bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Capsaicin‐sensitive sensory fibers in the islets of Langerhans contribute to defective insulin secretion in Zucker diabetic rat, an animal model for some aspects of human type 2 diabetes
Authors: Gram Dorte X. , Ahrén Bo , Nagy Istvan , Olsen Uffe B. , Brand Christian L. , Sundler Frank , Tabanera René , Svendsen Ove , Carr Richard D. , Santha Peter , Wierup Nils , Hansen Anker J. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractThe system that regulates insulin secretion from β‐cells in the islet of Langerhans has a capsaicin‐sensitive inhibitory component. As calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP)‐expressing primary sensory fibers innervate the islets, and a major proportion of the CGRP‐containing primary sensory neurons is sensitive to capsaicin, the islet‐innervating sensory fibers may represent the capsaicin‐sensitive inhibitory component. Here, we examined the expression of the capsaicin receptor, vanilloid type 1 transient receptor potential receptor (TRPV1) in CGRP‐expressing fibers in the pancreatic islets, and the effect of selective elimination of capsaicin‐sensitive primary afferents on the decline of glucose homeostasis and insulin secretion in Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats, which are used to study various aspects of human type 2 diabetes mellitus. We found that CGRP‐expressing fibers in the pancreatic islets also express TRPV1. Furthermore, we also found that systemic capsaicin application before the development of hyperglycemia prevents the increase of fasting, non‐fasting, and mean 24‐h plasma glucose levels, and the deterioration of glucose tolerance assessed on the fifth week following the injection. These effects were accompanied by enhanced insulin secretion and a virtually complete loss of CGRP‐ and TRPV1‐coexpressing islet‐innervating fibers. These data indicate that CGRP‐containing fibers in the islets are capsaicin sensitive, and that elimination of these fibers contributes to the prevention of the deterioration of glucose homeostasis through increased insulin secretion in ZDF rats. Based on these data we propose that the activity of islet‐innervating capsaicin‐sensitive fibers may have a role in the development of reduced insulin secretion in human type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Glutamatergic neurons are present in the rat ventral tegmental area
Authors: Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi , Sheen Whitney , Morales Marisela 
Published: January 2007

AbstractThe ventral tegmental area (VTA) is thought to play an important role in reward function. Two populations of neurons, containing either dopamine (DA) or γ‐amino butyric acid (GABA), have been extensively characterized in this area. However, recent electrophysiological studies are consistent with the notion that neurons that utilize neurotransmitters other than DA or GABA are likely to be present in the VTA. Given the pronounced phenotypic diversity of neurons in this region, we have proposed that additional cell types, such as those that express the neurotransmitter glutamate may also be present in this area. Thus, by using in situ hybridization histochemistry we investigated whether transcripts encoded by genes for the two vesicular glutamate transporters, VGluT1 or VGluT2, were expressed in the VTA. We found that VGluT2 mRNA but not VGluT1 mRNA is expressed in the VTA. Neurons expressing VGluT2 mRNA were differentially distributed throughout the rostro‐caudal and medio‐lateral aspects of the VTA, with the highest concentration detected in rostro‐medial areas. Phenotypic characterization with double in situ hybridization of these neurons indicated that they rarely co–expressed mRNAs for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, marker for DAergic neurons) or glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD, marker for GABAergic neurons). Based on the results described here, we concluded that the VTA contains glutamatergic neurons that in their vast majority are clearly non‐DAergic and non‐GABAergic.
New neurons in the vestibular nuclei complex after unilateral vestibular neurectomy in the adult cat
Authors: Tighilet Brahim , Brezun Jean Michel , Dit Duflo Sylvie Gustave , Gaubert Céline , Lacour Michel 
Published: January 2007

