bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Problems experienced during the first year of an acute traumatic hand injury – a prospective study
Authors: Gustafsson Margareta , Ahlström Gerd 
Published: November 2004

Background.  Evidence‐based nursing of patients with acute traumatic hand injuries treated at the hand‐surgical clinic calls for knowledge about long‐term implications.Aims and objectives.  The aim of the study was to investigate consequences of an acute traumatic hand injury during the first year after the accident. Specifically, the objectives were to investigate changes in the experience of physical and psychological problems over time, frequencies of remaining problems and the impact of the injury on work situation and life situation 1 year after the accident.Design.  The study was prospective and followed the patients from the first weeks to 1 year after the accident.Method.  Ninety‐one patients were assessed three times during the year. Each time the patients answered study‐specific questions, the Impact of Event Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.Results.  Problems experienced decreased during the first 3 months but tended to remain unchanged during the rest of the year. In the 1‐year follow‐up, the majority of the patients experienced slight or moderate functional limitations in the hand, one‐third had symptoms of trauma‐related distress and one out of seven had troublesome pain. Half of the patients who had returned to work reported a worse work situation and 16% were still on the sick list. One‐third of all patients considered their whole life situation to be worse as a result of the injury. Patients with amputations more often experienced a worse life situation. Blue‐collar workers reported functional limitations and a worse life situation more often than white‐collar workers.Conclusions.  Patients with acute traumatic hand injuries requiring surgical treatment may experience problems, such as functional limitations, trauma‐related distress and troublesome pain, with long‐term implications for their work situation and life situation.Relevance to clinical practice.  Caring for hand‐injured patients should include, not only surgical treatment and other actions for restoring the function of the hand, but also preventive action and follow‐up of trauma‐related distress and pain.
ICD: a qualitative study of patient experience the first year after implantation
Authors: Kamphuis Helen CM , Verhoeven Nicole WJM , de Leeuw Rob , Derksen Richard , Hauer Richard NW , Winnubst Jacques AM 
Published: November 2004

Background.  The experiences of how patients live with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator are still poorly understood. Only a few qualitative studies have investigated this phenomenon. This paper was undertaken as part of a larger project to evaluate quality of life and psychological well‐being in those survivors of cardiac arrest who have received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.Aims and objectives.  The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients perceive their lives during the first year after implantation of the device.Methods.  A sample of 21 patients who received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator was interviewed during three consecutive periods: one, six and 12 months postdischarge from the hospital. The semi‐structured interviews were based on insights gained from a literature review. The transcripts were subjected to content analysis.Results.  Analysis of the data revealed seven major categories: physical deterioration, cognitive changes, perceived social support, dependency, contact with the doctor, confrontation with mortality and uncertainty surrounding having a shock. Anxiety, uncertainty, disappointment, frustration, unexpected barriers, acceptance of and dependency on the implantable cardioverter defibrillator played a major role in the lives of implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients. Well‐being improved throughout the year. During the first months after discharge from the hospital the focus was on regaining physical health. During the early postimplantation period both the implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipient and family members had adapted to the situation. Reflection on the impact and consequences of the cardiac arrest was reported more often in the late postimplantation period.Conclusions.  Content analysis is a resourceful approach giving answers to questions that have hardly been addressed within the domain of cardiology. Implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients face a complex first year, especially the first 6 months. Cognitive deterioration and confrontation with mortality are problems that need to be researched further.Relevance to clinical practice.  Caregivers are able to explain to future patients what they can expect in the first year after implantation. Caregivers may become more receptive to physical, psychological and social limitations and to emotional and social problems that occur in implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients, enabling them to act upon them.
