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The detailed landscape pattern of the urban area within the 6th ring road in Beijing City was identified using airborne remote sensing data acquired between 1997 and 2002.
The landscape indices at landscape level were computed using Fragstats 3.3, and changes in land use/cover types in Beijing from 1997 to 2002 were examined.
The results show that urban built area (UBA) and farmland changed greatly within the 6th ring road, and that farmland had been replaced by UBA. | scifact_20000 |
The number of patches increased by 106.6%, mean patch area decreased by 51.6%, the splitting index increased by 94.3%, and the landscape diversity index increased by 17.8%.
The landscape pattern had become more fragmented and diversified in these 5 years.
The main driving forces for landscape change were the increasing demand for land for construction due to the growing population, unreasonable urban growth, and improvements in housing standards. | scifact_20001 |
The landscape pattern change in Beijing led by rapid urbanisation has negatively influenced urban... | scifact_20002 |
This paper explores the reasons why consumers choose wine over other alcoholic beverages, with a focus upon the beliefs held by consumers towards the behaviour of wine drinking.
The research findings show that attitudes are somewhat more predictive of the intention to drink wine than perceived social pressure.
Nevertheless, both attitudinal and normative elements are required to adequately explain wine consumption. | scifact_20003 |
Despite the fact that the issue of health figured prominently amongst the salient beliefs identified in the qualitative phase of the research, the subsequent quantitative research found that drinking wine because of its purported health benefits was not a significant attitudinal or behavioural factor.
Drinking wine because it provides ‘a variety of tastes and flavours’ and because it ‘goes well with food’ was found to be significantly more important. | scifact_20004 |
The results suggest that efforts to actively promote awareness of the health benefits of wine drinking may have limited value. | scifact_20005 |
Anabolic steroids have been widely used in the beef cattle industry for over 50 years as safe and effective growth-promoting agents, and today, more than 90% of all feedlot cattle in the US receive some type of steroidal implant during their lifetime (NAHMS, USDA 2000).
A list of approval of growth promotants by the FDA is shown in Table 1. | scifact_20006 |
A list of approval of growth promotants by the FDA is shown in Table 1.
Generally, implants have been shown to increase growth rate 8 to 28%, improve feed efficiency 5 to 20%, and enhance lean tissue mass of the carcass 3 to 10% (Duckett and Owens, 1997). | scifact_20007 |
This improvement in production efficiency has multiple benefits: 1) it clearly and dramatically reduces production costs by reducing the amount of feed required per unit of gain (Avery and Avery, 2007); 2) it reduces the amount of land necessary to produce equivalent amounts of food for consumers; 3) it limits the production of greenhouse gases by reducing the number of animals required to produce equivalent amounts of beef (Avery and Avery, 2007); and 4) it extends cost savings to consumers by providing a | scifact_20008 |
amounts of beef (Avery and Avery, 2007); and 4) it extends cost savings to consumers by providing a year-round, affordable supply of beef at reduced prices (Lawrence and Ibarburu, 2006). | scifact_20009 |
Since animal products contribute significantly to the total caloric and nutrient intake in the human population, altering the composition of growth toward more lean tissue and less adipose tissue results in a healthier product with fewer calories that still is rich in beneficial nutrients. | scifact_20010 |
In addition to steroidal implants, a newer class of orally active growth promotants, known as b-adrenergic agonists (BAA; Ractopamine-HCl; 2003 and Zilpaterol-HCl; 2006), have been approved for use in finishing beef cattle in the last decade.
These products provide similar production benefits as steroidal implants, but differ in application and mode of action.
Beta-adrenergic agonists are fed during the last 20 to 42 days of the cattle finishing period, depending on the specific product. | scifact_20011 |
The purpose of this paper is to explain how anabolic implants and BAA work and their benefits to beef cattle production. | scifact_20012 |
With the current and predicted increase in world population, growing global demand and consumption of food will result in increasing competition for land, water, and energy.
