bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Six year observational cohort study of the effect of carbon disulphide on brain MRI in rayon manufacturing workers
Authors: Nishiwaki Y , Takebayashi T , O’Uchi T , Nomiyama T , Uemura T , Sakurai H , Omae K 
Published: February 2004

Aims:To clarify whether the current occupational exposure limit (OEL) for carbon disulphide (CS2) is low enough to prevent the occurrence of adverse effects on the cerebrovascular system.Methods:A total of 432 male workers exposed to CS2and 402 male referent workers in 11 Japanese viscose rayon factories were studied at baseline; 750 of these were followed up. Brain MRI was performed at both baseline and follow up surveys. Changes in the number of hyperintense spots in T2 weighted images (HIS), which point to so-called “silent cerebral infarctions”, were evaluated over six years. A total of 666 subjects (217 exposed, 125 ex-exposed, and 324 referent subjects) who twice received brain MRI were subjected to analysis. Mean duration of exposure to the end of the study was 19.6 years for the exposed workers. The geometric mean CS2(ppm) and TTCA (mg/g creatinine) concentrations for the past six years were 4.9 and 1.6 for all exposed workers, 5.8 and 1.9 for spinning/refining workers, and 2.7 and 0.9 for other exposed workers, respectively.Results:Exposed subjects showed a significantly higher risk for an increase in the number of HIS over six years. Odds ratios adjusted for possible confounders in the exposed and ex-exposed workers were 2.27 (95% CI 1.37 to 3.76) and 1.33 (95% CI 0.70 to 2.54), respectively. No exposure-response relations were observed in a number of analyses among the exposed workers.Conclusions:Exposure to CS2under the current Japanese OEL, 10 ppm, might increase the number of HIS in brain MRI. However, results should be interpreted with caution.
Biomonitoring results and cytogenetic markers among harbour workers with potential exposure to river silt aerosols
Authors: Wegner R , Radon K , Heinrich-Ramm R , Seemann B , Riess A , Koops F , Poschadel B , Szadkowski D 
Published: February 2004

Background:Workers on dredgers and lighters on rivers are potentially exposed to a variety of substances.Aims:To determine the internal load of heavy metals and arsenic as well as levels of cytogenetic markers in workers exposed to river silt aerosols.Methods:One hundred exposed workers were examined up to eight times within three years. Additionally, 100 control workers were studied once. Blood samples were analysed for lead, mercury, and cadmium. Additionally, micronuclei frequency and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) rates were determined. Urinary samples were analysed for cadmium, mercury, nickel, chromium, and arsenic. Information on potential confounders, such as smoking habits and consumption of fish were assessed.Results:Apart from some increased concentrations of mercury in blood (maximum 14.6 μg/l) and arsenic in urine (maximum 356.5 μg/l) all measurements were within reference values. None of the exposure and effect markers were found to be significantly increased in exposed workers compared to non-exposed controls. In multiple linear regression models, mercury levels in blood as well as the concentration of arsenic in urine were strongly related to fish consumption. Cadmium levels in blood as well as urinary cadmium concentrations were strongly related to smoking habits. After adjusting for smoking habits, SCE rates were associated with cadmium levels in blood.Conclusion:Increased exposure levels or enhanced levels of cytogenetic markers were not found in workers exposed to river silt aerosols. However, cadmium exposure in blood was related to SCE frequency.
Mortality among a cohort of garment workers exposed to formaldehyde: an update
Authors: Pinkerton L E , Hein M J , Stayner L T 
Published: February 2004