AbstractRecent findings revealed a reactive neurogenesis after lesions and in several models of disease. After unilateral vestibular neurectomy (UVN), we previously reported γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons are upregulated in the vestibular nuclei (VN) in the adult cat. Here, we ask whether this upregulation of GABAergic neurons resulted from a reactive neurogenesis. To determine the time course of cell proliferation in response to UVN, 5‐bromo‐2′‐deoxyuridine (BrdU) was injected 3 h, 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days after UVN. We investigated the survival and differentiation in UVN cats injected with BrdU at 3 days and perfused 30 days after UVN. Results show a high number of BrdU‐immunoreactive nuclei in the deafferented VN with a peak at 3 days after UVN and a decrease at 30 days. Most of the newly generated cells survived up to 1 month after UVN and gave rise to a variety of cell types. Confocal analysis revealed three cell lineages: microglial cells (OX 42/BrdU‐immunoreactive cells); astrocytes [glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)/BrdU‐immunoreactive cells]; and neurons (NeuN/BrdU‐immunoreactive cells). That UVN induced new neurons was confirmed by an additional marker (nestin) expressed by neural precursor cells. We show that most of the newly generated neurons have a GABAergic phenotype [glutamate decarboxylase (GAD)‐67/BrdU‐immunoreactive cells]. Morphological analysis showed two subtypes of GABAergic neurons: medium and small (30 vs. 10 µm, respectively). This is the first report of reactive neurogenesis in the deafferented VN in the adult mammalian CNS.
A honey bee Dscam family member, AbsCAM, is a brain‐specific cell adhesion molecule with the neurite outgrowth activity which influences neuronal wiring during development
Authors: Funada Masahiro , Hara Hiroaki , Sasagawa Hiromi , Kitagawa Yasuo , Kadowaki Tatsuhiko 
Published: January 2007

AbstractThe immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) has been indicated as functioning in the development and maintenance of nervous systems through cell–cell recognition and communication in several model invertebrates, Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. To further explore the functions of the IgSF in the brain of an invertebrate with more complex behavior, we identified and characterized a novel brain‐specific Dscam family member, AbsCAM, from honey bee (Apis mellifera). The level of the AbsCAM protein was high in newly hatched bees and was dramatically reduced with age. The AbsCAM protein level was constant among worker bees of the same age performing different tasks, suggesting that it was primarily determined by age and not task in adult brains. Two different AbsCAM transcripts (AbsCAM‐Ig7A and B) were generated by the alternative splicing of exon 11 encoding immunoglobulin domain 7 in an age‐dependent manner. AbsCAM was expressed in the major brain neuropils where the synaptic density was high. AbsCAM can mediate the isoform‐specific homophilic cell adhesion in vitro, and affected the axonal projections in Drosophila embryonic central nervous system and adult mushroom body by ectopic expression. Furthermore, AbsCAM promoted the neurite outgrowth of cultured neurons isolated from honey bee pupal brains. These results thus suggest that AbsCAM is the first honey bee IgSF implicated as functioning in neuronal wiring during honey bee brain development.
The role of Kif5B in axonal localization of Kv1 K+ channels
Authors: Rivera Jacqueline , Chu Po‐Ju , Lewis Tommy L. , Arnold Don B. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractHere we present evidence that the kinesin, Kif5B, is involved in the transportation and axonal targeting of Kv1 channels. We show that a dominant negative variant of Kif5B specifically blocks localization to the axon of expressed, tagged versions of Kv1.3 in cultured cortical slices. In addition, the dominant negative variant of Kif5B blocks axonal localization of endogenous Kv1.1, Kv1.2, and Kv1.4 in cortical neurons in dissociated cultures. We also found evidence that Kif5B interacts with Kv1 channels. Endogenous Kv1.2 colocalized with Kif5B in cortical neurons and coimmunoprecipitated with Kif5B from brain lysate. The T1 domain of Shaker K+ channels has been shown to play a critical role in targeting the channel to the axon. We have three pieces of evidence to suggest that the T1 domain also mediates interaction between Kv1 channels and Kif5B: Addition of the T1 domain to a heterologous protein, TfR, is sufficient to cause the resulting fusion protein, TfRT1, to colocalize with Kif5B. Also, the T1 domain is necessary for interaction of Kv1.3 with Kif5B in a coimmunoprecipitation assay. Finally, dominant negative variants of Kif5B block axonal targeting of TfRT1, but have no effect on dendritic localization of TfR. Together these data suggest a model where Kif5B interacts with Kv1 channels either directly or indirectly via the T1 domain, causing the channels to be transported to axons.
Interactions between the environmental pathogen Listeria monocytogenes and a free‐living protozoan (Acanthamoeba castellanii)
Authors: Zhou Xiaohui , Elmose Jennifer , Call Douglas R. 
Published: January 2007

