bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Pediatric cases of Crimean‐Congo hemorrhagic fever in Turkey
Authors: Tuygun Nilden , Tanir Gonul , Caglayik Dilek Yagci , Uyar Yavuz , Korukluoglu Gulay , Cenesiz Funda 
Published: December 2011

AbstractBackground: The aim of the present study was to identify the epidemiological, clinical and laboratory features of Crimean‐Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus infection in children.Methods: Fifty children infected with CCHF virus in 2005–2010, and hospitalized in the Dr Sami Ulus Maternity and Children's Health and Diseases Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, were included. All the patients had positive IgM and/or polymerase chain reaction for CCHF virus.Results: Of the 50 patients, 19 were female and 31 were male. Patients were between 8 months and 15 years of age. The majority (82%) of patients had a history of tick bite. Fever (100%), hemorrhagic symptoms (76%), nausea–vomiting (60%), tonsillopharyngitis (50%), malaise (50%), myalgia (46%) and maculopapular rash (24%) were the most common presenting clinical features. Mean platelet count on admission was 110 880/mm3, and the lowest was 7000/mm3. The mean of the lowest white blood cell count was 2860/mm3. Other pathological laboratory findings (asparate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase) were elevated, and prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time were prolonged. Twenty‐three patients (46%) were given ribavirin. No side‐effect of ribavirin was seen. No patient died because of CCHF disease.Conclusion: CCHF virus infections are seen mostly in boys and school children and the adolescent age group. Tick bite is the major risk factor. Fever and hemorrhage are the most frequent presenting symptoms. Tonsillopharyngitis and rash on face or body are probably the most remarkable clinical findings in this disease. The CCHF disease course in Turkey may be mild in children.
Comparison of cerebrospinal fluid in newborns and in infants ≤2 months old with or without meningitis
Authors: Tarvij Eslami Saeedeh , Nassirian Hossain , Mojgan Bayat Mokhtary , Bahieh Zarif Zakerian , Elham Hatami , Alimohamad Nassirian , Ehsan Sobhani 
Published: December 2011

AbstractBackground:  The aim of the present study was to evaluate the characteristics and accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) parameters for neonatal meningitis, by comparing CSF data in newborns and in infants ≤2 months of age, with or without meningitis.Methods:  This case–control study was performed on 120 newborns and infants ≤2 months old. 60 patients with meningitis were considered as the case group and 60 ill patients without meningitis were defined as the control group. Each of the two groups was divided into 0–1 months and 1–2 months old. CSF characteristics were compared in newborns in the case and control groups; in infants ≤2 months old in the case and control groups; and in healthy newborns and healthy infants ≤2 months old.Results:  The mortality rate was 16.7% in the case group. The differences of CSF parameters in the case and control groups were mostly not significant, except for CSF glucose only in term newborns <7 days old (P= 0.04), and white cell count (WBC) only in 0–7‐day‐old term and preterm neonates (P= 0.04 and P= 0.01, respectively). Polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL) level in the case group was significantly higher than in the control group (P= 0.02). CSF characteristics in healthy newborns were nearly the same as in healthy infants ≤2 months old. Prevalence of positive CSF culture was 31.7% in the case group. The most common pathogen was Neisseria meningitidis in the two age groups. The concomitant positive blood culture in the case group was 26.3%.Conclusion:  In the case of meningitis with negative CSF culture and Gram stain, diagnosis can be made on CSF parameters, clinical and laboratory findings and suspicion of meningitis. Therefore, a clinical prediction rule to classify risk for bacterial meningitis on evaluation of CSF parameters in any region should be established. More regional trials are needed to enhance the probability of diagnosis according to CSF parameters.
The PvdRT‐OpmQ efflux pump controls the metal selectivity of the iron uptake pathway mediated by the siderophore pyoverdine in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Authors: Hannauer Mélissa , Braud Armelle , Hoegy Françoise , Ronot Pascale , Boos Anne , Schalk Isabelle J. 
Published: December 2011

