bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Towards an ontological theory of wellness: a discussion of conceptual foundations and implications for nursing
Authors: Mackey Sandra 
Published: March 2009

AbstractIn this article a discussion of the phenomenon of wellness and its relevance to contemporary nursing practice is developed. Drawing on phenomenology, the research literature and the author's own wellness research, an exposition of the concept of wellness is presented. It is proposed that the experience of being well is lived as a continuity of time and that it involves both a taking‐for‐granted of the body and containment of the horizon of concern. The state of actually being well is also clarified and contrasted with the more common understanding of wellness as an optimal or future state. This discussion has significance for nursing knowledge development, in terms of our understanding of the experience of wellness and illness. It also has implications for how nurses approach their practice, particularly in the area of health promotion.
Obsessive–compulsive disorder: a disorder of pessimal (non‐functional) motor behavior
Authors: Zor R. , Keren H. , Hermesh H. , Szechtman H. , Mort J. , Eilam D. 
Published: March 2009

Objective:  To determine whether in addition to repetitiveness, the motor rituals of patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) involve reduced functionality due to numerous and measurable acts that are irrelevant and unnecessary for task completion.Method:  Comparing motor rituals of OCD patients with behavior of non‐patient control individuals who were instructed to perform the same motor task.Results:  Obsessive–compulsive disorder behavior comprises abundant acts that were not performed by the controls. These acts seem unnecessary or even irrelevant for the task that the patients were performing, and therefore are termed ‘non‐functional’. Non‐functional acts comprise some 60% of OCD motor behavior. Moreover, OCD behavior consists of short chains of functional acts bounded by long chains of non‐functional acts.Conclusion:  The abundance of irrelevant or unnecessary acts in OCD motor rituals represents reduced functionality in terms of task completion, typifying OCD rituals as pessimal behavior (antonym of optimal behavior).
Atypical depression: retrospective self‐reporting of treatment effectiveness
Authors: Parker G. , Crawford J. 
Published: March 2009

Objective:  Earlier studies demonstrated that those with atypical depression show a differentially superior response to monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) antidepressants. This study compares ratings of effectiveness for a range of treatments, amongst depressed subjects with and without atypical features.Method:  In an on‐line survey, individuals experiencing likely clinical depression rated symptoms experienced when depressed, including ‘atypical features’ and the effectiveness of previous treatments. Mean treatment effectiveness ratings were compared amongst those with ‘atypical depression’ (n = 338) and ‘non‐atypical depression’ (n = 377).Results:  There were few significant differences between the ‘atypical depression’ and ‘non‐atypical depression’ groups in effectiveness ratings for drug treatments, and none for psychological treatments. The ‘atypical depression’ group had significantly lower mean effectiveness ratings for some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants. Few respondents had trialed MAOIs.Conclusion:  While MAOIs are rarely prescribed, a range of non‐MAOI drug and psychological treatments are of some perceived benefit for depressed patients with atypical features.
Genetic and environmental influences on serum lipids and the effects of puberty: a Chinese twin study
Authors: Chen Tian‐Jiao , Ji Cheng‐Ye , Hu Yong‐Hua 
Published: March 2009

