bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Maternal mortality surveillance in Jamaica
Authors: McCaw‐Binns A. , Lindo J.L.M. , Lewis‐Bell K.N. , Ashley D.E.C.
Published: November 2007

Objectives

To assess factors associated with under‐reporting of maternal deaths from 1998, when maternal deaths became a Class I notifiable event in Jamaica and continuous maternal mortality surveillance was introduced, through 2003.

Methods

The number of deaths notified was compared with the number of independently identified deaths for each period and region studied, and key informants reported on their experience of the surveillance process.

Results

By 2000, approximately 80% of maternal deaths were reported, and was more consistent in 2 of the 4 regions. In these 2 regions someone was responsible for active surveillance and there was an established maternal mortality committee to review cases. Factors associated with nonreporting were no postmortem examination, death in the first trimester of pregnancy, and time interval between pregnancy termination and death. The surveillance staff requested guidelines on monitoring interregional transfers and technical assistance in developing action plans.

Conclusion

Active hospital surveillance must include all wards, including the emergency department. Community surveillance should include forensic pathologists. National leadership is needed to summarize trends, address policy, and provide technical assistance to the surveillance staff.
Effect of two doses of a mixture of soluble fibres on body weight and metabolic variables in overweight or obese patients: a randomised trial
Authors: Salas-Salvadó Jordi , Farrés Xavier , Luque Xavier , Narejos Silvia , Borrell Manel , Basora Josep , Anguera Anna , Torres Ferran , Bulló Mònica , Balanza Rafel ,   for the Fiber in Obesity-Study Group
Published: November 2007

The aim of the study was to compare the effect of the administration of a mixture of fibres on body weight-loss, satiety, lipid profile and glucose metabolism. We included 200 overweight or obese patients in a parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, who were randomised to receive, in the context of an energy-restricted diet for a period of 16 weeks, a mixed fibre dose (3 gPlantago ovatahusk and 1 g glucomannan) twice (b.i.d. group) or three times daily (t.i.d. group) or placebo. Weight change was the primary efficacy endpoint. Satiety, dietary compliance, lipid profile, glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were secondary endpoints. Weight loss tended to be higher after both doses of fibre ( − 4·52 (sd0·56) and − 4·60 (sd0·55) kg) than placebo ( − 0·79 (sd0·58) kg); the differences in changes between groups were not statistically significant. Postprandial satiety increased in both fibre groups compared to the placebo. The differences between groups in LDL-cholesterol levels were significant (P = 0·03), with greater reductions in the two fibre-supplemented groups ( − 0·38 (sd0·10) and − 0·24 (sd0·09) mmol/l in the b.i.d. and t.i.d. groupsv.− 0·06 (sd0·09) mmol/l in placebo group). A similar pattern was observed for changes in total cholesterol:HDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol:LDL-cholesterol ratios. Interventions were well tolerated and had no effects on HDL-cholesterol, glucose and insulin concentrations, glucose tolerance or high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. In conclusion, a 16-week dietary supplement of soluble fibre in overweight or obese patients was well tolerated, induced satiety and had beneficial effects on some CVD risk factors, the most important of which was a significant decrease in plasma LDL-cholesterol concentrations.
Return of the Perennial Question
Authors: Silverman Julian
Published: November 2007

Readers of the January issue of Tempo may have come across an article of mine: the first of a series of articles by various writers on some general themes of interest to contemporary musicians. But the version you will have seen represents an early stage in the formative process of the piece. This unique snapshot of the author at work represents a first hurried response to a letter from David Johnson in the October 2002 Tempo before (somewhat provisional) emendations/extensions were made in order to create a (short) article.
COMPOSER IN INTERVIEW: RONALD STEVENSON – A SCOT IN ‘EMERGENT AFRICA’
Authors: Walton Chris
Published: November 2007

The Scottish composer and pianist Ronald Stevenson, who celebrated his 75th birthday on 6 March of this year, is a man about whom it is difficult to remain objective. His Passacaglia on DSCH for piano solo, one of the longest single-movement works in the literature, has for some already gained near-legendary status. Yet Stevenson himself remains serenely, even ascetically unaware of both the adulation he induces in some and the bemusement that this in turn can cause in others – a quality that is not a little reminiscent of Busoni, the musician whom Stevenson probably admires the most, and whose music he probably knows as does no other. Stevenson himself readily acknowledges his admiration of others – it is part of his ‘human counterpoint’ of life. Percy Grainger and Hugh MacDiarmid are two further artists who act as centripetal forces in Stevenson's conversations. If there is something that was common to all three of these forbears, it was perhaps a striving to express in a single work of art a vast spectrum of human experience – one thinks of Busoni's Doktor Faust, MacDiarmid's Drunk Man or Grainger's Warriors. And yet, in his Passacaglia, Stevenson has arguably been as successful as any of them.
London, Barbican: Saariaho's ‘L'amour de loin’
Authors: Anderson Martin
Published: November 2007

