bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Intra‐specific spatial aggregation in acidic grasslands: effects of acidification and nitrogen deposition on spatial patterns of plant communities
Authors: Damgaard Christian , Ejrnæs Rasmus , Stevens Carly J. 
Published: June 2012

AbstractQuestionIt is an old notion that pattern and process are linked in plant communities. Spatial pattern may, therefore, be a valuable indicator of community processes in space and time. Obviously, spatial aggregation may arise as the result of clonal propagation and short‐distance dispersal of seeds, but it is less well known how variation in the spatial aggregation links to plant community processes and to community responses to environmental stresses, such as eutrophication and acidification. We hypothesize that intra‐specific spatial aggregation may prove a useful indicator of structure and function in plant communities and, more specifically, that spatial aggregation in semi‐natural grasslands will increase with increasing eutrophication and acidification.MethodsThe intra‐specific spatial aggregation at the level of the community was estimated using pin‐point data for all observed species at a site with a single parameter using the PÓlya–Eggenberger distribution.ResultsIntra‐specific spatial aggregation correlates with biotic and abiotic gradients in the form of pH, vegetation height, species richness and species composition. The results support the hypothesis that eutrophication and acidification not only cause loss of species, but also lead to increasing intra‐specific aggregation of the component species. However, there was no significant effect of N deposition, which suggests that residual nutrients from former cultivation as well as sulphur deposition override the effect of N deposition on pH and productivity in Danish acidic grasslands.ConclusionWe suggest that intra‐specific spatial aggregation may be used as an indicator of structure and function in plant communities and as a possible early warning indicator of future species loss.
Sequence characterization of river buffalo Toll‐like receptor genes 1–10 reveals distinct relationship with cattle and sheep
Authors: Dubey P. K. , Goyal S. , Kathiravan P. , Mishra B. P. , Gahlawat S. K. , Kataria R. S. 
Published: June 2012

SummaryThe present study was undertaken to characterize the full‐length transcripts of Toll‐like receptor (TLR) genes 1–10 of river buffalo. The conceptualized amino acid identity of bubaline TLRs ranged between 86% to 100% with ruminants, while it ranged between 45% to 91% with other vertebrate species. Simple modular architecture tool (SMART) analysis revealed the presence of TIR domains and varying numbers of leucine‐rich repeat motifs in all the buffalo TLRs. With respect to TIR domains, TLRs 1, 2 and 3 of river buffalo were found to have 99.3% identity with cattle and 100% identity of TLRs 4, 6 and 10 with sheep. Phylogenetic analysis of TLRs of buffalo and different vertebrate species revealed the clustering of major TLR gene subfamilies with high bootstrap values. The evolutionary relationship between buffalo and other ruminant species was found to vary among different TLRs. In order to understand the relationship between TLRs of different ruminant species, multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of pairwise amino acid differences between different species within each TLR was performed. Buffalo and cattle were found to be closely related only with respect to TLRs 1, 2 and 7, while buffalo and sheep were found to be clustering together with respect to TLRs 3, 6, 8 and 10. The distinct relationship of bubaline TLRs with cattle and sheep revealed the possible differences in the pathogen recognition receptor systems in these animals and consequently the differences in their susceptibility/resistance to various invading organisms.
Enhanced alveolar fluid clearance following 72 h of continuous isoproterenol infusion in rats
Authors: Pedersen L. R. E. , Müllertz K. M. , Amtorp O. , Christensen S. , Jonassen T. E. N. 
Published: June 2012

