bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Female urethral diverticula
Authors: Finch William J.G. , Webb Ralph J. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe aetiology of female urethral diverticulum is poorly understood and the clinical presentation variable, mimicking various urinary and genital tract conditions. This can lead to a significant delay between presentation and diagnosis. The diagnosis can be difficult to make, often requiring multiple investigations. However, once identified, surgical intervention can provide symptomatic relief with good long‐term outcomes. The authors briefly review the presentation of urethral diverticulum, before discussing investigation and management. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Interface Ltd
Predictive Factors of Microvascular Invasion in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma Larger Than 5 cm
Authors: Nagano Yasuhiko , Shimada Hiroshi , Takeda Kazuhisa , Ueda Michio , Matsuo Kenichi , Tanaka Kuniya , Endo Itaru , Kunisaki Chikara , Togo Shinji 
Published: July 2008

AbstractBackgroundPatients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who undergo liver resection and transplantation are predicted to have a poor outcome if the disease is associated with vascular invasion. This study aimed to identify preoperative predictors of microvascular invasion in patients with HCCs larger than 5 cm.MethodsFrom May 1992 to October 2005, 231 patients underwent curative hepatic resection for HCC. Of these, 96 patients had HCCs larger than 5 cm. Analysis was limited to patients without macroscopic vascular invasion (n = 65).ResultsMultivariate analysis showed that patients with tumors larger than 7 cm and type 2 (single nodular type with extranodular growth) and type 3 (contiguous multinodular type formed by a cluster of small and contiguous nodules) tumors had an increased risk of microscopic vascular invasion. The overall incidence of microscopic vascular invasion was 46.2% (n = 30), but only 12.5% (2/16) in patients with type 1 tumors (single nodular type that is approximately round with a clear demarcation) measuring less than 7 cm.ConclusionLarger tumors (>7 cm) and type 2 and type 3 tumors are strong predictors of microvascular invasion in patients with HCCs larger than 5 cm.
Clonal growth and its effects on male and female reproductive success in Prunus ssiori (Rosaceae)
Authors: Mori Yosuke , Nagamitsu Teruyoshi , Kubo Takuya 
Published: July 2008

AbstractClonal growth can increase not only floral display but also geitonogamy and may affect sexual reproduction both positively and negatively. A clonal woody species, Prunus ssiori, was partially self‐incompatible according to a pollination experiment. Its main pollinators, bumble bees, were often observed to consecutively visit inflorescences within a tree. Clone identification revealed that its genets formed mutually exclusive patches. These features suggest frequent geitonogamous pollination. In a 6.24‐ha plot, 212 trees belonged to 59 genets, and 42 genets consisted of a single tree, whereas the rest contained two or more clonal trees. The largest genet had 65 trees and occupied 0.4 of a hectare. Fruit set was measured in 127 inflorescences sampled from nine maternal trees at the center of the plot. Paternal genets of 107 of their 300 seeds were assigned in the plot using microsatellites. There were no selfed seeds. Male reproductive success (the probability that individual trees of each genet sired a seed) increased as tree size increased, as the distance between the trees and maternal trees decreased, when the genet did not contain the maternal trees, and when the genet consisted of a single tree. Female reproductive success (fruit set in individual inflorescences of each maternal tree) increased as the within‐tree geitonogamy index, which reflected the frequency of pollination within the maternal tree, decreased. These results suggest that clonal growth reduces male reproductive success, at least, in P. ssiori, because of pollen discounting.
“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”: Nina Simone and the Redefining of the Freedom Song of the 1960s
Authors: KERNODLE TAMMY L. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThis article explores the work of pianist/vocalist Nina Simone as the catalyst for a new type of freedom song in the black freedom movement during the 1960s. It examines the lyrical content and structure of Simone's music, which reflects the rhetorical and geographical shift of the transition from King's nonviolent, southern-based civil rights movement of the late 1950s to the mid-1960s to the militant black power nationalist movement of the late 1960s. Curtis Mayfield's Chicago soul style is also referenced as marking an important shift in mid-1960s R&B, which had largely avoided overt political statements.
A Revisionist History of Twelve-Tone Serialism in American Music
Authors: STRAUS JOSEPH N. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe history of twelve-tone serial music in the United States extends from the late 1920s to the present day. Practitioners of a distinctively American brand of twelve-tone music have included many well-known composers in three distinct waves of activity: prewar experimentation by native-born “ultra-modern” composers amid an influx of European émigrés; a postwar boom; and a third wave of twelve-tone activity since 1980. This extensive repertoire shares certain structural features, including twelve-note aggregates and serial ordering, but even these very general compositional commitments are subject to individual modification, and American twelve-tone serial music has taken astonishingly varied forms. To give an accurate account of this music's history, we must first pry away the many myths that have accreted around it. In the process, we will need to abandon historiographical models that focus on one or two “great men” and that describe the history of style as a series of changing fashions. This article proposes that we regard American music since 1925 as a dynamic steady state within which modernist styles, including twelve-tone serialism, persist as vibrant strands within the postmodern musical fabric.
C-terminal residues of mature human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 protease are critical for dimerization and catalytic activity
Authors: Kádas János , Boross Péter , Weber Irene T. , Bagossi Péter , Matúz Krisztina , Tözsér József 
Published: July 2008

