bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Health Disparities among Adults with Developmental Disabilities, Adults with other Disabilities, and Adults Not Reporting Disability in North Carolina
Authors: Havercamp Susan M. , Scandlin Donna , Roth Marcia 
Published: June 2004

Objectives. The purposes of this study were ( 1) to identify disparities between adults with developmental disabilities and non-disabled adults in health and medical care, and ( 2) to compare this pattern of disparities to the pattern of disparities between adults with other disabilities and adults without disabilities. Methods. The authors compared data on health status, health risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and utilization of medical care across three groups of adults: No Disability, Disability, and Developmental Disability. Data sources were the 2001 North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the North Carolina National Core Indicators survey. Results. Adults with developmental disabilities were more likely to lead sedentary lifestyles and seven times as likely to report inadequate emotional support, compared with adults without disabilities. Adults with disabilities and developmental disabilities were significantly more likely to report being in fair or poor health than adults without disabilities. Similar rates of tobacco use and overweight/obesity were reported. Adults with developmental disabilities had a similar or greater risk of having four of five chronic health conditions compared with non-disabled adults. Significant medical care utilization disparities were found for breast and cervical cancer screening as well as for oral health care. Adults with developmental disabilities presented a unique risk for inadequate emotional support and low utilization of breast and cervical cancer screenings. Conclusions. Significant disparities in health and medical care utilization were found for adults with developmental disabilities relative to non-disabled adults. The National Core Indicators protocol offers a sound methodology to gather much-needed surveillance information on the health status, health risk behaviors, and medical care utilization of adults with developmental disabilities. Health promotion efforts must be specifically designed for this population.
A Review of Outbreaks of Foodborne Disease Associated with Passenger Ships: Evidence for Risk Management
Authors: Rooney Roisin M. , Cramer Elaine H. , Mantha Stacey , Nichols Gordon , Bartram Jamie K. , Farber Jeffrey M. , Benembarek Peter K. 
Published: June 2004

Objective. Foodborne disease outbreaks on ships are of concern because of their potentially serious health consequences for passengers and crew and high costs to the industry. The authors conducted a review of outbreaks of foodborne diseases associated with passenger ships in the framework of a World Health Organization project on setting guidelines for ship sanitation. Methods. The authors reviewed data on 50 outbreaks of foodborne disease associated with passenger ships. For each outbreak, data on pathogens/toxins, type of ship, factors contributing to outbreaks, mortality and morbidity, and food vehicles were collected. Results. The findings of this review show that the majority of reported outbreaks were associated with cruise ships and that almost 10,000 people were affected. Salmonella spp were most frequently associated with outbreaks. Foodborne outbreaks due to enterotoxigenic E. coli spp, Shigella spp, noroviruses (formally called Norwalk-like viruses), Vibrio spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens, Cyclospora sp, and Trichinella sp also occurred on ships. Factors associated with the outbreaks reviewed include inadequate temperature control, infected food handlers, contaminated raw ingredients, cross-contamination, inadequate heat treatment, and onshore excursions. Seafood was the most common food vehicle implicated in outbreaks. Conclusions. Many ship-associated outbreaks could have been prevented if measures had been taken to ensure adequate temperature control, avoidance of cross-contamination, reliable food sources, adequate heat treatment, and exclusion of infected food handlers from work.
A Review of Outbreaks of Waterborne Disease Associated with Ships: Evidence for Risk Management
Authors: Rooney Roisin M. , Bartram Jamie K. , Cramer Elaine H. , Mantha Stacey , Nichols Gordon , Suraj Rohini , Todd Ewen C.D. 
Published: June 2004

