils could be determined by calculating the fluxes from the concentration gradients of the gas in soil or snow according to Fick's law of diffusion. A static chamber method was applied as a control technique for the gas gradient method. Concentrations of N2O in soil varied from 296 nl l−1 to 8534 nl l−1 during the snow‐free periods and were greatest in the early summer. Our results suggest that the gas gradient method can be used to estimate N2O emissions from drained organic soils. There was some systematic difference in the N2O fluxes measured with these two methods, which we attributed to the differences in weather between years 1996 and 1997. In the wet summer of 1996 the chamber method gave greater flux rates than the gas gradient method, and the reverse was true in the dry summer of 1997. In the forest the N2O fluxes measured with the two methods agreed well. The gas gradient is convenient and fast for measuring N2O emissions from fairly dry organic unfrozen soil. In winter the diffusion calculation based on the N2O gradients in snow and the chamber method gave fairly similar flux rates and provided adequate estimates of the fluxes of N2O in winter.
Effects of flooding and redox conditions on solute diffusion in soil
Authors: Kirk G. J. D. , Solivas J. L. , Alberto M. C. 
Published: August 2003

SummaryRates of solute diffusion fundamentally affect the properties of flooded soils, but the effects of flooding on solute diffusion have not previously been studied in detail. Four soils with widely differing chemical and physical properties were packed to a range of bulk densities, flooded for varying times, and the self‐diffusion of chloride through the soils measured. Diffusion impedance factors were derived from the results. In each soil the impedance factor decreased linearly with increase in bulk density, and between soils impedance factors increased with increasing clay content. The impedance factor decreased by up to 20% during the first 3–6 weeks following flooding, but with prolonged flooding it increased to at least its initial value. Concomitantly the cation exchange capacities of the soils increased by between 30 and 100%, there was reductive dissolution of soil iron, probably both structural iron in soil clays and iron oxyhydroxide coatings on clay surfaces, and subsequently there was re‐precipitation of ferrous iron, probably as mixed carbonates and hydroxides. The decreases in diffusion impedance factors were consistent with the increases in cation exchange capacity and changes in soil iron, and the subsequent increases were consistent with re‐crystallization of mixed ferrous–ferric compounds. We conclude that the effects of changes in redox on diffusion impedance will be important in some soils, although they are smaller than the effects of water content per se.
Mass fractal dimension of soil macropores using computed tomography: from the box‐counting to the cube‐counting algorithm
Authors: Perret J.S. , Prasher S.O. , Kacimov A.R. 
Published: August 2003

SummaryTransport phenomena in porous media depend strongly on three‐dimensional pore structures. Macropore networks enable water and solute to move preferentially through the vadose zone. A complete representation of their geometry is important for understanding soil behaviour such as preferential flow. Once we know the geometrical, topological and scaling attributes of preferential flow paths, we can begin computer simulations of water movement in the soil.The box‐counting method is used in three dimensions (i.e. cube‐counting algorithm) to characterize the mass fractal dimension of macropore networks using X‐ray computed tomography (CT) matrices. We developed an algorithm to investigate the mass fractal dimension in three dimensions and to see how it compares with the co‐dimensions obtained using the box‐counting technique in two dimensions. For that purpose, macropore networks in four large undisturbed soil columns (850 mm × 77 mm diameter) were quantified and visualized, in both two and three dimensions, using X‐ray CT. We observed an increasing trend between the fractal dimension and macroporosity for the four columns. Moreover, similar natural logarithm functions were obtained for the four cores by a least squares fit through plots of mass fractal dimension against macroporosity.
Transcriptional control for initiation of chromosomal replication in Escherichia coli: fluctuation of the level of origin transcription ensures timely initiation
Authors: Su’etsugu Masayuki , Emoto Akiko , Fujimitsu Kazuyuki , Keyamura Kenji , Katayama Tsutomu 
Published: August 2003

