bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide-Dependent 4-Phospho-
d
-Erythronate Dehydrogenase Is Responsible for the 4-Phosphohydroxy-
l
-Threonine Pathway in Vitamin B
6
Biosynthesis in
Sinorhizobium meliloti
Authors: Tazoe Masaaki , Ichikawa Keiko , Hoshino Tatsuo 
Published: June 2006

ABSTRACT

The vitamin B
6
biosynthetic pathway in
Sinorhizobium meliloti
is similar to that in
Escherichia coli
K-12; in both organisms this pathway includes condensation of two intermediates, 1-deoxy-
d
-xylulose 5-phosphate and 4-phosphohydroxy-
l
-threonine (4PHT). Here, we report cloning of a gene designated
pdxR
that functionally corresponds to the
pdxB
gene of
E. coli
and encodes a dye-linked flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent 4-phospho-
d
-erythronate (4PE) dehydrogenase. This enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of 4PE to 3-hydroxy-4-phosphohydroxy-α-ketobutyrate and is clearly different in terms of cofactor requirements from the
pdxB
gene product of
E. coli
, which is known to be an NAD-dependent enzyme. Previously, we revealed that in
S. meliloti
IFO 14782, 4PHT is synthesized from 4-hydroxy-
l
-threonine and that this synthesis starts with glycolaldehyde and glycine. However, in this study, we identified a second 4PHT pathway in
S. meliloti
that originates exclusively from glycolaldehyde (the major pathway). Based on the involvement of 4PE in the 4PHT pathway, the incorporation of different samples of
13
C-labeled glycolaldehyde into pyridoxine molecules was examined using
13
C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. On the basis of the spectral analyses, the synthesis of 4PHT from glycolaldehyde was hypothesized to involve the following steps: glycolaldehyde is sequentially metabolized to
d
-erythrulose,
d
-erythrulose 4-phosphate, and
d
-erythrose 4-phosphate by transketolase, kinase, and isomerase, respectively; and
d
-erythrose 4-phosphate is then converted to 4PHT by the conventional three-step pathway elucidated in
E. coli
, although the mechanism of action of the enzymes catalyzing the first two steps is different.
Competent independent driving as an archetypal task of adolescence
Authors: Winston F K , Senserrick T M 
Published: June 2006

Supplement Editor, Dr Flaura K Winston, and Co-Editor, Dr Teresa Senserrick, introduce 10 papers covering the current science of safe driving among adolescents from the varied viewpoints of an international panel of experts. This Expert Panel, convened by the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (formerly TraumaLink) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies®, working jointly on the Youthful Driver Research Initiative, represents a wide range of expertise, thereby providing a broad understanding of driving, adolescence, and adolescent driving.
INDUCED CHANGES OF THERMOTROPIC PROPERTIES OF PHASE TRANSITIONS BETWEEN SMECTIC A MESOPHASE AND ISOTROPIC LIQUID: EFFECT OF SURFACES
Authors: NESRULLAJEV ARIF , OKTIK ŞENER 
Published: June 2006

In this work, the effect of thin films on the thermotropic and thermo-optical properties and peculiarities of the phase transitions between the smectic A and isotropic liquid have been investigated. Peculiarities of the heterophase regions of the straight smectic A-isotropic liquid and reverse isotropic liquid-smectic A phase transitions have been studied.Change of morphologic properties of the heterophase regions, shift of the phase transition temperatures and the change of temperature widths of these heterophase regions under thin film influence have been observed.
Tissue-specific expression of TRP channel genes in the mouse and its variation in three different mouse strains
Authors: Kunert-Keil Christiane , Bisping Frederike , Krüger Jana , Brinkmeier Heinrich 
Published: June 2006

Abstract

Background
The purpose of this work was to study the gene expression of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels in the mouse. The application of a standardized and quantitative technique, TaqMan RT-PCR, should give information about the pattern and relative importance of TRP channels for murine tissues and cell types. To verify data sets with an independent method, we studied the occurrence of some of the transcripts by in situ hybridization.

Results
We have characterized the mRNA expression of 22 TRP channels in the mouse with a focus on nerve and muscle tissues. This is the first study to describe the expression profiles of all channel isoforms of the four related Group 1 subfamilies (TRPC, TRPV, TRPM and TRPA) with a standardized and quantitative technique. Comparisons of transcript abundance showed a consistent dominance of TRPM7 and TRPC3 in most tissues. We further observed characteristic patterns and differences in gene expression of individual channels ranging over three orders of magnitude. The overall level of TRP channel mRNAs was highest in brain areas followed by kidney, lung, reproductive organs and muscle. In brain TRPM3 and TRPM7 dominated and 19 other isoforms were detected. In lung and kidney TRPV4, TRPV5 and TRPM7 were found in highest levels. TRPM7, TRPC3, TRPC6 and TRPM3 mRNAs were characteristically present in all tested muscle tissues. Most data obtained with the C57Bl/10 mouse strain were confirmed with Balb/c and NOD mice. However, TRPC3, C6, TRPM7, M3, TRPV2 and V4 expression showed marked differences in the three tested mouse strains. In situ hybridization revealed co-expression of transcripts on the cellular level and widely confirmed the data obtained with RT-PCR.

