bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Novel uses for anti‐platelet agents as anti‐inflammatory drugs
Authors: Pitchford S C 
Published: July 2007

An alteration in the character and function of platelets is manifested in patients with inflammatory diseases, and these alterations have been dissociated from the well‐characterized involvement of platelets in thrombosis and haemostasis. Recent evidence reveals platelet activation is sometimes critical in the development of inflammation. The mechanisms by which platelets participate in inflammation are diverse, and offer numerous opportunities for future drug intervention. There is now acceptance that platelets act as innate inflammatory cells in immune responses, with roles as sentinel cells undergoing surveillance, responding to microbial invasion, orchestrating leukocyte recruitment, and migrating through tissue, causing damage and influencing repair processes in chronic disease. Some of these processes are targeted by drugs that are being developed to target platelet participation in atherosclerosis. The actions of platelets therefore influence the pathogenesis of diverse inflammatory diseases in various body compartments, encompassing parasitic and bacterial infection, allergic inflammation (especially asthma and rhinitis), and non‐atopic inflammatory conditions, for example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and atherosclerosis. This review will first discuss the evidence for platelet activation in these various inflammatory diseases, and secondly discuss the mechanisms by which this pathogenesis occurs and the various anti‐platelet agents which have been developed to combat platelet activation in atherosclerosis and their potential future use for the treatment of other inflammatory diseases.British Journal of Pharmacology(2007)152, 987–1002; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707364; published online 2 July 2007
Myosin light chain kinase‐independent inhibition by ML‐9 of murine TRPC6 channels expressed in HEK293 cells
Authors: Shi J , Takahashi S , Jin X‐H , Li Y‐Q , Ito Y , Mori Y , Inoue R 
Published: July 2007

Background and purpose:Myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) plays a pivotal role in regulation of cellular functions, the evidence often relying on the effects of extracelluarly administered drugs such as ML‐9. Here we report that this compound exerts non‐specific inhibitory actions on the TRPC6 channel, a transient receptor potential (TRP) protein.Experimental approach:Macroscopic and single channel currents were recorded from transfected HEK293 cells by patch‐clamp techniques.Key results:Cationic currents elicited by carbachol (CCh; 100 μM) in HEK293 cells overexpressing murine TRPC6 (ITRPC6) were dose‐dependently inhibited by externally applied ML‐9 (IC50=7.8 μM). This inhibition was voltage‐dependent and occurred as fast as external Na+ removal. Another MLCK inhibitor, wortmannin (3 μM), and MLCK inhibitory peptides MLCK‐IP11‐19 (10 μM) and ‐IP480‐501 (1 μM) showed little effects on ITRPC6 density and the inhibitory efficacy of ML‐9. The extent of the inhibition also unchanged with co‐expression of wild‐type or a dominant negative mutant of MLCK. Inhibitory effects of ML‐9 on ITRPC6 remained unaffected whether TRPC6 was activated constitutively or by a diacylglycerol analogue OAG (100 μM). Similar rapid inhibition was also observed with a ML‐9 relative, ML‐7. Intracellular perfusion of ML‐9 via patch pipette, dose‐dependently suppressed ITRPC6. In inside‐out patch configuration, bath application of ML‐9 (and ML‐7) rapidly diminished ∼35pS single TRPC6 channel activities. Contrarily, currents due to TRPC7 expression were rapidly enhanced by externally applied ML‐9 and ML‐7, which was not prevented by MLCK inhibitory peptides.Conclusion and implications:These results strongly suggest that ML compounds inhibit TRPC6 channels via a mechanism independent of inhibition of MLCK activity.British Journal of Pharmacology (2007) 152, 122–131; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707368
T7-Based RNA Amplification for Genotyping from Maize Shoot Apical Meristem
Authors: Ohtsu Kazuhiro , Schnable Patrick S. 
Published: July 2007

INTRODUCTIONThe use of RNA for genotyping analysis can be advantageous because transcriptomes are significantly smaller than genomes and typically contain far fewer repetitive sequences. Laser capture microdissection (LCM) has been used successfully to isolate sequences (especially rare transcripts) that accumulate in specific tissues. The amount of RNA collected in a standard microdissection is often insufficient for global gene expression analysis but can be increased via linear amplification. Upon conversion to cDNA, the product serves as template for 454 sequencing to produce expressed sequence tags for subsequent SNP analysis and detection. This protocol describes how to amplify RNA extracted from laser-dissected and captured tissues and cells.
In Vivo Electroporation of Neurons
Authors: Price Stephen R. 
Published: July 2007