AbstractAimWe wished to determine the effect of continuous β‐receptor stimulation on alveolar fluid clearance and to elucidate the mechanisms behind this effect.MethodsAlveolar fluid clearance was measured in anaesthetized rats pretreated for 72 h with the β‐agonist isoproterenol (200 μg kg−1h−1 sc) or vehicle. Alveolar fluid clearance in artificially ventilated rats was determined over 1 h by infusion of isotonic Ringer solution containing 125I‐albumin into the lungs. Additionally, alveolar fluid clearance was determined when amiloride or l‐cis‐diltiazem was added to the solution to block ENaC and cyclic nucleotide‐gated (CNG) channels respectively.ResultsIsoproterenol treatment induced a 42% increase in alveolar fluid clearance (18.9 ± 1.4%) vs. vehicle (13.3 ± 3.3%). Addition of amiloride resulted in a net decrease of 8% in both groups, while l‐cis‐diltiazem caused a net decrease of 12% in isoproterenol‐treated animals, but only 5% in vehicle‐treated animals. Western blotting showed that isoproterenol treatment increased the abundance of the α‐ENaC and β‐ENaC subunits (223 ± 51% and 274 ± 55% of vehicle, respectively) but we saw no changes in protein level of the γ‐EnaC subunit.ConclusionContinuous β‐adrenoceptor stimulation with isoproterenol enhances alveolar fluid clearance through alternative pathways involving l‐cis‐diltiazem‐sensitive channels.
Global climate change is confounding species conservation strategies
Authors: KOOPOWITZ Harold , HAWKINS Bradford A. 
Published: June 2012

AbstractMost organisms face similar problems with respect to their conservation in the face of global climate change. Here, we examine probable effects of climate change on the hyperdiverse plant family Orchidaceae. In the 20th century, the major concerns for orchid conservation revolved around unsustainable harvest for the orchid trade and, more importantly, land conversion from natural ecosystems to those unable to support wild orchid populations. Land conversion included logging, fire regimes and forest conversions to agricultural systems. Although those forms of degradation continue, an additional suite of threats has emerged, fueled by global climate change. Global climate change involves more than responses of orchid populations to increases in ambient temperature. Increasing temperature induces secondary effects that can be more significant than simple changes in temperature. Among these new threats are extended and prolonged fire seasons, rising sea levels, increases in cyclonic storms, seasonal climate shifts, changes in orthographic wind dew point and increased drought. The long‐term outlook for orchid biodiversity in the wild is dismal, as it is for many animal groups, and we need to start rethinking strategies for conservation in a rapidly changing world.
U.S. utilization patterns of influenza antiviral medications during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic
Authors: Borders‐Hemphill Vicky , Mosholder Andrew 
Published: June 2012

Please cite this paper as: Borders‐Hemphill and Mosholder (2012) U.S. utilization patterns of influenza antiviral medications during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 6(601), e129–e133.Background  The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States occurred from April 2009 to April 2010. The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus was susceptible to neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir).Objectives  To characterize the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States from April 2009 to April 2010 using weekly influenza antiviral prescription utilization data and the CDC’s weekly reports of the number of visits for influenza‐like‐illnesses by the Influenza Sentinel Provider Surveillance Network.Methods  A proprietary outpatient data source used by the FDA, which captures adjudicated U.S. prescription claims for select influenza antiviral drugs, was used to conduct this analysis. Data were extracted weekly and analyzed for surveillance during the pandemic. Results were compiled at the end of the pandemic.Results  Oseltamivir has dominated the U.S. influenza antiviral market share of dispensed prescriptions since approval in October 1999 and was the primary influenza antiviral drug used during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. However, commercial availability of the suspension formulation of oseltamivir was reduced by high demand during the pandemic. Dispensed prescription trends of other influenza antiviral medications studied followed that those of oseltamivir, even antivirals for which the 2009 H1N1 strains showed resistance.Conclusion  Weekly prescription utilization of all influenza antivirals used to treat influenza during the seasonal influenza outbreak followed the same trend of weekly reports of the number of visits for influenza‐like‐illnesses (ILI) by the Influenza Sentinel Provider Surveillance Network. The ILI epidemic curve resembled dispensed antiviral prescription trends (both overall and stratified by age), providing some corroboration for the surveillance data.
Introduction of a program for voluntary blood donations in Iran (blood transfusion status in Iran)
Authors: Gharehbaghian A. 
Published: June 2012