AbstractAim: To study the contribution of genes and environment on the variation of serum lipids and the effects of puberty.Methods: In total, 314 same‐sex twin pairs aged 5–18 years were studied. Puberty was marked physiologically by spermarche/menarche, and model fitting was used to analyse the genetic and environmental variance and its difference before and after puberty.Results: Lipid levels were different before and after puberty. The genetic factor had an important influence on lipid levels; the heritability estimates of total cholesterol (TC), high‐density lipoprotein (HDL), low‐density lipoprotein (LDL), lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) were between 49 and 86%. The total phenotypic variances of TC, HDL, LDL, Lp(a) and ApoE decreased after puberty, mainly as a result of decrease of genetic variance, even though the common environmental variance for HDL, Lp(a) and ApoE increased.Conclusion: Genes and the environment have different effects on the levels of different lipids. The shared environmental effects on lipids are very important in children. The role of puberty on lipids deserves future study.
Impacts of Agriculture on the Diet and Productivity of Mackinder's Eagle Owls (Bubo capensis mackinderi ) in Kenya
Authors: Ogada Darcy L. , Kibuthu Paul M. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTLand conversion for agriculture is an increasing threat to biodiversity conservation, but its ecological effects on African birds is practically unknown. We investigated the impacts of agriculture on the diet and productivity of a small, disjunct population of Mackinder's eagle owls (Bubo capensis mackinderi ) in central Kenya. Owl diet was determined by analysis of pellets and other remains and compared to small mammal populations estimated by live trapping in two habitats. Small mammal abundance was low and averaged 7.4 small mammals/ha in farms and 0.5 small mammals/ha in grassland. Owls consumed a wide diversity of prey. The majority were mammals (87%) followed by birds (7%) and insects (5%). The percentage of small mammals in owl diet correlated positively with the relative abundance of small mammals during monthly trapping sessions. Diet composition did not influence owl breeding success. Farming activities affected owl diet composition through crop production. The amount of maize, peas, and carrots growing in farms was correlated with the abundance ofMastomyssp. andProcaviasp. in the owl's diet. Agricultural activities had a large effect on Mackinder's eagle owl diet by increasing the abundance of certain small‐mammal prey and attracting owl prey to farms, though farming practices harmful to owls were observed.
Seed Dispersal Distances and Plant Migration Potential in Tropical East Asia
Authors: Corlett Richard T. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTMost predictions of vegetation responses to anthropogenic climate change over the next 100 yr are based on plant physiological tolerances and do not account for the ability of plant species to migrate over the distances required in the time available, or the impact of habitat fragmentation on this ability. This review assesses the maximum routine dispersal distances achievable in tropical East Asia and their vulnerability to human impacts. Estimates for various plant–vector combinations range from < 10 m, for species dispersed by ants or mechanical means, to > 10 km for some species dispersed by wind (tiny seeds), water, fruit pigeons, large fruit bats (tiny seeds), elephants, rhinoceroses, and people. Most plant species probably have maximum dispersal distances in the 100–1000 m range, but the widespread, canopy‐dominant Dipterocarpaceae and Fagaceae are normally dispersed < 100 m. Large fruit bats and fruit pigeons are particularly important for long‐distance dispersal in fragmented landscapes and should be protected from hunting. The maximum seed dispersal distances estimated in this study are potentially sufficient for many plant species to track temperature changes in steep topography, but are far too small for a significant role in mitigating climate change impacts in the lowlands, where temperature and rainfall gradients are much more shallow.
Discrimination of Viable and Dead Fecal
Bacteroidales
Bacteria by Quantitative PCR with Propidium Monoazide
Authors: Bae Sungwoo , Wuertz Stefan 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

Propidium monoazide (PMA) was optimized to discriminate between viable and dead
Bacteroides fragilis
cells and extracellular DNA at different concentrations of solids using quantitative PCR. Conditions of 100 μM PMA and a 10-min light exposure also excluded DNA from heat-treated cells of nonculturable
Bacteroidales
in human feces and wastewater influent and effluent.
Pyrosequencing of the Chaperonin-60 Universal Target as a Tool for Determining Microbial Community Composition
Authors: Schellenberg John , Links Matthew G. , Hill Janet E. , Dumonceaux Tim J. , Peters Geoffrey A. , Tyler Shaun , Ball T. Blake , Severini Alberto , Plummer Francis A. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

