bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Over‐expression of OsAGAP, an ARF‐GAP, interferes with auxin influx, vesicle trafficking and root development
Authors: Zhuang Xiaolei , Jiang Jiafu , Li Junhua , Ma Qibin , Xu Yunyuan , Xue Yongbiao , Xu Zhihong , Chong Kang 
Published: October 2006

SummaryDevelopment and organogenesis in both dicot and monocot plants are highly dependent on polar auxin transport (PAT), which requires the proper asymmetric localization of both auxin influx and efflux carriers. In the model dicot plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the trafficking and localization of auxin efflux facilitators such as PIN‐FORMED1 (PIN1) are mediated by GNOM, a guanine‐nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for the ADP‐ribosylation factor (ARF) family of small GTPases, but molecular regulators of the auxin influx facilitators remain unknown. Here, we show that over‐expression of OsAGAP, an ARF‐GTPase‐activating protein (ARF‐GAP) in rice, impaired PAT and interfered with both primary and lateral root development. The lateral root phenotype could be rescued by the membrane‐permeable auxin 1‐naphthyl acetic acid, but not by indole 3‐acetic acid (IAA) or by 2,4‐dichloro‐phenoxyacetic acid, which require influx facilitators to enter the cells. OsAGAP‐over‐expressing plants had alterations in vesicle trafficking and localization of the presumptive A. thaliana auxin‐influx carrier AUX1, but not in the localization of the auxin efflux facilitators. Together, our data suggest that OsAGAP has a specific role in regulating vesicle trafficking pathways such as the auxin influx pathway, which in turn controls auxin‐dependent root growth in plants.
Proteomic and transcriptomic analysis of Arabidopsis seeds: molecular evidence for successive processing of seed proteins and its implication in the stress response to sulfur nutrition
Authors: Higashi Yasuhiro , Hirai Masami Yokota , Fujiwara Toru , Naito Satoshi , Noji Masaaki , Saito Kazuki 
Published: October 2006

SummarySeed storage proteins are synthesized as sources of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur for the next generation of plants. Their composition changes according to nutritional conditions. Here, we report the precise molecular identification of seed proteins by proteomic analysis of wild‐type Arabidopsis thaliana and methionine‐over‐accumulating mutant mto1‐1 plants. The identities of 50 protein spots were determined in the protein extract of mature Arabidopsis seeds by two‐dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and subsequent mass spectrometric analysis. Of these protein spots, 42 were identified as derived from 12S globulins or 2S albumins. These results indicate that approximately 84% of protein species in Arabidopsis seeds are derived from a few genes coding for 12S globulins and 2S albumins. Extensive mass spectrometric analysis of the 42 spots revealed that successive C‐terminal degradation occurred on the 12S globulins. The feasibility of this C‐terminal processing was rationalized by molecular modeling of the three‐dimensional structure of 12S globulins. The C‐terminal degradation at glutamic acid residues of the 12S globulin subunits was repressed under sulfur‐deficient conditions. Transcriptome analysis was combined with proteomic analysis to elucidate the mechanism of changes in seed protein composition in response to sulfur deficiency. The results suggest that seed storage proteins in Arabidopsis undergo multi‐layer regulation, with emphasis on post‐translational modifications that enable the plant to respond to sulfur deficiency.
A mutation in an Arabidopsis ribose 5‐phosphate isomerase reduces cellulose synthesis and is rescued by exogenous uridine
Authors: Howles Paul A. , Birch Rosemary J. , Collings David A. , Gebbie Leigh K. , Hurley Ursula A. , Hocart Charles H. , Arioli Tony , Williamson Richard E. 
Published: October 2006

