bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Progesterone‐Induced Acrosome Reaction by Biotinylated Monoclonal Antibody Probes
Authors: Lee Chi‐Yu Gregory , Khorasani Afsaneh Motamed , Dorjee Sonam 
Published: September 2011

PROBLEM: To develop an immunohistochemical assay for determination of acrosome‐reacted human sperm and to study the effects of progesterone and cholesterol treatment on human sperm acrosome reaction.METHOD OF STUDY: Three distinct anti‐sperm monoclonal antibodies were biotinylated and used as probes for assessment of acrosome reaction in a 30‐min immunohistochemical assay. Progesterone and/or cholesterol were added to sperm preparation to influence the acrosome reaction in different experimental conditions.RESULTS: Percentages of acrosome‐intact sperm decreased significantly during the 18‐hr incubation. Acrosome reaction could be induced by progesterone as early as 2 hr after sperm incubation in human tubal fluid. The degree of progesterone‐induced acrosome reaction was time dependent and the optimal effect was reached by adding 10 μg/ml progesterone for 30 min incubation. Progesterone‐induced acrosome reaction was shown to be hormone‐concentration dependent with 50% stimulation at 1 μg/ml. Cholesterol (1 μg/ml) was found to inhibit progesterone‐induced acrosome reaction either by co‐incubation with human sperm during capacitation, or by simultaneous incubation with progesterone during acrosome reaction induction.CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of human sperm acrosomal status by avidin‐biotin immunohistochemical assay can be a routine in clinical laboratories for male infertility services. Cholesterol can inhibit progesterone‐induced acrosome reaction, possibly by its modifications of sperm plasma membrane and/or interference of progesterone binding to its surface receptors.
Changes in Lymphoid Tissue After Treatment with a Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Antagonist in the Neonatal Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)
Authors: Mann David R. , Howie Sarah , Paulsen Douglas F. , Akinbami Mukaila A. , Lunn Stephen F. , Fraser Hamish M. 
Published: September 2011

PROBLEM: The effect of neonatal treatment with a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist on the morphology and distribution of lymphocytes in lymphoid tissue of the infant marmoset was examined.METHOD OF STUDY: From a screened panel of antihuman antibodies for specific immune cells, antibodies for the CD20 and CD3 antigens showed excellent reactivity with marmoset tissue. Five sets of marmoset twins were treated with either the GnRH antagonist or a vehicle from birth, and were euthanized at 7 to 9 (3 sets) or 16 to 20 weeks (2 sets) of age. The spleen, thymus, and inguinal lymph nodes from each animal were processed for immunocytochemistry, and the number of cells expressing the CD20 and CD3 antigens were quantified.RESULTS: Control twins exhibited high plasma levels of testosterone, characteristic of the neonatal period, whereas testosterone concentrations were reduced (P = 0.001) to detection limits in the GnRH antagonist‐treated twins. Microscopic evaluation suggested that treatment reduced the volume and cellularity of the thymic cortex, resulting in a decrease in the cortical‐to‐medullary ratio. Treatment reduced (P = 0.046) the number of thymocytes expressing the B‐cell antigen (CD20) and marginally lowered (P = 0.067) the number expressing the T‐cell antigen (CD3) in the thymic medulla. In the spleens of treated animals, periarterial lymphatic sheaths were less prominent on microscopic examination, and there were marginally fewer (P = 0.064) CD3+ cells. Numbers of CD20+ lymphocytes in the peripheral white pulp of the spleen and in the germinal centers of the lymph nodes, or CD3+ cells in the paracortex and germinal centers of the lymph nodes, were not altered by treatment.CONCLUSION: Neonatal treatment with a GnRH antagonist may alter maturational processes for B and T cells in the thymus and spleen of the marmoset and may deprive the immune system of its normal sensitivity to GnRH at a potentially critical time in development.
Placental Isoferritin Levels in Pregnant Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and/or Antiphospholipid Syndrome
Authors: Maymon R. , Bar J. , Sherman D. , Moroz C. 
Published: September 2011

