bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
In Utero Ethanol Exposure Impairs Defenses Against Experimental Group B Streptococcus in the Term Guinea Pig Lung
Authors: Gauthier Theresa W. , Young Paula A. , Gabelaia Levan , Tang Sonja M. , Ping Xiao‐Du , Harris Frank L. , Brown Lou Ann S. 
Published: November 2008

Background:  The effects of fetal alcohol exposure on the risks of neonatal lung injury and infection remain under investigation. The resident alveolar macrophage (AM) is the first line of immune defense against pulmonary infections. In utero ethanol (ETOH) exposure deranges the function of both premature and term guinea pig AM. We hypothesized that fetal ETOH exposure would increase the risk of pulmonary infection in vivo.Methods:  We developed a novel in vivo model of group B Streptococcus (GBS) pneumonia using our established guinea pig model of fetal ETOH exposure. Timed‐pregnant guinea pigs were pair fed ±ETOH and some were supplemented with the glutathione (GSH) precursor S‐adenosyl‐methionine (SAM‐e). Term pups were given GBS intratracheally while some were pretreated with inhaled GSH prior to the experimental GBS. Neonatal lung and whole blood were evaluated for GBS while isolated AM were evaluated using fluorescent microscopy for GBS phagocytosis.Results:  Ethanol‐exposed pups demonstrated increased lung infection and sepsis while AM phagocytosis of GBS was deficient compared with control. When SAM‐e was added to the maternal diet containing ETOH, neonatal lung and systemic infection from GBS was attenuated and AM phagocytosis was improved. Inhaled GSH therapy prior to GBS similarly protected the ETOH‐exposed pup from lung and systemic infection.Conclusions:  In utero ETOH exposure impaired the neonatal lung’s defense against experimental GBS, while maintaining GSH availability protected the ETOH‐exposed lung. This study suggested that fetal alcohol exposure deranges the neonatal lung’s defense against bacterial infection, and support further investigations into the potential therapeutic role for exogenous GSH to augment neonatal AM function.
Characterization of a Functional Polymorphism in the 3′ UTR of SLC6A4 and its Association With Drinking Intensity
Authors: Seneviratne Chamindi , Huang Weihua , Ait‐Daoud Nassima , Li Ming D. , Johnson Bankole A. 
Published: November 2008

Background:  The propensity for severe drinking is hypothesized to be regulated by differential expression of serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) in the human brain. The SLC6A4 promoter region 5‐HTTLPR has been examined previously as a candidate polymorphic variant associated with severe drinking. In this study, we investigated whether other SLC6A4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with drinking intensity among treatment‐seeking alcoholics and whether these polymorphic variants result in differential SLC6A4 expression levels.Methods:  We analyzed associations of drinking intensity in 275 (78.5% male) treatment‐seeking alcoholics of Caucasian and Hispanic origin, with 6 SLC6A4 polymorphisms. Next, to examine the functionality of the SNP that showed a significant association with drinking intensity, we transfected the 2 alleles of rs1042173 into HeLa cell cultures and measured serotonin transporter mRNA and protein expression levels by using qRT‐PCR and western blotting techniques.Results:  One of the 6 polymorphisms we examined, rs1042173 in the 3′ untranslated region (3′‐UTR) of SLC6A4, showed a significant association with drinking intensity. The G allele carriers for rs1042173 were associated with significantly lower drinking intensity (p = 0.0034) compared to T‐allele homozygotes. In HeLa cell cultures, the cells transfected with G allele showed a significantly higher mRNA and protein levels than the T allele‐transfected cells.Conclusion:  These findings suggest that the allelic variations of rs1042173 affect drinking intensity in alcoholics possibly by altering serotonin transporter expression levels. This provides additional support to the hypothesis that SLC6A4 polymorphisms play an important role in regulating propensity for severe drinking.
Recovery of Activities of Daily Living in Older Adults After Hospitalization for Acute Medical Illness
Authors: Boyd Cynthia M. , Landefeld C. Seth , Counsell Steven R. , Palmer Robert M. , Fortinsky Richard H. , Kresevic Denise , Burant Christopher , Covinsky Kenneth E. 
Published: November 2008

