bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Capacity to trust? Institutional capacity, conflict, and political trust in Africa, 2000–2005
Authors: Hutchison Marc L , Johnson Kristin
Published: November 2011

Civil conflict and state failure has often been linked to breakdowns in regime legitimacy. Trust in government is a critical element of regime legitimacy and the state’s ability to mediate between the demands of competing groups within society. We contend that government capability is a primary factor in shaping individuals’ ascription of legitimacy to the state. Capable governments foster perceptions of legitimacy while poor institutional performance decreases the degree to which individuals trust their government. While some tests of this relationship exist in extant literature, much of the work fails to integrate both micro- and macro-level factors, is confined to regions with established state performance, or is based on single-country studies. Our approach avoids many of these deficiencies by using 32 Afrobarometer surveys collected across 16 different countries from 2000 to 2005 and employing hierarchical linear models to estimate the effects of temporal-specific, state-level variables on levels of individual trust. We find that higher institutional capacity is associated with increased levels of individual trust in government across African countries. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this effect on political trust is independent of other individual-level attitudes, socio-economic characteristics, and a state’s prior internal conflicts.
Supplying peace: Participation in and troop contribution to peacekeeping missions
Authors: Bove Vincenzo , Elia Leandro
Published: November 2011

We explore the supply side of peacekeeping – the determinants of a country’s voluntary contributions to peacekeeping operations. We focus on troop contribution and examine a large set of operations, from UN-led missions to operations led by NATO, the African Union, the European Union, and ad hoc coalitions. We rely on a theoretical model of the private provision of public goods and a dataset on troop contribution across 102 states and 45 operations from 1999 to 2009 to explain both the conditions under which third-party actors are more or less likely to intervene in peacekeeping operations and the factors determining the size of their personnel contribution. We use the characteristics of the conflict to identify which types of conflicts attract outside intervention and the characteristics of the intervener to identify the countries more willing to provide troops. We show that at the domestic level, contributions are driven by the comparative advantage in manpower – or the relative value of labor – and constrained by the tolerance of casualties and the sustainability of multiple and concurrent missions. At the international level, the most robust explanations of when states choose to intervene are the level of threat to global and regional stability, the proximity to the conflict area, and the number of displaced people. In particular, security and humanitarian concerns trigger nation-specific responses. Our empirical findings provide further evidence of the centrality of country-specific gains in explaining the participation in peacekeeping. However, contributor-specific benefits play the same role in UN and non-UN peacekeeping missions, in contrast with previous empirical studies on the financial burden-sharing.
Back to the Future: Career Transitions at the Dawn of Capitalism: The immigration of merchants from the Southern Netherlands to Amsterdam, 1578–1602
Authors: Carnabuci Gianluca , Wezel Filippo Carlo
Published: November 2011

This paper investigates the conditions facilitating career transitions across dissimilar cultural contexts. Particular attention is devoted to two critical obstacles faced by transitioners during cross-cultural role reorientations. First, transitioners must make sense of the unspoken demands and requirements ascribed to their work role in the new cultural context. Second, they must find ways to access and mobilize context-specific resources and information in a context alien to them. Empirically, the histories of 452 merchants emigrated from the southern provinces to Amsterdam during the period 1578–1602 are analyzed. The difference between Amsterdam’s merchant culture (based on open competition, speculative and “depersonalized” financial investments) and that of the southern provinces (a well-protected economic environment based on the guild system) required a reorientation from the role of pre-modern merchants to that of capitalist entrepreneurs. A set of hypotheses predicting why some immigrant merchants successfully completed this career transition while others did not is presented and brought to test.
The pitfalls and perils of payment by results
Authors: Boyle David
Published: November 2011

The targets culture in UK public services that emerged during the past two decades fell foul of Goodhart’s Law, which led to increases in complexity and bureaucracy to counteract the gaming of the system by frontline staff. The emergence of payment-by-results claims to avoid this pitfall, but in practice it is likely to be exactly the same. In fact, there are aspects of payment-by-results which are likely to skew public sector objectives even more thoroughly than targets.
The disappearance of literature: Friedrich Kittler’s path to media theory
Authors: Werber Niels
Published: November 2011

This article follows the recurrent theme in Friedrich Kittler’s 40 years of prolific academic writing, which is of course the media-related production of discourse. Five heuristic principles are identified in his work: enabling, reduction, historization, the abolishment of the ‘two cultures', and post-hermeneutics. The paper closes with criticism of the intrinsic limits of Kittler’s point of view.
Krautrock, Heidegger, Bogeyman: Kittler in the anglosphere
Authors: Winthrop-Young Geoffrey
Published: November 2011

