bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Lead effect on blood pressure in moderately lead‐exposed male workers
Authors: Telišman Spomenka , Pizent Alica , Jurasović Jasna , Cvitković Petar 
Published: April 2004

AbstractBackgroundThe effect of lead (Pb) and potential confounding variables on blood pressure was examined in healthy male industrial workers 20–43 years of age.MethodsIn 100 Pb workers and 51 reference subjects, the following variables were measured: blood Pb (BPb), activity of δ‐aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), erythrocyte protoporphyrin (EP), blood cadmium (BCd), serum zinc (SZn), serum copper (SCu), hematocrit (Hct), body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure. The inter‐relationship of biomarkers of Pb (BPb, ALAD, EP) and BCd, SZn, SCu, Hct, BMI, age, smoking, and alcohol to systolic and diastolic blood pressure was calculated by forward stepwise multiple regression.ResultsThere was no significant difference in blood pressure between the two groups, possibly because the reference subjects had relatively high BPb levels and significantly higher BMI (P < 0.05) as compared to the Pb workers. According to the multiple regression results in Pb workers, an increase in systolic blood pressure was significantly associated with increasing EP (P = 0.001) and BMI (P < 0.002), or alternatively with increasing BMI (P < 0.004) and decreasing ALAD (P < 0.04) and BCd (P < 0.05). An increase in diastolic blood pressure was significantly associated with increasing BMI (P < 0.009) and EP (P = 0.05) and decreasing BCd (P < 0.04). With respect to the EP range of 0.73–13.94 µmol/l erythrocytes in 100 Pb workers, an increase of 17 mm Hg in systolic and 6 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure was found.ConclusionsLong‐term cumulative Pb exposure, which is better reflected by EP than by ALAD or current BPb level, can significantly increase blood pressure in moderately Pb‐exposed male workers (long‐term average BPb <400 µg/l; exposure duration 2–21 years). Am. J. Ind. Med. 45:446–454, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Contribution of malformations and genetic disorders to mortality in a children's hospital
Authors: Stevenson David A. , Carey John C. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractMalformations and genetic disorders are the leading cause of infant mortality in the US. Many malformations have a genetic basis due to genic, chromosomal, or multifactorial causation. We have studied the proportion of pediatric cases in a university‐affiliated children's hospital that died of malformations and genetic disorders. We reviewed, retrospectively, deaths over a 4 year period (1994–1998) at Primary Children's Medical Center (PCMC), a university‐affiliated tertiary children's referral hospital in Utah. The age at death and the cause of death were recorded for each case. We analyzed 523 cases; 180 (34.4%) deaths were due to malformations and genetic disorders. Of those 180, 30 (16.7%) had chromosome anomalies, 21 (11.7%) had a recognizable malformation syndrome, 118 (65.6%) had a malformation of unknown cause, and 11 (6.1%) had some other genetic disorder. One hundred and twenty‐two (23.3%) deaths were due to trauma (accidental and non‐accidental). Seventy‐nine (15.1%) deaths were due to short gestation or perinatal complications. Forty‐five (8.6%) deaths were due to an infectious disease and 45 (8.6%) from neoplasms. Thirteen (2.5%) were diagnosed for sudden infant death “syndrome.” Twelve (2.3%) patients with malformations and/or genetic disorders died of an acquired condition not clearly related to the underlying disorder. Seven (1.3%) patients died of an unknown cause and 20 (3.8%) patients died of other specified conditions. In addition, 51.0% patients (age <1 year) died of a malformation and/or genetic disorder. Genetic disorders and malformations are a substantial cause of mortality in a referral pediatric hospital. Knowledge of the impact of genetic diseases on mortality is important for the integration of preventive measures and health care strategies to care effectively for patients and their families. This information emphasizes the importance of further study of whether or not early recognition influences mortality rate and management. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Prenatal diagnosis of a rare inherited heterochromatic variant chromosome 4
