bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Do volatility determinants vary across futures contracts? Insights from a smoothed Bayesian estimator
Authors: Karali Berna , Dorfman Jeffrey H. , Thurman Walter N. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractWe apply a new Bayesian approach to multiple‐contract futures data. It allows the volatility of futures prices to depend upon physical inventories and the contract's time to delivery—and it allows those parametric effects to vary over time. We investigate price movements for lumber contracts over a 13‐year period and find a time‐varying negative relationship between lumber inventories and lumber futures price volatility. The Bayesian approach leads to different conclusions regarding the size of the inventory effect than does the standard method of parametric restrictions across contracts. The inventory effect is smaller for the most recent contracts when the inventory levels are larger. In contrast, the Bayesian approach does not lead to substantively different conclusions about the time‐to‐delivery effect than do traditional classical methods. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:257–277, 2010
Option prices and risk‐neutral densities for currency cross rates
Authors: Taylor Stephen J. , Wang Yaw‐Huei 
Published: July 2009

AbstractThe theoretical relationship between the risk‐neutral density (RND) of the euro/ pound cross rate and the bivariate RND of the dollar/euro and the dollar/pound rates is derived; the required bivariate RND is defined by the dollar‐rate marginal RNDs and a copula function. The cross‐rate RND can be used by banks, international businesses, and central bankers to assess market expectations, to measure risks, and to value options, without relying on over‐the‐counter markets, which may be either non‐existent or illiquid. Empirical comparisons are made between cross‐rate RNDs estimated from several data sets. Five one‐parameter copula functions are evaluated and it is found that the Gaussian copula is the only one‐parameter copula function that is ranked highly in all of the comparisons we have made. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:324–360, 2010
Persistent inhibition of hippocampal long‐term potentiation in vivo by learned helplessness stress
Authors: Ryan Benedict K. , Vollmayr Barbara , Klyubin Igor , Gass Peter , Rowan Michael J. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractThe persistent cognitive disruptive effects of stress have been strongly implicated in the pathophysiology of depression and post‐traumatic stress disorder. Here we examined factors influencing the time course of recovery from the inhibitory effect of acute inescapable stressors on the ability to induce long‐term potentiation (LTP) in the dorsal hippocampus in vivo. We tested different forms of LTP, different stressors and different inbred strains of rats. Acute elevated platform stress completely, but transiently (<3 h), inhibited induction of both NMDA receptor‐dependent LTP induced by a standard high frequency (200 Hz) conditioning stimulus and an additional LTP that required voltage‐dependent Ca2+ channel activation triggered by strong (400 Hz) conditioning stimulation. In contrast, acute inescapable footshock stress, used to study learned helplessness, inhibited LTP for at least 4 weeks. Contrary to expectations, there was no clear relationship between the ability of the footshock to trigger helpless behavior, a model of stress‐induced depression, and the magnitude of LTP inhibition. Moreover, LTP did not appear to be affected by genetic susceptibility to learned helplessness, a model of genetic vulnerability to depression. This long‐lasting synaptic plasticity disruption may underlie persistent impairment of hippocampus‐dependent cognition by excessive acute inescapable stress. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The antidepressant effects of running and escitalopram are associated with levels of hippocampal NPY and Y1 receptor but not cell proliferation in a rat model of depression
Authors: Bjørnebekk Astrid , Mathé Aleksander A. , Brené Stefan 
Published: July 2009

