bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Regulatory T cells enhance persistence of the zoonotic pathogen Seoul virus in its reservoir host
Authors: Easterbrook Judith D. , Zink M. Christine , Klein Sabra L.
Published: September 2007

Hantaviruses are zoonotic pathogens that maintain a persistent infection in their reservoir hosts, yet the mechanisms mediating persistence remain unknown. Regulatory T cell responses cause persistent infection by suppressing proinflammatory and effector T cell activity; hantaviruses may exploit these responses to cause persistence. To test this hypothesis, male Norway rats were inoculated with Seoul virus and regulatory T cells were monitored during infection. Increased numbers of CD4
+
CD25
+
Forkhead box P3
+
T cells and expression of Forkhead box P3 and TGF-β were observed in the lungs of male rats during persistent Seoul virus infection. To determine whether regulatory T cells modulate Seoul virus persistence, regulatory T cells were inactivated in male rats by using an anti-rat CD25 monoclonal antibody (NDS-63). Inactivation of regulatory T cells reduced the amount of Seoul virus RNA present in the lungs and the proportion of animals shedding viral RNA in saliva. Because regulatory T cells suppress proinflammatory-induced pathogenesis, pathologic observations in the lungs were evaluated during infection. Subclinical acute multifocal areas of hemorrhage and edema were noted in the lungs during infection; inactivation of regulatory T cells reduced the amount of pathologic foci. Expression of TNF was suppressed during the persistent phase of infection; inactivation of regulatory T cells eliminated the suppression of TNF. Taken together, these data suggest that regulatory T cells mediate Seoul virus persistence, possibly through elevated transcription and synthesis of TGF-β and suppression of TNF. These data provide evidence of regulatory T cell involvement in the persistence of a zoonotic pathogen in its natural reservoir host.
Emergence of a fast-reacting ribozyme that is capable of undergoing continuous evolution
Authors: Voytek Sarah B. , Joyce Gerald F.
Published: September 2007

It is possible to evolve RNA enzymes in a continuous manner by employing a simple serial-transfer procedure. This method was previously applied only to descendants of one unusually fast-reacting RNA enzyme with RNA ligase activity. The present study establishes a second continuously evolving RNA enzyme, also with RNA ligase activity, but with a completely independent evolutionary origin. Critical to achieving the fast catalytic rate necessary for continuous evolution, development of this enzyme entailed the addition and evolutionary maturation of a 35-nucleotide accessory domain and the application of highly stringent selection pressure, with reaction times as short as 15 ms. Once established, continuous evolution was carried out for 80 successive transfers, maintaining the population against an overall dilution of 10
207
-fold. The resulting RNA enzymes exhibited ≈10
5
-fold improvement in catalytic efficiency, compared with the starting molecules, and became dependent on a structural feature of the substrate that previously conferred no selective advantage. This adaptation was eliminated by deleting the substrate feature and then carrying out 20 additional transfers of continuous evolution, which resulted in molecules with even greater catalytic activity. Now that two distinct species of continuously evolving enzymes have been established, it is possible to conduct molecular ecology experiments in which the two are made to compete for limited resources within a common environment.
All tilting modules are of finite type
Authors: Bazzoni Silvana , Šťovíček Jan
Published: September 2007

We prove that any infinitely generated tilting module is of finite type, namely that its associated tilting class is the Ext-orthogonal of a set of modules possessing a projective resolution consisting of finitely generated projective modules.
Bound on the number of eigenvalues near the boundary of the pseudospectrum
Authors: Hager Mildred
Published: September 2007

We show an estimate of the number of eigenvalues in a neighbourhood of a finite part of the boundary of the semiclassical pseudospectrum of pseudodifferential non-selfadjoint operators in terms of a corresponding volume in phase space.
On the Skorokhod representation theorem
Authors: Cortissoz Jean
Published: September 2007

In this paper we present a variant of the well-known Skorokhod Representation Theorem. First we prove, given

S
S

a Polish Space, that to a given continuous path

α
\alpha

in the space of probability measures on

S
S

, we can associate a continuous path in the space of

S
S

-valued random variables on a nonatomic probability space (endowed with the topology of the convergence in probability). We call this associated path a lifting of

α
\alpha

. An interesting feature of our result is that we can fix the endpoints of the lifting of

α
\alpha

, as long as their distributions correspond to the respective endpoints of

α
\alpha

. Finally, we also discuss and prove an

n
n

-dimensional generalization of this result.
A characterization of fibrant Segal categories
Authors: Bergner Julia
Published: September 2007

In this note we prove that Reedy fibrant Segal categories are fibrant objects in the model category structure

S
C

c

\mathcal {SC}_c

. Combining this result with a previous one, we thus have that the fibrant objects are precisely the Reedy fibrant Segal categories. We also show that the analogous result holds for Segal categories that are fibrant in the projective model structure on simplicial spaces, considered as objects in the model structure

S
C

f

\mathcal {SC}_f

.
The 3-local 𝑡𝑚𝑓-homology of 𝐵Σ₃
Authors: Hill Michael
Published: September 2007

