bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Immunolocalization of beta‐proteins and alpha‐keratin in the epidermis of the soft‐shelled turtle explains the lack of formation of hard corneous material
Authors: Alibardi Lorenzo 
Published: February 2014

AbstractImmunolocalization of beta‐proteins in the epidermis of the soft‐shelled turtle explains the lack of formation of hard corneous material, Acta Zoologica, Stockholm. The corneous layer of soft‐shelled turtles derives from the accumulation of higher ratio of alpha‐keratins versus beta‐proteins as indicated by gene expression, microscopic, immunocytochemical and Western blotting analysis. Type I and II beta‐proteins of 14–16 kDa, indicated as Tu2 and Tu17, accumulate in the thick and hard corneous layer of the hard‐shelled turtle, but only type II is present in the thinner corneous layer of the soft‐shelled turtle. The presence of proline–proline and proline–cysteine–hinge dipeptides in the beta‐sheet region of all type II beta‐proteins so far isolated from the epidermis of soft‐shelled turtles might impede the formation of beta‐filaments and of the hard corneous material. Western blot analysis suggests that beta‐proteins are low to absent in the corneous layer. The ultrastructural immunolocalization of Tu2 and Tu17 beta‐proteins shows indeed that a diffuse labelling is seen among the numerous alpha‐keratin filaments present in the precorneous and corneous layers of the soft epidermis and that no dense corneous material is formed. Double‐labelling experiments confirm that alpha‐keratin prevails on beta‐proteins. The present observations support the hypothesis that the soft material detected in soft‐shelled turtles derives from the prevalent activation of genes producing type II beta‐proteins and high levels of alpha‐keratins.
Results of collagen plug occlusion of anal fistula: a multicentre study of 126 patients
Authors: Blom J. , Husberg‐Sellberg B. , Lindelius A. , Gustafsson U.‐M. , Carlens S. , Oppelstrup H. , Bragmark M. , Yin L. , Nyström P.‐O. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractAimThe Biodesign® anal fistula plug was introduced as a means of obliterating the fistula tract and promoting healing through biocompatibility. The results demonstrated unexplained variations from good to bad. This report analysed the results of a retrospective multicentre study.MethodAll plug procedures performed in four Stockholm hospitals between June 2006 and June 2010 were identified and studied using a common protocol. The outcome after the first plug‐insertion procedure was assessed by chart review performed a minimum of 8 months after plug insertion. Cox proportional‐hazards models were used to assess the associations of various factors with fistula healing.ResultsOne‐hundred and twenty‐six patients (mean age 47 years) were deemed suitable for the plug procedure. Eighty‐five per cent of fistulae were cryptoglandular, 64% of patients were male and a mean of 2.9 previous fistulae procedures had been performed. All patients, except four, had an indwelling seton at the time of the plug procedure, which was performed in accordance with previously established principles of day surgery. After a median of 13 months, 30 (24%) fistulae had closed with no discomfort or secretion reported. The outcome in the four hospitals varied from 13% to 33% with similar numbers of patients in each hospital. A success rate of 12% was observed for patients with anterior fistula compared with 32% for those with posterior tracks [hazard ratio (HR) for successful healing = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.01–8.78) and 41% for those with a lateral internal opening (HR = 3.76; 95% CI: 1.03–13.75). Age, sex and number of previous procedures were not associated with healing.ConclusionFour independent patient groups showed low success rates after the first plug‐insertion procedure. Anterior fistulae were much less likely to heal compared with fistulae in other locations.
Randomized single‐blind clinical trial of intradermal methylene blue on pain reduction after open diathermy haemorrhoidectomy
Authors: Sim H.‐L. , Tan K.‐Y. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractBackgroundOpen haemorrhoidectomy has been associated with considerable postoperative pain and discomfort. Perianal intradermal injection of methylene blue has been shown to ablate perianal nerve endings and may bring about temporary pain relief after haemorrhoidectomy. We hypothesized that the administration of intradermal methylene blue would reduce postoperative pain during the initial period after surgery.MethodA randomized, prospective, single‐blind placebo‐controlled trial was conducted. Patients were randomized to intradermal injection at haemorrhoidectomy of either 4 ml 1% methylene blue and 16 ml 0.5% marcaine or of 16 ml 0.5% marcaine and 4 ml saline prior to surgical dissection. Patients were asked to fill in a pain diary with a visual analogue scale. The primary outcome measure was pain score and analgesic use. Secondary outcomes were complications.ResultsThere were 37 patients in the methylene blue arm and 30 patients in the placebo arm. There were no statistically significant differences in the sex, type of haemorrhoid, number of haemorrhoids excised, duration of surgery or hospital stay. The mean pain scores were significantly lower and the use of paracetamol was also significantly less in the methylene blue group during the first three postoperative days. The risk ratio of acute urinary retention occurring when methylene blue was not used was 2.320 (95% CI 1.754–3.067). Other complication rates were not significantly different.ConclusionPerianal intradermal injection of methylene blue was useful in reducing the initial postoperative pain of open haemorrhoidectomy.
Assessment of Aortic Stiffness by Transesophageal Echocardiography
Authors: Go Orson D. , Safar Michel E. , Smulyan Harold 
Published: February 2014

