bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Strategies to enhance transductional efficiency of adenoviral‐based gene transfer to primary human fibroblasts and keratinocytes as a platform in dermal wounds
Authors: Stoff Alexander , Rivera Angel A. , Banerjee N. S. , Michael Mathis J. , Espinosa‐de‐los‐Monteros Antonio , Le Long P. , De la Torre Jorge I. , Vasconez Luis O. , Broker Thomas R. , Richter Dirk F. , Stoff‐Khalili Mariam A. , Curiel David T. 
Published: September 2006

ABSTRACTGenetically modified keratinocytes and fibroblasts are suitable for delivery of therapeutic genes capable of modifying the wound healing process. However, efficient gene delivery is a prerequisite for successful gene therapy of wounds. Whereas adenoviral vectors (Ads) exhibit superior levels of in vivo gene transfer, their transductional efficiency to cells resident within wounds may nonetheless be suboptimal, due to deficiency of the primary adenovirus receptor, coxsackie‐adenovirus receptor (CAR). We explored CAR‐independent transduction to fibroblasts and keratinocytes using a panel of CAR‐independent fiber‐modified Ads to determine enhancement of infectivity. These fiber‐modified adenoviral vectors included Ad 3 knob (Ad5/3), canine Ad serotype 2 knob (Ad5CAV‐2), RGD (Ad5.RGD), polylysine (Ad5.pK7), or both RGD and polylysine (Ad5.RGD.pK7). To evaluate whether transduction efficiencies of the fiber‐modified adenoviral vectors correlated with the expression of their putative receptors on keratinocytes and fibroblasts, we analyzed the mRNA levels of CAR, αυ integrin, syndecan‐1, and glypican‐1 using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Analysis of luciferase and green fluorescent protein transgene expression showed superior transduction efficiency of Ad5.pK7 in keratinocytes and Ad5.RGD.pK7 in fibroblasts. mRNA expression of αυ integrin, syndecan‐1 and glypican‐1 was significantly higher in primary fibroblasts than CAR. In keratinocytes, syndecan‐1 expression was significantly higher than all the other receptors tested. Significant infectivity enhancement was achieved in keratinocytes and fibroblasts using fiber‐modified adenoviral vectors. These strategies to enhance infectivity may help to achieve higher clinical efficacy of wound gene therapy.
Public Health or Clinical Ethics: Thinking beyond Borders
Authors: O'Neill Onora 
Published: September 2006

Most work in medical ethics across the last twenty-five years has centered on the ethics of clinical medicine. Even work on health and justice has, in the main, been concerned with the just distribution of (access to) clinical care for individual patients. By contrast, the ethics of public health has been widely neglected. This neglect is surprising, given that public health interventions are often the most effective (and most cost-effective) means of improving health in rich and poor societies alike.In this essay I explore two sources of contemporary neglect of public health ethics. One source of neglect is that contemporary medical ethics has been preoccupied—in my view damagingly preoccupied—with the autonomy of individual patients. Yet individual autonomy can hardly be a guiding ethical principle for public health measures, since many of them must be uniform and compulsory if they are to be effective. A second source of neglect is that contemporary political philosophy has been preoccupied—in my view damagingly preoccupied—with the requirements for justice within states or societies, and (until very recently) has hardly discussed justice across borders. Yet public health problems often cross borders, and public health interventions have to measure up to the problems they address.
Assistance with Fewer Strings Attached
Authors: Collingwood Vivien 
Published: September 2006

International organizations and bilateral donors often tie financial assistance to the undertaking of political and economic reforms–a practice known as conditionality. In recent years, the use of good governance conditionality has provoked controversy in the academic and policy worlds. So far, the issue of whether conditionality is effective in achieving compliance with good governance norms has occupied center stage in the debate. However, whether it is morally defensible to attach political conditions to financial assistance has largely been taken for granted.This article explores the extent to which it is morally defensible to attach good governance conditions to aid and loans in international society. It argues that the use of conditionality should be limited for two reasons. First, there is an unavoidable tension between conditionality and rights to self-determination. Second, focusing on conditionality can obscure the fact that the rules of the international economy are no less contestable than the governance of individual states, and, in turn, are in just as great a need of reform. This leads to two main conclusions. First, the use of conditionality should now be rooted in a conception of basic rights and complemented by more equitable rules in the global economy. Second, the attempt to make good governance within states an issue of global concern must be accompanied by greater democratization of the international financial institutions.
Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing
Authors: David Steven R. 
Published: September 2006