Background  A national and well‐coordinated system is very effective for blood self sufficiency of a country; this system might be committed to follow all requirements and standards. It should manifest itself strong and well‐established in reality and practice so that all potential donors trust it and contribute. Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) is an example of a centralized network with 200 centers in 31 provinces which could only be decentralized in some aspects of blood donor recruitment based on the cultural and regional attributes of the people there.Methods  The mission of IBTO is to provide and ensure a safe and adequate blood supply in Iran. Selection of low risk donors in pre‐donation consultation and interview sessions based on behavioral, medical and demographic factors has improved the transfusion safety even before specific lab screening tests have been conducted; Standardization of criteria for donor eligibility and exclusion, and donor screening procedures are all priorities and most importantly the collection of all blood donations just from voluntary nonremunerated (VNR) blood donors. In fact, a lot of efforts concentrated on recruitment of VNR donors and to this end the Blood Donor Recruitment and Retention Office was established. A variety of measures were made to increase the number of voluntary regular donors including technical efforts, information dissemination activities, demographic studies, campaigns, awareness raising programs, publicity, publications, commemorative ceremonies and the like.Results  The annual donation index in Iran has greatly increased from 0.39 in 1974 to 25.3 in 2010–2011. Accordingly we have been witness to increasing trend of blood donation reaching about 2 million blood units in 2011, all of which obtained from voluntary non‐remunerated blood donors with the annual index of 26 per 1000 population.Conclusions  It shows that every country based on its needs should establish a very effective and safe program to raise the number of its voluntary blood donors and to this end centralization of activities monitored by a headquarters and implementation of an efficient recruitment plan by which all aspects are covered and monitored: ranging from stages prior to donor selection including campaigns and activities to motivate populations to embark on donation, donor selection, screening, retention, statistical audit, continuous evaluation of donation sites, ease of access to donation centers, demographic attributes, donor reactions, to post donation era to ensure high return rate and so on so forth. All in all, availability and affordability are the issues which should be always guaranteed.
The Oslo massacre 2011
Authors: Akkök C. A. 
Published: June 2012

Background  In terrorist attacks on July 22, 2011, seventy‐seven people were killed; 8 in and around the goverment buildings in downtown Oslo due to a huge bomb explosion, and 69 mostly young people due to shootings at Utøya; an island outside Oslo where there was an ongoing political youth camp. Thirthy‐one heavily injured patients were admitted to the Oslo University Hospital, Ullevaal that houses the trauma referral centre, and all except for one patient survived.Aims  This report presents how we handled the disaster at the Department of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine that hosts the Blood Bank of Oslo.Methods  Being the largest blood bank in Norway, we are supposed to have a stock of approximately 1750 units of packed red blood cells (PRBC) of all blood types at any time including a stock of minimum 80, and rather 130 units of blood type O RhD negative PRBC. But instead we had only 55 O RhD negative units when the terrorist attacks started. Since this was too low, we had to collect blood from already registered blood donors at our blood bank, and at the same time purchase units from the other blood banks. We had yet called a couple of donors, then an enormous flow of people who wanted to donate blood started. There were hundreds of people, a lot of them not registered from before. Chaos lasted several hours until the security guards gained control over the situation.Results  The Blood Bank was well‐staffed with 28 biomedical laboratory technicians, nurses and doctors both on July 22 and 23, and collected blood from 220 donors. We bought also 80 units of PRBC from the other blood banks. Sixty units of PRBC, 14 platelet concentrates and 51 units of plasma were issued on 22 and 23 July, and during the first five days 84, 14 and 61 units, respectively. One of the major challenges was, already in the beginning, to estimate the blood requirements to come without knowing the dimensions of the disaster. This was necessary in order to decide how many blood units to purchase from the other blood banks and to collect from registered donors. Over‐collection could lead to massive discards of non‐used units, waste of money/resources, harm blood donor recruitment later, and cause loss of trust in the transfusion service. Discards stayed at a very low level. However, we may have hindered chaos due to hundreds of people who wanted to donate blood if we, in a much earlier phase, had communicated with media and announced at the social platforms that only our registered donors with blood type O RhD negative were needed.Conclusion  In a real emergency, only units that are ready to transfuse can be used in life‐saving treatment, because it takes several hours from the collection of blood until the unit is ready for transfusion. Therefore blood banks need a stable supply of donors to maintain an adequate stock of blood at any time.
Identification of two new blood group systems, Langereis (LAN) and Junior (JR)
Authors: Arnaud L. 
Published: June 2012

