bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Re‐Framing of Australian Higher Education
Authors: Pick David 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to analyse the changes in Australian higher education policy over the past two decades. Using frame analysis, two shifts in higher education policy are identified. The first is in the late 1980s where the view of higher education as having a broad social, economic and cultural role was changed to one that emphasised expansion, marketisation and competition. The second is currently taking place in which universities are becoming seen as business competitors in a global higher education market, and as such, privatisation and deregulation are centrally important. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of frame analysis as a way of examining the systemic effects of policy decisions in a way that draws together and uncovers how the various and complex forces of government policies and broader social and economic events combine to create the difficult terrain through which universities must now plot a course.
Observations on the structure and function of the seminal receptacles and associated accessory pouches in ovoviviparous onychophorans from Australia (Peripatopsidae; Onychophora)
Authors: Walker M. H. , Roberts E. M. , Roberts T. , Spitteri G. , Streubig M. J. , Hartland J. L. , Tait N. N. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractThe structure of the seminal receptacles and associated accessory pouches in the reproductive tracts of four species of Australian ovoviviparous peripatopsids is described to identify features that may relate to their inferred mode of insemination. Euperipatoides rowelli is a dermal inseminator whereas Phallocephale tallagandensis, Ruhbergia bifalcata and Cephalofovea clandestina, species with head structures in males, are considered to be vaginal inseminators. Contrary to our expectations, E. rowelli, R. bifalcata and C. clandestina have very similar seminal receptacles and display two types of accessory pouches: funnel accessory pouches that open to the haemocoel and spherical accessory pouches in which destruction of excess sperm occurs. On the other hand, Ph. tallagandensis differs in the form of its accessory pouches. Although these pouches have no direct opening into the haemocoel, sperm were observed in the act of directly penetrating their walls to gain entry from the haemocoel. Hence, despite differences in the form of their accessory pouches, all species display features that provide the potential for entry of sperm into the female reproductive tract from the haemocoel. This finding has caused us to reconsider our initial assumptions of vaginal and dermal insemination as mutually exclusive reproductive strategies. Indeed, we propose that species of peripatopsids with head structures in males that were considered to be obligate vaginal inseminators may in fact be facultative, with vaginal insemination of sexually immature females when their uterus is short and free of developing embryos followed by dermal insemination to maintain the level of sperm in storage in the seminal receptacles. This study has also provided morphological evidence for mechanisms that may facilitate female control of paternity.
Effect of 0.03% tacrolimus ointment on conjunctival cytology in patients with severe atopic blepharoconjunctivitis: a retrospective study
Authors: Virtanen Hannele M. , Reitamo Sakari , Kari Marjatta , Kari Osmo 
Published: June 2006

Abstract.Purpose:  To evaluate the efficacy and effect of tacrolimus ointment on conjunctival cytology in patients with atopic blepharoconjunctivitis or keratoconjunctivitis.Methods:  Ten patients with severe atopic blepharoconjunctivitis treated with 0.03% tacrolimus ointment once daily as an intermittent treatment were analysed retrospectively. The main outcome measures were clinical response to topical tacrolimus, adverse events and changes in the inflammatory cells obtained from conjunctival brush samples.Results:  Marked clinical responses in blepharitis and conjunctivitis symptoms were seen after a mean follow‐up time of 6 weeks. Clinical scores decreased by 67% in blepharitis and 74% in conjunctivitis symptoms. No severe adverse events or signs of immunosuppression such as herpes simplex infections occurred. No significant changes occurred in visual acuity, refraction, anterior chamber, retina or intraocular pressure. Median decreases were 85% (p =0.01) in conjunctival eosinophils, 50% (p = 0.01) in neutrophils and 58% (p = 0.02) in lymphocytes.Conclusions:  Tacrolimus ointment is potentially a safe and effective treatment for atopic blepharoconjunctivitis. Regular treatment of the eyelids once daily may also lead to clinical and cytological improvement of the conjunctivitis.
Intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide for diffuse diabetic macular oedema: 6‐month results of a prospective controlled trial
Authors: Audren François , Erginay Ali , Haouchine Belkacem , Benosman Rym , Conrath John , Bergmann Jean‐François , Gaudric Alain , Massin Pascale 
Published: June 2006