OBJECTIVES: To compare functional outcomes in the year after discharge for older adults discharged from the hospital after an acute medical illness with a new or additional disability in their basic self‐care activities of daily living (ADL) (compared with preadmission baseline 2 weeks before admission) with those of older adults discharged with baseline ADL function and identify predictors of failure to recover to baseline function 1 year after discharge.DESIGN: Observational.SETTING: Tertiary care hospital, community teaching hospital.PARTICIPANTS: Older (aged ≥70) patients nonelectively admitted to general medical services (1993–1998).MEASUREMENTS: Number of ADL disabilities at preadmission baseline and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after discharge. Outcomes were death, sustained decline in ADL function, and recovery to baseline ADL function at each time point.RESULTS: By 12 months after discharge, of those discharged with new or additional ADL disability, 41.3% died, 28.6% were alive but had not recovered to baseline function, and 30.1% were at baseline function. Of those discharged at baseline function, 17.8% died, 15.2% were alive but with worse than baseline function, and 67% were at their baseline function (P<.001). Of those discharged with new or additional ADL disability, the presence or absence of recovery by 1 month was associated with long‐term outcomes. Age, cardiovascular disease, dementia, cancer, low albumin, and greater number of dependencies in instrumental ADLs independently predicted failure to recover.CONCLUSION: For older adults discharged with new or additional disability in ADL after hospitalization for medical illness, prognosis for functional recovery is poor. Rehabilitation interventions of longer duration and timing than current reimbursement allows, caregiver support, and palliative care should be evaluated.
From initial case report to randomized clinical trial through 20 years of research in periodontal therapy
Authors: Nieri Michele , Saletta Daniele , Buti Jacopo , Pagliaro Umberto , Guidi Luisa , Rotundo Roberto , Pini Prato Giovanpaolo 
Published: November 2008

AbstractAim: Case reports (CRs) are often the first publication of a new treatment, but randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are needed to confirm the data. The aim of this study was to evaluate how many therapies published as CRs were followed by RCTs of these therapies over a 20‐year period.Material and Methods: Two researchers conducted a search through international periodontal journals and found the CRs on periodontal treatments published from 1984 to 1986. Subsequent electronic searches made it possible to verify how many of the treatments published as CRs were also investigated through RCTs over the following 20 years.Results: Thirty‐one different therapies were selected out of the 33 published CRs; 15 (48%) of these 31 treatments were investigated by RCTs over the next 20 years.Conclusions: As 52% of the CRs were not validated by RCTs, practitioners should view their results with caution.
Small molecule inhibitors of WNT signaling effectively induce apoptosis in acute myeloid leukemia cells
Authors: Minke Katharina Salome , Staib Peter , Puetter Adriane , Gehrke Iris , Gandhirajan Rajesh Kumar , Schlösser Axel , Schmitt Esther Katharina , Hallek Michael , Kreuzer Karl‐Anton 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn a significant proportion of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases the canonical WNT pathway is upregulated and targeting the WNT/LEF1 signaling cascade in AML may be a promising approach to develop new treatments for this entity. Recently two compounds (CGP049090 and PFK115‐584) have been identified, which specifically inhibit complexation of β‐catenin (CTNNB1) and lymphoid enhancer‐binding factor 1 (LEF1) leading to transcriptional inactivation of LEF1 in colon carcinoma cell lines. To evaluate the effect of WNT inhibition utilizing theses compounds with regard to their effectivity in AML we treated the AML cell lines Kasumi‐1 and HL‐60, primary AML blasts and healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with varying concentrations of both substances. Treatment with both compounds for 24 h resulted in a significant killing of AML cell lines and primary AML blasts with 50% effective concentration doses (EC50) within the submicromolar range. PBMCs were not significantly affected as indicated by EC50‐values 100‐fold higher than for AML cells. Cell kill was mediated by apoptosis as indicated by induction of caspases 3 and 7 and cleavage of poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase (PARP) upon treatment. Furthermore, we could show that both compounds substantially decrease expression of CTNNB1/LEF1 target genes c‐myc, cyclin D1 and survivin, proofing the specificity of the substances. This was shown in both, AML cell lines and most of the tested primary samples. Our data demonstrate that targeting this pathway seems to be an innovative approach in the treatment of AML.
Beowulf and Poststructuralist Theory
Authors: Sharma Manish 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn this essay, I examine first the emergence of poststructuralist theory in France in the 1960s and discuss the critical and philosophical innovations of the major poststructuralists. Secondly, I investigate the reception of poststructuralist theory by literary critics in general and Anglo‐Saxonists in particular. Thirdly, I review and summarize readings of ‘Beowulf’ informed by poststructuralist theory. Finally, I suggest ways in which poststructuralist thought can continue to inform productively the study of Anglo‐Saxon literary culture.
BeyondDeronda?: Victorian Studies and Jewish Chronicles
Authors: Gracombe Sarah 
Published: November 2008