Objective. The organization of water supply to and on ships differs considerably from that of water supply on land. Risks of contamination can arise from source water at the port or during loading, storage, or distribution on the ship. The purpose of this article is to review documented outbreaks of waterborne diseases associated with passenger, cargo, fishing, and naval ships to identify contributing factors so that similar outbreaks can be prevented in the future. Methods. The authors reviewed 21 reported outbreaks of waterborne diseases associated with ships. For each outbreak, data on pathogens/toxins, type of ship, factors contributing to outbreaks, mortality and morbidity, and remedial action are presented. Results. The findings of this review show that the majority of reported outbreaks were associated with passenger ships and that more than 6,400 people were affected. Waterborne outbreaks due to Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, noroviruses, Salmonella spp, Shigella sp, Cryptosporidium sp, and Giardia lamblia occurred on ships. Enterotoxigenic E. coli was the pathogen most frequently associated with outbreaks. One outbreak of chemical water poisoning also occurred on a ship. Risk factors included contaminated port water, inadequate treatment, improper loading techniques, poor design and maintenance of storage tanks, ingress of contamination during repair and maintenance, cross-connections, back siphonage, and insufficient residual disinfectant. Conclusions. Waterborne disease outbreaks on ships can be prevented. The factors contributing to outbreaks emphasize the need for hygienic handling of water along the supply chain from source to consumption. A comprehensive approach to water safety on ships is essential. This may be achieved by the adoption of Water Safety Plans that cover design, construction, operation, and routine inspection and maintenance.
Patterns in Cancer Incidence among American Indians/Alaska Natives, United States, 1992–1999
Authors: Paltoo Dina N. , Chu Kenneth C. 
Published: June 2004

Objective. Cancer is a major public health concern in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. However, information on the incidence of cancer is lacking for this group. The purpose of this study is to report cancer incidence patterns for the U.S. AI/AN population. Methods. Age-adjusted annual cancer incidence rates for 1992 through 1999 were calculated for 12 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) areas, representing a sample (42%) of the U.S. AI/AN population. Trends in cancer incidence rates for the AI/AN sample were determined using standard linear regression of log-transformed rates and were compared to those of the U.S. white population. Results. The top five incident cancers (from highest to lowest) among AI/AN males were prostate, lung and bronchus, colon and rectum, kidney and renal pelvis, and stomach cancers. Among AI/AN women, cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, lung and bronchus, endometrium, and ovary ranked highest. Four sites where cancer incidence rates are greater for AI/ANs than for whites include gallbladder (the AI/AN rate was 4.1 times the rate for white males and 2.6 times the rate for white females), liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancers (1.3 times for males and 2.3 times for females), stomach (1.2 times for males and 1.5 times for females), and kidney and renal pelvis (1.03 times for males and 1.07 times for females). The data show increasing trends for AI/AN males and females and declining trends for white males and females for colorectal, stomach, and pancreatic cancers and leukemia. Similar differences between AI/AN rates and white rates were found for urinary bladder cancers in males and gallbladder cancer in females. Conclusions. Analysis of SEER data allowed for the determination of disparities in cancer incidence between a sample of the U.S. AI/AN population and the white population. The findings of this study provide baseline information necessary for developing cancer prevention and intervention strategies specific to the AI/AN population to address these cancer disparities.
PTGL—a web-based database application for protein topologies
Authors: May Patrick , Barthel Stefan , Koch Ina 
Published: June 2004

Abstract
Summary: Protein Topology Graph Library (PTGL) is a database application for the representation and retrieval of protein topologies. Protein topologies are based on a graph-theoretical protein model at secondary structure level. Different views on protein topology are given by four linear notations for their characterization. Protein topologies can be derived at different description levels considering α- and β-structures. The on-line search tool is based on an object-relational database and provides a query browser for data interrogation by string patterns, keyword queries and sequence similarity. Protein topologies are represented both as schematic diagrams and as three-dimensional images.
Availability: http://sanaga.tfh-berlin.de/~ptgl/ptgl.html
Standardization and denoising algorithms for mass spectra to classify whole-organism bacterial specimens
Authors: Satten Glen A. , Datta Somnath , Moura Hercules , Woolfitt Adrian R. , Carvalho Maria da G. , Carlone George M. , De Barun K. , Pavlopoulos Antonis , Barr John R. 
Published: June 2004

Abstract
Motivation: Application of mass spectrometry in proteomics is a breakthrough in high-throughput analyses. Early applications have focused on protein expression profiles to differentiate among various types of tissue samples (e.g. normal versus tumor). Here our goal is to use mass spectra to differentiate bacterial species using whole-organism samples. The raw spectra are similar to spectra of tissue samples, raising some of the same statistical issues (e.g. non-uniform baselines and higher noise associated with higher baseline), but are substantially noisier. As a result, new preprocessing procedures are required before these spectra can be used for statistical classification.
Results: In this study, we introduce novel preprocessing steps that can be used with any mass spectra. These comprise a standardization step and a denoising step. The noise level for each spectrum is determined using only data from that spectrum. Only spectral features that exceed a threshold defined by the noise level are subsequently used for classification. Using this approach, we trained the Random Forest program to classify 240 mass spectra into four bacterial types. The method resulted in zero prediction errors in the training samples and in two test datasets having 240 and 300 spectra, respectively.
Availability: Fortran code for standardization and denoising is available at the supplementary information website.
Supplementary information: http://www.stat.uga.edu/~datta/Massspec/supp.html
Constrained clusters of gene expression profiles with pathological features
Authors: Sese Jun , Kurokawa Yukinori , Monden Morito , Kato Kikuya , Morishita Shinichi 
Published: June 2004

