bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Reproductive ecology and the endometrium: Physiology, variation, and new directions
Authors: Clancy Kathryn B.H. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractEndometrial function is often overlooked in the study of fertility in reproductive ecology, but it is crucial to implantation and the support of a successful pregnancy. Human female reproductive physiology can handle substantial energy demands that include the production of fecund cycles, ovulation, fertilization, placentation, a 9‐month gestation, and often several years of lactation. The particular morphology of the human endometrium as well as our relative copiousness of menstruation and large neonatal size suggests that endometrial function has more resources allocated to it than many other primates. The human endometrium has a particularly invasive kind of hemochorial placentation and trophoblast that maximizes surface area and maternal–fetal contact, yet these processes are actually less efficient than the placentation of some of our primate relatives. The human endometrium and its associated processes appear to prioritize maximizing the transmission of oxygen and glucose to the fetus over efficiency and protection of maternal resources. Ovarian function controls many aspects of endometrial function and thus variation in the endometrium is often a reflection of ecological factors that impact the ovaries. However, preliminary evidence and literature from populations of different reproductive states, ages and pathologies also suggests that ecological stress plays a role in endometrial variation, different from or even independent of ovarian function. Immune stress and psychosocial stress appear to play some role in the endometrium's ability to carry a fetus through the mechanism of inflammation. Thus, within reproductive ecology we should move towards a model of women's fecundity and fertility that includes many components of ecological stress and their effects not only on the ovaries, but on processes related to endometrial function. Greater attention on the endometrium may aid in unraveling several issues in hominoid and specifically human evolutionary biology: a low implantation rate, high rates of early pregnancy loss, prenatal investment in singletons but postnatal support of several dependent offspring at once, and higher rate of reproductive and pregnancy‐related pathology compared to other primates, ranging from endometriosis to preeclampsia. The study of the endometrium may also complicate some of these issues, as it raises the question of why humans have a maximally invasive placentation method and yet slow fetal growth rates. In this review, I will describe endometrial physiology, methods of measurement, variation, and some of the ecological variables that likely produce variation and pregnancy losses to demonstrate the necessity of further study. I propose several basic avenues of study that leave room for testable hypotheses in the field of reproductive ecology. And finally, I describe the potential of this work not just in reproductive ecology, but in the resolution of broader women's health issues. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 52:137–154, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The origins of American physical anthropology in Philadelphia
Authors: Mann Alan 
Published: December 2009

AbstractWith its location on a river with easy access to the sea, its central placement between the English speaking colonies to the north and south and its trading connections with the western frontier, there were many reasons Philadelphia became one of the most important towns of prerevolutionary America. In the early 1770s, it was the site of the first meeting organized to deal with the perceived inequities of the British government toward the colonies. It was where Thomas Jefferson wrote much of the Declaration of Independence, whose soaring statements reflecting the Age of Enlightenment spoke of the equality of all men. It was to this debate, centered on just who was included in this declaration that the origins of physical anthropology in America can be traced. Notable men in the early phases of this disputation included Samuel Stanhope Smith and especially Samuel George Morton, considered the founder of American physical anthropology. The American School of Anthropology, which argued for the polygenic origins of human races was substantially founded on Morton's work. Recent accusations that Morton manipulated data to support his racist views would appear unfounded. The publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 and the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862‐63 effectively ended the earlier debates. By the time of the American Civil War, 1861‐65, physical anthropology was beginning to explore other topics including growth and development and anthropometry. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 52:155–163, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The ecology and evolutionary endocrinology of reproduction in the human female
Authors: Vitzthum Virginia J. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractHuman reproductive ecology (HRE) is the study of the mechanisms that link variation in reproductive traits with variation in local habitats. Empirical and theoretical contributions from biological anthropology, physiology, and demography have established the foundation necessary for developing a comprehensive understanding, grounded in life history theory (LHT), of temporal, individual, and populational variation in women's reproductive functioning. LHT posits that natural selection leads to the evolution of mechanisms that tend to allocate resources to the competing demands of growth, reproduction, and survival such that fitness is locally maximized. (That is, among alternative allocation patterns exhibited in a population, those having the highest inclusive fitness will become more common over generational time.) Hence, strategic modulation of reproductive effort is potentially adaptive because investment in a new conception may risk one's own survival, future reproductive opportunities, and/or current offspring survival. The hypothalamic‐pituitary‐ovarian (HPO) axis is the principal neuroendocrine pathway by which the human female modulates reproductive functioning according to the changing conditions