The paper discusses some of the key factors that shaped Friedrich Kittler’s anglophone reception. Four points are of special importance: the truncated appropriation of Kittler’s ‘middle period’ by American academics; the structural and ideological reasons for the failure of North American German Studies to capitalize on the growing interest in Kittler; the charges of technodeterminism; and Kittler’s difficult role in the debate over posthumanism.
Blindness or insight? Kittler on culture
Authors: Bickenbach Matthias
Published: November 2011

For a long time, ‘culture’ appears only to be an effect of the power of discourses and media in Friedrich Kittler’s works. But in his Berlin lecture series on the cultural history of cultural studies, he discusses the historical formations in which a discrete science of culture could emerge. His perspective not only highlights the historical foundations but also the blind spots of cultural studies.
‘To love and to be loved’: Janina Bauman’s ordinary life
Authors: Beilharz Peter , Supski Sian
Published: November 2011

Janina Bauman was a sociologist of everyday life. Her autobiographical texts, Winter in the Morning (1986), A Dream of Belonging (1988), and the synthetic volume Beyond These Walls (2006), manage a kind of personal poignancy combined with world-historic content and attention to the detail of everyday life that sets her work apart. This essay responds to these attributes and offers a contribution to her remembrance as a writer, an actor in and observer of everyday life in Warsaw and Leeds across the 20th century.
Dousing the dragon’s fire
Authors: Wickham Gary
Published: November 2011

After suggesting that Stephen Turner’s work is characterized by a determination to offer viable alternatives to blockages generated by adherence to dogmas, particularly those generated by adherence to Kantian metaphysics, this review article concentrates on his recent book Explaining the Normative. The article sets out the book’s descriptions of a wide variety of positions, ‘each of which accounts for a different kind of normativity’. Perhaps the only common feature of these positions is the idea of ‘the necessity or indispensability of the normative’. Turner challenges the normativists’ certainty, employing a range of argumentative strategies which add up to the project of explaining the normative. The article seeks to show how Turner goes about this project and to show that he succeeds in his quest to undermine the normativists’ claim that the normative itself cannot be explained. Ultimately, Turner is able to say to them, politely but firmly, ‘Yes it can’.
Institutionalization of mentally-impaired children in Scotland, c.1855–1914
Authors: Hutchison Iain
Published: November 2011

This article examines two institutions which were established in Scotland specifically for the accommodation of mentally-impaired children: Baldovan Asylum near Dundee and the ‘Scottish National Institution for the Education of Imbecile Children’ in Larbert, Stirlingshire. It surveys the aims and agendas of the institutions in the spheres of residential childcare, mental health, and education and training. It compares the admission regimes of these institutions and considers whether they complemented one another in serving an unsatisfied demand for places, or whether they were in competition for admissions, staff and charitable support. The survey covers the period from the opening of both institutions to the implementation of the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 which required the (re)certification of all children.
The fight for ‘traumatic neurosis’, 1889–1916: Hermann Oppenheim and his opponents in Berlin
Authors: Holdorff Bernd , Dening Dr Tom
Published: November 2011

The concept of traumatic neurosis conceived by Hermann Oppenheim (1858–1919) located post-traumatic nervous symptoms between hysteria and neurasthenia, considering them a consequence of physical reactions to fright and a cause of molecular tissue changes. As early as 1890, his concept was criticized at an international congress in Berlin. In February 1916, there was a significant debate of the issue in Berlin, and eventually Oppenheim’s concept was completely defeated at the war meeting of German neuropsychiatrists in September 1916 in Munich. In the Berlin debate, a range of views on war neurosis was presented. Partly as a result of this, but also due to the powerful position of Oppenheim himself, it was not until after the end of WWI that traumatic neurosis was excluded from medico-legal assessments. The differing views of physiological brain-mind relations from that time do not differ greatly from present concepts. However, Oppenheim’s traumatic neurosis with its more quasi-neurological picture should not be equated with PTSD.
Welfare institutions and the mobilization of consent: Union responses to labour market activation policies in France and the Netherlands
Authors: Clegg Daniel , van Wijnbergen Christa
Published: November 2011

Trade union responses to labour market activation policies are central to any assessment of their attitudes and strategies in the face of contemporary welfare state restructuring. Yet this issue has to date been the object of only limited theorization and minimal empirical investigation. We attempt to remedy this. Drawing on existing literatures in different disciplines, we first outline the theoretical grounds for predicting union opposition to or support for labour market activation measures. We then explore these competing arguments through a reconstruction and comparison of the development of union positions on labour market activation over time in two countries, France and the Netherlands. The case studies suggest that union stances on these policies are not straightforwardly determined by the structure of labour market institutions; considerations regarding the impact of activation initiatives on the role of unions in the institutions of the welfare state play a major role in mobilizing their consent or dissent.
Gap-Size Effect of Compact MR Fluid Brake
Authors: Kikuchi Takehito , Kobayashi Keigo , Inoue Akio
Published: November 2011