Radio and near-infrared observations of the steep-spectrum Galactic plane radio source WKB 0314+57.8
Authors: Green D. A. , Lacy M. , Bhatnagar S. , Gates E. L. , Warner P. J. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACT
Radio and near-infrared observations towards the steep-spectrum Galactic plane radio source WKB 0314+57.8 are presented, in order to clarify the nature of this source. The radio observations include archival and survey data, together with new Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope observations at 617 MHz. The near-infrared observations are in the J and K bands, from the Gemini instrument on the Shane 3-m telescope. The radio observations show that WKB 0314+57.8 is extended, with a very steep spectrum (with flux density ∝ frequency−2.5 between ≈40 MHz and ≈1.5 GHz). The colour–magnitude diagram constructed from near-infrared observations of the field suggests the presence of a z≈ 0.08 galaxy cluster behind the Galactic plane, reddened by about 6 mag of visual extinction. Although the steep-spectrum source has no obvious identification, two other radio sources in the field covered by the near-infrared observations have tentative identifications with galaxies. These observations indicate that WKB 0314+57.8 is a relic source in a cluster of galaxies, not a pulsar.
Effect of Investor Speculation on Earnings Management
Authors: FISCHER PAUL E. , STOCKEN PHILLIP C. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTThis paper considers how the presence of a speculative investor, who bets on a firm's future earnings report, affects how the firm's management manipulates that report. We examine the influence of the speculator's information on earnings management behavior, quality of reported earnings, and stock price efficiency. We also provide predictions for, and interpretations of, short‐window event studies and long‐window association studies.
On the Value of Transparency in Agencies with Renegotiation
Authors: GIGLER FRANK B. , HEMMER THOMAS 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTIn this paper we study when it is advantageous to improve corporate transparency by allowing shareholders direct access to corporate information and when it is preferable to rely on a reporting system in which shareholders only gain access to information that management chooses to disclose. We show that in an agency model that allows for contract renegotiation, the desirability of a fully transparent reporting regime hinges on the stewardship properties of the information in question. Specifically, information that is mainly useful for predicting future events and of little use for evaluating past actions should only be made available to the public through management's self‐interested disclosures. Only if the information is useful for making inference about managerial actions can it be optimal to have full corporate transparency, so that outsiders have independent access to the same information as management.
Regulating Finance: Who Rules, Whose Rules?
Authors: Harris Stephen L. 
Published: November 2004

AbstractThis project has embedded in it an explanation of the structural and relational power transmission process stemming from “micro‐actions” in global financial relations. This paper is about domestic policy adaptation in international and domestic finance and how it occurs. The fundamental contention of this paper is that the way to understand power in global finance is to provide an answer to the question: Who makes the rules in finance—state actors or nonstate actors? The answer to this question is problematic in the IPE literature because of both the enormous influence of finance in the councils of the industrial democracies and the information asymmetries that favor power in finance. Finance, it is argued, has the determining influence on the rules governing its industry. The dependent variable in this analysis is the policy output—the regulation and liberalization decisions of states. The behaviors of the state and of other policy actors in the policy process are the independent variables.
Highly Efficient Production of Laccase by the Basidiomycete
Pycnoporus cinnabarinus
Authors: Alves Alexandra M. C. R. , Record Eric , Lomascolo Anne , Scholtmeijer Karin , Asther Marcel , Wessels Joseph G. H. , Wösten Han A. B. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACT

An efficient transformation and expression system was developed for the industrially relevant basidiomycete
Pycnoporus cinnabarinus
. This was used to transform a laccase-deficient monokaryotic strain with the homologous
lac1
laccase gene placed under the regulation of its own promoter or that of the
SC3
hydrophobin gene or the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (
GPD
) gene of
Schizophyllum commune. SC3
-driven expression resulted in a maximal laccase activity of 107 nkat ml
−1
in liquid shaken cultures. This value was about 1.4 and 1.6 times higher in the cases of the
GPD
and
lac1
promoters, respectively.
lac1
-driven expression strongly increased when 25 g of ethanol liter
−1
was added to the medium. Accordingly, laccase activity increased to 1,223 nkat ml
−1
. These findings agree with the fact that ethanol induces laccase gene expression in some fungi. Remarkably,
lac1
mRNA accumulation and laccase activity also strongly increased in the presence of 25 g of ethanol liter
−1
when
lac1
was expressed behind the
SC3
or
GPD
promoter. In the latter case, a maximal laccase activity of 1,393 nkat ml
−1
(i.e., 360 mg liter
−1
) was obtained. Laccase production was further increased in transformants expressing
lac1
behind its own promoter or that of
GPD
by growth in the presence of 40 g of ethanol liter
−1
. In this case, maximal activities were 3,900 and 4,660 nkat ml
−1
, respectively, corresponding to 1 and 1.2 g of laccase per liter and thus representing the highest laccase activities reported for recombinant fungal strains. These results suggest that
P. cinnabarinus
may be a host of choice for the production of other proteins as well.
