bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Homoisoflavanone prevents mast cell activation and allergic responses by inhibition of Syk signaling pathway
Authors: Lee Y. S. , Hur S. , Kim T.‐Y. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractBackgroundMast cells play important roles in allergic inflammatory responses because they produce leukotrienes (LTs), prostaglandins (PGs), and a variety of inflammatory cytokines. Thus, pharmacological interventions for allergies have focused on inhibiting mast cell activation. Homoisoflavanone (HIF), isolated from Cremastra appendiculata Makino, has anti‐angiogenic activities; however, its effects on allergic reactions have not been determined. The aim of this study was to assess the inhibitory effects of HIF on mast cell activation, which is critical for anti‐allergic reaction and the underlying mechanisms.MethodsEnzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays, quantitative real‐time PCR, western blot analyses, and degranulation assay were performed to measure pro‐inflammatory and allergic mediators in PMA/A23187‐ or IgE/antigen‐stimulated mouse bone marrow‐derived mast cells (BMMCs), HMC‐1, RBL‐1, or human PBMC‐derived mast cells treated with or without HIF. The anti‐allergic effects of HIF were determined in mouse models using dinitrophenol‐immunoglobulin E‐induced passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) and compound 48/80‐induced ear swelling.ResultsHomoisoflavanone down‐regulated PGD2, LTB4, and LTC4 production and inhibited the production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin‐6 and tumor necrosis factor‐α in PMA/A23187‐ or IgE/antigen‐stimulated mast cells. The molecular mechanisms by which HIF caused these inhibitory effects were determined to be the inactivation of spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) signaling and the concurrent suppression of cPLA2. HIF inhibited IgE‐mediated PCA and compound 48/80‐induced ear swelling in mouse.ConclusionsHomoisoflavanone inhibited mast cell activation through the suppression of Syk pathway together with the inhibition of cPLA2. Thus, it might be a good candidate molecule for allergic diseases.
Beyond Raised Fields: Exploring Farming Practices and Processes of Agricultural Change in the Ancient Lake Titicaca Basin of the Andes
Authors: Bruno Maria C. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTIn the Lake Titicaca Basin of the Andes, narratives of agricultural change have focused exclusively on a single innovation: raised fields. In this article, I examine macrobotanical remains and other archaeological datasets to elucidate a wider range of past farming practices that contributed to processes of agricultural change on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia, during the Formative Period (1500 B.C.E.–C.E. 500). This analysis reveals strong continuities in crop selection through time, with farmers gradually diversifying a basic set of cultigens—quinoa and tubers—but never abandoning them. Patterns in wild plant species indicate continuity in agropastoral land use up to the Late Formative Period (second century C.E.) when the unintended consequences of long‐term tilling and camelid grazing transformed the botanical landscape into one that required a new set of practices to remove weeds and replenish nutrients to the soils. Examining how these practices and the farmers enacting them articulated with broader processes of demographic, environmental, and sociopolitical change reveals dynamic, multivariate courses of agricultural change even before the inclusion of raised fields.
Public Indigeneity, Language Revitalization, and Intercultural Planning in a Native Amazonian Beauty Pageant
Authors: Wroblewski Michael 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTAccording to its 2008 Constitution, Ecuador is a “plurinational” and “intercultural” state. In this article, I examine the creative expounding of constitutional plurinationality–interculturality by indigenous Kichwa activists in the city of Tena in the Amazonian province of Napo. Through a popular annual native beauty pageant, members of a rising, elite sector of professional indigenous intellectuals draw on the rhetoric of constitutional interculturality in order to establish a space for local Kichwa cultural and linguistic practices in the dominant sociocultural order. Meanwhile, these visionaries are working to inscribe new models of public Amazonian Indian identity and institute a controversial new code of cultural expression. Their intercultural code blends standardized Kichwa language and its inherent political ideologies with symbols of an essentialized gendered Amazonian Kichwa identity. This intercultural code is then presented to multiethnic audiences as the urban speaking mode of the new intercultural Indian. The popularizing of the intercultural code represents a profound reconfiguration of long‐held ethnolinguistic categories and identities, challenging old dichotomies of “public” versus “private,” “power” versus “purity,” “dominant” versus “indigenous,” and even “Spanish” versus “Kichwa” that have long characterized coding principles in popular ideologies.
