bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessing genetic risk in revegetation
Authors: Byrne Margaret , Stone Lynley , Millar Melissa A. 
Published: July 2011

Summary1. Revegetation can provide major environmental benefits in degraded landscapes, but there is also potential for negative impacts from genetic change in local native populations. Broad areas of revegetation may provide a large source of foreign genes in landscapes where small remnant native populations act as a sink. Genetic change from hybridisation can threaten population persistence and contribute to species extinction through genetic assimilation or demographic swamping.2. Implementation of revegetation within a risk management framework allows identification of risk factors, analysis and evaluation of risk to inform decision‐making and management to minimise and mitigate the risk. Informed analysis and evaluation of genetic risk is important in revegetation because it will be difficult to control or reverse the impacts in natural ecosystems and they are often not expressed until the second generation or later.3. A risk assessment protocol is presented based on evaluation of factors that influence the likelihood and consequences of adverse genetic change from revegetation arising through pollen dispersal.4. The assessment is applicable to a broad range of revegetation activities and contributes to the development of informed decision‐making processes in implementation of revegetation systems and land use practices that protect and enhance biodiversity in degraded landscapes.5. Synthesis and applications. Implementation of revegetation programmes within a risk management framework will help to ensure that significant environmental benefits are captured with minimal concomitant negative impacts on the surrounding biodiversity. A genetic risk protocol provides a tool for evaluation of potential adverse genetic impacts on native populations from revegetation and can be implemented in conjunction with weed risk assessment. Risk assessment as an integral part of evaluation of environmental impact for large‐scale revegetation programmes will contribute to the development of informed decision‐making processes in the implementation of revegetation systems, and ultimately, it will aid in the development of land uses that protect and enhance biodiversity in degraded landscapes.
Changes to booking, transfer criteria and procedures in birth centres in Australia from 1997–2007: a national survey
Authors: Laws Paula J , Lim Carylyn , Tracy Sally K , Dahlen Hannah , Sullivan Elizabeth A 
Published: July 2011

Background.  Approximately 2% of women who give birth in Australia each year do so in a birth centre. A national study on birth centre procedures was conducted in 1997. There have been changes in the management of women in birth centres during the past 10 years and this may be due in part to changes in booking and transfer criteria.Aims.  This study aimed to describe booking and transfer criteria and procedures available in birth centres in Australia in 2007 and to compare results with those of a previous national birth centre study undertaken in 1997.Design.  Survey.Methods.  Questionnaires were sent to 23 birth centres. Questions included: types of procedures, equipment and pain relief available and exclusion criteria for booking and transfer. Of the birth centres, 19 satisfied the inclusion criteria and 16 completed surveys.Results.  Changes were noted in booking and transfer criteria and procedures for birth centres between 1997–2007. These included a decline in birth centres accepting postterm pregnancies, vaginal births after caesarean section and women who are obese. There were also reductions in the use of artificial rupture of membranes for augmentation of labour, forceps and opioids. Use of natural therapies was widespread in 2007. Increases in birth centres managing induction of labour and electronic fetal monitoring were also noted.Conclusions.  The changes observed in birth centre practice reflect overall changes in maternity care in Australia from 1997–2007.Relevance to clinical practice.  Findings of the study suggest that factors such as increasing obesity and limited admission for vaginal births after caesarean section may lead to proportionately more women being unable to access birth centres as their preferred place of birth.
Investigating factors associated with depression of vitiligo patients in Singapore
Authors: Chan Moon Fai , Chua Tse Lert , Goh Boon Kee , Aw Chen Wee Derrick , Thng Tien Guan Steven , Lee Sze Min 
Published: July 2011

