bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Analysis of adequacy levels for human resources improvement within primary health care framework in Africa
Authors: Parent Florence , Fromageot Audrey , Coppieters Yves , Lejeune Colette , Lemenu Dominique , Garant Michèle , Piette Danielle , Levêque Alain , De Ketele Jean-Marie 
Published: December 2005

Abstract
Human resources in health care system in sub-Saharan Africa are generally picturing a lack of adequacy between expected skills from the professionals and health care needs expressed by the populations. It is, however, possible to analyse these various lacks of adequacy related to human resource management and their determinants to enhance the effectiveness of the health care system. From two projects focused on nurse professionals within the health care system in Central Africa, we present an analytic grid for adequacy levels looking into the following aspects:
- adequacy between skills-based profiles for health system professionals, quality of care and service delivery (health care system /medical standards), needs and expectations from the populations,
- adequacy between allocation of health system professionals, quality of care and services delivered (health care system /medical standards), needs and expectations from the populations,
- adequacy between human resource management within health care system and medical standards,
- adequacy between human resource management within education/teaching/training and needs from health care system and education sectors,
- adequacy between basic and on-going education and realities of tasks expected and implemented by different categories of professionals within the health care system body,
- adequacy between intentions for initial and on-going trainings and teaching programs in health sciences for trainers (teachers/supervisors/health care system professionals/ directors (teaching managers) of schools...).
This tool is necessary for decision-makers as well as for health care system professionals who share common objectives for changes at each level of intervention within the health system. Setting this adequacy implies interdisciplinary and participative approaches for concerned actors in order to provide an overall vision of a more broaden system than health district, small island with self-rationality, and in which they operate.
Control of hyperuricemia in subjects with refractory gout, and induction of antibody against poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), in a phase I trial of subcutaneous PEGylated urate oxidase
Authors: Ganson Nancy J , Kelly Susan J , Scarlett Edna , Sundy John S , Hershfield Michael S 
Published: December 2005

AbstractPEG-modified recombinant mammalian urate oxidase (PEG-uricase) is being developed as a treatment for patients with chronic gout who are intolerant of, or refractory to, available therapy for controlling hyperuricemia. In an open-label phase I trial, single subcutaneous injections of PEG-uricase (4 to 24 mg) were administered to 13 such subjects (11 had tophaceous gout), whose plasma uric acid concentration (pUAc) was 11.3 ± 2.1 mg/dl (mean ± SD). By day seven after injection of PEG-uricase, pUAc had declined by an average of 7.9 mg/dl and had normalized in 11 subjects, whose mean pUAc decreased to 2.8 ± 2.2 mg/dl. At doses of 8, 12, and 24 mg, the mean pUAc at 21 days after injection remained no more than 6 mg/dl. In eight subjects, plasma uricase activity was still measurable at 21 days after injection (half-life 10.5 to 19.9 days). In the other five subjects, plasma uricase activity could not be detected beyond ten days after injection; this was associated with the appearance of relatively low-titer IgM and IgG antibodies against PEG-uricase. Unexpectedly, these antibodies were directed against PEG itself rather than the uricase protein. Three PEG antibody-positive subjects had injection-site reactions at 8 to 9 days after injection. Gout flares in six subjects were the only other significant adverse reactions, and PEG-uricase was otherwise well tolerated. A prolonged circulating life and the ability to normalize plasma uric acid in markedly hyperuricemic subjects suggest that PEG-uricase could be effective in depleting expanded tissue stores of uric acid in subjects with chronic or tophaceous gout. The development of anti-PEG antibodies, which may limit efficacy in some patients, is contrary to the general assumption that PEG is non-immunogenic. PEG immunogenicity deserves further investigation, because it has potential implications for other PEGylated therapeutic agents in clinical use.
Heterogeneity of psychophysiological stress responses in fibromyalgia syndrome patients
Authors: Thieme Kati , Turk Dennis C 
Published: December 2005

AbstractDysregulated psychophysiological responses have been observed in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), although the results are inconsistent. Surface electromyographic (EMG), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and skin conductance levels (SCLs) were continuously recorded at baseline, and during a series of stress and relaxation tasks in 90 FMS patients and 30 age and sex matched healthy controls (HCs). The patient sample demonstrated lower baseline EMG levels compared to the HCs on all tasks. In contrast, the patients displayed elevated HR and SCL (sympathetic vasomotor and sudomotor indices, respectively) during both stress tasks. A cluster analysis identified four psychophysiological response patterns: 63.3% of HCs showed increased muscle tension and stable cardiovascular responses; 34.8% of FMS patients showed a pattern of increased sympathetic vasomotor reactivity with stable sudomotor and reduced muscular response; 12.2% of FMS patients showed a pattern of increased sympathetic sudomotor reactivity connected with increased sympathetic vasomotor response and reduced muscular response; and, in contrast, 46.7% of FMS patients showed a pattern of parasympathetic vasomotor reactivity and reduced sudomotor as well as muscular response. The identification of low baseline muscle tension in FMS is discrepant with other chronic pain syndromes and suggests that unique psychophysiological features may be associated with FMS. The different psychophysiological response patterns within the patient sample support the heterogeneity of FMS.
The design of transcription-factor binding sites is affected by combinatorial regulation
Authors: Bilu Yonatan , Barkai Naama 
Published: December 2005

