bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Baicalein stimulates osteoblast differentiation via coordinating activation of MAP kinases and transcription factors
Authors: Kim Jin Mi , Lee Su‐Ui , Kim Young Sup , Min Yong Ki , Kim Seong Hwan 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe identification of anabolic agents that directly stimulate bone formation has recently attracted greater interest. Here, baicalein was identified as a natural compound that stimulates the differentiation of mouse osteoblastic MC3T3‐E1 subclone 4 cells. Baicalein induced the activation of NF‐κB in the initiation stage of osteoblast differentiation, and it activated the MAP kinase/NF‐κB signaling pathway and induced the expression of osteoblast differentiation markers in the early stage. In the late stage, baicalein stimulated the calcium deposition with the activation of MAP kinases and AP‐1 family members such as Fra‐1 and Fra‐2. Another transcription factor, NFATc1, was slightly induced by baicalein in the late stage. Thus, baicalein could stimulate the osteoblast differentiation via the activation of complexly coordinated signaling pathways that include MAP kinases and transcription factors such as NF‐κB, AP‐1, and NFATc1. J. Cell. Biochem. 104: 1906–1917, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Can assessors and therapists predict the outcome of long‐term psychotherapy in borderline personality disorder?
Authors: Spinhoven Philip , Giesen‐Bloo Josephine , van Dyck Richard , Arntz Arnoud 
Published: April 2008

AbstractSurprisingly few studies have investigated the accuracy of prognostic assessments of therapy outcome by clinicians. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between clinicians' prognostic assessments and patient characteristics and treatment outcome. Seventy‐one patients with a borderline personality disorder randomly allocated to schema‐focused therapy (SFT) or transference‐focused psychotherapy (TFP) were assessed every 3 months for 3 years. Prognostic assessments proved to be unrelated to patients' biographical (i.e., age, gender, education level, and employment level) and clinical characteristics (i.e., number of Axis I and Axis II diagnoses, and severity of psychiatric symptoms or borderline personality pathology). Clinical assessors as well as therapists rated the probability of success for SFT to be higher than for TFP. Prospective assessments of assessors and therapists accurately predicted different indices of outcome above and independent of patient characteristics. The prediction of outcome in the TFP condition in particular proved to be valid. Identifying prognostic markers of treatment outcome as used by clinicians in their prognostic assessments may improve current prediction models and patient‐treatment matching. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: 64: 1–20, 2008.
Ethical challenges in mental health services to children and families
Authors: Koocher Gerald P. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractMental health practitioners working with children and families must attend to several ethical concerns that do not typically come into play with adult clients. The challenges for practitioners usually involve attention to four subsets of concerns that all begin with the letter c: competence, consent, confidentiality, and competing interests. Using the 4‐C model, this article focuses on ethical aspects of practitioner competence, consent and assent, confidentiality, and the incongruence of interests that occurs when different people organize and set goals for psychological services. After explicating these issues, I provide recommendations for addressing them in the course of clinical practice. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol:In Session 64 : 1–12, 2008.
Temperament, character, and dissociation among detoxified male inpatients with alcohol dependency
Authors: Evren Cuneyt , Sar Vedat , Dalbudak Ercan 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe aim of this study was to determine possible relationships of pathological dissociation with temperament, character, and concurrent psychopathological features in a consecutive series of male alcohol‐dependent patients. Fifty‐eight patients with pathological dissociation were compared with 118 nondissociative patients classified by dissociative taxon membership. Beside higher scores on anxiety, depression, and alcoholism scales, a larger proportion of dissociative group reported childhood abuse, suicide attempts, and self‐mutilation than did the nondissociative group. They also had higher scores of novelty seeking and harm avoidance, but lower scores of persistence, self‐directedness, and cooperativeness. Trait anxiety, depression, and severity of alcoholism predicted dissociative experiences; however, none of the temperament or character measures did. Rather than being a derivative of temperament or character features, dissociative experiences of male alcohol‐dependent patients are associated with overall concurrent psychopathology. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 64:717–727, 2008.
