bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An
Ehrlichia chaffeensis
Tandem Repeat Protein Interacts with Multiple Host Targets Involved in Cell Signaling, Transcriptional Regulation, and Vesicle Trafficking
Authors: Wakeel Abdul , Kuriakose Jeeba A. , McBride Jere W. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

Ehrlichia chaffeensis
is an obligately intracellular bacterium that exhibits tropism for mononuclear phagocytes forming cytoplasmic membrane-bound microcolonies called morulae. To survive and replicate within phagocytes,
E. chaffeensis
exploits the host cell by modulating a number of host cell processes, but the ehrlichial effector proteins involved are unknown. In this study, we determined that p47, a secreted, differentially expressed, tandem repeat (TR) protein, interacts with multiple host proteins associated with cell signaling, transcriptional regulation, and vesicle trafficking. Yeast two-hybrid analysis revealed that p47 interacts with polycomb group ring finger 5 (PCGF5) protein, Src protein tyrosine kinase FYN (FYN), protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2), and adenylate cyclase-associated protein 1 (CAP1). p47 interaction with these proteins was further confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation assays and colocalization in HeLa cells transfected with p47-green fluorescent fusion protein (AcGFP1-p47). Moreover, confocal microscopy demonstrated p47-expressing dense-cored (DC) ehrlichiae colocalized with PCGF5, FYN, PTPN2, and CAP1. An amino-terminally truncated form of p47 containing TRs interacted only with PCGF5 and not with FYN, PTPN2, and CAP1, indicating differences in p47 domains that are involved in these interactions. These results demonstrate that p47 is involved in a complex network of interactions involving numerous host cell proteins. Furthermore, this study provides a new insight into the molecular and functional distinction of DC ehrlichiae, as well as the effector proteins involved in facilitating ehrlichial survival in mononuclear phagocytes.
Capsule Expression and Genotypic Differences among
Staphylococcus aureus
Isolates from Patients with Chronic or Acute Osteomyelitis
Authors: Lattar Santiago M. , Tuchscherr Lorena P. N. , Caccuri Roberto L. , Centrón Daniela , Becker Karsten , Alonso Claudio A. , Barberis Claudia , Miranda Graciela , Buzzola Fernanda R. , von Eiff Christof , Sordelli Daniel O. 
Published: March 2009

ABSTRACT

There is ample evidence that
Staphylococcus aureus
capsular polysaccharide (CP) promotes virulence. Loss of capsule expression, however, may lead to
S. aureus
persistence in a chronically infected host. This study was conducted to determine the relative prevalence of nonencapsulated
S. aureus
in patients with chronic and acute osteomyelitis. Only 76/118 (64%)
S. aureus
isolates from patients with osteomyelitis expressed CP, whereas all 50 isolates from blood cultures of patients with infections other than osteoarticular infections expressed CP (
P
= 0.0001). A significantly higher prevalence of nonencapsulated
S. aureus
was found in patients with chronic osteomyelitis (53%) than in those with acute osteomyelitis (21%) (
P
= 0.0046).
S. aureus
isolates obtained from multiple specimens from five of six patients with chronic osteomyelitis exhibited phenotypic (expression of CP, α-hemolysin, β-hemolysin, slime, and the small-colony variant phenotype) and/or genotypic (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and
spa
typing) differences. Nonencapsulated
S. aureus
was recovered from at least one specimen from each chronic osteomyelitis patient. Fourteen isolates obtained from two patients with acute osteomyelitis were indistinguishable from each other within each group, and all produced CP5. In conclusion, we demonstrated that nonencapsulated
S. aureus
is more frequently isolated from patients with chronic osteomyelitis than from those with acute osteomyelitis, suggesting that loss of CP expression may be advantageous to
S. aureus
during chronic infection. Our findings on multiple
S. aureus
isolates from individual patients allow us to suggest that selection of nonencapsulated
S. aureus
is likely to have occurred in the patient during long-term bone infection.
Performance of chest radiograph and CT scan for lung cancer screening in asbestos-exposed workers
Authors: Clin B , Morlais F , Guittet L , Gislard A , Marquignon M-F , Paris C , Caillard J-F , Launoy G , Letourneux M 
Published: March 2009

