bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase polymorphism and the relation between low level lead exposure and the Mini-Mental Status Examination in older men: the Normative Aging Study
Authors: Weuve J , Kelsey K T , Schwartz J , Bellinger D , Wright R O , Rajan P , Spiro A , Sparrow D , Aro A , Hu H
Published: June 2006

Objective:To determine whether a polymorphism the in δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) gene modifies the neurotoxicity of lead in older adults.

Methods:The authors studied men participating in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Normative Aging Study, assessing their recent exposure to lead by measuring blood lead (n = 915) at each triennial clinic visit, and, beginning in 1991, assessing their cumulative exposure by measuring lead levels in tibia (n = 722) and patella (n = 720), using K-shellxray fluorescence. Starting in 1993 and again at each triennial visit, the authors administered the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to assess their cognitive functioning. The relation of the lead biomarkers to MMSE score was evaluated and this association was compared among men who carried the variant allele,ALAD-2, versus men without the allele.

Results:Sixteen per cent of men carried theALAD-2allele. Median tibia and patella lead levels (first-third quartile) were 19 (13–28) and 27 (18–39) μg/g. Blood lead levels were consistent with non-occupational exposure: only 6% of men had levels ⩾10 μg/dl. In multivariable adjusted analyses, higher levels of blood lead were associated with poorer performance on the MMSE. This association was most pronounced amongALAD-2carriers, among whom a 3 μg/dl increment in blood lead (the interquartile range) was associated with a 0.26 point lower mean MMSE score (95% CI −0.54 to 0.01), compared with a 0.04 point lower score (95% CI −0.16 to 0.07) among non-carriers. The modest 0.22 point difference in these associations did not attain statistical significance, however (pinteraction = 0.13). The associations between bone lead levels and MMSE score did not vary byALAD-2status.

Conclusions:Although not statistically significant, these findings suggest thatALADgenotype may modify blood lead’s adverse association with cognition among older men who had community exposures to lead. However, despite a relatively large sample size and the use of sensitive methods for measuring lead burden, the evidence overall was fairly weak.
QUANTUM LOGIC GATES USING q-DEFORMED OSCILLATORS
Authors: GANGOPADHYAY DEBASHIS , ROY MAHENDRA NATH SINHA
Published: June 2006

We show that quantum logic gates, viz. the single qubit Hadamard and Phase Shift gates, can also be realized using q-deformed angular momentum states constructed via the Jordan–Schwinger mechanism with two q-deformed oscillators.
From Nuclear Transfer to Nuclear Reprogramming: The Reversal of Cell Differentiation
Authors: Gurdon J.B.
Published: June 2006

This is a personal historical account of events leading from the earliest success in vertebrate nuclear transfer to the current hope that nuclear reprogramming may facilitate cell replacement therapy. Early morphological evidence in Amphibia for the toti- or multipotentiality of some nuclei from differentiated cells first established the principle of the conservation of the genome during cell differentiation. Molecular markers show that many somatic cell nuclei are reprogrammed to an embryonic pattern of gene expression soon after nuclear transplantation to eggs. The germinal vesicles of oocytes in first meiotic prophase have a direct reprogramming activity on mammalian as well as amphibian nuclei and offer a route to identify nuclear reprogramming molecules. Amphibian eggs and oocytes have a truly remarkable ability to transcribe genes as DNA or nuclei, to translate mRNA, and to modify or localize proteins injected into them. The development of nuclear transplant embryos depends on the ability of cells to interpret small concentration changes of signal factors in the community effect and in morphogen gradients. Many difficulties in a career can be overcome by analyzing in increasing depth the same fundamentally interesting and important problem.
Phorbol ester treatment of human myometrial cells suppresses expression of oxytocin receptor through a mechanism that does not involve activator protein-1
Authors: Ball Allison , Wang Jing Wei , Wong Susan , Zielnik Barbara , Mitchell Jana , Wang Nanping , Stemerman Michael B. , Mitchell B. F.
Published: June 2006

Oxytocin (OT) is a potent uterine agonist. Its receptor (OTR) is a G protein-coupled receptor that is downregulated by prolonged exposure to OT. We hypothesized that activation of PKC mediated this OT-induced decrease in OTR expression. Diminished PKC activity in late pregnancy could underlie the increased expression of uterine OTR preceding labor onset. Using cell cultures of transformed human uterine myocytes, we determined the effects of PKC agonists and antagonists on the expression of OTR. We also explored the effects of overexpression of activator protein-1 (AP-1, a mediator of many PKC- and phorbol ester-induced effects) using adenoviral expression vectors for the AP-1 subunits c-Jun and c-Fos. Stimulation of PKC using the phorbol ester 12- O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate caused a rapid, significant (P ≤ 0.05) increase in c-Jun and c-Fos concentrations but a significant decrease in mRNA for OTR within 6 h followed by a significant decrease in OT binding by 24 h. Adenoviral infection of the cells with expression vectors for c-Jun and c-Fos increased the AP-1 subunits but had no effect on OTR expression. Furthermore, there were no changes in c-Fos or c-Jun levels in human intrauterine tissues around the time of labor onset, as measured by Western analyses. We conclude that phorbol ester treatment decreases OTR expression, likely through a mechanism that does not involve AP-1.
Activation of spinally projecting and nitrergic neurons in the PVN following heat exposure
Authors: Cham Joo Lee , Klein Rudi , Owens Neil C. , Mathai Michael , McKinley Michael , Badoer Emilio
Published: June 2006

