bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Transgenic rice expressing Allium sativumleaf agglutinin (ASAL) exhibits high-level resistance against major sap-sucking pests
Authors: Yarasi Bharathi , Sadumpati Vijayakumar , Immanni China Pasalu , Vudem Dasavantha Reddy , Khareedu Venkateswara Rao 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
Rice (Oryza sativa) productivity is adversely impacted by numerous biotic and abiotic factors. An approximate 52% of the global production of rice is lost annually owing to the damage caused by biotic factors, of which ~21% is attributed to the attack of insect pests. In this paper we report the isolation, cloning and characterization of Allium sativum leaf agglutinin (asal) gene, and its expression in elite indica rice cultivars using Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation method. The stable transgenic lines, expressing ASAL, showed explicit resistance against major sap-sucking pests.

Results

Allium sativum leaf lectin gene (asal), coding for mannose binding homodimeric protein (ASAL) from garlic plants, has been isolated and introduced into elite indica rice cultivars susceptible to sap-sucking insects, viz., brown planthopper (BPH), green leafhopper (GLH) and whitebacked planthopper (WBPH). Embryogenic calli of rice were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium harbouring pSB111 super-binary vector comprising garlic lectin gene asal along with the herbicide resistance gene bar, both under the control of CaMV35S promoter. PCR and Southern blot analyses confirmed stable integration of transgenes into the genomes of rice plants. Northern and western blot analyses revealed expression of ASAL in different transgenic rice lines. In primary transformants, the level of ASAL protein, as estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, varied between 0.74% and 1.45% of the total soluble proteins. In planta insect bioassays on transgenic rice lines revealed potent entomotoxic effects of ASAL on BPH, GLH and WBPH insects, as evidenced by significant decreases in the survival, development and fecundity of the insects.

Conclusion

In planta insect bioassays were carried out on asal transgenic rice lines employing standard screening techniques followed in conventional breeding for selection of insect resistant plants. The ASAL expressing rice plants, bestowed with high entomotoxic effects, imparted appreciable resistance against three major sap-sucking insects. Our results amply demonstrate that transgenic indica rice harbouring asal exhibit surpassing resistance against BPH, GLH and WBPH insects. The prototypic asal transgenic rice lines appear promising for direct commercial cultivation besides serving as a potential genetic resource in recombination breeding.
Identification, cloning and characterization of sis7 and sis10 sugar-insensitive mutants of Arabidopsis
Authors: Huang Yadong , Li Chun Yao , Biddle Kelly D , Gibson Susan I 
Published: October 2008

AbstractBackgroundThe levels of soluble sugars, such as glucose and sucrose, help regulate many plant metabolic, physiological and developmental processes. Genetic screens are helping identify some of the loci involved in plant sugar response and reveal extensive cross-talk between sugar and phytohormone response pathways.ResultsA forward genetic screen was performed to identify mutants with increased resistance to the inhibitory effects of high levels of exogenous sugars on earlyArabidopsisseedling development. The positional cloning and characterization of two of thesesugar insensitive(sis) mutants, both of which are also involved in abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis or response, are reported. Plants carrying mutations inSIS7/NCED3/STO1orSIS10/ABI3are resistant to the inhibitory effects of high levels of exogenous Glc and Suc. Quantitative RT-PCR analyses indicate transcriptional upregulation of ABA biosynthesis genes by high concentrations of Glc in wild-type germinating seeds. Gene expression profiling revealed that a significant number of genes that are expressed at lower levels in germinatingsis7-1/nced3-4/sto1-4seeds than in wild-type seeds are implicated in auxin biosynthesis or transport, suggesting cross-talk between ABA and auxin response pathways. The degree of sugar insensitivity of differentsis10/abi3mutant seedlings shows a strong positive correlation with their level of ABA insensitivity during seed germination.ConclusionMutations in theSIS7/NCED3/STO1gene, which is primarily required for ABA biosynthesis under drought conditions, confer a sugar-insensitive phenotype, indicating that a constitutive role in ABA biosynthesis is not necessary to confer sugar insensitivity. Findings presented here clearly demonstrate that mutations inABI3can confer a sugar-insensitive phenotype and help explain previous, mixed reports on this topic by showing that ABA and sugar insensitivity exhibit a strong positive correlation in differentabi3mutants. Expression profiling revealed a potentially novel regulation of auxin metabolism and transport in an ABA deficient mutant,sis7-1/nced3-4/sto1-4.
Emergency department physician training in Jamaica: a national public hospital survey
Authors: Crandon Ivor W , Harding Hyacinth E , Cawich Shamir O , Williams Eric W , Williams-Johnson Jean 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
Emergency Department (ED) medical officers are often the first medical responders to emergencies in Jamaica because pre-hospital emergency response services are not universally available. Over the past decade, several new ED training opportunities have been introduced locally. Their precise impact on the health care system in Jamaica has not yet been evaluated. We sought to determine the level of training, qualifications and experience of medical officers employed in public hospital EDs across the nation.

