bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Interspecific differences in determinants of plant species distribution and the relationships with functional traits
Authors: Aiba Masahiro , Takafumi Hino , Hiura Tsutom 
Published: February 2012

Summary1. Environmental control and dispersal limitation are both essential processes in plant community assembly and species distribution. Although numerous studies in the past decade have examined their importance as determinants of community composition, remarkably little is known about interspecific differences in the importance of these two processes.2. To quantify these interspecific differences, we compared the importance of environmental factors and space as correlates of species distribution among 24 understorey plant species in a Japanese cool–temperate forest by performing variation partitioning at the species level. Specifically, we hypothesized that the importance of environment and space differs among species, and these differences can be partly predicted from the functional traits and/or phylogenetic identity of each species.3. The unique contributions of both environment and space were significant in the community‐level analysis. However, at the species level, the relative and absolute sizes of the unique contributions of environment and space differed considerably among the 24 species. Environment and space were not necessarily significant variables explaining the distribution of many species.4. No significant relationships were found between the unique contribution of environment and the four functional traits tested, that is, dispersal mode, seed mass, plant height and specific leaf area among the 24 species. In contrast, the unique contribution of space was significantly larger in species with no dispersal mechanisms than in animal‐dispersed species. No significant phylogenetic signal was detected for the unique contribution of environment or space, suggesting that importance of environmental control and dispersal limitation as determinants of species distribution is evolutionarily labile.5.
Synthesis. Our results suggest that the relative and absolute importance of different processes of community assembly (i.e. environmental control and dispersal limitation) differs remarkably among species even within a single community. These interspecific differences may be explained in part by interspecific differences in dispersal mode.
Evaluating care pathways for community psychiatry in England: a qualitative study
Authors: Khandaker Golam M. , Gandamaneni Praveen K. , Dibben Claire R. M. , Cherukuru Srinivasarao , Cairns Paul , Ray Manaan K. 
Published: February 2012

AbstractObjectives  In view of forthcoming ‘payment by results’ (PbR) for mental health, increasing number of National Health Service (NHS) Trusts are reorganizing their community services for working age adults to create care pathways. However, research base for the care pathways model in mental health is limited. Our NHS Foundation Trust was one of the first to introduce care pathways for community psychiatry in the UK. We have carried out a qualitative study to evaluate how this model works out in practice, including its impact on quality of patient care, mental health professionals and primary care.Methods  We interviewed doctors, multidisciplinary staff and Trusts managers (19 in total). Transcripts of recorded interviews were coded and analysed thematically using a grounded theory approach.Results  Overall, despite teething problems, working in pathways was generally seen as a positive change. It led to more focused interventions being offered, and practitioners being held to account over clear standards of care. It is more cost‐effective and allows for active case management and clear clinical leadership. It is recovery focused and encourages social inclusion. The arbitrary time frame, strict criteria and thresholds for different teams can create issues. Improved communication, flexible and patient‐centred approach, staff supervision, and increasing support to primary care were felt to be central to this model working efficiently and effectively.Conclusions  Introduction of care pathways is an important step towards effective implementation of PbR for mental health. Our study would inform future research into care pathways, facilitate organizational learning and help to improve effectiveness of services.
Participation in population‐based case–control studies: does the observed decline vary by socio‐economic status?
Authors: Mazloum Marie , Bailey Helen D. , Heiden Tamika , Armstrong Bruce K. , de Klerk Nicholas , Milne Elizabeth 
Published: February 2012

