bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Protease‐activated receptor‐2 signalling by tissue factor on dendritic cells suppresses antigen‐specific CD4+ T‐cell priming
Authors: Shrivastava Seema , Ma Liang , Tham El‐Li , H. McVey John , Chen Daxin , Dorling Anthony 
Published: January 2013

SummaryThe precise function of tissue factor (TF) expressed by dendritic cells (DC) is uncertain. As well as initiating thrombin generation it can signal through protease‐activated receptor 2 (PAR‐2) when complexed with factor VIIa. We investigated the expression and function of TF on mouse bone marrow (BM) ‐derived DC; 20% of BM‐derived DC expressed TF, which did not vary after incubation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or dexamethasone (DEX). However, the pro‐coagulant activity of DEX‐treated DC in recalcified plasma was 30‐fold less than LPS‐treated DC. In antigen‐specific and allogeneic T‐cell culture experiments, the TF on DEX‐treated DC provided a signal through PAR‐2, which contributed to the reduced ability of these cells to stimulate CD4+ T‐cell proliferation and cytokine production. In vivo, an inhibitory anti‐TF antibody and a PAR‐2 antagonist enhanced antigen‐specific priming in two models where antigen was given without adjuvant, with an effect approximately 50% that seen with LPS, suggesting that a similar mechanism was operational physiologically. These data suggest a novel TF and PAR‐2‐dependent mechanism on DEX‐DC in vitro and unprimed DC in vivo that contributes to the low immunogenicity of these cells. Targeting this pathway has the potential to influence antigen‐specific CD4+ T‐cell activation.
Normative considerations for recreational fishery management: a bioeconomic framework for linking positive science and normative fisheries policy decisions
Authors: Fenichel E. P. , Gentner B. , Arlinghaus R. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractFishery science and management are concerned with both positive, what happens in a fishery system, and normative, what management should do, questions. Rarely are normative criteria discussed as openly and transparently as the positive techniques and assumptions. Instead, normative criteria are often held implicitly, and often goals, and objectives are defined without careful thought about the normative criteria from which such goals, and objectives derive. Management involves three components: system attributes and dynamics, management options and goals and objectives that stem from normative criteria by which outcomes are judged. There is a need to consider normative frameworks and criteria carefully because normative criteria are intrinsic to any management process. This paper motivates the need to consider normative frameworks and criteria carefully, explores issues associated with developing normative frameworks and criteria that articulate positive science, discusses specific issues to consider when developing normative frameworks for recreational fisheries and provides the bioeconomic framework as an example of a normative framework useful for recreational fisheries.
Flu frames
Authors: Staniland Karen , Smith Greg 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis article investigates how the frame concept was used in media studies of the 2009 flu pandemic representation. It examines how frame (or framing) analysis has illuminated sociological features of these depictions and how the frame concept facilitated an analytic understanding of media representations. The article first outlines the principal uses of the concept in the social sciences. It then examines the approach and findings of empirical studies of the 2009 outbreak. The findings are reported under three headings: production, text and the consumption of flu frames. This schema provides a better understanding of key sociological dimensions of news responses to the 2009 pandemic. Most articles reviewed were conducted under the auspices of communication studies. It is shown that questions of frame production and the interpretation and challenging of frames, while not at the forefront of many analyses, nevertheless were not neglected.
The Chinese Export Boom: An Examination of the Detailed Trade Data
Authors: Berger Brett , Martin Robert F. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractFrom 2000 to 2007, Chinese exports grew at a phenomenal pace. Our paper uses finely detailed Chinese export data (8‐digit Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System codes) combined with US trade data to explore how this was achieved. Although general explanations such as China's exchange rate policy no doubt played a role, we find that sector‐specific stories, effective Chinese industrial policy and fortuitous timing were more critical. The detailed trade data reveal that “new” technology goods, such as cell phones, LCD screens and laptops, played a key role. Finally, we use the data to examine the relationship between Chinese exports and global manufacturing, in particular US manufacturing employment. We find that competition from China in both domestic and foreign markets likely contributed to a significant decline in USA manufacturing employment, but that relatively low US investment and slow GDP growth in the US following the 2001 recession played an equally important role.
Negotiating Culture in the Promotion of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Latin America
Authors: Sardenberg Cecília M. B. 
Published: January 2013

