bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ethics and good urban governance in Toronto: The Bellamy report and integrity in public service
Authors: Fernando Shanti 
Published: February 2008

Abstract: Ethics has often been of central academic and policy concern but has also emerged as a central public and media issue in Canadian politics. In Toronto, there have been a number of scandals over the past few years that have brought the discussion of ethics in the municipal public service to the forefront as well. This article analyses some of the ethical problems that municipal public servants face and the institutional culture that allows ethics violations to occur. These are illustrated by the Toronto computer‐leasing and external contracts scandals, which were the subject of an inquiry, beginning in 2002, and subsequent report by Madam Justice Denise E. Bellamy, in 2005. The author looks at the case of Wanda Liczyk to illustrate how the decision‐making process can be corrupted and how this can lead to loss of public trust and inefficient and inequitable government. The challenge for urban governance is to create a municipal public service that is professional and accountable and that follows an ethical public‐service model based on ethical codes, leadership and an understanding of underlying ethical principles. This would help regain public trust and maintain a public service that is efficient and therefore better able to handle the increasing challenges of local government.Sommaire: L'éthique a souvent été une préoccupation fondamentale sur le plan de la theorie et de la politique, mais elle est également devenue une question d'intérêt public et une question médiatique dans la politique canadienne. Å Toronto, un certain nombre de scandales survenus ces derniéres années ont également porté le debat sur 1'éthique dans la fonction publique municipale à l'avant‐scéne. Le présent article analyse certains problemes d'éthique auxquels font face les fonctionnaires municipaux et la culture institutionnelle qui permet la violation de l'éthique. De tels cas sont illustrés par les scandales concernant la location d'ordinateurs et les contrats externes qui sont survenus à Toronto et ont fait l'objet d'une enquete à partir de 2002, puis d'un rapport par Madame la juge Denise E. Bellamy, en 2005. L'auteur prend le cas de Wanda Liczyk pour illustrer la manière dont le processus de prise de décision peut être corrompu et comment cela conduit à la perte de la confiance du public et a un gouvernement inefficace et inéquitable. Le défi pour la gouvernance urbaine consiste à créer une fonction publique municipale qui soit professionnelle et imputable et qui suive un modèle de fonction publique éthique fondé sur des codes déontologiques, le leadership et une compréhension des principes éthiques sous‐jacents. Cela aiderait à regagner la confiance du public et à maintenir une fonction publique qui soit efficace et par conséquent mieux en mesure de relever les défis croissants auxquels fait face le gouvernement local.
Transfusion‐attributable acute respiratory distress syndrome, hospital utilization and costs in the USA: a model simulation
Authors: ZILBERBERG MARYA D. 
Published: February 2008

SUMMARYThere are nearly 150,000 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) admissions in the USA, annually incurring 2.7 million hospital days. Although packed red blood cell (pRBC) transfusions increase the risk of developing ARDS, nearly one‐half of intensive care unit (ICU) patients receive pRBCs. The rate of transfusion‐attributable ARDS remains unknown. I estimated this annual rate, and the hospital utilization and costs in the USA. A model utilizing inputs from publicly available sources was constructed. Step 1 calculated the at‐risk population. In step 2, the proportion of ARDS cases attributable to pRBC transfusion was estimated. Step 3 computed excess annual ARDS cases related to transfusion. Step 4 quantified hospital utilization and costs. Of 141,500 annual ARDS cases, 86,315 (61%) comprised at‐risk population. Of those, 20% (n = 16,980) were estimated to be attributable to pRBCs, or 12% of all ARDS. In base‐case analysis, using median hospital length of stay of 14 days and mean cost of $31,846 per case, aggregate annualized hospital days and costs were 237,720 and $599,241,180, respectively. This model demonstrates that pRBC transfusions may be responsible for a substantial number of ARDS cases. These cases may incur hospital costs of nearly $600 million. A restrictive transfusion strategy in appropriate at‐risk ICU patients may be effective in mitigating the magnitude of this clinical and economic burden.
