bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Adolescents’ and school nurses’ perceptions of using a health and lifestyle tool in health dialogues
Authors: Golsäter Marie , Sidenvall Birgitta , Lingfors Hans , Enskär Karin 
Published: July 2011

Aim and objective.  To describe and explore adolescents’ and nurses’ perceptions of using a health and lifestyle tool in health dialogues in the School Health Service.Background.  In Sweden, dialogues concerning health and lifestyle are offered to adolescents aged 14 years with the purpose of encouraging an interest in a healthy lifestyle. A health and lifestyle tool including a health questionnaire and a health profile has recently been developed, with the aim of facilitating the communication about health and lifestyle in these dialogues.Design.  Qualitative descriptive design.Method. Twenty‐nine adolescents and 23 nurses participated in focus group interviews, which were subjected to qualitative content analysis.Results.  The health and lifestyle tool was perceived as constituting a structure for the dialogues and as a clear and applicable starting point, focusing on individual aspects. The tool contributed to an understanding of the health situation and to the transmittal of health information on an individual as well as a group level.Conclusion.  The tool was perceived as constituting a useful structure for the dialogues about health and lifestyle. When it was used the individual’s health and lifestyle were concretised, which opened up for a dialogue and different aspects of health and lifestyle were detected. However, in some cases the outcome of the tool could be conceived as a stringent assessment and thereby complicate the dialogues.Relevance to clinical practice.  The use of a tool, such as the one used in this study, is one way to improve the dialogues in the School Health Service, allowing them to be more focused on the individual’s needs and to detect aspects that would otherwise not be so easily detected. The implications of this study include using the findings to guide counselling sessions in the schools and other health care settings.
Classification algorithms for predicting sleepiness and sleep apnea severity
Authors: EISEMAN NATHANIEL A. , WESTOVER M. BRANDON , MIETUS JOSEPH E. , THOMAS ROBERT J. , BIANCHI MATT T. 
Published: July 2011

SummaryIdentifying predictors of subjective sleepiness and severity of sleep apnea are important yet challenging goals in sleep medicine. Classification algorithms may provide insights, especially when large data sets are available. We analyzed polysomnography and clinical features available from the Sleep Heart Health Study. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the apnea–hypopnea index were the targets of three classifiers: k‐nearest neighbor, naive Bayes and support vector machine algorithms. Classification was based on up to 26 features including demographics, polysomnogram, and electrocardiogram (spectrogram). Naive Bayes was best for predicting abnormal Epworth class (0–10 versus 11–24), although prediction was weak: polysomnogram features had 16.7% sensitivity and 88.8% specificity; spectrogram features had 5.3% sensitivity and 96.5% specificity. The support vector machine performed similarly to naive Bayes for predicting sleep apnea class (0–5 versus >5): 59.0% sensitivity and 74.5% specificity using clinical features and 43.4% sensitivity and 83.5% specificity using spectrographic features compared with the naive Bayes classifier, which had 57.5% sensitivity and 73.7% specificity (clinical), and 39.0% sensitivity and 82.7% specificity (spectrogram). Mutual information analysis confirmed the minimal dependency of the Epworth score on any feature, while the apnea–hypopnea index showed modest dependency on body mass index, arousal index, oxygenation and spectrogram features. Apnea classification was modestly accurate, using either clinical or spectrogram features, and showed lower sensitivity and higher specificity than common sleep apnea screening tools. Thus, clinical prediction of sleep apnea may be feasible with easily obtained demographic and electrocardiographic analysis, but the utility of the Epworth is questioned by its minimal relation to clinical, electrocardiographic, or polysomnographic features.
Association of self‐reported snoring with carotid artery intima‐media thickness and plaque
Authors: LI YAN , LIU JING , WANG WEI , YONG QIANG , ZHOU GUANGHUA , WANG MIAO , SUN JIAYI , ZHAO DONG 
Published: July 2011