SummaryCulture interacts with development in multiple ways. However the importance of culture within development should not be seen as translating to crystallising and solidifying its meaning or providing definitive ideas of what works. In this paper, I look at the relevance of culture to the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment, and examine how some women's movements in Latin America have negotiated and contested meanings around culture and as a result have re‐signified gender values, attitudes and behaviours.The example ofLas madres de la Plaza de Mayoquestions the cultural construct of motherhood and the traditional role of the mother caring for the family within the home, and the women's neighbourhood action based in Bahia, Brazil which I look at contests and extends the notion of that domestic space. The importance of deconstructing and fighting against stereotypical images and patriarchal views of women in order to uphold gender rights is clear from the examples I look at on domestic violence, sex worker violence and the Black Women's Movement's struggle against sexist and racist images.In conclusion I argue that in employing ‘transformatory thinking’ the women's groups that I look at in this paper have worked together as women to contest and confront accepted cultural meanings and by doing so have begun to re‐structure the gender order and promote gender equality.
Receiving or believing in family support? Contributors to the life quality of Latino and non‐Latino families of children with intellectual disability
Authors: Cohen S. R. , Holloway S. D. , Domínguez‐Pareto I. , Kuppermann M. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractBackgroundPrevious studies have identified the role of family support in mitigating the stress of parents caring for a child with intellectual disability. Less is known about families whose members are willing but unable to support each other because of geographical, structural and economic barriers. Our study examined the contribution to family quality of life (FQL) of family support beliefs, actual assistance from family members, as well as the moderating effects of ethnicity and household income.MethodWe conducted telephone interviews with 84 Latino and 61 non‐Latino mothers.ResultsMothers who received more emotional support from partners and other family members reported a higher FQL, controlling for family characteristics. Familism beliefs were also associated with FQL, particularly for Latino mothers. Income was not a significant moderator.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that some predictors of FQL are partially moderated by ethnicity, while others may be powerful across diverse communities.
The inhibition of TNF‐α‐induced leucocyte apoptosis by melatonin involves membrane receptor MT1/MT2 interaction
Authors: Espino Javier , Rodríguez Ana B. , Pariente José A. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThe pro‐apoptotic signalling cascades induced by tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α) have been intensively studied in multiple cellular systems. So far, it is known that TNF‐α can simultaneously activate survival and apoptotic cell death responses. The balance between these signals determines the ultimate response of the cell to TNF‐α. Moreover, emerging evidence suggests that melatonin may be involved in the protection of different cell types against apoptosis. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of melatonin on TNF‐α‐induced apoptosis in human leucocytes. Cells were treated with TNF‐α alone or in the presence of cycloheximide (CHX), which promotes caspase‐8 activation by eliminating the endogenous caspase‐8 inhibitor, c‐FLIP. Treatment with TNF‐α/CHX led to apoptotic cell death, as ascertained by annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining. Likewise, in the presence of CHX, TNF‐α stimulation produced cFLIP down‐regulation and subsequent caspase‐8 activation, thus directly triggering caspase‐3 activation and causing Bid truncation and subsequent caspase‐9 activation. Conversely, pre‐incubation of cells with melatonin inhibited TNF‐α‐/CHX‐evoked leucocyte apoptosis. Similarly, pretreatment of leucocytes with melatonin increased cFLIP protein levels, thereby preventing TNF‐α‐/CHX‐mediated caspase processing. Blockade of melatonin membrane receptor MT1/MT2 or extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) pathway with luzindole or PD98059, respectively, abolished the inhibitory effects of melatonin on leucocyte apoptosis evoked by TNF‐α/CHX. In conclusion, the model proposed by these findings is that the MT1/MT2 receptors, which are under the positive control of melatonin, trigger an ERK‐dependent signalling cascade that interferes with the anti‐apoptotic protein cFLIP modulating the cell life/death balance of human leucocytes.
Mechanisms of social learning across species boundaries
Authors: Avarguès‐Weber A. , Dawson E. H. , Chittka L. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractSocial learning involves the acquisition of information from other individuals and is a behavioural strategy found in a wide range of taxa from insects to humans. Traditionally, research in this field has concentrated on learning from members of the same species; however, there is increasing evidence for social learning across species boundaries. Owing to the ecological overlap of many species, it makes sense that such heterospecific social learning is common, and in some cases, information from another species may be more profitable than that provided by members of the same species. Here, we review the existing literature about learning from individuals of different species. We discuss the cognitive mechanisms underlying this form of information gathering and highlight the importance of past experience and innate predispositions in the formation of interspecific learning events. In many cases, seemingly complex forms of ‘copying’ from members of other species can be explained by relatively simple forms of conditioning.
Can the science of communication inform the art of the medical humanities?
Authors: Bleakley Alan , Marshall Robert 
Published: January 2013

