bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Narrow rows reduce biomass and seed production of weeds and increase maize yield
Authors: Mashingaidze A.B. , Van Der Werf W. , Lotz L.A.P. , Chipomho J. , Kropff M.J. 
Published: May 2009

AbstractSmallholder farmers in southern African countries rely primarily on cultural control and hoe weeding to combat weeds, but often times, they are unable to keep up with the weeding requirements of the crop because of its laboriousness, causing them to incur major yield losses. Optimisation of crop planting pattern could help to increase yield and suppress weeds and to reduce the critical period of weed control and the weeding requirements to attain maximum yield. Experiments were carried out in Zimbabwe during two growing seasons to assess the effect of maize density and spatial arrangement on crop yield, growth and seed production of weeds and to determine the critical period for weeding. Planting maize at 60 cm row distance achieved higher yields and better weed suppression than planting at 75 or 90 cm row distance. Increasing crop densities beyond the customary three to four plants m−2 gave modest reductions in weed biomass but also diminished crop yields, probably because of increased competition for water and nutrient resources. Maize planted in narrow rows (60 cm) intercepted more radiation and suffered less yield reduction from delaying hoe weeding than those planted in wider rows (75 or 90 cm), and the duration of the weed‐free period required to attain maximum grain yield was 3 weeks shorter in the narrow spacing than that in the 75‐ and 90‐cm row spacings. Weeding was more effective in curtailing weed seed production in the narrow row spatial arrangements than in the wide row planting. The results of these studies show that narrow row spacings may reduce weeding requirements and increase yields.
Breast cancer risk elements and nurse practitioners’ knowledge, use, and perceived comfort level of breast cancer risk assessment
Authors: Edwards Quannetta T. , Maradiegue Ann , Seibert Diane , Saunders‐Goldson Sherri , Humphreys Susanne 
Published: May 2009

AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this study was to describe nurse practitioners’ (NPs’) knowledge, use, and perceived comfort level in providing breast cancer risk assessment to women in clinical settings.Data sources: This descriptive study was part of a needs assessment to determine if education and training programs on breast cancer risk assessment are warranted for NPs. A convenience sample of 147 NPs completed surveys to assess their knowledge of breast cancer risk assessment and use of empiric breast cancer risk assessment tools, and to evaluate their perceived comfort level in assessing women’s risk for developing breast cancer.Conclusions: Assessing women’s risk for the development of breast cancer is important in providing primary and secondary preventive strategies such as chemoprevention, lifestyle changes, and enhanced surveillance that may reduce a woman’s risk for developing the disease. Although 51.4% of NPs reported providing breast cancer risk assessment, few (37%) reported use of family history or the Gail model (6%) to determine their patients’ breast cancer risk. NPs’ knowledge of breast cancer risk assessment and use of empiric risk assessment models were low. The majority (71%) of NPs felt uncomfortable or a low level of comfort in conducting breast cancer risk assessment.Implications for practice: Excluding skin cancer, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer and second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. Breast cancer risk assessment is important in identifying women who may be at high risk for developing the disease. At the front line in health care, NPs can play a vital role in assessing women’s risk for breast cancer. These findings suggest that education and training may be warranted to enhance knowledge and use of empiric risk models to increase the comfort level of NPs in conducting breast cancer risk assessment to their patients.
The Long Reach of the Carceral State: The Politics of Crime, Mass Imprisonment, and Penal Reform in the United States and Abroad
Authors: Gottschalk Marie 
Published: May 2009

This essay reviews five books as they relate to the causes and political consequences of mass imprisonment in the United States and the comparative politics of penal policy: Ruth Wilson Gilmore'sGolden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California(2007); Jeff Manza and Christopher Uggen'sLocked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy(2006); Jonathan Simon'sGoverning Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear(2007); Michael Tonry, ed.,Crime, Punishment, and Politics in a Comparative Perspective(2007); and Bruce Western'sPunishment and Inequality in America(2006).The essay first examines the enormous and growing political repercussions of having a vast penal system embedded in a democratic polity, including the political and electoral consequences of felon disenfranchisement; increasing political, social, and economic inequality for people marked by the penal system; and the phenomenon of “governing through crime.” It also analyzes emerging strategies of resistance to US penal policies and mass incarceration, why some countries are more vulnerable to hard‐line penal policies than others, and what it will take to reverse the US prison boom.