Conclusion
Transcripts coding for members of the TRPC, TRPV, TRPM and TRPA subfamilies of TRP cation channels are present in a broad spectrum of murine tissues. Several channel isoforms often coexist in a specific tissue or cell type. TRP channel expression does not show typical tissue specific dominance of individual members as is known from other ion channel families. Mouse strain specific variations of TRP channel expression indicate that genetic background or physiological requirements considerably influence expression levels.
Neural stem cells from protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma knockout mice generate an altered neuronal phenotype in culture
Authors: Kirkham David L , Pacey Laura KK , Axford Michelle M , Siu Roberta , Rotin Daniela , Doering Laurie C 
Published: June 2006

Abstract

Background
The LAR family Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase sigma (PTPσ) has been implicated in neuroendocrine and neuronal development, and shows strong expression in specific regions within the CNS, including the subventricular zone (SVZ). We established neural stem cell cultures, grown as neurospheres, from the SVZ of PTPσ knockout mice and sibling controls to determine if PTPσ influences the generation and the phenotype of the neuronal, astrocyte and oligodendrocyte cell lineages.

Results
The neurospheres from the knockout mice acquired heterogeneous developmental characteristics and they showed similar morphological characteristics to the age matched siblings. Although Ptprs expression decreases as a function of developmental age in vivo, it remains high with the continual renewal and passage of the neurospheres. Stem cells, progenitors and differentiated neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes all express the gene. While no apparent differences were observed in developing neurospheres or in the astrocytes and oligodendrocytes from the PTPσ knockout mice, the neuronal migration patterns and neurites were altered when studied in culture. In particular, neurons migrated farther from the neurosphere centers and the neurite outgrowth exceeded the length of the neuronal processes from age matched sibling controls.

Conclusion
Our results imply a specific role for PTPσ in the neuronal lineage, particularly in the form of inhibitory influences on neurite outgrowth, and demonstrate a role for tyrosine phosphatases in neuronal stem cell differentiation.
Evaluation of CXCL9 and CXCL10 as circulating biomarkers of human cardiac allograft rejection
Authors: Karason Kristjan , Jernås Margareta , Hägg Daniel A , Svensson Per-Arne 
Published: June 2006

Abstract

Background
Cardiac allograft rejection remains a significant clinical problem in the early phase after heart transplantation and requires frequent surveillance with endomyocardial biopsy. However, this is an invasive procedure, which is unpleasant for the patient and carries a certain risk. Therefore, a sensitive non-invasive biomarker of acute rejection would be desirable.

Methods
Endomyocardial tissue samples and serum were obtained in connection with clinical biopsies from twenty consecutive heart transplant patients followed for six months. A rejection episode was observed in 14 patients (11 men and 3 women) and biopsies obtained before, during and after the episode were identified. Endomyocardial RNA, from three patients, matching these three points in time were analysed with DNA microarray. Genes showing up-regulation during rejection followed by normalization after the rejection episode were evaluated further with real-time RT-PCR. Finally, ELISA was performed to investigate whether change in gene-regulation during graft rejection was reflected in altered concentrations of the encoded protein in serum.

Results
Three potential cardiac allograft rejection biomarker genes, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 9 (CXCL9), chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 10 (CXCL10) and Natriuretic peptide precursor A (NPPA), from the DNA microarray analysis were selected for further evaluation. CXCL9 was significantly upregulated during rejection (p < 0.05) and CXCL10 displayed a similar pattern without reaching statistical significance. Serum levels of CXCL9 and CXCL10 were measured by ELISA in samples from 10 patients before, during and after cardiac rejection. There were no changes in CXCL9 and CXCL10 serum concentrations during cardiac rejection. Both chemokines displayed large individual variations in the selected samples, but the serum levels between the two chemokines correlated (p < 0.001).

