bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Imjin Virus, a Newly Isolated Hantavirus from the Ussuri White-Toothed Shrew (
Crocidura lasiura
)
Authors: Song Jin-Won , Kang Hae Ji , Gu Se Hun , Moon Sung Sil , Bennett Shannon N. , Song Ki-Joon , Baek Luck Ju , Kim Heung-Chul , O'Guinn Monica L. , Chong Sung-Tae , Klein Terry A. , Yanagihara Richard 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACT

Until recently, the single known exception to the rodent-hantavirus association was Thottapalayam virus (TPMV), a long-unclassified virus isolated from the Asian house shrew (
Suncus murinus
). Robust gene amplification techniques have now uncovered several genetically distinct hantaviruses from shrews in widely separated geographic regions. Here, we report the characterization of a newly identified hantavirus, designated Imjin virus (MJNV), isolated from the lung tissues of Ussuri white-toothed shrews of the species
Crocidura lasiura
(order Soricomorpha, family Soricidae, subfamily Crocidurinae) captured near the demilitarized zone in the Republic of Korea during 2004 and 2005. Seasonal trapping revealed the highest prevalence of MJNV infection during the autumn, with evidence of infected shrews' clustering in distinct foci. Also, marked male predominance among anti-MJNV immunoglobulin G antibody-positive Ussuri shrews was found, whereas the male-to-female ratio among seronegative Ussuri shrews was near 1. Plaque reduction neutralization tests showed no cross neutralization for MJNV and rodent-borne hantaviruses but one-way cross neutralization for MJNV and TPMV. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences for the different MJNV genomic segments revealed nearly the same calculated distances from hantaviruses harbored by rodents in the subfamilies Murinae, Arvicolinae, Neotominae, and Sigmodontinae. Phylogenetic analyses of full-length S, M, and L segment sequences demonstrated that MJNV shared a common ancestry with TPMV and remained in a distinct out-group, suggesting early evolutionary divergence. Studies are in progress to determine if MJNV is pathogenic for humans.
The Orthopoxvirus 68-Kilodalton Ankyrin-Like Protein Is Essential for DNA Replication and Complete Gene Expression of Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara in Nonpermissive Human and Murine Cells
Authors: Sperling Karin M. , Schwantes Astrid , Staib Caroline , Schnierle Barbara S. , Sutter Gerd 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACT

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) is a highly attenuated and replication-deficient vaccinia virus (VACV) that is being evaluated as replacement smallpox vaccine and candidate viral vector. MVA lacks many genes associated with virulence and/or regulation of virus tropism. The 68-kDa ankyrin-like protein (68k-ank) is the only ankyrin repeat-containing protein that is encoded by the MVA genome and is highly conserved throughout the
Orthopoxvirus
genus. We showed previously that 68k-ank is composed of ankyrin repeats and an F-box-like domain and forms an SCF ubiquitin ligase complex together with the cellular proteins Skp1a and Cullin-1. We now report that 68k-ank (MVA open reading frame 186R) is an essential factor for completion of the MVA intracellular life cycle in nonpermissive human and murine cells. Infection of mouse NIH 3T3 and human HaCaT cells with MVA with a deletion of the 68k-ank gene (MVA-Δ68k-ank) was characterized by an extensive reduction of viral intermediate RNA and protein, as well as late transcripts and drastically impaired late protein synthesis. Furthermore, infections with MVA-Δ68k-ank failed to induce the host protein shutoff that is characteristic of VACV infections. Although we demonstrated that proteasome function in general is essential for the completion of the MVA molecular life cycle, we found that a mutant 68k-ank protein with a deletion of the F-box-like domain was able to fully complement the deficiency of MVA-Δ68k-ank to express all classes of viral genes. Thus, our data demonstrate that the 68k-ank protein contains another critical domain that may function independently of SCF ubiquitin ligase complex formation, suggesting multiple activities of this interesting regulatory protein.
Interferon-Induced ISG15 Conjugation Inhibits Influenza A Virus Gene Expression and Replication in Human Cells
Authors: Hsiang Tien-Ying , Zhao Chen , Krug Robert M. 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACT

The ubiquitin-like ISG15 protein, as well as its conjugating enzymes, is induced by type I interferons (IFNs). Experiments using ISG15 knockout (ISG15
−/−
) mice established that ISG15 and/or its conjugation inhibits the replication of influenza A virus. However, in contrast to the virus inhibition results for mice, the rates of virus replication in ISG15
+/+
and ISG15
−/−
mouse embryo fibroblasts in tissue culture were similar. Here we focus on human tissue culture cells and on the effect of ISG15 and/or its conjugation on influenza A virus gene expression and replication in such cells. We demonstrate that IFN-induced antiviral activity against influenza A virus in human cells is significantly alleviated by inhibiting ISG15 conjugation using small interfering RNAs directed against ISG15-conjugating enzymes. IFN-induced antiviral activity against influenza A virus protein synthesis was reduced 5- to 20-fold by suppressing ISG15 conjugation. The amounts of the viral proteins that were restored by these siRNA treatments were approximately 40 to 50% of the amounts produced in cells that were not pretreated with IFN. Further, we show that ISG15 conjugation inhibits influenza A virus replication 10- to 20-fold at early times after infection in human cells. These results show that ISG15 conjugation plays a substantial role in the antiviral state induced by IFN in human cells. In contrast, we show that in mouse embryo fibroblasts ISG15 conjugation not only does not affect influenza A virus replication but also does not contribute to the IFN-induced antiviral activity against influenza A virus gene expression.
Regulation of
vif
mRNA Splicing by Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Requires 5′ Splice Site D2 and an Exonic Splicing Enhancer To Counteract Cellular Restriction Factor APOBEC3G
Authors: Mandal Dibyakanti , Exline Colin M. , Feng Zehua , Stoltzfus C. Martin 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACT

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) accessory protein Vif is encoded by an incompletely spliced mRNA resulting from splicing of the major splice donor in the HIV-1 genome, 5′ splice site (5′ss) D1, to the first splice acceptor, 3′ss A1. We have shown previously that splicing of HIV-1
vif
mRNA is tightly regulated by suboptimal 5′ss D2, which is 50 nucleotides downstream of 3′ss A1; a GGGG silencer motif proximal to 5′ss D2; and an SRp75-dependent exonic splicing enhancer (ESEVif). In agreement with the exon definition hypothesis, mutations within 5′ss D2 that are predicted to increase or decrease U1 snRNP binding affinity increase or decrease the usage of 3′ss A1 (D2-up and D2-down mutants, respectively). In this report, the importance of 5′ss D2 and ESEVif for avoiding restriction of HIV-1 by APOBEC3G (A3G) was determined by testing the infectivities of a panel of mutant viruses expressing different levels of Vif. The replication of D2-down and ESEVif mutants in permissive CEM-SS cells was not significantly different from that of wild-type HIV-1. Mutants that expressed Vif in 293T cells at levels greater than 10% of that of the wild type replicated similarly to the wild type in H9 cells, and Vif levels as low as 4% were affected only modestly in H9 cells. This is in contrast to Vif-deleted HIV-1, whose replication in H9 cells was completely inhibited. To test whether elevated levels of A3G inhibit replication of D2-down and ESEVif mutants relative to wild-type virus replication, a Tet-off Jurkat T-cell line that expressed approximately 15-fold-higher levels of A3G than control Tet-off cells was generated. Under these conditions, the fitness of all D2-down mutant viruses was reduced relative to that of wild-type HIV-1, and the extent of inhibition was correlated with the level of Vif expression. The replication of an ESEVif mutant was also inhibited only at higher levels of A3G. Thus, wild-type 5′ss D2 and ESEVif are required for production of sufficient Vif to allow efficient HIV-1 replication in cells expressing relatively high levels of A3G.
Particle Assembly and Ultrastructural Features Associated with Replication of the Lytic Archaeal Virus
Sulfolobus
Turreted Icosahedral Virus
Authors: Brumfield Susan K. , Ortmann Alice C. , Ruigrok Vincent , Suci Peter , Douglas Trevor , Young Mark J. 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACT

Little is known about the replication cycle of archaeal viruses. We have investigated the ultrastructural changes of
Sulfolobus solfataricus
P2 associated with infection by
Sulfolobus t
urreted
i
cosahedral
v
irus (STIV). A time course of a near synchronous STIV infection was analyzed using both scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Assembly of STIV particles, including particles lacking DNA, was observed within cells, and fully assembled STIV particles were visible by 30 h postinfection (hpi). STIV was determined to be a lytic virus, causing cell disruption beginning at 30 hpi. Prior to cell lysis, virus infection resulted in the formation of pyramid-like projections from the cell surface. These projections, which have not been documented in any other host-virus system, appeared to be caused by the protrusion of the cell membrane beyond the bordering S-layer. These structures are thought to be sites at which progeny virus particles are released from infected cells. Based on these observations of lysis, a plaque assay was developed for STIV. From these studies we propose an overall assembly model for STIV.
Egg Binding and Hind Limb Paralysis in An African Penguin – a Case Report
Authors: Crouch Monique Anamarie 
Published: April 2009

This case report assesses the role acupuncture played in the rehabilitation therapy of an African penguin with bilateral hind limb paresis and paralysis following egg binding and a caesarean section. Egg binding is the failure of the oviduct to pass the egg down into the cloaca. In avian species the sciatic nerve runs through the middle of the kidney. Swelling of the kidney tissue due to the pressure exerted by the retained egg will cause pressure on the sciatic nerve which may lead to hind limb paresis/paralysis. Acupuncture was used to relieve any muscle, joint or nerve pain and to attempt to stimulate recovery of the sciatic nerve. Acupuncture was incorporated into a fairly intensive physical rehabilitation programme to help the penguin to walk again so that it could be re-introduced back into the sanctuary's captive colony.
Modellvorhaben Akupunktur – a Summary of the Art, Arc and Gerac Trials
Authors: Cummings Mike 
Published: April 2009

In October 2000 the German Federal Committee of Physicians and Health Insurers recommended that special Model Projects on Acupuncture (“ Modellvorhaben Akupunktur”) be developed in order to determine the evidence-based role of acupuncture in the treatment of certain illnesses. This paper presents a summary of the main randomised controlled trials performed as part of these projects, and the associated economic analyses. Overall the results show that acupuncture is effective in practice for a range of chronic conditions, and it seems likely to have acceptable cost utility (at least at a rate of ¢35 per session). Sham acupuncture, in the form of minimal off-point needling in a therapeutic context, also appears to be effective, being no different to prophylactic medication in migraine, and superior to guideline-based standard care in chronic low back pain. In patients recruited to acupuncture trials, the response to treatment does not differ between those that agree to be randomised and those that do not. This suggests that the results of the pragmatic Acupuncture in Routine Care studies are applicable to patients from the general population who express a preference for acupuncture. In conclusion, acupuncture appears to be effective in a range of chronic conditions and it seems to have acceptable cost-effectiveness in Western health economic terms. These programmes of research do not confirm the hypothesis that needling at specific points is essential to achieve satisfactory clinical effects of acupuncture. Sham acupuncture, in the form of minimal off-point needling in a therapeutic context, is unlikely to be an inactive placebo. In April 2006, the German health authorities decided that acupuncture would be included into routine reimbursement by social health insurance funds for chronic low back pain and chronic osteoarthritis of the knee.
A General Iterative Method for Solving the Variational Inequality Problem and Fixed Point Problem of an Infinite Family of Nonexpansive Mappings in Hilbert Spaces
Authors: Wangkeeree Rabian , Kamraksa Uthai 
Published: April 2009

AbstractWe introduce an iterative scheme for finding a common element of the set of common fixed points of a family of infinitely nonexpansive mappings, and the set of solutions of the variational inequality for an inverse-strongly monotone mapping in a Hilbert space. Under suitable conditions, some strong convergence theorems for approximating a common element of the above two sets are obtained. As applications, at the end of the paper we utilize our results to study the problem of finding a common element of the set of fixed points of a family of infinitely nonexpansive mappings and the set of fixed points of a finite family of "Equation missing"-strictly pseudocontractive mappings. The results presented in the paper improve some recent results of Qin and Cho (2008).
Relative Importance of Proteinase-Activated Receptor-1 Versus Matrix Metalloproteinases in Intracerebral Hemorrhage-Mediated Neurotoxicity in Mice
Authors: Xue Mengzhou , Hollenberg Morley D. , Demchuk Andrew , Yong V. Wee 
Published: April 2009