MRF are kinds of functional fluids, whose rheological properties, especially shear stresses under shear rates, can be rapidly and repeatedly controlled with application of magnetic fields. CMRFB in which the MRF between multilayered disks works as a torque generator was developed in our previous works. The CMRFB has advantages in its small size and high torque. One of the objectives of this article is to find the cause of the unignorable errors between the estimated torque and the experimental torque in the CMRFB with 50 -µm gaps that we found in the previous report. And the other is to evaluate the case with the different gap size. In this article, a testing device to evaluate rheological properties of the MRF was developed. Experimental results with the testing device were utilized as basic data to design the CMRFB. Three sets of two types of the CMRFB that have two different gap-sizes (50 µm and 100 µm) were also developed, and their performances are compared analytically and experimentally. Analytical results derived 20% less braking torque of the 100 -µm gap brakes than that of the 50 -µm gap brakes. The comparison of analytical and experimental results for 50 -µm gap brakes shows bigger error than those of the 100 -µm gap brakes. Filling tests show a possibility that the magnetic particles are not sufficiently filled between the 50 -µm gaps.
Modeling Perfluorinated Polyether-Based MR Fluids
Authors: Gudmundsson K. H. , Jonsdottir F. , Thorsteinsson F.
Published: November 2011

This study investigates the field-induced rheological characteristics of PFPE-based MR fluids. Four PFPE-based MR fluid samples were prepared, each with a different solid loading. All samples contain a single grade of carbonyl iron powder with an average particle diameter of 2 µm. The PFPE base fluid enhances sedimentation stability and its composition and qualities are introduced in the article. The magnetization characteristics of the iron powder and a fluid sample are measured. Its magnetic properties are compared to known models from the literature. The shear-yield stress in all fluid samples is investigated experimentally, as a function of solid loading and the magnetic flux density. The results are compared to established shear stress models for MR fluids. Model parameters are set to conform to the PFPE-based MR fluids. The PFPE-based MR fluids are shown to have a comparable shear-yield stress, when compared to commercially available MR fluids with a comparable particle loading and particle size. An application for the PFPE-based MR fluids is introduced. This application is an adaptive MR prosthetic knee, utilizing the fluid in shear mode.
An evolutionary behavioral model for decision making
Authors: Romero López Oscar Javier
Published: November 2011

For autonomous agents the problem of deciding what to do next becomes increasingly complex when acting in unpredictable and dynamic environments while pursuing multiple and possibly conflicting goals. One of the most relevant behavior-based models that tries to deal with this problem is the behavior network model proposed by Maes. This model proposes a set of behaviors as purposive perception–action units that are linked in a nonhierarchical network, and whose behavior selection process is orchestrated by spreading activation dynamics. In spite of being an adaptive model (in the sense of self-regulating its own behavior selection process), and despite the fact that several extensions have been proposed in order to improve the original model adaptability, there is not yet a robust model that can self-modify adaptively both the topological structure and the functional purpose of the network as a result of the interaction between the agent and its environment. Thus, this work proposes an innovative hybrid model driven by gene expression programming, which makes two main contributions: (1) given an initial set of meaningless and unconnected units, the evolutionary mechanism is able to build well-defined and robust behavior networks that are adapted and specialized to concrete internal agent’s needs and goals; and (2) the same evolutionary mechanism is able to assemble quite complex structures such as deliberative plans (which operate in the long-term) and problem-solving strategies. As a result, several properties of self-organization and adaptability emerged when the proposed model was tested in a robotic environment using a multi-agent platform.
Surveillance strategies according to the rate of growth of small abdominal aortic aneurysms
Authors: Badger Stephen A , Jones Claire , McClements Jane , Lau Louis L , Young Ian S , Patterson Christopher C
Published: November 2011

The management of small abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) is by ultrasound surveillance. The study aimed to calculate their growth rate, identify risk factors and determine appropriate screening intervals. The local screening programme and hospital records were used to identify patients with a small (< 5.5 cm) AAA. The dates and maximum diameter of serial scans of patients with two or more scans were obtained. Patients were subdivided by 0.5 cm increments above 3.0 cm. The rate of growth was calculated by linear regression for each patient using both the absolute measurements and logarithmically (ln) transformed measurements. The 95th centile of growth rate within each subgroup was used to estimate the minimum time to grow to 5.5 cm. A total of 252 were included. The mean (± SD) AAA size on the initial scan was 3.9 (± 0.7) cm. Statin use and initial size were predictive factors for the growth rate. The median rate of growth increased according to size from 0.075 to 0.432 cm/year for AAA < 3.5 cm and > 5.0 cm, respectively. It also steadily increased for ln measurements from 0.022 (or 2.2%/year) to 0.078 or (7.8%/year). The minimum time (months) to reach 5.5 cm was 61, 17, 11 and 5 for AAA < 3.5 cm, 3.5–3.9 cm, 4.0–4.4 cm and 4.5–4.9 cm, respectively. Based on ln measurements, the times were similar at 60, 17, 10 and 4 months. In conclusion, the rate of growth increased steadily with AAA size. An aneurysm < 3.5 cm does not require a repeat scan for 5 years, while those measuring 3.5–3.9 cm and 4.0–4.4 cm require a repeat scan after 17 and 11 months.
Gender differences in cholesterol-lowering medication prescribing in peripheral artery disease
Authors: McDermott Mary M , Greenland Philip , Reed George , Mazor Kathleen M , Merriam Philip A , Graff Rex , Tao Huimin , Pagoto Sherry , Manheim Larry , Kibbe Melina R , Ockene Ira S
Published: November 2011