AbstractOne hypothesis of depression is that it is caused by reduced neuronal plasticity including hippocampal neurogenesis. In this study, we compared the effects of three long‐term antidepressant treatments: escitalopram, voluntary running, and their combination on hippocampal cell proliferation, NPY and the NPY‐Y1 receptor mRNAs, targets assumed to be important for hippocampal plasticity and mood disorders. An animal model of depression, the Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rat, was used and female rats were chosen because the majority of the depressed population is females. We investigated if these treatments were correlated to immobility, swimming, and climbing behaviors, which are associated with an overall, serotonergic‐like and noradrenergic‐like antidepressant response, in the Porsolt swim test (PST). Interestingly, while escitalopram, running and their combination increased the number of hippocampal BrdU immunoreactive cells, the antidepressant‐like effect was only detected in the running group and the group with access both to running wheel and escitalopram. Hippocampal NPY mRNA and the NPY‐Y1 receptor mRNA were elevated by running and the combined treatment. Moreover, correlations were detected between NPY mRNA levels and climbing and cell proliferation and NPY‐Y1 receptor mRNA levels and swimming. Our results suggest that increased cell proliferation is not necessarily associated with an antidepressant effect. However, treatments that were associated with an antidepressant‐like effect did regulate hippocampal levels of mRNAs encoding NPY and/or the NPY‐Y1 receptor and support the notion that NPY can stimulate cell proliferation and induce an antidepressant‐like response. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Lysophosphatidic acid in vascular development and disease
Authors: Teo Siew T. , Yung Yun C. , Herr Deron R. , Chun Jerold 
Published: July 2009

AbstractLysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a small signaling lipid that is capable of stimulating a plethora of different cellular responses through the activation of its family of cognate G protein‐coupled receptors. LPA mediates a wide range of biological effects in many tissue types that have been recently reviewed; however, its effects on vasculature development and function have received comparatively less examination. In this review, literature on the actions of LPA in three main aspects of vascular development (vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, and vascular maturation) is discussed. In addition, evidence for the roles of LPA signaling in the formation of secondary vascular structures, such as the blood brain barrier, is considered, consistent with significant roles for LPA signaling in vascular development, function, and disease. © 2009 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 61(8): 791–799, 2009
Evolutionary significance of self‐acylation property in acyl carrier proteins
Authors: Misra Ashish , Surolia Namita , Surolia Avadhesha 
Published: July 2009

AbstractAcyl carrier protein is an integral component of many cellular metabolic processes. A number of studies have reported self‐acylation behavior in acyl carrier proteins. Although ACPs exhibit high levels of similarity in their primary and tertiary structures, self‐acylation behavior is restricted to only some ACPs that can be classified into two major families based on their function. The first family of ACPs is involved in polyketide biosynthesis, whereas the second family participates in fatty acid synthesis. Facilitated by the growing number of genome sequences available for analyses, large‐scale phylogenetic studies were used in these studies to uncover as to how self‐acylation behavior of acyl carrier proteins is linked with the evolution of metabolic pathways in organisms. These studies show that self‐acylation behavior in acyl carrier proteins was lost during the course of evolution, with certain organisms and organelles viz. plastids, retaining it for specified functions. © 2009 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 61(8): 853–859, 2009
Molecular cold‐adaptation: Comparative analysis of two homologous families of psychrophilic and mesophilic signal proteins of the protozoan ciliate, Euplotes
Authors: Alimenti Claudio , Vallesi Adriana , Pedrini Bill , Wüthrich Kurt , Luporini Pierangelo 
Published: July 2009

