bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Performance of British Agriculture and the Impact of the Common Agricultural Policy: An Historical Review
Authors: Burkitt Brian , Baimbridge Mark 
Published: January 2009

United Kingdom (UK) accession into the European Economic Community (EEC), which became a political likelihood in 1970 and an actuality in 1973, led to a major change in agricultural policy away from a deficiency payments system supporting farmers' incomes towards the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) method of assistance through farm prices above the market level. Such a basic alteration in government activity not only imposed well-known and thoroughly researched costs on the British economy in the form of higher food prices and an additional burden of protection, it also undermined dominant post-1945 historical trends.Firstly, it reversed a thirty year old process towards greater British self-sufficiency Between 1938 and 1946 UK agricultural production rose in value from 42% to 52% of the country's food imports, while under the deficiency payments scheme, permanently established in peacetime by the 1947 Agriculture Act, the proportion of UK food consumption supplied by domestic producers grew steadily until it reached a level of just under 72% in 1972. EEC membership, involving compulsory adoption of the CAP, initially reversed this movement; British agricultural self-sufficiency fell to 66% in 1977, the year when the Common External Tariff (CET) was first applied in full. The higher import bill that inevitably resulted imposed a severe strain on the UK balance of payments, estimated by the pro-market. Heath government in 1970 at a net annual deterioration in the range of 18% to 26%.
Crystal structure of rat haem oxygenase-1 in complex with ferrous verdohaem: presence of a hydrogen-bond network on the distal side
Authors: Sato Hideaki , Sugishima Masakazu , Sakamoto Hiroshi , Higashimoto Yuichiro , Shimokawa Chizu , Fukuyama Keiichi , Palmer Graham , Noguchi Masato 
Published: January 2009

HO (haem oxygenase) catalyses the degradation of haem to biliverdin, CO and ferrous iron via three successive oxygenation reactions, i.e. haem to α-hydroxyhaem, α-hydroxyhaem to α-verdohaem and α-verdohaem to ferric biliverdin–iron chelate. In the present study, we determined the crystal structure of ferrous α-verdohaem–rat HO-1 complex at 2.2 Å (1 Å=0.1 nm) resolution. The overall structure of the verdohaem complex was similar to that of the haem complex. Water or OH− was co-ordinated to the verdohaem iron as a distal ligand. A hydrogen-bond network consisting of water molecules and several amino acid residues was observed at the distal side of verdohaem. Such a hydrogen-bond network was conserved in the structures of rat HO-1 complexes with haem and with the ferric biliverdin–iron chelate. This hydrogen-bond network may act as a proton donor to form an activated oxygen intermediate, probably a ferric hydroperoxide species, in the degradation of α-verdohaem to ferric biliverdin–iron chelate similar to that seen in the first oxygenation step.
Chaperones and protein folding in the archaea
Authors: Large Andrew T. , Goldberg Martin D. , Lund Peter A. 
Published: January 2009

A survey of archaeal genomes for the presence of homologues of bacterial and eukaryotic chaperones reveals several interesting features. All archaea contain chaperonins, also known as Hsp60s (where Hsp is heat-shock protein). These are more similar to the type II chaperonins found in the eukaryotic cytosol than to the type I chaperonins found in bacteria, mitochondria and chloroplasts, although some archaea also contain type I chaperonin homologues, presumably acquired by horizontal gene transfer. Most archaea contain several genes for these proteins. Our studies on the type II chaperonins of the genetically tractable archaeon Haloferax volcanii have shown that only one of the three genes has to be present for the organisms to grow, but that there is some evidence for functional specialization between the different chaperonin proteins. All archaea also possess genes for prefoldin proteins and for small heat-shock proteins, but they generally lack genes for Hsp90 and Hsp100 homologues. Genes for Hsp70 (DnaK) and Hsp40 (DnaJ) homologues are only found in a subset of archaea. Thus chaperone-assisted protein folding in archaea is likely to display some unique features when compared with that in eukaryotes and bacteria, and there may be important differences in the process between euryarchaea and crenarchaea.
Homologous recombination in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius: genetic assays and functional properties
Authors: Grogan Dennis W. 
Published: January 2009