Since the beginning of the second intifada in the fall of 2000, Israel has pursued a policy in which alleged Palestinian terrorists have been hunted down and killed by government order. The policy is not one of assassination and is consistent with international law because Israel is engaged in armed conflict with terrorists, those targeted are usually killed by conventional military means, not through deception, and the targets of the attacks are not civilians but combatants or are part of a military chain of command. Targeted killing has also been affirmed by Israel's High Court.Although targeted killing has been pursued by Israel throughout its history, the scale of the present effort and the use of sophisticated military assets such as helicopter gunships and jet fighters set it apart from earlier practices. The effectiveness of the policy is called into doubt because it has not prevented–and may have contributed to–record numbers of Israeli civilians being killed. The policy has also resulted in informers being revealed, intelligence resources diverted, potential negotiating partners eliminated. It has also produced murderous retaliation and international condemnation of Israel. Benefits of the policy include impeding the effectiveness of terrorist operations, keeping terrorists on the run, and deterring some attacks. In addition, it affords the Israeli public a sense of revenge and retribution.Because it targets the actual perpetrators of terrorism, targeted killing provides a proportionate and discriminate response to the threat Israel faces. Improving the policy will require better civilian oversight, greater care to eliminate harm to innocent bystanders, and refraining from killing political leaders. Despite its many shortcomings, Israel is justified in pursuing this policy so long as it faces a terrorist threat that the Palestinian Authority will not or cannot control.
Racial and Ethnic Categories in Biomedical Research: There is No Baby in the Bathwater
Authors: Cho Mildred K. 
Published: September 2006

There are deep divides over the use of racial and ethnic categories in biomedical research and its application in both medical and non-medical contexts. On one side of a roughly described dividing line are practitioners who need to use every piece of information at their disposal to solve pressing, realworld problems in real time, such as making clinical diagnoses or identifying perpetrators of crime. On the other side are scientists and policy makers committed to meeting a scientific and social need for accuracy and thus trying to avoid miscategorization.As Jay Cohn describes in this issue, medical practitioners in particular have used racial and ethnic categories to “enhance diagnostic and therapeutic precision.” He argues for retaining this practice. The plea, motivated by genuine concern for patients, is to avoid “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” However, Cohn and others mischaracterize the nature of the debate. The argument is not about whether differences among populations exist, or even whether differences among “races” exist.
Reviews in Medical Ethics
Authors: Herrick Susan 
Published: September 2006

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (the Center), founded as the Mental Health Law Project by a group of attorneys and mental health professionals, has been a major advocacy force promoting the civil rights of persons with mental disabilities since the 1972 New York Willowbrook litigation.Named for D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David L. Bazelon, whose opinions first articulated the principles that the mentally disabled have a right to treatment in the least restrictive alternative setting, the Center has actively pursued greater rights for the mentally disabled in housing, education, and federal entitlements such as Medicaid, as well as in treatment-related issues.
Recent Developments in Health Law
Authors: Falit Benjamin P. , Sclar David 
Published: September 2006

In his State of the Union address on January 31, 2006, President George W. Bush asserted: “for all Americans, we must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and help people afford the insurance coverage they need.” Soon thereafter, the White House National Economic Council released a summary of President Bush's plans for health care reform. The Bush plan argues that increased consumer control over health care purchasing decisions will go a long way to solving America's health care woes. By making patients more value-conscious consumers, the Bush Administration hopes to reduce costs, improve quality and increase competition within the health care sector.The problem of rising health care costs is not new. In fact, President Bush's statement could have come from any American President in the last fifty years.
What do patients really want to know in an informed consent procedure? A questionnaire-based survey of patients in the Bath area, UK
Authors: El-Wakeel H , Taylor G J , Tate J J T 
Published: September 2006

Background:Medical decision making is based on patient autonomy and informed consent, which is an integral part of medical ethics, risk management and clinical governance. Consent to treatment has been extensively discussed, but the viewpoint of patients is not well represented. A new consent form was introduced by the Department of Health in 2001.Aims:To determine the information most important to patients, to facilitate evidence-based guidelines and to provide a valid and reliable consent-procedure-satisfaction questionnaire.Methods:An anonymous quantitative survey was carried out, asking 100 patients 15 questions regarding procedures they may need to undergo, using a Visual Analogue Scale to test the importance of each question.Results and discussion:In total there were 77 respondents and the mean age was 48.8 (SD 17.63, range 20–82) years. There were 52% women and 48% men. Major complications, such as not undergoing the procedure, future management and long-term effect on work, all scored a median of 95%. Least concerns were related to technical details of the procedure and minor complications (median 64% and 63%, respectively). All other questions were still considered important (median 79–93%). No significant differences were observed between sex, age and professional groups, but a significant difference was observed between the education groups. Qualifications of the doctor did not correlate to any other question.Conclusions:This questionnaire is proposed as a basis for informed consent guidelines to health workers and for measures of satisfaction with the consent procedure.
Interactions of doctors with the pharmaceutical industry
Authors: Morgan M A , Dana J , Loewenstein G , Zinberg S , Schulkin J 
Published: September 2006

