177,022 research outputs found
Reduced foetal growth and growth hormone secretion in adult life
No full textObjectivesRecent studies suggest that growth restriction or other adverse influences acting in utero or during early infancy lead to permanent alterations in growth hormone (GH) secretion. As GH secretion is known to predict cardiovascular risk, alterations in GH may contribute to the association between reduced foetal growth and cardiovascular disease. We have therefore assessed the relationship between birth size and GH secretion in a prospective study of young adults whose birth size was recorded and who have had their current blood pressure and glucose tolerance measured.DesignProspective cohort studyPatients153 healthy men and women, aged 20-21 years.MeasurementsSubjects carried out a timed overnight urinary collection for analysis of GH excretion. Insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion were measured using the intravenous glucose tolerance test with minimal model analysis. Blood pressure, height, weight, usual level of exercise, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, and socio-economic status were also recorded.ResultsGH excretion ranged from 0.01 to 41.8 microU per subject. It did not differ according to gender but was markedly reduced in obese subjects (P ConclusionsBody size at birth predicts GH excretion in adult life. Low GH excretion in people who were small at birth may be one mechanism explaining their increased risk of cardiovascular disease.Flanagan, Daniel E; Moore, Vivienne M; Godsland, Ian F; Cockington, Richard A; Robinson, Jeffrey S; Phillips, David I
Alcohol consumption and insulin resistance in young adults
No full textBackgroundAlcohol may have a cardioprotective effect. One possible mechanism is by reducing insulin resistance, a known cardiovascular risk factor. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between alcohol consumption, insulin resistance and other parameters determining glucose tolerance in 154 young men and women.Subjects and methodsSubjects completed a questionnaire documenting weekly alcohol consumption. Insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance were measured using the intravenous glucose tolerance test with minimal model analysis. Height, weight, usual level of exercise, smoking habits and socio-economic status were also recorded.ResultsInsulin sensitivity correlated inversely with body mass index (r = - 0.529, P ConclusionThese data suggest a close relationship between alcohol consumption and insulin resistance in young adults. Regular alcohol consumption is associated with decreased insulin resistance and this may partly explain the cardioprotective effect of alcohol
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Antibody response to pneumococcal vaccine in children aged 5 to 15 years
No full textThe type-specific antibody response of 99 healthy children, aged 5 to 15 years, to a 14-valent pneumococcal vaccine was determined and analyzed according to age at the time of vaccination. The response to the majority of the serotypes, including the important "pediatric" types 6A, 18C, and 19F, appeared to plateau in the 8- to 10-year-old age group, whereas for types 14 and 23F, which are also important in children, the response continued to improve with age to ages 13 to 15 years. The antibody response of a group of 23 children, aged 5 to 15 years, with various hematologic disorders (12 of whom had undergone splenectomy) was also determined and compared with that of the healthy children. For all serotypes the antibody response was similar in the two groups.James C. Paton, Ian R. Toogood, Richard A. Cockington, David Hansma
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Gender differences in the insulin-like growth factor axis response to a glucose load94
No full textAIMS: The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are thought to contribute to glucose homeostasis. The aim of our study was to examine the response of the IGFs and their binding proteins to an intravenous load of glucose in a cohort of young men and women with normal glucose tolerance. METHODS: The intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) was used to quantify insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion in 160 adults aged 20-21 years in Adelaide, Australia. Serum IGF-I, IGF-II, IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-1 and IGFBP-3 were measured during the IVGTT. RESULTS: Women were less insulin sensitive than men with higher fasting insulin (women 55.6 +/- 4.4, men 44.1 +/- 3.6 pmol L(-1), P = 0.001) and first phase insulin secretion (women 3490 +/- 286, men 3038 +/- 271 pmol L(-1) min, P = 0.042). Women showed lower fasting free IGF-I (women 0.29 +/- 0.02, men 0.36 +/- 0.02 mug L(-1), P = 0.004) but higher IGFBP-3 (women 46.3 +/- 0.53, men 43.3 +/- 0.58 mg dL(-1), P = 0.001) and higher IGFBP-1 concentrations (women 37.0 +/- 2.9, men 24.8 +/- 2.3 mug L(-1), P = 0.012). IGFBP-1 fell by 5 min and remained suppressed. IGFBP-3 and total IGF-I fell until 60 min rising again by 2 h. IGF and IGFBP values were all higher in women. IGFBP-1 showed a negative association with fasting and stimulated insulin concentrations in both genders. First phase insulin secretion however showed positive correlations with IGFBP-3 (r = 0.321, P = 0.004) and IGF-I (r = 0.339 P = 0.002) in men but not women. CONCLUSION: Our data show that IGFBP-1, IGFBP-3 and IGF-I show acute changes following a glucose load and there are marked gender differences in these response