Circulation as Placemaking: Late Classic Maya Polities and Portable Objects
Authors: Halperin Christina T. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTWhat do portable objects have to do with the making of places? Portable objects are seemingly peripheral to understandings of place, as landscape studies often revolve around human experiences in relation to relatively fixed features, such as monumental buildings, agricultural fields, and settlements. Attention to the fleeting movements and intersecting juxtapositions of portable things, people, and landscapes, however, reveals placemaking as relational and dynamic. From a multiscalar perspective, in this article I identify the Late Classic (ca. 600–900 C.E.) Maya Ik’ polity in Petén, Guatemala, as a series of overlapping and relational local, provincial, and regional places. I examine the circulation and social meanings of polychrome vessels and ceramic figurines through paste composition, iconographic, and contextual analyses not only to understand the spatial junctures of the Ik’ polity but also to explore how conceptions of the Ik’ polity were forged by those who used, viewed, and moved these objects.
Therapeutic Hypothermia: Quantification of the Transition of Core Body Temperature Using the Flexible Mixture Bent‐Cable Model for Longitudinal Data
Authors: Khan Shahedul A. , Chiu Grace S. , Dubin Joel A. 
Published: January 2014

SummaryHypothermia which is induced by reducing core body temperature is a therapeutic tool used to prevent brain damage resulting from physical trauma. However, all physiological systems begin to slow down due to hypothermia and this can result in increased risk of mortality. Therefore quantification of the transition of core body temperature to early hypothermia is of great clinical interest. Conceptually core body temperature may exhibit an either gradual or abrupt transition. Bent‐cable regression is an appealing statistical tool to model such data due to the model's flexibility and readily interpretable regression coefficients. It handles more flexibly models that traditionally have been handled by low‐order polynomial models (for gradual transition) or piecewise linear changepoint models (for abrupt change). We consider a rat model to quantify the temporal trend of core body temperature primarily to address the question: What is the critical time point associated with a breakdown in the compensatory mechanisms following the start of hypothermia therapy? To this end, we develop a Bayesian modelling framework for bent‐cable regression of longitudinal data to simultaneously account for gradual and abrupt transitions. Our analysis reveals that: (i) about 39% of rats exhibit a gradual transition in core body temperature; (ii) the critical time point is approximately the same regardless of transition type; and (iii) both transition types show a significant increase of core body temperature followed by a significant decrease.
Funding Local Government: Use (and Abuse) ofPeru's Canon System
Authors: CRABTREE JOHN 
Published: January 2014

While decentralisation, properly understood, implies that sub‐national government involves devolution of authority over revenues, recent experience fromPeru suggests that the canon system tends to create perverse incentives in encouraging open and democratic government at the local level. This is particularly the case in regions such asCusco, which benefit disproportionately from this system. Examination of experiences in four provinces ofCusco shows how – in the absence of a robust civil society – excessive funding tends to encourage clientelism and corruption rather than accountable and transparent administration.
THE POTENTIAL FOR SHORT‐RUN SHIFTING OF A CORPORATE PROFITS TAX
Authors: Aronson J. Richard , Lambert Peter J. , Tremblay Victor J. 
Published: January 2014

ABSTRACTCan the owners of a firm shift a corporate profits tax to consumers? Not in the short run if the tax is stated as a proportion of profits and the firm is a profit maximizer. But what if the firm wishes to pursue a strategy other than profit maximization, say revenue maximization subject to a profit constraint? Under such a condition the firm's reaction to a tax or tax increase might be a price rise that captures part of the foregone profits. We show that firms which operate at a point on their demand curve that differs from profit maximization have an incentive to raise price in response to the tax – and that high cost firms have a greater incentive to raise price than do low cost firms. Our empirical analysis of the US beer industry confirms this finding, and sheds light on the Krzyzaniak–Musgrave analysis of the 1960s which suggested that the corporation income tax produced significant short‐run shifting.