Double Hilbert transform along real‐analytic surfaces in ℝd+2
Authors: Pramanik Malabika , Yang Chan Woo 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTWe give a necessary and sufficient condition for the double Hilbert transform on ℝd+2 to be bounded on Lp, 1 < p < ∞. This generalizes a result of Carbery, Wainger and Wright [Duke Math. J. 101 (2000) 499–513] for d = 1.
Duality involving the mock theta function f(q)
Authors: Folsom Amanda , Ono Ken 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTWe show that the coefficients of Ramanujan's mock theta function f(q) are the first non‐trivial coefficients of a canonical sequence of modular forms. This fact follows from a duality which equates coefficients of the holomorphic projections of certain weight 1/2 Maass forms with coefficients of certain weight 3/2 modular forms. This work depends on the theory of Poincaré series, and a modification of an argument of Goldfeld and Sarnak on Kloosterman–Selberg zeta functions.
Rotational Motion of Large Particulate Doublets in Poiseuille Flow in a Capillary
Authors: McKeever E. J. , Sharp K. V. 
Published: February 2008

Abstract
Doublets of 48-μm-diameter polystyrene latex particles are experimentally tracked in a Poiseuille flow in a capillary tube. The rotational motion of nine doublets is observed using video microscopy with a translating stage. The particle diameter to capillary diameter ratio is 0.17, volume concentration 0.5%, and Reynolds number approximately 0.5. The rotational motions of the “large” particulate doublets are compared with theory originally developed for doublets with particle-to-tube diameters of the order of 0.04; the doublet rotations in the present experiments agree reasonably well with the earlier theory when the shear rate for the large doublet is defined based on the location of the centroid of shear rather than the shear rate at the radial center of mass of the rotating doublet. Additionally, these doublets are readily classified as primary or secondary on the basis of the rotational period.
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Infects Mature Porcine Dendritic Cells and Up-Regulates Interleukin-10 Production
Authors: Flores-Mendoza Lilian , Silva-Campa Erika , Reséndiz Mónica , Osorio Fernando A. , Hernández Jesús 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infects mature dendritic cells (mDCs) derived from porcine monocytes and matured with lipopolysaccharide. The infection of mDCs induced apoptosis, reduced the expression of CD80/86 and major histocompatibility complex class II molecules, and increased the expression of interleukin-10, thus suggesting that such mDC modulation results in the impairment of T-cell activation.
Kinetics of Recombinant Adenovirus Type 5, Vaccinia Virus, Modified Vaccinia Ankara Virus, and DNA Antigen Expression In Vivo and the Induction of Memory T-Lymphocyte Responses
Authors: Geiben-Lynn Ralf , Greenland John R. , Frimpong-Boateng Kwesi , Letvin Norman L. 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTWhile a new generation of vaccine vectors has been developed for eliciting cellular immune responses, little is known about the optimal routes for their administration or about the ramifications of the kinetics of in vivo vaccine antigen expression for immunogenicity. We evaluated the kinetics of vaccine antigen expression by real-time in vivo photon imaging and showed dramatic differences in these kinetics using different vectors and different routes of administration. Further, using a gamma interferon enzyme-linked immunospot assay to measure T-lymphocyte immune responses, we observed an association between the kinetics of vaccine antigen expression in vivo and the magnitude of vaccine-elicited memory T-lymphocyte responses. These results highlight the utility of the real-time in vivo photon-imaging technology in evaluating novel immunization strategies and suggest an association between the kinetics of vaccine antigen clearance and the magnitude of vaccine-elicited T-lymphocyte memory immune responses.
