bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Molecular analysis of two closely related mouse aldehyde dehydrogenase genes: identification of a role for Aldh1, but not Aldh-pb, in the biosynthesis of retinoic acid
Authors: HSU Lily C. , CHANG Wen-Chung , HOFFMANN Ines , DUESTER Gregg 
Published: August 2015

Mammalian class I aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH1) has been implicated as a retinal dehydrogenase in the biosynthesis of retinoic acid, a modulator of gene expression and cell differentiation. As the first step towards studying the regulation of ALDH1 and its physiological role in the biosynthesis of retinoic acid, mouse ALDH1 cDNA and genomic clones have been characterized. During the cloning process, an additional closely related gene was also isolated and named Aldh-pb, owing to its high amino acid sequence identity (92%) with the rat phenobarbitol-inducible ALDH protein (ALDH-PB). Aldh1 spans about 45 kb in length, whereas Aldh-pb spans about 35 kb. Both genes are composed of 13 exons, and the positions of all the exon/intron boundaries are conserved with those of human ALDH1. The promoter regions of Aldh1 and Aldh-pb demonstrate high sequence similarity with those of human ALDH1 and rat ALDH-PB. Expression of Aldh1 and Aldh-pb is tissue-specific, with mRNAs for both genes being found in the liver, lung and testis, but not in the heart, spleen or muscle. Expression of Aldh-pb, but not Aldh1, was also detected at high levels in the kidney. Aldh1 and Aldh-pb encode proteins of 501 amino acids with 90% positional identity. To examine the relative roles of these two enzymes in retinoic acid synthesis in vivo, Xenopus embryos were injected with mRNAs encoding these enzymes to assay the effect on conversion of endogenous retinal into retinoic acid. Injection of ALDH1, but not ALDH-PB, mRNA stimulated retinoic acid synthesis in Xenopus embryos at the blastula stage. Thus our results indicate that Aldh1 can function in retinoic acid synthesis under physiological conditions, but that the closely related Aldh-pb does not share this property.
Hospitality studies: escaping the tyranny?
Authors: Lashley Conrad 
Published: August 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore current strands in hospitality management education and research, and suggest that future programs should reflect a more social science informed content.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper reviews current research in hospitality management education and in the study of hospitality and hospitableness. It is, therefore, essentially a literature review, but founded on a variety of research insights gained by the author.

Findings
– Some have argued that the hospitality management education is currently dominated by the tyranny of relevance. Yet, the study of hospitableness in wider social settings has much to offer to both students and their future employers. This paper suggests there is need to allow for more flexibility in the curriculum so as to be less concerned with immediate relevance of content and more concerned with developing graduates who are critical and analytical thinkers.

Research limitations/implications
– It is not founded on primary research per se, but reflects upon a number of formal studies about the nature of the field, the preferred learning styles of students and nature of hospitableness.

Originality/value
– The paper suggests changes to the current curriculum that may, or may not, result in name changes to programs studying hospitality and preparing the sector’s future management personnel.
Multiple environmental drivers structure plant traits at the community level in a pyrogenic ecosystem
Authors: Ames Gregory M. , Anderson Steven M. , Wright Justin P. 
Published: August 2015

