bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
COVERED WALLSTENT FOR PALLIATION OF MALIGNANT COMMON BILE DUCT STRICTURE: PROSPECTIVE MULTICENTER EVALUATION
Authors: Kubota Yoshitsugu , Mukai Hidekazu , Nakaizumi Akihiko , Tanaka Kiyohito , Okabe Yoshihiro , Sakagami Takashi , Kitano Masayuki , Mitsufuji Shoji , Shirasaka Daisuke , Kikuchi Eiryo , Koyama Shigeki , Yazumi Shujiro , Shiba Masatsugu , Yasuda Kenjiro 
Published: June 2005

Background:  Occlusion due to tumor ingrowth is a major drawback in self‐expandable metallic stents. Covering the stent is a probable solution to prevent tumor ingrowth. A manufactured covered self‐expandable metallic stent, Covered Wallstent, has become commercially available. We evaluated the Covered Wallstent in a prospective uncontrolled multicenter setting.Methods:  Between October 2001 and October 2003, 97 patients with common bile duct strictures deemed unfit for surgical resection underwent placement of a single Covered Wallstent, and were followed prospectively until April 2004.Results:  Placement of the stent was successful in all the patients attempted. As a procedure‐related complication, acute pancreatitis developed in four patients, in one of whom obstruction of the pancreatic duct orifice with the stent body seemed to be a major cause. The 30‐day mortality was 9.3% (nine patients). Stent occlusion occurred in 22 patients as a late (greater than 30 days) complication, due to either tumor overgrowth (14 patients) or encrustation (eight patients). Distal migration of the stent was demonstrated in two other patients. No stent occlusions due to tumor ingrowth were observed. Patency rates of the stent for 3‐, 6‐, and 12‐month periods were, respectively, 90.7, 82.5, and 45.9%.Conclusions:  The present results in a large series suggest that placement of the Covered Wallstent is feasible and effective in the palliation of patients with malignant common bile duct strictures. The Covered Wallstent seems to be reliable in eliminating tumor ingrowth. The role of stent covering in promoting stent function should be examined in a prospective comparative study between covered‐ and uncovered Wallstents.
SHORT‐TERM METAL STENTING FOR TREATMENT OF MAIN PANCREATIC DUCT STRICTURES ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC PANCREATITIS
Authors: Okushima Kazumu , Yoshino Junji , Inui Kazuo , Miyoshi Hironao , Nakamura Yuta 
Published: June 2005

Background:  Stricture of the main pancreatic duct associated with chronic pancreatitis is a cause of pain due to ductal high pressure and the formation of pancreatic stones, but there is no established non‐surgical therapeutic procedure. We attemped a new method for treating this condition, called short‐term metal stenting.Methods:  In three patients who had experienced recurrent stones and pancreatitis attacks several times after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, a self‐expandable metal stent was placed into the pancreatic duct for 2–7 days.Results:  Dilatation was successful in all cases. Over observation periods of 18–25 months (mean, 22 months) following stent withdrawal, no recurrence of stones or attacks of pancreatitis was observed.Conclusion:  Short‐term metal stenting is an effective procedure for dilating stricture of the main pancreatic duct. It is also promising as a method for preventing recurrence of stones or episodes of pancreatitis.
USE OF SHORT NEEDLE KNIFE FOR ESOPHAGEAL ENDOSCOPIC SUBMUCOSAL DISSECTION
Authors: Toyonaga Takashi , Nishino Eisei , Hirooka Takashi , Dozaiku Toshio , Sugiyama Takeshi , Iwata Yoshinori , Ono Wataru , Ueda Chie , Tomita Masafumi , Hirooka Tomoomi , Makimoto Shinichiro , Hayashibe Akira , Sonomura Tetuo 
Published: June 2005