Among 320 patients with lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels > 70 mg/dl, we determined whether male sex, higher education, and greater self-efficacy for willingness to request therapy from one’s physician were associated with increases in LDL-C-lowering medication and achievement of an LDL-C level < 70 mg/dl at 1-year follow-up. Participants were enrolled in a randomized controlled clinical trial to determine whether a telephone counseling intervention can help PAD patients achieve an LDL-C level < 70 mg/dl, compared to usual care and attention control conditions, respectively. Adjusting for age, race, comorbidities, PAD severity, and other covariates, male sex (odds ratio = 3.33, 95% confidence interval = 1.64 to 6.77, p = 0.001) was associated with a higher likelihood of adding cholesterol-lowering medication during follow-up, but was not associated with achieving an LDL-C < 70 mg/dl (odds ratio = 1.09, 95% confidence interval = 0.55 to 2.18). No associations of education level or self-efficacy with study outcomes were identified. In conclusion, male PAD patients with baseline LDL-C levels ≥ 70 mg/dl were more likely to intensify LDL-C-lowering medication during 1-year follow-up than female PAD patients. Despite greater increases in LDL-C-lowering medication among female PAD patients, there was no difference in the degree of LDL-C lowering during the study between men and women with PAD. Clinical Trial Registration – URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00217919
‘I remember thinking, why isn’t there someone to help me? Why isn’t there someone who can help me make sense of what I’m going through?’
Authors: Rogers Ruth
Published: November 2011

Recent years have seen a shift away from youth transitions being understood as a linear progression towards conventional goals. Instead, it is now argued that youth transitions tend to be highly chaotic, often involving non-linear and fragmented movement between dependence and independence. This article discusses how young people leaving the state care system are seldom afforded the luxury of a more gradual and non-linear transition. Instead, for them, the possibilities of adult futures remain marked by chronic and continuing exclusion as they move abruptly into ‘instant adulthood’, with no opportunity to return to the child welfare system should they find themselves unable to make it on their own. Drawing from findings of 30 in-depth interviews with young care leavers, social workers and further and higher education institutions in the UK, the article considers the experiences of young people leaving state care, including their perceived lack of ‘care’, and the importance they place on unconditional and emotional support and contact.
British international schools: The deployment and training of teaching assistants
Authors: Tarry Estelle
Published: November 2011

This article reports on research carried out on behalf of the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) as to the role and deployment of British international school teaching assistants. Through questionnaires and a follow up open discussion with headteachers from British international schools it was found that, due to the differing international contexts of the schools, teaching assistants had different training needs; training therefore needed to be flexible in its approach and access. Universally, however, the international headteachers wanted their teaching assistants to be able to support pupils by using intercultural learning and teaching strategies to promote a positive learning environment for diverse learners.
Force analysis of a sprint canoe blade
Authors: Morgoch D , Tullis S
Published: November 2011

The motion of a sprint canoe blade through the water is extrapolated from video analysis of the paddle handle motion and used to approximate the forces acting on the blade throughout a stroke. Frame analysis of the video provides the displacement of the blade, and consequently the water velocity and angle of attack at both the top and bottom of the blade. Based on a quasi-steady approach, the relative velocities and angles of attack are used to approximate the lift and drag forces acting on the blade, which are then decomposed into propulsive and vertical forces. Lift forces on the blade contribute significantly to both propulsive and vertical forces. The different flows and forces in the three phases of the stroke: catch, draw, and exit, can be seen. The end of the catch phase experiences large propulsive and small upward vertical forces. During the draw phase there is a strong propulsive force, with evidence of a double peak. The vertical force steadily declines and becomes negative as the horizontal angle becomes greater than 90°, and reaches large negative values at the end of the draw. During the exit phase both the propulsive and vertical forces approach zero.
Antifibrotic effects of curcumin are associated with overexpression of cathepsins K and L in bleomycin treated mice and human fibroblasts
Authors: Zhang Dongwei , Huang Chuangfang , Yang Changfu , Liu Renzuo J , Wang Jifeng , Niu Jianzhao , Brömme Dieter
Published: November 2011

Background

Lung fibrosis is characterized by fibroblast proliferation and the deposition of collagens. Curcumin, a polyphenol antioxidant from the spice tumeric, has been shown to effectively counteract fibroblast proliferation and reducing inflammation and fibrotic progression in animal models of bleomycin-induced lung injury. However, there is little mechanistic insight in the biological activity of curcumin. Here, we study the effects of curcumin on the expression and activity of cathepsins which have been implicated in the development of fibrotic lung diseases.

