bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ultra‐short course immunotherapy in children and adolescents during a 3‐yrs post‐marketing surveillance study
Authors: Rosewich Martin 
Published: December 2009

Rosewich M, Schulze J , Fischer von Weikersthal‐Drachenberg K J, and Zielen S. Ultra‐short course immunotherapy in children and adolescents during a 3‐yrs post‐marketing surveillance study. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2010: 21: e185–e189. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/SUltra‐short course immunotherapy (uSCIT) has shown good efficacy and tolerability in children and adolescents with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR), conjunctivitis and/or asthma in clinical studies. Here, we investigate the efficacy of uSCIT in the juvenile subpopulation of a 3‐year post‐marketing surveillance (PMS) study. To assess the differences in the efficacy of uSCIT between adults and children respectively adolescents enrolled in a PMS study. In a prospective open study 422 patients aged 6–18 years with SAR, conjunctivitis and/or asthma received four pre‐seasonal injections with pollen allergoids formulated with monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL, Pollinex® Quattro) over a minimum of 3 weeks. Efficacy was evaluated by response to therapy and consumption of anti‐allergic medication during the pollen season. Tolerability was evaluated by patients' acceptance of therapy. These results were compared with the adult subpopulation of this study. Response to treatment was assessed as good or very good in 94% of patients, mirroring findings for the entire cohort. Further improvements were noted in patients receiving subsequent courses of therapy. Anti‐allergic medication use decreased from 83% to 24% of patients after the first treatment course (p < 0.0001). Therapy was well accepted by children/adolescents and considered ‘very good’ or ‘good’ by 93% of juveniles. No serious adverse events or cases of anaphylaxis were reported. This subanalysis indicated that uSCIT with Pollinex Quattro had similar efficacy and tolerability in children/adolescents and adults. The convenient dosing regimen and favourable safety profile of uSCIT may support a wider uptake of uSCIT in this patient population.
Family Control and Ownership Monitoring in Family‐Controlled Firms in Japan
Authors: Yoshikawa Toru , Rasheed Abdul A. 
Published: December 2009

abstractThis paper focuses on a type of firms that have been traditionally neglected in both family business and governance research, namely, family‐controlled, publicly‐listed firms. Although principal–agent conflicts may be less prevalent in such firms, family control can potentially give rise to principal–principal conflicts, leading to expropriation of the wealth of minority owners by family owners. Superior firm performance and the willingness to distribute the profits through dividend payments would suggest the absence of such expropriation. Based on a sample of 210 OTC firms in Japan, we examined the relationships between family control and dividend payouts and profitability. Our results indicate that family control was positively related to dividend payouts. Further, we found that while foreign ownership interacted with family control to reduce dividend payouts and increase profitability, bank ownership did not have such an effect.
Genetically pyramiding protease‐inhibitor genes for dual broad‐spectrum resistance against insect and phytopathogens in transgenic tobacco
Authors: Senthilkumar Rajendran , Cheng Chiu‐Ping , Yeh Kai‐Wun 
Published: December 2009

SummaryProtease inhibitors provide a promising means of engineering plant resistance against attack by insects and pathogens. Sporamin (trypsin inhibitor) from sweet potato and CeCPI (phytocystatin) from taro were stacked in a binary vector, using pMSPOA (a modified sporamin promoter) to drive both genes. Transgenic tobacco lines of T0 and T1 generation with varied inhibitory activity against trypsin and papain showed resistance to both insects and phytopathogens. Larvae of Helicoverpa armigera that ingested tobacco leaves either died or showed delayed growth and development relative to control larvae. Transgenic tobacco‐overexpressing the stacked genes also exhibited strong resistance against bacterial soft rot disease caused by Erwinia carotovora and damping‐off disease caused by Pythium aphanidermatum. Thus, stacking protease‐inhibitor genes, driven by the wound and pathogen responsive pMSPOA promoter, is an effective strategy for engineering crops to resistance against insects and phytopathogens.
Carbon monoxide improves adaptation of Arabidopsis to iron deficiency
Authors: Kong Wei Wei , Zhang Li Ping , Guo Kai , Liu Zhao Pu , Yang Zhi Min 
Published: December 2009

SummaryCarbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenous gaseous molecule and regulates a variety of biological processes in animals. However, whether CO regulates nutrient stress responses in plants is largely unknown. In this paper, we described an observation that CO can regulate iron‐homeostasis in iron‐starved Arabidopsis. Exogenous CO at 50 μm was able to prevent the iron deficient‐induced chlorosis and improve chlorophyll accumulation. Expression of AtIRT1, AtFRO2, AtFIT1 and AtFER1 was up‐regulated by CO exposure in iron‐deficient seedlings. CO‐regulated iron homeostasis could also be found in monocot maize and green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Treatment with external CO increased iron accumulation in iron‐deficient Arabidopsis and C. reinhardtii, and restored leaf greening in Maize ys1 and ys3 mutants (defective in Fe uptake). Moreover, endogenous CO level was increased in Arabidopsis under iron‐deficiency. Finally, CO exposure induced NO accumulation in root tips. However, such an action could be blocked by NO scavenger cPTIO. These results indicate that CO may play an important role in improving plant adaptation to iron deficiency or cross‐talking with NO under the iron deficiency.
Semi‐Supervised Learning in Reconstructed Manifold Space for 3D Caricature Generation
Authors: Liu Junfa , Chen Yiqiang , Miao Chunyan , Xie Jinjing , Ling Charles X. , Gao Xingyu , Gao Wen 
Published: December 2009

AbstractRecently, automatic 3D caricature generation has attracted much attention from both the research community and the game industry. Machine learning has been proven effective in the automatic generation of caricatures. However, the lack of 3D caricature samples makes it challenging to train a good model. This paper addresses this problem by two steps. First, the training set is enlarged by reconstructing 3D caricatures. We reconstruct 3D caricatures based on some 2D caricature samples with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA)‐based method. Secondly, between the 2D real faces and the enlarged 3D caricatures, a regressive model is learnt by the semi‐supervised manifold regularization (MR) method. We then predict 3D caricatures for 2D real faces with the learnt model. The experiments show that our novel approach synthesizes the 3D caricature more effectively than traditional methods. Moreover, our system has been applied successfully in a massive multi‐user educational game to provide human‐like avatars.
Vertical Specialization and International Business Cycle Synchronization*
Authors: Arkolakis Costas , Ramanarayanan Ananth 
Published: December 2009

AbstractWe explore the impact of vertical specialization—trade in goods across multiple stages of production—on the relationship between trade and business cycle synchronization across countries. We develop an international business cycle model in which the degree of vertical specialization varies with trade barriers. With perfect competition, we show analytically that fluctuations in measured total factor productivity are not linked across countries through trade. In numerical simulations, we find little dependence of business cycle synchronization on trade intensity. An extension of the model to allow for imperfect competition has the potential to resolve these shortcomings.
Products and Productivity*
Authors: Bernard Andrew B. , Redding Stephen J. , Schott Peter K. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractWhen firms make decisions about which product to manufacture at a more disaggregated level than observed in the data, measured firm productivity reflects both characteristics of the firm and attributes of the products that are non‐randomly chosen by the firm. This paper develops a model of industry equilibrium in which firms endogenously sort across products and characterizes the resulting bias in measured firm and aggregate productivity. Calibrating the model's parameters, we show that endogenous product selection can have quantitatively important effects on measured firm and aggregate productivity and their response to changes in parameter values.
Redistributing Gains from Globalisation*
Authors: Egger Hartmut , Kreickemeier Udo 
Published: December 2009

AbstractThis paper analyses the effects of redistribution in a model of international trade with heterogeneous firms in which a fair‐wage effort mechanism leads to firm‐specific wage payments and involuntary unemployment. The redistribution scheme is financed by profit taxes and gives the same absolute lump‐sum transfer to all workers. International trade increases aggregate income and income inequality, ceteris paribus. If, however, trade is accompanied by a suitably chosen increase in the profit tax rate, it is possible to achieve higher aggregate income and a more equal income distribution than in autarky, provided that the share of exporters is sufficiently high.
Product Choice and Market Competition: The Case of Multiproduct Electronic Plants in Taiwan*
Authors: Aw Bee Yan , Lee Yi 
Published: December 2009