In turn, this will severely affect our ability to produce food as will the urgent requirement to reduce the impact of food systems on the environment (Godfray et al., 2010). | scifact_20013 |
Globalization has boosted trade in livestock inputs and products and resulted in industry growth, and concurrently livestock production has undergone a complex process of technical and geographical change (Gerber et al., 2007).
This has resulted in a challenge to livestock producers; growing demand for their produce with a dwindling supply of resources, with the only solution being a significant increase in efficiency. | scifact_20014 |
Also, as incomes increase in the burgeoning economies, so does the demand for high-quality animal proteins such as meat, milk, and eggs; thus the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggests that food requirements will increase by 70% by 2050 (Anonymous, 2009).
The recent success in developed and emerging technologies suggests that the animal industries are well placed to prosper through these new challenges. | scifact_20015 |
To ensure these technologies—such as metabolic modifiers including somatotropin, immunization against gonadotropin-releasing factor, and orally active dietary additives like ractopamine, zilpaterol, cysteamine, chromium, betaine, and dietary neuroleptics—can be effectively utilized throughout the animal industries, further emphasis is required on their acceptance and development. | scifact_20016 |
As a result of these technological advancements, producers have benefited because of improved production efficiencies while meat packers have improved processing efficiencies because of increased lean meat yield.
Ostensibly, the consumer has also benefited because meat is leaner and less expensive to purchase.
However, there have been some concerns that the focus on increasing production efficiency and lean meat yield has been to the detriment of meat quality (Dunshea et al., 2005). | scifact_20017 |
It is also interesting that at a time of apparently greater need for these technologies, there are external influences such as market differentiation and trade barriers as well as consumer resistance that challenge the use of technologies.
A tenet of this article is that if we are to meet the increased global demand for animal protein, then we must continue to develop and adopt technologies to improve livestock efficiency, but we must be cognizant of the potential barriers affecting acceptance. | scifact_20018 |
Inadequate initial treatment and delayed hemodynamic stabilization (HDS) may be associated with increased risk of death in severe sepsis patients.
In order to compare the hemodynamic efficacy and safety of 6% HES 130/0.4 and NaCl 0.9% for HDS in patients with severe sepsis, we designed a prospective, multicenter, active-controlled, double-blind, randomized study in intensive care units.
174 out of 196 patients reached HDS (88 and 86 patients for HES and NaCl, respectively). | scifact_20019 |
174 out of 196 patients reached HDS (88 and 86 patients for HES and NaCl, respectively).
Significantly less HES was used to reach HDS vs. NaCl (1,379 ±886 ml in the HES group and 1,709 ±1,164 ml in the NaCl group (mean difference = -331± 1,033, 95% CI -640 to -21, P = 0.0185).
Time to reach HDS was 11.8 10.1 hours vs. 14.3 ±11.1 hours for HES and NaCl, respectively.
Total quantity of study drug infused over four consecutive days, ICU and hospital LOS, and area under the curve of SOFA score were comparable. | scifact_20020 |
Acute renal failure occurred in 24 (24.5%) and 19 (20%) patients for HES and NaCl, respectively (P = 0.454).
There was no difference between AKIN and RIFLE criteria among groups and no difference in mortality, coagulation, or pruritus up to 90 days after treatment initiation.
Significantly less volume was required to achieve HDS for HES vs. NaCl in the initial phase of fluid resuscitation in severe sepsis patients without any difference for adverse events in both groups.
NCT00464204 | scifact_20021 |
BACKGROUND Moderate differences in efficacy between adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer are plausible, and could affect treatment choices.
We sought any such differences. | scifact_20022 |
METHODS We undertook individual-patient-data meta-analyses of the randomised trials comparing: any taxane-plus-anthracycline-based regimen versus the same, or more, non-taxane chemotherapy (n=44,000); one anthracycline-based regimen versus another (n=7000) or versus cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF; n=18,000); and polychemotherapy versus no chemotherapy (n=32,000). | scifact_20023 |
The scheduled dosages of these three drugs and of the anthracyclines doxorubicin (A) and epirubicin (E) were used to define standard CMF, standard 4AC, and CAF and CEF.