Redox Transformations of Arsenic Oxyanions in Periphyton Communities
Authors: Kulp Thomas R. , Hoeft Shelley E. , Oremland Ronald S. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACT

Periphyton (
Cladophora
sp.) samples from a suburban stream lacking detectable dissolved As were able to reduce added As(V) to As(III) when incubated under anoxic conditions and, conversely, oxidized added As(III) to As(V) with aerobic incubation. Both types of activity were abolished in autoclaved controls, thereby demonstrating its biological nature. The reduction of As(V) was inhibited by chloramphenicol, indicating that it required the synthesis of new protein. Nitrate also inhibited As(V) reduction, primarily because it served as a preferred electron acceptor to which the periphyton community was already adapted. However, part of the inhibition was also caused by microbial reoxidation of As(III) linked to nitrate. Addition of [
14
C]glucose to anoxic samples resulted in the production of
14
CO
2
, suggesting that the observed As(V) reduction was a respiratory process coupled to the oxidation of organic matter. The population density of As(V)-reducing bacteria within the periphyton increased with time and with the amount of As(V) added, reaching values as high as ∼10
6
cells ml
−1
at the end of the incubation. This indicated that dissimilatory As(V) reduction in these populations was linked to growth. However, As(V)-respiring bacteria were found to be present, albeit at lower numbers (∼10
2
ml
−1
), in freshly sampled periphyton. These results demonstrate the presence of a bacterial population within the periphyton communities that is capable of two key arsenic redox transformations that were previously studied in As-contaminated environments, which suggests that these processes are widely distributed in nature. This assumption was reinforced by experiments with estuarine samples of
Cladophora sericea
in which we detected a similar capacity for anaerobic As(V) reduction and aerobic As(III) oxidation.
Real-Time PCR Quantitation of Clostridia in Feces of Autistic Children
Authors: Song Yuli , Liu Chengxu , Finegold Sydney M. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTBased on the hypothesis that intestinal clostridia play a role in late-onset autism, we have been characterizing clostridia from stools of autistic and control children. We applied the TaqMan real-time PCR procedure to detect and quantitate threeClostridiumclusters and oneClostridiumspecies,C. bolteae, in stool specimens. Group- and species-specific primers targeting the 16S rRNA genes were designed, and specificity of the primers was confirmed with DNA from related bacterial strains. In this procedure, a linear relationship exists between the threshold cycle (CT) fluorescence value and the number of bacterial cells (CFU). The assay showed high sensitivity: as few as 2 cells of members of cluster I, 6 cells of cluster XI, 4 cells of cluster XIVab, and 0.6 cell ofC. bolteaecould be detected per PCR. Analysis of the real-time PCR data indicated that the cell count differences between autistic and control children forC. bolteaeand the followingClostridiumgroups were statistically significant: mean counts ofC. bolteaeand clusters I and XI in autistic children were 46-fold (P= 0.01), 9.0-fold (P= 0.014), and 3.5-fold (P= 0.004) greater than those in control children, respectively, but not for cluster XIVab (2.6 × 108CFU/g in autistic children and 4.8 × 108CFU/g in controls; respectively). More subjects need to be studied. The assay is a rapid and reliable method, and it should have great potential for quantitation of other bacteria in the intestinal tract.