SummaryMazloum M, Bailey HD, Heiden T, Armstrong BK, de Klerk N, Milne E. Participation in population‐based case–control studies: does the observed decline vary by socio‐economic status? Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2012; 26: 276–279.An Australian study of childhood leukaemia (Aus‐ALL) previously reported that control participation was positively associated with socio‐economic status (SES). A similar study of childhood brain tumours (Aus‐CBT) was carried out 4 years later, and this paper compares control participation and its relationship with SES in the two studies. To assess the representativeness of controls in terms of SES, the addresses of controls were linked to Australian Bureau of Statistics Census 2006 Collection Districts (CDs), and hence to area‐based indices of SES. Independent sample t‐tests and chi‐squared tests were used to compare the SES indices of CDs where Aus‐CBT controls lived with those where Aus‐ALL controls lived and with those of all CDs where Australian families lived. The overall percentage of eligible families who agreed to participate was lower in Aus‐CBT (53.9%) than in Aus‐ALL (70.3%). Control families in both studies were of higher SES than the general population, while the distribution of SES among recruited controls was similar in both studies. These findings provide some reassurance that the observed decline in research participation over time may not be associated with an increasingly unrepresentative participant population.
Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt for hepatitis C virus‐related portal hypertension after liver transplantation
Authors: Ghinolfi Davide , De Simone Paolo , Catalano Gabriele , Petruccelli Stefania , Coletti Laura , Carrai Paola , Marti Josep , Tincani Giovanni , Cicorelli Antonio , Cioni Roberto , Filipponi Franco 
Published: February 2012

Ghinolfi D, De Simone P, Catalano G, Petruccelli S, Coletti L, Carrai P, Marti J, Tincani G, Cicorelli A, Cioni R, Filipponi F. Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt for hepatitis C virus‐related portal hypertension after liver transplantation.Abstract:  This is a single center retrospective review of 19 consecutive liver transplant (LT) patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐related graft recurrent hepatitis who underwent transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) at a median interval of 21 months (range: 5–50) from LT. Indications were refractory ascites in 11 patients (57.9%), hydrothorax in six (31.6%), and both in two (10.5%). TIPS was successful in 94.7% of cases (18/19) with only one procedure‐related mortality (5.3%) owing to sepsis on day 35. At a median follow‐up of 23 months (range: one month–nine yr), TIPS allowed for symptoms resolution in 16 patients (84.2%), with ascites resolving in all cases and hydrothorax persisting in 2. Post‐TIPS patient survival at six months, one yr, and three yr was 84.2%, 73.7%, and 56.8%, respectively. We compared these results with a control group of 29 patients with HCV recurrence but without unresponsive ascites or hydrothorax. Patients in the control group had better survival than patients undergoing TIPS placement. However, survival of TIPS patients with a MELD score lower than or equal to 12 was similar to that of the control group. We conclude that TIPS may be used to treat complications secondary to HCV.
Pediatric liver transplantation for fibropolycystic liver disease
Authors: Ko Jae Sung , Yi Nam‐Joon , Suh Kyung Suk , Seo Jeong Kee 
Published: February 2012

Ko JS, Yi N‐J, Suh KS, Seo JK. Pediatric liver transplantation for fibropolycystic liver disease. Pediatr Transplantation 2012: 16: 195–200. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.Abstract:  Fibropolycystic liver disease includes CHF, Caroli’s syndrome, and Caroli’s disease. Patients with Caroli’s disease and Caroli’s syndrome have an increased risk of recurrent cholangitis, intrahepatic calculi, biliary cirrhosis, and cholangiocarcinoma. The aim of this study was to examine the post‐transplantation outcomes of children with fibropolycystic liver disease. Of the 158 children transplanted at Seoul National University Hospital, there were four patients with Caroli’s syndrome, two patients with CHF, and one patient with Caroli’s disease. One patient underwent combined liver/kidney transplantation. Associated renal manifestations included ARPKD in three children and nephronophthisis in one child. The indications for LT were recurrent cholangitis, decompensated cirrhosis, and refractory complications of portal hypertension. Both graft and patient survival rates were 100% at a median follow‐up period of two yr after LT. Three children with growth failure achieved catch‐up growth after LT. In three patients with ARPKD, mean serum creatinine levels increased from 0.53 mg/dL at the time of LT to 0.91 mg/dL at the last follow‐up (p = 0.01). LT is an excellent option for children with complications from fibropolycystic liver disease. Renal function should be monitored cautiously after LT in the patients with ARPKD.
Gilbert’s syndrome – a frequent cause of unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia in children after orthotopic liver transplantation
Authors: Kathemann Simone , Lainka Elke , Baba Hideo A. , Hoyer Peter F. , Gerner Patrick 
Published: February 2012

