bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ARE THERE LOCAL MINIMA IN THE MAGNETIC MONOPOLE POTENTIAL IN COMPACT QED?
Authors: BOZKAYA H. , FABER M. , KOPPENSTEINER P. , PITSCHMANN M.
Published: December 2004

We investigate the influence of the granularity of the lattice on the potential between monopoles. Using the flux definition of monopoles we introduce their centers of mass and are able to realize continuous shifts of the monopole positions. We find periodic deviations from the 1/r-behavior of the monopole-antimonopole potential leading to local extrema. We suppose that these meta-stabilities may influence the order of the phase transition in compact QED.
Maternal smoking is associated with mitochondrial DNA depletion and respiratory chain complex III deficiency in placenta
Authors: Bouhours-Nouet Natacha , May-Panloup Pascale , Coutant Régis , de Casson Florence Boux , Descamps Philippe , Douay Olivier , Reynier Pascal , Ritz Patrick , Malthièry Yves , Simard Gilles
Published: December 2004

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is often associated with a decrease in placental function, which might lead to intrauterine growth retardation. Because tobacco is known to alter the mitochondrial respiratory function in cardiomyocytes and lung tissue, we hypothesized that placental mitochondrial function could be altered by maternal smoking. Placental mitochondria from 9 smoking and 19 nonsmoking mothers were isolated by differential centrifugation. Mitochondrial oxygen consumption was measured by polarography, and the enzymatic activity of each complex of the electron transport chain was assessed by spectrophotometry. In addition, the relative content in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was determined by real-time quantitative PCR in placentas from seven smoking and seven nonsmoking mothers. We observed a 29% reduction in the enzymatic activity of complex III in the placental mitochondria from smokers compared with nonsmokers ( P = 0.03). The relative content of mtDNA (with respect to the β-globin gene) was reduced by 37% in the placental tissue from smokers compared with nonsmokers ( P < 0.02). Both the enzymatic activity of complex III and mtDNA content were inversely related with the daily consumption of cigarettes, and mtDNA content was correlated with cord blood insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 ( r = 0.74, P < 0.01), a marker of fetal growth. These results show that maternal smoking is associated with placental mitochondrial dysfunction, which might contribute to restricted fetal growth by limiting energy availability in cells.
Detection of Cardiac Allograft Rejection and Response to Immunosuppressive Therapy With Peripheral Blood Gene Expression
Authors: Horwitz Phillip A. , Tsai Emily J. , Putt Mary E. , Gilmore Joan M. , Lepore John J. , Parmacek Michael S. , Kao Andrew C. , Desai Shashank S. , Goldberg Lee R. , Brozena Susan C. , Jessup Mariell L. , Epstein Jonathan A. , Cappola Thomas P.
Published: December 2004

Background—

Assessment of gene expression in peripheral blood may provide a noninvasive screening test for allograft rejection. We hypothesized that changes in peripheral blood expression profiles would correlate with biopsy-proven rejection and would resolve after treatment of rejection episodes.

Methods and Results—

We performed a case-control study nested within a cohort of 189 cardiac transplant patients who had blood samples obtained during endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). Using Affymetrix HU133A microarrays, we analyzed whole-blood expression profiles from 3 groups: (1) control samples with negative EMB (n=7); (2) samples obtained during rejection (at least International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation grade 3A; n=7); and (3) samples obtained after rejection, after treatment and normalization of the EMB (n=7). We identified 91 transcripts differentially expressed in rejection compared with control (false discovery rate <0.10). In postrejection samples, 98% of transcripts returned toward control levels, displaying an intermediate expression profile for patients with treated rejection (
P
<0.0001). Cluster analysis of the 40 transcripts with >25% change in expression levels during rejection demonstrated good discrimination between control and rejection samples and verified the intermediate expression profile of postrejection samples. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction confirmed significant differential expression for the predictive markers
CFLAR
and
SOD2
(UniGene ID No. 355724 and No. 384944).

Conclusions—

These data demonstrate that peripheral blood expression profiles correlate with biopsy-proven allograft rejection. Intermediate expression profiles of treated rejection suggest persistent immune activation despite normalization of the EMB. If validated in larger studies, expression profiling may prove to be a more sensitive screening test for allograft rejection than EMB.
A Sanaʿa Court: The Family and the Ability to Negotiate
Authors: Würth Anna
Published: December 2004

In this article, I explore how social change has affected families in Sanaʿa, the capital of Yemen, drawing on court judgments and my observation of court cases in the family law section of a primary court. Social change has affected lower-class urban families by diminishing the significance of kinship relations for marital arrangements, and, more importantly, by reducing the family's embeddedness in surrounding social communities. As a result, the role of communities in the settlement of marital disputes has decreased, and such disputes are increasingly taken to court. In this context, the court appears to be less an arena for the (re)-negotiation of social ties and the reconciliation of spouses than for the dissolution of such ties and the normative assessment of familial roles.
Religious Policies of the Caliphs from Al-Mutawakkil to Al-Muqtadir, A.H. 232-295/A.D. 847-908
Authors: Melchert Cristopher
Published: December 2004