We compared dideoxy sequencing of cloned chaperonin-60 universal target (
cpn60
UT) amplicons to pyrosequencing of amplicons derived from vaginal microbial communities. In samples pooled from a number of individuals, the pyrosequencing method produced a data set that included virtually all of the sequences that were found within the clone library and revealed an additional level of taxonomic richness. However, the relative abundances of the sequences were different in the two datasets. These observations were expanded and confirmed by the analysis of paired clone library and pyrosequencing datasets from vaginal swabs taken from four individuals. Both for individuals with a normal vaginal microbiota and for those with bacterial vaginosis, the pyrosequencing method revealed a large number of low-abundance taxa that were missed by the clone library approach. In addition, we showed that the pyrosequencing method generates a reproducible profile of microbial community structure in replicate amplifications from the same community. We also compared the taxonomic composition of a vaginal microbial community determined by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons to that obtained using
cpn60
universal primers. We found that the profiles generated by the two molecular targets were highly similar, with slight differences in the proportional representation of the taxa detected. However, the number of operational taxonomic units was significantly higher in the
cpn60
data set, suggesting that the protein-encoding gene provides improved species resolution over the 16S rRNA target. These observations demonstrate that pyrosequencing of
cpn60
UT amplicons provides a robust, reliable method for deep sequencing of microbial communities.
Antimicrobial Properties of a Novel Silver-Silica Nanocomposite Material
Authors: Egger Salome , Lehmann Rainer P. , Height Murray J. , Loessner Martin J. , Schuppler Markus 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT
Nanotechnology enables development and production of novel silver-based composite materials. We used in vitro tests to demonstrate the antimicrobial activity of a silver-silica nanocomposite compared to the activities of conventional materials, such as silver nitrate and silver zeolite. A silver-silica-containing polystyrene material was manufactured and shown to possess strong antimicrobial properties.
Quantitative Approach to Determining the Contribution of Viable-but-Nonculturable Subpopulations to Malolactic Fermentation Processes
Authors: Quirós Covadonga , Herrero Mónica , García Luis A. , Díaz Mario 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTDifferent sizes of viable-but-nonculturable cell subpopulations of a lactic acid bacterium strain were induced by adding increasing amounts of SO2. The experimental data obtained here were fitted to a segregated kinetic model developed previously. This procedure allowed us to determine in quantitative terms the contribution of this physiological state to malolactic fermentation.
Percolation and Survival of
Escherichia coli
O157:H7 and
Salmonella enterica
Serovar Typhimurium in Soil Amended with Contaminated Dairy Manure or Slurry
Authors: Semenov Alexander V. , van Overbeek Leo , van Bruggen Ariena H. C. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