AbstractWhat accounts for the surprising fact that fictional Jews fill the pages of Victorian literature but actual Jews constituted only a sliver of England's population? This article introduces readers to recent scholarship that attempts to answer this question, charting the diverse ways in which Jews were portrayed in the Victorian cultural imaginary. Much of this scholarship pivots around one fundamental contention: that the most significant thing about representations of nineteenth‐century Jewishness is what they have to teach us about nineteenth‐century Englishness. Depicting Jews became a crucial method for Victorians to test some of their guiding assumptions and underlying anxieties about their nationality and its relationship to the categories of race, religion, culture, and territory—categories contested then as now.After a brief survey of Jewishness's rise in literary studies, I discuss current trends in research treating Jewishness and Englishness; such research is now occurring within the fields of both Victorian Studies and Jewish Studies, productively contesting the disciplinary and geographic borders of each. Particular attention is paid to the engagement of new scholarship with issues of gender, principally representations of and by Jewish women, and genre, including the novel's fraught relationship to liberalism. I then explore the way analyses of Victorian Jewishness are increasingly going global, looking to British imperial and cultural involvement in America, Europe, and the Middle East. These moves have in turn provoked a reassessment of both Orientalism and Englishness as a cultural identity. Above all, this article argues for the value recent scholarship offers by continuing to inform and challenge our understanding not only of Jewishness but the many facets of Victorian culture with which it intersected.
Mapping the Female Self through the Canadian Landscape: Short Stories by Canadian Women Writing in English
Authors: Jenainati Cathia 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThis essay offers a chronological analysis of the progress of the short story in Canada as narrated by women writers who specifically examined the problematic relationship of the individual with the Canadian landscape. It demonstrates that whilst early narratives portrayed settler women as colonizers and tamers of the wilderness, narratives of the first half of the twentieth century chart the complexities – ethnic, political, historical and cultural – of establishing a cartography of the self. The chosen stories cover the range of recorded female experiences from 1845 to 1945.
The Novel (in Theory)
Authors: Kurnick David 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn a moment in which many critics are speaking of a new formalism, the recent appearance of three major anthologies of new and classic novel criticism bespeaks an unprecedented upsurge of interest in once‐unfashionable questions of genre. And though these new books leave it unclear whether the novel is in fact a genre, they show that novel theory is: a genre defined at its core by an orientation toward totality. This essay examines the image of the canon of novel theory that emerges from Michael McKeon's Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach and Dorothy J. Hale's, The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 1900–2000 before moving to a longer consideration of Franco Moretti's massive two‐volume collection The Novel. The essay explores how the conclusions of the ambitious founding texts of Western novel theory (by writers like Mikhail Bakhtin and Georg Lukács, in particular) are revisited and revised in Moretti's collection, with its vast historical reach and its collection of materials from a large number of languages. These anthologies, despite their differences, suggest that the novel (as it is portrayed in novel theory at least) remains the paradigmatic form of modernity – and that novel criticism remains a crucial critical name for the ambition to come to grips with the contours of an increasingly globalized cultural scene.
Maternal characteristics and feelings of distress resulting from the crying of high‐risk infants
Authors: TABUCHI Noriko , SHIMADA Keiko 
Published: November 2008

