bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry-Based Functional Assay for Rapid Detection of Resistance against β-Lactam Antibiotics
Authors: Sparbier Katrin , Schubert Sören , Weller Ulrich , Boogen Christiane , Kostrzewa Markus 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACT
Resistance against β-lactam antibiotics is a growing challenge for managing severe bacterial infections. The rapid and cost-efficient determination of β-lactam resistance is an important prerequisite for the choice of an adequate antibiotic therapy. β-Lactam resistance is based mainly on the expression/overexpression of β-lactamases, which destroy the central β-lactam ring of these drugs by hydrolysis. Hydrolysis corresponds to a mass shift of +18 Da, which can be easily detected by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Therefore, a MALDI-TOF MS-based assay was set up to investigate different enterobacteria for resistance against different β-lactam antibiotics: ampicillin, piperacillin, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ertapenem, imipenem, and meropenem. β-Lactamases are enzymes that have a high turnover rate. Therefore, hydrolysis can be detected by MALDI-TOF MS already after a few hours of incubation of the bacteria to be tested with the given antibiotic. The comparison of the MS-derived data with the data from the routine procedure revealed identical classification of the bacteria according to sensitivity and resistance. The MALDI-TOF MS-based assay delivers the results on the same day. The approved routine procedures require at least an additional overnight incubation.
Individual Plasmodium vivax
msp1
Variants within Polyclonal P. vivax Infections Display Different Propensities for Relapse
Authors: Lin Jessica T. , Juliano Jonathan J. , Kharabora Oksana , Sem Rithy , Lin Feng-Chang , Muth Sinuon , Ménard Didier , Wongsrichanalai Chansuda , Rogers William O. , Meshnick Steven R. 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACT

Using a newly developed
Plasmodium vivax
merozoite surface protein 1 gene (
Pvmsp1
) heteroduplex tracking assay, we genotyped 107
P. vivax
infections in individuals from Cambodia, 45 of whom developed recurrent parasitemia within 42 days. The majority of isolates were polyclonal, but recurrent parasitemias displayed fewer variants compared to initial parasitemias. Two
Pvmsp1
gene variants occurred more frequently in the initial genotypes of those who developed recurrent parasitemia, representing the first time
P. vivax
variants associated with a higher risk of relapse have been described.
Self-Assembly of Viral Capsid Protein and RNA Molecules of Different Sizes: Requirement for a Specific High Protein/RNA Mass Ratio
Authors: Cadena-Nava Ruben D. , Comas-Garcia Mauricio , Garmann Rees F. , Rao A. L. N. , Knobler Charles M. , Gelbart William M. 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACT

Virus-like particles can be formed by self-assembly of capsid protein (CP) with RNA molecules of increasing length. If the protein “insisted” on a single radius of curvature, the capsids would be identical in size, independent of RNA length. However, there would be a limit to length of the RNA, and one would not expect RNA much shorter than native viral RNA to be packaged unless multiple copies were packaged. On the other hand, if the protein did not favor predetermined capsid size, one would expect the capsid diameter to increase with increase in RNA length. Here we examine the self-assembly of CP from cowpea chlorotic mottle virus with RNA molecules ranging in length from 140 to 12,000 nucleotides (nt). Each of these RNAs is completely packaged if and only if the protein/RNA mass ratio is sufficiently high; this critical value is the same for all of the RNAs and corresponds to equal RNA and N-terminal-protein charges in the assembly mix. For RNAs much shorter in length than the 3,000 nt of the viral RNA, two or more molecules are assembled into 24- and 26-nm-diameter capsids, whereas for much longer RNAs (>4,500 nt), a single RNA molecule is shared/packaged by two or more capsids with diameters as large as 30 nm. For intermediate lengths, a single RNA is assembled into 26-nm-diameter capsids, the size associated with T=3 wild-type virus. The significance of these assembly results is discussed in relation to likely factors that maintain T=3 symmetry
in vivo
.
Resistance to Selective BRAF Inhibition Can Be Mediated by Modest Upstream Pathway Activation
Authors: Su Fei , Bradley William D. , Wang Qiongqing , Yang Hong , Xu Lizhong , Higgins Brian , Kolinsky Kenneth , Packman Kathryn , Kim Min Jung , Trunzer Kerstin , Lee Richard J. , Schostack Kathleen , Carter Jade , Albert Thomas , Germer Soren , Rosinski Jim , Martin Mitchell , Simcox Mary Ellen , Lestini Brian , Heimbrook David , Bollag Gideon 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
A high percentage of patients with BRAFV600E mutant melanomas respond to the selective RAF inhibitor vemurafenib (RG7204, PLX4032) but resistance eventually emerges. To better understand the mechanisms of resistance, we used chronic selection to establish BRAFV600E melanoma clones with acquired resistance to vemurafenib. These clones retained the V600E mutation and no second-site mutations were identified in the BRAF coding sequence. Further characterization showed that vemurafenib was not able to inhibit extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation, suggesting pathway reactivation. Importantly, resistance also correlated with increased levels of RAS-GTP, and sequencing of RAS genes revealed a rare activating mutation in KRAS, resulting in a K117N change in the KRAS protein. Elevated levels of CRAF and phosphorylated AKT were also observed. In addition, combination treatment with vemurafenib and either a MAP/ERK kinase (MEK) inhibitor or an AKT inhibitor synergistically inhibited proliferation of resistant cells. These findings suggest that resistance to BRAFV600E inhibition could occur through several mechanisms, including elevated RAS-GTP levels and increased levels of AKT phosphorylation. Together, our data implicate reactivation of the RAS/RAF pathway by upstream signaling activation as a key mechanism of acquired resistance to vemurafenib, in support of clinical studies in which combination therapy with other targeted agents are being strategized to combat resistance. Cancer Res; 72(4); 969–78. ©2011 AACR.
Molecular Pathways: Hypoxia Response in Immune Cells Fighting or Promoting Cancer
Authors: Palazón Asis , Aragonés Julián , Morales-Kastresana Aizea , de Landázuri Manuel Ortiz , Melero Ignacio 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
Both malignant and stromal components in tumors are influenced by the physiologic conditions of the microenvironment. Hypoxia is a prominent feature of solid tumors as a result of defective vascularization and intense metabolic activity. The gene-expression control mechanisms that adapt tissues to hypoxia are exploited by tumors to promote angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. The functions of infiltrating immune cells (macrophages and lymphocytes) and other stromal components are also influenced by a limited O2 supply. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) are the main molecular transcriptional mediators in the hypoxia response. The degradation and activity of HIF-1α and HIF-2α are tightly controlled by the fine-tuned action of oxygen-sensing prolyl and asparaginyl hydroxylase enzymes. Recent evidence indicates that hypoxia can modulate the differentiation and function of T lymphocytes and myeloid cells, skewing their cytokine-production profiles and modifying the expression of costimulatory receptors. This conceivably includes tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Hypoxia not only directly affects tumor-infiltrating leukocytes but also exerts effects on tumor cells and vascular cells that indirectly cause selective chemokine-mediated recruitment of suppressive and proangiogenic T-cell subsets. This review focuses on changes induced by hypoxia in immune cells infiltrating solid malignancies. Such changes may either promote or fight cancer, and thus are important for immunotherapy. Clin Cancer Res; 18(5); 1207–13. ©2011 AACR.
Molecular Pathways: Involvement of Helicobacter pylori–Triggered Inflammation in the Formation of an Epigenetic Field Defect, and Its Usefulness as Cancer Risk and Exposure Markers
Authors: Ushijima Toshikazu , Hattori Naoko 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
Infection-associated cancers account for a large proportion of human cancers, and gastric cancer, the vast majority of which is associated with Helicobacter pylori infection, is a typical example of such cancers. Epigenetic alterations are known to occur frequently in gastric cancers, and H. pylori infection has now been shown to induce aberrant DNA methylation in gastric mucosae. Accumulation of aberrant methylation in gastric mucosae produces a field for cancerization, and methylation levels correlate with gastric cancer risk. H. pylori infection induces methylation of specific genes, and such specificity is determined by the epigenetic status in normal cells, including the presence of H3K27me3 and RNA polymerase II (active or stalled). Specific types of inflammation, such as that induced by H. pylori infection, are important for methylation induction, and infiltration of monocytes appears to be involved. The presence of an epigenetic field defect is not limited to gastric cancers and is observed in various types of cancers. It provides translational opportunities for cancer risk diagnosis incorporating life history, assessment of past exposure to carcinogenic factors, and cancer prevention. Clin Cancer Res; 18(4); 923–9. ©2011 AACR.
Increasing Potential of HER3 Signaling in Colon Cancer Progression and Therapy
Authors: Gespach Christian 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
HER3 protein levels at the cancer cell plasma membrane are directly correlated with reduced survival in patients with colorectal cancer. In colorectal cancer cells, HER3 blockade restricted cellular growth (G2–M arrest), survival, migration, and invasion, and potentiated the chemotherapeutic effect of 5-FU, supporting strategies that target HER3 in subsets of patients with colorectal cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 18(4); 917–9. ©2011 AACR.
Ventricular Arrhythmias Among Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Recipients for Primary Prevention
Authors: Nombela-Franco Luis , Mitroi Cristina D. , Fernández-Lozano Ignacio , García-Touchard Arturo , Toquero Jorge , Castro-Urda Victor , Fernández-Diaz Jose A. , Perez-Pereira Elena , Beltrán-Correas Paula , Segovia Javier , Werner Gerald S. , Javier Goicolea , Luis Alonso-Pulpón 
Published: December 2011

Background—
An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is the therapy of choice for primary prevention in patients with ischemia who are at risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD). One third of patients with significant coronary disease have chronic total coronary occlusion (CTO), which is associated with long-term mortality in patients with previous myocardial infarction. However, the impact of CTO on the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias and long-term mortality in ICD recipients remains unknown.