The judicial appointments of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs reveal their religious policies better than the chronicles alone. Al-Mutawakkil has been characterized as reestablishing traditionalism, but his judicial appointments suggest only limited support for that tendency. His successors al-Muntaṣir, al-Mustaʿīn, and al-Muʿtazz did not pursue substantially different policies. Al-Muhtadī did: he sacked all but ḥanafī qādīs and promoted the rationalist ḥanafī al-Khaṣṣāf. It was almost a restoration of the policy of his father, al-Wāthiq. He was overthrown and his policy immediately reversed by the regent, al-Muwaffaq, who sponsored a middle system of jurisprudence between the extremes of ḥadīth and raʾy. His successors, al-Muʿtadid and al-Muktafī, did not maintain this policy; however, it was the tendency out of which grew the classical schools of law in the fourth/tenth century.
Violations of Founders' Stipulations in the Sharīʿa Court of Jaffa During the British Mandate
Authors: Ginio Eyal
Published: December 2004

Claims submitted by beneficiaries concerning violations of founders' stipulations are motivated in part by normative differences between the Islamic inheritance rules and the stipulations of founders regarding the devolution of entitlements to family waqfs. In these claims, the beneficiaries interpret the founder's stipulations in a manner different than that enforced by the administrator of the endowment. My examination of such claims submitted to the sharīʿa court of Jaffa during the British Mandate reveals that the claims reflect two opposing trends: the desire of female agnates and cognatic descendants to be included in entitlement to the endowment's revenues, and the desire of agnatic descendants to deprive them of this right. Other claims derived from differing views regarding the principle of representation (tanzīl). I conclude that the prevailing consideration of the qādīs when adjudicating such claims was their perceived obligation to adhere to the written text of the founder, and not any social consideration.
The Waqf as a Prop for the Social System (Sixteenth — Twentieth Centuries)
Authors: Baer Gabriel
Published: December 2004

In this essay I argue that an important function of the Muslim waqf in the Near and Middle Eastern social system between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries was to support and reinforce social units or groups based on kinship or quasi-kinship (such as relations between master and freed slave), or on criteria of social class, profession, territory, religion, linguistic-ethnic identity, and ethnic or national identification.
Intention and Method in Sanhūrī's Fiqh: Cause as Ulterior Motive
Authors: Arabi Oussama
Published: December 2004

In his attempt to bring classical Islamic jurisprudence closer to the legal and judicial norms of modernity, the Egyptian master-jurist ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Sanhūrī identified a structural similarity between the ḥanbalī doctrine of intention (nīya) in contracts and contemporary French law, which upholds the legal effect of the driving motive in validating or nullifying a contract. Sanhūrī demonstrated that the same pietist ethical dimension of the medieval Church-jurists' theory of subjective motivation, which is the historical source of modern French and Egyptian judicial practice, is also present in the Islamic legal tradition. Through a comparative and critical analysis of the major Sunnī law schools' doctrines of intention in contracts, Sanhūrī corrected Chehata's conclusions of 1936. It emerges that in contrast to ḥanafī and Shāfiʾi jurisprudence, which ignore ultimate motive when it is not apparent from the terms of the contract, ḥanbalī and Mālikī law stress the licitness of the subjective cause of the contract as a sine qua non condition for its validity.
Islamic and Secular Criminal Law in Nineteenth Century Egypt: The Role and Function of the Qadi
Authors: Peters Rudolph
Published: December 2004

Until the introduction of French law in 1883, Egyptian criminal law during the nineteenth century had been governed by both statute law and Islamic law. The criminal codes were enforced by administrative and judicial bodies called majālis or councils; Islamic law was applied by the qadi. In this article, I define the qadi's competence in criminal matters and analyze his role and function as revealed in the texts of the criminal codes and nineteenth-century court records preserved in Egyptian archives. I conclude that the judicial councils dealt with criminal offenses from the point of view of public order and security and that the main task of the qadi was the adjudication of private claims connected with crime. Such claims were either punitive (e.g., retribution for manslaughter, punishment for violation of a person's honor), or financial (bloodmoney, revindication of stolen property).
Cash Waqfs of Bursa, 1555-1823
Authors: Çizarça Murat
Published: December 2004

By organizing as well as financing expenditures on education, health, welfare and a host of other activities, cash endowments played a vitally important role in the Ottoman social fabric and did so without any cost to the state. This article aims at analyzing the way these endowments functioned and contributed to the society over the long term, covering almost three hundred years.
Old Babylonian Ur
Authors: Diakonoff
Published: December 2004

[A review article of MARC VAN DE MIEROOP, Society and Enterprise in Old Babylonian Ur, Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient Bd. 12, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1992, xviii + 328 pp., DM 78.—]
Borders, Territory and Nationality in the Ancient Near East and Armenia
Authors: Grosby Steven
Published: December 2004

