bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Editorial - Trypanosomatidae Family: Biochemical Features
Authors: Vermelho Alane B. , H. Lopes Angela 
Published: March 2012

This special issue “Trypanosomatidae Family: Biochemical Features” comprises eighteen minireviews written by sixty-four
authors. The reviews highlight the current state of a variety of research topics on trypanosomatids, including their cell biology,
ultrastructure, biochemistry, proteomics and genomics, as well as biochemical and immunological aspects of the interactions of
the parasites with both their mammalian and insect hosts.
Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. The pathophysiology and the mechanism of trans-mission of the disease were described in 1909 by the Brazilian scientist Carlos Chagas. Studies of Chagas disease in its various
aspects, from basic to applied science, have revolutionized Brazilian science in an unprecedented way. Even today, roughly 1 in
every 3 articles published on Chagas disease reports research done in Brazil. Therefore, we chose to focus this special issue
upon basic research mostly on Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, two endemic diseases of high prevalence in Latin America.
The reviews were written mostly by Brazilian scientists, thus providing a broad view of current Brazilian contributions in
this field, and its insertion among worldwide research on the topic. For this reason, there are no specific articles on Africantry-panosomas, albeit the subject is briefly addressed in the introductory article.
This special issue is dedicated to Carlos Chagas and to all the great scientists from all countries whose efforts are directedat
finding ways to eradicate the devastating diseases caused by trypanosomatids. It is also dedicated to the bright investigators
who brought to light several important aspects of Biology, first discovered in these protozoa, and later extended to higher eu-karyotes. Examples of such include trans-splicing of nuclear RNAs, glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored membrane
proteins and RNA editing.
Part of the results presented here originate from research done in the authors’ laboratories, supported by the Brazilian agen-cies Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa Carlos Chagas
Filho (FAPERJ), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Ministério da Saúde, and by the funding program “Instituto Nacional de Ciência e
Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular”, as well as NIAID/NIH and Wellcome Trust. We also like to thank Bentham Science
Publishers for the opportunity to organize this collection. The Open Parasitology Journal carries sole responsibility for all edito-rial content.
Role of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of thyroid lesions
Authors: Bhatta S , Makaju R , Mohammad A 
Published: March 2012

Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology is regarded as a gold standard investigation in diagnosis of thyroid swellings. This study was carried out to evaluate the role of fine needle aspiration cytology as a diagnostic tool in investigation of thyroid swelling and to correlate the cytological findings with histopathology. Materials and Methods: A total of 90 patients with thyroid lesions submitted for fine needle aspiration cytology at Dhulikhel hospital Kathmandu Univeristy hospital over a four year period (May 2004 to May 2008) were studied. Results: Majority of cases were non neoplastic (77 cases, 85.55 %), whereas 13 cases (14.45 %) were neoplastic. Tissue examination was available for subsequent histocytological correlation in 20 cases (22.22 %). The accuracy of cytodiagnosis was 90 % with a sensitivity of 85.7 %, specificity of 92.3 %, false negative rate of 14.28% and false positive rate of 7.69%. Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology of thyroid lesions provides a reliable diagnosis and is an excellent first line method for investigating the nature of lesion. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpn.v2i3.6018 JPN 2012; 2(3): 186-188
Stability of Liver Fibrosis among HCV-Infected Injection Drug Users
Authors: Mehta Shruti H , Kirk Gregory D , Astemborski Jacquie , Sulkowski Mark S , Afdhal Nezam H , Thomas David L 
Published: March 2012

