bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Social Dimension of Security: Exploring how Surveillance Systems Relate to Interior Design
Authors: Hadjiyanni Tasoulla , Kwon Jain 
Published: May 2009

Recently, security issues have been dominating the headlines and policy makers’ lists of promises. Although the notion of security has long been integral to interior design, the current reliance of security measures on surveillance systems that use cameras and video monitors warrants revisiting the role of interior designers. With an overview of the literature on how electronic surveillance has been conceived, perceived, and practiced, this paper aims to set the stage for a dialogue about the opportunities that arise through greater involvement from interior designers. The analysis points to a disconnect between the systems’ application and the fusion of the physical, social, and technological dimensions of electronic surveillance into a holistic scheme. Current debates raise concerns over its aesthetic integration into the overall building design as well as its associations with feelings of fear and control, loss of privacy, discrimination, inequality, and cultural/gender insensitivity. Directions from academicians, designers, artists, and educators help frame the paper's thesis that electronic surveillance can act as a connecting mechanism that connects people to people as well as people to the environment. Pedagogical implications of this premise suggest that by including the term “surveillance” in the terminology used in the interior design field and positioning security and surveillance in the conceptual stages of the design process, the potential for creative solutions and opportunities to challenge perceptions of fear and threat are increased.
SOLUTIONS OF THE SCHRÖDINGER–POISSON PROBLEM CONCENTRATING ON SPHERES, PART II: EXISTENCE
Authors: IANNI ISABELLA 
Published: May 2009

The Schrödinger–Poisson system describes standing waves for the nonlinear Schrödinger equation interacting with the electrostatic field. We deal with the semiclassical states for this system and prove the existence of radial solutions concentrating on spheres in the presence of an external potential and with a non-constant density charge. In particular, we show that the necessary conditions obtained in Part I are also sufficient if suitable non-degeneracy conditions are assumed. We use a perturbation technique in a variational setting.
THE AGENCIES METHOD FOR MODELING COALITIONS AND COOPERATION IN GAMES
Authors: NASH JOHN F. 
Published: May 2009

The idea leading to this study originated some time ago when I talked at a gathering of high school graduates at a summer science camp. I spoke about the theme of "the evolution of cooperation" (in Nature) and about how that topic was amenable to studies involving Game Theory (which, more frequently, has been used in research in economics). After that event I was stimulated to think of the possibility of modeling cooperation in games through actions of acceptance in which one player could simply accept the "agency" of another player or of an existing coalition of players. The action of acceptance would have the form of being entirely cooperative, as if "altruistic", and not at all competitive, but there was also the idea that the game would be studied under circumstances of repetition and that every player would have the possibility of reacting in a non-cooperative fashion to any undesirable pattern of behavior of any another player. Thus the game studied would be analogous to the repeated games of "Prisoner's Dilemma" variety that have been studied in theoretical biology. These studies of "PD" (or "Prisoner's Dilemma") games have revealed the paradoxical possibility of the natural evolution of cooperative behavior when the interacting organisms or species are presumed only to be endowed with self-interested motivations, thus motivations of a non-cooperative type.
Unraveling a novel Rac1-mediated signaling pathway that regulates cofilin dephosphorylation and secretion in thrombin-stimulated platelets
Authors: Pandey Dharmendra , Goyal Pankaj , Dwivedi Suman , Siess Wolfgang 
Published: May 2009

Abstract
In platelets stimulated by thrombin to secrete and aggregate, cofilin is rapidly dephosphorylated leading to its activation. Cofilin by severing existing actin filaments and stimulating F-actin polymerization on newly created barbed ends dynamizes the actin cytoskeleton. We previously found that cofilin dephosphorylation is Ca2+-dependent and occurs upstream of degranulation in stimulated platelets. We report now in thrombin-stimulated platelets that Rac1 and class II PAKs (PAK4/5/6) were rapidly (within 5 seconds) activated, whereas PAK1/2 (class I PAKs) phosphorylation was slower. The Rac1-specific inhibitor NSC23766 blocked phosphorylation of class II PAKs, but not PAK1/2. Moreover, inhibition of the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase calcineurin inhibited Rac1 activation and class II PAKs phosphorylation. Prevention of Rac1 activation by calcineurin inhibition or NSC23766 also blocked cofilin dephosphorylation and platelet granule secretion indicating that a calcineurin/Rac1/class II PAKs pathway regulates cofilin dephosphorylation leading to secretion. We further found that PI3-kinases were activated downstream of Rac1, but were not involved in regulating cofilin dephosphorylation and secretion in thrombin-stimulated platelets. Our study unravels a Ca2+-dependent pathway of secretion in stimulated platelets as a signaling pathway linking Rac1 activation to actin dynamics: calcineurin→Rac1→class II PAKs→cofilin activation. We further demonstrate that this pathway is separate and independent of the protein kinase C (PKC) pathway mediating secretion.
Tumor antigen–specific CD8 T cells infiltrating the tumor express high levels of PD-1 and are functionally impaired
Authors: Ahmadzadeh Mojgan , Johnson Laura A. , Heemskerk Bianca , Wunderlich John R. , Dudley Mark E. , White Donald E. , Rosenberg Steven A. 
Published: May 2009