Methods

We investigated the effects of curcumin administration to bleomycin stimulated C57BL/6 mice and human fetal lung fibroblasts (HFL-1) on the expression of cathepsins K and L which have been implicated in matrix degradation, TGF-β1 modulation, and apoptosis. Lung tissues were evaluated for their contents of cathepsins K and L, collagen, and TGF-β1. HFL-1 cells were used to investigate the effects of curcumin and cathepsin inhibition on cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and the expression of cathepsins K and L and TGF-β1.

Results

Collagen deposition in lungs was decreased by 17-28% after curcumin treatment which was accompanied by increased expression levels of cathepsins L (25%-39%) and K (41%-76%) and a 30% decrease in TGF-β1 expression. Moreover, Tunel staining of lung tissue revealed a 33-41% increase in apoptotic cells after curcumin treatment. These in vivo data correlated well with data obtained from the human fibroblast line, HFL-1. Here, cathepsin K and L expression increased 190% and 240%, respectively, in the presence of curcumin and the expression of TGF-β1 decreased by 34%. Furthermore, curcumin significantly decreased cell proliferation and migration and increased the expression of surrogate markers of apoptosis. In contrast, these curcumin effects were partly reversed by a potent cathepsin inhibitor.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates that curcumin increases the expression of cathepsins K and L in lung which an effect on lung fibroblast cell behavior such as proliferation, migration and apoptosis rates and on the expression of TGF-β1 in mouse lung and HFL-1 cells. These results suggest that cathepsin-inducing drugs such as curcumin may be beneficial in the treatment of lung fibrosis.
Production of a reference transcriptome and transcriptomic database (PocilloporaBase) for the cauliflower coral, Pocillopora damicornis
Authors: Traylor-Knowles Nikki , Granger Brian R , Lubinski Tristan J , Parikh Jignesh R , Garamszegi Sara , Xia Yu , Marto Jarrod A , Kaufman Les , Finnerty John R
Published: November 2011

Background

Motivated by the precarious state of the world's coral reefs, there is currently a keen interest in coral transcriptomics. By identifying changes in coral gene expression that are triggered by particular environmental stressors, we can begin to characterize coral stress responses at the molecular level, which should lead to the development of more powerful diagnostic tools for evaluating the health of corals in the field. Furthermore, the identification of genetic variants that are more or less resilient in the face of particular stressors will help us to develop more reliable prognoses for particular coral populations. Toward this end, we performed deep mRNA sequencing of the cauliflower coral, Pocillopora damicornis, a geographically widespread Indo-Pacific species that exhibits a great diversity of colony forms and is able to thrive in habitats subject to a wide range of human impacts. Importantly, P. damicornis is particularly amenable to laboratory culture. We collected specimens from three geographically isolated Hawaiian populations subjected to qualitatively different levels of human impact. We isolated RNA from colony fragments ("nubbins") exposed to four environmental stressors (heat, desiccation, peroxide, and hypo-saline conditions) or control conditions. The RNA was pooled and sequenced using the 454 platform.

Description

Both the raw reads (n = 1, 116, 551) and the assembled contigs (n = 70, 786; mean length = 836 nucleotides) were deposited in a new publicly available relational database called PocilloporaBase http://www.PocilloporaBase.org. Using BLASTX, 47.2% of the contigs were found to match a sequence in the NCBI database at an E-value threshold of ≤.001; 93.6% of those contigs with matches in the NCBI database appear to be of metazoan origin and 2.3% bacterial origin, while most of the remaining 4.1% match to other eukaryotes, including algae and amoebae.

Conclusions

P. damicornis now joins the handful of coral species for which extensive transcriptomic data are publicly available. Through PocilloporaBase http://www.PocilloporaBase.org, one can obtain assembled contigs and raw reads and query the data according to a wide assortment of attributes including taxonomic origin, PFAM motif, KEGG pathway, and GO annotation.
Clinical characteristics and favorable long-term outcomes for patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: a retrospective single center study in China
Authors: Shu Xiao Ming , Lu Xin , Xie Yao , Wang Guo Chun
Published: November 2011

Background

Little is known about the clinical features and true survival risk factors in Chinese Han population. We conducted the current study to investigate the clinical features, long-term outcome and true potential indicators associated with mortality of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) in China.