Abstract
Motivation: Gene expression profiles should be useful in distinguishing variations in disease, since they reflect accurately the status of cells. The primary clustering of gene expression reveals the genotypes that are responsible for the proximity of members within each cluster, while further clustering elucidates the pathological features of the individual members of each cluster. However, since the first clustering process and the second classification step, in which the features are associated with clusters, are performed independently, the initial set of clusters may omit genes that are associated with pathologically meaningful features. Therefore, it is important to devise a way of identifying gene expression clusters that are associated with pathological features.
Results: We present the novel technique of ‘itemset constrained clustering’ (IC-Clustering), which computes the optimal cluster that maximizes the interclass variance of gene expression between groups, which are divided according to the restriction that only divisions that can be expressed using common features are allowed. This constraint automatically labels each cluster with a set of pathological features which characterize that cluster. When applied to liver cancer datasets, IC-Clustering revealed informative gene expression clusters, which could be annotated with various pathological features, such as ‘tumor’ and ‘man’, or ‘except tumor’ and ‘normal liver function’. In contrast, the k-means method overlooked these clusters.
Supplementary information: Our dataset is available on the following web page: http://love2.aist-nara.ac.jp/laboratory/data_download.html.
BioNetGen: software for rule-based modeling of signal transduction based on the interactions of molecular domains
Authors: Blinov Michael L. , Faeder James R. , Goldstein Byron , Hlavacek William S. 
Published: June 2004

Abstract
Summary: BioNetGen allows a user to create a computational model that characterizes the dynamics of a signal transduction system, and that accounts comprehensively and precisely for specified enzymatic activities, potential post-translational modifications and interactions of the domains of signaling molecules. The output defines and parameterizes the network of molecular species that can arise during signaling and provides functions that relate model variables to experimental readouts of interest. Models that can be generated are relevant for rational drug discovery, analysis of proteomic data and mechanistic studies of signal transduction.
Availability: http://cellsignaling.lanl.gov/bionetgen
Aberration correction for confocal imaging in refractive‐index‐mismatched media
Authors: Booth M.J. , Neil M.A.A. , Wilson T. 
Published: June 2004

SummaryA major limitation to the use of confocal microscopes to image thick biological tissue lies in the dramatic reduction in both signal level and resolution when focusing deep into a refractive‐index‐mismatched specimen. This limitation may be overcome by measuring the wavefront aberration and pre‐shaping the input beam so as to cancel the effects of aberration. We consider the images of planar and point objects in brightfield, single‐photon fluorescence and two‐photon fluorescence imaging. In all cases, the specimens are imaged using an oil‐immersion objective through various thicknesses of water.The question of finite‐sized pinhole is addressed and it is found, in general, that it is sufficient to correct only the first two or three orders of spherical aberration to restore adequate image signal level and optical resolution, at imaging depths of up to 50‐100 wavelengths.
The value of prospective monitoring of Epstein–Barr virus DNA in blood samples of pediatric liver transplant recipients
Authors: Scheenstra R. , Verschuuren E.A.M. , De Haan A. , Slooff M.J.H. , The T.H. , Bijleveld C.M.A. , Verkade H.J. 
Published: June 2004

Abstract: Post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in transplantation patients. A primary Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection is a major risk factor for developing PTLD. The aim of this study was to determine circulating EBV DNA after liver transplantation in pediatric patients in relation to primary EBV infection and development of PTLD. EBV serology was performed before transplantation. Every 4 weeks after transplantation a competitive quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for EBV nuclear antigen‐1 was performed in 13 patients. Patients were followed for development of a PTLD. Before transplantation four patients were EBV seropositive and nine patients were EBV seronegative. In one of the four patients who were EBV seropositive before transplantation, EBV DNA became detectable after transplantation, with a peak load of 3600 copies/mL. None of these four patients developed a PTLD. Eight of the nine patients who were EBV seronegative before transplantation developed positive EBV DNA samples. EBV DNA was first detected at a mean of 64 days after transplantation (range 38–89). The mean peak EBV DNA load was 79,700 copies/mL (3600–446,000). Two of these patients developed PTLD, but they could not be identified based on prior or concomitant EBV PCR results.Conclusions: In pediatric liver transplantation EBV DNA load is higher in patients with a primary infection than in patients who were EBV seropositive before transplantation. The EBV PCR cannot be used to identify individual patients who develop PTLD. However, elevated EBV DNA load can be used to detect a group of patients at increased risk for PTLD.
Enhancing students’ learning through differentiated approaches to teaching and learning: a Maltese perspective
Authors: Adami Audrey Fenech 
Published: June 2004