BackgroundAortic stiffness, often measured by the carotid/femoral pulse‐wave velocity (PWV) method, has become an attractive predictor for cardiovascular (CV) risk. Although noninvasive, PWV requires additional equipment and training. Aortic diameters measured at transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) provide high spatial resolution images as an alternative to PWV, and permit a more routine assessment of aortic stiffness. The purpose of this study was to measure aortic diameters at TEE, calculate aortic stiffness and compare these data to those of the more established PWV as estimates of CV risk and survival.MethodsSystolic and diastolic aortic dimensions were measured retrospectively in 500 consecutive patients who had a clinically indicated TEE. Aortic compliance, distensibility, and stiffness index were calculated using the aortic diameters and corrected brachial cuff blood pressures (BP).ResultsCompliance significantly related to age and mean BP (both P < 0.0001) and nearly significantly to chronic renal disease (P = 0.064). The results for distensibility and stiffness index were similar. When analyzed by Kaplan–Meier curves, all stiffness tertiles were significantly predictive of 4.5‐ to 7.5‐year survival. These calculated values behaved similar to those of PWV reported in the literature.ConclusionsThis study showed that in patients undergoing routine TEE, aortic stiffness can be readily measured and that the derived values offer relationships comparable to those of PWV, including survival prediction. The method may also find use in assessing aortic stiffness in the TEE evaluation of patients with a bicuspid aortic valve or in preparation for transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
RapidSalmonelladetection in experimentally inoculated equine faecal and veterinary hospital environmental samples using commercially available lateral flow immunoassays
Authors: Burgess B. A. , Noyes N. R. , Bolte D. S. , Hyatt D. R. , van Metre D. C. , Morley P. S. 
Published: February 2014

SummaryReasons for performing studySalmonella entericais the most commonly reported cause of outbreaks of nosocomial infections in large animal veterinary teaching hospitals and the closure of equine hospitals. Rapid detection may facilitate effective control practices in equine populations. Shipping and laboratory testing typically require ≥48 h to obtain results. Lateral flow immunoassays developed for use in food‐safety microbiology provide an alternative that has not been evaluated for use with faeces or environmental samples.ObjectivesWe aimed to identify enrichment methods that would allow commercially available rapidSalmonelladetection systems (lateral flow immunoassays) to be used in clinical practice with equine faecal and environmental samples, providing test results in 18–24 h.Study designIn vitroexperiment.MethodsEquine faecal and environmental samples were inoculated with known quantities ofS. entericaserotypeTyphimurium and cultured using 2 different enrichment techniques for faeces and 4 enrichment techniques for environmental samples. Samples were tested blindly using 2 different lateral flow immunoassays and plated on agar media for confirmatory testing.ResultsIn general, commercial lateral flow immunoassays resulted in fewer false‐negative test results with enrichment of 1 g faecal samples in tetrathionate for 18 h, while all environmental sample enrichment techniques resulted in similar detection rates. The limit of detection from spiked samples, ∼4 colony‐forming units/g, was similar for all methods evaluated.ConclusionsThe lateral flow immunoassays evaluated could reliably detectS. entericawithin 18 h, indicating that they may be useful for rapid point‐of‐care testing in equine practice applications. Additional evaluation is needed using samples from naturally infected cases and the environment to gain an accurate estimate of test sensitivity and specificity and to substantiate further the true value of these tests in clinical practice.
Strong effects of occasional drying on subsequent water clarity and cyanobacterial blooms in cool tropical reservoirs
Authors: Teferi Mekonen , Declerck Steven A. J. , De Bie Tom , Lemmens Pieter , Gebrekidan Abraha , Asmelash Tsehaye , Dejenie Tadesse , Gebrehiwot Kindeya , Bauer Hans , Deckers Jozef A. , Snoeks Jos , De Meester Luc 
Published: February 2014

Summary

In semi‐arid regions, the construction of small reservoirs is important in alleviating water shortage, although many have poor water quality with high turbidity and dense blooms of algae and cyanobacteria, and there are large differences in the ecology of such reservoirs.

We took advantage of two exceptionally dry years in northern Ethiopia to study the effect of a dry period and the associated fish kills on reservoir ecology and water quality. We studied 13 reservoirs, seven of which dried up in 2009. Four of the latter dried up again in 2010. We monitored the ecology of these reservoirs from 2009 to 2011, hypothesising that the pattern of reservoir drying would explain ecological differences among them.

