bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Can we trust the new generation of infrared tympanic thermometers in clinical practice?
Authors: Haugan Berit , Langerud Anne K , Kalvøy Håvard , Frøslie Kathrine F , Riise Else , Kapstad Heidi 
Published: August 2012

Aims and objectives.  To explore the reliability and validity of the new generation of infrared tympanic thermometers, comparing with rectal and core temperature, and to decide their applicability to clinical practice.Background.  Digital contact thermometers for rectal measurements and infrared tympanic thermometers are the most common way to measure patients’ temperature. Previous studies of the infrared tympanic thermometers revealed misdiagnosis, and validity of early models was questioned.Design.  Reliability and validity study.Methods.  Temperature was measured with two infrared tympanic thermometers brands in both ears and compared with rectal temperature twice a day at the ward (n = 200). At the intensive care unit, patients (n = 42) underwent the same measurement procedures every fourth hour for 24 hours. In addition, core temperature was measured. Statistical analyses included descriptive and mixed models analyses.Results.  Ward: Infrared tympanic thermometers measured the temperature lower than the rectal temperature. Descriptive statistics indicate higher variation in temperature measurements made in the ear. No statistically significant difference in temperature was found for left ear vs. right ear. Intensive care unit: The mean rectal temperature was higher than the mean core and ear temperature. Mixed models analyses of the temperatures at the ward and the intensive care unit showed the same overall trends, but with less discrepancy between the two infrared tympanic thermometers brands, compared with the rectal temperature. Only rectal temperature measurements differed significantly from the core temperature.Conclusion.  Our study shows good reliability using the new generation of infrared tympanic thermometers. We found good agreement between core and infrared tympanic thermometers at the intensive care unit, but the measuring inaccuracy for infrared tympanic thermometers was greater than expected.Relevance to clinical practice.  The new generation of infrared tympanic thermometers may be used in clinical practice, but it is important to do repeatedly measurements if there is discrepancy between the temperature and the observation of the patient condition.
Assessment of nutritional status and meal‐related situations among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Primary health care – obese patients; a challenge for the future
Authors: Odencrants Sigrid , Theander Kersti 
Published: August 2012

Aims and objectives.  To describe nutritional status, meal related situations, food habits and food preferences of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a Primary health care (PHC) setting.Background.  To date, guidelines have mainly focused on underweight patients with COPD, as a low body mass index (BMI) is a risk factor for mortality. However, in recent years there has been an increase in the number of overweight patients with COPD, and therefore nutritional management must be developed to cover problems related to both under and overweight.Design.  Descriptive.Methods.  One hundred and three patients from PHC centres representing COPD stages 2 and 3 were included. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) was used to collect nutritional status data while semi‐structured interviews provided information on food and meal related situations.Results.  Mean age was 69 (±5) years and 45% were women. Among all patients mean BMI was 27 and 14% had a BMI ≤ 21 kg/m2. More women (31%) than men (26%) had a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2. According to the MNA screening score, 86% of the patients were assessed as normal or not at risk of malnutrition. The total MNA assessment score revealed that 10 patients were at risk of malnutrition or malnourishment. Problems with meal related situations were mostly associated with eating, and only a small number reported difficulties with shopping or preparing food.Conclusions.  In PHC, more patients with COPD were obese than malnourished and their self‐reported nutritional status was not always accurate.Relevance to clinical practice.  It is challenging to identify the patient’s nutritional status, individualize nutritional care and educate obese patients with COPD at PHC centres. It is necessary to develop screening instruments to assess the risk of both obesity and malnutrition.
Clonal populations of Leptosphaeria maculans contaminating cabbage in Mexico
Authors: Dilmaghani A. , Gout L. , Moreno‐Rico O. , Dias J. S. , Coudard L. , Castillo‐Torres N. , Balesdent M.‐H. , Rouxel T. 
Published: August 2012