Kaija Saariaho's opera L'amour de loin – her first – was completed in 2000 and given its first production at the Salzburg Festival that year; it toured to Paris in late 2001 and to Santa Fe in 2002; it has also been staged in Darmstadt. Its concert presentation at the Barbican on 21 November was thus the first performance without the support of stage business – and, not having seen those earlier productions, one wonders how it can have been staged at all: the work is a drama-less, interiorized dreamscape-cum-ritual which proceeds in the imaginations of its symbolic characters. Those are the troubadour Jaufré Rudel, Prince de Blaye (baritone – on this occasion Gerald Finley), whose idealized love Clémence, Princess of Tripoli (soprano – Dawn Upshaw) lives at a (literally) respectable distance, at the other end of the Mediterranean; the go-between is a pilgrim (mezzo soprano – Beth Clayton); male and female choruses, deployed separately and only intermittently, represent the outside world, their matter-of-factness contrasting with the high-flown unrealism of the principals.
Southwark Cathedral: a MacMillan première (and a CD round-up)
Authors: Anderson Martin
Published: November 2007

I am no believer in historical determinism, nor am I a Scottish (or any other kind of) nationalist, but the fact that The Sixteen should commission James MacMillan to set anew the text used by Robert Carver in his 19-part motet O bone Jesu brings a profound satisfaction. No one else could have tidied up five-centuries-old loose ends as he. Carver (c. 1487–1566) was part of the dizzyingly rich flourishing of Scottish culture in the early years of the 16th century – a Catholic culture, doused by the dour sincerity of the Reformation (the MacTaliban, if you wish). MacMillan, a dry-eyed member of Scotland's Catholic minority, is the first composer since those days whose combination of faith and accomplishment allows him to pick up the glove torn from Carver's hand. His O bone Jesu – given its first public airing by The Sixteen under their founder-conductor Harry Chistophers at Southwark Cathedral on 10 October, at the outset of a year-long tour that takes them round the British Isles and to North America – may not quite reach Carver's Olympian heights (no other Scottish composer has achieved commensurate greatness) but it exploits a striking range of emotional reference nonetheless.
In the Driving Seat: on the Reception of John Casken's Cello Concerto in Germany
Authors: Lack Graham
Published: November 2007

The composer himself relates how Heinrich Schiff had requested a ‘self-drive concerto’, one that combined the roles of soloist and conductor and in which a ‘sense of propulsion was provided by the orchestra's inner voice’. It has taken twelve years since the work's inception for John Casken's Cello Concerto to reach Munich, the southernmost major city in Germany. And it was Casken who conducted recently the Münchener Kammerorchester with the renowned Austrian soloist in the Herkulessaal here in the Bavarian capital. The world première was actually back in 1991 at the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival, with Schiff (to whom the work is dedicated) and the Northern Sinfonia delivering it with ‘exemplary and total allegiance’, according to one of Germany's more prestigious journals, Die Zeit. The work is ‘approachable’, this particular review continues; is cast in a musical language that ‘admits in its gestural directness highly expressive motifs and clear contours of tension’; manifests ‘expressive colour’; and gently queries the ‘depth of communication between soloist and orchestra’.
Lahti, Finland: Sibelius Discoveries
Authors: Anderson Martin
Published: November 2007

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Osmo Vänskä continue to throw new light on Sibelius. The latest discoveries came this autumn: two movements from a lost orchestral suite were given their first performances – as encores, on 19 and 20 September – during the Sibelius Festival in Lahti, now in its third year, and were ‘officially’ premièred on 24 October, when the first version of the tone poem The Oceanides was also given its first performance. The extent to which two works are intimately connected is surfacing in work undertaken by the British Sibelius expert Andrew Barnett, to whose researches this report is indebted.
Genetic variation in Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav.
Authors: Warwick S. I. , Gugel R. K. , Gómez-Campo C. , James T.
Published: November 2007

Eruca vesicariasubsp.sativa(syn.E. sativa) is a cruciferous vegetable and oilseed crop that is high in erucic acid. It occurs throughout the Mediterranean region and western Asia, and has been naturalized elsewhere as a crop/weed escape. It is closely related to subsp.vesicariaand subsp.pinnatifida, which are endemic to Spain and north-western Africa, respectively. This study evaluated patterns and levels of diversity in the three subspecies based on 234 amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), and evaluated agronomic and seed quality data in a field trial in western Canada. AFLP data revealed three main clusters: ‘Sativa’ (33 accessions of subsp.sativa), ‘Vesicaria’ (nine accessions of subsp.vesicaria) and a ‘Pinnatifida’ cluster (one accession of subsp.pinnatifidaand three Moroccan accessions of subsp.sativa). The Sativa cluster separated into Mediterranean and Asian groups, likely reflecting differences in origin (wild versus cultivated) or primary usage, vegetable versus seed oil. The origin of the introduced Mexican population was confirmed as subsp.sativa. The highest levels of diversity were found in the Sativa cluster (88% AFLP polymorphisms) and the least in the Vesicaria (56%) and Pinnatifida (39%) clusters. Extensive variation was observed among the 159 subsp.sativaaccessions evaluated in the field trial, and overall findings indicated a favourable agronomic potential.
Quantitative d-dimer levels and the extent of venous thromboembolism in CT angiography and lower limb ultrasonography
Authors: Hochuli  , Duewell  , Frauchiger
Published: November 2007