AbstractUnique opportunities are provided by phylogenetically closely related organisms thriving in stably cold, or temperate milieus to study adaptive modifications of structurally homologous molecules. These modifications are of keen interest in basic science as well as in biotechnology. This review highlights structural and functional specificities that differentiate two homologous families of psychrophilic and mesophilic water‐borne proteins (designated as pheromones) that signal mitotic growth and sexual mating in two marine species of the protozoan ciliate Euplotes, i.e., E. nobilii, which is distributed in Antarctic and Arctic waters, and E. raikovi, which inhabits temperate waters. The two protein families show strict conservation of a common three‐helix bundle in a compact core of the molecular structure, which provides long‐lasting integrity and biological activity to these molecules in their natural environment. In the psychrophilic pheromone family, cold‐adaptation appears to have been achieved by superimposing an integrated complex of structural modifications on this conserved scaffold. Functionally most relevant appear to be extensions of polypeptide segments devoid of regular secondary structures, a specific distribution of polar and hydrophobic amino acids, the presence of solvent‐exposed clusters of negatively charged amino acid side chains, and a unique role of aromatic residues in anchoring the molecular architecture. Due to these modifications, the psychrophilic pheromones are an example of an elegant combination of high stability of the three‐dimensional structures with sufficient structural plasticity for efficient functioning at their physiologically low temperatures. © 2009 IUBMB IUBMB Life 61(8): 838–845, 2009
A comparison of degradable synthetic polymer fibers for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction
Authors: Tovar Nick , Bourke Sharon , Jaffe Michael , Murthy N. Sanjeeva , Kohn Joachim , Gatt Charles , Dunn Michael G. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractWe compared mechanical properties, degradation rates, and cellular compatibilities of two synthetic polymer fibers potentially useful as ACL reconstruction scaffolds: poly(desaminotyrosyl‐tyrosine dodecyl dodecanedioate)(12,10), p(DTD DD) and poly(L‐lactic acid), PLLA. The yield stress of ethylene oxide (ETO) sterilized wet fibers was 150 ± 22 MPa and 87 ± 12 MPa for p(DTD DD) and PLLA, respectively, with moduli of 1.7 ± 0.1 MPa and 4.4 ± 0.43 MPa. Strength and molecular weight retention were determined after incubation under physiological conditions at varying times. After 64 weeks strength decreased to 20 and 37% of the initial sterile fiber values and MW decreased to 41% and 36% of the initial values for p(DTD DD) and PLLA, respectively. ETO sterilization had no significant effect on mechanical properties. Differences in mechanical behavior may be due to the semicrystalline nature of PLLA and the small degree of crystallinity induced by mesogenic ordering in p(DTD DD) suggested by DSC analysis. Fibroblast growth was similar on 50‐fiber scaffolds of both polymers through 16 days in vitro. These data suggest that p(DTD DD) fibers, with higher strength, lower stiffness, favorable degradation rate and cellular compatibility, may be a superior alternative to PLLA fibers for development of ACL reconstruction scaffolds. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2010
Proteomic analysis of proteins differentially expressed in uterine lymphocytes obtained from wild‐type and NOD mice
Authors: Li Cui , Wang Wenjing , Wang Huiqi , Zhong Yanmin , Di Jingfang , Lin Yi 
Published: July 2009

AbstractNon‐obese diabetic (NOD) mice exhibit impaired fertility and decreased litter size when compared to wild type (WT) mice. However, it is unclear why allogeneic pregnant NOD mice are prone to spontaneous embryo loss. Herein, two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis (2‐DE) and mass spectrometry (MS) were used to detect differentially expressed proteins in the uterine lymphocytes isolated from these mice and WT BALB/c controls. We found 24 differentially expressed proteins. The differential expression of 10 of these proteins was further confirmed by Western blot analysis. Out of the 24 identified proteins, 20 were expressed in uterine lymphocytes of WT mice at a level at least 2 times higher than in NOD mice, whereas 4 were down‐regulated. Western blot analysis confirmed that 8 proteins were up‐regulated and 2 proteins were down‐regulated in WT mice compared with NOD mice, consistent with the results of 2‐DE and MS. Additionally, most of the highly expressed proteins in WT uterine lymphocytes were expressed at a significantly lower level in the corresponding splenic group (17/20). These results suggest that up‐regulated expression of these proteins may be specific to uterine lymphocytes. Reported functions of the highly expressed proteins affect key functions during pregnancy, including cell movement, cell cycle control, and metabolisms. Finally, we analyzed the constitutional ratio of CD3+ and CD49b+ cells in the isolated lymphocytes by flow cytometry. Our results suggest that the differentially expressed proteins may participate in the modulation of embryo implantation and early‐stage development of embryos, and subsequently influence pregnancy outcome. J. Cell. Biochem. 108: 447–457, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Clinical evaluation of serum alpha‐fetoprotein–IgM immune complexes on the diagnosis of primary hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Jingting Jiang , Changping Wu , Ning Xu , yibei Zhu , Jun Wu , Mei Ji , Bin Xu , Peter Nilsson‐Ehle , Xueguan Zhang 
Published: July 2009