Authors: Zaslav Ann‐Leslie , Pierno Guy , Fougner Arthur , Jacob Jessy , Shikora Geraldine , Kazi Rehana , Blumenthal Donna , Alexander Fakhry , Fox Joyce E. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractHeterochromatic chromosome polymorphisms have been extensively reported. Most are associated with C‐band positive regions located on chromosomes 1, 9, 16, and Y. We report a prenatal case of a rare heterochromatic variant on chromosome 4. Amniocentesis was performed on a 35‐year‐old white female for AMA. The karyotype was 46,XY,add(4)(q35)?. One chromosome 4 homolog had an additional dark band at the terminus of the long arm. Parental chromosome analyses revealed that the chromosome 4 was maternally inherited. The mother and fetus were both Q and C‐band positive and NOR and DAPI Distamycin staining negative. FISH using Y, 4, and 9 whole chromosome paint (WCP), centromere probes for all chromosomes (Cytocell, Chromoprobe Multiprobe‐I System, Rainbow Scientific, Inc., Windsor, CT), alpha‐satellite probes for 13/21, 14/22 (D13Z1/D21Z1; D14Z1/D22Z1, Oncor, Gaithersburg, MD), and the 15 PWS/Angelman probe (LSI SNRPN, D15Z1, PML, Vysis, Inc., Downers Grove, IL) were negative. The TelVysion 4q telomere probe (D4S2930, Vysis, Inc.) was positive. A phenotypically normal male was born at 37 weeks. Follow up studies on placenta, cord, cord blood, and foreskin confirmed the prenatal results. Based on these findings, it appears that this chromosome 4 was a rare heterochromatic variant. Heterochromatic variants have been demonstrated to have no phenotypic effect on carriers. This case illustrates the importance of reporting unusual variant chromosomes for genetic counseling purposes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a heterochromatic variant involving part of the long arm of chromosome 4 in a phenotypically normal mother and child. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Familial interstitial duplication of 11q; partial trisomy (11)(q13.5q21)
Authors: Yelavarthi Krishna K. , Zunich Janice 
Published: April 2004

AbstractWe report on a case of an interstitial duplication of 11q in a patient with developmental delay and in his moderately delayed mother. Partial trisomy 11q is well documented in the literature with most cases involving the distal region of the long arm of chromosome 11. In almost all cases, this trisomy is associated with monosomy of the second chromosome involved in the parental translocation. The most common, partial 11q and 22q trisomy syndrome, is observed in offspring of t(11;22)(q23;q11.2) carriers from a 3:1 tertiary trisomic malsegregation. We found only two previous reports of pure partial trisomy 11q in the literature. Comparison of the clinical findings of our patient and another single published report of duplication in the same segment of chromosome 11 suggests that the duplication of this region manifests mild phenotypic abnormalities. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Two new cases of Barraquer–Simons syndrome
Authors: Ferrarini A. , Milani D. , Bottigelli M. , Cagnoli G. , Selicorni Angelo 
Published: April 2004

AbstractBarraquer–Simons syndrome is a rare form of partial lipodystrophy, mainly characterized by loss of subcutaneous tissue, starting from the face and spreading to the upper part of the body. Occasional functional anomalies such as deafness, epilepsy, and mental retardation can be associated with the condition; nephropathy and myopathy have been observed occasionally. Here we report on two new sporadic cases, who show at the moment only a facial involvement, without any associated anomalies and/or medical complications. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Response to social challenge in young bonnet (Macaca radiata) and pigtail (Macaca nemestrina) macaques is related to early maternal experiences
Authors: Weaver Ann , Richardson Rebecca , Worlein Julie , Waal Frans De , Laudenslager Mark 
Published: April 2004

AbstractPrevious experience affects how young primates respond to challenging social situations. The present retrospective study looked at one aspect of early experience, the quality of the mother‐infant relationship, to determine its relationship to young bonnet and pigtail macaques' responses to two social challenges: temporary maternal separation at 5‐6 months and permanent transfer to an unfamiliar peer group at 16–17 months. Relationship quality was measured quantitatively on 30 macaque mother‐infant pairs with the Relationship Quality Index (RQI), the ratio of relative affiliation to relative agonism as previously applied to capuchin monkeys. Infants with high RQI values had amicable mother‐infant relationships and infants with low RQI values had agonistic mother‐infant relationships. Young monkeys with amicable and agonistic relationships showed consistent differences in behavior before, during, and after each social challenge, supporting the hypothesis that juveniles from amicable mother‐infant relationships based on the RQI coped more effectively with social challenges than did juveniles from agonistic mother‐infant relationships. Results suggest 1) characteristic amicability or agonism in early mother‐offspring macaque relationships has the potential to influence offspring behavior in tense social contexts and 2) the RQI is useful as one of a coordinated suite of methods for studying the development of social skills. Am. J. Primatol. 62:243–259, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Mating system of an exceptional primate, the olive colobus (Procolobus verus)
