bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A BTP1 prophage gene present in invasive non‐typhoidal Salmonella determines composition and length of the O‐antigen of the lipopolysaccharide
Authors: Kintz Erica , Davies Mark R. , Hammarlöf Disa L. , Canals Rocío , Hinton Jay C. D. , van der Woude Marjan W. 
Published: January 2015

SummarySalmonella Typhimurium isolate D23580 represents a recently identified ST313 lineage of invasive non‐typhoidal Salmonellae (iNTS). One of the differences between this lineage and other non‐iNTS S. Typhimurium isolates is the presence of prophage BTP1. This prophage encodes a gtrC gene, implicated in O‐antigen modification. GtrCBTP1 is essential for maintaining O‐antigen length in isolate D23580, since a gtrBTP1 mutant yields a short O‐antigen. This phenotype can be complemented by gtrCBTP1 or very closely related gtrC genes. The short O‐antigen of the gtrBTP1 mutant was also compensated by deletion of the BTP1 phage tailspike gene in the D23580 chromosome. This tailspike protein has a putative endorhamnosidase domain and thus may mediate O‐antigen cleavage. Expression of the gtrCBTP1 gene is, in contrast to expression of many other gtr operons, not subject to phase variation and transcriptional analysis suggests that gtrC is produced under a variety of conditions. Additionally, GtrCBTP1 expression is necessary and sufficient to provide protection against BTP1 phage infection of an otherwise susceptible strain. These data are consistent with a model in which GtrCBTP1 mediates modification of the BTP1 phage O‐antigen receptor in lysogenic D23580, and thereby prevents superinfection by itself and other phage that uses the same O‐antigen co‐receptor.
New evidence for the potential role ofCulex pipiensmosquitoes in the transmission cycle ofWestNile virus inTunisia
Authors: KRIDA G. , RHIM A. , DAABOUB J. , FAILLOUX A.‐B. , BOUATTOUR A. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractPhysiological and molecular characteristics of natural populations ofCulex pipiensLinnaeus, 1758 (Diptera:Culicidae) were investigated to elucidate how this species is potentially involved in the transmission ofWestNile virus inTunisia. A total of 215Cx. pipiensfemales from 11 breeding habitats were analysed in the laboratory to estimate autogeny and stenogamy rates. They were tested individually for the locusCQ11to distinguish between the twoCx. pipiensforms,pipiensandmolestus. All testedCx. pipienspopulations were stenogamous. Females from underground breeding sites were all autogeneous, whereas females from above‐ground habitats were mostly anautogeneous. Of all the females tested, 59.7% were identified aspipiens, 22.4% asmolestus, and 17.9% as hybridpipiens/molestus. Furthermore, bothCx. pipiensforms and their hybrids were found to co‐occur in sympatry in all sites. The results of this study represent the first evidence that bothCx. pipiensforms and their hybrids are present inTunisia. Because hybrids able to act as bridge vectors are present in all studied habitats,Tunisia can be considered to have a high degree of receptivity for the establishment ofWestNile virus zoonotic cycles.
Patient perspectives of a young adult renal clinic: A mixed‐methods evaluation
Authors: Tong Allison , Gow Kate , Wong Germaine , Henning Paul , Carroll Robert 
Published: January 2015