Abstract
Tumor antigen–specific T cells are found within melanomas, yet tumors continue to grow. Although the tumor microenvironment is thought to influence the suppression of tumor-reactive T cells, the underlying mechanisms for this T-cell dysfunction are not clear. Here, we report that the majority of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes (TIL), including MART-1/Melan-A melanoma antigen–specific CD8 T cells, predominantly expressed PD-1, in contrast to T cells in normal tissues and peripheral blood T lymphocytes (PBL). PD-1+ TIL expressed CTLA-4 and Ki-67, markers that were not expressed by PD-1− TIL and T cells in the normal tissues and PBL. Moreover, PD-1+ TIL were primarily HLA-DR+ and CD127−, in contrast to PD-1− TIL. Effector cytokine production by PD-1+ TIL was impaired compared with PD-1− TIL and PBL. Collectively, the phenotypic and functional characterizations of TIL revealed a significantly higher frequency and level of PD-1 expression on TIL compared with normal tissue T-cell infiltrates and PBL, and PD-1 expression correlated with an exhausted phenotype and impaired effector function. These findings suggest that the tumor microenvironment can lead to up-regulation of PD-1 on tumor-reactive T cells and contribute to impaired antitumor immune responses.
Megakaryocyte impairment by eptifibatide-induced antibodies causes prolonged thrombocytopenia
Authors: Greinacher Andreas , Fuerll Birgitt , Zinke Heike , Müllejans Bernd , Krüger William , Michetti Noemi , Motz Wolfgang , Schwertz Hansjörg 
Published: May 2009

Abstract
Glycoprotein (GP) IIbIIIa inhibitors are used in the treatment of acute coronary syndromes. Transient immune-mediated acute thrombocytopenia is a recognized side effect of GPIIbIIIa inhibitors. We provide evidence that GPIIbIIIa inhibitor-induced antibodies can affect megakaryocytes in the presence of eptifibatide. In a patient with acute coronary syndrome, acute thrombocytopenia occurred after a second exposure to eptifibatide 20 days after the initial treatment. Despite the short half-life of eptifibatide (t1/2 = 2 hours), thrombocytopenia less than 5 × 109/L and gastrointestinal and skin hemorrhage persisted for 4 days. Glycoprotein-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed eptifibatide-dependent, GPIIbIIIa-specific antibodies. Bone marrow examination showed predominance of early megakaryocyte stages, and platelet transfusion resulted in an abrupt platelet count increase. Viability of cultured cord blood–derived megakaryocytes was reduced in the presence of eptifibatide and patient IgG fraction. These findings can be explained by impaired megakaryocytopoiesis complicating anti-GPIIbIIIa antibody-mediated immune thrombocytopenia. This mechanism may also apply to some patients with autoimmune thrombocytopenia.
CURE-Chloroplast: A chloroplast C-to-U RNA editing predictor for seed plants
Authors: Du Pufeng , Jia Liyan , Li Yanda 
Published: May 2009

Abstract

Background
RNA editing is a type of post-transcriptional modification of RNA and belongs to the class of mechanisms that contribute to the complexity of transcriptomes. C-to-U RNA editing is commonly observed in plant mitochondria and chloroplasts. The in vivo mechanism of recognizing C-to-U RNA editing sites is still unknown. In recent years, many efforts have been made to computationally predict C-to-U RNA editing sites in the mitochondria of seed plants, but there is still no algorithm available for C-to-U RNA editing site prediction in the chloroplasts of seed plants.

Results
In this paper, we extend our algorithm CURE, which can accurately predict the C-to-U RNA editing sites in mitochondria, to predict C-to-U RNA editing sites in the chloroplasts of seed plants. The algorithm achieves over 80% sensitivity and over 99% specificity. We implement the algorithm as an online service called CURE-Chloroplast http://bioinfo.au.tsinghua.edu.cn/pure.

