bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Initial clinical test of a breast‐PET scanner
Authors: Raylman Raymond R , Abraham Jame , Hazard Hannah , Koren Courtney , Filburn Shannon , Schreiman Judith S , Kurian Sobha , Majewski Stan , Marano Gary D 
Published: March 2011

SummaryIntroduction: The goal of this initial clinical study was to test a new positron emission/tomography imager and biopsy system (PEM/PET) in a small group of selected subjects to assess its clinical imaging capabilities. Specifically, the main task of this study is to determine whether the new system can successfully be used to produce images of known breast cancer and compare them to those acquired by standard techniques.Methods: The PEM/PET system consists of two pairs of rotating radiation detectors located beneath a patient table. The scanner has a spatial resolution of ∼2 mm in all three dimensions. The subjects consisted of five patients diagnosed with locally advanced breast cancer ranging in age from 40 to 55 years old scheduled for pre‐treatment, conventional whole body PET imaging with F‐18 Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). The primary lesions were at least 2 cm in diameter.Results: The images from the PEM/PET system demonstrated that this system is capable of identifying some lesions not visible in standard mammograms. Furthermore, while the relatively large lesions imaged in this study where all visualised by a standard whole body PET/CT scanner, some of the morphology of the tumours (ductal infiltration, for example) was better defined with the PEM/PET system. Significantly, these images were obtained immediately following a standard whole body PET scan.Conclusions: The initial testing of the new PEM/PET system demonstrated that the new system is capable of producing good quality breast‐PET images compared standard methods.
Quantification of Left Ventricular Longitudinal Strain, Strain Rate, Velocity, and Displacement in Healthy Horses by 2‐Dimensional Speckle Tracking
Authors: Decloedt A. , Verheyen T. , Sys S. , De Clercq D. , van Loon G. 
Published: March 2011

Background: The quantification of equine left ventricular (LV) function is generally limited to short‐axis M‐mode measurements. However, LV deformation is 3‐dimensional (3D) and consists of longitudinal shortening, circumferential shortening, and radial thickening. In human medicine, longitudinal motion is the best marker of subtle myocardial dysfunction.Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility and reliability of 2‐dimensional speckle tracking (2DST) for quantifying equine LV longitudinal function.Animals: Ten healthy untrained trotter horses; 9.6 ± 4.4 years; 509 ± 58 kg.Methods: Prospective study. Repeated echocardiographic examinations were performed by 2 observers from a modified 4‐chamber view. Global, segmental, and averaged peak values and timing of longitudinal strain (SL), strain rate (SrL), velocity (VL), and displacement (DL) were measured in 4 LV wall segments. The inter‐ and intraobserver within‐ and between‐day variability was assessed by calculating the coefficients of variation for repeated measurements.Results: 2DST analysis was feasible in each exam. The variability of peak systolic values and peak timing was low to moderate, whereas peak diastolic values showed a higher variability. Significant segmental differences were demonstrated. DL and VL presented a prominent base‐to‐midwall gradient. SL and SrL values were similar in all segments except the basal septal segment, which showed a significantly lower peak SL occurring about 60 ms later compared with the other segments.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: 2DST is a reliable technique for measuring systolic LV longitudinal motion in healthy horses. This study provides preliminary reference values, which can be used when evaluating the technique in a clinical setting.
A Multicenter Retrospective Study of 151 Renal Biopsies in Horses
Authors: Tyner G.A. , Nolen‐Walston R.D. , Hall T. , Palmero J.P. , Couëtil L. , Javsicas L. , Stack A. , Schott H. , Johnson A. , Hardefeldt L. , Gruntman A. , Sommardahl C. , Menzies‐Gow N. , dePedro P. , Norman T. , Fennell L.C. , Axon J.E. , Lindborg S. , Aceto H. , Boston R. , Engiles J. 
Published: March 2011

