bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Utility of urinary pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline ratio for diagnosis of osteoarthritis at temporomandibular joint
Authors: Tanimoto K. , Ohno S. , Imada M. , Honda K. , Ohno‐Nakahara M. , Kapila S. , Tanne K. 
Published: March 2004

Background:  Pyridinoline (Pyr) and deoxypyridinoline (Dpyr) collagen cross‐links are known markers of bone and cartilage turnover that are found in urine in various diseases. The present study was designed to quantify Pyr and Dpyr levels in urine of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), and to evaluate whether their concentrations are related to specific pathologic findings in the TMJ.Methods:  Urine samples were obtained from 12 patients with OA of the TMJ and 16 asymptomatic controls, and following appropriate preparation, analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fluorescence spectroscopy for Pyr and Dpyr.Results:  The urinary concentration of Pyr and the Pyr to Dpyr (Pyr/Dpyr) ratio were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in OA patients than in the controls (182.2 ± 86.5 pmol/ml vs. 115.6 ± 27.9 pmol/ml and 4.00 ± 1.53 pmol/ml vs. 2.86 ± 0.97 pmol/ml, respectively). However, the Pyr/Dpyr ratio was not associated with any specific clinical or radiographic findings.Conclusion:  These findings suggest that the level of Pyr and the Pyr/Dpyr ratio in urine may be a useful diagnostic indicator for intra‐articular pathologic changes during TMJ OA.
Glucocorticoid‐inducible gene expression vectors for use in Drosophila melanogaster Schneider 2 cells
Authors: Poels J. , Martinez A. , Suner M.‐M. , De Loof A. , Dunbar S. J. , Vanden Broeck J. 
Published: March 2004

AbstractInducible, vector‐based, expression systems that allow fine control of transgene expression are gaining more and more use in fundamental research as well as in therapeutic applications. In an effort to develop a tightly regulated heterologous expression system for Drosophila Schneider 2 cells, three different inducible reporter constructs were compared. These comprised six copies of the glucocorticoid response element fused to one of three distinct types of Drosophila gene promoters: (1) a TATA‐box containing, (2) a TATA‐less and (3) a bidirectional core sequence. These were fused to a luciferase reporter gene. The promoter constructs displayed different basal as well as agonist‐induced activities. The implications of the observations made are discussed in the context of promoter properties and of induction of genes that may be studied in Drosophila.
Photosynthetic activity of US biomes: responses to the spatial variability and seasonality of precipitation and temperature
Authors: Xiao Jingfeng , Moody Aaron 
Published: March 2004

AbstractWe examined the response of the normalized difference vegetation index, integrated over the growing season (gNDVI) to mean precipitation, maximum temperature (Tmax), and minimum temperature (Tmin) over an 11‐year period (1990–2000) for six biomes in the conterminous United States. We focused on within‐ and across‐biome variance in long‐term average gNDVI, emphasizing the degree to which this variance is explained by spatial gradients in long‐term average seasonal climate. Since direct measurements of ecosystem function are unavailable at the spatial and temporal scales studied, we used the satellite‐based gNDVI as a proxy for net photosynthetic activity.Forested and nonforested biomes differed sharply in their response to spatial gradients in temperature and precipitation. Gradients in mean spring and fall precipitation totals explained much of the variance in mean annual gNDVI within arid biomes. For forested biomes, mean annual gNDVI was positively associated with mean annual and seasonal Tmin and Tmax. These trends highlight the importance of the seasonal components of precipitation and temperature regimes in controlling productivity, and reflect the influence of these climatic components on water balance and growing‐season length. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2001) increases in temperature minima and fall precipitation have contributed the dominant components of US increases in temperature and precipitation, respectively. Within the range of conditions observed over the study region, our results suggest that these trends have particularly significant consequences for above‐ground plant productivity, especially for Grassland, Open Shrubland, and Evergreen Needleleaf Forest. If historical climatic trends and the biotic responses suggested in this analysis continue to hold, we can anticipate further increases in productivity for both forested and nonforested ecoregions in the conterminous US, with associated implications for carbon budgets and woody proliferation.
Postoperative pain assessment tools in day surgery: literature review
Authors: Coll Anne Marie , Ameen Jamal R.M. , Mead Donna 
Published: March 2004

