bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Intracavernous Growth Differentiation Factor-5 Therapy Enhances the Recovery of Erectile Function in a Rat Model of Cavernous Nerve Injury
Authors: Fandel Thomas M. , Bella Anthony J. , Lin Guiting , Tantiwongse Kavirach , Lin Ching-Shwun , Pohl Jens , Lue Tom F. 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Neurogenic erectile dysfunction remains a serious complication in the postprostatectomy population. Effective protective and regenerative neuromodulatory strategies are needed.

Aim
To determine the effect of growth differentiation factor-5 (GDF-5) on erectile function and its mechanism in a rat model of cavernous nerve (CN) injury.

Main Outcome Measures
Erectile function was assessed by CN electrostimulation at 4 weeks. Penile tissues were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemical analyses.

Methods
Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into six equal groups: one group underwent sham operation (uninjured controls), while five groups underwent bilateral CN crush. Crush-injury groups were treated at the time of injury with intracavernous injection of a slow-release suspension of liquid microparticles containing no GDF-5 (vehicle), 0.4 µg (low concentration), 2 µg (intermediate concentration), or 10 µg GDF-5 (high concentration). One untreated group served as injured controls.

Results
GDF-5 enhanced erectile recovery and significantly increased intracavernous pressure in the low and intermediate-concentration groups vs. injured controls. Low-concentration GDF-5 demonstrated the best functional preservation, as the intracavernous pressure increase in this group did not differ significantly from uninjured controls. A dose-response relationship was confirmed for the effects of GDF-5 in penile tissue. Low-concentration GDF-5 showed better preservation of the penile dorsal nerves and antiapoptotic effects in the corpus cavernosum (P &lt; 0.05 vs. injured controls). Although high concentration GDF-5 did not confer meaningful erectile recovery, this dose was more effective at decreasing transforming growth factor-β than low-concentration GDF-5.

Conclusion
Intracavernous injection of low (0.4 µg) or intermediate-concentration GDF-5 (2 µg) was effective in preserving erectile function in a rat model of neurogenic erectile dysfunction. The underlying mechanism appears to involve neuron preservation and antiapoptosis.
Clinical and Psychosocial Factors Associated with Quality of Life in Alcohol-Dependent Men with Erectile Dysfunction
Authors: Ponizovsky Alexander M. 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Men with alcohol dependence (AD) commonly suffer from alcohol-induced sexual (erectile) dysfunction (ED) and have poor quality of life (Qol). Knowledge about the factors associated with Qol in such patients is lacking.

Aim
To identify in men who sought medical help for both AD and ED the variables that best predicted feelings of satisfaction with life and with specific life domains.

Main Outcome Measures
The Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q). Secondary study measures were the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Rosenberg's General Self-Esteem Scale (RGSES), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).

Methods
Within an open-label sildenafil trial, 101 men aged 18–50 years with an International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition diagnosis of AD and concomitant ED were interviewed and completed the questionnaires. Multivariate analyses were applied to establish predictors of life satisfaction and factors mediating the relation between ED and life satisfaction.

Results
ED and self-rated depressive symptoms, emotional distress, self-esteem, and perceived social support were found to be significantly associated with Qol and its component domains. Altogether they explained 18–38% of the variance in the Qol ratings. Depressive symptomatology, distress, and self-esteem, individually, demonstrated a mediating effect on the relation between ED and Qol. Finally, self-esteem was shown to be the primary mediator in this relationship.

Conclusion
The results of the study show that self-esteem is the primary factor, and depressive symptoms and severe emotional distress are secondary factors mediating the effects of ED on Qol in male patients seeking medical help for both AD and ED. An integrated pharmacopsychosocial approach targeting the underlying ED as well as the mediating emotional conditions could improve Qol of these patients and thus help them to stop using alcohol.
Global warming potential of wheat production in Western Australia: a life cycle assessment
Authors: Biswas Wahidul K. , Barton Louise , Carter Daniel 
Published: June 2008