Structural controls on the stratigraphic architecture of net‐transgressive shallow‐marine strata in a salt‐influenced rift basin: Middle‐to‐Upper Jurassic Egersund Basin, Norwegian North Sea
Authors: Mannie A. S. , Jackson C. A. ‐ L. , Hampson G. J. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractIn this study, we integrate 3D seismic reflection, wireline log, biostratigraphic and core data from the Egersund Basin, Norwegian North Sea to determine the impact of syn‐depositional salt movement and associated growth faulting on the sedimentology and stratigraphic architecture of the Middle‐to‐Upper Jurassic, net‐transgressive, syn‐rift succession. Borehole data indicate that Middle‐to‐Upper Jurassic strata consist of low‐energy, wave‐dominated offshore and shoreface deposits and coal‐bearing coastal‐plain deposits. These deposits are arranged in four parasequences that are aggradationally to retrogradationally stacked to form a net‐transgressive succession that is up to 150‐m thick, at least 20 km in depositional strike (SW‐NE) extent, and >70 km in depositional dip (NW‐SE) extent. In this rift‐margin location, changes in thickness but not facies are noted across active salt structures. Abrupt facies changes, from shoreface sandstones to offshore mudstones, only occur across large displacement, basement‐involved normal faults. Comparisons to other tectonically active salt‐influenced basins suggest that facies changes across syn‐depositional salt structures are observed only where expansion indices are >2. Subsidence between salt walls resulted in local preservation of coastal‐plain deposits that cap shoreface parasequences, which were locally removed by transgressive erosion in adjacent areas of lower subsidence. The depositional dip that characterizes the Egersund Basin is unusual and likely resulted from its marginal location within the evolving North Sea rift and an extra‐basinal sediment supply from the Norwegian mainland.
Oral health status: relationship to nutrient and food intake among 80‐year‐old Japanese adults
Authors: Iwasaki Masanori , Taylor George W. , Manz Michael C. , Yoshihara Akihiro , Sato Misuzu , Muramatsu Kanako , Watanabe Reiko , Miyazaki Hideo 
Published: January 2014

AbstractObjectivesThe aim of this cross‐sectional study was to investigate the relationship of oral health status defined on the basis of presence of posterior occluding pairs (POPs) and adequacy of removable denture fit as determined by self‐report to nutrient and food intake among older Japanese.MethodsThe subjects were 353 Japanese aged 80 years in 2008 and were classified into four groups according to the number of POPs, defined as pairs of occluding natural, restored, or fixed prosthetic postcanine teeth (range: 0–8) and removable denture status. The groups were: (i) good dentition (n = 56; 8 POPs and no removable prosthesis), (ii) well‐fitting dentures (n = 158; <8 POPs with self‐reported good‐fitting dentures), (iii) ill‐fitting dentures (n = 70; <8 POPs with self‐reported ill‐fitting dentures), and (iv) compromised dentition (n = 69; <8 POPs and no removable prosthesis). Multivariable analysis of the differences in nutrient and food intake outcome variables which were collected via validated food frequency questionnaire among the four oral health status groups was conducted using general linear models.ResultsIntake of multiple nutrients was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the group with ill‐fitting dentures or compromised dentition than in the good dentition group. Vegetable, fish, and shellfish consumption was significantly lower in the ill‐fitting dentures or compromised dentition groups. No significant differences were seen in dietary intake between the well‐fitting dentures and good dentition groups.ConclusionsDietary intake was poorer in those with self‐perceived ill‐fitting dentures or fewer POPs than among those having all POPs. Regular dental care to maintain intact dentition, as well as dental treatment to replace missing teeth and ensure adequate denture fit and function, may be important to the diet intake and subsequent nutritional status of older Japanese.
Angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors do not impair the safety of Hymenoptera venom immunotherapy build‐up phase
Authors: Stoevesandt J. , Hain J. , Stolze I. , Kerstan A. , Trautmann A. 