Improving the capacity to respond: examining the experiences of short‐term tsunami relief staff
Authors: Murray Suellen , Clarke Matthew 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThis paper reports the experiences of staff from one international NGO who undertook short‐term deployments to tsunami‐affected areas in 2005. This qualitative analysis finds three major issues that impacted upon the capacity of these staff to respond effectively to the tsunami. These issues are (1) effective management, (2) infrastructure and systems and (3) preparation and support of staff. It is argued that the experiences of these staff are not peculiar to the international NGO. Therefore, the lessons distilled from these qualitative interviews will be relevant to other NGOs. Based on these lessons, a number of general recommendations are provided in order to improve the capacity of NGO staff to respond to future emergencies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A chemometric study of pesto sauce appearance and of its relation to pigment concentration
Authors: Masino Francesca , Foca Giorgia , Ulrici Alessandro , Arru Laura , Antonelli Andrea 
Published: April 2008

AbstractBACKGROUND: Pesto sauce is a typical example of a food matrix in which aspect is of key importance to the final judgment of the consumer, and whose color strongly depends on the production process and on the ingredients. In view of this, the aim of the present work is to evaluate the possibility of quantifying the variability of visual aspect of different brands of pesto sauce, and its relation to the concentration of the main pigments.RESULTS: Sensory evaluation of the appearance of 12 commercial pesto samples was carried out by a panel of 16 assessors who evaluated quantitatively six visual attributes, suitably defined for the description of pesto aspect. A quantitative estimate of the performance of the panel was carried out by means of both univariate and multivariate–multiway chemometric tools (parallel factor analysis, PARAFAC). In addition, the relationship between the mean sensory scores values and the concentrations of chlorophylls, pheophytins and carotenoids was investigated by principal components analysis (PCA). Both PCA and PARAFAC showed good clustering of the samples and a satisfactory degree of homogeneity of the assessors.CONCLUSION: Data analysis showed that assessors fundamentally agree about the main visual characteristics of pesto sauces, which are partly correlated with the concentration values of the main pigments. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry
Multi‐targeted therapy by curcumin: how spicy is it?
Authors: Goel Ajay , Jhurani Sonia , Aggarwal Bharat B. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractAlthough traditional medicines have been used for thousands of years, for most such medicines neither the active component nor their molecular targets have been very well identified. Curcumin, a yellow component of turmeric or curry powder, however, is an exception. Although inhibitors of cyclooxygenase‐2, HER2, tumor necrosis factor, EGFR, Bcr‐abl, proteosome, and vascular endothelial cell growth factor have been approved for human use by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), curcumin as a single agent can down‐regulate all these targets. Curcumin can also activate apoptosis, down‐regulate cell survival gene products, and up‐regulate p53, p21, and p27. Although curcumin is poorly absorbed after ingestion, multiple studies have suggested that even low levels of physiologically achievable concentrations of curcumin may be sufficient for its chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activity. Thus, curcumin regulates multiple targets (multitargeted therapy), which is needed for treatment of most diseases, and it is inexpensive and has been found to be safe in human clinical trials. The present article reviews the key molecular mechanisms of curcumin action and compares this to some of the single‐targeted therapies currently available for human cancer.
