bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bacterial hydrolytic dehalogenases and related enzymes: Occurrences, reaction mechanisms, and applications
Authors: Kurihara Tatsuo , Esaki Nobuyoshi 
Published: March 2008

AbstractDehalogenases catalyze the cleavage of the carbon–halogen bond of organohalogen compounds. They have been attracting a great deal of attention partly because of their potential applications in the chemical industry and bioremediation. In this personal account, we describe occurrences, reaction mechanisms, and applications of bacterial hydrolytic dehalogenases and related enzymes, particularly L‐2‐haloacid dehalogenase, DL‐2‐haloacid dehalogenase, fluoroacetate dehalogenase, and 2‐haloacrylate reductase. L‐2‐Haloacid dehalogenase is a representative enzyme of the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD) superfamily, which includes the P‐type ATPases and other hydrolases. Structural and mechanistic analyses of this enzyme have yielded important insights into the mode of action of the HAD superfamily proteins. Fluoroacetate dehalogenase is unique in that it catalyzes the cleavage of the highly stable CF bond of a fluorinated aliphatic compound. In the reactions of L‐2‐haloacid dehalogenase and fluoroacetate dehalogenase, the carboxylate group of Asp performs a nucleophilic attack on the α‐carbon atom of the substrate, displacing the halogen atom. This mechanism is common to haloalkane dehalogenase and 4‐chlorobenzoyl‐CoA dehalogenase. DL‐2‐Haloacid dehalogenase is unique in that a water molecule directly attacks the substrate, displacing the halogen atom. The occurrence of 2‐haloacrylate reductase was recently reported, revealing a new pathway for the degradation of unsaturated aliphatic organohalogen compounds. © 2008 The Japan Chemical Journal Forum and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Chem Rec 8: 67–74; 2008: Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/tcr.20141
Two dimensional stagnation point flow of an elastico‐viscous fluid with partial slip
Authors: Ariel P.D. 
Published: March 2008

AbstractThe steady, laminar flow of an elastico‐viscous fluid impinging normally upon a wall has been investigated when there is a partial slip of the fluid at the wall. The governing equations of motion admit a similarity solution in terms of η, the dimensionless distance normal to the wall. The boundary value problem characterizing the flow has been solved without making any assumption on the size of either the viscoelastic fluid parameter or the partial slip parameter. The solutions are shown to exist only up to a critical value of viscoelastic fluid parameter. The effect of the partial slip is to enhance this critical value.
Growth after renal transplantation
Authors: Harambat Jérôme , Cochat Pierre 
Published: March 2008

AbstractGrowth may be severely impaired in children with chronic renal insufficiency. Since short stature can have major consequences on quality of life and self-esteem, achieving a ‘normal’ height is a crucial issue for renal transplant recipients. However, despite successful renal transplantation, the final height attained by most recipients is not the calculated target height. Catch-up growth spurts post-transplantation are usually insufficient to compensate for the retardation in growth that has occurred during the pre-transplant period. Longitudinal growth post-transplantation is therefore influenced by the age at transplantation but also by subsequent allograft function and steroid exposure, both of which interfere with the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor axis. The management of growth retardation in renal transplant recipients includes adequate nutritional intake, correction of metabolic acidosis, prevention of bone disease, steroid-sparing strategies and a supraphysiological dose of recombinant human growth hormone in selected cases.
GCG‐Rich Tea Catechins are Effective in Lowering Cholesterol and Triglyceride Concentrations in Hyperlipidemic Rats
Authors: Lee Sang Min , Kim Chae Wook , Kim Jung Kee , Shin Hyun Jung , Baik Joo Hyun 
Published: March 2008