in her habitat. Adjustments of reproductive investment in a potential conception are manifested in temporal and individual variation in ovarian cycle length, ovulation, hormone levels, and the probability of conception. Understanding the extent and causes of adaptive and non‐adaptive variation in ovarian functioning is fundamental to ascertaining the proximate and remote determinants of human reproductive patterns. In this review I consider what is known and what still needs to be learned of the ecology of women's reproductive biology, beginning with a discussion of the principal explanatory frameworks in HRE and the biometry of ovarian functioning. Turning next to empirical studies, it is evident that marked variation between cycles, women, and populations is the norm rather than an aberration. Other than woman's age, the determinants of these differences are not well characterized, although developmental conditions, dietary practices, genetic variation, and epigenetic mechanisms have all been hypothesized to play some role. It is also evident that the reproductive functioning of women born and living in arduous conditions is not analogous to that of athletes, dieters, or even the lower end of the “normal range” of HPO functioning in wealthier populations. Contrary to the presumption that humans have low fecundity and an inefficient reproductive system, both theory and present evidence suggest that we may actually have very high fecundity and a reproductive system that has evolved to be flexible, ruthlessly efficient and, most importantly, strategic. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 52:95–136, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Prevention of Osteoporosis in Mice after Ovariectomy via Allograft of Microencapsulated Ovarian Cells
Authors: Guo Xiao‐Xia , Zhou Jin‐Ling , Xu Qing , Lu Xin , Liang Yuan‐Jing , Weng Jing , Shi Xiao‐Lin 
Published: December 2009

AbstractIt is believed that estrogen deficiency is one of the major risk factors associated with osteoporosis. To investigate the effects of the transplantation of microencapsulated ovarian cells in estrogen‐deficient mice, ovarian cells from female Kunming (KM) mice (6‐weeks old) were separated, cultured, and microencapsulated with alginic acid‐polylysine‐alginic acid. Female KM mice (8‐weeks old) were randomly separated into three groups: intact (normal), ovariectomized (OVX), and treatment (OVX+ implantation). Microencapsulated ovarian cells were found to secrete estrogen at normal levels in vitro. Ninety days after transplantation, serum estradiol levels in the OVX group were significantly lower, and the trabecular bone amount and volume were decreased when compared with the normal group. The expression of alkaline phosphatase in chondrocytes appeared lower, while the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP‐9) in the bone matrix was higher. The ratio of MMP‐9‐positive chondrocytes and osteoblasts to osteoclasts was significantly lower than that of the normal group. The concentrations of hydroxyproline (Hyp), Ca, and P in the left femurs of the OVX group were lower than those of the normal group. However, the aforementioned changes were not seen in the treatment group. In conclusion, microencapsulated ovarian cells survive well after transplantation and secrete estrogen in vivo, and they can prevent in some degree osteoporosis caused by ovariectomy. Anat Rec, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
New Interpretation of the Palate of Pterosaurs
Authors: Ősi Attila , Prondvai Edina , Frey Eberhard , Pohl Burkhardt 
Published: December 2009

AbstractOn the basis of a new, three‐dimensionally preserved specimen of the Early Jurassic pterosaur Dorygnathus
banthensis we present a reinterpretation of the pterosaur palate. The hard palate is formed by the extensive palatal plate of the maxilla and not by the palatine as has been generally reconstructed. This palatal plate of the maxilla emarginates the choana rostrally and rostrolaterally as in other archosaurs and lepidosaurs. The longitudinally elongate and dorsoventrally flat palatine in Dorygnathus is an isolated bone caudal to the palatal plate of the maxilla and morphologically and topographically it resembles that of crocodilians and birds, respectively. The palatine separates the choana laterally from the suborbital fenestra demonstrating the homologous nature of the (primary) choana in all archosaurs and lepidosaurs. Our study indicates that in basal pterosaurs the pterygo–ectopterygoid fenestra existed caudal to the suborbital fenestra, which became confluent with the adductor chamber in pterodactyloids thereby increasing the relative size of the adductor chamber and hence the mass of the jaw adductors. The choana in basal pterosaurs was relatively small compared with the interpterygoid vacuity. With increasing rostroventral inclination of the quadrates in more derived pterosaurs, the interpterygoid vacuity was reduced considerably, whereas the choana increased in size. This exceptional Dorygnathus specimen also shows a hitherto unknown pair of fenestrae situated at the palatal contact of the premaxilla–maxilla and might represent the aperture for the vomeronasal organ. Anat Rec, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
PTH Stimulated Growth and Decreased Col‐X Deposition are Phosphotidylinositol‐3,4,5 Triphosphate Kinase and Mitogen Activating Protein Kinase Dependent in Avian Sterna
Authors: Harrington Erik Kern , Coon David J. , Kern Matthew F. , Svoboda Kathy K.H. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractType X collagen (Col‐X) deposition is a marker of terminal differentiation during chondrogenesis, in addition to appositional growth and apoptosis. The parathyroid hormone/parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTH/PTHrP) receptor, or PPR, is a G‐Protein coupled receptor (GPCR), which activates several downstream pathways, moderating chondrocyte differentiation, including suppression of Col‐X deposition. An Avian sterna model was used to analyze the PPR GPCR downstream kinase role in growth rate and extracellular matrix (ECM) including Col‐II, IX, and X. Phosphatidylinositol kinase (PI3K), mitogen activating protein kinase (MAPK) and protein kinase A (PKA) were inhibited with specific established inhibitors LY294002, PD98059, and H89, respectively to test the hypothesis that they could reverse/inhibit the PTH/PTHrP pathway. Excised E14 chick sterna were PTH treated with or without an inhibitor and compared to controls. Sternal length was measured every 24 hr. Cultured sterna were immuno‐stained using specific antibodies for Col‐II, IX, or X and examined via confocal microscopy. Increased growth in PTH‐treated sterna was MAPK, PI3K, and PKA dose dependent, suggesting growth was regulated through multiple pathways. Col‐X deposition was rescued in PTH‐treated sterna in the presence of PI3K or MAPK inhibitors, but not with the PKA inhibitor. All three inhibitors moderately disrupted Col‐II and Col‐IX deposition. These results suggest that PTH can activate multiple pathways during chondrocyte differentiation. Anat Rec, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Flow cytometry‐based methods for assessing soluble scFv activities and detecting antigens in solution
