bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Relaxant Effects of Hydrastis canadensis L. and its Major Alkaloids on Guinea Pig Isolated Trachea
Authors: Abdel‐Haq Hanin , Cometa Maria Francesca , Palmery Maura , Leone Maria Grazia , Silvestrini Bruno , Saso Luciano 
Published: August 2010

Abstract:Hydrastis or goldenseal, one of the most popular medicinal herbs in the U.S.A., is used in mild pathological conditions like cold and flu, based on the pharmacological properties of its active components, berberine (anticholinergic, antisecretory, and antimicrobial) and β‐hydrastine (astringent). We previously reported the relaxant effect of a total ethanolic extract of hydrastis on carbachol precontracted isolated guinea pig trachea, and with the present study, using the same experimental model, we aimed at evaluating the contribution of its major alkaloids, berberine, β‐hydrastine, canadine and canadaline to the total effect. Furthermore, using specific pharmacological tools, like timolol and xanthine amine congener, we attempted to elucidate its mechanism of action. The EC50 of berberine, β‐hydrastine, canadine and canadaline, were 34.2±0.6, 72.8±0.6, 11.9±1.2 and 2.4±0.8 μg/ml, respectively. Timolol effectively antagonized the effect of canadine (EC50=19.7±3.0 μg/ml) and canadaline (EC50=17.1±1.2 μg/ml) but not that of berberine and β‐hydrastine, while xanthine amine congener antagonized the effect of β‐hydrastine (EC50=149.9±35.3 μg/ml) and canadaline (EC50=26.1±3.0 μg/ml) but not that of berberine and canadine. Besides, the hydrastis extract, at concentrations between 0.01 and 0.1 μg/ml, potentiated the relaxant effect of isoprenaline on carbachol‐precontracted isolated guinea pig trachea. These data, which are insufficient to draw definite mechanistic conclusions, indicate that the aforementioned alkaloids may act by interacting with adrenergic and adenosinic receptors.
The Endothelin ETB Receptor Agonist [125I]BQ‐3020 Binds Predominantly to Nerves in the Bovine Retractor Penis Muscle and Penile Artery
Authors: Parkkisenniemi Ulla‐Mari , Palkama Arto , Virtanen Ismo , Klinge Erik 
Published: August 2010

Abstract:Preliminary pharmacological experiments have suggested that in the bovine retractor penis muscle there are relaxation‐mediating endothelin ETB receptors, at least part of which are located on the inhibitory nitrergic nerves. The present work was undertaken to test this hypothesis by means of receptor autoradiography and additional pharmacological experiments. In the retractor penis muscle and the penile artery, specific binding of the ETB receptor‐selective agonist [125I]BQ‐3020 took place predominantly to nerve trunks and minor nerve branches. The situation was the same in the dorsal metatarsal artery, that was included as a reference because of its different innervation. Throughout the nerves the silver grains were evenly distributed over the nuclei of Schwann cells and the spaces between them. In the retractor penis there was also a small amount of specific binding to smooth muscle. No specific endothelial binding was observed in any of the tissues examined. The pharmacological studies confirmed that the relaxation of the retractor penis muscle induced by the ETB receptor‐selective agonist, sarafotoxin S6c, is susceptible to tetrodotoxin as well as to inhibition of nitric oxide synthase. The relaxation was also characterized by inconsistency, weakness and tachyphylaxis. The electrical field stimulation‐induced submaximal relaxation of the retractor penis was unaffected by stimulation or blockade of ETB receptors. The autoradiography suggests that in all the three bovine tissues studied there are ETB receptors located on nerves independently of the type of efferent nerve. The pharmacological experiments do not support the concept that in the bovine retractor penis muscle neuronal ETB receptors exert important immediate effects on the functioning of the penile erection‐mediating nitrergic nerves.
The appropriation of linguistic forms for better cognitive comprehension of the Nigerian pragmatic literature
Authors: Ibrahim Binta Fatima 
Published: August 2010

