bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Plant Light Stress
Authors: Osakabe Keishi , Osakabe Yuriko 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Plants produce their own energy and metabolites via photosynthesis. Although photosynthesis requires sunlight, the very nature of sunlight also has a negative effect on photosynthesis. Plants have therefore evolved various protective and response mechanisms to mitigate the negative effects of light stress.

Key Concepts:

Photosynthesis causes a potential risk of photodamage.

Excess light and ultraviolet irradiation from sunlight lead to increased production of ROS, which cause photo‐oxidative damage.

Plants have evolved protective and response mechanisms against photodamage.

ROS can be utilised as a signalling molecule for response against light stress as well as other abiotic and biotic stresses.
Plant Storage Products (Carbohydrates, Oils and Proteins)
Authors: Kermode Allison R 
Published: April 2013

AbstractThe majority of foods consumed by humans and their domesticated animals as food sources are ultimately obtained from plants, especially seeds. The storage products in seeds are predominately carbohydrates, oils and proteins, which are synthesised and stored in specialised tissues during seed development. Ultimately the storage products ensure successful establishment of the new plant, and the vigour of the young seedling. For example, the reserves are utilised following germination to support early growth of the seedling, allowing it to survive before it commences photosynthesis and autotrophic growth. Some of the storage compounds of seeds play a direct protective role, allowing the seed to withstand water loss during the final stages of its development, and to survive in the dry state for long periods under adverse environmental conditions. Molecular, proteomic and other approaches are elucidating the regulatory networks of genes and encoded proteins that underlie the biochemical and physiological basis of seed maturation, and the accumulation of stored compounds.Key Concepts:Seed proteins directly provide more than half of the global intake of dietary protein in humans.In seeds, storage products (carbohydrates, oils and proteins) are accumulated during maturation and are utilised following germination to support early growth of the seedling. Likewise, storage products accumulated over winter in tree bark, tubers and perennial weed roots provide nutrients for rapid resumption of growth in the spring.There are regulatory networks of genes and encoded proteins that control the accumulation of stored compounds during seed maturation.Some of the storage products accumulated in seeds and plants are related to their longevity and protect them against environmental stresses.The genetic engineering of the storage products of seeds and plants is directed towards improving their nutritional, stability and food processing properties.
Histamine Biosynthesis and Function
Authors: Ichikawa Atsushi , Tanaka Satoshi 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Histamine is one of the essential biogenic amines that mediate a wide variety of physiological and pathological responses, such as inflammation, gastric acid secretion, neurotransmission and immune modulation. Histamine is synthesised through decarboxylation of
l
‐histidine and functions by acting on its specific receptors consisting of H
1
, H
2
, H
3
and H
4
subtypes. Mast cells and basophils store histamine in their cytoplasmic granules and release it when stimulated, whereas histamine release is closely associated with its

de novo

synthesis in gastric enterochromaffin‐like cells, and neurons. A series of antagonists targeting H
1
and H
2
subtype has brought about enormous success to therapies for immediate allergy and peptic ulcer, respectively. The H
3
subtype has been focused on as the therapeutic target for cognitive dysfunctions, because it is expressed preferentially in neurons and modulates the neurotransmitter release. Recently identified H
4
subtype is expressed preferentially in blood cells and mediates their chemotaxis in response to histamine.

Key Concepts:

Histamine mediates a wide variety of physiological and pathological responses, such as inflammation, gastric acid secretion, neurotransmission and immune modulation.

Histamine is synthesised through decarboxylation of
l
‐histidine by histidine decarboxylase and is catabolised through oxidative deamination or methylation.

Tissue histamine levels are transiently increased by degranulation of mast cells and basophils while they are upregulated by
de novo
synthesis in gastric enterochromaffin‐like cells, and neurons.

Histamine exerts its functions by acting on its specific receptors consisting of H
1
, H
2
, H
3
and H
4
receptors.

Histamine is a paracrine mediator, of which actions are generally limited in the local microenvironment.

Histamine H
1
receptor antagonists have brought successful therapeutic approaches for immediate allergy, because histamine evokes vasodilation and increased vascular permeability by acting on the H
1
receptor.

In the central nervous system, histamine is involved in awakening, appetite, maintenance of circadian rhythm, learning and memory, which are regulated by the H
1
and H
3
receptors.

Histamine stimulates parietal cells to induce gastric acid secretion by acting on the H
2
receptor, of which antagonists drastically improved therapeutic approaches for peptic ulcer.

Pre‐synaptic histamine H
3
receptor regulates release of various neurotransmitters including histamine itself, and is expected as a potential drug target for the treatment of cognitive dysfunctions.