Conclusion
We conclude, that despite a distinct up-regulation of CXCL9 mRNA in human hearts during cardiac allograft rejection, this was not reflected in the serum levels of the encoded protein. Thus, in contrast to previous suggestions, serum CXCL9 does not appear to be a promising serum biomarker for cardiac allograft rejection.
Herbal medicine use during pregnancy in a group of Australian women
Authors: Forster Della A , Denning Angela , Wills Gemma , Bolger Melissa , McCarthy Elizabeth 
Published: June 2006

Abstract

Background
There are limited data on the extent of women's use of herbal medicines during pregnancy, despite the fact that knowledge of the potential benefits or harms of many of these products is sparse, particularly with respect to their use in pregnancy. We aimed to measure the prevalence of herbal medicine use in a group of pregnant women attending a public tertiary maternity hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Secondary aims were to explore why women took the herbal medicine, where they received advice, what form the supplements took and if they perceived the supplements to be helpful.

Methods
Consecutive pregnant women were approached in the antenatal clinic and the birth centre at around 36–38 weeks gestation. A questionnaire was developed and self-administered in English, as well as being translated into the four most common languages of women attending the hospital: Cantonese, Vietnamese, Turkish and Arabic. Back translation into English was undertaken by different professional translators to verify accuracy of both words and concepts. Data collected included demographic information, model of pregnancy care and herbal supplement use. Descriptive statistics were used initially, with stratified and regression analysis to compare sub-groups.

Results
Of 705 eligible women, 588 (83%) agreed to participate. Of these, 88 (15%) completed the questionnaire in a language other than English. Thirty-six percent of women took at least one herbal supplement during the current pregnancy. The most common supplements taken were raspberry leaf (14%), ginger (12%) and chamomile (11%). Women were more likely to take herbal supplements if they were older, tertiary educated, English speaking, non-smokers and primiparous.

Conclusion
Use of herbal supplements in pregnancy is likely to be relatively high and it is important to ascertain what supplements (if any) women are taking. Pregnancy care providers should be aware of the common herbal supplements used by women, and of the evidence regarding potential benefits or harm.
A methodology to estimate the potential to move inpatient to one day surgery
Authors: Gilliard Nicolas , Eggli Yves , Halfon Patricia 
Published: June 2006

AbstractBackgroundThe proportion of surgery performed as a day case varies greatly between countries. Low rates suggest a large growth potential in many countries. Measuring the potential development of one day surgery should be grounded on a comprehensive list of eligible procedures, based on a priori criteria, independent of local practices. We propose an algorithmic method, using only routinely available hospital data to identify surgical hospitalizations that could have been performed as one day treatment.MethodsMoving inpatient surgery to one day surgery was considered feasible if at least one surgical intervention was eligible for one day surgery and if none of the following criteria were present: intervention or affection requiring an inpatient stay, patient transferred or died, and length of stay greater than four days. The eligibility of a procedure to be treated as a day case was mainly established on three a priori criteria: surgical access (endoscopic or not), the invasiveness of the procedure and the size of the operated organ. Few overrides of these criteria occurred when procedures were associated with risk of immediate complications, slow physiological recovery or pain treatment requiring hospital infrastructure. The algorithm was applied to a random sample of one million inpatient US stays and more than 600 thousand Swiss inpatient stays, in the year 2002.ResultsThe validity of our method was demonstrated by the few discrepancies between the a priori criteria based list of eligible procedures, and a state list used for reimbursement purposes, the low proportion of hospitalizations eligible for one day care found in the US sample (4.9 versus 19.4% in the Swiss sample), and the distribution of the elective procedures found eligible in Swiss hospitals, well supported by the literature. There were large variations of the proportion of candidates for one day surgery among elective surgical hospitalizations between Swiss hospitals (3 to 45.3%).ConclusionThe proposed approach allows the monitoring of the proportion of inpatient stay candidates for one day surgery. It could be used for infrastructure planning, resources negotiation and the surveillance of appropriate resource utilization.
Plasmodiumdiversity in non-malaria individuals from the Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea (West Central-Africa)
Authors: Guerra-Neira Ana , Rubio José M , Royo Jesús Roche , Ortega Jorge Cano , Auñón Antonio Sarrión , Diaz Pedro Berzosa , LLanes Agustín Benito 
Published: June 2006

Abstract

Background
In this paper we analyse the Plasmodium sp. prevalence in three villages with different isolation status on the island of Bioko (Equatorial Guinea) where malaria is a hyper-endemic disease. We also describe the genetic diversity of P. falciparum, using several plasmodia proteins as markers which show a high degree of polymorphism (MSP-1 and MSP-2). The results obtained from three different populations are compared in order to establish the impact of human movements and interventions.

Methods

Plasmodium sp. were analysed in three villages on Bioko Island (Equatorial Guinea), one of which (Southern) is isolated by geographical barriers. The semi-nested multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to determine the prevalence of the four human plasmodia species. The genotyping and frequency of P. falciparum populations were determined by PCR assay target polymorphism regions of the merozoite surface proteins 1 and 2 genes (MSP-1 and MSP-2).

