bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Medicinal plants of Otwal and Ngai Sub Counties in Oyam District, Northern Uganda
Authors: Kamatenesi Maud M , Acipa Annabel , Oryem-Origa Hannington 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background
An ethnobotanical study was carried out in four parishes in the Ngai and Otwal Sub Counties in Oyam district, Northern Uganda, where insurgency has been prevalent for the past 20 years. Documenting medicinal plant species used in treating various health conditions among the local people.

Methods
Information was obtained from mainly the local population, the traditional healers and other experienced persons through interviews, formal and informal discussions and field excursions.

Results
Seventy one plant species were reported for use in the treatment of various diseases in the study area. These plant species belongs to 41 families, with Asteraceae being the most represented. Roots were ranked the commonest plant part used. Oral administration was the most frequently used route of administration. A total of 41 different health conditions were reported to be treated by use of medicinal plant species. Thirty nine percent of the recorded plant species were reported for treating stomach related ailments.

Conclusion
The use of medicinal plants in primary healthcare is still a common practice in Ngai and Otwal Sub Counties. The trust they have is built on the curative outcome properties claimed, poverty and armed conflict that lead to inadequate healthcare facilities. The generation gap caused by the over 20 years of insurgency in the area has brought about knowledge gap on the usage of medicinal plant species between the young and the older generation.
Accuracy of phylogeny reconstruction methods combining overlapping gene data sets
Authors: Kupczok Anne , Schmidt Heiko A , von Haeseler Arndt 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background
The availability of many gene alignments with overlapping taxon sets raises the question of which strategy is the best to infer species phylogenies from multiple gene information. Methods and programs abound that use the gene alignment in different ways to reconstruct the species tree. In particular, different methods combine the original data at different points along the way from the underlying sequences to the final tree. Accordingly, they are classified into superalignment, supertree and medium-level approaches. Here, we present a simulation study to compare different methods from each of these three approaches.

Results
We observe that superalignment methods usually outperform the other approaches over a wide range of parameters including sparse data and gene-specific evolutionary parameters. In the presence of high incongruency among gene trees, however, other combination methods show better performance than the superalignment approach. Surprisingly, some supertree and medium-level methods exhibit, on average, worse results than a single gene phylogeny with complete taxon information.

Conclusions
For some methods, using the reconstructed gene tree as an estimation of the species tree is superior to the combination of incomplete information. Superalignment usually performs best since it is less susceptible to stochastic error. Supertree methods can outperform superalignment in the presence of gene-tree conflict.
Localization of sequence variations in PGC-1α influence their modifying effect in Huntington disease
Authors: Che Hong Van B , Metzger Silke , Portal Esteban , Deyle Carolin , Riess Olaf , Nguyen Huu Phuc 
Published: January 2011

AbstractBackgroundHuntington disease (HD) is caused by a polyglutamine expansion of more than 35 units in the huntingtin protein. This expanded repeat length inversely correlates with the age-at-onset (AAO), however, additional genetic factors apart from the expanded CAG repeat size are thought to influence the course and the AAO in HD. Until now, among others, the gene encoding PCG-1α (PPARGC1A) was shown to modify the AAO in two independent, however small, populations. PGC-1α is involved in the induction of various mechanisms regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative stress defence. Furthermore, several studies have linked impairment of its function and/or its expression to HD pathogenesis. As the identification of distinct modifiers in association studies is largely dependent on the size of the observed population, we investigated nine different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) inPPARGC1Ain order to replicate the disease modifying effect in more than 800 European HD patients and to identify an association with AAO in HD.ResultsTwo SNPs, one in the promoter and one in the transcribed region of the gene, showed a significant effect on the AAO. While the minor allele of SNP rs7665116 (g.38570C), located in the transcribed gene region, was associated with a delay in disease onset, especially in HD patients with Italian ancestry, the minor allele of SNP rs2970870 (g.-1437C) in the promoter region leads to an earlier onset of HD in its homozygous state. Additionally, global testing of haplotype block 2, which covers the main part of the transcribed region of the gene, revealed an association between block 2 haplotypes and the disease onset.ConclusionTherefore, our results indicate opposing modifying influences of two SNPs within one gene on AAO and support the idea that PGC-1α dysfunction is involved in HD pathology.
A scavenging double mask to reduce workplace contamination during mask induction of inhalation anesthesia in dogs
Authors: Friembichler Susanne , Coppens Paul , Säre Heli , Moens Yves 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background
Workplace contamination by the use of volatile anesthetic agents should be kept to a minimum if a potential health hazard is to be minimised. Mask induction of animals is a common procedure. The present study investigates the efficiency of a novel scavenging double mask in reducing waste gas concentrations in the breathing zone of the anesthetist performing this procedure.