Objective:To assess the opinions and practice patterns of obstetrician-gynaecologists on acceptance and use of free drug samples and other incentive items from pharmaceutical representatives.Methods:A questionnaire was mailed in March 2003 to 397 members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists who participate in the Collaborative Ambulatory Research Network.Results:The response rate was 55%. Most respondents thought it proper to accept drug samples (92%), an informational lunch (77%), an anatomical model (75%) or a well-paid consultantship (53%) from pharmaceutical representatives. A third (33%) of the respondents thought that their own decision to prescribe a drug would probably be influenced by accepting drug samples. Respondents were more likely to think the average doctor’s prescribing would be influenced by acceptance of the items than theirs would be (p<0.002). Respondents who distributed drug samples to patients indicated doing so because of patients’ financial need (94%) and for their convenience (76%) and less so as a result of knowledge of the efficacy of the sample product (63%). A third (34%) of respondents agreed that interactions with industry should be more strictly regulated.Conclusion:Obstetrician-gynaecologists largely indicated that they would act in accordance with what they think is proper regarding accepting incentive items from pharmaceutical representatives. Although accepting free drug samples was considered to be appropriate more often than any other item, samples were most commonly judged to be influential on prescribing practices. The widely accepted practice of receiving and distributing free drug samples needs to be examined more carefully.
Systematics and mating systems of two fungal pathogens of opium poppy: the heterothallicCrivellia papaveraceawith aBrachycladium penicillatumasexual state and a homothallic species with aBrachycladium papaverisasexual state
Authors: Inderbitzin Patrik , Shoemaker Robert A. , O'Neill Nichole R. , Turgeon B. Gillian , Berbee Mary L. 
Published: September 2006

This paper presents a systematic revision of the fungal opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) pathogens formerly known as Pleospora papaveracea (de Not.) Sacc., along with allied asexual states formerly placed in Dendryphion . The revision is based on analysis of phylogenetic relationships, comparative morphology, and analysis of mating systems. Using morphology, 18S and ITS rDNA, we established that these species belong to the Alternaria group rather than to Pleospora, a conclusion supported by the Shimodaira–Hasegawa test. For these fungi, we erect the new genus Crivellia , with Crivellia papaveracea as type. ITS rDNA analyses suggested with moderate support Alternaria brassicicola (Schw.) Wiltshire, Alternaria japonica Yoshii, and Ulocladium alternariae (Cooke) Simmons as Crivellia’s closest relatives. Combined ITS, partial GPD and EF-1 alpha analyses confirmed earlier studies that show that asexual isolates in the Crivellia lineage of poppy pathogens represent two closely related species. Because Dendryphion was determined to be polyphyletic, the former genus Brachycladium was resurrected for B. penicillatum Corda and B. papaveris (K. Sawada) Shoemaker & Inderbitzin, the Crivellia asexual states that had been in Dendryphion. Molecular and morphological comparison with isolates from field-collected ascomata and morphological comparison with the type specimen of P. papaveracea indicated that B. penicillatum , and not B. papaveris , is the anamorph of C. papaveracea. The mycelia from single conidium or single ascospore isolates, including mycelia from 14 single ascospores from one field-collected C. papaveracea ascoma, either have a MAT1-1 or MAT1-2 gene and are thus heterothallic. In contrast, each single-conidium isolate of B. papaveris has an incomplete MAT1-2 gene fused to a MAT1-1 region and is inferred to be homothallic. We speculate that ancestral MAT fusion might have led to speciation in Crivellia.
Bimodal pollination system in rare endemic Oncocyclus irises (Iridaceae) of Lebanon
Authors: Monty Arnaud , Saad Layla , Mahy Grégory 
Published: September 2006

Pollination systems based on indirect rewards, such as heat and shelter, have seldom been studied. Plant–pollinator interactions were characterized in Iris cedretii Dinsmore ex Chaudhary and Iris sofarana subsp. kasruwana Dinsmore ex Chaudhary, rare endemic Lebanese Oncocyclus irises exhibiting potential adaptation to shelter pollination. Despite a diversity of floral visitors (47 species), only two groups of Anthophoridae male bees ( Xylocopa spp. and Eucera spp.) could be considered as efficient pollinators on the basis of frequency of visits, visiting behaviour, and pollen load. Lebanese Oncocyclus irises showed a bimodal pollination system with (1) diurnal visits at low rates but with potentially large pollen transfers by Xylocopa bees, exhibiting a foraging-like behaviour, principally during warm periods of the day and (2) sheltering, especially Eucera male bees, during night and day when the weather is changeable. Refuge occurrence in flowers was more important during the night (27%) than during the day (12%) and, for daytime, during cloudy or windy than sunny conditions. It also varied depending on the exposure of floral tunnels. Visitation rates of both day-visiting Xylocopa and night-sheltering Eucera were negatively associated with an increase of the number of flowers per clump. No experimental evidence was found showing that the principal advantage for male bees to shelter in Iris flowers was to fly earlier in the morning.
Ultrastructure of the fungus Ophiodothella vaccinii in infected leaves of Vaccinium arboreum
Authors: Mims Charles W. , Hanlin Richard T. , Richardson Elizabeth A. 
Published: September 2006