AbstractWe evaluated clinical significance of serum alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP)‐IgM immune complexes, in comparison with free AFP, on the diagnosis of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Serum levels of AFP‐IgM immune complexes and free AFP were determined by the ELISA method and electrochemiluminescence, respectively, in 103 healthy controls, 74 patients suffering from primary HCC, 27 patients suffering from liver cirrhosis, and 63 patients suffering from chronic hepatitis. The best cut‐off value of AFP‐IgM and free AFP for diagnosis of primary HCC were 300 AU/mL and 10 µg/L respectively, according to the area under the curve (AUC) in this study. The sensitivity of AFP‐IgM and free AFP were 64.9 and 79.7%, and the specificity were 75.6 and 80.3%, respectively, when all cases of primary HCC were analyzed, and the AUC of free AFP was larger than that of AFP‐IgM (0.85 vs. 0.72, Z=3.21). However, in case of primary HCC at early stages (stages I and II) were analyzed, the AUC of AFP‐IgM was larger than that of free AFP (0.91 vs. 0.82, Z=1.73), which demonstrated that the sensitivity of AFP‐IgM and free AFP were 94.4 and 72.2%, and the specificity were 81.9 and 79.9%, respectively. When both AFP‐IgM and free AFP were positive, the specificity of diagnosis of primary HCC was 89.1%, and the efficacy was 79.0%. It is concluded that either sensitivity or specificity of serum level of AFP‐IgM immune complexes was higher than that of free AFP in the diagnosis of primary HCC at early stages. As there was false positive AFP‐IgM existed in the patients suffering from cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis, the combination of free AFP and AFP‐IgM could significantly increase specificity and decrease false negative and/or false positive in the primary HCC at early stages. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 23:213–218, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cancer antigen 125 levels in inflammatory bowel diseases
Authors: Ataseven Hilmi , Öztürk Zeynel Abidin , Arhan Mehmet , Yüksel Osman , Köklü Seyfettin , İbiş Mehmet , Başar Ömer , Yılmaz Fatma Meriç , Yüksel İlhami 
Published: July 2009

AbstractBackground: Cancer antigen 125 (CA‐125) is a tumor marker used for the diagnosis and monitoring of ovarian carcinoma. It can also be elevated in endometriosis, inflammations, and in nongynecological malignancies. Up to date, serum CA‐125 levels in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have not been studied before. Aim: To assess the levels of CA‐125 in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Methods: Serum levels of CA‐125 were investigated in 68 cases with UC (male/female: 47/21), 32 CD (male/female: 21/11), and 31 healthy controls (male/female: 16/15). Levels of CA‐125 were also compared among UC patients according to lesion location, severity, and activity of CD. Results: Serum CA‐125 levels were 17.29±24.50 U/ml, 15.56±20.74 U/ml, and 8.85±2.62 U/ml in patients with UC, CD, and healthy controls, respectively. Serum CA‐125 levels were significantly higher in UC compared to control group (P=0.001). Serum CA‐125 levels were higher in CD patients compared to control group but there was no significance (P=0.087). Serum CA‐125 levels were higher in pancolitis compared to distal type and left‐sided UC. Conclusions: Our data suggest that serum CA‐125 levels may be increased in patients with IBDs. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 23:244–248, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Anticardiolipin antibodies in the sera of patients with diagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome
Authors: Hokama Yoshitsugi , Campora Cara Empey , Hara Cynthia , Kuribayashi Tina , Le Huynh Diana , Yabusaki Kenichi 
Published: July 2009

AbstractExamination of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACAs) in the sera of patients clinically diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) using an enzyme‐linked immunoassay procedure demonstrated the presence of immunoglobulin M isotypes in 95% of CFS serum samples tested. The presence of immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin A isotypes were also detected in a subset of the samples. Future studies will focus on elucidating whether alterations to mitochondrial inner membranes and/or metabolic functions play a possible role in the expression of ACAs. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 23:210–212, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Association of β‐1 and β‐2 adrenergic receptor gene polymorphisms with myocardial infarction
Authors: Yilmaz Akin , Kaya Mehmet G. , Merdanoglu Ulgen , Ergun Mehmet A. , Cengel Atiye , Menevse Sevda 
Published: July 2009