The propensity of the English language to absorb native nuances by the African writers should be seen as a worthwhile stylistic device, despite the position of English language. Its adaptability to natural flavours should therefore be aimed at the writers’ intention to reach a wider audience. This also means that the attempt by writers to decolorize through literature the polluted African culture god through the use of appropriate notions and local nuances. The technique has, however, been to put on record traditional ways of life, the peoples’ customs, communal activities such as festivals, ceremonies, rituals, myths, folktales, proverbs, music, dance, songs, etc. in order to remind the African reader about the importance of these crucial aspects of the tradition in addition to the appropriation of language use.
Hence most African writings can be said to have their foundations in the cultural heritage of their various groups. through the use of what one may call technically implanted African English, African coinages, direct translation, proverbs, local idioms transfers of mother tongues, local insertions/ect. Hence it is not enough to use the sociological and residual approaches to literature. The formalist and pragmatic approaches should also be considered paramount in the writing of African literature. For the choice of diction, narrative technique and the entire pragma-aesthetic implications of the African man’s speech is important to the reader of African literature, if he is to understand the theme
Diseases of soybean and their management.
Authors: Hartman G. L. , Hill C. B. 
Published: August 2010

Abstract

This chapter discusses the early season diseases - seed decay (Phomopsis longicolla), damping-off (Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium), root and stem rot (Phytophthora sojae); mid-season diseases - bacterial pustule (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines), viral diseases (Bean pod mottle virus BPMV and Soybean mosaic virus SMV), Sclerotinia stem rot (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum), Frogeye leaf spot (Cercospora sojina), soyabean rust (Phakopsora meibomiae and P. pachyrhizi); late-season diseases - soyabean cyst (Heterodera glycines), stem canker (Diaporthe phaseolorum var. caulivora and D. phaseolorum var. meridionalis), sudden death syndrome (Fusarium virguliforme), leaf blight (Cercospora kikuchii), anthracnose (Colletotrichum truncatum), and charcoal rot (Macrophomina phaseolina) of soyabeans. Disease management practices are also discussed.
Impact of photonic crystals on LED light extraction efficiency: approaches and limits to vertical structure designs
Authors: Matioli Elison , Weisbuch Claude 
Published: August 2010

The enhancement of the extraction efficiency in light emitting diodes (LEDs) through the use of photonic crystals (PhCs) requires a structure design that optimizes the interaction of the guided modes with the PhCs. The main optimization parameters are related to the vertical structure of the LED, such as the thickness of layers, depth of the PhCs, position of the quantum wells as well as the PhC period and fill factor. We review the impact of the vertical design of different approaches of PhC LEDs through a theoretical and experimental standpoint, assessing quantitatively the competing mechanisms that act over each guided mode.
Three approaches are described to overcome the main limitation of LEDs with surface PhCs, i.e. the insufficient interaction of low order guided modes with the PhCs. The introduction of an AlGaN confining layer in such structure is shown to be effective in extracting a fraction of the optical energy of low order modes; however, this approach is limited by the growth of the lattice mismatched AlGaN layer on GaN. The second approach, based on thin-film LEDs with PhCs, is limited by the presence of an absorbing reflective metal layer close to the guided modes that plays a major role in the competition between PhC extraction and metal dissipation. Finally, we demonstrate both experimentally and theoretically the superior extraction of the guided light in embedded PhC LEDs due to the higher interaction between all optical modes and the PhCs, which resulted in a close to unity extraction efficiency for this device.
The use of high-resolution angle-resolved measurements to experimentally determine the PhC extraction parameters was an essential tool for corroborating the theoretical models and quantifying the competing absorption and extraction mechanisms in LEDs.
Nonreductive Iron Uptake Mechanism in the Marine Alveolate Chromera velia
Authors: Sutak Robert , Šlapeta Jan , San Roman Mabel , Camadro Jean-Michel , Lesuisse Emmanuel 
Published: August 2010