SummaryPyoverdine (PVD) is the major siderophore produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa for iron acquisition. PvdRT‐OpmQ is an ATP‐dependent efflux pump involved in the secretion of newly synthesized pyoverdine (PVD) and of PVD that has transported and released its iron into the bacterium from the periplasm into the extracellular medium. This iron uptake pathway also involves an outer membrane transporter, FpvA, for PVD–Fe uptake from the extracellular medium into the periplasm. In binding assays, FpvA bound PVD in complex with many different metals, with affinities from 2.9 nM for PVD–Fe to 13 µM for PVD–Al. Uptake assays with various FpvA and PvdRT‐OpmQ mutants, monitored by inductively coupled plasma‐atomic emission spectrometry (ICP‐AES) for metal detection, and by fluorescence for PVD detection, showed that both metals and PVD accumulated in P. aeruginosa, due to the uptake of these compounds via the FpvA/PVD pathway. Higher levels of accumulation were observed in the absence of PvdRT‐OpmQ expression. Thus, FpvA has a broad metal specificity for both the binding and uptake of PVD–metal complexes, and the PvdRT‐OpmQ efflux pump exports unwanted metals complexed with PVD from the bacterium. This study provides the first evidence of efflux pump involvement in the export of unwanted siderophore–metal complexes and insight into the molecular mechanisms involved controlling the metal selectivity of siderophore‐mediated iron uptake pathways.
Emigration of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae from leaf litter contributes to its population dynamics in alpine snowpack
Authors: Monteil Caroline L. , Guilbaud Caroline , Glaux Catherine , Lafolie François , Soubeyrand Samuel , Morris Cindy E. 
Published: December 2011

SummaryThe recently discovered ubiquity of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae in headwaters and alpine ecosystems worldwide elicits new questions about the ecology of this bacterium and subsequent consequences for disease epidemiology. Because of the major contribution of snow to river run‐off during crop growth, we evaluated the population dynamics of P. syringae in snowpack and the underlying leaf litter during two years in the Southern French Alps. High population densities of P. syringae were found on alpine grasses, and leaf litter was identified as the main source of populations of P. syringae in snowpack, contributing more than the populations arriving with the snowfall. The insulating properties of snow foster survival of P. syringae throughout the winter in the 10 cm layer of snow closest to the soil. Litter and snowpack harboured populations of P. syringae that were very diverse in terms of phenotypes and genotypes. Neither substrate nor sampling site had a marked effect on the structure of P. syringae populations, and snow and litter had genotypes in common with other non‐agricultural habitats and with crops. These results contribute to the mounting evidence that a highly diverse P. syringae metapopulation is disseminated throughout drainage basins between cultivated and non‐cultivated zones.
Single‐stage reconstruction of complex anterior urethral strictures using overlapping dorsal and ventral buccal mucosal grafts
Authors: Hudak Steven J. , Lubahn Jessica D. , Kulkarni Sanjay , Morey Allen F. 
Published: December 2011