Measurements of Fitness and Competition in CommensalEscherichia coliandE. coliO157:H7 Strains
Authors: Durso Lisa M. , Smith David , Hutkins Robert W. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTAlthough the main reservoirs for pathogenicEscherichia coliO157:H7 are cattle and the cattle environment, factors that affect its tenure in the bovine host and its survival outside humans and cattle have not been well studied. It is also not understood what physiological properties, if any, distinguish these pathogens from commensal counterparts that live as normal members of the human and bovine gastrointestinal tracts. To address these questions, individual and competitive fitness experiments, indirect antagonism assays, and antibiotic resistance and carbon utilization analyses were conducted using a strain set consisting of 122 commensal and pathogenic strains. The individual fitness experiments, under four different environments (rich medium, aerobic and anaerobic; rumen medium, anaerobic; and a minimal medium, aerobic) revealed no differences in growth rates between commensalE. coliandE. coliO157:H7 strains. Indirect antagonism assays revealed thatE. coliO157:H7 strains more frequently produced inhibitory substances than commensal strains did, under the conditions tested, although both groups displayed moderate sensitivity. Only minor differences were noted in the antibiotic resistance patterns of the two groups. In contrast, several differences between commensal and O157:H7 groups were observed based on their carbon utilization profiles. Of 95 carbon sources tested, 27 were oxidized by commensalE. colistrains but not by theE. coliO157:H7 strains. Despite the observed physiological and biochemical differences between these two groups ofE. colistrains, however, the O157:H7 strains did not appear to possess traits that would confer advantages in the bovine or extraintestinal environment.
Frequency and Spatial Distribution of EnvironmentalCampylobacterspp
Authors: Brown P. E. , Christensen O. F. , Clough H. E. , Diggle P. J. , Hart C. A. , Hazel S. , Kemp R. , Leatherbarrow A. J. H. , Moore A. , Sutherst J. , Turner J. , Williams N. J. , Wright E. J. , French N. P. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTHumans are exposed toCampylobacterspp. in a range of sources via both food and environmental pathways. For this study, we explored the frequency and distribution of thermophilicCampylobacterspp. in a 10- by 10-km square rural area of Cheshire, United Kingdom. The area contains approximately 70, mainly dairy, farms and is used extensively for outdoor recreational activities.Campylobacterspp. were isolated from a range of environmental samples by use of a systematic sampling grid. Livestock (mainly cattle) and wildlife feces and environmental water and soil samples were cultured, and isolates were presumptively identified by standard techniques. These isolates were further characterized by PCR.Campylobacter jejuniwas the most prevalent species in all animal samples, ranging from 11% in samples from nonavian wildlife to 36% in cattle feces, and was isolated from 15% of water samples.Campylobacter coliwas commonly found in water (17%) and sheep (21%) samples, but rarely in other samples.Campylobacter lariwas recovered from all sample types, with the exception of sheep feces, and was found in moderate numbers in birds (7%) and water (5%).Campylobacter hyointestinaliswas only recovered from cattle (7%) and birds (1%). The spatial distribution and determinants ofC. jejuniin cattle feces were examined by the use of model-based spatial statistics. The distribution was consistent with very localized within-farm or within-field transmission and showed little evidence of any larger-scale spatial dependence. We concluded that there is a potentially high risk of human exposure toCampylobacterspp., particularlyC. jejuni, in the environment of our study area. The prevalence and likely risk posed byC. jejuni-positive cattle feces in the environment diminished as the fecal material aged. After we took into account the age of the fecal material, the absence or presence of rain, and the presence of bird feces, there was evidence of significant variation in the prevalence ofC. jejuni-positive cattle feces between grazing fields but no evidence of spatial clustering beyond this resolution. The spatial pattern ofC. jejuniis therefore consistent with that for an organism that is ubiquitous in areas contaminated with cattle feces, with a short-scale variation in infection intensity that cannot be explained solely by variations in the age of the fecal material. The observed pattern is not consistent with large-scale transmission attributable to watercourses, wildlife territories, or other geographical features that transcend field and farm boundaries.