SummaryThe Arabidopsis radial swelling mutant rsw10 showed ballooning of root trichoblasts, a lower than wild‐type level of cellulose and altered levels of some monosaccharides in non‐cellulosic polysaccharides. Map‐based cloning showed that the mutated gene (At1g71100) encodes a ribose 5‐phosphate isomerase (RPI) and that the rsw10 mutation replaces a conserved glutamic acid residue with lysine. Although RPI is intimately involved with many biochemical pathways, media supplementation experiments suggest that the visible phenotype results from a defect in the production of pyrimidine‐based sugar–nucleotide compounds, most likely uridine 5′‐diphosphate–glucose, the presumed substrate of cellulose synthase. Two of three RPI sequences in the nuclear genome are cytoplasmic, while the third has a putative chloroplast transit sequence. The sequence encoding both cytoplasmic enzymes could complement the mutation when expressed behind the CaMV 35S promoter, while fusion of the RSW10 promoter region to the GUS reporter gene established that the gene is expressed in many aerial tissues as well as the roots. The prominence of the rsw10 phenotype in roots probably reflects RSW10 being the only cytosolic RPI in this tissue and the gene encoding the plastid RPI being relatively weakly expressed. We could not, however, detect a decrease in total RPI activity in root extracts. The rsw10 phenotype is prominent near the root tip where cells undergo division, endoreduplication and cell expansion and so are susceptible to a restriction in de novo pyrimidine production. The two cytosolic RPIs probably arose in an ancient duplication event, their present expression patterns representing subfunctionalization of the expression of the original ancestral gene.
Trafficking of the human transferrin receptor in plant cells: effects of tyrphostin A23 and brefeldin A
Authors: Ortiz‐Zapater Elena , Soriano‐Ortega Esther , Marcote María Jesús , Ortiz‐Masiá Dolores , Aniento Fernando 
Published: October 2006

SummaryPlant cells possess much of the molecular machinery necessary for receptor‐mediated endocytosis (RME), but this process still awaits detailed characterization. In order to identify a reliable and well‐characterized marker to investigate RME in plant cells, we have expressed the human transferrin receptor (hTfR) in Arabidopsis protoplasts. We have found that hTfR is mainly found in endosomal (Ara7‐ and FM4‐64‐positive) compartments, but also at the plasma membrane, where it mediates binding and internalization of its natural ligand transferrin (Tfn). Cell surface expression of hTfR increases upon treatment with tyrphostin A23, which inhibits the interaction between the YTRF endocytosis signal in the hTfR cytosolic tail and the μ2‐subunit of the AP2 complex. Indeed, tyrphostin A23 inhibits Tfn internalization and redistributes most of hTfR to the plasma membrane, suggesting that the endocytosis signal of hTfR is functional in Arabidopsis protoplasts. Co‐immunoprecipitation experiments show that hTfR is able to interact with a μ‐adaptin subunit from Arabidopsis cytosol, a process that is blocked by tyrphostin A23. In contrast, treatment with brefeldin A, which inhibits recycling from endosomes back to the plasma membrane in plant cells, leads to the accumulation of Tfn and hTfR in larger patches inside the cell, reminiscent of BFA compartments. Therefore, hTfR has the same trafficking properties in Arabidopsis protoplasts as in animal cells, and cycles between the plasma membrane and endosomal compartments. The specific inhibition of Tfn/hTfR internalization and recycling by tyrphostin A23 and BFA, respectively, thus provide valuable molecular tools to characterize RME and the recycling pathway in plant cells.
Workload and main activities of consultative ICU nurses: long‐term experience in a large teaching hospital in the Netherlands
Authors: Top W. M. C. , Schultz M. J. , Jurrjens F. H. , Rommes J. H. , Spronk P. E. 
Published: October 2006

Background:  Early recognition and prompt treatment of deteriorating patients outside the intensive care unit (ICU) improves hospital survival. Over the past decade, consultative services have been implemented in many institutions. This service is frequently performed by ICU nurses, while little information is available on the workload and type of activities these ICU nurses actually perform.Methods:  In 1995, a consultative ICU nurse‐driven service was introduced in a large teaching hospital in the Netherlands. In this descriptive study, we determined types of consultation, time consumed per visit, and main interventions during these activities.Results:  During the study period, 9144 consultations in 4365 patients were performed. While the number of ‘scheduled’ visits (visits of patients after discharge from the ICU) was reasonably variable during the study period, the number of ‘on demand’ visits (visits demanded by non‐ICU personnel) increased gradually, especially during the first years. At the end of the observation period, approximately half of the visits were ‘on demand’ in the non‐ICU wards. The mean number of consultations per patient dropped gradually over the whole period, from 4.02 in 1996 to 1.54 in 2004. The total workload was approximately half an hour per day; visits were combined with regular activities of the ICU team. Tracheal suctioning was among the most frequent activities during consultation (approximately 90% of all visits).Conclusion:  Consultative ICU nurses play a growing role in bridging the gap between the ICU and non‐ICU departments in our hospital. Workload is acceptable.
A Test of the Links between Family Interference with Work, Job Enrichment and Leader–Member Exchange
Authors: Lapierre Laurent M. , Hackett Rick D. , Taggar Simon 
Published: October 2006

