bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Plasticity of fixation in patients with central vision loss
Authors: TARITA-NISTOR LUMINITA , GONZÁLEZ ESTHER G. , MARKOWITZ SAMUEL N. , STEINBACH MARTIN J. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractThe aim of this study was to explore the plasticity of fixation in patients with central vision loss. Most of these patients use preferred retinal loci (PRLs) in the healthy eccentric part of the retina to fixate, but fixation stability and retinal location are not always optimal for best visual performance. This study examined whether fixation stability and a new PRL location can be trained and whether these changes in ocular motor control transfer into better reading performance. Six patients with age-related macular degeneration participated in the study. Fixation stability measurements, microperimetry, and auditory biofeedback training were performed with the MP-1 microperimeter. The auditory biofeedback was used during five 1-h long training sessions to improve fixation and relocate the PRL. Fixation location and stability were recorded while viewing four different targets: a cross, a letter, a word, and a nine-cycle radial grating. Visual acuity was assessed with the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) chart and reading performance with the MNRead test. The results showed that all patients developed a new PRL in an optimal location for reading, and they were able to use it consistently while viewing different targets. Fixation stability improved 53% after training. Learning transferred to the old PRL even though fixation stability at this location was not trained. All these improvements in ocular motor control translated into better reading performance: reading speed improved 38% and reading acuity and critical print size gained two lines. We conclude that the ability of the ocular motor system to fixate is flexible in patients with central vision loss: a new PRL can be trained, fixation stability can be improved, and learning transfers to an untrained location. These gains in ocular motor control result in better visual performance. This property can be successfully used to optimize the residual vision of patients with central vision loss.
Cell type-specific and light-dependent expression of Rab1 and Rab6 GTPases in mammalian retinas
Authors: HUANG WEI , WU GUANGYU , WANG GUO-YONG 
Published: December 2009

AbstractThe Ras-like Rab1 and Rab6 GTPases modulate protein traffic along the early secretory pathway and are involved in the regulation of maturation of rhodopsin in the outer retina. However, Rab GTPases have not been studied in the inner retinas. Here, we analyzed the anatomatic distribution and expression of Rab1 and Rab6 in the mouse and rat retinas by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. We found that Rab1 was specifically expressed in the rod bipolar cells, while Rab6 was expressed in a different cell type(s) from rod bipolar cells in the inner retina. We also demonstrated that expression of Rab1 and Rab6 was increased with light. These data provided the first evidence implicating that Rab1 and Rab6 may be involved in the regulation of the retinal adaptation.
Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in older people
Authors: Shah N , Agbobu A , Costello I , Beri A , Minhas K 
Published: December 2009

SummaryPrion diseases are rare degenerative disorders of the nervous system caused by abnormal accumulation and/or metabolism of prion proteins. They are invariably fatal. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is the most common human prion disease and the sporadic form accounts for 85% of cases, whilst about 15% are genetic and 1% is iatrogenic. Variant CJD (vCJD) was mostly seen in the UK and France and mainly affected young people. Sporadic CJD (sCJD) occurs throughout the world with mean age of onset in the seventh decade. It typically presents with rapidly declining cognition that may get confused with other forms of dementia. Thus identification of sCJD in older people depends on a judicious awareness of the clinical features. Here we present a clinical, pathological, therapeutic and diagnostic review of sCJD.
The effect of bovine embryo culture without proteins supplements until day 4 on transcription level of hyaluronan synthases, receptors and mtDNA content
Authors: Palasz A.T. , Breña P. Beltrán , De la Fuente J. , Gutiérrez-Adán A. 
Published: December 2009

