bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Purification, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of UDP-glucose:tetrahydrobiopterin α-glucosyltransferase (BGluT) from Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942
Authors: Killivalavan Asaithambi , Zhuang Ningning , Park Young Shik , Lee Kon Ho 
Published: January 2014

A UDP-glucose:tetrahydrobiopterin α-glucosyltransferase (BGluT) enzyme was discovered in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 which transfers a glucose moiety from UDP-glucose to tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). BGluT protein was overexpressed with selenomethionine labelling for structure determination by the multi-wavelength anomalous dispersion method. The BGluT protein was purified by nickel-affinity and size-exclusion chromatography. It was then crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method using a well solution consisting of 0.1 M bis-tris pH 5.5, 19%(w/v) polyethylene glycol 3350 with 4%(w/v) D(+)-galactose as an additive. X-ray diffraction data were collected to 1.99 Å resolution using a synchrotron-radiation source. The crystals belonged to the monoclinic space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 171.35, b = 77.99, c = 53.77 Å, β = 90.27°.
Purification, crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of Gan1D, a GH1 6-phospho-β-galactosidase fromGeobacillus stearothermophilusT1
Authors: Lansky Shifra , Zehavi Arie , Dann Roie , Dvir Hay , Belrhali Hassan , Shoham Yuval , Shoham Gil 
Published: January 2014

Geobacillus stearothermophilusT1 is a Gram-positive thermophilic soil bacterium that contains an extensive system for the utilization of plant cell-wall polysaccharides, including xylan, arabinan and galactan. The bacterium uses a number of extracellular enzymes that break down the high-molecular-weight polysaccharides into short oligosaccharides, which enter the cell and are further hydrolyzed into sugar monomers by dedicated intracellular glycoside hydrolases. The interest in the biochemical characterization and structural analysis of these proteins originates mainly from the wide range of their potential biotechnological applications. Studying the different hemicellulolytic utilization systems inG. stearothermophilusT1, a new galactan-utilization gene cluster was recently identified, which encodes a number of proteins, one of which is a GH1 putative 6-phospho-β-galactosidase (Gan1D). Gan1D has recently been cloned, overexpressed, purified and crystallized as part of its comprehensive structure–function study. The best crystals obtained for this enzyme belonged to the triclinic space groupP1, with average crystallographic unit-cell parameters ofa = 67.0,b= 78.1,c= 92.1 Å, α = 102.4, β = 93.5, γ = 91.7°. A full diffraction data set to 1.33 Å resolution has been collected for the wild-type enzyme, as measured from flash-cooled crystals at 100 K, using synchrotron radiation. These data are currently being used for the detailed three-dimensional crystal structure analysis of Gan1D.
The Ideology and Discourse of the English Defence League: ‘Not Racist, Not Violent, Just No Longer Silent’
Authors: Kassimeris George , Jackson Leonie 
Published: January 2014

