bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Classes of conduct disorder symptoms and their life course correlates in a US national sample
Authors: Breslau J. , Saito N. , Tancredi D. J. , Nock M. , Gilman S. E.
Published: September 2011

Background

Population data on conduct disorder (CD) symptoms can help determine whether hypothesized subtypes of CD are sufficiently disparate in their familial, psychiatric and life course correlates to distinguish separate diagnostic entities.

Method

Latent class analysis (LCA) of CD symptoms occurring before age 15 was conducted in a national sample of adults aged 18–44 years from the National Epidemiological Study of Alcohol and Related Conditions. Associations of latent class membership with parental behavior problems, onset of psychiatric disorders and anti-social behaviors after age 15, adolescent life events (e.g. high school drop-out), and past-year life events (e.g. divorce/separation, bankruptcy) were estimated.

Results

LCA identified a no-CD class with low prevalence of all symptoms, three intermediate classes – deceit/theft, rule violations, aggression – and a severe class. The prevalence of CD, according to DSM-IV criteria, was 0% in the no-CD class, between 13.33% and 33.69% in the intermediate classes and 62.20% in the severe class. Latent class membership is associated with all the familial, psychiatric and life course outcomes examined. Among the intermediate classes, risk for subsequent mood/anxiety disorders and anti-social behavior was higher in the deceit/theft and aggressive classes than in the rule violations class. However, risk for adolescent life events is highest in the rule violations class.

Conclusions

CD symptoms tend to occur in a partially ordered set of classes in the general population. Prognostically meaningful distinctions can be drawn between classes, but only at low levels of symptoms.
A statewide outbreak of Cryptosporidium and its association with the distribution of public swimming pools
Authors: POLGREEN P. M. , SPARKS J. D. , POLGREEN L. A. , YANG M. , HARRIS M. L. , PENTELLA M. A. , CAVANAUGH J. E.
Published: September 2011

In order to characterize the association between county-level risk factors and the incidence of Cryptosporidium in the 2007 Iowa outbreak, we used generalized linear mixed models with the number of Cryptosporidium cases per county as the dependent variable. We employed a spatial power covariance structure, which assumed that the correlation between the numbers of cases in any two counties decreases as the distance between them increases. County population size was included in the model to adjust for population differences. Independent variables included the number of pools in specific pool categories (large, small, spa, wading, waterslide) and pool-owner classes (apartment, camp, country club or health club, hotel, municipal, school, other) as well as the proportion of residents aged <5 years. We found that increases in the number of bigger pools, pools with more heterogeneous mixing (municipal pools vs. country club or apartment pools), and pools catering to young children (wading pools) are associated with more cases at the county level.
A cholera outbreak among semi-nomadic pastoralists in northeastern Uganda: epidemiology and interventions
Authors: CUMMINGS M. J. , WAMALA J. F. , EYURA M. , MALIMBO M. , OMEKE M. E. , MAYER D. , LUKWAGO L.
Published: September 2011

In sub-Saharan Africa, many nomadic pastoralists have begun to settle in permanent communities as a result of long-term water, food, and civil insecurity. Little is known about the epidemiology of cholera in these emerging semi-nomadic populations. We report the results of a case-control study conducted during a cholera outbreak among semi-nomadic pastoralists in the Karamoja sub-region of northeastern Uganda in 2010. Data from 99 cases and 99 controls were analysed. In multivariate analyses, risk factors identified were: residing in the same household as another cholera case [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 6·67, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2·83–15·70], eating roadside food (aOR 2·91, 95% CI 1·24–6·81), not disposing of children's faeces in a latrine (aOR 15·76, 95% CI 1·54–161·25), not treating drinking water with chlorine (aOR 3·86, 95% CI 1·63–9·14), female gender (aOR 2·43, 95% CI 1·09–5·43), and childhood age (10–17 years) (aOR 7·14, 95% CI 1·97–25·83). This is the first epidemiological study of cholera reported from a setting of semi-nomadic pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa. Public health interventions among semi-nomadic pastoralists should include a two-faceted approach to cholera prevention: intensive health education programmes to address behaviours inherited from insecure nomadic lifestyles, as well as improvements in water and sanitation infrastructure. The utilization of community-based village health teams provides an important method of implementing such activities.
The Two Standpoints on the Will
Authors: Guevara Daniel
Published: September 2011

Kant argues that we must regard the will from two mutually exclusive standpoints. One is the natural standpoint, according to which the will is determined entirely by natural causes in conformity with natural law. The other is the standpoint of freedom, according to which the will transcends the laws of nature and is free to determine itself in conformity with its own law. Kant's idea is that a complete account of the will necessarily involves both standpoints, shifting between the two. Thus it is sometimes called the two-standpoints account of the will.
Allison on Freedom and Idealism
Authors: Meerbote Ralf
Published: September 2011

Henry Allison over the years has produced important work on Kant's transcendental idealism of the objects of our empirical knowledge as well as on Kant's conception and defence of the freedom of rational agency. He has done so both in two major books (Kant's Transcendental Idealism, 1983; and Kant's Theory of Freedom, 1990) and in a string of articles. Most recently, his continuing refinements of a number of interrelated themes prominent in his two books, together with discussions of some other issues, have provided the material for the publication of a collection of papers, Idealism and Freedom) Ten of the twelve essays included in this collection have already appeared elsewhere, but it is gratifying to have them, together with two additions, all available in their present form. Allison's debates, both with himself and with his critics, help increase our understanding of his views and hence of Kant's as well.
Kant, Morality and Society
Authors: Kemal Salim
Published: September 2011

