bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Attachment styles and affect regulation among outpatients with schizophrenia: Relationships to symptomatology and emotional distress
Authors: Ponizovsky Alexander M. , Vitenberg Elena , Baumgarten‐Katz Inbar , Grinshpoon Alexander 
Published: December 2011

Objectives. Using the model of activation and dynamics of the attachment system (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2002) and dynamic stress‐vulnerability models of psychosis (Ingmar & Luxton, 2005) as the analytical frameworks, the authors tested the hypothesis that the insecure attachment styles are differentially associated with the severity of psychopathological symptoms and emotional distress among outpatients with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth edition (ICD‐10) diagnosis of schizophrenia.Methods. Attachment styles were identified using the Relationship Questionnaire (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) among 100 outpatients with an ICD‐10 schizophrenia diagnosis. Current symptom severity was measured by the Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale (Kay, Fiszbein, & Opler, 1987) and emotional distress by the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Williams, 1988). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to test the hypotheses.Results. The preoccupied and fearful‐avoidant attachment patterns were associated with higher scores of psychotic (delusions, suspiciousness/persecution, and hallucinatory behaviour) and affective (anxiety, tension, guilt feeling, and depression) symptoms, whereas the dismissing‐avoidant style was associated with only anxiety. All the insecure attachment styles were associated with elevated emotional distress.Conclusions. The findings support the hypothesis of a predisposing role of the preoccupied and fearful‐avoidant styles in psychotic symptom formation and call for cognitive interpersonal interventions geared to reduce symptom and emotional distress severity.Practitioner Points

Knowledge of certain attachment style would be valuable for:

Cognitive‐behavioural techniques aimed at reducing sensitivity to interpersonal stress, alleviating emotional distress, and promoting well‐being could be beneficiary, in particular, for patients with the preoccupied and fearful‐avoidant attachment patterns that showed themselves most symptomatic and distressed.
Production of Infectious Chimeric Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 2b Harboring Minimal Regions of JFH-1
Authors: Murayama Asako , Kato Takanobu , Akazawa Daisuke , Sugiyama Nao , Date Tomoko , Masaki Takahiro , Nakamoto Shingo , Tanaka Yasuhito , Mizokami Masashi , Yokosuka Osamu , Nomoto Akio , Wakita Takaji 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACT
To establish a cell culture system for chimeric hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2b, we prepared a chimeric construct harboring the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) to the E2 region of the MA strain (genotype 2b) and the region of p7 to the 3′ UTR of the JFH-1 strain (genotype 2a). This chimeric RNA (MA/JFH-1.1) replicated and produced infectious virus in Huh7.5.1 cells. Replacement of the 5′ UTR of this chimera with that from JFH-1 (MA/JFH-1.2) enhanced virus production, but infectivity remained low. In a long-term follow-up study, we identified a cell culture-adaptive mutation in the core region (R167G) and found that it enhanced virus assembly. We previously reported that the NS3 helicase (N3H) and the region of NS5B to 3′ X (N5BX) of JFH-1 enabled replication of the J6CF strain (genotype 2a), which could not replicate in cells. To reduce JFH-1 content in MA/JFH-1.2, we produced a chimeric viral genome for MA harboring the N3H and N5BX regions of JFH-1, combined with a JFH-1 5′ UTR replacement and the R167G mutation (MA/N3H+N5BX-JFH1/R167G). This chimeric RNA replicated efficiently, but virus production was low. After the introduction of four additional cell culture-adaptive mutations, MA/N3H+N5BX-JFH1/5am produced infectious virus efficiently. Using this chimeric virus harboring minimal regions of JFH-1, we analyzed interferon sensitivity and found that this chimeric virus was more sensitive to interferon than JFH-1 and another chimeric virus containing more regions from JFH-1 (MA/JFH-1.2/R167G). In conclusion, we established an HCV genotype 2b cell culture system using a chimeric genome harboring minimal regions of JFH-1. This cell culture system may be useful for characterizing genotype 2b viruses and developing antiviral strategies.
Formation of Higher-Order Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus 3D
pol
Complexes Is Dependent on Elongation Activity
Authors: Bentham Matthew , Holmes Kris , Forrest Sophie , Rowlands David J. , Stonehouse Nicola J. 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACT

The replication of many viruses involves the formation of higher-order structures or replication “factories.” We show that the key replication enzyme of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, forms fibrils
in vitro
. Although there are similarities with previously characterized poliovirus polymerase fibrils, FMDV fibrils are narrower, are composed of both protein and RNA, and, importantly, are seen only when all components of an elongation assay are present. Furthermore, an inhibitory RNA aptamer prevents fibril formation.
A Highly Conserved Residue in the C-Terminal Helix of HIV-1 Matrix Is Required for Envelope Incorporation into Virus Particles
Authors: Brandano Laura , Stevenson Mario 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACT
The incorporation of viral envelope (Env) glycoproteins into nascent particles is an essential step in the production of infectious human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). This process has been shown to require interactions between Env and the matrix (MA) domain of the Gag polyprotein. Previous studies indicate that several residues in the N-terminal region of MA are required for Env incorporation. However, the precise mechanism by which Env proteins are acquired during virus assembly has yet to be fully defined. Here, we examine whether a highly conserved glutamate at position 99 in the C-terminal helix is required for MA function and HIV-1 replication. We analyze a panel of mutant viruses that contain different amino acid substitutions at this position using viral infectivity studies, virus-cell fusion assays, and immunoblotting. We find that E99V mutant viruses are defective for fusion with cell membranes and thus are noninfectious. We show that E99V mutant particles of HIV-1 strains LAI and NL4.3 lack wild-type levels of Env proteins. We identify a compensatory substitution in MA residue 84 and show that it can reverse the E99V-associated defects. Taken together, these results indicate that the C-terminal hydrophobic pocket of MA, which encompasses both residues 84 and 99, has a previously unsuspected and key role in HIV-1 Env incorporation.
Stable isotope profiles of large marine predators: viable indicators of trophic position, diet, and movement in sharks?
Authors: Hussey Nigel E. , Dudley Sheldon F.J. , McCarthy Ian D. , Cliff Geremy , Fisk Aaron T. 
Published: December 2011

Understanding the role of predators is challenging but critical for ecosystem management. For community dynamics, predator-specific size-based variation in diet, trophic position, and habitat use are rarely accounted for. Using two applied tools (stable isotopes and stomach content data), we examined inter- and intra-species ontogenetic variability in diet (stomach contents), trophic position (TPSIA for δ15N and TPSCA for stomach contents), and habitat use (δ13C) of two large sharks, the scalloped hammerhead ( Sphyrna lewini ) and the dusky ( Carcharhinus obscurus ). Stomach contents identified size-based and gender-specific shifts in diet indicating resource partitioning for and between species. Calculated TP for the two sharks varied by method, either TPSIA or TPSCA and with species, size, and gender, but were complicated by differing baselines and broad functional prey groups, respectively. TP increased with size for S. lewini, but was low in large C. obscurus compared with small sharks. Size-based δ13C profiles indicated habitat partitioning by sex in S. lewini and a movement to shelf edge foraging in large C. obscurus. These results demonstrate that predators exert proportional size-based effects on multiple components of the marine system that are further complicated by species- and gender-specific strategies.
Influence of environmental stress on age- and size-at-maturity: genetic and plastic responses of coastal marsh fishes to changing salinities
Authors: Martin Shannon B. , Leberg Paul L. 
Published: December 2011

