bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Coronary Artery Disease by Computed Tomography Angiography in Patients Treated for Childhood Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Authors: Küpeli Serhan , Hazırolan Tuncay , Varan Ali , Akata Deniz , Alehan Dursun , Hayran Mutlu , Besim Aytekin , Büyükpamukçu Münevver 
Published: December 2009

Purpose To detect pathologies in coronary arteries by computed tomography angiography (CTA) in survivors of childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma who have been treated with radiotherapy and/or cardiotoxic agents. Patients and Methods Patients with HL who have been in remission for at least 2 years after completion of therapy were included. CBC, lipid profile, urine analysis, brain natriuretic peptide, troponin-T, creatinine kinase–myocardial band, ECG, telecardiography, echocardiography, and CTA of the patients were performed. Cardiac vascular abnormalities were noted. Results A total of 119 patients were included in the study. In 19 patients (16%), we found coronary artery abnormalities. There was a significant difference between the patients who received mediastinal radiotherapy and those who did not (P = .02). By multivariate analysis, in patients receiving mediastinal radiotherapy the risk of developing a coronary artery abnormality was found to increase 6.8 times compared with patients who did not receive mediastinal radiotherapy (P = .009). Stent implantation was performed in a 28-year-old patient because of critical stenosis in right coronary. In two patients some irregularities were detected both in CTA and conventional angiography, and they remained in close follow-up. A 22-year-old patient whose CTA showed critical stenosis in his left anterior descending artery refused the conventional angiography. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first large study using CTA for detection of coronary abnormalities in patients treated for HL in pediatric age group. Coronary CTA is a minimally invasive tool for early diagnosis of coronary artery disease in patients who were treated with mediastinal radiotherapy and/or cardiotoxic chemotherapy.
Patterns of Improved Survival in Patients With Multiple Myeloma in the Twenty-First Century: A Population-Based Study
Authors: Turesson Ingemar , Velez Ramon , Kristinsson Sigurdur Y. , Landgren Ola 
Published: December 2009

Purpose Randomized multiple myeloma (MM) studies show improved response rates and better progression-free survival for newer therapies. However, a less pronounced effect has been found for overall survival (OS). Using population-based data including detailed treatment information for individual patients, we assessed survival patterns for all patients diagnosed with MM in Malmö, Sweden from 1950 to 2005. Patients and Methods We identified 773 patients with MM (48% males). On the basis of the age limit used for treatment with high-dose melphalan with autologous stem-cell support (HDM-ASCT; ≤ 65 years old) in Sweden, we constructed Kaplan-Meier curves and used the Breslow generalized Wilcoxon test to evaluate OS patterns (diagnosed in six calendar periods) for patients 65 years old or younger and patients older than 65 years. Results Including all age groups, patients diagnosed from 1960 to 1969 had a better survival than patients diagnosed from 1950 to 1959. In subsequent 10-year calendar periods, median OS increased from 24.3 to 56.3 months (P = .036) in patients ≤ 65 years old. In contrast, OS did not improve among patients older than age 65 years (21.2 to 26.7 months, P = .7). Conclusion With the establishment of HDM-ASCT as the standard therapy for younger patients with MM, OS has improved significantly for this age group in the general MM population. With novel therapies being commonly used at disease progression, presumably it becomes increasingly difficult to confirm survival differences between defined induction, consolidation, and maintenance therapies in the future. Consequently, in the era of novel MM therapies, population-based studies will serve as a necessary complement to randomized trials.
Physician Preferences and Knowledge Gaps Regarding the Care of Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Mailed Survey of Pediatric Oncologists
Authors: Henderson Tara O. , Hlubocky Fay J. , Wroblewski Kristen E. , Diller Lisa , Daugherty Christopher K. 
Published: December 2009