Methods and Results—

All consecutive patients with coronary artery disease receiving ICD therapy for the prevention of SCD were included in the study. Among other characteristics, the existence of CTO was assessed. During follow-up, the occurrence of appropriate device delivery because of ventricular arrhythmias as well as mortality were noted. A total of 162 patients (mean age, 62±9 years; 93% men) with an ICD were included and followed for a median of 26 months (interquartile range, 12–42). At least 1 CTO was present in 71 (44%) patients. Appropriate device therapy was detected in 18% of the patients during the follow-up. The presence of CTO was associated with higher ventricular arrhythmia and mortality rates (log-rank test, <0.01). Multivariable analysis revealed that CTO was independently associated with appropriate ICD intervention (hazard ratio, 3.5;
P
=0.003).

Conclusions—
In patients with ischemic heart disease receiving ICDs for primary prevention of SCD, CTO is an independent predictor for the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias and has an adverse impact on long-term mortality.
Cotton Textile Manufacture and Marketing in Late Imperial China and the ‘Great Divergence’
Authors: Zurndorfer Harriet T. 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
By 1800 cotton cloth was China’s most important domestic trade commodity after grain. This paper reviews the history of cotton textile production in the Jiangnan region (or Lower Yangzi River area) where it thrived from 1300 to 1830, and discusses the factors contributing to its commercialization. It reveals the impact of the Ming and Qing governments in its institutionalization, and how the social organization of the industry was framed around the household economy and women’s labor. This essay also documents the problems that cotton production and marketing encountered by the end of the eighteenth century, and demonstrates how the recent debates about the ‘great divergence’ and the nature of the Chinese political economy resonate in the history of China’s cotton textile enter-prise. Finally, it shows how in the first decades of the nineteenth century, empire-wide demographic and environmental constraints brought economic stasis to Jiangnan’s cotton industry.
Circulations and Qualities of Political Elites
Authors: Higley John 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
Circulations and qualities of political elites are subjects of abiding interest in comparative political sociology. Pairs of articles in this issue examine (1) long-term circulations of parliamentary elites in Norway, Denmark, and other Nordic countries; (2) changing compositions of ministerial and parliamentary elites in Spain and Russia since both countries transited from authoritarian rule; (3) personality traits of German parliamentary elites, compared with those of the German adult population, and proclivities of American and British elites since World War II. This introduction compares and contrasts the three pairs of articles with previous comparative studies of political elites.
Ascent of the Young, the Smart, and the Professional: Norway’s Parliamentary Elite in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Narud Hanne Marthe 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
A main feature of Norway’s parliamentary elite in recent decades has been its dramatically increasing proportion of young, highly educated, and professional politicians – MPs whose previous careers have been almost wholly in party work. Whether this trend is connected to the financial support parties receive from the Norwegian state is an interesting question because state support has increased and enabled parties to hire more people to work for them. Consequently, the pool from which professional politicians can be recruited to parliament has expanded. There are, however, other important bases of parliamentary elite circulation in Norway: quotas for female candidates and MPs in some parties; geographic representation; strong controls on candidate selection by county and local party branches. I assess these patterns longitudinally in parliamentary elections during the past 60 years and comparatively as regards relevant changes in other Nordic parliaments.
The Depth of Parliamentary Elite Circulation: Long-Term Trends and Critical Elections in Denmark
Authors: Kjaer Ulrik 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
This article argues that studies of parliamentary elite circulation should not focus exclusively on raw turnover rates, which pertain mostly to the entry and exit of new members of parliament. Studies should also pay attention to the circulation that goes on below the surface, i.e., circulation of long-standing and senior MPs – what might be termed the “depth” of parliamentary elite circulation. I develop an analytical tool for measuring the depth of circulation and use it to test the hypothesis that at “critical” parliamentary elections the pattern of parliamentary circulation is concentrated on seniors as well as newcomers. I then use this tool to analyze circulation of the Danish parliamentary elite during the past 150 years. If only gross turnover rates are studied, it appears that the elite has become increasingly open. But trends in the depth of circulation reveal a more complex pattern, requiring a more nuanced assessment of parliamentary elite dynamics.
Ministerial and Parliamentary Elites in Multilevel Spain 1977–2009