AbstractAimWe aimed to evaluate a young adult renal clinic (YAC) intervention that included a multidisciplinary clinic and social programme.MethodsSemi‐structured interviews and surveys (Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL)‐36, Time Trade‐Off (TTO) and Morisky 8‐Item Medication Adherence Questionnaire) were conducted with 15 patients aged 18 to 26 years with chronic kidney disease Stages 1–5, 5D and 5T before and after they attended two YACs.ResultsWe identified six themes: gaining confidence (encouraging self‐expression, exchanging experiential knowledge, helping others, positive reflection and optimism); social connectedness; appreciating a welcoming environment; competing priorities; avoiding the sick identity; and relational boundaries. There were no significant improvements in the overall utility‐based quality of life (QOL) scores (TTO: 0.72 (standard deviation (SD): 0.34) and 0.76 (SD: 0.30), P = 0.70) and the proportion of participants achieving medium to high medication adherence (n = 7, 46.7% vs n = 8, 53.3%, P = 0.72). Similar findings were observed for KDQOL domains.ConclusionThe impact of the YAC on QOL and adherence is unclear. However, patients can develop coping mechanisms and derive psychosocial benefits such as optimism. Some are conscious about respecting the privacy of others or want to disassociate themselves from the ‘disease’. Strategies to strengthen rapport, confidence and sense of ‘normality’ and to destigmatize the illness may enhance the effectiveness of a YAC.
Factors associated with good adherence to self‐care behaviours amongst adolescents with food allergy
Authors: Jones Christina J. , Llewellyn Carrie D. , Frew Anthony J. , Du Toit George , Mukhopadhyay Somnath , Smith Helen 
Published: January 2015

AbstractBackgroundOur understanding of factors which affect adherence to health sustaining self‐care behaviours in adolescents with food allergy is limited. This study used the Health Belief Model to explore the relationship between food allergic adolescents' health beliefs, demographic, structural and social psychological factors with adherence to self‐care behaviours, including allergen avoidance and carrying emergency medication.MethodsA cross‐sectional study of 188 13‐ to 19‐ olds identified from hospital prescribed auto‐injectable epinephrine for food allergy. Data were collected on demographics, structural factors, social psychological factors, health beliefs and current adherence behaviour using a postal questionnaire.ResultsFull adherence was reported by 16% of participants. Multivariate analysis indicated that adherence was more likely to be reported if the adolescents belonged to a support group (OR = 2.54, (1.04, 6.20) 95% CI), had an anaphylaxis management plan (OR = 3.22, (1.18, 8.81) 95% CI), perceived their food allergy to be more severe (OR = 1.24, (1.01, 1.52) 95% CI) and perceived fewer barriers to disease management (OR = 0.87, (0.79, 0.96) 95% CI).ConclusionsMembership of a patient support group and having an anaphylaxis management plan were associated with good adherence to self‐care behaviours in adolescents with food allergy. Our results suggest that interventions to improve provision and utilisation of management plans, address adolescents' perceptions of the severity of anaphylaxis and reduce barriers to disease management may facilitate good adherence behaviours than focussing on knowledge‐based interventions.
Transition to propofol after sevoflurane anesthesia to prevent emergence agitation: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Costi David , Ellwood James , Wallace Andrew , Ahmed Samira , Waring Lynne , Cyna Allan 
Published: January 2015

SummaryBackgroundEmergence agitation (EA) is a common behavioral disturbance after sevoflurane anesthesia in children. Propofol 1 mg·kg−1 bolus at the end of sevoflurane anesthesia has had mixed results in reducing the incidence of EA, whereas propofol infusion throughout anesthesia maintenance seems effective but is more complex to administer. If a simple, short transition to propofol anesthesia was found to be effective in reducing EA, this could enhance the recovery of children following sevoflurane anesthesia. We therefore aimed to determine whether transition to propofol over 3 min at the end of sevoflurane anesthesia reduces the incidence of EA in children.MethodsIn this prospective randomized controlled trial, 230 children aged 1–12 years, undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans under sevoflurane anesthesia were randomized to receive either propofol 3 mg·kg−1 over 3 min (propofol group), or no propofol (control group), at the end of sevoflurane anesthesia. EA was assessed by a blinded assessor using the Pediatric Emergence Anesthesia Delirium (PAED) scale and the Watcha scale until 30 min after emergence. EA on the PAED scale was defined as a PAED score >12. EA on the Watcha scale was defined as a score ≥3. Times to emergence, postanesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge, and discharge home were also recorded.ResultsData were analyzed for 218 children. The incidence of EA was lower in the propofol group on both PAED (29% vs 7%; relative risk = 0.25; 95% confidence interval 0.12–0.52; P < 0.001) and Watcha (39% vs 15%; relative risk = 0.37; 95% confidence interval 0.22–0.62; P < 0.001) scales. Duration and severity of EA were also reduced in the propofol group. Preplanned subgroup analyses for midazolam premedication, preexisting cognitive or behavioral disturbance, and age group did not alter our findings. Emergence time and time in PACU were both increased by a mean of 8 min in the propofol group (P < 0.001) with no difference in time to discharge home.ConclusionsTransition to propofol at the end of sevoflurane anesthesia reduces the incidence of EA and improves the quality of emergence. There is a small increase in recovery time, but no delay in discharge home.
Impossible Jobs or Impossible Tasks? Client Volatility and Frontline Policing Practice in Urban Riots
Authors: Morrell Kevin , Currie Graeme 
Published: January 2015