Examination of evidence from the ancient Near East spanning a period of more than a thousand years indicates the existence of conceptions of relatively precise boundaries, territories, and perhaps also nations. Of course, the bounded territorial relation constitutive of certain ancient collectivities was not based, in part, on a conception of citizenship derived from birth in the land as in many instances of the modern national state. Nonetheless, one is justified in recognizing in antiquity instances of a consciousness of a bounded, trans-local territorial relation and, thus, perhaps nationality. The evidence for the existence of various conceptions of such relations constitutive of respectively various collectivities in the ancient Near East is by no means limited to the complicated example of the nation of ancient Israel. There are a number of other examples among which are Edom, ancient Aram, and ancient Armenia. There is merit in considering the examples of Edom, Aram, and Armenia together, specifically in elucidating the problem of both the nature of our evidence and the categories, especially nationality, which we employ in examining that evidence.
Tropical Rain Characteristics and Microphysics in a Three-Dimensional Cloud Model
Authors: Takahashi Tsutomu , Shimura Kazunori
Published: December 2004

The rain characteristics of convective clouds have been investigated numerically. Five different microphysical model settings have been used to study the roles of various mechanisms influencing rain formation: maritime ice (full microphysics, low cloud nuclei), maritime frozen (neglecting ice nuclei, enhancing drop freezing), maritime warm (only warm rain), continental ice (high cloud nuclei), and continental warm. Rain patterns and accumulation, drop growth modes, cell organization, heating rate profiles, and the alignment of rain cells in rainbands all differ greatly with different microphysics.

Rainfall amounts were highest with maritime ice. With ice, a single, large rain cell was formed by absorbing small cells from the front and sides of the main cell. Forward in the cell, frozen drop formation dominated. Graupel-based hail fell from the storm center. A unique rain accumulation process produced heavy rain in a sloped updraft. Graupel fell from above, producing a high hail water content near the freezing level by collecting many supercooled drops from merging cells.

The apparent heating source peaked at two different levels: one by drop condensation growth at about 3 km, and the other by depositional growth at about 5 km. With maritime ice, a 60-km rain ring appeared and persisted. In the cases of the rainband model, lines of rain cells moved intermittently through the formation of cells at the cloud's leading edge in maritime ice.

The results of these investigations, with and without ice, indicates the importance of diffusive and riming growth of ice particles and the associated release of latent heat in the development of convection and rain.
Gap Flows through Idealized Topography. Part I: Forcing by Large-Scale Winds in the Nonrotating Limit
Authors: Gaberšek Saša , Durran Dale R.
Published: December 2004

Gap winds produced by a uniform airstream flowing over an isolated flat-top ridge cut by a straight narrow gap are investigated by numerical simulation. On the scale of the entire barrier, the proportion of the oncoming flow that passes through the gap is relatively independent of the nondimensional mountain height ε, even over that range of ε for which there is the previously documented transition from a “flow over the ridge” regime to a “flow around” regime.

The kinematics and dynamics of the gap flow itself were investigated by examining mass and momentum budgets for control volumes at the entrance, central, and exit regions of the gap. These analyses suggest three basic behaviors: the linear regime (small ε) in which there is essentially no enhancement of the gap flow; the mountain wave regime (ε ∼ 1.5) in which vertical mass and momentum fluxes play a crucial role in creating very strong winds near the exit of the gap; and the upstream-blocking regime (ε ∼ 5) in which lateral convergence generates the strongest winds near the entrance of the gap.

Trajectory analysis of the flow in the strongest events, the mountain wave events, confirms the importance of net subsidence in creating high wind speeds. Neglect of vertical motion in applications of Bernoulli's equation to gap flows is shown to lead to unreasonable wind speed predictions whenever the temperature at the gap exit exceeds that at the gap entrance. The distribution of the Bernoulli function on an isentropic surface shows a correspondence between regions of high Bernoulli function and high wind speeds in the gap-exit jet similar to that previously documented for shallow-water flow.
Formation of the South Pacific Shallow Salinity Minimum: A Southern Ocean Pathway to the Tropical Pacific
Authors: Karstensen Johannes
Published: December 2004