Purpose Little is known about physicians' attitudes and knowledge regarding the health care needs of childhood cancer survivors (CCS). We sought to obtain pediatric cancer physicians' self-reported attitudes and knowledge regarding this population. Methods A mailed survey was sent to 1,159 pediatric oncologists in the United States. Results A total of 655 surveys were returned (ie, 57% response rate). Median age of respondents was 47 years (range, 31 to 82 years); 57% were men. Respondents practiced for a median 14 years (range, 1 to 50 years) and reported seeing a median of 21 patients per week (range, 0 to 250 patients per week). When comfort levels in caring for CCS were described (ie, 1 = very uncomfortable; 7 = very comfortable), respondents were most comfortable with survivors ≤ 21 years (mean ± standard deviation, 6.2 ± 1.3 level), were less comfortable (5.0 ± 1.5 level) with those older than 21 years but less than 30 years old, and were uncomfortable with CCS ≥ 30 years (2.9 ± 1.7 level). In response to a clinical vignette of a 29-year-old woman treated with mantle radiation for Hodgkin's lymphoma at 16 years of age, and on the basis of available guidelines, 34% of respondents did not appropriately recommend yearly breast cancer surveillance; 43% of respondents did not appropriately recommend cardiac surveillance; and 24% of respondents did not appropriately recommend yearly thyroid surveillance. Those with greater self-reported familiarity with available long-term follow-up (LTFU) guidelines (odds ratio [OR], 1.33; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.54) and with receipt of training in the care of CCS (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.18 to 2.52) were more likely to have answered all three questions correctly. Conclusion Pediatric oncologists express a range of preferences with regard to LTFU of CCS. Many appear unfamiliar with LTFU surveillance guidelines.
A Drosophila model of Menkes disease reveals a role for DmATP7 in copper absorption and neurodevelopment
Authors: Bahadorani Sepehr , Bahadorani Peyman , Marcon Edyta , Walker David W. , Hilliker Arthur J. 
Published: December 2009

SUMMARYHuman Menkes disease is a lethal neurodegenerative disorder of copper metabolism that is caused by mutations in the ATP7A copper-transporting gene. In the present study, we attempted to construct a Drosophila model of Menkes disease by RNA interference (RNAi)-induced silencing of DmATP7, the Drosophila orthologue of mammalian ATP7A, in the digestive tract. Here, we show that a lowered level of DmATP7 mRNA in the digestive tract results in a reduced copper content in the head and the rest of the body of surviving adults, presumably owing to copper entrapment in the gut. Similar to Menkes patients, a majority of flies exhibit an impaired neurological development during metamorphosis and die before eclosion. In addition, we show that survival to the adult stage is highly dependent on the copper content of the food and that overexpression of the copper homeostasis gene, metal-responsive transcription factor-1 (MTF-1), enhances survival to the adulthood stage. Taken together, these results highlight the role of DmATP7-mediated copper uptake in the neurodevelopment of Drosophila melanogaster and provide a framework for the analysis of potential gene interactions influencing Menkes disease.
Compounds from an unbiased chemical screen reverse both ER-to-Golgi trafficking defects and mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease models
Authors: Su Linhui Julie , Auluck Pavan K. , Outeiro Tiago Fleming , Yeger-Lotem Esti , Kritzer Joshua A. , Tardiff Daniel F. , Strathearn Katherine E. , Liu Fang , Cao Songsong , Hamamichi Shusei , Hill Kathryn J. , Caldwell Kim A. , Bell George W. , Fraenkel Ernest , Cooper Antony A. , Caldwell Guy A. , McCaffery J. Michael , Rochet Jean-Christophe , Lindquist Susan 
Published: December 2009