Published: January 2014

SummaryBackgroundThere is an ongoing debate on whether angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) should be substituted prior to initiation of venom immunotherapy (VIT) for safety reasons.ObjectiveWe aimed to assess the influence of ACEI medication on the incidence of systemic reactions (SR) during the build‐up phase of VIT in a large and homogeneous cohort of patients.MethodsThe frequency of SR during 775 consecutive cycles of VIT initiation was analyzed in relation to cardiovascular medication, age, sex, venom, reactivity in diagnostic tests, severity of preceding sting‐induced anaphylaxis, comorbidities, latency before the initiation of VIT, and treatment protocols. ACEI were routinely maintained throughout VIT, beta‐blockers replaced if appropriate.ResultsDuring VIT‐initiation, 190 (24.5%) patients were on some kind of cardiovascular treatment, 90 (11.6%) on ACEI, 23 (3.0%) on beta‐blockers. VIT‐related SR rates were 11.7% (any documented reactions including subjective symptoms) and 3.0% (reactions fulfilling objective diagnostic criteria of anaphylaxis). Medication with ACEI (P = 0.097) or beta‐blockers (P = 1.0) was not significantly related to the incidence of SR. A reduced rate of SR in patients taking cardiovascular drugs was not statistically significant in the final multivariate regression model. A prolonged latency before the initiation of VIT (P = 0.018, odds ratio = 1.010), and use of 5‐day compared to 3‐day rush protocols (P = 0.008, odds ratio = 3.522) increased the frequency of SR.Conclusions and Clinical RelevanceStudy data do not provide evidence of an ACEI‐mediated increase of VIT‐related SR, supporting the continued use of these valuable and hard‐to‐replace substances throughout VIT.
The Three Axial Perineal Evaluation (TAPE) score: a new scoring system for comprehensive evaluation of pelvic floor function
Authors: Altomare D. F. , Di Lena M. , Giuratrabocchetta S. , Giannini I. , Falagario M. , Zbar A. P. , Rockwood T. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractAimAbnormalities of one pelvic floor compartment are usually associated with anomalies in the other compartments. Therapies which specifically address one clinical problem may potentially adversely affect other pelvic floor activities. A new comprehensive holistic scoring system defining global pelvic function is presented.MethodA novel scoring system with a software program is presented expressing faecal, urinary and gynaecological functions as a geometric polygon based on symptom‐specific questionnaires [the three axial pelvic evaluation (TAPE) score] where differences in overall geometric area vary from normal. After validation in healthy volunteers, its clinical performance was tested on patients with obstructed defaecation, genital prolapse and urinary/faecal incontinence treated by the stapled transanal rectal resection (STARR) procedure, colpo‐hysterectomy and sacral nerve modulation, respectively. The TAPE score was correlated with the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire 7 quality of life score.ResultsThere was good inter‐observer variation and internal consistency between two observers recording the TAPE score in normal volunteers. In the STARR patients, constipation improved but the TAPE score was unchanged because of deterioration in other pelvic floor functions leading to an unchanged overall postoperative recorded quality of life. Conversely, incontinent patients treated with sacral nerve stimulation improved their function showing concomitant improvements in TAPE scores and quality of life indices. Similar correlative improvements were noted in patients undergoing hysterectomy for genital prolapse.ConclusionThe TAPE score defines the impact of symptom‐specific treatments on the pelvic floor and may provide an opportunity for comparison of clinical data between units and in clinical trials of specific medical and surgical pelvic floor management.
Cytometry in the brain: studying differentiation to diagnostic applications in brain disease and regeneration therapy
Authors: Ulrich H. , Bocsi J. , Glaser T. , Tárnok A. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractDuring brain development, a population of uniform embryonic cells migrates and differentiates into a large number of neural phenotypes – origin of the enormous complexity of the adult nervous system. Processes of cell proliferation, differentiation and programmed death of no longer required cells, do not occur only during embryogenesis, but are also maintained during adulthood and are affected in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disease states. As neurogenesis is an endogenous response to brain injury, visible as proliferation (of to this moment silent stem or progenitor cells), its further stimulation can present a treatment strategy in addition to stem cell transfer for cell regeneration therapy. Concise techniques for studying such events in vitro and in vivo permit understanding of underlying mechanisms. Detection of subtle physiological alterations in brain cell proliferation and neurogenesis can be explored, that occur during environmental stimulation, exercise and ageing. Here, we have collected achievements in the field of basic research on applications of cytometry, including automated imaging for quantification of morphological or fluorescence‐based parameters in cell cultures, towards imaging of three‐dimensional brain architecture together with DNA content and proliferation data. Multi‐parameter and more recently in vivo flow cytometry procedures, have been developed for quantification of phenotypic diversity and cell processes that occur during brain development as well as in adulthood, with importance for therapeutic approaches.