One usual understanding of Kant's moral theory identifies agents as solitary individuals who reflect on the moral quality of actions ‘in the loneliness of their souls’. Their reflection is autonomous, independent and ‘monological’, with the result that ‘by presupposing autonomy’ Kant ‘expels moral action from the very domain of morality itself’. Instead of an ‘interplay of an intersubjectivity’ in which moral issues arise and are resolved, the autonomous solitary individual seems to derive rules for action from a categorical imperative. Yet this imperative itself is only a statement of the formal character of reason independent of particular contexts, and so cannot clearly guide actual actions and choices. From another direction, Iris Murdoch has maintained that, ‘confronted even with Christ’, the Kantian moral agent ‘turns away to consider the judgment of his own conscience and to hear the voice of his own reason’. He insists on being ‘free, independent, lonely, powerful, rational, responsible, brave, [and] heroic'; and, Murdoch contends, the proper name of this individual ‘is Milton's Lucifer’. This moral agent is individualistic to the point of being damnably isolated.
Obligation to the Other in Levinas and the Experience of the Sublime in Kant
Authors: Dalton Stuart
Published: September 2011

In an interview with Philippe Nemo, Emmanuel Levinas makes a very revealing comment about what he was trying to accomplish in his ethical philosophy. In response to a question about the ‘starting-point’ of his ethics, Levinas protests: ‘My task does not consist in constructing ethics; I only try to find its meaning … One can without doubt construct an ethics in function of what I have just said [in describing his philosophy up to this point in the interview], but this is not my own theme’ (El 95–9/90).
Kant's Analysis of the Paralogism of Rational Psychology inCritique of Pure ReasonEdition B
Authors: Evans J. D. G.
Published: September 2011

One third of the transcendental dialectic in Kant'sCritique of Pure Reasonis devoted to demolishing the pseudo-science of rational psychology. In this part of his work Kant attacks the idea that there is an ultimate subject of experience — the ‘I’ or Self — which can only be investigated and understood intellectually. The belief that such a study is possible is natural to human reason; but it is based on demonstrable error. Kant tries to exorcize our minds from falling prey to this mistake.
Kantians and Cosmopolitanism: O'Neill and Cosmopolitan Universalism
Authors: Sutch Peter
Published: September 2011

The history of what we now term international relations theory is as rich and as complex as any area in the history of political thought. Yet in the last few decades one particular type of political philosophy has come to be almost unambiguously associated with liberal international relations theory. The dominance of Kantian cosmopolitanism in contemporary liberal international relations theory is quite remarkable. Its position is challenged, within liberalism, only by the utilitarian cosmopolitanism of thinkers such as Peter Singer and, from outside the liberal tradition, by communitarians such as Michael Walzer or Alasdair MacIntyre. At least, this is how the debate is portrayed in the current literature. In this article I want to suggest that the biggest challenge to Kantian cosmopolitanism comes from within the neo-Kantian tradition.
CHARLES TAYLOR'SA SECULAR AGEAND SECULARIZATION IN EARLY MODERN GERMANY
Authors: HUNTER IAN
Published: September 2011

In this essay I discuss the historical adequacy of Charles Taylor's philosophical history of secularization, as presented in hisA Secular Age. I do so by situating it in relation to the contextual historiography of secularization in early modern Europe, with a particular focus on developments in the German Empire. Considering how profoundly conceptions of secularization have been bound to competing religious and political programmes, we must begin our discussion by entertaining the possibility that modern philosophical and historiographic conceptions of secularization might themselves be outcrops of this unfinished competition. Peter Gordon has rightly observed that Taylor's philosophical history of secularization is a Catholic one, and that this is bound up with a specific (neo-Thomist) view of secularization as a theological and ecclesiological “disembedding” of rational subjectivity from its prior embodiment in a sacral body, community (church), and cosmos. Taylor delivers this history in his “reform master narrative”: that certain fundamental religious and cultural reforms or changes in early modern Europe wrought the secularization responsible for a modern epoch of “unbelief”.
KOPKI 4-6: Vorstellung und erste Validierung eines Eltern-Fragebogens zur Erfassung kognitiver Prozesse von 4- bis 6-jährigen Kindern
Authors: Reuner Gitta , Krause Matthias P. , Sarimski Klaus , Gleißner Ulrike
Published: September 2011

