bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Culture-dependent and independent approaches for identifying novel halogenases encoded by Crambe crambe (marine sponge) microbiota
Authors: Öztürk Başak , de Jaeger Lenny , Smidt Hauke , Sipkema Detmer 
Published: September 2013

AbstractSponges harbour microbial communities that contribute to the genetic and metabolic potential of their host. Among metabolites produced by sponge-associated microbial communities, halogenated compounds are of special interest because of their biotechnological potential. In this study, we have examined the diversity of the cultivable fraction of the marine demosponge Crambe crambe microbiota. Application of complementary cultivation methods yielded 107 bacterial isolates, some of which may be sponge-specific based on their phylogenetic analysis. Among these, Psychrobacter sp. was found to contain a putative halogenase gene. In addition to the culture-dependent approach for discovering halogenase genes, a cDNA library was constructed to determine the diversity of halogenase genes expressed in situ by the C. crambe microbiota. To this end, seventeen putative tryptophan halogenase cDNA sequences were identified, most of which were only remotely related to known halogenase genes, indicating the potential for novel bioactive compounds being produced by the C. crambe microbiota.
Advances in siRNA delivery to T-cells: potential clinical applications for inflammatory disease, cancer and infection
Authors: Freeley Michael , Long Aideen 
Published: September 2013

The specificity of RNAi and its ability to silence ‘undruggable’ targets has made inhibition of gene expression in T-cells with siRNAs an attractive potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of inflammatory disease, cancer and infection. However, delivery of siRNAs into primary T-cells represents a major hurdle to their use as potential therapeutic agents. Recent advances in siRNA delivery through the use of electroporation/nucleofection, viral vectors, peptides/proteins, nanoparticles, aptamers and other agents have now enabled efficient gene silencing in primary T-cells both in vitro and in vivo. Overcoming such barriers in siRNA delivery offers exciting new prospects for directly targeting T-cells systemically with siRNAs, or adoptively transferring T-cells back into patients following ex vivo manipulation with siRNAs. In the present review, we outline the challenges in delivering siRNAs into primary T-cells and discuss the mechanism and therapeutic opportunities of each delivery method. We emphasize studies that have exploited RNAi-mediated gene silencing in T-cells for the treatment of inflammatory disease, cancer and infection using mouse models. We also discuss the potential therapeutic benefits of manipulating T-cells using siRNAs for the treatment of human diseases.
WebGLORE: a Web service for Grid LOgistic REgression
Authors: Jiang Wenchao , Li Pinghao , Wang Shuang , Wu Yuan , Xue Meng , Ohno-Machado Lucila , Jiang Xiaoqian 
Published: September 2013

Abstract
WebGLORE is a free web service that enables privacy-preserving construction of a global logistic regression model from distributed datasets that are sensitive. It only transfers aggregated local statistics (from participants) through Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure to a trusted server, where the global model is synthesized. WebGLORE seamlessly integrates AJAX, JAVA Applet/Servlet and PHP technologies to provide an easy-to-use web service for biomedical researchers to break down policy barriers during information exchange.
Availability and implementation: http://dbmi-engine.ucsd.edu/webglore3/. WebGLORE can be used under the terms of GNU general public license as published by the Free Software Foundation.
Contact: x1jiang@ucsd.edu
Ultrasound-guided Multilevel Paravertebral Blocks and Total Intravenous Anesthesia Improve the Quality of Recovery after Ambulatory Breast Tumor Resection
Authors: Abdallah Faraj W. , Morgan Pamela J. , Cil Tulin , McNaught Andrew , Escallon Jaime M. , Semple John L. , Wu Wei , Chan Vincent W. 
Published: September 2013

Abstract

Background:
Regional anesthesia improves postoperative analgesia and enhances quality of recovery (QoR) after ambulatory surgery. This randomized, double-blinded, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial examines the effects of multilevel ultrasound-guided paravertebral blocks (PVBs) and total intravenous anesthesia on QoR after ambulatory breast tumor resection.

Methods:
Sixty-six women were randomized to standardized general anesthesia (control group) or PVBs and propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia (PVB group). The PVB group received T1–T5 PVBs with 5 ml of 0.5% ropivacaine per level, whereas the control group received sham subcutaneous injections. Postoperative QoR was designated as the primary outcome. The 29-item ambulatory QoR tool was administered in the preadmission clinic, before discharge, and on postoperative days 2, 4, and 7. Secondary outcomes included block success, pain scores, intra- and postoperative morphine consumption, time to rescue analgesia, incidence of nausea and vomiting, and hospital discharge time.