In this paper, we introduce a Hopf algebra, developed by the author and André Henriques, which is usable in the computation of the

t
m
f

tmf

-homology of a space. As an application, we compute the

t
m
f

tmf

-homology of

B

Σ
3

B\Sigma _3

in a manner analogous to Mahowald and Milgram’s computation of the

k
o

ko

-homology

R

P

∞

\mathbb RP^{\infty }

.
A non-Hausdorff model for the complement of a complexified hyperplane arrangement
Authors: Proudfoot Nicholas
Published: September 2007

Given a hyperplane arrangement

A

\mathcal {A}

in a real vector space

V
V

, we introduce a real algebraic prevariety

Z

(

A

)

\mathcal {Z}(\mathcal {A})

, and exhibit the complement of

A

\mathcal {A}

in the complexification of

V
V

as the total space of an affine bundle over

Z

(

A

)

\mathcal {Z}(\mathcal {A})

with fibers modeled on the dual vector space

V

∨

V^{\vee }

.
An example on ordered Banach algebras
Authors: Herzog Gerd , Schmoeger Christoph
Published: September 2007

Let

B

{\mathcal B}

be a complex unital Banach algebra. We consider the Banach algebra

A

=

B

×

C

{\mathcal A}={\mathcal B} \times \mathbb C

ordered by the algebra cone

K
=
{
(
a
,
ξ
)
∈

A

:
‖
a
‖
≤
ξ
}

K=\{(a,\xi ) \in {\mathcal A}: \|a\| \le \xi \}

, and investigate the connection between results on ordered Banach algebras and the right bound of the numerical range of elements in

B

{\mathcal B}

.
A reproducing kernel condition for indeterminacy in the multidimensional moment problem
Authors: Roybal Roger
Published: September 2007

Using the smallest eigenvalues of Hankel forms associated with a multidimensional moment problem, we establish a condition equivalent to the existence of a reproducing kernel. This result is a multivariate analogue of Berg, Chen, and Ismail’s 2002 result. We also present a class of measures for which the existence of a reproducing kernel implies indeterminacy.
Golgi-bound Rab34 Is a Novel Member of the Secretory Pathway
Authors: Goldenberg Neil M. , Grinstein Sergio , Silverman Mel
Published: September 2007

Golgi-localized Rab34 has been implicated in repositioning lysosomes and activation of macropinocytosis. Using HeLa cells, we undertook a detailed investigation of Rab34 involvement in intracellular vesicle transport. Immunoelectron microscopy and immunocytochemistry confirmed that Rab34 is localized to the Golgi stack and that active Rab34 shifts lysosomes to the cell center. Contrary to a previous report, we found that Rab34 is not concentrated at membrane ruffles and is not involved in fluid-phase uptake. Also, Rab34-induced repositioning of lysosomes does not affect mannose 6-phosphate receptor trafficking. Most strikingly, HeLa cells depleted of Rab34 by transfection with dominant-negative Rab34 or after RNA interference, failed to transport the temperature-sensitive vesicular stomatitis virus G-protein (VSVG) fused to green fluorescent protein (VSVG-GFP) from the Golgi to the plasma membrane. Transfection with mouse Rab34 rescued this defect. Using endogenous major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) as a marker, an endoglycosidase H resistance assay showed that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to medial Golgi traffic remains intact in knockdown cells, indicating that Rab34 specifically functions downstream of the ER. Further, brefeldin A treatment revealed that Rab34 effects intra-Golgi transport, not exit from the trans-Golgi network. Collectively, these results define Rab34 as a novel member of the secretory pathway acting at the Golgi.
2 TheFastias a Source for Women's Participation in Roman Cult
Authors: Fantham Elaine
Published: September 2007

This chapter considers the Fasti as a source for women’s participation in Roman cult. Collective supplications, private prayers and offerings, rites associated with chastity and fertility, the ritual of lavatio, the classification of women into matrons, virgins and prostitutes for the cult of Venus, and the poet’s instructions for women on proper behaviour as worshippers, are discussed. The chapter shows how Ovid, with his selection of festivals concerning women, has designed his text to frame his narratives with tributes to the Augustan moral and social ideology for women embodied in the public acts of Livia, the ‘first woman in Rome’.
3Vaga Signa: Orion and Sirius in Ovid'sFasti
Authors: Gee Emma
Published: September 2007

This chapter considers the intertextual relationship between Ovid’s didactic poem and Virgil’s Georgics, a relationship which provides a didactic subtext that unites the Robigalia, Orion, and Mars Ultor. The common features in the apparently dissimilar structure, content, and programme of the two passages help to shed light on the way in which misrepresentations of astronomical material function in the immediate context in the Fasti, and on the place of astronomy in the work as a whole.
4 Varro's Three Theologies and their Influence on theFasti
Authors: Green C. M. C.
Published: September 2007

This chapter chooses Fasti Book Four to illustrate how Ovid appropriated and adapted Varro’s division of religion into three theologiae: the philosophical, the civic, and the mythical, as a means of weaving together multifaceted ceremonies and festivals into a thematic whole. The philosophical theology of April is that of divine generation, and fire and water are the generative principal which appears in protean generative transformations throughout the book. The civic theology is Peace, civil companion of generative power, source and guarantor of fruitfulness, and an important theme in the Augustan religious and artistic programme. The theology of mythicon is the theatre, an essential part of religious festivals whence tales of the gods, licentious, and solemn, were learned. Ovid’s application of Varro’s theologiae demonstrate that he was not restricted by the calendar but was creating a religiously innovative, intellectually coherent, and artistically daring calendar for Augustus’ Rome.
6 Seen, not Heard:Feminea Linguain Ovid'sFastiand the Critical Gaze
Authors: Keegan Peter Mark
Published: September 2007