Background:  The emergence of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has enabled en bloc resection of lesions, which were conventionally difficult. However, ESD has problems of technical difficulty and high incidence of complications. In order to improve the procedure of marking and submucosal dissection in the esophagus, we modified and adjusted the standard needle knife to a short needle knife having a tip portion with a projection length of 1.5 mm.Methods:  We treated 20 esophageal lesions with ESD using the short needle knife. We marked around the lesion with the short needle knife and performed mucosal incision of the entire circumference with a needle knife and an IT knife, then dissected the submucosal layer with the short needle knife. A Hook knife was also used in situations where muscular layers were located in the front‐viewResults:  Complete en bloc resection was performed in all 20 cases. The diameter of lesions ranged from 3 to 65 mm (median, 20 mm), and that of resected specimens ranged from 28 to 90 mm (median, 47 mm). Submucosal dissection was completed with the short needle knife alone in 13 cases in 20 (65%), and in seven cases (35%), in combination with so‐called Hook knife. The procedure was complicated in one patient with mediastinal emphysema.Conclusions:  The short needle knife proved to be useful and safe in clear marking and submucosal dissection of esophageal lesions. It allows greater flexibility in the angle of insertion, and enables more effective and safer procedures because its full length can be inserted into the submucosa and fixed.
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE WITH CROHN's DISEASE
Authors: Leung Randal , Jones Ian T. 
Published: June 2005

Aim:  To determine the clinical spectrum of Crohn's disease in a surgical practice, and to show the safety and efficacy of the range of procedures performed.Methods:  A consecutive series of 92 patients with Crohn's disease who presented between January 1988 and August 2001 to a surgical practice were studied.Results:  Ninety two patients (42 male, 50 female), with a mean age of 43 years (range 19–91 years) underwent surgery between January 1998 and August 2001. The mean length of follow up was 46 months (range 1–166 months). Forty patients had disease in more than one site, compared with 52 patients with single site disease. In total, 184 procedures were performed. Patients with the combination of colonic and anorectal disease required more surgical interventions than patients with other disease distributions. At follow up, all patients with disease confined to the small intestine or ileocaecal region were free of symptoms with the only nine taking medication. No patients presenting with colonic disease had symptomatic disease or were taking any anti‐inflammatory medication at time of follow up. However, in the group of patients with anorectal or the combination of colonic and anorectal disease, 42% had ongoing symptoms (predominantly anorectal). Fifteen patients had a stoma at some point during their surgical course.Conclusion:  In a tertiary referral setting, surgical treatment of Crohn's disease can carry a low morbidity with good relief and control of symptoms when used for specific indications. Those with small bowel or colonic disease have better outcomes following surgery compared to those with anorectal disease.
EFFECT OF TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY ON RECREATIONAL AND SPORTING ACTIVITY
Authors: Chatterji Urjit , Ashworth Mark J. , Lewis Peter L. , Dobson Peter J. 
Published: June 2005

Background:  Common concerns of patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are whether they can continue with certain recreational and sporting activities or even commence new ones after the procedure. The present study was designed to determine preoperative and postoperative activities, the numbers participating and the time to resume these activities.Methods:  Between 1 and 2 years after TKA, patients who had undergone 144 arthroplasties, were surveyed by postal questionnaire to ascertain how the arthroplasty had affected their recreational and sporting ability. Their preoperative and postoperative activity along with the time to resume was recorded. The Oxford knee score and estimate of physical activity was also collected.Results:  Out of the 144 TKA performed, 122 participated in sport and recreational activity preoperatively and 108 participated postoperatively. Patients stated that the surgery had a beneficial effect on their performance of sporting and recreational activities although the number of sporting events decreased. By multiplying individuals by the number of activities they participated in, there were 254 occurrences of sport and recreational activities preoperatively giving a mean for the group of 1.76 sports/patient. Postoperatively this had reduced to 204, giving a mean of 1.41. Three activities showed a significant change for individual patients from pre‐ to postoperation. Those which showed an increase were exercise walking, where 19 patients (13.2%) who did not walk before surgery took up walking afterwards (P < 0.006) and aqua aerobics, where five took up aqua aerobics postoperatively for the first time (P < 0.025). Golf was the only sport which had a significant fall in participation from pre‐ to postoperation, with 10 out of 19 golfers giving up (P < 0.025).Conclusion:  The present study has shown that patients are adopting lower impact activities to participate in after TKA. The total number of patients performing a sport decreases postoperatively and the total amount of sport played decreases. These data will help to counsel patients.
AGGRESSIVE SURGICAL RESECTION FOR CARCINOMA OF GALLBLADDER
Authors: Lai Eric C. H. , Lau Wan Yee 
Published: June 2005