In the eastern South Pacific Ocean, at a depth of about 200 m, a salinity minimum is found. This minimum is associated with a particular water mass, the “Shallow Salinity Minimum Water” (SSMW). SSMW outcrops in a fresh tongue (Smin) centered at about 45°S. The Smin appears to emanate from the eastern boundary, against the mean flow. The watermass transformation that creates SSMW and Smin is investigated here. The Smin and SSMW are transformed from saltier and warmer waters originating from the western South Pacific. The freshening and cooling occur when the water is advected eastward at the poleward side of the subtropical gyre. Sources of freshening and cooling are air–sea exchange and advection of water from south of the subtropical gyre. A freshwater and heat budget for the mixed layer reveals that both sources equally contribute to the watermass transformation in the mixed layer. The freshened and cooled mixed layer water is subducted into the gyre interior along the southern rim of the subtropical gyre. Subduction into the zonal flow restricts the transformation of interior properties to diffusion only. A simple advection/diffusion balance reveals diffusion coefficients of order 2000 m2 s−1. The tongue shape of the Smin is explained from a dynamical viewpoint because no relation to a positive precipitation–evaporation balance was found. Freshest Smin values are found to coincide with slowest eastward mixed layer flow that accumulates the largest amounts of freshwater in the mixed layer and creates the fresh tongue at the sea surface. Although the SSMW is the densest and freshest mode of water subducted along the South American coast, the freshening and cooling in the South Pacific affect a whole range of densities (25.0–26.8 kg m−3). The transformed water turns northward with the gyre circulation and contributes to the hydrographic structure of the gyre farther north. Because the South Pacific provides most of the source waters that upwell along the equatorial Pacific, variability in South Pacific hydrography may influence equatorial Pacific hydrography. Because one-half of the transformation is found to be controlled through Ekman transport, variability in wind forcing at the southern rim of the subtropical gyre may be a source for variability of the equatorial Pacific.
The Effects of Mesoscale Eddies on the Main Subtropical Thermocline
Authors: Henning Cara C. , Vallis Geoffrey K.
Published: December 2004

The effects of mesoscale eddies on the main subtropical thermocline are explored using a simply configured wind- and buoyancy-driven primitive equation numerical model in conjunction with transformed Eulerian mean diagnostics and simple scaling ideas and closure schemes. If eddies are suppressed by a modest but nonnegligible horizontal diffusion and vertical diffusion is kept realistically small, the model thermocline exhibits a familiar two-regime structure with an upper, advectively dominated ventilated thermocline and a lower, advective– diffusive internal thermocline, and together these compose the main thermocline. If the horizontal resolution is sufficiently high and the horizontal diffusivity is sufficiently low, then a vigorous mesoscale eddy field emerges. In the mixed layer and upper-mode-water regions, the divergent eddy fluxes are manifestly across isopycnals and so have a diabatic effect. Beneath the mixed layer, the mean structure of the upper (i.e., ventilated) thermocline is still found to be dominated by mean advective terms, except in the “mode water” region and close to the western boundary current. The eddies are particularly strong in the mode-water region, and the low-potential-vorticity pool of the noneddying case is partially eroded away as the eddies try to flatten the isopycnals and reduce available potential energy. The intensity of the eddies decays with depth more slowly than does the mean flow, leading to a three-way balance among eddy flux convergence, mean flow advection, and diffusion in the internal thermocline. Eddies subduct water along isopycnals from the surface into the internal thermocline, replenishing its water masses and maintaining its thickness. Just as in the noneddying case, the dynamics of the internal thermocline can be usefully expressed as an advective–diffusive balance, but where advection is now by the residual (eddy-induced plus Eulerian mean) circulation. The eddy-induced advection partially balances the mean upwelling through the base of the thermocline, and this leads to a slightly thicker thermocline than in the noneddying case. The results suggest that as the diffusivity goes to zero, the residual circulation will go to zero but the thickness of the internal thermocline may remain finite, provided eddy activity persists.
Nonuniform Upwelling in a Shallow-Water Model of the Antarctic Bottom Water in the Brazil Basin*
Authors: Marchal Olivier , Nycander Jonas
Published: December 2004

A numerical model based on the shallow-water equations is developed to represent the flow of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) in the Brazil Basin (southwest Atlantic Ocean). The aim is twofold. First, an attempt is made to identify in a model that includes both simplified dynamics and realistic bathymetry (at 1/6° resolution) the impacts of the elevated diapycnal mixing rates near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) documented by dissipation data of the Deep Basin Experiment (DBE). To this end, different assumptions regarding the distribution of the velocity across the AABW layer interface (w) are considered. Second, the extent to which the shallow-water model can replicate observations relative to AABW circulation in the basin, in particular the trajectory and velocity of neutrally buoyant floats released in the AABW during the DBE, is examined. The model flows are characterized by small Rossby numbers, except in the northward-flowing western boundary current where kinetic energy is largely concentrated. To interpret the flows, model streamlines are compared with isopleths of linear potential vorticity f/h0 of the shallow-water theory (f is the planetary vorticity and h0 is the layer thickness in the absence of motion). The f/h0 contours are oriented northwest–southeast in the western part of the basin and southwest–northeast in the eastern part, reflecting the bowl-shaped topography of the Southern Hemisphere basin. With a spatially uniform (positive) w, the ubiquitous vortex stretching produces a flow to the southeast, consistent with the Stommel–Arons theory. This flow occurs in most of the basin interior, even in the east where f/h0 contours converge to the northeastern end of the basin. With strongly positive w near the ridge and zero or slightly negative w elsewhere, the flow follows more closely f/h0 contours in the western interior and intersects them near the ridge. The confinement of the diapycnal mass flux near the MAR drastically reduces the southward flow in the interior or even reverses its direction, leading to a circulation quite distinct from that of the Stommel– Arons theory. The model results compare favorably to some (but not all) hydrographic estimates of AABW circulation patterns and rates. On the other hand, the model streamlines and velocities show important differences with, respectively, the trajectory and the velocity of the floats launched in the AABW layer. The prescription of vanishing w in the interior does not systematically improve the fit of the model streamlines to the float trajectories, and the model velocities simulated with spatially uniform w or spatially variable w are on average smaller by one order of magnitude than the float velocities. A variety of mechanisms, which are not included in the numerical experiments, may explain the differences between the model results and the float data.
The Response of Buoyant Coastal Plumes to Upwelling-Favorable Winds*
Authors: Lentz Steven
Published: December 2004