The present study investigated the effect of acute thermal stimulation in conscious rats on the production of Fos, a marker of increased neuronal activity, in spinally projecting and nitrergic neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). The PVN contains a high concentration of nitrergic neurons, as well as neurons that project to the intermediolateral cell column (IML) of the spinal cord that can directly influence sympathetic nerve activity (SNA). During thermal stimulation, the PVN is activated, but it is unknown whether spinally projecting PVN neurons and the nitrergic neurons are involved. Compared with controls, rats exposed to an environmental temperature of 39°C for 1 h had a 10-fold increase in the number of cells producing Fos in the PVN (133 ± 23 vs. 1,336 ± 43, respectively, P < 0.0001). Of the spinally projecting neurons in the PVN of heated rats (98 ± 10), over 20% expressed Fos. Additionally, of the nitrergic neurons (NADPH-diaphorase positive) located in the parvocellular PVN (723 ± 17), ∼40% also expressed Fos ( P < 0.0001 compared with controls). Finally, there was a significant increase in the number of spinally projecting neurons in the PVN that were nitrergic and expressed Fos after heat exposure (12%) compared with controls (0.1%) ( P < 0.0001). These results suggest that spinally projecting and nitrergic neurons in the PVN may contribute to the central pathways activated by thermal stimulation.
Temporal Regulation of the Expression Locus of Homeostatic Plasticity
Authors: Wierenga Corette J. , Walsh Michael F. , Turrigiano Gina G.
Published: June 2006

Homeostatic plasticity of excitatory synapses plays an important role in stabilizing neuronal activity, but the mechanism of this form of plasticity is incompletely understood. In particular, whether the locus of expression is presynaptic or postsynaptic has been controversial. Here we show that the expression locus depends on the time neurons have spent in vitro. In visual cortical cultures ≤14 days in vitro (DIV), 2 days of TTX treatment induced an increase in miniature excitatory postsynaptic current (mEPSC) amplitude onto pyramidal neurons, without affecting mEPSC frequency. However, in cultures ≥18 DIV, the same TTX treatment induced a large increase in mEPSC frequency, whereas the amplitude effect was reduced. The increased mEPSC frequency was associated with an increased density of excitatory synapses and increased presynaptic vesicle release in response to electrical stimulation. This indicates a shift from a predominantly postsynaptic response to TTX in ≤14 DIV cultures, to a coordinated pre- and postsynaptic response in ≥18 DIV cultures. This shift was not specific for cortical cultures because a similar shift was observed in cultured hippocampal neurons. Culturing neurons from older animals showed that the timing of the switch depends on the time the neurons have spent in vitro, rather than their postnatal age. This temporal switch in expression locus can largely reconcile the contradictory literature on the expression locus of homeostatic excitatory synaptic plasticity in central neurons. Furthermore, our results raise the intriguing possibility that the expression mechanism of homeostatic plasticity can be tailored to the needs of the network during different stages of development or in response to different challenges to network function.
Diurnal Coupling in the Tropical Oceans of CCSM3
Authors: Danabasoglu Gokhan , Large William G. , Tribbia Joseph J. , Gent Peter R. , Briegleb Bruce P. , McWilliams James C.
Published: June 2006

New features that may affect the behavior of the upper ocean in the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) are described. In particular, the addition of an idealized diurnal cycle of solar forcing where the daily mean solar radiation received in each daily coupling interval is distributed over 12 daylight hours is evaluated. The motivation for this simple diurnal cycle is to improve the behavior of the upper ocean, relative to the constant forcing over each day of previous CCSM versions. Both 1- and 3-h coupling intervals are also considered as possible alternatives that explicitly resolve the diurnal cycle of solar forcing. The most prominent and robust effects of all these diurnal cycles are found in the tropical oceans, especially in the Pacific. Here, the mean equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) is warmed by as much as 1°C, in better agreement with observations, and the mean boundary layer depth is reduced. Simple rectification of the diurnal cycle explains about half of the shallowing, but less than 0.1°C of the warming. The atmospheric response to prescribed warm SST anomalies of about 1°C displays a very different heat flux signature. The implication, yet to be verified, is that large-scale air–sea coupling is a prime mechanism for amplifying the rectified, daily averaged SST signals seen by the atmosphere. Although the use of upper-layer temperature for SST in CCSM3 underestimates the diurnal cycle of SST, many of the essential characteristics of diurnal cycling within the equatorial ocean are reproduced, including boundary layer depth, currents, and the parameterized vertical heat and momentum fluxes associated with deep-cycle turbulence. The conclusion is that the implementation of an idealized diurnal cycle of solar forcing may make more frequent ocean coupling and its computational complications unnecessary as improvements to the air–sea coupling in CCSM3 continue. A caveat here is that more frequent ocean coupling tends to reduce the long-term cooling trends typical of CCSM3 by heating already too warm ocean depths, but longer integrations are needed to determine robust features. A clear result is that the absence of diurnal solar forcing of the ocean has several undesirable consequences in CCSM3, including too large ENSO variability, much too cold Pacific equatorial SST, and no deep-cycle turbulence.
The Community Land Model and Its Climate Statistics as a Component of the Community Climate System Model
Authors: Dickinson Robert E. , Oleson Keith W. , Bonan Gordon , Hoffman Forrest , Thornton Peter , Vertenstein Mariana , Yang Zong-Liang , Zeng Xubin
Published: June 2006