Abstract.Purpose:  To evaluate prospectively the efficacy and safety of one intravitreal injection of 4 mg triamcinolone acetonide for refractory diffuse diabetic macular edema.Methods:  Seventeen patients with bilateral diabetic macular edema unresponsive to laser photocoagulation. In all patients, one eye was injected, and the other served as a control. The intervention consisted in intravitreal injection of 4 mg triamcinolone acetonide. The main outcome measure was central macular thickness (CMT) at 4, 12 and 24 weeks, measured by Optical Coherence Tomography. Secondary outcomes were Early Treatment Diabetic Rentinopathy Study (ETDRS) scores, intraocular pressure and cataract progression.Results:  Before injection, mean ± SD CMT was 566.4 ± 182.4 μm in injected eyes. Four, 12, and 24 weeks after injection, it was 228.4 ± 47.5 μm, 210.9 ± 87.2 μm and 358.5 ± 160.5 μm respectively. CMT was significantly lower in injected eyes vs. control eyes except 24 weeks after injection because of a recurrence of macular edema in 9/17 injected eyes. Mean ± SD gain in ETDRS score was significantly better in injected eyes vs. control eyes 4, 12 and 24 weeks after TA injection. In 9 of the 17 injected eyes, intraocular pressure exceeded 24 mmHg and was controlled by topical medication.Conclusion:  In the short‐term, intravitreal injection of triamcinolone effectively reduces macular thickening due to diffuse diabetic macular edema and improves visual acuity in most cases. The long‐term effect of this treatment and predictive factors of visual recovery remain to be elucidated.
Signal transduction pathways involved in the stimulation of tissue type plasminogen activator by interleukin‐1α and Porphyromonas gingivalis in human osteosarcoma cells
Authors: Chang Yu‐Chao , Ho Yung‐Chuan , Chou Lin Shin‐Shen , Chou Ming‐Yung , Huang Fu‐Mei 
Published: June 2006

Background:  Recently, evidences have shown that tissue type plasminogen activator (t‐PA) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. However, the mechanisms and signal transduction pathways involved in the production of t‐PA in human osteosarcoma cells are not fully understood.Objectives:  The purpose of this study was to investigate the caseinolytic activity in human osteosarcoma cell line U2OS cells stimulated with interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α) or Porphyromonas gingivalis in the absence or presence of p38 inhibitor SB203580, mitogen‐activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitor U0126, and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002.Methods:  IL‐1α and the supernatants of P. gingivalis were used to evaluate the caseinolytic activity in U2OS cells by using casein zymography and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Furthermore, to search possible signal transduction pathways, SB203580, U0126, and LY294002 were added to test how they modulated the caseinolytic activity.Results:  Casein zymography exhibited a caseinolytic band with a molecular weight of approximately 70 kDa, suggestive of the presence of t‐PA. Secretion of t‐PA was found to be stimulated with IL‐1α and P. gingivalis during a 2‐day culture period (p < 0.05). From the results of casein zymography and ELISA, SB203580, U0126, and LY294002 significantly reduced the IL‐1α or P. gingivalis‐stimulated t‐PA production, respectively (p < 0.05).Conclusions:  Our findings demonstrated that IL‐1α and P. gingivalis enhance t‐PA production in human osteosarcoma cells, and that the signal transduction pathways p38, MEK, and PI3K are involved in the inhibition of t‐PA. SB203580, U0126, and LY294002 suppress t‐PA production and/or activity and may therefore be valuable therapeutics in t‐PA‐mediated periodontal destruction, and might be proved clinically useful agents, in combination with standard treatment modalities, in the treatment of periodontitis.
Handling Valuation Models
Authors: Penman Stephen H. 
Published: June 2006