Methods
Twelve beagle dogs (ASA I) undergoing general anesthesia for a dental procedure were intravenously premedicated with medetomidine and butorphanol (10 μg/kg and 0.2 mg/kg). Anesthesia was induced via a custom-made scavenging mask using isoflurane in oxygen. In six dogs (group S), scavenging from the mask was performed whereas in six other dogs (group NS) the scavenging function was disabled. Isoflurane concentration was continuously measured with photoacoustic spectroscopy at the level of the shoulder of the anesthetist before and during mask induction and additionally during intubation. Statistical analysis was performed with a Student t- test and a Mann-Whitney U test (p < 0.05 for significance).

Results
The mean isoflurane concentration during baseline (premedication) was 1.8 ± 0.8 ppm and 2.3 ± 0.6 ppm in group S and NS respectively. This increased during mask induction to 2.0 ± 0.8 ppm and 11.2 ± 6.0 ppm respectively (p < 0.01). The maximum isoflurane concentration ranged from 0.7 ppm to 2.8 ppm and from from 8.3 ppm to 43.7 ppm in group S and NS respectively.

Conclusion
This double mask can be used to induce inhalation anesthesia in dogs. Scavenging from the mask significantly decreases the amount of waste anaesthetic gas concentrations in the breathing zone of the anesthetist. Therefore, such a system can be recommended whenever induction or maintenance of general anesthesia by mask is considered.
A systems biology approach to investigate the effect of pH-induced gene regulation on solvent production by Clostridium acetobutylicum in continuous culture
Authors: Haus Sylvia , Jabbari Sara , Millat Thomas , Janssen Holger , Fischer Ralf-Jörg , Bahl Hubert , King John R , Wolkenhauer Olaf 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background

Clostridium acetobutylicum is an anaerobic bacterium which is known for its solvent-producing capabilities, namely regarding the bulk chemicals acetone and butanol, the latter being a highly efficient biofuel. For butanol production by C. acetobutylicum to be optimized and exploited on an industrial scale, the effect of pH-induced gene regulation on solvent production by C. acetobutylicum in continuous culture must be understood as fully as possible.

Results
We present an ordinary differential equation model combining the metabolic network governing solvent production with regulation at the genetic level of the enzymes required for this process. Parameterizing the model with experimental data from continuous culture, we demonstrate the influence of pH upon fermentation products: at high pH (pH 5.7) acids are the dominant product while at low pH (pH 4.5) this switches to solvents. Through steady-state analyses of the model we focus our investigations on how alteration in gene expression of C. acetobutylicum could be exploited to increase butanol yield in a continuous culture fermentation.

Conclusions
Incorporating gene regulation into the model of solvent production by C. acetobutylicum enables an accurate representation of the pH-induced switch to solvent production to be obtained and theoretical investigations of possible synthetic-biology approaches to be pursued. Steady-state analyses suggest that, to increase butanol yield, alterations in the expression of single solvent-associated genes are insufficient; a more complex approach targeting two or more genes is required.
Systems biological approach on neurological disorders: a novel molecular connectivity to aging and psychiatric diseases
Authors: Ahmed Shiek SSJ , Ahameethunisa Abdul R , Santosh Winkins , Chakravarthy Srinivasa , Kumar Suresh 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background
Systems biological approach of molecular connectivity map has reached to a great interest to understand the gene functional similarities between the diseases. In this study, we developed a computational framework to build molecular connectivity maps by integrating mutated and differentially expressed genes of neurological and psychiatric diseases to determine its relationship with aging.