SummaryThe effect of bovine embryo culture on a flat surface, (without a surface-active compound) on the level of mRNA expression of hyaluronan (HA) synthases (Has1, Has2 and Has3), Ha receptors RHAMM and C44 receptors was evaluated by mitochondrial DNA concentration andin vitrodevelopment. Cultures were evaluated up to 96 h post-insemination (hpi) using SOFaa medium. Of the three Has isoforms, Has2 expression only increased in the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-only supplemented groups regardless of time of BSA addition. Expression of RHAMM receptors was highly dependent on the addition of HA, irrespective of the presence of BSA in the medium. In contrast, expression of the CD44 receptor gene was not affected by any treatment. The cleavage rates and number of embryos that developed to ≤8-cell stage by day 4 were not affected by lack of BSA in the medium, but increased numbers of blastocysts developed in medium supplemented with BSA from days 1 or 4 with or without HA than in medium that had HA only. Addition of both HA and BSA at day 4 increased mtDNA copy numbers at the blastocyst stage. Data suggest that the addition of BSA and/or HA at 96 hpi increased expression ofRHAMMandHas2genes, but notCD44,Has1orHas3genes. Higher expression levels of Has2 than Has1 and the three isoforms indicate that high- rather than low-molecular-weight HA should be used for preimplantation bovine embryo culture.
Validating the Chinese version of the Verbal Learning Test for screening Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: CHANG CHIUNG CHIH , KRAMER JOEL H. , LIN KER NENG , CHANG WEN NENG , WANG YA-LING , HUANG CHI-WEI , LIN YU TING , CHEN CHING , WANG PEI NING 
Published: December 2009

AbstractEpisodic memory tasks are one of the most sensitive tools to discriminate Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study aimed to validate a shorter version verbal memory test that will efficiently assess Chinese elderly with memory complaints. One hundred and eighty-five elderly with normal cognition (NC) and 217 AD patients were evaluated. Each participant received the Chinese Version Verbal Learning Test (CVVLT) consisting of 9 two-character nouns with 4 learning trials, 2 delayed recalls in 30 seconds and 10 minutes, and a word recognition test. In the NC elderly, age and sex had significant effects on recall scores in CVVLT, while education level showed an inverse correlation with 3 different patterns of errors made during the learning, recall, and recognition trials. AD patients had lower scores across all recall tests. In those with lower educational level, NC elderly had higher perseveration errors than AD patients. The cutoff value between the AD and NC groups in the 10-minute recall was 4/5 for those aged >75 years and 5/6 for those aged <75 years. This study has good validity in discriminating AD participants and the data here can help in diagnosing AD and mild cognitive impairment using the CVVLT. (JINS, 2010, 16, 244–251.)
Neuropsychological performance following a history of multiple self-reported concussions: A meta-analysis
Authors: BELANGER HEATHER G. , SPIEGEL ERIC , VANDERPLOEG RODNEY D. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractDebate continues about the long-term neuropsychological impact of multiple mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI). A meta-analysis of the relevant literature was conducted to determine the impact of having a history of more than one self-reported MTBI (versus just one MTBI) across seven cognitive domains, as well as symptom complaints. The analysis was based on 8 studies, all conducted with athletes, involving 614 cases of multiple MTBI and 926 control cases of a single MTBI. The overall effect of multiple MTBI on neuropsychological functioning was minimal and not significant (d= 0.06). However, follow-up analyses revealed that multiple self-reported MTBI was associated with poorer performance on measures of delayed memory and executive functioning. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed. (JINS, 2010,16, 262–267.)
Characteristics of executive function impairment in Parkinson’s disease patients without dementia
Authors: MCKINLAY AUDREY , GRACE RANDOLPH C. , DALRYMPLE-ALFORD JOHN C. , ROGER DEREK 
Published: December 2009

AbstractExecutive function impairments in Parkinson’s disease (PD) are well documented. However, uncertainties remain regarding the impact of these deficits on other areas of cognitive functioning. The goal of this study was to provide a comprehensive assessment of cognitive characteristics in patients with PD without dementia and to assess how any such deficits affected other areas of cognitive functioning. Forty PD patients without dementia were compared to healthy controls using measures of attention and speed of processing and a comprehensive set of executive function tests including working memory, planning, and problem solving. Measures of memory/learning and visuospatial skills were also included to examine the relationship between aspects of executive function and other areas of cognition. Patients with PD showed deficits on measures of executive function, problem solving, and visuospatial skills. However, they were unimpaired on measures of planning, attention, and memory/learning. Deficits in problem solving were only evident for tasks with a high visuospatial content and were no longer significant when visuospatial skills were controlled for. While deficits in executive function and visuospatial skills were apparent for PD patients compared to controls, many aspects of cognition remained intact. These can provide a focus for cognitive intervention strategies that can be effective in delaying decline for PD patients. (JINS, 2010, 16, 268–277.)
Interstimulus jitter facilitates response control in children with ADHD
Authors: RYAN MATTHEW , MARTIN REBECCA , DENCKLA MARTHA B. , MOSTOFSKY STEWART H. , MAHONE E. MARK 
Published: December 2009