AbstractWe examine the strategies of multiproduct plants in the Taiwanese electronics sector by introducing two new measures of product dissimilarity to capture the technological gaps of product pairs within the plant. The plant‐level index is used to analyze product mix decisions of plants. We find that plants whose products have large technological gaps are more likely to give up product lines. The product‐level index is used to show that, with increased competition, multiproduct plants exit markets where production technologies are farthest away from their core products and they also perform better than plants that continue to produce a wider range of products.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE CAPPADOCIANS: PAST AND PRESENT
Authors: BEELEY CHRISTOPHER A. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractTheologians have long recognized that the Cappadocian fathers are a valuable resource for contemporary reflection on the Holy Spirit. The modern use of their work, however, tends to reflect only a thin sampling of their many writings; it shows little awareness of their complicated historical situation; and it generally operates on the false assumption that Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa offer but three versions of the same theological project. This article provides a new comparative assessment of Cappadocian pneumatology in connection with larger Trinitarian concerns and with practical matters of spirituality, monasticism, and the role of divine grace in the Christian life. It highlights the distinctive character of each theologian's approach to the Holy Spirit by analyzing their relationships to prior fourth‐century traditions, their respective uses of Origen, and their differing stances in the contemporary debates with the Pneumatomachians. It argues that Basil's work on the Spirit is less fully Trinitarian and ascetically weaker than that of the other two, that Gregory Nazianzen offers the most fully Trinitarian and methodologically insightful pneumatology of the three, and that the Holy Spirit plays only a minor role in Gregory of Nyssa's theological and ascetical system. In conclusion, it identifies three key areas in which the Cappadocians can still make a significant contribution to current work on the Holy Spirit.
Persistence of CCR5 usage among primary human immunodeficiency virus isolates of individuals receiving intermittent interleukin‐2
Authors: Ghezzi S , Pacciarini F , Nozza S , Racca S , Mariani SA , Vicenzi E , Lazzarin A , Veglia F , Tambussi G , Poli G 
Published: December 2009

ObjectiveTo investigate the impact of intermittent interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) plus combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) on HIV‐1 entry co‐receptor use.MethodsPrimary HIV‐1 isolates were obtained from 54 HIV‐1‐positive individuals at baseline and after 12 months using co‐cultivation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with activated PBMC of HIV‐negative healthy donors. HIV‐1 co‐receptor use was determined on U87‐CD4 cells.ResultsFourteen out of the 21 (67%) IL‐2‐treated individuals harbouring a primary CCR5‐dependent (R5) HIV‐1 isolate at baseline confirmed an R5 virus isolation after 12 months in contrast to 3 out of 7 (43%) of those receiving cART only. After 12 months, only 1 R5X4 HIV‐1 isolate was obtained from 21 cART+IL‐2‐treated individuals infected with an R5 virus at entry (5%) vs. 2/7 (29%) patients receiving cART alone, as confirmed by a 5‐year follow‐up on some individuals.ConclusionsIntermittent IL‐2 administration plus cART may prevent evolution towards CXCR4 usage in individuals infected with R5 HIV‐1.
Ferroportin is a manganese‐responsive protein that decreases manganese cytotoxicity and accumulation
Authors: Yin Zhaobao , Jiang Haiyan , Lee Eun‐Sook Y. , Ni Mingwei , Erikson Keith M. , Milatovic Dejan , Bowman Aaron B. , Aschner Michael 
Published: December 2009