Aims:To evaluate the mortality experience of 11 039 workers exposed to formaldehyde for three months or more in three garment plants. The mean time weighted average formaldehyde exposure at the plants in the early 1980s was 0.15 ppm but past exposures may have been substantially higher.Methods:Vital status was updated through 1998, and life table analyses were conducted.Results:Mortality from all causes (2206 deaths, standardised mortality ratio (SMR) 0.92, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.96) and all cancers (SMR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.97) was less than expected based on US mortality rates. A non-significant increase in mortality from myeloid leukaemia (15 deaths, SMR 1.44, 95% CI 0.80 to 2.37) was observed. Mortality from myeloid leukaemia was greatest among workers first exposed in the earliest years when exposures were presumably higher, among workers with 10 or more years of exposure, and among workers with 20 or more years since first exposure. No nasal or nasopharyngeal cancers were observed. Mortality from trachea, bronchus, and lung cancer (147 deaths, SMR 0.98, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.15) was not increased. Multiple cause mortality from leukaemia was increased almost twofold among workers with both 10 or more years of exposure and 20 years or more since first exposure (15 deaths, SMR 1.92, 95% CI 1.08 to 3.17). Multiple cause mortality from myeloid leukaemia among this group of workers was also significantly increased (8 deaths, SMR 2.55, 95% CI 1.10 to 5.03).Conclusions:Results support a possible relation between formaldehyde exposure and myeloid leukaemia mortality. Previous epidemiological studies supporting a relation between formaldehyde exposure and leukaemia mortality have been primarily of formaldehyde exposed professional groups, not formaldehyde exposed industrial workers. Limitations include limited power to detect an excess for rare cancers such as nasal and nasopharyngeal cancers and lack of individual exposure estimates.
Complaints About Avâriz Assessment and Payment in the Avâriz-tax System: An Aspect of the Relationship Between Centre and Periphery. A Case Study of Kayseri, 1618-1700
Authors: Demirci Süleyman 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThis paper on complaints about avâriz assessment and payment relies on the şer'iyye sicils of Kayseri. It begins by reviewing the traditional Near Eastern concept of State Justice in conjunction with the archival evidence. By examining the court cases and the imperial orders in these sicils it is possible for us to assess how the Ottoman judicial system and central administration dealt with the complaints and alleged corruption regarding the avâriz levies in the province of Kayseri throughout the seventeenth century. It is also possible to see how common people fought with rising problems in the avâriz system, or how they sought justice, and to what degree they knew what was their legal right and what not by examining the sicils themselves. The result of this examination will help to revise a number of misconceptions regarding complaints in the Ottoman Empire- a study of complaints from the sicils may yield a certain insight into the nature of the relationship between the centre and periphery. Cet article sur les plaintes concernant le calcul et le paiement de l'impôt avâriz est fondé sur les şer'iyye sicils de Kayseri. Il débute par l'étude du concept traditionnel de l'État de Justice au Proche Orient en relation avec les données trouvées dans les archives. En examinant les procès et les ordres impériaux dans ces sicils , il nous sera possible d'établir comment, à la fois le système judiciaire et l'administration centrale de l'Empire ottoman, ont traité les plaintes et la supposée corruption concernant le prélèvement de l'impôt avâriz dans la province de Kayseri tout au long du XVIIème siècle. Il nous sera alors possible, en exploitant les documents contenus dans les sicils, de voir comment la population luttait contre les problèmes croissants dans le système avâriz, comment elle avait recours à la justice et dans quelle mesure elle connaissait ses droits légaux. Les résultats de cette analyse permettront de réviser un certain nombre d'idées fausses à propos des plaintes dans l'Empire ottoman; de même, l'étude de ces plaintes pourra éventuellement donner une certaine idée de la nature des liens entre le centre et la périphérie.
The Sogdian Trade Diaspora in East Turkestan During the Seventh and Eighth Centuries
Authors: Karam Skaff Jonathan 
Published: February 2004