Background:  The aim of the present study was to review the long‐term result of patients with carcinoma of gallbladder with adequate investigations and aggressive surgical resection.Methods:  A retrospective study was carried out on patients with carcinoma of gallbladder treated at the Division of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong from January 1997 to December 2002.Results:  Of the 47 patients with carcinoma of gallbladder, 28 patients were treated symptomatically because they were found to have metastatic disease (n = 22), unresectable disease (n = 2) or poor associated medical disease (n = 4). One patient had carcinoma in‐situ after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. No further treatment was considered necessary. The remaining 18 patients (38.3%) came to laparotomy after preoperative investigations with ultrasonography, computed tomography, endoscopic or percutaneous cholangiography, and visceral angiography. Laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasound were used in the later part of the study. Radical cholecystectomy was carried out in 14 patients (77.8%). The in‐hospital mortality rate was 5.3% and the surgical morbidity was 31.6%. The remaining four patients underwent palliative cholecystectomy because of the extent of the disease. The overall 5‐year survival for the 47 patients was 19.1%, for the 18 patients who came to laparotomy was 44.4%, and for the 14 patients who underwent resection with curative intent was 57.1%.Conclusions:  With adequate preoperative investigations, and the use of laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasound, radical resection was possible in the majority of patients who came to laparotomy for carcinoma of gallbladder. Aggressive radical resection gave good results.
TRANSFER OF FACIALLY INJURED ROAD TRAUMA VICTIMS AND ITS IMPACT ON TREATMENT
Authors: Batstone Martin , Monsour Frank , Pattel Pamela 
Published: June 2005

Background:  Road trauma is a common cause of severe facial injuries. The aim of the present study is to define patients involved, and determine the effect of their geographical origin on treatment and follow up.Methods:  All patients over 14 years of age suffering facial injuries caused by road trauma presenting to the two study hospitals from 1994 to 1999 were identified and details were collected on demographic details and treatment.Results:  Four hundred and nine patients met the inclusion criteria. The majority required hospital transfer. Young men were the most frequently injured group of patients. Patients from peripheral regions had significant delays in transfer and treatment. They were made fewer outpatient appointments but attended at the same frequency as patients from the immediate region of the study hospitals.Conclusions:  To minimize delays the process of patient transfer needs to be streamlined and education of staff in peripheral hospitals undertaken regarding facial injuries.
Intracellular survival and replication of Vibrio cholerae O139 in aquatic free‐living amoebae
Authors: Abd Hadi , Weintraub Andrej , Sandström Gunnar 
Published: June 2005

Summary Vibrio cholerae is a highly infectious bacterium responsible for large outbreaks of cholera among humans at regular intervals. A seasonal distribution of epidemics is known but the role of naturally occurring habitats are virtually unknown. Plankton has been suggested to play a role, because bacteria can attach to such organisms forming a biofilm. Acanthamoebea castellanii is an environmental amoeba that has been shown to be able to ingest and promote growth of several bacteria of different origin. The aim of the present study was to determine whether or not an intra‐amoebic behaviour of V. cholerae O139 exists. Interaction between these microorganisms in co‐culture was studied by culturable counts, gentamicin assay, electron microscopy, and polymerase chain reaction. The interaction resulted in intra‐amoebic growth and survival of V. cholerae in the cytoplasm of trophozoites as well as in the cysts of A. castellanii. These data show symbiosis between these microorganisms, a facultative intracellular behaviour of V. cholerae contradicting the generally held view, and a role of free‐living amoebae as hosts for V. cholerae O139. Taken together, this opens new doors to study the ecology, immunity, epidemiology, and treatment of cholera.
Multiple displacement amplification as a pre‐polymerase chain reaction (pre‐PCR) to process difficult to amplify samples and low copy number sequences from natural environments
Authors: Gonzalez Juan M. , Portillo M. Carmen , Saiz‐Jimenez Cesareo 
Published: June 2005