Methods

We restrospectvely investigated 188 patients diagnosed with IIM at our hospital from January 1986 to April 2009. The primary outcome was determined with mortality. The secondary outcomes for survival patients were organ damage and disease activity, health status, and disability, which were assessed with Myositis Damage Index, Myositis Disease Activity Assessment Visual Analogue Scales, Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index, and the Modified Rankin Scale, respectively. Potential prognostic factors for mortality were analyzed with the multivariate Cox regression model.

Results

Mean age at disease onset was 43.8 ± 15.8 years and male to female ratio was 1:2.1 in this cohort. The 1-, 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year survival rates were 93.6%, 88.7%, 81%, 73.6% and 65.6%. The independent predicators for mortality were age at disease onset [hazard ratio (HR):1.05, 95% CI 1.02 - 1.08], presence of cancer (HR:3.68, 95%CI 1.39 - 9.74), and elevated IgA level at diagnosis (HR:2.80, 95% CI 1.16-6.74). At the end of the follow-up, 29 patients manifested drug withdrawal within an average 4.1 years (range 0.5-15.2 year), most patients (85.9%) had no disease activity and 130 patients (83.4%) had no disability.

Conclusions

The long-term outcomes of IIM patients in our cohort have improved dramatically. Those patients most likely to survive had a high chance of reaching stable disease status, and obtained long-term or possibly permanent remission to a large extent.
Cold-shock eliminates female nucleus in fertilized eggs to induce androgenesis in the loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus), a teleost fish
Authors: Morishima Kagayaki , Fujimoto Takafumi , Sato Mami , Kawae Ayako , Zhao Yan , Yamaha Etsuro , Arai Katsutoshi
Published: November 2011

Background

Androgenesis (all-male inheritance) is generally induced by means of irradiating the eggs to inactivate the maternal genome, followed by fertilization with normal sperm. In fish, the conventional technique for induced androgenesis has been applied for rapid fixation to traits, recovery of cryopreserved genotypes, sex-control, etc. A new method of androgenesis that eliminates the need to irradiate the egg was proposed using the loach, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (a teleost fish).

Results

When the eggs of wild-type females were fertilized with sperm of albino or orange phenotype males and cold-shocked at 0 to 3°C for 60 min duration just after fertilization, generally more than 30% (with a peak of 100%) of the hatched progeny were androgenotes. While a few of them were the normal diploid, most of them turned out to be abnormal haploid. All-male inheritance was verified by the expression of the recessive color trait (albino or orange) and microsatellite genotypes comprising only paternally derived alleles. Nuclear behavior after the cold-shock treatment was traced by microscopic observation of DAPI (4'6-diamidino-2-phenylindole)-stained samples and hematoxylin-eosin stained histological sections, and the extrusion of egg (maternal) nucleus was observed in eggs treated in the optimum timing.

Conclusion

In this paper, we demonstrate that cold-shock treatment (at 0 and 3°C) of loach eggs for 60 min just after fertilization successfully induces androgenetic haploid development. The most likely mechanism of cold-shock induced androgenesis is an elimination of the egg nucleus together along with the second polar body and subsequent development of a decondensed sperm nucleus or male pronucleus.
A novel esterase gene cloned from a metagenomic library from neritic sediments of the South China Sea
Authors: Peng Qing , Zhang Xue , Shang Meng , Wang Xu , Wang Guili , Li Bingxue , Guan Guohua , Li Ying , Wang Youshao
Published: November 2011

Background

Marine microbes are a large and diverse group, which are exposed to a wide variety of pressure, temperature, salinity, nutrient availability and other environmental conditions. They provide a huge potential source of novel enzymes with unique properties that may be useful in industry and biotechnology. To explore the lipolytic genetic resources in the South China Sea, 23 sediment samples were collected in the depth < 100 m marine areas.

Results

A metagenomic library of South China Sea sediments assemblage in plasmid vector containing about 194 Mb of community DNA was prepared. Screening of a part of the unamplified library resulted in isolation of 15 unique lipolytic clones with the ability to hydrolyze tributyrin. A positive recombinant clone (pNLE1), containing a novel esterase (Est_p1), was successfully expressed in E. coli and purified. In a series of assays, Est_p1 displayed maximal activity at pH 8.57, 40°C, with ρ-Nitrophenyl butyrate (C4) as substrate. Compared to other metagenomic esterases, Est_p1 played a notable role in specificity for substrate C4 (k
cat/K
m value 11,500 S-1m M-1) and showed no inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, suggested that the substrate binding pocket was suitable for substrate C4 and the serine active-site residue was buried at the bottom of substrate binding pocket which sheltered by a lid structure.