Several multidecadal simulations have been carried out with the new version of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM). This paper reports an analysis of the land component of these simulations. Global annual averages over land appear to be within the uncertainty of observational datasets, but the seasonal cycle over land of temperature and precipitation appears to be too weak. These departures from observations appear to be primarily a consequence of deficiencies in the simulation of the atmospheric model rather than of the land processes. High latitudes of northern winter are biased sufficiently warm to have a significant impact on the simulated value of global land temperature. The precipitation is approximately doubled from what it should be at some locations, and the snowpack and spring runoff are also excessive. The winter precipitation over Tibet is larger than observed. About two-thirds of this precipitation is sublimated during the winter, but what remains still produces a snowpack that is very large compared to that observed with correspondingly excessive spring runoff. A large cold anomaly over the Sahara Desert and Sahel also appears to be a consequence of a large anomaly in downward longwave radiation; low column water vapor appears to be most responsible. The modeled precipitation over the Amazon basin is low compared to that observed, the soil becomes too dry, and the temperature is too warm during the dry season.
Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene Climate in CCSM3
Authors: Otto-Bliesner Bette L. , Brady Esther C. , Clauzet Gabriel , Tomas Robert , Levis Samuel , Kothavala Zav
Published: June 2006

The climate sensitivity of the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) is studied for two past climate forcings, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the mid-Holocene. The LGM, approximately 21 000 yr ago, is a glacial period with large changes in the greenhouse gases, sea level, and ice sheets. The mid-Holocene, approximately 6000 yr ago, occurred during the current interglacial with primary changes in the seasonal solar irradiance.

The LGM CCSM3 simulation has a global cooling of 4.5°C compared to preindustrial (PI) conditions with amplification of this cooling at high latitudes and over the continental ice sheets present at LGM. Tropical sea surface temperature (SST) cools by 1.7°C and tropical land temperature cools by 2.6°C on average. Simulations with the CCSM3 slab ocean model suggest that about half of the global cooling is explained by the reduced LGM concentration of atmospheric CO2 (∼50% of present-day concentrations). There is an increase in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and Antarctic Bottom Water formation, and with increased ocean stratification, somewhat weaker and much shallower North Atlantic Deep Water. The mid-Holocene CCSM3 simulation has a global, annual cooling of less than 0.1°C compared to the PI simulation. Much larger and significant changes occur regionally and seasonally, including a more intense northern African summer monsoon, reduced Arctic sea ice in all months, and weaker ENSO variability.
Representation of Clouds and Precipitation Processes in the Community Atmosphere Model Version 3 (CAM3)
Authors: Boville Byron A. , Rasch Philip J. , Hack James J. , McCaa James R.
Published: June 2006

The parameterizations of clouds and precipitation processes have been revised considerably in the Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) compared to its predecessors, CAM2 and the Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3). The parameterizations in CAM3 are more realistic in their representation of processes affecting cloud liquid and ice particles and represent the linkages between processes more completely. This paper describes the changes to the representation of clouds in CAM3, including the partitioning of cloud water between liquid and ice phases, the determination of particle sizes and sedimentation rates, the phase and evaporation rate of precipitation, and the calculation of the cloud fraction.

Parameterization changes between CCM3 and CAM2 introduced a significant cold bias at the tropical tropopause, resulting in a dry bias for stratospheric water vapor. Tests of the sensitivity of the tropical temperature profile and the tropical tropopause temperature to individual process changes suggested that the radiative balance at the tropopause was altered by improvements in both clouds and relative humidity below. Radiative equilibrium calculations suggested that the cold bias could be removed by improving the representation of subvisible cirrus clouds. These results motivated the complete separation of the representation of liquid and ice cloud particles and an examination of the processes that determine their sources and sinks. As a result of these changes, the tropopause cold bias has been almost eliminated in CAM3.