SummaryPrevious studies have suggested that self‐reported snoring is associated with atherosclerotic vascular diseases. However, the role of self‐reported snoring as an independent risk factor for subclinical atherosclerosis has not been well established. This study aimed to evaluate whether and to what extent self‐reported snoring is associated with subclinical carotid atherosclerosis after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Carotid intima‐media thickness and plaque were investigated with ultrasonography in 1245 urban Chinese aged 50–79 years between September 2007 and November 2007. Information on self‐reported snoring and measurements of traditional cardiovascular risk factors was also collected. A total of 1050 participants were involved in the final analysis. The prevalence of self‐reported snoring habitually (snoring frequency ≥5 days per week) was 31.5, and 64.3% of the participants in this population had a history of snoring. The mean values of the maximum intima‐media thickness of bifurcation and common carotid arteries in snorers were significantly higher than in non‐snorers (1.08 ± 0.14 mm versus 1.04 ± 0.14 mm, P < 0.001, in carotid bifurcation; 1.03 ± 0.15 mm versus 1.00 ± 0.15 mm, P = 0.002, in common carotid artery). After adjustment for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio of self‐reported snoring habitually for increased intima‐media thickness and carotid bifurcation plaque was 1.71 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22–2.39; P = 0.002] and 3.63 (95% CI: 2.57–5.12; P < 0.001), respectively. In conclusion, the current study suggested that self‐reported snoring is associated significantly with carotid bifurcation intima‐media thickness and the presence of plaque, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors.
A new family of bacterial condensins
Authors: Petrushenko Zoya M. , She Weifeng , Rybenkov Valentin V. 
Published: July 2011

SummaryCondensins play a central role in global chromatin organization. In bacteria, two families of condensins have been identified, the MukBEF and SMC–ScpAB complexes. Only one of the two complexes is usually found in a given species, giving rise to a paradigm that a single condensin organizes bacterial chromosomes. Using sequence analysis, we identified a third family of condensins, MksBEF (MukBEF‐like SMC proteins), which is broadly present in diverse bacteria. The proteins appear distantly related to MukBEF, have a similar operon organization and similar predicted secondary structures albeit with notably shorter coiled‐coils. All three subunits of MksBEF exhibit significant sequence variation and can be divided into a series of overlapping subfamilies. MksBEF often coexists with the SMC–ScpAB, MukBEF and, sometimes, other MksBEFs. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, both SMC and MksB contribute to faithful chromosome partitioning, with their inactivation leading to increased frequencies of anucleate cells. Moreover, MksBEF can complement anucleate cell formation in SMC‐deficient cells. Purified PaMksB showed activities typical for condensins including ATP‐modulated DNA binding and condensation. Notably, DNA binding by MksB is negatively regulated by ATP, which sets it apart from other known SMC proteins. Thus, several specialized condensins might be involved in organization of bacterial chromosomes.
MukBEF on the march: taking over chromosome organization in bacteria?
Authors: Gruber Stephan 
Published: July 2011

SummarySmc–ScpAB complexes, also called bacterial condensin, are comprised of highly conserved proteins present in a wide variety of bacteria and archaea. They facilitate bacterial chromosome segregation probably by organizing and/or compacting nascent sister chromosomes. In some γ‐proteobacteria however the Smc–ScpAB complex appears to have been replaced by a different SMC complex, called MukBEF. Petrushenko et al., (2011) now show in this issue of Molecular Microbiology that distantly related homologues of MukBEF, called MksBEF, can be found in the genomes of many more species of bacteria (such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus cereus) that seem to be scattered over the phylogenetic tree. The newly identified MksBEF proteins are organized in operons like MukBEF and occur in combination with Smc–ScpAB and/or MukBEF. Mutations in mksBEF in P. aeruginosa result in the formation of anucleate cells whereas its mild overexpression can suppress the accumulation of anucleate cells in smc null mutants. These findings suggest that MksBEF and Smc–ScpAB share their duties in chromosome partitioning in P. aeruginosa and possibly in other bacteria too. Thus, chromosome organization and segregation in bacteria appear to be governed by up to three distinct condensin complexes, indicating that this process could be much more sophisticated than previously appreciated.
Elucidation of a novel Vibrio cholerae lipid A secondary hydroxy‐acyltransferase and its role in innate immune recognition
Authors: Hankins Jessica V. , Madsen James A. , Giles David K. , Childers Brandon M. , Klose Karl E. , Brodbelt Jennifer S. , Trent M. Stephen 
Published: July 2011