Aims.  To explore the depression level of a group of vitiligo patients in Singapore and to identify factors associated with depression.Background.  Unlike most internal illness, skin disease is often immediately visible to others and therefore people suffers from dermatological conditions may suffer psychological consequences.Design.  A descriptive survey was conducted during the period October 2009–August 2010 in Singapore; 145 vitiligo patients aged 21+  completed a structured questionnaire.Methods.  Three main outcome variables were employed in the study: demographic characteristics, clinical and psychosocial outcomes.Results.  Among the patients, 17·2% (n = 25) had been identified as depressed. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify a model to predict vitiligo patients who will have depression. The results showed that females (p = 0·05), aged below 50 years old (p = 0·016), having 5+ years of illness (p = 0·021) and with low self‐esteem (p = 0·002) and poor quality of life scores (p = 0·004) were significant risk factors for depression.Conclusion.  Providing a suitable health care consultation for vitiligo patients may reduces depressive symptoms and maintaining their psychological health may be crucial for preventing suffering from depressive symptoms. Apart from the findings, these conclusions resonate with recent Singapore guidance on managing depression in vitiligo patients. This stresses the importance of prevention, early detection and stepped care with a multifaceted approach to management.Relevance to clinical practice.  It is important to regularly screen for depressive symptoms among vitiligo patients. Focusing on vitiligo patients with enhancing self‐esteem and improving quality of life should help in both the prevention and recognition of onset of depression among vitiligo patients.
Hybrid speciation in sparrows I: phenotypic intermediacy, genetic admixture and barriers to gene flow
Authors: HERMANSEN JO S. , SÆTHER STEIN A. , ELGVIN TORE O. , BORGE THOMAS , HJELLE ELIN , SÆTRE GLENN‐PETER 
Published: July 2011

AbstractHomoploid hybrid speciation is thought to require unusual circumstances to yield reproductive isolation from the parental species, and few examples are known from nature. Here, we present genetic evidence for this mode of speciation in birds. Using Bayesian assignment analyses of 751 individuals genotyped for 14 unlinked, nuclear microsatellite loci, we show that the phenotypically intermediate Italian sparrow (Passer italiae) does not form a cluster of its own, but instead exhibits clear admixture (over its entire breeding range) between its putative parental species, the house sparrow (P. domesticus) and the Spanish sparrow (P. hispaniolensis). Further, the Italian sparrow possesses mitochondrial (mt) DNA haplotypes identical to both putative parental species (although mostly of house sparrow type), indicating a recent hybrid origin. Today, the Italian sparrow has a largely allopatric distribution on the Italian peninsula and some Mediterranean islands separated from its suggested parental species by the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, but co‐occurs with the Spanish sparrow on the Gargano peninsula in southeast Italy. No evidence of interbreeding was found in this sympatric population. However, the Italian sparrow hybridizes with the house sparrow in a sparsely populated contact zone in the Alps. Yet, the contact zone is characterized by steep clines in species‐specific male plumage traits, suggesting that partial reproductive isolation may also have developed between these two taxa. Thus, geographic and reproductive barriers restrict gene flow into the nascent hybrid species. We propose that an origin of hybrid species where the hybrid lineage gets geographically isolated from its parental species, as seems to have happened in this system, might be more common in nature than previously assumed.
Genetic and phenotypic variation across a hybrid zone between ecologically divergent tree squirrels (Tamiasciurus)
Authors: CHAVEZ ANDREAS S. , SALTZBERG CARL J. , KENAGY G. J. 
Published: July 2011

AbstractA hybrid zone along an environmental gradient should contain a clinal pattern of genetic and phenotypic variation. This occurs because divergent selection in the two parental habitats is typically strong enough to overcome the homogenizing effects of gene flow across the environmental transition. We studied hybridization between two parapatric tree squirrels (Tamiasciurus spp.) across a forest gradient over which the two species vary in coloration, cranial morphology and body size. We sampled 397 individuals at 29 locations across a 600‐km transect to seek genetic evidence for hybridization; upon confirming hybridization, we examined levels of genetic admixture in relation to maintenance of phenotypic divergence despite potentially homogenizing gene flow. Applying population assignment analyses to microsatellite data, we found that Tamiasciurus douglasii and T. hudsonicus form two distinct genetic clusters but also hybridize, mostly within transitional forest habitat. Overall, based on this nuclear analysis, 48% of the specimens were characterized as T. douglasii, 9% as hybrids and 43% as T. hudsonicus. Hybrids appeared to be reproductively viable, as evidenced by the presence of later‐generation hybrid genotypes. Observed clines in ecologically important phenotypic traits—fur coloration and cranial morphology—were sharper than the cline of putatively neutral mtDNA, which suggests that divergent selection may maintain phenotypic distinctiveness. The relatively recent divergence of these two species (probably late Pleistocene), apparent lack of prezygotic isolating mechanisms and geographic coincidence of cline centres for both genetic and phenotypic variation suggest that environmental factors play a large role in maintaining the distinctiveness of these two species across the hybrid zone.
The Vibrio cholerae fatty acid regulatory protein, FadR, represses transcription of plsB, the gene encoding the first enzyme of membrane phospholipid biosynthesis
Authors: Feng Youjun , Cronan John E. 
Published: July 2011

