bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Investigation of Transport Processes inside Karst Aquifer by Means of STATIS
Authors: Fournier M. , Motelay‐Massei A. , Massei N. , Aubert M. , Bakalowicz M. , Dupont J.P. 
Published: December 2008

AbstractEnvironmental data sets are often multidimensional and consequently display complex structure. This article shows the limitations of principal component analysis (PCA) for the study of such three‐dimensional (3D) data sets. These limitations can be resolved by the use of the statistical tool STATIS. The inlet (a swallow hole) and the outlet (a spring) of a karst system of the Western Paris basin were sampled during three rain events of various intensities. These 3D geochemical data sets (variables × sites × dates) for a karst system were analyzed by STATIS method to identify hydrological processes. STATIS proceeds in three steps (interstructure, compromise, and intrastructure), which allows us to focus the analysis of hydrologic systems at different temporal and spatial scales. Compromise plane shows that suspended matter and flood are not simultaneous and highlights a rapid flow, characterized by turbidity and phosphate, which represents a point source contamination, and a ground water flow contaminated by nitrate. Intrastructure plane allows us to compare hydrochemical variations between the swallow hole and the spring lead. By this way, hydrological processes such as direct transfer and resuspension of intrakarstic sediments before and after the flood were identified what cannot be realized by comparison of inlet and outlet breakthrough curves. Finally, results obtained from the same data set by STATIS and a coupled study using PCA and normalized hysteresis curves were compared. This comparison shows the efficiency of STATIS at the identification of transport processes and vulnerability of karst system and its potential for hydrological applications.
B2kinin receptors mediate the Indian red scorpion venom‐induced augmentation of visceral reflexes via the nitric oxide cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway
Authors: Kanoo S. , Alex A. B. , Tiwari A. K. , Deshpande S. B. 
Published: December 2008

AbstractAim: This study was performed to delineate the kinin (receptor)‐dependent pathways in the Indian red scorpion (Mesobuthus tamulus; MBT) venom‐induced pulmonary oedema as well as the augmentation of cardio‐pulmonary reflexes evoked by phenyldiguanide (PDG).Methods: In urethane‐anaesthetized adult rats, the effect of venom on the PDG reflex responses (blood pressure, heart rate and respiration rate) and the pulmonary water content was ascertained using various antagonists(des‐ Arg, B1receptor antagonist; Hoe 140, B2receptor antagonist;Nω‐nitro‐l‐arginine methyl ester (l‐NAME), nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor; methylene blue, soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor; and glibenclamide, K+ATPchannel blocker). The effect of phosphodiesterase V inhibitor (sildenafil citrate) on the reflex response and the pulmonary water content was also examined and compared with venom‐induced responses.Results: Intravenous injection of PDG (10 μg kg−1) evoked apnoea, bradycardia and hypotension lasting >60 s. Exposure to MBT venom (100 μg kg−1) for 30 min augmented the PDG reflex responses by two times and increased the pulmonary water content, significantly. Hoe 140 blocked the venom‐induced responses (augmentation of PDG reflex and increased pulmonary water content) whereas des‐Arg did not.l‐NAME, methylene blue or glibenclamide also blocked the venom‐induced responses. Furthermore, sildenafil citrate (that increases cGMP levels) produced augmentation of PDG reflex response and increased the pulmonary water content as seen with venom.Conclusion: The results indicate that venom‐induced responses involve B2kinin receptors via the NO‐dependent guanylate cyclase‐cGMP pathway involving K+ATPchannels.
Scale Management and Remote Sensor Synergy in Forest Monitoring
Authors: Tullis Jason A. , Defibaugh y Chávez Jason M. 
Published: December 2008