Results:
Data from sixty-four patients were analyzed. The PVB group had higher QoR scores than control group upon discharge (146 vs. 131; P < 0.0001) and on postoperative day 2 (145 vs. 135; P = 0.013); improvements beyond postoperative day 2 lacked statistical significance. None of the PVB group patients required conversion to inhalation gas–based general anesthesia or experienced block-related complications. PVB group patients had improved pain scores on postanesthesia care unit admission and discharge, hospital discharge, and postoperative day 2; their intraoperative morphine consumption, incidence of nausea and vomiting, and discharge time were also reduced.

Conclusion:
Combining multilevel PVBs with total intravenous anesthesia provides reliable anesthesia, improves postoperative analgesia, enhances QoR, and expedites discharge compared with inhalational gas- and opioid-based general anesthesia for ambulatory breast tumor resection.
Towards an August Assembly of Suave Venusians? The early post-Second World War debate over New Zealand literacy and numeracy standards in transnational context
Authors: Openshaw Roger , Walshaw Margaret 
Published: September 2013

Purpose– Educational standards debates are a promising area of investigation for transnational study by historians of education. Drawing upon the work of Foucault, Kliebard, and Aldrich, the paper critically examines some of the outstanding features of the emerging debate over literacy and numeracy standards that sharply divided teachers, educational officials, parents, and employers in New Zealand during the mid-to-late 1950s. These included the polarisation of opinion across the nation, the involvement of the national media, and the tactics of mass persuasion adopted by the various protagonists.Design/methodology/approach– The paper utilises contemporary theory to critically interrogate an historical episode in which controversy over literacy and numeracy standards in schools led first to an in-house report, and finally to a national inquiry. The paper draws upon contemporary newspaper commentary, professional journals and parliamentary debates, as well as a considerable amount of archival material held at Archives New Zealand repositories in both Wellington and Auckland.Findings– The paper contributes to the field by illustrating the way in which historical debates over literacy and numeracy lie at the intersection of completing claims to truth. Behind such claims lie rival conceptions of education that make it unlikely that standards issues will ever be resolved satisfactorily. Hence the title of the paper, which refers to a jocular suggestion by a newspaper editor of the time that only an “August Assembly of Suave Venusians” could adjudicate in the debate.Originality/value– The value of the paper is that it links current theories on transnationality with archival research in order to critically examine a national case study. Much of the primary source material has never been utilised previously for research as Archives New Zealand has only just released the relevant files for research purposes.
Through the “Western” gaze
Authors: Tong Chia Yeow 
Published: September 2013

Purpose– The purpose of the paper is to examine the conceptions of Chineseness and the perceptions of China in Ontario's High School History Curriculum from 1945 to the end of the 1980s.Design/methodology/approach– The paper examines the syllabus and textbooks in the period that were taught in schools in Ontario. Curriculum guidelines and documents published by the Ontario Department (later Ministry) of Education were studied, as well as the Circular 14, which lists the approved textbooks from which the textbooks where chosen for this paper. The impact-response and tradition-modernity approaches to the study and writing of Chinese enabled the unpacking of the western-centric presuppositions in the textbooks.Findings– From the onset, the Chinese history that was taught and presented was a western-centric one. The paper demonstrates that post Second World War Chinese history that was taught via the Ontario High School History Curriculum and textbooks reflected a view of Chineseness that regards the Chinese and the Chinese civilization was regarded as essentialized, backward and staticvis-à-visthe modern West. Implicit in such a conception of Chineseness is that of western superiority over the Chinese civilization.Originality/value– There have been few studies on how the history of Asia is represented in Canadian school history. Knowing how Chinese history is represented in Ontario High Schools is an interesting case study of how white settler societies viewed and understood China. This study also sheds light on the broader issue of the problematic at play when Asian history is taught and represented in other white settler societies like Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
The antecedents of travellers’ e-satisfaction and intention to buy airline tickets online
Authors: Mohamed Fadel Bukhari Saleh , Ghoneim Ahmad , Dennis Charles , Jamjoom Bothina 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to utilise the existing theories on consumer behaviour and scales within web quality to develop a framework for measuring travellers’ web satisfaction and willingness to purchase tickets through airlines’ web sites.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper is discursive, based on the analysis and synthesis of literature pertaining to e-consumer behaviour, web quality and travel and tourism streams. Gaps in the previous research have been identified and a conceptual framework is consequently proposed. In addition, further research and methodology is suggested.

Findings
– The paper proposes a conceptual framework that can measure consumers’ electronic satisfaction and intention to purchase tickets from airlines’ web sites. The framework includes nine constructs: information quality, system quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, e-trust, airline reputation, price perception, e-satisfaction and intention to purchase.