Conclusion
CURE-Chloroplast is an online service for predicting the C-to-U RNA editing sites in the chloroplasts of seed plants. The online service allows the processing of entire chloroplast genome sequences. Since CURE-Chloroplast performs very well, it could be a helpful tool in the study of C-to-U RNA editing in the chloroplasts of seed plants.
Infrastructure for the life sciences: design and implementation of the UniProt website
Authors: Jain Eric , Bairoch Amos , Duvaud Severine , Phan Isabelle , Redaschi Nicole , Suzek Baris E , Martin Maria J , McGarvey Peter , Gasteiger Elisabeth 
Published: May 2009

Abstract

Background
The UniProt consortium was formed in 2002 by groups from the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and the Protein Information Resource (PIR) at Georgetown University, and soon afterwards the website http://www.uniprot.org was set up as a central entry point to UniProt resources. Requests to this address were redirected to one of the three organisations' websites. While these sites shared a set of static pages with general information about UniProt, their pages for searching and viewing data were different. To provide users with a consistent view and to cut the cost of maintaining three separate sites, the consortium decided to develop a common website for UniProt. Following several years of intense development and a year of public beta testing, the http://www.uniprot.org domain was switched to the newly developed site described in this paper in July 2008.

Description
The UniProt consortium is the main provider of protein sequence and annotation data for much of the life sciences community. The http://www.uniprot.org website is the primary access point to this data and to documentation and basic tools for the data. These tools include full text and field-based text search, similarity search, multiple sequence alignment, batch retrieval and database identifier mapping. This paper discusses the design and implementation of the new website, which was released in July 2008, and shows how it improves data access for users with different levels of experience, as well as to machines for programmatic access.

http://www.uniprot.org/ is open for both academic and commercial use. The site was built with open source tools and libraries. Feedback is very welcome and should be sent to help@uniprot.org.

Conclusion
The new UniProt website makes accessing and understanding UniProt easier than ever. The two main lessons learned are that getting the basics right for such a data provider website has huge benefits, but is not trivial and easy to underestimate, and that there is no substitute for using empirical data throughout the development process to decide on what is and what is not working for your users.
Big mountains but small barriers: Population genetic structure of the Chinese wood frog (Rana chensinensis) in the Tsinling and Daba Mountain region of northern China
Authors: Zhan Aibin , Li Cheng , Fu Jinzhong 
Published: May 2009

AbstractBackgroundAmphibians in general are poor dispersers and highly philopatric, and landscape features often have important impacts on their population genetic structure and dispersal patterns. Numerous studies have suggested that genetic differentiation among amphibian populations are particularly pronounced for populations separated by mountain ridges. The Tsinling Mountain range of northern China is a major mountain chain that forms the boundary between the Oriental and Palearctic zoogeographic realms. We studied the population structure of the Chinese wood frog (Rana chensinensis) to test whether the Tsinling Mountains and the nearby Daba Mountains impose major barriers to gene flow.ResultsUsing 13 polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci, 523 individuals from 12 breeding sites with geographical distances ranging from 2.6 to 422.8 kilometers were examined. Substantial genetic diversity was detected at all sites with an average of 25.5 alleles per locus and an expected heterozygosity ranging from 0.504 to 0.855, and two peripheral populations revealed significantly lower genetic diversity than the central populations. In addition, the genetic differentiation among the central populations was statistically significant, with pairwiseFSTvalues ranging from 0.0175 to 0.1625 with an average of 0.0878. Furthermore, hierarchical AMOVA analysis attributed most genetic variation to the within-population component, and the between-population variation can largely be explained by isolation-by-distance. None of the putative barriers detected from genetic data coincided with the location of the Tsinling Mountains.ConclusionThe Tsinling and Daba Mountains revealed no significant impact on the population genetic structure ofR. chensinensis. High population connectivity and extensive juvenile dispersal may account for the significant, but moderate differentiation between populations. Chinese wood frogs are able to use streams as breeding sites at high elevations, which may significantly contribute to the diminishing barrier effect of mountain ridges. Additionally, a significant decrease in genetic diversity in the peripheral populations supports Mayr's central-peripheral population hypothesis.
Hyperglycemia in bacterial meningitis: a prospective cohort study
Authors: Schut Ewout S , Westendorp Willeke F , de Gans Jan , Kruyt Nyika D , Spanjaard Lodewijk , Reitsma Johannes B , van de Beek Diederik 
Published: May 2009

Abstract

Background
Hyperglycemia has been associated with unfavorable outcome in several disorders, but few data are available in bacterial meningitis. We assessed the incidence and significance of hyperglycemia in adults with bacterial meningitis.

Methods
We collected data prospectively between October 1998 and April 2002, on 696 episodes of community-acquired bacterial meningitis, confirmed by culture of CSF in patients >16 years. Patients were dichotomized according to blood glucose level on admission. A cutoff random non-fasting blood glucose level of 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) was used to define hyperglycemia, and a cutoff random non-fasting blood glucose level of 11.1 mmol/L (200 mg/dL) was used to define severe hyperglycemia. Unfavorable outcome was defined on the Glasgow outcome scale as a score <5. We also evaluated characteristics of patients with a preadmission diagnosis of diabetes mellitus.