SUMMARY
α-Synuclein (α-syn) is a small lipid-binding protein involved in vesicle trafficking whose function is poorly characterized. It is of great interest to human biology and medicine because α-syn dysfunction is associated with several neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). We previously created a yeast model of α-syn pathobiology, which established vesicle trafficking as a process that is particularly sensitive to α-syn expression. We also uncovered a core group of proteins with diverse activities related to α-syn toxicity that is conserved from yeast to mammalian neurons. Here, we report that a yeast strain expressing a somewhat higher level of α-syn also exhibits strong defects in mitochondrial function. Unlike our previous strain, genetic suppression of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi trafficking alone does not suppress α-syn toxicity in this strain. In an effort to identify individual compounds that could simultaneously rescue these apparently disparate pathological effects of α-syn, we screened a library of 115,000 compounds. We identified a class of small molecules that reduced α-syn toxicity at micromolar concentrations in this higher toxicity strain. These compounds reduced the formation of α-syn foci, re-established ER-to-Golgi trafficking and ameliorated α-syn-mediated damage to mitochondria. They also corrected the toxicity of α-syn in nematode neurons and in primary rat neuronal midbrain cultures. Remarkably, the compounds also protected neurons against rotenone-induced toxicity, which has been used to model the mitochondrial defects associated with PD in humans. That single compounds are capable of rescuing the diverse toxicities of α-syn in yeast and neurons suggests that they are acting on deeply rooted biological processes that connect these toxicities and have been conserved for a billion years of eukaryotic evolution. Thus, it seems possible to develop novel therapeutic strategies to simultaneously target the multiple pathological features of PD.
Experimental and crystal plasticity studies of deformation and crack nucleation in a titanium alloy
Authors: Bache M R , Dunne F P E , Madrigal C 
Published: December 2009

This paper presents recent developments in crystal plasticity modelling to incorporate a non-local crack nucleation criterion and the comparison of experimental observations and model predictions for deformation and crack nucleation in a near-alpha titanium (Ti) alloy polycrystal. The model polycrystal was established so as to have grain morphology and crystallography nominally identical to that in the experiment, enabling direct interpretation and comparison of the results. The experimental measurements of strain fields were obtained using electronic speckle pattern interferometry on a large-grained polycrystalline sample. The crystal plasticity model predictions and experiments show strong agreement in a number of important features relating to crack nucleation: the location of crack nucleation, the direction changes in crack growth when the crack crosses two grain boundaries, and the important role of crystallographic orientation in nucleation site and in growth directions. There was also good agreement in the establishment of strain heterogeneity and in localization; both experiment and crystal plasticity predictions demonstrate that the heterogeneity is established early in the loading history and that the localization correlates closely with the crack nucleation site.
Performance and emission investigation of a four-stroke liquefied petroleum gas spark-ignition engine generator used in a Malaysian night market
Authors: Yusaf T F , Said M A , Hussein I 
Published: December 2009

The objective of this study is to investigate and compare the performance and emission characteristics of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-fuelled engine generator and the conventional gasoline-fuelled engine generator. The approach involves converting a gasoline engine generator, commonly used in Malaysian night markets to generate electricity, to the LPG engine generator. A four-stroke SI single-cylinder engine is equipped with an LPG injection system with minor modifications and then tested with both LPG and gasoline fuels. A venturi mixer (carburettor) was designed and in house constructed and then installed to deliver a proper A/ F ratio to the combustion chamber. The commercial computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT was used for simulation of air flow inside the mixer. The converted engine was tested at constant speed for its brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC), efficiency, exhaust temperature, and exhaust gas emissions. The results show that the performance and emission characteristics of the LPG-fuelled engine are well suited for use in night markets. Average BSFC and average efficiency for the LPG engine over a range of loads were quite similar to those for the gasoline engine: the average BSFC was 0.95 kg/kWh for the LPG engine and 1 kg/kWh for the gasoline engine. The use of LPG as fuel in a gasoline engine causes only a slight reduction in efficiency as a 17 per cent reduction in average efficiency was recorded over the entire load range; however, the LPG engine fared better at higher loads than the gasoline engine for which only as low as a 4 per cent reduction was recorded at high loads. Emission tests seem to verify the minimal pollution products; there are significant reductions in the emission concentration results when LPG is used. Average decreases of 32 per cent for nitrogen oxide, 10 per cent for carbon dioxide, and 40 per cent for carbon monoxide were recorded. Although higher values of hydrocarbon (HC) were recorded, a 50 per cent reduction in HC was found for loads higher than 700 W. The study verified the more favourable features of LPG compared to gasoline as it is one of the best alternative fuels to gasoline for spark-ignition engine generators to solve the air pollution problem in night markets.
Proteomics Research to Discover Markers: What Can We Learn from Netflix®?
Authors: Ransohoff David F 
Published: December 2009