Zusammenfassung. Mit der Konstruktion und Validierung eines Fragebogens zu kognitiven Prozessen bei 4- bis 6-jährigen Kindern (KOPKI 4-6) soll das diagnostische Inventar zur Erfassung kognitiver Funktionen bei Vorschulkindern ergänzt werden. Der KOPKI 4-6 erfasst mit 98 Items die sechs Bereiche Sprache, Gedächtnis, Visuell-räumliche Fähigkeiten, Allgemeine Kognition, Aufmerksamkeit und Selbständigkeit. Anhand von Normierungsstichproben (N = 522) wurden alters- und geschlechtsspezifische Normen abgeleitet. Die interne Konsistenz und die Split-Half-Reliabilitäten erwiesen sich als hoch. Signifikante Korrelationen zwischen der Skalen des KOPKI 4-6 und parallel durchgeführten Intelligenztests (n = 154) belegten Kriterienvalidität. Die differentielle Validität wurde anhand klinischer Gruppen mit Sprachentwicklungsstörungen, Aufmerksamkeitsstörungen und kombinierten Entwicklungsstörungen untersucht (n = 104). Eine multivariate Varianzanalyse zeigte signifikante Unterschiede zwischen den klinischen Gruppen. Der KOPKI 4-6 erweist sich damit als ein praktikables Verfahren, das zur Diagnose kognitiver Prozesse bei kleinen Kindern eingesetzt werden und Hinweise auf relevante Stärken oder Schwächen in Teilbereichen der kognitiven Entwicklung geben kann.
Frühdiagnostik
Authors: Petermann Franz , Köller Olaf
Published: September 2011

Zusammenfassung. In diesem Themenheft erfolgt eine Diskussion zu aktuellen Ansätzen der Frühdiagnostik, die von der motorischen, kognitiven bis zur sozial-emotionalen Entwicklung reichen. Im Blickpunkt steht vor allem die Abschätzung von Entwicklungsrisiken in den ersten drei bis sechs Lebensjahren.
Indepth Interviews with 244 Female Suicide Attempters and Their Associates in Northern China
Authors: Li Xianyun , Phillips Michael R. , Cohen Alex
Published: September 2011

Background: Attempted suicide, a deliberate self-directed behavior situated within the unique social world of an individual, is a major risk factor for suicide. Efforts aimed at addressing female suicide must be based on understanding their perceived causes and the meaning of this behavior. Aims: This study describes the perceived causes of suicidal behaviors to determine preventive measures of female suicide in China. Methods: An in-depth interview about the process and causes of suicidal behavior as well as a detailed structured and a standardized diagnostic interview were administered to 244 female attempters treated at general hospitals and, separately, to their relatives. Results: The perceived three most frequent causes of the attempts were interpersonal conflict (87%), psychological problems (33%), and conflict between others that affected the subject (27%). On average 2.2 causes were identified for each case. The identification in the in-depth interviews of psychological problems as a cause of the attempt was concordant with the results of the independent psychiatric exam identifying a current DSM-IV mental disorder in 38% of cases (Kappa = 0.64). Conclusions: Preventive measures of improving interpersonal and problem-solving skills should be developed and assessed for addressing female suicide in China besides expansion of psychiatric services.
Prostaglandin E2 and T cells: friends or foes?
Authors: Sreeramkumar Vinatha , Fresno Manuel , Cuesta Natalia
Published: September 2011

Our understanding of the key players involved in the differential regulation of T‐cell responses during inflammation, infection and auto‐immunity is fundamental for designing efficient therapeutic strategies against immune diseases. With respect to this, the inhibitory role of the lipid mediator prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in T‐cell immunity has been documented since the 1970s. Studies that ensued investigating the underlying mechanisms substantiated the suppressive function of micromolar concentrations of PGE2 in T‐cell activation, proliferation, differentiation and migration. However, the past decade has seen a revolution in this perspective, since nanomolar concentrations of PGE2 have been shown to potentiate Th1 and Th17 responses and aid in T‐cell proliferation. The understanding of concentration‐specific effects of PGE2 in other cell types, the development of mice deficient in each subtype of the PGE2 receptors (EP receptors) and the delineation of signalling pathways mediated by the EP receptors have enhanced our understanding of PGE2 as an immune‐stimulator. PGE2 regulates a multitude of functions in T‐cell activation and differentiation and these effects vary depending on the micro‐environment of the cell, maturation and activation state of the cell, type of EP receptor involved, local concentration of PGE2 and whether it is a homeostatic or inflammatory scenario. In this review, we compartmentalize the various aspects of this complex relationship of PGE2 with T lymphocytes. Given the importance of this molecule in T‐cell activation, we also address the possibility of using EP receptor antagonism as a potential therapeutic approach for some immune disorders.
Data-driven modelling of receptor tyrosine kinase signalling networks quantifies receptor-specific potencies of PI3K- and Ras-dependent ERK activation
Authors: Cirit Murat , Haugh Jason M.
Published: September 2011

Signal transduction networks in mammalian cells, comprising a limited set of interacting biochemical pathways, are accessed by various growth factor and cytokine receptors to elicit distinct cell responses. This raises the question as to how specificity of the stimulus–response relationship is encoded at the molecular level. It has been proposed that specificity arises not only from the activation of unique signalling pathways, but also from quantitative differences in the activation and regulation of shared receptor-proximal signalling proteins. To address such hypotheses, data sets with greater precision and coverage of experimental conditions will need to be acquired, and rigorous frameworks that codify and parameterize the inherently non-linear relationships among signalling activities will need to be developed. In the present study we apply a systematic approach combining quantitative measurements and mathematical modelling to compare the signalling networks accessed by FGF (fibroblast growth factor) and PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) receptors in mouse fibroblasts, in which the ERK (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase) cascade is activated by Ras- and PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)-dependent pathways. We show that, whereas the FGF stimulation of PI3K signalling is relatively weak, this deficiency is compensated for by a more potent Ras-dependent activation of ERK. Thus, as the modelling would predict, the ERK pathway is activated to a greater extent in cells co-stimulated with FGF and PDGF, relative to the saturated levels achieved with either ligand alone. It is envisaged that similar approaches will prove valuable in the elucidation of quantitative differences among other closely related receptor signalling networks.
Plasmodium
ookinetes coopt mammalian plasminogen to invade the mosquito midgut
Authors: Ghosh Anil K. , Coppens Isabelle , Gårdsvoll Henrik , Ploug Michael , Jacobs-Lorena Marcelo
Published: September 2011

