bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Percentage reduction of pleural effusion as a simple predictor of pleural scarring in tuberculous pleuritis
Authors: WONG Chi‐Fong , LEUNG Simon Kwok‐Fai , YEW Wing‐Wai 
Published: August 2005

Objective:  The aim of the present study was to evaluate the utility of serum and pleural fluid biomarkers for predicting residual pleural scarring (RPS) in tuberculous pleuritis.Methodology:  A retrospective study of patients with pleural tuberculosis was performed. Demographic data, clinical parameters, haematological indices, serum and pleural fluid biochemistry and pleural effusion area were assessed for correlation with the extent of RPS.Results:  RPS was found in 41.4% of the 70 cases evaluated, with significant pleural scarring being present in 7.1%. It was more common in males (odds ratio 5.55). Among the variables studied, only the percentage reduction of the effusion after 2 weeks of treatment was found to independently predict the extent of RPS (r = −0.502, P < 0.001).Conclusion:  RPS was more common in males and the percentage reduction in pleural effusion on CXR after 2 weeks of treatment was found to be a useful predictor of RPS.
Relative androgen deficiency in relation to obesity and metabolic status in older men
Authors: Chen R. Y. T. , Wittert G. A. , Andrews G. R. 
Published: August 2005

Background:  Although androgen deficiency in men has been linked with obesity and the metabolic syndrome, whether it predisposes to, or is a consequence of, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is still unclear.Objective:  To determine the relationship between plasma androgen levels, obesity, metabolic status and T2DM in men of 70 years or older.Design and methods:  A sample of 195 men from the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing with a mean age of 76.2 ± 0.3 years were followed up for 8 years. Total testosterone (TT), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), urate, serum creatinine, total cholesterol (TC), HDL cholesterol (HDL‐C), LDL cholesterol (LDL‐C), triglycerides (TG), blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and diabetic status were assessed at baseline. Self‐reported diabetic status was obtained after 8 years. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed based on the Third National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel clinical criteria.Results:  TT levels were lower in diabetic men compared with non‐diabetic men (12.1 ± 0.7 vs. 14.2 ± 0.4 nmol/l, p = 0.026). TT levels in healthy, non‐diabetic men over 80 years of age were lower (11.9 ± 0.8 vs. 15.0 ± 0.5 nmol/l, p = 0.002) than TT levels in those aged 70–79 years, inversely related to BMI (r = −0.26, p = 0.001), WC (r = −0.30, p < 0.001) and TG (r = −0.22, p = 0.005) and positively related to LDL‐C (r = 0.25, p = 0.002). Men with the metabolic syndrome had significantly lower levels of TT and HDL‐C, and higher values of BP, FPG, TG, BMI and WC, compared with those without. However, no significant difference in plasma TT levels was noted between men with incident T2Dm and healthy men. Stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that only LDL‐C and WC related significantly to the variance of TT. Multiple logistic regression revealed FPG to be the only independent predictor of incident diabetes (odds ratio = 60.2, p = 0.003).Conclusions:  Testosterone levels continue to decline even in healthy men over the age of 80 years. Although TT levels were inversely related to visceral obesity and several components of the metabolic syndrome, our data do not support a predictive or causative role for decreasing TT levels in the development of incident T2Dm. Androgen deficiency is consequent upon, rather than a cause of, poor metabolic status.
Elevated C‐reactive protein in Native Canadian children: an ominous early complication of childhood obesity
Authors: Retnakaran R. , Hanley A. J. G. , Connelly P. W. , Harris S. B. , Zinman B. 
Published: August 2005