Abstract
Background: Research in the field of proteomics to discover markers for detection of cancer has produced disappointing results, with few markers gaining US Food and Drug Administration approval, and few claims borne out when subsequently tested in rigorous studies. What is the role of better mathematical or statistical analysis in improving the situation?
Content: This article examines whether a recent successful Netflix-sponsored competition using mathematical analysis to develop a prediction model for movie ratings of individual subscribers can serve to improve studies of markers in the field of proteomics. Netflix developed a database of movie preferences of individual subscribers using a longitudinal cohort research design. Groups of researchers then competed to develop better ways to analyze the data. Against this background, the strengths and weaknesses of research design are reviewed, contrasting the Netflix design with that of studies of biomarkers to detect cancer. Such biomarker studies generally have less-strong design, lower numbers of outcomes, and greater difficulty in even just measuring predictors and outcomes, so the fundamental data that will be used in mathematical analysis tend to be much weaker than in other kinds of research.
Conclusions: If the fundamental data that will be analyzed are not strong, then better analytic methods have limited use in improving the situation. Recognition of this situation is an important first step toward improving the quality of clinical research about markers to detect cancer.
Ssz1 Restores Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Protein Degradation in Cells Expressing Defective Cdc48–Ufd1–Npl4 Complex by Upregulating Cdc48
Authors: Bosis Eran , Salomon Dor , Ohayon Orit , Sivan Gilad , Bar-Nun Shoshana , Rabinovich Efrat 
Published: December 2009

Abstract
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated protein degradation (ERAD) pathway eliminates aberrant proteins from the ER. The key role of Cdc48p–Ufd1p–Npl4p is indicated by impaired ERAD in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with mutations in any of this complex's genes. We identified SSZ1 in genetic screens for cdc48-10 suppressors and show that it upregulates Cdc48p via the pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) network. A pSSZ1 plasmid restored impaired ERAD-M of 6myc-Hmg2 in cdc48-10, ufd1-2, and npl4-1, while SSZ1 deletion had no effect. Ssz1p activates Pdr1p, the PDR master regulator. Indeed, plasmids of PDR1 or its target gene RPN4 increased cdc48-10p levels and restored ERAD-M in cdc48-10. Rpn4p regulates transcription of proteasome subunits and CDC48, thus RPN4 deletion abolished ERAD. However, the diminished proteasome level in Δrpn4 was sufficient for degrading a cytosolic substrate, whereas the impaired ERAD-M was the result of diminished Cdc48p and was restored by expression of pCDC48. The corrected ERAD-M in the hypomorphic strains of the Cdc48 partners ufd1-2 and npl4-1 by the pCDC48 plasmid, and in cdc48-10 cells by the pcdc48-10 plasmid, combined with the finding that neither pSSZ1 nor pcdc48-10 restored ERAD-L of CPY*-HA, support our conclusion that Ssz1p suppressing effects is brought about by upregulating Cdc48p.
The Rim101p/PacC Pathway and Alkaline pH Regulate Pattern Formation in Yeast Colonies
Authors: Piccirillo Sarah , White Melissa G , Murphy Jeffrey C , Law Douglas J , Honigberg Saul M 
Published: December 2009