Nodular secondary syphilis with associated granulomatous inflammation: case report and literature review
Authors: Rysgaard Carolyn , Alexander Erik , Swick Brian L. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractA 62‐year‐old male presented with a 10‐day history of a diffuse, erythematous papular rash sparing the palms and soles. Histopathologic examination of a skin lesion showed loose non‐caseating granulomas in a lymphoplasmacytic background. Scattered spirochetes were identified by Treponema pallidum immunohistochemistry, in keeping with a diagnosis of secondary syphilis. Granulomatous inflammation in secondary syphilis is uncommon. A review of the literature reveals that the majority of prior reported cases of granulomatous secondary syphilis share similar characteristics to this case; namely, a papular or nodular clinical presentation, sparing of the palms and soles, and collections of epithelioid histiocytes with associated lymphocytes and variable numbers of plasma cells.
Chronic Kidney Disease is Independently Associated with Alterations in Left Atrial Function
Authors: Kadappu Krishna K. , Kuncoro Ario S. , Hee Leia , Aravindan Anathakrishnapuram , Spicer Stephen T. , Suryanarayanan Govindarajan , Xuan Wei , Boyd Anita , French John K. , Thomas Liza 
Published: January 2014

BackgroundChronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality; hence detection of early cardiovascular involvement in CKD is important to prevent future adverse cardiovascular events. Left atrial (LA) enlargement and dysfunction has been reported in end stage renal disease. However, there is a paucity of published data regarding the evaluation of LA function in CKD using noninvasive imaging parameters. In this study, we evaluated biplane LA volume as well as LA function (LA global systolic strain (GS) and strain rate [SR]) in stage 3 CKD patients (eGFR 30–59 mL/min per 1.73 m2) to determine if LA function parameters are more significantly altered by the presence of CKD in addition to changes due to hypertension alone.MethodsThirty‐three CKD patients (eGFR 30–59 mL/min per 1.73 m2) with hypertension were compared to 33 normal controls and 34 hypertensive (HT) subjects with normal renal function; all participants underwent a detailed transthoracic echocardiogram. Indexed biplane LA volume (LAVI), LA segmental function, and GS and SR (systolic, early, and late diastole) derived from tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) were measured. Univariate predictors of LA strain were determined. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the effect of patient group (i.e. CKD) on GS and SR as well as LAVI.ResultsLeft atrial volume indexed was significantly increased in both the HT and CKD with HT group compared to normal controls (28 ± 9 mL/m2 vs. 28 ± 9 mL/m2 vs. 23 ± 5 mL/m2, respectively, P = 0.02). However, LAVI was similar in the HT and CKD with HT group (28 ± 9 mL/m2 vs. 28 ± 9 mL/m2; P = NS). LA GS and SR were reduced in both the CKD with HT and HT group, compared to controls. However, a significantly lower LA GS was present in the CKD with HT group (Controls vs. HT vs. CKD with HT: 54.9 ± 14.5% vs. 34.5 ± 6.2% vs. 25.7 ± 9.3%, respectively; P = 0.001). To examine the effect of group, (i.e. presence of CKD) multiple logistic regression analysis was performed with univariate predictors including indexed left ventricular mass (LVMI), LV diastolic grade, LAVI, peak A‐wave velocity, β‐blocker therapy, GS and SR; this demonstrated that CKD had an independent effect on LA GS and SR (systolic, early, and late diastole). GS demonstrated moderate correlation with systolic blood pressure (r = −0.5, P = 0.01), diastolic grade (r = −0.5, P = 0.01), E′ velocity (r = 0.6, P = 0.0001), peak A velocity (r = −0.5, P = 0.004), and LAVI (r = −0.6, P = 0.002).ConclusionsLeft atrial dysfunction is evident in stage 3 CKD with associated LA enlargement. This study demonstrates that LA GS and SR were reduced in the CKD group despite similar LAVI in the CKD with HT and HT group. Hence LA GS and SR may be a more sensitive noninvasive tool to detect cardiovascular involvement in CKD.