AbstractQuickened remote sensing‐assisted data‐to‐decision pathways in forest monitoring and other applications are fragmented with respect to the treatment of spatial scale. While definitions, terminology, and fundamental scale questions are fairly stable, common practices of dealing with the effects of spatial scale in such applications as forest monitoring have remained stagnant for decades. Recent studies are searching for ways to efficiently manage scale so that remote sensing‐derived information factors such as reliability and economy may be maximized. Development and research in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence‐assisted spatial data processing, high‐throughput computing, automated geometric correction, and object‐oriented image analysis can be positioned so as to facilitate significantly improved worldwide forest remote sensor synergy. The potential impact of research in automated spatial scale management to this end suggests that it should be computationally integrated with forest remote sensing applications.
Meteorological Mechanisms Explaining Thunderstorm‐Related Asthma
Authors: Grundstein Andrew , Sarnat Stefanie Ebelt 
Published: December 2008

AbstractAssociations between thunderstorms and asthma morbidity have been identified in multiple locations around the world. The most prominent hypotheses for thunderstorm‐related asthma are linked with bioaerosols, and involve the roles of rainwater in promoting the release of respirable allergens from pollen and fungi and downdraft winds spreading the allergens near the surface. Other hypotheses that are independent of bioaerosols involve the production of irritant gases and charged particles by lightning as well as rapid cooling of air temperatures, each of which may promote an asthmatic response. A major limitation of existing studies is the use of meteorological data with poor spatial resolution and a lack of appropriate air quality data to explicitly support and/or refute any of the specific meteorological hypotheses. Increased interdisciplinary collaboration between health scientists and geographers, climatologists, atmospheric and exposure scientists will aid in discerning the factors linking thunderstorms and asthma.
Geographies of Detention and Imprisonment: Interrogating Spatial Practices of Confinement, Discipline, Law, and State Power
Authors: Martin Lauren L. , Mitchelson Matthew L. 
Published: December 2008

AbstractThis article surveys the state of emerging geographic research on detention, imprisonment, and confinement. Prisons and detention centers vary widely in location and form, but all hold human beings without consent by other human beings. We first survey geographical research on prisons and, second, on detention centers. We then argue that this geographic research offers three primary contributions to the study of imprisonment and detention. First, analyzing the spatial practices (the ordering of space and time) of these institutions provides a productive framework for understanding the materiality of social, cultural, and economic relationships. Second, this research provides an important perspective on state responses to the globalization of trade, migration, war, and security. Third, detention and imprisonment are productive sites for exclusionary discourses. In closing, we urge geographers to think deeply about how detention's indeterminacy works beyond the detention center, to be wary of implicit valorizations of imprisonment, and to take seriously the global expansion of the confinement industry.
Assessment Tools for Urban Catchments: Developing Stressor Gradients1
Authors: Bressler David W. , Paul Michael J. , Purcell Alison H. , Barbour Michael T. , Rankin Ed T. , Resh Vincent H. 
Published: December 2008

Abstract:  This is the first in a series of three articles designed to establish empirically defined biological indicators and thresholds for impairment for urbanized catchments, and to describe a process by which the biological condition of waterbodies in urbanized catchments can be applied. This article describes alternative gradients of urbanization for assessing and selecting a nationally applicable biological index (article 2 –Purcell et al., this issue) and defining the potential of biological communities within a gradient of cumulative stressors (article 3 –Paul et al. this issue). Gradients were designed to represent the most prominent mosaic of stressors found in urban settings. A primary urban gradient was assembled based on readily obtained information of urbanization to include three broad‐scale parameters: percent urban land use/land cover, population density, and road density. This gradient was used as the standard by which alternative urban gradients, which included fine‐scale instream chemical and hydrologic parameters, were assessed. Five alternative gradients were developed to provide numerous environmental management options based on availability of data from water program resources. The urban gradients were developed with the intent that they be applied throughout the country; therefore, data from three different regions of the United States (Mid‐Atlantic, Midwest, and Pacific Coast) were used to validate the urban gradient model. Our study showed that a relatively straightforward stressor gradient consisting of human population density, road density, and urban land use is useful in providing a framework for developing relevant biological indicators and evaluating the potential of biological communities as a basis for assessing attainment of designated aquatic life use.
Spontaneous HBeAg seroconversion and loss of hepatitis B virus DNA after acute flare due to development of drug resistant mutants during entecavir monotherapy
Authors: Mao Ri‐Cheng , Yin You‐Kuan , Qin Yan‐Li , Wu Xiang‐Hui , Weng Xin‐Hua , Zhang Ji‐Ming , Lu Mengji 
Published: December 2008