Background: We evaluated the diagnostic yield of multidetector-row CT angiography and determined the clot burden within pulmonary vasculature as a measure of pulmonary embolism (PE) severity at different d-dimer levels and pretest clinical probabilities. Patients and methods: 254 consecutive patients referred to CT pulmonary angiography for suspected PE after d-dimer testing were grouped into clinical probability classes using Wells’ score, and the frequency of PE was determined. A score representing clot burden within pulmonary vasculature was calculated from the number of obstructed segmental arteries in CT scans in a partly differing group of 96 PE positive patients. Results: The prevalence of PE increases with the d-dimer level (7% at d-dimer levels of 0.5–1 μg/ml, reaching 90% at d-dimer levels > 9 μg/ml; p < 0.001). D-dimer levels above 4 μg/ml are associated with a significantly higher clot burden in pulmonary arteries (median score 11 versus 5, and 53% versus 16% of patients in the subgroup with a score > 10 points; p < 0.001), and thrombus in a main pulmonary artery was detected more frequently (37% versus 9%, p = 0.003). Similar results were obtained for distal versus proximal deep venous thromboses, detected by ultrasonography of the lower limb in a separate group of 44 patients. Conclusions: High d-dimer levels are associated with an increased prevalence of CT radiographic findings indicating extended clinically severe PE or lower limb venous thrombosis.
Failed visualization of clot signal in cerebral venous thrombosis on initial MR imaging
Authors: Cioli  , von Stockhausen  , Jauss  , Siekmann  , Stolz
Published: November 2007

Currently, the combination of T1- and T2-weighted spin echo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences with MR venography is considered the best diagnostic tool for diagnosing cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), because they allow positive identification of the thrombotic clot along with the disturbed venous flow signal. We report two patients in whom initial MRI with the mentioned techniques did not show a clot signal. In both patients anticoagulation was started despit lacking proof of CVT by imaging and both patients improved. Only on repeated MRI sinus clot signal could be confirmed.
ASSOCIATION OF GOLGI MEMBRANES WITH LIPID DROPLETS (PRE‐CHYLOMICRONS) FROM WITHIN INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL CELLS DURINC ABSORPTION OF FAT
Authors: Redgrave TG
Published: November 2007

Intracellular lipid droplets (“pre‐chylomicrons”) have heen isolated from intestinal epitliclial cells of ruts which had heen fed fat. Techniques were used which prevented contamination hy chylomicrons or digestion products. The pre‐chylomicrons differed in composition from chyloimicrons in several ways. They contained more free fatty acid, more free cholesterol and more protein, and the phospholipid complement was different from chylomicrons.

The extra protein associated with pre‐chylomicrons was membranous; histocheinical, hiochemical and isotopic evidence indicated that it was derived from Golgi memhrane. It is proposed that the Golgi apparatus is concerned with transport of fat particles out of the absorptive cell to form chylomicrons in intestinal lymph.
RESISTANCE OF MICE TO EHRLICH ASCITES TUMOUR AFTER IMMUNISATION WITH LIVE SALMONELLA ENTERITIDIS 11RX
Authors: Hardy D , Kotlarski Ieva
Published: November 2007

Immunisation of mice with live Salmonella enteritidis 11RX produces increased resistance to challenge with Ehrlich ascites tumour cells from 4 to at least 60 days after immunisation. The increase in resistance persists after reticulo‐endothelial system activity, as measured by carbon clearance, has returned to normal.
VARIANTS IN HUMAN SERUM ALBUMIN AND CAERULOPLASMIN IN POPULATIONS FROM AUSTRALIA, NEW GUINEA, SOUTH AFRICA AND INDIA
Authors: McDermid EM
Published: November 2007

A survey of serum albumin and caeruloplasmin variants in populations of Australian Aborigines, Australian Caucasian, South African Bantu, Indians and New Cuinea indigenes has been carried out.

One serum albumin variant in 595 samples from New Cuinea was detected. The variant phenotype contained a band migrating more rapidly than normal phenotype but more slowly than the Albumin Naskapi. It is provisionally identified as Albumin New Cuinea in accordance with the usage of Weitkamp, Shreffler and Saave (1969). No serum albumin variants were found in the other populations sampled.

Caeruloplasmin variation was common amongst Bantu, rare amongst Aborigines and absent in Indians, Caucasians and New Guinea indigenes. The frequency of the CpA gene was 0·035 in Bantu and 0·002 in Aborigines.
THE EFFECTS OF SHAM SMOKING AND TOBACCO SMOKING ON HAND BLOOD FLOW
Authors: Ludbrook J , Vincent Annette H , Walsh JA
Published: November 2007

The changes in hand blood flow induced by sham smoking and tobacco smoking were studied in 15 normal subjects. The data were analysed by techniques that took full account of intra‐ and inter‐subject variance. A reduction of 16‐27% was observed during tobacco smoking, with little difference between an inhalation rate of one or three per minute. No significant fall in hand blood flow occurred during sham smoking. Similarly, a tachycardia was induced by tobacco smoking but not sham smoking. Our results indicate a specific effect of tobacco smoke even at the usual inhalation rate of one per minute.
FAILURE TO INDUCE AUTOIMMUNITY IN MICE WITH ENDOTOXIN
Authors: Cox KO , Keast D
Published: November 2007

Prolonged immunisation of mice with endotoxin‐coated syngeneic erythrocytes provoked strong immunity against endotoxin. Endotoxin‐coated, 51Cr‐labelled syngeneic erythrocytes were cleared faster in immunised mice compared with unimmunised mice. The clearance of allogeneic erythrocytes was unchanged. There was no autoimmune response against syngeneic erythrocytes as measured by direct Coombs’ tests and in vivo survival studies of 51Cr‐labelled erythrocytes.
AGE‐RELATED CHANGES IN THE INCORPORATION OF [14C]LEUCINE INTO MYOFIBRILLAR AND SARCOPLASMIC PROTEINS OF RED AND WHITE MUSCLES OF CHICKS
Authors: Narayanan N , Eapen Jacob
Published: November 2007