PROBLEM: Low serum placental isoferritin (PLF), an immunosuppressive cytokine‐like protein, was found in women with underlying placento‐vascular dysfunction, such as intrauterine growth retardation and preeclamptic toxemia. The possible contribution of this placental product in the assessment of pregnant patients with either systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and/or antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) was investigated.METHOD OF STUDY: Seventy‐five healthy pregnant women used as controls and 25 preselected pregnant patients with either SLE and/or APS were enrolled in the study. Study patients were in remission during conception and all patients agreed to give 5 ml of venous blood at midgestation. The samples were frozen and analyzed retrospectively. After delivery, pregnancy outcomes were gathered from hospital records.RESULTS: Seventeen (68%) women had uneventful pregnancies and deliveries (normal) whereas 8 (32%) showed pathologic obstetric outcomes. Mean midgestational serum PLF levels were similar in the control and normal outcome groups (87 U/ml), whereas significantly lower levels (37 U/ml) were measured in the pathologic outcome group. Using a cutoff level of 10 U/ml, 85% from the normal outcome group and 15% from the pathologic outcome group were above this threshold level, with 60% specificity and 100% sensitivity.CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data suggest that PLF values may reflect placento‐vascular functions. These may represent a predictive biomarker for developing obstetric complications in pregnant women with either SLE and/or APS.
Is the Expression of Classical HLA Class I Antigens on Trophoblast of Importance for Human Pregnancy?
Authors: CHRISTIANSEN OLE B. , MOHAPELOA HANNE P. , PEDERSEN BJØRN , ROSGAARD ANNI 
Published: September 2011

PROBLEM: Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐C and possibly also HLA‐B seem to be expressed on the extravillous trophoblast. These antigens carry epitopes that function as ligands for natural killer (NK)‐cell‐inhibitory receptors. Antitrophoblast cytotoxicity mediated by decidual NK cells might be involved in miscarriage. We thus found it relevant to elucidate whether parental HLA‐C and ‐Bw polymorphism play a role in recurrent miscarriage (RM).METHOD OF STUDY: HLA‐C and ‐Bw investigations by DNA‐based techniques were undertaken in 35 couples with unexplained RM and in 30 couples with normal fecundity. The number of HLA‐C‐ and ‐Bw‐related supertypic specificities that can bind NK‐cell‐inhibitory receptors was evaluated in selected couples.RESULTS: The proportions of couples with RM and control couples carrying four HLA‐C alleles with the same NK‐cell‐inhibitory supertypic specificities were equal. In 46% of studied couples with RM, all four HLA‐B alleles carried the HLA‐Bw6 supertypic specificity, which was significantly higher than the corresponding frequency (17%) in the control couples (P < 0.02).CONCLUSIONS: The expression of polymorphic HLA‐C on trophoblasts does not seem to play a role in RM. Assuming that HLA‐B is expressed on trophoblasts, we may suggest that the revealed predominance of HLA‐Bw6 expression (which excludes the presence of HLA‐Bw4—protective antigens) may predispose a particular couple to the RM phenomenon.
Unique Biochemical Properties of Human Leukocyte Antigen‐E Allow for a Highly Specific Function in Immune Recognition
Authors: WEISS ELISABETH H. , CANNICH ASTRID , SPRINKS MATTHEW , FERNANDEZ NELSON , ULBRECHT MATTHIAS 
Published: September 2011

PROBLEM: Does a correlation exist between the expression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class Ia and HLA‐E and what is its biological significance?METHOD OF STUDY: HLA‐E transcripts were detected by reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction. Metabolically labeled HLA‐E heavy chains were immunoprecipited and analyzed by one‐dimensional isoelectric focusing. Mouse RMA‐S cells defective with regard to transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) function were transfected with HLA‐E and human β2‐microglobulin to investigate TAP dependence of the cell‐surface expression of HLA‐E.RESULTS: HLA‐E is transcribed regardless of the down‐regulation of polymorphic HLA class Ia expression. HLA‐E is transported to the cell surface in the absence of TAP‐con‐trolled peptide loading. In human cells, the amount of HLA‐E protein is very low regardless of the presence of correct peptide ligands.CONCLUSIONS: HLA‐E regulates immune functions in cells that have down‐regulated the expression of polymorphic HLA‐class Ia molecules, either by preventing harmful natural killer cells from attacking targets that have physiologically decreased HLA‐class Ia expression or by activating effector cells against virus‐infected and tumor cells with impaired HLA‐class Ia expression.
Effect of Serum on Mouse Granulated Metrial Gland Cell Cytotoxicity
Authors: Stewart Dr. I.J. , Peel S. 
Published: September 2011