Nous avons testé l’hypothèse selon laquelle le degré d’interférence entre la vie familiale et le travail (FIW) chez des sujets “suiveurs” varie en fonction de la qualité de la relation leader‐suiveur dans le monde du travail (Qualité LMX) et de leur niveau de valorisation du travail. La relation entre ce niveau et la qualité LMX a aussi étéévaluée. Si le FIW, en accord avec les résultats relatifs à la théorie de l’échange social, est lié négativement, et à la qualité LMX, et au niveau de valorisation du travail des suiveurs, ce dernier est corrélé positivement à la qualité LMX conformément aux prédictions principales de la théorie LMX. Cependant, bien que le FIW se rapporte directement au niveau de valorisation du travail, nous avons pu montrer qu’il est lié indirectement à la qualité LMX par le truchement du niveau de valorisation du travail.We tested whether followers’ frequency of family interference with work (FIW) relates to the quality of the leader–follower work relationship (LMX quality), and to followers’ reported level of job enrichment. We also tested the relationship between followers’ job enrichment and LMX quality. We found that that FIW relates negatively to LMX quality and to job enrichment, supporting arguments based on social exchange theory, and that followers’ job enrichment relates positively to LMX quality, supporting one of the key predictions of LMX theory. We also found that while FIW relates directly to job enrichment, it relates only indirectly to LMX quality through job enrichment.
The Effect of Learning vs. Outcome Goals on Self‐Efficacy, Satisfaction and Performance in an MBA Program
Authors: Latham Gary P. , Brown Travor C. 
Published: October 2006

Dans cette expérience de terrain, on applique la théorie de la fixation des objectifs au sentiment d’efficacité personnelle d’étudiants, à leur satisfaction envers le programme du MBA aussi bien qu’à leur performance (GPA). Immédiatement après leur avoir fixé des objectifs spécifiques élevés, nous avons mesuré le sentiment d’efficacité personnelle des étudiants en MBA. Celui des étudiants de la condition “objectifs de résultats pour la fin de l’année” (long terme) était inférieur à celui de sujets qui étaient dans la condition “faites de votre mieux” ou dans celle “but d’apprentissage”. Les sujets présentant des difficultés spécifiques en ce qui concerne les buts d’apprentissage sont plus satisfaits du programme MBA que ceux des autres conditions expérimentales. Le GPA était significativement plus élevé dans la condition “but d’apprentissage” que dans celle “but de performance”à long terme. Les sujets qui ont des objectifs à court terme et un objectif de résultat à long terme ont un GPA plus élevé que ceux qui ont seulement un objectif à long terme ou que ceux qui sont dans l’urgence de faire de leur mieux. Les implications de ces résultats pour la théorie et la pratique sont discutées.The present field experiment examined the application of goal setting theory on student self‐efficacy, satisfaction with the MBA program, as well as performance (i.e. GPA). Immediately after setting specific high goals, the self‐efficacy of MBA students who set year end (distal) outcome goals was lower than participants in either the “do your best” or the learning goal conditions. Participants who set specific difficult learning goals had higher satisfaction with the MBA program than those in other experimental conditions. GPA was significantly higher in the learning goal condition relative to the distal performance goal condition. Participants who set proximal goals, in addition to a distal outcome goal, had a higher GPA than those who only set a distal goal or those who were urged to do their best. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.
Female Proclivity to the World of Business
Authors: Constant Amelie 
Published: October 2006