Aim:  Subclinical inflammation has been proposed as a pathophysiologic mechanism linking obesity with vascular and metabolic disease. Native North American populations are experiencing high prevalence rates of both (i) childhood obesity and (ii) adult cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes. Thus, we sought to determine whether subclinical inflammation is an early complication of obesity in Native children.Methods:  Serum concentrations of the inflammatory biomarker C‐reactive protein (CRP) were assessed in a population‐based, cross‐sectional study of the Sandy Lake Oji‐Cree community of Northern Ontario, Canada, involving 228 children aged 10–19 years (mean age 14.8).Results:  Median CRP in this population was 0.5 mg/l (interquartile range 0.18–1.79 mg/l). CRP levels were higher than age‐matched reference data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Importantly, fully 15.8% of the children of this community had CRP concentrations between 3 and 10 mg/l, a range that identifies adults at high risk of CVD. Moreover, increasing CRP concentration in this paediatric population was associated with an enhanced CV risk profile, consisting of increased adiposity, higher insulin resistance, worsening lipid profile (higher total cholesterol, triglycerides, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B and total cholesterol : high‐density‐lipoprotein cholesterol ratio), increased leptin and decreased adiponectin. On multivariate analysis, waist circumference and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) emerged as independent determinants of CRP concentration.Conclusion:  Subclinical inflammation is an early complication of childhood obesity in Native children and may foreshadow an increased burden of CVD and type 2 diabetes in the future.
A comparison of glycaemic and metabolic control over time among South Asian and European patients with Type 2 diabetes: results from follow‐up in a routine diabetes clinic
Authors: Mukhopadhyay B. , Forouhi N. G. , Fisher B. M. , Kesson C. M. , Sattar N. 
Published: August 2005

AbstractAims  Although South Asians have a higher prevalence of diabetes which develops at a younger age, data on change in metabolic parameters post‐diagnosis are relatively sparse. We therefore wished to determine whether South Asians with diabetes had similar or greater year‐on‐year deterioration in metabolic parameters compared with Europeans.Methods  We analysed longitudinal change in metabolic parameters [glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), lipids] among South Asian (n = 210) and European (n = 1557) patients consecutively attending the same diabetes clinic over a mean period of 5.3 years.Results  South Asians were younger than Europeans at first recorded diagnosis of diabetes (mean age 45.9 vs. 57.3 years, P < 0.001) and had significantly lower (∼1.2 units) BMI and blood pressure. Mean HbA1c was not different across ethnic groups at first visit, but with time glycaemic control was worse in South Asians than Europeans, with average deterioration 1.31% (= 0.23%/year) in Asians vs. 0.82% (0.16%/year) in Europeans, P = 0.003. This ethnic difference in mean change in HbA1c persisted after adjustment for age, sex, baseline HbA1c, and weight change in linear regression analysis (beta = 0.46, 95% CI 0.24–0.69, P < 0.001), and with additional adjustment for time to referral and duration of diabetes (P = 0.01). Moreover, South Asians had significantly smaller improvements in blood pressure (P < 0.001) and cholesterol (P = 0.044) over the follow‐up period in keeping with fewer prescriptions of anti‐hypertensive agents and lipid‐lowering agents.Conclusions  These data suggest the need to be more aggressive in the management of diabetes and related risk factors in South Asians.
The effect of obesity on glycaemic response to metformin or sulphonylureas in Type 2 diabetes
Authors: Donnelly L. A. , Doney A. S. F. , Hattersley A. T. , Morris A. D. , Pearson E. R. 
Published: August 2005