Authors: Korstjens Amanda H. , Noë Ronald 
Published: April 2004

AbstractIn the olive colobus (Procolobus verus), many groups have multiple males and the males have large testes. This indicates that even though this species lives in small groups, single males do not monopolize the groups. We investigated the strategies employed by males to secure their mating success, and sought to determine whether the lack of male monopolization was a result of female mating strategies, as indicated by the exaggerated sexual swellings of the females. Four study groups were monitored for demographic changes, and group composition was determined in six additional groups in Taï National Park, Ivory Coast, between 1994 and 1999. Social behavior was recorded by scan and focal sampling in the study groups. The almost permanent association of olive colobus with Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) in effect provided males a resource at which they could expect females to visit and sometimes even permanently join them, as well as protection from predators. As alternative strategies for obtaining females, one male took over the group of another male and one male immigrated into a bisexual group. Within bi‐male groups, dominant males mated most frequently and males defended their groups during intergroup interactions. Lone females that visited groups or solitary males had a swelling more often than expected, and generally mated with the males they visited. Females had long receptive periods, several consecutive receptive cycles, and some overlap in receptive periods within groups. Females mated with extragroup males, and during infertile periods. We concluded that the males used the Diana monkeys for safety reasons and to obtain mating partners, and that female reproductive biology and behavior prevented the monopolization of groups of females by single males. Our data were inconclusive as regards the benefits to females of avoiding monopolization by males. Am. J. Primatol. 62:261–273, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Relationships between the fossil colobine Mesopithecus pentelicus and extant cercopithecoids, based on dental metrics
Authors: Pan Ruliang , Groves Colin , Oxnard Charles 
Published: April 2004

AbstractMaxillary dental measurements from six specimens of Mesopithecus pentelicus, 64 cercopithecines, 59 African colobines, and 64 Asian colobines were analyzed by means of a “nested research design” that was specifically designed to explore the affiliation between fossils and extant cercopithecoids at different systematic levels. The results showed that the variation among taxonomic groups was mainly associated with size; however, in addition, interesting shape differences emerged, molars were shown to be important discriminators, Mesopithecus was confirmed as a colobine (as expected) and found to be closer to Asian species than to African ones, and the odd‐nosed colobines were found to share more dental similarities with Mesopithecus than other colobines. The last finding is in contrast to previous studies, in which it was proposed that M. pentelicus is morphologically closely related to the African colobus and the gray langur (Semnopithecus) in Am. J. Primatol. 62:287–299, 2004 © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Comparison of the failure conditions for creep, stress relaxation, and constant strain rate measurements to predict pipe burst for two ABS materials using the universal viscoelastic model
Authors: Sudduth Richard D. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe universal viscoelastic model was further validated in this study using two acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) viscoelastic materials to better elucidate the direct relationship between the failure criterion characteristics involving creep, constant strain rate, stress relaxation, and pipe burst. Using the yield strain as the failure criterion for constant strain rate and stress relaxation measurements and the strain at critical creep, the failure condition for creep, it was found that the universal viscoelastic model allowed these failure criteria to yield remarkably good agreement on a projected time scale. The relationship of the failure criteria between these three different techniques for