bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cleavage at Met-X Bonds by Cyanogen Bromide
Authors: Simpson Richard J. 
Published: March 2007

INTRODUCTIONSelective cleavage of a protein by cyanogen bromide generates a small number of relatively large peptide fragments. This protocol describes protein cleavage with cyanogen bromide, using ~100-fold molar excess of cyanogen bromide over the methionine. The reaction is performed under mild acidic conditions (e.g., 70% formic acid), under nitrogen, and in the dark. All reagents are volatile and can be readily removed by lyophilization.
Preparation of Nuclear Extracts from Drosophila Embryos
Authors: Pazin Michael J. 
Published: March 2007

INTRODUCTIONDrosophila nuclear extracts are often used in gene expression studies. They can be used directly as a source of transcription factors, or they can be fractionated, in some cases, to purified proteins. This protocol describes the preparation of a Drosophila embryonic nuclear extract called soluble nuclear fraction (SNF). It uses a low-salt (0.1 M) extraction and produces a relatively low amount of nonspecific DNA-binding proteins. SNF is highly active and is suitable for many in vitro transcription experiments.
Immunoblotting of Proteins from Single Drosophila Embryos
Authors: Su Tin Tin 
Published: March 2007

INTRODUCTIONCell cycle studies in Drosophila embryos have led to increased understanding of how cell proliferation is regulated during development. It is not yet possible to synchronize Drosophila embryos with respect to their cell cycle phase. Thus, cell cycle stage-specific extracts cannot be prepared and analyzed. An alternate approach is to analyze individual Drosophila embryos during syncytial divisions. This protocol describes a procedure for rapidly fixing precellular-stage embryos and selecting those of the desired division cycle stage for further analysis.
Age dependent systemic exposure to inhaled salbutamol
Authors: Bønnelykke Klaus , Jespersen Jakob Jessing , Bisgaard Hans 
Published: March 2007

What is already known about this subject • There is only scant evidence on how to adjust the dose of inhaled drugs in children.• Salbutamol delivered via a pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) with spacer is one of the most commonly used anti‐asthmatic treatments in children but the effect of age on systemic exposure following this treatment has not previously been investigated. What this study adds • The present study shows that prescribing salbutamol from a pMDI with spacer as a fixed dose kg−1 causes reduced exposure in young children with a corresponding risk of unnecessary suboptimal dosing.• On the other hand a fixed absolute dose causes some over‐dosing in young children.• The study underlines that research into the dosage regimens of aerosol treatment for children is needed to assure evidence based optimal treatment.AimsTo determine the effect of age on systemic exposure to inhaled salbutamol in children.MethodsFifty‐eight asthmatic children, aged 3–16 years, inhaled 400 µg of salbutamol from a pressurized metered dose inhaler with spacer. The 20 min serum profile was analyzed.ResultsPrescribing a dose on a µg kg−1 basis caused reduced systemic exposure in young children (Y) compared with older children (O) (Y : O ratio (95%CI) = 0.55 (0.47, 0.65)) whereas a fixed nominal dose irrespective of age caused increased exposure in young children (Cmax Y : O ratio (95%CI) = 1.7 (1.3, 2.2)).ConclusionsFor similar systemic exposure, dosing should be adjusted to age or size but not on a fixed µg kg−1 basis, which may lead to unnecessary suboptimal dosing.
Absence of cytokine modulation following therapeutic infusion of intravenous immunoglobulin or anti‐red blood cell antibodies in a mouse model of immune thrombocytopenic purpura
Authors: Aubin Éric , Lemieux Réal , Bazin Renée 
Published: March 2007

SummaryHuman intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and anti‐D immunoglobulin preparations are used in the treatment of immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). One mechanism proposed to explain their therapeutic effects in ITP patients is the induction of expression of anti‐inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)‐10 or IL‐1ra, leading to a reduction of phagocytic activity of the reticuloendothelial system. However, increased expression of pro‐inflammatory cytokines was also noted following treatment of ITP patients, raising doubt on the actual contribution of anti‐inflammatory cytokines in the therapeutic effects of IVIg and anti‐D immunoglobulins. The present study evaluated the in vivo modulation of expression of a large array of inflammatory cytokines using a mouse model of thrombocytopenia. IVIg was not found to modulate cytokine expression although it efficiently prevented thrombocytopenia. In contrast, protective (M1/69) and non‐protective (TER‐119) anti‐mouse red blood cell (RBC) antibodies (mimicking anti‐D treatment) both increased the expression of CXCL‐1 and CXCL‐5. Thus, there was no relationship between inflammatory cytokine expression and prevention of thrombocytopenia by IVIg or anti‐mouse RBC in the ITP mouse model. These results suggest that the increase in cytokine expression observed in ITP patients following IVIg or anti‐D infusion is not required for their therapeutic effects but may rather represent a side‐effect of the treatment.
Restoring streams in an urbanizing world
Authors: BERNHARDT EMILY S. , PALMER MARGARET A. 
Published: March 2007