Aflatoxin Biosynthesis Cluster GenecypAIs Required for G Aflatoxin Formation
Authors: Ehrlich Kenneth C. , Chang Perng-Kuang , Yu Jiujiang , Cotty Peter J. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACTAspergillus flavusisolates produce only aflatoxins B1 and B2, whileAspergillus parasiticusandAspergillus nomiusproduce aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2. Sequence comparison of the aflatoxin biosynthesis pathway gene cluster upstream from the polyketide synthase gene,pksA, revealed thatA. flavusisolates are missing portions of genes (cypAandnorB) predicted to encode, respectively, a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase and an aryl alcohol dehydrogenase. Insertional disruption ofcypAinA. parasiticusyielded transformants that lack the ability to produce G aflatoxins but not B aflatoxins. The enzyme encoded bycypAhas highest amino acid identity toGibberella zeaeTri4 (38%), a P450 monooxygenase previously shown to be involved in trichodiene epoxidation. The substrate for CypA may be an intermediate formed by oxidative cleavage of the A ring ofO-methylsterigmatocystin by OrdA, the P450 monooxygenase required for formation of aflatoxins B1 and B2.
Phylogenetic Characterization of Methanogenic Assemblages in Eutrophic and Oligotrophic Areas of the Florida Everglades
Authors: Castro Hector , Ogram Andrew , Reddy K. R. 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACT

Agricultural activities have produced well-documented changes in the Florida Everglades, including establishment of a gradient in phosphorus concentrations in Water Conservation Area 2A (WCA-2A) of the northern Everglades. An effect of increased phosphorus concentrations is increased methanogenesis in the eutrophic regions compared to the oligotrophic regions of WCA-2A. The goal of this study was to identify relationships between eutrophication and composition and activity of methanogenic assemblages in WCA-2A soils. Distributions of two genes associated with methanogens were characterized in soils taken from WCA-2A: the archaeal 16S rRNA gene and the methyl coenzyme M reductase gene. The richness of methanogen phylotypes was greater in eutrophic than in oligotrophic sites, and sequences related to previously cultivated and uncultivated methanogens were found. A preferential selection for the order
Methanomicrobiales
was observed in
mcrA
clone libraries, suggesting primer bias for this group. A greater diversity within the
Methanomicrobiales
was observed in
mcrA
clone libraries than in 16S rRNA gene libraries. 16S rRNA phylogenetic analyses revealed a dominance of clones related to
Methanosaeta
spp., an acetoclastic methanogen dominant in environments with low acetate concentrations. A significant number of clones were related to
Methanomicrobiales
, an order characterized by species utilizing hydrogen and formate as methanogenic substrates. No representatives of the orders
Methanobacteriales
and
Methanococcales
were found in any 16S rRNA clone library, although some
Methanobacteriales
were found in
mcrA
libraries. Hydrogenotrophs are the dominant methanogens in WCA-2A, and acetoclastic methanogen genotypes that proliferate in low acetate concentrations outnumber those that typically dominate in higher acetate concentrations.
Novel Endophytic Nitrogen-Fixing Clostridia from the Grass
Miscanthus sinensis
as Revealed by Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis
Authors: Miyamoto Takuya , Kawahara Makoto , Minamisawa Kiwamu 
Published: November 2004

ABSTRACT

Anaerobic nitrogen-fixing consortia consisting of N
2
-fixing clostridia and diverse nondiazotrophic bacteria were previously isolated from various gramineous plants (K. Minamisawa, K. Nishioka, T. Miyaki, B. Ye, T. Miyamoto, M. You, A. Saito, M. Saito, W. Barraquio, N. Teaumroong, T. Sein, and T. Tadashi, Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
70:
3096-3102, 2004). For this work, clostridial populations and their phylogenetic structures in a stand of the grass
Miscanthus sinensis
in Japan were assessed by a 16S rRNA gene-targeted terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis combined with most-probable-number (MPN) counts. PCR primers and restriction enzymes were optimized for analyses of the plant clostridia. Clostridia were detected in strongly surface-sterilized leaves, stems, and roots of the plants at approximately 10
4
to 10
5
cells/g of fresh weight; they made up a large proportion of N
2
-fixing bacterial populations, as determined by MPN counts associated with an acetylene reduction assay. Phylogenetic grouping by MPN-TRFLP analysis revealed that the clostridial populations belonged to group II of cluster XIVa and groups IV and V of cluster I; this result was supported by a culture-independent TRFLP analysis using direct DNA extraction from plants. When phylogenetic populations from
M. sinensis
and the soil around the plants were compared, group II clostridia were found to exist exclusively in
M. sinensis
.