Ookinete invasion of the mosquito midgut is an essential step for the development of the malaria parasite in the mosquito. Invasion involves recognition between a presumed mosquito midgut receptor and an ookinete ligand. Here, we show that enolase lines the ookinete surface. An antienolase antibody inhibits oocyst development of both
Plasmodium berghei
and
Plasmodium falciparum
, suggesting that enolase may act as an invasion ligand. Importantly, we demonstrate that surface enolase captures plasminogen from the mammalian blood meal via its lysine motif (DKSLVK) and that this interaction is essential for midgut invasion, because plasminogen depletion leads to a strong inhibition of oocyst formation. Although addition of recombinant WT plasminogen to depleted serum rescues oocyst formation, recombinant inactive plasminogen does not, thus emphasizing the importance of plasmin proteolytic activity for ookinete invasion. The results support the hypothesis that enolase on the surface of
Plasmodium
ookinetes plays a dual role in midgut invasion: by acting as a ligand that interacts with the midgut epithelium and, further, by capturing plasminogen, whose conversion to active plasmin promotes the invasion process.
More diverse plant communities have higher functioning over time due to turnover in complementary dominant species
Authors: Allan Eric , Weisser Wolfgang , Weigelt Alexandra , Roscher Christiane , Fischer Markus , Hillebrand Helmut
Published: September 2011

More diverse communities have been shown to have higher and more temporally stable ecosystem functioning than less diverse ones, suggesting they should also have a consistently higher level of functioning over time. Diverse communities could maintain consistently high function because the species driving function change over time (functional turnover) or because they are more likely to contain key species with temporally stable functioning. Across 7 y in a large biodiversity experiment, we show that more diverse plant communities had consistently higher productivity, that is, a higher level of functioning over time. We identify the mechanism for this as turnover in the species driving biomass production; this was substantial, and species that were rare in some years became dominant and drove function in other years. Such high turnover allowed functionally more diverse communities to maintain high biomass over time and was associated with higher levels of complementarity effects in these communities. In contrast, turnover in communities composed of functionally similar species did not promote high biomass production over time. Thus, turnover in species promotes consistently high ecosystem function when it sustains functionally complementary interactions between species. Our results strongly reinforce the argument for conservation of high biodiversity.
Targeting MYC dependence in cancer by inhibiting BET bromodomains
Authors: Mertz Jennifer A. , Conery Andrew R. , Bryant Barbara M. , Sandy Peter , Balasubramanian Srividya , Mele Deanna A. , Bergeron Louise , Sims Robert J.
Published: September 2011

The MYC transcription factor is a master regulator of diverse cellular functions and has been long considered a compelling therapeutic target because of its role in a range of human malignancies. However, pharmacologic inhibition of MYC function has proven challenging because of both the diverse mechanisms driving its aberrant expression and the challenge of disrupting protein–DNA interactions. Here, we demonstrate the rapid and potent abrogation of
MYC
gene transcription by representative small molecule inhibitors of the BET family of chromatin adaptors.
MYC
transcriptional suppression was observed in the context of the natural, chromosomally translocated, and amplified gene locus. Inhibition of BET bromodomain–promoter interactions and subsequent reduction of
MYC
transcript and protein levels resulted in G
1
arrest and extensive apoptosis in a variety of leukemia and lymphoma cell lines. Exogenous expression of
MYC
from an artificial promoter that is resistant to BET regulation significantly protected cells from cell cycle arrest and growth suppression by BET inhibitors.
MYC
suppression was accompanied by deregulation of the MYC transcriptome, including potent reactivation of the
p21
tumor suppressor. Treatment with a BET inhibitor resulted in significant antitumor activity in xenograft models of Burkitt's lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia. These findings demonstrate that pharmacologic inhibition of
MYC
is achievable through targeting BET bromodomains. Such inhibitors may have clinical utility given the widespread pathogenetic role of
MYC
in cancer.
InfoBiology by printed arrays of microorganism colonies for timed and on-demand release of messages
Authors: Palacios Manuel A. , Benito-Peña Elena , Manesse Mael , Mazzeo Aaron D. , LaFratta Christopher N. , Whitesides George M. , Walt David R.
Published: September 2011