Reservoirs that refilled after drying had a significantly lower fish biomass, lower biomass of phytoplankton (expressed as chlorophyll‐a) and cyanobacteria (Microcystis), clearer water, greater macrophyte cover and lower nutrient concentrations than reservoirs that did not dry. Although the differences in water quality were most striking in the wet season after a drying event, there were persistent effects on reservoir ecology. The three categories of reservoirs we distinguished, based on their behaviour in 2009 and 2010, also showed differences in 2004, a year during which none of the reservoirs dried out. While drying evidently results in better water quality, we could not disentangle the effects of drying per se from that of reductions in fish biomass. The total combined effect was highly significant in all 3 years, whereas the separate effects of drying and loss of fish were only significant in 2004.

Our results suggest that differences in water quality and ecology among reservoirs depend on their propensity to dry out. Drying might be used as a restoration measure to reduce potentially harmful cyanobacterial blooms in reservoirs.
Terrestrialization alters organic matter dynamics and habitat quality for freshwater mussels (Unionoida) in floodplain backwaters
Authors: Negishi Junjiro N. , Katsuki Kotaro , Kume Manabu , Nagayama Shigeya , Kayaba Yuichi 
Published: February 2014

Summary

Anthropogenically induced reduction in flood inundation frequency often leads to terrestrialisation, which accompanies establishment and expansions of tree cover on areas formerly with little or no trees. We tested hypotheses that terrestrialisation degrades habitat for freshwater mussels (Unionoida: Unio douglasiae nipponensis and Lanceolaria grayana) by changing the organic matter (OM) dynamics in floodplain backwaters.

Stable isotope composition of seston, periphyton, fine and coarse benthic particulate OM (FBPOM and CBPOM) and mussel tissues was measured to understand OM dynamics and food webs in 14 backwaters in the middle segment of the Kiso River, Japan. Isotope ratios, C : N ratio and chlorophyll a as a proxy of food resource characteristics and the frequency of hypoxia were related to mussel growth rates.

δ13C of seston, periphyton and FBPOM was low at sites with lower inundation frequency (a greater degree of terrestrialisation), whereas such a trend was not observed for CBPOM (i.e. riparian leaf litter). Mussels fed exclusively on seston or mixtures of seston and periphyton with their δ13C tracking fluctuations in food resources.

Sestonic δ13C differences were attributed to changes in dominant carbon origin from predominantly river‐borne to autochthonous sources, while periphytic δ13C differences were possibly caused by a varying level of dependence on respiratory CO2. FBPOM‐δ13C differences were associated with a greater contribution of CBPOM to the FBPOM pool in infrequently flooded backwaters. Variability in mussel growth was more closely related to hypoxia than food resource characteristics.

We inferred that terrestrialisation changes quality of seston and benthic detritus and degrades habitat conditions largely by accumulating riparian leaf litter in the benthic detrital pool and increasing the frequency of hypoxia. The removal of riparian trees may temporarily improve habitat condition in backwaters heavily affected by terrestrialisation. However, ecological integrity in the long run requires the recovery of the process that suppresses terrestrialisation, which includes restoration of incised channels and flood pulses.
The Home and the World: New Directions in the History of the Family in South Asia
Authors: Denault Leigh 
Published: February 2014

AbstractHistories of the family and household in South Asia, while they appear at first to represent a micro‐historical and regional approach, have in recent years engaged with global histories of ideas and material culture. This article argues that studying ‘imperial social formation’ at the level of the family provides important insights into the ways in which global and local forces interact and coexist. It provides us with the means to write a ‘thicker’ history of the development of the modern global economy as well as more precisely charting the evolution of political forces in the colonial and postcolonial world. Looking at recent work by a new generation of historians blurring traditional disciplinary boundaries, ‘family histories’ offer a means of reconciling micro and macro historiographies of modern South Asia.
Why Study Medieval Canon Law?
Authors: Rennie Kriston R. , Taliadoros Jason 
Published: February 2014

AbstractWhy study medieval canon law? Dominated for generations by German and French historians, the field is frequently viewed as hyper‐specialised, arcane, abstruse, and inaccessible even to scholars of medieval history and religion. Yet, as this article suggests, nothing could be further from the truth. To treat the study of medieval canon law as peripheral to medieval life and society is to ignore and misunderstand its full potential. A current revival of scholarship is transforming this general impression, bringing necessary relevance and clarity to the law's importance in the Middle Ages. By examining the current ‘state of the field’, this article argues that a renaissance in the study of medieval canon law is now taking place, the impact of which is only beginning to be felt. It examines recent developments in the study of medieval canon law between the 11th and 13th centuries, arguing that this revival of scholarship has the potential to influence our understanding of medieval Europe as a whole.
The Early Árpáds (895–1095): Consolidation, Christianization, Monarchy
Authors: Sutt Cameron 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe nomadic Hungarians arrived in the Carpathian Basin at the end of the ninth century. In the following century, significant changes occurred that led to their survival as a distinct political entity. These changes involved the adoption of western modes of power, including centralization under a single monarch, consolidation of political power, and Christianization in part as a means of ideological legitimacy. These changes are generally attributed to the first king, Stephen, though his father Géza set important precedents. A period of political chaos followed Stephen's death, but Ladislas I followed the example of Stephen in reestablishing order.
Some Perspectives on Societal Impacts of Past Climatic Changes
Authors: Diaz Henry , Trouet Valerie 
Published: February 2014