Methods
A database of all medical officers employed in public hospital EDs was created from records maintained by the Ministry of Health in Jamaica. A specially designed questionnaire was administered to all medical officers in this database. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 10.0.

Results
There were 160 ED medical officers across Jamaica, of which 47.5% were males and the mean age was 32.3 years (SD +/- 7.1; Range 23–57). These physicians were employed in the EDs for a mean of 2.2 years (SD +/- 2.5; Range 0–15; Median 2.5) and were recent graduates of medical schools (Mean 5.1; SD +/- 5.9; Median 3 years).
Only 5.5% of the medical officers had specialist qualifications (grade III/IV), 12.8% were grade II medical officers and 80.5% were grade I house officers or interns. The majority of medical officers had no additional training qualifications: 20.9% were exposed to post-graduate training, 27.9% had current ACLS certification and 10.3% had current ATLS certification.

Conclusion
The majority of medical officers in public hospital EDs across Jamaica are relatively inexperienced and inadequately trained. Consultant supervision is not available in most public hospital EDs. With the injury epidemic that exists in Jamaica, it is logical that increased training opportunities and resources are required to meet the needs of the population.
Retrospective study of adenovirus in autopsied pulmonary tissue of pediatric fatal pneumonia in South China
Authors: Ou Zhi-Ying , Zeng Qi-Yi , Wang Feng-Hua , Xia Hui-Min , Lu Jun-Peng , Xia Jian-Qing , Gong Si-Tang , Deng Li , Zhang Jian-Tao , Zhou Rong 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
Adenovirus are the important pathogen of pediatric severe pneumonia. The aim of this study is to analyze the infection, subtype and distribution of adenovirus in autopsied pulmonary tissue of fatal pneumonia in infants and children, and the relationships between adenovirus infection and respiratory illness in South China.

Methods
Nested PCR was performed on DNA extracted from autopsied lung tissue from patients who died of severe pneumonia, and the positive nested PCR products were cloned and sequenced. The adenovirus in autopsied pulmonary tissue was also analyzed by immunohistochemistry assay in a blind way.

Results
In the 175 autopsied pulmonary tissues, the positive percentage of adenovirus was 9.14% (16/175) and 2.29% (4/175) detected with nested PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. There are three cases of adenovirus serotype 3, twelve cases of adenovirus serotype 4 and one case of serotype 41 determined by sequencing of the cloned positive nested PCR products.

Conclusion
Adenovirus is an important cause of severe pneumonia, and these data suggest that adenovirus serotype 4 might be an important pathogen responsible for the fatal pneumonia in Guangzhou, South China.
Blood culture collection technique and pneumococcal surveillance in Malawi during the four year period 2003–2006: an observational study
Authors: Mtunthama Neema , Gordon Stephen B , Kusimbwe Temwa , Zijlstra Eduard E , Molyneux Malcolm E , French Neil 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
Blood culture surveillance will be used for assessing the public health effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in Africa. Between 2003 and 2006 we assessed blood culture outcome and performance in adult patients in the central public hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, before and after the introduction of a dedicated nurse led blood culture team.

Methods
A prospective observational study.

Results
Following the introduction of a specialised blood culture team in 2005, the proportion of contaminated cultures decreased (19.6% in 2003 to 5.0% in 2006), blood volume cultured increased and pneumococcal recovery increased significantly from 2.8% of all blood cultures to 6.1%. With each extra 1 ml of blood cultured the odds of recovering a pneumococcus increased by 18%.

Conclusion
Standardisation and assessment of blood culture performance (blood volume and contamination rate) should be incorporated into pneumococcal disease surveillance activities where routine blood culture practice is constrained by limited resources.
TCMGeneDIT: a database for associated traditional Chinese medicine, gene and disease information using text mining
Authors: Fang Yu-Ching , Huang Hsuan-Cheng , Chen Hsin-Hsi , Juan Hsueh-Fen 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a complementary and alternative medical system in Western countries, has been used to treat various diseases over thousands of years in East Asian countries. In recent years, many herbal medicines were found to exhibit a variety of effects through regulating a wide range of gene expressions or protein activities. As available TCM data continue to accumulate rapidly, an urgent need for exploring these resources systematically is imperative, so as to effectively utilize the large volume of literature.

Methods
TCM, gene, disease, biological pathway and protein-protein interaction information were collected from public databases. For association discovery, the TCM names, gene names, disease names, TCM ingredients and effects were used to annotate the literature corpus obtained from PubMed. The concept to mine entity associations was based on hypothesis testing and collocation analysis. The annotated corpus was processed with natural language processing tools and rule-based approaches were applied to the sentences for extracting the relations between TCM effecters and effects.