Research limitations/implications
– As a conceptual paper, the study is limited to literature and prior empirical research, identifying gaps and proposing a framework. The paper recommends further empirical validation of the proposed integrated model.

Practical implications
– The framework is helpful for decision makers within airline companies to identify the factors that can satisfy travellers when using an airline's own web site and influence them to buy e-tickets.

Originality/value
– The paper fills gaps in the knowledge of e-consumer behaviour and web quality within the airline industry through suggesting a framework that helps decision makers to enhance or modify their existing marketing strategies and web site appearance.
Salt tectonic controls on deep‐water turbidite depositional systems: Miocene, southwestern Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola
Authors: Oluboyo A. P. , Gawthorpe R. L. , Bakke K. , Hadler‐Jacobsen F. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractRegionally extensive 3D seismic data from the Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola, have been used to investigate the influence of salt‐related structures on the location, geometry and evolution of Miocene deep‐water depositional systems. Isochron variations and cross‐sectional lap‐out relationships have then been used to qualitatively reconstruct the syn‐depositional morphology of salt‐cored structures. Coherence and Red‐green‐blue‐blended spectral decomposition volumes, tied to cross‐sectional seismic facies, allow imaging of the main sediment transport pathways and the distribution of their component seismic facies. Major sediment transport pathways developed in an area of complex salt‐related structures comprising normal faults, isolated diapirs and elongate salt walls with intervening intraslope basins. Key structural controls on the location of the main sediment transport pathways and the local interaction between lobe‐channel‐levee systems and individual structures were the length and height of structures, the location and geometry of segment boundaries, the growth and linkage of individual structures, and the incidence angle between structural strike and flow direction. Where the regional flow direction was at a high angle to structural strike, transport pathways passed progressively through multiple intraslope basins in a fill and spill manner. Segment boundaries and structural lows between diapirs acted as spill points, focusing sediment transport between intraslope basins. Channel–lobe transitions are commonly associated with these spill points, where flows expanded and entered depocentres. Deflection of channel‐levee complexes around individual structures was mainly controlled by the length of structures and incidence angle. Where regional flow direction was at a low angle to structural strike, sediment transport pathways ran parallel to structure and were confined to individual intraslope basins for many tens of kilometres. Spill between intraslope basins was rare. The relative position of structures and their segment boundaries was fixed during the Miocene, which effectively pinned the locations where sediment spilled from one intraslope basin to the next. As a result, major sediment transport pathways were used repeatedly, giving rise to vertically stacked lobe‐channel‐levee complexes along the pathways. Shadow zones devoid of coarse clastics developed in areas that were either structurally isolated from the sediment transport pathways or bypassed as a result of channel diversion.
Rotating With Rotated Text: A Natural Behavior Approach to Investigating Cognitive Offloading
Authors: Risko Evan F. , Medimorec Srdan , Chisholm Joseph , Kingstone Alan 
Published: September 2013