characterizing a viscoelastic material was successfully used to identify several complementary approaches to predict long‐term pipe burst for two different ABS materials. The pipe burst data for ABS‐A appeared to fit the Tresca failure criterion better than the von Mises failure criterion, as predicted from failure criteria using constant strain rate, creep, and stress relaxation measurements. For ABS‐A the extrapolated creep and the constant strain rate failure criterion appeared to best predict the Tresca failure criterion pipe burst data. However, the hoop burst stress for ABS‐N, adjusted with the von Mises failure criterion modification, was found to give the best agreement with the yield stress equivalent failure criterion for constant strain rate, creep, and stress relaxation. For ABS‐N, the extrapolated creep failure criteria appeared to best predict the von Mises pipe burst failure criterion. In this study, the relationships between the failure criteria for the three different experimental techniques of constant strain rate, creep, and stress relaxation were shown to be reasonably interchangeable relative to a three‐dimensional failure configuration such as pipe burst. Because this interchangeability approach was found to work so well in the laboratory, there is no reason to believe that this same technique, using the universal viscoelastic model, would not also work as well to predict failure criteria for design applications using finite‐element analysis. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 247–260, 2004
Kinetics and mechanism of initial steps of synthesis of polyetherols from melamine and ethylene carbonate
Authors: Kijowska Dorota , Wołowiec Stanisław , Lubczak Jacek 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe kinetics of initial steps of formation of polyetherols in the reaction between melamine and ethylene carbonate in dimethylsulfoxide in presence of 1,4‐diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) as catalyst was studied. Based upon kinetic studies performed with various concentrations of melamine and catalyst, the rate law was formulated and a mechanism of the reaction was proposed. The activation parameters ΔG#, ΔH#, and ΔS# were obtained from the temperature dependence of kinetics. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 294–300, 2004
Study on a new kind of polypropylene‐graft‐ polystyrene: Preparation and application
Authors: Li Ze , Ke Yucai , Hu Youliang 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA novel synthetic route for preparing polypropylene‐graft‐polystyrene (PP‐g‐PSt) was set up. With this synthetic route, a series of PP‐g‐PSt copolymers containing different percentages of polystyrene chain were synthesized, based on the different reactivities of two kinds of CC double bonds on 4‐(3‐butenyl) styrene. Characterization data, including 1H‐NMR, 13C‐NMR, GPC, and DSC, demonstrated that the graft copolymers were all very pure. Furthermore, it was also attempted to use this new kind of propylene–styrene graft copolymer as a compatibilizer. DMA and SEM results illustrated that the PP‐g‐PSt obtained is an efficient compatibilizer for the polypropylene–polystyrene blend. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 314–322, 2004
Searching the peer‐to‐peer networks: The community and their queries
Authors: Ho Kwok Sai , Yang Christopher C. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractPeer‐to‐Peer (P2P) networks provide a new distributed computing paradigm on the Internet for file sharing. The decentralized nature of P2P networks fosters cooperative and non‐cooperative behaviors in sharing resources. Searching is a major component of P2P file sharing. Several studies have been reported on the nature of queries of World Wide Web (WWW) search engines, but studies on queries of P2P networks have not been reported yet. In this report, we present our study on the Gnutella network, a decentralized and unstructured P2P network. We found that the majority of Gnutella users are located in the United States. Most queries are repeated. This may be because the hosts of the target files connect or disconnect from the network any time, so clients resubmit their queries. Queries are also forwarded from peers to peers. Findings are compared with the data from two other studies of Web queries. The length of queries in the Gnutella network is longer than those reported in the studies of WWW search engines. Queries with the highest frequency are mostly related to the names of movies, songs, artists, singers, and directors. Terms with the highest frequency are related to file formats, entertainment, and sexuality. This study is important for the future design of applications, architecture, and services of P2P networks.