To better understand the response of a buoyant coastal plume to wind-induced upwelling, a two-dimensional theory is developed that includes entrainment. The primary assumption is that competition between wind-driven vertical mixing and lateral buoyancy forcing in the region where the isopycnals slope upward to intersect the surface results in continual entrainment at the offshore edge of the plume. The theory provides estimates of the buoyant plume characteristics and offshore displacement as a function of time t, given the wind stress, the characteristics of the buoyant plume prior to the onset of the wind forcing, and a critical value for the bulk Richardson number (Ric). The theory predicts that, for t̂ ≡ t/ts, the plume density anomaly decreases as (1 + t̂)−1, the thickness increases as (1 + t̂)1/3, the width increases as (1 + t̂)2/3, and the plume average entrainment rate decreases as (1 + t̂)−2/3. Here ts = 2Ao/(RicUE) is the time for entrainment to double the cross-sectional area of the plume Ao at the onset of the wind forcing, where UE is the Ekman transport. The theory reproduces results from 20 numerical model runs by Fong and Geyer, including their estimates of the plume-average entrainment rate (correlations greater than 0.98 and regression coefficients approximately 1 for plume characteristics and 1.7 for the entrainment rate). The theory, modified to allow for time-variable wind stress, also reproduces the observed response of the buoyant coastal plume from Chesapeake Bay during an 11-day period of upwelling winds in August 1994.
Humanistic Psychology and Animal Rights: Reconsidering the Boundaries of the Humanistic Ethic
Authors: Joy Melanie
Published: December 2004

Speciesism, discrimination against others based on membership in a species, is an ideology in which countless animals are sacrificed for human ends. This system may be supported by a set of problematic psychosocial processes that are detrimental to humans and nonhumans. Psychology, as the field that seeks to understand human motivation and helps define the parameters of social values and normative behavior, may be in a position to challenge the speciesist status quo. Specifically, humanistic psychology, with its emphasis on authenticity, personal integrity, social responsibility, ethics, empathy, and democracy, seems naturally poised to embrace a nonspeciesist, animal rights perspective. However, virtually all psychological paradigms seem to sanction speciesism. This article explores the speciesist underpinnings of psychological thought and suggests a new paradigm that embraces many humanistic values with which to appreciate the role of other animals in human psychology and ontology and to work toward a more nonviolent social order.
Trait Parameter Recovery Using Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing in Reading and Mathematics
Authors: Li Yuan H. , Schafer William D.
Published: December 2004

Under a multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) computerized adaptive testing (CAT) testing scenario, a trait estimate (θ) in one dimension will provide clues for subsequently seeking a solution in other dimensions. This feature may enhance the efficiency of MIRT CAT’s item selection and its scoring algorithms compared with its counterpart, the unidimensional CAT (UCAT). The present study used existing Reading and Math test data to generate simulated item parameters. A confirmatory item factor analysis model was applied to the data using NOHARM to produce interpretable MIRT item parameters. Results showed that MIRT CAT, conditional on the constraints, was quite capable of producing accurate estimates on both measures. Compared with UCAT, MIRT CAT slightly increased the accuracy of both trait estimates, especially for the low-level or high-level trait examinees in both measures, and reduced the rate of unused items in the item pool.
Using Narrow Freeway Lanes to Mitigate Transportation-Related Problems
Authors: Murphy William
Published: December 2004

Congress is considering funding dedicated truck lanes. It might make more sense to fund dedicated small-vehicle lanes for urban commuter traffic. These small-vehicle commuter lanes (SVCLs) would help mitigate many of today’s traffic-related problems. They would be less expensive to build and require smaller rights of way and thus save taxpayer funds. The available funds will build more traffic lanes that will ease traffic congestion. SVCLs would also nurture the use of small vehicles, which would mitigate this country’s growing energy concerns.
The Effects of Changes in State SSI Supplements on Preretirement Labor Supply
Authors: Neumark David , Powers Elizabeth T.
Published: December 2004