Summary1. The world's population is increasingly urban, and streams and rivers, as the low lying points of the landscape, are especially sensitive to and profoundly impacted by the changes associated with urbanization and suburbanization of catchments.2. River restoration is an increasingly popular management strategy for improving the physical and ecological conditions of degraded urban streams. In urban catchments, management activities as diverse as stormwater management, bank stabilisation, channel reconfiguration and riparian replanting may be described as river restoration projects.3. Restoration in urban streams is both more expensive and more difficult than restoration in less densely populated catchments. High property values and finely subdivided land and dense human infrastructure (e.g. roads, sewer lines) limit the spatial extent of urban river restoration options, while stormwaters and the associated sediment and pollutant loads may limit the potential for restoration projects to reverse degradation.4. To be effective, urban stream restoration efforts must be integrated within broader catchment management strategies. A key scientific and management challenge is to establish criteria for determining when the design options for urban river restoration are so constrained that a return towards reference or pre‐urbanization conditions is not realistic or feasible and when river restoration presents a viable and effective strategy for improving the ecological condition of these degraded ecosystems.
The relationship between disability and self‐care agency of Turkish people with rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Tokem Yasemin , Akyol Asiye Durmaz , Argon Gulumser 
Published: March 2007

Aim.  This study aims to determine the relationship between disability levels and self care agency scores in Turkish patients with rheumatoid arthritis and to investigate the factors affecting them.Background.  Self‐care agency is the complex acquired ability to meet one's constant requirements for care that regulates life processes, maintains or promotes the integrity of human structure, functioning and development, and promotes well‐being.Design and methods.  Forty‐three consecutive patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (M/F: 11/32; mean age 49·53 ± 13·37 years; disease duration 118·32 ± 76·55 months), being followed up by Ege University Rheumatology Outpatient Department and all fulfilling ACR 1987 criteria were included in this study. Data collection instruments used in this study were Informative‐Demographic Data Form, Health Assessment Questionnaire (including disability index and pain scale) and Self‐as‐Carer Inventory.Results.  The mean disability index, the mean pain score and the mean self‐care agency score of patients were 0·53 (SD 0·45), 1·48 (SD 0·74) and 80·95 (SD 27·80) were respectively. Self‐care agency of patients found moderate level. It was found that a positive correlation between the disability index and the self‐care agency scores (r = 0·488; p < 0·01). It was found that in male (t = 0·907; p = 0·000), in patients graduate from university (F = 0·271; p = 0·001), the self‐care agency was better than other patients.Conclusion.  In conclusion we found that in Turkish patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, the higher the disability rate was, the lower the self‐care agency score was.Relevance to clinical practice.  Disability, pain and their impact on self‐care agency should be focused on in everyday care for Rheumatoid Arthritis patients. These areas are most important in nursing care and should be considered while organizing the medical treatment and rehabilitation programme.
Information‐seeking behaviour of men newly diagnosed with cancer: a qualitative study
Authors: McCaughan Eilis , McKenna Hugh 
Published: March 2007

Aim.  This paper reports the findings of a study, which explored the information‐seeking behaviour of men newly diagnosed with cancer.Background.  There is worldwide recognition that there are significant differences in the way men and women react to and cope with illness, yet there seems to be a lack of research into men's information‐seeking behaviours and how they get their information needs met. The needs of men with cancer has so far received less research attention than women.Methods.  A qualitative approach, consisting of in‐depth interviews, was used. A convenient sample of 13 men newly diagnosed with cancer and five healthcare professionals and four lay sources were recruited for this study.Results.  Five themes emerged from the data. These were: ‘experiencing discomfort in the healthcare setting’, ‘reliance on partners as information gatherers’, ‘reluctance to explore a range of information sources and support’, ‘unmet information needs’ and ‘getting back to normal’. Together, they provide a perspective on men's information needs and information‐seeking behaviour.Conclusions.  Healthcare professionals should be aware that there may be gender differences in how patients cope with their cancer, how they seek information and what information needs they have. Further training and preparation in ‘men's health’ is recommended for all those working with men in cancer care.Relevance to clinical practice.  Understanding how, when and in what circumstances men express their information needs will help healthcare professionals to develop strategies to meet these needs and other support needs of men with cancer.
Infertile couples’ experience of family stress while women are hospitalized for Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome during infertility treatment
Authors: Chang Shiu‐Neng , Mu Pei‐Fan 
Published: March 2007