The total cloud condensate variable, used in CAM2, has been separated into cloud liquid and cloud ice variables in CAM3. Both sedimentation and large-scale transport of the condensate variables are now included. Snowfall is computed explicitly and the latent heat of fusion has been included for all freezing and melting processes. Both deep and shallow convection parameterizations now detrain cloud condensate directly into the stratiform clouds instead of evaporating the detrained condensate into the environment. The convective parameterizations are not easily modified to include the latent heat of fusion. Therefore, the determination of the phase of convective precipitation, and of detrained condensate, is added as a separate step. Evaporation is included for sedimenting cloud particles and for all sources of precipitation.
Simulation of the Global Hydrological Cycle in the CCSM Community Atmosphere Model Version 3 (CAM3): Mean Features
Authors: Hack James J. , Caron Julie M. , Yeager Stephen G. , Oleson Keith W. , Holland Marika M. , Truesdale John E. , Rasch Philip J.
Published: June 2006

The seasonal and annual climatological behavior of selected components of the hydrological cycle are presented from coupled and uncoupled configurations of the atmospheric component of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3). The formulations of processes that play a role in the hydrological cycle are significantly more complex when compared with earlier versions of the atmospheric model. Major features of the simulated hydrological cycle are compared against available observational data, and the strengths and weaknesses are discussed in the context of specified sea surface temperature and fully coupled model simulations.

The magnitude of the CAM3 hydrological cycle is weaker than in earlier versions of the model, and is more consistent with observational estimates. Major features of the exchange of water with the surface, and the vertically integrated storage of water in the atmosphere, are generally well captured on seasonal and longer time scales. The water cycle response to ENSO events is also very realistic. The simulation, however, continues to exhibit a number of long-standing biases, such as a tendency to produce double ITCZ-like structures in the deep Tropics, and to overestimate precipitation rates poleward of the extratropical storm tracks. The lower-tropospheric dry bias, associated with the parameterized treatment of convection, also remains a simulation deficiency. Several of these biases are exacerbated when the atmosphere is coupled to fully interactive surface models, although the larger-scale behavior of the hydrological cycle remains nearly identical to simulations with prescribed distributions of sea surface temperature and sea ice.
The Influence of Sea Ice on Ocean Heat Uptake in Response to Increasing CO2
Authors: Bitz C. M. , Gent P. R. , Woodgate R. A. , Holland M. M. , Lindsay R.
Published: June 2006

Two significant changes in ocean heat uptake that occur in the vicinity of sea ice cover in response to increasing CO2 are investigated with Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3): a deep warming below ∼500 m and extending down several kilometers in the Southern Ocean and warming in a ∼200-m layer just below the surface in the Arctic Ocean. Ocean heat uptake caused by sea ice retreat is isolated by running the model with the sea ice albedo reduced artificially alone. This integration has a climate response with strong ocean heat uptake in the Southern Ocean and modest ocean heat uptake in the subsurface Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean warming results from enhanced ocean heat transport from the northern North Atlantic. At the time of CO2 doubling, about 1/3 of the heat transport anomaly results from advection of anomalously warm water and 2/3 results from strengthened inflow. At the same time the overturning circulation is strengthened in the northern North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Wind stress changes cannot explain the circulation changes, which instead appear related to strengthened convection along the Siberian shelves.

Deep ocean warming in the Southern Ocean is initiated by weakened convection, which is mainly a result of surface freshening through altered sea ice and ocean freshwater transport. Below about 500 m, changes in convection reduce the vertical and meridional temperature gradients in the Southern Ocean, which significantly reduce isopycnal diffusion of heat upward around Antarctica. The geometry of the sea ice cover and its influence on convection have a strong influence on ocean temperature gradients, making sea ice an important player in deep ocean heat uptake in the Southern Ocean.
Involvement of various hematopoietic-cell lineages by the JAK2V617F mutation in polycythemia vera
Authors: Ishii Takefumi , Bruno Edward , Hoffman Ronald , Xu Mingjiang
Published: June 2006

The JAK2V617F mutation has been shown to occur in the overwhelming majority of patients with polycythemia vera (PV). To study the role of the mutation in the excessive production of differentiated hematopoietic cells in PV, CD19+, CD3+, CD34+, CD33+, and glycophorin A+ cells and granulocytes were isolated from the peripheral blood (PB) of 8 patients with PV and 3 healthy donors mobilized with G-CSF, and the percentage of JAK2V617F mutant allele was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The JAK2V617F mutation was present in cells belonging to each of the myeloid lineages and was also present in B and T lymphocytes in a subpopulation of patients with PV. The proportion of hematopoietic cells expressing the JAK2V617F mutation decreased after differentiation of CD34+ cells in vitro in the presence of optimal concentrations of SCF, IL-3, IL-6, and Epo. These data suggest that the JAK2V617F mutation may not provide a proliferative and/or survival advantage for the abnormal PV clone. Although the JAK2V617F mutation plays an important role in the biologic origins of PV, it is likely not the sole event leading to PV.
Falls and consequent injuries in hospitalized patients: effects of an interdisciplinary falls prevention program
Authors: Schwendimann René , Bühler Hugo , De Geest Sabina , Milisen Koen
Published: June 2006

Background

Patient falls in hospitals are common and may lead to negative outcomes such as injuries, prolonged hospitalization and legal liability. Consequently, various hospital falls prevention programs have been implemented in the last decades. However, most of the programs had no sustained effects on falls reduction over extended periods of time.

Methods

This study used a serial survey design to examine in-patient fall rates and consequent injuries before and after the implementation of an interdisciplinary falls prevention program (IFP) in a 300-bed urban public hospital. The population under study included adult patients, hospitalized in the departments of internal medicine, geriatrics, and surgery. Administrative patient data and fall incident report data from 1999 to 2003 were examined and summarized using frequencies, proportions, means and standard deviations and were analyzed accordingly.