PROBLEM: To examine factors affecting mouse granulated metrial gland cell cytotoxicity.METHOD OF STUDY: Chromium‐release assays using mouse metrial gland cell suspensions targeted against Wehi 164 fibrosarcoma cells were used. Modulation of cellular cytotoxicity was investigated using an antibody. anti‐asialo‐GM1, to attempt depletion of effector cells and sera to determine if inhibitory factors are present in blood in vivo.RESULTS: No reduction in cellular cytotoxicity was found following treatment of effector cells with asialo‐GM1 antibody, but there was a reduction following treatment with asialo‐GM1 antibody plus guinea pig serum and with guinea pig serum alone. Sera from pregnant, male, and SCID mice also reduced the level of cytotoxicity by metrial gland cell suspensions.CONCLUSIONS: The reduction in cytotoxicity in the presence of serum indicates that there are factors in the blood which are inhibitory to granulated metrial gland cell cytotoxic activity in vivo. The resistance of mouse metrial gland cells to asialo‐GM1 antibody depletion is supportive of a natural cytotoxic (NC) lineage for this cell type.
Binding of Ovine Uterine Serpin to Lymphocytes
Authors: Liu Wen‐Jun , Peltier M.R. , Hansen P.J. 
Published: September 2011

PROBLEM: The endometrium of the sheep produces a progesterone‐induced member of the serpin superfamily of serine proteinase inhibitors that can inhibit lymphocyte proliferation and reduce natural killer cell activity. Present results indicate that this molecule, called ovine uterine serpin (OvUS), can bind specifically to lymphocytes.METHOD OF STUDY/RESULTS: Biotinylated OvUS bound to peripheral blood lymphocytes in a dose‐dependent and saturable manner. Binding was inhibited by OvUS, but not by several other proteins, including serpin‐enzyme complex (α1‐antitrypsin‐trypsin). Heparin blocked binding when added to the binding reaction or when used to pretreat lymphocytes. Both lymphocytes and Madin‐Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells also bound fluorescein isothiocyanate‐labeled OvUS.CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that OvUS can interact with lymphocytes and other cells through binding to a cell surface molecule. Such binding may indicate that inhibition of lymphocyte activation by OvUS involves 1) binding of OvUS to a cell surface receptor or 2) competitive inhibition of binding between OvUS and a co‐activation molecule required for lymphocyte activation.
Probiotics in the management of gastrointestinal disease: Analysis of the attitudes and prescribing practices of gastroenterologists and surgeons
Authors: CORDINA Claire , SHAIKH Irshad , SHRESTHA Sussie , CAMILLERI‐BRENNAN John 
Published: September 2011

OBJECTIVE:  Probiotics are increasingly advocated in the management of various gastrointestinal disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the current attitudes and prescribing practices of surgeons and gastroenterologists for probiotics in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders.METHODS:  A questionnaire was designed to look at the frequency of probiotic prescribing, types of probiotics used, indications for and duration of treatment and clinicians' experiences with probiotic use. A total of 220 questionnaires were mailed to consultant gastroenterologists and surgeons practicing in the UK.RESULTS:  The overall response rate was 80.5%, of which 69.5% of respondents said they recommended or prescribed probiotic food supplements to their patients, including 53.4% of surgeons and 80.8% of gastroenterologists (P = 0.00013). The most popular probiotic supplements among surgeons were probiotic‐containing yoghurt and drinks (79.5% and 71.8%, respectively), whereas VSL#3 was more popular with gastroenterologists (83.3%). The most popular indications were irritable bowel syndrome (70.7% of prescribers) and pouchitis (67.5% of prescribers). Many respondents prescribed long‐term probiotics. Most consultants had been prescribing probiotics for a period of 1 to 5 years.CONCLUSION:  Probiotics are popular among gastroenterologists and surgeons in the UK for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. Further evidence to support their routine use, by way of large, well‐designed randomized controlled trials, is necessary.
Hydrogen production by recombinant Escherichia coli strains
Authors: Maeda Toshinari , Sanchez‐Torres Viviana , Wood Thomas K. 
Published: September 2011