Because the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program has both income limits and asset limits, those on the margin of eligibility for the elderly component of the program face incentives to reduce labor supply prior to becoming eligible. The authors’ past research relying on cross-state variation in SSI benefits found evidence of negative labor supply effects. However, a reliance on cross-state variation implied less than ideal control samples. In contrast, this article uses CPS data covering a twenty-two-year period, which permits identifying the effects of SSI from within-state, time-series variation in SSI benefits, using a better control sample. The evidence points consistently to negative effects of more generous SSI payments on the labor supply of likely SSI participants aged sixty-two to sixty-four. For those with a high probability of SSI participation, the implied elasticities of employment and hours with respect to benefits are generally in the range of -0.2 to -0.3.
Mammalian defensins: structures and mechanism of antibiotic activity
Authors: Sahl Hans-Georg , Pag Ulrike , Bonness Sonja , Wagner Sandra , Antcheva Nikolinka , Tossi Alessandro
Published: December 2004

Antibiotic peptides are important effector molecules in host-parasite interactions throughout the living world. In vertebrates, they function in first-line host defense by antagonizing a wide range of microbes including bacteria, fungi, and enveloped viruses. The antibiotic activity is thought to be based on their cationic, amphipathic nature, which enables the peptides to impair vital membrane functions. Molecular details for such activities have been elaborated with model membranes; however, there is increasing evidence that these models may not reflect the complex processes involved in the killing of microbes. For example, the overall killing activity of the bacterial peptide antibiotic nisin is composed of independent activities such as the formation of target-mediated pores, inhibition of cell-wall biosynthesis, formation of nontargeted pores, and induction of autolysis. We studied the molecular modes of action of human defense peptides and tried to determine whether they impair membrane functions primarily and whether additional antibiotic activities may be found. We compared killing kinetics, solute efflux kinetics, membrane-depolarization assays, and macromolecular biosynthesis assays and used several strains of Gram-positive cocci as test strains. We found that membrane depolarization contributes to rapid killing of a significant fraction of target cells within a bacterial culture. However, substantial subpopulations appear to survive the primary effects on the membrane. Depending on individual strains and species and peptide concentrations, such subpopulations may resume growth or be killed through additional activities of the peptides. Such activities can include the activation of cell-wall lytic enzymes, which appears of particular importance for killing of staphylococcal strains.
The Economic Future of Europe
Authors: Blanchard Olivier
Published: December 2004

After three years of near stagnation, the mood in Europe is definitely gloomy. Many doubt that the European model has a future. In this paper, I argue that things are not so bad, and there is room for optimism. Over the last thirty years, productivity growth has been much faster in Europe than in the United States. Productivity levels are roughly similar today in the European Union and in the United States. The main difference is that Europe has used some of the increase in productivity to increase leisure rather than income, while the United States has done the opposite. Still not everything is well. Unemployment is still high, and Europe suffers from inefficient regulation. Here also however, there is more action than often perceived, and a wide ranging reform process is taking place. This process is driven by reforms in financial and product markets. Reforms in those markets are in turn putting pressure for reform in the labor market. Reform in the labor market is slowly taking place, but not without political tensions. These tensions dominate the news; but they are a symptom of change, not a reflection of immobility.
Diagnostic FISH probes for del(17)(p11.2p11.2) associated with Smith–Magenis syndrome should contain the RAI1 gene
Authors: Vlangos Christopher N. , Wilson Meredith , Blancato Jan , Smith Ann C.M. , Elsea Sarah H.
Published: December 2004

Smith–Magenis syndrome (SMS) is a mental retardation syndrome with distinctive behavioral characteristics, dysmorphic features, and congenital anomalies usually associated with an interstitial deletion of chromosome 17p11.2. While high quality G‐banding will identify most SMS patients, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) is the recommended test for confirmation of an SMS diagnosis. Recently, haploinsufficiency of the RAI1 gene due to deletion or mutation was determined to be the likely cause of SMS. All diagnostic FISH probes available commercially contain the FLII gene and are approximately 580 kb centromeric to RAI1. We present two patients with SMS who have interstitial deletions at 17p11.2 but are not deleted for currently available commercial FISH probes that include FLII; both patients have deletions that are demonstrated with probes containing the RAI1 gene. We recommend that for diagnostic accuracy, all future FISH tests for SMS be performed with probes containing the RAI1 gene, as some atypical deletions in the region critical to the SMS phenotype will otherwise be missed. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Simultaneous determination of tryptophan and kynurenine in serum by HPLC with UV and ﬂuorescence detection
Authors: Vignau J. , Jacquemont M.‐C. , Lefort A. , Imbenotte M. , Lhermitte M.
Published: December 2004

Tryptophan metabolism is disturbed in mental depression, and the induction of indoleamine 2,3‐dioxygenase increases kynurenine production. In order to determine this disturbance in patients with chronic hepatitis C and receiving interferon‐based immunotherapy, a new and speciﬁc HPLC protocol was elaborated. For tryptophan, the assay was linear from 6.25 to 100 µmol L−1, and the limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ) for the method were 0.7 and 8.0 µmol L−1. For kynurenine, the linearity of calibration was from 0.0625 to 6.25 µmol L−1, with LOD and LOQ of 2 and 3 nmol L−1. Reproducibility and repeatability were satisfactory. The method allowed study of human blood serum. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Levels of transforming growth factor beta 1 in south Indian type 2 diabetic subjects
Authors: Viswanathan Vijay , Snehalatha C. , Nair Mamtha B. , Kumutha R. , Ramachandran A.
Published: December 2004

Background and Aims

The prosclerotic cytokine TGFβ has been implicated as an important downstream mediator in the progression of the renal pathological changes occurring in diabetic patients. This study was undertaken to determine (1) whether serum levels of zTGFβ1 was elevated in South Indian type 2 diabetic subjects and (2) whether treatment with oral hypoglycaemic agents/insulin and angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) influenced TGFβ1 levels in diabetic subjects.