As sea levels rise, salt water will intrude into freshwater coastal habitats with greater frequency and stress resident organisms inducing physiological trade-offs that influence life history tactics. Western mosquitofish ( Gambusia affinis ) and least killifish ( Heterandria formosa ), collected along a salinity gradient and maintained in a common freshwater environment for two years (≥4 generations), were used to examine historical (genetic effects) and contemporary environmental effects of salinity on age- and size-at-maturity. There was phenotypic plasticity for sexual maturation and genetic variance among source populations for size-at-maturity, but no genetic variance for plasticity itself as indicated by the lack of genetic-by-environment interactions. Gambusia affinis males and H. formosa females exhibited stress by maturing at smaller sizes and older ages in response to being reared in 0 and 12 ppt, respectively. Our results suggest that habitats in which these fishes are most abundant do not correspond to the salinities at which they can rapidly mature at larger sizes, indicating that other environmental factors are also influential to their distribution and abundance along salinity gradients.
Analysis of synonymous codon usage inShigella flexneri2a strain 301 and otherShigellaandEscherichia colistrains
Authors: Luo Xue Lian , Xu Jian Guo , Ye Chang Yun 
Published: December 2011

In this study, we analysed synonymous codon usage in Shigella flexneri 2a strain 301 (Sf301) and performed a comparative analysis of synonymous codon usage patterns in Sf301 and other strains of Shigella and Escherichia coli . Although there was a significant variety in codon usage bias among different Sf301 genes, there was a slight but observable codon usage bias that could primarily be attributable to mutational pressure and translational selection. In addition, the relative abundance of dinucleotides in Sf301 was observed to be independent of the overall base composition but was still caused by differential mutational pressure; this also shaped codon usage. By comparing the relative synonymous codon usage values across different Shigella and E. coli strains, we suggested that the synonymous codon usage pattern in the Shigella genomes was strain specific. This study represents a comprehensive analysis of Shigella codon usage patterns and provides a basic understanding of the mechanisms underlying codon usage bias.
Glucose and plant exudate enhanced enumeration of bacteria capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Authors: Thomas John C. , Dabkowski Robert T. 
Published: December 2011

Enumerating environmental microbial isolates capable of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) degradation can provide insight into the microbe–plant interactions that facilitate PAH removal. We examined a known PAH degrader ( Pseudomonas putida G7), a nondegrader ( Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404), and several microorganisms isolated from the environment by using a PAH cocktail in an enumeration medium with or without 0.025% (m/v) glucose and (or) root exudates. Compared with the standard most probable number (MPN), the addition of glucose and root exudates in a modified MPN method resulted in a 3- to 11-fold enhancement of PAH degraders being enumerated among microorganisms found in PAH-contaminated soils. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis verified that PAH levels were reduced using this modified enumeration method. Low levels of glucose, perhaps in concert with other materials in exudates, may promote microbial metabolism, thereby enhancing PAH degradation.
Keeping body and soul together: southern NGOs’ strategic responses to donor constraints
Authors: Elbers Willem , Arts Bas 
Published: December 2011

Most Southern Non-Governmental Organizations (SNGOs) depend on donor agencies for their survival. To qualify for donor funding, SNGOs typically have to meet a range of funding conditions. Critics argue that donor requirements may have undesirable consequences. Based on qualitative research involving 41 SNGOs in India and Ghana, this article explores (1) the (potentially) adverse effects of donor conditions on SNGOs and (2) the strategies that SNGOs employ to deal with these conditions. We demonstrate that certain donor conditions are difficult to reconcile with a view of development that emphasizes local ownership and a strong and autonomous civil society. We also show that SNGOs employ a multitude of strategies to deal with adverse donor conditions, highlighting that they are not powerless in their relations with donors. Yet, these strategies are not always available to all organizations and may have undesired consequences. Points for practitioners Private development aid is increasingly characterized by pressure for accountability and a tightening of funding arrangements. Donors supporting SNGOs need to take into consideration that their funding conditions may have a range of undesirable consequences. Our study offers an overview of these consequences, enabling donor agencies to systematically review their conditions in the light of their potentially adverse effects. In addition, our study shows that – when confronted when unworkable donor conditions – SNGOs employ strategic behaviour. This is particularly problematic when SNGOs resort to manipulating the perception of donors resulting in the creation of a paper reality.
Leadership Development for Faculty Women at The Ohio State University
Authors: Hornsby Eunice Ellen , Morrow-Jones Hazel A. , Ballam Deborah A. 
Published: December 2011