AbstractEvidence from Chinese documents supports the hypothesis that Sogdians dominated Silk Road trade in East Turkestan during the seventh and eighth centuries. The merchants lived and/or traveled among a diaspora of Sogdians who settled in the oasis cities of the region and also practiced farming and handicraft making. Some traders traveled the entire distance between China and West Asia, but others operated along circumscribed routes that connected to the broader commercial network. Residents of the diaspora facilitated trade by acting as cultural intermediaries for unassimilated merchants. Le témoignage des documents chinois soutient l'hypothèse selon laquelle les Sogdiens dominèrent le commerce sur la route de la soie pendant les VIIe et VIIIe siècles. Les marchands habitèrent et/ou voyagèrent parmi une diaspora de Sogdiens qui s'établit autour des villesoasis de la région et exercèrent l'agriculture ainsi que l'artisanat. Certaines marchands voyagèrent sur toute la distance entre la Chine et l'Asie occidentale, tandis que d'autres travaillèrent sur des chemins courts les reliant à un réseau commercial plus large. Les habitants de la diaspora facilitèrent ce commerce en leur qualité d'intermédiaire culturels au service des marchands étrangers.
Purity Ideology in Ezra-Nehemiah as a Tool to Reconstitute the Community
Authors: Olyan Saul 
Published: February 2004

AbstractResponding to recent treatments of purity and impurity in Ezra-Nehemiah by J. Klawans and C. Hayes, the author argues that Ezra-Nehemiah's purity ideology is innovative and distinct, drawing upon a variety of precedents from both the "moral" and "ritual" impurity traditions. The purity ideology of Ezra-Nehemiah functions as one of several significant tools used to reconfigure the Judean community through the redefinition of who is a Judean and the expulsion of those classed as aliens. The author explores the rhetoric of purity and pollution in Ezra-Nehemiah from the perspective of the work in its final form and that of the text's hypothetical sources.
Disjunction of Heavenly and Earthly Times in the Ascension of Isaiah
Authors: Hall Robert 
Published: February 2004

AbstractIn the Ascension of Isaiah, the descent and ascent of the Beloved decisively bisects heavenly time around a past crisis, but earthly time runs through five periods with the crisis at the future overthrow of Beliar. The disjunction between these two views of time defines a soteriology of glory, summoning the reader to live in the experience of heavenly glory and to eschew Beliar's earthly glory.
Joseph and Aseneth: Rewritten Bible or Narrative Expansion?
Authors: Docherty Susan 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThis study is concerned with the literary genre of Joseph and Aseneth in particular and the genre of rewritten Bible in general. To date, no real scholarly consensus has emerged as to the date and purpose of Joseph and Aseneth, and it is assumed by many commentators to be based only loosely on the Hebrew Bible. I have undertaken a detailed examination of the text and its relationship to the Joseph Story as narrated in Genesis. This has led me to the conclusion that the work is most appropriately classified as an example of rewritten Bible, thereby shedding some new light upon both the purpose of Joseph and Aseneth and the genre of rewritten Bible.
Driving style and traffic measures-influence on vehicle emissions and fuel consumption
Authors: Van Mierlo J , Maggetto G , Van de Burgwal E , Gense R 
Published: February 2004

This paper describes the influence on vehicle emissions and energy consumption of different vehicle parameters and driving style as well as of traffic measures taken in order to increase transport safety or to reduce traffic jams. This should allow the Flemish Regional Government to perform more realistic modelling of the impact of transport on air pollution. The methodology is based on on-road measurements, roll-bench emission tests, vehicle simulations and regional emission modelling (for the Flemish Region, which encompasses the northern part of Belgium and is one of three entities that constitute the Federal Kingdom of Belgium). A vehicle simulation programme (VSP) has assisted in the assessment of the individual vehicle parameters (weight, gear shifts, tyre pressure, etc.). Different drive styles (sportive, EcoDriving, etc.) were measured on-road and evaluated on a roll-bench. Typical speed profiles corresponding to different traffic measures such as roundabouts, phased traffic lights, etc., were also recorded at different locations in the Flemish Region. All data were distilled into small driving cycles, representative of a certain traffic situation or driving style, and repeated on a roll-bench to measure the emissions in controlled circumstances. Technical solutions as well as educational programmes are proposed as possible measures to reduce the influence of driving style on emissions and fuel consumption. Finally, the results indicate how the emission calculations performed by the Flemish government can be improved.
Diesel Injection System Modelling. Methodology and Application for a First-generation Common Rail System
Authors: Payri R , Climent H , Salvador F J , Favennec A G 
Published: February 2004