Results

A total of 34,972 hospitalized patients (mean age: 67.3, SD ± 19.3 years; female 53.6%, mean length of stay: 11.9 ± 13.2 days, mean nursing care time per day: 3.5 ± 1.4 hours) were observed during the study period. Overall, a total of 3,842 falls affected 2,512 (7.2%) of the hospitalized patients. From these falls, 2,552 (66.4%) were without injuries, while 1,142 (29.7%) falls resulted in minor injuries, and 148 (3.9%) falls resulted in major injuries. The overall fall rate in the hospitals' patient population was 8.9 falls per 1,000 patient days. The fall rates fluctuated slightly from 9.1 falls in 1999 to 8.6 falls in 2003. After the implementation of the IFP, in 2001 a slight decrease to 7.8 falls per 1,000 patient days was observed (p = 0.086). The annual proportion of minor and major injuries did not decrease after the implementation of the IFP. From 1999 to 2003, patient characteristics changed in terms of slight increases (female gender, age, consumed nursing care time) or decreases (length of hospital stay), as well as the prevalence of fall risk factors increased up to 46.8% in those patients who fell.

Conclusion

Following the implementation of an interdisciplinary falls prevention program, neither the frequencies of falls nor consequent injuries decreased substantially. Future studies need to incorporate strategies to maximize and evaluate ongoing adherence to interventions in hospital falls prevention programs.
CDDO-Imidazolide inhibits growth and survival of c-Myc-induced mouse B cell and plasma cell neoplasms
Authors: Han Seong-Su , Peng Liangping , Chung Seung-Tae , DuBois Wendy , Maeng Sung-Ho , Shaffer Arthur L , Sporn Michael B , Janz Siegfried
Published: June 2006

Background

Gene-targeted iMycEμmice that carry a His6-tagged mouseMyc(c-myc)cDNA,MycHis, just 5' of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain enhancer, Eμ, are prone to B cell and plasma cell neoplasms, such as lymphoblastic B-cell lymphoma (LBL) and plasmacytoma (PCT). Cell lines derived from Myc-induced neoplasms of this sort may provide a good model system for the design and testing of new approaches to prevent and treat MYC-driven B cell and plasma cell neoplasms in human beings. To test this hypothesis, we used the LBL-derived cell line, iMycEμ-1, and the newly established PCT-derived cell line, iMycEμ-2, to evaluate the growth inhibitory and death inducing potency of the cancer drug candidate, CDDO-imidazolide (CDDO-Im).

Methods

Morphological features and surface marker expression of iMycEμ-2 cells were evaluated using cytological methods and FACS, respectively. mRNA expression levels of the insertedMycHisand normalMycgenes were determined by allele-specific RT-PCR and qPCR. Myc protein was detected by immunoblotting. Cell cycle progression and apoptosis were analyzed by FACS. The expression of 384 "pathway" genes was assessed with the help of Superarray©cDNA macroarrays and verified, in part, by RT-PCR.

Results

Sub-micromolar concentrations of CDDO-Im caused growth arrest and apoptosis in iMycEμ-1 and iMycEμ-2 cells. CDDO-Im-dependent growth inhibition and apoptosis were associated in both cell lines with the up-regulation of 30 genes involved in apoptosis, cell cycling, NFκB signaling, and stress and toxicity responses. Strongly induced (≥10 fold) were genes encoding caspase 14, heme oxygenase 1 (Hmox1), flavin-containing monooxygenase 4 (Fmo4), and three members of the cytochrome P450 subfamily 2 of mixed-function oxygenases (Cyp2a4, Cyp2b9, Cyp2c29). CDDO-Im-dependent gene induction coincided with a decrease in Myc protein.

Conclusion

Growth arrest and killing of neoplastic mouse B cells and plasma cells by CDDO-Im, a closely related derivative of the synthetic triterpenoid 2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9-dien-28-oic acid, appears to be caused, in part, by drug-induced stress responses and reduction of Myc.
Analysis of airway secretions in a model of sulfur dioxide induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Authors: Wagner Ulrich , Staats Petra , Fehmann Hans-Christoph , Fischer Axel , Welte Tobias , Groneberg David A
Published: June 2006

Hypersecretion and chronic phlegm are major symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but animal models of COPD with a defined functional hypersecretion have not been established so far. To identify an animal model of combined morphological signs of airway inflammation and functional hypersecretion, rats were continuously exposed to different levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2, 5 ppm, 10 ppm, 20 ppm, 40 ppm, 80 ppm) for 3 (short-term) or 20–25 (long-term) days. Histology revealed a dose-dependent increase in edema formation and inflammatory cell infiltration in short-term-exposed animals. The submucosal edema was replaced by fibrosis after long-term-exposure. The basal secretory activity was only significantly increased in the 20 ppm group. Also, stimulated secretion was significantly increased only after exposure to 20 ppm. BrdU-assays and AgNOR-analysis demonstrated cellular metaplasia and glandular hypertrophy rather than hyperplasia as the underlying morphological correlate of the hypersecretion.