Results
We developed a database, TCMGeneDIT, to provide association information about TCMs, genes, diseases, TCM effects and TCM ingredients mined from vast amount of biomedical literature. Integrated protein-protein interaction and biological pathways information are also available for exploring the regulations of genes associated with TCM curative effects. In addition, the transitive relationships among genes, TCMs and diseases could be inferred through the shared intermediates. Furthermore, TCMGeneDIT is useful in understanding the possible therapeutic mechanisms of TCMs via gene regulations and deducing synergistic or antagonistic contributions of the prescription components to the overall therapeutic effects. The database is now available at http://tcm.lifescience.ntu.edu.tw/.

Conclusion
TCMGeneDIT is a unique database that offers diverse association information on TCMs. This database integrates TCMs with biomedical studies that would facilitate clinical research and elucidate the possible therapeutic mechanisms of TCMs and gene regulations.
Cutaneous and mucosal human papillomaviruses differ in net surface charge, potential impact on tropism
Authors: Mistry Nitesh , Wibom Carl , Evander Magnus 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
Papillomaviruses can roughly be divided into two tropism groups, those infecting the skin, including the genus beta PVs, and those infecting the mucosa, predominantly genus alpha PVs. The L1 capsid protein determines the phylogenetic separation between beta types and alpha types and the L1 protein is most probably responsible for the first interaction with the cell surface. Virus entry is a known determinant for tissue tropism and to study if interactions of the viral capsid with the cell surface could affect HPV tropism, the net surface charge of the HPV L1 capsid proteins was analyzed and HPV-16 (alpha) and HPV-5 (beta) with a mucosal and cutaneous tropism respectively were used to study heparin inhibition of uptake. The negatively charged L1 proteins were all found among HPVs with cutaneous tropism from the beta- and gamma-PV genus, while all alpha HPVs were positively charged at pH 7.4. The linear sequence of the HPV-5 L1 capsid protein had a predicted isoelectric point (pI) of 6.59 and a charge of -2.74 at pH 7.4, while HPV-16 had a pI of 7.95 with a charge of +2.98, suggesting no interaction between HPV-5 and the highly negative charged heparin. Furthermore, 3D-modelling indicated that HPV-5 L1 exposed more negatively charged amino acids than HPV-16. Uptake of HPV-5 (beta) and HPV-16 (alpha) was studied in vitro by using a pseudovirus (PsV) assay. Uptake of HPV-5 PsV was not inhibited by heparin in C33A cells and only minor inhibition was detected in HaCaT cells. HPV-16 PsV uptake was significantly more inhibited by heparin in both cells and completely blocked in C33A cells.
A randomised, double-masked phase III/IV study of the efficacy and safety of Avastin® (Bevacizumab) intravitreal injections compared to standard therapy in subjects with choroidal neovascularisation secondary to age-related macular degeneration: clinical trial design
Authors: Patel Praveen J , Bunce Catey , Tufail Adnan ,   the ABC Trial Investigators
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
The management of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) has been transformed by the introduction of agents delivered by intravitreal injection which block the action of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (anti-VEGF agents). One such agent in widespread use is bevacizumab which was initially developed for use in oncology. Most of the evidence supporting the use of bevacizumab for nAMD has come from interventional case series and this clinical trial was initiated because of the increasing and widespread use of this agent in the treatment of nAMD (an off-label indication) despite a lack of definitive unbiased safety and efficacy data.

Methods and design
The Avastin® (bevacizumab) for choroidal neovascularisation (ABC) trial is a double-masked randomised controlled trial comparing intravitreal bevacizumab injections to standard therapy in the treatment of nAMD. Patients are randomised to intravitreal bevacizumab or standard therapy available at the time of trial initiation (verteporfin photodynamic therapy, intravitreal pegaptanib or sham treatment). Ranibizumab treatment was not included in the control arm as it had not been licensed for use at the start of recruitment for this trial. The primary outcome is the proportion of patients gaining ≥ 15 letters of visual acuity at 1 year and secondary outcomes include the proportion of patients with stable vision and mean visual acuity change.

Discussion
The ABC Trial is the first double-masked randomised control trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of intravitreal bevacizumab in the treatment of nAMD. This trial fully recruited in November 2007 and results should be available in early 2009. Important design issues for this clinical trial include (a) defining the control group (b) use of gain in vision as primary efficacy end-point and (c) use of pro re nata treatment using intravitreal bevacizumab rather than continuous therapy.