Study Type – Therapy (case series)Level of Evidence 4What's known on the subject? and What does the study add?This technique has been reported to have an excellent success rate in the bulbar urethra, although no data exists for its use in the penile urethra.This is the first study to report successful use of the technique in the reconstruction of penile urethral strictures.OBJECTIVE
To review our initial experience with single‐stage overlapping dorsal and ventral buccal mucosa graft (BMG) urethroplasty for the reconstruction of complex anterior urethral strictures.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Among 696 urethroplasties performed at two tertiary urethroplasty centres from October 2007 to September 2010, single‐stage urethral reconstruction using urethral plate incision and/or excision and overlapping dorsal and ventral BMGs was used in 36 men (5%) with complex urethral strictures (mean length 4.5 cm).
Demographic and perioperative data was tabulated and outcomes were analysed.
RESULTS
Stricture location was bulbar (61%), penile (19%), or both bulbar and penile (20%).
Dorsal grafts, applied only within the most severely strictured segment, measured a mean 42% of the opposing ventral graft length.
At a mean follow‐up of 15.7 months, 32 of the 36 cases were successful (89%).
Repeat urethroplasty was performed in all four recurrences, three of which were successful at a mean follow‐up of 16 months.
CONCLUSION
Single‐stage reconstruction of focally obliterative long urethral strictures using overlapping dorsal and ventral BMGs is safe and effective.
Characterizing abundance–occupancy relationships: there is no artefact
Authors: Webb Thomas J. , Freckleton Robert P. , Gaston Kevin J. 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTPositive abundance–occupancy relationships (AORs) are among the most general macroecological patterns: locally common species are regionally widespread, locally rare species are regionally restricted. In a recent contribution, Wilson (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2011,20, 193–202) made three claims: (1) that AORs are critically dependent on the method used to calculate average abundance; (2) averaging abundance over occupied sites tends to lead to a very high incidence of negative relationships; (3) this represents a statistical artefact that should be considered in studies of AORs. Here we show that this outcome arises in Wilson's simulations purely due to an arbitrary choice of occupancy models and parameter ranges. The resulting negative relationships are not statistical artefacts, but are easily interpreted in terms of spatial aggregation in abundant species. The fact that empirical evidence fails to support a high prevalence of negative AORs suggests, however, that such parameter combinations arise only rarely in nature. We conclude that simulations that are based on untested assumptions, and that produce patterns unsupported by empirical evidence, have limited use in characterizing AORs, and add little to understanding of the processes driving important relationships between local population size and regional occupancy.
THE ‘REFERENCE POINT’ APPROACH TO THE THEORY OF THE FIRM: AN INTRODUCTION
Authors: Walker Paul 
Published: December 2011

AbstractThere is a small but growing literature on the ‘reference point’ approach to incomplete contracts as formulated by Hart and Moore. The reference point approach has begun to be applied to the theory of the firm in 3 recent papers. This introduction reviews the main theoretical aspects of each of these papers. It then discusses the relationship between the reference point approach to the firm, the transaction cost approach and the property rights approach. Here it is argued that the reference point approach is a step back towardsex postinefficiencies, away from reliance onex anteinefficiencies.
Beyond Lock‐in versus Evolution, towards Punctuated Co‐evolution: On Ron Martin's ‘Rethinking Regional Path Dependence’
Authors: DRAHOKOUPIL JAN 
Published: December 2011

AbstractThis contribution discusses Ron Martin's Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography, ‘Rethinking Regional Path Dependence: Beyond Lock‐in to Evolution’. The lecture offered original ideas on how to avoid some of the pitfalls associated with path dependence theories and the equilibristic understanding of the temporality of economic change. This contribution addresses the question of co‐evolution of the economic and the political in regional and local industrial evolution. It questions the conception of temporality that seems implicit in the framework. It is suggested that the notion of punctuated co‐evolution may be a way forwards, avoiding some of the difficulties in Martin's model. The contribution concludes by discussing the analytical limits of path dependence models.RésuméDans sa ‘Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography’, Ron Martin a présenté une nouvelle réflexion sur les sentiers de dépendance régionaux, écartant l’idée de ‘blocage’ pour s’attacher à celle d’une évolution. Les idées originales qui sont avancées permettent d’éviter certains des pièges liés aux théories du sentier de dépendance, ainsi qu’à l’approche équilibriste de la temporalité du changement économique. Tout en s’intéressant à la coévolution de l’économique et du politique dans les transformations industrielles locales et régionales, la présente contribution interroge la conception de la temporalité, apparemment implicite dans le cadre d’analyse. La notion de coévolution ponctuelle est proposée comme piste de progression pour échapper à certaines difficultés relevées dans le modèle de Martin. La conclusion examine les limites analytiques des modèles de dépendance de sentier.
Options for Moving beyond the Canonical Model of Regional Path Dependence
Authors: SIMANDAN DRAGOS 
Published: December 2011

