bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Oviposition of diamondback moth in the presence and absence of a novel host plant
Authors: Henniges-Janssen K. , Schöfl G. , Reineke A. , Heckel D.G. , Groot A.T. 
Published: June 2010

AbstractThe diamondback moth (DBM, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae)) consumes a wide variety of brassicaceous host plants and is a common pest of crucifer crops worldwide. A highly unusual infestation of a sugar pea crop was recorded in Kenya in 1999, which persisted for two consecutive years. A strain (DBM-P) from this population was established in the laboratory and is the only one of several strains tested that can complete larval development on sugar peas. The oviposition acceptance and preference of the DBM-P strain was assessed in the presence of cabbage plants, sugar pea plants or both, in comparison to another strain (DBM-Cj) that was collected from cabbage and is unable to grow on pea plants. As expected, DBM-Cj females preferred to oviposit on cabbage plants. Surprisingly, DBM-P females also laid most eggs on cabbage and very few on peas. However, they laid significantly more eggs on the cabbage plant when pea plants were present. Our findings suggest that DBM-P manifested the initial stages of an evolutionary host range expansion, which is incomplete due to lack of oviposition fidelity on pea plants.
Physical activity, immunity and infection
Authors: Romeo J. , Wärnberg J. , Pozo T. , Marcos A. 
Published: June 2010

During the last few decades, scientific evidence has confirmed a wide range of health benefits related to regular physical activity. How physical activity affects the immune function and infection risk is, however, still under debate. Commonly, intensive exercise suppresses the activity and levels of several immune cells, while other immune functions may be stimulated by moderate physical activity. With this knowledge, the understanding of the relationship between different levels of physical activity on the immune function has been raised as a potential tool to protect health not only in athletes but also in the general population; the mechanisms that translate a physically active lifestyle into good health continue to be investigated. Reviewing the literature, although several outcomes (i.e. the mechanisms by which different levels and duration of physical activity programmes affect numerous cell types and responses) remain unclear, given that the additional benefits encompass healthy habits including exercise, the use of physical activity programmes may result in improved health of elderly populations. Moderate physical activity or moderate–regulated training may enhance the immune function mainly in less fit subjects or sedentary population and the pre-event fitness status also seems to be an important individual factor regarding this relationship. Although adequate nutrition and regular physical activity habits may synergistically improve health, clinical trials in athletes using nutritional supplements to counteract the immune suppression have been inconclusive so far.Further research is necessary to find out to what extent physical activity training can exert an effect on the immune function.
Time Travel, Parahistory and the Past Artefact Dilemma
Authors: Richmond Alasdair 
Published: June 2010

AbstractIn 1987, Roy Sorensen coined the term ‘parahistory’ to denote the study of genuinely anachronistic artefacts delivered by time travel.1 ‘Parahistory’ would thus stand to history rather as parapsychology is claimed to stand to psychology, i.e. the parahistorian would study historical data that were obtained through channels that orthodox science does not recognise. How might one establish credentials as a time traveller? What sort of evidence could a time-traveller point to in support of claims that would presumably command a great deal of scepticism? While successful predictions might be one confirmatory tool, supporting evidence needn't take the form of predictions. (Although Sorensen offers an intriguing argument that a Humean about miracle-testimony would be obliged to reject any testimony to the occurrence of time travel.) Perhaps artefacts that time travellers retrieve from other times (past or future) could usefully supplement testimonial or predictive evidence for the parahistorian. However, this paper will argue, any appeal to past-artefactual evidence for parahistorical claims faces a dilemma that threatens to undermine its value: appeals to past-artefact evidence must either collapse into appeals to predictive evidence or see their value diminished by such past artefacts' necessarily exhibiting contradictory indicators of age and period.
The Languages of Rights and of Human Rights
Authors: Platts Mark 
Published: June 2010

AbstractIn an attempt to control the ‘ballooning’ of (discourse about) human rights James Griffin proposes a theory of them grounded in their presumed aim of protecting what he calls ‘normative agency’. This paper criticizes the resulting theory's restriction of those thereby deemed to possess human rights only to functioning human agents, and does so in part through special attention to cases of human beings trapped in non-functioning bodies. The need for a less stringent account of the conditions necessary for possession of human rights is suggested, and is defended against the claim that adoption of such an account would continue to favour debasement of the language of human rights.
Exclusion and Sufficient Reason
Authors: Nathan N. M. L. 
Published: June 2010