AbstractWe examine a range of paleoclimatic evidence covering approximately the last 2000 years (the Common Era) to provide plausible environmental scenarios as potential drivers and stressors associated with major societal disruption in different parts of the world. The period studied covers both historical, for which there is documentary evidence of impacts, and prehistorical events, for which impacts are inferred from the archeological record. Drought appears to be the most common high‐impact stressor in the historical and prehistorical records. Clearly, the adequacy of water supplies for growing food and for an array of other uses is a thread that weaves its way across time and societies.We also briefly outline some of the key physical mechanisms leading to climatic changes of a magnitude that could have led to societal disruptions. These include solar variability and large explosive volcanic eruptions, both of which affect the amount of radiant energy available to the Earth's climate system, as well as the natural internal variability of the climate system.We emphasize that climatic changes alone are unlikely to be the sole determinant cause of a given society's response – whether abandonment of settlements or bellicose action against its own members or neighbors. Often, the natural hazard is simply a catalyst for actions whose groundwork had been set in motion for some time prior. In many cases, appropriate mitigation to reduce vulnerability and efforts to enhance a society's adaptive capacity might have been enough to prevent the most extreme consequences of the nature's extremes. In that vein, we point to current conditions in the western United States, where a complex mix of past and current actions together with a rapidly changing climate are causing a plethora of problems whose solution will demand creative collaborative actions at all levels of society.
The Management of Prisoners' Children in the Russian Federation
Authors: Pallot Judith , Katz Elena 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe inherited geography of the penal estate in the Russian Federation, which results in prisoners being sent long distances to serve their sentences, creates difficulties for maintaining prisoners' family ties. Using the results of interviews conducted with prisoners, former prisoners and relatives in the Russian Federation in 2007–2011, the article examines the patterns of contact between minors and their incarcerated parents in the context of arrangements put in place by the prison service to support the parent‐child relationship. Despite arrangements that appear positive on the surface, societal prejudice and historical practice combine with geography to militate against good outcomes.
Landscape mosaic attributes for maintaining ground‐living spider diversity in a biodiversity hotspot
Authors: Gaigher Rene , Samways Michael J. 
Published: February 2014

Abstract

Spiders often dominate predator assemblages in vineyard agroecosystems. Land‐use practices that enhance their diversity may be important for regional biodiversity conservation as well as biological control of vineyard pests.
We surveyed ground‐dwelling spiders in habitats at different management intensities (natural habitat remnants, organic vineyards, and conventional vineyards) in the vineyard landscape of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) biodiversity hotspot, South Africa, to examine the effects of local land use on spider diversity.
Natural habitat remnants contributed significantly to the overall diversity, and supported rare families and unique species that were not found in the agricultural matrix. Nevertheless, vineyards still supported fairly high spider diversity, with a tendency for higher species richness in organic vineyards. Environmental variables relating to plant diversity, management intensity and distance to nearest natural habitat influenced spider abundance and species richness, and changes to these factors may improve the habitability of the vineyard landscape for spiders.
All habitats supported various spider families that are known to prey on South African crop pests. In addition, spiders were abundant in both sampling seasons (autumn and spring), but showed a significant increase in vineyards early in the growing season, suggesting that they may provide early‐season background regulation of pests.
There is considerable opportunity for spider conservation in the CFR vineyard landscape, as well as the possibility of associated benefits to biological control within vineyards.
Carbon Interlayer Between CVD SiC and SiO2in High‐Temperature Passive Oxidation
Authors: Katsui Hirokazu , Oguma Miyuki , Goto Takashi 
Published: February 2014

The oxidation behavior of high‐purity silicon carbide (SiC) prepared by chemical vapor deposition was investigated by thermogravimetry, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy in the temperature range 1534–1902 K in pure O2. The carbon layer formed at the SiC/SiO2interface upon oxidation above 1784 K. Raman peaks corresponding toD‐ andG‐bands could be identified from the carbon layer. Bubbles were observed in the SiO2scale after the oxidation at 1873 K. This could be attributed to the accumulation of CO gas at the SiC/SiO2interface, resulting in the formation of the carbon layer and bubbles. These suggest that the oxidation rate of SiC is limited by the outward diffusion of CO in the SiO2scale in this temperature range.