AbstractRon Martin's recent critique of the canonical model of regional path dependence constitutes a significant original contribution to evolutionary economic geography, and is likely to open up a whole new range of promising directions of theoretical debate and empirical research. In the first part of my commentary, I highlight and discuss the following two assumptions implicit in his work: (1) broader and less restrictive models are better than narrow and restrictive ones; and (2) economic geographers are better served by a model that emphasizes change than by one that emphasizes continuity. In the second part of my commentary, I suggest that Martin's own alternative model could be further developed by: (1) replacing the binary distinction between ‘path as movement to stable state’ and ‘path as dynamic process’ with a continuum; (2) avoiding, with the help of mereology, the hasty generalization to regional economies of processes of change originally theorized in the context of institutions; and (3) tracing the implications for evolutionary economic geography of the recent analytical work on contingency — a hitherto under‐theorized concept that has been central to evolutionary reasoning in general, and to the problematic of lock‐ins in particular.RésuméLa récente critique du modèle canonique des sentiers de dépendance régionaux qu’a présentée Ron Martin constitue un apport original important pour la géographie économique évolutionniste, laissant présager de nouvelles orientations prometteuses pour le débat théorique et la recherche empirique. La première partie de ce commentaire souligne et analyse deux hypothèses implicites dans son travail: les modèles généraux et peu contraignants sont meilleurs que les modèles limités et restrictifs; les géographes économiques ont intérêt à utiliser un modèle qui s’attache au changement plutôt qu’à la continuité. Dans la seconde partie, il est suggéré que le modèle de Martin pourrait lui‐même être développé selon trois axes: remplacer par un phénomène continu la perspective binaire du sentier vu soit ‘comme un mouvement vers un état stable’, soit ‘comme un processus dynamique’; en s’appuyant sur la méréologie, éviter de généraliser hâtivement aux économies régionales les processus de changement conçus à l’origine dans le cadre d’institutions; repérer comment la géographie économique évolutionniste peut être affectée par les récents travaux analytiques sur la contingence — notion peu théorisée jusqu’ici, mais centrale pour la logique évolutionniste en général, et la problématique des blocages (lock‐ins) en particulier.
Exposure of foetal neural progenitor cells to IL‐1β impairs their proliferation and alters their differentiation – a role for maternal inflammation?
Authors: Crampton Sean J. , Collins Louise M. , Toulouse Andre , Nolan Yvonne M. , O’Keeffe Gerard W. 
Published: December 2011

J. Neurochem. (2012) 120, 964–973.AbstractDuring pregnancy, activation of the maternal immune system results in inflammation in the foetal nervous system. The causative agents are pro‐inflammatory cytokines like interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β), produced by the foetus. In this study, we examine the effect of IL‐1β on the proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) to better understand its potential effects on the developing brain. We find that the IL‐1β receptor (IL‐1R1) is expressed in the ventral mesencephalon of the developing brain. Furthermore, IL‐1R1 is expressed on Nestin‐positive, Sox‐2‐positive NPCs. IL‐1β treatment reduced the numbers of proliferating NPCs, an effect prevented by the IL‐1R1 receptor antagonist. LDH and MTT assays, and western blot analysis for cleaved caspase 3 and poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase, confirmed that this was not due to an increase in cell death but rather an induction of differentiation. To further study the effects of IL‐1β on cell fate determination, we differentiated NPCs in the presence and absence of IL‐1β. Il‐1β promoted gliogenesis and inhibited neurogenesis, an effect that required p38‐MAPK kinase signalling. In summary, these data show that exposure of NPCs to IL‐1β affects their development. This necessitates an examination of the consequences that maternal immune system activation during pregnancy has on the cellular architecture of the developing brain.
Tacrine and its analogues impair mitochondrial function and bioenergetics: a lipidomic analysis in rat brain
Authors: Melo Tânia , Videira Romeu A. , André Sónia , Maciel Elisabete , Francisco Carla S. , Oliveira‐Campos Ana M. , Rodrigues Lígia M. , Domingues Maria R.M. , Peixoto Francisco , Manuel Oliveira M. 
Published: December 2011