Abstract
Chromera velia is a newly cultured photosynthetic marine alveolate. This microalga has a high iron requirement for respiration and photosynthesis, although its natural environment contains less than 1 nm of this metal. We found that this organism uses a novel mechanism of iron uptake, differing from the classic reductive and siderophore-mediated iron uptake systems characterized in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and present in most yeasts and terrestrial plants. C. velia has no trans-plasma membrane electron transfer system, and thus cannot reduce extracellular ferric chelates. It is also unable to use hydroxamate siderophores as iron sources. Iron uptake from ferric citrate by C. velia is not inhibited by a ferrous chelator, but the rate of uptake is strongly decreased by increasing the ferric ligand (citrate) concentration. The cell wall contains a large number of iron binding sites, allowing the cells to concentrate iron in the vicinity of the transport sites. We describe a model of iron uptake in which aqueous ferric ions are first concentrated in the cell wall before being taken up by the cells without prior reduction. We discuss our results in relation to the strategies used by the phytoplankton to take up iron in the oceans.
Reproductive Development Modulates Gene Expression and Metabolite Levels with Possible Feedback Inhibition of Artemisinin in Artemisia annua
Authors: Arsenault Patrick R. , Vail Daniel , Wobbe Kristin K. , Erickson Karen , Weathers Pamela J. 
Published: August 2010

Abstract
The relationship between the transition to budding and flowering in Artemisia annua and the production of the antimalarial sesquiterpene, artemisinin (AN), the dynamics of artemisinic metabolite changes, AN-related transcriptional changes, and plant and trichome developmental changes were measured. Maximum production of AN occurs during full flower stage within floral tissues, but that changes in the leafy bracts and nonbolt leaves as the plant shifts from budding to full flower. Expression levels of early pathway genes known to be involved in isopentenyl diphosphate and farnesyl diphosphate biosynthesis leading to AN were not immediately positively correlated with either AN or its precursors. However, we found that the later AN pathway genes, amorpha-4,11-diene synthase (ADS) and the cytochrome P450, CYP71AV1 (CYP), were more highly correlated with AN’s immediate precursor, dihydroartemisinic acid, within all leaf tissues tested. In addition, leaf trichome formation throughout the developmental phases of the plant also appears to be more complex than originally thought. Trichome changes correlated closely with the levels of AN but not its precursors. Differences were observed in trichome densities that are dependent both on developmental stage (vegetative, budding, and flowering) and on position (upper and lower leaf tissue). AN levels declined significantly as plants matured, as did ADS and CYP transcripts. Spraying leaves with AN or artemisinic acid inhibited CYP transcription; artemisinic acid also inhibited ADS transcription. These data allow us to present a novel model for the differential control of AN biosynthesis as it relates to developmental stage and trichome maturation and collapse.
Temporal Profitability and Pricing of Long‐Term Care Insurance
Authors: Cox Larry A. , Ge Yanling 
Published: August 2010

AbstractEquilibrium models of dynamic insurance markets can be bifurcated according to underlying assumptions about whether or not insurers commit to long‐term contracts. The difference is substantial in that commitment models imply price highballing over time while no‐commitment models indicate price lowballing. Extant empirical studies provide mixed evidence, however. We use long‐term care (LTC) insurance data, which allow us both to better control for heterogeneous, observable risk, to examine dynamic profitability and pricing in a relatively young, innovative insurance market. Our tests generally indicate temporal price lowballing, thereby providing support for the no‐commitment models.
Deposit Insurance and Forbearance Under Moral Hazard
Authors: So Jacky , Wei Jason Z. 
Published: August 2010

AbstractWe study the efficacy of forbearance using a real options approach. Our model endogenizes moral hazard embedded in credit risk undertaken by the bank. The bank's interest rate risk is modeled as duration mismatch. Other modeling improvements over previous studies include such features as stochastic interest rates and deposits, continuous interest payments on an ongoing deposit portfolio, and a stochastic forbearance period. We find that the bank does have an incentive to engage in undue risk taking. Even in the presence of moral hazard, however, forbearance can still be a desirable course of action in reducing the FDIC's expected liability. In addition, the capital ratio plays an extremely important role in determining the fair insurance premium. Finally, using the mismatch of asset and deposit durations as the correct measurement of interest rate risk, our model reveals that an optimal asset variance may exist for a particular bank, contrary to what the contingent claims framework would predict. Therefore, we resolve the puzzle that banks in practice do not increase asset risk to take full advantage of the limited liability.
An interdisciplinary approach to regional land use analysis using GIS, with applications to the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica
Authors: Jansen Hans G. P. , Bouman Bas A. M. , Schipper Robert A. , Hengsdijk Huib , Nieuwenhuyse André 
Published: August 2010