Trial registration
Current controlled trials ISRCTN83325075
Loss of transforming growth factor-beta 2 leads to impairment of central synapse function
Authors: Heupel Katharina , Sargsyan Vardanush , Plomp Jaap J , Rickmann Michael , Varoqueaux Frédérique , Zhang Weiqi , Krieglstein Kerstin 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
Background
The formation of functional synapses is a crucial event in neuronal network formation, and with regard to regulation of breathing it is essential for life. Members of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) superfamily act as intercellular signaling molecules during synaptogenesis of the neuromuscular junction of Drosophila and are involved in synaptic function of sensory neurons of Aplysia.

Results
Here we show that while TGF-β2 is not crucial for the morphology and function of the neuromuscular junction of the diaphragm muscle of mice, it is essential for proper synaptic function in the pre-Bötzinger complex, a central rhythm organizer located in the brainstem. Genetic deletion of TGF-β2 in mice strongly impaired both GABA/glycinergic and glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the pre-Bötzinger complex area, while numbers and morphology of central synapses of knock-out animals were indistinguishable from their wild-type littermates at embryonic day 18.5.

Conclusion
The results demonstrate that TGF-β2 influences synaptic function, rather than synaptogenesis, specifically at central synapses. The functional alterations in the respiratory center of the brain are probably the underlying cause of the perinatal death of the TGF-β2 knock-out mice.
Network evaluation from the consistency of the graph structure with the measured data
Authors: Saito Shigeru , Aburatani Sachiyo , Horimoto Katsuhisa 
Published: October 2008

Abstract

Background
A knowledge-based network, which is constructed by extracting as many relationships identified by experimental studies as possible and then superimposing them, is one of the promising approaches to investigate the associations between biological molecules. However, the molecular relationships change dynamically, depending on the conditions in a living cell, which suggests implicitly that all of the relationships in the knowledge-based network do not always exist. Here, we propose a novel method to estimate the consistency of a given network with the measured data: i) the network is quantified into a log-likelihood from the measured data, based on the Gaussian network, and ii) the probability of the likelihood corresponding to the measured data, named the graph consistency probability (GCP), is estimated based on the generalized extreme value distribution.

Results
The plausibility and the performance of the present procedure are illustrated by various graphs with simulated data, and with two types of actual gene regulatory networks in Escherichia coli: the SOS DNA repair system with the corresponding data measured by fluorescence, and a set of 29 networks with data measured under anaerobic conditions by microarray. In the simulation study, the procedure for estimating GCP is illustrated by a simple network, and the robustness of the method is scrutinized in terms of various aspects: dimensions of sampling data, parameters in the simulation study, magnitudes of data noise, and variations of network structures.
In the actual networks, the former example revealed that our method operates well for an actual network with a size similar to those of the simulated networks, and the latter example illustrated that our method can select the activated network candidates consistent with the actual data measured under specific conditions, among the many network candidates.

Conclusion
The present method shows the possibility of bridging between the static network from the literature and the corresponding measurements, and thus will shed light on the network structure variations in terms of the changes in molecular interaction mechanisms that occur in response to the environment in a living cell.
Barber's hair sinus in a female hairdresser: uncommon manifestation of an occupational disease: a case report
Authors: Efthimiadis Christopher , Kosmidis Christopher , Anthimidis George , Grigoriou Marios , Levva Sofia , Fachantidis Panagiotis , Psihidis George 
Published: October 2008

AbstractBackgroundBarber's disease is an acquired occupational disease produced by short customers' hairs that penetrate the interdigital spaces of the hands. The lesion has been reported to occur mostly on the hands of male hairdressers. The purpose of this article is to report a rare case of a female hairdresser who developed a pilonidal sinus in the interdigital web of her non-dominant hand and review the relevant literature.Case presentationA 29 year-old Greek female hairdresser underwent surgical excision of the pilonidal sinus and curettage. She was not hospitalised, while prompt resolution of the condition and prevention of recurrence was achieved.ConclusionPilonidal sinus of the interdigital spaces of the hand is a rare and preventable acquired occupational disease. The personal hygiene with thorough removal of any hairs that have penetrated the epidermis during the working day could prevent the formation of the disease. Surgical excision, curettage and primary healing seem to be a safe method of treatment.
Idiopathic pneumonia syndrome after bone marrow transplantation presenting with "crazy-paving" pattern on high-resolution computed tomography: a case report
Authors: Gasparetto Taisa Davaus , Marchiori Edson , Guimarães Marina B , Escuissato Dante Luiz , Zanetti Gláucia 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
The authors present the high-resolution computed tomography findings of a patient with idiopathic pneumonia syndrome after bone marrow transplantation. The main finding consisted of extensive ground-glass opacities superimposed to mild interlobular septal thickening, resulting in the appearance termed "crazy-paving". Following the clinical, laboratorial and imaging criteria, the diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary syndrome was defined and corticosteroids were introduced. The clinical symptoms improved in the following days, and the patient was discharged from the hospital.