Objectives:The aim was to compare, in a cohort of asbestos-exposed workers, the sensitivity and the specificity of low-radiation helical chest CT scan with chest radiograph for the biennial screening of bronchopulmonary cancer, according to the size of detected nodules.Material and methods:The screening procedure consisted of biennial chest radiograph and monodetector chest CT scan, given to 972 individuals who had been highly exposed to asbestos. A total of 2555 screening procedures were performed. The study focuses on the 1230 screening procedures for which a 2-year follow-up period was available.Results:Twenty-four cases of bronchopulmonary cancer were diagnosed. CT scan detected 20 cancers, 12 of which had not been detected by chest radiograph. Sensitivity of chest radiograph and CT scan were, respectively, 33% and 83%, lesions measuring over 2 mm in diameter being considered as suspect. The specificity of chest radiograph and CT scan were, respectively, 95% and 78%.Calculation of the differential false positive/true positive (FP/TP) ratio and the receiver operating characteristic curve, performed for both chest radiograph and CT scan, facilitated the determination of the best possible compromise between specificity and sensitivity, according to the diameter threshold applied for considering a nodule as suspect.Conclusions:Although this study confirms the superior sensitivity of chest CT scan compared with conventional chest radiograph, the associated loss in specificity leads to a recommended diameter of 5 mm as the threshold for considering non-calcified lesions as “suspect”, for the surveillance of asbestos-exposed individuals.
Infosys Technologies Limited: The Global Talent Program
Authors: Subramanian Ram , Singh Tripti , Misra Ram , Jayachandran C. 
Published: March 2009

Infosys Technologies Limited, the Bangalore-based information technology company, embarked on a global recruitment program in 2006. The first batch of recruits from U.S. universities were brought to the company's Mysore training facility in India and put through a rigorous 16-week training program. By November 2007, the third U.S. batch was on campus for training along with the first batch from the U.K. Each of these batches had around 125 recruits. The company's CEO had charged Infosys' Head of Administration and Human Resources Development, Mohandas Pai, to step up the recruiting to around 1,000 overseas recruits a year from countries such as the US, UK, continental Europe, and China as a way to globalize the workforce. Pai was concerned that this ambitious recruitment program would strain the company's training function. His concern stemmed from the fact that the trainers had to deal with cultural differences and varied learning styles of overseas recruits. The trainers had done a commendable job of making adjustments while training was ongoing, but Pai wondered if the same adjustments could be made when the scale of recruits increased dramatically. This case is useful for examining the issues of training capacity and cross-cultural training.
Kendo
Authors: Olszewski Marek , Ansel Jason , Amarasinghe Saman 
Published: March 2009

Although chip-multiprocessors have become the industry standard, developing parallel applications that target them remains a daunting task. Non-determinism, inherent in threaded applications, causes significant challenges for parallel programmers by hindering their ability to create parallel applications with repeatable results. As a consequence, parallel applications are significantly harder to debug, test, and maintain than sequential programs.This paper introduces Kendo: a new software-only system that provides deterministic multithreading of parallel applications. Kendo enforces a deterministic interleaving of lock acquisitions and specially declared non-protected reads through a novel dynamically load-balanced deterministic scheduling algorithm. The algorithm tracks the progress of each thread using performance counters to construct a deterministic logical time that is used to compute an interleaving of shared data accesses that is both deterministic and provides good load balancing. Kendo can run on today's commodity hardware while incurring only a modest performance cost. Experimental results on the SPLASH-2 applications yield a geometric mean overhead of only 16% when running on 4 processors. This low overhead makes it possible to benefit from Kendo even after an application is deployed. Programmers can start using Kendo today to program parallel applications that are easier to develop, debug, and test.
Per-thread cycle accounting in SMT processors
Authors: Eyerman Stijn , Eeckhout Lieven 
Published: March 2009