AbstractVarious public administration jobs are described as “impossible,” meaning that they have an unpopular or illegitimate client base, stakeholders have conflicting values, and leaders and their agency's mission are continually questioned. Although this framework is widely used, it has also become overgeneralized. The authors propose three theoretical extensions to understanding impossible jobs based on findings from a three‐year multimethod study of riot policing. First, a distinction can be drawn between impossible jobs and impossible tasks. Second, the relationship between impossible jobs and street‐level bureaucracy is clarified; the case of riot police shows that some street‐level bureaucrats face impossible tasks. Third, the authors show that the conceptualization of the client base has been overly static—in some situations, the client base fractures, or grows rapidly, and legitimacy can change in real time.
General Douglas MacArthur: Supreme Public Administrator of Post–World War II Japan
Authors: Leavitt William M. 
Published: January 2015

AbstractThis article examines General Douglas MacArthur’s six years as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in post–World War II Japan. MacArthur was appointed by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 to preside over and administer the reconstruction of postwar Japan. No American serving in the role of a public administrator has ever had a more difficult task than the one MacArthur took on in Japan. At the end of World War II, Japan was devastated, and the entire population faced starvation. MacArthur’s administrative style and his successes and failures in Japan are examined in this Administrative Profile. Fifty years after his death, the influence of MacArthur’s policies during his tenure as Supreme Commander are still felt in Japan.
When doctors shape policy: The impact of self‐regulation on governing human biotechnology
Authors: Engeli Isabelle , Rothmayr Allison Christine 
Published: January 2015

AbstractThis paper investigates the development and adoption of governance modes in the field of human biotechnology. As the field of human biotechnology is relatively new, voluntary professional self‐regulation constituted the initial governing mode. In the meantime, with the exception of Ireland, all Western European countries have moved toward greater state intervention. Nevertheless, they have done so in contrasting ways and the resulting governance modes for assisted reproductive technology and embryonic stem‐cell research vary greatly. Instead of imposing their steering capacity in a “top‐down” fashion, governments have taken pre‐existing self‐regulatory arrangements in the field into account and built up governance mechanisms in conjunction with private actors and pre‐existing modes of private governance. Our analysis demonstrates that the form and content of the initial self‐regulation explain why the self‐steering capacity of the medical profession was largely or at least partially preserved through hybrid governance systems in Britain and Germany, while in France the self‐regulation was entirely replaced by governmental intervention.
Improved image quality in pinhole SPECT by accurate modeling of the point spread function in low magnification systems
Authors: Pino Francisco , Roé Nuria , Aguiar Pablo , Falcon Carles , Ros Domènec , Pavía Javier 
Published: January 2015