AbstractInterstimulus “jitter” involves randomization of intervals between successive stimulus events, and can facilitate performance on go/no-go tests among healthy adults, though its effect in clinical populations is unclear. Children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) commonly exhibit deficient response control, leading to increased intra-subject variability (ISV), which has been linked to anomalous functioning within frontal circuits, as well as their interaction with posterior “default mode” regions. We examined effects of interstimulus jitter on response variability in 39 children, ages 9–14 years (25 ADHD, 14 controls). Participants completed 2 computerized go/no-go tests: one with fixed interstimulus interval (ISI) and one with jittered ISI. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant group–by test interaction, such that introduction of jitter produced a significant decrease in ISV among children with ADHD, but not among controls. Whereas children with ADHD were significantly more variable than controls on the go/no-go test with fixed ISI, their performance with jittered ISI was equivalent to that of controls. Jittering stimulus presentation provides a nonpharmacologic mechanism for improving response control in ADHD. This bottom-up approach may be mediated by increases in vigilance through noradrenergic circuits that facilitate maintenance of frontal circuits critical to response control. (JINS, 2010, 16, 388–393.)
Longitudinal patterns of semantic and episodic memory in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: XIE SHARON X. , LIBON DAVID J. , WANG XINGMEI , MASSIMO LAUREN , MOORE PEACHIE , VESELY LUISA , KHAN ALEA , CHATTERJEE ANJAN , COSLETT H. BRANCH , HURTIG HOWARD I. , LIANG TSAO-WEI , GROSSMAN MURRAY 
Published: December 2009

AbstractThe longitudinal assessment of episodic and semantic memory was obtained from 236 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 128) and with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD, n = 108), including patients with a social comportment/dysexecutive (SOC/EXEC) disorder, progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA), semantic dementia (SemD), and corticobasal syndrome (CBS). At the initial assessment, AD patients obtained a lower score on the delayed free recall test than other patients. Longitudinal analyses for delayed free recall found converging performance, with all patients reaching the same level of impairment as AD patients. On the initial evaluation for delayed recognition, AD patients also obtained lower scores than other groups. Longitudinal analyses for delayed recognition test performance found that AD patients consistently produced lower scores than other groups and no convergence between AD and other dementia groups was seen. For semantic memory, there were no initial between-group differences. However, longitudinal analyses for semantic memory revealed group differences over illness duration, with worse performance for SemD versus AD, PNFA, SOC/EXEC, and CBS patients. These data suggest the presence of specific longitudinal patterns of impairment for episodic and semantic memory in AD and FTLD patients suggesting that all forms of dementia do not necessarily converge into a single phenotype. (JINS, 2010, 16, 278–286.)
Activité de la Société française en 1876
Authors: Monseigneur S. A. R. 
Published: December 2009

Avant d'entrer dans le détail de cet exposé, je mettrai tout d'abord en lumière un fait dont l'influence va désormais dominer nos services, et dont les amis de notre Œuvre accueilleront avec joie la première nouvelle.M. le Ministre de la guerre vient d'arrêter un projet de règlement par lequel il rattache, dans des conditions nouvelles, la participation de notre Société à toutes les branches du service sanitaire des armées en campagne, et par lequel il lui reconnaît, en échange des grands devoirs qu'il lui impose, le caractère d'une Œuvre privilégiée, auxiliaire permanente du service de santé officiel et principale dispensatrice des ressources de l'assistance volontaire.
Présidence de la Société belge
Authors: Sigart F. , Bougard  
Published: December 2009