Histamine H
4
receptor is expressed exclusively in blood cells and mediates their chemotaxis in response to histamine.
Tumours: Targeting of Monoclonal Antibodies for Imaging and Potential for Therapy
Authors: Kaur Sukhwinder , Jain Maneesh , Senapati Shantibhushan , Batra Surinder K 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Antibodies by virtue of their unmatched specificity and diverse modes of action are the central components of the immune system to detect and combat pathogenic and nonpathogenic diseases. From the era of polyclonal antibodies to fully humanised monoclonal antibodies, a lot has been understood regarding their causal generation, molecular buildup, varied functioning and clearance from the biological system. This information has led to their widespread use in various arenas of pathogenesis including parasitic, bacterial and viral infections, heart diseases, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Since cancer derives from self, it is both difficult to diagnose as well as treat. With over 20 antibody‐based drugs now in use and over 100 in clinical trials for cancer, antibodies form the basis of several diagnostic as well as therapeutic modalities for some lethal malignancies. Further, antibody engineering to improve their characteristics, such as pharmacokinetics, has made them a major attraction for the biopharmaceutical industry.

Key Concepts:

The efficacy of murine monoclonal antibodies is limited by the inefficient action of the murine‐derived constant region and human anti‐mouse antibody response, resulting in their rapid clearance from the blood.

The success of an antibody‐based biopharmaceutical depends upon target antigen (location, distribution and density), targeted site (solid or haematological malignancy, tumour microenvironment) and targeting antibody (specificity, affinity, avidity, mode of action, origin and isotype).

Antitumour antibodies mediate their effector functions by antibody‐dependent cellular cytotoxicity, complement‐dependent cytotoxicity and antibody‐dependent cellular phagocytosis.

Antigenic heterogeneity, lack of tumour specificity, immunogenicity and nonuniform distribution of antibodies to the targeted site are major hurdles in successful use of antibody‐based therapeutics for solid tumours.

Antibodies against molecules inhibiting effector functions of helper and cytotoxic T cells improve the efficacy of an antitumour immune response.

Antibodies directed against co‐stimulatory receptors act as surrogate ligands and boost weak, ineffectual and endogenous antitumour immune responses.
Lesch–Nyhan Syndrome
Authors: Nyhan William L 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Lesch–Nyhan syndrome is a dramatic X‐linked disease caused by deficient activity of the purine‐salvage enzyme
hypoxanthine–guanine
phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT), leading to hyperuricemia and all of its clinical consequences. These manifestations, which the disease shares with gout, include hematuria, renal calculi, renal failure resulting from urate deposition in the parenchyma of the kidney, acute very painful arthritis, and tophaceous deposits in the cartilage of joints and the ears. The disease also includes a neurologic syndrome in which dystonia and its involuntary movements are associated with spasticity, making most patients wheelchair bound. Behavioural manifestations, possibly the most memorable feature of the disease, include self‐injurious behaviour. This takes a spectrum of forms, the most drastic of which is biting which leads to loss of tissue. The activity of the enzyme is readily measured in red blood cells. In the classic syndrome the activity is zero.

Key Concepts:

Lesch–Nyhan disease was the first example of a stereotyped pattern of abnormal behaviour in which there was a fundamental molecular etiology, the absence of activity of an enzyme.

The disease led to the development of the concept of behavioural phenotypes, and the coining of this phrase.

The gene is located on the X chromosome, and its expression in disease is almost exclusively in males.

Mutations in the gene represent the entire spectrum from missense and nonsense mutations to large deletions, and the rule in any family is for the mutation to be private.

The discovery of allopurinol, which lowers uric acid concentrations by inhibiting xanthine oxidase, has changed the pattern of disease from one of death in early infancy to childhood; now there are adults with the disease.

Successful treatment for neurologic and behavioural features of the disease has been elusive.

The enzyme is active in every cell. This fact has permitted some control of the disease in a family by heterozygote detection and pre‐natal diagnosis.

Heterozygote detection and pre‐natal diagnosis may be made by mutational analysis if mutation in the proband is known.
Dinosauria (Dinosaurs)
Authors: Carpenter Kenneth 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Dinosaurs are a group of extinct vertebrates that lived from 230 to 65 million years ago (Ma). They originated in southern Pangaea during the Middle Triassic from a small, meter‐long bipedal archosaur (the group that includes crocodiles and pterosaurs). Within a few million years dinosaurs rapidly diversified into two major groups (Ornithischia and Saurischia) based on pelvic structure and three main clades or subgroups (Ornithischia, Sauropodomorpha and Theropoda). Further diversification resulted in the various dinosaur classic types, such as tyrannosaurs, apatosaurs, stegosaurs, ankylosaurs and ceratopsians. These various types reflect the two locomotor styles, bipedal and quadrupedal, as well as the three dietary groups, herbivorous, carnivorous and omnivorous. Dinosaurs spread globally and by the Jurassic appear on all the continents, including ice‐free Antarctica. They also spread into a variety of niches, including flight. The extinction of this seemingly successful group 65 Ma is still the subject of much debate. Hypothetical causes include disease, volcanism, sea level drop, asteroid impact, or a combination of these. The only survivor of the ‘Great Extinction’ are the birds, or avian dinosaurs.