Research Highlights and Abstract This is the first discursive study of the EDL's publicly available articles and gives an important insight into their ideology. The study problematises the EDL's claim to be an anti-racist human rights organisation and analyses EDL discourse as racial discourse, demonstrating that the apparent gulf between the group's ideological Islamophobia and their violent and intimidating street protests is largely illusory. Understanding Islamophobia as culturally racist and the EDL as a culturally racist organisation is important to deconstructing their claim that Islamophobia is a rational reaction to deviant Muslim presence in the UK. The key contribution is not only a deeper understanding of the group and why they have been so successful in mobilising a section of the public to demonstrate against Islam, but also how this discourse fits in to the larger public debate on Islam and Muslims in the UK. The English Defence League (EDL) emerged in 2009 and quickly became a major ‘anti-Islamist’ street protest movement, able to attract thousands to its national demonstrations. Despite the violence and anti-Muslim rhetoric associated with its protests, the group claims to be an anti-racist human rights organisation dedicated to protecting liberal freedoms. This article employs a critical methodology to address these claims, analysing EDL literature alongside strategies identified as typical of racist discourse construction. The representations, narratives and rhetorical strategies used by the group support the analysis of EDL Islamophobia as a form of cultural racism that constructs opposing ‘British’ and ‘Muslim’ subjects and functions to maintain traditional ethno-cultural dominance of the former over the latter.
Everyday moral reasoning in the governmentality of HIV risk
Authors: Cristian Rangel J. , Adam Barry D. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractDrawing on the sociology of morality, this article analyses the social contexts, discourses and ethno‐methods of everyday life that shape real‐world decisions of gay men around HIV prevention. Through an analysis of the predominant narratives in an online public forum created for an HIV prevention campaign, this article explores the ways in which homosexually active men engage in everyday moral reasoning and challenge a neoliberal moral order of risk and responsibility. The article concludes that gay and bisexual men engage in forms of practical morality with their sexual partners and imagine larger communities of interest, love, companionship and pleasure. At the same time, they draw heavily from discourses on individual and rational responsibility, as well as narratives of romance and community, that shape forms of moral selfhood. Risk management techniques that are grounded in notions of rational choice and that are insensitive to the emotional worlds that these men inhabit create situations of risk avoidance but also inadvertently open them to new forms of vulnerability.
Bridging the ideological space: A cross‐national analysis of the distance of party switching
Authors: Dassonneville Ruth , Dejaeghere Yves 
Published: January 2014

AbstractScholars have investigated the characteristics of volatile voters ever since the first voter surveys were carried out and they have paid specific attention to the role of political sophistication on vote switching. Nevertheless, the exact nature of this relationship is still unclear. With increasing volatility over the past decades this question has furthermore grown in relevance. Is the growing unpredictability of elections mostly driven by sophisticated voters making well‐considered choices or is the balance of power in the hands of unsophisticated ‘floating voters’? Several scholars have argued that even under conditions of increasing volatility switching is still mostly confined to changes to ideologically close parties. Most researchers, however, have used rather crude measures to investigate this ‘leap’ between parties. To advance research in this field, this article directly models the ideological distance bridged by volatile voters when investigating the link between political sophistication and volatility. This is done using Comparative Study of Electoral systems (CSES) data that encompass a broad sample of recent parliamentary elections worldwide. Results indicate that voters with an intermediate level of political knowledge are most likely to switch overall. When taking into account the ideological distance of party switching, however, the confining impact of political knowledge on the vote choices made is clearly dominant, resulting in a linear decrease of the distance bridged as voters become more knowledgeable.
A Glimpse Behind a Closed Door: The Long‐Term Investment Value of Buy‐Side Research and Its Effect on Fund Trades and Performance
Authors: REBELLO MICHAEL , WEI KELSEY D. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTWe examine proprietary research produced by buy‐side analysts working for a large fund management company. We find that the buy‐side research has investment value for a one‐year horizon, and the analysts producing this research exhibit differential ability that tends to persist over time. The buy‐side research strongly influences trades made by the company's funds, especially when it coveys information that is independent of the fund managers' own information, when it is produced by buy‐side analysts with good track records, and when the underlying stocks have little sell‐side coverage. The influence of sell‐side research is concentrated primarily in stocks not followed by buy‐side analysts and in funds with low overall buy‐side coverage. The company's funds that rely more heavily on buy‐side research generate superior performance.
Arthropods on plants in a fragmented Neotropical dry forest: A functional analysis of area loss and edge effects
Authors: González Ezequiel , Salvo Adriana , Valladares Graciela 
Published: January 2014