Log-rank breast cancer mortality rate ratios (RRs) are reported. | scifact_20024 |
FINDINGS In trials adding four separate cycles of a taxane to a fixed anthracycline-based control regimen, extending treatment duration, breast cancer mortality was reduced (RR 0·86, SE 0·04, two-sided significance [2p]=0·0005).
In trials with four such extra cycles of a taxane counterbalanced in controls by extra cycles of other cytotoxic drugs, roughly doubling non-taxane dosage, there was no significant difference (RR 0·94, SE 0·06, 2p=0·33). | scifact_20025 |
Trials with CMF-treated controls showed that standard 4AC and standard CMF were equivalent (RR 0·98, SE 0·05, 2p=0·67), but that anthracycline-based regimens with substantially higher cumulative dosage than standard 4AC (eg, CAF or CEF) were superior to standard CMF (RR 0·78, SE 0·06, 2p=0·0004).
Trials versus no chemotherapy also suggested greater mortality reductions with CAF (RR 0·64, SE 0·09, 2p<0·0001) than with standard 4AC (RR 0·78, SE 0·09, 2p=0·01) or standard CMF (RR 0·76, SE 0·05, 2p<0·0001). | scifact_20026 |
In all meta-analyses involving taxane-based or anthracycline-based regimens, proportional risk reductions were little affected by age, nodal status, tumour diameter or differentiation (moderate or poor; few were well differentiated), oestrogen receptor status, or tamoxifen use. | scifact_20027 |
Hence, largely independently of age (up to at least 70 years) or the tumour characteristics currently available to us for the patients selected to be in these trials, some taxane-plus-anthracycline-based or higher-cumulative-dosage anthracycline-based regimens (not requiring stem cells) reduced breast cancer mortality by, on average, about one-third.
10-year overall mortality differences paralleled breast cancer mortality differences, despite taxane, anthracycline, and other toxicities. | scifact_20028 |
INTERPRETATION 10-year gains from a one-third breast cancer mortality reduction depend on absolute risks without chemotherapy (which, for oestrogen-receptor-positive disease, are the risks remaining with appropriate endocrine therapy).
Low absolute risk implies low absolute benefit, but information was lacking about tumour gene expression markers or quantitative immunohistochemistry that might help to predict risk, chemosensitivity, or both. | scifact_20029 |
FUNDING Cancer Research UK; British Heart Foundation; UK Medical Research Council. | scifact_20030 |
Neutrophils are the main effector cells during inflammation, but they can also control excessive inflammatory responses by secreting anti-inflammatory cytokines.
However, the mechanisms that modulate their plasticity remain unclear.
We now show that systemic serum amyloid A 1 (SAA-1) controls the plasticity of neutrophil differentiation. | scifact_20031 |
SAA-1 not only induced anti-inflammatory interleukin 10 (IL-10)-secreting neutrophils but also promoted the interaction of invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells) with those neutrophils, a process that limited their suppressive activity by diminishing the production of IL-10 and enhancing the production of IL-12. | scifact_20032 |
Because SAA-1-producing melanomas promoted differentiation of IL-10-secreting neutrophils, harnessing iNKT cells could be useful therapeutically by decreasing the frequency of immunosuppressive neutrophils and restoring tumor-specific immune responses. | scifact_20033 |
BACKGROUND The main associations of body-mass index (BMI) with overall and cause-specific mortality can best be assessed by long-term prospective follow-up of large numbers of people.
The Prospective Studies Collaboration aimed to investigate these associations by sharing data from many studies. | scifact_20034 |
METHODS Collaborative analyses were undertaken of baseline BMI versus mortality in 57 prospective studies with 894 576 participants, mostly in western Europe and North America (61% [n=541 452] male, mean recruitment age 46 [SD 11] years, median recruitment year 1979 [IQR 1975-85], mean BMI 25 [SD 4] kg/m(2)).