This chapter tests the degree to which the Fasti is immersed in and co-opted by the prevailing masculinist culture of its time, and compares interpretations of modern critics examining Ovid’s (re)presentations of women. It finds some colluding with the poet’s conservative phallocentric imperatives on ritual(ized) female activity. It contends that the ways by which Ovid engages in negating, inhibiting, silencing, or slaying women are reflected in modern interpretative practices, and notes the operation of an intertextuality between the criticized and the critic. It offers a reading of Ovid’s Regifugium and the rape of Lucretia as a suggested methodology for an interpretation sensitive to sexual(ized) nuances in the Fasti and a way of delimiting and abnegating the perpetuation of the Philomela/Tacita syndrome in contemporary literary-critical and histori(ographi)cal practices.
7 Representing the Great Mother to Augustus
Authors: Knox Peter E.
Published: September 2007

This chapter offers the festival of the Magna Mater as a test case for showing how Ovid appropriated a foreign cult for a Roman context. Ovid is less interested in the public or official aspects of the cult than in the mythological justification for its rites. His text betrays the influence of Hellenistic aetiological narrative, especially that written in a 3rd-century Alexandrian context, in which the Phrygian cult was appropriated by poets for Ptolemaic Egypt. That model of appropriation is evident in Ovid’s story of Claudia, in which Phrygian and Alexandrian material is fused, and in which both the religious and political aspects of the cult are in play. Ovid’s Cybele coincides almost precisely with what we can identify as Augustus’ aims for the cult in c.AD 4.
8imperii pignora certa: The Role of Numa in Ovid'sFasti
Authors: Littlewood R. J.
Published: September 2007

Analyzing Numa’s role in Fasti, this chapter examines the polyphonic character of Ovid’s comparison with Augustus of Numa, traditional founder of Roman cult. In an analysis of a passage describing the aetiology of the ancilia, the sacred shields of Mars’ worship in Book Three, this chapter argues that the poet appears to celebrate the years when the young Augustus’ name was incorporated into the hymn of the Salii and presented with the Clupeus Virtutis, using intertextual allusions to Virgil’s Aristaeus episode to evoke the imagery of the great literary shields. It argues for the emergence of characteristic ambivalence in the central section where Ovid recasts Numa as a silver-tongued subject outwitting an autocratic Jupiter, a situation metaphorically underlined by the motif of a lightning strike which Numa is compelled to expiate and the poet’s parenthetic aside concerning what must remain unsaid.
Introduction
Authors: Tilmouth Christopher
Published: September 2007

This introductory chapter describes both the narrative and the argument of the book. It also glosses the subtitle, A History of the Moral Imagination, by setting out the method of this study. Rather than just focusing on inter-textual sources and influences, the book also examines those pre-rational assumptions, those shared ways of imagining human nature, and its moral potential, which literary and philosophical writers have in common. Poets and philosophers are understood not only as responding directly to one another's work, but also as reflecting, independently, on the shared assumptions that inform each other's writings, and thereby affecting, indirectly, the imaginative landscape in which they each operate.
Spenser, Psychomachia, and the Limits of Governance
Authors: Tilmouth Christopher
Published: September 2007

This chapter explores the presentation of the passions in The Faerie Queene, arguing that Spenser treats these as hostile, morally disruptive forces within the soul, powers which reason must fight against in a perpetual psychomachia. It examines the limits of Spenser's debt to Aristotle: Spenser mirrors Aristotle's idea that men are constantly prone to degenerate from a state of akrasia (weakness of will) into one of outright vice (a love of evil), but he does not match Aristotle's faith that characters can develop the other way too, towards moral perfection and consistently virtuous conduct. Afflicted by shame at their own weakness, Spenser's knights struggle to realize virtues such as temperance, often requiring the help of grace. However, important though that grace is, Spenser repeatedly affirms the primacy of reason in steering men's conduct towards goodness. Grace is an assistant power in the struggle for virtue; rational self-determination remains central.
Hamlet ‘Lapsed in Passion’
Authors: Tilmouth Christopher
Published: September 2007

This chapter discusses two aspects of Hamlet damaging to Elizabethan moral assumptions. First, Hamlet strives to imitate the fury of Senecan heroes, i.e., to invoke an overwhelming passion in himself, because without that impulse he is incapable of acting. (The Elizabethan rationalist's passionless state has this drawback, that it deprives man of the inward force needed to motivate actions.) In practice, though, Hamlet can only imitate such passion, not feel the real thing. Lacking genuine outrage, he embraces self-delusions instead, pretending that he is working purposefully towards vengeance or is furious when actually he is not. Second, this same Hamlet is passionate in his revulsion against the flesh. His obsession with bringing moral reformation to Denmark, a quality which makes him reminiscent of earlier moralists, is heartfelt, but drives him into such frenzied conduct towards Gertrude that Hamlet thereby brings the probity of all such moral asceticism into question.
Renaissance Tragedy and the Fracturing of Familiar Terms
Authors: Tilmouth Christopher
Published: September 2007