Within the context of Malta, differentiated teaching pervades the National Minimum Curriculum (NMC) published in 1999, in 11 of 15 principles that the NMC supports. The study seeks to explore how well prepared and equipped the teachers are with the necessary skills to fulfil a differentiated teaching approach. The aim of this research study was to explore the current pedagogical procedures teachers are adopting in order to ensure curriculum access to all students, and to what extent these actually reflect differentiated instructional strategies.Data was collected through questionnaires. All teachers in the school were asked to participate and the response rate was high. The results are therefore representative of this particular school but cannot be generalised to the whole teaching population.It was found that many teachers were taking an individualised role to teaching, and in the future the school will need to adopt policy decisions and a School Development Plan (SDP) which feature differentiation. Such an approach will be needed in order to encourage the teachers to utilise strategies that reflect a differentiated approach to teaching within a whole school context. In‐service training will be required to enable teachers to be made aware of the varying ways of responding to the needs of all students through differentiated teaching approaches in order to provide paths to learning so that the classroom becomes a ‘good fit’ for varied learners.
Examining key issues underlying the Audit Commission Reports on SEN Policy Paper 1 (5th series)
Authors: Norwich Brahm , Beek Chris , Richardson Penny , Gray Peter 
Published: June 2004

This book is the first publication in the fifth series of seminars organised by the SEN Policy Options Steering Group to examine policy issues to do with special educational needs.The aim of the seminar was to examine in depth several underlying issues raised by the recent Audit Commission Reports on special educational needs. The seminar provided a distinctive perspective and analysis of these reports. The focus was on (1) assurance for parents: alternatives to statements? (2) justifying common national definitions of difficulties and SEN and (3) managing inclusion.Papers were presented by: Peter Gray, SEN Policy Consultant, on common national definitions of difficulties and SEN; Penny Richardson from Nottinghamshire Local Education Authority (LEA) on assurance for parents: alternatives to statements? and Chris Beek from Capita Strategic Education Services on managing inclusion.The main purpose of this publication is to provide policy makers at all levels of the education system with an examination of relevant and practical policy options in the field of special educational needs. The book raises crucial issues and outlines ways forward.
Socio‐economic changes and sacred groves in South India: Protecting a community‐based resource management institution
Authors: Chandrakanth M.G. , Bhat Mahadev G. , Accavva M.S. 
Published: June 2004

Abstract The sacred groves along the forest belts of south India, which were traditionally managed by village communities, are gradually disappearing. This study conducts an analysis of how this community‐based resource management institution has evolved over time and what socio‐economic factors have caused its gradual disintegration. Commercial agriculture, changing demographics and weak property‐rights systems are found to be some of the enabling factors. While the grass‐roots enthusiasm to save the sacred groves is still alive, government action is needed to strengthen the traditional village organizations, which are still perhaps in the best position to manage local resources. Several economic and financial incentive mechanisms at the local level that might lead to more efficient and equitable resource use outcomes are suggested.
Irrigation water management policies: Allocation and pricing principles and implementation experience
Authors: Dinar Ariel , Mody Jyothsna 
Published: June 2004

Abstract Food security and sustainable development require efficient use of water resources, especially in irrigation. Economic pricing can be an effective tool to achieve more efficient water use, provided it is supported by other policies in implementation. Applying various water pricing and cost recovery arrangements is suggested for efficient allocation. Any adverse impact on farmers’ incomes must be addressed and more reliable service must accompany higher prices. Experience from several countries suggests a variety of implementation issues. Essential complements to water pricing are water distribution rules and technological choices at critical nodes in the delivery system that allow farmers flexibility in conserving water in response to higher prices. Among supporting institutions, water users associations seem a higher priority than water markets.