bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A novel Erm monomethyltransferase in antibiotic‐resistant isolates of Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida
Authors: Desmolaize Benoit , Rose Simon , Warrass Ralf , Douthwaite Stephen 
Published: March 2011

Summary Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida are aetiological agents commonly associated with respiratory tract infections in cattle. Recent isolates of these pathogens have been shown to be resistant to macrolides and other ribosome‐targeting antibiotics. Direct analysis of the 23S rRNAs by mass spectrometry revealed that nucleotide A2058 is monomethylated, consistent with a Type I erm phenotype conferring macrolide‐lincosamide resistance. The erm resistance determinant was identified by full genome sequencing of isolates. The sequence of this resistance determinant, now termed erm(42), has diverged greatly from all previously characterized erm genes, explaining why it has remained undetected in PCR screening surveys. The sequence of erm(42) is, however, completely conserved in six independent M. haemolytica and P. multocida isolates, suggesting relatively recent gene transfer between these species. Furthermore, the composition of neighbouring chromosomal sequences indicates that erm(42) was acquired from other members of the Pasteurellaceae. Expression of recombinant erm(42) in Escherichia coli demonstrated that the enzyme retains its properties as a monomethyltransferase without any dimethyltransferase activity. Erm(42) is a novel addition to the Erm family: it is phylogenetically distant from the other Erm family members and it is unique in being a bona fide monomethyltransferase that is disseminated between bacterial pathogens.
Reproductive allocation and costs in gynodioecious Leucopogon melaleucoides (Ericaceae): implications for the evolution of gender dimorphism
Authors: Vaughton G. , Ramsey M. 
Published: March 2011

AbstractIn dioecious species, females typically allocate more resources to reproduction and incur greater costs of reproduction than males. In gynodioecious species, sex‐based differences in reproductive allocation (RA) and costs have been less studied. Such knowledge, however, is relevant to address how females establish and increase in frequency in populations. We examine RA and reproductive costs by comparing fruit set, the proportion of biomass allocated to reproduction, and the responses of fruit set and vegetative growth to shoot defoliation in females and hermaphrodites in gynodioecious Leucopogon melaleucoides. Relative to hermaphrodites, females exhibited a two‐fold fruit set advantage. Female fruit set increased proportionately with flower number, but hermaphrodite fruit set was reduced on plants with more flowers. Sex‐based differences in allocation to other traits were small. Thus, female RA at flowering was similar to hermaphrodite RA, but was 1.4‐fold greater at fruiting. Relative to controls, defoliation reduced fruit set and the percentage of shoots that produced new vegetative growth similarly in both sexes. However, females had a lower proportion of shoots with new growth overall. Further, defoliation on females reduced the dry mass of new growth by 44% compared with controls, whereas hermaphrodites were not affected. These results indicate a trade‐off between reproduction and vegetative growth, and greater female costs of reproduction, particularly under resource‐limiting conditions. In the absence of compensatory traits to offset higher female reproductive costs, such trade‐offs have the potential to retard the spread of females in gynodioecious populations.
α1‐adrenoceptor activation induces phosphorylation of β2‐adrenoceptors in human prostate tissue
Authors: Hennenberg Martin , Strittmatter Frank , Walther Sebastian , Hedlund Petter , Andersson Karl‐Erik , Stief Christian G. , Schlenker Boris , Gratzke Christian 
Published: March 2011

OBJECTIVE

To test whether β1‐adrenoceptor activation leads to phosphorylation of the β2‐adrenoceptor in human prostate tissue.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Prostate tissue from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy was stimulated in vitro with the α1‐adrenergic agonist phenylephrine (10 µM).
α2‐adrenoceptor phosphorylation at serines 345/346 was studied using Western blot analysis with a phospho‐specific antibody.
The role of second messenger kinases was assessed by studying the effects of the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor Ro 31‐8425 and the protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor H89 on phenylephrine‐induced phosphorylation.
The expression of G protein‐coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) 2/3 was analysed using quantitative reverse‐transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS

Stimulation of prostate tissue with phenylephrine resulted in phosphorylation of the β2‐adrenoceptor (5, 10 and 20 min after stimulation).
This α1‐adrenoceptor‐induced phosphorylation of β2‐adrenoceptors was resistant to inhibition of PKC and PKA.
Changes in phosphorylation levels were not attributable to changes in receptor levels, as these remained constant during stimulation.
RT‐PCR and Western blot analysis showed expression of GRK2/3 in human prostate tissues.
Immunohistochemical staining showed that GRK2/3 expression in human prostate tissue is located to stromal and smooth muscle cells.