This chapter examines three factors which resist the rationalism of Elizabethan moral philosophy. The first is the human penchant for self-delusion, a theme which is explored in Montaigne's Essays, and via Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In the latter, Brutus represents Caesar's assassination to himself as a rational imperative, the logical demand of Roman republicanism; yet Brutus is overcome by guilt and doubt about his own motives after the fact. The chapter also considers the ungovernable nature of sexual passion, reason's aspirations to hegemony within the soul notwithstanding. Here, the focal text is Chapman's Bussy D'Ambois, in which the lead characters quickly become slaves to the erotic demands of body and blood. Finally, this chapter also charts the relentless power of self-interest in distorting reason's otherwise moral and upright thought processes. This is the dominant concern in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, a work which in various respects anticipates Hobbes's philosophy.
Augustinian and Aristotelian Influences from Herbert to Milton
Authors: Tilmouth Christopher
Published: September 2007

There are two themes in this chapter. The first examines Augustine's anti-Stoic argument that passions informed by a good will (a will centred around a love of God) are intrinsically valuable. This praise of sanctified affections, also taken up by English Calvinists such as Fenner and Counter-Reformation theologians like Senault and François de Sales, sheds light on Herbert and Crashaw's devotional lyrics. The latter meditate upon the spiritual love and the laudable passions which suffuse a regenerate heart. The chapter's second theme is the Aristotelian revival of the 17th century. Here, moral treatises and university plays are examined as expressions of an Aristotelian philosophy which identifies rationally moderated emotions as valuable. Both of these trends find further expression in Paradise Lost where Milton exploits both Augustinian and Thomist paradigms of self-governance to anatomize Adam and Eve's moral psychology, and also the mechanisms of sinful self-delusion.
The Restoration Ethos of Libertinism
Authors: Tilmouth Christopher
Published: September 2007

This chapter begins by surveying various traditions which fed into Restoration libertinism, namely, Hobbism, the libertine writings of an earlier generation of cavaliers, the libertinage of France's libertins érudits, and the Epicureanism of the mid-17th-century Epicurean revival. These disparate threads provided a network of ideas amenable to the self-image of those Royalists who formed the so-called ‘court wits’ coterie in 1660s England. The origins of that self-image are also explained by examining the politics of libertinism, especially the experience of alienation suffered by Buckingham's circle both during the Interregnum and after the Restoration (when Clarendon dominated government). The argument is made that the court wits generated Restoration libertinism as a vehicle for expressing resentment towards a society which did not accord them a sufficient public role. The chapter concludes by examining how the culture of manners prevalent in this period gave formal expression to the libertine appetite for aggressive self-assertion.
Rochester: The Disappointments of Hobbism and Libertinism
Authors: Tilmouth Christopher
Published: September 2007

This chapter examines the complete works of the Earl of Rochester. It begins by noting Rochester's anxious preoccupation with images of boundlessness and dissolution. It then presents a threefold analysis of Rochester's writings. First, the chapter outlines some lyrics which celebrate libertinism and the serial pursuit of appetites and social power. Second, the focus shifts to satires (especially the ‘Satyre Against Reason and Mankind’) which criticize libertinism, this because the boundless dissolution of self and the culture of mutual antagonism to which libertinism give rise, ultimately fail to satisfy. A third section examines Rochester's political writings, and the moral and political critique of libertinism implicit in those. A conclusion emphasizes Rochester's interest in generosity as the epitome of an alternative ideal of conduct.
Paisley
Authors: Bruce Steve
Published: September 2007

Ian Paisley is unique in having founded his own church and party, and led both to success. The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster (FPCU) now has 150 congregations worldwide. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is now the most popular party in Northern Ireland and, as the leader of the majority unionist population, Paisley has a veto over political developments in the province. This book draws on the author's twenty years of close acquaintance with Paisley's people and on his knowledge of religion and politics in other settings to describe and explain Paisleyism. Paisley's religious identity was an important part of his political appeal to a minority core of unionist voters, but his constant criticism of liberal and ecumenical trends in the major Protestant churches alienated many unionists. However, between 2000 and 2005, those unionists became so frustrated with the British Government's concessions to the Irish Republican movement that they finally set aside their dislike of Paisley's divisive religion and made the DUP the majority unionist party.
1 Ulster Protestants
Authors: Bruce Steve
Published: September 2007

This chapter sets the context of understanding Paisley by explaining the settler origins of the Ulster Protestants, describing the major differences between Protestantism and Catholicism, and considering the growing gulf between conservatives and liberals within Irish Presbyterianism at the start of the 20th century.
2 Early Years
Authors: Bruce Steve
Published: September 2007

This chapter details the history of the Paisley family, clarifies the distinctive elements of Paisley's evangelical Protestant faith, describes the rural roots of his movement, and charts the slow growth of his ministry from 1945 to 1965.
3 On the Margins
Authors: Bruce Steve
Published: September 2007