AbstractI argue for two principles by combining which we can construct a sound cosmological argument. The first is that for any true proposition p's if ‘there is an explanation for p's truth’ is consistent then there is an explanation for p's truth. The second is a modified version of the principle that for any class, if there is an explanation for the non-emptiness of that class, then there is at least one non-member of that class which causes it not to be empty.
Re-enchanting the World: The Role of Imagination in Perception
Authors: Lennon K. 
Published: June 2010

AbstractThis paper defends what the philosopher Merleau Ponty coins‘the imaginary texture of the real’.It is suggested that the imagination is at work in the everyday world which we perceive, the world as it is for us. In defending this view a concept of the imagination is invoked which has both similarities with and differences from, our everyday notion. The everyday notion contrasts the imaginary and the real. The imaginary is tied to the fictional or the illusory. Here it will be suggested, following both Kant and Strawson, that there is a more fundamental working of the imagination, present in both perception and the constructions of fictions. What Kant and Strawson failed to make clear, however, was that the workings of the imagination within the perceived world, gives that world, anaffective logic. The domain of affect is that of emotions, feelings and desire, and to claim such an affective logic in the world we experience, is to point out that it has salience and significance for us. Such salience suggests and demands the desiring and sometimes fearful responses we make to it; the shape of the perceived world echoed in the shapes our bodies take within it.
Ordered Anarchy and Contractarianism
Authors: de Jasay Anthony 
Published: June 2010

AbstractIn a recent essay Robert Sugden sets out his view that two foundational institutions of the social order, the convention and the social contract (at least in one variant of the latter) are compatible and that therefore it is not self-contradictory to be a Humean and a contractarian at the same time.1 The proposition, despite appearances, has greater practical importance than most other doctrinal ones tend to do for if widely conceded, it would render current political thought even more woolly than it is already. If so, a critical scrutiny might be of some use.
The Muqannaʿ narrative in the Tārīkhnāma: Part I, Introduction, edition and translation
Authors: Crone Patricia , Jazi Masoud Jafari 
Published: June 2010

AbstractThis article presents a new edition and translation of the account in the Tārīkhnāma of the campaigns against al-Muqannaʿ, which has hitherto been available only in editions based on poor manuscripts. A detailed commentary and an analysis will follow in the next issue. Though the early manuscripts give us better texts than have so far been available, all are too defective to allow us to reconstitute the original wording or to correct all passages that are obviously wrong. For passages which seem wrong or confusing, the reader should consult the commentary.
New copperplate grant of Śrīcandra (no. 8) from Bangladesh
Authors: Fleming Benjamin J. 
Published: June 2010

AbstractThis article is the first publication of the Bogra copperplate, the eighth known land-grant inscription issued by Śrīcandra (r.c. 925–975ce), one of the kings of the Candra dynasty of Bengal. A diplomatic transcription is included, together with an annotated English translation and a critically edited text in Devanāgarī. The inscription describes a gift of land to a Brahmin named Śrīkaradatta Śarman, who probably hails from North Bengal (“Hastipada [in the region of] Śrāvasti”). While thepraśasti(praise) portions largely parallel the king's other known inscriptions, the inscription contributes new information about place names and regions associated with the Candra dynasty, as well as attesting the movements of Brahmins associated with the Parāśara Gotra and Chandoga Caraṇa. The article also provides an overview and assessment of research on the inscriptions and history of the Candra dynasty, particularly in light of the discovery and identification of this new inscription.
The converb -lasin Old Tibetan
Authors: Hill Nathan W. 
Published: June 2010

AbstractIn contrast to its description in available grammars and manuals, the converb -lasin Old Tibetan is used primarily to mark off the following clause as surprising given the background of the preceding clause. The converb-lasenters into two distinct syntactic constructions: after a reduplicated verb it indicates the interruption of a continuous event; and in a three-clause pattern with the converb-kyis, -lasintroduces a surprise or contrast in the second clause, but -kyisin the third clause returns the sentiment to that of the first clause. Although the examples which demonstrate the use of -lasare drawn from Old Tibetan texts, this use continues in later texts.
The origin of the reflexive prefix in Rgyalrong languages
Authors: Jacques Guillaume 
Published: June 2010