CONCLUSIONS

Activation of α1‐adrenoceptors causes phosphorylation of β2‐adrenoceptors in the human prostate. This may enhance α1‐adrenergic contraction and is possibly mediated by GRK2, which is expressed in prostate smooth muscle.
Mutual regulation between different adrenergic receptors might be involved in the therapeutic effects of α1‐blockers in patients with benign prostate hyperplasia.
Integrity and the moral complexity of professional practice
Authors: Edgar Andrew , Pattison Stephen 
Published: March 2011

AbstractThe paper offers an account of integrity as the capacity to deliberate and reflect usefully in the light of context, knowledge, experience, and information (that of self and others) on complex and conflicting factors bearing on action or potential action. Such an account of integrity seeks to encompass the moral complexity and conflict of the professional environment, and the need for compromises in professional practice. In addition, it accepts that humans are social beings who must respect and engage with the moral position of others. This account is contrasted with a more traditional view of integrity as the rigid maintenance of consistency between professional practice and deeply held, but inflexible, moral principles. While this strong sense of moral conviction may be valuable as a source of moral motivation, e.g. in the case of whistle‐blowers, it is equally likely to lead to dogmatism and hubris. Professionals and their organizations are encouraged to foster the more complex and reflective form of integrity.
Integrity: is it still relevant to modern healthcare?
Authors: Tyreman Stephen 
Published: March 2011

AbstractPersonal integrity is often seen as a core value for delivering ethical healthcare. This paper will explore what this might mean and particularly what place integrity has in a multi‐professional healthcare system. Two opposing arguments can be made: the first is that the multi‐professional nature of modern healthcare means that personal integrity is at best a futile luxury and at worst, an obstacle to delivering affordable high‐quality care to large populations. The converse is that without personal integrity healthcare loses its humanity and becomes mere biological and social engineering. Part of the analysis rests on whether integrity is primarily a personally held moral framework or whether it is a social concept. Chester Calhoun's analysis, in which she identifies the integrated‐self, personal identity, and (morally) clean‐hands as three pictures of integrity, is used as the basis for suggesting that integrity is a rich and complex social virtue through which the individual is able to demonstrate their relationship with the values and mores of the communities of which they are members. In addition, I will argue that integrity is not a value itself, but is a framework through which one or more sets of those values that characterize the communities of which the person is a part, can be expressed. Because a person may belong to many communities – nation, gender, religion, family, profession, trade, sport, etc. – each individual has their own unique meta‐set of values that informs their personal sense of integrity. However, in specific circumstances, conflicts may arise between this personal global sense and the set of values associated with one community.
Solving complex problems: A convergent approach to cognitive load measurement
Authors: Zheng Robert , Cook Anne 
Published: March 2011

AbstractThe study challenged the current practices in cognitive load measurement involving complex problem solving by manipulating the presence of pictures in multiple rule‐based problem‐solving situations and examining the cognitive load resulting from both off‐line and online measures associated with complex problem solving. Forty‐eight participants were recruited from a subject pool in the Educational Psychology department in a large research university in western USA. Results showed that the presence of pictures had no effect on learners' complex problem solving as measured by the response time and accuracy. However, the online measure (eg, pupillometric measures) revealed a change in cognitive load associated with the presence of pictures in complex problem solving. The authors concluded that different measures of cognitive load may actually be measuring separate aspects of cognitive load. Discussions were made on how research on multimedia learning and cognitive load could be advanced by carefully considering multiple aspects of cognitive load and by including the use of convergent measurement techniques to capture the variations of cognitive load involved in learning.
International Framework Agreements and Industrial Relations Governance: Global Rhetoric versus Local Realities
Authors: Niforou Christina 
Published: March 2011

AbstractThe article discusses the local impact of international framework agreements (IFAs). It presents findings from empirical research carried out in two Spanish MNCs, and it examines how the commitments stipulated by the texts of the IFAs translate in local practice in different subsidiaries in Central and South America. The article follows the policy cycle of both agreements, and it further evaluates them as emerging private institutions of global industrial relations governance. The main findings reveal a paradox. The generic character of IFAs encourages corporate consent for their adoption, but, in practice, it gives precedence to local laws and hence renders the enforcement of compliance difficult, and, in some cases, unfeasible. And where local laws contravene or lack compatibility with International Labour Organization conventions, the central premise of IFAs as instruments of global governance is largely undermined.
Resistance and challenge: competing accounts in aftercare monitoring
Authors: Coffey Michael 
Published: March 2011