INTRODUCTIONThis protocol describes the electroporation of DNA constructs to drive in vivo gene expression in neurons during early chick development. Electroporation is a method of physically introducing DNA constructs into cells through the application of an electric field. This simple method is important as it allows the ectopic expression of transgenes with relative ease in most neurons.
Using a FASTA Sequence Database Similarity Search
Authors: Mount David W. 
Published: July 2007

INTRODUCTIONFASTA is a program for rapid alignment of pairs of protein and DNA sequences. Rather than comparing individual residues in the two sequences, FASTA searches for matching sequence patterns or words, calledk-tuples. These patterns comprisekconsecutive matches of letters in both sequences. The program then attempts to build a local alignment based on these word matches. Due to the ability of the algorithm to find matching sequences in a sequence database with high speed, FASTA is useful for routine database searches of this type. Comparable methods are the BLAST program, which is faster than FASTA, is of comparable sensitivity for protein queries, and also does DNA searches, and programs that use the Smith-Waterman dynamic programming algorithm for protein and DNA searches, which are slower but more sensitive when full-length protein sequences are used as queries.
The iteration method for downward continuation of a potential field from a horizontal plane
Authors: Xu Shi‐zhe , Yang Jinyu , Yang Changfu , Xiao Pengfei , Chen Shengchang , Guo Zhihong 
Published: July 2007

ABSTRACTThis paper introduces an iteration method for the downward continuation of potential‐field data from a horizontal plane, and compares it with the conventional frequency‐domain method (Fourier transform) using 2D and 3D model tests. The paper evaluates the two methods in terms of the results, i.e. downward‐continuation distance and stability. The iteration method proves to be more stable and able to downward continue the potential for a greater distance than the Fourier transform method.
Developing cultural sensitivity: nursing students’ experiences of a study abroad programme
Authors: Ruddock Heidi C. , Turner De Sales 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTitle.  Developing cultural sensitivity: nursing students’ experiences of a study abroad programme Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to explore whether having an international learning experience as part of a nursing education programme promoted cultural sensitivity in nursing students.Background.  Many countries are becoming culturally diverse, but healthcare systems and nursing education often remain mono‐cultural and focused on the norms and needs of the majority culture. To meet the needs of all members of multicultural societies, nurses need to develop cultural sensitivity and incorporate this into caregiving.Method.  A Gadamerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach was adopted. Data were collected in 2004 by using in‐depth conversational interviews and analysed using the Turner method.Findings.  Developing cultural sensitivity involves a complex interplay between becoming comfortable with the experience of making a transition from one culture to another, making adjustments to cultural differences, and growing personally. Central to this process was the students’ experience of studying in an unfamiliar environment, experiencing stress and varying degrees of culture shock, and making a decision to take on the ways of the host culture. These actions led to an understanding that being sensitive to another culture required being open to its dynamics, acknowledging social and political structures, and incorporating other people's beliefs about health and illness.Conclusion.  The findings suggest that study abroad is a useful strategy for bridging the theory–practice divide. However, further research is needed with larger and more diverse students to test the generalizability of the findings. Longitudinal research is also needed to assess the impact of study abroad programmes on the deliver of culturally sensitive care.
Assessing psychometric properties of scales: a case study
Authors: Marshall Andrea P. , Fisher Murray J. , Brammer Jillian , Eustace Paula , Grech Carol , Jones Bronwyn , Kelly Michelle 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTitle.  Assessing psychometric properties of scales: a case study Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to examine the construct validity of The Nursing Students’ Attitudes and Awareness of Research and Development within Nursing Scale.Background.  The validity of instruments is critical in ensuring that data collected are sound and that the data measures what it purports to measure. When a new instrument is used in a different population or when it has been modified, it is useful to re‐examine the construct validity of the instrument.Method.  A survey design was used in September 2004 with a sample of 615 undergraduate nursing students to test the factor structure of The Nursing Students’ Attitudes and Awareness of Research and Development within Nursing Scale and to estimate its similarity to the factor structure reported for the original scale developed and tested in a group of Registered Nurses.Results.  Using Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis and then Principal Axis Factoring, we were unable to obtain a similar factor structure to that originally identified for the scale. Our data resulted in a two‐factor structure. One factor consisted of 16 items that reflected a positive attitude to nursing research and the other consisted of 14 items that reflected a negative attitude to nursing research.Conclusion.  The substantially different factor structure identified suggests that this scale requires further refinement and testing. This case study highlights the importance of a systematic and comprehensive approach to determining construct validity of scales, thus enabling researchers to determine their suitability as data collection instruments.
Living with leg ulceration: a synthesis of qualitative research
Authors: Briggs Michelle , Flemming Kate 
Published: July 2007