HTLV-1 [HTLV (human T-cell lymphotrophic virus) type 1] is associated with a number of human diseases. HTLV-1 protease is essential for virus replication, and similarly to HIV-1 protease, it is a potential target for chemotherapy. The primary sequence of HTLV-1 protease is substantially longer compared with that of HIV-1 protease, and the role of the ten C-terminal residues is controversial. We have expressed C-terminally-truncated forms of HTLV-1 protease with and without N-terminal His tags. Removal of five of the C-terminal residues caused a 4–40-fold decrease in specificity constants, whereas the removal of an additional five C-terminal residues rendered the protease completely inactive. The addition of the N-terminal His tag dramatically decreased the activity of HTLV-1 protease forms. Pull-down experiments carried out with His-tagged forms, gel-filtration experiments and dimerization assays provided the first unequivocal experimental results for the role of the C-terminal residues in dimerization of the enzyme. There is a hydrophobic tunnel on the surface of HTLV-1 protease close to the C-terminal ends that is absent in the HIV-1 protease. This hydrophobic tunnel can accommodate the extra C-terminal residues of HTLV-1 protease, which was predicted to stabilize the dimer of the full-length enzyme and provides an alternative target site for protease inhibition.
Sircah: a tool for the detection and visualization of alternative transcripts
Authors: Harrington Eoghan D. , Bork Peer 
Published: July 2008

Abstract
Summary: Sircah is a flexible tool for the detection, analysis and visualization of alternative transcripts. It takes as input gene models or spliced alignments and creates a database of alternative transcription events: alternative transcription initiation and polyadenylation, alternative 3′ and 5′ splice-site usage, skipped exons and retained introns. The results can be visualized in a variety of ways, allowing the creation of publication quality images.
Availability: The Sircah is available for download under a creative commons license along with additional documentation and a tutorial from http://www.bork.embl.de/Sircah.
Contact: bork@embl.de
Mathematics motivation and achievement as predictors of high school students' guessing and help‐seeking with instructional software
Authors: Beal C.R. , Qu L. , Lee H. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe study was conducted to investigate the relation of adolescent students' mathematics motivation and achievement to their appropriate help‐seeking and inappropriate guessing behaviour while using instructional software. High school students (n = 90) completed brief assessments of mathematics motivation and then worked with software for geometry instruction. Students' actions with the software were machine‐classified to identify instances of appropriate help‐seeking and inappropriate guessing. Mathematics teachers provided information about students' achievement (high, average or at risk of failing math class). Results indicated that students with low math self‐concept were most likely to engage in inappropriate guessing behaviour. Students with low math achievement were most likely to engage in appropriate help‐seeking while working with the software.
Molecular evidence of a peripatric origin for two sympatric species of field crickets (Gryllus rubens and G. texensis) revealed from coalescent simulations and population genetic tests
Authors: GRAY DAVID A. , HUANG HUATENG , KNOWLES L. LACEY 
Published: July 2008