AbstractThis article explores a candidate example of competing accounts of aftercare under supervision of a discharged forensic patient and worker in one part of the UK. It is taken from a study involving 59 in‐depth interviews with patients and their workers to investigate community return after detention in forensic psychiatric facilities. Fear of mental illness and associated dangerousness are embodied in discourses surrounding the forensic patient. In living with deviant labels and seeking to establish independence from the psychiatric system patients’ talk demonstrates nascent identity work in an attempt to resist alternative dominant discourses. Workers however deploy occupational knowledge of risk and associated monitoring as the basis for claims of safe aftercare. Both patient and worker accounts are reflexively aware of competing versions and seek to portray the provision of aftercare monitoring in self‐interested ways. Aftercare monitoring and supervision may ostensibly be about integration and rehabilitation but as this study shows risk is an ever‐present concern forming an important backdrop to the attempts of patients to forge new identities and the normalising ideologies of those working with them.
Beliefs and practices about antiretroviral medication: a study of poor urban Kenyans living with HIV/AIDS
Authors: Izugbara Chimaraoke O. , Wekesa Eliud 
Published: March 2011

AbstractInterest in medication‐taking as a social behaviour is growing. Drawing on qualitative data, this study interrogates beliefs and practices related to antiretroviral therapy (ART) use among urban poor Kenyan people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Responding PLWHA relied on a range of ingenious strategies to remember to take their medications but did not necessarily perceive compliance with medical instructions as key to treatment efficacy. They also believed that compliance can even hurt some patients. PLWHA relied on both compliance and non‐compliance to seek social acceptance, maintain a reputation of being healthy, dispel rumours about one’s status, and minimise economic vulnerability. Compliance was further used to mark gratitude to supportive caregivers and providers, and non‐compliance to appraise the efficacy of other treatments which promise permanent cure. The medication‐taking practices of poor Kenyan PLWHA reflect their struggles with deprived livelihoods and stigma.
Ambiguous gain: uncertain benefits of service use for dementia carers
Authors: Lloyd Barbara Teresa , Stirling Christine 
Published: March 2011

AbstractCommunity services for carers of people with dementia can assist in relieving caregiver burden and delay the institutionalisation of the person with dementia. Under some conditions, however, engagement with dementia services may produce unintended negative consequences, resulting in increased confusion and a reduction of agency for carers. Drawing on an analysis of three salient aspects of caregiver identities, this paper examines specific instances and consequences of ‘ambiguous gain’, defined as ‘a putative or demonstrated benefit that, as an unintended outcome, results in increased uncertainty and a consequent reduction of agency or wellbeing at the level of individual or collective identity’. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for policy and practice.
Winter leaf reddening in ‘evergreen’ species
Authors: Hughes Nicole M. 
Published: March 2011

SummaryLeaf reddening during autumn in senescing, deciduous tree species has received widespread attention from the public and in the scientific literature, whereas leaf reddening in evergreen species during winter remains largely ignored. Winter reddening can be observed in evergreen herbs, shrubs, vines and trees in Mediterranean, temperate, alpine, and arctic regions, and can persist for several months before dissipating with springtime warming. Yet, little is known about the functional significance of this colour change, or why it occurs in some species but not others. Here, the biochemistry, physiology and ecology associated with winter leaf reddening are reviewed, with special focus on its possible adaptive function. Photoprotection is currently the favoured hypothesis for winter reddening, but alternative explanations have scarcely been explored. Intraspecific reddening generally increases with sunlight incidence, and may also accompany photosynthetic inferiority in photosynthetically ‘weak’ (e.g. low‐nitrogen) individuals. Red leaves tend to show symptoms of shade acclimation relative to green, consistent with a photoprotective function. However, winter‐red and winter‐green species often cohabitate the same high‐light environments, and exhibit similar photosynthetic capacities. The factors dictating interspecific winter leaf colouration therefore remain unclear. Additional outstanding questions and future directions are also highlighted, and possible alternative functions of winter reddening discussed.
Effect of indigestible sugars on nitrogen utilization in adult rabbits
Authors: LI Xiao , MIN Xiao , TSUZUKI Yuta , SAKAGUCHI Ei 
Published: March 2011

ABSTRACTTo determine the effects of indigestible sugars on the digestibilities of nutrients and utilization of nitrogen (N) in adult male rabbits, 12 rabbits with or without a collar that prevented cecotrophy were fed experimental diets for 8 days, comprising 3 days for adaptation and 5 days for collection of feces and urine. The experimental diets were formulated by adding D‐mannitol or citrus pectin to a commercial diet at 60 g/kg. In the rabbits allowed cecotrophy, mannitol increased the absorption of crude ash but did not significantly alter the digestibilities of crude protein (CP), dry matter and acid‐detergent fiber. By contrast, the digestibility of CP was decreased by pectin. The ratios of retained N to consumed N and absorbed N were elevated by mannitol. In the rabbits prevented from cecotrophy, mannitol had no effect on N retention, but increased the N content of cecotrophs (soft feces) and the ratio of the N content of cecotrophs to consumed N. Pectin did not have any significant influences on N retention and the N content of cecotrophs. These results suggest that D‐mannitol stimulates cecal microbial proliferation, thereby improving N utilization in rabbits.
Conjoint Analysis on the Purchase Intent for Traditional Fermented Soy Product (Natto) among Japanese Housewives
Authors: Kimura Atsushi , Kuwazawa Shigetaka , Wada Yuji , Kyutoku Yasushi , Okamoto Masako , Yamaguchi Yui , Masuda Tomohiro , Dan Ippeita 
Published: March 2011