SummaryThe production of hydrogen via microbial biotechnology is an active field of research. Given its ease of manipulation, the best‐studied bacterium Escherichia coli has become a workhorse for enhanced hydrogen production through metabolic engineering, heterologous gene expression, adaptive evolution, and protein engineering. Herein, the utility of E. coli strains to produce hydrogen, via native hydrogenases or heterologous ones, is reviewed. In addition, potential strategies for increasing hydrogen production are outlined and whole‐cell systems and cell‐free systems are compared.
Community‐based interference against integration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa into human salivary microbial biofilm
Authors: He X. , Hu W. , He J. , Guo L. , Lux R. , Shi W. 
Published: September 2011

SummaryAs part of the human gastrointestinal tract, the oral cavity represents a complex biological system and harbors diverse bacterial species. Unlike the gut microbiota, which is often considered a health asset, studies of the oral commensal microbiota have been largely limited to their implication in oral conditions such as dental caries and periodontal disease. Less emphasis has been given to their potential beneficial roles, especially the protective effects against oral colonization by foreign or pathogenic bacteria. In this study, we used salivary microbiota derived from healthy human subjects to investigate protective effects against colonization and integration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic bacterial pathogen, into developing or pre‐formed salivary biofilms. When co‐cultivated in saliva medium, P. aeruginosa persisted in the planktonic phase, but failed to integrate into the salivary microbial community during biofilm formation. Furthermore, in saliva medium supplemented with sucrose, the oral microbiota inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa by producing lactic acid. More interestingly, while pre‐formed salivary biofilms were able to prevent P. aeruginosa colonization, the same biofilms recovered from mild chlorhexidine gluconate treatment displayed a shift in microbial composition and showed a drastic reduction in protection. Our study indicates that normal oral communities with balanced microbial compositions could be important in effectively preventing the integration of foreign or pathogenic bacterial species, such as P. aeruginosa.
Complete Sequence of pJIE143, a
pir
-Type Plasmid Carrying IS
Ecp1-bla
CTX-M-15
from an Escherichia coli ST131 Isolate
Authors: Partridge Sally R. , Ellem Justin A. , Tetu Sasha G. , Zong Zhiyong , Paulsen Ian T. , Iredell Jonathan R. 
Published: September 2011

ABSTRACT

pJIE143 (34 kb), from an
Escherichia coli
ST131 isolate, carries
bla
CTX-M-15
but could not be typed using the standard PCR-based replicon-typing primer set. Complete sequencing revealed a backbone with similarity to IncX plasmids, including a
pir
-like gene encoding a π-like replication protein and iterons related to those of other IncX plasmids. The 2.971-kb IS
Ecp1-bla
CTX-M-15
-orf477Δ transposition unit often found within Tn
2
is inserted just beyond the end of
pir
, flanked by 5-bp direct repeats.
Increasing the effectiveness of directory caches by deactivating coherence for private memory blocks
Authors: Cuesta Blas A. , Ros Alberto , Gómez María E. , Robles Antonio , Duato José F. 
Published: September 2011

To meet the demand for more powerful high-performance shared-memory servers, multiprocessor systems must incorporate efficient and scalable cache coherence protocols, such as those based on directory caches. However, the limited directory cache size of the increasingly larger systems may cause frequent evictions of directory entries and, consequently, invalidations of cached blocks, which severely degrades system performance.
A significant percentage of the referred memory blocks are only accessed by one processor (even in parallel applications) and, therefore, do not require coherence maintenance. Taking advantage of techniques that dynamically identify those private blocks, we propose to deactivate the coherence protocol for them and to treat them as uniprocessor systems do. The protocol deactivation allows directory caches to omit the tracking of an appreciable quantity of blocks, which reduces their load and increases their effective size. Since the operating system collaborates on the detection of private blocks, our proposal only requires minor modifications.
Simulation results show that, thanks to our proposal, directory caches can avoid the tracking of about 57% of the accessed blocks and their capacity can be better exploited. This contributes either to shorten the runtime of parallel applications by 15% while keeping directory cache size or to maintain system performance while using directory caches 8 times smaller.
Demand-driven software race detection using hardware performance counters
Authors: Greathouse Joseph L. , Ma Zhiqiang , Frank Matthew I. , Peri Ramesh , Austin Todd 
Published: September 2011