AbstractTitle.  Living with leg ulceration: a synthesis of qualitative research Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to identify and synthesize all published qualitative research studies exploring patients’ experiences of living with a leg ulcer.Background.  Leg ulceration is a common chronic condition with over 40% of patients having open ulceration for over a year. Leg ulceration can have a significant and detrimental effect on a persons’ life.Data sources.  Electronic searches of Ovid MEDLINE (R) (1966–2005), CINAHL (1982–2005), EMBASE (1980–2005), British Nursing Index (1985–2005), ASSIA, Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and PsychINFO (1985–2005) were carried out in June 2005.Review methods.  Studies were included if: they described experience of living with a leg ulcer, e.g. phenomenological studies, grounded theory, descriptive, focus groups or interview studies; included adults with chronic leg ulceration (venous, mixed or arterial); published in English. Analysis was undertaken using the Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument software for synthesis of qualitative research.Results.  Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. There were eight phenomenological studies, two using grounded theory and two ‘descriptive studies’. The location of the research was United Kingdom (7), United States of America (2), Sweden (1), Australia (1). Five common themes related to the experience of living with leg ulceration were identified: Physical effects of leg ulceration; Describing the leg ulcer journey; Patient–professional relationships; Cost of a leg ulcer; Psychological impact.Conclusion.  Leg ulceration should be viewed as a chronic, debilitating condition. The clinical focus of care should be symptom management through the ‘leg ulcer journey’.
Utilisation of prenatal services and birth outcomes: a community‐based study in Israel
Authors: Shoham‐Vardi Ilana , Levy Esther , Belmaker Iiana , Mazor Moshe , Goldstein David 
Published: July 2007

SummaryThe purpose of this paper was to assess several measures of utilisation of prenatal care as predictors of birth outcome in a community where the availability and quality of services were equal for all pregnant women. A case‐control study was conducted in a small community in Israel, comparing 189 women whose pregnancy resulted in an unfavourable outcome (perinatal mortality, preterm birth and low birthweight at term) with 384 women, matched by birth order, who had a live, full‐term infant weighing 2500 g or more. In a multivariable analysis, adjusting for pregnancy complications, maternal age, parity and socio‐economic disadvantage, gestational age at initiation of prenatal care was not an independent predictor of unfavourable outcome; neither was lower than the recommended number of visits for the period under care. However, a higher than expected number of visits was associated with unfavourable outcome [odds ratio (OR)=6.10, 95% CI 2.09–17.78], as was non‐compliance with medical recommendations [OR=2.02, 95% CI 1.24–3.29. The context of prenatal care delivery, as well as the process of care and compliance with recommendations, should be assessed in order to determine the impact of prenatal care on birth outcomes.
The organisation of a national survey for evaluating child psychomotor development in Argentina
Authors: Lejarraga Horacio , Krupitzky Sara , Gimenez Eduardo , Diament Nora , Kelmansky Diana , Tibaldi Fabián , Cameron Noel 
Published: July 2007

SummaryA total of 211 selected paediatricians were invited to participate in a national survey designed to evaluate the age of attainment of developmental milestones in children aged 0–5 years. Following a pilot study and a cascade training design, 61.1% of the paediatricians successfully completed the data collection on 139 developmental items. In the pilot study, there were more missing (not performed) items in children over one year of age, thus confirming the impression that paediatricians are more familiar with evaluating development in infants. However, in the age range 1–5 years, there were significantly fewer missing items in the gross motor area than in the other areas. Following a training programme and data editing and cleaning, a final sample of 3573 healthy, normal children was obtained. The impact of the training process was significant, in the sense that 3.5% of the items in children older than one year were not performed by the paediatricians before training, but this percentage was reduced to 1.9% after training (P < 0.01). The sample formed 0.11% of the national population less than 6 years of age and included a sex ratio of 1.01 compared with a national ratio of 1.02. There were no significant differences in the geographical distribution of the sample in comparison with that of the national population. The social composition, assessed by maternal education level, was biased towards a better education level than the national population. Mean Z‐scores for height and weight were not significantly different from zero, when calculated on the basis of the national growth standards. In addition to successfully obtaining a representative sample for the analysis of the age of attainment of developmental milestones in Argentinian children, the survey also accomplished an educational objective in the training of paediatricians in developmental paediatrics.
Viral infection enables phloem loading of GFP and long‐distance trafficking of the protein
Authors: Peleg Gadi , Malter Dikla , Wolf Shmuel 
Published: July 2007