Background There are few published data characterizing patterns of liver stiffness measurements (LSMs) among HCV-infected persons and their potential impact on clinical decisions (for example, deferring treatment and hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance). Methods A total of 591 HCV-infected injection drug users in a community-based cohort had four LSMs. We used semi-parametric latent class growth modelling to identify patterns, which then became a gold standard against which we characterized validity of information from the initial measurements. Results Median age was 49, 68% were male, 92% African-American and 33% HIV-coinfected. The median LSM at visit 1 was 6.7 kPa (IQR 5.3–8.8). Over a median 1.75 years, LSM measures were stable; median change between visits was 0 kPa (IQR -1.4–1.7). Only 3% had evidence of fibrosis progression. Other groups included stable patterns of no fibrosis (59%), moderate fibrosis (21%), severe fibrosis (7%) and cirrhosis (9%). Individuals with fibrosis progression were more likely to be HIV-infected than those with stable low fibrosis ( P<0.001). The diagnostic accuracy of the first LSM for identification of need for cancer surveillance (cirrhosis ≥12.3 kPa) was high (positive predictive value =97%). Although no single low LSM had high negative predictive value for significant fibrosis (metavir <2), individuals with two or more low results rarely had progression. Conclusions These data underscore the stability of liver fibrosis in a cohort of predominantly African-American HCV-infected persons over 1.75 years, support using LSMs to monitor untreated persons at risk for progression and assess need for hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance.
Levels of Plasma-soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1 (sTREM-1) Are Correlated with Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: CHOI SANG TAE , KANG EUN-JIN , HA YOU JUNG , SONG JUNG-SOO 
Published: March 2012

Objective.To determine whether levels of plasma-soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) are elevated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and whether levels are correlated with disease activity and other variables.Methods.Our study included 71 patients with RA and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Clinical characteristics and laboratory measures, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) were assessed. Plasma levels of sTREM-1 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured by ELISA.Results.Patients with RA had significantly higher plasma sTREM-1 levels than healthy controls (170.10 ± 84.71 pg/ml vs 97.41 ± 40.64 pg/ml; p < 0.001). In patients with RA, plasma sTREM-1 levels were found to be correlated with DAS28, ESR, CRP, white blood cell counts, neutrophil counts, and plasma TNF-α levels (r = 0.329, p = 0.005; r = 0.241, p = 0.043; r = 0.314, p < 0.001; r = 0.261, p = 0.028; r = 0.278, p = 0.019; and r = 0.313, p = 0.009, respectively). Plasma sTREM-1 levels in patients with active disease status (DAS28 > 3.2) were significantly higher than in those with low disease status (DAS28 ≤ 3.2; 208.89 ± 100.14 pg/ml vs 150.29 ± 68.70 pg/ml; p = 0.005).Conclusion.Patients with RA had higher plasma sTREM-1 levels than healthy controls, and plasma sTREM-1 levels were correlated with disease activity measures, suggesting that plasma sTREM-1 could play a role in the inflammatory process associated with TNF-α, and that it may be a useful disease activity marker in RA.
Morphology of Axymyia furcata (Diptera: Axymyiidae), including scanning electron microscopy of all life stages
Authors: Wihlm Matthew W. , Sam Rebecca B. , Courtney Gregory W. 
Published: March 2012

AbstractThe morphology of all life stages of the semi-aquatic nematocerous fly, Axymyia furcata McAtee (Diptera: Axymyiidae), is documented, with emphasis on use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Our data on some life stages (e.g., egg, first-instar larvae) represent the first SEM examination of these stages in axymyiids. Among the unexpected results is absence of an egg burster in first instars. Most characters provided little evidence of a phylogenetic relationship with any other clade of nematocerous Diptera, reflecting a need for comprehensive morphological studies of the immatures of many families.
Pleiotropic IFN-Dependent and -Independent Effects of IRF5 on the Pathogenesis of Experimental Lupus
Authors: Xu Yuan , Lee Pui Y. , Li Yi , Liu Chao , Zhuang Haoyang , Han Shuhong , Nacionales Dina C. , Weinstein Jason , Mathews Clayton E. , Moldawer Lyle L. , Li Shi-Wu , Satoh Minoru , Yang Li-Jun , Reeves Westley H. 
Published: March 2012