Le Comité international a reçu la lettre suivante en date de Bruxelles le 5 novembre 1879:Monsieur le Président du Comité international de la Croix rouge, à Genève.Monsieur,Le 3 juillet dernier, la mort a enlevé à l'Association belge de secours aux militaires blessés son vénéré Président, M. le lieutenant-général Renard.Le Conseil général de l'Association, dans sa dernière séance, a procédé à son remplacement. A l'unanimité, il a appelé à la présidence M. le lieutenant-général Liagre, ministre de la guerre, qui a bien voulu accepter ces fonctions.
Dr Legrand. — L'assistance féminine en temps de guerre
Authors: Dr Brisard  
Published: December 2009

Nous empruntons au Caducée l'excellent compte rendu que M. le Dr Brisard consacre à l'ouvrage de M. le Dr Legrand.«L'œuvre d'assistance aux blessés peut devenir le symbole le plus exact, le plus touchant de la nation armée. Toute la charité de France se dressant devant l'ennemi, c'est le geste incomparable ébauché par la femme et qu'il lui faut achever.»
QDD: a user-friendly program to select microsatellite markers and design primers from large sequencing projects
Authors: Meglécz Emese , Costedoat Caroline , Dubut Vincent , Gilles André , Malausa Thibaut , Pech Nicolas , Martin Jean-François 
Published: December 2009

Abstract
Summary: QDD is an open access program providing a user-friendly tool for microsatellite detection and primer design from large sets of DNA sequences. The program is designed to deal with all steps of treatment of raw sequences obtained from pyrosequencing of enriched DNA libraries, but it is also applicable to data obtained through other sequencing methods, using FASTA files as input. The following tasks are completed by QDD: tag sorting, adapter/vector removal, elimination of redundant sequences, detection of possible genomic multicopies (duplicated loci or transposable elements), stringent selection of target microsatellites and customizable primer design. It can treat up to one million sequences of a few hundred base pairs in the tag-sorting step, and up to 50 000 sequences in a single input file for the steps involving estimation of sequence similarity.
Availability: QDD is freely available under the GPL licence for Windows and Linux from the following web site: http://www.univ-provence.fr/gsite/Local/egee/dir/meglecz/QDD.html
Contact: emese.meglecz@univ-provence.fr
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Tmod: toolbox of motif discovery
Authors: Sun Hanchang , Yuan Yuan , Wu Yibo , Liu Hui , Liu Jun S. , Xie Hongwei 
Published: December 2009

Abstract
Summary: Motif discovery is an important topic in computational transcriptional regulation studies. In the past decade, many researchers have contributed to the field and many de novo motif-finding tools have been developed, each may have a different strength. However, most of these tools do not have a user-friendly interface and their results are not easily comparable. We present a software called Toolbox of Motif Discovery (Tmod) for Windows operating systems. The current version of Tmod integrates 12 widely used motif discovery programs: MDscan, BioProspector, AlignACE, Gibbs Motif Sampler, MEME, CONSENSUS, MotifRegressor, GLAM, MotifSampler, SeSiMCMC, Weeder and YMF. Tmod provides a unified interface to ease the use of these programs and help users to understand the tuning parameters. It allows plug-in motif-finding programs to run either separately or in a batch mode with predetermined parameters, and provides a summary comprising of outputs from multiple programs. Tmod is developed in C++ with the support of Microsoft Foundation Classes and Cygwin. Tmod can also be easily expanded to include future algorithms.
Availability: Tmod is available for download at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/∼junliu/Tmod/
Contact: xhwei65@nudt.edu.cn; jliu@stat.harvard.edu
WebPARE: web-computing for inferring genetic or transcriptional interactions
Authors: Chuang Cheng-Long , Wu Jia-Hong , Cheng Chi-Sheng , Shieh Grace S. 
Published: December 2009