SummaryMicrobial assessment of natural biodiversity is usually achieved through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences from natural samples are often difficult to amplify because of the presence of PCR inhibitors or to the low number of copies of specific sequences. In this study, we propose a non‐specific preamplification procedure to overcome the presence of inhibitors and to increase the number of copies prior to carrying out standard amplification by PCR. The pre‐PCR step is carried out through a multiple displacement amplification (MDA) technique using random hexamers as priming oligonucleotides and Φ29 DNA polymerase in an isothermal, whole‐genome amplification reaction. Polymerase chain reaction amplification using specific priming oligonucleotides allows the selection of the sequences of interest after a preamplification reaction from complex environmental samples. The procedure (MDA‐PCR) has been tested on a natural microbial community from a hypogean environment and laboratory assemblages of known bacterial species, in both cases targeting the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Results from the natural community showed successful amplifications using the two steps protocol proposed in this study while standard, direct PCR amplification resulted in no amplification product. Amplifications from a laboratory assemblage by the two‐step proposed protocol were successful at bacterial concentrations ≥ 10‐fold lower than standard PCR. Amplifications carried out in the presence of different concentrations of fulvic acids (a soil humic fraction) by the MDA‐PCR protocol generated PCR products at concentrations of fulvic acids over 10‐fold higher than standard PCR amplifications. The proposed procedure (MDA‐PCR) opens the possibility of detecting sequences represented at very low copy numbers, to work with minute samples, as well as to reduce the negative effects on PCR amplifications of some inhibitory substances commonly found in environmental samples.
Culturable marine actinomycete diversity from tropical Pacific Ocean sediments
Authors: Jensen Paul R. , Gontang Erin , Mafnas Chrisy , Mincer Tracy J. , Fenical William 
Published: June 2005

SummaryActinomycetes were cultivated using a variety of media and selective isolation techniques from 275 marine samples collected around the island of Guam. In total, 6425 actinomycete colonies were observed and 983 (15%) of these, representing the range of morphological diversity observed from each sample, were obtained in pure culture. The majority of the strains isolated (58%) required seawater for growth indicating a high degree of marine adaptation. The dominant actinomycete recovered (568 strains) belonged to the seawater‐requiring marine taxon ‘Salinospora’, a new genus within the family Micromonosporaceae. A formal description of this taxon has been accepted for publication (Maldonado et al., 2005) and includes a revision of the generic epithet to Salinispora gen. nov. Members of two major new clades related to Streptomyces spp., tentatively called MAR2 and MAR3, were cultivated and appear to represent new genera within the Streptomycetaceae. In total, five new marine phylotypes, including two within the Thermomonosporaceae that appear to represent new taxa, were obtained in culture. These results support the existence of taxonomically diverse populations of phylogenetically distinct actinomycetes residing in the marine environment. These bacteria can be readily cultured using low nutrient media and represent an unexplored resource for pharmaceutical drug discovery.
Variance Partitioning in Multilevel Logistic Models that Exhibit Overdispersion
Authors: Browne W. J. , Subramanian S. V. , Jones K. , Goldstein H. 
Published: June 2005

SummaryA common application of multilevel models is to apportion the variance in the response according to the different levels of the data. Whereas partitioning variances is straightforward in models with a continuous response variable with a normal error distribution at each level, the extension of this partitioning to models with binary responses or to proportions or counts is less obvious. We describe methodology due to Goldstein and co-workers for apportioning variance that is attributable to higher levels in multilevel binomial logistic models. This partitioning they referred to as the variance partition coefficient. We consider extending the variance partition coefficient concept to data sets when the response is a proportion and where the binomial assumption may not be appropriate owing to overdispersion in the response variable. Using the literacy data from the 1991 Indian census we estimate simple and complex variance partition coefficients at multiple levels of geography in models with significant overdispersion and thereby establish the relative importance of different geographic levels that influence educational disparities in India.
An Evaluation of the Childhood Family Structure Measures from the Sixth Wave of the British Household Panel Survey
Authors: Francesconi Marco 
Published: June 2005

