bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Suppressive effects of Stephania tetrandra on the neutrophil function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Sekiya Nobuyasu , Shimada Yutaka , Niizawa Atsushi , Kogure Toshiaki , Mantani Naoki , Sakai Shinya , Hikiami Hiroaki , Terasawa Katsutoshi 
Published: April 2004

AbstractCrude preparations of Stephania tetrandra (ST), a traditional herbal medicine, have been used safely for arthritis and silicosis in China. The concentration of granulocyte elastase – alpha 1 protease inhibitor complex in plasma is enhanced in inﬂammatory processes, e.g. in septicaemia and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), being an expression of granulocyte activation during inﬂammatory response.It has previously been reported that ST showed beneﬁcial and immunomodulatory effects in the treatment of relatively mild RA. After the administration of ST for 12 weeks, the proportion of granulocytes and the granulocyte count in peripheral blood decreased signiﬁcantly. The lipid peroxide and human granulocyte elastase levels of stored plasma declined signiﬁcantly. Furthermore, both the leukocyte/elastase ratio and granulocyte/elastase ratio increased signiﬁcantly.The ﬁndings of this study suggest that the suppressive effect of ST administration on excessive granulocyte activation resulted in the improvement of inﬂammation with rheumatoid arthritis. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Antimicrobial effects of Quercus ilex L. extract
Authors: Güllüce M. , Adıgüzel A. , Öğütçü H. , Şengül M. , Karaman İ. , Şahin F. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe antimicrobial activities of the methanol extract of Quercus ilex L. (Pırnal oak) leaves were tested in vitro against a wide range of human and plant‐associated microorganisms. A total of 132 microbial organisms belonging to 55 bacteria and ﬁve fungi and yeast species were studied using a disc‐diffusion method and microdilution assays. The results were evaluated as inhibition zones around the disc impregnated with Q. ilex extract at a concentration of 300 µL/mL. The results showed that Q. ilex did not have any antifungal activities against Alterneria alternata, Aspergillus ﬂavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillum spp., whereas there were inhibition effects on the growth of all Candida albicans isolates. In total 97 bacterial strains (74%) were found to be resistant to Q. ilex extract. The remaining 35 (27%) strains of seven different bacteria genera including Brucella, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Neisseria, Pseudomonas and Escherichia were susceptible to the extract tested. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the extract ranged from 125 to 500 µL/mL. These results suggest that Q. ilex possesses compounds with antibacterial and anticandidal properties. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Links between systems thinking and complex decision making
Authors: Maani Kambiz E. , Maharaj Vandana 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThere is a widely held belief that systems thinking is an answer to the increasing complexity of the world as well as the workplace. Despite strong interest and assertions, however, the relationship between systems thinking and complex decision making has received scant attention in the literature. Using Richmond's (1997) classiﬁcation scheme as the theoretical base, this paper investigates the link between systems thinking and complex decision making using Verbal Protocol Analysis (VPA) methodology. The ﬁndings of the study indicate that while the degree of systems thinking does matter, certain types of systemic thinking would be more relevant to performance. Further, evidence shows that the subject's approach to the problem is also a highly pertinent factor in task performance, in that better performers displayed a distinctive pattern of thought that differed from that of the poor performers. Better performing subjects attempted to gain an understanding of the system structure before they proceeded to develop strategies and take action. The ﬁndings revealed a cyclical thought pattern that was consistently followed by better performing participants. This pattern, termed the CPA cycle, consists of three distinct phases of conception, planning, and action. This research contributes to the ﬁelds of systems thinking and complex decision making by integrating knowledge and methodology from several disciplines including psychology, management and IT. Speciﬁc contributions include a novel research methodology and, in particular, operationalization of the systems thinking paradigm, as well as identiﬁcation of disaggregated factors affecting complex decision making. The managerial and organizational implications of the research are compelling and invite further research in this nascent ﬁeld. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gastric Partitioning Gastrojejunostomy in Unresectable Distal Gastric Cancer Patients