Background The high‐prevalence erythrocyte blood group antigens Lan and Jra were first reported in 1962 and 1970 respectively. While both anti‐Lan and anti‐Jra can cause acute transfusion reactions, anti‐Jra is of particular concern in obstetrics as it can cause fatal hemolytic disease of the fetus and the newborn (HDFN). The biochemical and genetic bases of Jra and Lan have not yet been elucidated despite the isolation of two hybridoma secreting human monoclonal antibodies specific for Jra (HMR0921) and Lan (OSK43).Results Using the OSK43 antibody, we were able to immunoprecipitate a single protein from the erythrocytes of a random (Lan+) blood donor. This protein was identified by mass spectrometry as ABCB6, a member of the ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter family. In order to validate ABCB6 as a novel genetic locus encoding blood group antigens, we first confirmed by immunoblot analysis that ABCB6 was present in the membrane of Lan+ erythrocytes. In contrast, we detected no ABCB6 products in Lan− erythrocytes, suggesting that null alleles of ABCB6 may be responsible for the Lan− phenotype. We then established K‐562 cells stably transfected with a construct encoding ABCB6 and showed that exogenous expression of ABCB6 correlated with cell surface expression of the Lan antigen. Targeted sequencing of ABCB6 in 12 unrelated Lan− individuals identified 10 different null mutations. All these Lan− individuals were either homozygous for a single null mutation or heterozygous for two null mutations in ABCB6, confirming that null alleles of ABCB6 are responsible for the Lan− phenotype. Using the HMR0921 antibody, we similarly purified and identified the ABC transporter ABCG2 as the carrier of the Jra antigen. Analysis of Jr(a+) or Jr(a−) erythrocytes, as well as K‐562 cells transfected with ABCG2 cDNA, showed that the Jra antigen is encoded by ABCG2 and that Jr(a−) erythrocytes lack ABCG2. Targeted sequencing of ABCG2 in 18 unrelated Jr(a−) individuals identified eight different null mutations, which were responsible for their Jr(a−) phenotype, and revealed that the prevalence of the Jr(a−) phenotype in the Japanese and European Gypsy populations is related to the mutations p.Q126X and p.R236X in ABCG2, respectively.Conclusions We demonstrated that the related transporters ABCB6 and ABCG2 specify two new blood group systems called Langereis (LAN) and Junior (JR), respectively. The elucidation of their molecular bases will facilitate the detection of individuals with the rare Lan− and Jr(a−) phenotypes and hence improve their transfusion security and/or their pregnancy follow‐up.
The JR blood group system: genetic and molecular investigations
Authors: Coghlan G. 
Published: June 2012