Studies on the incorporation of DL‐[1‐14C] leucine into myosin, total myofibrillar protein and total sarcoplasmic protein have shown agedependent alterations in the rate of synthesis of these proteins in red and white skeletal muscles of chicks. During the early phase of ex ovo development white muscle synthesizes significantly higher amounts of myofibrillar proteins, especially myosin, in comparison with red muscle. The rate of sarcoplasmic protein synthesis in red and white muscles one day after hatching is almost identical. The red muscle shows a markedly higher rate of sarcoplasmic protein synthesis from 10 days after hatching. The incorporation of amino acid into various protein fractions of both the muscle types decreases with advancing age. In adult chicks red muscle displays a higher ability to synthesize sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins.
A RECEPTOR ASSAY FOR SOMATOMEDIN‐LIKE ACTIVITY USING MULTIPLICATION‐STIMULATING ACTIVITY (MSA) AS RADIOLIGAND
Authors: Brinsmead MW , Liggins GC
Published: November 2007

Multiplication‐stimulating activity (MSA) in the medium of cultured rat liver cells was purified 120‐fold by chromatography on Dowex 50W and Sephadex G 50. MSA was labelled with 125I‐iodine and bound to a human placental membrane receptor. An assay for somatomedin‐like receptor activity (SmLRA) in unextracted serum was based on the displacement of 125I‐MSA from the placental receptor. The mean λ (precision) was 0·063, sensitivity was < 0·006 SmLRA units and interassay variation was 18%. The mean (± S.D.) SmLRA concentrations in 13 normal subjects, 7 growth hormone deficient patients and 8 patients with active acromegaly were 0·86 ± 0·19, 0·34 ± 0·08 and 2·34 ± 0·82 U/ml, respectively.

This assay may have potential clinical application in disorders of growth hormone secretion.
THE MUCOSA‐ASSOCIATED MICROFLORA OF THE RAT INTESTINE:
Authors: Phillips M , Lee Adrian , Leach WD
Published: November 2007

Specimens of intestinal mucosa of rats were examined closely to determine the distribution of the mucosa‐associated microbial flora. Six distinct zones were found along the length of the intestinal tract. The first zone, in the small intestine 50 cm or more from the ileocaecal junction, had no associated flora; however, each of the five other zones had different populations of microorganisms associated with the mucosa. Some of these organisms have not been reported previously. Treatment of rats with oral doses of the purgative magnesium sulphate resulted in dramatic changes in the distribution of these mucosa‐associated microorganisms. The normal flora of ileal and caecal crypts disappeared, while the organisms in colonic crypts were unchanged. Large numbers of mucosa‐associated bacteria appeared in the stools of treated animals.
The Spatial-Perceptual Design Space: A New Comprehension for Data Visualization
Authors: Rodrigues José Fernando , Traina Agma JM , de Oliveira Maria Cristina F. , Traina Caetano
Published: November 2007

We revisit the design space of visualizations aiming at identifying and relating its components. In this sense, we establish a model to examine the process through which visualizations become expressive for users. This model has lead us to a taxonomy oriented to the human visual perception. The essence of this taxonomy provides natural criteria in order to delineate a novel understanding for the design space of visualizations. From such understanding, we elaborate a model for generalized design. The model poses an intuitive comprehension for the visualization design space departing from fundamental pre-attentive stimuli and from perceptual phenomena. The paper is presented as a survey, its structure introduces an alternative conceptual organization for the space of techniques concerning visual analysis.
Pseudouridylation of helix 69 of 23S rRNA is necessary for an effective translation termination
Authors: Ejby Morten , Sørensen Michael A. , Pedersen Steen
Published: November 2007

Escherichia coli
strains with inactivated
rluD
genes were previously found to lack the conserved pseudouridines in helix 69 of 23S ribosomal RNA and to grow slowly. A suppressor mutant was isolated with a near normal growth rate that had changed the conserved Glu-172 codon to a Lys codon in
prfB
, encoding translation termination factor RF2. When nonsense suppression in strains with all combinations of
prfB
+
/
prfB

E172K

and
rluD
+
/
rluD::cat
was analyzed, misreading of all three stop codons as sense codons was found to be increased by
rluD
inactivation: Nonsense suppression was increased 2-fold at UAG codons, 9-fold at UAA, and 14-fold at UGA. The increased read-through at UGA corresponds to reading UGA as a sense codon in 30% of the cases. In contrast, the accuracy of reading sense codons appeared unaffected by loss of
rluD
. When the inactivated
rluD
gene was combined with the altered
prfB
, wild-type levels of termination were restored at UAA codons and termination was more efficient than wild type at UGA. These results strongly suggest that at least one of the helix 69 pseudouridines has a function in translation termination. To our knowledge, this is the first described function for a ribosomal RNA pseudouridine modification.
Symmetry, shape, and order
Authors: Trovato Antonio , Hoang Trinh Xuan , Banavar Jayanth R. , Maritan Amos
Published: November 2007

Packing problems have been of great interest in many diverse contexts for many centuries. The optimal packing of identical objects has been often invoked to understand the nature of low-temperature phases of matter. In celebrated work, Kepler conjectured that the densest packing of spheres is realized by stacking variants of the face-centered-cubic lattice and has a packing fraction of