Authors: Kwon Sung Joon , Lee Ha Gyoon 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe main purpose of bypass surgery in patients with unresectable distal gastric cancer is to improve their quality of life (QoL). However, the result of conventional gastroenterostomy is dismal including continuous bleeding due to the contact of food material on the tumor surface and early obstruction of the stoma by tumor growth. Developing more effective surgery is warranted to improve the QoL of these patients. Among the 1158 patients with gastric cancer who underwent surgery from March 1993 to July 2002 at Hanyang University Medical Center, 54 (4.7%) had unresectable cancers. Various types of gastrojejunostomy (G‐Jstomy), including conventional G‐Jstomy (CGJ) (n = 18), antral exclusion G‐Jstomy (n = 7), and gastric partitioning G‐Jstomy (GPGJ) (n = 17), as well as exploratory laparotomy only (n = 12) were performed in these unresectable cases. In this study, survival and postoperative QoL were compared for the CGJ and GPGJ groups. The median survivals were 120 and 209 days for the CGJ and GPGJ groups, respectively (p = 0.046). The rates of postoperative body weight loss compared to the preoperative weight were 9.3% and 3.1% in the CGJ and GPGJ groups, respectively; the difference showed borderline significance (p = 0.067). The volume of blood transfusion was much less during the postoperative period than during the preoperative period in the GPGJ group but not in the CGJ group. The GPGJ procedure minimized food contact on the tumor surface, which was confirmed by an upper gastrointestinal barium meal series. GPGJ can be recommended as the procedure of choice for bypass surgery in patients with unresectable distal gastric cancer considering their improved survival and postoperative QoL compared to those who underwent CGJ.
Fishing Line Suture: Cost‐saving Alternative for Atraumatic Intracutaneous Skin Closure—Randomized Clinical Trial in Rwanda
Authors: Freudenberg Sebastian , Nyonde Martin , Mkony Charles , Bay Fatma , Wilhelm Torsten , Post Stefan 
Published: April 2004

AbstractExperience with the use of nylon fishing line for surgical sutures has been reported from several African countries. A recent publication suggested that fishing line and an injection needle may provide an atraumatic suture that is especially suitable for intracutaneous skin closures. This article provides further empirical support for such alternative technology. We describe a randomized, blinded clinical trial conducted in Butare (Rwanda) with 220 cutaneous wounds closed by intracutaneous sutures, with either the homemade suture or a commercial nylon thread (Ethilon). We compared the clinical outcomes as well as the costs of those two materials. There are no significant differences between the two sutures in terms of clinical findings or in the reported ease of use by the surgeons. The cost of a homemade atraumatic suture is US $0.07, which is less than one‐thirtieth the cost of the commercial thread. The advantage of the commercial thread is the assurance of quality. We consider whether this quality assurance justifies the large price difference, and if the homemade suture should be recommended to surgeons in countries where the costs of surgical material often remain an obstacle for life‐saving operations.
Ionotropic Glutamate Receptor Antagonists Modulate Cue‐Induced Reinstatement of Ethanol‐Seeking Behavior
Authors: Bäckström Pia , Hyytiä Petri 
Published: April 2004

Abstract: Background: Glutamatergic neurotransmission has been implicated in drug‐environment conditioning, but little is known about the role of glutamate in alcohol seeking maintained by alcohol‐associated cues. Therefore, we examined the effects of ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists on cue‐induced ethanol‐seeking behavior in the extinction/reinstatement model.Methods: Rats were trained to orally self‐administer ethanol (10% w/v) and a nonrewarding (80 μM) quinine solution on randomly alternating days. Ethanol and quinine availability were signaled by olfactory discriminative stimuli (S+/S−). In addition, ethanol delivery was accompanied by a light stimulus (CS+) and quinine delivery by an auditory stimulus (CS−). Thereafter, rats were subjected to extinction training during which responding had no programmed consequences. Reinstatement of responding was tested under three conditions: in the presence of the S−/CS−, S+/CS+, and S+/CS+ together with a small (0.2 ml) response‐contingent oral ethanol dose at the beginning of the reinstatement session (S+/CS+/priming). We examined the effects of the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK‐801 (0, 0.05, 0.15 mg/kg intraperitoneally), the competitive NMDA antagonist CGP39551 (0, 5, 10 mg/kg intraperitoneally), the NMDA/glycine receptor antagonist L‐701,324 (0, 2, 4 mg/kg intraperitoneally), the AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist CNQX (0, 0.5, 1.5 mg/kg intraperitoneally), and the opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (0, 0.3, 1 mg/kg subcutaneously) on ethanol seeking under the S+/CS+/priming condition.Results: Presentation of the S+/CS+ stimulus condition reinstated extinguished responding, whereas presentation of the S−/CS− condition did not. Response‐contingent ethanol priming enhanced reinstatement further. Under these reinstatement conditions, L‐701,324, CNQX, and naltrexone inhibited ethanol‐seeking behavior significantly. In contrast, MK‐801 and CGP39551 failed to affect reinstated responding.Conclusions: These results show that glutamate antagonism suppresses ethanol‐seeking behavior induced by ethanol‐paired stimuli. Furthermore, the data suggest that ionotropic glutamate receptors may have differential roles in mediation of this behavior.