This article details a method for modelling the most critical parts of an injection system. It focuses on the most important component of the system, the injector itself. As a clear example of this methodology, the modelling of a first-generation common rail injection system is carried out using a commercial code. The proposed methodology for modelling the injection system is based on two types of characterization: a detailed dimensional characterization and a hydraulic characterization of the different internal parts of the injector. The dimensional characterization is based on the use of a fine detail measuring technique applied to all the constituents of the injector. These include the passages and internal lines of the injector, internal volumes, calibrated orifices, nozzle springs, clearances between moving sections of pistons, etc. The second type of characterization makes reference mainly to the hydraulic characterization of the nozzle and injector control orifices, which together with dimensional information makes it possible to determine the discharge coe cient. In this case, special emphasis is placed on the detection of critical cavitation conditions and repercussions of this on the flow. This is a typical phenomenon in control orifices and also in nozzles subject to strong pressure gradients. Once the model is obtained, it is tested and validated. Following this, the values of the experimental injected mass and rate of injection at different operating points are compared with the model results.
Correlation of field, laboratory and standard lubricant tests using multivariate analysis
Authors: Aruna M A , Fox M F 
Published: February 2004

Chemometric techniques were used to analyse engine lubricant test results in order to correlate activities within engine test procedures. Principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares projection to latent structures (PLS) and cluster analysis were used to extract information from the data set. Analyses of the results by PCA revealed trends and outliers within the observations and showed relationships between observations and variables and among the variables themselves. The PLS analysis showed how each oil sample varied with time and the acquired prediction plot showed the extent of degradation of the oil samples, which was then used to rank them. A dendogram obtained from the cluster analysis was used to show clearly which oil samples were ranked together. The multivariate analysis approach was useful in extracting significant information from engine laboratory test data and, in parallel, engine lubricant field tests. Chemometric analyses have demonstrated a scaled relationship between a standard engine lubricant test, extreme sampling direct from the piston ring zone and also field tests.
Home range and spatial organization of the marsupial carnivore, Dasyurus maculatus maculatus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) in south‐eastern Australia
Authors: Belcher C. A. , Darrant J. P. 
Published: February 2004

AbstractThe tiger quoll or spotted‐tailed quoll Dasyurus maculatus, a nationally threatened species, is the largest surviving carnivorous marsupial on mainland Australia and the sole surviving member of the genus in south‐eastern mainland Australia. Live‐trapping and radio‐tracking studies at three sites in south‐eastern Australia found that tiger quolls were solitary, except when mating, and that male and female tiger quolls occupied very large home ranges, both during and after the breeding season. The mean size of the home range of male tiger quolls (minimum convex polygon (MCP) 1755.4 ha, kernel 3761.7 ha) was significantly larger than the mean size of the home range of females (MCP 495.9 ha, kernel 1113.0 ha). Adult female tiger quolls displayed intrasexual territoriality throughout the year, but they seemed to tolerate the presence of female offspring. Male tiger quolls were not territorial and their home ranges overlapped both with other males and with females throughout the year. Males were recorded regularly moving back and forth between a number of female territories during the breeding season. The spatial organization of the tiger quoll recorded in this study differs markedly from that of the eastern quoll Dasyurus viverrinus and the Tasmanian devil Sarcophilus harrisii, but is similar to that of the western quoll D. geoffroii, northern quoll D. hallucatus and brush‐tailed phascogale Phascogale tapoatafa. The spatial organization and home‐range size of the tiger quoll dictate that conservation of the species requires management across all land tenures at the landscape level.
Reactive Oxygen Species Precede Protein Kinase C-δ Activation Independent of Adenosine Triphosphate–sensitive Mitochondrial Channel Opening in Sevoflurane-induced Cardioprotection
Authors: Bouwman R. Arthur , Musters René J. P. , van Beek-Harmsen Brechje J. , de Lange Jaap J. , Boer Christa 
Published: February 2004

Background
In the current study, the authors investigated the distinct role and relative order of protein kinase C (PKC)-delta, adenosine triphosphate-sensitive mitochondrial K+ (mito K+(ATP)) channels, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the signal transduction of sevoflurane-induced cardioprotection and specifically addressed their mechanistic link.