The effect of cattle manure and slurry application on percolation and survival of
Escherichia coli
O157:H7 and
Salmonella enterica
serovar Typhimurium was investigated for different soil depths after the addition of water. Four treatments were chosen for the first set of experiments: (i) addition of inoculated farmyard manure on the soil surface, (ii) mixing of inoculated farmyard manure with the top 10 cm of soil, (iii) addition of inoculated slurry on the soil surface, and (iv) injection of inoculated slurry into the top 10 cm of the soil. Homogeneity of water distribution in the soil profile was confirmed by a nondestructive nuclear magnetic resonance method. Survival data were fitted to a modified logistic model, and estimated survival times were compared. In the second set of experiments, pathogen-inoculated farmyard manure or slurry was applied to soil columns with 1-month-old lettuce plants. More pathogen cells percolated to greater depths after slurry than after manure application. Survival of
E. coli
O157:H7 was significantly longer in soil with slurry than in that with manure, while survival of
Salmonella
serovar Typhimurium was equally high with manure and slurry. The densities of the pathogens were not different in the rhizosphere compared to the bulk soil with manure, while the densities were higher by 0.88 ± 0.11 and 0.71 ± 0.23 log CFU per g (dry weight), respectively, in the rhizosphere than in bulk soil after slurry application. Our results suggest that surface application of manure may decrease the risk of contamination of groundwater and lettuce roots compared to injection of slurry.
Detection of Adenoviruses and Rotaviruses in Drinking Water Sources Used In Rural Areas of Benin, West Africa
Authors: Verheyen Jens , Timmen-Wego Monika , Laudien Rainer , Boussaad Ibrahim , Sen Sibel , Koc Aynur , Uesbeck Alexandra , Mazou Farouk , Pfister Herbert 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT
Diseases associated with viruses also found in environmental samples cause major health problems in developing countries. Little is known about the frequency and pattern of viral contamination of drinking water sources in these resource-poor settings. We established a method to analyze 10 liters of water from drinking water sources in a rural area of Benin for the presence of adenoviruses and rotaviruses. Overall, 541 samples from 287 drinking water sources were tested. A total of 12.9% of the sources were positive for adenoviruses and 2.1% of the sources were positive for rotaviruses at least once. Due to the temporary nature of viral contamination in drinking water sources, the probability of virus detection increased with the number of samples taken at one test site over time. No seasonal pattern for viral contaminations was found after samples obtained during the dry and wet seasons were compared. Overall, 3 of 15 surface water samples (20%) and 35 of 247 wells (14.2%) but also 2 of 25 pumps (8%) tested positive for adenoviruses or rotaviruses. The presence of latrines within a radius of 50 m in the vicinity of pumps or wells was identified as being a risk factor for virus detection. In summary, viral contamination was correlated with the presence of latrines in the vicinity of drinking water sources, indicating the importance of appropriate decision support systems in these socioeconomic prospering regions.
Reduction of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha-Inducing Capacity of RecombinantLactobacillus caseivia Expression ofSalmonellaOmpC
Authors: Kajikawa A. , Igimi S. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACTThe insertion of a heterologous gene into commensal bacteria is a common technique to develop a delivery agent for vaccination and therapies, but the pleiotropic effects of genetic modifications need to be investigated before its use in practical applications. Although supplemental properties provided by the expression of heterologous antigens have been reported, the negative or side effects on the immune-modulating properties caused by recombination are barely understood. In the present study, we fortuitously found that the secretion of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) from murine macrophages was reduced by recombinantLactobacillus caseiexpressingSalmonellaOmpC compared to the stimulation of TNF-α secretion by nonexpressingL. casei. This reduction could not be attributed to OmpC as a purified protein. The main component of the OmpC-expressing strain included in the attenuation of TNF-α release seemed to be the cell wall, which exhibited higher sensitivity againstN-acetylmuramidase than that of nonexpressing strains. These results suggest that the recombinant strain expressing a specific heterologous antigen might be digested rapidly in macrophages and lose immune-stimulating capability at an early time point.
Effects of Experimental Choices and Analysis Noise on Surveys of the “Rare Biosphere”
Authors: Hamp Timothy J. , Jones W. Joe , Fodor Anthony A. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT
When planning a survey of 16S rRNA genes from a complex environment, investigators face many choices including which primers to use and how to taxonomically classify sequences. In this study, we explored how these choices affected a survey of microbial diversity in a sample taken from the aerobic basin of the activated sludge of a North Carolina wastewater treatment plant. We performed pyrosequencing reactions on PCR products generated from primers targeting the V1-V2, V6, and V6-V7 variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. We compared these sequences to 16S rRNA gene sequences found in a whole-genome shotgun pyrosequencing run performed on the same sample. We found that sequences generated from primers targeting the V1-V2 variable region had the best match to the whole-genome shotgun reaction across a range of taxonomic classifications from phylum to family. Pronounced differences between primer sets, however, occurred in the “rare biosphere” involving taxa that we observed in fewer than 11 sequences. We also examined the results of analysis strategies comparing a classification scheme using a nearest-neighbor approach to directly classifying sequences with a naïve Bayesian algorithm. Again, we observed pronounced differences between these analysis schemes in infrequently observed taxa. We conclude that if a study is meant to probe the rare biosphere, both the experimental conditions and analysis choices will have a profound impact on the observed results.
Characterization of a Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Degradation Gene Cluster in a Phenanthrene-Degrading
Acidovorax
Strain
Authors: Singleton David R. , Guzmán Ramirez Liza , Aitken Michael D. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