AbstractSpecies pairs that differ primarily in characters involved in mating interactions and are largely sympatric raise intriguing questions about the mode of speciation. When species divergence is relatively recent, the footprint of the demographic history during speciation might be preserved and used to reconstruct the biogeography of species divergence. In this study, patterns of genetic variation were examined throughout the geographical range of two cryptic sister taxa of field crickets, Gryllus texensis and G. rubens; mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) was sequenced in 365 individuals sampled from 48 localities. Despite significant molecular divergence between the species, they were not reciprocally monophyletic. We devised several analyses to statistically explore what historical processes might have given rise to this genealogical structure. The analyses indicated that the biogeographical pattern of genetic variation does not support a model of recent gene flow between species. Instead, coalescent simulations suggested that the genealogical structure within G. texensis, namely a deep split between two geographically overlapping clades, reflects historical substructure within G. texensis. Additional tests that consider the concentration of G. rubens haplotypes in one of the two G. texensis genetic clusters suggest a model of speciation in which G. rubens was derived from one lineage of a geographically subdivided ancestor. These results indicate that, despite the contemporary sympatry of G. texensis and G. rubens, the data are indicative of an peripatric origin in which G. rubens was derived from one of the two historical partitions in the species currently recognized as G. texensis. This proposed model of species divergence suggests how the interplay of geography and selection may give rise to new species, although this requires testing with multilocus data. Specifically, the model highlights how that geographical partitioning of ancestral variation in the past may augment the selectively driven divergence of characters involved in the reproductive isolation of the species today.
Early leaf senescence is associated with an altered cellular redox balance in Arabidopsis cpr5/old1 mutants
Authors: Jing H.‐C. , Hebeler R. , Oeljeklaus S. , Sitek B. , Stühler K. , Meyer H. E. , Sturre M. J. G. , Hille J. , Warscheid B. , Dijkwel P. P. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractReactive oxygen species (ROS) are the inevitable by‐products of essential cellular metabolic and physiological activities. Plants have developed sophisticated gene networks of ROS generation and scavenging systems. However, ROS regulation is still poorly understood. Here, we report that mutations in the Arabidopsis CPR5/OLD1 gene may cause early senescence through deregulation of the cellular redox balance. Genetic analysis showed that blocking stress‐related hormonal signalling pathways, such as ethylene, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, abscisic acid and sugar, did not affect premature cell death and leaf senescence. We took a bioinformatics approach and analysed publicly available transcriptome data of presymptomatic cpr5/old1 mutants. The results demonstrate that many genes in the ROS gene network show at least fivefold increases in transcripts in comparison with those of wild‐type plants, suggesting that presymptomatic cpr5/old1 mutants are in a state of high‐cellular oxidative stress. This was further confirmed by a comparative, relative quantitative proteomics study of Arabidopsis wild‐type and cpr5/old1 mutant plants, which demonstrated that several Phi family members of glutathione s‐transferases significantly increased in abundance. In summary, our genetic, transcriptomic and relative quantitative proteomics analyses indicate that CPR5 plays a central role in regulating redox balance in Arabidopsis.
Molecular characterization, expression and association analysis of the porcine CMYA4 gene with carcass traits
Authors: Xu X.L. , Li K. , Peng Z.Z. , Zhao S.H. , Yu M. , Fan B. , Zhu M.J. , Xu S.P. , Du Y.Q. , Liu B. 
Published: July 2008