Aims and objectives.  The aim of this study was to explore the essential structure of family stress among hospitalized women receiving infertility treatment with Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome.Background.  When hospitalization is necessary for infertile women with Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, they face health‐illness transition stress and their families are traumatized by the pressure of hospitalization. Most literature on infertility treatment has dealt with the infertile women's physio‐psychological reactions, the impact on the couples’ relationships and the influence of social support on infertile couples.Design.  A descriptive phenomenological design consistent with Husserl's philosophy.Methods.  Ten married couples from a Taipei medical centre participated in the study. All the couples were receiving infertility treatment because the female partners were suffering from moderate or severe Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome and this required hospitalized. An open in‐depth interview technique encouraged parents to reflect on their experience, which raised their feelings to a conscious level. Data were analysed using Colaizzi's approach.Results.  This study explored infertile women's experiences from the couples’ perspectives and the results identify the overall stresses that the family face. Five themes emerged from the study, namely, the stress of ‘carrying on the ancestral line’, the psychological reactions of the couple, a disordering of family life, reorganization of family life and external family support.Conclusions.  The results demonstrate that the experience of family stress involves impacts that range across the domains of individual, marital, family and social interactions and there is a need to cope with these when the wife is hospitalized for moderate to severe Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome.Relevance to clinical practice.  The findings indicated that nurses should provide infertile couples with family‐centred perspectives that are related to Chinese cultural family values. Nurses should supply information on infertility treatment and assist couples to cope with their personal and family stress.
Development of the congenital adrenal hyperplasia knowledge assessment questionnaire (CAHKAQ*)
Authors: King Jennie , Mitchelhill Irene , Fisher Murray J. 
Published: March 2007

Aims.  The purpose of this study was to develop a validated Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Knowledge Assessment Questionnaire (CAHKAQ) that can be used to identify deficits in the knowledge of families living with CAH regarding the disease and its management.Background.  Management of CAH requires good parental and/or patient knowledge and understanding of the disorder, and the action required when clinical problems arise. Effective education initiatives are important in helping families to manage the disorder. However, there are currently no established questionnaires available to assess the knowledge of CAH.Method.  An extensive survey of the literature was conducted to develop a list of questions about CAH. The Delphi technique was used to develop and determine content validity of the CAHKAQ using a panel of 15 nursing and medical experts in endocrinology. The instrument was piloted to test for item variation, meaning and redundancy, and to determine instrument unidimensionality and internal consistency. The questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of family members (n = 98) of 36 children/adults with CAH recorded on the database of a large children's hospital endocrine clinic.Results.  Three Delphi rounds were required to achieve final consensus for content validity. The resulting questionnaire contained 22 multiple‐choice items and had a Flesch Reading Ease score of 67. Statistical analysis found the instrument to be internally consistent and unidimensional with a reported Cronbach's coefficient alpha of 0·67.Conclusion.  The CAHKAQ is a valid and reliable questionnaire suitable for use in conjunction with education about CAH.Relevance to clinical practice.  The CAHKAQ will be invaluable in assessing parental and patient knowledge and understanding of the disorder and identifying deficits that can be addressed through education. Further research is required to determine whether the underlying factors of the instrument are consistent with components of CAH knowledge.
Complex hybridization dynamics between golden‐winged and blue‐winged warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera and Vermivora pinus) revealed by AFLP, microsatellite, intron and mtDNA markers
Authors: VALLENDER R. , ROBERTSON R. J. , FRIESEN V. L. , LOVETTE I. J. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractBlue‐winged (Vermivora pinus) and golden‐winged warblers (Vermivora chrysoptera) have an extensive mosaic hybrid zone in eastern North America. Over the past century, the general trajectory has been a rapid replacement of chrysoptera by pinus in a broad, northwardly moving area of contact. Previous mtDNA‐based studies on these species’ hybridization dynamics have yielded variable results: asymmetric and rapid introgression from pinus into chrysoptera in some areas and bidirectional maternal gene flow in others. To further explore the hybridization genetics of this otherwise well‐studied complex, we surveyed variation in three nuclear DNA marker types — microsatellites, introns, and a panel of amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) — with the goal of generating a multilocus assay of hybrid introgression. All markers were first tested on birds from phenotypically and mitochondrially pure parental‐type populations from outside the hybrid zone. Searches for private alleles and assignment test approaches found no combination of microsatellite or intron markers that could separate the parental populations, but seven AFLP characters exhibited significant frequency differences among them. We then used the AFLP markers to examine the extent and pattern of introgression in a population where pinus‐phenotype individuals have recently invaded a region that previously supported only a chrysoptera‐phenotype population. Despite the low frequency of phenotypic hybrids at this location, the AFLP data suggest that almost a third of the phenotypically pure chrysoptera have introgressed genotypes, indicating the presence of substantial cryptic hybridization in the history of this species. The evidence for extensive cryptic introgression, combined with the lack of differentiation at other nuclear loci, cautions against hybrid assessments based on single markers or on phenotypic traits that are likely to be determined by a small number of loci. Considered in concert, these results from four classes of molecular markers indicate that pinus and chrysoptera are surprisingly weakly differentiated and that far fewer genetically ‘pure’ populations of chrysoptera may exist than previously assumed, two findings with broad implications for the conservation of this rapidly declining taxon.
Growth, production, and mortality of the chemosynthetic vesicomyid bivalve, Calyptogena kilmeri from cold seeps off central California
Authors: Barry James P. , Whaling Patrick J. , Kochevar Randall K. 
Published: March 2007