Background Jra is a high‐incidence erythrocyte antigen previously designated ISBT 901.005. The rare Jr(a−) phenotype appeared to be inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, but the gene controlling the expression of Jra was not known. We conducted genetic and molecular investigations in an attempt to resolve this issue.Aim This lecture and accompanying manuscript will detail the homozygosity by descent (HBD) gene mapping strategy we used to establish that ABCG2 null alleles define the Jr(a−) phenotype (Zelinski et al., Nat Genet 2012;44:131–132).Materials and Methods Genomic DNA was genotyped for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using a Human GeneChip (Affymetrix, 250K NspI) Mapping array. The six Jr (a−) study subjects were two Caucasian sisters, two Asian siblings and two unrelated Asian individuals referred for serologic testing. Anti‐Jra was identified in the plasma from four of the six. Intronic primers flanking exons 2–16 of ABCG2 were designed and used for PCR amplification. Both the forward and reverse strands of each purified product were Sanger sequenced at The Centre for Applied Genomics (Toronto, Canada).Results Analysis of the SNP genotype data revealed that the Caucasian sisters were identically homozygous for large tracts of consecutive SNPs in seven different chromosomal regions; chromosome 1q (3·3 Mb), 3q (8·8 Mb), 4q (28·9 Mb), 7q (10·5 and 7·7 Mb), 9q (3·1 Mb) and 10q (2·0 Mb). DNA from the four Asian individuals did not consistently contain homozygous SNP haplotypes in any of these regions except for chromosome 4q22.1. In this region, the siblings and one unrelated Asian had blocks of homozygosity that overlapped for approximately 400 000 bp and were identical to each other, but, different from the Caucasians. The remaining unrelated Asian was homozygous (approximately 520 000 bp) for a third SNP haplotype. The 4q22.1 region of homozygosity identified in all six study subjects contains four validated genes, only one of which, ABCG2, is known to be highly expressed on erythrocytes. DNA sequencing revealed that homozygosity for each of the three SNP haplotypes corresponded with homozygosity for a different nonsense (c.736C>T or c.376C>T) or missense (c.34G>A) mutation in ABCG2.Conclusion The genetic and molecular evidence revealed by this study proves that ABCG2 null alleles define the Jr(a−) blood group phenotype. Independently, our French colleagues established that Jra was carried on the ABCG2 protein (Saison et al., Nat Genet 2012;44:174–177). Based on these results the JR blood group system (ISBT 032) has been established.
Noninvasive prenatal screening for RHD: the 1st national antenatal directed anti‐D prophylaxis program – the Danish model or a guide to robust prediction of need of anti‐D
Authors: Dziegiel M. Hanefeld ,   On behalf of the Danish Network for Antenatal RHD Screening
Published: June 2012

Background  As of January 1, 2010, Denmark implemented a national antenatal directed anti‐D prophylaxis program. Prior to this, only postnatal prophylaxis directed by serology of cord blood was practiced.A preparatory work for modernization and optimization of fetal care was carried out by the National Board of Health with participation of leading obstetricians, specialists in fetal medicine, general practitioners, midwives, clinical immunologists and administrators.The promising results of non‐invasive prenatal diagnosis based on cell free fetal DNA enabled an antenatal directed use of anti‐D to those with a D positive fetus, thus eliminating approximately 40% of the antenatal use of anti‐D.The complete program now includes an antenatal RHD screening in gestational week 25, and a postnatal serological RhD typing of cord blood, in both instances followed by administration of anti‐D to those found positive.Aim  The explicit aim of the RHD screening was to obtain the highest possible sensitivity to recommend anti‐D in all cases where it might be indicated whereas specificity was of secondary priority.Methods  Health services in Denmark are organized in five regions; accordingly screening has been implemented in every region, each using its own in‐house screening methodology. However, all regions have implemented automated DNA purification and the assays are variations over a theme of multiple PCRs covering several exons. A control reaction for DNA purification is obligatory. However, a control for fetal DNA is not included. A working group with members from all regions has implemented a national scheme for quality control. Digital on‐line delivery of results to general practitioners, midwives and obstetricians is implemented in most regions thus cutting down on cost and time.Results  The continuation of postnatal serology has allowed a quality control of RHD screening. During the first six months of screening only two false negative results occurred out of 2312 tested (0·087%) suggesting a sensitivity of 99·9%. Due to the sacrifice of specificity some unnecessary use of anti‐D occurred, 39 cases or 1·7%.Discussion  The elimination of 38·3% of the use of anti‐D, that is unnecessary and the related clinical contacts balances the expenses for the screening. An unforeseen benefit of the screening has emerged. The availability of the antenatal RHD results at the time of delivery has simplified logistics and preliminary clinical action is taken based on the antenatal result. Only in the very rare occasions of a (false negative) discrepancy between antenatal and postnatal results is communication needed between laboratory, clinician, and patient.The challenge will be to maintain the high standards in a possible future setting without serology serving as a benchmark for quality control.