Abstract
Background
Transcription factors regulate gene expression by binding to specific cis-regulatory elements in gene promoters. Although DNA sequences that serve as transcription-factor binding sites have been characterized and associated with the regulation of numerous genes, the principles that govern the design and evolution of such sites are poorly understood.

Results
Using the comprehensive mapping of binding-site locations available in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we examined possible factors that may have an impact on binding-site design. We found that binding sites tend to be shorter and fuzzier when they appear in promoter regions that bind multiple transcription factors. We further found that essential genes bind relatively fewer transcription factors, as do divergent promoters. We provide evidence that novel binding sites tend to appear in specific promoters that are already associated with multiple sites.

Conclusion
Two principal models may account for the observed correlations. First, it may be that the interaction between multiple factors compensates for the decreased specificity of each specific binding sequence. In such a scenario, binding-site fuzziness is a consequence of the presence of multiple binding sites. Second, binding sites may tend to appear in promoter regions that are subject to low selective pressure, which also allows for fuzzier motifs. The latter possibility may account for the relatively low number of binding sites found in promoters of essential genes and in divergent promoters.
The discovery, positioning and verification of a set of transcription-associated motifs in vertebrates
Authors: Ettwiller Laurence , Paten Benedict , Souren Marcel , Loosli Felix , Wittbrodt Jochen , Birney Ewan 
Published: December 2005

AbstractWe have developed several new methods to investigate transcriptional motifs in vertebrates. We developed a specific alignment tool appropriate for regions involved in transcription control, and exhaustively enumerated all possible 12-mers for involvement in transcription by virtue of their mammalian conservation. We then used deeper comparative analysis across vertebrates to identify the active instances of these motifs. We have shown experimentally in Medaka fish that a subset of these predictions is involved in transcription.
A low-cost open-source SNP genotyping platform for association mapping applications
Authors: Macdonald Stuart J , Pastinen Tomi , Genissel Anne , Cornforth Theodore W , Long Anthony D 
Published: December 2005

AbstractAssociation mapping aimed at identifying DNA polymorphisms that contribute to variation in complex traits entails genotyping a large number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a very large panel of individuals. Few technologies, however, provide inexpensive high-throughput genotyping. Here, we present an efficient approach developed specifically for genotyping large fixed panels of diploid individuals. The cost-effective, open-source nature of our methodology may make it particularly attractive to those working in nonmodel systems.
Ulysses - an application for the projection of molecular interactions across species
Authors: Kemmer Danielle , Huang Yong , Shah Sohrab P , Lim Jonathan , Brumm Jochen , Yuen Macaire MS , Ling John , Xu Tao , Wasserman Wyeth W , Ouellette BF Francis 
Published: December 2005

AbstractWe developed Ulysses as a user-oriented system that uses a process called Interolog Analysis for the parallel analysis and display of protein interactions detected in various species. Ulysses was designed to perform such Interolog Analysis by the projection of model organism interaction data onto homologous human proteins, and thus serves as an accelerator for the analysis of uncharacterized human proteins. The relevance of projections was assessed and validated against published reference collections. All source code is freely available, and the Ulysses system can be accessed via a web interface http://www.cisreg.ca/ulysses.
A test of mouth-opening and hyoid-depression mechanisms during prey capture in a catfish using high-speed cineradiography
Authors: Van Wassenbergh Sam , Herrel Anthony , Adriaens Dominique , Aerts Peter 
Published: December 2005