AbstractAims  In treating Type 2 diabetes (T2DM), UK guidelines recommend metformin in obese and overweight patients, and either sulphonylureas or metformin in normal weight patients. Although other factors influence prescribing choice, a key objective in treating T2DM is to lower plasma glucose. There is little data on how glycaemic response to oral agents varies with body mass index (BMI). Therefore, we assessed current prescribing practice and effect of BMI on glycaemic response to sulphonylureas and metformin in a large population T2DM cohort.Methods  BMI was determined in 3856 T2DM patients on sulphonylurea or metformin monotherapy in 2001–2002. Patients were identified from the Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside, Scotland (DARTS) database. In a linear regression, the effect of BMI and other confounders on drug response was assessed in 2064 treatment‐naïve patients commencing sulphonylureas or metformin between 1994 and 2002.Results  In 2001–2002, metformin was more likely to be used in obese than non‐obese patients: 13% normal weight, 33.6% overweight and 62.1% obese patients were treated with metformin. Glycaemic response to sulphonylureas was not influenced by BMI (P = 0.81). Metformin was more effective in lowering glucose in those with a lower BMI (r = –0.02, P = 0.02), although the clinical impact of this was small. The HbA1c reduction in non‐obese patients was similar to that in obese patients (1.46% vs. 1.34%, P = 0.11).Conclusions  Glycaemic response to metformin in non‐obese and obese patients is similar, suggesting that an individual's BMI should not influence the choice of oral agent. Given the non‐glycaemia‐related benefits of metformin, it should be used in more non‐obese patients than is current practice in Tayside, Scotland.
No evidence of diabetes‐specific CD38 (ADP ribosil cyclase/cyclic ADP‐ribose hydrolase) autoantibodies by liquid‐phase immunoprecipitation
Authors: Sordi V. , Lampasona V. , Cainarca S. , Bonifacio E. 
Published: August 2005

AbstractAims/hypothesis  Autoantibodies to the ADP ribosyl cyclase/cyclic ADP‐ribose hydrolase CD38 have been suggested to be markers of autoimmunity in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to develop a fluid phase assay for population screening.Methods  Human recombinant CD38 was cloned and expressed by in vitro transcription and translation for fluid phase radio‐binding assay, as a fusion protein in COS7 cells for fluid phase immunoprecipitation, and as a fusion protein for western blot assays. Antibody binding to each recombinant protein was measured in sera from patients with Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and control subjects.Results  Immunoprecipitation of radio‐labelled in vitro transcribed and translated CD38 was low in all sera, including monoclonal anti‐CD38 antibodies, with no difference between patients and control subjects. Monoclonal antibodies to CD38, but not patient or control sera immunoprecipitated recombinant CD38 fusion protein expressed in COS7 cells. Antibody binding to recombinant CD38 in solid‐phase western blot assay was detected in sera from 2% of patients with Type 1 diabetes, 6% of patients with Type 2 diabetes, and 8% of control subjects.Conclusions  This study failed to detect diabetes relevant binding of antibodies to recombinant CD38 using liquid‐phase methods. Formal comparison of anti‐CD38 antibody detection between laboratories is suggested.
Lifelong Learning in the European Union: whither the Lisbon Strategy?
Authors: JONES HYWEL CERI 
Published: August 2005

AbstractThis article traces the Lisbon strategy back to the White Paper issued by President Jacques Delors in 1993 on Growth, Competitiveness, and Jobs as the launching point for the structural reform agenda needed to turn around the massive unemployment crisis and proposing a combination of policies for the structural reform of the labour market and stability‐oriented macroeconomic policies designed to stimulate economic growth. The centrality of education and training in the Lisbon strategy is seen as key to the lifelong chances of every citizen linked to the need for Europe to compete on the basis of a knowledge‐based economy if it is to maintain its high social standards. Describing the first years of the Lisbon strategy as ‘a stuttering start’, the mid‐term stock‐taking which offered European leaders the opportunity to fine‐tune or radically modify the strategy is analysed. The article highlights the paradox that, although human capital is claimed to be Europe's most precious resource, there is inadequate focus on the weakest aspects of current systems. It also focuses on policy and financial levers which need to be mobilised within Member States as well as the implications for national budgets. It suggests the prioritisation of a small number of areas on which to concentrate efforts and echoes the Council calling for a ‘quantum leap’ in the ambition of the EU to ensure that the necessary follow‐up is given to meet the challenges. Finally, a strong argument is put forward to take steps to move towards a unified set of proposals for lifelong learning.
The Lisbon Strategy Challenges to the Czech Republic Human Resources
Authors: KADERABKOVA ANNA 
Published: August 2005