Aims:  Patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection under entecavir (ETV) treatment develop resistant mutants with viral rebound. Here, we report an interesting case of spontaneous loss of HBV‐DNA and seroconversion following an acute flare after the development of ETV‐resistant mutants. This patient received ETV after lamivudine breakthrough.Methods:  Cloning and sequence analysis of the HBV reverse transcriptase (RT) region were performed with seven samples during ETV therapy. In addition, two full‐length HBV genomes derived from samples before and after the emergence of ETV resistance were sequenced.Results:  ETV resistant mutants appeared at week 228, with virological and biochemical rebound at the same time. Unexpectedly, HBeAg seroconversion occurred 8 weeks later. The viral load decreased and became undetectable from week 252. Analysis of HBV isolates in the patient at week 124 revealed that wild‐type HBV was predominant at that time and ETV resistant mutants were not found among 20 clones. Interestingly, a new mutant type with rtL180M+rtT184L was found alongside rtL180M+rtT184L+rtM204V/I at week 228 and appeared to develop independently, according to the sequence analysis. In contrast to the previously identified ETV resistant mutants, it did not carry the rtM204V/I mutations.Conclusion:  The data presented here indicates that the flare following the emergence of ETV resistant mutants may reflect immune‐mediated control of HBV infection, leading to a spontaneous loss of HBV‐DNA and seroconversion.
Mobilization of Endogenous Retroviruses in Mice after Infection with an Exogenous Retrovirus
Authors: Evans Leonard H. , Alamgir A. S. M. , Owens Nick , Weber Nick , Virtaneva Kimmo , Barbian Kent , Babar Amenah , Malik Frank , Rosenke Kyle 
Published: December 2008

ABSTRACT

Mammalian genomes harbor a large number of retroviral elements acquired as germ line insertions during evolution. Although many of the endogenous retroviruses are defective, several contain one or more intact viral genes that are expressed under certain physiological or pathological conditions. This is true of the endogenous polytropic retroviruses that generate recombinant polytropic murine leukemia viruses (MuLVs). In these recombinants the
env
gene sequences of exogenous ecotropic MuLVs are replaced with
env
gene sequences from an endogenous polytropic retrovirus. Although replication-competent endogenous polytropic retroviruses have not been observed, the recombinant polytropic viruses are capable of replicating in numerous species. Recombination occurs during reverse transcription of a virion RNA heterodimer comprised of an RNA transcript from an endogenous polytropic virus and an RNA transcript from an exogenous ecotropic MuLV RNA. It is possible that homodimers corresponding to two full-length endogenous RNA genomes are also packaged. Thus, infection by an exogenous virus may result not only in recombination with endogenous sequences, but also in the mobilization of complete endogenous retrovirus genomes via pseudotyping within exogenous retroviral virions. We report that the infection of mice with an ecotropic virus results in pseudotyping of intact endogenous viruses that have not undergone recombination. The endogenous retroviruses infect and are integrated into target cell genomes and subsequently replicate and spread as pseudotyped viruses. The mobilization of endogenous retroviruses upon infection with an exogenous retrovirus may represent a major interaction of exogenous retroviruses with endogenous retroviruses and may have profound effects on the pathogenicity of retroviral infections.
Cell Type-Specific Induction and Inhibition of Apoptosis by Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 ICP10
Authors: Han Jin-Young , Miller Sara A. , Wolfe Teresa M. , Pourhassan Hoda , Jerome Keith R. 
Published: December 2008