From 1945, Paisley was involved in a variety of right-wing and evangelical ginger groups that pestered the governing Ulster Unionist party. In the 1960s, Paisley led the challenges to the timid reforms proposed by Prime Minister Terence O'Neill, and in 1969 he won his first parliamentary seat.
4 Coming to Power
Authors: Bruce Steve
Published: September 2007

At the start of the Troubles, Paisley led the smallest of three strands of conservative unionist opposition to change. By 2004, the DUP had displaced the Ulster Unionist party from a position of dominance it had enjoyed for over eighty years. This chapter details and explains the rise of the DUP.
6 Church and Party
Authors: Bruce Steve
Published: September 2007

This chapter documents the links between Paisley's church and his party. It discusses church reservations about involvement in politics and party attempts to reconcile religious preferences with vote-winning. It also considers the impact of electoral success and generational succession on the party's principles. It concludes that contrary to popular images of a party divided in young secular and older religious wings, the DUP remains firmly united.
7 Paisley and Trouble
Authors: Bruce Steve
Published: September 2007

Many critics blame Paisley for the Troubles. He has been accused of serious crime, incitement, and creating a climate conducive to terrorism. This chapter considers the evidence against Paisley, demonstrates that Paisley's people have overwhelmingly remained law-abiding and, by comparison with Islamic fundamentalism, considers the role of evangelicalism in discouraging Protestants from holy war.
Noise, nonlinearity and seasonality: the epidemics of whooping cough revisited
Authors: Nguyen Hanh T.H , Rohani Pejman
Published: September 2007

Understanding the mechanisms that generate oscillations in the incidence of childhood infectious diseases has preoccupied epidemiologists and population ecologists for nearly two centuries. This body of work has generated simple yet powerful explanations for the epidemics of measles and chickenpox, while the dynamics of other infectious diseases, such as whooping cough, have proved more challenging to decipher. A number of authors have, in recent years, proposed that the noisy and somewhat irregular epidemics of whooping cough may arise due to stochasticity and its interaction with nonlinearity in transmission and seasonal variation in contact rates. The reason underlying the susceptibility of whooping cough dynamics to noise and the precise nature of its transient dynamics remain poorly understood. Here we use household data on the incubation period in order to parametrize more realistic distributions of the latent and infectious periods. We demonstrate that previously reported phenomena result from transients following the interaction between the stable annual attractor and unstable multiennial solutions.
Sexual selection explains Rensch's rule of allometry for sexual size dimorphism
Authors: Dale James , Dunn Peter O , Figuerola Jordi , Lislevand Terje , Székely Tamás , Whittingham Linda A
Published: September 2007

In 1950, Rensch first described that in groups of related species, sexual size dimorphism is more pronounced in larger species. This widespread and fundamental allometric relationship is now commonly referred to as ‘Rensch's rule’. However, despite numerous recent studies, we still do not have a general explanation for this allometry. Here we report that patterns of allometry in over 5300 bird species demonstrate that Rensch's rule is driven by a correlated evolutionary change in females to directional sexual selection on males. First, in detailed multivariate analysis, the strength of sexual selection was, by far, the strongest predictor of allometry. This was found to be the case even after controlling for numerous potential confounding factors, such as overall size, degree of ornamentation, phylogenetic history and the range and degree of size dimorphism. Second, in groups where sexual selection is stronger in females, allometry consistently goes in the opposite direction to Rensch's rule. Taken together, these results provide the first clear solution to the long-standing evolutionary problem of allometry for sexual size dimorphism: sexual selection causes size dimorphism to correlate with species size.
Dual protection of hydroponic tomatoes from rhizosphere pathogens Ralstonia solanacearum and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis‐lycopersici and airborne conidia of Oidium neolycopersici with an ozone‐generative electrostatic spore precipitator
Authors: Shimizu K. , Matsuda Y. , Nonomura T. , Ikeda H. , Tamura N. , Kusakari S. , Kimbara J. , Toyoda H.
Published: September 2007

An ozone‐generative electrostatic spore precipitator was developed to protect nursery‐stage seedlings of tomato from both airborne conidia of powdery mildew (Oidium neolycopersici) and root‐infecting pathogen propagules of bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) and fusarium crown and root rot (Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis‐lycopersici). The device was a cylindrical electrostatic spore precipitator (S2 cylinder) in which a positively charged straight conductor wire insulated with a transparent acrylic cylinder originated from a spore‐precipitation cylinder (S1 cylinder) designed to physically control airborne conidia of tomato powdery mildew in greenhouses. The S2 cylinder consisted of two sites for conidial attraction and ozone production. The site for ozone production was located at the end of the cylinder, where an earthed copper conductor ring (as a cathode) was attached to the edge of the cylinder, responding to the anodal tip of a positively charged central conductor wire. Distinct types of discharge (corona, corona‐streamer, streamer and arc discharge) occurred between the two electrodes and were dependant on the voltages applied to the wire and the distances between the electrodes. The highest ozone production was observed through streamer discharge. The remaining portion of the S2 cylinder, which was dielectrically polarized by a positively charged wire, created a non‐uniform electric field outside the cylinder to attract conidia that came into the generated field. Hydroponic culture troughs to raise tomato seedlings in a nursery greenhouse were paralleled with S2 cylinders. The aim was to control rhizosphere pathogens R. solanacearum and F. oxysporum f.sp. radicis‐lycopersici and to prevent them entering the hydroponic system during cultivation, while at the same time trapping O. neolycopersici conidia in the spaces between the cylinders. The results indicated that susceptible tomato plants in culture troughs attached to the S2 cylinders remained uninfected by both rhizosphere and aerial pathogens throughout the experimental period (2 and 3 weeks, respectively). This suggests that the present system will enable the dual control of both these pathogens in hydroponic systems in greenhouses.
Development of a reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) assay for the detection of Amasya cherry disease
Authors: Kozlakidis Z. , Citir A. , Açıkgöz S. , Coutts R. H. A.
Published: September 2007

A reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) procedure was developed to detect Amasya cherry disease (ACD) in naturally infected sweet cherry (Prunus avium) leaves sampled from Turkey. The procedure was based on detection of the presence of a mycoviral‐like double‐stranded RNA (dsRNA) of 5·3 kbp always found in association with ACD, which is probably caused by a fungus. Specific primers were designed to amplify a fragment of the diagnostic dsRNA. The method will improve routine diagnosis of ACD in Prunus spp.
Indirect evidence for sexual reproduction in Cercospora beticola populations from sugar beet
Authors: Groenewald M. , Linde C. C. , Groenewald J. Z. , Crous P. W.
Published: September 2007

Cercospora beticola is the main causal agent of cercospora leaf spot on sugar beet and has a large negative impact on the yield and quality of sugar beet production worldwide. Previous studies have shown that both mating type idiomorphs of C. beticola are present in natural populations, suggesting that C. beticola is heterothallic and may be reproducing sexually. Cercospora beticola isolates are diverse in the morphology of their conidia, onset of disease symptoms and fungicide resistance. To find the source of this diversity and to determine if sexual reproduction occurs in this fungus, C. beticola populations were collected from Western Europe, Iran and New Zealand. The mating types of these isolates were determined and AFLP analyses were used to study the genetic diversity in these populations. The mating type ratios did not deviate significantly from a 1:1 ratio in most of the populations and AFLP analyses showed high levels of genetic variation within and between the populations, with 86·4% of the isolates having unique genotypes. All populations were in significant linkage disequilibrium but levels of disequilibrium were low, and loci from only one primer pair were in significant gametic equilibrium in populations from the Netherlands and Italy. From these results there is the possibility that C. beticola reproduces sexually. High levels of gene flow among the samples from Europe demonstrated a single panmictic European population. This study confirms C. beticola to be a genetically highly diverse species, supporting the assumption that some populations are reproducing sexually.
Genetic diversity, aggressiveness and metalaxyl sensitivity of Pythium aphanidermatum populations infecting cucumber in Oman
Authors: Al‐Sa'di A. M. , Drenth A. , Deadman M. L. , Aitken E. A. B.
Published: September 2007

Seventy three isolates of Pythium aphanidermatum obtained from cucumber from four different regions of Oman and 16 isolates of muskmelon from the Batinah region in Oman were characterized for aggressiveness, sensitivity to metalaxyl and genetic diversity using AFLP fingerprinting. Twenty isolates of P. aphanidermatum from diverse hosts from different countries were also included in the study. Most isolates from Oman were found to be aggressive on cucumber seedlings and all were highly sensitive to metalaxyl (EC50 < 0·80 µg mL−1). Isolates from cucumber and muskmelon were as aggressive as each other on both hosts (P > 0·05), which implies a lack of host specialization in P. aphanidermatum on these two hosts in Oman. AFLP analysis of all isolates using four primer–pair combinations resolved 152 bands, of which 61 (~40%) were polymorphic. Isolates of P. aphanidermatum from Oman and other countries exhibited high genetic similarity (mean = 94·1%) and produced 59 different AFLP profiles. Analysis of molecular variance indicated that most AFLP variation among populations of P. aphanidermatum in Oman was associated with geographical regions (FST = 0·118; P < 0·0001), not hosts (FST = –0·004; P = 0·4323). These data were supported by the high rate of recovery (24%) of identical phenotypes between cucumber and muskmelon fields in the same region as compared to the low recovery (10%) across regions in Oman, which suggests more frequent movement of Pythium inoculum among muskmelon and cucumber fields in the same region compared to movement across geographically separated regions. However, recovering clones among regions and different countries may imply circulation of Pythium inoculum via common sources in Oman and also intercontinental spread of isolates.
Reanalysis of sequence‐based HLA‐A, ‐B and ‐Cw typings: how ambiguous is today’s SBT typing tomorrow
Authors: Voorter C. E. M. , Mulkers E. , Liebelt P. , Sleyster E. , Van Den Berg‐Loonen E. M.
Published: September 2007