Conclusions

Esterase, which specificity towards short chain fatty acids, especially butanoic acid, is commercially available as potent flavoring tools. According the outstanding activity and specificity for substrate C4, Est_p1 has potential application in flavor industries requiring hydrolysis of short chain esters.
Gene-targeted embryonic stem cells: real-time PCR assay for estimation of the number of neomycin selection cassettes
Authors: Mancini Cecilia , Messana Erika , Turco Emilia , Brussino Alessandro , Brusco Alfredo
Published: November 2011

In the preparation of transgenic murine ES cells it is important to verify the construct has a single insertion, because an ectopic neomycin phosphortransferase positive selection cassette (NEO) may cause a position effect. During a recent work, where a knockin SCA28 mouse was prepared, we developed two assays based on Real-Time PCR using both SYBR Green and specific minor groove binder (MGB) probes to evaluate the copies of NEO using the comparative delta-delta Ct method versus the Rpp30 reference gene.

We compared the results from Southern blot, routinely used to quantify NEO copies, with the two Real-Time PCR assays. Twenty-two clones containing the single NEO copy showed values of 0.98 ± 0.24 (mean ± 2 S.D.), and were clearly distinguishable from clones with two or more NEO copies.

This method was found to be useful, easy, sensitive and fast and could substitute for the widely used, but laborious Southern blot method.
Molecular characterization of China rabies virus vaccine strain
Authors: Jiao Wenqiang , Yin Xiangping , Li Zhiyong , Lan Xi , Li Xuerui , Tian Xiaoting , Li Baoyu , Yang Bin , Zhang Yun , Liu Jixing
Published: November 2011

Background

Rabies virus (RV), the agent of rabies, can cause a severe encephalomyelitis in several species of mammals, including humans. As a human rabies vaccine strain employed in China, the genetic knowledge of the aG strain has not been fully studied. The main goal of the present study is to amplify the whole genome of aG strain, and genetic relationships between other vaccine strains and wild strains were analyzed.

Results

The entire genome of human rabies virus vaccine strain aG employed in China was sequenced; this is the second rabies virus vaccine strain from China to be fully characterized. The overall organization and the length of the genome were similar to that of other lyssaviruses. The length of aG strain was 11925nt, comprising a leader sequence of 58nt, nucleoprotein (N) gene of 1353nt, phosphoprotein (P) gene of 894 nt, matrix protein (M) gene of 609nt, glycoprotein (G) gene of 1575nt, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp,L) gene of 6384nt, and a trailer region of 70 nt. There was TGAAAAAAA (TGA7) consensus sequence in the end of each gene, except AGA7 at the end of G gene. There was AACAYYYCT consensus start signal at the beginning of each gene.

Conclusions

In this report, we analyzed the full genome of China human rabies vaccine strain aG. Our studies indicated that the genome of aG retained the basic characteristics of RV. At gene level, N was the most conserved among the five coding genes, indicating this gene is the most appropriate for quantitative genotype definition. The phylogenetic analysis of the N indicated the aG strain clustered most closely with Japanese and Russian rabies vaccine strains, suggesting that they may share the same ancestor; also, the aG strain did not share high homology with wild strains isolated from China, making it may not be the best vaccine strain, more research is needed to elucidate the genetic relationship among the RV circulating in China.
An efficient procedure for plant organellar genome assembly, based on whole genome data from the 454 GS FLX sequencing platform
Authors: Zhang Tongwu , Zhang Xiaowei , Hu Songnian , Yu Jun
Published: November 2011

Motivation

Complete organellar genome sequences (chloroplasts and mitochondria) provide valuable resources and information for studying plant molecular ecology and evolution. As high-throughput sequencing technology advances, it becomes the norm that a shotgun approach is used to obtain complete genome sequences. Therefore, to assemble organellar sequences from the whole genome, shotgun reads are inevitable. However, associated techniques are often cumbersome, time-consuming, and difficult, because true organellar DNA is difficult to separate efficiently from nuclear copies, which have been transferred to the nucleus through the course of evolution.

Results

We report a new, rapid procedure for plant chloroplast and mitochondrial genome sequencing and assembly using the Roche/454 GS FLX platform. Plant cells can contain multiple copies of the organellar genomes, and there is a significant correlation between the depth of sequence reads in contigs and the number of copies of the genome. Without isolating organellar DNA from the mixture of nuclear and organellar DNA for sequencing, we retrospectively extracted assembled contigs of either chloroplast or mitochondrial sequences from the whole genome shotgun data. Moreover, the contig connection graph property of Newbler (a platform-specific sequence assembler) ensures an efficient final assembly. Using this procedure, we assembled both chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes of a resurrection plant, Boea hygrometrica, with high fidelity. We also present information and a minimal sequence dataset as a reference for the assembly of other plant organellar genomes.
Serological testing of cattle experimentally infected with Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small Colony using four different tests reveals a variety of seroconversion patterns
Authors: Schubert Evelyn , Sachse Konrad , Jores Jörg , Heller Martin
Published: November 2011

Background

To study the specific antibody response to infection with Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Small Colony (MmmSC), the agent of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), we examined three panels of sera collected during three experimental infection trials in African cattle. The methods used included an in-house complement fixation test (CFT), a commercially available CFT, a competitive antibody ELISA (cELISA) and the immunoblotting test (IBT). In addition, lung tissue samples were examined by culture.