This paper presents a proof-of-principle method, called InfoBiology, to write and encode data using arrays of genetically engineered strains of
Escherichia coli
with fluorescent proteins (FPs) as phenotypic markers. In InfoBiology, we encode, send, and release information using living organisms as carriers of data. Genetically engineered systems offer exquisite control of both genotype and phenotype. Living systems also offer the possibility for timed release of information as phenotypic features can take hours or days to develop. We use growth media and chemically induced gene expression as cipher keys or “biociphers” to develop encoded messages. The messages, called Steganography by Printed Arrays of Microbes (SPAM), consist of a matrix of spots generated by seven strains of
E. coli
, with each strain expressing a different FP. The coding scheme for these arrays relies on strings of paired, septenary digits, where each pair represents an alphanumeric character. In addition, the photophysical properties of the FPs offer another method for ciphering messages. Unique combinations of excited and emitted wavelengths generate distinct fluorescent patterns from the Steganography by Printed Arrays of Microbes (SPAM). This paper shows a new form of steganography based on information from engineered living systems. The combination of bio- and “photociphers” along with controlled timed-release exemplify the capabilities of InfoBiology, which could enable biometrics, communication through compromised channels, easy-to-read barcoding of biological products, or provide a deterrent to counterfeiting.
Habit learning is associated with major shifts in frequencies of oscillatory activity and synchronized spike firing in striatum
Authors: Howe Mark W. , Atallah Hisham E. , McCool Andrew , Gibson Daniel J. , Graybiel Ann M.
Published: September 2011

Rhythmic brain activity is thought to reflect, and to help organize, spike activity in populations of neurons during on-going behavior. We report that during learning, a major transition occurs in task-related oscillatory activity in the ventromedial striatum, a striatal region related to motivation-dependent learning. Early on as rats learned a T-maze task, bursts of 70- to 90-Hz high-γ activity were prominent during T-maze runs, but these gradually receded as bursts of 15- to 28-Hz β-band activity became pronounced. Populations of simultaneously recorded neurons synchronized their spike firing similarly during both the high-γ–band and β-band bursts. Thus, the structure of spike firing was reorganized during learning in relation to different rhythms. Spiking was concentrated around the troughs of the β-oscillations for fast-spiking interneurons and around the peaks for projection neurons, indicating alternating periods of firing at different frequencies as learning progressed. Spike-field synchrony was primarily local during high-γ–bursts but was widespread during β-bursts. The learning-related shift in the probability of high-γ and β-bursting thus could reflect a transition from a mainly focal rhythmic inhibition during early phases of learning to a more distributed mode of rhythmic inhibition as learning continues and behavior becomes habitual. These dynamics could underlie changing functions of the ventromedial striatum during habit formation. More generally, our findings suggest that coordinated changes in the spatiotemporal relationships of local field potential oscillations and spike activity could be hallmarks of the learning process.
CD4+T-cell synapses involve multiple distinct stages
Authors: Ueda Hironori , Morphew Mary K. , McIntosh J. Richard , Davis Mark M.
Published: September 2011

One very striking feature of T-cell recognition is the formation of an immunological synapse between a T cell and a cell that it is recognizing. Formation of this complex structure correlates with cytotoxicity in the case of killer (largely CD8+) T-cell activity, or robust cytokine release and proliferation in the case of the much longer lived synapses formed by helper (CD4+) T cells. Here we have used electron microscopy and 3D tomography to characterize the synapses of antigen-specific CD4+T cells recognizing B cells and dendritic cells at different time points. We show that there are at least four distinct stages in synapse formation, proceeding over several hours, including an initial stage involving invasive T-cell pseudopodia that penetrate deeply into the antigen-presenting cell, almost to the nuclear envelope. This must involve considerable force and may serve to widen the search for potential ligands on the surface of the cell being recognized. We also show that centrioles and the Golgi complex are always located immediately beneath the synapse and that centrioles are significantly shifted toward the late contact zone with either B lymphocytes or bone marrow-derived dendritic cells such as antigen-presenting cells, and that there are dynamic, stage-dependent changes in the organization of microtubules beneath the synapse. These data reinforce and extend previous data on cytotoxic T cells that one of the principal functions of the immunological synapse is to facilitate cytokine secretion into the synaptic cleft, as well as provide important insights into the overall dynamics of this phenomenon.
Isovaleryl-homoserine lactone, an unusual branched-chain quorum-sensing signal from the soybean symbiont
Bradyrhizobium japonicum
Authors: Lindemann Andrea , Pessi Gabriella , Schaefer Amy L. , Mattmann Margrith E. , Christensen Quin H. , Kessler Aline , Hennecke Hauke , Blackwell Helen E. , Greenberg E. Peter , Harwood Caroline S.
Published: September 2011

Many species of
Proteobacteria
communicate by using LuxI-LuxR–type quorum-sensing systems that produce and detect acyl-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL) signals. Most of the known signals are straight-chain fatty acyl-HSLs, and evidence indicates that LuxI homologs prefer fatty acid-acyl carrier protein (ACP) over fatty acyl-CoA as the acyl substrate for signal synthesis. Two related LuxI homologs, RpaI and BtaI from
Rhodopseudomonas palustris
and photosynthetic stem-nodulating bradyrhizobia, direct production of the aryl-HSLs
p
-coumaroyl-HSL and cinnamoyl-HSL, respectively. Here we report that BjaI from the soybean symbiont
Bradyrhizobium japonicum
USDA110 is closely related to RpaI and BtaI and catalyzes the synthesis of isovaleryl-HSL (IV-HSL), a branched-chain fatty acyl-HSL. We show that IV-HSL induces expression of
bjaI
, and in this way IV-HSL functions like many other acyl-HSL quorum-sensing signals. Purified histidine-tagged BjaI was an IV-HSL synthase, which was active with isovaleryl-CoA but not detectably so with isovaleryl-ACP. This suggests that the RpaI-BtaI-BjaI subfamily of acyl-HSL synthases may use CoA- rather than ACP-linked substrates for acyl-HSL synthesis. The
bjaI
-linked
bjaR
1
gene is involved in the response to IV-HSL, and BjaR
1
is sensitive to IV-HSL at concentrations as low as 10 pM. Low but sufficient levels of IV-HSL (about 5 nM) accumulate in
B. japonicum
culture fluid. The low levels of IV-HSL synthesis have likely contributed to the fact that the quorum-sensing signal from this bacterium has not been described elsewhere.
Biological characteristics of recombinant enhancin ofTrichoplusia nigranulovirus expressed inEscherichia coli
Authors: Zhe-Ming Yuan , Xiao-Lin Meng , Shu-Sheng Liu
Published: September 2011