Key Concepts:

Dinosaurs appeared in the Late Triassic of South America 230 Ma and survive today as birds.

Dinosaurs underwent dramatic diversification within a few million years after their appearance so that most varieties were present by the Middle Jurassic.

Dinosaurs also spread globally, occurring on all continents and in a variety of environments.

Although an asteroid impact apparently marks the end of the Cretaceous, there is still no uniform agreement that it was the cause for the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs.

Modern birds are believed to be descendants of small, feathered theropods.
Palaeognathae
Authors: Dyke Gareth J , Leonard Leona M 
Published: April 2013

AbstractCurrent evolutionary consensus, based on both molecular and morphological data, suggests that there are two broad subdivisions at the base of living birds (Neornithes), the neognaths (Neognathae) and palaeognathous birds (Palaeognathae). Palaeognaths are characterised by their primitive skull morphology and a secondarily acquired characteristic – flightlessness. The group, as traditionally defined and still recognised by phylogenetic analyses, includes flightless birds (ostrich, rhea, emu, cassowaries and kiwis) and flighted tinamous. Flightless forms are found today on the former landmasses of Gondwana, Africa, South America and Australia, whereas tinamous are restricted to South America. Traditionally, palaeognaths have been subdivided into ratites (all the large flightless groundbirds) and tinamous, although some data sets suggest that this classification might be overly simplistic: Recent molecular studies have concluded that the South American flighted taxa are nested within the traditional ratite grouping. This is interesting because it means that ratite flightlessness has evolved convergently at least four times.Key Concepts:The evolutionary relationships of living birds (clade Neornithes) remain poorly resolved despite more than a century and a half of investigation.Palaeognaths (Palaeognathae) comprise the large, flightless living ratites (emu, ostrich, cassowary and rhea) and their smaller, flying cousins; tinamou.The fossil record of palaeognaths shows that this group was once made up of medium‐sized flying birds, the oldest currently known from the Paleocene (ca.60 million years ago (Ma)).Palaeognaths are widely considered by biologists and palaeontologists to be the sister‐group of Neognaths, the clade that includes all other living birds.
Eutheria (Placental Mammals)
Authors: Archibald J David 
Published: April 2013

AbstractEutheria includes one of three major clades of mammals, the extant members of which are referred to as placentals.With almost 4800 extinct and extant genera, including 1135 extant (living) genera and over 5000 extant species arrayed in 20 extant orders, placentals (extant eutherians) are the most taxonomically diverse of the three branches of extant mammals. Eutherians appear in the fossil record by 105 Ma (million years ago) and possibly by 160 Ma. Extant orders of eutherians (placentals) do not occur in the fossil record until after dinosaur extinction 65–66 Ma. Molecular studies generally agree with these dates for the origin of placental orders, but place the origin of Eutheria at approximately 190 Ma and groups related to living orders of mammals by 100 Ma. Placentals vary greatly in size (whales down to shrews), in locomotion (flying, swimming, climbing, burrowing, running, etc.), and diet (meat, leaves, fruit, termites, etc.). They have a high resting temperature (homiothermy) and produce this heat internally (endothermy). They have a chorioallantoic placenta that allows a long gestation for development.Key Concepts:Eutherian mammals arose somewhere between 105 and 190 Ma.Extant eutherian mammals, known as placentals, may have originated as long as 100 Ma based on molecular studies.Placental orders first began to appear and diversify approximately 65 Ma (±10 My) based on both molecular and fossil studies.There are 20 orders of placentals comprised of 1135 living genera and over 5000 species.Placentals have a high resting temperature (homiothermy) and produce this heat internally (endothermy).Placentals have a chorioallantoic placenta that allows a long gestation for development, hence their name.Placentals are arguably the most ecologically diverse group of living vertebrates as they vary greatly in size, locomotory types, and diet.
New World Monkeys
Authors: Rosenberger Alfred L , Hartwig Walter Carl 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

New World monkeys are the nonhuman primates of South and Central America. Because almost all of their evolutionary history took place on the island continent of South America without competition from other primates, and most likely in a strictly arboreal setting, the character of their adaptation is unique. Fossils and molecules indicate the major lineages are long enduring, having attained diverse, stable ecological conditions quite early. Today, platyrrhine (wide‐nosed) monkeys comprise the most diversified taxonomic group among anthropoids. More primitive anatomically than Old World monkeys or apes, some forms resemble early fossil anthropoids from Egypt and serve well as models for reconstructing their behaviour. Others are more like the specialised apes in their locomotor adaptations, or the modified, folivorous leaf monkeys, whereas some evoke the big‐brained, extractive foraging strategies of African apes. Highly varied in their outward appearance as well, the range of social behaviours and mating strategies exhibited by platyrrhines is without equal among the primates.