Kathemann S, Lainka E, Baba HA, Hoyer PF, Gerner P. Gilbert’s syndrome – a frequent cause of unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia in children after orthotopic liver transplantation.  Pediatr Transplantation 2012: 16: 201–204. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.Abstract:  Gilbert’s syndrome is one major cause for unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia in healthy individuals with the prevalence being approximately 3.2–8.6%. It is caused by a mutation in the promoter region of the UGT1A1‐gene with a prolonged TAA‐repeat coding for the enzyme bilirubin UDP‐glucuronosyltransferase (A(TA)7TAA allele). After OLT, Gilbert’s disease of the transplanted liver can cause unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia. Therefore, we looked for the presence of A(TA)7TAA alleles in pediatric liver transplant recipients with unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia. Laboratory results of 106 pediatric liver transplant recipients (aged 0–17 yr) were evaluated for elevated total bilirubin over 2.0 mg/dL (conjugated bilirubin <30%). In these patients, DNA of the liver graft was extracted from paraffin‐embedded liver biopsy samples formerly taken for diagnostic reasons. The DNA was analyzed for A(TA)7TAA alleles in the promoter region of the UGT1A1‐gene. In 4 of 106 pediatric liver transplant recipients we found unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia with total bilirubin above 2.0 mg/dL (conjugated bilirubin <30%). The analysis of the promoter region of the UGT1A1‐gene of the liver grafts showed three homozygous A(TA)7TAA alleles (homozygous Gilbert’s syndrome) and one heterozygous A(TA)7TAA allele (heterozygous Gilbert’s syndrome). This study shows that pediatric liver transplant recipients with unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia are very likely to have received a liver graft from a donor with Gilbert’s syndrome.
Systematic design, production and breeding of multi‐transgenic donor pigs
Authors: Klymiuk Nikolai , Baehr Andrea , Kessler Barbara , Kurome Mayuko , Wuensch Anne , Richter Anne , Wolf Eckhard 
Published: February 2012

The continuously increasing shortage of donor organs for allotransplantation demands the development of alternative treatments. The implementation of xenotransplantation suffers from various pathways of rejection and incompatibilities between recipient and donor tissues. Usage of transgenic donor pigs might overcome these problems, but the generation of transgenic animals by nuclear transfer is costly and teadious, the combination of several transgenes represents considerable efforts and the permanent production of donor pigs requires optimization between the conflicting issues of transgene segregation and high inbreeding coefficient.The establishment of novel transgenes is normally biased, which means that with increasing knowledge on the diverse mechanisms of xenograft failure, novel transgene variants arise. In addition, the poor knowledge about the porcine genome and site‐specific regulation in pigs requires concise planning and pre‐evaluation of bio‐informatic data.The generation of transgenic pig follows the conventional and well established strategies in mouse, with the exception that no embryonic stem cells are available in the pig. But the establishment of transgenic primary cells, their usage as donors for somatic cell nuclear transfer and the transfer of cloned embryos into synchronized gilts represent a reasonable alternative, conventionally resulting in suitable founder animals within a few litters. The characterization of the founders depends on the site of expression and, thus, influences the strategy of founder reproduction.The lateron combination with other transgenes is challenging and normally requires implementation of the transgene into an existing breeding herd. Thus, the breeding concept has to be designed to (i) to establish a core herd, (ii) to allow the addition of novel transgenes to the herd and (iii) to support the maintainence of the breeding herd by continuous re‐juvenation. The latter is of certain importance, as transgenes normally segregate according to the Mendelian pattern of inheritance. This aspect would favour a homozygous transgene status for all breeding animals. However, such a strategy will result in dramatically increasing inbreeding coefficients and, consequently, reduce fertility and litter sizes.Taken together, both, the permanent production of multi‐transgenic donor animals as well as the development of novel transgenes and their integration into a breeding herd is a logistic challenge that requires long‐term planning but also flexibility regarding the transgene combination which depend is governed by the increasing insight in the diverse mechanisms of xenograft failure.
Antigen‐specific regulatory T cells can induce tolerance to immunogenic grafts without the need for chronic immunosuppression
Authors: Seltrecht Nadja , Mpofu Nonsikelelo , Hardtke‐Wolenski Matthias , Noyan Fatih , Manns Michael P. , Jaeckel Elmar 
Published: February 2012