Summary Listeria monocytogenes can cause severe disease in animal hosts, but it has no recognized animal host reservoir. We tested the hypothesis that L. monocytogenes retains virulence traits to survive predation by amoebae and that listeriolysin O plays a crucial role in this process. Co‐culturing of L. monocytogenes and Acanthamoeba castellanii demonstrated that L. monocytogenes does not actively kill amoebae, but in the presence of amoebae, high bacterial population densities can be maintained over a period of at least 96 h. A gentamicin protection assay demonstrated that there is no significant difference in the ability to survive predation between serovars (4b versus 1/2a and 1/2c; P = 0.08) and between five species of Listeria (P = 0.14). Three of these species do not harbour the hly gene responsible for listeriolysin O production. A hly knockout strain had poorer survival compared with the parental strain (P = 0.04 at 24 h; P = 0.04 at 48 h; P = 0.02 at 72 h) and electron microscopy was consistent with a wild‐type strain being able to escape the phagosome whereas the hly knockout strain did not appear to have this ability. Thus, while there is weak evidence that listeriolysin O can contribute to improved survival after ingestion by amoebae, listeriolysin O does not appear to provide a significant selective advantage under the conditions of this study.
Diversity and biogeography of bacterial assemblages in surface sediments across the San Pedro Basin, Southern California Borderlands
Authors: Hewson Ian , Jacobson/Meyers Myrna E. , Fuhrman Jed A. 
Published: January 2007

SummarySediment bacteria play important roles in the biogeochemistry of ocean sediments; however, factors influencing assemblage composition have not been extensively studied. We examined extractable sediment bacterial abundance, the composition of bacterial assemblages using a high‐throughput molecular fingerprinting approach, and several sediment biogeochemical parameters (organic matter content and alkaline phosphatase activity), along a 35 km transect from Point Fermin, Southern California, to Santa Catalina Island, across the approximately 900‐m‐deep San Pedro Basin. Automated rRNA intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) demonstrated that in two spatially isolated shallow (approximately < 60 m, on opposite sides of the channel) sediment environments, assemblages were more similar to each other than to deeper communities. Distinct communities existed in deeper and shallower sediments, and stations within the deep basin over 2 km apart contained remarkably similar assemblage fingerprints. The relative contribution to total amplified DNA fluorescence of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was significantly correlated to that of other OTUs in few comparisons (2.7% of total), i.e. few bacterial types were found together or apart consistently. The relative proportions within assemblages of only a few OTU were significantly correlated to measured physicochemical parameters (organic matter content and wet/dry weight ratio of sediments) or enzyme (alkaline phosphatase) activities. A low percentage of shared OTU between shallow and deep sediments, and the presence of similar, but spatially isolated assemblages suggests that bacterial OTU may be widely dispersed over scales of a few kilometres, but that environmental conditions select for particular assemblages.
Primary and metastatic perineal adenocarcinoma: aetiology and management
Authors: Leon R. , Ramesh A. , Wilson M. S. , O’Dwyer S. T. 
Published: January 2007