AbstractLoss and fragmentation of natural ecosystems are widely recognized as the most important threats to biodiversity conservation, with Neotropical dry forests among the most endangered ecosystems. Area and edge effects are major factors in fragmented landscapes. Here, we examine area and edge effects and their interaction, on ensembles of arthropods associated to native vegetation in a fragmented Chaco Serrano forest. We analyzed family richness and community composition of herbivores, predators, and parasitoids on three native plant species in 12 fragments of varying size and at edge/interior positions. We also looked for indicator families by using Indicator Species Analysis. Loss of family richness with the reduction of forest fragment area was observed for the three functional groups, with similar magnitude. Herbivores were richer at the edges without interaction between edge and area effects, whereas predators were not affected by edge/interior position and parasitoid richness showed an interaction between area and position, with a steeper area slope at the edges. Family composition of herbivore, predator, and parasitoid assemblages was also affected by forest area and/or edge/interior situation. We found three indicator families for large remnants and five for edges. Our results support the key role of forest area for conservation of arthropods taxonomic and functional diversity in a highly threatened region, and emphasize the need to understand the interactions between area and edge effects on such diversity.
Gelechiid fauna of Baengnyeongdo, Daecheongdo, and Yeonpyeongdo in the West Sea near North Korea, with description of two new species (Lepidoptera, Gelechioidea)
Authors: Bae Yang‐Seop , Lee Bong‐Woo , Park Kyu‐Tek 
Published: January 2014

AbstractIn the faunistic survey on three islands (Baengnyeongdo, Decheongdo, and Yeonpyeongdo) in the northern West Sea of the Korean Peninsula, 37 species of Gelechiidae (Gelechioidea) are recognized. Of them, Anarsia asymmetrodes Park, sp. nov. and Aristotelia nesiotatos Park, sp. nov. are described as new to science and Stenolechia kodamai Okada is reported for the first time in Korea.
Serum peptide mapping in gastric precancerous lesion and cancer
Authors: Li Peng , Ma Dan , Zhu Sheng Tao , Tang Xu Dong , Zhang Shu Tian 
Published: January 2014

ObjectiveTo construct and verify a diagnostic model using proteomic analysis of serum samples for identifying gastric precancerous lesions and gastric cancer (GC).MethodsThe serum samples from 25 patients with gastric precancerous lesions (chronic atrophic gastritis with mild to moderate dysplasia), 25 GC patients and 25 healthy controls were analyzed using matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF‐MS). Spectral peaks with significant difference among the groups were identified and used as a diagnostic model for detecting gastric precancerous lesions and GC. The serum peptide map model was validated using an independent sample set including 15 healthy volunteers, 15 precancerous and 15 GC patients.ResultsThe spectral peaks for the peptides with mass‐to‐charge (m/z) values of 1741 and 4210 were the most significantly different among the three groups. The sensitivity of this diagnostic model for detecting healthy controls, patients with gastric precancerous lesions and patients with GC was 80.0% (12/15), 66.7% (10/15) and 66.7% (10/15) respectively, while the specificity was 66.7% (20/30), 73.3% (22/30) and 73.3% (22/30), respectively.ConclusionOur diagnostic model is useful for diagnosing gastric precancerous lesions and GC.
Respiratory‐gated PET/CT versus delayed images for the quantitative evaluation of lower pulmonary and hepatic lesions
Authors: Tahari Abdel K , Lodge Martin A , Wahl Richard L 
Published: January 2014