Regulatory CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells (Tregs) play an important role in the induction of allospecific tolerance. However tolerance in solid organ transplantation by mere transfer of Tregs has been difficult. Besides this the stability of the differentiation phenotype of Tregs has recently been questioned.We therefore aimed in generating large numbers of stable allospecific Tregs from naïve T cells by retroviral transduction with Foxp3. These were tested in an immunogenic skin transplantation model (C57BL/6→BALB/c).We established a system of transduction of mouse T cells with ecotropic retroviruses expressing Foxp3 and Thy1.1 as a surface marker to follow up transduced T cells. Alloantigen‐specific Tregs were generated by stimulating naïve recipient CD4+ T cells with irradiated donor splenocytes. CD25+ and/or CD69+ allospecific recipient CD4+ T cells were isolated and transduced with Foxp3. Alloantigen‐specific Foxp3 T cells (iTregs) showed high expression for the Treg markers Foxp3, CTLA4 and GITR. They could suppress a MLR in an alloantigen‐specific manner. Furthermore, they could be expanded up to 18 fold in vitro while maintaining their Treg phenotype and expression of lymph node homing markers like CCR7 and CD62L. iTregs prevented skin graft rejection without the need for chronic immunosuppression and recipients showed systemic allospecific allotolerance. Alloantigen‐specific Tregs were far more potent than polyspecific Tregs. Mechanisms of tolerance were graft specific homing, expansion and long‐term persistence of Tregs within the graft (>100 days, 90% of intragraft Tregs were alloantigen‐specific). In fact, tolerance could be transferred with re‐transplantation of the tolerant graft onto secondary recipients. Third party grafts were readily rejected demonstrating specificity of tolerance. Due to the Foxp3 transduction, iTregs did not lose their Treg phenotype.The results prove that large numbers of stable alloantigen‐specific Tregs can be generated from a polyclonal repertoire of naïve T cells. This is the first time that allotolerance was achieved in a non‐lymphopenic transplant model using skin grafts in an immunogenic strain combination. Therefore, antigen‐specific Tregs might have a huge therapeutic potential after solid organ transplantation.
Transplantation of neonatal islets from LEA29Y‐transgenic pigs restores normoglycemia in streptozotocin‐diabetic NSG‐mice
Authors: van Bürck Lelia , Klymiuk Nikolai , Kessler Barbara , Thormann Michael , Postrach Johannes , Wolf Eckhard , Seissler Jochen 
Published: February 2012