SummaryTrait‐based approaches offer a way to predict changes in community structure along environmental gradients using measurable properties of individuals. Promoted as being generalizable across systems, trait‐based approaches benefit from information about the environmental drivers of trait variation, how they interact and how they change with scale. However, for most diverse, natural communities, it is largely unknown whether the relationships between leaf‐level traits and interacting environmental drivers (e.g. fire, water availability) are influenced by the scale of trait aggregation.We show that landscape‐level differences in community composition in a diverse, fire‐dependent pine savanna are explained by a small subset of species groups that are strongly correlated with soil moisture and elevation, but are insensitive to the time since the last fire.We used a trait‐based approach to show that significant variation in the community‐weighted mean (CWM) of specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC), two traits known to drive community structure and function, was explained by a small set of factors including the time since the last fire, soil moisture, precipitation and Shannon diversity.We show that statistical inference about the environmental drivers of community traits is radically altered when using CWMs computed with landscape‐level rather than plot‐level means, even over modest spatial scales.Synthesis: Environmental drivers of community composition across the landscape differed from those explaining trait composition. CWM traits were strongly influenced by interactions between drivers. Fire, in particular, strongly mediated the effect of other environmental variables on LDMC, showing that strong environmental gradients cannot be considered independently when assessing their effects on functional traits. The importance of environmental variables such as fire was lost when using landscape‐level trait means, highlighting the importance of local trait variation. This suggests caution when using traits from distant populations to make inferences about local processes, especially across strong gradients.
Ambient temperature, body condition and sibling rivalry explain feather corticosterone levels in developing black kites
Authors: López‐Jiménez Lidia , Blas Julio , Tanferna Alessandro , Cabezas Sonia , Marchant Tracy , Hiraldo Fernando , Sergio Fabrizio 
Published: August 2015

Summary

In birds, the steroid hormone corticosterone (CORT) is considered a major mediator in a number of physiological mechanisms and behaviours critical for the regulation of an organism's energy balance. However, the question of whether the way in which circulating plasma CORT is incorporated into feathers actually reflects this regulation, and consequently whether feather CORT (CORT‐F) measures allow to make inferences on past levels of energetic demands (also known as the allostatic load), remains unclear. While previous studies have yielded promising results, the technique still wants further study and validation in a wider range of bird species, across life‐history stages and under different ecological situations.

Here, we tested whether CORT‐F levels in a sample of 427 nestling black kites (Milvus migrans) reflected interindividual variation in a number of environmental, social and physiological variables known to elevate allostatic load during development.

We found that nestlings exposed to low ambient temperatures exhibited high CORT‐F, suggesting that feathers registered the expected rise in circulating CORT levels inducing thermogenesis in response to cold stress.

CORT‐F was also negatively related to body condition, supporting the notion that allostasis becomes less affordable as energy stores become depleted.

Finally, CORT‐F also reflected brood hierarchy rank, with subordinate chicks exhibiting the highest levels, followed by first‐hatched (dominant) chicks and lastly singleton nestlings. Moreover, CORT‐F levels in nestlings from multiple‐chick broods (but not in singletons) declined with age, mirroring the dynamics of establishment and stabilization of sibling hierarchies in black kites.

Altogether, our results underscore the potential of using CORT‐F to infer allostatic load in wild avian populations and their potential power as indicator tools in conservation biology.
Immunosenescence and the ability to survive bacterial infection in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum
Authors: Khan Imroze , Prakash Arun , Agashe Deepa 
Published: August 2015

Summary

In most animals, ageing is associated with a decline in immune function (immune senescence). However, different components of the immune system seem to age differentially, and many studies do not measure the ultimate fitness consequences of immune function after infection. Previous work shows that immune function may be traded off with other fitness components such as reproduction. It is possible that age alters the nature of these trade‐offs, particularly in conjunction with factors such as gender and mating that can also affect investment in immune function.

We tested the impact of age, sex and mating on post‐infection survivorship in Tribolium castaneum flour beetles, as well as the components of baseline constitutive innate immunity and external (secreted) immune function in uninfected individuals. We also tested whether the reproductive ability of uninfected females is traded off with immune function (baseline innate and external immunity) and post‐infection survivorship across age groups.

We found that age, sex and mating significantly affected immune components and infection outcome, although the magnitude and nature of the impact varied in each case. We found that older beetles were more susceptible to infection by the pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis even though major components of the constitutive innate immune defence (antibacterial and phenoloxidase activity) remained unchanged or improved with age. Thus, these aspects of innate immunity cannot explain the observed decline in post‐infection survival of older beetles. We did not find trade‐offs between the reproductive ability of uninfected females and their immune function. In contrast to innate immunity, external immunity showed an overall decline with age but was also affected by sex and mating. Finally, we show that bacterial infection alters external immunity via complex interactions between age, sex and mating status.