The permanently increasing number of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐alleles and the growing list of ambiguities require continuous updating of high‐resolution HLA typing results. Two different kinds of ambiguities exist: the first, when two or more allele combinations have identical heterozygous sequences, and the second, when differences are located outside the analyzed region. The number of HLA‐A, B and C alleles recognized in 1999 was almost tripled in 2006. Two hundred individuals, sequence‐based typing (SBT) typed in the period from 1999 to 2002, were reanalyzed using the 2006 database. A final allele typing result of at least four digits was obtained for HLA‐A, ‐B and ‐C by heterozygous sequencing of exons 2 and 3 and, if necessary, additional exons and/or allele‐specific sequencing. Storage of the individual sequences in a specially developed database enabled reanalysis with all present and future HLA releases. In the 5‐year period HLA‐A, ‐B and ‐C typing results became ambiguous in 37%, 46% and 41% of the cases. Most were because of differences outside the analyzed region; ambiguities because of different allele combinations with identical heterozygous sequences were present in 7%, 8% and 13% of the HLA‐A, ‐B and ‐C typings. These results indicate that within 5 years, approximately half of the HLA SBT typings become ambiguous.
Identification of a variant HLA‐A*3401 allele, A*340102, in an educational DNA typing sample
Authors: Dunn P. P. J. , Rantes C. , Hall C. , Dyer C. , Compton J. , Hammond L. , Crosier P.
Published: September 2007

A*340102 was first identified in an ASEATTA Educational DNA typing sample, which typed as A*3401, 3401variant. The variant differs from A*3401 by a single silent substitution in exon 2 at nucleotide 309, codon 79 (GGG→GGT).
Comparative proteome analysis of differentially expressed proteins induced by Al toxicity in soybean
Authors: Zhen Yan , Qi Jin‐Liang , Wang Si‐Si , Su Jing , Xu Guo‐Hua , Zhang Ming‐Sheng , Miao Lv , Peng Xin‐Xiang , Tian Dacheng , Yang Yong‐Hua
Published: September 2007

Phytotoxic aluminum (Al) is a limiting factor for crop production on acid soils. The molecular mechanism, however, underlying Al toxicity and responses in plants is still not well understood. We report here the characterization of comparative proteome of aluminum‐stress‐responsive proteins in a known Al‐resistant soybean cultivar, Baxi 10 (BX10). To investigate time‐dependent responses, 1‐week‐old soybean seedlings were exposed to 50 μM AlCl3 for 24, 48 and 72 h, and total proteins extracted from roots were separated by two‐dimensional electrophoresis. More than 1200 root proteins of the soybean BX10 seedling were reproducibly resolved on the gels. A total of 39 differentially expressed spots in abundance were identified by mass spectrometry, with 21 upregulated, 13 newly induced and 5 downregulated. The heat shock protein, glutathione S‐transferase, chalcone‐related synthetase, GTP‐binding protein and ABC transporter ATP‐binding protein were previously detected at the transcriptional or translational level in other plants. Other proteins, identified in this study, are new Al‐induced proteins. Soybean BX10 roots under aluminum stress could be characterized by the cellular activities involved in stress/defense, signal transduction, transport, protein folding, gene regulation, and primary metabolisms, which are critical for plant survival under Al toxicity. This present study expands our understanding of differentially expressed proteins associated with aluminum stress on soybean BX10.
Plasma adiponectin is associated with ankle‐brachial index in patients on haemodialysis
Authors: LIM PAIK‐SEONG , HU CHUEN‐YUH , WU MING‐YING , WU TSAI‐KUN , CHANG HUI‐CHEN
Published: September 2007

Background:  Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a leading cause of morbidity in haemodialysis (HD) patients. Recent evidence suggests that adiponectin, an adipose‐derived cytokine, may play a role in atherosclerosis. However, the association between plasma levels of the adiponectin and the ankle‐brachial index (ABI), an indicator of the presence and severity of PAD, has not been thoroughly studied in HD patients.

Methods:  The present cross‐sectional study attempted to examine the relationship between plasma adiponectin and PAD in a cohort of 136 chronic HD patients. The ABI was used as an estimate of the presence of PAD. Plasma adiponectin, high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hsCRP), tumour necrosis factor‐α and lipid profiles were measured. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association between presence of PAD and adiponectin as well as other potential risk factors.

Results:  Plasma levels of adiponectin were significantly lower among patients with evidence of PAD than among those without (8.51 ± 5.75 vs 17.15 ± 11.53; P < 0.001). Univariate analysis showed a positive correlation between ABI values and plasma adiponectin levels (r = 0.369, P < 0.001), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, diastolic blood pressure, Kt/V and serum phosphate. On the other hand, negative correlations between ABI and log‐transformed triglyceride, hsCRP, fasting blood sugar, girth circumference and white blood cell counts were noted. Using logistic regression, plasma adiponectin was found to be associated with PAD independently of classical risk factors for atherosclerosis. In addition, models that incorporated plasma adiponectin were significantly better at predicting PAD than models limited to classical confounding factors.

Conclusion:  We conclude that there was a significant inverse correlation between plasma adiponectin levels and the presence of PAD in dialysis patients. This suggests that plasma adiponectin level may have a role in the atherosclerotic process of PAD.
Increased levels of serum matrix metalloproteinase‐3 in haemodialysis patients with dialysis‐related amyloidosis
Authors: NAGANUMA TOSHIHIDE , SUGIMURA KAZUNOBU , UCHIDA JUNJI , TASHIRO KOICHIRO , YOSHIMURA RIKIO , TAKEMOTO YOSHIAKI , NAKATANI TATSUYA
Published: September 2007

Background:  It is recognized that matrix metalloproteinase‐3 (MMP‐3) is abundantly expressed in active rheumatoid synovium, and that serum level of MMP‐3 is a useful marker for diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and for evaluation of prognosis in joint destruction. Little is known about serum MMP‐3 levels in haemodialysis (HD) patients, and thus, the association between serum MMP‐3 and dialysis‐related amyloidosis (DRA) has yet to be elucidated.