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The autonomic control of heart rate and insulin resistance in young adults
No full textThe pathophysiology of insulin resistance is unclear. A link between increased heart rate (HR) and insulin resistance suggests an association with sympathetic nervous system activity. To further evaluate this, we examined autonomic activity using spectral analysis of HR variability (HRV), which provides a measure of cardiac sympathovagal modulation, and related this to insulin sensitivity (Si) in 137 men and women (20 yr old). The HRV spectrum displays 2 major peaks: a high-frequency peak, reflecting vagal activity, and a low-frequency peak caused by vagal and sympathetic activity. The high-to-low ratio (HLratio) reflects sympathovagal balance. Si was measured, using the i.v. glucose tolerance test with minimal modeling, and HR data was derived from a 15-min supine electrocardiogram. Women were more insulin resistant than men (Si, 3.94 vs. 5.09 10(4) min(-1)/per pmol x L; P = 0.002), had higher HR (59 vs. 56 beats/min, P = 0.019), but had a higher HLratio (2.04 vs. 1.31, P = 0.001). In men (but not women), Si correlated with HR (r = -0.410, P = 0.001) and measures of HRV: HLratio (r = 0.291, P = 0.002) independently of body mass index. In conclusion, Si correlates with cardiac sympathovagal balance in men, but not women, suggesting gender differences in the autonomic modulation of insulin resistance
Head injuries in infants and young children: the value of a Paediatric Coma Scale
No full textThe normal verbal and motor responses embodied in the standard Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) are not achievable during the first few years of life. The recent literature contains numerous reports of attempts to devise scales of responses quantitating the conscious level in infants and young children, both for research purposes and as clinical guides; some of these scales incorporate items, e.g. brainstem reflexes, that are not included in the GCS. We have reported on a simple paediatric version of the GCS, which uses the standard scale with minor modifications in the verbal component, and sets realistic age-related normal responses. This has been tested prospectively in a series of 60 head-injured infants and children (age range 0–72 months). Of 6 cases recorded as comatose 6 h after injury, 4 have confirmed or suspected residual disabilities. Of 35 cases considered to be fully conscious at 6 h, 31 have made good recoveries and only 1 has suspected residual disabilities. The study suggests that the scale accords with the realities of neurological immaturity, and confirms that it can be used in routine paediatric practice. For comparative therapeutic trials, the conscious level in infants has limited value as an index of brain injury, and should be complemented by other indices, such as brainstem reflexes.D.A. Simpson, R.A. Cockington, A. Haneih, J. Raftos and P.L. Reill
Letter from R. R. Zellick, Assistant Trust Officer, Anglo California National Bank of San Francisco, to Joseph R. Goodman, October 2, 1942
No full textLetter from R. R. Zellick, Assistant Trust Officer at The Anglo California National Bank of San Francisco, to Joseph R. Goodman, regarding property owned by Dave Tatsuno. Zellick mentions a dispute between current tenants and Tatsuno, and that Tatsuno has asked Goodman to help locate trustworthy tenants.Personal correspondence, organizational records, government documents, publications, and other papers created or collected by Joseph R. Goodman documenting the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as organized resistance to incarceration. Included in the collection are records of the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association and the Japanese American Citizens' League in San Francisco, including papers of the Japanese YMCA's executive secretary Lincoln Kanai; Sakai family papers; Goodman's correspondence to and from Japanese American incarcerees, organizations opposing forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans, the War Relocation Authority, and others; publications, photographs, and ephemera from the Topaz Relocation Center, where Goodman taught high school; War Relocation Authority records and publications; and newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and reports about forced removal and incarceration created by various government, religious, and civic organizations, in California and nationwide
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