AbstractPurposeRespiratory motion degrades fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) images of the lower chest and upper abdomen, as the blur introduced by breathing motion increases the apparent size of the moving tumour lesions and decreases their apparent uptake, reducing the sensitivity of PET in detection of small lesions. We assessed the role of delayed and respiratory‐gated PET acquisition in the quantitative evaluation of lung and liver lesions.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 64 lesions was performed. After initial non‐gated whole‐body PET/CT, respiratory gating was performed with 15 min in list mode. Non‐gated delayed images were obtained by summing all list mode data. SUVmax adjusted for lean body mass (SULmax) was measured in the initial whole‐body scan, the delayed non‐gated scans and the individual gated bins for each lesion. The axial z‐position of SULmax for each lesion in five respiratory‐gated bins was determined. The mean SUL of the non‐pathological liver parenchyma was also recorded for each patient.ResultsTumour lesion SULmax increased by an average of 34% in the delayed non‐gated scan as compared with the whole‐body initial scan and further by an additional 17.2% in respiratory‐gated images. The maximum lesion displacement was 6.2 ± 5.0 mm.ConclusionDelayed imaging alone substantially increases the magnitude of the SUL of liver and lung lesions as compared with standard whole‐body images and may allow for a more accurate definition of the lesion's volume and localisation and improve tracer quantitation in malignant lesions in the lungs or upper abdomen. While respiratory gating provides more optimal imaging with greatest increase in SULmax, the benefit is small, and delayed imaging appears sufficient in most cases.
Conserved genetic regions across angiosperms as tools to develop single‐copy nuclear markers in gymnosperms: an example using cycads
Authors: Salas‐Leiva Dayana E. , Meerow Alan W. , Francisco‐Ortega Javier , Calonje Michael , Griffith M. Patrick , Stevenson Dennis W. , Nakamura Kyoko 
Published: January 2014

AbstractSeveral individuals of the Caribbean Zamia clade and other cycad genera were used to identify single‐copy nuclear genes for phylogeographic and phylogenetic studies in Cycadales. Two strategies were employed to select target loci: (i) a tblastX search of Arabidopsis conserved ortholog sequence (COS) set and (ii) a tblastX search of Arabidopsis‐Populus‐Vitis‐Oryza Shared Single‐Copy genes (APVO SSC) against the EST Zamia databases in GenBank. From the first strategy, 30 loci were selected, and from the second, 16 loci. In both cases, the matching GenBank accessions of Zamia were used as a query for retrieving highly similar sequences from Cycas, Picea, Pinus species or Ginkgo biloba. After retrieving and aligning all the sequences in each locus, intron predictions were completed to assist in primer design. PCR was carried out in three rounds to detect paralogous loci. A total of 29 loci were successfully amplified as a single band of which 20 were likely single‐copy loci. These loci showed different diversity and divergence levels. A preliminary screening allowed us to select 8 promising loci (40S, ATG2, BG, GroES, GTP, LiSH, PEX4 and TR) for the Zamia pumila complex and 4 loci (COS26, GroES, GTP and HTS) for all other cycad genera.
Measuring telomere length and telomere dynamics in evolutionary biology and ecology
Authors: Nussey Daniel H. , Baird Duncan , Barrett Emma , Boner Winnie , Fairlie Jennifer , Gemmell Neil , Hartmann Nils , Horn Thorsten , Haussmann Mark , Olsson Mats , Turbill Chris , Verhulst Simon , Zahn Sandrine , Monaghan Pat 
Published: January 2014

Summary

Telomeres play a fundamental role in the protection of chromosomal DNA and in the regulation of cellular senescence. Recent work in human epidemiology and evolutionary ecology suggests adult telomere length (TL) may reflect past physiological stress and predict subsequent morbidity and mortality, independent of chronological age.

Several different methods have been developed to measure TL, each offering its own technical challenges. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of each method for researchers, with a particular focus on issues that are likely to face ecologists and evolutionary biologists collecting samples in the field or in organisms that may never have been studied in this context before.

We discuss the key issues to consider and wherever possible try to provide current consensus view regarding best practice with regard to sample collection and storage, DNA extraction and storage, and the five main methods currently available to measure TL.

Decisions regarding which tissues to sample, how to store them, how to extract DNA, and which TL measurement method to use cannot be prescribed, and are dependent on the biological question addressed and the constraints imposed by the study system. What is essential for future studies of telomere dynamics in evolution and ecology is that researchers publish full details of their methods and the quality control thresholds they employ.
RangeShifter: a platform for modelling spatial eco‐evolutionary dynamics and species' responses to environmental changes
Authors: Bocedi Greta , Palmer Stephen C.F. , Pe'er Guy , Heikkinen Risto K. , Matsinos Yiannis G. , Watts Kevin , Travis Justin M.J. 
Published: January 2014

Summary

Rapid environmental changes are threatening biodiversity and exposing species to novel ecological and evolutionary pressures. The scientific community increasingly recognizes the need for dynamic models integrating sufficient complexity both to improve our understanding of species' responses to environmental changes and to inform effective management strategies.