AbstractMulticellular organisms utilize cell-to-cell signals to build patterns of cell types within embryos, but the ability of fungi to form organized communities has been largely unexplored. Here we report that colonies of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae formed sharply divided layers of sporulating and nonsporulating cells. Sporulation initiated in the colony's interior, and this region expanded upward as the colony matured. Two key activators of sporulation, IME1 and IME2, were initially transcribed in overlapping regions of the colony, and this overlap corresponded to the initial sporulation region. The development of colony sporulation patterns depended on cell-to-cell signals, as demonstrated by chimeric colonies, which contain a mixture of two strains. One such signal is alkaline pH, mediated through the Rim101p/PacC pathway. Meiotic-arrest mutants that increased alkali production stimulated expression of an early meiotic gene in neighboring cells, whereas a mutant that decreased alkali production (cit1Δ) decreased this expression. Addition of alkali to colonies accelerated the expansion of the interior region of sporulation, whereas inactivation of the Rim101p pathway inhibited this expansion. Thus, the Rim101 pathway mediates colony patterning by responding to cell-to-cell pH signals. Cell-to-cell signals coupled with nutrient gradients may allow efficient spore formation and spore dispersal in natural environments.
Real-time Imaging of the Electric field Distribution in CdZnTe at low temperature
Authors: Sellin Paul , Prekas Georgios , Lohstroh Annika , Ozsan Ersin , Veeramani Perumal , Veale Matt , Seller Paul 
Published: December 2009

AbstractReal time imaging of the electric field distribution in CZT at low temperature has been carried out using the Pockels electro-optical effect. CZT detectors have been observed to show degraded spectroscopic resolution at low temperature due to so-called ‘polarization’ phenomena. By mounting a CZT device in a custom optical cryostat, we have used Pockels imaging to observe the distortion of the electric field distribution in the temperature range 240K - 300K. At 240K the electric field has a severely non-uniform depth distribution, with a high field region occupying ∼10% of the depth of the device under the cathode electrode and a low field in the remainder of the device. Using an alpha particle source positioned inside the vacuum chamber we have performed simultaneous alpha particle transient current (TCT) measurements. At low temperatures the alpha particle current pulses become significantly shorter, consistent with the reduced electron drift time due to a non-uniform electric field. These data provide useful insights into the mechanisms which limit the spectroscopic performance of CZT devices at reduced temperature.
Scintillating Metal Organic Frameworks: A New Class of Radiation Detection Materials
Authors: Allendorf Mark , Houk Ronald , Bhakta Raghu , Nielsen Ida Beck , Doty Patrick 
Published: December 2009

AbstractThe detection and identification of subatomic particles is an important scientific problem with implications for medical devices, radiography, biochemical analysis, particle physics, and astrophysics. In addition, the development of efficient detectors of neutrons generated by fissile material is a pressing need for nuclear nonproliferation and counterterrorism efforts. A critical objective in the field of radiation detection is to develop the physical insight necessary to rationally design new scintillation materials for specific applications. However, none of the material types currently used in has sufficient synthetic versatility to exert systematic control over the factors controlling the light output and its dynamics. Here we describe a spectroscopic investigation of two stilbene-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) we synthesized, demonstrating that they emit light in response to ionizing radiation, creating the first completely new class of scintillation materials since the advent of plastic scintillators in 1950. This highly novel and unexpected property of MOFs opens a new route to rational design of radiation detection materials, since the spectroscopy shows that both the luminescence spectrum and its timing can be varied by altering the local environment of the chromophore within the MOF. Therefore, the inherent synthetic flexibility of MOFs, which enables both the chromophore structure and its local environment to be systematically varied, suggests that this class of materials can serve as a controlled “nanolaboratory” for probing a broad range of photophysical and radiation detection phenomena. In this presentation we report on the time-dependent fluorescence and radioluminescence of these MOFs and related structures. Multiple decay characteristics have been observed for some materials under study, including fast (ns) exponential and slow (microsecond) non-exponential components. We interpret the results in terms of the electronic states, crystal structures, intermolecular interactions, and transport effects mediating the luminescence. The potential for particle discrimination schemes and large scale production of MOFs and will be discussed.