π
/

(

3

2

)

∼
0.7405

. Much more recently, an unusually high-density packing of ≈0.770732 was achieved for congruent ellipsoids. Such studies are relevant for understanding the structure of crystals, glasses, the storage and jamming of granular materials, ceramics, and the assembly of viral capsid structures. Here, we carry out analytical studies of the stacking of close-packed planar layers of systems made up of truncated cones possessing uniaxial symmetry. We present examples of high-density packing whose order is characterized by a broken symmetry arising from the shape of the constituent objects. We find a biaxial arrangement of solid cones with a packing fraction of π/4. For truncated cones, there are two distinct regimes, characterized by different packing arrangements, depending on the ratio
c
of the base radii of the truncated cones with a transition at

c
*
=

2

−
1

.
A mathematical tool for exploring the dynamics of biological networks
Authors: Barbano Paolo E. , Spivak Marina , Flajolet Marc , Nairn Angus C. , Greengard Paul , Greengard Leslie
Published: November 2007

We have developed a mathematical approach to the study of dynamical biological networks, based on combining large-scale numerical simulation with nonlinear “dimensionality reduction” methods. Our work was motivated by an interest in the complex organization of the signaling cascade centered on the neuronal phosphoprotein DARPP-32 (
d
opamine- and c
A
MP-
r
egulated
p
hospho
p
rotein of molecular weight
32,000
). Our approach has allowed us to detect robust features of the system in the presence of noise. In particular, the global network topology serves to stabilize the net state of DARPP-32 phosphorylation in response to variation of the input levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate, despite significant perturbation to the concentrations and levels of activity of a number of intermediate chemical species. Further, our results suggest that the entire topology of the network is needed to impart this stability to one portion of the network at the expense of the rest. This could have significant implications for systems biology, in that large, complex pathways may have properties that are not easily replicated with simple modules.
Thrombospondins Use the VLDL Receptor and a Nonapoptotic Pathway to Inhibit Cell Division in Microvascular Endothelial Cells
Authors: Oganesian Anush , Armstrong Lucas C. , Migliorini Mary M. , Strickland Dudley K. , Bornstein Paul
Published: November 2007

TSPs 1 and 2 function as endogenous inhibitors of angiogenesis. Although thrombospondins (TSPs) have been shown to induce apoptosis in HMVECs, we reasoned that a homeostatic mechanism would also be needed to inhibit EC growth without causing cell death, e.g., in the maintenance of a normal vascular endothelium. HMVECs, cultured in low serum, responded to VEGF with an increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation that was inhibited by TSPs and was accompanied by decreases in the phosphorylation of Akt and MAPK, without an increase in apoptosis. RAP, an inhibitor of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) family of endocytic receptors, and blocking antibodies to VLDLR were as effective as TSPs in the inhibition of thymidine uptake in response to VEGF, and the effects of these agents were not additive. Supportive evidence for the role of the VLDLR in mediating this inhibition was provided by the demonstration of a high-affinity interaction between TSPs and the VLDLR. We propose that TSP1 and TSP2, together with the VLDLR, initiate a nonapoptotic pathway for maintenance of the normal adult vascular endothelium in a quiescent state, similar to that invoked for the regulation of mitogenesis by PDGF, but involving signaling via the VLDLR rather than LRP1.
Novel Ist1-Did2 Complex Functions at a Late Step in Multivesicular Body Sorting
Authors: Rue Sarah M. , Mattei Sara , Saksena Suraj , Emr Scott D.
Published: November 2007

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, integral plasma membrane proteins destined for degradation and certain vacuolar membrane proteins are sorted into the lumen of the vacuole via the multivesicular body (MVB) sorting pathway, which depends on the sequential action of three endosomal sorting complexes required for transport. Here, we report the characterization of a new positive modulator of MVB sorting, Ist1. We show that endosomal recruitment of Ist1 depends on ESCRT-III. Deletion of IST1 alone does not cause cargo-sorting defects. However, synthetic genetic analysis of double mutants of IST1 and positive modulators of MVB sorting showed that ist1Δ is synthetic with vta1Δ and vps60Δ, indicating that Ist1 is also a positive component of the MVB-sorting pathway. Moreover, this approach revealed that Ist1-Did2 and Vta1-Vps60 compose two functional units. Ist1-Did2 and Vta1-Vps60 form specific physical complexes, and, like Did2 and Vta1, Ist1 binds to the AAA-ATPase Vps4. We provide evidence that the ist1Δ mutation exhibits a synthetic interaction with mutations in VPS2 (DID4) that compromise the Vps2-Vps4 interaction. We propose a model in which the Ist1-Did2 and Vta1-Vps60 complexes independently modulate late steps in the MVB-sorting pathway.
Ist1 Regulates Vps4 Localization and Assembly
Authors: Dimaano Christian , Jones Charles B. , Hanono Abraham , Curtiss Matt , Babst Markus
Published: November 2007