A recombinant enhancin fromTrichoplusia nigranulovirus, expressed inEscherichia coliand named P96, had been shown in a previous study to increase significantly the efficacy of bio-insecticides applied to insect pests. Here, several biological characteristics were clarified to provide further proof for the activities of P96. The inclusion bodies formed by P96 were quite stable when expressed inE. coli; however, they could be effectively dissolved in sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) solution or in the midgut digestive secretion of the fifth-instar larvae of the cotton bollworm,Helicoverpa armigera,in vitro. According to sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), the peritrophic membrane of the cotton bollworm was clearly decomposed by P96. With the increase of P96 concentration, the mortality of the cotton bollworm caused by nuclear polyhedrosis virus increased up to its saturation concentration, 6.76×105inclusion bodies/ml. The bioactivity of P96 was strongly inhibited by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), which formed a complex compound with the metal ion (Zn2+) in the protein.
Stable transformation ofphaC2 gene in tobacco chloroplast genome
Authors: Yu-Hua Wang , Zhong-Yi Wu , Xiu-Hai Zhang , Yong-Qin Wang , Cong-Lin Huang , Qing Yang
Published: September 2011

Medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) belong to the group of microbial polyesters. The key enzyme for mcl-PHA biosynthesis is type II PHA synthase. The genephaC2 encoding type II PHA synthase was placed under the control ofpsbA-pro andpsbA-ter of rice (Oryza sativa) to construct aphaC2 cassette, which was ligated with the screening marker geneaadAcassette (prrn–aadA–TpsbA-ter). These recombined fragments were cloned between the plastidrbcLandaccDgenes for targeting to the large single copy region of the chloroplast genome. A chloroplast transformation vector, pTC2, was constructed and introduced into the tobacco (Nicotiana tobacum) chloroplast genome by particle bombardment. PCR and Southern blot analysis confirmed stable integration ofphaC2 into the chloroplast genomes of T0and T1transgenic plants, and T1transgenic plants exhibited homoplasmy. The expression ofphaC2 at transcription level was detected by reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Recombinant transgenes in the tobacco chloroplast genome were maternally inherited and were not transmitted via pollen when out-crossed with untransformed female plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the stable transformation ofphaC2 encoding type II PHA synthase in tobacco via chloroplast genetic engineering.
The development of a diagnostic gene chip for detecting five kinds of viruses in horses
Authors: Lai-hua Zhu , Cheng-zhu Liang , Cheng-ping Lu , Hua Wu , Yuan-jie Yang , Feng-zhong Ma , Shu-feng Wang , Hong-guang Yu
Published: September 2011

The highly conserved DNAs of Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), Equine arteritis virus (EAV), Equine influenza virus (EIV), Equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV) and Eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus (EEEV) were acquired by molecular cloning, and spotted on the diagnostic gene chip. The cDNAs reverse-transcribed from RNAs of samples were labelled with Cy5-dUTP/Cy3-dUTP as fluorescent probes. Following specific hybridization of the deposited gene chip and labelled probes, fluorescence signals were scanned by laser scanner and the resulting image was analysed by QiamtArray software on a digital computer. The results showed that the prepared gene chip could detect and distinguish the five equine viruses. Its sensitivity was about 25 viral genome copies. The hybridization specificity was confirmed by the presence of red fluorescence signals on the corresponding sites with samples from the five relevant viruses in horses and by the absence of positive signals with the specimens from irrelevant viruses from other animals. Peripheral blood leucocytes (PBL) from some seropositive horses in post-arrival quarantine were negative according to virus isolation, but were positive for EHV-1 and EAV according to the gene chip technique. The overall results suggest that gene chips, which are quick, specific, sensitive and reliable, can provide a practical alternative for screening quarantined animals, and will be able to deal with a large number of animal samples within a very short period of time.
Expression ofvip2A(c) gene fromBacillus thuringiensisin insect cells
Authors: Yong-Xia Shi , Lei Lv , Wei Xu , Mei-Jin Yuan , Yi Pang
Published: September 2011

Recombinant Bac-GV2 DNA was obtained by inserting a fusedgfpgene with theBacillus thuringiensis vip2A(c) gene encoding a possible enzymatic component under the control of the polyhedrin gene promoter of the baculovirusAutographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus(AcMNPV). TheTrichoplusia nicell line TnHi5 was transfected with Bac-GFP and Bac-GV2 DNAs respectively. Fluorescent cells expressing the fusion protein GV2 were much fewer than those expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) alone, and did not obviously increase in number from 2 to 5 days after transfection. This result showed that the Vip2A fusion protein might have an ADP-ribosylating activity on cell skeleton actin, exerting an influence on the production and diffusion of the budded virus from insect cells.
Analysis of microsatellite DNA markers of OarHH35 and BMS2508 in four goat breeds
Authors: Xu-Xiang Ouyang , Qi-Shun Si , Sheng-Qiang Huang , Zao-Fu Deng , He -Xiang Liu , De-Shi He , Sheng-Guo Tan , Shu-Guang Hu
Published: September 2011