AbstractBackground:  During the cell cycle, the initiation of chromosomal replication is strictly controlled. In Escherichia coli, the initiator DnaA and the replication origin oriC are major targets for this regulation. Here, we assessed the role of transcription of the mioC gene, which reads through the adjacent oriC region. This mioC‐oriC transcription is regulated in coordination with the replication cycle so that it is activated after initiation and repressed before initiation.Results:  We isolated a strain bearing a mioC promoter mutation that causes constitutive mioC‐oriC transcription from the chromosome. A quantitative S1 nuclease assay indicated that in this mutant, the level of transcription does not fluctuate. Introduction of this mutation suppressed the growth defect of an overinitiation‐type dnaAcos mutant, and severely inhibited the growth of initiation‐defective dnaA mutants at semipermissive temperatures in a dnaA allele‐specific manner. These results suggest that mioC‐oriC transcription inhibits initiation at oriC. Indeed, flow cytometry analysis and quantification of DNA replication in synchronized cultures revealed that the mioC promoter mutation alters the control of the initiation of chromosomal replication, for instance by delaying replication within the cell cycle.Conclusions:  These results suggest that the transcriptional regulation of the mioC gene is required for cell cycle‐coordinated initiation of chromosomal replication.
Identification and characterization of a novel progesterone receptor‐binding element in the mouse prostaglandin E receptor subtype EP2 gene
Authors: Tsuchiya Sohken , Tanaka Satoshi , Sugimoto Yukihiko , Katsuyama Masato , Ikegami Reiko , Ichikawa Atsushi 
Published: August 2003

AbstractBackground:  Gene expression of prostaglandin E receptor EP2 is induced in the luminal epithelium of the mouse uterus during peri‐implantation period (day‐5 of pseudopregnancy), suggesting the involvement of progesterone and its receptor (PR) in this expression. However it remains unclear whether PR affects EP2 gene expression through its binding.Results:  We investigated transcriptional regulation of EP2 gene expression with reporter gene analysis using HeLa cells with or without expression of the PR. The 5′‐flanking region (−3260 to −27, upstream of the translation initiation site) exhibited progesterone‐induced promoter activation and basal promoter activity in the presence of PR. Using successive deletion analysis, we determined the six regulatory regions in the EP2 gene. Three regions were found to be involved in progesterone‐induced promoter activation, whereas the other three regions were involved in basal promoter activity in the presence of PR. We identified a novel PR‐binding sequence, 5′‐G(G/A)CCGGA‐3′, in the two basal promoter regions and Sp1‐ and Sp3‐binding in the other basal promoter region.Conclusions:  We identified a novel PR‐binding sequence, which may be involved in the regulation of basal promoter activity in the EP2 gene.
Libraries and the R&D strategy: a way forward
Authors: HAINES MARGARET 
Published: August 2003

As guest editor for the Decembrer 1994 issue of Health Libraries Review, I chose the theme of Evidence‐Based Practice. In my editorial I suggested that Evidence‐based Practice offered tremendous opportunities for NHS librarians to demonstrate their skills in supporting a knowledge‐based NHS, because many clinicians had complained that they did not have the time, retrieval skills or knowledge of relevant information resources to be effective at finding scientific evidence. Librarians, on the other hand have advanced online searching skills, rapid document retrieval and delivery services, and up‐to‐date knowledge of the world's medical information resources and networks. These skills mean that librarians are not only well‐placed to support clinicians in finding and sifting scientific evidence, but also in teaching clinicians how to search for and store information themselves.NHS librarians have not been slow to recognize these opportunities and innovative professinal development programmes have appeared to help hone their skills, such as the Librarian of the 21st Century Programme in the Anglia and Oxford region. The success of NHS librarians in supporting evidence‐based health care has led to their formal involvement in evidence‐based medicine workshops for clinicians in a number of regions.In March 1996, as NHS Library Adviser, I was asked to prepare a paper for the R&D Board of the NHS Executive about how this library support could be formally integrated into the R&D Strategy. My paper was unanimously endorsed by the Board and later by the Central R&D Committee of the NHS Executive. It suggests principles of library provision in support of R&D and is reprinted below.