Dynamic data race detectors are an important mechanism for creating robust parallel programs. Software race detectors instrument the program under test, observe each memory access, and watch for inter-thread data sharing that could lead to concurrency errors. While this method of bug hunting can find races that are normally difficult to observe, it also suffers from high runtime overheads. It is not uncommon for commercial race detectors to experience 300x slowdowns, limiting their usage.
This paper presents a hardware-assisted demand-driven race detector. We are able to observe cache events that are indicative of data sharing between threads by taking advantage of hardware available on modern commercial microprocessors. We use these to build a race detector that is only enabled when it is likely that inter-thread data sharing is occurring. When little sharing takes place, this demand-driven analysis is much faster than contemporary continuous-analysis tools without a large loss of detection accuracy. We modified the race detector in Intel(R) Inspector XE to utilize our hardware-based sharing indicator and were able to achieve performance increases of 3x and 10x in two parallel benchmark suites and 51x for one particular program.
The role of optics in future high radix switch design
Authors: Binkert Nathan , Davis Al , Jouppi Norman P. , McLaren Moray , Muralimanohar Naveen , Schreiber Robert , Ahn Jung Ho 
Published: September 2011

For large-scale networks, high-radix switches reduce hop and switch count, which decreases latency and power. The ITRS projections for signal-pin count and per-pin bandwidth are nearly flat over the next decade, so increased radix in electronic switches will come at the cost of less per-port bandwidth. Silicon nanophotonic technology provides a long-term solution to this problem. We first compare the use of photonic I/O against an all-electrical, Cray YARC inspired baseline. We compare the power and performance of switches of radix 64, 100, and 144 in the 45, 32, and 22 nm technology steps. In addition with the greater off-chip bandwidth enabled by photonics, the high power of electrical components inside the switch becomes a problem beyond radix 64.
We propose an optical switch architecture that exploits highspeed optical interconnects to build a flat crossbar with multiplewriter, single-reader links. Unlike YARC, which uses small buffers at various stages, the proposed design buffers only at input and output ports. This simplifies the design and enables large buffers, capable of handling ethernet-size packets. To mitigate head-of-line blocking and maximize switch throughput, we use an arbitration scheme that allows each port to make eight requests and use two grants. The bandwidth of the optical crossbar is also doubled to to provide a 2x internal speedup. Since optical interconnects have high static power, we show that it is critical to balance the use of optical and electrical components to get the best energy efficiency. Overall, the adoption of photonic I/O allows 100,000 port networks to be constructed with less than one third the power of equivalent all-electronic networks. A further 50% reduction in power can be achieved by using photonics within the switch components. Our best optical design performs similarly to YARC for small packets while consuming less than half the power, and handles 80% more load for large message traffic.
Lateral self-association of VWF involves the Cys2431-Cys2453 disulfide/dithiol in the C2 domain
Authors: Ganderton Tim , Wong Jason W. H. , Schroeder Christina , Hogg Philip J. 
Published: September 2011

Abstract
VWF is a plasma protein that binds platelets to an injured vascular wall during thrombosis. When exposed to the shear forces found in flowing blood, VWF molecules undergo lateral self-association that results in a meshwork of VWF fibers. Fiber formation has been shown to involve thiol/disulfide exchange between VWF molecules. A C-terminal fragment of VWF was expressed in mammalian cells and examined for unpaired cysteine thiols using tandem mass spectrometry (MS). The VWF C2 domain Cys2431-Cys2453 disulfide bond was shown to be reduced in approximately 75% of the molecules. Fragments containing all 3 C domains or just the C2 domain formed monomers, dimers, and higher-order oligomers when expressed in mammalian cells. Mutagenesis studies showed that both the Cys2431-Cys2453 and nearby Cys2451-Cys2468 disulfide bonds were involved in oligomer formation. Our present findings imply that lateral VWF dimers form when a Cys2431 thiolate anion attacks the Cys2431 sulfur atom of the Cys2431-Cys2453 disulfide bond of another VWF molecule, whereas the Cys2451-Cys2468 disulfide/dithiol mediates formation of trimers and higher-order oligomers. These observations provide the basis for exploring defects in lateral VWF association in patients with unexplained hemorrhage or thrombosis.