Objective:  Adenocarcinoma of the perineum is unusual. This series of nine patients highlights the challenges of management.Results:  Six male and three female patients aged 29–85 years presented to a single unit, five were T4 and three were T3 tumours. Pain and swelling in the perineum and perianal tissues remote from the anal canal occurred in six patients whilst three patients had chronic perineal fistulae, two of whom had longstanding Crohn's disease. In eight patients a primary adenocarcinoma was identified. One patient with fistulating perineal Crohn's disease had multifocal mucinous adenocarcinoma without evidence of a gastrointestinal primary. Radical multimodality treatment including long course chemo‐radiotherapy (CRT) and radical abdominoperineal resection was used in seven patients, four of whom required perineal reconstruction with myocutaneous flaps. Two patients had CRT without surgery, (one unresectable and one refused surgery). Negative resection margins were achieved in six out of seven patients. All seven patients undergoing resection were well palliated with relief of pain and currently four patients remain free of disease with only one patient developing further perineal disease remote from the surgical resection site.Conclusion:  Perineal adenocarcinoma may be associated with an occult colorectal primary or chronic fistulae. Lower GI endoscopy and biopsies of nonhealing mucous producing fistulae should be undertaken to establish the diagnosis. Radical surgery often achieves local disease control.
Myocutaneous flap reconstruction of the perineum after radical abdominoperineal resection
Authors: Ramesh A. N. , Gajanan K. , Fulford P. E. , Wilson M. S. , O’Dwyer S. T. 
Published: January 2007

Objective:  Wound dehiscence with nonhealing of the perineum is a significant morbidity associated with radical abdominoperineal resection (APR). Myocutaneous flaps have been used to facilitate primary wound healing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of myocutaneous flap reconstruction of the perineum following radical APR.Method:  The clinical records of patients who had myocutaneous flap reconstruction of the perineum between 2000 and 2005 were reviewed. Details of wound healing and complications related to the flaps were recorded.Results:  Seventeen patients with a median age of 59 (range 29–77) years had primary reconstruction of the perineum with gracilis (10), rectus abdominis (6) and gluteal (1) myocutaneous flaps. Malignancy of the anus (12) and rectum (4) was the primary pathology and one patient had chronic perianal Crohn's fistulae. An 11 patients had preoperative radiotherapy in this group. Complete healing of the perineum was achieved in 16 (94.2%) of the 17 patients. There were 8 (47%) minor wound dehiscence and 2 (11%) skin necrosis all of which healed completely and 1 (5.8%) total flap necrosis.Discussion:  Myocutaneous flaps improve wound healing with only minor morbidity in majority of patients and should be considered routinely to close perineal defects following radical APR particularly in irradiated perineum.
Cost management and cross‐functional communication through product architectures
Authors: Zwerink Ruud , Wouters Marc , Hissel Paul , Kerssens‐van Drongelen Inge 
Published: January 2007

Product architecture decisions regarding, for example, product modularity, component commonality, and design re‐use, are important for balancing costs, responsiveness, quality, and other important business objectives. Firms are challenged with complex tradeoffs between competing design priorities, face the need to facilitate communication between functional silos, and want to learn from past experiences. In this paper, we present a qualitative approach for systematically evaluating the product architecture of a product family, comparing the original architecture objectives and actual experiences.The intended contribution of our research is threefold: (1) to present a framework that brings together a diverse set of product architecture‐related decisions and business performance; (2) to provide a set of metrics that operationalise the variables in the framework, and (3) to provide a workshop protocol that is based on the framework and the metrics. This workshop aims to improve cross‐functional communication about the product architecture of an existing product family, and it results in practical improvement actions for future architecture design projects. Experiences with this approach are reported in pilots with Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care, and Philips Consumer Electronics.
(Not) Taking Account of Precarious Employment: Workfare Policies and Lone Mothers in Ontario and the UK
Authors: Evans Patricia M. 
Published: January 2007

AbstractWorkfare is, at least in part, a policy response to changing labour markets and the expansion taking place in jobs that are low‐paid, irregular and insecure. For lone mothers, increasingly the focus of workfare policies, precarious employment creates special challenges. However, the nature of the jobs that are available to women on social assistance has received relatively little attention in the workfare literature, which focuses more on individual characteristics, supports to employment, and programme impacts. Drawing upon both primary and secondary sources and using Ontario, the province with the most developed workfare programme in Canada, this article examines the ways in which policies support and enforce precarious employment. The article also considers the implications of precarious employment for UK policy, which has not (yet) adopted workfare for lone mothers, although incremental steps in that direction are taking place as employment is increasingly viewed as the appropriate objective of income support programmes for lone mothers.
Toward Optimal Calibration of the SLEUTH Land Use Change Model
Authors: Dietzel Charles , Clarke Keith C 
Published: January 2007