The ESCRT protein complexes are recruited from the cytoplasm and assemble on the endosomal membrane into a protein network that functions in sorting of ubiquitinated transmembrane proteins into the multivesicular body (MVB) pathway. This transport pathway packages cargo proteins into vesicles that bud from the MVB limiting membrane into the lumen of the compartment and delivers these vesicles to the lysosome/vacuole for degradation. The dissociation of ESCRT machinery by the AAA-type ATPase Vps4 is a necessary late step in the formation of MVB vesicles. This ATP-consuming step is regulated by several Vps4-interacting proteins, including the newly identified regulator Ist1. Our data suggest that Ist1 has a dual role in the regulation of Vps4 activity: it localizes to the ESCRT machinery via Did2 where it positively regulates recruitment of Vps4 and it negatively regulates Vps4 by forming an Ist1-Vps4 heterodimer, in which Vps4 cannot bind to the ESCRT machinery. The activity of the MVB pathway might be in part determined by outcome of these two competing activities.
Data conflicts in fishery models: incorporating hydroacoustic data into the Prince William Sound Pacific herring assessment model
Authors: Hulson Peter-John F. , Miller Sara E. , Quinn Terrance J. , Marty Gary D. , Moffitt Steven D. , Funk Frederick
Published: November 2007

Hulson, P-J. F., Miller, S. E., Quinn, T. J. II, Marty, G. D., Moffitt, S. D., and Funk, F. 2008. Data conflicts in fishery models: incorporating hydroacoustic data into the Prince William Sound Pacific herring assessment model. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 25–43. Data conflicts present difficulties in running integrated assessment models as shown by the age-structured assessment (ASA) model for the Pacific herring population in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska. After the 1989 “Exxon Valdez” oil spill in PWS, the Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) ASA model indicated a significant decline in the population, starting in winter 1992. Back-calculated estimates from hydroacoustic abundance surveys that started in 1993 suggested that the ASA model overestimated herring biomass from 1990 to 1992 and that the population decline actually began in 1989. To expose data conflicts, we incorporated the hydroacoustic survey information with all available spawning population indices directly into the age-structured model. In this way, the substantial uncertainty about population parameters from 1989 to 1992 attributable to data conflicts was quantified. Consequently, the magnitude of declines for that period estimated from both linear and ASA models depend on the type of integrated datasets and weighting, particularly with indices of male spawners. Our view is that a major decline started in 1992 when disease affected a large population that was in weakened condition. Other views are consistent with the existing data too.
Comparison of lipooligosaccharide biosynthesis genes of Campylobacter jejuni strains with varying abilities to colonize the chicken gut and to invade Caco-2 cells
Authors: Müller Jens , Meyer Birgit , Hänel Ingrid , Hotzel Helmut
Published: November 2007

Campylobacter
jejuni strains develop a high variability of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) structures on the cell surface based on variations in the genetic content of the LOS biosynthesis locus. While the importance of these variations for ganglioside mimicry as a critical factor in the triggering of Guillain–Barré syndrome has already been shown, little work has been done on the investigation of LOS structures and their function in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal disease. In this study, the presence of several LOS genes in 40 C. jejuni strains with different abilities to colonize the chicken gut and to invade Caco-2 cells was investigated by PCR. Two genes, cgtB and wlaN, encoding putative β-1,3-galactosyltransferases were detected in most strongly invasive strains and rarely in non-invasive strains. A homopolymeric tract within the wlaN gene resulted in an intact gene product only in strongly invasive strains. The specific function of these genes during LOS biosynthesis is still unknown. cgtB and wlaN gene products are suggested to be involved in development of the colonization and invasion ability of C. jejuni. After a classification of the complete LOS loci, an association between a particular LOS class and colonization and invasion ability of the C. jejuni strain could not be detected. Lack of the pglB gene involved in protein glycosylation in one strain could be responsible for the weak colonization and invasion ability of this strain. There is some evidence that different genetic characteristics were responsible for strong or weak colonization and the invasion ability of C. jejuni strains.
A nuclear matrix attachment site in the 4q35 locus has an enhancer-blocking activity in vivo: Implications for the facio-scapulo-humeral dystrophy
Authors: Petrov Andrei , Allinne Jeanne , Pirozhkova Iryna , Laoudj Dalila , Lipinski Marc , Vassetzky Yegor S.
Published: November 2007

Facio-scapulo-humeral dystrophy (FSHD), a muscular hereditary disease with a prevalence of 1 in 20,000, is caused by a partial deletion of a subtelomeric repeat array on chromosome 4q. Earlier, we demonstrated the existence in the vicinity of the D4Z4 repeat of a nuclear matrix attachment site, FR-MAR, efficient in normal human myoblasts and nonmuscular human cells but much weaker in muscle cells from FSHD patients. We now report that the D4Z4 repeat contains an exceptionally strong transcriptional enhancer at its 5′-end. This enhancer up-regulates transcription from the promoter of the neighboring FRG1 gene. However, an enhancer blocking activity was found present in FR-MAR that in vitro could protect transcription from the enhancer activity of the D4Z4 array. In vivo, transcription from the FRG1 and FRG2 genes could be down- or up-regulated depending on whether or not FR-MAR is associated with the nuclear matrix. We propose a model for an etiological role of the delocalization of FR-MAR in the genesis of FSHD.
Adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease feel ambivalent towards their parents’ concern for them
Authors: Reichenberg Kjell , Lindfred Helene , Saalman Robert
Published: November 2007