J. Neurochem. (2012) 120, 993–1013.AbstractTacrine is an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor used as a cognitive enhancer in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, its low therapeutic efficiency and a high incidence of side effects have limited its clinical use. In this study, the molecular mechanisms underlying the impact on brain activity of tacrine and two novel tacrine analogues (T1, T2) were approached by focusing on three aspects: (i) their effects on brain cholinesterase activity; (ii) perturbations on electron transport chain enzymes activities of non‐synaptic brain mitochondria; and (iii) the role of mitochondrial lipidome changes induced by these compounds on mitochondrial bioenergetics. Brain effects were evaluated 18 h after the administration of a single dose (75.6 μmol/kg) of tacrine or tacrine analogues. The three compounds promoted a significant reduction in brain AChE and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) activities. Additionally, tacrine was shown to be more efficient in brain AChE inhibition than T2 tacrine analogue and less active than T1 tacrine analogue, whereas BuChE inhibition followed the order: T1 > T2 > tacrine. The studies using non‐synaptic brain mitochondria show that all the compounds studied disturbed brain mitochondrial bioenergetics mainly via the inhibition of complex I activity. Furthermore, the activity of complex IV is also affected by tacrine and T1 treatments while FoF1‐ATPase is only affected by tacrine. Therefore, the compounds’ toxicity as regards brain mitochondria, which follows the order: tacrine >> T1 > T2, does not correlate with their ability to inhibit brain cholinesterase enzymes. Lipidomics approaches show that phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is the most abundant phospholipids (PL) class in non‐synaptic brain mitochondria and cardiolipin (CL) present the greatest diversity of molecular species. Tacrine induced significant perturbations in the mitochondrial PL profile, which were detected by means of changes in the relative abundance of phosphatidylcholine (PC), PE, phosphatidylinositol (PI) and CL and by the presence of oxidized phosphatidylserines. Additionally, in both the T1 and T2 groups, the lipid content and molecular composition of brain mitochondria PL are perturbed to a lesser extent than in the tacrine group. Abnormalities in CL content and the amount of oxidized phosphatidylserines were associated with significant reductions in mitochondrial enzymes activities, mainly complex I. These results indicate that tacrine and its analogues impair mitochondrial function and bioenergetics, thus compromising the activity of brain cells.
Myosin II activity regulates neurite outgrowth and guidance in response to chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans
Authors: Yu Panpan , Santiago Lizzie Y. , Katagiri Yasuhiro , Geller Herbert M. 
Published: December 2011

J. Neurochem. (2012) 120, 1117–1128.AbstractChondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) are major components of the extracellular matrix in the CNS that inhibit axonal regeneration after CNS injury. Signaling pathways in neurons triggered by CSPGs are still largely unknown. In this study, using well‐characterized in vitro assays for neurite outgrowth and neurite guidance, we demonstrate a major role for myosin II in the response of neurons to CSPGs. We found that the phosphorylation of myosin II regulatory light chains is increased by CSPGs. Specific inhibition of myosin II activity with blebbistatin allows growing neurites to cross onto CSPG‐rich areas and increases the length of neurites of neurons growing on CSPGs. Using specific gene knockdown, we demonstrate selective roles for myosin IIA and IIB in these processes. Time lapse microscopy and immunocytochemistry demonstrated that CSPGs also inhibit cell adhesion and cell spreading. Inhibition of myosin II selectively accelerated neurite initiation without altering cell adhesion and spreading on CSPGs.