AbstractThe (−)‐gallocatechin gallate (GCG) concentration in some tea beverages can account for as much as 50% of the total catechins, as a result of sterilization. The present study aims to examine the effects of GCG‐rich tea catechins on hyperlipidemic rats and the mechanisms associated with regulating cholesterol metabolism in the liver. By performing heat epimerization of (−)‐epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), we manufactured a mixture of catechins that had a GCG content of approximately 50% (w/w). In sucrose‐rich diet‐induced hyperlipidemic rats, the GCG‐rich tea catechins exhibited strong activity in reducing plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. Furthermore, the hepatic cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations that had increased as a result of the sucrose‐rich diet were reduced due to GCG‐rich tea catechins consumption. In order to investigate the hyperlipidemic mechanism of GCG‐rich tea catechins, we examined the hepatic expressions of LDL receptor and HMG‐CoA reductase in hyperlipidemic rats. We further evaluated the action of purified GCG on LDL receptor activity, which is a key contributor to the regulation of cholesterol concentrations. We found that purified GCG increased LDL receptor protein level and activity to a greater extent than EGCG. In conclusion, our study indicates that GCG‐rich tea catechins in tea beverages may be effective in preventing hyperlipidemia by lowering plasma and hepatic cholesterol concentrations.
Unusual Fatty Acids in the Fat Body of the Early Nesting Bumblebee, Bombus pratorum
Authors: Cvačka Josef , Kofroňová Edita , Vašíčková Soňa , Stránský Karel , Jiroš Pavel , Hovorka Oldřich , Kindl Jiří , Valterová Irena 
Published: March 2008

AbstractUnusual fatty acids with 24, 26, and 28 carbon atoms were found in triacylglycerols (TAGs) isolated from fat body tissue of bumblebee Bombus pratorum. The most abundant one was (Z,Z)‐9,19‐hexacosadienoic acid. Its structure was determined by mass spectrometry after derivatization with dimethyl disulfide and by infrared spectroscopy. ECL (equivalent chain length) values of its methyl ester were determined on both DB‐1 and DB‐WAX capillary columns. (Z,Z)‐9,19‐Hexacosadienoic acid is quite rare in nature. So far it has been identified only in marine sponges, and this work is the first evidence of its occurrence in a terrestrial organism. HPLC/MS analysis of the bumblebee TAGs showed that (Z,Z)‐9,19‐hexacosadienoic acid is present in one third of all TAG molecular species. As it was found in all sn‐TAG positions, it is likely that (Z,Z)‐9,19‐hexacosadienoic acid is transported to tissues. Interestingly, labial gland secretion of B. pratorum was found to contain (Z,Z)‐7,17‐pentacosadiene, a hydrocarbon with markedly similar double bond positions and geometry. Possible biosynthetic relationships between these two compounds are discussed.
Temporary hemiepiphyseal arrest using a screw and plate device to treat knee and ankle deformities in children: A preliminary report
Authors: Burghardt Rolf D. , Herzenberg John E. , Standard Shawn C. , Paley Dror 
Published: March 2008

Purpose Traditionally, angular deformities are treated by means of osteotomy. In patients who are skeletally immature, this major intervention can be avoided by influencing or guiding the growth of the affected physis. Recently, a new device was presented as an alternative to the widely used Blount staple. Stevens developed a technique using a two-hole, non-locking plate with two screws to perform temporary hemiepiphysiodesis in children. We studied the effectiveness of this new device in correcting angular deformities in children even younger than 5 years of age. Methods We evaluated our first series of 11 patients (17 eight-Plates) who underwent treatment for angular deformities of various origins and were followed to completion of correction. The average age at hemiepiphysiodesis was 10 years and 2 months (age range 4 years and 11 months–13 years and 8 months). The device was inserted in the lateral distal femur (two cases), the medial distal femur (eight cases), the lateral proximal tibia (two cases), the medial proximal tibia (four cases), and the medial distal tibia (one case). Results The eight-Plate was inserted for an average of 9.5 months (range 5–13 months). The joint orientation angles and the mechanical axis improved in all patients, with the exception of one 13-year and 8-month-old boy with a resected osteosarcoma and a compromised growth plate. In valgus cases (12 limbs, 13 eight-Plates), the mechanical axis deviation improved by an average of 30.7 mm (range 13–55 mm). In varus cases (four limbs, four eight-Plates), the mechanical axis deviation improved by an average of 38.8 mm (range 0–74 mm). No hardware failures, extrusion, growth arrest, or other complications were observed. None of our patients required an osteotomy or repeat eight-Plate insertion. Conclusions We consider the eight-Plate to be an ideal tool for treatment of angular deformities in growing children. It allows for precise insertion and is reliable. It is also less likely to extrude like the Blount staple.
Structurally stable perturbations of polynomials in the Riemann sphere
Authors: Iglesias J. , Portela A. , Rovella A. 
Published: March 2008

The perturbations of complex polynomials of one variable are considered in a wider class than the holomorphic one. It is proved that under certain conditions on a polynomial

p

of the plane, the

C^{r}

conjugacy class of a map

f

in a

C^{1}

neighborhood of

p

depends only on the geometric structure of the critical set of

f

. This provides the first class of examples of structurally stable maps with critical points and nontrivial nonwandering set in dimension greater than one.

