bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Voting on Europe: The Potential Pitfalls of a British Referendum
Authors: McCORMICK JOHN 
Published: August 2014

AbstractAs Britain prepares for a possible referendum on continued membership of the European Union, it is essential that more careful thought is paid to the dynamics of referendums. Polling data reveal the existence of a substantial knowledge deficit in the UK and other parts of the EU: large numbers of voters simply do not understand the EU. There is also reason to question the conventional view that voters can correct for such a deficit by using cues from opinion leaders and the media. The experience of recent referendums in other EU member states suggests that many voters will take part in the proposed British referendum without independent and informed knowledge of the issues at stake, that many will have been swayed by partisan elite opinion, and that many will decide on the basis of their views about domestic politics rather than their views about Europe.
The Quango Conundrum Revisited—Why the Government Still Needs a More Coherent Approach to Arm's‐Length Bodies
Authors: RUTTER JILL 
Published: August 2014

AbstractThere has been substantial reform of public bodies since the Coalition government was formed in 2010. But although numbers have been reduced, there has been no attempt to address the confused landscape—indeed, departments have interpreted criteria for what should be put at arm's length in different ways, introducing further complexity. A clearer link between function and form is needed. This would help address some of the blurred lines over accountability that we have seen in the recent rows over Ofsted and the Environment Agency.
Omitting Lady Grace: The Provok'd Husband in Frances Burney's Camilla and The Wanderer
Authors: Havens Hilary 
Published: August 2014

AbstractOne of the most prominent scenes in Frances Burney's The Wanderer (1814) is the amateur theatrical performance of Sir John Vanbrugh and Colley Cibber's The Provok'd Husband (1728). This episode was recycled from a discarded fragment, which has not been previously discussed, from Burney's Camilla (1796). Ostensibly Burney uses these scenes to comment on the late eighteenth‐century private theatrical vogue, but her use of The Prokov'd Husband in both novels highlights her editorial practice as a writer of long fiction and, more significantly, her failure to espouse theories of realistic characterisation during the last years of her literary career.
Evaluating Industrial Relations Systems of OECD Countries from 1993 to 2005: A Two‐Dimensional Approach
Authors: Kim Dong‐One , Kim Yoon‐Ho , Voos Paula , Suzuki Hiromasa , Kim Young Doo 
Published: August 2014

AbstractThis article uses both cross‐sectional and longitudinal methods to evaluate the national industrial relations systems of 30 Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries from 1993 to 2005. We adopt a pluralistic view of industrial relations that gives equal weight to efficiency and equity, along with a general systems model consisting of input, process and output. We rank each country in terms of a combined score of efficiency and equity. We find that the 30 OECD countries can be separated into three distinct groups (high on both equity and efficiency; high on efficiency but low on equity; moderate on equity and low on efficiency), and that these groups exhibit considerable stability over time.
NGOs and Feminisms in Development: Interrogating the ‘Southern Women's NGO’
Authors: Narayanaswamy Lata 
Published: August 2014

AbstractThe inclusion by Northern stakeholders of a discursively constructed category of ‘Southern women's NGO’ – increasingly heralded as the ultimate organisational form of grounded, subaltern, collective action – has come to represent a signifier of commitments to gender equality, poverty reduction and/or social justice. Southern women's NGOs are frequently credited with the capacity to facilitate the inclusion of marginalised groups conventionally excluded from development's frame. This critical review argues that this essentialism derives firstly from the belief in the Southern NGO as a grounded, democratic and accessible organisational form well suited to reach and represent the diverse and disparate needs of the grassroots. Secondly, it reflects the tendency, despite an abundance of critical black, Third World and postcolonial feminist theory warning to the contrary, to cast ‘Southern women’ as a category of politicised agents who share trajectories of historical and contemporary oppression that allow them to transcend other axes of difference to achieve improved development outcomes. The discussion examines this tendency, and whether it has led to a wholesale belief in the capacity of both ‘Southern women’ and ‘Southern NGOs’ to reach as well as represent anti‐hegemonic, subaltern and thus alternative development paradigms. The analysis concludes with some brief reflections on both the discursive and practical implications of privileging the ‘Southern women's NGO’, expressed as a homogenous category, as a key interlocutor between the powerful and the marginalised in development.
Prognostic significance of MSI2 predicts unfavorable outcome in adult B‐acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Authors: Aly R. M. , Ghazy H. F. 
Published: August 2014