SUMMARYThis paper investigates entrepreneurial women confronted with the self‐employment or business career choice. Optimistic women have a higher proclivity to be businesswomen. Businesswomen select self‐ over paid employment when they are young or old, less educated, married or with under‐age children. There are no significant native‐immigrant differences. However, among immigrant women those who are in Germany 6 to 12 years are more likely to go into self‐employment. These results show that women in Germany who are in their prime working age, educated, not married, and with no under‐age children are less likely to choose self‐employment, as it is not viewed as a channel to achieving higher socio‐economic standing.
R&D and Firm Performance in a Transition Economy
Authors: Czarnitzki Dirk , Kraft Kornelius 
Published: October 2006

SUMMARYWe estimate the effects of R&D on firms' credit ratings and on financial distress. The main purpose is the comparison of firms in Western Germany and Eastern Germany as a transitional economy. Innovative activity has a positive impact on firm value proxied by ratings in Western Germany, but a negative impact in Eastern Germany. We also consider future financial distress, and find that R&D in Eastern German firms leads to higher default risk. This stands in contrast to Western Germany where R&D enhances future performance. This result is highly politically relevant, since the high level of subsidies present in Eastern Germany may be subject to misallocation.
Employment and Total Factor Productivity Convergence
Authors: Greasley David , Madsen Jakob B. 
Published: October 2006

SUMMARYUsing a new 16‐country data set we demonstrate a robust negative employment‐total factor productivity trade‐off 1870–2004. Widely disparate cross country employment growth had a powerful long term influence on productivity dispersion. Unexceptional US productivity growth principally resulted from her exceptional employment growth rather than from her initially high productivity levels. The negative externalities associated with higher employment are shown to have dominated the diminishing of total factor productivity gaps among the 16 countries, and led to the erosion of US productivity leadership over the twentieth century.
Prevalence of obesity among schoolchildren in Iran
Authors: Ayatollahi S. M. T. , Mostajabi F. 
Published: October 2006

SummaryThe prevalence of overweight and obesity among schoolchildren aged 6.5–11.5 years in Shiraz (southern Iran) are presented in this paper. The body mass index (BMI) percentiles of these children are compared with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reference data and with the Iranian standard. The data are based on a random multistage sample survey of 2397 healthy school attenders (1268 boys, 1129 girls) living in Shiraz, whose heights and weights were measured in the 2002–2003 academic year. Joint height and weight measurements were obtained for 2195 schoolchildren (91.6%), consisting of 1138 boys (89.7%) and 1057 girls (93.6%). A total of 77 boys (6.8%) and 40 girls (3.8%) were overweight, and the difference between them was significant (P = 0.001). However, obesity was significantly less prevalent in boys (3.3%) than in girls (6.1%) (P = 0.001). Our children’s median BMI lie almost on the 38th centile of the CDC reference data, whereas that of their counterparts born more than 10 years ago lay on the 20th centile of their American counterparts, showing the development of children’s obesity in a period of less than 15 years in Iran. A positive secular trend in BMI has been seen during the past decade in Iran, suggesting policymakers and health professionals should pay special attention to children’s health.
Estimating Herd-Specific Force of Infection by Using Random-Effects Models for Clustered Binary Data and Monotone Fractional Polynomials
Authors: Faes Christel , Hens Niel , Aerts Marc , Shkedy Ziv , Geys Helena , Mintiens Koen , Laevens Hans , Boelaert Frank 
Published: October 2006

SummaryIn veterinary epidemiology, we are often confronted with hierarchical or clustered data. Typically animals are grouped within herds, and consequently we cannot ignore the possibility of animals within herds being more alike than between herds. Based on a serological survey of bovine herpes virus type 1 in cattle, we describe a method for the estimation of herd-specific rates at which susceptible animals acquire the infection at different ages. In contrast with the population-averaged force of infection, this method allows us to model the herd-specific force of infection, allowing investigation of the variability between herds. A random-effects approach is used to account for the correlation in the data, allowing us to study both population-averaged and herd-specific force of infection. In contrast, generalized estimating equations can be used when interest is only in the population-averaged force of infection. Further, a flexible predictor model is needed to describe the dependence of covariates appropriately. Fractional polynomials as proposed by Royston and Altman offer such flexibility. However, the flexibility of this model should be restricted, since only positive forces of infection have a meaningful interpretation.
Modifying a Central Composite Design to Model the Process Mean and Variance When there are Hard-to-Change Factors
Authors: Kowalski Scott M. , Geoffrey Vining G. , Montgomery Douglas C. , Borror Connie M. 
Published: October 2006