Acidovorax
sp. strain NA3 was isolated from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated soil that had been treated in a bioreactor and enriched with phenanthrene. The 16S rRNA gene of the isolate possessed 99.8 to 99.9% similarity to the dominant sequences recovered during a previous stable-isotope probing experiment with [U-
13
C]phenanthrene on the same soil (D. R. Singleton, S. N. Powell, R. Sangaiah, A. Gold, L. M. Ball, and M. D. Aitken, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:1202-1209, 2005). The strain grew on phenanthrene as a sole carbon and energy source and could mineralize
14
C from a number of partially labeled PAHs, including naphthalene, phenanthrene, chrysene, benz[
a
]anthracene, and benzo[
a
]pyrene, but not pyrene or fluoranthene. Southern hybridizations of a genomic fosmid library with a fragment of the large subunit of the ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase gene from a naphthalene-degrading
Pseudomonas
strain detected the presence of PAH degradation genes subsequently determined to be highly similar in both nucleotide sequence and gene organization to an uncharacterized
Alcaligenes faecalis
gene cluster. The genes were localized to the chromosome of strain NA3. To test for gene induction by selected compounds, RNA was extracted from amended cultures and reverse transcribed, and cDNA associated with the enzymes involved in the first three steps of phenanthrene degradation was quantified by quantitative real-time PCR. Expression of each of the genes was induced most strongly by phenanthene and to a lesser extent by naphthalene, but other tested PAHs and PAH metabolites had negligible effects on gene transcript levels.
Characterization of a
Dehalobacter
Coculture That Dechlorinates 1,2-Dichloroethane to Ethene and Identification of the Putative Reductive Dehalogenase Gene
Authors: Grostern Ariel , Edwards Elizabeth A. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

Dehalobacter
and “
Dehalococcoides
” spp. were previously shown to be involved in the biotransformation of 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1,1,2-TCA) and 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) to ethene in a mixed anaerobic enrichment culture. Here we report the further enrichment and characterization of a
Dehalobacter
sp. from this mixed culture in coculture with an
Acetobacterium
sp. Through a series of serial transfers and dilutions with acetate, H
2
, and 1,2-DCA, a stable coculture of
Acetobacterium
and
Dehalobacter
spp. was obtained, where
Dehalobacter
grew during dechlorination. The isolated
Acetobacterium
strain did not dechlorinate 1,2-DCA. Quantitative PCR with specific primers showed that
Dehalobacter
cells did not grow in the absence of a chlorinated electron acceptor and that the growth yield with 1,2-DCA was 6.9 (±0.7) × 10
7
16S rRNA gene copies/μmol 1,2-DCA degraded. PCR with degenerate primers targeting reductive dehalogenase genes detected three distinct
Dehalobacter
/
Desulfitobacterium
-type sequences in the mixed-parent culture, but only one of these was present in the 1,2-DCA-H
2
coculture. Reverse transcriptase PCR revealed the transcription of this dehalogenase gene specifically during the dechlorination of 1,2-DCA. The 1,2-DCA-H
2
coculture could dechlorinate 1,2-DCA but not 1,1,2-TCA, nor could it dechlorinate chlorinated ethenes. As a collective, the genus
Dehalobacter
has been show to dechlorinate many diverse compounds, but individual species seem to each have a narrow substrate range.
Relatedness of
Escherichia coli
Strains with Different Susceptibility Phenotypes Isolated from Swine Feces during Ampicillin Treatment
Authors: Bibbal D. , Dupouy V. , Prère M. F. , Toutain P. L. , Bousquet-Mélou A. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to examine the dynamics of the development of resistance in fecal
Escherichia coli
populations during treatment with ampicillin for 7 days in pigs. Before treatment, only 6% of the isolates were ampicillin resistant, whereas more than 90% of the isolates were resistant after days 4 and 7 of treatment. Ampicillin-resistant
E. coli
isolates were mainly multiresistant, and 53% of the isolates from the treated pigs had one phenotype that included resistance to six antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, sulfonamides, tetracycline, trimethoprim, and streptomycin) at day 7. Determination of the frequency of the four phylogenetic groups showed that there was a shift in the
E. coli
population in ampicillin-treated pigs; before treatment 75% of the isolates belonged to phylogroup B1, whereas at day 7 85% of the isolates belonged to phylogroup A. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing revealed that ampicillin treatment selected ampicillin-resistant isolates with genotypes which were present before treatment. Comparison of antimicrobial phenotypes and PFGE genotypes showed that resistance traits were disseminated by vertical transmission through defined strains. One PFGE genotype, associated with the six-antibiotic-resistant phenotype and including a specific combination of resistance determinants, was predominant among the ampicillin-resistant strains before treatment and during treatment. These data indicate that ampicillin administration selected various ampicillin-resistant isolates that were present in the digestive tract before any treatment and that
E. coli
isolates belonging to one specific PFGE genotype encoding resistance to six antibiotics became the predominant strains as soon as ampicillin was present in the digestive tract.