Immunization with aPseudomonas aeruginosa1244 Pilin Provides O-Antigen-Specific Protection
Authors: Horzempa Joseph , Held Thomas K. , Cross Alan S. , Furst Dana , Qutyan Mohammed , Neely Alice N. , Castric Peter 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTThe O antigen is both a major structural outer membrane component and the dominant epitope of most gram-negative bacteria.Pseudomonas aeruginosa1244 produces a type IV pilus and covalently links an O-antigen repeating unit to each pilin monomer. Here we show that immunization of mice with pure pilin from strain 1244 by use of either the mouse respiratory model or the thermal injury model resulted in protection from challenge with a pilus-null O-antigen-producing 1244 mutant. These results provide evidence that the pilin glycan stimulates a protective response that targets the O antigen, suggesting that this system could be used as the basis for the development of a variety of bioconjugate vaccines protective against gram-negative bacteria.
Genetic Diversity ofMycobacterium aviumIsolates Recovered from Clinical Samples and from the Environment: Molecular Characterization for Diagnostic Purposes
Authors: Álvarez Julio , García Ignacio Gómez , Aranaz Alicia , Bezos Javier , Romero Beatriz , de Juan Lucía , Mateos Ana , Gómez-Mampaso Enrique , Domínguez Lucas 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTIsolation ofMycobacterium aviumcomplex (MAC) organisms from clinical samples may occur in patients without clinical disease, making the interpretation of results difficult. The clinical relevance of MAC isolates from different types of clinical samples (n= 47) from 39 patients in different sections of a hospital was assessed by comparison with environmental isolates (n= 17) from the hospital. Various methods for identification and typing (commercial probes, phenotypic characteristics, PCR for detection of IS1245and IS901, sequencing of thehsp65gene, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) were evaluated. The same strain was found in all the environmental isolates, 21 out of 23 (91.3%) of the isolates cultured from urine samples, and 5 out of 19 (26.3%) isolates from respiratory specimens. This strain did not cause disease in the patients. Testing best characterized the strain asM. aviumsubsp.hominissuis, with the unusual feature that 81.4% of these isolates lacked the IS1245element. Contamination of certain clinical samples with an environmental strain was the most likely event; therefore, characterization of the environmental mycobacteria present in health care facilities should be performed to discard false-positive isolations in nonsterile samples, mainly urine samples. Molecular techniques applied in this study demonstrated their usefulness for this purpose.
Evaluation of an Automated Instrument for Inoculating and Spreading Samples onto Agar Plates
Authors: Glasson J. H. , Guthrie L. H. , Nielsen D. J. , Bethell F. A. 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT

The findings from a preliminary assessment of a new instrument designed for the inoculation and spreading of specimens for microbiological analysis onto agar plates are described. The study found that the instrument was able to select full or biplates from a number of input cassettes, each containing different agar types. Samples were then inoculated by the instrument onto the agar surfaces and spread by a novel plastic applicator. Following this, the instrument labeled the plates and sorted them into a number of specified output stations. It was found that the instrument was able to inoculate and spread samples over a greater proportion of the agar plate surface than the manual loop-to-plate method. As a consequence, up to 44% more usable colonies were produced per plate from clinical specimens and standard cultures. Viable counts showed that the instrument was able to detect as few as 10
2
CFU/ml in fluids and also facilitated the enumeration of organisms, particularly in specimens such as urine.
Increase of Integration Events and Infection Loads of Human Papillomavirus Type 52 with Lesion Severity from Low-Grade Cervical Lesion to Invasive Cancer
Authors: Cheung Jo L. K. , Cheung T. H. , Tang Julian W. T. , Chan Paul K. S. 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT

Infection load and the integration of human papillomaviruses (HPV) have been implicated as determinants for oncogenesis, but whether variation among different HPV types exists remains unclear. We investigated 91 women infected with HPV type 52 (HPV-52), a type that is rare worldwide but common in East Asia. The median viral load increased with the severity of the lesion (248 copies/cell equivalent for normal/cervical intraepithelial neoplasia [CIN] grade 1, 402 copies/cell equivalent for CIN 2, 523 copies/cell equivalent for CIN 3, and 1,435 copies/cell equivalent for invasive cancer). The proportion of specimens with integration increased significantly with the severity of the lesion (
P
< 0.001). The viral load was associated with the physical status of the viral genome, with higher levels for the pure episomal form (
P
= 0.001). Infection status should be considered when interpreting viral load data for HPV-52, as single infections with this HPV type were found to have marginally higher viral loads than coinfections (
P
= 0.051). All except one sample had E2 disruption restricted to only a part of the gene. Integration is a critical step in HPV-52-induced carcinogenesis. The profile of E2 disruption was different from that described for HPV-16, with the amino-terminal region being most frequently involved. Selecting the appropriate E2 region for amplification is critical in studying the integration of HPV-52. In summary, the HPV-52 viral load and the integrated proportion increased with the severity of the cervical lesions but had a different pattern than that of HPV-16.