Abstract
Summary: Inferring genetic or transcriptional interactions, when done successfully, may provide insights into biological processes or biochemical pathways of interest. Unfortunately, most computational algorithms require a certain level of programming expertise. To provide a simple web interface for users to infer interactions from time course gene expression data, we present WebPARE, which is based on the pattern recognition algorithm (PARE). For expression data, in which each type of interaction (e.g. activator target) and the corresponding paired gene expression pattern are significantly associated, PARE uses a non-linear score to classify gene pairs of interest into a few subclasses of various time lags. In each subclass, PARE learns the parameters in the decision score using known interactions from biological experiments or published literature. Subsequently, the trained algorithm predicts interactions of a similar nature. Previously, PARE was shown to infer two sets of interactions in yeast successfully. Moreover, several predicted genetic interactions coincided with existing pathways; this indicates the potential of PARE in predicting partial pathway components. Given a list of gene pairs or genes of interest and expression data, WebPARE invokes PARE and outputs predicted interactions and their networks in directed graphs.
Availability: A web-computing service WebPARE is publicly available at: http://www.stat.sinica.edu.tw/WebPARE
Contact: gshieh@stat.sinica.edu.tw
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Fitness-related consequences of competitive interactions between farmed and wild Atlantic salmon at different proportional representations of wild–farmed hybrids
Authors: Houde Aimee Lee S. , Fraser Dylan J. , Hutchings Jeffrey A. 
Published: December 2009

AbstractHoude, A. S., Fraser, D. J., and Hutchings, J. A. 2010. Fitness-related consequences of competitive interactions between farmed and wild Atlantic salmon at different proportional representations of wild–farmed hybrids. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 657–667. Escaped farmed fish possess heritable characteristics that may give them and their wild–farmed hybrid offspring a competitive advantage over wild fish. Limited research has examined whether the results of wild vs. farmed pairwise behavioural contests can predict the change in fitness-related traits of wild fish when exposed to wild–farmed hybrids, or to different proportions of such hybrids, within stream environments. Pairwise aggression tests on North American Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) revealed that regional farmed salmon and wild–farmed hybrids (F1, F2, and wild backcrosses) were more competitive than wild fish from two divergent populations. The ranking by which hybrids differed in competitive ability from wild fish also depended on the wild population. However, the magnitude of change in fitness-related traits of wild fish, such as mortality, size, and condition, from the same two populations could not be predicted from pairwise test results when replicate groups of wild fish were exposed to different proportions of hybrids (wild:hybrid ratios of 50:50, 70:30, and 85:15) in semi-natural stream environments. Notably, there was greater mortality of both wild and hybrid fish in treatments containing 30% hybrids for both populations; at a composition of 50% hybrids, the mortality of wild fish in one population increased more than it did in the other. The results suggest that for the life stage examined and provided the rate of farmed intrusion and wild–farmed interbreeding remains low (i.e. ≤15% hybrids), the effects of competitive interaction with their farmed counterparts may have comparatively little effect on the mortality of wild populations.
Inhibition of mTORC1 activity by REDD1 induction in myeloma cells resistant to bortezomib cytotoxicity
Authors: Decaux Olivier , Clément Monique , Magrangeas Florence , Gouraud Wilfried , Charbonnel Catherine , Campion Loïc , Loiseau Hervé Avet , Minvielle Stéphane 
Published: December 2009

The combination of bortezomib and dexamethasone is becoming the reference induction treatment for multiple myeloma patients younger than 65 years. Despite its advantage over vincristin adryamicin dexamethasone induction treatment, bortezomib does not benefit all patients. We hypothesize that heterogeneity of the response experienced by myeloma patients is, at least in part, due to genomic variations in the malignant plasma cells. To test this hypothesis we used gene expression profiling to identify early responsive genes induced by bortezomib in resistant myeloma cells. Our study revealed: (i) a dramatic induction of REDD1, a negative regulator of mammalian target of rapamycin kinase complex 1 (mTORC1) activity, in these cells; (ii) a transient cell size decrease associated with REDD1 overexpression; and (iii) partial restoration of bortezomib sensitivity in REDD1 knockdown bortezomib‐resistant myeloma cells. Together, these results identify a possible novel mechanism of bortezomib resistance in myeloma patients mediated by REDD1 overexpression involving inhibition of mTORC1 activity and suggest that the use of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors in myeloma patients could be deleterious.(Cancer Sci 2010; 101: 889–897)