Background: Renal biopsies are uncommonly performed in horses and little is known about their diagnostic utility and associated complication rate.Objective: To describe the techniques, the complication rate, risk factors, and histopathology results; as well as evaluate the safety and diagnostic utility of renal biopsy in the horse.Animals: One hundred and forty‐six horses from which 151 renal biopsies were obtained. Animals ranged in age from 48 hours to 30 years.Methods: Multicenter retrospective study, with participation of 14 institutions (1983–2009).Results: Renal biopsy in horses was associated with a similar rate of complications (11.3%) to that occurring in humans and companion animals. Complications were generally associated with hemorrhage or signs of colic, and required treatment in 3% of cases. Fatality rate was low (1/151; 0.7%). Biopsy specimens yielded sufficient tissue for a histopathologic diagnosis in most cases (94%) but diagnoses had only fair (72%) agreement with postmortem findings. Risk factors for complications included biopsy specimens of the left kidney (P= .030), a diagnosis of neoplasia (P= .004), and low urine specific gravity (P= .030). No association with complications was found for age, sex, breed, institution, presenting complaint, other initial clinicopathologic data, biopsy instrument, needle size, or use of ultrasonographic guidance.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Renal biopsy in horses has low morbidity and results in a morphological histopathologic diagnosis in 94% of cases. However, this procedure might result in serious complications and should only be used when information obtained would be likely to impact decisions regarding patient management and prognosis.
Improved Oxacillin Treatment Outcomes in Experimental Skin and Lung Infection by a Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolate with a
vraSR
Operon Deletion
Authors: Jo Dae Sun , Montgomery Christopher P. , Yin Shaohui , Boyle-Vavra Susan , Daum Robert S. 
Published: March 2011

ABSTRACT

Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) strains are major pathogens causing infections of the skin and soft tissues and more serious, life-threatening diseases, including sepsis and necrotizing pneumonia. The
vraSR
operon encodes the key regulatory system that modulates the stress response of
S. aureus
elicited upon exposure to cell wall antibiotics. Mutation of
vraS
and
vraR
results in decreased oxacillin resistance
in vitro
. We investigated the effect of oxacillin treatment in experimental models employing a clinical USA300 MRSA strain (strain 923) and an isogenic
vraSR
deletion mutant (strain 923-M23). In a murine model of
S. aureus
necrotizing pneumonia, animals were treated with oxacillin, beginning 15 min after inoculation. Among mice infected with mutant strain 923-M23, oxacillin treatment significantly improved survival compared with saline treatment, whereas oxacillin treatment had no effect in mice infected with strain 923. Similarly, treatment with oxacillin decreased the bacterial burden among animals infected with strain 923-M23 but not among animals infected with strain 923. In a murine skin infection model, oxacillin eliminated the development of dermonecrosis among 923-M23-infected mice and decreased the bacterial burden in the lesions, but not among strain 923-infected mice. We conclude that deletion of the
vraSR
operon allowed an oxacillin regimen to be effective in murine models of MRSA pneumonia and skin infection. These findings provide proof-of-principle for development of a new antibiotic that could restore the usefulness of oxacillin against MRSA by inhibiting VraS or VraR.
Legionella pneumophila Type II Secretion Dampens the Cytokine Response of Infected Macrophages and Epithelia
Authors: McCoy-Simandle Kessler , Stewart Catherine R. , Dao Jenny , DebRoy Sruti , Rossier Ombeline , Bryce Paul J. , Cianciotto Nicholas P. 
Published: March 2011

ABSTRACTThe type II secretion (T2S) system ofLegionella pneumophilais required for the ability of the bacterium to grow within the lungs of A/J mice. By utilizing mutants lacking T2S (lsp), we now document that T2S promotes the intracellular infection of both multiple types of macrophages and lung epithelia. Following infection of macrophages,lspmutants (but not a complemented mutant) elicited significantly higher levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IL-10, IL-8, IL-1β, and MCP-1 within tissue culture supernatants. A similar result was obtained with infected lung epithelial cell lines and the lungs of infected A/J mice. Infection with a mutant specifically lacking the T2S-dependent ProA protease (but not a complementedproAmutant) resulted in partial elevation of cytokine levels. These data demonstrate that the T2S system ofL. pneumophiladampens the cytokine/chemokine output of infected host cells. Upon quantitative reverse transcription (RT)-PCR analysis of infected host cells, anlspFmutant, but not theproAmutant, produced significantly higher levels of cytokine transcripts, implying that some T2S-dependent effectors dampen signal transduction and transcription but that others, such as ProA, act at a posttranscriptional step in cytokine expression. In summary, the impact of T2S on lung infection is a combination of at least three factors: the promotion of growth in macrophages, the facilitation of growth in epithelia, and the dampening of the chemokine and cytokine output from infected host cells. To our knowledge, these data are the first to identify a link between a T2S system and the modulation of immune factors following intracellular infection.
DRIVEN TRANSITIONS AT THE ONSET OF ERGODICITY BREAKING IN GAUGE-INVARIANT COMPLEX NETWORKS
Authors: BARRA ADRIANO 
Published: March 2011