SummaryGlycerol‐3‐phosphate (sn‐glycerol‐3‐P, G3P) acyltransferase catalyses the first committed step in the biosynthesis of membrane phospholipids, the acylation of G3P to form 1‐acyl G3P (lysophosphatidic acid). The paradigm G3P acyltransferase is the Escherichia coli plsB gene product which acylates position‐1 of G3P using fatty acids in thioester linkage to either acyl carrier protein (ACP) or CoA as acyl donors. Although the E. coli plsB gene was discovered about 30 years ago, no evidence for transcriptional control of its expression has been reported. However A.E. Kazakov and co‐workers (J Bacteriol 2009; 191: 52–64) reported the presence of a putative FadR binding site upstream of the candidate plsB genes of Vibrio cholerae and three other Vibrio species suggesting that plsB might be regulated by FadR, a GntR family transcription factor thus far known only to regulate fatty acid synthesis and degradation. We report that the V. cholerae plsB homologue restored growth of E. coli strain BB26‐36 which is a G3P auxotroph due to an altered G3P acyltransferase activity. The plsB promoter was also mapped and the predicted FadR‐binding palindrome was found to span positions − 19 to − 35, upstream of the transcription start site. Gel shift assays confirmed that both V. cholerae FadR and E. coli FadR bound the V. cholerae plsB promoter region and binding was reversed upon addition of long‐chain fatty acyl‐CoA thioesters. The expression level of the V. cholerae plsB gene was elevated two‐ to threefold in an E. coli fadR null mutant strain indicating that FadR acts as a repressor of V. cholerae plsB expression. In both E. coli and V. cholerae the β‐galactosidase activity of transcriptional fusions of the V. cholerae plsB promoter to lacZ increased two‐ to threefold upon supplementation of growth media with oleic acid. Therefore, V. cholerae co‐ordinates fatty acid metabolism with 1‐acyl G3P synthesis.
Infertility, infertility treatment and behavioural problems in the offspring
Authors: Zhu Jin Liang , Obel Carsten , Basso Olga , Henriksen Tine B. , Bech Bodil H. , Hvidtjørn Dorte , Olsen Jørn 
Published: July 2011

SummaryZhu JL, Obel C, Basso O, Henriksen TB, Bech BH, Hvidtjørn D, Olsen J. Infertility, infertility treatment and behavioural problems in the offspring. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2011; 25: 466–477.Behavioural patterns in children of infertile couples may be influenced by both the underlying causes of infertility and stress in the couples. Treatment procedures, such as culture media and manipulation of gametes and embryos, may also result in developmental problems. We examined behavioural problems in children as a function of infertility and infertility treatment, using data from three population‐based birth cohorts in Denmark (Aalborg‐Odense Birth Cohort, Aarhus Birth Cohort and Danish National Birth Cohort). Information on time to pregnancy and infertility treatment was collected during pregnancy. Children aged between 7 and 21 years were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The SDQ was completed by mothers in all cohorts and, in addition, by teachers in the Aarhus cohort and by children themselves in the Aalborg‐Odense cohort. Children born after a time to pregnancy of >12 months and no infertility treatment had a behavioural pattern similar to children of fertile parents. Teachers reported a higher total difficulties score for children born after infertility treatment, but no significant differences were seen on any subscales of the teachers' report, and neither the mothers nor the children reported any differences on the total difficulties score and the prosocial behaviour score. Our results are thus overall reassuring regarding behavioural problems in children born to infertile couples, regardless of infertility treatment.
Immunohistochemical characterization of lymphocyte and myeloid cell infiltrates in spirocercosis‐induced oesophageal nodules
Authors: DVIR E. , SCHOEMAN J. P. , CLIFT S. J. , McNEILLY T. N. , MELLANBY R. J. 
Published: July 2011