Methods

Among the 131 study subjects, 101 were consecutive type 2 diabetic patients and the other 30 subjects were non‐diabetic, normoglycaemic (NGT, M : F 15 : 15) healthy subjects who had undergone an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) during medical checkup. TGFβ1 was determined using solid‐phase sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay.

Results

Mean serum TGFβ1 levels were significantly elevated (p < 0.0001) in the type 2 diabetic subjects (30 ± 13.1 ng/mL) when compared with the non‐diabetic subjects (19 ± 8.3 ng/mL). Diabetic subjects who were being treated with a combination of OHA and insulin (n = 53;25.6 ± 11.5 ng/mL) had significantly (p = 0.0009) lower levels of TGFβ1 when compared with those who were being treated with OHA alone (n = 48;34.1 ± 13.4 ng/mL). Nearly 36% of the diabetic subjects were being treated with ACEI/ARB, and they had significantly (p = 0.01) lower levels of TGFβ1 (n = 36;25.4 ± 12.6 ng/mL) when compared with those who were not being treated with ACEI/ARB (n = 65;32 ± 12.9 ng/mL).

Conclusion

The present study demonstrated significantly elevated TGFβ1 levels in South Indian type 2 diabetic patients when compared with the non‐diabetic subjects. Insulin and ACEI/ARB treatment appears to have a protective effect by lowering TGFβ1 concentrations in these subjects. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A quantum chemical method for rapid optimization of protein structures
Authors: Wada Mitsuhito , Sakurai Minoru
Published: December 2004

A quantum chemical method for rapid optimization of protein structures is proposed. In this method, a protein structure is treated as an assembly of amino acid units, and the geometry optimization of each unit is performed with taking the effect of its surrounding environment into account. The optimized geometry of a whole protein is obtained by repeated application of such a local optimization procedure over the entire part of the protein. Here, we implemented this method in the MOPAC program and performed geometry optimization for three different sizes of proteins. Consequently, these results demonstrate that the total energies of the proteins are much efficiently minimized compared with the use of conventional optimization methods, including the MOZYME algorithm (a representative linear‐scaling method) with the BFGS routine. The proposed method is superior to the conventional methods in both CPU time and memory requirements. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 26: 160–168, 2005
NfCR1, the first non‐LTR retrotransposon characterized in the Australian lungfish genome, Neoceratodus forsteri, shows similarities to CR1‐like elements
Authors: Sirijovski Nickolche , Woolnough Catherine , Rock Jennifer , Joss Jean M. P.
Published: December 2004

The genomes of lungfish, together with those of some urodele amphibians, are the largest of all vertebrate genomes. It has been assumed that the bulk of the DNA making up these large genomes has been derived from repeat elements, like the noncoding DNA of those genomes that have been sequenced (e.g., human). In an attempt to characterize repeat sequences in the lungfish genome, we have isolated, by restriction enzyme digestion of genomic DNA, sequences of a repeat element in Neoceratodus forsteri, the most primitive of the living lungfishes. The fragments sequenced from the EcoRI and BglII digests were used to perform genome walking PCR in order to obtain the full sequence of the repeat element. This element shares homology with the non‐LTR (LINE) element, Chicken Repeat 1 (CR1), described for several vertebrates and some invertebrates; we have called it N. forsteri CR1 (NfCR1). NfCR1 shares all the domains of other CR1 elements but it also has several unique features that suggest it may no longer be active in the lungfish genome. It occurs in both full‐length and 5′‐truncated versions and in its present “inactive” form represents ∼0.05% of the lungfish genome. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 304B:1–10, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of metal cationization on the tandem mass spectra of glycosyl dithioacetals
Authors: Madhusudanan K. P. , Kumar Brijesh , Tiwari Pallavi , Madhusudan Soni Kamlesh , Misra A. K.
Published: December 2004

The effect of metal cationization on the tandem mass spectra of glycosyl dithioacetals of glucose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose, arabinose and xylose was studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry under ammonium and metal (Li, Na, Ag and Cu) ion cationization conditions. The ammonium‐cationized glycosyl dithioacetals fragment by loss of ammonia followed by either two molecules of EtSH or one molecule of EtSH and one molecule of H2O. Lithium cationization leads to additional eliminations such as EtSEt and EtSSEt and CC cleavages. Elimination of EtSH is not observed under sodium cationization. Silver cationization, on the other hand, leads to additional fragmentations involving the elimination of silver as AgOH and AgSEt. Copper cationization results in adducts where copper has undergone a change of oxidation state from II to I. Li+, Ag+ and Cu+ cationization seem to favour cyclization resulting in elimination of EtSH. However, the mechanisms seem to be differently affected by different metal ions. Li+ and Ag+ cationization appear to be non‐specific and favour cyclization involving C2‐, C4‐ and C5‐hydroxyl hydrogens, whereas Cu+ cationization seems to favour cyclization involving C4‐hydroxyl hydrogen. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Amino acid cluster formation studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry
Authors: Nemes Péter , Schlosser Gitta , Vékey Károly
Published: December 2004