In the last few years, the statistical mechanics of spin glasses has become one of the major frameworks for analyzing the macroscopical equilibrium properties of complex systems starting from the microscopical dynamics of their components. Recently, many advances in its rigorous formulation without the replica trick have been achieved, highlighting the importance of this field of research in our understanding of complex systems. In this framework we analyze the critical behavior of a Poissonian diluted network with random competitive interactions among gauge-invariant dichotomic variables pasted on the nodes (i.e., a suitable version of the Viana–Bray diluted spin glass). The model is described by an infinite series of order parameters (the multioverlaps) and has two degrees of freedom: the temperature (which can be thought of as the noise level) and the connectivity (the averaged number of links per node in the underlying network). In this paper, we show that there are not several transition lines, one for every order parameter, as a naive approach would suggest but just one corresponding to ergodicity breaking. We explain this scenario within a novel and simple mathematical technique: we show the existence of a driving mechanism such that, as the first order parameter (the two-replica overlap) becomes different from zero due to a real second order phase transition, it enforces all the other multioverlaps toward positive values thanks to the strong correlations which develop among themselves and the two-replica overlap at the critical line. These correlations are ultimately related — within our framework — to the breaking of the gauge invariance of the Boltzmann state at the boundary of the ergodic region. A discussion on the structure of the free energy, fundamental macroscopical observable by which the whole thermodynamic can be achieved, is also presented.
A NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF CONVECTIVE FLOW IN THE SOLIDIFICATION PROCESS
Authors: KORTI ABDEL ILLAH NABIL 
Published: March 2011

There has been a growing research interest in the melting and solidification technology among mathematicians and engineers. The topic has obvious practical importance in a wide range of applications. Natural convection may play a significant role in heat transfer and hence affect the progress of the solidification. A fixed-grid finite volume numerical approach is developed and used to simulate physical details of convection flow in the solidification problems. This approach is based on the enthalpy–porosity method that is traditionally used to track the motion of the liquid–solid front and to obtain the temperature distribution and the velocity profiles in the liquid phase. The enthalpy–porosity model treats the mushy region as a porous medium. In this paper, the numerical and experimental studies of unsteady natural convection during solidification of cylindrical ingots are presented. The aim of the study consists of the numerical determination of the fluid flow, the temperature evolution, and the solidification front versus time. To validate the numerical model, an experimental study of the simple casting of cylindrical ingots was undertaken within the laboratory of metallurgy. The measured temperature was compared with values calculated numerically. A good agreement was obtained.
A Prospective Evaluation of C-reactive Protein Levels and Colorectal Adenoma Development
Authors: Gunter Marc J. , Cross Amanda J. , Huang Wen-Yi , Stanczyk Frank Z. , Purdue Mark , Xue Xiaonan , Schoen Robert , Limburg Paul J. , Schatzkin Arthur , Sinha Rashmi , Hayes Richard B. 
Published: March 2011