Résumé

Nous considérons les perturbations des polynômes complexes en une variable dans une classe plus vaste que la classe holomorphe. Si

f

est une application appartenant à un voisinage

C^{1}

d'un polynôme

p

du plan, nous prouvons, sous certaines conditions sur

p

, que la classe de conjugaison

C^{r}

de

f

ne dépend que de la structure géométrique du lieu critique de

f

. Ceci fournit la première classe d'exemples, en dimension supérieure à une, d'applications structurellement stables ayant des points critiques et un ensemble nonerrant nontrivial.
Transforming growth factor Β3 increases chondrocyte proliferation and decreases apoptosis in murine cricoid cartilage in vitro
Authors: Martinez‐Alvernia Efrain A. , Rudnick Jennifer A. , Mankarious Leila A. 
Published: March 2008

ObjectiveTo determine if the luminal epithelium and/or exogenous transforming growth factor beta (TGFΒ) affects growth of the cricoid.DesignSubglottises from 20 neonatal mice were subdivided into four groups: A, five subglottises with luminal epithelium grown in basic medium; B, five epithelium‐free subglottises in basic medium; C, five epithelium‐free subglottises in basic medium with supplemental TGFΒ1, and D, five epithelium‐free subglottises in basic medium with supplemental TGFΒ3.ResultsGroups A and D demonstrated the greatest luminal area expansion. Group A rings demonstrated statistically higher chondrocyte proliferation than Groups B and C and lesser amounts of luminal apoptosis. Groups B and C rings demonstrated the least amount of cell proliferation, and greater luminal apoptosis relative to Group A. Groups A and D rings had similar apoptotic and proliferative results.ConclusionsLuminal epithelium exerts influence over the cricoid by increasing chondrocyte proliferation and decreasing the relative proportion of luminal chondrocytes that undergo apoptosis. Exogenous TGFΒ3, not TGFΒ1, also increases chondrocyte proliferation within the cricoid and appears to influence apoptosis as well.
Influence of topical application of basic fibroblast growth factor upon inner ear
Authors: KaseKei‐Ichi Kei‐Ichi , Iwanaga Tetsu , Terakado Mariko , Tanaka Fujinobu , Takasaki Kenji , Kumagami Hidetaka , Takahashi Haruo 
Published: March 2008

BackgroundBasic fibroblast growth factor (b‐FGF) has recently been shown to have a positive effect on the treatment of postoperative mastoid cavity problem, but its ototoxicity has not been investigated.ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of b‐FGF on the inner ear of guinea pigs.Study Design and SettingIn groups A (n = 10) and B (n =11), b‐FGF was applied into the left external auditory canal and the middle ear, respectively. The right ear served as a control. At 1 week after b‐FGF administration, the endocochlear DC potential (EP) was measured, and morphology of the cochleae was examined by scanning electron microscopy.ResultsIn group A, the EP values of experimental ears and controls were 90.0 ± 8.4 (mV, mean ± SD) and 89.4 ± 4.3 (P < 0.05). In group B, the values were 86.5 ± 11.4 and 87.5 ± 6.1, respectively, (P < 0.05). Morphological findings showed no damage on the cochlear.ConclusionApplication of b‐FGF to the external and middle ears does not seem to have an apparent risk of ototoxicity.
Tinnitus treatment with memantine
Authors: Figueiredo Ricardo Rodrigues , Langguth Berthold , de Oliveira Patricia Mello , de Azevedo Andréia Aparecida 
Published: March 2008