Purpose:Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has become an important noninvasive imaging technique in small‐animal research. Due to the high resolution required in small‐animal SPECT systems, the spatially variant system response needs to be included in the reconstruction algorithm. Accurate modeling of the system response should result in a major improvement in the quality of reconstructed images. The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the impact that an accurate modeling of spatially variant collimator/detector response has on image‐quality parameters, using a low magnification SPECT system equipped with a pinhole collimator and a small gamma camera.Methods:Three methods were used to model the point spread function (PSF). For the first, only the geometrical pinhole aperture was included in the PSF. For the second, the septal penetration through the pinhole collimator was added. In the third method, the measured intrinsic detector response was incorporated. Tomographic spatial resolution was evaluated and contrast, recovery coefficients, contrast‐to‐noise ratio, and noise were quantified using a custom‐built NEMA NU 4–2008 image‐quality phantom.Results:A high correlation was found between the experimental data corresponding to intrinsic detector response and the fitted values obtained by means of an asymmetric Gaussian distribution. For all PSF models, resolution improved as the distance from the point source to the center of the field of view increased and when the acquisition radius diminished. An improvement of resolution was observed after a minimum of five iterations when the PSF modeling included more corrections. Contrast, recovery coefficients, and contrast‐to‐noise ratio were better for the same level of noise in the image when more accurate models were included. Ring‐type artifacts were observed when the number of iterations exceeded 12.Conclusions:Accurate modeling of the PSF improves resolution, contrast, and recovery coefficients in the reconstructed images. To avoid the appearance of ring‐type artifacts, the number of iterations should be limited. In low magnification systems, the intrinsic detector PSF plays a major role in improvement of the image‐quality parameters.
Genomic Avenue to Avian Colisepticemia
Authors: Huja Sagi , Oren Yaara , Trost Eva , Brzuszkiewicz Elzbieta , Biran Dvora , Blom Jochen , Goesmann Alexander , Gottschalk Gerhard , Hacker Jörg , Ron Eliora Z. , Dobrindt Ulrich 
Published: January 2015

ABSTRACT

Here we present an extensive genomic and genetic analysis of Escherichia coli strains of serotype O78 that represent the major cause of avian colisepticemia, an invasive infection caused by avian pathogenic
Escherichia coli
(APEC) strains. It is associated with high mortality and morbidity, resulting in significant economic consequences for the poultry industry. To understand the genetic basis of the virulence of avian septicemic E. coli, we sequenced the entire genome of a clinical isolate of serotype O78—O78:H19 ST88 isolate 789 (O78-9)—and compared it with three publicly available APEC O78 sequences and one complete genome of APEC serotype O1 strain. Although there was a large variability in genome content between the APEC strains, several genes were conserved, which are potentially critical for colisepticemia. Some of these genes are present in multiple copies per genome or code for gene products with overlapping function, signifying their importance. A systematic deletion of each of these virulence-related genes identified three systems that are conserved in all septicemic strains examined and are critical for serum survival, a prerequisite for septicemia. These are the plasmid-encoded protein, the defective ETT2 (
E. coli
type 3 secretion system 2) type 3 secretion system ETT2
sepsis
, and iron uptake systems. Strain O78-9 is the only APEC O78 strain that also carried the regulon coding for yersiniabactin, the iron binding system of the
Yersinia
high-pathogenicity island. Interestingly, this system is the only one that cannot be complemented by other iron uptake systems under iron limitation and in serum.

IMPORTANCE
Avian colisepticemia is a severe systemic disease of birds causing high morbidity and mortality and resulting in severe economic losses. The bacteria associated with avian colisepticemia are highly antibiotic resistant, making antibiotic treatment ineffective, and there is no effective vaccine due to the multitude of serotypes involved. To understand the disease and work out strategies to combat it, we performed an extensive genomic and genetic analysis of Escherichia coli strains of serotype O78, the major cause of the disease. We identified several potential virulence factors, conserved in all the colisepticemic strains examined, and determined their contribution to growth in serum, an absolute requirement for septicemia. These findings raise the possibility that specific vaccines or drugs can be developed against these critical virulence factors to help combat this economically important disease.
Comparative Genomics Suggests Primary Homothallism of
Pneumocystis
Species
Authors: Almeida João M. G. C. F. , Cissé Ousmane H. , Fonseca Álvaro , Pagni Marco , Hauser Philippe M. 
Published: January 2015