AbstractSLEUTH is a computational simulation model that uses adaptive cellular automata to simulate the way cities grow and change their surrounding land uses. It has long been known that models are of most value when calibrated, and that using back‐casting (testing against known prior data) is an effective calibration method. SLEUTH's calibration uses the brute force method: every possible combination and permutation of its control parameters is tried, and the outcomes tested for their success at replicating prior data. Of the SLEUTH calibration approaches tried so far, there have been several suggested rules to follow during the brute force procedure to deal with problems of tractability, most of which leave out many of the possible parameter combinations. In this research, we instead attempt to create the complete set of possible outcomes with the goal of examining them to select the optimum from among the millions of possibilities. The self‐organizing map (SOM) was used as a data reduction method to pursue the isolation of the best parameter sets, and to indicate which of the existing 13 calibration metrics used in SLEUTH are necessary to arrive at the optimum. As a result, a new metric is proposed that will be of value in future SLEUTH applications. The new measure combines seven of the current measures, eight if land use is modeled, and is recommended as a way to make SLEUTH applications more directly comparable, and to give superior modeling and forecasting results.
The Performance of Vector Oriented Data Storage Strategies in ESRI's ArcGIS
Authors: Batcheller James K , Gittings Bruce M , Dowers Steve 
Published: January 2007

AbstractThe emergence of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as an important tool in the analysis of spatial phenomena has been mirrored by the evolution of the data models underpinning such systems. When considering vector‐based solutions, such developments have seen a migration from single‐user, file‐based, topologicalhybridmodels to multi‐user database management system (DBMS) basedintegratedformats, often with no inherent topology. With all these solutions still being readily available, the decision of which to employ for a given application is a complicated one. This study analyses the performance of a number of vector data storage formats for use with ESRI's ArcGIS, with the aim to facilitate the ‘intelligent selection’ of an appropriate solution. Such a solution will depend upon the application domain and both single‐user and multi‐user (corporate) scenarios are considered. Findings indicate that single‐user ESRIcoveragesand multi‐user ArSDE/Oracle strategies perform better when considering the range of GIS operations used to evaluate data store performance.
Framework and Workflows for Spatial Database Generalization
Authors: Choe Byong‐Nam , Kim Young‐Gul 
Published: January 2007

AbstractSpatial database generalization deals not only with geometrical simplification, but also with changes in database schema and content. The purpose of this research is to suggest methods for database generalization through the abstraction of a detailed spatial database. To accomplish this goal, this study suggests a framework for database generalization, and then defines operators that reflect the changes in database schema and content within the generalization process. A set of operator sequences (workflows) is used to specify and arrange the operators required to abstract a given feature. In order to assess the validity of the suggested method, a prototype system is developed. The results show that the efficiency of generalization can be improved, and data loss or distortion reduced as well.
Detection and Risk for Digging Activities around Underground Cables and Pipelines: Implications for Spatial Data Quality
Authors: Van Oort P A J , Bregt A K , De Bruin S 
Published: January 2007

AbstractDigging activities are considered the largest cause of damage to underground cables and pipelines. Contractors can reduce the risk through detection, which will cost time and thus money. In the Netherlands, maps are the prime source of information on the location of cables/pipelines and detection time strongly depends on whether maps indicate the presence of cables and pipelines. Poor quality maps can contribute to increased risk or higher risk avoidance costs. The objective of this article is to present a model for calculating the trade‐off between detection costs and risk in case of a hit and for calculating implications of over‐ and incompleteness of maps. The model aims to find the optimal detection time at which the sum of detection cost and risk is at its minimum. A case‐study showed that it is possible to parameterise the model with data collected from contractors through a questionnaire. The case‐study provides a numerical example of calculation of the trade‐off between risk and detection costs and provides an example of calculation of costs of incompleteness. We conclude that the model contributes valuable new insight. However, more and location specific data are needed to enable operational use of the model.