Two microsatellite markers OarHH35 and BMS2508, closely associated with high levels of reproduction in sheep, were analysed for polymorphisms in Xiangdong black goat, Nanjiang brown goat, Guizhou black goat and Boer goat. The number of alleles for OarHH35 was 11, 8, 7 and 10, respectively, in the four goat breeds. That for BMS2508 was 9, 5, 6 and 7. The polymorphic information content (PIC) values for OarHH35/BMS2508 in the above-mentioned goats were respectively 0.8294/0.8047, 0.8399/0.6894, 0.7985/0.6910 and 0.8582/0.7688. By analysing the dominant effect of the two microsatellite markers on litter size of Xiangdong black goat, it was shown that microsatellite markers BMS2508 and OarHH35 significantly influenced (P<0.05) litter size of goats. At the OarHH35 locus, the least squares means (LSM) of genotype 135/135 bp was the highest (3.67 number born/litter). Moreover, LSM of genotypes 123/135 bp and 125/125 bp also reached 3.00 kids born/litter, indicating that alleles 135 bp and 125 bp exerted a significant positive effect on the litter size in Xiangdong black goat. At the BMS2508 locus, LSM of genotypes 132/145 bp and 93/132 bp for litter size was 4.00 and 3.25 kids born/litter respectively, but that of genotype 122/122 bp for litter size was only 1.00 kid/litter, so alleles 145 bp and 93 bp had significant positive effects on the litter size of Xiangdong black goat, and the allele 122 bp had a significantly negative effect.
Isolation and analysis of genes induced by rehydration after serious drought in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) by SSH
Authors: Fan-Yun Lin , Yin-Gang Hu , Guo-Qi Song , Hong Zhang , Tian-Ming Liu , Bei-Ru He
Published: September 2011

In order to investigate the molecular mechanism of rehydration after serious drought in broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), a forward subtracted cDNA library was constructed between normal watered leaves and rehydrated leaves after serious drought conditions, using the suppressive subtraction hybridization (SSH) technique. A total of 60 positive clones were picked out at random from the subtracted library and sequenced, and redundancy sequences were removed after sequence alignment. Based on the results of sequence homologous comparison and function querying, 32 expressed sequence tags (EST) were highly homologous with known ESTs. Most of those sequences were related to either abiotic or biotic stress in plants. Of those sequences, 11 ESTs were homologous with ESTs in rat (Rattus norvegicus) liver after partial hepatectomy. The Blast result of proteins revealed that 28 ESTs were similar to known proteins. The functions of these proteins mainly involve signal transduction, transcription and protein processing. This experiment demonstrated that a range of specific genes was induced and expressed in broomcorn millet during the rehydration stage after serious drought.
The United States, Iran and the Cold War
Authors: Cottam Richard W.
Published: September 2011

It would be premature to declare the Cold War over in the summer of 1969. The Cold War rhetoric continues to abound in the United States in the debates over Vietnam and the ABM; dangers of Soviet-American confrontation are serious in the Arab-Israeli conflict; and Soviet behavior in Czechoslovakia is of the Cold War mold. But, as symbolized by Richard Nixon's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, there is widespread agreement among American leaders that an era of negotiation and rapprochment with the Soviet Union has been entered. The indications are already strong that for Iran this portends an era in which the Soviet-American conflict will not influence very significantly Iran's internal affairs.

As this new era begins, there are already signs that the Cold War world view, including the Soviet-American confrontation in Iran, is about to be drastically revised by a new generation of students of the Cold War.
Traditional Values and Social Change in Iran
Authors: Millward William G.
Published: September 2011

The most obvious and compelling reality of the contemporary Middle East, as with most of Asia, is the passing of traditional society and the creation, through development and social change, of an entirely new scheme of life with new norms and patterns of behavior, new forms of organization and new directions of loyalty and interest. As Middle Easterners, Iranians are waging their own battle with the complex forces of change and are shaping a new order in terms of their own values and preferences. The process of modernization is generally granted to be stimulated and emanate from a foreign, not to say Western, source—but is also now claimed to be partially self-generating indigenously--primarily in the form of new industries, new technologies and new systems of organizing knowledge and data and putting them to use for the society at large. In the face of this onslaught of diverse and often unfamiliar forces a wide range of responses and reactions may be noted.
Iran's Great Reformer of the Nineteenth Century: An Analysis of Amīr Kabīr's Reforms
Authors: Lorentz John H.
Published: September 2011

One of the more pervasive implicit assumptions about Amīr Kabīr in both Persian and Western sources is that he was an innovator who wished to transform Iranian society. Not unrepresentative of such an assumption are comments like the following: “If Amīr Kabīr had not been killed at the hands of Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh's executioners, how much he would have entangled the fate of Iran in a significant transformation.” In the same vein there is a tendency to view Amīr Kabīr as a visionary of political freedom. This tendency is perhaps most evident in two rather popularized Persian accounts of his life and career, that of Hāshimī Rafsanjānī and that of Ḥusayn Makkī. But with the advantage of hindsight, many less exaggerated accounts, also, attribute more to the intentions of Amīr Kabīr than can perhaps stand up under scrutiny. It is not uncommon, as Algar points out, for Amīr Kabīr to be reckoned among the precursors of the Constitutional Revolution.
Problems in Iranian Historiography
Authors: Adamiyat Fereydoun
Published: September 2011