Results
The systematic large-scale analyses of 124 human diseases create three classes of molecular connectivity maps. First, molecular interaction of disease protein network generates 3632 proteins with 6172 interactions, which determines the common genes/proteins between diseases. Second, Disease-disease network includes 4845 positively scored disease-disease relationships. The comparison of these disease-disease pairs with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) classification tree suggests 25% of the disease-disease pairs were in same disease area. The remaining can be a novel disease-disease relationship based on gene/protein similarity. Inclusion of aging genes set showed 79 neurological and 20 psychiatric diseases have the strong association with aging. Third
and lastly, a curated disease biomarker network was created by relating the proteins/genes in specific disease contexts, such analysis showed 73 markers for 24 diseases. Further, the overall quality of the results was achieved by a series of statistical methods, to avoid insignificant data in biological networks.

Conclusions
This study improves the understanding of the complex interactions that occur between neurological and psychiatric diseases with aging, which lead to determine the diagnostic markers. Also, the disease-disease association results could be helpful to determine the symptom relationships between neurological and psychiatric diseases. Together, our study presents many research opportunities in post-genomic biomarkers development.
BiologicalNetworks - tools enabling the integration of multi-scale data for the host-pathogen studies
Authors: Kozhenkov Sergey , Sedova Mayya , Dubinina Yulia , Gupta Amarnath , Ray Animesh , Ponomarenko Julia , Baitaluk Michael 
Published: January 2011

AbstractBackgroundUnderstanding of immune response mechanisms of pathogen-infected host requires multi-scale analysis of genome-wide data. Data integration methods have proved useful to the study of biological processes in model organisms, but their systematic application to the study of host immune system response to a pathogen and human disease is still in the initial stage.ResultsTo study host-pathogen interaction on the systems biology level, an extension to the previously described BiologicalNetworks system is proposed. The developed methods and data integration and querying tools allow simplifying and streamlining the process of integration of diverse experimental data types, including molecular interactions and phylogenetic classifications, genomic sequences and protein structure information, gene expression and virulence data for pathogen-related studies. The data can be integrated from the databases and user's files for both public and private use.ConclusionsThe developed system can be used for the systems-level analysis of host-pathogen interactions, including host molecular pathways that are induced/repressed during the infections, co-expressed genes, and conserved transcription factor binding sites. Previously unknown to be associated with the influenza infection genes were identified and suggested for further investigation as potential drug targets. Developed methods and data are available through the Java application (from BiologicalNetworks program athttp://www.biologicalnetworks.org) and web interface (athttp://flu.sdsc.edu).
Toxoplasmosis in a patient who was immunocompetent: a case report
Authors: Taila Aneta K , Hingwe Ameet S , Johnson Laura E 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Introduction

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan that infects up to one-third of the world's population. Although this case is not the first of its kind, it is clinically important since it will help doctors keep a broad differential diagnosis in mind when attending to similar patients.

Case presentation
We present the case of a 20-year-old man of Middle Eastern heritage presenting with only generalized lymphadenopathy who was diagnosed with acute toxoplasmosis.

Conclusion
This case illustrates the important fact that toxoplasmosis can present with just simple lymphadenopathy, and thus can be confused with other infections such as Epstein-Barr virus and other mononucleosis-like illnesses such as cytomegalovirus, HIV with acute retroviral syndrome, cat scratch disease, leishmaniasis and syphilis. This case underlines why appropriate testing should be performed in confusing cases, and helps increase the knowledge about the diagnosis of this disease.
Determinants of patient satisfaction with ophthalmic services
Authors: Ziaei Hossain , Katibeh Marzieh , Eskandari Armen , Mirzadeh Monir , Rabbanikhah Zahra , Javadi Mohammad Ali 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background
This cross-sectional study was conducted during summer 2008 at an academic ophthalmic hospital to assess patient satisfaction with care services and examine the impact of different dimensions on overall satisfaction.