Summary
An important question within industrial statistics is how to find operating conditions that achieve some goal for the mean of a characteristic of interest while simultaneously minimizing the characteristic’s process variance. Often, people refer to this kind of situation as the robust parameter design problem. The robust parameter design literature is rich with ways to create separate models for the mean and variance from this type of experiment. Many times time and/or cost constraints force certain factors of interest to be much more difficult to change than others. An appropriate approach to such an experiment restricts the randomization, which leads to a split-plot structure. The paper modifies the central composite design to allow the estimation of separate models for the characteristic’s mean and variances under a split-plot structure. The paper goes on to discuss an appropriate analysis of the experimental results. It illustrates the methodology with an industrial experiment involving a chemical vapour deposition process for the manufacture of silicon wafers. The methodology was used to achieve a silicon layer thickness value of 485 Å while minimizing the process variation.
Probability Density Estimation via an Infinite Gaussian Mixture Model: Application to Statistical Process Monitoring
Authors: Chen Tao , Morris Julian , Martin Elaine 
Published: October 2006

SummaryThe primary goal of multivariate statistical process performance monitoring is to identify deviations from normal operation within a manufacturing process. The basis of the monitoring schemes is historical data that have been collected when the process is running under normal operating conditions. These data are then used to establish confidence bounds to detect the onset of process deviations. In contrast with the traditional approaches that are based on the Gaussian assumption, this paper proposes the application of the infinite Gaussian mixture model (GMM) for the calculation of the confidence bounds, thereby relaxing the previous restrictive assumption. The infinite GMM is a special case of Dirichlet process mixtures and is introduced as the limit of the finite GMM, i.e. when the number of mixtures tends to ∞. On the basis of the estimation of the probability density function, via the infinite GMM, the confidence bounds are calculated by using the bootstrap algorithm. The methodology proposed is demonstrated through its application to a simulated continuous chemical process, and a batch semiconductor manufacturing process.
Chemical coding of myenteric neurons with different axonal projection patterns in the porcine ileum
Authors: Jungbauer Carsten , Lindig Tobias M. , Schrödl Falk , Neuhuber Winfried , Brehmer Axel 
Published: October 2006

AbstractThe aim of this study was to perform an immunohistochemical characterization of two different myenteric neuron types of the pig displaying opposite axonal projections. These were type I neurons equipped with lamellar dendrites that projected mainly orally, and type VI neurons that displayed typical axonal dendrites and projected anally. Double immunostainings of longitudinal muscle/myenteric plexus wholemounts from ileal segments of four pigs were performed to visualize neurofilaments (NF) in combination with calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP), leu‐enkephalin (ENK) and substance P (SP), respectively. Triple immunostainings of wholemounts, using antibodies against neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) as well as against VIP and galanin (GAL), were performed. We found that 78% of type I neurons immunoreacted to ENK, 21% to CGRP and 24% to SP. The NF‐positive type I neurons co‐reactive for one of the three above markers displayed mostly frayed outlines of both their somal contours and their broadened dendritic endings. By contrast, most of the non‐coreactive type I neurons displayed rather sharply outlined somata and dendrites. No type I neuron immunoreacted to nNOS, VIP or GAL and none of the type VI NF‐reactive neurons reacted to CGRP, ENK or SP. All type VI neurons investigated displayed immunoreactivity for nNOS, 92% of which were co‐reactive for VIP. Co‐reactivity for VIP and GAL was found in 69% of type VI neurons, 21% were positive for VIP but negative for GAL, 9% were negative for both GAL and VIP, and 1% were positive for GAL but negative for VIP. We conclude that there are two subpopulations of morphological type I neurons. One of these displays mainly oral projections and could not be further characterized in this study. The other, which may correspond to neurons innervating the longitudinal and circular muscle layers, were partly immunoreactive for ENK, CGRP and/or SP. Type VI neurons are immunoreactive for nNOS frequently co‐localized with VIP and, partly, also GAL. These may be inhibitory motor neurons and are different from VIP/GAL‐coreactive minineurons described earlier.