Fibroblast growth factor 7 stimulates in vitro growth of oocytes originating from bovine early antral follicles
Authors: Cho Joon‐Ho , Itoh Takehiro , Sendai Yutaka , Hoshi Hiroyoshi 
Published: April 2008

AbstractEssential factors required for growing oocytes derived from bovine early antral follicles and their mechanisms of action are poorly understood. Fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF7) is a member of the heparin‐binding FGF family with a distinctive pattern of target‐cell specificity. The effect of FGF7 on the stimulation of oocyte growth in a culture of cumulus–oocyte complexes with granulosa cells (COCGs, oocyte diameter; 90–100 µm) was investigated. The oocyte diameter of COCGs was increased significantly in the FGF7‐containing medium (10 ng/ml; 117.2 ± 3.2 µm, 50 ng/ml; 116.5 ± 3.5 µm) compared to the control (0 ng/ml; 110.5 ± 2.8 µm) after 16 days. However, there was no stimulatory effect of FGF7 on the proliferation of cumulus‐granulosa cells. The FGF7 receptor, fibroblast growth factor receptor 2IIIb (FGFR2IIIb), was detected in cumulus‐granulosa cells from COCGs. Messenger RNA expression of FGFR2IIIb was induced to cumulus‐granulosa cells by FGF7. The mRNA expression levels of KIT ligand (KITLG), KIT (KIT), growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), and bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) in the cultured COCGs were determined in FGF7‐treated (10 ng/ml) cultures using real time RT‐PCR analysis. The levels of KITLG and KIT, but not GDF9 and BMP15 mRNA expression were stimulated by FGF7. Furthermore, neutralizing antibody for KIT attenuated the stimulatory action of FGF7 on the oocyte growth. These results strongly suggest that FGF7 may be an important regulator for oocyte growth and its action is mediated via the KIT/KITLG signaling pathway. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 1736–1743, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Regulation of cap‐dependent translation initiation in the early stage porcine parthenotes
Authors: Šušor Andrej , Jelínková Lucie , Karabínová Pavla , Torner Helmut , Tomek Wolfgang , Kovářová Hana , Kubelka Michal 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe binding of mRNAs to ribosomes is mediated by the protein complex eIF4F in conjunction with eIF4B (eukaryotic initiation factor 4F and 4B). EIF4F is a three subunit complex consisting of eIF4A (RNA helicase), eIF4E (mRNA cap binding protein), and eIF4G (bridging protein). The crucial role is played by eIF4E, which directly binds the 5′‐cap structure of the mRNA and facilitates the recruitment to the mRNA of other translation factors and the 40S ribosomal subunit. EIF4E binding to mRNA and to other initiation factors is regulated on several levels, including its phosphorylation on Ser‐209, and association with its regulatory protein 4E‐binding protein (4E‐BP1). In this study we document that both the translation initiation factor eIF4E and its regulator 4E‐BP1 become dephosphorylated in the early stage porcine zygotes already 8 hr post‐activation. Similarly, the activities of ERK1/2 MAP and Mnk1 kinases, which are both involved in eIF4E phosphorylation, gradually decrease during this period with the timing similar to that of eIF4E dephosphorylation. The formation of an active eIF4F complex is also diminished after 9–15 hr post‐activation, although substantial amounts of this complex have been detected also 24 hr post‐activation (2‐cell stage). The overall protein synthesis in the parthenotes decreases gradually from 12 hr post‐activation reaching a minimum after 48 hr (4‐cell stage). Although the translation is gradually decreasing during early preimplantation development, the eIF4F complex, which is temporarily formed, might be a premise for the translation of a small subset of mRNAs at this period of development. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 1716–1725, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Use of combined in silico expression data and phylogenetic analysis to identify new oocyte genes encoding RNA binding proteins in the mouse
Authors: Drouilhet Laurence , Paillisson Amélie , Bontoux Martine , Jeanpierre Eric , Mazerbourg Sabine , Monget Philippe 
Published: April 2008

AbstractDuring folliculogenesis, oocytes accumulate maternal mRNAs in preparation for the first steps of early embryogenesis. The processing of oocyte mRNAs is ensured by heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) genes that encode RNA binding proteins implied in mRNA biogenesis, translation, alternative splicing, nuclear exportation, and degradation. In the present work, by combining phylogenetic analyses and, when available, in silico expression data, we have identified three new oocyte‐expressed genes encoding RNA binding proteins by using two strategies. Firstly, we have identified mouse orthologs of the Car1 gene, known to be involved in regulation of germ cell apoptosis in C. elegans, and of the Squid gene, required for the establishment of anteroposterior polarity in the Drosophila oocyte. Secondly, we have identified, among genes whose ESTs are highly represented in oocyte libraries, a paralog of Poly(A) binding protein—Interacting Protein 2 (Paip2) gene, known to inhibit the interaction of the Poly(A)‐Binding Protein with Poly(A) tails of mRNAs. For all of these genes, the expression in oocyte was verified by in situ hybridization. Overall, this work underlines the efficiency of in silico methodologies to identify new genes involved in biological processes such as oogenesis. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 75: 1691–1700, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Lifestyle physical activity of older rural women