The association properties of natural and non‐natural amino acids were studied in detail using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The results show a highly diverse cluster formation behavior of amino acids. There are differences regarding the degree of clustering (average cluster size), the presence or absence of one or several ‘magic’ clusters of special stability and the influence of chirality on cluster stability. Cluster formation does not show a good correlation with simple physico‐chemical properties (such as solubility), indicating that it is a specific process and not only a simple aggregation during evaporation/ionization. A systematic study of cluster formation of serine derivatives reveals that all functional groups play a prominent role in the binding of the magic octamer. The results support the idea of the zwitterionic character of the octamer. Electrospray ionization of the side‐chain acetylated serine shows the formation of a very stable tetramer with a strong preference for homochirality. The results suggest that Ser8 is made up of two tetramer subunits, held together by hydrogen bonds of the side‐chain. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lactate transport and transporters: General principles and functional roles in brain cells
Authors: Hertz Leif , Dienel Gerald A.
Published: December 2004

Lactate is transported across cell membranes by diffusional, saturable cotransport with protons, mediated by monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). This transport is bidirectional and in the absence of a transcellular H+ gradient, it can increase the intracellular concentration of lactate up to but not beyond the extracellular level (or vice versa). If extra‐ and intracellular pH differ, however, the equilibrium level is determined by the gradients of both lactate anions and protons. Rates of lactate uptake are determined most often by measuring uptake of labeled lactate, e.g., [U‐14C]lactate. In the case of lactate and other compounds that are metabolized, errors are introduced easily because continuing inwardly directed diffusional net transport of label can be achieved by intracellular metabolism, reducing the intracellular level of the nonmetabolized lactate and thus maintaining a concentration gradient between extra‐ and intracellular concentrations of the nonmetabolized compound (metabolism‐driven uptake). For measurement of facilitated diffusion kinetics, it is essential that the period during which the uptake is measured is short enough that little or no metabolism‐driven uptake contributes to the measured uptake (or that first‐order regression analysis is carried out to obtain initial uptake rates from nonlinear traces). To achieve initial uptake rates, incubation periods well below 1 min are generally required. Lactate uptake is fast in astrocytes, which express powerful, low‐affinity MCTs, i.e., MCT1 and MCT4. Due to the low affinity of these transporters, they respond to increased lactate gradients with enhanced transporter activity. The predominant MCT in neurons is the high‐affinity MCT2, which can only increase its activity to a limited extent in the face of an increased lactate gradient. This is reflected by a high‐affinity lactate uptake, although most investigators also have demonstrated a component of lactate uptake with lower affinity. In both neurons and astrocytes, however, facilitated diffusion is fast enough that under most conditions lactate fluxes will be determined mainly by the rate of metabolism‐driven uptake, and MCT‐mediated transport only will be rate‐limiting after establishment of large transmembrane gradients. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Inclusion Complex Formation between α‐Cyclodextrin and Biodegradable Aliphatic Polyesters
Authors: Shin Kyung‐moo , Dong Tungalag , He Yong , Taguchi Yoichi , Oishi Akihiro , Nishida Haruo , Inoue Yoshio
Published: December 2004

Summary: Inclusion complexes (ICs) between α‐cyclodextrin (α‐CD) and three kinds of biodegradable aliphatic polyesters with different sequence lengths of the monomeric repeating units poly(3‐hydroxypropionate) [P(3HP)], poly(4‐hydroxybutyrate) [P(4HB)] and poly(ε‐caprolactone)(PCL) were prepared by mixing a solution of α‐CD with that of the polymer, followed by stirring. The ICs were obtained as insoluble precipitates and characterized by FT‐IR, WAXD and DSC. All measurements showed that the polymer chains of all three kinds of polyester were included into the α‐CD cavity and formed ICs with different stoichiometries. WAXD patterns and thermal analysis indicated that these ICs possessed a channel structure and the crystallization of the polyester chains was suppressed upon inclusion into the α‐CD cavity.

Expansion of the FT‐IR spectra of α‐CD‐PCL IC. Ex: experimental result; Cr: crystalline component; Am: amorphous component; Hb: hydrogen‐bonded component; OH: hydroxyl component (water).

magnified image

Expansion of the FT‐IR spectra of α‐CD‐PCL IC. Ex: experimental result; Cr: crystalline component; Am: amorphous component; Hb: hydrogen‐bonded component; OH: hydroxyl component (water).