AbstractWhen achieving long‐term sustainable growth, the key role is assigned to ­knowledge‐based competitiveness. The new EU Member States therefore face a double challenge on the Lisbon road. On the one hand, higher expenditure is required to improve the quality of research and education input and infrastructure, and on the other, innovation system changes are necessary to increase the efficiency of expended resources. At the same time, both supply and demand sides must be adequately balanced in policy supporting knowledge‐based competitiveness. On the supply side, the position of the new Member States in EU‐25 has been defined in the competitiveness matrix; on the demand side, specific attention is given to the quality of human resources as a prerequisite of competitiveness in the EU as assessed by Czech companies. Finally, recommendations are formulated for the competitiveness support both in the form of a comprehensive innovation policy and a more specific support to human resource supply for innovation.
Optimal Transfer Pricing Method and Fixed Cost Allocation
Authors: SHIH MICHAEL S. H. 
Published: August 2005

Prior empirical research on transfer pricing only reported what firms do but seldom explained why. This study moves the research forward by introducing hypothesis testing.Atkinson (1987) shows that pricing transfers at variable cost when capacity is in excess. as prescribed by economic theory. would induce the buying unit to overstate expected demand at the capacity planning stage and cause a waste of resources. To test whether the strategic issue affects transfer pricing decisions, the study compares pricing methods for long‐ term transfer situations. which were provided for at the capacity planning stage, and ad hoc transfers.As well. while the two‐step method of charging full cost ‐charging variable cost for each unit transferred and separately charging a flat fee each period for capacity on reserve ‐has many good control qualities, it remained just an academic curiosity: there was no evidence of its wide use among firms. This study finds that the two‐step method is as widely in use as the one‐step method ‐charging variable cost plus unit fixed costs for each unit transferred.
A Theory of Currency Board with Irrevocable Commitments*
Authors: Chan Alex W. H. , Chen Nai‐fu 
Published: August 2005

AbstractCurrency boards are subject to runs if the foreign currency reserve is insufficient to back the convertible money supply. We construct a simple model and show how pre‐specified optimal reserve commitments can avert currency board runs. If there exists asymmetric information on the government's resolve, the government can also use commitments as a costly signal to induce a separating equilibrium. The model can be adapted to analyze other hard‐fixed exchange rate systems such as dollarizations and monetary unions. We illustrate the implications of our model in terms of the recent success in Hong Kong and possible remedies for Argentina.
The Behavior and Performance of Foreign Investors in Emerging Equity Markets: Evidence from Taiwan
Authors: Lin Anchor Y. , Swanson Peggy E. 
Published: August 2005

AbstractThis study investigates trading behavior and investment performance of foreign investors in 60 large‐size firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Strong evidence is found that foreign investors employ momentum strategies of buying past winners and selling past losers and favor large‐size, high book‐to‐market, and high‐tech stocks, while no evidence is found that foreign investors herd on market consensus. Findings show that foreign investors are short‐term superior performers but long‐term inferior performers. The short‐term superior performance appears to be driven partially by price momentum of winners portfolios rather than by risk taking. After controlling for firm size, share turnover, and industry, foreigners' short‐term performance in large‐size, high‐turnover, and high‐tech stocks is better than it is in small‐size, low‐turnover, and non‐high‐tech stocks.
Looking for Spot in the Presence of Futures*
Authors: Ramaswamy Krishna , Waldron Patrick 
Published: August 2005

AbstractThis paper deals with a novel problem of price search in a world where futures markets play an important role. In the absence of the futures market, customers are unable to tell whether a high spot quote reflects a fundamental change in market conditions or whether they have run into a high‐pricing dealer. The optimal strategy of a customer carrying out a costly search among dealers for the best spot price (while also participating in a futures market) is shown to have a reservation price property, where the reservation price is a function of the current futures price. In equilibrium, dealers randomize their price quotes in a way that is consistent with searchers' expectations, yielding a self‐fulfilling expectations equilibrium. This solution is consistent with optimal dealer behavior.
Finding genes in child psychology and psychiatry: When are we going to be there?
Authors: Plomin Robert 
Published: August 2005