The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, and study. | scifact_20035 |
The analyses were adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, and study.
To limit reverse causality, the first 5 years of follow-up were excluded, leaving 66 552 deaths of known cause during a mean of 8 (SD 6) further years of follow-up (mean age at death 67 [SD 10] years): 30 416 vascular; 2070 diabetic, renal or hepatic; 22 592 neoplastic; 3770 respiratory; 7704 other. | scifact_20036 |
FINDINGS In both sexes, mortality was lowest at about 22.5-25 kg/m(2). | scifact_20037 |
Above this range, positive associations were recorded for several specific causes and inverse associations for none, the absolute excess risks for higher BMI and smoking were roughly additive, and each 5 kg/m(2) higher BMI was on average associated with about 30% higher overall mortality (hazard ratio per 5 kg/m(2) [HR] 1.29 [95% CI 1.27-1.32]): 40% for vascular mortality (HR 1.41 [1.37-1.45]); 60-120% for diabetic, renal, and hepatic mortality (HRs 2.16 [1.89-2.46], 1.59 [1.27-1.99], and 1.82 [1.59-2.09], | scifact_20038 |
renal, and hepatic mortality (HRs 2.16 [1.89-2.46], 1.59 [1.27-1.99], and 1.82 [1.59-2.09], respectively); 10% for neoplastic mortality (HR 1.10 [1.06-1.15]); and 20% for respiratory and for all other mortality (HRs 1.20 [1.07-1.34] and 1.20 [1.16-1.25], respectively). | scifact_20039 |
Below the range 22.5-25 kg/m(2), BMI was associated inversely with overall mortality, mainly because of strong inverse associations with respiratory disease and lung cancer.
These inverse associations were much stronger for smokers than for non-smokers, despite cigarette consumption per smoker varying little with BMI. | scifact_20040 |
INTERPRETATION Although other anthropometric measures (eg, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio) could well add extra information to BMI, and BMI to them, BMI is in itself a strong predictor of overall mortality both above and below the apparent optimum of about 22.5-25 kg/m(2).
The progressive excess mortality above this range is due mainly to vascular disease and is probably largely causal. | scifact_20041 |
At 30-35 kg/m(2), median survival is reduced by 2-4 years; at 40-45 kg/m(2), it is reduced by 8-10 years (which is comparable with the effects of smoking).
The definite excess mortality below 22.5 kg/m(2) is due mainly to smoking-related diseases, and is not fully explained. | scifact_20042 |
A key aberrant biological difference between tumor cells and normal differentiated cells is altered metabolism, whereby cancer cells acquire a number of stable genetic and epigenetic alterations to retain proliferation, survive under unfavorable microenvironments and invade into surrounding tissues.
A classic biochemical adaptation is the metabolic shift to aerobic glycolysis rather than mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, regardless of oxygen availability, a phenomenon termed the "Warburg Effect". | scifact_20043 |
Aerobic glycolysis, characterized by high glucose uptake, low oxygen consumption and elevated production of lactate, is associated with a survival advantage as well as the generation of substrates such as fatty acids, amino acids and nucleotides necessary in rapidly proliferating cells.
This review discusses the role of key metabolic enzymes and their association with aerobic glycolysis in Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), an aggressive, highly glycolytic and deadly brain tumor. | scifact_20044 |
Targeting key metabolic enzymes involved in modulating the "Warburg Effect" may provide a novel therapeutic approach either singularly or in combination with existing therapies in GBMs. | scifact_20045 |
A signaling pathway transmits information from an upstream system to downstream systems, ideally in a unidirectional fashion.
A key obstacle to unidirectional transmission is retroactivity, the additional reaction flux that affects a system once its species interact with those of downstream systems.
This raises the fundamental question of whether signaling pathways have developed specialized architectures that overcome retroactivity and transmit unidirectional signals. | scifact_20046 |
Here, we propose a general procedure based on mathematical analysis that provides an answer to this question.