Abstract
Background: Inflammation is hypothesized to play a role in colorectal tumorigenesis. Circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a serologic marker of the inflammatory response, have been positively associated with colorectal cancer development in some studies; however, there are limited data on the relation of CRP with colorectal adenomas, established precursors of colorectal cancer.
Methods: A nested case–control investigation of CRP levels and incident colorectal adenoma was conducted in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, a randomized trial of 154,942 individuals designed to test the efficacy of flexible sigmoidoscopy on colorectal cancer mortality when performed once, and then repeated 3 to 5 years later. Serum CRP levels were measured in baseline blood specimens from participants who were free of polyps in the left-sided colorectum at the baseline screening procedure, but who were found at the subsequent screen to have at least one colorectal adenoma (n = 356), and in a set of polyp-free, frequency-matched controls (n = 396).
Results: In a multivariable logistic regression model that included established colorectal adenoma risk factors, a 1-unit increase in log CRP level was associated with a 15% reduction in risk of developing colorectal adenoma (OR = 0.85, 95% CI, 0.75–0.98, Ptrend = 0.01). This association did not differ according to body size, smoking behavior, gender, use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, or adenoma location.
Conclusions: High circulating CRP levels may be protective against colorectal adenoma development.
Impact: Though at contrast with mechanistic data on inflammation and colorectal tumorigenesis, this finding is not inconsistent with prior results on CRP and colorectal adenoma and warrants further investigation. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(3); 537–44. ©2011 AACR.
Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription-3/Pim1 Axis Plays a Critical Role in the Pathogenesis of Human Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Authors: Paulin Roxane , Courboulin Audrey , Meloche Jolyane , Mainguy Vincent , Dumas de la Roque Eric , Saksouk Nehmé , Côté Jacques , Provencher Steeve , Sussman Mark A. , Bonnet Sébastien 
Published: March 2011

Background—
Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is a proliferative disorder associated with enhanced pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell proliferation and suppressed apoptosis. The sustainability of this phenotype required the activation of a prosurvival transcription factor like signal transducers and activators of transcription-3 (STAT3) and nuclear factor of activated T cell (NFAT). Because these factors are implicated in several physiological processes, their inhibition in PAH patients could be associated with detrimental effects. Therefore, a better understanding of the mechanism accounting for their expression/activation in PAH pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells is of great therapeutic interest.

Methods and Results—
Using multidisciplinary and translational approaches, we demonstrated that STAT3 activation in both human and experimental models of PAH accounts for the expression of both NFATc2 and the oncoprotein kinase Pim1, which trigger NFATc2 activation. Because Pim1 expression correlates with the severity of PAH in humans and is confined to the PAH pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell, Pim1 was identified as an attractive therapeutic target for PAH. Indeed, specific Pim1 inhibition in vitro decreases pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell proliferation and promotes apoptosis, all of which are sustained by NFATc2 inhibition. In vivo, tissue-specific inhibition of Pim1 by nebulized siRNA reverses monocrotaline-induced PAH in rats, whereas Pim1 knockout mice are resistant to PAH development.

Conclusion—
We demonstrated for the first time that inhibition of the inappropriate activation of STAT3/Pim1 axis is a novel, specific, and attractive therapeutic strategy to reverse PAH.
Was it Rape? The David and Bathsheba Pericope Re-examined
Authors: Abasili Alexander Izuchukwu 
Published: March 2011

AbstractIn view of the academic debate on whether David raped Bathsheba, this article takes a new approach to 2 Sam 11-12. Using narrative analysis, it reinterprets 2 Sam 11-12 with the Hebrew biblical definition of rape in mind. This new approach reveals that some of the opposing views of exegetes on this pericope are caused by the imposition of today’s definition of rape upon the narrative of 2 Sam 11-12. Our conclusion questions, on the one hand, the basis upon which some scholars suggest that David raped Bathsheba. Are they talking about ‘biblical-rape’ or are they using a contemporary concept of rape to judge the Hebrew bible? On the other hand, it disagrees with those scholars who accuse Bathsheba of seducing David for whatever motive.
Biblical Prophecy—A Scribal Enterprise. The Old Testament Prophecy of Unconditional Judgement considered as a Literary Phenomenon
Authors: de Jong Matthijs J. 
Published: March 2011

AbstractAt the heart of the biblical prophetic books is scribal reinterpretation of earlier prophetic legacies. These legacies testify to prophetic activity in Israel and Judah—kinds of prophecy which in essence resembled prophetic and other divinatory activity found elsewhere in the ancient Near East. It was however the scribal reception, revision, and elaboration of these earlier legacies that gave rise to “biblical prophecy” and prompted the development of the prophetic books. In this process of reinterpretation the ‘prophets’ were removed from the realm of divination. They became to be portrayed as isolated figures, contra society, commissioned by Yahweh to declare his message of unconditional and total destruction. Through their ‘message’ the disastrous events that had befallen the states of Israel and Judah were explained (ex eventu) as being due to divine anger. This was in fact the common explanation for calamities, used throughout the ancient Near Eastern world.
Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī and the Salafi Approach to Sufism
Authors: Sirry Mun'im 
Published: March 2011