Our work uncovers novel interactions between age, sex and mating that can determine the evolution and outcome of immunosenescence by affecting the time course of relative investment in different immune and fitness components.
Establishing the Limits of TrueAllele® Casework: A Validation Study
Authors: Greenspoon Susan A. , Schiermeier‐Wood Lisa , Jenkins Brad C. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractThe limits of the expert system, TrueAllele® Casework (TA), were explored using challenging mock casework profiles that included 17 single‐source and 18 two‐, 15 three‐ and 7 four‐person DNA mixtures. The sensitivity (ability to detect a minor contributor) of the TA analysis process was examined by challenging the system with mixture DNA samples that exhibited allelic and locus dropout and other stochastic effects. The specificity (ability to exclude nondonors) was rigorously tested by interrogating TA derived genotypes with 100 nondonor profiles. The accuracy with which TA estimated mixture weights of contributors to the two‐person mixtures was examined. Finally, first‐degree relatives of donors were used to assess the ability of the system to exclude close relatives. TA demonstrated great accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. TA correctly assigned mixture weights and excluded nearly all first‐degree relatives. This study demonstrates the analysis power of the TrueAllele® Casework system.
The Use of Femoral Neck Axis Length to Estimate Sex and Ancestry
Authors: Meeusen Rebecca A. , Christensen Angi M. , Hefner Joseph T. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractHaving multiple reliable methods of estimating sex and ancestry from various skeletal features increases the likelihood of identifying skeletal remains. Femoral neck axis length (FNAL), as measured in living individuals, has been shown to vary by sex and ancestry. FNAL has not, however, been previously measured directly from skeletonized remains and investigated for its potential use in forensic anthropological applications. This research proposes a method for measuring FNAL from skeletal remains, determines the reliability and repeatability of the measurement, and assesses the validity of FNAL in sex and ancestry estimation. Results showed low interobserver error in the measurement of FNAL (TEM = 0.33 mm, R = 0.99). Significant differences in FNAL were found between sexes as well as between American Black, American White, and Native American groups. FNAL can correctly classify sex in ~86% of all cases and is considered valuable to sex estimation. The value of FNAL to ancestry estimation, however, is considered limited.
Adult Behcet's disease in Iran: analysis of 6075 patients
Authors: Davatchi Fereydoun , Chams‐Davatchi Cheyda , Shams Hormoz , Nadji Abdolhadi , Faezi Tahereh , Akhlaghi Massoomeh , Sadeghi Abdollahi Bahar , Ashofteh Farimah , Ghodsi Zahra , Mohtasham Negin , Shahram Farhad 
Published: August 2015

AbstractIntroductionThis is an analysis of adult Behcet's disease (BD) in Iran, from the Iran Registry of 7187 BD patients, gathered from 1975 to 2014, among which 6075 were adults (84.5%).PatientsPatients were seen by a multidisciplinary team of experts. The diagnosis was by expert opinion, not by any specific classification/diagnosis criteria. However, 96.8% of them were classified by the International Criteria for Behcet's Disease (ICBD). Adult BDs were patients who had their first manifestation at the age of 16 or later.ResultsMales constituted 56% (male/female ratio 1.3/1). The mean age at onset was 28.3 ± 8.7, mean duration 10.8 ± 8.2, and mean follow‐up 5.0 ± 6.3. Oral aphthosis was seen in 97.5%, genital aphthosis 65.7%, skin manifestations 64.6% (pseudofolliculitis 53.2%, erythema nodosum 23.9%), ocular manifestations 58.1% (anterior uveitis 41.1%, posterior uveitis 45%, retinal vasculitis 33.6%, cataract 24.4%), joint manifestations 39.4% (arthralgia 18.9%, monoarthritis 9.1%, oligoarthritis 17.8%, ankyloing spondylitis 2%), gastrointestinal manifestations 7% (gastroduodenitis 2.3%, peptic ulcer 1.2%, diarrhea 2.1%, rectorrhagia 1.0%, abdominal pain‐nausea 1.8%), neurological manifestations 10.6% (central 3.7%, peripheral 0.3%, headache 7.6%), vessel involvement (large vessel 1.7% with large vein thrombosis 1.1% and arterial involvement 0.7%, phlebitis 6.6%, superficial phlebitis 2.3%), epididymitis 4.6%, pulmonary manifestations 1% and cardiac manifestations 0.6%. Positive pathergy test was seen in 52.3%, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐B5 in 54%, HLA‐B51 in 48.9%, and high erythrocyte sedimentation rate in 52.8% of patients. By International Study Group (ISG) criteria 77.9% were classified, compared to ICBD revised criteria with 96.9%. The specificity of ISG was 99.2% and ICBD 97.2%.ConclusionResults are near the nationwide surveys from Japan, China, Korea and Germany.
hemX is required for production of 2‐ketogluconate, the predominant organic anion required for inorganic phosphate solubilization by Burkholderia sp. Ha185
Authors: Hsu Pei‐Chun Lisa , Condron Leo , O'Callaghan Maureen , Hurst Mark R. H. 
Published: August 2015