SummaryThe paper performs an evaluation of the data that were collected in the sixth wave of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) on childhood family structure. After comparing such data with a large number of studies by using external sources, we find that the BHPS data overestimate the proportion of people who report an experience of life in a non-intact family during childhood by about 10%. Although an explanation based on recall error that deteriorates with the age of the BHPS respondents is possible, the overestimation is likely to be accounted for by non-ignorable attrition that may affect most of the comparison studies based on longitudinal data. Conversely, comparisons with other independent measurements from the BHPS itself reveal that the wave 6 data underestimate the proportion of young people who have lived at least part of their childhood in a non-intact family by about 8%. The probability of disagreement between these two sets of measures is strongly associated with poor interview characteristics, which may affect the comparison measure more than the wave 6 measure. Despite such differences, there is therefore a substantial degree of similarity between the family structure information that was collected in the sixth wave of the BHPS and the host of highly diverse records against which it has been compared.
Working Life Expectancies: The Case of Finland 1980–2006
Authors: Nurminen Markku M. , Heathcote Christopher R. , Davis Brett A. , Puza Borek D. 
Published: June 2005

SummaryWorking life expectancy is the future time that a person is expected to spend in employment. The paper is concerned with its estimation jointly with the expected times spent in the related states of ‘on disability pension’ and ‘other alive’. The method, which is novel in this field, first estimates year- and age-dependent probabilities of being in the states of interest by large sample multivariate logistic regression. Estimates of probabilities, and subsequently expectancies, are given for the case of Finnish women and men aged 16–64 years for selected years in the period 1980–2001, together with projections for 2006. Since 1996 the decline in the employment of males has largely been due to the increasing popularity of early retirement. It was not due to an increase in disability. There has been no such decline for women, and the working life expectancy for males has been predicted to decline to or to fall below the initially lower figure for females by 2006. Considering that the Finnish population is aging rapidly, these trends could entail serious social and economic consequences for society in the coming years because of a looming shortage in the labour force that could undermine the sustainability of a welfare state.
De Morgan in the Prehistory of Statistical Hypothesis Testing
Authors: Rice Adrian , Seneta Eugene 
Published: June 2005

SummaryWhereas the research of the 19th-century mathematician Augustus De Morgan in formal logic is fairly familiar to historians of mathematics, his work in probability is largely unknown to the modern reader. For this reason, few would be aware that this work contains a self-admitted error in probabilistic reasoning. This mistake is intriguing not only because it features in the work of someone who was so expert in logic but also because it appears to be an early example of hypothesis testing, which was a topic of much controversy in the development of mathematical statistics in the 20th century. The paper examines the mathematical and historical details of De Morgan's error.
Jasmonic acid induces rapid changes in carbon transport and partitioning inPopulus
Authors: Babst Benjamin A. , Ferrieri Richard A. , Gray Dennis W. , Lerdau Manuel , Schlyer David J. , Schueller Michael , Thorpe Michael R. , Orians Colin M. 
Published: June 2005

SummaryHere, we tested whether rapid changes in carbohydrate transport and partitioning to storage organs would be induced by jasmonic acid (JA), a plant‐produced signal of herbivore attack known to induce resistance.Carbon‐11, introduced as11CO2, was used to track real‐time carbohydrate transport and partitioning nondestructively inPopulusspecies before and 12 h after application of JA to a single leaf.Jasmonic acid resulted in more rapid [11C]‐photosynthate export from both local and systemic leaves, as well as greater partitioning of [11C]‐photosynthate to the stem and roots. InPopulus tremuloides, following JA treatment, leaf starch decreased, but there was no change in photosynthetic rates or leaf soluble sugar concentration, indicating that recent photosynthate was diverted from starch accumulation in the leaf to other plant organs.Increasing the supply of photosynthate to roots and stems may shield resources from folivorous predators, and may also facilitate both storage and nutrient uptake, and ultimately lead to greater tolerance, either by enhancing regrowth capacity or by replacing nutrients consumed by herbivores.