AbstractDetermining how we use our body to support cognition represents an important part of understanding the embodied and embedded nature of cognition. In the present investigation, we pursue this question in the context of a common perceptual task. Specifically, we report a series of experiments investigating head tilt (i.e., external normalization) as a strategy in letter naming and reading stimuli that are upright or rotated. We demonstrate that the frequency of this natural behavior is modulated by the cost of stimulus rotation on performance. In addition, we demonstrate that external normalization can benefit performance. All of the results are consistent with the notion that external normalization represents a form of cognitive offloading and that effort is an important factor in the decision to adopt an internal or external strategy.
Morphological change and phenotypic plasticity in native and non‐native pumpkinseed sunfish in response to sustained water velocities
Authors: Yavno S. , Fox M. G. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractPhenotypic plasticity can contribute to the proliferation and invasion success of nonindigenous species by promoting phenotypic changes that increase fitness, facilitate range expansion and improve survival. In this study, differences in phenotypic plasticity were investigated using young‐of‐year pumpkinseed sunfish from colonies established with lentic and lotic populations originating in Canada (native) and Spain (non‐native). Individuals were subjected to static and flowing water treatments for 80 days. Inter‐ and intra‐population differences were tested using ancova and discriminant function analysis, and differences in phenotypic plasticity were tested through a manova of discriminant function scores. Differences between Iberian and North American populations were observed in dorsal fin length, pectoral fin position and caudal peduncle length. Phenotypic plasticity had less influence on morphology than genetic factors, regardless of population origin. Contrary to predictions, Iberian pumpkinseed exhibited lower levels of phenotypic plasticity than native populations, suggesting that canalization may have occurred in the non‐native populations during the processes of introduction and range expansion.
Evolution of egg dummies in Tanganyikan cichlid fishes: the roles of parental care and sexual selection
Authors: Amcoff M. , Gonzalez‐Voyer A. , Kolm N. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractSexual selection has been suggested to be an important driver of speciation in cichlid fishes of the Great Lakes of Africa, and the presence of male egg dummies is proposed to have played a key role. Here, we investigate how mouthbrooding and egg dummies have evolved in Tanganyikan cichlids, the lineage which seeded the other African radiations, with a special emphasis on the egg dummies. Using modern phylogenetic comparative analyses and a phylogeny including 86% of the 200 described species, we provide formal evidence demonstrating correlated evolution between mouthbrooding and egg dummies in Tanganyikan cichlids. These results concur with existing evidence, suggesting that egg dummies have evolved through sensory exploitation. We also demonstrate that there is a strong evolutionary correlation between the presence of egg dummies and both pre‐ and post‐copulatory sexual selection. Moreover, egg dummy evolution was contingent on the intensity of pre‐ and post‐copulatory sexual selection in Tanganyikan cichlids. In sum, our results provide evidence supporting the hypothesis of egg dummies evolving through sensory exploitation and highlight the role of sexual selection in favouring the evolution and maintenance of this trait.
Modelling the evolution of common cuckoo host‐races: speciation or genetic swamping?
Authors: Krüger O. , Kolss M. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractCo‐evolutionary arms races have provided clear evidence for evolutionary change, especially in host–parasite systems. The evolution of host‐specific races in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), however, is also an example where sexual conflict influences the outcome. Cuckoo females benefit from better adaptation to overcome host defences, whereas cuckoo males face a trade‐off between the benefits of better adaptation to a host and the benefits of multiple mating with females from other host‐races. The outcome of this trade‐off might be genetic differentiation or prevention of it by genetic swamping. We use a simulation model to test which outcome is more likely with three sympatric cuckoo host‐races. We assume a cost for cuckoo chicks that express a host adaptation allele not suited to their foster host species and that cuckoo males that switch to another host‐race experience either a fitness benefit or cost. Over most of the parameter space, cuckoo male host‐race fidelity increases significantly with time, and gene flow between host‐races ceases within a few thousand to a hundred thousand generations. Our results hence support the idea that common cuckoo host‐races might be in the incipient stages of speciation.
Draft Genome Sequence of Vancomycin-Heteroresistant Staphylococcus epidermidis Strain UC7032, Isolated from Food
Authors: Gazzola Simona , Pietta Ester , Bassi Daniela , Fontana Cecilia , Puglisi Edoardo , Cappa Fabrizio , Cocconcelli Pier Sandro 
Published: September 2013

ABSTRACT

Staphylococcus epidermidis
strain UC7032 was isolated from ready-to-eat cured meat and is heteroresistant to glycopeptide antibiotics. The draft whole-genome analysis revealed that this strain shows common characteristics typical of strains that are involved in nosocomial infections.
Complete Genome Sequence of the Probiotic Strain Lactobacillus casei (Formerly Lactobacillus paracasei) LOCK919
Authors: Koryszewska-Bagińska Anna , Aleksandrzak-Piekarczyk Tamara , Bardowski Jacek 
Published: September 2013

ABSTRACT

Lactobacillus casei
is usually regarded as a bacterium that lives naturally in the human intestinal tract, where it can contribute to host health and well-being. We describe here the complete genome sequence of
L. casei
LOCK919, a strain with probiotic properties isolated from child feces. The genome consists of a 3.11-Mb chromosome and a 29,768-bp plasmid.
Complete Genome Sequence of Vibrio anguillarum M3, a Serotype O1 Strain Isolated from Japanese Flounder in China
Authors: Li Guiyang , Mo Zhaolan , Li Jie , Xiao Peng , Hao Bin 
Published: September 2013

ABSTRACT

Vibrio anguillarum
is an important bacterial pathogen that causes vibriosis in marine fish. We present the complete genome sequence of
V. anguillarum
M3, a serotype O1 clinical strain isolated from Japanese flounder (
Paralichthys olivaceus
) in Shandong, China.
Draft Genome Sequences of Three Newly Identified Species in the Genus
Cronobacter
,
C. helveticus
LMG23732
T
,
C. pulveris
LMG24059, and
C
.
zurichensis
LMG23730
T
Authors: Masood Naqash , Moore Karen , Farbos Audrey , Hariri Sumyya , Paszkiewicz Konrad , Dickins Ben , McNally Alan , Forsythe Stephen 
Published: September 2013

ABSTRACT

Cronobacter helveticus
,
Cronobacter pulveris
, and
Cronobacter zurichensis
are newly described species in the
Cronobacter
genus, which is associated with serious infections of neonates. This is the first report of draft genome sequences for these species.