Key Concepts:

New World monkeys occupy a wide variety of arboreal niches in the seasonally flooded forests of the Amazon and Orinoco river systems in continental South America, as well as more peripheral and less tropical biomes in southern South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

Living New World monkeys are the smallest anthropoid primates, ranging across a span from less than 1 kg to approximately 10 kg.

As an isolated, highly diversified radiation they are important models for studying parallel evolution in anatomy and behaviour while also providing living analogies for reconstructing the adaptations of extinct primates.

The adaptive radiation of platyrrhines unfolded along cladistic lines, with each of the four main lineages occupying a distinct ecological zone characterised by a combination of body size, feeding preference and locomotor habit.

The four main branches of the platyrrhine radiation, and some of the living genera, are older than any of the lineages or genera of Old World monkeys or apes.

Where platyrrhines originally came from, directly from Africa or via North America, remains a difficult question as both hypotheses have their own pros and cons.

The modern radiation of New World monkeys is an Amazonian phenomenon that was taking root 11–13 million years ago, as shown by fossils from a rich site in Colombia, but older, more primitive forms are found in Patagonia.

Because of their dependence on multi‐level tropical forest ecosystems, New World monkey species are under acute threat of extinction as humans occupy and consume more and more forested areas and resources.
Sirenia (Dugongs and Manatees)
Authors: Domning Daryl P 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Sirenia are an order of large, aquatic, plant‐eating, mostly tropical placental mammals that includes the modern seacows (dugongs and manatees) and their extinct relatives. Their nearest living relatives are the Proboscidea (elephants). Together with some extinct orders (including Desmostylia and Embrithopoda), Sirenia and Proboscidea make up a group known as Tethytheria, after their likely origin along the shores of the ancient Tethys Seaway in the Old World. Sirenians first appeared in the fossil record in the Eocene. They comprise four families, two extinct (Prorastomidae and Protosirenidae, both Eocene) and two extant (Trichechidae and Dugongidae). For most of the Tertiary, they formed multispecies communities in marine environments, partitioning seagrass resources in ways not completely understood. However, global cooling after the middle Miocene, and human predation in the North Pacific, diminished their diversity to only two living genera and four species.

Key Concepts:

Sirenians are herbivorous, completely aquatic mammals that evolved from land‐dwelling ancestors.

The closest living relatives of the Sirenia are the Proboscidea (elephants).

Sirenians have a fossil record dating from the Eocene.

Most sirenians of the past lived in salt water, and fed on seagrasses (marine flowering plants).

The Family Dugongidae was the most diverse and successful family of sirenians.

Several lineages of sirenians apparently specialised on eating large seagrass rhizomes, using bladelike, self‐sharpening upper tusks.

These specialised sirenians could act as ‘keystone species’, allowing both seagrasses and other kinds of sirenians to become locally more diverse.

Unlike today, sirenians of the past formed communities of several coexisting species, with a different taxonomic makeup in each ocean basin.

Diversity of sirenians diminished after the middle Miocene, due to global cooling.

Manatees in the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean had a complicated history during the Pleistocene Ice Ages, shifting their range south and north with the alternating glacial and interglacial cycles.
Nematoda (Roundworms)
Authors: Poinar George 
Published: April 2013

AbstractThe Nematoda are a group of nonsegmented worm‐like invertebrates that occur worldwide in a wide range of habitats, including fresh and salt waters, soil, plants and animals. They are one of the most abundant group of invertebrates on the face of the earth and rival the arthropods in biodiversity and species abundance. Their estimated numbers range from 1.5 billion in an upper 20 mm in 1.6 hectares of marine beach sand to 380 million in a square metre of leaf litter. Evidence from fossils and extant forms indicate that they evolved in the sea and came on land by probably moving up brackish estuaries into freshwater habitats. Although many of the plant parasites are considered pests and controlled with nematicides, other nematodes are important in controlling agricultural and medically important insect pests and still others have been used as experimental organisms in genetics.Key Concepts:Nematodes are the most successful group of the Ecdysoma, or pseudocoelomate bilateria.Nematodes are one of the most abundant groups of invertebrates.Some 20 000 nematode species have been described.Estimates for species diversity range from 100 000 to 10 million.Plant parasitic nematodes can be important agricultural pests.Many nematodes live in the bodies of humans and their pets.