ObjectiveTo evaluate efficacy and safety of memantine in the treatment of tinnitus.Study DesignProspective, randomized, double‐blind crossover study.Subjects and MethodsA total of 60 patients with tinnitus were randomized into a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, prospective crossover study. Patients each received up to 20 mg memantine and placebo for 90 days, separated by a 30‐day washout period. Treatment effects were assessed by using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI). A total of 43 patients completed the trial.ResultsThere was no significant improvement of THI score after memantine treatment compared with placebo. A possible tendency for delayed effects of memantine was observed. The incidence of side effects during memantine treatment was 9.4 percent, leading to interruption of treatment in all cases.ConclusionThis study does not provide evidence to recommend memantine for the treatment of tinnitus. A possible late effect of the drug should be evaluated in further studies with longer observation periods.
Novel 3‐D video for quantification of facial movement
Authors: Mehta Ritvik P. , Zhang Song , Hadlock Tessa A. 
Published: March 2008

ObjectivesTo evaluate a novel 3‐D geometry video acquisition system (3‐D VAS) for quantifying facial movement.MethodsTen normal subjects and four patients with facial paralysis underwent recording of facial movement during three facial expressions. Facial feature points of interest were digitally marked on selected images. The maximum 3‐D displacement of the brow and oral commissure and palpebral fissure width were determined.ResultsTest‐retest reliability using the 3‐D VAS in normal subjects was high (Spearman correlation coefficients 0.661–0.830, P > 0.05). The predicted ratio of left to right facial measurements was 1.00 in normal subjects, and measured mean ratios were 1.05 (brow excursion), 1.01 (palpebral fissure width), and 1.03 (oral commissure excursion), respectively, matching the prediction. The 3‐D VAS reliably quantified facial movement on both sides in patients with facial paralysis.ConclusionsThe novel 3‐D VAS can accurately and reliably quantify facial movement in healthy subjects. It is promising as a clinical tool to quantify facial movement in patients with facial paralysis.
Transnasal esophagoscopy: A position statement from the American Bronchoesophagological Association (ABEA)
Authors: Amin Milan R. , Postma Gregory N. , Setzen Michael , Koufman Jamie A. 
Published: March 2008

ObjectiveTo review and summarize the current literature on transnasal esophagoscopy, and to compare information with conventional esophagoscopy.Data SourcesMedline (Ovid), book chapters.Review MethodsA thorough review of the literature using the Medline database was performed with the following search terms: esophagoscopy, transnasal esophagoscopy, ultrathin endoscopy, and esophagoscope.ResultsThe literature seems to support the equivalence of transnasal esophagoscopy and conventional esophagoscopy in image quality and diagnostic capability. It also points to some potential advantages of transnasal esophagoscopy.ConclusionsTransnasal esophagoscopy is a useful tool for accurate diagnosis and can be used in a variety of office procedures.
THE LIMITS OF THE CONFESSIONAL STATE: ELECTORAL RELIGION IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES II
Authors: GIBSON WILLIAM 
Published: March 2008

ABSTRACTFrom 1670 there were sustained attempts to use excommunication as a tool to influence parliamentary elections. Excommunicants could not qualify for membership of municipal corporations under the Test and Corporation Acts. Towards the end of Charles II's reign, as fear of protestant dissent grew, excommunication was, however, used to deny voters the right to exercise their franchise. There was a concerted attempt, encouraged by the king, to ensure the election of a compliant tory parliament through the use of excommunication in elections in borough seats. The attempt, reliant on bishops and spiritual courts, represented the high water mark of the ‘confessional state’. Of questionable legality, the exclusion of excommunicants from the right to vote was short-lived. The accession of James II, and his Catholicizing policies, created new alliances between Anglicans and dissenters and eroded the willingness of bishops to use excommunication as an electoral instrument. In 1689, the Toleration Act removed the principal cause of the persecution of dissent. The use of excommunication, nevertheless, represented an important attempt to unite the church and state for electoral reasons.
NATION, GOVERNMENT, AND ‘ANTI-SEMITISM’ IN EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY AUSTRIA
Authors: GODSEY WILLIAM D. 
Published: March 2008