SummarySimilar to most Gram‐negative bacteria, the outer leaflet of the outer membrane of Vibrio cholerae is comprised of lipopolysaccharide. Previous reports have proposed that V. cholerae serogroups O1 and O139 synthesize structurally different lipid A domains, which anchor lipopolysaccharide within the outer membrane. In the current study, intact lipid A species of V. cholerae O1 and O139 were analysed by mass spectrometry. We demonstrate that V. cholerae serogroups associated with human disease synthesize a similar asymmetrical hexa‐acylated lipid A species, bearing a myristate (C14:0) and 3‐hydroxylaurate (3‐OH C12:0) at the 2′‐ and 3′‐positions respectively. A previous report from our laboratory characterized the V. cholerae LpxL homologue Vc0213, which transfers a C14:0 to the 2′‐position of the glucosamine disaccharide. Our current findings identify V. cholerae Vc0212 as a novel lipid A secondary hydroxy‐acyltransferase, termed LpxN, responsible for transferring the 3‐hydroxylaurate (3‐OH C12:0) to the V. cholerae lipid A domain. Importantly, the presence of a 3‐hydroxyl group on the 3′‐linked secondary acyl chain was found to promote antimicrobial peptide resistance in V. cholerae; however, this functional group was not required for activation of the innate immune response.
Genetic susceptibility to inflammation and colonic transit in lower functional gastrointestinal disorders: preliminary analysis
Authors: Camilleri M. , Carlson P. , McKinzie S. , Zucchelli M. , D’Amato M. , Busciglio I. , Burton D. , Zinsmeister A. R. 
Published: July 2011

AbstractBackground  Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) coexist in some patients. We observed an association between Crohn’s disease (CD) candidate gene TNFSF15 and IBS symptom phenotype. Three genes (TLR9, IL6, and CDH1) have been associated with postinfectious (PI)‐IBS. Our aim was to preliminarily assess association between 30 susceptibility loci for CD, three genes associated with PI‐IBS, and PARM1, with colonic transit in lower functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID).Methods  A cohort of 665 persons was assembled in previous studies. TaqMan assay was used for all single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with the loci of interest. Data were analyzed for univariate associations with symptoms phenotype and colonic transit (nominal P values, uncorrected) using dominant and co‐dominant genetic models.Key Results  Carriers of the rs5743836 risk allele had increased odds for IBS‐D (vs control, P = 0.02, uncorrected). Among the CD risk loci, rs7927894 (P = 0.007), rs7746082 (P = 0.011), rs2872507 (P = 0.014), together with rs5743836 (P = 0.010) were univariately associated with colonic transit at 24 or 48 h. Specific tests for genetic interactions between loci revealed potential association of genes that influence neural, barrier, or mast cell function with colonic transit.Conclusions & Inferences  Genetic variations that may influence local mucosal immune functions are univariately associated with altered colonic transit in lower FGID.
Plant responses to insect herbivory: interactions between photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species and hormonal signalling pathways
Authors: KERCHEV PAVEL I. , FENTON BRIAN , FOYER CHRISTINE H. , HANCOCK ROBERT D. 
Published: July 2011