Authors: Plonczynski Donna J. , Wilbur JoEllen , Larson Janet L. , Thiede Keith 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to describe and examine the lifestyle physical activity behaviors (household, leisure, occupational) of older rural women. Background characteristics included demographics, environment, social support, and health. Intrapersonal characteristics included motivation and self‐efficacy. The majority of the women's energy expenditure was in the household dimension. Social support was positively associated with household activities. A higher level of leisure physical activity was associated with living within the two small cities and reporting lower levels of health and lower motivation. This research highlights the importance of household physical activity and the contribution of social support for household physical activity, both of which may be important in developing interventions to promote physical activity in older rural women. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 31:501–513, 2008
A new intumescent flame‐retardant: preparation, surface modification, and its application in polypropylene
Authors: Wang Xingyi , Li Yuan , Liao Weiwei , Gu Jing , Li Dao 
Published: April 2008

AbstractMelamine salt of tripentaerythriol phosphate (MTP), as a new intumescent flame‐retardant, was prepared from tripentaerythritol (TPE), polyphosphoric acid, phosphoric pentoxide, and melamine, and then incorporated into polypropylene (PP) to obtain flame‐retarded PP‐MTP. FT‐IR analysis showed that MTP was in the form of cage structure. The flammability, combustion behavior, and thermal degradation and stability of flame‐retarded PP were characterized by using LOI, UL‐94 test, cone calorimetry, and TGA, respectively. By SEM, the char structure of PP‐MTP was analyzed. XRD diffraction tests showed that PP‐matrix of PP‐MTP presented better crystallized phases, when MTP was modified by methyl hydrogen siloxane. The relations of the dispersion of MTP in PP matrix to the compatibility between PP and MTP, and to the flame retardancy were discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Poly(thiaheterohelicene) derived from the long‐alkylated polysulfonium precursor
Authors: Takemura Ichiro , Sone Risa , Nishide Hiroyuki 
Published: April 2008

AbstractPoly[4,6‐bis(dodecylthio)‐1,3‐phenylene‐alt‐2‐methyl‐1,3‐phenylene] (Poly‐S) was synthesized via Suzuki–Miyaura coupling of 1,3‐dibromo‐2,6‐bis(dodecylthio)benzene and 2‐methyl‐1,3‐phenylenebis(pinacol borate). After quantitative oxidation of the pendant sulfide moiety to the sulfoxide derivative (Poly‐SO), the m‐linked benzene rings were fused via intramolecular ring‐closing condensation with excess triflic acid to form the corresponding poly(sulfonium cation) (Poly‐S+) with a helical structure. Poly‐S+ was quite soluble in non‐polar solvents due to the long alkyl dodecyl chain. The Poly‐S+ film, especially the film cast from its acetone solution, gave a polarized optical micrograph, suggesting an oriented structure of the helical poly(sulfonium) derivative. The X‐ray diffraction pattern of the film supported a hexagonal columnar packing of the polymer. The polysulfonium derivative in the film state was converted to the corresponding poly(thiaheterohelicene) (Poly‐TH) via the dealkylation with a basic potassium hydroxide methanol solution or pyridine. The Poly‐TH film was doped with iodine. Its conductivity was enhanced about 30 times when compared to that of the undoped film. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Transparent and flame retardant PMMA nanocomposites
Authors: Kim Seogjun , Wilkie Charles A. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractPoly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanocomposites containing an organoclay and triphenyl phosphate (TPP) were prepared by solution blending using a PMMA solution in methyl methacrylate (MMA) solvent. Exfoliated nanostructures were shown by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The optical transmittance of the PMMA nanocomposites decreased with an increase in the clay content. The improvement in the thermal stability of the PMMA nanocomposites was greater in air than in nitrogen. Nanocomposite formation brought about reductions of the peak heat release rate (PHRR), as measured by cone calorimetry. The combination of the nanoclay and TPP brought about a further decrease in the PHRR and an increase in the average specific extinction area (ASEA, related to smoke production). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Design and synthesis of graded index plastic optical fibers by copolymeric system