Light and electron microscopy were used to study the fungus Ophiodothella vaccinii E.S. Boyd in infected leaves of Vaccinium arboreum Marsh. This pathogen produces large lesions on leaves in which host cells are surrounded by intercellular hyphae and penetrated by intracellular hyphae. In this study, we examined details of acervuli that are produced on these lesions, the process of conidiogenesis that took place within acervuli, and the relationships between hyphae and host cells within lesions. Most acervuli developed on the adaxial leaf surface just beneath the epidermis, which also was permeated by fungal hyphae. The epidermis covering an acervulus separated from the underlying host cells as numerous conidia embedded in extracellular material accumulated within an acervulus. The raised portion of the epidermis formed a shield-like clypeus over the acervulus. Mature conidia coated with extracellular material were released through a small pore in the clypeus. A columnar mass of sterile hyphae was present in each acervulus near the pore region. This mass was surrounded by conidia embedded in extracellular material. Conidia arose from a layer of phialides present at the base of an acervulus. Phialides arose from both intercellular hyphae and intracellular hyphae that emerged from host cells and also were surrounded by extracellular material. In older lesions, O. vaccinii clearly functioned as a necrotroph. However, in young lesions, we found evidence indicating that some cells were alive when penetrated by hyphae. Hyphae were highly constricted at host cell wall penetration sites and intracellular hyphae commonly grew completely through infected host cells and directly into adjacent cells. Hyphae in older lesions became extremely thick walled and were packed with large lipid bodies.
Nutrient homeostasis, metabolism of reserves, and seedling vigor as affected by seed priming in coarse rice
Authors: Farooq M. , Basra S.M.A. , Khalid M. , Tabassum R. , Mahmood T. 
Published: September 2006

The influence of seed priming on germination, seedling vigor, ion homeostasis, and starch metabolism in coarse rice was studied. Priming treatments included pregermination (a traditional soaking method being used for rice nursery preparation), hydropriming for 48 h, osmohardening with KCl or CaCl2(ψs –1.25 MPa solution) for 24 h, ascorbate priming (10 mg·L–1) for 48 h, and hardening for 24 h. Compared with controls, all priming treatments (except pregermination) reduced the time to start germination, improved the rate of germination and synchronization, and the length of shoot and root, seedling fresh and dry mass, number of secondary roots, the concentration of reducing sugars, and α-amylase activity, although the extent of these changes was different in seeds subjected to different treatments. These seed treatments resulted in higher germination that might be due to overcoming dormancy. Osmohardening with KCl was more effective than CaCl2for these parameters. Nitrogen concentration remained unaffected in seedlings; however, Ca2+concentrations in both seeds and seedlings were greater in seeds osmohardenerd with CaCl2than with all other treatments, including the control. Seed priming enhanced K+concentration in both seeds and seedlings, leading to improved α-amylase activity. There were positive correlations between seed K+concentration and amylase activity, and the concentration of reducing sugars with amylase activity, seedling dry mass, or number of secondary roots. Osmohardening with KCl performed better than all other treatments including control. Priming improved the K+balance that activates α-amylase, a basis for seed invigoration.
Compensation through rosette formation: the response of scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata: Polemoniaceae) to mammalian herbivory
Authors: Becklin Katie M. , Kirkpatrick H. Elizabeth 
Published: September 2006

Plants could potentially compensate for floral herbivory by regrowing flowering stalks and by forming additional vegetative stems. Because scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata (Pursh) V. Grant) is described as monocarpic, its ability to regrow multiple flowering stalks following the removal of its primary inflorescence has been cited as the species’ primary means of compensating for herbivory. However, ancillary rosette formation could also contribute to compensation in subsequent years. To determine if herbivory induces ancillary rosette formation and whether energy diverted to vegetative regrowth reduces reproductive output, we analyzed the response of scarlet gilia to elk herbivory in the Wenatchee National Forest of Washington State. Control plants were protected from herbivory by wire enclosures; clipped plants were hand-cut to simulate herbivory; and grazed plants were left vulnerable to elk herbivory. Ninety percent of plants that lost inflorescences regrew multiple flowering stalks; these plants produced fewer fruits and seeds than protected plants, indicating that scarlet gilia undercompensated for herbivory despite greater aboveground biomass. The plants that regrew multiple flowering stalks were also more likely to form ancillary rosettes, which could increase compensation over multiple seasons. Although herbivory reduced initial fecundity, grazing generated morphological changes that could enable the plant to achieve a greater degree of compensation over time.