Relation of ANP and BNP to their N‐terminal fragments in fetal circulation: evidence for enhanced neutral endopeptidase activity and resistance of BNP to neutral endopeptidase in the fetus
Authors: Walther Thomas , Stepan Holger , Pankow Kristin , Gembardt Florian , Faber Renaldo , Schultheiss Heinz‐Peter , Siems Wolf‐Eberhard 
Published: April 2004

Objectives  To investigate the role of neutral endopeptidase in the turnover of atrial (ANP) and brain (BNP) natriuretic peptides and their N‐terminal fragments in human fetal circulation.Design  Retrospective case–control study.Setting  Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Leipzig, Germany.Sample  Nine control pregnancies and nine pregnancies with rhesus isoimmunisation before and after intravascular transfusion.Methods  Natriuretic peptides and N‐terminal fragments in maternal and fetal blood were measured by radio‐immunoassay. Neutral endopeptidase activity was determined by HPLC.Main outcome measures  Maternal and fetal plasma concentrations of ANP, NT‐proANP, BNP, NT‐proBNP as well as neutral endopeptidase activity. Ratios between mature peptide and N‐terminal fragment. Feto‐maternal ratio.Results  Plasma NT‐proANP concentrations are 11.7 times higher in fetal than in maternal circulation. The ANP concentration is only 1.8 times higher, probably due to doubled neutral endopeptidase activity. In contrast, both NT‐proBNP and BNP are doubled in fetal plasma. Fetuses with Rh isoimmunisation had significantly higher NT‐proBNP but not NT‐proANP and neutral endopeptidase activity than controls. An additional volume load by intravascular transfusion did not influence N‐terminal fragments or neutral endopeptidase activity.Conclusions  Our study is the first to determine NT‐pro natriuretic peptide concentrations and neutral endopeptidase activity in human fetuses. The results show that increased fetal neutral endopeptidase activity shifts the ANP/NT‐proANP but not the BNP/NT‐proBNP ratio and that the shifted BNP/NT‐proBNP ratio in fetuses with Rh isoimmunisation does not involve increased neutral endopeptidase activity. These findings point to a BNP degradation that is not dependent on neutral endopeptidase.
Agitation in Older Persons with Dementia: A Research Synthesis
Authors: Williams‐Burgess Christine , Ugarriza Doris , Gabbai Mary 
Published: April 2004

Abstract(1) Caregiver stress can result in rapid turnover of qualified personnel thus negatively affecting the care of elderly agitated clients. Three areas of nursing research address the treatment of agitation in demented elders. Subject‐centered studies address the effect of interventions such as massage, familiar voices, and light. Environment‐centered studies address settings such as dining room location. Caregiver‐centered studies address variables such as staff educational level and staff‐client ratio. In spite of the promising findings testing these interventions, physical and chemical restraints are still being used ineffectively and often indiscriminately to treat agitation in cognitively impaired elders.