The race structure and genotypic diversity of four Leptosphaeria maculans populations isolated from Brassica oleracea (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.) in central Mexico (Aguascalientes, Guanajuato and Zacatecas states) were analysed. Race structure was characterized by an unusually low diversity at three locations out of four. Fourteen minisatellite markers revealed a high proportion of repeated multilocus genotypes in these populations, combined with a significant linkage disequilibrium and strong clonal fraction (65–87%). The occurrence of the mating‐type idiomorphs always significantly departed from the 1:1 proportion expected in the case of random mating. Each population thus consists of a few (four to nine) multilocus genotypes which are specific to each location. These data strongly support the hypothesis of exclusive, or a high rate of, clonal multiplication. Comparison of cropping practices between B. oleracea and B. napus indicate that the shift in reproductive behaviour of the fungus is chiefly man‐mediated.
Potential Implication of Activating Killer Cell Immunoglobulin‐Like Receptor and HLA in Onset of Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Authors: Lu C. , Bai X. L. , Shen Y. J. , Deng Y. F. , Wang C. Y. , Fan G. , Chu J. X. , Zhao S. M. , Zhang B. C. , Zhao Y. R. , Zhang C. Z. , Ye H. , Lu Z. M. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractKiller cell immunoglobulin‐like receptor (KIR) and human leucocyte antigen (HLA) play crucial role in maintaining immune homoeostasis and controlling immune responses. To investigate the influence of KIR and HLA‐C ligands on the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), we studied 200 patients who were confirmed to have PTB and 200 healthy controls on the different frequencies of KIR and HLA‐C ligands. Genotyping of these genes was conducted by sequence‐specific primer polymerase chain reaction (SSP‐PCR) method. Gene frequencies were compared between PTB group and the control group by χ2 test, and P < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. As a result, the frequency of KIR genotype A/B was increased in PTB than controls but A/A was decreased. Moreover, striking differences were observed in the frequencies of HLA‐Cw*08 between the two groups. Besides, the frequencies of ‘2DL2/3 with C1’ in PTB were increased compared with control group. In addition, individuals with no KIR2DS3 and no Cw*08 were higher in controls than in PTB. KIR2DS1 was increased in PTB when HLA‐C group 2 alleles were missing. In conclusion, KIR and HLA‐C gene polymorphisms were related to susceptibility to PTB.
High Non‐Specific T Lymphocyte Response to the Adjuvanted H1N1 Vaccine in Comparison with the H1N1/H3N2/B‐Brisbane Vaccine without Adjuvant
Authors: Korošec P. , Petrovec M. , Lainščak M. , Meško P. , Šilar M. , Košnik M. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractShortly after the report of pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1), vaccine manufacturers, in conjunction with public agencies, started developing a H1N1 vaccine. In 2009, various approaches were implemented around the globe. The United States and Australia finally approved only non‐adjuvanted H1N1 influenza vaccines, whereas Canada and the EU also approved adjuvanted vaccines. In 2010, seasonal influenza vaccine without adjuvant was again widely accepted in both hemispheres. The addition of adjuvant to the vaccine enhances the immunogenity of the vaccine in the presence of a relatively low amount of antigen. However, it might also induce undesirable non‐specific immune response. For this reason, we conducted a prospective observational study to monitor T cell absolute count and H1N1‐specific immunogenicity after 2009 and 2010 immunization. Fourteen healthy volunteers received the monovalent H1N1 AS03 adjuvanted influenza vaccine (3.5 μg of H1N1 and squalene‐based adjuvant) in October 2009. The immunization was associated with a significant increase in T lymphocyte absolute count (P < 0.0001), reaching abnormal values in 57% of subjects. During this period, none of the subject showed any manifestation of severe viral infection or inflammation. Acute infection by CMV or EBV viruses was also excluded. In October 2010, the same subjects received a seasonal non‐adjuvanted influenza vaccine (15 μg of each: H1N1, H3N2, and B‐Brisbane). However, after 2010 immunization, no change in T lymphocyte absolute count was observed. H1N1‐induced immunogenicity was good for both vaccines. Our results suggest a pronounced non‐specific T cell response after AS03‐adjuvanted 2009 H1N1 vaccination.
The requirement for recombination factors differs considerably between different pathways of homologous double‐strand break repair in somatic plant cells
Authors: Roth Nadine , Klimesch Jacqueline , Dukowic‐Schulze Stefanie , Pacher Michael , Mannuss Anja , Puchta Holger 
Published: August 2012