This paper proposes a cycle accounting architecture for Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) processors that estimates the execution times for each of the threads had they been executed alone, while they are running simultaneously on the SMT processor. This is done by accounting each cycle to either a base, miss event or waiting cycle component during multi-threaded execution. Single-threaded alone execution time is then estimated as the sum of the base and miss event components; the waiting cycle component represents the lost cycle count due to SMT execution. The cycle accounting architecture incurs reasonable hardware cost (around 1KB of storage) and estimates single-threaded performance with average prediction errors around 7.2% for two-program workloads and 11.7% for four-program workloads.
The cycle accounting architecture has several important applications to system software and its interaction with SMT hardware. For one, the estimated single-thread alone execution time provides an accurate picture to system software of the actually consumed processor cycles per thread. The alone execution time instead of the total execution time (timeslice) may make system software scheduling policies more effective. Second, a new class of thread-progress aware SMT fetch policies based on per-thread progress indicators enable system software level priorities to be enforced at the hardware level.
Lung Adenocarcinoma Incidence Rates and Their Relation to Motor Vehicle Density
Authors: Chen Fan , Jackson Haley , Bina William F. 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Background and Objective: The temporal trend of adenocarcinoma incidence rates of the lung (ADL) has been reported to parallel the trend of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in the United States. This study explores the geographic pattern of ADL incidence and its relation to motor vehicle density, the major indicator of NOx emissions before 1970.
Methods: ADL incidence rates by counties were retrieved from the nine sites of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program for the period of 1973 to 1990. Motor vehicle densities by county in 1970 for these SEER sites were estimated according to the numbers of motor vehicle registration and the size of each county. Regression analysis was done with the data of motor vehicle density by counties.
Results: A dose-response pattern between motor vehicle density and ADL incidence was found. The risks are 136% and 68% higher for ADL and squamous cell carcinoma, respectively, for male residents living in areas with 937 motor vehicles per square mile, compared with those living in areas with about one motor vehicle per square mile. The R2 are as high as 0.805 and 0.504 in regressions for male incidence rates of ADL and squamous cell carcinoma, respectively, with the vehicle density values. As a comparison, the prostate cancer incidence rates did not show dose-response relationship with motor vehicle density. If the effect of NOx emissions on ADL incidence rates can be proved by further studies, the current standard of allowance of NOx emissions may need to be revised. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):760–4)
Molecular Signatures of Localized Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma to Predict Disease-Free Survival after Nephrectomy
Authors: Klatte Tobias , Seligson David B. , LaRochelle Jeffrey , Shuch Brian , Said Jonathan W. , Riggs Stephen B. , Zomorodian Nazy , Kabbinavar Fairooz F. , Pantuck Allan J. , Belldegrun Arie S. 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Purpose: To identify the molecular signature of localized (N0M0) clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and assess its ability to predict outcome.
Methods: Clinical characteristics and pathologic records of 170 patients with localized clear cell RCC who underwent nephrectomy were reviewed. Immunohistochemical analysis was done on a tissue microarray of all primary tumors using a kidney cancer–related panel of protein markers, which included CAIX, CAXII, CXCR3, gelsolin, Ki-67, vimentin, EpCAM, p21, p27, p53, pS6, PTEN, HIF-1α, pAkt, VEGF-A, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and VEGFR-3. Associations with disease-free survival (DFS) were evaluated with Cox models, and a concordance index assessed prognostic accuracy.
Results: Median follow-up was 7.1 years. The final multivariate Cox model determined T classification, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, and five molecular markers (Ki-67, p53, endothelial VEGFR-1, epithelial VEGFR-1, and epithelial VEGF-D) to be independent prognostic indicators of DFS. The molecular signature based on these markers predicted DFS with an accuracy of 0.838, an improvement over T classification of 0.746, and the University of California-Los Angeles Integrated Staging System of 0.780. A constructed nomogram combined the molecular, clinical, and pathologic factors and approached a concordance index of 0.904.
Conclusions: A molecular signature consisting of five molecular markers (Ki-67, p53, endothelial VEGFR-1, epithelial VEGFR-1, and epithelial VEGF-D) can predict DFS for localized clear cell RCC. The prognostic ability of the signature and nomogram may be superior to clinical and pathologic factors alone and may identify a subset of localized patients with aggressive clinical behavior. Independent, external validation of the nomogram is required. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):894–900)
Alcohol Intake and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: A Pooled Analysis of Fourteen Cohort Studies