SummaryThe bacterium Burkholderia sp. Ha185 readily solubilizes inorganic phosphate by releasing the low molecular weight organic anion, 2‐ketogluconate. Using random transposon mutagenesis and in silico analysis, a mutation that caused almost complete abolition of phosphate solubilization was located within hemX, which is part of the hem operon. Burkholderia sp. Ha185 HemX is a multidomain protein, predicted to encode a bifunctional uroporphyrinogen‐III synthetase/uroporphyrin‐III C‐methyltransferase, which has not previously been implicated in phosphate solubilization. Complementation of hemX restored the ability of the mutant to solubilize phosphate in both plate and liquid cultures. Based on a combination of organic‐anion profiling, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and in silico analyses, hemX was confirmed to be solely responsible for hydroxyapatite solubilization in Burkholderia sp. Ha185. It is proposed that the biosynthesis of a yet to be determined redox cofactor by HemX is the main pathway for generating 2‐ketogluconate via a haem‐dependent gluconate 2‐dehydrogenase in Burkholderia sp. Ha185.
Oral antineoplastic agents: how do we care about adherence?
Authors: Barillet Marie , Prevost Virginie , Joly Florence , Clarisse Bénédicte 
Published: August 2015

AimsOral therapies, including hormone‐based or targeted therapies, have recently taken an increasing place in cancer treatment. In this context, a state of the art of the available studies dealing with the adherence of adult patients to oral anticancer treatment is warranted. The purpose of this review is to address (i) the association between assessment methods and measured adherence, (ii) the putative factors related to adherence and (iii) new ways of improving adherence to oral cancer therapies.MethodsWe conducted a literature‐based narrative review of studies obtained from Pubmed using medical subject heading terms and free‐text terms combining concepts related to oral anticancer medication and adherence.ResultsThe analysis is based on 48 studies published since 1990, mostly assessing hormone‐based therapy in breast cancer and targeted therapies in chronic myeloid leukaemia. Various methods of adherence were reported including self‐report, medication measurement or combinations of methods. Adherence rates were found to vary from 14% to 100%. Beside patient related‐factors, adherence rate discrepancies were found to be dependent on the method used. Furthermore, there was no consensual definition of adherence even regarding the same methods, some of them tolerating a period of interruption during the treatment period. Finally, several studies addressing persistence found a progressive decrease in adherence with time.ConclusionAdherence to novel oral therapies is a major issue and further research is warranted to standardize adherence assessment in clinical studies better and to define better the most appropriate approaches to improve long term adherence in oncology practice.
Efficacy and safety of silodosin in the medical expulsion therapy for distal ureteral calculi: a systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Huang Wei , Xue Peng , Zong, Huantao , Zhang Yong 
Published: August 2015