AbstractThis study presents a greenhouse gas (GHG) life cycle assessment of 1 tonne of wheat transported to port in south‐western Australia, including emissions from prefarm, onfarm and postfarm stages. The prefarm stage included GHG emissions from agricultural machinery, fertiliser and pesticide production. The onfarm stage included GHG emissions from diesel use, liming and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from N fertiliser applications. The postfarm stage included grain storage and transportation to the port. GHG emissions decreased from 487 to 304 kg carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents when we used regional‐specific data for N2O emissions instead of the IPCC default value for the application of synthetic N fertilisers to land (1.0%). Fertiliser production in the prefarm stage contributed significantly (35%) to GHG, followed by onfarm CO2 emissions (27%) and emissions from transportation of inputs and wheat (12%). N2O emissions from paddock represented 9% of the total GHGs emitted. We recommend utilising regionally specific data for soil N2O emissions, rather than international default values, when assessing GHG for agricultural production systems.
Extracellular matrix profiles in the progression to heart failure
Authors: Graham H. K. , Horn M. , Trafford A. W. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractThe myocardial extracellular matrix (ECM), which preserves the geometry and integrity of the myocardium, is a dynamic structure whose component proteins are maintained by a finely controlled homeostatic balance between deposition and degradation. One of the key targets in cardiology is the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms which mediate pathological remodelling of this matrix causing the transition from compensatory hypertrophy to congestive decompensated heart failure. In response to injury or increased workload, cardiac remodelling including myocyte hypertrophy, develops as the heart attempts to compensate for increased wall stresses. Persistence of these stresses over extended time periods leads to disruption of ECM homeostasis resulting in irreversible maladaptive cardiac remodelling, ventricular dilatation and finally heart failure. ECM remodelling is regulated by the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their endogenous inhibitors (TIMPs). Clinical studies and experimental models of cardiac disease states have reported alterations in the balance between the MMPs and TIMPs in the failing heart and crucially at intermediate time points in the progression to failure. This article reviews the recent clinical, genetic and experimental approaches employed to compare ECM, MMP and TIMP profiles in healthy, compensated and failing hearts and identifies common themes in the perturbation of ECM homeostasis in the transition to heart failure.
Dilatation in the femoral vascular bed does not cause retrograde relaxation of the iliac artery in the anaesthetized pig
Authors: Markos F. , Ruane‐O’Hora T. , Snow H. M. , Kelly R. , Wainwright C. , Skene K. , Drake‐Holland A. J. , Noble M. I. M. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractAim:  We tested the hypothesis that dilatation of a feeding artery may be elicited by transmission of a signal through the tissue of the arterial wall from a vasodilated peripheral vascular bed.Methods:  In eight pentobarbital anaesthetized pigs, acetylcholine (ACh, an endothelium‐dependent vasodilator) was injected intra‐arterially above (upstream) and below (downstream) a test segment of the left iliac artery, the diameter of which was measured continuously by sonomicrometry.Results:  Under control conditions, ACh injections upstream and downstream of the test segment caused dilatation. Downstream injection dilated the peripheral arterioles, resulting in increased blood flow and proximal dilatation. This is a shear stress, nitric oxide (NO)‐dependent response. The experiment was then repeated after applying a stenosis to prevent the increased flow caused by downstream injection of ACh; the stenosis was placed either above the site of diameter measurement to allow retrograde conduction, or below that site to prevent distally injected ACh reaching the measurement site. Under these conditions, downstream injection of ACh had a minimal effect on the shear stress of the test segment with no increase in test segment diameter. This was not due to endothelial damage or dysfunction as injection of ACh upstream still caused a large increase in test segment diameter.Conclusions:  Our results indicate that dilatation of the feeding artery of a vasodilated bed is caused by increased shear stress within the feeding artery and not via a signal transmitted through the arterial wall from below.
‘Fundamentalisms’ Compared
Authors: Munson Henry 
Published: June 2008

AbstractThe term ‘fundamentalist’ is often used indiscriminately. In this essay, the term is used to refer to movements that insist on strict conformity to a sacred text and to a moral code ostensibly based on it. Such movements often also articulate secular grievances such as nationalistic resentment of foreign domination. To focus only on the fundamentalist dimension of such groups is, in some cases at least, to ignore some of the principal sources of their appeal. One should avoid assuming that moral outrage ostensibly provoked by the violation of traditional religious values is really a mere reflection of nationalistic, ethnic, or other social grievances. But one should also avoid ignoring social grievances when the available evidence suggests that they are in fact relevant.
The Neurocognition of Referential Ambiguity in Language Comprehension
Authors: Nieuwland Mante S. , Van Berkum Jos J. A. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractReferential ambiguity arises whenever readers or listeners are unable to select a unique referent for a linguistic expression out of multiple candidates. In the current article, we review a series of neurocognitive experiments from our laboratory that examine the neural correlates of referential ambiguity, and that employ the brain signature of referential ambiguity to derive functional properties of the language comprehension system. The results of our experiments converge to show that referential ambiguity resolution involves making an inference to evaluate the referential candidates. These inferences only take place when both referential candidates are, at least initially, equally plausible antecedents. Whether comprehenders make these anaphoric inferences is strongly context dependent and co‐determined by characteristics of the reader. In addition, readers appear to disregard referential ambiguity when the competing candidates are each semantically incoherent, suggesting that, under certain circumstances, semantic analysis can proceed even when referential analysis has not yielded a unique antecedent. Finally, results from a functional neuroimaging study suggest that whereas the neural systems that deal with referential ambiguity partially overlap with those that deal with referential failure, they show an inverse coupling with the neural systems associated with semantic processing, possibly reflecting the relative contributions of semantic and episodic processing to re‐establish semantic and referential coherence, respectively.
University–Industry Links and Regional Development: Thinking beyond Knowledge Spillovers
Authors: Davies Tamsin 
Published: June 2008