Methods:  Serum levels of MMP‐3 were measured by enzyme immunoassay in 150 HD patients, 90 without DRA and 60 with DRA, before HD. Simple regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between serum level of MMP‐3 and clinical parameters, including age, HD duration, C‐reactive protein and β2 microglobulin (BMG).

Results:  Serum levels of MMP‐3 were significantly higher in HD patients with DRA than in HD patients without DRA (258.2 ± 118.1 vs 201.5 ± 98.4 pg/mL, P = 0.0017), and both levels were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects (45.6 ± 13.4 pg/mL, P < 0.0001). Serum MMP‐3 levels significantly correlated with serum levels of BMG (r = 0.197, P = 0.0164) and HD duration (r = 0.168, P = 0.0427). Moreover, serum MMP‐3 levels significantly correlated with serum BMG levels in HD patients without DRA (r = 0.341, P = 0.0012), but not in HD patients with DRA.

Conclusion:  Our results suggest that matrix metalloproteinase activity increases in HD patients, which may be associated with BMG and DRA.
Disturbance of lymph circulation develops renal fibrosis in rats with or without contralateral nephrectomy
Authors: ZHANG TAOYAN , GUAN GUANGJU , LIU GANG , SUN JINGCANG , CHEN BIN , LI XUEGANG , HOU XIANGHUA , WANG HAIPING
Published: September 2007

Background:  The knowledge on renal lymphatics is very limited and their importance is often neglected in kidney transplantation surgery practice. Early papers demonstrated that acute ligation of hilar lymphatic ducts has a significant effect on sodium excretion and urine volume. However, the long‐term effects of hilar lymphatic ducts ligation on renal function and histology were not mentioned. Here we show the time course of renal lesions caused by long‐term ligation of renal hilar lymphatic vessels in rats with or without contralateral nephrectomy.

Methods:  Animals were divided into three groups: rats with bilateral renal lymphatic ducts ligation (2KL); rats with one renal ligation and another nephrectomy (1KL); sham‐operated rats (Sham). Proteinuria, serum creatinine value and creatinine clearance were monitored. Renal histology was examed by light microscopy. Further biochemical analysis was provided using real‐time polymerase chain reaction, immunostaining and western blot techniques.

Results:  From week 1 after ligation, both 1KL and 2KL rats developed severe proteinuria, whereas elevated serum creatinine and reduced creatinine clearance were observed from week 2. Histomorphological changes appeared in ligated kidneys at week 2, characterized by tubular damage, tubulointerstitial fibrosis and expansion of the mesangium. Overexpression of transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1), Smad2/3, COL I genes and proteins were detected in 1KL and 2KL rats. Compared with 2KL rats, the changes in renal function and histology were more pronounced in 1KL rats.

Conclusion:  Disturbance of lymph circulation induced chronic renal failure and renal fibrosis, which were aggravated by lymphatic vessels ligation combined with contralateral nephrectomy. The effect of lymphatic ducts ligation on renal lesions may be explained by enhanced activation of the TGF‐β1/Smad signalling.
High prevalence of ascorbate deficiency in an Australian peritoneal dialysis population
Authors: SINGER RICHARD , RHODES HELEN C , CHIN GEORGE , KULKARNI HEMANT , FERRARI PAOLO
Published: September 2007

Background:  An adequate total body pool of ascorbate is essential for optimum health in humans. Requirements for ascorbate are increased in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients most likely due to a combination of poor nutrition and increased dialysate losses.

Methods:  We measured serum ascorbate levels in 45 clinically stable PD patients to assess the prevalence of ascorbate insufficiency (level between 2 and 4 mg/L) and deficiency (level <2 mg/L). We also assessed the efficacy of subsequent supplementation and patients' adherence to the prescribed supplementation. All patients were advised on commencement of dialysis to take a multivitamin tablet containing 100–120 mg ascorbate.

Results:  Eighteen (41%) PD patients were regularly taking ascorbate‐containing multivitamins, while 27 (59%) patients did not take ascorbate supplements. Serum ascorbate levels ranged from <0.2 to 41 mg/L, with wide variations in serum ascorbate at any given intake level. Ascorbate deficiency was present in 1/3 of the current PD population (44% of patients not taking supplements and in 16% of those on supplements), although none of the patients demonstrated clinical manifestations of scurvy. Targeted supplementation of ascorbate insufficient patients increased the median serum ascorbate level from 1.7 mg/L (IQR 1.2–2.2) to 22.5 mg/L (IQR 16.7–32.9).

Conclusion:  Our results show that, in PD patients, ascorbate deficiency is common and can readily be identified with serum ascorbate measurements. Oral supplements in the form of inexpensive multivitamin preparations restore adequate serum ascorbate levels in the majority of these patients. We therefore suggest measurement of ascorbate levels in all PD patients at the commencement of dialysis with a target level in the normal range (4–14 mg/L).