In summary, SO2-exposure can lead to characteristic airway remodeling and changes in mucus secretion in rats. As only long-term exposure to 20 ppm leads to a combination of hypersecretion and airway inflammation, only this mode of exposure should be used to mimic human COPD. Concentrations less or higher than 20 ppm or short term exposure do not induce the respiratory symptom of hypersecretion. The present model may be used to characterize the effects of new compounds on mucus secretion in the background of experimental COPD.
Impaired Sexual Activity in Male Adults with Partial Androgen Insensitivity
Authors: Bouvattier Claire , Mignot Brigitte , Lefèvre Hervé , Morel Yves , Bougnères Pierre
Published: June 2006

Context: Choosing the sex of rearing of an XY neonate with a major sexual ambiguity and a mutated androgen receptor remains one of the more difficult questions of neonatal endocrinology. A direct consequence of this choice is the accomplishment of sexual function in adulthood. There is very limited knowledge of the sexual performance of patients with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome.

Objective: The objective of this study is to describe physical acts of sexuality in partial androgen insensitivity syndrome patients reared as males.

Design: We were able to obtain factual information regarding the sexual activity of 15 adult patients who had been reared as males and followed at our institution since birth. We evaluated their sexual performance using two validated questionnaires (Golombok-Rust Inventory of Sexual Satisfaction and International Index of Erectile Dysfunction).

Results: We documented a major impairment of all parameters of sexual activity.

Conclusion: This long-term insight into the consequences of male sex assignment will have to be balanced by a study of the consequences of female sex assignment.
Recurrence of the R947X Mutation in Unrelated Families with Autosomal Dominant Pseudohypoaldosteronism Type 1: Evidence for a Mutational Hot Spot in the Mineralocorticoid Receptor Gene
Authors: Fernandes-Rosa Fabio L. , de Castro Margaret , Latronico Ana Claudia , Sippell Wolfgang G. , Riepe Felix G. , Antonini Sonir R.
Published: June 2006

Background: The renal form of pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1 (PHA1) is a rare disease characterized by congenital mineralocorticoid resistance of the kidney. Twenty-two different loss-of-function mutations in the mineralocorticoid receptor gene have been described in families with PHA1. These mutations were not recurrent and resulted in a large phenotypic variability.

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the recurrence of an inactivating mutation in the mineralocorticoid receptor gene in unrelated families with autosomal dominant PHA1.

Patients: Seventeen members from three unrelated families with autosomal dominant PHA1 were studied, including 11 affected patients with variable clinical manifestations. Fifty healthy subjects were used as controls.

Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted, and the entire coding region of the mineralocorticoid receptor gene was submitted to automatic sequencing. Four dinucleotide microsatellite markers spanning a region of 3.2 cM in the human mineralocorticoid receptor gene locus, and two intragenic polymorphisms were used for haplotype analysis.

Results: A heterozygous point mutation at codon 947 (c.2839C>T) changing arginine to stop codon (R947X) was found in the three families. Different haplotypes segregated with the R947X mutation in each family, demonstrating the absence of a founder effect for this mutation.

Conclusion: Codon 947 of the mineralocorticoid receptor is the first mutational hot spot for autosomal dominant PHA1.
The influence of creaky voice on formant frequency changes
Authors: Moosmüller Sylvia
Published: June 2006

When disguising their voice, women may tend to lower their fundamental frequency so as to imitate a male’s voice. This implies a lowered fundamental frequency on the one hand and the production of creaky voice or creak over large sequences on the other. For speaker identification which additionally relies on formant frequency comparison, it is therefore of interest if the production of creaky voice implies an additional modification of the vocal tract and consequently has an effect on formant frequencies. In the present study, the second and third formant of 750 creaky and modal vowels of five female and four male speakers were compared. As a main result, a sex-specific difference has been observed. Creaky vowels produced by women show a lower second formant as compared to the same vowels produced by the same speaker using modal phonation. Changes in the third formant during low creaky voice disguise by women and, more generally, the effect on male formant values, was found to be inconsistent.
Earwitness descriptions and speaker identification
Authors: Yarmey A. Daniel
Published: June 2006

Some 160 men and women selected from public locations agreed to participate in a voice identification experiment. Participants were instructed to listen carefully to the tape-recorded voice of a perpetrator committing a simulated armed robbery of a business establishment. Two minutes later they were asked to describe the voice characteristics of the perpetrator, to recall exactly what he said, and then attempt to identify the speaker from a six-person perpetrator-present or perpetrator-absent voice line-up. Half of the participants in each line-up heard a sample of identical phrases and the other half heard phrases non-identical to those used in the robbery. Accuracy of speaker identification was significantly better than chance; however, there were no significant differences in performance on either line-up as a function of the type of voice sample employed. The confidence-accuracy of identification correlation proved to be non-significant. No significant correlations were found between accuracy of speaker identification and completeness of voice descriptions, or speaker identification and percentage accuracy of recall of actual words used by the perpetrator, or speaker identification and percentage accuracy of recall of idea units contained in the perpetrator’s monologue. It was concluded that voice lineups should be constructed of non-identical phrases rather than the identical phrases reportedly used by the perpetrator.
Was the knowledge of the second language or the age difference the determining factor?
Authors: Sullivan Kirk P. H. , Kügler Frank
Published: June 2006