ABSTRACTHerpes simplex virus (HSV) inhibits apoptosis induced by external stimuli in epithelial cells. In contrast, apoptosis is the primary outcome in HSV-infected lymphocytes. Here, we show that HSV type 2 (HSV-2) gene expression appears to be necessary for the induction of apoptosis in Jurkat cells, a T-cell leukemia line. HSV-2 ICP10 gene expression is sufficient to induce apoptosis in Jurkat cells, while its expression protects epithelial HEp-2 cells from apoptosis triggered by cycloheximide and tumor necrosis factor alpha. Thus, the effect of HSV-2 gene expression on the cellular apoptotic pathway appears to depend on the specific cell type.
Widely Conserved Recombination Patterns among Single-Stranded DNA Viruses
Authors: Lefeuvre P. , Lett J.-M. , Varsani A. , Martin D. P. 
Published: December 2008

ABSTRACT
The combinatorial nature of genetic recombination can potentially provide organisms with immediate access to many more positions in sequence space than can be reached by mutation alone. Recombination features particularly prominently in the evolution of a diverse range of viruses. Despite rapid progress having been made in the characterization of discrete recombination events for many species, little is currently known about either gross patterns of recombination across related virus families or the underlying processes that determine genome-wide recombination breakpoint distributions observable in nature. It has been hypothesized that the networks of coevolved molecular interactions that define the epistatic architectures of virus genomes might be damaged by recombination and therefore that selection strongly influences observable recombination patterns. For recombinants to thrive in nature, it is probably important that the portions of their genomes that they have inherited from different parents work well together. Here we describe a comparative analysis of recombination breakpoint distributions within the genomes of diverse single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) virus families. We show that whereas nonrandom breakpoint distributions in ssDNA virus genomes are partially attributable to mechanistic aspects of the recombination process, there is also a significant tendency for recombination breakpoints to fall either outside or on the peripheries of genes. In particular, we found significantly fewer recombination breakpoints within structural protein genes than within other gene types. Collectively, these results imply that natural selection acting against viruses expressing recombinant proteins is a major determinant of nonrandom recombination breakpoint distributions observable in most ssDNA virus families.
Host Immune Responses to Chronic Adenovirus Infections in Human and Nonhuman Primates
Authors: Calcedo Roberto , Vandenberghe Luk H. , Roy Soumitra , Somanathan Suryanarayan , Wang Lili , Wilson James M. 
Published: December 2008

ABSTRACT
Recent studies indicate that great apes and macaques chronically shed adenoviruses in the stool. Shedding of adenovirus in the stool of humans is less prevalent, although virus genomes persist in gut-associated lymphoid tissue in the majority of individual samples. Chimpanzees have high levels of broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies to adenoviruses in serum, with very low frequencies of adenovirus-specific T cells in peripheral blood. A similar situation exists in macaques; sampling of guts from macaques demonstrated adenovirus-specific T cells in lamina propria. Humans show intermediate levels of serum neutralizing antibodies, with adenovirus-specific T cells in peripheral blood of all individuals sampled and about 20% of samples from the gut, suggesting a potential role of T cells in better controlling virus replication in the gut. The overall structure of the E3 locus, which is involved in modulating the host's response to infection, is degenerate in humans compared to that in apes, which may contribute to diminished evasion of host immunity. The impact of adenovirus persistence and immune responses should be considered when using adenoviral vectors in gene therapy and genetic vaccines.
EBNA3C Can Modulate the Activities of the Transcription Factor Necdin in Association with Metastasis Suppressor Protein Nm23-H1
Authors: Kaul Rajeev , Murakami Masanao , Lan Ke , Choudhuri Tathagata , Robertson Erle S. 
Published: December 2008