AbstractThe vesicomyid Calyptogena kilmeri is one of the most abundant bivalves inhabiting chemosynthetic environments shallower than c. 1500 m along central California. We estimated the population size structure, biomass, rates of individual growth, somatic production, and mortality for C. kilmeri, based on sampling of seep habitats and tag–recapture studies at chemosynthetic communities in Monterey Bay, California. The composite growth rate of C. kilmeri over all sites was relatively high (K = 0.25), reaching c. 80% of asymptotic length (104.7 mm) in 6.6 years. The density of C. kilmeri was estimated as 938.5 ind. m−2 and biomass density varied from 704 to 2059 g ash free dry mass (AFDM) m−2. Somatic production was also high (294–297 g·AFDM·m−2 year−1), and production/biomass ratios for C. kilmeri varied from 0.14 to 0.42 among sites, related to variation in size–frequency distributions among sites. Instantaneous mortality rates estimated from size distributions ranged from 0.17 to 0.24 year−1. Growth and somatic production by C. kilmeri are in the range reported for chemosynthetic bivalves from hydrothermal vent and seep habitats, as well as photosynthetic‐based assemblages of inshore or intertidal bivalves, and greatly exceed rates reported for heterotrophic deep‐sea benthos.
Intraluminal Tracheal Stenting for Treatment of Tracheal Narrowing in Three Cats
Authors: CULP WILLIAM T. N. , WEISSE CHICK , COLE STEVEN G. , SOLOMON JEFFREY A. 
Published: March 2007

Objective—To describe the use of intraluminal tracheal stenting in 3 cats with either benign or malignant tracheal obstruction.Study Design—Retrospective clinical study.Animals—Three client‐owned cats.Methods—Medical records were reviewed and information regarding signalment, clinical signs, physical examination findings, diagnostic tests performed, treatment, outcome and follow‐up were retrieved. Intraluminal tracheal stent placement was performed as previously described in the literature.Results—Three cats received intraluminal tracheal stents for the treatment of tracheal obstruction due to 3 different underlying causes: stricture secondary to traumatic endotracheal intubation, stricture secondary to a previous tracheotomy, and neoplasia. Self‐expanding metallic stents of varying sizes were placed, and all cats recovered uneventfully from the procedures. The cat with tracheal neoplasia was euthanized because of pulmonary metastatic disease 6 weeks post‐stent placement. The two cats with tracheal obstructions secondary to benign strictures are currently 39 months and 32 weeks post‐stent placement, respectively. No complications were noted during the post‐stent period in any of the 3 cats.Conclusions—Intraluminal tracheal stenting was easily, safely, and rapidly performed without complications and resulted in immediate improvement in clinical signs in all three cases. None of the cats in this study developed significant stent‐associated complications during the study period.Clinical Relevance—Intraluminal tracheal stenting has the potential to be a viable option for the treatment of tracheal obstruction in cats and perhaps for similar disease processes in other veterinary patients.
Repair of Oronasal Fistulae Using Auricular Cartilage Grafts in Five Cats
Authors: COX CELIA L. , HUNT GERALDINE B. , CADIER MICHAEL M. 
Published: March 2007

Objective—To describe repair of chronic palatine defects in cats, with free cartilage graft harvested from either the pinna (scapha) or vertical ear canal (annular cartilage).Study Design—Retrospective study.Animals—Cats (n=5) with chronic oronasal fistula.Methods—Cartilage was harvested from either the scapha or annular cartilage and epithelium removed. After preparation of the edges of the palatal defect by separation of the oral and palatal mucosa circumferentially, the graft was inserted between the epithelial layers and secured without tension. The graft acted as a scaffold for migration of granulation tissue and epithelialization.Results—Oronasal fistulae were successfully repaired in 5 cats (3 pinna grafts; 2 annular cartilage grafts); 1 cat required a second graft after the first graft was dislodged.Conclusions—Auricular cartilage provides a reliable framework for repair of oronasal fistulae in cats.Clinical Relevance—Chronic oronasal fistulae refractory to conventional repair can be treated by use of auricular free graft (pinna or annular cartilage) without disfigurement. Use of annular cartilage to support palatal repairs offers surgeons an additional option when other methods have failed. We recommend using conchal cartilage as the initial treatment approach for repair of small oronasal fistulae in cats.