ABSTRACT

Pneumocystis
species are fungal parasites of mammal lungs showing host specificity.
Pneumocystis jirovecii
colonizes humans and causes severe pneumonia in immunosuppressed individuals. In the absence of
in vitro
cultures, the life cycle of these fungi remains poorly known. Sexual reproduction probably occurs, but the system of this process and the mating type (
MAT
) genes involved are not characterized. In the present study, we used comparative genomics to investigate the issue in P. jirovecii and
Pneumocystis carinii
, the species infecting rats, as well as in their relative Taphrina deformans. We searched sex-related genes using 103 sequences from the relative
Schizosaccharomyces pombe
as queries. Genes homologous to several sex-related role categories were identified in all species investigated, further supporting sexuality in these organisms. Extensive
in silico
searches identified only three putative
MAT
genes in each species investigated (
matMc
,
matMi
, and
matPi
). In P. jirovecii, these genes clustered on the same contig, proving their contiguity in the genome. This organization seems compatible neither with heterothallism, because two different
MAT
loci on separate DNA molecules would have been detected, nor with secondary homothallism, because the latter involves generally more
MAT
genes. Consistently, we did not detect
cis
-acting sequences for mating type switching in secondary homothallism, and PCR revealed identical
MAT
genes in P. jirovecii isolates from six patients. A strong synteny of the genomic region surrounding the putative
MAT
genes exists between the two Pneumocystis species. Our results suggest the hypothesis that primary homothallism is the system of reproduction of Pneumocystis species and T. deformans.

IMPORTANCE
Sexual reproduction among fungi can involve a single partner (homothallism) or two compatible partners (heterothallism). We investigated the issue in three pathogenic fungal relatives:
Pneumocystis jirovecii
, which causes severe pneumonia in immunocompromised humans;
Pneumocystis carinii
, which infects rats; and the plant pathogen Taphrina deformans. The nature, the number, and the organization within the genome of the genes involved in sexual reproduction were determined. The three species appeared to harbor a single genomic region gathering only three genes involved in sexual differentiation, an organization which is compatible with sexual reproduction involving a single partner. These findings illuminate the strategy adopted by fungal pathogens to infect their hosts.
Concussion in youth rugby union and rugby league: a systematic review
Authors: Kirkwood Graham , Parekh Nikesh , Ofori-Asenso Richard , Pollock Allyson M 
Published: January 2015

BackgroundChildren and adolescents who play rugby are at increased risk of concussion and its effects. Competitive rugby union and rugby league feature as major sports in the school sport curriculum in the UK. There is a need for a thorough understanding of the epidemiology of concussion in youth rugby, the mechanisms involved in injuries and predisposing risk factors.Data SourcesThe publication databases Pubmed, Embase and SportDISCUS were searched in April 2014 for primary research studies of child and adolescent rugby union and rugby league (under 20 years) in English language with data on concussion injuries. The review was conducted within a larger all injury systematic review on rugby union and rugby league where key words used in the search included rugby, injury and concussion with child, adolescent, paediatric and youth.ResultsThere were 25 studies retrieved with data on child or adolescent rugby and concussion, 20 were on rugby union, three on rugby league and in two the code of rugby was unspecified. There was significant heterogeneity in the definitions of injuries and of concussion. The incidence of child and adolescent match concussion ranged from 0.2 to 6.9 concussions per 1000 player-hours for rugby union and was 4.6 and 14.7 concussions per 1000 player-hours for rugby league, equivalent to a probability of between 0.3% and 11.4% for rugby union and of 7.7% and 22.7% for rugby league.ConclusionsThere is a significant risk of concussion in children and adolescents playing rugby union and rugby league evident from the studies included in this systematic review. There is a need for reliable data through routine monitoring and reporting in schools and clubs and in hospital emergency departments in order to inform prevention. Concussion protocols should be implemented and tested.