SUMMARYDetailed morphological analyses have identified a number of different mechanical pathways by which the morphologically complex cranial system of fishes can achieve mouth opening and hyoid depression. However, many of these proposed mechanisms remain untested. Furthermore, very little is known about the precise timing of activity of each of these mechanisms, and about the magnitude of each mechanism's total contribution to its proposed function. In the present study, all mouth opening and hyoid depression mechanisms described for Clarias gariepinus, an air-breathing catfish, are analysed. High-speed X-ray videos were recorded during prey capture of three catfish implanted with small, radio-opaque markers in the cranial elements potentially involved. A kinematic analysis was performed from which data were used as input in planar four-bar models. This analysis shows that the opercular mouth-opening mechanism initiates mouth opening, but is not able to cause the complete mouth openings as observed on the X-ray videos. The latter is accomplished through the protractor hyoidei muscles, which couple hyoid depression to lower jaw depression in a four-bar system and also reinforce lower jaw depression by shortening during the final stage of mouth opening. Although the angulo-ceratohyal ligament was previously hypothesised to play a part in mouth opening, our results show that it probably does not, but rather functions as a hyoid-elevator during mouth closure. Finally, hyoid depression is exclusively achieved by the four-bar mechanism involving neurocranial elevation and pectoral girdle retraction, generally without any reinforcement by shortening of the sternohyoideus muscle. In contrast to the results from a recent analysis on sunfish, the catfish's sternohyoideus gradually elongates during hyoid depression.
Honeybee (Apis mellifera) vision can discriminate between and recognise images of human faces
Authors: Dyer Adrian G. , Neumeyer Christa , Chittka Lars 
Published: December 2005

SUMMARYRecognising individuals using facial cues is an important ability. There is evidence that the mammalian brain may have specialised neural circuitry for face recognition tasks, although some recent work questions these findings. Thus, to understand if recognising human faces does require species-specific neural processing, it is important to know if non-human animals might be able to solve this difficult spatial task. Honeybees (Apis mellifera) were tested to evaluate whether an animal with no evolutionary history for discriminating between humanoid faces may be able to learn this task. Using differential conditioning, individual bees were trained to visit target face stimuli and to avoid similar distractor stimuli from a standard face recognition test used in human psychology. Performance was evaluated in non-rewarded trials and bees discriminated the target face from a similar distractor with greater than 80% accuracy. When novel distractors were used,bees also demonstrated a high level of choices for the target face, indicating an ability for face recognition. When the stimuli were rotated by 180°there was a large drop in performance, indicating a possible disruption to configural type visual processing.
Long-lasting potassium channel inactivation in myoepithelial fibres is related to characteristics of swimming in diphyid siphonophores
Authors: Inoue Isao , Tsutsui Izuo , Bone Quentin 
Published: December 2005

SUMMARYDiphyid siphonophores swim using bursts of propulsive jets, which are produced by contractions of a monolayer of subumbrellar myoepithelial fibres lining the nectophore. This swimming behaviour is characterised by successive increases in the force generating the jets during the initial jets of the burst. Action potentials that generate the contractions propagate throughout the myoepithelial layer: both their amplitude and duration successively increase during the first part of the burst. To investigate the ionic mechanism of this action potential augmentation, single myoepithelial cells were enzymatically dissociated and whole-cell voltage clamped. Na+,Ca2+ and K+ currents were recorded under different internal and external salt compositions. The Na+ current was blocked by a relatively high concentration (4 μmol l–1 or higher) of tetrodotoxin (TTX), indicating that the Na+ channel belongs to a group of TTX-resistant Na+ channels. The Ca2+ current was blocked by nifedipine (10 μmol l–1) and Co2+ (5 mmol l–1),indicating that the Ca2+ channel is L-type. The K+current possessed a unique property of long-lasting inactivation. The K+ current fully inactivated during a depolarisation to +30 mV with a time-constant of ∼9 ms, and the time constant of recovery from inactivation at –70 mV was 13.2 s. This long-lasting inactivation of the K+ channel was the major factor in the augmentation of both action potentials and contractions of the myoepithelial sheet during the initial part of the burst.
Physiologically adaptive changes of the L5 afferent neurogram and of the rat soleus EMG activity during 14 days of hindlimb unloading and recovery
Authors: De-Doncker L. , Kasri M. , Picquet F. , Falempin M. 
Published: December 2005

SUMMARYThe hindlimb unloading rat model (HU, Morey's model) is usually used to mimic and study neuromuscular changes that develop during spaceflights. This Earth-based model of microgravity induces a muscular atrophy of the slow postural muscle of hindlimbs, such as the soleus, a loss of strength,modifications of contraction kinetics, changes in histochemical and electrophoretical profiles and modifications of the tonic EMG activity. It has been suggested in the literature that some of these neuromuscular effects were due to a reduction of afferent feedback during HU. However, no direct data have confirmed this hypothesis. The aim of this study was to clearly establish if changes of the L5 afferent neurogram are closely related to the soleus EMG activity during and after 14 days of HU.Immediately after HU, the EMG activity of the soleus muscle disappeared and was associated with a decrease in the afferent neurogram. The soleus electromyographic and afferent activities remained lower than the pre-suspension levels until the sixth day of HU and were recovered between the sixth and the ninth day. On the twelfth and fourteenth days, they were increased beyond the pre-suspension levels. During the first recovery day,these activities were significantly higher than those on the fourteenth HU day and returned to the pre-suspension levels between the third and sixth recovery days.To conclude, our study directly demonstrates that the HU conditions cannot be considered as a functional deafferentation, as suggested in the literature,but only as a reduction of afferent information at the beginning of the HU period.
Composite structure of the crystalline epicuticular wax layer of the slippery zone in the pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata and its effect on insect attachment
Authors: Gorb E. , Haas K. , Henrich A. , Enders S. , Barbakadze N. , Gorb S. 
Published: December 2005