AbstractPolicy makers and other stakeholders concerned with regional rural development increasingly face the need for instruments that can improve transparency in the policy debate and that enhance understanding of opportunities for and limitations to development. To this end, a methodology called SOLUS (Sustainable Options for Land Use) was developed by an interdisciplinary team of scientists over a 10‐year period in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica. The main tools of SOLUS include a linear programming (LP) model, two expert systems that define technical coefficients for a large number of production activities, and a geographic information system (GIS). A five‐step procedure was developed for GIS to spatially reference biophysical and economic parameters, to create input for the expert systems and the LP model, to store and spatially reference model output data, and to create maps of both model input and output data. SOLUS can be used to evaluate the potential effects of alternative policies and incentive structures on the performance of the agricultural sector. A number of practical applications demonstrate SOLUS's capability to quantify trade‐offs between economic objectives (income, employment) and environmental sustainability (soil nutrient balances, pesticide use, greenhouse gas emissions). GIS‐created maps visualize the spatial aspects of such trade‐offs and indicate hotspots where local goals may conflict with regional goals.
Open questions in hidradenitis suppurativa research: a hair biologist's perspective
Authors: Paus Ralf 
Published: August 2010

To clarify the obscure cause(s) of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), plausible, comprehensive, and testable hypothetical pathogenesis scenarios urgently need to be developed.HS is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the pilosebaceous unit, which occurs in intertriginous, ‘apocrine’ skin after puberty, and in more women than men. The clinical picture is dominated by late events resulting from follicular occlusion and its tissue‐destructive, inflammatory sequelae, aggravated by bacterial superinfection. Likely, HS originates from events in the hair follicle epithelium outer root sheath (ORS) rather than the apocrine gland and/or its duct. Genetic and endocrine factors influence HS incidence and course, at least in defined subpopulations.If follicular hyperkeratosis, leading to the retention of follicular material, represents the earliest histological abnormality, while inflammation and apocrine involvement are secondary ones, then the cause of hyperkeratosis and hyperproliferation of ORS keratinocytes must be identified. In normal skin epithelium, this typically results from inflammatory stimuli. Because the skin epithelium is a crucial element in the control of innate immunity, one may speculate that the primary defect in HS is an insufficiently controlled and/or abnormal release of pro‐inflammatory ‘danger’ signals from the follicle ORS (e.g. chemokines, defensins, TLR ligands). This may only lead to HS, if additional predisposing factors (e.g. genetically lowered threshold for activation, or defective suppression of, innate immune response loops; constitutive overexpression of TLRs or underexpression of immunoinhibitory signals) are present and once pro‐inflammatory stimuli are further up‐regulated, e.g. by microtrauma, (neuro‐) endocrine and/or local microbial signals. In this scenario, hyperkeratosis/hyperproliferation of ORS keratinocytes only represents the first visible sign of a primary imbalance of the intrafollicular controls of epithelial innate immune mechanisms.This chiefly calls for systematic exploration of the hair follicle innate immune system in as yet uninvolved intertriginous skin of HS patients versus normal controls as a key to unravelling the elusive pathogenesis of HS.
The conceptualization and measurement of need: a key to guiding policy and practice in children's services
Authors: O'Brien Michael 
Published: August 2010