AbstractGenetic polymorphisms of IFN regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) are associated with an increased risk of lupus in humans. In this study, we examined the role of IRF5 in the pathogenesis of pristane-induced lupus in mice. The pathological response to pristane in IRF5−/− mice shared many features with type I IFN receptor (IFNAR)−/− and TLR7−/− mice: production of anti-Sm/RNP autoantibodies, glomerulonephritis, generation of Ly6Chi monocytes, and IFN-I production all were greatly attenuated. Lymphocyte activation following pristane injection was greatly diminished in IRF5−/− mice, and Th cell differentiation was deviated from Th1 in wild-type mice toward Th2 in IRF5−/− mice. Th cell development was skewed similarly in TLR7−/− or IFNAR−/− mice, suggesting that IRF5 alters T cell activation and differentiation by affecting cytokine production. Indeed, production of IFN-I, IL-12, and IL-23 in response to pristane was markedly decreased, whereas IL-4 increased. Unexpectedly, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) were not recruited to the site of inflammation in IRF5−/− or MyD88−/− mice, but were recruited normally in IFNAR−/− and TLR7−/− mice. In striking contrast to wild-type mice, pristane did not stimulate local expression of CCL19 and CCL21 in IRF5−/− mice, suggesting that IRF5 regulates chemokine-mediated pDC migration independently of its effects on IFN-I. Collectively, these data indicate that altered production of IFN-I and other cytokines in IRF5−/− mice prevents pristane from inducing lupus pathology by broadly affecting T and B lymphocyte activation/differentiation. Additionally, we uncovered a new, IFN-I–independent role of IRF5 in regulating chemokines involved in the homing of pDCs and certain lymphocyte subsets.
Occupation: Purposefulness and Meaningfulness as Therapeutic Mechanisms
Authors: Trombly Catherine A. 
Published: March 2012

Abstract
The model of occupational functioning leads the author to conceptualize occupation both as treatment end goal and as means to remediate impairments. In both dimensions, meaningfulness and purposefulness are key therapeutic qualities. Purposefulness is hypothesized to organize behavior and meaningfulness to motivate performance. These aspects of occupation need explication through research. Some questions that need to be answered include the following: How does purposefulness of occupation-as-end organize a person’s life? Does purposefulness of occupation-as-means organize particular behavioral responses? What effect does meaningfulness of occupation-as-end have on achievement of role performance? Does meaningfulness of occupation-as-means motivate perseverance and effort during therapy?
Akt-activated Vascular Endothelial Cells Enhance Breast Cancer Stemness
Authors: Ghiabi Pegah , Raynaud Christophe , Arash Rafii Tabrizi Jeremy 
Published: March 2012

AbstractBreast cancer is a major disease leading in both incidence and mortality in women. Although the mortality has been reduced by various therapy approaches, recurrence still occurs in many patients. Evidence indicates that tumor-initiating (cancer stem) cells may contribute to disease relapse, suggesting the importance of effective targeting of this cell population. Recently, it has been shown that the components of the tumor microenvironment, including tumor vascular endothelium, interact with
cancer stem cells through intracellular signaling pathways. However, the exact mechanism underlying this interaction is not known. In this study, we intend to investigate how the Akt-activated vascular endothelial cells (E4ORF1) communicate with defined populations of breast tumor. Moreover, we are interested to find out if notch pathway is regulating this crosstalk.The cancer stem cells were enriched under serum-free conditions in 3D media to obtain mammospheres. To investigate how E4ORF1 maintains breast tumor cells and cancer stem cell in the absence of serum and cytokines, breast cancer MDA-MB231 and MCF-7 cells were co-cultivated with E4ORF1, its conditioned media, or in 3D media. In addition, the expression of pluripotency markers was assessed by real-time PCR in cancer cells after contact with E4ORF1 cells. Besides, the involvement of
notch pathway in E4ORF1 interaction with mammospheres was studied by using RNAi against Jagged-1.Our preliminary results demonstrated that E4ORF1 cells were able to maintain cancer cells under serum-free conditions and in a contact-dependent manner. Also,they were able to enrich mammospheres in contact or after temporary exposure. Moreover, the expression of some pluripotency markers displayed a 1.5-fold increase in cancer cells co-cultured with E4ORF1 cells. Besides, Notch pathway activation seemed to be necessary for E4ORF1 to support mammosphere growth since there was a 3-fold decrease in sphere numbers in Jag-1-/MDA-MB231 cells.These results suggest that E4ORF1 cells are capable of maintaining cancer stem cell population. Since this interaction is contact dependent, it might indicate the involvement of some intracellular signaling pathways. Our results show that notch might be involved in this crosstalk, which makes it a target for therapy in order to inhibit the cancer stem cell population to prevent breast cancer reappearance.
Clinical Applications of Human Induced Pluripotent: Challenges and Opportunities.
Authors: Vallier Ludovic 
Published: March 2012