Summary CMYA4 (cardiomyopathy‐associated 4) gene plays an important role in thick filament assembly. In this study, we obtained the mRNA sequence including the full coding sequence and the partial 5′ untranslated region of the porcine CMYA4 gene by using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) and the sequence was deposited in the GenBank nucleotide database (DQ_286571). The human (NM_173167) and mouse (NM_178680) homologues have a 91% and 87% identity with the porcine CMYA4 gene, respectively. The sequence contains an open reading frame encoding 930 amino acid residues, and the amino terminus of the predicted CMYA4 protein contains three tandem repeats belonging to the tetratricopeptide repeat family. Semi‐quantitative RT‐PCR results showed that the porcine CMYA4 gene is expressed exclusively in striated muscle tissue. An A558G single nucleotide polymorphism in the CMYA4 intron 15 detected as an MspI PCR–restriction fragment length polymorphism showed allele frequency differences among 225 unrelated pigs from six breeds. Association of the genotypes with growth and carcass traits showed that different genotypes of the CMYA4 gene were significantly associated with the backfat thickness of the area between sixth and seventh ribs (p < 0.05) and backfat thickness at the shoulder (p < 0.05).
The economic analyses of the UK prospective diabetes study
Authors: Gray A. M. , Clarke P. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractAn economic analysis was not initially included in the study design of the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS). However, data were collected throughout the study on hospital drugs and medications used and these were supplemented near the end of the study by cross‐sectional surveys of non‐inpatient healthcare use and quality of life.Evaluations of tight vs. less tight blood pressure control, intensive vs. less conventional blood glucose control and metformin showed that each was highly cost‐effective and that all could be provided at modest total cost. Further analyses showed that amputations and stroke had particularly severe consequences for quality of life, and that amputations and non‐fatal MI had high cost consequences. Finally, patient‐level data were used to construct a diabetes outcomes model, which estimates the probability of longer‐term complications from patient‐specific risk factors and can be used in populations at different stages of diabetes progression.The economic analyses arising from the UKPDS have provided new evidence to clinicians, policymakers and researchers on the consequences of diabetes and the cost‐effectiveness of interventions, thereby assisting the development of treatment guidelines and improved standards of care. The analyses also illustrated a number of methodological innovations. Finally, the UKPDS Outcomes Model is gaining widespread acceptance as a validated tool for long‐term economic and clinical prediction in diabetes.
Glucose control in the UKPDS: what did we learn?
Authors: Gale E. A. M. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) set out to establish whether improved glucose control could alleviate the macrovascular and microvascular complications of diabetes and to compare the relative merits of diet, oral glucose‐lowering agents or insulin in achieving this objective. The study broke many of the rules of trial design, not least by constant addition of further interventions and analyses, but this flexibility would, paradoxically, prove to be one of its greatest strengths. The UKPDS taught us that glucose control must be tackled aggressively in Type 2 diabetes. It taught us that treatment must be escalated in parallel with the evolution of pancreatic B‐cell failure. It also taught us that glucose control is not enough: the central objective of therapy is to reduce vascular risk by any means available. This commentary looks back along the winding road that led to these conclusions.
Dihydroergotamine for Early and Late Treatment of Migraine With Cutaneous Allodynia: An Open‐Label Pilot Trial
Authors: Silberstein Stephen D. , Young William B. , Hopkins Mary M. , Gebeline‐Myers Cheryl , Bradley Kathleen C. 
Published: July 2008