HR (homologous recombination) is expected to play important roles in the molecular biology and genetics of archaea, but, so far, few functional properties of archaeal HR have been measured in vivo. In the extreme thermoacidophile Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, a conjugational mechanism of DNA transfer enables quantitative analysis of HR between chromosomal markers. Early studies of this system indicated that HR occurred frequently between closely spaced mutations within the pyrE gene, and this result was later supported by various analyses involving defined point mutations and deletions. These properties of intragenic HR suggested a non-reciprocal mechanism in which donor sequences become incorporated into the recipient genome as short segments. Because fragmentation of donor DNA during cell-to-cell transfer could not be excluded from contributing to this result, subsequent analyses have focused on electroporation of selectable donor DNA directly into recipient strains. For example, S. acidocaldarius was found to incorporate synthetic ssDNA (single-stranded DNA) of more than ∼20 nt readily into its genome. With respect to various molecular properties of the ssDNA substrates, the process resembled bacteriophage λRed-mediated ‘recombineering’ in Escherichia coli. Another approach used electroporation of a multiply marked pyrE gene to measure donor sequence tracts transferred to the recipient genome in individual recombination events. Initial results indicate multiple discontinuous tracts in the majority of recombinants, representing a relatively broad distribution of tract lengths. This pattern suggests that properties of the HR process could, in principle, account for many of the apparent peculiarities of intragenic recombination initiated by S. acidocaldarius conjugation.
Physical training decreases waist circumference in postmenopausal borderline overweight women
Authors: BERGSTRÖM INGRID , LOMBARDO CIRA , BRINCK JONAS 
Published: January 2009

AbstractObjective. To examine if healthy borderline overweight postmenopausal women with osteoporosis can improve their waist circumference and lipid profile with a moderate physical training program. Design. Randomized controlled trial. Setting. One hundred and twelve postmenopausal women were randomized to normal sedentary life or one year of physical training consisting of three brisk walks and 1–2 aerobic exercises/week. Main Outcome Measures. Waist circumference reduction, waist circumference reduction in relation to observed level of participation in physical intervention and changes in cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoproteins B and A1 and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP). Results. At start the mean (SD) waist circumference was 83.6 (7.7) and 81.8 (7.5) cm in the control and training groups, respectively. In relation to baseline, the 12 months intervention led to a waist reduction of 0.3 cm (2.7) (p = 0.36) and 1.6 cm (4.7) (p = 0.02) in the respective groups but the inter‐group comparison was not significant in an intention‐to‐treat analysis (p = 0.09). The ninety‐two women completing the study intervention were analyzed per protocol. A tendency for better waist reduction in relation to the women's observed physical intensity level was observed (p = 0.07, ANOVA for linear trend across training intensity levels). Training women improved their waist circumference 1.7 cm (p = 0.01) compared to baseline and was borderline significantly better than controls (p = 0.059). No significant changes in response to the intervention were observed for blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoproteins and hs‐CRP. Conclusions. A moderate physical exercise program for healthy postmenopausal women during one year reduced the waist circumference in a training intensity dependent manner.
First‐trimester maternal plasma cytokine levels, pre‐pregnancy body mass index, and spontaneous preterm delivery
Authors: CURRY ALLISON ELIZABETH , THORSEN POUL , DREWS CAROLYN , SCHENDEL DIANA , SKOGSTRAND KRISTIN , FLANDERS WILLIAM DANA , HOUGAARD DAVID , OLSEN JØRN , VOGEL IDA 
Published: January 2009

AbstractObjective. To examine associations between first‐trimester plasma cytokines and spontaneous preterm delivery (sPTD). Design. A case‐control study was nested within the Danish National Birth Cohort, a cohort of women with 101,042 pregnancies from 1997 to 2002 who were recruited during pregnancy and followed prospectively. Sample. Subjects included 107 women delivering singleton infants at 24–29 weeks, 353 at 30–33 weeks, 422 at 34–36 weeks, and 1,372 at ≥37 weeks. Methods. Maternal plasma interleukin (IL)‐2, IL‐6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α, interferon (IFN)‐γ, and granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) were measured at a median of eight weeks gestation using multiplex flow cytometry. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were obtained using polytomous logistic regression. Main outcome measures. sPTD categorized as: 24–29 weeks, 30–33 weeks, 34–36 weeks, and ≥37 weeks (controls). Results. Elevated TNF‐α and GM‐CSF were associated with an increased risk of delivery at 34–36 weeks. In underweight women, sPTD <34 weeks was associated with elevated (>75th percentile) IL‐6 (OR = 5.62, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.73, 18.26) and TNF‐α (OR = 3.02, CI: 1.02, 8.91) compared with term delivery. Conversely, among obese women, elevated IL‐2 (OR = 0.30, CI: 0.11, 0.78) and TNF‐α (OR = 0.15, CI: 0.05, 0.47) were associated with a reduced risk of delivering at <34 weeks. Cytokines were not related to delivery at <34 weeks in normal‐weight and overweight women. Conclusions. These findings suggest that the association between first‐trimester plasma cytokine levels and sPTD may depend on pre‐pregnancy body mass index.
Corps de nombres peu ramifiés et formes automorphes autoduales
Authors: Chenevier G. , Clozel L. 
Published: January 2009