CONTEXT  There is increasing interest in establishing the medical humanities as core integrated provision in undergraduate medicine curricula, but sceptics point to the lack of evidence for their impact upon patient care. Further, the medical humanities culture has often failed to provide a convincing theoretical rationale for the inclusion of the arts and humanities in medical education.DISCUSSION  Poor communication with colleagues and patients is the main factor in creating the conditions for medical error; this is grounded in a historically determined refusal of democracy within medical work. The medical humanities may play a critical role in educating for democracy in medical culture generally, and in improving communication in medical students specifically, as both demand high levels of empathy. Studies in the science of communication can provide a valuable evidence base justifying the inclusion of the medical humanities in the core curriculum. A case is made for the potential of the medical humanities – as a form of ‘adult play’– to educate for collaboration and tolerance of ambiguity or uncertainty, providing a key element of the longer‐term democratising force necessary to change medical culture and promote safer practice.CONCLUSION  The arts and humanities can provide important contextual media through which the lessons learned from the science of communication in medicine can be translated and promoted as forms of medical education.
Mechanism of competence activation by the ComRS signalling system in streptococci
Authors: Fontaine Laetitia , Goffin Philippe , Dubout Hélène , Delplace Brigitte , Baulard Alain , Lecat‐Guillet Nathalie , Chambellon Emilie , Gardan Rozenn , Hols Pascal 
Published: January 2013

SummaryIn many streptococci, competence for natural DNA transformation is regulated by the Rgg‐type regulator ComR and the pheromone ComS, which is sensed intracellularly. We compared the ComRS systems of four model streptococcal species using in vitro and in silico approaches, to determine the mechanism of the ComRS‐dependent regulation of competence. In all systems investigated, ComR was shown to be the proximal transcriptional activator of the expression of key competence genes. Efficient binding of ComR to DNA is strictly dependent on the presence of the pheromone (C‐terminal ComS octapeptide), in contrast with other streptococcal Rgg‐type regulators. The 20 bp palindromic ComR‐box is the minimal genetic requirement for binding of ComR, and its sequence directly determines the expression level of genes under its control. Despite the apparent species‐specific specialization of the ComR–ComS interaction, mutagenesis of ComS residues from Streptococcus thermophilus highlighted an unexpected permissiveness with respect to its biological activity. In agreement, heterologous ComS, and even primary sequence‐unrelated, casein‐derived octapeptides, were able to induce competence development in S. thermophilus. The lack of stringency of ComS sequence suggests that competence of a specific Streptococcus species may be modulated by other streptococci or by non‐specific nutritive oligopeptides present in its environment.
Tuning Your Priors to the World
Authors: Feldman Jacob 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThe idea that perceptual and cognitive systems must incorporate knowledge about the structure of the environment has become a central dogma of cognitive theory. In a Bayesian context, this idea is often realized in terms of “tuning the prior”—widely assumed to mean adjusting prior probabilities so that they match the frequencies of events in the world. This kind of “ecological” tuning has often been held up as an ideal of inference, in fact defining an “ideal observer.” But widespread as this viewpoint is, it directly contradicts Bayesian philosophy of probability, which views probabilities as degrees of belief rather than relative frequencies, and explicitly denies that they are objective characteristics of the world. Moreover, tuning the prior to observed environmental frequencies is subject to overfitting, meaning in this contextovertuningto the environment, which leads (ironically) to poor performance in future encounters with the same environment. Whenever there is uncertainty about the environment—which there almost always is—an agent's prior should be biased away from ecological relative frequencies and toward simpler and more entropic priors.
Language Learning From Positive Evidence, Reconsidered: A Simplicity‐Based Approach
Authors: Hsu Anne S. , Chater Nick , Vitányi Paul 
Published: January 2013