AbstractThis article problematizes the general assumption about the inherent anti-Sufi tendency of the Salafiyya by looking closely at the thought of the Syrian Salafi thinker Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī. The primary text analysed in this article is a brief chapter of Qāsimī's book Dalā'il al-tawhīd, entitled Butlān al-hulūl wa-l-ittihād (The Invalidity of Incarnation and Union). Here Qāsimī discusses the notions of hulūl (incarnation) and ittihād (union), and defends the idea of wahdat al-wujūd (unity of being) attributed to the shaykh akbar Ibn 'Arabī which led Qāsimī to stand up against the shaykh al-islām Ibn Taymiyya who accused Ibn 'Arabī of being a heretic. This article discusses Qāsimī's defense of Ibn 'Arabī within a broader context of the Salafi approach to Sufism. In this context, the case of Qāsimī presents us with an insight that the Salafis took a more nuanced position than is sometimes supposed. We will conclude with a brief reflection on how we could situate Qāsimī's view of Ibn 'Arabī within the ongoing debate about the relationship between the Salafiyya and Sufism in more recent scholarship.
The Noetic Turn in Jewish Thought
Authors: Giulea Dragoş A. 
Published: March 2011

AbstractThe noetic turn—perhaps the most important development in Jewish theological discourse after that from prophetic literature to apocalypticism—denotes the translation of the biblical and particularly apocalyptic ontological and epistemological categories, generally conceived according to the norms and categories of everyday knowledge, into noetic categories. God, his throne, light, angels and heavens are re-conceived from a noetic perspective. Noetic perception takes the place of direct vision, hearing and dreams in apprehending the heavenly mysteries of the apocalyptic literature. The noetic turn introduces new ontological layers and degrees in heaven, new doctrines regarding the levels of divine concealment and manifestation and new theories about human epistemic capacities. This turn exerts a momentous influence on philosophically educated authors of Jewish and Christian cultures, on such classics as Philo, Clement, Origen, Halevi, Maimonides and Gersonides and many other thinkers of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
The Reading & Interpretation of Matthew 18:21-22 in Relation to Multiple Reconciliations: The Zimbabwean Experience
Authors: Machingura Francis 
Published: March 2011

AbstractThe mention of the terms ‘healing, truth and reconciliation’, conjure up different meanings across religio-political, social and economical divide in Zimbabwe. This paper seeks to explore the possible implications of the reading of Matthew 18:21-22 in relation to reconciliation in the face of continual and structural violence in Zimbabwe. This rose as a result of the multiple reconciliation undertakings that have been witnessed by the Zimbabweans since the attainment of Independence in 1980. These healing whistles have been sounded in 1980, 1987 and recently 2008 after the brutal violence that took place in different shapes and depth. Most of the victims belonged to both political parties but mostly opposition parties save the violence before Independence as shall be shown in this paper. What is interesting is that, the recent 24-26 July 2009 healing calls by Mugabe are no longer a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe, as they do not produce any positive change on people’s behaviour and attitude; when it comes to how Zimbabwean people should relate and integrate each other without resorting to violence in the face of different political views. Surprisingly the calls for peace, unity, reconciliation, integration and forgiveness have left the Zimbabwean society more: wounded, divided and polarised than healed; and more disintegrated than integrated. How does one reconcile with someone who murdered your father, raped your mother or sister in your face; and that person is not made accountable for his actions but is only asked to apologize? This paper seeks to argue that healing or any reconciliation without the seeking of truth and justice is a goose chasing as it still leaves Zimbabwe a ‘violence infested’ country. I also take issue with Religious Leaders who quote Matthew 18:21-22; as a precursor for unconditional forgiveness on the part of the victim when it comes to reconciliation and healing in Zimbabwe.