Let

S
S

be a finite set of primes,

p
p

in

S
S

, and

Q

S

\mathbb {Q}_S

a maximal algebraic extension of

Q

\mathbb {Q}

unramified outside

S
S

and

∞
\infty

. Assume that

|

S

|

≥
2

|S|\geq 2

. We show that the natural maps
\[

Gal
⁡
(

Q

p

¯

/

Q

p

)
→
Gal
⁡
(

Q

S

/

Q

)

\operatorname {Gal}(\overline {\mathbb {Q}_p}/\mathbb {Q}_p) \rightarrow \operatorname {Gal}(\mathbb {Q}_S/\mathbb {Q})

\]
are injective. Much of the paper is devoted to the problem of constructing self-dual automorphic cuspidal representations of

GL
⁡
(
2
n
,

A

Q

)

\operatorname {GL}(2n,\mathbb {A}_{\mathbb {Q}})

with prescribed properties at all places, which we study via Arthur’s twisted trace formula. The techniques we develop also shed some light on the orthogonal/symplectic alternative for self-dual representations of

GL
⁡
(
2
n
)

\operatorname {GL}(2n)

.
Negative dependence and the geometry of polynomials
Authors: Borcea Julius , Brändén Petter , Liggett Thomas 
Published: January 2009

We introduce the class ofstrongly Rayleighprobability measures by means of geometric properties of their generating polynomials that amount to the stability of the latter. This class covers important models such as determinantal measures (e.g. product measures and uniform random spanning tree measures) and distributions for symmetric exclusion processes. We show that strongly Rayleigh measures enjoy all virtues of negative dependence, and we also prove a series of conjectures due to Liggett, Pemantle, and Wagner, respectively. Moreover, we extend Lyons’ recent results on determinantal measures, and we construct counterexamples to several conjectures of Pemantle and Wagner on negative dependence and ultra log-concave rank sequences.
DSSTox chemical-index files for exposure-related experiments in ArrayExpress and Gene Expression Omnibus: enabling toxico-chemogenomics data linkages
Authors: Williams-DeVane ClarLynda R. , Wolf Maritja A. , Richard Ann M. 
Published: January 2009

Abstract
Summary: The Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) ARYEXP and GEOGSE files are newly published, structure-annotated files of the chemical-associated and chemical exposure-related summary experimental content contained in the ArrayExpress Repository and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) Series (based on data extracted on September 20, 2008). ARYEXP and GEOGSE contain 887 and 1064 unique chemical substances mapped to 1835 and 2381 chemical exposure-related experiment accession IDs, respectively. The standardized files allow one to assess, compare and search the chemical content in each resource, in the context of the larger DSSTox toxicology data network, as well as across large public cheminformatics resources such as PubChem (http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).
Availability: Data files and documentation may be accessed online at http://epa.gov/ncct/dsstox/.
Contact: williams.clarlynda@epa.gov
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Levosimendan vs. dobutamine: outcomes for acute heart failure patients on β‐blockers in SURVIVE†
Authors: Mebazaa Alexandre , Nieminen Markku S. , Filippatos Gerasimos S. , Cleland John G. , Salon Jeffrey E. , Thakkar Roopal , Padley Robert J. , Huang Bidan , Cohen‐Solal Alain 
Published: January 2009