Transcriptional Regulation of β-Defensin Gene Expression in Tracheal Epithelial Cells
Authors: Diamond Gill , Kaiser Vicki , Rhodes Janice , Russell John P. , Bevins Charles L. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACT
Innate immunity provides an ever-present or rapidly inducible initial defense against microbial infection. Among the effector molecules of this defense in many species are broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides. Tracheal antimicrobial peptide (TAP) was the first discovered member of the β-defensin family of mammalian antimicrobial peptides. TAP is expressed in the ciliated epithelium of the bovine trachea, and its mRNA levels are dramatically increased upon stimulation with bacteria or bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We report here that this induction by LPS is regulated at the level of transcription. Furthermore, the transfection of reporter gene constructs into tracheal epithelial cells indicates that DNA sequences in the 5′ flanking region of the TAP gene, within 324 nucleotides of the transcription start site, are responsible in part for mediating gene induction. This region includes consensus binding sites for NF-κB and nuclear factor interleukin-6 (NF IL-6) transcription factors. Gel mobility shift assays indicate that LPS induces NF-κB binding activity in the nuclei of these cells, while NF IL-6 binding activity is constitutively present. The gene encoding human β-defensin 2, a human homologue of TAP with similar inducible expression patterns in the airway, was cloned and found to have conserved NF-κB and NF IL-6 consensus binding sites in its 5′ flanking region. Previous studies of antimicrobial peptides from insects indicated that their induction by infectious microbes and microbial products also occurs via activation of NF-κB-like and NF IL-6-like transcription factors. Together, these observations indicate that a strategy for the induction of peptide-based antimicrobial innate immunity is conserved among evolutionarily diverse organisms.
Host and Bacterial Factors Involved in the Innate Ability of Mouse Macrophages To Eliminate Internalized UnopsonizedEscherichia coli
Authors: Hamrick Terri S. , Havell Edward A. , Horton John R. , Orndorff Paul E. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACTIn an effort to better understand genetic and cellular factors that influence innate immunity, we examined host and bacterial factors involved in the nonopsonic phagocytosis and killing ofEscherichia coliK-12 by mouse macrophages. Unelicited (resident) peritoneal macrophages from five different mouse strains, BALB/c, C57BL/6, CD-1, C3H/HeJ, and C3H/HeN, were employed. Additional macrophage populations were obtained from CD-1 mice (bone marrow-derived macrophages). Also, for BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, peritoneal macrophages elicited with either thioglycolate or proteose peptone, bone marrow-derived macrophages, and macrophage-like cell lines derived from the two strains were employed. TwoE. coliK-12 strains that differed specifically in their abilities to produce type 1 pili containing the adhesive protein FimH were examined. The parameters used to assess macrophage bacteriocidal activity were (i) the killing of internalized (gentamicin-protected)E. coliduring the approximately 4-h assay and (ii) the initial rate at which internalizedE. coliwere eliminated. Data on these parameters allowed the following conclusions: (i) unelicited or proteose peptone-elicited peritoneal macrophages were significantly better at eliminating internalized bacteria than thioglycolate-elicited peritoneal macrophages, bone marrow-derived macrophages, or macrophage cell lines; (ii) the host genetic background had no significant effect upon the ability of unelicited peritoneal macrophages to killE. coli(even though the mouse strains differ widely in their in vivo susceptibilities to bacterial infection); and (iii) the FimH phenotype had no significant effect uponE. colisurvival once the bacterium was inside a macrophage. Additionally, there was no correlation between the bacteriocidal effectiveness of a macrophage population and the number of bacteria bound per macrophage. However, macrophage populations that were the least bacteriocidal tended to bind higher ratios of FimH+to FimH−E. coli. The effect of gamma interferon, fetal calf serum, and the recombination proficiency ofE. coliwere examined as factors predicted to influence intracellular bacterial killing. These had no effect upon the rate ofE. colielimination by unelicited peritoneal macrophages.