SummarySpirocerca lupi is a nematode that infects the dog’s oesophagus and promotes the formation of an inflammatory fibroblastic nodule that progresses to sarcoma in approximately 25% of cases. Spirocercosis‐associated oesophageal sarcoma is an excellent and under‐utilized spontaneous model of parasite‐associated malignancy. The inflammatory infiltrate of paraffin‐embedded, non‐neoplastic oesophageal nodules (n = 46), neoplastic nodules (n = 25) and normal oesophagus (n = 14) was examined by immunohistochemistry using MAC387 (myeloid cells), CD3 (T cells), Pax5 (B cells) and FoxP3 (T regulatory cells) antibodies. Myeloid cells predominated in 70% of nodules, in pockets around the worms’ migratory tracts and in necro‐ulcerative areas in neoplastic cases. T cells predominated in 23% of cases with a focal or diffuse distribution, in the nodule periphery. No significant differences were observed between neoplastic and non‐neoplastic stages. FoxP3+ cells were observed in low numbers, not significantly different from the controls. The inflammation in spirocercosis is characterized by pockets of pus surrounded by organized lymphoid foci. There was no evidence of a local accumulation of FoxP3+ cells, unlike many previous studies that have reported an increase in FoxP3+ T cells in both malignancies and parasite infections. The triggering factor(s) driving the malignant transformation of the spirocercosis‐associated chronic inflammatory nodule warrants further investigation.
A dicotyledon‐specific glutaredoxin GRXC1 family with dimer‐dependent redox regulation is functionally redundant with GRXC2
Authors: RIONDET CHRISTOPHE , DESOURIS JEAN PAUL , MONTOYA JOCELYNE GUILLEMINOT , CHARTIER YVETTE , MEYER YVES , REICHHELD JEAN‐PHILIPPE 
Published: July 2011

ABSTRACTThe major known function of glutaredoxins (Grxs) is to reduce disulphide bridges. Recently, some have also been shown to interact with iron–sulphur clusters. These can be classified in two subgroups: class II Grx are found in all living organisms and are implicated in assembly of iron–sulphur clusters, while class I Grx are represented by only two members known to form a holodimer structure containing a cluster in vitro, but with an unknown function different from class II. Here, we report that in eukaryotic plants, GRXC1 (class I) orthologs are exclusively present in dicotyledonous plants, suggesting a specific function. Indeed, in Arabidopsis thaliana, reducing activity of recombinant GRXC1 is regulated by redox‐dependent stability of the cluster. In planta, GRXC1 has been found predominantly in a holodimeric form, indicating the presence of the cluster in vivo. This suggests that GRXC1 acts as a redox sensor, reducing downstream pathways under oxidative conditions. GRXC2, the closest homolog of GRXC1, is unable to form a cluster in vitro. Knock‐out mutants in grxc1 or grxc2 are aphenotypic, but the double mutant produces a lethal phenotype at an early stage after pollinization, suggesting that GRXC1 and GRXC2 share redundant and vital functions.
DRD1‐Pol V‐dependent self‐silencing of an exogenous silencer restricts the non‐cell autonomous silencing of an endogenous target gene
Authors: Dong Li , Liu Meng , Fang Yuan‐Yuan , Zhao Jian‐Hua , He Xiang‐Feng , Ying Xiao‐Bao , Zhang Yi‐Yue , Xie Qi , Chua Nam‐Hai , Guo Hui‐Shan 
Published: July 2011