SummaryIn recent years, multiple factors involved in DNA double‐strand break (DSB) repair have been characterised in Arabidopsis thaliana. Using homologous sequences in somatic cells, DSBs are mainly repaired by two different pathways: synthesis‐dependent strand annealing (SDSA) and single‐strand annealing (SSA). By applying recombination substrates in which recombination is initiated by the induction of a site‐specific DSB by the homing endonuclease I‐SceI, we were able to characterise the involvement of different factors in both pathways. The nucleases MRE11 and COM1, both involved in DSB end processing, were not required for either SDSA or SSA in our assay system. Both SDSA and SSA were even more efficient without MRE11, in accordance with the fact that a loss of MRE11 might negatively affect the efficiency of non‐homologous end joining. Loss of the classical recombinase RAD51 or its two paralogues RAD51C and XRCC3, as well as the SWI2/SNF2 remodelling factor RAD54, resulted in a drastic deficiency in SDSA but had hardly any influence on SSA, confirming that a strand exchange reaction is only required for SDSA. The helicase FANCM, which is postulated to be involved in the stabilisation of recombination intermediates, is surprisingly not only needed for SDSA but to a lesser extent also for SSA. Both SSA and SDSA were affected only weakly when the SMC6B protein, implicated in sister chromatid recombination, was absent, indicating that SSA and SDSA are in most cases intrachromatid recombination reactions.
Temporary inhibitory tagging at previously attended locations: Evidence from event‐related potentials
Authors: Zhang Yang , Zhou Xiaolin , Zhang Ming 
Published: August 2012

AbstractRecent studies propose that a mechanism termed “inhibitory tagging” acts upon the processing of the target at the attended location by temporarily blocking the stimulus‐response mapping. Here we combined the cue–target paradigm with the Stroop task and measured event‐related potential (ERP) responses to the color of a color word presented at the previously attended (cued) or unattended (uncued) location. We found that the conflict‐related N450 effect emerged later and had a smaller size at the cued than the uncued location. The overall ERP responses to the target showed lower P1 and N1 amplitude at the cued than the uncued location. Although the P1/N1 effect may reflect deficient perceptual processing of the target, the delay of the N450 suggests that the link between perceptual processing and response activation is temporarily blocked at the previously attended location.
Comparative peptidomics analysis of neural adaptations in rats repeatedly exposed to amphetamine
Authors: Romanova Elena V. , Lee Ji Eun , Kelleher Neil L. , Sweedler Jonathan V. , Gulley Joshua M. 
Published: August 2012

AbstractRepeated exposure to amphetamine (AMPH) induces long‐lasting behavioral changes, referred to as sensitization, that are accompanied by various neuroadaptations in the brain. To investigate the chemical changes that occur during behavioral sensitization, we applied a comparative proteomics approach to screen for neuropeptide changes in a rodent model of AMPH‐induced sensitization. By measuring peptide profiles with matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry and comparing signal intensities using principal component analysis and variance statistics, subsets of peptides are found with significant differences in the dorsal striatum, nucleus accumbens, and medial prefrontal cortex of AMPH‐sensitized male Sprague–Dawley rats. These biomarker peptides, identified in follow‐up analyses using liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry, suggest that behavioral sensitization to AMPH is associated with complex chemical adaptations that regulate energy/metabolism, neurotransmission, apoptosis, neuroprotection, and neuritogenesis, as well as cytoskeleton integrity and neuronal morphology. Our data contribute to a growing number of reports showing that in addition to the mesolimbic dopamine system, which is the best known signaling pathway involved with reinforcing the effect of psychostimulants, concomitant chemical changes in other pathways and in neuronal organization may play a part in the overall effect of chronic AMPH exposure on behavior.
Association of three different techniques to measure blood pressure in the first trimester with the development of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy
Authors: VOLLEBREGT KARLIJN CORIEN , BOER KEES , VAN DER POST JORIS A. M. , WOLF HANS 
Published: August 2012