Objective.—To explore whether dihydroergotamine (D.H.E. 45®) is equally effective and safe for migraine with allodynia, when administered either early or late in an attack.Background.—Central sensitization may account for the extracranial tenderness and cutaneous allodynia that can occur with migraine. Once allodynia is established, triptans are less effective. Dihydroergotamine is often effective for patients whose refractory headaches have failed prior triptan therapy.Methods.—In this single‐center, open‐label pilot trial, patients with episodic migraine associated with cutaneous allodynia were treated on 2 occasions with dihydroergotamine 1.0 mg intramuscularly. One attack was treated within 2 hours (early) and a second attack at 4 hours (late) after the onset of throbbing pain. Headache pain and any associated symptoms, subjective cutaneous allodynia, and mechanical (brush) allodynia were assessed. All data were analyzed using the Fisher's exact test.Results.—Thirteen patients met the entry criteria; however, data from only 9 patients, those who completed treatment for 2 migraine attacks, were used to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dihydroergotamine. Whether they took dihydroergotamine early or late in the attack, most patients (>55%) had headache relief within 2 hours, and at least 44% of patients achieved headache‐free status by 8 hours postdose. Subjective cutaneous allodynia started to decline after 30 minutes postdose in the early treated group and after 120 minutes postdose in the late‐treated group. Brush allodynia began to decline after 15 minutes postdose in the early treated group and after 90 minutes postdose in the late‐treated group. Six of 9 patients (67%) reported at least 1 adverse event.Conclusions.—The results of this pilot trial provide proof of concept for the headache‐relief benefit of dihydroergotamine in patients with migraine headache and allodynia. A large, placebo‐controlled trial of dihydroergotamine in allodynic patients is warranted.
Automated egg‐collecting and pupa‐separator system for medfly mass‐rearing facilities
Authors: Morávek Ivan , Kozánek Milan , Vidlička L’ubomír , Krumpálová Zuzana , Eyles David K. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe new automated egg‐collecting system and pupa‐separator device described here substantially reduces labour during medfly [Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae)] mass production. The egg‐collecting system gathers eggs dropping from the cage's oviposition net into a continuous stream of water, after which they accumulate in an egg‐collecting sieve. The system provides an optimal environment for eggs, keeping them in a slow stream of well‐oxygenated water. A pupa separator was designed to enable the separation of pupae from the pupation medium by sucking off the medium through a slowly moving sieving belt. The smaller particles of pupation medium are removed by a vacuum cleaner located under the circular sieving belt, and the pupae are collected in a collecting box. Quality control tests of the eggs collected and pupae separated have shown that neither system has a negative effect on the quality of the eggs or the pupae.
An Apology for Antony. Morality and Pathos in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
Authors: Kluge Sofie 
Published: July 2008

Taking off from a consideration of Antony and Cleopatra’s intermingling of pathetic and moral tragedy, the analysis proposed in the present essay demonstrates how the play’s peculiar combination of morality and pathos results in a dialectical critique of both concepts of the tragic. Shakespeare didn’t write a straight‐forward pathetic tragedy, in fact Antony and Cleopatra questions this very phenomenon from the perspective of the tragicomic Christian theatrum mundi. At the same time, however, the play inverts not only moral tragedy, but also the moral design – the ‘exemplary’ story of the great Mark Antony’s downfall through moral corruption – that Shakespeare inherited from Roman historiography through Plutarch’s Life of Antony, medieval historiography, and Renaissance emblematics.In contrast to the recent critical negligence of the moral aspect of the play, as well as the overemphasis on this aspect in early criticism of the play, the analysis proposed emphazises the dialectic of moralism and pathos in Shakespeare’s play. The fundamental ambiguity permeating Shakespeare’s characterization of Antony as a tragic hero is not only seen to affect the understanding of this particular play, but also, by implication, to question the notion of Shakespeare as a modern dramatist and the view of Renaissance drama as an unequivocal break with the medieval dramatic heritage.
Toxic Effects of Iterative Intraperitoneal Administration of Zinc Gluconate in Rats
Authors: Andriollo‐Sanchez Maud , Claeyssen Richard , Arnaud Josiane , Touvard Laurence , Denis Josiane , Chancerelle Yves , Roussel Anne‐Marie , Agay Diane 
Published: July 2008

Abstract:  Although zinc is an essential trace element involved in many physiological functions, toxicological data concerning acute exposure are scarce. The aim of our study was to determine the maximal iterative dose of zinc that can be administrated in rats without any adverse effect. Saline (control group) or zinc gluconate at 1, 2 or 4 mg/kg were intraperitoneally injected in animals daily during 7 days. The tolerance of zinc treatments was evaluated by the observation of clinical symptoms, haematological parameters and biochemistry, in relation to the zinc and copper levels in blood, liver, pancreas and faeces. We found no serious adverse effect within 1 week in rats injected intraperitoneally with 1 or 2 mg/kg/day of zinc gluconate, which tends to indicate that those doses could be useful in future therapeutic research. In contrast, the therapeutic treatment of adult rats with repeated intraperitoneal injections of a 4 mg/kg/day zinc dose should be cancelled, due to the occurrence of clinical adverse effects within a few days, as intraperitoneal local intolerance or major growth underdevelopment.