Using three illustrative examples, we introduce a novel modelling platform, RangeShifter, which integrates complex population dynamics and dispersal behaviour, includes plastic and evolutionary processes and simulates scenarios on spatially explicit landscapes. The software provides functionality for a wide variety of modelling applications ranging from applied questions, where it can be parameterized for real landscapes and species to compare alternative potential management interventions, to purely theoretical studies of species' eco‐evolutionary dynamics and responses to different environmental pressures.

RangeShifter provides an important tool for facilitating the advancement of ecological theory on species' spatial dynamics in response to environmental changes, and linking it directly to application in biodiversity conservation.
Norwegian survival prediction model in trauma: modelling effects of anatomic injury, acute physiology, age, and co‐morbidity
Authors: JONES J. M. , SKAGA N. O. , SØVIK S. , LOSSIUS H. M. , EKEN T. 
Published: January 2014

IntroductionAnatomic injury, physiological derangement, age, and injury mechanism are well‐founded predictors of trauma outcome. We aimed to develop and validate the first Scandinavian survival prediction model for trauma.MethodsEligible were patients admitted to Oslo University Hospital Ullevål within 24 h after injury with Injury Severity Score ≥ 10, proximal penetrating injuries or received by a trauma team. The derivation dataset comprised 5363 patients (August 2000 to July 2006); the validation dataset comprised 2517 patients (August 2006 to July 2008). Exclusion because of missing data was < 1%. Outcome was 30‐day mortality. Logistic regression analysis incorporated fractional polynomial modelling and interaction effects. Model validation included a calibration plot, Hosmer–Lemeshow test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.ResultsThe new survival prediction model included the anatomic New Injury Severity Score (NISS), Triage Revised Trauma Score (T‐RTS, comprising Glascow Coma Scale score, respiratory rate, and systolic blood pressure), age, pre‐injury co‐morbidity scored according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status Classification System (ASA‐PS), and an interaction term. Fractional polynomial analysis supported treating NISS and T‐RTS as linear functions and age as cubic. Model discrimination between survivors and non‐survivors was excellent. Area (95% confidence interval) under the ROC curve was 0.966 (0.959–0.972) in the derivation and 0.946 (0.930–0.962) in the validation dataset. Overall, low mortality and skewed survival probability distribution invalidated model calibration using the Hosmer–Lemeshow test.ConclusionsThe Norwegian survival prediction model in trauma (NORMIT) is a promising alternative to existing prediction models. External validation of the model in other trauma populations is warranted.
Certification and Neoliberal Governance: Moral Economies of Fair Trade in the Eastern Caribbean
Authors: Moberg Mark 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTMany consumers and food‐justice activists regard Fair Trade as a moral alternative to markets dominated by corporate agribusiness. Fair Trade frames producer–consumer relationships in the language of reciprocity and justice rather than the impersonal logic of the market. Despite its moral economy discourse, the movement embodies neoliberal assumptions that regulation and development should occur through the realm of consumer choice rather than state intervention. To receive the higher prices that Fair Trade promises, farmers are subject to certification processes that heavily regulate their planting practices and development priorities. Here I explore the contrasting views of economic morality held by Fair Trade organizations and Caribbean banana farmers. Farmers do not view Fair Trade in terms of the lofty values of social justice and reciprocity animating the movement's discourse. Rather, they operate with a working definition of economic morality similar to those elucidated by E. P. Thompson, James Scott, Marc Edelman, and others who have examined peasant and worker responses to injustice. From farmers’ points of view, compliance with Fair Trade certification should at least enable them to persist in agriculture. As Fair Trade prices have fallen while surveillance of their working lives has increased, many regard this notion of economic morality as increasingly violated.