AimsMany chronic heart failure (CHF) patients take β‐blockers. When such patients are hospitalized for decompensation, it remains unclear how ongoing β‐blocker treatment will affect outcomes of acute inotrope therapy. We aimed to assess outcomes of SURVIVE patients who were on β‐blocker therapy before receiving a single intravenous infusion of levosimendan or dobutamine.Methods and resultsCox proportional hazard regression revealed all‐cause mortality benefits of levosimendan treatment over dobutamine when the SURVIVE population was stratified according to baseline presence/absence of CHF history and use/non‐use of β‐blocker treatment at baseline. All‐cause mortality was lower in the CHF/levosimendan group than in the CHF/dobutamine group, showing treatment differences by hazard ratio (HR) at days 5 (3.4 vs. 5.8%; HR, 0.58, CI 0.33–1.01, P = 0.05) and 14 (7.0 vs. 10.3%; HR, 0.67, CI 0.45–0.99, P = 0.045). For patients who used β‐blockers (n = 669), mortality was significantly lower for levosimendan than dobutamine at day 5 (1.5 vs. 5.1% deaths; HR, 0.29; CI 0.11–0.78, P = 0.01).ConclusionLevosimendan may be better than dobutamine for treating patients with a history of CHF or those on β‐blocker therapy when they are hospitalized with acute decompensations. These findings are preliminary but important for planning future studies.
Years‐needed‐to‐treat to add 1 year of life: a new metric to estimate treatment effects in randomized trials
Authors: Levy Wayne C. , Mozaffarian Dariush , Linker David T. , Kenyon Kenneth W. , Cleland John G.F. , Komajda Michel , Remme Willem J. , Torp‐Pedersen Christian , Metra Marco , Poole‐Wilson Philip A. ,   on behalf of the COMET Investigators
Published: January 2009

AimsA standard metric to estimate absolute treatment effects is numbers‐needed‐to‐treat (NNT), which implicitly assumes that all benefits reverse at trial‐end. However, in‐trial survival benefits typically do not reverse until long after trial‐end, so that NNT will substantially underestimate lifetime benefits.Methods and resultsWe developed a new concept, years‐needed‐to‐treat (YNT) to add 1 year of life, that quantifies the expected average life expectancy for two treatments including the estimated years of life remaining post‐trial. Numbers‐needed‐to‐treat and YNT were calculated in the COMET trial, in which carvedilol vs. metoprolol tartrate resulted in 17% lower mortality over 4.8 years. A multivariate Cox model was used to predict survival. Remaining years of life were estimated using the mortality‐life‐table method. At trial‐end, survival was 9% higher in the carvedilol arm. Assuming that patients remained on the same therapy post‐trial, the average total years of life for carvedilol vs. metoprolol were 10.63 ± 0.19 vs. 9.48 ± 0.18 (P < 0.0001) or 1.15 (95% confidence interval 0.64–1.66) additional years of life. The YNT was 9.2, indicating that 9.2 person‐years of treatment added 1 person‐year of life, compared with NNT of 59.ConclusionCompared with NNT, the YNT method more accurately accounts for potential long‐term benefits of interventions in randomized trials.
Recent developments in the understanding of the combined deficiency of FV and FVIII
Authors: Zhang Bin 
Published: January 2009

SummaryCombined deficiency of factor V (FV) and factor VIII (FVIII) (F5F8D) is a genetic disorder characterized by mild‐to‐moderate bleeding and coordinate reduction in plasma FV and FVIII levels, as well as platelet FV level. Recent studies identified mutations in two genes (LMAN1 and MCFD2) as the cause of F5F8D. Though clinically indistinguishable, MCFD2 mutations generally exhibit lower levels of FV and FVIII than LMAN1 mutations. LMAN1 is a mannose‐specific lectin that cycles between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the ER‐Golgi intermediate compartment. MCFD2 is an EF‐hand domain protein that forms a calcium‐dependent heteromeric complex with LMAN1 in cells. Missense mutations in the EF‐hand domains of MCFD2 abolish the interaction with LMAN1. The LMAN1‐MCFD2 complex may serve as a cargo receptor for the ER‐to‐Golgi transport of FV and FVIII, and perhaps a number of other glycoproteins. The B domain of FVIII may be important in mediating its interaction with the LMAN1‐MCFD2 complex.
Genetic diversity and migration patterns of the aquatic macrophyte Potamogeton malaianus in a potamo‐lacustrine system
Authors: CHEN YUANYUAN , LI XIULING , YIN LIYAN , CHENG YU , LI WEI 
Published: January 2009