Results
The data obtained show that there are no differences in plasmodia population flow between the Northwest and Eastern regions as regards the prevalence of the different Plasmodium species. The Southern population, on the other hand, shows a minor presence of P. malariae and a higher prevalence of P. ovale, suggesting some kind of transmission isolated from the other two. The P. falciparum genotyping in the different regions points to a considerable allelic diversity in the parasite population on Bioko Island, although this is somewhat higher in the Southern region than the others. There was a correlation between parasitaemia levels and the age of the individual with the multiplicity of infection (MOI).

Conclusion
Results could be explained by the selection of particular MSP alleles. This would tend to limit diversity in the parasite population and leading up to the extinction of rare alleles. On the other hand, the parasite population in the isolated village has less outside influence and the diversity of P. falciparum is maintained higher. The knowledge of parasite populations and their relationships is necessary to study their implications for control intervention.
The p53-targeting human phosphatase hCdc14A interacts with the Cdk1/cyclin B complex and is differentially expressed in human cancers
Authors: Paulsen Michelle T , Starks Adrienne M , Derheimer Frederick A , Hanasoge Sheela , Li Liwu , Dixon Jack E , Ljungman Mats 
Published: June 2006

AbstractBackgroundThe evolutionary conserved cyclin-dependent kinase phosphatase hCdc14A has been shown to play potential roles in the regulation of mitotic exit and in the centrosome duplication cycle. We have recently shown that hCdc14A also can interact with the tumor suppressor p53 bothin vitroandin vivoand specifically dephosphorylates the ser315 site of p53in vitro. In this study we developed antibodies against hCdc14A to investigate the expression and regulation of hCdc14A in human tissues and cancer cells.ResultsWe show that hCdc14A is differentially expressed in human tissues and in 75 cancer cell lines examined. Treatments with the histone deacetylase inhibitor TSA, the demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytodine or the proteasome inhibitor MG132 significantly induced expression of hCdc14A in cell lines expressing low or undetectable levels of hCdc14A. There was a strong bias for low expression of hCdc14A in cancer cell lines harboring wild-type p53, suggesting that high Cdc14A expression is not compatible with wild-type p53 expression. We present evidence for a role for hCdc14A in the dephosphorylation of the ser315 site of p53in vivoand that hCdc14A forms a complex with Cdk1/cyclin B during interphase but not during mitosis.ConclusionOur results that hCdc14A is differentially expressed in human cancer cells and that hCdc14A can interact with both p53 and the Cdk1/cyclin B complex may implicate that dysregulation of hCdc14A expression may play a role in carcinogenesis.
Variation in fiberoptic bead-based oligonucleotide microarrays: dispersion characteristics among hybridization and biological replicate samples
Authors: Novak Jaroslav P , Miller Merrill C , Bell Douglas A 
Published: June 2006

AbstractBackgroundGene expression microarray technology continues to evolve and its use has expanded into all areas of biology. However, the high dimensionality of the data makes analysis a difficult challenge. Evaluating measurements and estimating the significance of the observed differences among samples remain important issues that must be addressed for each technology platform. In this work we use a consecutive sampling method to characterize the dispersion patterns of data generated from Illumina fiberoptic bead-based oligonucleotide arrays.ResultsTo describe general properties of the dispersion we used a linear function SD = a + bYmean, approximating the standard deviation across arrays (Ymeanis the mean expression of a given consecutive sample). First we examined three levels of variability: 1) same cell culture, same reverse transcription, duplicate hybridizations; 2) same cell culture, reverse transcription replicates; 3) parallel cultures. Each higher level is expected to introduce a new source of variability. We observed minor differences in the constant term: the mean values are 3.5, 3.1 and 3.5, respectively. However, the mean coefficient b increased from 0.045 to 0.147 and 0.133. We compared the coefficients derived from the consecutive sampling to those obtained from the standard deviation of individual gene expressions and found them in good agreement. In the second experiment samples we detected 11 genes with systematically different expressions between the experiment samples treated with glucose oxidase and controls and corroborated the selection using the Mann-Whitney and other tests. We also compared the consecutive sampling and coincidence method to t-test: the average percentage of consistency was above 80 for the former and below 50 for the latter.ConclusionOur results indicate that the consecutive sampling method and standard deviation function provide a convenient description of the overall dispersion of Illumina arrays. We observed that the constant term of the standard deviation function is at average approximately the same for duplicate hybridization as for the assays with additional sources of variability. Furthermore, among the genes affected by glucose oxidase treatment we identified 6 genes in oxidative stress pathways and 5 genes involved in DNA repair. Finally, we noted that the consecutive sampling and coincidence test provide, under given conditions, more consistent results than the t-test.ReviewersThis article was reviewed by Alexander Karpikov (nominated by MarkGerstein), Jordan King and Eugene V. Koonin.