Valuation models are useful tools, but they need to be handled with care. When taking the form of mathematical formulas, they can easily be made to convey a false sense of precision. In particular, selective choice of long‐term growth rates and discount rates can be used to justify almost any desired valuation.The author shows how relatively simple valuation models can be applied by active investors in a way that honors the fundamentalist dictum of building valuations on the foundation of “what we know” and avoiding speculation about long‐term growth rates. The article also emphasizes the role of accounting in discovering what we know, and shows how to use accounting results in a way that not only minimizes speculation about growth rates and discount rates, but actually challenges the speculation about those rates that is implicit in current stock prices. Accounting‐based valuation models are “reverse‐engineered” to discover the forecasts of future operating performance that are effectively built into current prices, so the plausibility of such forecasts can be evaluated with fundamental analysis. In this sense, valuation models are used not so much to discover the “right” price as to identify, and then subject to critical examination, the market's current expectations about future performance.
Multinationals in the Middle Kingdom: Performance, Opportunities, and Risks
Authors: Glassman David 
Published: June 2006

For many U.S. companies, China is the most promising growth opportunity in the business portfolio. The interest of managements and boards has been backed up with action, making China the preferred country for foreign direct investment in the last several years. Yet the experience also shows that many companies were unprepared to operate in a developing economy and with a foreign culture. The normal start‐up problems have been aggravated by unfamiliar joint venture partners, large regional differences in purchasing power, language, and regulation, and weak enforcement of intellectual property rights.The first wave of China investment by U.S. multinationals, corresponding roughly to the decade of the 1990s, was marked by poor performance. But in the last five years, multinationals have made significant adjustments—particularly, the “localizing” of suppliers, the workforce, and the products offered. And recent data indicates much improved profitability. Still, there remain substantial challenges to further growth, including increasing local competition, a thin human resources market, the lack of prime acquisition candidates, and continued low rates of consumption. The different experiences of multinationals such as Procter & Gamble, Anheuser‐Busch, and Wal‐Mart are used to illustrate these challenges and provide some important lessons for companies now evaluating their opportunities in China.
About Face: Forensic Genetic Testing for Race and Visible Traits
Authors: Ossorio Pilar N. 
Published: June 2006

“DNAPrint Genomics, Inc. has applied the most recent advancements in human genomic technology for the deciphering of an individual's race. We are proud to introduce to the forensic community DNA WITNESS 2.0, a genetic test for the deduction of the heritable component of race, called Biogeographical Ancestry (BGA).”–Z. Gaskin“One definite and obvious consequence of the complexity of human demographic history is that races in any meaningful sense of the term do not exist in the human species.”–D. B. Goldstein and L. Chikhi
Dangerous Excursions: The Case against Expanding Forensic DNA Databases to Innocent Persons
Authors: Simoncelli Tania 
Published: June 2006

Over the past fifteen years, the United States has witnessed an extraordinary expansion in the banking and mining of DNA for law enforcement purposes. While the earliest state laws governing forensic DNA limited collection and retention of DNA samples to sexual offenders – on the theory that these persons were especially prone to recidivism and most likely to leave behind biological evidence – today forty-three states collect DNA from all felons, twenty-eight from juvenile offenders, and thirty-eight from those who commit certain categories of misdemeanors.A few states have expanded their databases beyond convicted criminals. Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and California have authorized DNA retention from persons merely arrested for various offenses, although to date only Virginia has implemented such a program. At the federal level, an ill-considered statute that allows for the seizure and storage of DNA from anyone arrested and from non-U.S. citizens detained under federal authorities was recently signed into law.
Who Owns Your Body? A Patient's Perspective on Washington University v. Catalona
Authors: Andrews Lori 
Published: June 2006