AbstractAim:  To analyze the extent of and factors associated with the range of mothers' feelings when they experienced the crying of their high‐risk (HR) infant.Methods:  A cross‐sectional design was used. A mail survey yielded 127 mothers of HR infants from 61 institutions. The instruments were the: (i) Maternal Distress Score to measure feelings of maternal distress during the infant's crying scale; (ii) Maternal Emotion Scale; (iii) Japanese Beck Depression Inventory – Second Edition; (iv) Visual Analog Scale for the tendency toward anxiety; and (v) a demographic form. The data analysis used descriptive and inferential statistics.Results:  There were no significant differences in maternal distress between the mothers of HR infants and those with normal infants. The high‐scoring items for feelings of difficulty in descending order were: “feeling of a gap from life before pregnancy”, “anxious about child‐care prospects for the future”, and “feeling of stress when the infant cries”. The low‐scoring items were: “child care is not enjoyable” and “I want to feel free when I hear the infant crying”. The factors relating to the mother's distress over her crying HR infant showed a significant positive correlation with the mother's tendency toward anxiety and with the effect of the infant's crying on others, infant feeding, other family members in the same residence, free time, emotions when hearing the infant crying, and feelings of depression.Conclusion:  The emergence of these three high‐scoring items show promise for the further refinement of this multidimensional approach to understanding the range of responses experienced by mothers with HR infants. The results are useful for understanding the psychological tendencies of mothers with HR infants and, possibly, in the future might aid in the screening of mothers for those attributes.
COE Final Report: Chiba University
Authors: ISHIGAKI Kazuko , MOCHIZUKI Yuki , MASAKI Harue , MIYAZAKI Misako 
Published: November 2008

AbstractBackground:  The Center of Excellence (COE) program for the Creation and Dissemination of a New Japanese Nursing Science at the Chiba University School of Nursing aims to develop nursing science that is appropriate for Japanese culture and to internationally disseminate the importance of culturally based care. The object of this culturally appropriate nursing is not only clients/families but also nurses themselves, because although the cultural aspect of a nurse is tacit, it has deep influence on nursing care.Method:  We organized our research subprojects from the viewpoint of “Interpersonal Helping,” which is different from the former approach of nursing, and we conducted research study on these subprojects. We conducted our research studies to clarify culturally appropriate nursing by the qualitative meta‐synthesis method. We performed international comparative research study on culturally appropriate nursing and conducted international conferences to elaborate and disseminate our outcomes.Results:  Fourteen outcomes of meta‐synthesis studies have already been published until now, and more than 200 primary research studies have been conducted. We developed mainly 2 education programs and adopted them practically. From the inductive analysis of all our primary researches, we derived 4 viewpoints that clarify cultural aspect in nursing. The Cultural Nursing Society was established in 2007.Conclusions:  We finally named this culturally appropriate nursing which respected the difference of individual culture “Cultural Nursing”. The importance of Cultural Nursing will further increase in the near future. We plan to establish and systematize this Cultural Nursing Science, which is based on the outcome of our program, and enroll researchers and nurses who have the ability to study and practice Cultural Nursing from both interdisciplinary and international aspects.
Five years activities of St. Luke's College of Nursing 21st Century COE program: Creation of People‐Centered Care
Authors: KOMATSU Hiroko 
Published: November 2008