Glycosylation of Homologous Immunodominant Proteins of
Ehrlichia chaffeensis
and
Ehrlichia canis
Authors: McBride Jere W. , Yu Xue-jie , Walker David H. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACT

The glycoprotein genes of
Ehrlichia chaffeensis
(1,644 bp) and
Ehrlichia canis
(2,064 bp) encode proteins of 548 to 688 amino acids with predicted molecular masses of only 61 and 73 kDa but with electrophoretic mobilities of 120 kDa (P120) and 140 kDa (P140), respectively. The 120-kDa protein gene of
E. chaffeensis
contains four identical 240-bp tandem repeat units, and the 140-kDa protein gene of
E. canis
has 14 nearly identical, tandemly arranged 108-bp repeat units. Conserved serine-rich motifs identified in the repeat units of P120 and P140 were also found in the repeat units of the human granulocytotropic ehrlichiosis agent 130-kDa protein and of the fimbria-associated adhesin protein Fap1 of
Streptococcus parasanguis
. Nearly the entire (99%)
E. chaffeensis
P120 gene (1,616 bp), the 14-repeat region (78%) of the
E. canis
P140 gene (1,620 bp), and a 2-repeat region from the
E. chaffeensis
P120 gene (520 bp) were expressed in
Escherichia coli
. The recombinant proteins exhibited molecular masses ranging from 1.6 to 2 times larger than those predicted by the amino acid sequences. Antibodies against the recombinant proteins reacted with
E. chaffeensis
P120 and
E. canis
P140, respectively. Carbohydrate was detected on the
E. chaffeensis
and
E. canis
recombinant proteins, including the two-repeat polypeptide region of
E. chaffeensis
P120. A carbohydrate compositional analysis identified glucose, galactose, and xylose on the recombinant proteins. The presence of only one site for N-linked (Asn-Xaa-Ser/Thr) glycosylation, a lack of effect of
N
-glycosidase F, the presence of 70 and 126 Ser/Thr glycosylation sites in the repeat regions of P120 and P140, respectively, and a high molar ratio of carbohydrate to protein suggest that the glycans may be O linked.
Analysis of Immune Responses against T- and B-Cell Epitopes fromPlasmodium falciparumLiver-Stage Antigen 1 in Rodent Malaria Models and Malaria-Exposed Human Subjects in India
Authors: Joshi Sunil K. , Bharadwaj Ashima , Chatterjee Shyama , Chauhan V. S. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACTLiver-stage antigen 1 (LSA-1) is a potential vaccine candidate against preerythrocytic stages of malaria. We report here the immunogenicity of linear synthetic constructs delineated as TH-cell determinants from the nonrepeat regions ofPlasmodium falciparumLSA-1 in murine models and human subjects from areas where malaria is endemic in Rajasthan State, India. Seven peptide constructs (LS1.1 to LS1.7) corresponding to predicted T-cell sites from both the N- and C-terminal regions and peptide LS1R from a repeat region of PfLSA-1 were synthesized to analyze the cellular immune responses. These linear peptides were also tested for humoral responses in order to determine if there were any overlapping B-cell epitopes in the predicted T-cell sites. Most peptides induced cellular responses in peptide-immunized BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice as measured by proliferation and cytokine analysis. Cross-reactive T-cell recognition ofP. falciparum-based peptides inPlasmodium berghei-immune animals was evaluated, but only one peptide, LS1.2 (amino acids 1742 to 1760) triggered T-cell proliferation and interleukin-2 and gamma interferon secretion inP. berghei-immune splenocytes of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice as well as inThamnomys gazellae(natural host ofP. bergheiANKA). In an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with the peptides, only one peptide, LS1.1, was recognized by anti-P. bergheiliver-stage serum. Three peptides (LS1.1, LS1.2, and LS1.3) of the eight peptides tested in this study were recognized by a relatively large percentage ofP. falciparum-exposed human subjects; the reactivities ranged from ∼45% for LS1.3 to ∼60% for LS1.1 and LS1.2. Interestingly, all of the eight putative T-cell determinants were also recognized by the sera collected from malaria patients, although the response was variable in nature. These TH- and B-cell epitopes may be of potential value for preerythrocytic antigen-based malaria subunit vaccine formulations.