AbstractThe use, nature and movement of knowledge have a central place in recent debates concerning contemporary economies. Within this context, knowledge spillovers from universities to industry are believed to be an important driver of innovation. Because these spillovers are thought to be geographically localised, they have a potentially important role in developing the regional economy. However, the concept of the knowledge spillover, although widely accepted in the literature, is not unproblematic. This article explores the theoretical assumptions behind the academic knowledge spillover, namely that academic knowledge is a public good, inherently tacit and context‐independent. It argues that such assumptions make knowledge spillovers between universities and firms appear more likely than they in fact are. Instead, a mixture of informal and formal, market‐related activities enable knowledge flow between universities and industry. Knowledge flows are governed by processes of transfer, translation and transformation that impact on the mobilities of different types of knowledge. However, the mechanisms authors have proposed for knowledge spillovers, such as social networks, are still important. As far as the contributions, such linkages make to regional development are concerned, these may be affected by both the socio‐cultural environment of the region and extra‐regional factors.
Accessing Higher Education: The Influence of Cultural and Social Capital on University Choice
Authors: Brooks Rachel 
Published: June 2008

AbstractOver recent years, sociologists of education have paid increasing attention to the higher education sector. They have highlighted the ways in which, despite the significant expansion in the number of university places available in many countries across the world, access to and choices about higher education continue to be strongly influenced by social class. This article provides an overview of recent literature in this field and explores how scholars have tended to explain this influence by drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and cultural and social capital.
Molecular Characterization of
Giardia
Isolates from Calves and Humans in a Region in Which Dairy Farming Has Recently Intensified
Authors: Winkworth Cynthia L. , Learmonth James J. , Matthaei Christoph D. , Townsend Colin R. 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT

Giardiasis is a notifiable disease of high prevalence in New Zealand, but there is limited knowledge about the sources of
Giardia duodenalis
genotypes that can potentially cause human infections. Dairy calves are one environmental source of
Giardia
isolates, but it is unknown whether they harbor genotypes that are potentially capable of causing infections in humans. To address these questions, 40
Giardia
isolates from calves and 30 from humans, living in the same region and collected over a similar period, were genotyped using the β-giardin gene. The
G. duodenalis
genetic assemblages A and B were identified from both calves and humans, and genotype comparisons revealed a substantial overlap of identical genotypes from the two hosts for both assemblages. Significantly, no assemblage E (the genotype commonly found in cattle elsewhere in the world) has been detected in New Zealand livestock to date. Given recent and rapid land use conversions to dairy farming in many South Island regions of New Zealand, an increasingly large concentration of domestic cattle harboring genotypes potentially capable of causing infections in humans is particularly concerning.
Evaluation of PCR Primer Selectivity and Phylogenetic Specificity by Using Amplification of 16S rRNA Genes from Betaproteobacterial Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria in Environmental Samples
Authors: Junier Pilar , Kim Ok-Sun , Hadas Ora , Imhoff Johannes F. , Witzel Karl-Paul 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT
The effect of primer specificity for studying the diversity of ammonia-oxidizing betaproteobacteria (βAOB) was evaluated. βAOB represent a group of phylogenetically related organisms for which the 16S rRNA gene approach is especially suitable. We used experimental comparisons of primer performance with water samples, together with an in silico analysis of published sequences and a literature review of clone libraries made with four specific PCR primers for the βAOB 16S rRNA gene. With four aquatic samples, the primers NitA/NitB produced the highest frequency of ammonia-oxidizing-bacterium-like sequences compared to clone libraries with products amplified with the primer combinations βAMOf/βAMOr, βAMOf/Nso1255g, and NitA/Nso1225g. Both the experimental examination of ammonia-oxidizing-bacterium-specific 16S rRNA gene primers and the literature search showed that neither specificity nor sensitivity of primer combinations can be evaluated reliably only by sequence comparison. Apparently, the combination of sequence comparison and experimental data is the best approach to detect possible biases of PCR primers. Although this study focused on βAOB, the results presented here more generally exemplify the importance of primer selection and potential primer bias when analyzing microbial communities in environmental samples.
Comparative Study of Sugar Fermentation and Protein Expression Patterns of Two
Lactobacillus plantarum
Strains Grown in Three Different Media
Authors: Plumed-Ferrer Carme , Koistinen Kaisa M. , Tolonen Tiina L. , Lehesranta Satu J. , Kärenlampi Sirpa O. , Mäkimattila Elina , Joutsjoki Vesa , Virtanen Vesa , von Wright Atte 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT

A comparative study of two strains of
Lactobacillus plantarum
(REB1 and MLBPL1) grown in commercial medium (MRS broth), cucumber juice, and liquid pig feed was performed to explore changes to the metabolic pathways of these bacteria, using a proteomics approach (two-dimensional electrophoresis and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) combined with analyses of fermentable sugars and fermentation end products. The protein expression showed that even with an excess of glucose in all media, both strains could metabolize different carbohydrates simultaneously and that hexoses could also be used via a phosphoketolase pathway with preferential expression in liquid feed. Sugar analyses showed that the fermentation of sugars was homolactic for all media, with some heterolactic activity in liquid feed, as shown by the production of acetate. Cucumber juice (the medium with the highest glucose content) showed the lowest hexose consumption (10%), followed by liquid feed (33%) and MRS broth (50%). However, bacterial growth was significantly higher in cucumber juice and liquid feed than in MRS broth. This discrepancy was due to the growth benefit obtained from the utilization of the malate present in cucumber juice and liquid feed. Despite different growth conditions, the synthesis of essential cellular components and the stress response of the bacteria were unaffected. This study has improved our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the growth performance of an appropriate lactic acid bacterium strain to be used for food and feed fermentation, information that is of crucial importance to obtain a high-quality fermented product.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Uses Two Lytic Transglycosylases To Produce Cytotoxic Peptidoglycan Monomers
Authors: Cloud-Hansen Karen A. , Hackett Kathleen T. , Garcia Daniel L. , Dillard Joseph P. 
Published: June 2008

ABSTRACT

Peptidoglycan fragments released by
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
contribute to the inflammation and ciliated cell death associated with gonorrhea and pelvic inflammatory disease. However, little is known about the production and release of these fragments during bacterial growth. Previous studies demonstrated that one lytic transglycosylase, LtgA, was responsible for the production of approximately half of the released peptidoglycan monomers. Systematic mutational analysis of other putative lytic transglycosylase genes identified lytic transglycosylase D (LtgD) as responsible for release of peptidoglycan monomers from gonococci. An
ltgA ltgD
double mutant was found not to release peptidoglycan monomers and instead released large, soluble peptidoglycan fragments. In pulse-chase experiments, recycled peptidoglycan was not found in cytoplasmic extracts from the
ltgA ltgD
mutant as it was for the wild-type strain, indicating that generation of anhydro peptidoglycan monomers by lytic transglycosylases facilitates peptidoglycan recycling. The
ltgA ltgD
double mutant showed no growth abnormalities or cell separation defects, suggesting that these enzymes are involved in pathogenesis but not necessary for normal growth.
Idiopathic elevated episcleral venous pressure and open-angle glaucoma
Authors: Rhee D J , Gupta M , Moncavage M B , Moster M L , Moster M R 
Published: June 2008

Background/aims:To report a case series of Idiopathic Elevated Episcleral Venous Pressure (IEEVP).Methods:Retrospective chart review of all cases of IEEVP seen over a 5-year period by three physicians.Results:Six cases (five men and one woman) are added to the known 19 documented cases in the English literature, only three of which were reported in the last 10 years. By history, the onset of conjunctival injection of all patients was in early adulthood or late teens. None had an identifiable lesion by modern imaging techniques. All cases had bilateral but asymmetric involvement. Four of the six required glaucoma surgery by the 5th to 7th decade of life. The three eyes that had glaucoma filtration surgery had good outcomes. Choroidal effusions occurred in the postoperative period of one eye which was not hypotonous.Conclusion:IEEVP is a rare cause of glaucoma which is diagnosed by the clinical criteria of dilated episcleral vessels without an identifiable cause. If glaucoma filtration surgery is required, there are generally good results. However, clinicians must be cautious of choroidal effusions occurring at non-hypotonous intraocular pressures.