Authors: Gray Sean A. , Weigel Kris M. , Miller Keith D. , Ndung'u Joseph , Büscher Philippe , Tran Thao , Baird Cheryl , Cangelosi Gerard A. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractNovel methods are reported for evaluating and utilizing single chain fragment variable (scFv) antibodies derived from yeast‐display libraries. Yeast‐display was used to select scFv specific to invariant surface glycoproteins (ISG) of Trypanosoma brucei. A limiting step in the isolation of scFv from non‐immune libraries is the conversion of highly active yeast‐displayed scFv into soluble antibodies that can be used in standard immunoassays. Challenges include limited solubility or activity following secretion and purification of scFv. For this reason, few scFv derived from yeast‐display platforms have moved into development and implementation as diagnostic reagents. To address this problem, assays were developed that employ both yeast‐displayed and ‐secreted scFv as analytical reagents. The first is a competitive inhibition flow cytometry (CIFC) assay that detects secreted scFv by virtue of their ability to competitively inhibit the binding of biotinylated antigen to yeast‐displayed scFv. The second is an epitope binning assay that uses secreted scFv to identify additional yeast‐displayed scFv that bind non‐overlapping or non‐competing epitopes on an antigen. The epitope binning assay was used not only to identify sandwich assay pairs with yeast‐displayed scFv, but also to identify active soluble scFv present in low concentration in a crude expression extract. Finally, a CIFC assay was developed that bypasses entirely the need for soluble scFv expression, by using yeast‐displayed scFv to detect unlabeled antigen in samples. These methods will facilitate the continued development and practical implementation of scFv derived from yeast‐display libraries. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;105: 973–981. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Development of a bionanotechnological phosphate removal system with thermostable ferritin
Authors: Jacobs Johannes F. , Hasan M. Nahid , Paik Kamal H. , Hagen Wilfred R. , van Loosdrecht Mark C.M. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractPhosphate removal to ecologically desired levels of <0.01 mg/L is currently dependent on large overdosing of metal salts and production of large amounts of chemical sludge. The present study focuses on the development and performance of a new bionanotechnological phosphate removal system, based on sorption of oxoanions by nanoscale ferric iron particles stabilized within thermostable ferritin from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus (PfFrt). Laboratory studies show that this thermostable protein nanocage has fast kinetics for phosphate uptake at very low concentrations by catalytic oxidation of iron. In this study we demonstrate essentially complete phosphate removal with a capacity of approximately 11 mg/g PfFrt. Ferritin can easily be immobilized and is amenable to fast and efficient regeneration, making recovery of phosphate possible. The phosphate removal process with PfFrt is, due to its high affinity, able to reach ecologically desired phosphate levels and in addition it is cost competitive with existing techniques. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;105: 918–923. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
School counsellors' perceptions of mandatory reporter training and mandatory reporting experiences
Authors: Bryant Jill K. , Baldwin Patricia A. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine child abuse reporting by a national sample of school counsellors in the United States. The qualitative results from a large mixed methods study incorporating both quantitative and qualitative strands are presented. Participants were asked to comment on past child abuse training, noting the areas of training they found most beneficial and areas where they desired additional training. Participants were also afforded the opportunity to make any general comments regarding their perceptions of the current mandatory reporting legislation and their experiences of reporting child abuse. Results showed that while many school counsellors felt past training on mandatory reporting legislation and identifying types of abuse was helpful, they identified a need for additional training in identifying emotional and sexual abuse, and supervisory neglect (i.e. lack of supervision by a parent or caretaker producing potential injury or harm to the child). They also desired more training regarding working with children and families affected by child abuse. Four themes emerged from the open question. The first theme illuminated concerns regarding the effectiveness of the mandatory reporting process while the second theme was equally negative, with counsellors sharing many frustrations about their working relationship with child protection services. Additional themes related to their reporting experiences and specific challenges embedded in the school context, such as dealing with parents following a report, difficulty getting adolescent reports investigated and working with school personnel to ensure that reporting responsibilities were understood and followed. Copyright. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Crystal Structure of the Human Monoacylglycerol Lipase, a Key Actor in Endocannabinoid Signaling
Authors: Labar Geoffray , Bauvois Cédric , Borel Franck , Ferrer Jean‐Luc , Wouters Johan , Lambert Didier M. 