ABSTRACTIn 1808, an Estate of the lesser nobility of the Lower Austrian diet approved a statute barring from membership persons of Jewish descent in the ‘third degree’ regardless of confession. It is the only documented instance in Europe for the revolutionary era of such a paragraph that, in its rejection of Jewish ancestry in both the paternal and maternal lines, resembled the early modern Spanish statutes of ‘blood purity’ and the twentieth-century Nuremberg laws. The Josephian patent of toleration of 1782 had not allowed Jews to become members of the corporate nobility (the first Jew was only ennobled in 1789), but had relieved some of the worst aspects of discrimination. By the early nineteenth century, the archduchy of Lower Austria (including the imperial capital at Vienna) contained the largest, wealthiest, and most self-confident Jewish community in the Hapsburg Monarchy. The statute of 1808 was a reaction to Jewish acculturation to the upper class (including conversion, intermarriage, concessions of property-rights, the existence of salons in which Jews and new Christians mixed with the nobility) that presented a perceived threat to the status of its marginal members (lesser landed nobles, ennobled officialdom, and ennobled professionals). The statute was also a product of the politically and nationally charged atmosphere in Vienna between the Austrian defeat by Napoleon at Austerlitz (1805) and the renewed war against France (1809). No simple ideological continuum connects the Lower Austrian paragraph to either the early modern Spanish or the late modern Nazi ordinances. But it was the first such statute to take shape in a political context fraught with recognizably late modern concepts of ‘nation’. The statute of 1808 furthermore evidences the continuing fractured nature of public authority and lack of thorough-going state-formation in Austria.
REINTERPRETING ‘FACTORY POLITICS’ IN BURY, LANCASHIRE, 1868–1880
Authors: BARBARY V. C. 
Published: March 2008

ABSTRACTUsing Bury as a case study, this article reassesses the mechanism of the formation of political opinion in Lancashire factory towns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This subject has heretofore been dominated by sociological explanations of the 1970s and early 1980s. A re-examination of the ‘Three Lancashires’ paradigm, the socio-economic model that has underpinned most Lancashire studies for this period, demonstrates that the socio-economics of urban Lancashire were more diverse than previously thought. From this basis, the article challenges the empirical basis of one of the most enduring tenets of Lancashire politics: the deferential ‘factory politics’ model. To provide an alternative explanation, this article reasserts the importance of ‘issues’ to the debate, and underlines the contingent nature of the relationship between representative and constituents. An important strand is whether political activists integrated their plebeian rank and file into new party structures, thus neutralizing threats to status quo. This interpretation has been central to much recent revisionist history; however, this article demonstrates that the ‘rise of party’ during the mid-Victorian period was contingent upon political activists acquiescing to certain requirements of their followers.
THE EMERGENCE OF STATUTORY HYGIENE PRECAUTIONS IN THE BRITISH MINING INDUSTRIES, 1890–1914
Authors: MILLS CATHERINE 
Published: March 2008

ABSTRACTIt will be fifty years in 2008 since Oliver MacDonagh suggested that the adoption of new responsibilities by the state in the early nineteenth century was an inevitable response to the social consequences of the industrial revolution, and impervious to ideological and philosophical influences. This article revisits MacDonagh's model by examining the emergence of occupational health reform in the British mining industry in the early twentieth century. Until the introduction of statutory measures in 1905 to protect miners against developing silicosis and basic sanitation provisions to prevent cross-contamination of disease, state regulation of working conditions prioritized the prevention of accidental injuries. It is argued that this decisive shift in the scope and nature of government intervention can be understood as part of a process of institutional expansion of mining regulations that broadly parallels MacDonagh's model. Yet the precise details of when, and how, health reform emerged and the nature of these specific regulatory controls were influenced by a variety of factors, including visibility of risk, human agency, economic performance of the industry, and contemporary thinking in political economy.
THE MODERNIST MOMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS, 1957–1977
Authors: WHYTE WILLIAM 
Published: March 2008

ABSTRACTBetween 1957 and 1977 the University of Leeds engaged in a massive programme of rebuilding. Employing the architects Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon, Leeds transformed itself – becoming, in the words of one commentator, ‘Our first contemporary urban university’. Previously ignored by historians, this development in the history of the university illustrates a number of important themes. In the first place, it exemplifies the significance of architecture in defining higher education. Secondly – and more particularly – it shows how both academics and architects hoped to use Brutalist architecture to express the modernity of the University of Leeds. Thus the decision to employ avant-garde designers in the late 1950s and the resolution to dismiss them twenty years later both came from the same modernizing impulse. Thirdly, it shows how personal connection secured architectural patronage in this period. The Development Plan also highlights the way in which architects of the British modern movement used universities as laboratories in which to experiment with ideas about community and proper urban design. The modernist moment at Leeds, then, can be seen as representative of wider trends in British building, not least because it lasted for such a short period of time.