Background:  The seven papers in this special section chart where we are in the quest for quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in key areas of child psychology and psychiatry such as reading and hyperactivity. But we are not there yet.Methods:  This commentary considers some new developments that are likely to accelerate the journey towards the identification of QTLs.Results:  The single most important factor is the need for very large samples to attain adequate power to detect and replicate QTLs of very small effect size. Another important development is the microarray, which makes it possible to genotype hundreds of thousands of SNPs simultaneously. Using microarrays in association studies allows SNPs across the whole genome to be genotyped. Microarrays will boost power even more when they contain all functional polymorphisms in the genome, including functional non‐coding DNA.Conclusions:  Once replicable QTLs are identified in areas such as reading and hyperactivity, the real journey will begin. Future studies will use sets of QTLs as genetic risk indicators in top‐down behavioural genomic research, leading to gene‐based diagnoses, gene‐based treatments tailored to the individual, and early warning systems and interventions. These discoveries will eventually help to prevent or at least ameliorate childhood disorders before they cast their long shadow over development.
Institutional care: associations between inattention and early reading performance
Authors: Roy Penny , Rutter Michael 
Published: August 2005

Background:  Recent government papers have expressed concern about the poor educational attainment of ‘looked after’ children. Early reading development has been found to be significant in their subsequent academic achievement. The possibility that biosocial factors extraneous to their experiences in public care may underpin their low attainment has not been investigated to date.Methods:  The reading ability of 19 primary school children, who had been raised in institutional care from an early age, were compared with 19 children, matched for age and sex, who were comparable in biological background and who had experienced uninterrupted family foster care. Both groups were compared with classroom controls using teacher questionnaires, interviews, systematic observations and cognitive testing.Results:  Reading delay was more prevalent in the institutional group and as a group they had lower reading scores than the children reared in family foster care. Variation in IQ accounted for the lower reading scores of the family foster care group compared with their matched classroom controls. Inattention, found in a previous study to be much more evident in the institutional group, partially accounted for the group difference in reading scores, and was situationally specific to formal teacher‐directed tasks. Differential effects of caregivers’ interest in terms of help with homework were also found.Conclusions:  Early reading performance was associated with the experience of being raised ‘in care’ but was not an inevitable outcome. It was concluded that the type of substitute caregiving experienced affected reading performance. Institutional upbringing affected reading performance both directly and indirectly through the heightened levels of inattention associated with institutional care.
Suicide attempts and severe psychiatric morbidity among former child welfare clients – a national cohort study
Authors: Vinnerljung Bo , Hjern Anders , Lindblad Frank 
Published: August 2005

Background: Few large sample studies have examined psychiatric morbidity among former child welfare/protection clients. In this study, risks for suicide attempts and severe psychiatric morbidity in younger years were assessed for former child welfare clients in ten national birth cohorts, comparing them with general population peers and inter‐country adoptees.Methods: We used national register data for almost one million people: 22,305 former child welfare clients who had experienced interventions before their teens, 955,326 general population cohort peers and 12,240 inter‐country adoptees. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to estimate risks of hospitalisation for suicide attempts and psychiatric disorders from age 13 to age 18–27.Results: Former child welfare clients were in year of birth and sex standardised risk ratios (RRs) four to five times more likely than peers in the general population to have been hospitalised for suicide attempts. They were five to eight times more likely to have been hospitalised for serious psychiatric disorders in their teens, four to six times in young adulthood. High excess risks were also found for psychoses and depression. Individuals who had been in long‐term foster care tended to have the most dismal outcome. Adjusting for birth parents’ hospitalisations with a psychiatric diagnosis or for substance abuse, and for birth‐home‐related socio‐economic factors, reduced excess risks to around twofold.Conclusions: Irrespective of issues of causality, findings suggest that former child welfare/protection clients should be considered a high‐risk group for suicide attempts and severe psychiatric morbidity. Results have substantial practice implications for mental health and social agencies serving this group in adolescence and/or young adulthood.