Background.  Postoperative pain is an expected phenomenon. However, its passage beyond acceptable limits is a common and costly experience. This is particularly the case in day surgery, partly because of the increasing demand to reduce waiting lists for elective surgery, and partly because of lack of knowledge about patients’ experiences of postoperative pain and relevant published research. The latter is mainly concerned with different interpretations of the phenomenon of pain that appear to have led to a variety of often inappropriate pain measurement tools.Aim.  This paper critically reviews some of the available objective and subjective measures of pain and establishes the suitability of a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for measuring the intensity of pain after day surgery.Method.  Nursing and health care papers published since 1983 were sought using the keywords: postoperative pain, day surgery, ambulatory surgery, rating scales, VAS, severity, assessment, tool, nursing, validity, sensitivity, reliability and their various combinations. The databases used were Medline, CINAHL, Nursing Collection, Embase, Healthstar, BMJ and several on‐line Internet journals, specifically Ambulatory Surgery. The search included only papers published in the English language.Findings.  A range of interpretations of pain have led to the development of various measurement tools that address different components of pain. This inconsistency has led to ineffective pain management. Based on established criteria, the VAS was found to be methodologically sound, conceptually simple, easy to administer and unobtrusive to the respondent. On these grounds, the VAS seems to be most suitable for measuring intensity of pain after day surgery.Conclusions.  Common guidelines on the definition and measurement of pain are needed. In day surgery, the availability of a unified and reliable measure of pain that can address its sensory component, such as the VAS, will provide more reliable information about the pain experience and, hence, improve its overall management.
International educational partnership for practice: Brazil and the United Kingdom
Authors: Girot Elizabeth A , Enders Bertha C. 
Published: March 2004

Background.  To enhance healthcare globally, successful academic partnerships between institutes of higher education are crucial to strengthen collaboration between countries and identify new ways of working. The desire to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity among childbearing women in north‐east Brazil urged professional nurses to seek new ways of working through such a partnership. Reflections on the success of the link identify the key qualities uniting the partnership.Aims.  This paper explores the key qualities of a higher education partnership between the United Kingdom and north‐east Brazil. These qualities can act as a guide to other faculties engaged in such links to facilitate successful collaborative working for gains on both sides.Results.  Critical reflections from both partners revealed that the key qualities identified are effective communication, deep commitment and the need for both partners to understand each other's context of care.Conclusions.  Examination of each of these qualities illustrates that the shared perspectives, mutual respect and enriched educational experience are valuable and essential to successful partnership working. This critical reflection illustrates the process of success and how others can benefit from the lessons learned, whatever the nature of partnership. Understanding the nature of collaborative working has strengthened each education and practice community, encouraged them to take risks, and remain committed to collective success.
The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and nursing
Authors: Kearney Penelope M. , Pryor Julie 
Published: March 2004

Background.  Nursing conceptualizes disability from largely medical and individual perspectives that do not consider its social dimensions. Disabled people are critical of this paradigm and its impact on their health care.Aim.  The aims of this paper are to review the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), including its history and the theoretical models upon which it is based and to discuss its relevance as a conceptual framework for nursing.Method.  The paper presents a critical overview of concepts of disability and their implications for nursing and argues that a broader view is necessary. It examines ICF and its relationship to changing paradigms of disability and presents some applications for nursing.Conclusion.  The ICF, with its acknowledgement of the interaction between people and their environments in health and disability, is a useful conceptual framework for nursing education, practice and research. It has the potential to expand nurses’ thinking and practice by increasing awareness of the social, political and cultural dimensions of disability.
Functional and self‐efficacy changes of patients admitted to a Geriatric Rehabilitation Unit
Authors: McCloskey Rose 
Published: March 2004