Results
69% of patients were hyperglycemic and 25% severely hyperglycemic on admission. Compared with non-hyperglycemic patients, hyperglycemia was related with advanced age (median, 55 yrs vs. 44 yrs, P < 0.0001), preadmission diagnosis of diabetes (9% vs. 3%, P = 0.005), and distant focus of infection (37% vs. 28%, P = 0.02). They were more often admitted in coma (16% vs. 8%; P = 0.004) and with pneumococcal meningitis (55% vs. 42%, P = 0.007). These differences remained significant after exclusion of patients with known diabetes. Hyperglycemia was related with unfavorable outcome in a univariate analysis but this relation did not remain robust in a multivariate analysis. Factors predictive for neurologic compromise were related with higher blood glucose levels, whereas factors predictive for systemic compromise were related with lower blood glucose levels. Only a minority of severely hyperglycemic patients were known diabetics (19%). The vast majority of these known diabetic patients had meningitis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae (67%) or Listeria monocytogenes (13%) and they were at high risk for unfavorable outcome (52%).

Conclusion
The majority of patients with bacterial meningitis have hyperglycemic blood glucose levels on admission. Hyperglycemia can be explained by a physical stress reaction, the central nervous system insult leading to disturbed blood-glucose regulation mechanisms, and preponderance of diabetics for pneumococcal meningitis. Patients with diabetes and bacterial meningitis are at high risk for unfavorable outcome.
δ-ALA-D activity is a reliable marker for oxidative stress in bone marrow transplant patients
Authors: Gonçalves Thissiane L , Benvegnú Dalila M , Bonfanti Gabriela , Frediani Andressa V , Rocha João Batista T 
Published: May 2009

AbstractBackgroundBone marrow transplantation (BMT) is often used in the treatment of various diseases. Before BMT, patients are submitted to a conditioning regimen (CR), which consists of the administration of high doses of chemotherapy. The action of many cytostatic drugs involves the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, which together with inadequate antioxidant protection can lead to oxidative stress and this has been implicated in the etiology of various diseases. The objectives of this study were to look for evidence of oxidative stress and also to analyze δ-Aminolevulinato dehydratase (δ-ALA-D) activity as a possible marker of oxidative stress in autologous and allogeneic BMT patients.MethodsLipid peroxidation, vitamin C and thiol group levels as well as catalase, superoxide dismutase and δ-ALA-D activity were determined in 37 healthy controls, 13 patients undergoing autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation and 24 patients undergoing allogeneic BMT.ResultsWe found that patients presented signs of oxidative stress before they were submitted to BMT, during CR and up to 20 days after BMT. There was a decrease in enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidant defenses, in δ-ALA-D activity, and an increase in lipoperoxidation in the blood of both patient groups.ConclusionThis study has indicated that autologous and allogeneic BMT are associated with oxidative stress. Moreover, blood δ-ALA-D activity seems to be an additional biomarker of oxidative stress in BMT patients.
Antibiotic use among 8-month-old children in Malmö, Sweden – in relation to child characteristics and parental sociodemographic, psychosocial and lifestyle factors
Authors: Mangrio Elisabeth , Wremp Anna , Moghaddassi Mahnaz , Merlo Juan , Bramhagen Ann-Cathrine , Rosvall Maria 
Published: May 2009

Abstract

Background
In the county of Scania, Sweden, antibiotic use among small children is among the highest in the country. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between antibiotic use among 8-month-old children in Malmö and characteristics of the child as well as parental sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and psychosocial support.

Methods
The study was a population-based cross-sectional survey. The study population consisted of children who visited the Child Health Care (CHC) centres in Malmö for their 8-month health checkup during 2003–2006 and whose parents answered a self-administered questionnaire (n = 7266 children). The questionnaire was distributed to parents of children registered with the CHC and invited for an 8-month checkup during the study period.

Results
The odds of using antibiotics increased as parental educational level decreased. Using high educational level as a reference group, low maternal educational level was associated with an increased antibiotic use for the child, odds ratio (OR) = 1.61 (95% CI: 1.34–1.93). Furthermore, children whose parents were born outside Sweden showed higher antibiotic use, OR = 1.43 (95% CI: 1.24–1.65), in comparison with children whose parents were born in Sweden. Exposure to environmental smoking, parental experience of economic stress, and a low level of emotional support increased the odds for antibiotic use. Boys had higher odds of use of antibiotics than girls, OR = 1.40 (95% CI: 1.25–1.57). Having a low birth weight, having an allergy and having siblings also increased the odds for early antibiotic use, while breastfeeding seemed to have a protective role.

Conclusion
There were clear associations between parental factors such as sociodemographic, psychosocial and lifestyle factors and antibiotic use at this early stage of life. Several characteristics of the child also affected the use of antibiotics.