Involvement of CD4+Th1 Cells in Systemic Immunity Protective against Primary and Secondary Challenges withTrypanosoma cruzi
Authors: Hoft Daniel F. , Schnapp Anita R. , Eickhoff Christopher S. , Roodman Stanford T. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACTIn general, gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-producing CD4+Th1 cells are important for the immunological control of intracellular pathogens. We previously demonstrated an association between parasite-specific induction of IFN-γ responses and resistance to the intracellular protozoanTrypanosoma cruzi. To investigate a potential causal relationship between Th1 responses andT. cruziresistance, we studied the ability of Th1 cells to protect susceptible BALB/c mice against virulent parasite challenges. We developed immunization protocols capable of inducing polarized Th1 and Th2 responses in vivo. Induction of parasite-specific Th1 responses, but not Th2 responses, protected BALB/c mice against virulentT. cruzichallenges. We generatedT. cruzi-specific CD4+Th1 and Th2 cell lines from BALB/c mice that were activated by infected macrophages to produce their corresponding cytokine response profiles. Th1 cells, but not Th2 cells, induced nitric oxide production and inhibited intracellular parasite replication inT. cruzi-infected macrophages. Despite the ability to inhibit parasite replication in vitro, Th1 cells alone could not adoptively transfer protection againstT. cruzito SCID mice. In addition, despite the fact that the adoptive transfer of CD4+T lymphocytes was shown to be necessary for the development of immunity protective against primaryT. cruziinfection in our SCID mouse model, protective secondary effector functions could be transferred to SCID mice from memory-immune BALB/c mice in the absence of CD4+T lymphocytes. These results indicate that, although CD4+Th1 cells can directly inhibit intracellular parasite replication, a more important role for these cells inT. cruzisystemic immunity may be to provide helper activity for the development of other effector functions protective in vivo.
In Vivo Characterization of the Murine Intranasal Model for Assessing the Immunogenicity of AttenuatedSalmonella entericaSerovar Typhi Strains as Live Mucosal Vaccines and as Live Vectors
Authors: Pickett Thames E. , Pasetti Marcela F. , Galen James E. , Sztein Marcelo B. , Levine Myron M. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACTAttenuatedSalmonella entericaserovar Typhi live vector vaccine strains are highly immunogenic in mice following intranasal but not orogastric inoculation. To elucidate the relationship between organs within which vaccine organisms are found and the induction of specific serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies, we examined the in vivo distribution of serovar Typhi vaccine strain CVD 908-htrAfollowing intranasal administration. Vaccine organisms were cultured from the nasal lymphoid tissue (NALT), lungs, and Peyer's patches 2 min after intranasal inoculation. Vaccine organisms persisted longer in NALT than in other organs. By decreasing the volume of intranasal inoculum containing 109CFU (from a single 30- or 10-μl dose to four 2.5-μl doses given over the course of 1 h), we were able to significantly reduce the number of vaccine organisms isolated from the lungs (P< 0.05) without reducing the number of vaccine organisms in NALT. Reducing the number of vaccine organisms in the lungs resulted in a significant decrease in the serum tetanus antitoxin response elicited by CVD 908-htrAexpressing tetanus toxin fragment C under the control of the redox-responsivenir15promoter. In contrast, a similar construct expressing tetanus toxin fragment C under control of the constitutivelpppromoter stimulated a strong serum IgG tetanus antitoxin response with both inoculation regimens. The data suggest that following intranasal inoculation, NALT is a sufficient inductive site for elicitation of an immune response against both the live vector and heterologous antigen and, as occurs following oral inoculation of humans, attenuated serovar Typhi vaccine organisms elicit serum IgG responses.
Murine Immune Response toNeisseria meningitidisGroup C Capsular Polysaccharide: Analysis of Monoclonal Antibodies Generated in Response to a Thymus-Independent Antigen and a Thymus-Dependent Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine
Authors: García-Ojeda Pablo A. , Monser Martha E. , Rubinstein Leonard J. , Jennings Harold J. , Stein Kathryn E. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACTAntibody (Ab) responses to polysaccharides (PSs) such asNeisseria meningitidisgroup C PS (MCPS) are characterized as being thymus independent (TI) and are restricted with regard to clonotype and isotype expression. PS conjugated to proteins, e.g., MCPS coupled to tetanus toxoid (MCPS-TT), elicits a thymus-dependent (TD) response. In order to understand the influence of the form of a vaccine (TI versus TD) on the Ab repertoire, we generated monoclonal antibody (MAb) panels from mice immunized and boosted with MCPS or MCPS-TT in different ways. The panels of MAbs were examined for isotype, fine specificity, affinity, and VHgene family usage. The use of MCPS-TT resulted in a shift in the isotype from immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG3 elicited in response to the MCPS to primarily IgG1. This isotype shift was accompanied by a change in the fine specificity of the response to the conjugate compared to that of PS. New fine specificities and increased affinity were observed in response to the TD antigen (Ag). Dot blot and Northern analyses of MCPS MAbs revealed that VHgene family usage is dominated by VHJ558, used by 23 of 39 MAbs. VH3609 was seen in three MAbs of restricted fine specificity. VHQ52, VH7183, and VHVGAM3-8 were seen in more than one MAb across these panels, while VH10 and VHX24 were detected only once in response to the TI-2 Ag. All MAbs in the panels utilized kappa light chains, and all functional Jκgenes were expressed.