Background.  Geriatric Rehabilitation Units (GRUs) have been established to restore functional abilities of older hospitalized patients. Although considerable health care resources have been allocated to these units, few outcome‐based research studies have been reported on Canadian GRUs.Aim.  The aim of this paper is to report a study examining the effect of admission to a GRU on changes in patients’ functional ability and self‐efficacy in performing everyday activities at home.Methods.  Following Institutional Review Board approval, data were collected from 40 patients age 65–101 years (mean 83·8, sd 6·57) admitted to a 21‐bed interdisciplinary GRUs over a 7‐month period. All were living independently prior to hospital admission. Data were collected on admission to the unit and on discharge using two instruments: the Functional Independence Measure and Falls Efficacy Scale.Results.  Statistically significant improvements were found in functional ability and self‐efficacy following admission to the GRUs.Conclusions.  Although functional level and feelings of self‐efficacy on admission to the unit were at levels which may have prevented participants from returning home, the majority were discharged to the community. Results suggest that admission to a GRU helps prepare patients to return to community living.
Systemic plant signal triggers genome instability
Authors: Filkowski Jody , Yeoman Allan , Kovalchuk Olga , Kovalchuk Igor 
Published: March 2004

SummaryPreviously, we have shown that infection of tobacco plants with a viral pathogen triggers local and systemic induction of homologous recombination (HR). Here, we have tested the hypothesis of whether free radicals are potentially involved in the induction of the systemic effect. We report a significant induction of HR in tobacco plants treated with radical‐generating agents, UVC or rose Bengal (RB). Importantly, the recombination increase was observed in local (treated) as well as systemic (non‐treated) tissue. The systemic increase in recombination implies the existence of a signal that is transmitted to non‐treated tissue. Several sets of grafting experiments proved the generation of said signal by both RB and UVC exposure. A statistically significant increase in HR was observed in tissue that received a systemic signal via a grafted leaf. Similar data were obtained from transgenic plants naphthalene degrading salicylate 1‐hydroxylase (NahG) unable to accumulate salicylic acid (SA). Interestingly, pre‐treatment of plants with the radical‐scavenging compound N‐acetyl‐l‐cysteine (NAC) led to a significantly lower recombination increase upon grafting after treatment with UVC and RB. Moreover, leaves taken for grafting from NAC‐pre‐treated plants exhibited a lower level of oxidized organic compounds. Our data suggest the involvement of free radical production in either generation or maintenance of the recombination signal. We discuss potential mechanisms for generation of the signal and possible adaptive advantages of enhanced genomic flexibility following exposure to DNA‐damaging agents.
Co‐expression of three MEP pathway genes and geraniol 10‐hydroxylase in internal phloem parenchyma of Catharanthus roseus implicates multicellular translocation of intermediates during the biosynthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids and isoprenoid‐derived primary metabolites
Authors: Burlat Vincent , Oudin Audrey , Courtois Martine , Rideau Marc , St‐Pierre Benoit 
Published: March 2004

SummaryIn higher plants, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) is synthesised both from the plastidic 2‐C‐methyl‐d‐erythritol 4‐phosphate (MEP) and from the cytosolic mevalonate (MVA) pathways. Primary metabolites, such as phytol group of chlorophylls, carotenoids and the plant hormones abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellins (GAs) are derived directly from the MEP pathway. Many secondary metabolites, such as monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs) in Catharanthus roseus, are also synthesised from this source of IPP. Using Northern blot and in situ hybridisation experiments, we show that three MEP pathway genes (1‐deoxy‐d‐xylulose 5‐phosphate synthase (DXS), 1‐deoxy‐d‐xylulose 5‐phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR) and 2C‐methyl‐d‐erythritol 2,4‐cyclodiphosphate synthase (MECS)) and the gene encoding geraniol 10‐hydroxylase (G10H), a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase involved in the first committed step in the formation of iridoid monoterpenoids display identical cell‐specific expression patterns. The co‐localisation of these four transcripts to internal phloem parenchyma of young aerial organs of C. roseus adds a new level of complexity to the multicellular nature of MIA biosynthesis. We predict the translocation of pathway intermediates from the internal phloem parenchyma to the epidermis and, ultimately, to laticifers and idioblasts during MIA biosynthesis. Similarly, the translocation of intermediates from the phloem parenchyma is probably also required during the biosynthesis of hormones and photosynthetic primary metabolites derived from the MEP pathway.
Laminin and fibronectin concentrations of the follicular fluid correlate with granulosa cell luteinization and oocyte quality
Authors: Honda Tetsuro , Fujiwara Hiroshi , Yoshioka Shinya , Yamada Shigetoshi , Nakayama Takahiro , Egawa Miho , Nishioka Yoshihiro , Takahashi Akira , Fujii Shingo 
Published: March 2004