AbstractIn the Sino-Tibetan family, reflexivity is either not expressed in the verb, as in Chinese or Tibetan, or expressed by means of a “middle” marker, as in Dulong or Kiranti languages. Among the morphologically rich languages of this family, only Rgyalrong languages have distinct and unambiguous reflexive and reciprocal markers on the verb. This paper shows that the reflexive prefix in Rgyalrong languages has two possible origins. It could come from a fusion of the third person singular marker and the root meaning “self” or, alternatively, come from the free third person pronoun. Both hypotheses are compatible with our understanding of Rgyalrong historical phonology.
Viable microbes in ice: application of molecular assays to McMurdo Dry Valley lake ice communities
Authors: Dieser Markus , Nocker Andreas , Priscu John C. , Foreman Christine M. 
Published: June 2010

AbstractThe permanent ice covers of the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, Antarctica, are colonized by a diverse microbial assemblage. We collected ice cores from Lakes Fryxell, Hoare and Bonney. Propidium monoazide (PMA) was used in combination with quantitative PCR (qPCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) to examine membrane integrity of prokaryotes in these extreme environments. PMA selectively penetrates cells with compromised membranes and modifies their DNA resulting in the suppression of PCR amplification. Our results based on analysis of 16S rRNA genes demonstrate that despite the hostile conditions of the Dry Valleys, the permanent ice covers of the lakes support a ‘potentially viable’ microbial community. The level of membrane integrity, as well as diversity, was higher in samples where sediment was entrapped in the ice cover. Pronounced differences in the fraction of cells with intact and compromised cell membranes were found for Lake Fryxell and east lobe of Lake Bonney, both expressed in differences in DGGE banding patterns and qPCR signal reductions. Limitations in the ability to distinguish between intact or compromised cells occurred in samples from Lake Hoare and west lobe of Lake Bonney due to low DNA template concentrations recovered from the samples.
Melatonin biological activity and binding sites in human melanoma cells
Authors: de Souza Andrea Vieira , Visconti Maria Aparecida , de Lauro Castrucci Ana Maria 
Published: June 2010

Abstract:  The effects of melatonin, N‐acetylserotonin and serotonin on the growth and tyrosinase activity of SK‐Mel 23 and SK‐Mel 28 human melanoma cell lines were investigated. Binding assays were also performed to establish the nature of the binding site. SK‐Mel 28 cells were responsive to melatonin and its precursors, exhibiting a decrease in growth and an increase in tyrosinase activity after a 72 hr treatment. N‐acetylserotonin was as potent as melatonin, the minimal effective concentration (MEC, which is defined as the smallest concentration that elicits a measurable biological response, significantly different from control) being 10−8 m. Serotonin was the least potent (MEC = 10−6 m). Both melatonin antagonists, prazosin and luzindole, exhibited no effect per se and reversed both responses to melatonin. SK‐Mel 23 cells, however, showed no significant responses to the indoleamines. Competition binding assays in SK‐Mel 28 cells demonstrated the presence of binding sites to 2‐[125 I]‐iodomelatonin, which was displaced by the unlabelled hormone, by both antagonists, and by N‐acetylserotonin. The curve adjustment of the displacement values with melatonin suggests the existence of two binding sites, with the following Ki values: 1.0 × 10−10 m and 6.5 × 10−6 m. Ki values for acetylserotonin, prazosin and luzindole were, respectively, 3.8 × 10−8 m, 1.2 × 10−8 m, and 8.3 × 10−6 m. Surprisingly, in SK‐Mel 23 cells, melatonin and luzindole were able to compete with the radioligand, with Ki values of 3.1 × 10−8 and 2.4 × 10−8 m, respectively. Our data suggest that SK‐Mel 28 cells probably possess high affinity binding sites to melatonin and, in addition, MT3 low affinity binding sites, because N‐acetylserotonin was as effective as the native hormone, and prazosin effectively blocked the actions of melatonin. Both sites are functional as demonstrated by the blockade promoted by both luzindole and prazosin on the proliferative and melanogenic responses. Although growth and tyrosinase activity of SK‐Mel 23 cells were not affected by melatonin or its precursors, this cell line possesses high affinity binding sites, which may be non‐functional, or trigger responses other than the ones herein investigated.
Altered neutrophil apoptosis activity is reversed by melatonin in liver ischemia‐reperfusion
Authors: Chen Jih‐Chang , Ng Chip‐Jin , Chiu Te‐Fa , Chen Han‐Ming 
Published: June 2010