This is a grounded theory study to identify concepts for describing how adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) respond to their parents’ concern for them. Ten adolescent boys and seven girls were interviewed. In the analysis four main categories emerged: ambivalence, ability/inability, compliance/resistance and trust/distrust. We found ambivalence to be the most distinctive theme to appear in the way in which these young people described how they felt about their parents’ response to their disease. The core category ambivalence was expressed as an oscillation between seeking close contact with one's parents or, sometimes, staving them off, one moment feeling anxiously dependent upon them or turning to them for protection and support and the next, trying to achieve a dialogue with them. The core category comprised three subcategories, ability/inability, compliance/resistance and trust/distrust. The clinical support for young individuals with IBD should include an awareness of the simultaneous existence of conflicting attitudes, reactions and emotions.
Aspects of spirituality concerning illness
Authors: René Van Leeuwen , Lucas J. Tiesinga , Henk Jochemasen , Doeke Post
Published: November 2007

The spiritual dimension of illness, health and care may be seen as a unique aspect in addition to the physical, mental and social dimension. This contribution describes experiences of patients, nurses and hospital chaplains in relation to the spiritual aspects of being ill. Qualitative research was performed with the design of a focus group study, consisting of 13 focus groups with a total of 67 participants. A purposive sample was used comprising patients, nurses and hospital chaplains working in oncology, cardiology and neurology in different institutions and regions in the Netherlands. The qualitative analysis consisted of open coding and the determining of topics, followed by the subsequent attachment of substantial dimensions and characteristic fragments. Data were analysed by using the computer program kwalitan. Spirituality play various roles in patients lives during their illness. There is a wide range of topics that may have an individual effect on patients. Despite differences in emphasis, the topics play a role in different patient categories. Although the spiritual topics seem to manifest themselves more clearly in long‐term care relationships, they may also play a role during brief admittance periods (such as treatment decisions). The spiritual topics that arise from this study offer caregivers a framework for signalling the spiritual needs of patients. The question is not whether spirituality is a relevant focus area in care, but how and to what degree it plays a role with individual patients. Follow up research should aim at further exploration of spiritual aspects in care, the relationship between spirituality and health and at effective training of caregivers.
Seasonal Variation and Trends in Heart Failure Morbidity and Mortality in a South American Community Hospital
Authors: Díaz Alejandro , Ferrante Daniel , Badra Raúl , Morales Ivana , Becerra Alberto , Varini Sergio , Nul Daniel , Grancelli Hugo , Doval Hernán
Published: November 2007

Circannual variation in cardiovascular events is well‐known. Seasonal variation (SV) in heart failure (HF) has been described in the Northern Hemisphere, but there is scarcity of data in South America. The goals of the present study were to (1) describe the SV of admissions and deaths for HF, and (2) describe trends in HF morbidity and mortality in a community hospital in Argentina from 1992 to 1999. The study sample included 6369 admissions. During this period, the number of HF admissions rose by 188% and the rate HF admissions/all admissions increased from 3.28% to 7.84%. In‐hospital mortality decreased from 21% to 13%. HF admissions followed a seasonal pattern with a winter‐spring predominance. Male and very old patients were the subgroups with the highest SV. The authors identified clear SV in HF deaths and admissions, which raises a different hypothesis about the rationale of HF admissions and provides information for the organization of care and resource allocation.
Anti‐neosporal IgG and IgE antibodies in Canine Neosporosis
Authors: Jesus E. E. V. , Almeida M. A. O. , Atta A. M.
Published: November 2007

Neospora caninum infection provokes neurological disorders, recurrent abortion and death in dogs and cattle. Dogs are both intermediate and definitive host of N. caninum. Thus, the development of sensitive and specific immunoassays to diagnose canine neosporosis is essential to control this disease. This work investigated serum anti‐neosporal IgG and IgE antibodies in 140 dogs represented by 30 healthy animals (group I), 11 dogs showing acute N. caninum infection (group II), 50 urban dogs with serological evidence of canine neosporosis in indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) (group III) and 49 urban dogs without clinical and laboratory evidences of neosporosis (group IV). Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western immunoblotting, both using a soluble N. caninum tachyzoite antigen (SNA), investigated these two isotypes of antibodies, while a Urea‐ELISA measured the avidity of the IgG antibodies. Anti‐Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies were also investigated in the animals. Anti‐neosporal IgG was found in all animals from groups II and III, whereas 32.7% (16/49) of dogs from group IV were reactive. IgG antibodies of low avidity were demonstrated in dogs from group II (median 35.3%), while animals from groups III and IV had IgG antibodies of high avidity (medians of 61.5% and 61.7% respectively). IgE antibodies were found in four (13.3%) and five (16.6%) dogs from groups III and IV respectively. Dogs presenting acute infection (group II) or chronic infection (group III) had IgG antibodies to several neosporal antigens, mainly of 29–30 and 35 kDa, while 13 of 16 dogs from group IV recognized antigens from 14 to 170 kDa. Antibodies to T. gondii were detected in 36 of 50 (72%) sera from group III and 25 of 49 (51%) sera from group IV. We concluded that IgG‐ELISA and Urea‐ELISA with SNA may substitute for IFAT in both laboratory routine and epidemiological studies of canine neosporosis.
A High-Frequency Secondary Event During the 2004 Parkfield Earthquake
Authors: Allmann Bettina P. , Shearer Peter M.
Published: November 2007