The Problem. Universities struggle to create cultures that provide a welcoming home for women and underrepresented minorities. Department chairs often emerge reluctantly from among the faculty and are ill prepared to engage faculty and staff to achieve deep culture change, yet their role is vital if such change is to occur. The Solution. Recognizing a need for a completely new type of leader, Ohio State created the President and Provost’s Leadership Institute (PPLI) to develop a pool of women and underrepresented minority faculty who might move into leadership positions. The Stakeholders. The PPLI can provide a useful template for HRD practitioners who wish to tailor leadership development and succession planning strategies to address higher education’s unique culture and leadership pool challenges. For institutions interested in broadening the diversity of individuals prepared to lead, and developing leaders prepared to lead change, the PPLI is an example of one successful approach.
Common fixed points and best approximations in locally convex spaces
Authors: Al-Mezel Saleh Abdullah 
Published: December 2011

AbstractWe extend the main results of Aamri and El Moutawakil and Pant to the weakly compatible or R-weakly commuting pair (T, f) of maps, where T is multivalued. As applications, common fixed point theorems are obtained for new class of maps called R-subcommuting maps in the setup of locally convex topological vector spaces. We also study some results on best approximation via common fixed point theorems.2000 MSC 41A65; 46A03; 47H10; 54H25.
System for fast lexical and phonetic spoken term detection in a Czech cultural heritage archive
Authors: Psutka Josef , Švec Jan , Psutka Josef V , Vaněk Jan , Pražák Aleš , Šmídl Luboš , Ircing Pavel 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
The main objective of the work presented in this paper was to develop a complete system that would accomplish the original visions of the MALACH project. Those goals were to employ automatic speech recognition and information retrieval techniques to provide improved access to the large video archive containing recorded testimonies of the Holocaust survivors. The system has been so far developed for the Czech part of the archive only. It takes advantage of the state-of-the-art speech recognition system tailored to the challenging properties of the recordings in the archive (elderly speakers, spontaneous speech and emotionally loaded content) and its close coupling with the actual search engine. The design of the algorithm adopting the spoken term detection approach is focused on the speed of the retrieval. The resulting system is able to search through the 1,000 h of video constituting the Czech portion of the archive and find query word occurrences in the matter of seconds. The phonetic search implemented alongside the search based on the lexicon words allows to find even the words outside the ASR system lexicon such as names, geographic locations or Jewish slang.
Increased incidence of pregnancy complications in women who later develop scleroderma: a case control study
Authors: van Wyk Linda , van der Marel Jacolien , Schuerwegh Annemie JM , Schouffoer Anne A , Voskuyl Alexandre E , Huizinga Tom WJ , Bianchi Diana W , Scherjon Sicco A 
Published: December 2011

Abstract

Introduction

Studies have shown that fetal progenitor cells persist in maternal blood or bone marrow for more than 30 years after delivery. Increased trafficking of fetal cells occurs during pregnancy complications, such as hypertension, preeclampsia, miscarriage and intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR). Women with these pregnancy complications are significantly more often HLA-class II compatible with their spouses. Women who later develop scleroderma also give birth to an HLA-class II child more often. From these prior studies we hypothesized that preeclampsia and other pregnancy complications could be associated with increased levels of fetal cell trafficking, and later be involved in the development of scleroderma.

Methods

This study was a retrospective multi-centre matched case-control study. One-hundred-and-three women with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and 103 women with no history of SSc or other autoimmune disease were given a questionnaire regarding complications during pregnancy, such as hypertension, intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR) and miscarriage. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations.

Results

We found a statistically significantly increased incidence of having had a pregnancy history of hypertension or a fetus with IUGR in women who subsequently developed SSc compared to healthy controls. We found an odds ratio of 2.6 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1 to 4.6) for hypertensive complications during pregnancy and an odds ratio of 3.9 (95% CI: 1.2 to 12.3) for intra-uterine growth restriction for women with SSc compared to healthy controls.