The subject of historiography for the Iranian scholar has traditionally been of lesser importance than the actual writing of history. The problems and various techniques of historiography were little discussed and practically unknown until this century. Recently, several articles have appeared in Iranian journals which clearly indicate that Iranian historians intend to rectify this past imbalance. Furthermore, the publication of the journal Bar-rasī'hā-yi Tārīkhī (Historical Studies) suggests a renewed effort to present recent research and historiographical techniques in a more exacting and scientific manner than in the past.
The Relationship between Urbanization and the Changing Status of Women in Iran, 1956–1966
Authors: Touba Jacquiline Rudolph
Published: September 2011

Rapid developments of the twentieth century have forced attention upon the changing status and role of women in all societies. As they have acquired a longer life expectancy, are having healthier children, and with the advancing technology, mass production and distribution contributing to their lessening housekeeping chores, women have acquired more and more leisure time.

While the industrialized societies have been mostly concerned with the problem of leisure time for these women, and making optimum use of all human resources, both male and female, the developing countries have been facing the basic problem of illiteracy, and particularly illiteracy of their female population. There has always been a small segment of the female population in developing countries with as much, if not more, leisure time than those of the industrialized nations.
The National Integration of Boir Aḥmad
Authors: Löffler Reinhold
Published: September 2011

Boir Aḥmad is the territory of the largest tribe (or confederation of tribes) of Kohkīlūyah in South Iran, located roughly south of the Bakhtīyārī and west of the Qashqā'ī. Its population (75,000 in 1966) subsists on a mixed economy of agriculture and animal husbandry, which in the highly segmented mountainous topography necessitates a variety of nomadic and transhumant adaptations.

The political position within the wider Iranian context of the area presently called Boir Aḥmad has had a variegated history. Under the rule of the Atābegs of Lur-i Buzurg (12th-14th cent.) it was fairly well integrated and administered, with a flourishing economy and a largely sedentery population. In the following centuries, less stable "anarchic" forms of political organization seem to have prevailed, until the Qājār rulers tied the area to the center by appointing the local khāns as tax collectors and through interfering in their power struggles.
An Assessment of American, British, and French Works Since 1940 on Modern Iranian History
Authors: Keddie Nikki R.
Published: September 2011

The history of modern Iran, like that of most of the Middle East, is a very underdeveloped field when compared not only with the history of the West, but even with that of the Far East. When we speak of the United States' scholars, the reasons for this underdevelopment are not far to seek. Far more than scholars would like to admit, scholarship follows the geography of the national interests of the United States' rulers. As long as the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia were colonies or spheres of influence of other powers, American scholars ignored them almost totally. It is only since World War II that Near Eastern, African, and South Asian centers and institutes were set up, usually with the help of foundation, business and government money, and these centers gave the greatest impetus to the studies of the areas under question.
Das Fruhsafawidische Isfahan: Als Historische Forschungsaufgabe
Authors: Roemer Hans
Published: September 2011

Nicht viele Städte der islamischen Welt haben in der abendländischen Reiseliteratur so starke Beachtung gefunden wie das safawidische Isfahan. Europäische Kaufleute, Missionare, Diplomaten und Abenteurer haben es mit den verschiedensten Motiven besucht, sich zum Teil lange dort aufgehalten und über ihre Beobachtungen, ihre Erlebnisse sowie über Persönlichkeiten des öffentlichen Lebens Berichte hinterlassen, deren Angaben bei allen individuellen Unterschieden ungewöhnlich mannigfaltig sind und zusammengenommen, kritische Verwendung vorausgesetzt, allein schon für eine Geschichte der Stadt Isfahan und mancher Aspekte der safawidischen Geschichte überhaupt ausreichen, wenn auch in erster Linie für das 17. Jahrhundert. Einem wichtigen Teil dieser Aufgabe hat kürzlich Sibylla Schuster-Walser ihre Untersuchungen zur Wirtschaftsund Handelspolitik gewidmet.

Nun war aber Isfahan auch im 16. Jahrhundert schon safawidisch. Doch ist für diese Zeit mit europäischen Berichterstattern ganz im Gegensatz zu dem folgenden Jahrhundert nicht viel Staat zu machen.
Color in Safavid Architecture: The Poetic Diffusion of Light
Authors: Ardalan Nader
Published: September 2011

My aim in this lecture shall be to situate the world of color within the traditional context of the Islamic culture of Persia; to explore the conceptual motivations that provoked its intense crystallization and saturation during the Safavid era; and to ultimately follow this world of color as it is annihilated into nothingness within the presence of Absolute Light. We will therefore witness the conceptual birth, life and death of color as a cyclical yet timeless, metaphysical expression of the Absolute within the world of phenomenal forms.

Tis light makes color visible; at night

Red, green and russet vanish from thy sight.

So too the light by their contraries are shown.

From the dark jungle as a lion bright

Color from the viewless Spirit leaps to light.

Rūmī