SummaryIntroductionThe Musashi‐2 gene (MSI2) is implicated in leukemogenesis, and high MSI2 expression has been associated with decreased survival in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL), suggesting its use as a new prognostic marker. We aimed to validate the prognostic significance of MSI2 in ALL.MethodsMSI2 expression was measured by real‐time polymerase chain reaction in 140 adult B‐ALL patients and compared to controls.ResultsMSI2 expression level in patients was significantly higher when compared to the control group (P = 0.001). High MSI2 expression did not correlate with the clinical characteristics of patients. However, patients with high MSI2 expression had significantly lower incidence of complete remission (CR) (P = 0.03), inferior overall survival (P = 0.018), and shorter disease‐free survival (P = 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that high MSI2 expression was an independent prognostic factor for adult BCR‐ABL1‐negative B‐ALL patients.ConclusionThese results confirm the association of MSI2 expression with outcome in adult B‐ALL and demonstrate the utility of MSI2 as a clinical prognostic biomarker.
Epigenetic changes of mesenchymal stem cells in three‐dimensional (3D) spheroids
Authors: Guo Ling , Zhou Ying , Wang Shan , Wu Yaojiong 
Published: August 2014

AbstractMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold profound promise in tissue repair/regeneration. However, MSCs undergo remarkable spontaneous differentiation and aging during monolayer culture expansion. In this study, we found that 2–3 days of three‐dimensional (3D) spheroid culture of human MSCs (hMSCs) that had been expanded in monolayer for six passages increased their clonogenicity and differentiation potency to neuronal cells. Moreover, in accordance with these changes, the expression levels of miRNA which were involved in stem cell potency were changed and levels of histone H3 acetylation in K9 in promoter regions of Oct4, Sox2 and Nanog were elevated. Our results indicate that spheroid culture increases their multi‐potency and changes the epigenetic status of pluripotent genes in hMSCs.
Comparative Genomic Analysis of Integral Membrane Transport Proteins in Ciliates
Authors: Kumar Ujjwal , Saier Milton H. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractIntegral membrane transport proteins homologous to those found in the Transporter Classification Database (TCDB; www.tcdb.org) were identified and bioinformatically characterized by transporter class, family, and substrate specificity in three ciliates, Paramecium tetraurelia (Para), Tetrahymena thermophila (Tetra), and Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich). In these three organisms, 1,326 of 39,600 proteins (3.4%), 1,017 of 24,800 proteins (4.2%), and 504 out of 8,100 proteins (6.2%) integral membrane transport proteins were identified, respectively. Thus, an inverse relationship was observed between the % transporters identified and the number of total proteins per genome reported. This surprising observation provides insight into the evolutionary process, giving rise to genome reduction following whole genome duplication (as in the case of Para) or during pathogenic association with a host organism (Ich). Of these transport proteins in Para and Tetra, about 41% were channels (more than any other type of organism studied), 31% were secondary carriers (fewer than most eukaryotes) and 26% were primary active transporters, mostly ATP‐hydrolysis driven (more than most other eukaryotes). In Ich, the number of channels was selectively reduced by 66%, relative to Para and Tetra. Para has four times more inorganic anion transporters than Tetra, and Ich has nonselectively lost most of these. Tetra and Ich preferentially transport sugars and monocarboxylates while Para prefers di‐ and tricarboxylates. These observations serve to characterize the transport proteins of these related ciliates, providing insight into their nutrition and metabolism.
Microsporidiosis in pediatric renal transplant patients in Cape Town, South Africa: Two case reports
Authors: Ladapo Taiwo A. , Nourse Peter , Pillay Komala , Frean John , Birkhead Monica , Poonsamy Bhavani , Gajjar Priya 
Published: August 2014