Authors: Rodríguez-Teruel Juan 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
In decentralized European parliamentary democracies future governing elites often acquire political experience and attain top positions by passing through sub-national political institutions. In doing so, elites circumvent and reduce the importance of national parliaments. Previous research has advanced several explanations for this pattern: Europe's tradition of bureaucratic government; parties with open methods for selecting parliamentary candidates; the “presidentialization” and Europeanization of national political systems. Since its transition to democracy in 1977, Spain has had an exceptionally small proportion of former MPs in its national cabinets. I employ data for Spanish ministers between 1977–2009 demonstrating the passage of a large proportion of cabinet ministers through local and regional government levels rather than the national parliament, the Cortes Generales. I show that multilevel rather than parliamentary political careers characterize ministerial elite recruitment, and I discuss the consequences for Spain's parliamentary democracy.
Aristocratic Burial-Mound Bliznets-2 on the West Bank of the Dnieper above the Rapids
Authors: Romashko Vladimir , Skorÿï Sergeï 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
This article is devoted to the Bliznets-2 Burial-mound which is one of the largest Scythian funerary monuments of the 5th century BC and which was excavated on the southern edge of the town of Dnepropetrovsk in 2007. Along with the structural features of the burial-mound, the funerary rite and range of artefacts discovered in it are analysed. The role of the monument among the Scythian élite burial-mounds in the North Pontic region is defined and certain aspects of the dynastic history of the Scythians are discussed.
Gandharan Toilet-Trays: Some Reflections on Chronology
Authors: Lo Muzio Ciro 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
A thorough investigation on Gandharan toilet-trays, taking into consideration archaeological, social and religious data along with iconographic, stylistic and technical issues, is still to be done. The following notes are mainly aimed at suggesting a new perspective in the chronology of these fascinating finds, which, according to an apparently unshakable assumption, have been and are still considered as a bridge linking the Hellenistic (i.e. Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek) period and the threshold of the Kushan epoch. Toilet-trays are commonly thought of as a pre-Gandharan (and pre-Buddhist) chapter in the art of the North-West of the Indian Subcontinent or a preparatory as well as experimental stage (2nd and 1st centuries BCE) of Gandharan sculpture in its proper sense (from the 1st century CE onwards). G. Erdosy’s reconsideration of the archaeological data yielded by J. Marshall’s excavations at Sirkap, and the chronological shift deriving from it, indicate that the picture sketched above might not be the right one: since a major percent of Sirkap toilet-trays is very likely to be dated into the 1st or even the early 2nd century CE, we are compelled to re-evaluate their relationship with Gandharan art.
Diaspora Cartography: On the Rabbinic Background of Contemporary Ritual Eruv Practice
Authors: Fonrobert Charlotte Elisheva 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
This essay takes as its starting point the observation that the earliest manifestation of the regulations concerning the eruv (hatzerot) can be found in the Mishnah (late second or early third century C.E.). A careful reading of the early rabbinic texts demonstrates that the eruv shapes a community’s relationship to the local space it inhabits in significant ways that are predicated neither on ownership nor on control over that space. Rather, that relationship is based on a set of negotiations with those who share the space, in rabbinic times predominantly neighbors, and later also jurisdictions. Further, as a tool of drawing symbolic Jewish maps, the rabbinic eruv enhances the concept of multidimensionality of space, as one map—a rabbinic map—of signification is superimposed on space without control over it. As such, the eruv is quintessentially the product of a diaspora imagination, not merely in a historical sense of a post-70 C.E. reality, but in the political sense of inhabiting a space that is shared with and even controlled by others.
All Rise
Authors: Aylon Helène 
Published: December 2011

Abstract
The performance artist Helène Aylon has, for decades, done groundbreaking work in giving artistic expression to the difficult, contradictory position of the observant Jewish feminist. Aylon is perhaps best known for the first of her series, The G-d Project. The Liberation of G-d (1996) was an installation of bibles with pieces of translucent parchment covering the individual pages. By hand, she highlighted the passages on each page where women were being hidden, rejected, or excluded. The sound of the parchment and the labor involved were part of the project, as well as the thick books, which grew to twice their original size in the course of the work, in spite of the fact that the women’s efforts consisted of highlighting their own exclusion. In this extract from her memoir, Whatever is Contained Must be Released: My Orthodox Jewish Girlhood—My Life as a Feminist Artist,she discusses the last of the series, All Rise. The memoir will be published by The Feminist Press is planned for April, 2012.-ed.