In a legal setting a witness may be asked to recognize a suspect based on a voice sample alone. Previous research has shown that knowledge of a language has an effect on an individual's ability to identify speakers. Recent research using a set of voice line-ups has demonstrated that there was no unambiguous improvement in the ability to recognize and identify speakers during the four years of BA (hons) Swedish study by British university students. This research, however, used a younger group of high school students as the control group of listeners with no knowledge of Swedish. This paper investigates, using the same methodology, whether the difference in this earlier study, between the control group and the three university groups was due to knowledge of Swedish or age. The results of this study show that knowledge of Swedish was the factor which resulted in the difference between the control group and the three experimental groups in the earlier study.
GSM interference cancellation for forensic audio: a report on work in progress
Authors: Harrison Philip
Published: June 2006

A central aspect of forensic phonetic casework concerns the transcription of noisy recordings. An increasing problem in this area of work is the contamination of recordings with interference caused by radio transmissions from GSM mobile phones. Transmitting phones emit short duration radio-frequency pulses at a rate of 217 Hz. The induced interference signal contains the 217 Hz fundamental and a large number of harmonics that overlap the frequency range of speech, and therefore severely degrade speech intelligibility. Listener fatigue is increased due to the harsh sound of theinterference, and overall the transcription of such audio samples is problematic. This paper describes the progressing development of a filter to assist the forensic phonetician in carrying out the transcription of such contaminated recordings
Style markers in authorship studies
Authors: McMenamin Gerald R.
Published: June 2006

The last issue of Forensic Linguistics presented two articles on stylemarker selection in studies of questioned authorship. The first paper (Chaski 2001) represents an interesting approach to marker selection, but two significant weaknesses detract from its purpose: it rejects virtually all previous work in stylistics, hundreds studies representing more than a century of work, as unscientific and irrelevant present forensic needs; and it is founded on a theoretical position that views linguistic variation as a feature of linguistic performance, thus missing the point of the inherent variability of language. The second paper (Grant and Baker 2001) hits the mark in three significant ways: it is a good review of the style-marker issue; it recognizes that authorship attribution must be based on an aggregate array of markers; and it describes the statistical and linguistic bases of Principal Component Analysis, a promising method for measuring the collective range of variation needed for authorship identification.
Forensic speaker identification based on spectral moments
Authors: Rodman R. , McAllister D. , Bitzer D. , Cepeda L. , Abbitt P.
Published: June 2006

A new method for doing text-independent speaker identification geared to forensic situations is presented. By analysing ‘isolexemic’ sequences, the method addresses the issues of very short criminal exemplars and the need for open-set identification. An algorithm is given that computes an average spectral shape of the speech to be analysed for each glottal pulse period. Each such spectrum is converted to a probability density function and the first moment (i.e. the mean) and the second moment about the mean (i.e. the variance) are computed. Sequences of moment values are used as the basis for extracting variables that discriminate among speakers. Ten variables are presented all of which have sufficiently high inter- to intraspeaker variation to be effective discriminators. A case study comprising a ten-speaker database, and ten unknown speakers, is presented. A discriminant analysis is performed and the statistical measurements that result suggest that the method is potentially effective. The report represents work in progress.
Obtaining reference material in a case with two unknown speakers: getting two suspects on speaking terms
Authors: Broeders A. P.A. , Cambier-Langeveld Tina , Vermeulen Jos
Published: June 2006

The case reported below involves the verification of the identity of two speakers who made a number of intercepted telephone calls with one another. Two men, one Dutch and one Irish, were suspected of making the calls, which they denied. At the request of the defence a Dutch Court of Appeal commissioned the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), the forensic science laboratory of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, to conduct a comparative speech examination or voice comparison to determine whether the suspects had been involved in the calls, as the police and the prosecution claimed.
Linguistics and the law: how knowledge of, or ignorance of, elementary linguistics may affect the dispensing of justice
Authors: Rodman Robert
Published: June 2006

Ignorance of elementary linguistic concepts may have a bearing on justice. This thesis is drawn from the conviction appeal of a Haitian-born American sentenced to prison for 12 years for dealing cocaine. The verdict was based in part on a surreptitious recording of the drug deal. Although the drug dealer on the tape spoke a dialect of American Black English, and the defendant speaks English with a Creole accent, the State persuaded the jury that the Haitian disguised his voice by purposefully dropping his accent. His ability to perform this feat was attributed in testimony to the fact that he had been an interpreter for the United States Army in Haiti, and was therefore a linguist, and therefore understood ‘sound change’, and therefore could disguise his voice by dropping his foreign accent. This absurd chain of non sequiturs, and the resulting miscarriage of justice, is the result of linguistic naivety and would not have occurred if the court knew that an interpreter is not necessarily a linguist, and that sound change refers to the historical development of languages.
Negotiating power at the bench: Informal talk in sidebar sessions
Authors: Gaines Philip
Published: June 2006