AbstractMicrosporidia are an emerging group of pathogens associated with life‐threatening opportunistic infections in immunocompromised hosts, particularly human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐infected individuals. There have, however, been recent reports of infection in adult solid organ transplant recipients. We report two cases in children, to our knowledge the first in the paediatric literature. Two 13‐yr‐old, HIV‐seronegative females received deceased donor renal transplants from the same donor. Both patients suffered acute cell‐mediated rejection and CMV infection reactivation, managed with intensified immunosuppression and ganciclovir. Pyrexia of unknown origin and intermittent diarrhea in both prompted extensive investigations. In both patients, numerous spores of a microsporidial species were demonstrated in renal tissue on biopsy and in the urine, using modified trichrome and quick‐hot Gram‐chromotrope staining. Electron microscopy and PCR confirmed Encephalitozoon cuniculi infections. Both patients were successfully treated with 400 mg twice daily of albendazole, with sustained clinical improvement. We recommend that microsporidiosis be considered in the differential diagnosis of pyrexia of unknown origin in severely immunocompromised pediatric solid organ transplant recipients, particularly when associated with diarrhea.
The Safe Passage Study: Design, Methods, Recruitment, and Follow‐Up Approach
Authors: Dukes Kimberly A. , Burd Larry , Elliott Amy J. , Fifer William P. , Folkerth Rebecca D. , Hankins Gary D.V. , Hereld Dale , Hoffman Howard J. , Myers Michael M. , Odendaal Hein J. , Signore Caroline , Sullivan Lisa M. , Willinger Marian , Wright Colleen , Kinney Hannah C. ,   PASS Research Network
Published: August 2014

AbstractBackgroundThe Safe Passage Study is a large, prospective, multidisciplinary study designed to (1) investigate the association between prenatal alcohol exposure, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and stillbirth, and (2) determine the biological basis of the spectrum of phenotypic outcomes from exposure, as modified by environmental and genetic factors that increase the risk of stillbirth, SIDS, and in surviving children, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.MethodsThe results provided are based on an interim assessment of 6004 women enrolled, out of the 12 000 projected, from the Northern Plains, US, and Cape Town, South Africa, areas known to be of high risk for maternal drinking during pregnancy. Research objectives, study design, and descriptive statistics, including consent, recruitment, and retention information, are provided.ResultsOverall visit compliance is 87%, and includes prenatal, delivery/newborn, and postnatal contacts through 1 year post‐delivery. Pregnancy outcome ascertainment is 98% prior to medical chart review; less than 2% of women withdraw. Consent for the use of DNA and placental tissue exceed 94%, and consent to participate in the autopsy portion of the study is 71%.ConclusionsThe Safe Passage Study is the first multi‐site study of SIDS and stillbirth to integrate prospectively collected exposure information with multidisciplinary biological information in the same maternal and fetal/infant dyad using a common protocol. Essential components of the study design and its success are close ties to the community and rigorous systems and processes to ensure compliance with the study protocol and procedures.
Government Capital, Intimate and Community Social Capital, and Food Security Status in Older Adults with Different Income Levels
Authors: Dean Wesley R. , Sharkey Joseph R. , Nalty Courtney C. , Xu Jin 
Published: August 2014

AbstractWhether government‐based forms of food assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), communal efforts including food pantries, aid from friends and family, or alternative means such as gardening are the appropriate means to reduce the prevalence of household food insecurity is a continuous source of policy contention. To inform this debate, we examine the relative importance of these forms of food assistance and acquisition to a sample of U.S. older adults from the 2010 Brazos Valley Health Assessment of central Texas households that have been stratified by income eligibility for SNAP, low‐income SNAP ineligibility, and above low income status. To identify how membership in these socioeconomic groups constrains household capacity to acquire sufficient food to maintain an adequate and healthy diet, we explore the varied associations of assets received from government; communal and intimate social networks; and alternative food sources such as gardening, hunting, and fishing with household food security across socioeconomic status, while examining the importance of place of residence on the use of capital assets. SNAP participation was the only specific capital asset associated with all levels of food insecurity for both SNAP‐eligible and ineligible low‐income groups, thus emphasizing the continued importance of food assistance among poverty‐level older adults.
Street‐level Perceptions of Procedural Rights for Young Unemployed People – A Comparative Study between Sweden and Australia
Authors: Ulmestig Rickard , Marston Greg 
Published: August 2014