AimsUsing a selective α‐adrenoceptor blocker for medical expulsive therapy (MET) is an effective treatment approach widely used for ureteral stones. The aim of the review was to assess the efficacy and safety of silodosin in medical expulstion therapy compared with placebo and tamsulosin.MethodsA systematic search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase to identify randomized controlled trials that compared silodosin with a placebo or tamsulosin for ureteral calculi.ResultsEight publications involving a total of 1048 patients were used in the analysis, which compared silodosin with placebo and tamsulosin. We found that silodosin was effective in treating ureteral calculi in our meta‐analysis and was superior to tamsulosin in its efficacy. The expulsion rate of all ureteral stones (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.08, 2.36, P = 0.02), the expulsion rate of distal ureteral stones (OR 2.82, 95% CI 1.70, 4.67, P < 0.0001) and the expulsion time (days) of distal ureteral stones (standard mean difference (SMD) −4.71, 95% CI −6.60, −2.83, P < 0.00001) indicated that silodosin was more effective than the placebo. Moreover, expulsion rate (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.70, 3.78, P < 0.00001), expulsion time (days) (SMD −2.64, 95% CI −3.64, −1.64, P < 0.00001) and pain episodes (P < 0.00001) indicated that silodosin was more effective than the tamsulosin. Even though silodosin had a significant increase in abnormal ejaculation compared with tamsulosin, no significant differences were observed for complications (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.58, 1.74, P = 1.00).ConclusionsThis meta‐analysis indicated that silodosin was superior to placebo or tamsulosin in the efficacy for distal ureteral calculi with better control of pain. The safety profile of silodosin was similar to tamsulosin though retrograde ejaculation was worse for silodosin use. We conclude that silodosin might have potential as a MET for ureteral stones.
Supporting Breastfeeding Establishment among Socially Disadvantaged Women: A Meta‐Synthesis
Authors: MacVicar Sonya , Kirkpatrick Pamela , Humphrey Tracy , Forbes‐McKay Katrina E. 
Published: August 2015

AbstractBackgroundMany women from socially disadvantaged groups discontinue breastfeeding in the early postnatal period before lactation is fully established. This suggests that existing health service practices do not adequately meet the breastfeeding support needs of this population. The aim of this meta‐synthesis is to review the literature exploring how women from socioeconomically deprived backgrounds experience breastfeeding establishment and to identify factors associated with supportive practice.MethodsThe meta‐synthesis includes qualitative studies exploring the perception of women from disadvantaged groups of in‐hospital and professionally led interventions to support the establishment of breastfeeding. Searches were conducted for studies published between 1992 and 2013; after critical appraisal, eight studies were retained.ResultsThree overarching themes of the influences on maternal perception of the efficacy of breastfeeding support were identified. These included practical skill and knowledge of the breastfeeding process, the influence of psychological factors on perceived breastfeeding ability, and the provision of a person‐centered approach to infant feeding support.ConclusionsThe findings illustrate that the factors associated with supportive breastfeeding practice are extensive, complex, and interrelated. Strategies which enable mothers to gain confidence in their ability to successfully breastfeed by acquiring technical expertise, which offer positive encouragement, and which are culturally specific are more likely to be perceived as supportive by women from socially disadvantaged groups.
Analysis and synthesis of 3D shape families via deep‐learned generative models of surfaces
Authors: Huang Haibin , Kalogerakis Evangelos , Marlin Benjamin 
Published: August 2015

AbstractWe present a method for joint analysis and synthesis of geometrically diverse 3D shape families. Our method first learns part‐based templates such that an optimal set of fuzzy point and part correspondences is computed between the shapes of an input collection based on a probabilistic deformation model. In contrast to previous template‐based approaches, the geometry and deformation parameters of our part‐based templates are learned from scratch. Based on the estimated shape correspondence, our method also learns a probabilistic generative model that hierarchically captures statistical relationships of corresponding surface point positions and parts as well as their existence in the input shapes. A deep learning procedure is used to capture these hierarchical relationships. The resulting generative model is used to produce control point arrangements that drive shape synthesis by combining and deforming parts from the input collection. The generative model also yields compact shape descriptors that are used to perform fine‐grained classification. Finally, it can be also coupled with the probabilistic deformation model to further improve shape correspondence. We provide qualitative and quantitative evaluations of our method for shape correspondence, segmentation, fine‐grained classification and synthesis. Our experiments demonstrate superior correspondence and segmentation results than previous state‐of‐the‐art approaches.