Authors: Koike Kotaro , Mikeš František , Koike Yasuhiro , Okamoto Yoshiyuki 
Published: April 2008

AbstractGraded index plastic optical fibers (GI POF) based on the copolymer of 2,3,5,6‐tetrafluorophenyl methacrylate (TFPMA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were prepared. The copolymers of 10 wt% and 20 wt% of TFPMA with MMA were prepared in bulk using di‐tert‐butyl peroxide as the radical initiator at 90–120°C for 48 hr. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the copolymers were 115 and 118°C, and the refractive indexes were 1.4912 and 1.4901 at 589 nm, respectively. The transmittances of the copolymers were a slightly higher than that of pure PMMA. Copolymer tubes (diameter 18 mm, length 600 mm) were prepared by the copolymerization of TFPMA (10 and 20 wt%) with MMA (90 and 80 wt%) as the cladding of the optical fiber. In order to prepare GI POF based on these copolymers, a high refractive index compound, diphenyl sulfide (DPS) $\left( {n_{\rm D}^{20} \, = \,1.6330} \right)$, was added to the mixture of the monomers in the tube (as a core material) and then copolymerized by an interfacial gel polymerization technique. The material dispersion and optimum index exponent g were calculated and found to be very close to that of GI POF prepared from pure PMMA. The obtained copolymer preforms were drawn by heating at 220–250°C with controlling of drawing velocity. The resulting fiber diameter was 0.75 mm and the length was 50–150 m. The attenuation spectra of the fibers were measured and found to be similar to GI POF prepared using pure PMMA. The results indicate that the core material of GI POF can be prepared by a copolymer system in which the refractive indexes of homopolymers are very close to each other and the monomers yield a random copolymer. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Preparation and characterization of sulfonated polyimide ionomers via post‐sulfonation method for fuel cell applications
Authors: Deligöz Hüseyin , Vatansever Sibel , Öksüzömer Faruk , Koç S. Naci , Özgümüş Saadet , Gürkaynak M. Ali 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThis paper describes our work on the synthesis of a series of sulfonated homo‐/co‐polyimides (SPI) which were obtained by post‐sulfonation method over three steps. In the first step, 4,4′‐oxydianiline (ODA) and 4,4′‐diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS) dissolved in N‐methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) were reacted with benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA) in order to yield poly(amic acid) (PAA). Secondly, precipitated PAA was sulfonated via concentrated sulfuric acid (95–98%) at room temperature to give post‐sulfonated PAA (PSPAA). Finally, PSPAA was converted into post‐sulfonated PI (PSPI) by the thermal imidization method. PSPIs with ion exchange capacity (IEC) ranging from 0.20 to 0.67 meq/g were prepared. The thermal properties of the PSPIs were evaluated and high desulfonation temperature was found in the range of 190–350°C, suggesting the high stability of sulfonic acid groups. In water, PSPI‐5 membrane displayed similar proton conductivity to Nafion®117, whereas this membrane showed poor conductivity in dry state. All PSPIs displayed good solubility in common polar aprotic solvents such as NMP and dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Furthermore, the effects of post‐sulfonation reaction on chemical structure, thermal oxidative behavior, and physical properties of the PSPI membranes such as membrane quality/stability and water uptake were discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nitroxide‐mediated radical polymerization of N‐ethyl‐2‐vinylcarbazole
Authors: Quinn Jeffrey D. , Register Richard A. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractThe hole‐transporting ability of carbazole‐containing polymers makes them attractive for applications in organic electronics. Nitroxide‐mediated radical polymerization (NMRP) offers the potential to create complex macromolecular architectures, including block copolymers, but N‐vinylcarbazole, the simplest and most widely studied carbazole monomer, is known to polymerize poorly by NMRP. Here, we investigate the NMRP of N‐ethyl‐2‐vinylcarbazole (2 VK), a monomer structurally more similar to the styrenes which are known to polymerize well by NMRP, and whose polymer offers a hole mobility an order of magnitude higher than poly(N‐vinylcarbazole). Polymerization of 2 VK from a unimolecular alkoxyamine shows a molecular weight which increases steadily with time, though termination or decomposition of the “living” radical ends is clearly evident from the progressive formation of a low‐molecular‐weight tail as conversion increases. However, a sufficient fraction of the chains remain living that P2VK‐PS diblock copolymer can be formed by chain extension of the P2VK macroinitiator with styrene. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.