ABSTRACTEffective services for children must be grounded in the sound conceptualization and measurement of need. The concept of need is often misunderstood because it is used in different ways. Defining need as both a requisite and a goal is desirable. The conceptualization ought to rest on an acceptance that not only are objective and universal needs to attain physical health and autonomy requirements for all human beings, but subjective needs may also sit alongside of universal needs. The ecological/developmental perspective is best suited as a framework for assessing the needs of children. One of its tenets, the importance of understanding the interaction of risk and protective factors, is highly relevant to assessing needs. An assessment of the interaction of risk and protective factors operating in a child's life reveals the requisites and goals necessary for child development. The proposed approaches to the conceptualization and measurement of need when combined will be conducive to better assessment and intervention by social workers with children.
α-Galactosylceramide protects mice from lethal Coxsackievirus B3 infection and subsequent myocarditis
Authors: Wu C Y , Feng Y , Qian G C , Wu J H , Luo J , Wang Y , Chen G J , Guo X K , Wang Z J 
Published: August 2010

Summary
Myocarditis is an inflammation of the myocardium which often follows virus infections. Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), as a marker of the enterovirus group, is one of the most important infectious agents of virus-induced myocarditis. Using a CVB3-induced myocarditis model, we show that injection α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), a ligand for invariant natural killer (NK) T (iNK T) cells, can protect the mice from viral myocarditis. After the systemic administration of α-GalCer in CVB3 infected mice, viral transcription and titres in mouse heart, sera and spleen were reduced, and the damage to the heart was ameliorated. This is accompanied by a better disease course with an improved weight loss profile. Compared with untreated mice, α-GalCer-treated mice showed high levels of interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-4, and reduced proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in their cardiac tissue. Anti-viral immune response was up-regulated by α-GalCer. Three days after CVB3 infection, α-GalCer-administered mice had larger spleens. Besides NK T cells, more macrophages and CD8+ T cells were found in these spleens. Upon stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate plus ionomycin, splenocytes from α-GalCer-treated mice produced significantly more cytokines [including IFN-γ, tumour necrosis factor-α, IL-4 and IL-10] than those from untreated mice. These data suggest that administration of α-GalCer during acute CVB3 infection is able to protect the mice from lethal myocarditis by local changes in inflammatory cytokine patterns and enhancement of anti-viral immune response at the early stage. α-GalCer is a potential candidate for viral myocarditis treatment. Our work supports the use of anti-viral treatment early to reduce the incidence of virus-mediated heart damage.
DNA methylation analysis of the HIF‐1α prolyl hydroxylase domain genes PHD1, PHD2, PHD3 and the factor inhibiting HIF gene FIH in invasive breast carcinomas
Authors: Huang Katie T , Mikeska Thomas , Dobrovic Alexander , Fox Stephen B 
Published: August 2010

Huang K T, Mikeska T, Dobrovic A & Fox S B (2010) Histopathology 57, 451–460 DNA methylation analysis of the HIF‐1α prolyl hydroxylase domain genes PHD1, PHD2, PHD3 and the factor inhibiting HIF gene FIH in invasive breast carcinomasAims:  Hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1 (HIF‐1) activity is regulated by prolyl hydroxylase (PHD1, PHD2, PHD3) and factor inhibiting HIF‐1 (FIH) that target the α subunit of HIF‐1 (HIF‐1α) for proteosomal degradation. We hypothesised that the elevated HIF‐1α level is due in some tumours to epigenetic silencing by DNA hypermethylation of the promoter region of one or more of the PHDs and FIH genes. The aims were to define the presence or absence of promoter methylation of PHDs and FIH in cell lines of various sources and breast carcinomas and, if present, determine its effect on mRNA and protein expression.Methods and results:  Tumour cell lines (n = 20) and primary invasive breast carcinomas (n = 168) were examined for promoter region DNA methylation using methylation‐sensitive high‐resolution melting. There was evidence of PHD3 but not of PHD1, PHD2 or FIH DNA methylation in breast cancer (SkBr3) and leukaemic (HL60 and CCRF‐CEM) cell lines, but there was no evidence of methylation in any of 168 breast cancers. Only the high‐level PHD3 methylation seen in leukaemic cell lines correlated with absent mRNA and protein expression.Conclusions:  Methylation‐induced epigenetic silencing of PHD1, PHD2, PHD3 and FIH is unlikely to underlie up‐regulated HIF‐1α expression in human breast cancer but may play a role in other tumour types.