Conclusions

This is the first study to show an association between hypertensive complications during pregnancy or IUGR and the development of SSc at a later age. We speculate that the pregnancy abnormalities may have resulted in increased fetomaternal trafficking, which may have played a role in the increased incidence of SSc. Further studies are indicated to examine this putative relationship.
Expression of silent mating type information regulator 2 homolog 1 and its role in human intervertebral disc cell homeostasis
Authors: Zhang Zhongying , Kakutani Kenichiro , Maeno Koichiro , Takada Toru , Yurube Takashi , Doita Minoru , Kurosaka Masahiro , Nishida Kotaro 
Published: December 2011

Abstract

Introduction

Intervertebral disc tissue homeostasis is modulated by a variety of molecules. Silent mating type information regulator 2 homolog 1 (SIRT1) plays a key role in various physiological processes. The aim of the present study was to verify the expression of SIRT1 and determine SIRT1 function in human intervertebral disc cell homeostasis.

Methods

Human nucleus pulposus (NP) cells were obtained from 24 surgical patients (mean age: 39.4 years) and monolayer-cultured. SIRT1 expression was investigated using RT-PCR analysis and immunohistochemical staining. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR was performed to detect mRNA expression of SIRT1 and other genes: aggrecan, collagen type 2 and Sox9. The effect of SIRT1 on the extracellular matrix metabolism of NP cells was examined using recombinant human SIRT1 protein and a protein delivery reagent. Cell number and proliferation activity were measured following SIRT1 treatment. To reveal the deacetylation potential of transfected recombinant human SIRT1, western blotting for acetylated p53 was utilized. R-phycoerythrin was used for the negative control.

Results

SIRT1 expression was confirmed at both mRNA and protein levels in almost all NP cells. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed SIRT1 mRNA expression significantly increased with donor age (P <0.05, ρ = 0.492). Pfirrmann grade 3 discs showed significantly higher SIRT1 mRNA expression than other grades. SIRT1 treatment significantly reduced aggrecan, Sox9 and collagen type 2 mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner in all disease classes and disc degeneration grades. Proliferation activity was decreased by SIRT1 treatment in lumbar spinal stenosis and lumbar disc herniation, Pfirrmann grade 3 and grade 4 discs. In contrast, it was significantly upregulated in idiopathic scoliosis, Pfirrmann grade 2 discs. The negative control protein did not affect extracellular matrix metabolism or proliferation activity.

Conclusions

We demonstrate for the first time that SIRT1 is expressed by human NP cells. SIRT1 expression was significantly elevated in an early degeneration stage. SIRT1 affected both extracellular matrix metabolism and proliferation activity; the effect of SIRT1 was altered according to disease class and disc degeneration grade. SIRT1 appears to play a key role in homeostasis during the human intervertebral disc degeneration process.
Structures of Irony: Curiosity and Fetishism in Late Imperial London
Authors: Phillips George Micajah 
Published: December 2011

This essay challenges the critical commonplace that modernism's response to imperialism and metropolitan culture can be best explained in terms of irony alone by arguing that curiosity works as modernist irony's shadow dialectic. Writing during London's era of colonial exhibitions, two of modernism's best-known ironists, Joseph Conrad and E. M. Forster, discovered that attending to the gaze these visual contact zones solicit—a detached scientific gaze that does not empathize with who or what one looks upon but instead encourages exhibition visitors to imagine themselves as something like amateur social scientists touring in the colonies—called not for further detachment but for new forms of productive reengagement, such as curiosity.Attentive to the settings and visual metaphors of space and structure that abet irony's role in these texts, this essay finds that curiosity's conspicuous absence in The Secret Agent (1907) burdens irony with the obligation to respond alone to the late imperial culture Conrad characterizes as governed by fetishism. By contrast, curiosity emerges in Forster's review “The Birth of an Empire” (1924) not as irony's naive opposite but as that which may learn from the distance irony produces and as the occasion for testing tentative styles of reattachment to the metropole that seek deeper knowledge of British India and late imperial London than colonial exhibitions can display. Reading such texts today calls not for reaffirmations for ironic distance but for pursuing an alternative knowledge of curiosity's role in response by considering it within the paradigm of modernist irony.