Beta cell replacement therapy represents the only way towards complete restoration of the physiological glucose homeostasis in patients with Type 1 diabetes. Xenotransplantation of transgenic pig islets expressing immunomodulatory molecules might represent a promising approach to overcome the problems of lacking organ donors, adverse effects of the required systemic immunosuppression, and disappointing transplantation outcomes. LEA29Y, a second generation CTLA‐4‐Ig fusion protein exerts potent immunosuppressive effects by selective blockade of the B7 costimulatory pathway. To assess the impact of high local LEA29Y concentrations on xenogeneic islet graft rejection, a transgenic pig model with islet‐specific LEA29Y transgene expression was generated.Islet‐like clusters from neonatal pigs expressing LEA29Y under the control of the porcine insulin promoter and from wild‐type pigs were isolated by collagenase digestion and subsequent in vitro culture. After 6 days 2500 clusters/mouse were transplanted under the kidney capsule of streptozotocin‐diabetic NOD‐scidIL2Rgammanull (NSG) mice. After an initial period of insulin dependency, mice developed stable normoglycemia within 8 weeks after transplantation. Transplanted mice of both groups (Tx, wt; Tx, LEA29Y) exhibited normal and as compared to non‐transplanted normoglycemic NSG mice even improved fasting glucose and glucose tolerance resulting from glucose‐responsive graft‐derived porcine insulin secretion. Beta cell‐specific expression of LEA29Y was detectable in neonatal porcine pancreas, in the grafts of transplanted mice, and was also measurable in the plasma of normoglycemic mice. Furthermore, mice with LEA29Y transgenic grafts exhibited a glucose‐dependent LEA29Y release during glucose tolerance testing.The present study demonstrates that LEA29Y transgenic islet‐like clusters display normal beta cell function and have the same potential as wild‐type islet clusters to restore normoglycemia in streptozotocin‐diabetic NSG mice after an in vivo maturation period towards a functional endocrine tissue. NSG mice with LEA29Y islet grafts may therefore represent a promising model to study the modulation of human‐anti‐pig xenograft rejection in detail. In ongoing experiments xenograft rejection is analyzed in “humanized” mice after the transfer of human PBMCs or isolated CD34+ stem cells.
Porcine alanine transaminase after liver allo‐and xenotransplantation
Authors: Ekser Burcin , Gridelli Bruno , Cooper David K.C. 
Published: February 2012

Ekser B, Gridelli B, Cooper DKC. Porcine alanine transaminase after liver allo‐ and xenotransplantation. Xenotransplantation 2012; 19: 52–55. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.Abstract:  Aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) are measured following liver transplantation as indicators of hepatocellular injury. During a series of orthotopic liver allo‐and xenotransplants, we observed that there was an increase in AST in all cases. The anticipated concomitant rise in ALT did not occur when a wild‐type (WT) pig was the source of the liver graft, but did occur when a baboon or a genetically engineered (α1,3‐galactosyltransferase gene‐knockout [GTKO]) pig was the source of the graft. We hypothesized that the cience of Galα1,3Gal in GTKO pig livers may render pig hepatocytes similar to human and baboon hepatocytes in their response to hepatocellular injury. Reviewing the literature, after WT pig liver allotransplantation or xenotransplantation, in the majority of reports, although changes in AST were reported, no mention was made of changes in ALT, suggesting that there was no change in ALT. However, Ramirez et al. reported two cases of liver xenotransplants from hCD55 pigs, following which there were increases in both AST and ALT, suggesting that it is not simply the cience of expression of Galα1,3Gal that is the cause. We acknowledge that our observation is based on a small number of experiments, but we believe it is worth recording.
Larval development rate of the mosquitoes Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) varies between clutches: implications for population ecology
Authors: Kokkinn Michael J , Roberts Derek M , Williams Craig R 
Published: February 2012

AbstractEgg clutches from two mosquito species were incubated under controlled conditions and the larval development time was recorded. Both the egg raft‐laying mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus and the individual egg layer Aedes aegypti displayed significant intraspecific variation between clutches when it came to larval development at the same temperature. Furthermore, embryonic incubation temperature was found to influence subsequent larval growth rate in some cases. These hitherto undocumented phenomena are indicative of development rate plasticity that appears to be conserved across mosquito genera. The derived development rate data were used to calculate the minimum number of egg clutches required to give a representative mean day‐degrees value for a population of each species. These values were six and five clutches, respectively. A simple population simulation was given to illustrate the impact of different larval development rates when overlapping generations of problem mosquitoes breed. The implication of this work for mosquito population modelling is that the extent of developmental rate variation needs to be taken into account. Furthermore, such conserved variation in larval development rate illustrates the extent of selective pressures on this life history trait.