In 1890 a man sold the rights to his body after death to the Royal Caroline Institute in Sweden for research purposes. Later, he tried to return the money and cancel the contract. In the subsequent lawsuit, the court held that he must turn his body over to the Institute and also ordered him to pay damages for diminishing the worth of his body by having two teeth removed.Today, it would be an anathema for a person's body to be used against his wishes and for a research subject not to be allowed to withdraw from a study. In fact, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act allows people to change their minds and withdraw a previous agreement to donate organs and tissue after their death and the federal research regulations allow people to withdraw from studies without penalty or loss of benefits.
Risk-Based Decision-Making for Managing Resources During the Design of Complex Space Exploration Systems
Authors: Farhang Mehr Ali , Tumer Irem Y. 
Published: June 2006

AbstractComplex space exploration systems are often designed in collaborative engineering environments where requirements and design decisions by various subsystem engineers have a great impact on the overall risk of the mission. As a result, the system-level management should allocate risk mitigation resources (e.g., capital to place additional sensors or to improve the current technology) among various risk elements such that the main objectives of the system are achieved as closely as possible. Minimizing risk has been long accepted as one of the major drivers for system-level decisions and particularly resource management. In this context, Risk-Based Decision Making refers to a process that allocates resources in such a way that the expected risk of the overall system is minimized. This paper presents a new risk-based design decision-making method, referred to as Risk and Uncertainty Based Concurrent Integrated Design Methodology or RUBIC Design Methodology for short. The new approach is based on concepts from portfolio optimization theory and continuous resource management, extended to provide a mathematical rigor for risk-based decision-making during the design of complex space exploration systems. The RUBIC design method is based on the idea that a unit of resource, allocated to mitigate a certain risk in the system, contributes to the overall system risk reduction in the following two ways: (1) by mitigating that particular risk; and (2) by impacting other risk elements in the system (i.e., the correlation among various risk elements). RUBIC then provides a probabilistic framework for reducing the expected risk of the final system via optimal allocation of available risk-mitigation resources. The application of the proposed approach is demonstrated using a satellite reaction wheel example.
Critical Assessment of Microphysical Assumptions within TRMM Radiometer Rain Profile Algorithm Using Satellite, Aircraft, and Surface Datasets from KWAJEX
Authors: Fiorino Steven T. , Smith Eric A. 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager precipitation profile retrieval algorithm (2a12) assumes cloud model–derived vertically distributed microphysics as part of the radiative transfer–controlled inversion process to generate rain-rate estimates. Although this algorithm has been extensively evaluated, none of the evaluation approaches has explicitly examined the underlying microphysical assumptions through a direct intercomparison of the assumed cloud-model microphysics with in situ, three-dimensional microphysical observations. The main scientific objective of this study is to identify and overcome the foremost model-generated microphysical weaknesses in the TRMM 2a12 algorithm through analysis of (a) in situ aircraft microphysical observations; (b) aircraft- and satellite-based passive microwave measurements; (c) ground-, aircraft-, and satellite-based radar measurements; (d) synthesized satellite brightness temperatures and radar reflectivities; (e) radiometer-only profile algorithm retrievals; and (f) radar-only profile or volume algorithm retrievals. Results indicate the assumed 2a12 microphysics differs most from aircraft-observed microphysics where either ground or aircraft radar–derived rain rates exhibit the greatest differences with 2a12-retrieved rain rates. An emission–scattering coordinate system highlights the 2a12 algorithm's tendency to match high-emission/high-scattering observed profiles to high-emission/low-scattering database profiles. This is due to a lack of mixed-phase-layer ice hydrometeor scatterers in the cloud model–generated profiles as compared with observed profiles. Direct comparisons between aircraft-measured and model-generated 2a12 microphysics suggest that, on average, the radiometer algorithm's microphysics database retrieves liquid and ice water contents that are approximately 1/3 the size of those observed at levels below 10 km. Also, the 2a12 rain-rate retrievals are shown to be strongly influenced by the 2a12's convective fraction specification. A proposed modification of this factor would improve 2a12 rain-rate retrievals; however, fundamental changes to the cloud radiation model's ice parameterization are necessary to overcome the algorithm's tendency to produce mixed-phase-layer ice hydrometeor deficits.
Analysis of natural killer–cell function in familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL): defective CD107a surface expression heralds Munc13-4 defect and discriminates between genetic subtypes of the disease
Authors: Marcenaro Stefania , Gallo Federico , Martini Stefania , Santoro Alessandra , Griffiths Gillian M. , Aricó Maurizio , Moretta Lorenzo , Pende Daniela 
Published: June 2006

Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells from patients with familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis because of PRF1 (FHL2, n = 5) or MUNC13-4 (FHL3, n = 8) mutations were cultured in IL-2 prior to their use in various functional assays. Here, we report on the surface CD107a expression as a novel rapid tool for identification of patients with Munc13-4 defect. On target interaction and degranulation, FHL3 NK cells displayed low levels of surface CD107a staining, in contrast to healthy control subjects or perforin-deficient NK cells. B-EBV cell lines and dendritic cell targets reveal the FHL3 NK-cell defect, whereas highly susceptible tumor targets were partially lysed by FHL3 NK cells expressing only trace amounts of Munc13-4 protein. Perforin-deficient NK cells were completely devoid of any ability to lyse target cells. Cytokine production induced by mAb-crosslinking of triggering receptors was comparable in patients and healthy control subjects. However, when cytokine production was induced by coculture with 721.221 B-EBV cells, FHL NK cells resulted in high producers, whereas control cells were almost ineffective. This could reflect survival versus elimination of B-EBV cells (ie, the source of NK-cell stimulation) in patients versus healthy control subjects, thus mimicking the pathophysiologic scenario of FHL.
Bacillus subtilis SbcC protein plays an important role in DNA inter-strand cross-link repair
Authors: Mascarenhas Judita , Sanchez Humberto , Tadesse Serkalem , Kidane Dawit , Krisnamurthy Mahalakshmi , Alonso Juan C , Graumann Peter L 
Published: June 2006

Abstract

Background
Several distinct pathways for the repair of damaged DNA exist in all cells. DNA modifications are repaired by base excision or nucleotide excision repair, while DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) can be repaired through direct joining of broken ends (non homologous end joining, NHEJ) or through recombination with the non broken sister chromosome (homologous recombination, HR). Rad50 protein plays an important role in repair of DNA damage in eukaryotic cells, and forms a complex with the Mre11 nuclease. The prokaryotic ortholog of Rad50, SbcC, also forms a complex with a nuclease, SbcD, in Escherichia coli, and has been implicated in the removal of hairpin structures that can arise during DNA replication. Ku protein is a component of the NHEJ pathway in pro- and eukaryotic cells.

Results
A deletion of the sbcC gene rendered Bacillus subtilis cells sensitive to DNA damage caused by Mitomycin C (MMC) or by gamma irradiation. The deletion of the sbcC gene in a recN mutant background increased the sensitivity of the single recN mutant strain. SbcC was also non-epistatic with AddAB (analog of Escherichia coli RecBCD), but epistatic with RecA. A deletion of the ykoV gene encoding the B. subtilis Ku protein in a sbcC mutant strain did not resulted in an increase in sensitivity towards MMC and gamma irradiation, but exacerbated the phenotype of a recN or a recA mutant strain. In exponentially growing cells, SbcC-GFP was present throughout the cells, or as a central focus in rare cases. Upon induction of DNA damage, SbcC formed 1, rarely 2, foci on the nucleoids. Different to RecN protein, which forms repair centers at any location on the nucleoids, SbcC foci mostly co-localized with the DNA polymerase complex. In contrast to this, AddA-GFP or AddB-GFP did not form detectable foci upon addition of MMC.

Conclusion
Our experiments show that SbcC plays an important role in the repair of DNA inter-strand cross-links (induced by MMC), most likely through HR, and suggest that NHEJ via Ku serves as a backup DNA repair system. The cell biological experiments show that SbcC functions in close proximity to the replication machinery, suggesting that SbcC may act on stalled or collapsed replication forks. Our results show that different patterns of localization exist for DNA repair proteins, and that the B. subtilis SMC proteins RecN and SbcC play distinct roles in the repair of DNA damage.