Authors: Genkinger Jeanine M. , Spiegelman Donna , Anderson Kristin E. , Bergkvist Leif , Bernstein Leslie , van den Brandt Piet A. , English Dallas R. , Freudenheim Jo L. , Fuchs Charles S. , Giles Graham G. , Giovannucci Edward , Hankinson Susan E. , Horn-Ross Pamela L. , Leitzmann Michael , Männistö Satu , Marshall James R. , McCullough Marjorie L. , Miller Anthony B. , Reding Douglas J. , Robien Kim , Rohan Thomas E. , Schatzkin Arthur , Stevens Victoria L. , Stolzenberg-Solomon Rachael Z. , Verhage Bas A.J. , Wolk Alicja , Ziegler Regina G. , Smith-Warner Stephanie A. 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Background: Few risk factors have been implicated in pancreatic cancer etiology. Alcohol has been theorized to promote carcinogenesis. However, epidemiologic studies have reported inconsistent results relating alcohol intake to pancreatic cancer risk.
Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis of the primary data from 14 prospective cohort studies. The study sample consisted of 862,664 individuals among whom 2,187 incident pancreatic cancer cases were identified. Study-specific relative risks and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models and then pooled using a random effects model.
Results: A slight positive association with pancreatic cancer risk was observed for alcohol intake (pooled multivariate relative risk, 1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.45 comparing ≥30 to 0 grams/day of alcohol; P value, test for between-studies heterogeneity = 0.80). For this comparison, the positive association was only statistically significant among women although the difference in the results by gender was not statistically significant (P value, test for interaction = 0.19). Slightly stronger results for alcohol intake were observed when we limited the analysis to cases with adenocarcinomas of the pancreas. No statistically significant associations were observed for alcohol from wine, beer, and spirits comparing intakes of ≥5 to 0 grams/day. A stronger positive association between alcohol consumption and pancreatic cancer risk was observed among normal weight individuals compared with overweight and obese individuals (P value, test for interaction = 0.01).
Discussion: Our findings are consistent with a modest increase in risk of pancreatic cancer with consumption of 30 or more grams of alcohol per day. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):765–76)
Rising Thyroid Cancer Incidence in the United States by Demographic and Tumor Characteristics, 1980-2005
Authors: Enewold Lindsey , Zhu Kangmin , Ron Elaine , Marrogi Aizen J. , Stojadinovic Alexander , Peoples George E. , Devesa Susan S. 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Thyroid cancer incidence has been rising in the United States, and this trend has often been attributed to heightened medical surveillance and the use of improved diagnostics. Thyroid cancer incidence varies by sex and race/ethnicity, and these factors also influence access to and utilization of healthcare. We therefore examined thyroid cancer incidence rates by demographic and tumor characteristics based on 48,403 thyroid cancer patients diagnosed during 1980–2005 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program of the National Cancer Institute. The rates varied by histologic type, sex, and race/ethnicity. Papillary carcinoma was the only histologic type for which incidence rates increased consistently among all racial/ethnic groups. Subsequent analyses focused on the 39,706 papillary thyroid cancers diagnosed during this period. Papillary carcinoma rates increased most rapidly among females. Between 1992–1995 and 2003–2005, they increased nearly 100% among White non-Hispanics and Black females but only 20% to 50% among White Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Black males. The increases were most rapid for localized stage and small tumors; however, rates also increased for large tumors and tumors of regional and distant stage. Since 1992–1995, half the overall increase in papillary carcinoma rates was due to increasing rates of very small (≤1.0 cm) cancers, 30% to cancers 1.1 to 2 cm, and 20% to cancers &gt;2 cm. Among White females, the rate of increase for cancers &gt;5 cm almost equaled that for the smallest cancers. Medical surveillance and more sensitive diagnostic procedures cannot completely explain the observed increases in papillary thyroid cancer rates. Thus, other possible explanations should be explored. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):784–91)
Placental Weight and Breast Cancer Survival in Young Women
Authors: Larfors Gunnar , Lambert Paul C. , Lambe Mats , Ekbom Anders , Cnattingius Sven 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
A growing body of evidence indicates that reproductive history influences survival in breast cancer, especially among women diagnosed during or shortly after a pregnancy. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. We hypothesized that increasing placental weight, as an indirect marker of exposure to elevated hormone levels during pregnancy, would be associated with reduced survival in breast cancer. A cohort of 1873 women with at least one pregnancy after January 1st, 1973, and a subsequent breast cancer diagnosis before the end of 1991 were followed up for death or emigration through 2006. Information on placental weight and potential confounding factors were collected from medical records and from nationwide registers, which resulted in data on placental weight in the most recent pregnancy before diagnosis for 1,057 cases. For each 100-gram increase in placental weight, the adjusted hazard ratio of death was 1.09 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.99-1.19]. The association was stronger among primiparous women (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09-1.47), and among women diagnosed during pregnancy or within 2 years from last birth (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.06-1.59). Increasing placental weight is associated with reduced breast cancer survival. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the reduced survival in breast cancer among women with a recent childbirth is linked to pregnancy hormone exposure. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):777–83)
Control Selection Options for Genome-Wide Association Studies in Cohorts
Authors: Wacholder Sholom , Rotunno Melissa 
Published: March 2009