AbstractAim:  Through the St. Luke's College of Nursing 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program, we also aim to develop and serve as a center for Nursing for People‐Centered Initiatives in Healthcare and Health Promotion, which creates innovative ways of health care chiefly using partnerships and collaboration with people.Methods:  Under the direct supervision of the president of St. Luke's College on Nursing, the program leader and COE Committee work together to ensure systematic coordination and control over research projects.Results:  People‐centered initiatives in healthcare and health promotion have given efficient feedback of tacit knowing, gained from people's innate experience encompassing birth, aging, illness, and death, following collaborative research with care consumers. By applying such knowledge to nursing care, the initiatives could be theorized and verified as the formation of a healthy community in which limited medical resources efficiently circulate. The development of this practical theory marked a milestone, producing a paradigm shift in medical care from the “product‐out” to “market‐in” approach, the results of which led to worldwide collaborative research. Collaboration through the global network of our WHO center was also enhanced, facilitating diverse international collaborative projects. As a result, research and education programs involving the exchange of novice researchers and graduate students have been encouraged.Conclusions:  Through our five‐year research activities, people‐centered care has come to characterize itself as a combined, cooperative care that promotes systematic service in a comprehensive manner to meet the needs of consumers.
Role of GA3, GA4 and Uniconazole‐P in Controlling Gravitropism and Tension Wood Formation in Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr. var. japonica Maxim. Seedlings
Authors: Jiang Sha , Xu Ke , Wang Yong‐Zhou , Ren Yan‐Ping , Gu Song 
Published: November 2008

Abstract GA3 and GA4 (gibberellins) play an important role in controlling gravitropism and tension wood formation in woody angiosperms. In order to improve our understanding of the role of GA3 and GA4 on xylem cell formation and the G‐layer, we studied the effect of GA3 and GA4 and uniconazole‐P, which is an inhibitor of GA biosynthesis, on tension wood formation by gravity in Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr. var. japonica Maxim. seedlings. Forty seedlings were divided into two groups; one group was placed upright and the other tilted. Each group was further divided into four sub‐groups subjected to the following treatments: 3.43 × 10−9 μmol acetone as control, 5.78 × 10−8 μmol gibberellic acid (GA3), 6.21 × 10−8 μmol GA4, and 6.86 × 10−8 μmol uniconazole‐P. During the experimental period, GAs‐treated seedlings exhibited negative gravitropism, whereas application of uniconazole‐P inhibited negative gravitropic stem bending. GA3 and GA4 promoted wood fibers that possessed a gelatinous layer on the upper side, whereas uniconazole‐P inhibited wood formation but did not inhibit the differentiation of the gelatinous layer in wood fibers on the upper side. These results suggest that: (i) both the formation of gelatinous fibers and the quantity of xylem production are important for the negative gravitropism in horizontally‐positioned seedlings; (ii) GA3 and GA4 affect wood production more than differentiation of the gelatinous layer in wood fibers; G‐layer development may be regulated by other hormones via the indirect‐role of GA3 and GA4 in horizontally‐positioned F. mandshurica seedlings rather than the direct effect of GAs; and (iii) the mechanism for upward wood stem bending is different to the newly developed shoot bending in reaction to gravity in this species.
Synergistic Action between Jasmonic Acid and Nitric Oxide in Inducing Matrine Accumulation of Sophora flavescens Suspension Cells
Authors: Xu Mao‐Jun , Dong Ju‐Fang 
Published: November 2008

Abstract Secondary metabolites not only play important ecological roles in plants but also are important pharmaceutical and source compounds for derivative synthesis. Production of plant secondary metabolites is believed to be controlled by the endogenous signal network of plants. However, the molecular basis is still largely unknown. Here we show that matrine production of Sophora flavescens Ait. cells treated with low levels of jasmonic acid (JA) and nitric oxide (NO) is significantly increased although treatment with low concentrations of JA or NO alone has no effects on matrine production, showing that JA and NO may act synergistically in triggering matrine production. Moreover, treatment with NO triggers lipoxygenase (LOX) activity and enhances JA levels of the cells, showing that NO may activate the endogenous JA biosynthesis of S. flavescens cells. External application of JA induces nitric oxide synthase‐like activities and stimulates NO generation of S. flavescens cells, which suggests that JA may trigger NO generation of the cells. Thus, the results reveal a mutually amplifying reaction between JA and NO in S. flavescens cells. Furthermore, JA and NO inhibitors suppress not only the mutually amplifying reaction between JA and NO but also the synergistic effects of NO and JA on matrine production. Therefore, the data demonstrate that the synergistic action of JA and NO in inducing matrine production might be due to the mutually amplifying reaction between JA and NO in the cells.