ABSTRACT
Previous studies have demonstrated the interaction between the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen 3C (EBNA3C) and the metastatic suppressor Nm23-H1 both in vitro and in vivo (C. Subramanian, M. A. Cotter II, and E. S. Robertson, Nat. Med. 7:350-355, 2001). Importantly EBNA3C can reverse the ability of Nm23-H1 to suppress migration of human cells in vitro. EBNA3C contributes to EBV-associated human cancers by regulating transcription of a number of cellular and viral promoters as well as targeting and altering the transcription activities of the metastasis suppressor Nm23-H1. Furthermore, Necdin is a cellular protein which is highly induced in terminally differentiated cells; it contributes to the regulation of cell growth and is also known to interact with viral oncoproteins. In this report, we show that Nm23-H1 and EBNA3C can modulate the biological functions of Necdin in the context of EBV infection and transformation. The levels of Necdin were consistently lower in EBV-positive cells, and EBNA3C could change the subcellular localization of Necdin as well as rescue cells from the antiangiogenic and antiproliferative effects mediated by Necdin. We also show that Necdin directly interacts with Nm23-H1, resulting in modulation of the biochemical function of Nm23-H1 as well as the biological function of Necdin. Both EBNA3C and Nm23-H1 were able to rescue not only Necdin-mediated transcriptional repression of the downstream vascular endothelial growth factor promoter but also Necdin-mediated growth suppression and antiangiogenic effects on cancer cells. The majority of this response was mediated through amino acid residues 191 to 222 of Necdin, which are also known to be important for nuclear matrix targeting. These studies suggest a role for Necdin in the regulation of downstream cellular targets in a hypoxic environment in virus-associated human cancers.
Community based intervention on adolescent risk taking: using research for community action
Authors: Coggan Carolyn , Disley Barbara , Patterson Pam 
Published: December 2008

Objectives—To use research on adolescent risk taking behaviour as an impetus for a community to develop locally based injury prevention strategies.Design—Case study, based on a community action model and formative evaluation. This involved: a community profile on adolescent risk taking behaviour; interviews with service providers; dissemination of research findings to local policy makers; development and implementation of a community action plan to address adolescent risk taking; and assessment of its impact.Setting—A rural town with a population of 10 195 situated in the North Island of New Zealand.Subjects—School aged adolescents and the safety policies and practices of community organisations involved with adolescents.Results—Risk taking behaviours identified by the community profile included: drink-driving, substance abuse, carrying of weapons with intent to harm, and suicidal ideation. Community members identified that risk taking behaviour associated with alcohol in relation to: (1) violence (self directed and assault) and (2) road related injuries should be the focus of their activities. The strategies identified focused on advocacy, education, legal/regulatory change, and environmental modification. Evaluation conducted six months after intervention identified increased community awareness of the adverse effects of adolescent risk taking and some changes in policies and practice related to adolescent safety.Conclusions—Providing a community with local information that has high relevance for its members may act as a stimulus for the development of injury prevention initiatives. While this case study illustrated that a comprehensive approach focusing on adolescent risk taking behaviour, rather than on isolated injury problems, may be an appropriate way to highlight escalating adolescent injury rates, it also demonstrates the limitations of a short time frame for a community development project.
Safe Child Penarth: experience with a Safe Community strategy for preventing injuries to children
Authors: Kemp Alison , Gibbs Nigel , Vafidis Gail , Sibert Jo 
Published: December 2008

Objectives—To evaluate the process of establishing a Safe Community project for children.Design—A descriptive study.Setting—Penarth, a town (population 20 430) Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales.Subjects—3943 children and their families in Penarth.Main outcome measures—Whether the 12 criteria for a Safe Community project (World Health Organisation) were met. Implementation of the safety agenda set by the community.Results—Safe Child Penarth met 10 of the 12 criteria for the Safe Community network. All the items on the agenda were introduced in the initial two years of the project. There were difficulties, however, achieving sustained community ownership of the project.Conclusions—The Safe Community concept stimulated work to improve child safety in Penarth. Community safety initiatives should involve all local agencies to identify the problems and work with the community to set and meet the safety agenda. Partnership with the local authority is valuable to improve the safety of the environment. The experience generated from Safe Child Penarth has been used to develop a county wide, all age community safety project.