Background and Aims:  Progesterone production of human cultured luteinizing granulosa cells was reported to be modified by extracellular matrix, suggesting that extracellular matrix regulates luteinization of granulosa cells after ovulation. In the present study, the relationship among laminin, fibronectin, progesterone and estradiol in follicular fluid along with oocyte quality was analyzed to estimate the physiological role of extracellular matrix in follicular luteinization and oocyte quality during ovulation.Methods and Results:  Follicular fluid was collected at oocyte pick‐up from the patients undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. The concentrations of laminin, fibronectin, progesterone and estradiol in the follicular fluid were measured by enzyme immunoassay and radioimmunoassay. The morphology of oocytes were also assessed during the procedure of intracytoplasmic sperm injection and was classified into normal and abnormal groups. The fibronectin concentration was higher in the normal ooplasm group than in the abnormal group, but it did not correlate with estradiol or progesterone concentration. However, laminin concentration significantly correlated with that of progesterone, but not with cytoplasm morphology of oocytes. There was no difference in estradiol or progesterone concentration between the normal and abnormal groups.Conclusion:  These findings suggest that extracellular matrix plays some roles in regulating human granulosa cell luteinization and oocyte quality during ovulation. (Reprod Med Biol 2004; 3: 43–49)
Clinical significance of the soluble interleukin‐2 receptor as a putative systemic nutritional index in the elderly*
Authors: Kikuchi Motoo , Inagaki Toshiaki , Shinagawa Nagao , Ueda Ryuzo 
Published: March 2004

Background:  The clinical significance of a slight increase in serum soluble interleukin‐2 receptor (sIL2R) concentration in the stable elderly was investigated.Methods:  The subjects consisted of 35 residents of nursing homes with physical impairment as a sequela to cerebral infarctions, who had no inflammatory conditions, and were not receiving anodyne or immunological treatment. They were divided into two groups: 24 subjects without overt or suspected malignancy (NC) and 11 with a history of malignancy (CA). Serological screening with measurement of sIL2R concentrations was performed and numbers of lymphocytes with CD4 and CD8 markers were determined. The NC group was subdivided into control subjects (n = 15, sIL2R < = 883 U/mL) and subjects demonstrating elevated concentrations of sIL2R (n = 9, NH), as in a previous study.Results:  Between the NH and control groups, differences were found in serum concentrations of albumin, blood urea nitrogen, total cholesterol concentration, Pettigrew's prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and activities of daily living score, but not in age or sex. Factor analysis in the NC group showed serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen concentrations to be correlated positively, and serum albumin, total cholesterol concentrations, activities of daily living score, and PNI to be correlated negatively with sIL2R. Differences were found in sIL2R, albumin, total protein, total cholesterol, β‐lipoprotein and PNI between the CA and control groups, but no correlations among these parameters were found in the CA group. There was no difference in the rate of positive test results for rheumatoid factor between the NC and CA, or control and NH groups. The survival rate of control subjects over 24 months was better than that of NH subjects, but not that of CA subjects.Conclusion:  Our results suggest that a slight increase in the concentration of sIL2R is related to subclinical systemic deterioration, especially regarding nutrition, with a plausible connection to prognosis, in stable elderly patients without malignancy.
The Women at Peterloo: The Impact of Female Reform on the Manchester Meeting of 16 August 1819
Authors: Bush M. L. 
Published: March 2004