Effect of Substitution on the Change of Refractive Index in Dithienylethenes: An Ellipsometric Study
Authors: Bertarelli C. , Bianco A. , D'Amore F. , Gallazzi M. C. , Zerbi G. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractAn ellipsometric study was carried out in order to investigate the photoinduced change of the refractive index (Δn) of a series of diarylethenes across the entire spectral range 260–1700 nm. This technique allowed examination of the influence of the resonance conditions on the refractive index. Changing the chemical design of diarylethenes by introducing electron‐donating or electron‐withdrawing substituents in 5,5′‐positions of thiophyene allowed derivation of some correlations between chemical structure and Δn. A strong donor substituent directly linked to the 5,5′‐position of the diarylethene moiety gave rise to an increase in the change of the refractive index. 1,2‐bis(2‐methyl‐5‐formyl‐3‐thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene phenyl hydrazone showed a large and stable Δn of 0.005 at 1.5 μm and appeared to be a good candidate for the development of telecommunication devices.
Predictive dynamic model of single‐stage ultra‐rapid pressure swing adsorption
Authors: Kopaygorodsky E. M. , Guliants V. V. , Krantz W. B. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA dynamic model is developed based on the preliminary set of assumptions to determine the viability of a pulsed Ultra‐Rapid Pressure Swing Adsorption (URPSA) air‐separation process using a 5A zeolite monolith adsorbent. The new model was shown to predict the performance of the Rapid PSA process investigated experimentally in 1986 by Pritchard and Simpson. The model predicts that single‐stage URPSA is capable of producing oxygen purities of 85%, product recoveries of around 60%, and a bed‐size factor of around 0.00073. A very small bed‐size factor and large product recoveries are characteristic of this novel process, which implies improved efficiency of separation per unit mass of adsorbent material. The model developed here provides the first assessment of the viability of ultra‐rapid cycles and thin monolithic adsorbents for air separation by PSA. © 2004 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 50: 953–962, 2004
Total Syntheses of Colchicine in Comparison: A Journey through 50 Years of Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Authors: Graening Timm , Schmalz Hans‐Günther 
Published: April 2004

AbstractColchicine, the major alkaloid of the meadow saffron, is one of the most prominent natural products and, like other tubulin‐binding natural products (e.g. taxol and the epothilones), exhibits great pharmaceutical potential. The first syntheses in the late 1950s were milestones in natural product synthesis. But even today this structurally supposedly simple molecule poses a challenge to synthetic chemists. Only in the last years have syntheses been developed that are efficient enough to provide novel structurally modified colchicine analogues. The comparative examination of all known colchicine total syntheses undertaken in this Review not only reveals the tremendous progress in synthetic organic methodology over the past decades, but also shows how the unique synthetic problems posed by this molecule can be solved in an exceptionally creative manner. Only a few target molecules have been synthesized in such multifaceted ways.
Sentinel lymph node biopsy is not accurate in predicting lymph node status for patients with cervical carcinoma
Authors: Marchiolè Pierangelo , Buénerd Annie , Scoazec Jean‐Yves , Dargent Daniel , Mathevet Patrice 
Published: April 2004

AbstractBACKGROUNDThe authors evaluated the accuracy of sentinel lymph node biopsy in predicting lymph node status for patients with early cervical carcinoma. In particular, the authors set out to determine the false‐negative rate associated with sentinel lymph node biopsy in this setting.METHODSTwenty‐nine consecutive patients with early cervical carcinoma who were treated with pelvic laparoscopic lymphadenectomy and radical surgery underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy following lymphatic mapping with patent blue dye. All sentinel and nonsentinel lymph nodes were evaluated for micrometastases via multilevel sectioning followed by immunohistochemical staining.RESULTSAt least one sentinel lymph node was identified for each patient. On routine pathologic evaluation, 3 patients (10%) were found to have positive lymph nodes. Among the remaining 26 patients, multilevel sectioning in conjunction with immunohistochemical analysis identified 5 patients (19%) who had micrometastases in the pelvic lymph nodes. Two of these five patients had micrometastases in a sentinel lymph node; however, the more notable finding was that the other three patients had micrometastases in nonsentinel pelvic lymph nodes despite having negative findings on sentinel lymph node biopsy. Thus, the negative predictive value of sentinel lymph node biopsy in the current study was 87.5%.CONCLUSIONSMultilevel sectioning followed by cytokeratin immunohistochemistry may identify additional patients who have lymph node micrometastases; in the current study, this technique identified cases in which micrometastases were present in nonsentinel lymph nodes even when sentinel lymph nodes were found to be negative for disease on biopsy. This high false‐negative rate associated with sentinel lymph node biopsy, raises questions regarding the validity of the sentinel lymph node concept in cervical carcinoma. Cancer 2004. © 2004 American Cancer Society.