Topic modeling for mediated access to very large document collections
Authors: Muresan Gheorghe , Harper David J. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractClear and precise queries are a necessity when searching very large document collections, especially when query‐based retrieval is the only means of exploration. We propose system‐mediated information access as a solution for users' well‐documented inability to formulate good queries. Our approach is based on two main assumptions: first, on the ability of document clustering to reveal the topical, semantic structure of a problem domain represented by a specialized “source collection,” and, second, on the capacity of statistical language models to convey content. Taking the role of the human mediator or intermediary searcher, a mediation system interacts with the user and supports her exploration of a relatively small source collection, chosen to be representative for the problem domain. Based on the user's selection of relevant “exemplary” documents and clusters from this source collection, the system builds a language model of her information need. This model is subsequently used to derive “mediated queries,” which are expected to convey precisely and comprehensively the user's information need, and can be submitted by the user to search any large and heterogeneous “target collections.” We present results of experiments that simulated various mediation strategies and compared the effect on mediation effectiveness of a variety of parameters, such as the similarity measure, the weighting scheme, and the clustering method. They provide both upperbounds of performance that can potentially be reached by real end users and a comparison between the effectiveness of these strategies. The experimental evidence suggests that information retrieval mediated through a clustered specialized collection has potential to improve effectiveness significantly.
Observing users, designing clarity: A case study on the user‐centered design of a cross‐language information retrieval system
Authors: Petrelli Daniela , Beaulieu Micheline , Sanderson Mark , Demetriou George , Herring Patrick , Hansen Preben 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThis report presents a case study of the development of an interface for a novel and complex form of document retrieval: searching for texts written in foreign languages based on native language queries. Although the underlying technology for achieving such a search is relatively well understood, the appropriate interface design is not. A study involving users from the beginning of the design process is described, and it covers initial examination of user needs and tasks, preliminary design and testing of interface components, building, testing, and refining the interface, and, finally, conducting usability tests of the system. Lessons are learned at every stage of the process, leading to a much more informed view of how such an interface should be built.
Bioequivalence evaluation of two brands of aceclofenac 100mg tablets (Aceclofar and Bristaflam) in healthy human volunteers
Authors: Najib Naji , Idkaidek Nasir , Beshtawi M. , Bader Mohammed , Admour Isra' , Alam S. Mahmood , Zaman Q. , Dham Ruwayda 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA randomized, two‐way, crossover, bioequivalence study in 24 fasting, healthy, male volunteers was conducted to compare two brands of aceclofenac 100mg tablets, Aceclofar (Julphar, UAE) as test and Bristaflam (Bristol Myers Squibb, Egypt) as the reference product. The drug was administered with 240ml of water after a 10h overnight fast on two treatment days separated by 1 week washout period. After dosing, serial blood samples were collected for a period of 24h. Plasma harvested from blood was analysed for aceclofenac by a validated HPLC method with UV‐visible detection capable of detecting aceclofenac in the range 0.2–8.0μg/ml with the limit of quantitation as 0.2μg/ml. Various pharmacokinetic parameters including AUC0−t, AUC0−∞, Cmax, Tmax, T1/2, and λZ were determined from plasma concentrations for both formulations and found to be in good agreement with reported values. AUC0−t, AUC0−∞, and Cmax were tested for bioequivalence after log‐transformation of data. No significant difference was found based on ANOVA; 90% confidence interval (100.0%–106.4% for AUC0−t, 100.2%–106.8% for AUC0−∞; 83.3%–102.8% for Cmax) of test/reference ratio for these parameters were found to be within the bioequivalence acceptance range of 80%–125%. Based on these statistical inferences, it was concluded that Aceclofar is bioequivalent to Bristaflam. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.