AbstractCentral to the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 was the high public profile of working‐class women who attended the parliamentary reform meeting that preceded it in all‐female contingents, carrying their own flags, distinctively dressed in white and with their own women leaders prominently displayed on the speakers’ platform. In the circumstances, the military's brutal attack on the crowd appeared to be incited, among other things, by a sense of manhood under serious threat from this provocative female presence. As well as studying what happened to the women and why, this article examines the motivation behind their commitment to reform. In a novel manner, the women challenged the traditional relationship between gender and politics by insisting upon a political organization of their own; yet they were also ready to accept the Radical Reform programme even though it excluded them from the vote. Arguably the politicization of women evident at Peterloo caused a transformation of the political system, by ensuring that in future the cause of reform would be distinguished by a dynamic female engagement. As a result, British politics came to be radically altered by women long before feminism made its mark.
From Symbol of Division to Cold War Asset: Lyndon Johnson and the Achievement of Hawaiian Statehood in 1959
Authors: Scott‐Smith Giles 
Published: March 2004

AbstractAfter its annexation in 1898, Hawaii remained a territory of the United States, lacking full democratic representation in Washington, DC for sixty‐one years. While there were various factors that led to this delay, the overwhelming reason was the consistent opposition of the Southern Democrats to the admission of a new state with an integrated mixed‐race population. By the early 1950s the statehood question was largely being fought out in the United States Senate where the close balance of power between the Democrats and the Republicans made the expected political identity of future Hawaiian Congressmen seem like a decisive issue. It was Lyndon Johnson who was able to break that deadlock, and a significant reason for Hawaii's admission into the Union in 1959 was Johnson's switch from opponent to advocate in the mid‐1950s. Aware of changing conditions both domestically and internationally, Johnson realized the need not only to keep the Southerners of his own party under greater control but also to project a more favourable international image of the United States in the context of increasing decolonization around the world. The achievement of Hawaiian statehood was at the centre of both these initiatives.
Out‐of‐Hospital Death: Advance Care Planning, Decedent Symptoms, and Caregiver Burden
Authors: Tilden Virginia P. , Tolle Susan W. , Drach Linda L. , Perrin Nancy A. 
Published: March 2004

Objectives: To examine the end‐of‐life experiences of elderly decedents dying out of the hospital and their family caregivers in a state in which the vast majority of Medicare deaths occur in community settings.Design: Telephone survey of family caregivers 2 to 5 months after decedents' deaths.Setting: Statewide (Oregon) random sample of death certificates.Participants: One thousand one hundred eighty‐nine family caregivers of decedents aged 65 and older who died of natural deaths in community settings between 2000 and 2002.Measurements: A 69‐item telephone questionnaire with single‐item indicators and embedded scales that indexed advance directives, use of life‐sustaining treatments, hospice enrollment, decedent symptom experience and perceived distress, family financial hardship, out‐of‐pocket expenses, and caregiver strain.Results: Most decedents had advance directives (78.3%) and were enrolled in hospice (62.4%). Although perceived decedent symptom distress was low overall, certain symptoms (e.g., pain, dyspnea, constipation) were distressing for approximately half of decedents experiencing them. Financial hardship, out‐of‐pocket expenses, and caregiver strain were frequently reported. American Indian race and younger age were associated with decedent symptom distress. Greater perceived decedent symptom distress, hospice enrollment, more caregiver involvement, and more financial burden were associated with greater caregiver strain.Conclusion: Despite high rates of advance directives and hospice enrollment, perceived symptom distress was high for a subset of decedents, and caregiver strain was common. As location of death increasingly shifts nationwide from hospital to community, unmet decedent and family needs require new clinical skills and healthcare policies.