Methods
Isolated rat trabeculae were preconditioned with 3.8% sevoflurane and subsequently subjected to an ischemic protocol by superfusion of trabeculae with hypoxic, glucose-free buffer (40 min) followed by 60 min of reperfusion. In addition, the acute affect of sevoflurane on PKC-delta and PKC-epsilon translocation and nitrotyrosine formation was established with use of immunofluorescent analysis. The inhibitors chelerythrine (6 microM), rottlerin (1 microM), 5-hydroxydecanoic acid sodium (100 microM), and n-(2-mercaptopropionyl)-glycine (300 microM) were used to study the particular role of PKC, PKC-delta, mito K+(ATP), and ROS in sevoflurane-related intracellular signaling.

Results
Preconditioning of trabeculae with sevoflurane preserved contractile function after ischemia. This contractile preservation was dependent on PKC-delta activation, mito K+(ATP) channel opening, and ROS production. In addition, on acute stimulation by sevoflurane, PKC-delta but not PKC-epsilon translocated to the sarcolemmal membrane. This translocation was inhibited by PKC inhibitors and ROS scavenging but not by inhibition of mito K+(ATP) channels. Furthermore, sevoflurane directly induced nitrosylation of sarcolemmal proteins, suggesting the formation of peroxynitrite.

Conclusions
In sevoflurane-induced cardioprotection, ROS release but not mito K+(ATP) channel opening precedes PKC-delta activation. Sevoflurane induces sarcolemmal nitrotyrosine formation, which might be involved in the recruitment of PKC-delta to the cell membrane.
Nuclear Factor κB and Anesthetic Preconditioning during Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion
Authors: Zhong Caiyun , Zhou Yamei , Liu Hong 
Published: February 2004

Background
Volatile anesthetic preconditioning (APC) protects against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury, but the precise mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain undefined. To investigate the molecular mechanism of APC in myocardial protection, the activation of nuclear factor (NF) kappaB and its regulated inflammatory mediators expression were examined in the current study.

Methods
Hearts from male rats were isolated, Langendorff perfused, and randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) the control group: hearts were continuously perfused for 130 min; (2) the IR group: 30 min of equilibration, 15 min of baseline, 25 min of ischemia, 60 min of reperfusion; and (3) the APC + IR group: 30 min of equilibration, 10 min of sevoflurane exposure and a 5-min washout, 25 min of global ischemia, 60 min of reperfusion. Tissue samples were acquired at the end of reperfusion. NF-kappaB activity was determined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. The NF-kappaB inhibitor, IkappaB-alpha, was determined by Western blot analysis. Myocardial inflammatory mediators, including tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and inducible nitric oxide synthase, were also assessed by Western blot analysis.

Results
Nuclear factor kappaB-DNA binding activity was significantly increased at the end of reperfusion in rat myocardium, and cytosolic IkappaB-alpha was decreased. Supershift assay revealed the involvement of NF-kappaB p65 and p50 subunits. APC with sevoflurane attenuated NF-kappaB activation and reduced the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and inducible nitric oxide synthase. APC also reduced infarct size and creatine kinase release and improved myocardial left ventricular developed pressure during IR.

Conclusions
The results of this study indicate that attenuation of NF-kappaB activation and subsequent down-regulation of NF-kappaB-dependent inflammatory gene expression plays an important role in the protective mechanism of APC against acute myocardial IR injury.