Background and Purpose—To reduce bleeding and damage to central nervous system tissue in intracerebral hemorrhage, the coagulant effect of thrombin is essential. However, thrombin itself can kill neurons in intracerebral hemorrhage as can the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which are also elevated in this condition, in part due to thrombin-mediated activation of MMPs. It is thus important to understand and block the neurotoxic effects of thrombin without inhibiting its therapeutic outcomes. In this study, we have investigated the relative roles of proteinase activated receptor-1, a thrombin receptor, and MMPs in brain injury induced by thrombin or blood.Methods—Mice were subjected to stereotactic intracerebral injections of saline, thrombin, and autologous blood, with or without hirudin, a thrombin inhibitor, or GM6001, an MMP inhibitor. Twenty-four hours later, tissue sections were obtained to evaluate the area of brain damage and extent of dying neurons. Data from wild-type mice were compared with results obtained with proteinase activated receptor-1 null mice.Results—In blood-induced damage to the brain parenchyma, both hirudin and GM6001 significantly reduced injury to a comparable extent (>40%) implicating both thrombin and MMPs in neurotoxicity. In proteinase activated receptor-1 null mice, blood-induced brain damage was reduced by 22.6% relative to wild-type animals; by comparison, the blood-induced brain damage was reduced by 48.3% using GM6001.Conclusions—The neurotoxicity of blood in intracerebral hemorrhage involves both proteinase activated receptor-1 and MMP activation, with the latter appearing more prominent in causing death.
Cacophony or Coherence: Ethnographic Writing and Competing Claims to Ritual and Textual Authority
Authors: Allocco Amy 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis essay describes the challenges to ethnographic writing that are raised by multiplicity, contradiction, and conflicting narratives in the fieldwork process. Specifically, the essay examines multiple and sometimes opposing articulations of the causes for, and ritual treatments of, a malignant horoscopic condition called nāga dōsam (snake blemish) in contemporary South India. This examination raises questions about the relationships between textual knowledge and ritual performance, as well as the nature of competing claims to ritual and textual authority. At the heart of these interpretive questions lies the issue of representation, or how best to characterize such multiplicity and inconsistency in the ethnographic texts which grow from our field research. Drawing on excerpts from fieldwork interviews with two Brahmin religious specialists, this essay considers how best to evoke the realities of the Tamil ritual field without simply inscribing these power dynamics on the ethnographic text.
Reading and Writing (to) the Devi: Reflections on Unanticipated Ritualized Ethnography
Authors: Dempsey Corinne 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis article relates an event that effectively erases the distinguishing markers between the practices of fieldwork, writing, and ritual. This merging of performance genres provides an opportunity to consider three themes that surface regularly in recent ethnographic and ritual theory: bodily knowledge, reflexivity, and indeterminacy. In this article I will explore how these themes are relevant not only to ritual and ethnographic practice in general but to rituals performed at a Sri Lankan goddess temple in the town of Rush outside Rochester, New York, where I have conducted fieldwork since 1998. My aim in speaking about ritual and ethnography in the same breath, framed by my experience of collapsing practices, is to highlight what these endeavors have to say about our multifaceted ways of perceiving and knowing.
“On Thursdays We Worship the Banana Plant”: Encountering Lived Hinduism in a Canadian Suburb
Authors: Gunn Janet 
Published: April 2009