By using seismic records of the 2004 magnitude 6.0 Parkfield earthquake, we identified a burst of high-frequency seismic radiation that occurred about 13 kilometers northwest of the hypocenter and 5 seconds after rupture initiation. We imaged this event in three dimensions by using a waveform back-projection method, as well as by timing distinct arrivals visible on many of the seismograms. The high-frequency event is located near the south edge of a large slip patch seen in most seismic and geodetic inversions, indicating that slip may have grown abruptly at this point. The time history obtained from full-waveform back projection suggests a rupture velocity of 2.5 kilometers per second. Energy estimates for the subevent, together with long-period slip inversions, indicate a lower average stress drop for the northern part of the Parkfield earthquake compared with that for the region near its hypocenter, which is in agreement with stress-drop estimates obtained from small-magnitude aftershocks.
Time-Resolved Investigation of Coherently Controlled Electric Currents at a Metal Surface
Authors: Güdde J. , Rohleder M. , Meier T. , Koch S. W. , Höfer U.
Published: November 2007

Studies of current dynamics in solids have been hindered by insufficiently brief trigger signals and electronic detection speeds. By combining a coherent control scheme with photoelectron spectroscopy, we generated and detected lateral electron currents at a metal surface on a femtosecond time scale with a contact-free experimental setup. We used coherent optical excitation at the light frequencies ω
a
and ω
a
/2 to induce the current, whose direction was controlled by the relative phase between the phase-locked laser excitation pulses. Time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy afforded a direct image of the momentum distribution of the excited electrons as a function of time. For the first (
n
= 1) image-potential state of Cu(100), we found a decay time of 10 femtoseconds, attributable to electron scattering with steps and surface defects.
spa
Typing of
Staphylococcus aureus
as a Frontline Tool in Epidemiological Typing
Authors: Strommenger B. , Braulke C. , Heuck D. , Schmidt C. , Pasemann B. , Nübel U. , Witte W.
Published: November 2007

We determined the value of
spa
typing in combination with BURP (based upon repeat pattern) grouping analysis as a frontline tool in the epidemiological typing of
Staphylococcus aureus
, based on a random collection of 1,459 clinical isolates sent to the German Reference Centre for Staphylococci within a 6-month period. The application was found to be helpful for the classification of isolates into the particular clonal lineages currently prevalent in Germany. Due to its major advantages because of the ease of interpretation and the exchangeability of the results, the use of
spa
typing greatly simplifies communication between laboratories on both the national and the international levels. Thus, it is an excellent tool for national and international surveillance of
S. aureus
as well as for analysis of the short-term local epidemiology. However, to overcome the limitations of the BURP grouping method in terms of typing accuracy and discriminatory power, the results of the default BURP grouping method must be interpreted with caution. Additional markers, like staphylococcal chromosomal cassette
mec
, lineage-specific genes, or alternative DNA polymorphisms, are indispensable. They should be selected by dependence on the clonal lineage indicated by
spa
typing and subsequent BURP analysis as well as on the basis of the particular question to be addressed.
Induction of Heterosubtypic Immunity to Influenza Virus by Intranasal Immunization
Authors: Quan Fu-Shi , Compans Richard W. , Nguyen Huan H. , Kang Sang-Moo
Published: November 2007

Recovery from live influenza virus infection is known to induce heterosubtypic immunity. In contrast, immunity induced by inactivated vaccines is predominantly subtype specific. In this study, we investigated the heterosubtypic protective immunity induced by inactivated influenza virus. Intranasal immunization of mice with inactivated influenza virus A/PR8 (H1N1) provided complete protection against the homologous virus and a drift virus within the same subtype, A/WSN (H1N1), but not against the heterosubtypic virus A/Philippines (H3N2). However, coadministration of inactivated virus with cholera toxin as an adjuvant conferred complete heterosubtypic protection, without observed illness, even under conditions of CD4+or CD8+T-cell depletion. Analysis of immune correlates prior to challenge and postchallenge indicated that humoral immune responses with cross-neutralizing activity in lungs and in sera play a major role in conferring protective immunity against heterosubtypic challenge. This study has significant implications for developing broadly cross-reactive vaccines against newly emerging pathogenic influenza viruses.
Genetic Interactions between an Essential 3′
cis
-Acting RNA Pseudoknot, Replicase Gene Products, and the Extreme 3′ End of the Mouse Coronavirus Genome
Authors: Züst Roland , Miller Timothy B. , Goebel Scott J. , Thiel Volker , Masters Paul S.
Published: November 2007

The upstream end of the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the mouse hepatitis virus genome contains two essential and overlapping RNA secondary structures, a bulged stem-loop and a pseudoknot, which have been proposed to be elements of a molecular switch that is critical for viral RNA synthesis. It has previously been shown that a particular six-base insertion in loop 1 of the pseudoknot is extremely deleterious to the virus. We have now isolated multiple independent second-site revertants of the loop 1 insertion mutant, and we used reverse-genetics methods to confirm the identities of suppressor mutations that could compensate for the original insertion. The suppressors were localized to two separate regions of the genome. Members of one class of suppressor were mapped to the portions of gene 1 that encode nsp8 and nsp9, thereby providing the first evidence for specific interactions between coronavirus replicase gene products and a
cis
-acting genomic RNA element. The second class of suppressor was mapped to the extreme 3′ end of the genome, a result which pointed to the existence of a direct base-pairing interaction between loop 1 of the pseudoknot and the genomic terminus. The latter finding was strongly supported by phylogenetic evidence and by the construction of a deletion mutant that reduced the 3′ UTR to its minimal essential elements. Taken together, the interactions revealed by the two classes of suppressors suggest a model for the initiation of coronavirus negative-strand RNA synthesis.