AbstractTwo types of welfare states are compared in this article. Differences in procedural rights for young unemployed at the level of service delivery are analyzed. In Australia, rights are regulated through a rigid procedural justice system. The young unemployed within the social assistance system in Sweden encounter staff with high discretionary powers, which makes the legal status weak for the unemployed but, on the other hand, the system is more flexible. Despite the differences, there is striking convergence in how the young unemployed describe how discretionary power among street‐level staff affects their procedural rights. This result can be understood as a result of similar professional norms, work customs and occupational cultures of street‐level staff, and that there is a basic logic of conditionality in all developed welfare states where procedural rights are tightly coupled with responsibilities.
Class number calculation using Siegel functions
Authors: Fukuda T. , Komatsu K. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractWe propose a fast method of calculating the$\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}p$-part of the class numbers in certain non-cyclotomic$\mathbb{Z}_p$-extensions of an imaginary quadratic field using elliptic units constructed by Siegel functions. We carried out practical calculations for$p=3$and determined$\lambda $-invariants of such$\mathbb{Z}_3$-extensions which were not known in our previous paper.
Agmatine-Containing Poly(amidoamine)s as a Novel Class of Antiviral Macromolecules: Structural Properties and
In Vitro
Evaluation of Infectivity Inhibition
Authors: Donalisio Manuela , Ranucci Elisabetta , Cagno Valeria , Civra Andrea , Manfredi Amedea , Cavalli Roberta , Ferruti Paolo , Lembo David 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACT

Poly(amidoamine)s (PAAs) are multifunctional
tert
-amine polymers endowed with high structural versatility. Here we report on the screening of a minilibrary of PAAs against a panel of viruses. The PAA AGMA1 showed antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus, human cytomegalovirus, human papillomavirus 16, and respiratory syncytial virus but not against human rotavirus and vesicular stomatitis virus. The results suggest the contribution of both a polycationic nature and side guanidine groups in imparting antiviral activity.
Redefining Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Based on Clinical Response to Combination Therapy
Authors: Gumbo Tawanda , Pasipanodya Jotam G. , Wash Peter , Burger André , McIlleron Helen 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACT
In tuberculosis treatment, susceptibility is defined by a critical concentration of 1.0 mg/liter for rifampin and 0.2 or 1.0 mg/liter for low- and high-level isoniazid resistance on the basis of an epidemiologic cutoff method that uses the distribution of the MICs for isolates. However, pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics-based clinical trial simulations suggested that the breakpoints should be 0.0625 mg/liter for rifampin and 0.0312 or 0.125 mg/liter for isoniazid. We examined the outcomes of 36 patients with drug-susceptible tuberculosis whose rifampin and isoniazid MICs were determined, whose plasma drug concentrations were also measured, and who were part of a prospective cohort study in Western Cape, South Africa. We performed classification and regression tree analysis to identify clinical and laboratory factors that predicted 2-month sputum conversion rates and long-term clinical outcomes. Poor long-term clinical outcomes were defined as microbiological failure, relapse, or death within a 2-year follow-up period. Peak drug concentrations and areas under the concentration-time curve were most predictive of outcomes and constituted the primary node, similar to our findings on the larger cohort. However, rifampin and isoniazid MICs improved the predictive capacity of the primary decision node by 20 and 17%, respectively, for these 36 patients. The rifampin MIC cutoff above which there was therapy failure was 0.125 mg/liter, while that of isoniazid was 0.0312 mg/liter; these are similar to those derived in clinical trial simulations. The critical concentrations used to define multidrug resistance for clinical decision making should take clinical outcomes into account.
The Combined Anti-HIV-1 Activities of Emtricitabine and Tenofovir plus the Integrase Inhibitor Elvitegravir or Raltegravir Show High Levels of SynergyIn Vitro
Authors: Kulkarni Rima , Hluhanich Rebecca , McColl Damian M. , Miller Michael D. , White Kirsten L. 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTHighly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) involves combination treatment with three or more antiretroviral agents. The antiviral effects of combinations of emtricitabine (FTC) plus tenofovir (TFV) plus antiretroviral agents of all the major drug classes were investigated. Combinations of FTC and TFV with a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) (efavirenz or rilpivirine) or with a protease inhibitor (PI) (atazanavir, lopinavir, or darunavir) showed additive to synergistic anti-HIV-1 activity. FTC-TFV with an HIV-1 integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) (elvitegravir or raltegravir) showed the strongest synergy. Anti-HIV-1 synergy suggests enhancement of individual anti-HIV-1 activities within cells that may contribute to potent treatment efficacy and open new areas of research into interactions between reverse transcriptase (RT) and integrase inhibitors.
Identification of Highly Conserved Residues Involved in Inhibition of HIV-1 RNase H Function by Diketo Acid Derivatives
Authors: Corona Angela , Di Leva Francesco Saverio , Thierry Sylvain , Pescatori Luca , Cuzzucoli Crucitti Giuliana , Subra Frederic , Delelis Olivier , Esposito Francesca , Rigogliuso Giuseppe , Costi Roberta , Cosconati Sandro , Novellino Ettore , Di Santo Roberto , Tramontano Enzo 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACT

HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT)-associated RNase H activity is an essential function in viral genome retrotranscription. RNase H is a promising drug target for which no inhibitor is available for therapy. Diketo acid (DKA) derivatives are active site Mg
2+
-binding inhibitors of both HIV-1 RNase H and integrase (IN) activities. To investigate the DKA binding site of RNase H and the mechanism of action, six couples of ester and acid DKAs, derived from 6-[1-(4-fluorophenyl)methyl-1
H
-pyrrol-2-yl)]-2,4-dioxo-5-hexenoic acid ethyl ester (RDS1643), were synthesized and tested on both RNase H and IN functions. Most of the ester derivatives showed selectivity for HIV-1 RNase H versus IN, while acids inhibited both functions. Molecular modeling and site-directed mutagenesis studies on the RNase H domain demonstrated different binding poses for ester and acid DKAs and proved that DKAs interact with residues (R448, N474, Q475, Y501, and R557) involved not in the catalytic motif but in highly conserved portions of the RNase H primer grip motif. The ester derivative RDS1759 selectively inhibited RNase H activity and viral replication in the low micromolar range, making contacts with residues Q475, N474, and Y501. Quantitative PCR studies and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analyses showed that RDS1759 selectively inhibited reverse transcription in cell-based assays. Overall, we provide the first demonstration that RNase H inhibition by DKAs is due not only to their chelating properties but also to specific interactions with highly conserved amino acid residues in the RNase H domain, leading to effective targeting of HIV retrotranscription in cells and hence offering important insights for the rational design of RNase H inhibitors.
RSM Based Optimization of Chemical and Enzymatic Transesterification of Palm Oil: Biodiesel Production and Assessment of Exhaust Emission Levels
Authors: Mumtaz Muhammad Waseem , Mukhtar Hamid , Anwar Farooq , Saari Nazamid 
Published: August 2014

Current study presents RSM based optimized production of biodiesel from palm oil using chemical and enzymatic transesterification. The emission behavior of biodiesel and its blends, namely, POB-5, POB-20, POB-40, POB-50, POB-80, and POB-100 was examined using diesel engine (equipped with tube well). Optimized palm oil fatty acid methyl esters (POFAMEs) yields were depicted to be47.6±1.5, 92.7±2.5, and95.4±2.0% for chemical transesterification catalyzed by NaOH, KOH, and NaOCH3, respectively, whereas for enzymatic transesterification reactions catalyzed by NOVOZYME-435 and A. n. lipase optimized biodiesel yields were94.2±3.1and62.8±2.4%, respectively. Distinct decrease in particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO) levels was experienced in exhaust emissions from engine operating on biodiesel blends POB-5, POB-20, POB-40, POB-50, POB-80, and POB-100 comparative to conventional petroleum diesel. Percentage change in CO and PM emissions for different biodiesel blends ranged from −2.1 to −68.7% and −6.2 to −58.4%, respectively, relative to conventional diesel, whereas an irregular trend was observed for NOx emissions. Only POB-5 and POB-20 showed notable reductions, whereas all other blends (POB-40 to POB-100) showed slight increase in NOx emission levels from 2.6 to 5.5% comparative to petroleum diesel.