ABSTRACTUnder herbivore attack plants mount a defence response characterized by the accumulation of secondary metabolites and inhibitory proteins. Significant changes are observed in the transcriptional profiles of genes encoding enzymes of primary metabolism. Such changes have often been interpreted in terms of a requirement for an increased investment of resources to ‘fuel’ the synthesis of secondary metabolites. While enhanced secondary metabolism undoubtedly exerts an influence on primary metabolism, accumulating evidence suggests that rather than stimulating photosynthesis insect herbivory reduces photosynthetic carbon fixation and this response occurs by a re‐programming of gene expression. Within this context, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reductant/oxidant (redox) signalling play a central role. Accumulating evidence suggests that ROS signalling pathways are closely interwoven with hormone‐signalling pathways in plant–insect interactions. Here we consider how insect infestation impacts on the stress signalling network through effects on ROS and cellular redox metabolism with particular emphasis on the roles of ROS in the plant responses to phloem‐feeding insects.
Interactions between Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium graminearum in maize ears and consequences for fungal development and mycotoxin accumulation
Authors: Picot A. , Hourcade‐Marcolla D. , Barreau C. , Pinson‐Gadais L. , Caron D. , Richard‐Forget F. , Lannou C. 
Published: July 2011

Fungal interactions of Fusarium verticillioides and F. graminearum in maize ears and the impact on fungal development and toxin accumulation were investigated in a 2‐year field study at two locations in France. Maize ears were inoculated either with a spore mixture of F. graminearum and F. verticillioides or using a sequential inoculation procedure consisting of a first inoculation with F. graminearum followed by a second with F. verticillioides 1 week later. Toxin and fungal biomass were assessed on mature kernels, using HPLC and quantitative PCR. Correlation between the levels of DNA and toxin was high concerning F. graminearum DNA and deoxynivalenol (R² = 0·73) and moderate for F. verticillioides DNA and fumonisin (R² = 0·44). Fusarium graminearum DNA either decreased in mixed inoculations or was not influenced by subsequent inoculations with F. verticillioides, compared to single inoculations. In contrast, F. verticillioides DNA either significantly increased or was not affected in mixed and sequential inoculations. In two of the replicates, it can be assumed that natural contamination by F. verticillioides was favoured by previous contamination with F. graminearum. Overall, the results suggest that F. verticillioides has competitive advantages over the F. graminearum strains. Additionally, the data provide, for the first time, key evidence that previous contamination by F. graminearum in maize ears can facilitate subsequent infections by F. verticillioides.
The glutaredoxin ATGRXS13 is required to facilitate Botrytis cinerea infection of Arabidopsis thaliana plants
Authors: La Camera Sylvain , L’Haridon Floriane , Astier Jérémy , Zander Mark , Abou‐Mansour Eliane , Page Gonzague , Thurow Corinna , Wendehenne David , Gatz Christiane , Métraux Jean‐Pierre , Lamotte Olivier 
Published: July 2011

SummaryBotrytis cinerea is a major pre‐ and post‐harvest necrotrophic pathogen with a broad host range that causes substantial crop losses. The plant hormone jasmonic acid (JA) is involved in the basal resistance against this fungus. Despite basal resistance, virulent strains of B. cinerea can cause disease on Arabidopsis thaliana and virulent pathogens can interfere with the metabolism of the host in a way to facilitate infection of the plant. However, plant genes that are required by the pathogen for infection remain poorly described. To find such genes, we have compared the changes in gene expression induced in A. thaliana by JA with those induced after B. cinerea using genome‐wide microarrays. We have identified genes that are repressed by JA but that are induced by B. cinerea. In this study, we describe one candidate gene, ATGRXS13, that encodes for a putative glutaredoxin and that exhibits such a crossed expression. In plants that are infected by this necrotrophic fungus, ATGRXS13 expression was negatively controlled by JA and TGA transcription factors but also through a JA‐salicylic acid (SA) cross‐talk mechanism as B. cinerea induced SA production that positively controlled ATGRXS13 expression. Furthermore, plants impaired in ATGRXS13 exhibited resistance to B. cinerea. Finally, we present a model whereby B. cinerea takes advantage of defence signalling pathways of the plant to help the colonization of its host.
Comparing federal and state healthcare provider performance in villages targeted by the conditional cash transfer programme of Mexico
Authors: Bustamante Arturo Vargas 
Published: July 2011