Use of 1,8‐bis‐(dimethylamino)‐naphthalene/H18F complex as new radiofluorinating agent
Authors: Pascali Giancarlo , Kiesewetter Dale O. , Salvadori Piero A. , Eckelman William C. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractRadiopharmaceuticals containing an 18F label are of increasing interest due to their utilization in PET imaging. However, the bottleneck in these applications is the limited methods available for introduction of this radionuclide into biologically interesting molecules. In this work, we have evaluated a new radiofluorination method based on the properties of the complex between 1,8‐(dimethylamino)‐naphthalene (PS) and [18F]–HF. The results obtained on various model substrates suggest that, in some limited cases, this new procedure can be regarded as a possible alternative to the traditional nucleophilic route using K222/K2CO3 in CH3CN. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Spectral correlative chromatography and its application to analysis of chromatographic fingerprints of herbal medicines
Authors: Li Bo‐Yan , Hu Yun , Liang Yi‐Zeng , Huang Lan‐Fang , Xu Cheng‐Jian , Xie Pei‐Shan 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA signal‐processing method known as spectral correlative chromatography (SCC) for two‐dimensional data obtained from hyphenated chromatography is developed and applied to chemical chromatographic fingerprint data sets of herbal medicine under specific experimental conditions. The method can judge the presence or absence of a spectral correlative peak among the spectrochromatograms. A local least squares regression model (LLS) is constructed in a piecewise manner to correct the shifts of retention time of some peaks of interest in the chromatograms of various test samples. The results compare favorably with those obtained by a two‐point calibrated algorithm. It is shown that performing SCC and LLS on the piecewise clusters of various chromatographic fingerprints is more helpful in practice in revealing their common nature and for characterizing the chemical constituents. This approach holds great potential for facilitating quality control of herbal medicines.
Non‐recursive solution of sparse block Hessenberg systems
Authors: Favati P. , Lotti G. , Menchi O. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA double‐phase algorithm, based on the block recursive LU decomposition, has been recently proposed to solve block Hessenberg systems with sparsity properties. In the first phase the information related to the factorization of A and required to solve the system, is computed and stored. The solution of the system is then computed in the second phase. In the present paper the algorithm is modified: the two phases are merged into a one‐phase version having the same computational cost and allowing a saving of storage. Moreover, the corresponding non‐recursive version of the new algorithm is presented, which is especially suitable to solve infinite systems where the coefficient matrix dimension is not a priori fixed and a subsequent size enlargement technique is used. A special version of the algorithm, well suited to deal with block Hessenberg matrices having also a block band structure, is presented. Theoretical asymptotic bounds on the computational costs are proved. They indicate that, under suitable sparsity conditions, the proposed algorithms outperform Gaussian elimination. Numerical experiments have been carried out, showing the effectiveness of the algorithms when the size of the system is of practical interest. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Physical aging of an epoxy subsequent to relative humidity jumps through the glass concentration
Authors: Zheng Y. , Priestley R. D. , McKenna G. B. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractIn our previous work, we showed that the structural recovery responses of an epoxy after relative humidity (RH)‐jumps through the glass concentration have similar phenomenology to, but different kinetics from, those obtained by temperature (T)‐jumps. In this article, we report results from physical aging experiments of the same epoxy after RH‐jumps. The results show that time‐RH superposition and time–aging time superposition can be used to describe the viscoelastic responses in RH‐jump experiments. The similarities and differences between RH‐jump and T‐jump conditions are also presented. In addition, the difficulties in modeling the combined effects of temperature and relative humidity changes that result from these differences are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 2107–2121, 2004