Delivery of CD8+T-Cell Epitopes into Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I Antigen Presentation Pathway byBordetella pertussisAdenylate Cyclase: Delineation of Cell Invasive Structures and Permissive Insertion Sites
Authors: Osička Radim , Osičková Adriana , Basar Tümay , Guermonprez Pierre , Rojas Marie , Leclerc Claude , Šebo Peter 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACTBordetella pertussisadenylate cyclase (AC) toxin-hemolysin (ACT-Hly) can penetrate a variety of eukaryotic cells. Recombinant AC toxoids have therefore been recently used for delivery of CD8+T-cell epitopes into antigen-presenting cells in vivo and for induction of protective antiviral, as well as therapeutic antitumor cytotoxic T-cell responses. We have explored the carrier potential of the ACT molecule by insertional mutagenesis scanning for new permissive sites, at which integration of two- to nine-residue-long peptides does not interfere with membrane interaction and translocation of ACT. A model CD8+T-cell epitope of ovalbumin was incorporated at 10 of these permissive sites along the toxin molecule, and the capacity of ACT constructs to penetrate into cell cytosol and deliver the epitope into the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigen processing and presentation pathway was examined. While all six constructs bearing the epitope within the Hly portion of ACT failed to deliver the epitope to the MHC class I molecules, all four toxoids with inserts within different permissive sites in the AC domain efficiently delivered the epitope into this cytosolic pathway, giving rise to stimulation of a specific CD8+T-cell hybridoma. The results suggest that, in contrast to the AC domain, the hemolysin moiety of ACT does not reach the cytosolic entry of the MHC class I pathway.
Molecular Cloning and Mutagenesis of a DNA Locus Involved in Lipooligosaccharide Biosynthesis inHaemophilus somnus
Authors: Wu Yanping , McQuiston Jennifer H. , Cox Andrew , Pack Todd D. , Inzana Thomas J. 
Published: May 2009

ABSTRACTHaemophilus somnusundergoes antigenic and structural phase variation in its lipooligosaccharide (LOS). A gene (lob-1) containing repetitive 5′-CAAT-3′ sequences that may, in part, contribute to phase variation was cloned and sequenced (T. J. Inzana et al., Infect. Immun. 65:4675–4681, 1997). We have now identified another putative gene (lob-2A) immediately upstream fromlob-1. Lob-2A contained homology to several LOS biosynthesis proteins of the familyPasteurellaceaeand the LgtB and LgtE galactosyltransferases ofNeisseria meningitidisandN. gonorrhoeae. Unlikelob-1,lob-2Acontained 18 to 20 5′-GA-3′ repeats 141 bp upstream of the termination codon as determined by PCR amplification of DNA from individual colonies. Twenty repeats were most common, but when 19 5′-GA-3′ repeats were present a stop codon would occur 1 bp after the last 5′-GA-3′ repeat. A 630-bpSalI-BsgI fragment withinlob-2Awas deleted, and a kanamycin resistance (Kmr) gene was inserted into this site to create pCAATΔlob2A. Following electroporation of pCAATΔlob2A intoH. somnus738, several allelic exchange mutants were isolated. The LOS electrophoretic profile of one mutant, strain 738-lob2A1::Km, was altered, and the phase variation rate was reduced but phase variation was not eliminated. A variant with 19 5′-GA-3′ repeats inlob-2Ahad an LOS profile similar to that of 738-lob2A1::Km, suggesting thatlob-2Awas turned off in this phase. Nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry (nES-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed that 738-lob2A1::Km was deficient in the terminal βGal(1-3)βGlcNAc residue present in parent strain 738. Mutant 738-lob2A1::Km was significantly more sensitive to the bactericidal action of normal bovine serum and was less virulent in mice than was parent strain 738. WhenH. somnus129Pt was electrotransformed with shuttle vector pLS88 containinglob-2A, its LOS electrophoretic profile was modified and additionalN-acetylhexosamine residues were present, as determined by nES-MS analysis. These results indicated thatlob-2Amay be anN-acetylglucosamine transferase involved in LOS biosynthesis and phase variation and that LOS structure is important toH. somnusvirulence.