J. Neurochem. (2010) 112, 1190–1198.AbstractAlthough manganese (Mn) is an essential trace element for human development and growth, chronic exposure to excessive Mn levels can result in psychiatric and motor disturbances, referred to as manganism. However, there are no known mechanism(s) for efflux of excess Mn from mammalian cells. Here, we test the hypothesis that the cytoplasmic iron (Fe) exporter ferroportin (Fpn) may also function as a Mn exporter to attenuate Mn toxicity. Using an inducible human embryonic kidney (HEK293T) cell model, we examined the influence of Fpn expression on Mn‐induced cytotoxicity and intracellular Mn concentrations. We found that induction of an Fpn‐green fluorescent protein fusion protein in HEK293T cells was cytoprotective against several measures of Mn toxicity, including Mn‐induced cell membrane leakage and Mn‐induced reductions in glutamate uptake. Fpn‐green fluorescent protein mediated cytoprotection correlated with decreased Mn accumulation following Mn exposure. Thus, Fpn expression reduces Mn toxicity concomitant with reduced Mn accumulation. To determine if mammalian cells may utilize Fpn in response to increased intracellular Mn concentrations and toxicity, we assessed endogenous Fpn levels in Mn‐exposed HEK293T cells and in mouse brain in vivo. We find that 6 h of Mn exposure in HEK293T cells is associated with a significant increase in Fpn levels. Furthermore, mice exposed to Mn showed an increase in Fpn levels in both the cerebellum and cortex. Collectively, these results indicate that (i) Mn exposure promotes Fpn protein expression, (ii) Fpn expression reduces net Mn accumulation, and (iii) reduces cytotoxicity associated with exposure to this metal.
Integrating multiple landscape‐scale drivers in the lichen epiphyte response: climatic setting, pollution regime and woodland spatial‐temporal structure
Authors: Ellis Christopher J. , Coppins Brian J. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractAim  To quantify the role of multiple biodiversity drivers – pollution, woodland structure and climate – controlling lichen epiphyte composition and diversity.Location Scotland, north‐west Europe.Methods  Four compatible datasets were assembled: site‐scale species distribution data (response) and base‐line modelled data on climate, pollution loads and extent of old‐growth woodland (explanatory variables). First, partial‐canonical correspondence analysis was used: (1) to compare the importance of environmental variables to pure spatial effects and (2) to partition the importance of environmental variables in explaining species composition. Secondly, patterns of species richness were investigated using multiple least‐squares regression.Results  Old‐growth woodland was the most important control of species richness. Pollution was the most important explanatory variable for species composition. The impact of pollution on composition (and to a lesser extent on richness) is explained: (1) By recovery of lichens with declining SO2 pollution, although with epiphyte composition shifted by the recent effects of N‐pollution and (2) By the limited spatial extent of severe pollution, and generally low‐to‐moderate pollution loads across our study area, combined with the positive effect of old‐growth woodland extent in controlling species richness. The effect of climate and old‐growth woodland on species composition covaried, supporting an interaction between habitat quality and climatic setting, which may be important in understanding the epiphyte response to climate change.Conclusions  Advances in conservation planning will likely require an integrated approach to understanding simultaneous effects of multiple drivers, providing opportunities for integrated management strategies. Our study provides a preliminary example of this approach by combining three key biodiversity drivers into a single framework for lichen epiphytes. Thus, reducing pollution loads may make old‐growth woodland that currently exists in a polluted landscape available for colonization, thereby extending the available habitat for epiphytes, and facilitating an effective species response to climate change.
Flu: Effect of Vaccine in Elderly Care Home Residents: A Randomized Trial
Authors: Gaughran Fiona , Walwyn Rebecca , Lambkin‐Williams Rob , Whelan Paul , Chatterton Katherine , Oxford John , Macdonald Alastair ,   for the Flu—Effect of Vaccine in Elderly Residents Trial team
Published: December 2009

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether assessing seroprotection after influenza vaccine and administering booster vaccination where not achieved reduces hospitalization and death. To estimate the overall seroprotection rate of influenza vaccine.DESIGN: A two‐arm, partially blind, randomized, multicenter, parallel‐group, controlled trial.SETTING: Twenty‐six care homes in three South London boroughs in fall 2004.PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred seventy‐seven elderly permanent care home residents meeting eligibility criteria.INTERVENTION: Postvaccination blood samples were randomized to booster evaluation or no booster evaluation (control). If evaluation revealed inadequate seroprotection, a booster vaccine was administered.MEASUREMENTS: Primary outcome was hospitalization to end April 2005; secondary outcomes were death, antibiotic use, and seroprotection.RESULTS: Sixty percent of the controls and 41% of the booster evaluation group responded to routine vaccination. Booster vaccination where indicated increased seroprotection rates in the booster evaluation group to 66%. Treatment groups did not differ in any outcome measures in the intention‐to‐treat analysis (hospitalization odds ratio=1.02, 95% confidence interval=0.55–1.87). There was a tendency towards greater differences between groups in the per‐protocol analysis than in the intention‐to‐treat analysis, particularly regarding seroprotection rates. The same effect was observed in the a priori exploratory analysis of residents not seroprotected after routine vaccination alone.CONCLUSION: In a year without circulating influenza, there is no clinical benefit of administering a booster vaccine if routine trivalent vaccination fails to result in seroprotection. Hemagglutination titers rose in two strains postbooster vaccination but fell against the novel strain, Wyoming. The benefit of such a booster strategy when influenza is prevalent thus remains unc ertain.
Is red blood cell rheology preserved during routine blood bank storage?
Authors: Henkelman Sandra , Dijkstra‐Tiekstra Margriet J. , De Wildt‐Eggen Janny , Graaff Reindert , Rakhorst Gerhard , Van Oeveren Willem 
Published: December 2009