SummaryObjective  This study investigates household out‐of‐pocket healthcare expenditures (OPH) and preventive care utilization (PHU) to compare federal and state healthcare provider performance in villages targeted by conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes in poor rural areas of Mexico.Methods  Lower OPH and higher PHU are indicative of better performance in the study setting. Log‐linear and probit regression models were used to compare outcomes in households from treatment and control villages reached by federal and state healthcare providers. In treatment villages, eligible households receive cash grants from the CCT programme. In control villages, eligible households do not receive cash grants from the CCT programme at the time of the survey.Results  Families who live in treatment villages reported lower OPH (−52.5% for federal and −46.2% for state clinics) and higher PHU (21% for federal and 20% for state clinics) regardless of clinic setting. As the reduction in OPH is higher in areas reached by the federal clinics, it implies better performance from this healthcare delivery system. Additionally, federal clinic outcomes were also more homogeneous because OPH are not significantly different between treatment and control villages. Alternative measures such as drug and physician expenditures, diabetes and hypertension tests and nutritional‐supplement receipt confirmed these findings.Conclusions  Mexico has two healthcare delivery systems that cater to identical rural populations. The better‐funded and more centralized federal system is more effective at providing health care in poor rural villages of Mexico regardless of CCT participation. State clinics in villages targeted by the CCT programme, however, perform significantly better.
Quantifying the effect of drought on carbon dioxide‐induced changes in competition between a C3 crop (tomato) and a C4 weed (Amaranthus retroflexus)
Authors: VALERIO M , TOMECEK M B , LOVELLI S , ZISKA L H 
Published: July 2011

Valerio M, Tomecek MB, Lovelli S & Ziska LH (2011). Quantifying the effect of drought on carbon dioxide‐induced changes in competition between a C3 crop (tomato) and a C4 weed (Amaranthus retroflexus). Weed Research51, 591–600.SummaryRecent and projected increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) and subsequent effects on climate are likely to alter competitive outcomes of weeds and crops. Rising [CO2] per se could increase the competitive ability of C3 crops relative to C4 weeds. However, such an outcome may depend on other climatic variables. In this study, tomato, a C3 crop species, was grown from emergence to anthesis using replacement series mixtures with Amaranthus retroflexus, a C4 weed species at three different [CO2], 400, 600 and 800 μmol mol−1, with and without water stress. Under well‐watered conditions, leaf photosynthetic rates and plant height, leaf area and biomass all increased with elevated [CO2] for tomato relative to A. retroflexus, consistent with the kinetics of C3 photosynthesis. However, if water was limiting, a significant positive effect of [CO2] was noted for plant height and biomass of A. retroflexus with increased competition. This result may be related to a greater increase in leaf water potential with rising [CO2] for A. retroflexus relative to tomato under water stress. Overall, these are the first data to suggest that increases in atmospheric CO2 could still exacerbate crop losses from a C4 weed, even with a C3 crop, if drought occurs.
Sex education during the school‐aged years influences sexual attitudes and sexual health in college: A comparative study from Korea
Authors: Shin Kyung Rim , Park Hyojung , Cha Chiyoung 
Published: July 2011

AbstractSex education is provided routinely to school‐aged children in many countries without enough evidence that it will benefit them when they become adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the long‐term influence of the sex education that was provided during the school‐aged years on the attitudes, behaviors, and sexual health among male and female college students in Korea. For this descriptive, comparative study, the data were obtained from 3609 male and 2180 female college students by using the proportional quota sampling method. Overall, the female students had more opportunities for sex education. Receiving this education during the school‐aged years lowered the sexual double standard score but was not related to sexual activity among the male and female students. Receiving sex education at different time points during the school‐aged years had differential influences on the sexual attitudes and indicators of sexual health between the male and the female students. The results of this study suggest extending the role of school nurses to include redesigning the content of sex education programs, based on the sex and age of the students, and using midwives to provide sex education in community settings.