AbstractObjectiveIt is not known whether automated devices for measuring blood pressure perform better than conventional sphygmomanometry in predicting preeclampsia. This study compares two different automated devices with conventional sphygmomanometry for their association with development of preeclampsia or gestational hypertension.DesignProspective observational cohort study.SettingUniversity hospital, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.Population289 healthy normotensive women of whom 235 were nulliparous and 44 parous with preeclampsia in a previous pregnancy.MethodsAt 8–11 weeks of pregnancy, blood pressure was measured with two different automated devices (continuous finger arterial pressure waveform registration and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring) and with conventional sphygmomanometry.Main outcome measuresPreeclampsia and gestational hypertension.ResultsBlood pressure in the first trimester, as measured with all three methods, was significantly higher in women who developed preeclampsia or gestational hypertension. After adjustment for previous preeclampsia, the point estimate of the odds ratios for association with later preeclampsia for both automated devices were comparable and higher than for conventional sphygmomanometry; however, differences were not statistically significant. The odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) for every 1 mmHg pressure increase of mean arterial pressure was 1.08 (1.02–1.15) for sphygmomanometry, 1.17 (1.09–1.27) for finger arterial pressure waveform registration, and 1.17 (1.07–1.27) for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Results were comparable if preeclampsia and gestational hypertension were analyzed together.ConclusionBlood pressure in the first trimester was associated with the development of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. No significant differences were found between measurements by automatic devices compared with conventional sphygmomanometry.
Prevalence of the HPA‐18w to ‐21w alleles in the Chinese Han population
Authors: Liu Y. , Hong X. , Xu X. , Ying Y. , He J. , Zhu F. , Lv H. , Yan L. 
Published: August 2012

SummaryRecently, four new platelet alloantigen (HPA) systems HPA‐18w to‐21w were identified. However, genotyping for HPA‐18w to ‐21w alleles was rarely reported. Here, we established a polymerase chain reaction sequence–based typing (PCR‐SBT) method and investigated the distribution of HPA‐18w to ‐21w alleles in the Chinese Han population. The specific primers of HPA‐18w, ‐19w, ‐20w and ‐21w were designed, and the PCR products were bidirectionally sequenced. 855 randomly selected platelet donors were genotyped for HPA‐18w to ‐21w with the PCR‐SBT method. The results showed that all individuals were monomorphic for HPA‐18w to HPA‐20w with a/a homozygous frequency of 1.0 and absence of HPA‐18bw to ‐20bw alleles. The frequencies of the HPA‐21a/21a and HPA‐21a/21b genotypes were 0.981(839/855) and 0.019(16/855), respectively. Seven mutations were confirmed on sequenced region separate from HPA polymorphisms, including ITGA2 (IVS17+48G>A and IVS17+72G>A), ITGA2B (IVS19‐26C>G) and ITGB3 (IVS4+234C>T, IVS11‐19 T>C, IVS11‐104T>C and GT repeats from IVS11‐131 to IVS11‐109). These data will provide useful information for diagnosis, prevention and treatment of alloimmune thrombocytopaenia.
Flowering and Fruiting Patterns in a Subtropical Rain Forest, Taiwan
Authors: Chang‐Yang Chia‐Hao , Lu Chia‐Ling , Sun I‐Fang , Hsieh Chang‐Fu 
Published: August 2012

AbstractReproductive patterns of tropical and temperate plants are usually associated with climatic seasonality, such as rainfall or temperature, and with their phylogeny. It is still unclear, however, whether plant reproductive phenology is influenced by climatic factors and/or phylogeny in aseasonal subtropical regions. The plant reproductive phenology of a subtropical rain forest in northern Taiwan (24°45′ N, 121°35′ E) was monitored at weekly intervals during a 7‐yr period (2002–2009). The flowering patterns of 46 taxa and fruiting patterns of 26 taxa were examined and evaluated in relation to climatic seasonality, phylogenetic constraints, and different phenophases. Our results indicated that most of the studied species reproduced annually. Additionally, both community‐wide flowering and fruiting patterns exhibited distinct annual rhythms and varied little among years. The community flowering peak matched seasonal changes in day length, temperature, and irradiance; while the community fruiting peak coincided with an increase in bird richness and the diet‐switching of resident omnivorous birds. In addition, phylogenetically closely related species tended to reproduce during the same periods of a year. Neither the mean flowering dates nor seasonal variation in solar radiation, however, was related to the fruit development times. Our results indicate the importance of abiotic, biotic, and evolutionary factors in determining the reproductive phenology in this subtropical forest.
Effects of subconjunctival bevacizumab on corneal neovascularization: results of a prospective study
Authors: BENAYOUN Y , ADENIS JP , CASSE G , FORTE R , ROBERT PY 
Published: August 2012