AbstractHuman pluripotent stem cells can be derived from reprogrammed fibroblasts using overexpression of pluripotency factors (human induced pluripotent stem cells, or hIPSCs). These pluripotent cells are characterized by their capacity to self-renew in vitro while maintaining their property to differentiate into a broad number of cell types. By combining these unique properties, hIPSCs could enable the generation of large quantities of cells for clinical applications. Furthermore, the possibility of generating hIPSCs from somatic cells using epigenetic reprogramming represents a unique opportunity for regenerative medicine. Indeed, these pluripotent stem cells could enable the production of patient-specific cell types that are fully immuno-compatible with the original donor, thereby avoiding the need for immune suppressive treatment during cell-based therapy. hIPSCs can also be used to develop in vitro models of disease, allowing large-scale studies impossible with primary cell cultures or with biopsy material. This application has been proven useful to model neurodegenerative diseases, cardiac syndromes and inborn metabolic disorders in vitro for basic studies and drug screening. While these results demonstrate that hIPSCs could be useful to study a broad number of disease in vitro, key limitations have to be solved before these pluripotent stem cells become fully useful with clinical applications in vivo. Current approaches to reprogram cells are often associated with important issues such as genetic and epigenetic instability. Furthermore, protocols available to direct differentiation of hIPSCs lack the necessary efficiency and systematically result in the production of fetal derivatives. While such embryonic cells are mature enough to model some diseases in vitro, they might not be sufficiently functional for mimicking diseases affecting adult cells or for cell therapy applications. Therefore, further efforts are required to develop novel method to reprogram somatic cells and to generate fully mature cells from human pluripotent cells. Here, we will discuss the potential solutions necessary to generate hIPSCs compatible with cell therapy approaches against degenerative diseases especially genetic disorders affecting the liver.
EARLY HISTORY OF GEOMETRIC PROBABILITY AND STEREOLOGY
Authors: Hykšová Magdalena , Kalousová Anna , Saxl †Ivan 
Published: March 2012

The paper provides an account of the history of geometric probability and stereology from the time of Newton to the early 20th century. It depicts the development of two parallel ways: on one hand, the theory of geometric probability was formed with minor attention paid to other applications than those concerning spatial chance games. On the other hand, practical rules of the estimation of area or volume fraction and other characteristics, easily deducible from geometric probability theory, were proposed without the knowledge of this branch. A special attention is paid to the paper of J.-É. Barbier published in 1860, which contained the fundamental stereological formulas, but remained almost unnoticed both by mathematicians and practicians.
NETWORKS OF NANOPARTICLES IN ORGANIC – INORGANIC COMPOSITES: ALGORITHMIC EXTRACTION AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Authors: Thiedmann Ralf , Spettl Aaron , Stenzel Ole , Zeibig Thomas , Hindson James C. , Saghi Zineb , Greenham Neil C. , Midgley Paul A. , Schmidt Volker 
Published: March 2012