Using this procedure, we analyze the ability of a variety of signaling architectures to transmit one-way (from upstream to downstream) signals, as key biological parameters are tuned.
We find that single stage phosphorylation and phosphotransfer systems that transmit signals from a kinase show a stringent design trade-off that hampers their ability to overcome retroactivity. | scifact_20047 |
Interestingly, cascades of these architectures, which are highly represented in nature, can overcome this trade-off and thus enable unidirectional transmission.
By contrast, phosphotransfer systems, and single and double phosphorylation cycles that transmit signals from a substrate are unable to mitigate retroactivity effects, even when cascaded, and hence are not well suited for unidirectional information transmission. | scifact_20048 |
Our results identify signaling architectures that, allowing unidirectional transmission of signals, embody modular processes that conserve their input/output behavior across multiple contexts.
These findings can be used to decompose natural signal transduction networks into modules, and, at the same time, they establish a library of devices that can be used in synthetic biology to facilitate modular circuit design. | scifact_20049 |
AIMS Trabecular bone score (TBS) is a surrogate indicator of bone microarchitecture.
The presenent study sought to examine the association between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and trabecular bone score (TBS) in adult Vietnamese men and women. | scifact_20050 |
METHODS The study was part of the Vietnam Osteoporosis Study, in which 2702 women and 1398 men aged ≥30 yrs were recruited from the general community in Ho Chi Minh City.
HbA1c levels were measured by the ADAMS™ A1c HA-8160 (Arkray, Kyoto, Japan), and classified into 3 groups: normal if HbA1c <5.7%; pre-diabetes (5.7 to 6.4%); and diabetes (>6.4%).
TBS was evaluated by iNsight Software, version 2.1 (Medimaps, Merignac, France) on lumbar spine BMD scan (Hologic Horizon). | scifact_20051 |
Differences in TBS between diabetic status were analyzed by the multivariable regression model with adjustment for age and body mass index. | scifact_20052 |
RESULTS The prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes in men and women was 30.2% and 8.3%, respectively.
In women, TBS was lower in pre-diabetes (-0.02; P<0.001) and diabetes (-0.02; P<0.001) compared with normal individuals.
In men, there was no statistically significant difference in TBS between diabetic status.
Moreover, TBS was significantly inversely correlated with HbA1c levels in women (P = 0.01), but not in men (P = 0.89). | scifact_20053 |
CONCLUSION Women, but not men, with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes have lower TBS than individuals without diabetes.
These data suggest that diabetes and prediabetes are associated with deterioration of bone microarchitecture. | scifact_20054 |
Introduction: Among the inflammatory mediators involved in the pathogenesis of obesity, the cell adhesion molecules Pselectin, E-selectin, VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and the chemokine MCP-1 stand out.
They play a crucial role in adherence of cells to endothelial surfaces, in the integrity of the vascular wall and can be modulated by body composition and dietary pattern. | scifact_20055 |
Objectives: To describe and discuss the relation of these cell adhesion molecules and chemokines to anthropometric, body composition, dietary and biochemical markers.
Methods: Papers were located using scientific databases by topic searches with no restriction on year of publication.
Results: All molecules were associated positively with anthropometric markers, but controversial results were found for ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. | scifact_20056 |
Not only obesity, but visceral fat is more strongly correlated with E-selectin and MCP-1 levels.
Weight loss influences the reduction in the levels of these molecules, except VCAM-1.
The distribution of macronutrients, excessive consumption of saturated and trans fat and a Western dietary pattern are associated with increased levels.
The opposite could be observed with supplementation of w-3 fatty acid, healthy dietary pattern, high calcium diet and high dairy intake. | scifact_20057 |
Regarding the biochemical parameters, they have inverse relation to HDLC and positive relation to total cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose, fasting insulin and insulin resistance.
Conclusion: Normal anthropometric indicators, body composition, biochemical parameters and eating pattern positively modulate the subclinical inflammation that results from obesity by reducing the cell adhesion molecules and chemokines. | scifact_20058 |
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