AbstractPurpose To evaluate the effect of subconjunctival bevacizumab injections in patients with corneal neovascularization resulting from different ocular surface disorders.Methods Prospective case series. Fourteen eyes of 13 patients with corneal neovascularization caused by different ocular surface disorders, such as healed corneal ulcers, long‐standing chronic inflammatory diseases and corneal ischaemia secondary to burn were included. All eyes received a single subconjunctival injection of 2.5 mg (0.1 ml) bevacizumab. Morphological changes in neovascularization were evaluated during 3 months using slit‐lamp biomicroscopy, corneal digital photography, and computed‐assisted semi‐automatic analysis of corneal neovascularization area.Results Recession of corneal vessels was observed in all eyes at 1 week post‐injection. The surface of the neovascular tree continued to decrease noticeably for one month and then increased again for the remainder of the follow‐up period. The corneal neovascularization area amounted to 12.14± 4.38% of the corneal surface pre‐injection, compared with 9.10± 3.16% post‐injection (p=0.02), reflecting a mean decrease in corneal neovascularization of 25 %. No local or systemic adverse events possibly related to subconjunctival bevacizumab injection were observed.Conclusion Short‐term results suggest that subconjunctival bevacizumab can be used safely and effectively for corneal neovascularization resulting from different ocular surface disorders, providing an additional strategy to improve success of corneal grafts.
Effect of Inorganic and Organic Ligands on the Bioavailability of Methylmercury as Determined by Using a
mer-lux
Bioreporter
Authors: Ndu Udonna , Mason Robert P. , Zhang Huan , Lin Senjie , Visscher Pieter T. 
Published: August 2012

ABSTRACT

A
mer-lux
bioreporter was constructed to assess the bioavailability of methylmercury [CH
3
Hg(II)] in
Escherichia coli
. The bioreporter was shown to be sensitive, with a detection limit of 2.5 nM CH
3
Hg(II), and was used to investigate the effects of chlorides, humic acids, and thiols on the bioavailability of CH
3
Hg(II) in
E. coli
. It was found that increasing the concentration of chlorides resulted in an increase in CH
3
Hg(II) bioavailability, suggesting that there was passive diffusion of the neutral complex (CH
3
HgCl
0
). Humic acids were found to reduce the bioavailability of CH
3
Hg(II) in varying degrees. Complexation with cysteine resulted in increased bioavailability of CH
3
Hg(II), while assays with equivalent concentrations of methionine and leucine had little or no effect on bioavailability. The mechanism of uptake of the mercurial-cysteine complexes is likely not passive diffusion but could result from the activities of a cysteine transport system. The bioavailability of CH
3
Hg(II) decreased with increasing glutathione concentrations.
High-Level Production of the Industrial Product Lycopene by the Photosynthetic Bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum
Authors: Wang Guo-Shu , Grammel Hartmut , Abou-Aisha Khaled , Sägesser Rudolf , Ghosh Robin 
Published: August 2012

ABSTRACT

The biosynthesis of the major carotenoid spirilloxanthin by the purple nonsulfur bacterium
Rhodospirillum rubrum
is thought to occur via a linear pathway proceeding through phytoene and, later, lycopene as intermediates. This assumption is based solely on early chemical evidence (B. H. Davies, Biochem. J. 116:93–99, 1970). In most purple bacteria, the desaturation of phytoene, catalyzed by the enzyme phytoene desaturase (CrtI), leads to neurosporene, involving only three dehydrogenation steps and not four as in the case of lycopene. We show here that the chromosomal insertion of a kanamycin resistance cassette into the
crtC-crtD
region of the partial carotenoid gene cluster, whose gene products are responsible for the downstream processing of lycopene, leads to the accumulation of the latter as the major carotenoid. We provide spectroscopic and biochemical evidence that
in vivo
, lycopene is incorporated into the light-harvesting complex 1 as efficiently as the methoxylated carotenoids spirilloxanthin (in the wild type) and 3,4,3′,4′-tetrahydrospirilloxanthin (in a
crtD
mutant), both under semiaerobic, chemoheterotrophic, and photosynthetic, anaerobic conditions. Quantitative growth experiments conducted in dark, semiaerobic conditions, using a growth medium for high cell density and high intracellular membrane levels, which are suitable for the conventional industrial production in the absence of light, yielded lycopene at up to 2 mg/g (dry weight) of cells or up to 15 mg/liter of culture. These values are comparable to those of many previously described
Escherichia coli
strains engineered for lycopene production. This study provides the first genetic proof that the
R. rubrum
CrtI produces lycopene exclusively as an end product.