Abstract
Investigators planning studies within cohorts have many options for choosing an efficient sampling design for genome-wide association and other molecular epidemiology studies. Consideration of person-year and proportional hazards analyses of full cohorts may add further insight into ramifications of different designs. Empirical evidence from genome-wide association studies can supplement intuition and simulations in comparing properties of various case-control designs within cohorts. Additional theoretical and empirical work, justification of sampling choice in publications, and consideration of context and scientific aims can improve designs and, thereby, increase the scientific value and cost effectiveness of future studies. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(3):695–7)
Public service motivation and job performance of public sector employees in the Netherlands
Authors: Leisink Peter , Steijn Bram 
Published: March 2009

This article contributes in three ways to our understanding of public service motivation (PSM) and its effects. In the first place, it applies an abridged version of Perry's measurement scale in the Dutch public sector. Although the results of the analysis show that PSM is a valid concept in this context, doubts arise as to whether one should use the same four dimensions as in the USA. Second, the analysis shows that — contrary to expectations — PSM is of equal importance in the segments of the Dutch public sector that were investigated. Third, the effect of PSM on three performance-related behavioural outcome variables (commitment, willingness to exert effort and perceived job performance) is analysed. In addition to PSM, a measurement of PSM fit is included. The hypothesis that PSM fit mediates the relationship between PSM and the outcome variables is rejected. In practice, it appears that both PSM and PSM fit have independent effects on these outcome variables. Points for practitioners Public organizations have to attract people who are motivated to work for the sector. In the Netherlands, the Ministry of the Interior is running a recruitment campaign to achieve this. This article shows the value of this strategy as workers with such a motivation (`public service motivation' or PSM) are more committed to the organization, more willing to exert effort and have a higher perception of their performance. Probably this will reflect in better public service delivery. However, the article also shows that recruiting PSM-oriented workers is not enough. It is also important that workers will be able to really `use' their PSM in their work. If not, they will become frustrated, which in the end will have adverse effects for the quality of public service delivery.