AbstractChildren learn their native language by exposure to their linguistic and communicative environment, but apparently without requiring that their mistakes be corrected. Such learning from “positive evidence” has been viewed as raising “logical” problems for language acquisition. In particular, without correction, how is the child to recover from conjecturing an over‐general grammar, which will be consistent with any sentence that the child hears? There have been many proposals concerning how this “logical problem” can be dissolved. In this study, we review recent formal results showing that the learner has sufficient data to learn successfully from positive evidence, if it favors thesimplestencoding of the linguistic input. Results include the learnability of linguistic prediction, grammaticality judgments, language production, and form‐meaning mappings. The simplicity approach can also be “scaled down” to analyze the learnability of specific linguistic constructions, and it is amenable to empirical testing as a framework for describing human language acquisition.
AtLAZY1 is a signaling component required for gravitropism of the Arabidopsis thaliana inflorescence
Authors: Yoshihara Takeshi , Spalding Edgar P. , Iino Moritoshi 
Published: January 2013

SummaryThe present study identified a family of six A. thaliana genes that share five limited regions of sequence similarity with LAZY1, a gene in Oryza sativa (rice) shown to participate in the early gravity signaling for shoot gravitropism. A T‐DNA insertion into the Arabidopsis gene (At5g14090) most similar to LAZY1 increased the inflorescence branch angle to 81° from the wild type value of 42°. RNA interference lines and molecular rescue experiments confirmed the linkage between the branch‐angle phenotype and the gene consequently named AtLAZY1. Time‐resolved gravitropism measurements of atlazy1 hypocotyls and primary inflorescence stems showed a significantly reduced bending rate during the first hour of response. The subcellular localization of AtLAZY1 protein was investigated to determine if the nuclear localization predicted from the gene sequence was observable and important to its function in shoot gravity responses. AtLAZY1 fused to green fluorescent protein largely rescued the branch‐angle phenotype of atlazy1, and was observed by confocal microscopy at the cell periphery and within the nucleus. Mutation of the nuclear localization signal prevented detectable levels of AtLAZY1 in the nucleus without affecting the ability of the gene to rescue the atlazy1 branch‐angle phenotype. These results indicate that AtLAZY1 functions in gravity signaling during shoot gravitropism, being a functional ortholog of rice LAZY1. The nuclear pool of the protein appears to be unnecessary for this function, which instead relies on a pool that appears to reside at the cell periphery.
Atypical Presentation of West Nile Virus in a Newly Diagnosed Human Immunodeficiency Virus Patient in New York City
Authors: Josekutty Joby , Yeh Richard , Mathew Sheena , Ene Ada , Ramessar Nina , Trinidad Jennilee 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT
Central nervous system manifestations of West Nile virus (WNV) infection include meningitis, encephalitis, and poliomyelitis-like syndrome. We describe a 44-year-old man with no past medical history who presented with a meningoencephalitic syndrome and spastic paralysis bilaterally in the upper and lower extremities, hyperreflexia, and myoclonus and was ultimately diagnosed as being infected with HIV and WNV.
Molecular Characterization of High-Level-Cholera-Toxin-Producing El Tor Variant Vibrio cholerae Strains in the Zanzibar Archipelago of Tanzania
Authors: Naha A. , Chowdhury G. , Ghosh-Banerjee J. , Senoh M. , Takahashi T. , Ley B. , Thriemer K. , Deen J. , Seidlein L. V. , Ali S. M. , Khatib A. , Ramamurthy T. , Nandy R. K. , Nair G. B. , Takeda Y. , Mukhopadhyay A. K. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT

Analysis of 1,180 diarrheal stool samples in Zanzibar detected 247
Vibrio cholerae
O1, Ogawa strains in 2009. Phenotypic traits and PCR-based detection of
rstR
,
rtxC
, and
tcpA
alleles showed that they belonged to the El Tor biotype. Genetic analysis of
ctxB
of these strains revealed that they were classical type, and production of classical cholera toxin B (CTB) was confirmed by Western blotting. These strains produced more CT than the prototype El Tor and formed a separate cluster by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis.
Quantitative Real-Time PCR Assay Panel for Detection and Type-Specific Identification of Epidemic Respiratory Human Adenoviruses
Authors: Lu Xiaoyan , Trujillo-Lopez Elizabeth , Lott Lisa , Erdman Dean D. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT

Outbreaks of human adenovirus (HAdV) acute respiratory illness (ARI) have been well documented among civilians and unvaccinated military recruits. Among the 7 recognized HAdV species (A to G), species B (particularly serotypes 3, 7, 11, 14, and 21) and E (serotype 4) have more often been associated with epidemic ARI. Rapid detection and type-specific identification of these viruses would enhance outbreak response and help guide prevention and control measures. To this end, we developed type-specific real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays for HAdV types 3, 4, 7, 11, 14, 16, and 21 targeting the HAdV hexon gene. All type-specific qPCR assays reproducibly detected as few as 10 copies/reaction of quantified hexon recombinant plasmids with a linear dynamic range of 8 log units (10
1
to 10
8
copies); in contrast, a generic qPCR assay that detects all HAdV types run concurrently detected between 10 and 100 copies/reaction, depending on the virus type. No nonspecific amplifications were observed with concentrated nucleic acid from 51 HAdV prototype strains or other common respiratory pathogens. All members of a panel of 137 previously typed HAdV field isolates and positive clinical specimens were correctly characterized by the type-specific qPCR assays; two different HAdV types were detected in three of the clinical specimens and confirmed by amplicon sequencing. The qPCR assays permit sensitive, specific, and quantitative detection and identification of seven clinically important respiratory HAdVs and should provide a convenient adjunct to classical typing methods for a rapid response to HAdV outbreaks.
Alterations in the MA and NC Domains Modulate Phosphoinositide-Dependent Plasma Membrane Localization of the Rous Sarcoma Virus Gag Protein
Authors: Nadaraia-Hoke Shorena , Bann Darrin V. , Lochmann Timothy L. , Gudleski-O'Regan Nicole , Parent Leslie J. 
Published: January 2013

ABSTRACT

Retroviral Gag proteins direct virus particle assembly from the plasma membrane (PM). Phosphatidylinositol-(4,5)-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P
2
] plays a role in PM targeting of several retroviral Gag proteins. Here we report that depletion of intracellular PI(4,5)P
2
and phosphatidylinositol-(3,4,5)-triphosphate [PI(3,4,5)P
3
] levels impaired Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) Gag PM localization. Gag mutants deficient in nuclear trafficking were less sensitive to reduction of intracellular PI(4,5)P
2
and PI(3,4,5)P
3
, suggesting a possible connection between Gag nuclear trafficking and phosphoinositide-dependent PM targeting.