AbstractBoth β1‐ and β2‐adrenergic receptors (β1‐ and β2‐AR) have important roles in heart function mainly in response to catecholamines. Some specific polymorphisms in the β1‐ and β2‐AR genes, named ADRB1 and ADRB2, respectively, have been implicated in several cardiovascular and noncardiovascular phenotypes. In this study, we aimed to investigate the possible relationship between Ser49Gly and Arg389Gly polymorphisms of the ADRB1 and Arg16Gly and Gln27Glu polymorphisms of the ADRB2 gene with ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI) in a Turkish population. One hundred patients with ST elevation MI and 100 healthy control subjects were genotyped using the PCR‐RFLP method. Although the Arg389 allele of the ADRB1 gene was associated with an elevated risk of MI, the Glu27 allele of the ADRB2 gene was associated with a decreased risk of MI. Carriers of the ADRB1 Arg389 allele (heterozygotes+homozygotes) had an approximately 3.5‐fold increased risk for MI than Gly389 homozygotes (OR=3.59, 95% CI=0.96–13.47,P=0.045). For the ADRB2 Gln27Glu polymorphism, subjects having one or two copies of the Glu27 allele showed a decreased risk of MI compared with Gln27 homozygote subjects (OR=0.48, 95% CI=0.24–0.94,P=0.03). Haplotype analysis of these polymorphisms showed no significant differences between groups. These results suggest that the Arg389Gly and Gln27Glu polymorphisms may be associated with an altered risk of MI in this Turkish population. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 23:237–243, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A novel and effective multistage classification system for microscopic starch grain images
Authors: Choy Siu‐Kai , Tong Chong‐Sze , Zhao Zhong‐Zhen 
Published: July 2009

AbstractThis article presents a novel and effective multistage system for classifying Chinese Materia Medica microscopic starch grain images. The proposed classification system is constructed based on the Gaussian mixture model‐based clustering, the feature assignment algorithm, and the similarity measurement. Several features for each starch grain image are extracted and every class of drug is represented by a set of characteristic features. For each stage of the system, only one feature is chosen and assigned to that stage via the feature assignment algorithm, and the corresponding characteristic features are subdivided into smaller subsets based on clustering techniques. At the final stage, each subset contains a certain class of drugs (with corresponding characteristic features) and similarity measurement is carried out for starch grain classification. Three sets of the current state‐of‐the‐art starch grain features including the granulometric size distribution, the chord length distribution, and the wavelet signature are used to construct the system. Experimental results on a database of 240 images of 24 classes of drugs reveal the superior performance of the multistage system. Comparison with the traditional starch grain classification approaches indicates that our proposed multistage method produces a marked improvement in classification performance. Microsc. Res. Tech. 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Functional morphology of the gastric mills of carnivorous, omnivorous, and herbivorous land crabs
Authors: Allardyce Benjamin J. , Linton Stuart M. 
Published: July 2009

AbstractTerrestrial decapods consume a wide variety of plant and animal material. The potential adaptations of carnivorous, omnivorous, and herbivorous terrestrial crustaceans were studied by examining the functional morphology of the gastric mill. Two closely related species from each feeding preference group were examined to identify which features of the mill were due to phylogeny and which were due to adaptation. The morphology of the gastric mill matched the diet well; the gastric mills of the carnivorous species (Geograpsus grayi and Geograpsus crinipes) possessed a blunt, rounded medial tooth and flattened lateral teeth with a longitudinal grinding groove. These features make them well suited to a carnivorous diet of soft animal tissue as well as hard material, such as arthropod exoskeleton. In contrast, the mill of the herbivorous gecarcinids (Gecarcoidea natalis and Discoplax hirtipes) consisted of a medial tooth with sharp transverse ridges and lateral teeth with sharp interlocking cusps and ridges and no grinding surface. These features would efficiently shred fibrous plant material. The morphology of the mill of the omnivorous coenobitids (Coenobita perlatus and Birgus latro) was more generalized toward a mixed diet. However, the mill of B. latro was more adapted to deal with highly nutritious food items, such as nuts and heavily calcified decapods. Its mill possessed lateral teeth with extended ridges, which sat close to the calcified cardiopyloric valve to form a flattened floor. Hard items trapped in the mill would be crushed against this surface by the medial tooth. J. Morphol. 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.