Abstract:Delayed neutrophil apoptosis has been implicated as the mechanism of the systemic inflammatory response. Herein, we examined the effect of melatonin on the neutrophil apoptosis in ischemia and reperfusion of the human liver. We studied seven patients receiving elective hepatectomy for liver tumor and ten patients receiving laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallstones. Ten milli liters of blood was drawn isolation and incubation of the human neutrophils. Neutrophil apoptosis activity and CD18 expression and respiratory burst activity were assessed flow cytometrically. Another group of neutrophils included those from the patients receiving hepatectomy and isolated and incubated with melatonin. Neutrophil apoptosis is delayed from patients after hepatectomy or laparoscopic cholecystectomy when compared with that of the preoperative state. The decrease in the apoptosis activity is more severe in patients receiving hepatectomy as compared with those receiving laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Neutrophils from patients receiving hepatectomy or laparoscopic cholecystectomy are functionally activated. Melatonin can reverse the delayed process and enhance the apoptosis activity in neutrophils from patients receiving hepatectomy. This study demonstrates that melatonin enhances neutrophil apoptosis in patients receiving hepatectomy involving ischemia and reperfusion of the human liver.
ARE GREEN POLITICAL PARTIES MORE POST-MATERIALIST THAN OTHER PARTIES?
Authors: Belchior Ana Maria 
Published: June 2010

ABSTRACT
Among other social and political changes, post-materialist theory anticipated the need to strengthen democracy in political institutions in post-industrial societies. This change in political values would mean that in addition to growth in post-materialist values, parties would be pushed to take an alternative view of politics that would entail greater assimilation of democratic procedures. This paper partially and empirically tests the validity of this explanation in four European party systems. The Greens are the focus, since they are considered the parties that best fit the post-materialist profile. In particular, the paper aims to ascertain whether the Greens display a significantly better positioning in respect to support for democracy and the congruence of their voters than other parties, as theory leads us to believe. The explanation of higher levels of party congruence is also expected to be related to post-materialist party features. The findings of this research did not show enough evidence to validate our theoretical expectations.
Regulation of Freezing Tolerance and Flowering in Temperate Cereals: The VRN-1 Connection
Authors: Dhillon Taniya , Pearce Stephen P. , Stockinger Eric J. , Distelfeld Assaf , Li Chengxia , Knox Andrea K. , Vashegyi Ildikó , VÁgújfalvi Attila , Galiba Gabor , Dubcovsky Jorge 
Published: June 2010

Abstract
In winter wheat (Triticum spp.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) varieties, long exposures to nonfreezing cold temperatures accelerate flowering time (vernalization) and improve freezing tolerance (cold acclimation). However, when plants initiate their reproductive development, freezing tolerance decreases, suggesting a connection between the two processes. To better understand this connection, we used two diploid wheat (Triticum monococcum) mutants, maintained vegetative phase (mvp), that carry deletions encompassing VRN-1, the major vernalization gene in temperate cereals. Homozygous mvp/mvp plants never flower, whereas plants carrying at least one functional VRN-1 copy (Mvp/−) exhibit normal flowering and high transcript levels of VRN-1 under long days. The Mvp/− plants showed reduced freezing tolerance and reduced transcript levels of several cold-induced C-REPEAT BINDING FACTOR transcription factors and COLD REGULATED genes (COR) relative to the mvp/mvp plants. Diploid wheat accessions with mutations in the VRN-1 promoter, resulting in high transcript levels under both long and short days, showed a significant down-regulation of COR14b under long days but not under short days. Taken together, these studies suggest that VRN-1 is required for the initiation of the regulatory cascade that down-regulates the cold acclimation pathway but that additional genes regulated by long days are required for the down-regulation of the COR genes. In addition, our results show that allelic variation in VRN-1 is sufficient to determine differences in freezing tolerance, suggesting that quantitative trait loci for freezing tolerance previously mapped on this chromosome region are likely a pleiotropic effect of VRN-1 rather than the effect of a separate closely linked locus (FROST RESISTANCE-1), as proposed in early freezing tolerance studies.
Lipopolysaccharide mobility in leaf tissue of Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: ZEIDLER DANA , DUBERY IAN A. , SCHMITT‐KOPPLIN PHILLIPPE , VON RAD UTA , DURNER JÖRG 
Published: June 2010

SUMMARYBacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are triggers of defence responses in plants, and induce local as well as systemic acquired resistance. Arabidopsis thaliana plants pretreated with LPS show an increased resistance to the virulent bacterial plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. To investigate the mobilization and transport of LPS in Arabidopsis leaves, fluorescently labelled LPS (Alexa Fluor® 488 conjugate) from Salmonella minnesota was used. Leaves were pressure infiltrated with fluorescein‐labelled LPS and fluorescence microscopy was used to follow the movement and localization of LPS as a function of time. The observation of leaves 1 h after supplementation with fluorescein‐labelled LPS revealed a fluorescent signal in the intercellular space. Capillary zone electrophoresis was used for the detection and analysis of the labelled LPS in directly treated leaves and systemic leaves. In addition, gel electrophoresis was used to confirm LPS mobilization. The results indicated that LPS mobilization/translocation occurs through the xylem from local, treated leaves to systemic, untreated leaves. Consequently, care should be taken when ascribing the observed biochemical responses and induced resistance from LPS perception as being uniquely local or systemic, as these responses might overlap because of the mobility of LPS in the plant vascular system.
Degarelix, a novel GnRH antagonist, causes minimal histamine release compared with cetrorelix, abarelix and ganirelix in an ex vivo model of human skin samples
Authors: Koechling Wolfgang , Hjortkjaer Rolf , Tankó László B. 
Published: June 2010

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT? • Systemic anaphylactic reactions have been described as rare but serious adverse effects of GnRH antagonists.• The chemical development of degarelix has devoted much attention to the elimination of this risk.• Side‐by‐side comparison of the histamine releasing capacity of marketed GnRH antagonists in fresh human skin samples has not been reported yet. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS • Our findings indicate considerable differences in the relative propensity of marketed GnRH antagonists to release histamine from cutaneous mast cells.• These findings are similar but not identical to those obtained with the conventional rat peritoneal mast cell approach.• With some further refinements the experimental set‐up using human skin samples could become a useful and low‐risk supplement to exploratory safety studies in clinical pharmacology.AIMSEarly studies on gonadotrophin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonists pointed out histamine‐mediated anaphylactic reactions as a potential adverse effect of these drug candidates. In this study we have compared the histamine‐releasing potential of four approved and marketed antagonists, degarelix, cetrorelix, abarelix and ganirelix in an ex vivo model of human skin samples.METHODSHuman skin samples were obtained during cosmetic plastic surgery and kept in oxygenated saline solution. The samples were incubated either without or at different concentrations of the antagonists (3, 30 or 300 µg ml−1 for all, except for ganirelix 1, 10 or 100 µg ml−1). The drug‐induced effect was expressed as the increase relative to basal release. The histamine‐releasing capacity of the skin was verified by a universal histamine releaser, compound 40/80.RESULTSDegarelix had no significant effect on basal histamine release in the 3 to 300 µg ml−1 concentration range. The effect of ganirelix was moderate causing a nonsignificant increase of 81 ± 27% at the 100 µg ml−1 concentration. At 30 and 300 µg ml−1 concentrations abarelix (143 ± 29% and 362 ± 58%, respectively, P < 0.05) and cetrorelix (228 ± 111% and 279 ± 46%, respectively, P < 0.05) caused significantly increased histamine release.CONCLUSIONSIn this ex vivo human skin model, degarelix displayed the lowest capacity to release histamine followed by ganirelix, abarelix and cetrorelix. These findings may provide indirect hints as to the relative likelihood of systemic anaphylactic reactions in clinical settings.