BACKGROUND:Red blood cell (RBC) units stored for more than 2 weeks at 4°C are currently considered of impaired quality. This opinion has primarily been based on altered RBC rheologic properties (i.e., enhanced aggregability, reduced deformability, and elevated endothelial cell interaction), during prolonged storage of nonleukoreduced RBC units. In this study, the rheologic properties and cell variables of leukoreduced RBC units, during routine blood bank storage in saline‐adenine‐glucose‐mannitol, were investigated.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:Ten leukoreduced RBC units were stored at the blood bank for 7 weeks at 4°C. RBCs were tested weekly for aggregability, deformability, and other relevant variables.RESULTS:RBC aggregability was significantly reduced after the first week of storage but recovered during the following weeks. After 7 weeks aggregability was slightly, but significantly, reduced (46.9 ± 2.4‐44.3 ± 2.2 aggregation index). During storage the osmotic fragility was not significantly enhanced (0.47 ± 0.01% phosphate‐buffered saline) and the deformability at shear stress of 3.9 Pa was not significantly reduced (0.36 ± 0.01 elongation index [EI]). The deformability at 50 Pa was reduced (0.58 ± 0.01‐0.54 ± 0.01 EI) but remained within reference values (0.53 ± 0.04). During 5 weeks of storage, adenosine triphosphate was reduced by 54% whereas mean cell volume, pH, and mean cell hemoglobin concentration were minimally affected.CONCLUSIONS:RBC biochemical and physical alterations during storage minimally affected the RBC ability to aggregate and deform, even after prolonged storage. The rheologic properties of leukoreduced RBC units were well preserved during 7 weeks of routine blood bank storage.
Novel single‐nucleotide change in GYP*A in a person who made an alloantibody to a new high‐prevalence MNS antigen called ENEV
Authors: Velliquette Randall W. , Hu Zong , Lomas‐Francis Christine , Hue‐Roye Kim , Allen Jean L. , Mirabella Donna , Reid Marion E. 
Published: December 2009

BACKGROUND: Alloantibodies that define some high‐prevalence MNS antigens are made by people with glycophorin A (GPA) altered by a single‐amino‐acid change or replacement of amino acids from part of the Pseudoexon 3 of GYP*B. The finding of a patient whose plasma contained a novel alloanti‐EnaFR prompted this study.RESULTS: The patient's serum contained an alloantibody to a high‐prevalence antigen, resistant to papain, ficin, trypsin, α‐chymotrypsin, or dithiothreitol. The antibody was strongly reactive with all panel red blood cells (RBCs) tested, showed reduced reactivity with ENEP− and ENAV− RBCs, and was nonreactive with MkMk, En(a−), GP.Hil/GP.Hil, and GP.JL/Mk RBCs. The patient's RBCs typed M+N−S+s−, Wr(a−b+w), ENEP−, and ENAV−. These results indicated that the antibody recognized a new high‐prevalence antigen in the MNS system. Sequencing of DNA prepared from the patient's white blood cells revealed a GYP*A nucleotide substitution of 242T>G (predicted to change Val62 of GPA to Gly). This change ablates an RsaI restriction enzyme site and polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism confirmed that the proband was homozygous for Nucleotide 242G.CONCLUSIONS: We describe a novel high‐prevalence MNS antigen, characterized by Val62 in GPA and named ENEV. The absence of the antigen is associated with Gly62. The change explains the weakened reactivity of the patient's serum with ENEP− and ENAV− RBCs and nonreactivity with anti‐ENEP and anti‐ENAV against her RBCs. The ENEV antigen has been assigned the ISBT number MNS45.