Findings
Clients of ophthalmic services were selected by systematic random sampling. Overall satisfaction was measured as the primary outcome using a validated patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ-18). Different domains were evaluated using PSQ-18 (technical quality, interpersonal manner, communication, financial aspects, time spent for patients, convenience and accessibility); an additional domain, physical setting of the hospital, was evaluated by complementary questions. A general linear model was used to assess the adjusted impact of each quality dimension on the overall satisfaction. Accessibility and technical quality had the strongest association with the overall satisfaction. This regression model could predict an overall satisfaction of 60%.

Conclusions
In comparable settings, if care providers wish to improve the quality of health services from a patients' perspective, they should give priority to improving accessibility and technical quality. Further studies are recommended to discover complementary predictors in formation of overall satisfaction.

Previous publication
Some parts of this article are translated form Farsi originally published in Bina Journal of Ophthalmology. (2009; 14 (3): 289-297). The original work is at: http://binajournal.org/index.php/bina/article/view/96.
Insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti populations from Ceará, Brazil
Authors: Lima Estelita Pereira , Paiva Marcelo Henrique Santos , de Araújo Ana Paula , da Silva Éllyda Vanessa Gomes , da Silva Ulisses Mariano , de Oliveira Lúcia Nogueira , Santana Antonio Euzébio G , Barbosa Clarisse Nogueira , de Paiva Neto Clovis C , Goulart Marilia OF , Wilding Craig Stephen , Ayres Constância Flávia Junqueira , de Melo Santos Maria Alice V 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background
Organophosphates and pyrethroids are used widely in Brazil to control Aedes aegypti, the main vector of dengue viruses, under the auspices of the National Programme for Dengue Control. Resistance to these insecticides is widespread throughout Brazil. In Ceará the vector is present in 98% of districts and resistance to temephos has been reported previously. Here we measure resistance to temephos and the pyrethroid cypermethrin in three populations from Ceará and use biochemical and molecular assays to characterise resistance mechanisms.

Results
Resistance to temephos varied widely across the three studied populations, with resistance ratios (RR95) of 7.2, 30 and 192.7 in Juazeiro do Norte, Barbalha and Crato respectively. The high levels of resistance detected in Barbalha and Crato (RR95 ≥ 30) imply a reduction of temephos efficacy, and indeed in simulated field tests reduced effectiveness was observed for the Barbalha population. Two populations (Crato and Barbalha) were also resistant to cypermethrin, whilst Juazeiro do Norte showed only an altered susceptibility. The Ile1011Met kdr mutation was detected in all three populations and Val1016Ile in Crato and Juazeiro do Norte. 1011Met was significantly associated with resistance to cypermethrin in the Crato population. Biochemical tests showed that only the activity of esterases and GSTs, among the tested detoxification enzymes, was altered in these populations when compared with the Rockefeller strain.