The sidebar, a conference between judge and attorney(s) out of the hearing of the jury, functions primarily as a venue for arguments about evidence admissibility in court. In the O. J. Simpson trial, there were approximately 600 sidebars. A striking characteristic of many of these conferences was the presence of a wide range of types of informal talk, including personal insults, joking, threats and compliments. Rather than seeing these departures from the official business of the courtroom as extraneous and irrelevant, this study suggests that attorneys use informal talk in sidebars strategically in order to gain advantage with the judge through profiling themselves as superior to their opponents and as sharing solidarity with the judge.
Forensic study of a case involving SMS text-to-speech conversion
Authors: Jessen Martin , Gfroerer Stefan , Köster Olaf
Published: June 2006

The process of decoding the content of a message involving Short Message-to-speech conversion is described in the form of a forensic case study. The intelligibility of the message was low, primarily due to the fact that the written input to the text-to-speech system was inTurkish although the system was designed for text-to-speech conversion in German. This created some form of synthesised Turkish with a German “accent”. It is shown how “spectrogram reading” can be employed in the task of deriving phonetic categories from the signal of the synthetic speech message. In order to obtain a maximally accurate estimate of the input typed by the sender, one disputed passage of the SMS-to-speech message was subjected to a simulation. It is described how a full match between the case material and the simulated passage was obtained, despite typographical errors and incorrect Turkish orthography on the part of the sender.
Identifying the source of critical details in confessions
Authors: Hill Martin D.
Published: June 2006

Interrogations leading to confessions can elicit both an admission of guilt and details to help validate the confession. Using a novel means of analysis, the interrogation was treated as a series of dynamic informational exchanges and the source of key details was identified. Questions and answers were classified according to the degree to which they provided information. Using a test case, in 212 of 340 questions the interrogators provided details to confirm or deny. In other questions, critical details were provided by the police without requesting confirmation. This pattern was reflected when the confession was divided into individual topics. None of the key, specific, verifiable details were provided by the confessor. This method of analysis is presented as a means of assessing the degree to which a confessor demonstrates guilty knowledge.
Strength of forensic speaker identification evidence: multispeaker formant- and cepstrum-based segmental discrimination with a Bayesian likelihood ratio as threshold
Authors: Rose Phil , Osanai Takashi , Kinoshita Yuko
Published: June 2006

A forensic-phonetic speaker identification experiment is described which tests to what extent same-speaker pairs from a 60 speaker Japanese data base can be discriminated from different-speaker pairs using a Bayesian likelihood ratio (LR) as discriminant function. Non-contemporaneous telephone recordings are used, with comparison based on mean values from three segments only: a nasal, a voiceless fricative, and a vowel. It is shown that discrimination using the LR-based distance is better than with a conventional distance, and that the cepstrum outperforms the formants. A LR for the test of 50 is obtained for formant-based discrimination, compared to c. 900 for the cepstrum, and the tests are thus shown to be capable of yielding a probative strength of support for the prosecution hypothesis that is conventionally quantified as ‘moderate’ for formants but ‘moderately strong’ for the cepstrum. Comparisons are made with results from similar experiments
Speaker-specific formant dynamics: An experiment on Australian English /aI/
Authors: McDougall Kirsty
Published: June 2006

Formant frequency dynamics are relevant to forensic speaker identification since they are determined by the shape and size of a speaker’s vocal tract and the way he or she configures the articulators for speech. This study investigates individual|differences in the formant dynamics of /aI/ produced by five male Australian English speakers, and the effects of changes in speaking rate and prosodic stress on these differences. F1, F2 and F3 frequencies are examined at equidistant time-normalized intervals through /aI/. At each measurement point a degree of speaker individuality is present, and speaker differentiation improves as increasing numbers of measurement points are considered in combination. Patterns of speaker-specific behaviour are generally consistent across different rate-stress conditions. Discriminant analyses based on predictors from all three formants yield classification rates of 88–95%, with nuclear-stressed /aI/ performing best. The findings suggest that further research to develop techniques for characterizing individual speakers using formant dynamics is warranted.
Enhancing Health and Emotion: Mindfulness as a Missing Link Between Cognitive Therapy and Positive Psychology
Authors: Hamilton Nancy A. , Kitzman Heather , Guyotte Stephanie
Published: June 2006

Mindfulness meditation is an increasingly popular intervention for the treatment of physical illnesses and psychological difficulties. Using intervention strategies with mechanisms familiar to cognitive behavioral therapists, the principles and practice of mindfulness meditation offer promise for promoting many of the most basic elements of positive psychology. It is proposed that mindfulness meditation promotes positive adjustment by strengthening metacognitive skills and by changing schemas related to emotion, health, and illness. Additionally, the benefits of yoga as a mindfulness practice are explored. Even though much empirical work is needed to determine the parameters of mindfulness meditation’s benefits, and the mechanisms by which it may achieve these benefits, theory and data thus far clearly suggest the promise of mindfulness as a link between positive psychology and cognitive behavioral therapies.