The rising global demand in energy and the limited resources in fossil fuels require new technologies in renewable energies like solar cells. Silicon solar cells offer a good efficiency but suffer from high production costs. A promising alternative are polymer solar cells, due to potentially low production costs and high flexibility of the panels. In this paper, the nanostructure of organic–inorganic composites is investigated, which can be used as photoactive layers in hybrid–polymer solar cells. These materials consist of a polymeric (OC1C10-PPV) phase with CdSe nanoparticles embedded therein. On the basis of 3D image data with high spatial resolution, gained by electron tomography, an algorithm is developed to automatically extract the CdSe nanoparticles from grayscale images, where we assume them as spheres. The algorithm is based on a modified version of the Hough transform, where a watershed algorithm is used to separate the image data into basins such that each basin contains exactly one nanoparticle. After their extraction, neighboring nanoparticles are connected to form a 3D network that is related to the transport of electrons in polymer solar cells. A detailed statistical analysis of the CdSe network morphology is accomplished, which allows deeper insight into the hopping percolation pathways of electrons.
Linking a Land-Use Cellular Automata with a Water Allocation Model to Simulate Land Development Constrained by Water Availability in the Elbow River Watershed in Southern Alberta
Authors: Straatman Bas , Hasbani Jean-Gabriel , Tang Tom , Berg Kent , Moreno Niandry , Marceau Danielle 
Published: March 2012

The availability of water resources in southern Alberta is under pressure, now and most likely even more so in the remainder of the 21st century if forecasts on climate change, economic development and associated population growth come true. Alberta Environment is mandated by the provincial Water Act to regulate most use of water through a system of water licenses. This department is currently using a water resource management model (WRMM) to support its planning, but wishes to expand the reach of its decision support tools by including additional factors such as the land-use dynamics. This paper presents the coupling of the WRMM and a land-use cellular automata (CA) model to constrain land development based on water availability in the Elbow River watershed in southern Alberta. Simulations were run with a calibrated CA model using a land-use map of 2006 as the starting year up to the year 2031, at a five-year interval and at a spatial resolution of 60 m. Two scenarios were tested: the business as usual scenario, which is a simple extrapolation of observed historical land development, expressed as the number of built-up cells, and a second scenario in which land development is constrained based on the WRMM water availability output. Results indicate that land development varies in terms of growth and spatial distribution when comparing the two scenarios. The potential benefits and limitations of the two models are discussed and further improvement needed to increase their usefulness in guiding water resource management is highlighted.
HIL Tuning of UAV for Exploration of Risky Environments
Authors: Astuti G. , Longo D. , Melita C. D. , Muscato G. , Orlando A. 
Published: March 2012

In this paper the latest results of an HIL architecture, optimized to develop and test UAV platforms are presented. This architecture has been used to realize the different devices involved in the navigation and stability control of the Volcan UAV, a plane designed to operate in volcanic environments. The proposed architecture is strongly modular and flexible and allows the development of avionic hardware and software, testing and tuning the involved algorithms with non-destructive trials. A flight simulator (X-Plane) with a suitable plane model and plug-in, has been adopted to simulate the UAV dynamics. The flight simulator, interfaced with the real electronic boards, allows an easy tuning of all the control parameters and data collecting for test and validation. The effectiveness of adopted methodology was confirmed by several flight tests performed subsequently by using the designed avionic modules on the real UAV.
Hydrogen‐Bonding‐Mediated Directed Osmium Dihydroxylation
Authors: Donohoe Timothy J. , Bataille Carole J. R. , Innocenti Paolo 
Published: March 2012

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the dihydroxylation of alkenes using osmium tetraoxide that is directed by alcohols and amine derivatives through hydrogen bonding between the substrate and the oxidant. Discussion focuses on the different types of directing groups that are viable. The outcome from directed dehydroxylation of all the major classes of alkenes, including cyclic and acyclic substrates and varied alkene substration patterns, is also addressed. The mechanism section outlines the different reactivity patterns that various ligands can impart onto the osmium oxides together with the importance of chosing a solvent that encourages hydrogen bonding. The influence that the directing group has on
syn
selectivity is also discussed, in both the context of its position in space and with respect to the alkane, and the relationship between the PKa of the acidic proton and
syn
selectivity. Osmium tetraoxide has established itself as the reagent of choice for the
syn
‐dihydroxylation of olefins, primarily because of its inertness towards other functional groups and lack of over‐oxidation products. Information on research in regard to dihydroxylation is given. Only a few other synthetic methods are known that accomplish the direct addition of a diol unit across an alkene while controlling the stereochemical course of the process. The Woodward modification of the Prevost reaction (adds two oxygen atoms in a
syn
fashion across an alkane) is discussed in detail in the comparison of methods section.