Conclusions
Our results demonstrate that two A. aegypti populations from Ceará are under strong selection pressure by temephos, compromising the field effectiveness of this organophosphate. Our results also provide evidence that the process of reducing resistance to this larvicide in the field is difficult and slow and may require more than seven years for reversal. In addition, we show resistance to cypermethrin in two of the three populations studied, and for the first time the presence of the allele 1016Ile in mosquito populations from northeastern Brazil. A significant association between 1011M et and resistance was observed in one of the populations. Target-site mechanisms seem not to be implicated in temephos resistance, reinforcing the idea that for the studied populations, detoxification enzymes most likely play a major role in the resistance to this insecticide.
Do IGF-I concentrations better reflect growth hormone (GH) action in children with short stature than the results of GH stimulating tests? Evidence from the simultaneous assessment of thyroid function
Authors: Smyczyńska Joanna , Stawerska Renata , Lewiński Andrzej , Hilczer Maciej 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Background
The diagnosis of growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD) in short children seems unquestionable when both GH peak in stimulating tests (GHST) and IGF-I concentration are decreased. However, the discrepancies between the results of GHST and IGF-I secretion are observed. It seems purposeful to determine the significance of GHST and IGF-I assessment in diagnosing GHD. The relationship between GH secretion and thyroid function, as well as GH influence on the peripheral thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3) deiodination, mediated by IGF-I, were identified. Thus, clear differences in thyroid function between GH-deficient and non-GH-deficient subjects should exist.

Methods
Analysis comprised 800 children (541 boys), age 11.6 ± 3.1 years (mean ± SD), with short stature, in whom two (2) standard GHST (with clonidine and with glucagon) were performed and IGF-I, free T4 (FT4), free T3 (FT3) and TSH serum concentrations were assessed. The patients were qualified to the following groups: GHD - decreased GH peak in GHST and IGF-I SDS (n = 81), ISS - normal GH peak and IGF-I SDS (n = 347), low GH - normal IGF-I SDS, and decreased GH peak (n = 212), low IGF - decreased IGF-I SDS, and normal GH peak (n = 160). The relationships among the results of particular tests were evaluated.

Results
In the groups with decreased IGF-I concentrations (GHD Group and low IGF Group), the more severe deficit of height was observed, together with higher TSH and FT4 but lower FT3 levels than in groups with normal IGF-I concentrations (ISS Group and low GH Group), independently of the results of GHST. TSH, FT4 and FT3 concentrations were - respectively - similar in two groups with decreased IGF-I secretion, as well as in two groups with normal IGF-I levels. Significant correlations were found between patients' height SDS and IGF-I SDS, between FT3 and IGF-I SDS (positive), and between FT4 and IGF-I SDS (negative), with no correlation between GH peak and any of the parameters analyzed.

Conclusion
The assessment of thyroid function in children with short stature provides the evidence that measurement of IGF-I concentration may be a procedure reliable at least to the some degree in diagnosing GHD as the results of GHST.
Implementation of a new cost efficacy method for blood irradiation using a non dedicated device
Authors: Pinnarò Paola , Soriani Antonella , D'Alessio Daniela , Giordano Carolina , Foddai Maria Laura , Pinzi Valentina , Strigari Lidia 
Published: January 2011

Abstract

Objectives
To implement a new cost efficacy internal Service for blood component irradiation, we carried out specific procedures and quality assurance reports using the linear accelerators (LINACs) of the Regina Elena Institute (IRE) Radiotherapy Department instead of a dedicated device.

Methods
The technical aspects, quality assurance and regulatory requirements of the internal procedure to set up a local irradiated blood bank have been defined. The LINACs of the IRE Radiotherapy Department were used to deliver a mean dose of 32 Gy and dose accuracy was checked with gafchromic film. The overall time/cost of this procedure was compared with the previous procedure, out-sourcing the irradiation of blood components.

Results
A total of 1996 blood component units were internally irradiated in the first year. Moreover, reducing the overall procedure time by a third. Overall cost/bag of external and internal procedures was approx. 66 € and 11 €, respectively. Thus the average saving of cost/bag was higher than 80%. The use of gafchromic films in all irradiated blood component bags allowed the accuracy of the dose delivered to blood to be checked.

Conclusions
By utilizing LINACs installed in the Radiotherapy Department it is possible to provide an internal blood component irradiation service, capitalizing on internal resources without any inconvenience/discomfort to patients undergoing radiotherapy and satisfying governmental regulatory requirements. The internal irradiation procedures has proven to be safe and feasible, and along with the significant cost/time reduction suggests that it is more advantageous than external procedures.