Abstract:  The effect of sensory and extrinsic attributes on consumer intentions to purchase the Japanese traditional fermented soybean product natto was evaluated using conjoint analysis. Six attributes with 2 levels each were chosen and manipulated: price (high compared with low), the country of origin of the soybeans (domestic compared with imported), stickiness (strong compared with moderate), smell (rich compared with moderate), attached seasonings (attached compared with no attached seasonings), and the environmental friendliness of the packaging (high compared with low). A fractional factorial design was applied and 8 hypothetical product labels were produced. A sample of 479 Japanese housewives ranked these product labels based on their purchase intentions. Overall purchase intention was affected by country of origin, attached seasonings, and price; those attributes accounted for 81.0%, while the sensory attributes of the product accounted for 19.0% of purchase intents. In order to estimate market segments for the natto products based on consumer preference, a cluster analysis was performed. It identified 4 segments of consumers: 1 oriented to attached seasonings, another conscious of the price, and the other 2 oriented to origins. The behavioral and demographic characteristics of the respondents had a limited influence on segment membership.Practical Application:  This research was conducted to understand how consumers valuate various sensory and nonsensory product attributes based on their assessment of the overall product in the case of Japanese fermented soy product (natto). The data of this research would be of great importance both in understanding consumer behavior and in designing strategies for product development.
Authenticity of Cypriot Sweet Wine Commandaria Using FT‐IR and Chemometrics
Authors: Ioannou‐Papayianni Elena , Kokkinofta Rebecca I , Theocharis Charis R. 
Published: March 2011

Abstract:  FT‐IR spectra of 65 sweet wines produced in Cyprus and other countries were determined, in order to study the authenticity and uniqueness of the Cypriot traditional wine “Commandaria” that is produced from sun‐dried grapes. Different sample preparation methods such as freeze‐drying and nitrogen‐flow concentration and direct analysis were used. The spectra were obtained in transmittance mode from KBr pellets and by using the attenuated total reflectance technique, and analyzed statistically using multivariate chemometric techniques, involving principal component analysis, cluster analysis, linear and regularized discriminant analysis, and classification and regression trees. A nearly correct classification for Commandaria was achieved. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics were able to differentiate all the types of Commandaria (nonfortified, fortified, and commercial) from various sweet wines from other countries.Practical Application:  Commandaria is a traditional Cyprus product that was proven to be very popular and economically very important. There is therefore a need to determine its chemical characteristics in order to differentiate it from its competitors and thus enable Cyprus to seek the protection of the name as a regional product. A means of easily distinguishing the genuine product from others mimicking it is also of significant economic interest.
Is quantitative spectral‐domain superior to time‐domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) in eyes with age‐related macular degeneration?
Authors: Eriksson Urban , Alm Albert , Larsson Eva 
Published: March 2011

Abstract.Purpose:  The aim of this study was to determine the variability of macular map measurements, for two generations of optical coherence tomography (OCT) instruments, in eyes with wet age related macular degeneration (AMD) and low visual acuity.Methods:  Patients were examined with Stratus OCT and Cirrus HD‐OCT. The macular thickness was assessed with the ‘macular thickness map scan’ and ‘fast protocol’ in Stratus and with the 512 × 128 and 200 × 200 cube protocols in Cirrus OCT. Two measurements were taken one directly after the other, at the first visit to analyse repeatability. Approximately 1 week later, a third measurement was taken to analyse reproducibility. In Cirrus OCT, a manual correction of foveal location was also performed. Repeatability and reproducibility were calculated as a coefficient of variance (CoV) and a coefficient of repeatability/reproducibility.Results:  Repeatability for central macular thickness (expressed as CoV) was about three per cent for all protocols, and the coefficient of repeatability between 34 and 54 μm. Reproducibility (also expressed as CoV) was between four to seven per cent and coefficient of repeatability between 64 and 89 μm. After manual adjustment of foveal location in Cirrus OCT, the coefficient of repeatability improved to 12–18 μm, and the coefficient of reproducibility to 44–47 μm.Conclusions:  In eyes affected by wet AMD, there were small differences in repeatability and reproducibility when comparing quantitative maps in Stratus and Cirrus OCT. However, when the software for manual correction of foveal position in Cirrus OCT was used, the variability decreased markedly, and the repeatability was close to what had been reported in normal eyes, demonstrating a significant, potential advantage of spectral‐domain over time‐domain OCT.