Different Biological Characteristics of Wild-Type Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Viruses and Vaccine Viruses and Identification of the Corresponding Genetic Determinants
Authors: Kim Won-Il , Kim Jae-Jo , Cha Sang-Ho , Yoon Kyoung-Jin 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTTwo attenuated vaccines, Ingelvac PRRS MLV and Ingelvac PRRS ATP, derived from VR2332 and JA142, respectively, have been used to control porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus. However, there have been several field reports concerning the reversion of the vaccine virus to virulence. Furthermore, viruses genetically indistinguishable from the vaccines and wild-type parental viruses have been detected in clinical PRRS cases, raising the need for a better differential tool. As the vaccine viruses replicated better and produced bigger plaques in MARC-145 cells than did the wild-type parental strains, the following study was conducted to determine if the growth difference in MARC-145 cells can be utilized to differentiate a vaccine-like virus (VLV) from a wild-type virus and to identify genetic markers corresponding to such phenotype of the vaccine viruses. The relatedness of 83 field isolates collected between 1996 and 2005 to VR2332 and JA142 was classified genetically and antigenically. Thirteen of 25 VR2332-related viruses and 9 of 10 JA142-related viruses were determined as VLVs, since those viruses produced plaques similar to those by the vaccine viruses. Four unique amino acids each were identified throughout structural genes for MLV and ATP. Among those, F10in open reading frame 2 (ORF2) of MLV and E85and Y165in ORF3 of ATP were stable during pig passages. When the sequences unique for MLV were incorporated into an infectious clone constructed based on VR2332, the virus growth and resultant plaque size in MARC-145 cells were increased, suggesting that these sequences can be used as genetic markers for VLVs.
Spread of a Low-Fitness Drug-Resistant
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Strain in a Setting of High Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevalence
Authors: Strauss O. J. , Warren R. M. , Jordaan A. , Streicher E. M. , Hanekom M. , Falmer A. A. , Albert H. , Trollip A. , Hoosain E. , van Helden P. D. , Victor T. C. 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT

The fitness cost associated with the evolution of resistance to rifampin in
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
may be different in clinical isolates compared to in vitro-generated mutants. An atypical Beijing strain (attenuated phenotype) demonstrated the ability to spread despite acquiring resistance to rifampin. Transmission was linked to human immunodeficiency virus coinfection (
P
= 0.029), raising concern for the spread of drug resistance in vulnerable populations.
Sequence Polymorphisms in a Surface PPE Protein Distinguish Types I, II, and III of
Mycobacterium avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
Authors: Griffiths Tanya A. , Rioux Kevin , De Buck Jeroen 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT

In the last 2 decades, a variety of different molecular typing methods have been developed to differentiate strains of
Mycobacterium avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
. The most successful techniques are based on insertion sequences, repetitive loci, comparative genomics, or single nucleotide polymorphisms. In the present study, we chose to examine whether a single
M. avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
gene could serve as a means of differentiation of a variety of isolates. The MAP1506 gene locus encodes a member of the polymorphic PPE protein family that has putative roles relevant to
M. avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
pathogenicity. The MAP1506 locus was sequenced from a collection of 58
M. avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
isolates from different sources, hosts, and typing profiles. Following sequence alignment and analysis, it was found that bovine (type II) strains of
M. avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
consistently differed from ovine (type I) and intermediate (type III) strains in seven and eight nucleotides, respectively. Polymorphic regions of the MAP1506 locus were selected for analysis by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, allowing visual discrimination of the three subtypes of
M. avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
isolates. This is the first report describing the use of PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis on a single gene as a method to distinguish types I, II, and III of
M. avium
subsp.
paratuberculosis
.
Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Determination of Uropathogens in Clinical Urine Specimens by Use of ATP Bioluminescence
Authors: Ivančić Vesna , Mastali Mitra , Percy Neil , Gornbein Jeffrey , Babbitt Jane T. , Li Yang , Landaw Elliot M. , Bruckner David A. , Churchill Bernard M. , Haake David A. 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT
We describe the first direct testing of the antimicrobial susceptibilities of bacterial pathogens in human clinical fluid samples by the use of ATP bioluminescence. We developed an ATP bioluminescence assay that eliminates somatic sources of ATP to selectively quantify the bacterial load in clinical urine specimens with a sensitivity of <1,000 CFU per milliliter. There was a log-log relationship between light emission and the numbers of CFU in clinical urine specimens. A clinical study was performed to evaluate the accuracy of the ATP bioluminescence assay for determination of the antimicrobial susceptibilities of uropathogens in clinical urine specimens tested in a blinded manner. ATP bioluminescent bacterial density quantitation was used to determine the inoculation volume in growth medium with and without antibiotics. After incubation at 37°C for 120 min, the ATP bioluminescence assay was repeated to evaluate the uropathogen response to antibiotics. The ability of the ATP bioluminescence assay to discriminate between antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance was determined by comparison of the results obtained by the ATP bioluminescence assay with the results obtained by standard clinical microbiology methods. Receiver operator characteristic curves were used to determine the optimal threshold for discriminating between susceptibility and resistance. Susceptibility and resistance were correctly predicted in 87% and 95% of cases, respectively, for an overall unweighted accuracy of 91%, when the results were stratified by antibiotic. For samples in which the pathogen was susceptible, the accuracy improved to 95% when the results for samples with less than a 25-fold increase in the amount of bacterial ATP in the medium without antibiotics were excluded. These data indicate that a rapid bioluminescent antimicrobial susceptibility assay may be useful for the management of urinary tract infections.
Evaluation of the Abbott RealTime HBV DNA Assay and Comparison to the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan 48 Assay in Monitoring Patients with Chronic Cases of Hepatitis B
Authors: Ciotti Marco , Marcuccilli Fabbio , Guenci Tania , Prignano Maria Grazia , Perno Carlo Federico 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTThe new Abbott RealTime hepatitis B virus (HBV) assay was compared to the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan assay with 128 serum samples from patients with chronic hepatitis B. There was an excellent correlation (r= 0.961) between the two assays, with the Abbott RealTime test showing at least equivalent sensitivity and a slightly wider dynamic range than the Cobas TaqMan assay. By coupling high sensitivity with a large dynamic range, the Abbott RealTime HBV assay is useful in monitoring the response to antiviral therapy.
Molecular Epidemiology of Norovirus Infections in Children with Acute Gastroenteritis in South Korea in November 2005 through November 2006
Authors: Yoon Jong-Sub , Lee Sung-Geun , Hong Seong-Karp , Lee Su-A , Jheong Weon-Hwa , Oh Sang-Suk , Oh Mi-Hwa , Ko Gwang-Pyo , Lee Chan-Hee , Paik Soon-Young 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACT
Norovirus infections were detected in 114 of 762 children with acute gastroenteritis in South Korea from November 2005 to November 2006. Seasonality peaks in December, March, and October were also assessed in this study. We identified seven noroviral genotypes (GI-6, GII-2, GII-3, GII-4, GII-5, GII-6, and GII-8) and a C1-120 strain showing low identity (79.3%) with GII-13 and GII-17.