Results

A total of 89% (51/59) of all experimentally infected animals tested positive on at least one of the serological tests throughout the trial. The specific antibody titres to the MmmSC infection became positive first by CFT (6 to 9 days post infection [dpi]), followed by IBT (9 to 13 dpi) and cELISA (13 to 16 dpi). Individual animals were found to display remarkably distinct seroconversion patterns, which allowed their classification into i) early high responders, ii) late high responders, and iii) low responders. In accordance with other studies, none of the present serological tests was capable of detecting all CBPP infected animals.

Conclusion

Comparison of the assays' performance in terms of sensitivity and specificity raises serious questions as to their reliability for identification of infected individuals in the field. In view of these limitations, a combination of CFT and cELISA can markedly improve CBPP diagnosis at single-animal level.
Accountability and pediatric physician-researchers: are theoretical models compatible with Canadian lived experience?
Authors: Czoli Christine , Da Silva Michael , Zlotnik Shaul Randi , d'Agincourt-Canning Lori , Simpson Christy , Boydell Katherine , Rashkovan Natalie , Vanin Sharon
Published: November 2011

Physician-researchers are bound by professional obligations stemming from both the role of the physician and the role of the researcher. Currently, the dominant models for understanding the relationship between physician-researchers' clinical duties and research duties fit into three categories: the similarity position, the difference position and the middle ground. The law may be said to offer a fourth "model" that is independent from these three categories.

These models frame the expectations placed upon physician-researchers by colleagues, regulators, patients and research participants. This paper examines the extent to which the data from semi-structured interviews with 30 physician-researchers at three major pediatric hospitals in Canada reflect these traditional models. It seeks to determine the extent to which existing models align with the described lived experience of the pediatric physician-researchers interviewed.

Ultimately, we find that although some physician-researchers make references to something like the weak version of the similarity position, the pediatric-researchers interviewed in this study did not describe their dual roles in a way that tightly mirrors any of the existing theoretical frameworks. We thus conclude that either physician-researchers are in need of better training regarding the nature of the accountability relationships that flow from their dual roles or that models setting out these roles and relationships must be altered to better reflect what we can reasonably expect of physician-researchers in a real-world environment.
Aberrant septin 11 is associated with sporadic frontotemporal lobar degeneration
Authors: Gozal Yair M , Seyfried Nicholas T , Gearing Marla , Glass Jonathan D , Heilman Craig J , Wuu Joanne , Duong Duc M , Cheng Dongmei , Xia Qiangwei , Rees Howard D , Fritz Jason J , Cooper Deborah S , Peng Junmin , Levey Allan I , Lah James J
Published: November 2011

Background

Detergent-insoluble protein accumulation and aggregation in the brain is one of the pathological hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we describe the identification of septin 11 (SEPT11), an enriched component of detergent-resistant fractions in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-immunoreactive inclusions (FTLD-U), using large-scale unbiased proteomics approaches.

Results

We developed and applied orthogonal quantitative proteomic strategies for the unbiased identification of disease-associated proteins in FTLD-U. Using these approaches, we proteomically profiled detergent-insoluble protein extracts prepared from frontal cortex of FTLD-U cases, unaffected controls, or neurologic controls (i.e. Alzheimer's disease; AD). Among the proteins altered specifically in FTLD-U, we identified TAR DNA binding protein-43 (TDP-43), a known component of ubiquitinated inclusions. Moreover, we identified additional proteins enriched in detergent-resistant fractions in FTLD-U, and characterized one of them, SEPT11, in detail. Using independent highly sensitive targeted proteomics approaches, we confirmed the enrichment of SEPT11 in FTLD-U extracts. We further showed that SEPT11 is proteolytically cleaved into N-terminal fragments and, in addition to its prominent glial localization in normal brain, accumulates in thread-like pathology in affected cortex of FTLD-U patients.

Conclusions

The proteomic discovery of insoluble SEPT11 accumulation in FTLD-U, along with novel pathological associations, highlights a role for this cytoskeleton-associated protein in the pathogenesis of this complex disorder.
Pathway-based joint effects analysis of rare genetic variants using Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 exon sequence data
Authors: Hu Pingzhao , Xu Wei , Cheng Lu , Xing Xiang , Paterson Andrew D
Published: November 2011

Pathway-based analysis has been recently used in joint tests of association between disease and a group of common genetic variants. Here we explore this idea for the joint effects analysis of rare genetic variants and their association with quantitative traits and disease. We accumulate multiple rare minor alleles in a genetic risk score for each individual in a given pathway; this score is then used to assess association with quantitative phenotypes and disease. We demonstrate that this approach may be better than studying single rare variants or a gene risk score for identifying individuals with significantly greater risk.