SUMMARY
The slippery zone situated below the peristome inside pitchers of most carnivorous plants from the genus Nepenthes is covered with a thick layer of epicuticular wax. This slippery zone is reported to play a crucial role in animal trapping and prey retention. In N. alata, the wax coverage consists of two clearly distinguished layers. These layers differ in their structure, chemical composition and mechanical properties, and they reduce the insect attachment in different ways. The lower layer resembles foam, composed of interconnected membraneous platelets protruding from the surface at acute angles. The upper layer consists of densely placed separate irregular platelets, located perpendicular to the subjacent layer. Crystals of the upper layer bear small stalks, directed downwards and providing connections to the lower layer. These morphological distinctions correlate with differences in the chemical composition of waxes. The compound classes of alkanes, aldehydes, primary alcohols, free fatty acids, esters and triterpenoids occurred in extracts from both wax layers, but in different proportions. Chain length distributions in aliphatics were different in extracts from the lower and the upper wax layers. Waxes of the upper and lower layers exhibited different mechanical properties: wax of the lower layer is harder and stiffer than that of the upper layer. Moreover, crystals of the upper layer are brittle and may be easily exfoliated or broken to tiny pieces. Laboratory experiments using tethered insects showed that both wax layers reduce the attachment force of insects. It is assumed that a decrease in insect attachment on the two distinct wax layers is provided by the two different mechanisms: (1) crystals of the upper wax layer contaminate insects'adhesive pads; (2) the lower wax layer leads to a reduction of the real contact area of insects' feet with the plant surface.
Long-term repeatability makes basal metabolic rate a likely heritable trait in the zebra finchTaeniopygia guttata
Authors: Rønning Bernt , Moe Børge , Bech Claus 
Published: December 2005

SUMMARYBasal metabolic rate (BMR) is a physiological trait believed to show adaptational changes. Few studies have tested whether BMR shows stable between-individual variations. Repeatability indicates that the trait might be heritable and therefore a possible target for natural selection. We tested whether BMR was repeatable over a considerable time of the lifespan of a small passerine bird: the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata. BMR was measured six times over a 2.5 year period in captive zebra finches. BMR residuals showed significant repeatabilities over a short (1.5 months) and a long (2.5 years) period for each sex as well as for both sexes pooled. In contrast to earlier studies on metabolism, our calculated repeatability (R) did not change significantly from the short to the long period in either males(R from 0.501 to 0.465), females (R from 0.413 to 0.522) or the pooled data (R from 0.571 to 0.567). Our results show that there are consistent between-individual variations in BMR on which natural selection can work, provided that this trait is heritable.
Testosterone has opposite effects on male growth in lizards(Sceloporusspp.) with opposite patterns of sexual size dimorphism
Authors: Cox Robert M. , John-Alder Henry B. 
Published: December 2005

SUMMARYSexual size dimorphism (SSD) has received considerable attention from evolutionary biologists, but relatively little is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying sex differences in growth that lead to SSD. Testosterone (T) stimulates growth in many male-larger vertebrates, but inhibits growth in the female-larger lizard Sceloporus undulatus. Thus, opposite patterns of SSD may develop in part because of underlying differences in the hormonal regulation of male growth. In the present study,we examined the effects of T on male growth in two sympatric congeners with opposite patterns of SSD (S. virgatus: female-larger; S. jarrovii: male-larger). During the mating season, yearling males of both species have higher plasma T levels than females, but whereas yearling males of S. virgatus grow only half as fast as females, yearling males of S. jarrovii grow more quickly than females. Thus, we hypothesized that T inhibits growth in yearling S. virgatus males, but promotes growth in yearling S. jarrovii males. In support of this hypothesis,we found that castrated (CAST) males of S. virgatus grew faster than castrated males given T implants (TEST). In contrast, TEST males of S. jarrovii grew faster than CAST males. Our results provide the first direct evidence for opposite effects of T on male growth in closely related species with opposite patterns of SSD. We speculate that growth inhibition by T reflects an energetic trade-off between growth and reproductive investment,and propose that such `costs' of male reproduction may help explain the evolution of female-larger SSD in Sceloporus.