AbstractClassic models of ethnography have the anthropologist going off into “the field” to encounter “the native.” How is the project of ethnography altered when one's field site is one's own city? This paper draws on fieldwork in a Canadian city to probe the entailments of conducting anthropological research in one's own backyard, throwing the conventional understanding of the ethnographer into question. What does this type of encounter reveal about the Othering process that is so often inherent in the ethnographic project? Unexamined notions of the anthropologist's role are challenged in ways both necessary and unnerving, blurring conventional boundaries of home and field. Such “dis-orientalization” is crucial to reaching a more honest position vis-à-vis the individuals and communities to whom ethnographers bring their questions. The various confusions it presents are generative. By foiling attempts at tidy categorizations, these encounters speak of the multiplicity and fluidity of lived religious identities and experiences.
Experiencing the Mango Festival as a Ritual Dramatization of Hagiography
Authors: Pechilis Karen 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe author traveled to the coastal town of Kāraikkāl in Tamilnadu, south India in summer 2006 in order to explore the ways in which a festival celebrating a classical Hindu female saint would “tell” the story of her life as represented in a medieval canonical hagiography that the author had previously translated. By highlighting the oral mode of “telling” as a characterization of the festival's presentation, the author signals the performative, personal, and public aspects of its rendering of her story. At the festival's center is an emphasis on the visual, not in the sense of a staged drama, but as a persistent focus on sacred images, or what the author calls “moments of awe.” The “all at once” perception experience enabled by the visual mirrors the simultaneity of experience enabled by these moments of awe inscribed by bhakti (devotion) in that they are opportunities for the enactment of worship, the engagement of participation, and the creation of a public.
The Hermeneutics of Touch: Uncovering Abhinavagupta's Tactile Terrain
Authors: Skora Kerry Martin 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis article introduces a “hermeneutics of touch” in order to uncover the place of tactile experience in the work of Abhinavagupta, the Kashmiri Hindu Tantric sage (c. 975-1025 C.E.). I focus on his understanding of the liberation of touch, especially as articulated in his Trankāloka (TĀ), his encyclopedic synthesis of Trika Śiva discourse and ritual. Inspired by the scholarship of the new emerging fields of anthropology of the senses as well as religion and the senses, I purposely break with the primary emphasis on vision and cognition seen in Abhinavagupta Studies, to reconsider the significance of the tactile sense.
Ensemble Variance Calibration for Representing Meteorological Uncertainty for Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling
Authors: Kolczynski Walter C. , Stauffer David R. , Haupt Sue Ellen , Deng Aijun 
Published: April 2009

Abstract
In the event of the release of a dangerous atmospheric contaminant, an atmospheric transport and dispersion (ATD) model is often used to provide forecasts of the resulting contaminant dispersion affecting the population. These forecasts should also be accompanied by accurate estimates of the forecast uncertainty to allow for more informed decisions about the potential hazardous area. This study examines the calculation of uncertainty in the meteorological data as derived from an ensemble, and its effects when used as additional input to drive an ATD model. The first part of the study examines the capability of a linear function to relate ensemble spread to error variance of the ensemble mean given ensemble spread from 24 days of forecasts from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Short-Range Ensemble Forecast (SREF). This linear function can then be used to calibrate the ensemble spread to produce a more accurate estimate of the meteorological uncertainty. Results for the linear relationship of wind variance are very good, with values of the coefficient of determination R2 generally exceeding 0.94 for forecast lengths of 12 h and greater. The calibration is shown to be more sensitive to forecast hour than vertical level within the lower troposphere. The second part presents a 24-h case study to assess the impact of meteorological uncertainty calculations on Second-Order Closure Integrated Puff (SCIPUFF) ATD model predictions. Both uncalibrated ensemble wind variances and wind variances calibrated based on the results of the first part show improvement in mean concentration forecasts relative to a control experiment using the default hazard mode uncertainty when compared with a baseline SCIPUFF integration based on a high-resolution dynamic analysis of the meteorological conditions. The SCIPUFF experiments that use a wind variance calibration show both qualitative and quantitative improvement in most of the mean concentrations and patterns over the control experiment and the SCIPUFF experiment using uncalibrated wind variances. The SCIPUFF experiments using meteorological ensemble uncertainty information also produce mean concentrations and patterns that compare favorably to those of an explicit SCIPUFF ensemble based on each SREF member. Use of the uncalibrated variance information within a single ATD prediction produces mean ATD predictions most similar to those of the explicit ATD ensemble, and use of calibrated ensemble variance is shown to have some advantages over the explicit ATD ensemble.