Published: December 2009

Abstract2‐Arachidonoylglycerol plays a major role in endocannabinoid signaling, and is tightly regulated by the monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL). Here we report the crystal structure of human MAGL. The protein crystallizes as a dimer, and despite structural homologies to haloperoxidases and esterases, it distinguishes itself by a wide and hydrophobic access to the catalytic site. An apolar helix covering the active site also gives structural insight into the amphitropic character of MAGL, and likely explains how MAGL interacts with membranes to recruit its substrate. Docking of 2‐arachidonoylglycerol highlights a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic cavity that accommodate the lipid into the catalytic site. Moreover, we identified Cys201 as the crucial residue in MAGL inhibition byN‐arachidonylmaleimide, a sulfhydryl‐reactive compound. Beside the advance in the knowledge of endocannabinoids degradation routes, the structure of MAGL paves the way for future medicinal chemistry works aimed at the design of new drugs exploiting 2‐arachidonoylglycerol transmission.
Experimental Investigation of Performances of Microcapsule Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage
Authors: Fang G. , Li H. , Liu X. , Wu S. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractPerformances of microcapsule phase change material (MPCM) for thermal energy storage are investigated. The MPCM for thermal energy storage is prepared by a complex coacervation method with gelatin and acacia as wall materials and paraffin as core material in an emulsion system. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to study the microstructure of the MPCM. In thermal analysis, a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was employed to determine the melting temperature, melting latent heat, solidification temperature, and solidification latent heat of the MPCM for thermal energy storage. The SEM micrograph indicates that the MPCM has been successfully synthesized and that the particle size of the MPCM is about 81 μm. The DSC output results show that the melting temperature of the MPCM is 52.05 °C, the melting latent heat is 141.03 kJ/kg, the solidification temperature is 59.68 °C, and the solidification latent heat is 121.59 kJ/kg. The results prove that the MPCM for thermal energy storage has a larger phase change latent heat and suitable phase change temperature, so it can be considered as an efficient thermal energy storage material for heat utilizing systems.
Fluorescent Bioprobes: Structural Matching in the Docking Processes of Aggregation‐Induced Emission Fluorogens on DNA Surfaces
Authors: Hong Yuning , Xiong Hao , Lam Jacky Wing Yip , Häußler Matthias , Liu Jianzhao , Yu Yong , Zhong Yongchun , Sung Herman H. Y. , Williams Ian D. , Wong Kam Sing , Tang Ben Zhong 
Published: December 2009

AbstractWhereas most conventional DNA probes are flat disklike aromatic molecules, we explored the possibility of developing quadruplex sensors with nonplanar conformations, in particular, the propeller‐shaped tetraphenylethene (TPE) salts with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics. 1,1,2,2‐Tetrakis[4‐(2‐triethylammonioethoxy)phenyl]ethene tetrabromide (TPE‐1) was found to show a specific affinity to a particular quadruplex structure formed by a human telomeric DNA strand in the presence of K+ ions, as indicated by the enhanced and bathochromically shifted emission of the AIE fluorogen. Steady‐state and time‐resolved spectral analyses revealed that the specific binding stems from a structural matching between the AIE fluorogen and the DNA strand in the folding process. Computational modeling suggests that the AIE molecule docks on the grooves of the quadruplex surface with the aid of electrostatic attraction. The binding preference of TPE‐1 enables it to serve as a bioprobe for direct monitoring of cation‐driven conformational transitions between the quadruplexes of various conformations, a job unachievable by the traditional G‐quadruplex biosensors. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assays reveal that TPE‐1 is cytocompatible, posing no toxicity to living cells.