Summary1. Previously, the Yangtze River connected thousands of shallow lakes which together formed a potamo‐lacustrine system capable of sustaining a rich variety of submerged macrophytes.2. Potamogeton malaianus is one of the dominant submerged macrophytes in many lakes of this area. Genetic variation and population structure of P. malaianus populations from ten lakes in the potamo‐lacustrine system were assessed using inter‐simple sequence repeat markers.3. Twelve primer combinations produced a total of 166 unambiguous bands of which 117 (70.5%) were polymorphic. Potamogeton malaianus exhibited a moderate level of population genetic diversity (PP = 70.5%, HE = 0.163 and I = 0.255), as compared with that of plants in the same habitat and range. The main factors responsible for this moderate value were the plant’s mixed breeding system (both sexual and asexual) and the hydrological connectivity among habitats.4. F statistics, calculated using different approaches, consistently revealed a moderate genetic differentiation among populations, contributing about 20% of total genetic diversity. An estimate of gene flow (using FST) suggested that gene flow played a more important role than genetic drift in the current population genetic structure of P. malaianus (Nm = 1.131).5. The genetic diversity of P. malaianus did not increase downstream. A high level of linkage–disequilibrium at the whole population level suggested that metapopulation processes may affect genetic structure. The migration pattern of P. malaianus was best explained by a two‐dimensional stepping stone model, indicating that bird‐mediated dispersal could greatly influence gene movements among lakes.
Impact of afforestation‐associated management changes on the carbon balance of grassland
Authors: DON AXEL , REBMANN CORINNA , KOLLE OLAF , SCHERER‐LORENZEN MICHAEL , SCHULZE ERNST‐DETLEF 
Published: January 2009

AbstractAfforestations can be considerable carbon (C) sources due to C losses from the soil after site preparation for tree planting and decreased primary production. In this study, the transition from grassland to afforestation was investigated using two eddy flux towers, which were operated in parallel for 3 years, one on a young afforestation and one on an adjacent grassland. Differences between the fluxes at the two sites were attributable to the management of the sites, without confounding influences of meteorological variability. Site preparation with deep ploughing of the planting rows destroyed 30% of the grassland vegetation at the afforestation site and reduced gross primary productivity by 41% in the first year. At the afforestation site 38 g m−2 less C was sequestered compared with the nonafforested grassland during the first year. In the following years, the C sink at the afforestation site was higher than at the grassland indicating that soil C loss due to site preparation and land use change on the afforestation occurred only during the first year. Metrological conditions, especially summer drought, caused a high interannual variability of the C balance: both sites were small C sources in 2005 (67 g C m−2 a−1 at the grassland and 19 g C g−1 a−1 at the afforestation site) and small C sinks in 2004 and 2006 (−72.5 and −16 g C m−2 a−1 at the grassland and −34 and −61 g C g−1 a−1 at the afforestation). Sheep grazing and mowing affected the short‐term dynamics of the C balance and sheep grazing accelerated the C turnover on the grassland site. The investigated afforestation site did not provide any short‐term way of sequestering additional C even though soil C losses during the first 3 years were relatively small.
Climate‐driven changes in abundance and distribution of larvae of oceanic fishes in the southern California region
Authors: HSIEH CHIH‐HAO , KIM HEY JIN , WATSON WILLIAM , DI LORENZO EMANUELE , SUGIHARA GEORGE 
Published: January 2009

AbstractWe examined climatic effects on the geographic distribution and abundance of 34 dominant oceanic fishes in the southern California region using larval fish data collected from the 50‐year long California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) surveys. The oceanic species responses to environmental changes in their geographic distributions were not very pronounced, perhaps because they lived in the deep layer where temperature change was relatively small or because the environmental variation of the CalCOFI region is not strong enough (with an average temperature gradient of the upper 100 m around 91 km  °C−1). Among the 34 taxa, 16 showed a significant distributional shift (median latitude or boundaries) in relation to environmental variables, and eight species significantly shifted their geographic distribution from the 1951–1976 cold period to the 1977–1998 warm period. Interestingly, the vertically migrating taxa more often showed a significant response to environmental variables than the nonmigrating mesopelagic taxa, reflecting the more significant increase in heat content of the upper ocean (<200 m), compared with the deeper zone (300–500 m) where the mesopelagic fishes typically remain. Climate change has significant effects on the abundances of oceanic fishes. Twenty‐four taxa exhibited a significant change in abundance in relation to environmental variables, and 25 taxa, including both warm and cold‐water taxa, showed a significant increase in abundance from the cold to warm period. Analysis of physical data indicated that the surface‐layer (20–200 m) warmed significantly and the isotherms approached shoreward from the cold to the warm period. We further show that the spatial distribution of coastal–neritic fish retreated shoreward and oceanic fish extended shoreward from the cold to warm period. Our results suggest intensified stratification of the southern California region during the warm period may create a suitable habitat for the oceanic species. Moreover, such an unfavorable condition (e.g. changes in food habitat) for coastal–neritic species might result in competitive release for the oceanic fishes to flourish.