SummaryIn plants, the exogenous transgene transcribing inverted‐repeat (exo‐IR) sequences produces double‐stranded RNAs that are processed by DCL4. The 21‐nt small interfering RNAs generated function as mobile signals to trigger non‐cell autonomous silencing of target endogenes in the neighboring 10–15 cells. The potential involvement of nuclear silencing pathway components in signal spreading or sensing in target cells is not clear. Here, we demonstrate that the exo‐IR silencer (exo‐Pdsi) is negatively autoregulated through methylation spreading, which acts in cis to reinforce the self‐silencing of the silencer. Mutations affecting nuclear proteins DRD1 and Pol V (NRPE1 or NRPD2) relieved exo‐Pdsi self‐silencing, resulting in higher levels of Pdsi transcripts, which increased the non‐cell autonomous silencing of endo‐PDS. Our results suggest that in an experimental silencing pathway, methylation spreading on a silencer transgene may not have a direct endogenous plant counterpart when the protein‐encoding gene is the target. DRD1‐Pol V‐dependent de novo methylation, by acting in cis to reinforce self‐silencing of exo‐IR, may play a role in restraining the inappropriate silencing of active protein‐coding genes in plants.
The E2F transcription factor family regulates CENH3 expression in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Heckmann Stefan , Lermontova Inna , Berckmans Barbara , De Veylder Lieven , Bäumlein Helmut , Schubert Ingo 
Published: July 2011

SummaryTo elucidate the epigenetic maintenance mechanism for functional plant centromeres, we studied transcriptional regulation of the centromere‐specific histone H3 variant CENH3 in Arabidopsis thaliana. We focused on the structure and activity of the CENH3 promoter (CENH3pro) and its regulation by E2F transcription factors. Use of CENH3pro::GUS reporter gene constructs showed that CENH3pro is active in dividing tissues, and that full expression in root meristems depends on intragenic regulatory elements within the second intron. Chromatin immunoprecipitation identified CENH3 as an E2F target gene. Transient co‐expression of a CENH3pro::GUS reporter gene construct with various E2F transcription factors in A. thaliana protoplasts showed that E2Fa and E2Fb (preferentially with dimerization protein DPb) activate CENH3pro. Stable over‐expression of E2Fa and E2Fb increased the CENH3 transcript level in planta, whereas over‐expression of E2Fc decreased the CENH3 transcript level. Surprisingly, mutation of the two E2F binding sites of CENH3pro, in particular the more upstream one (E2F2), caused an increase in CENH3pro activity, indicating E2F‐dependent transcriptional repression. CENH3pro repression may be triggered by the interplay of typical and atypical E2Fs in a cell cycle‐dependent manner, and/or by interaction of typical E2Fs with retinoblastoma‐related (RBR) protein. We speculate that E2Fs are involved in differential transcriptional regulation of CENH3 versus H3, as H3 promoters lack E2F binding motifs. E2F binding motifs are also present in human and Drosophila CENH3pro regions, thus cell cycle‐dependent transcriptional regulation of CENH3 may be highly conserved.
Early serum (1→3)‐β‐D‐glucan levels in patients with burn injury
Authors: Shupp Jeffrey W. , Petraitiene Ruta , Jaskille Amin D. , Pavlovich Anna R. , Matt Sarah E. , Nguyen Do T. , Kath Melissa A. , Jeng James C. , Jordan Marion H. , Finkelman Malcolm , Walsh Thomas J. , Shoham Shmuel 
Published: July 2011

SummarySerum (1→3)‐β‐D‐glucan (BG) is increasingly used as diagnostic marker for invasive fungal infections. Exposure to gauze may lead to false‐positive BG assays. The role of BG is unclear in thermally injured patients who frequently require extensive gauze coverage; therefore, we prospectively evaluated BG levels in burn‐injured patients. Serum BG levels were measured in 18 burn patients immediately before application of the first dressing and 12 h after. Patients were stratified by extent of total body surface area (TBSA) requiring gauze coverage: <20%, 20–39%, 40–60% and >60%. BG levels were obtained from patients with non‐burn trauma as controls. BG results were positive (>80 pg ml−1) in 9/18 (50%) patients at baseline and in 8/18 (44%) 12 h after application of the first dressing. BG levels were positive in 1/5 (20%) of patients with <20% TBSA requiring gauze and in 10/13 (77%) with ≥20% (P < 0.05). None of the control patients had positive BG at any time point and none of the patients had candidemia at baseline. Mean serum BG levels decreased (19.44 pg ml−1) after gauze placement. False‐positive serum BG elevations are common in this patient population. Positivity correlates with extent of TBSA injured, but is not impacted by the gauze itself.