SummaryIt is generally accepted that viral systemic infection follows the source‐to‐sink symplastic pathway of sugar translocation. In plants that are classified as apoplastic loaders, the boundary between the companion cell–sieve element (CC–SE) complex and neighboring cells is symplastically restricted, and the potential passage of macromolecules between the two domains has yet to be explored. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing green fluorescence protein (GFP) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)‐encoded proteins fused to GFP under the control of the fructose‐1,6‐bisphosphatase (FBPase) promoter were produced in order to localize the encoded proteins in mesophyll and bundle sheath cells and to explore the influence of viral infection on the functioning of plasmodesmata interconnecting the two domains. GFP produced outside the vascular tissue could overcome the symplastic barrier between the CC–SE complex and the surrounding cells to enter the vasculature in CMV‐infected plants. Grafting of control (non‐transgenic) tobacco scions to CMV‐infected FBPase‐GFP‐expressing root stocks confirmed that GFP could move long distances in the phloem. No movement of the gfp mRNA was noticeable in this set of experiments. The ability of GFP to enter the vasculature and move long distances was also evident upon infection of the grafting plants with other viruses. These results provide experimental evidence for alteration of the functioning of plasmodesmata interconnecting the CC–SE complex and neighboring cells by viral infection to enable non‐selective trafficking of macromolecules from the mesophyll into the sieve tube.
Identification of genes expressed in the Arabidopsis female gametophyte
Authors: Steffen Joshua G. , Kang Il‐Ho , Macfarlane Jane , Drews Gary N. 
Published: July 2007

SummaryThe angiosperm female gametophyte typically consists of one egg cell, two synergid cells, one central cell, and three antipodal cells. Each of these four cell types has unique structural features and performs unique functions that are essential for the reproductive process. The gene regulatory networks conferring these four phenotypic states are largely uncharacterized. As a first step towards dissecting the gene regulatory networks of the female gametophyte, we have identified a large collection of genes expressed in specific cells of the Arabidopsis thaliana female gametophyte. We identified these genes using a differential expression screen based on reduced expression in determinant infertile1 (dif1) ovules, which lack female gametophytes. We hybridized ovule RNA probes with Affymetrix ATH1 genome arrays and validated the identified genes using real‐time RT‐PCR. These assays identified 71 genes exhibiting reduced expression in dif1 ovules. We further validated 45 of these genes using promoter::GFP fusions and 43 were expressed in the female gametophyte. In the context of the ovule, 11 genes were expressed exclusively in the antipodal cells, 11 genes were expressed exclusively or predominantly in the central cell, 17 genes were expressed exclusively or predominantly in the synergid cells, one gene was expressed exclusively in the egg cell, and three genes were expressed strongly in multiple cells of the female gametophyte. These genes provide insights into the molecular processes functioning in the female gametophyte and can be used as starting points to dissect the gene regulatory networks functioning during differentiation of the four female gametophyte cell types.
Tuning the herbivore‐induced ethylene burst: the role of transcript accumulation and ethylene perception in Nicotiana attenuata
Authors: von Dahl Caroline C. , Winz Robert A. , Halitschke Rayko , Kühnemann Frank , Gase Klaus , Baldwin Ian T. 
Published: July 2007

SummaryCaterpillar‐induced ethylene emissions play an important role in plant–herbivore interactions. The ethylene burst that ensues after attack exceeds wound‐induced ethylene emissions, but the mechanisms responsible remain unknown. Adding larval oral secretions (OS) to wounds mimics this ethylene burst. We demonstrate that fatty acid–amino acid conjugates are the responsible elicitors in Manduca sexta OS, and identify genes that are important in OS‐elicited ethylene biosynthesis and perception in the larvae’s host, Nicotiana attenuata, by examining the consequences of gene silencing on OS‐elicited ethylene emissions, as quantified by photo‐acoustic spectroscopy. OS elicitation increased transcript accumulation of ACC synthase (ACS), virus‐induced gene silencing of ACS halved the OS‐elicited ethylene release, and ACC supplementation to ACS‐silenced plants restored ethylene emissions, demonstrating that ACS activity limits the rate of release. Silencing three wound‐ or OS‐elicited ACC oxidase (ACO) genes with an ACO consensus fragment abolished the OS‐elicited ethylene release. Virus‐induced gene silencing of each ACO individually revealed that only NaACO2a and NaACO3 regulate the OS‐elicited ethylene release. Transforming plants with various etr1‐1 constructs rendered them differentially ‘deaf’ to ethylene, and dramatically increased the OS‐elicited ethylene burst, largely without regulating the transcripts of biosynthetic genes. The volume of the OS‐elicited ethylene ‘scream’ was proportional to the plant’s deafness, as determined by 1‐MCP treatments. We conclude that the OS‐elicited ethylene burst is tuned by a tag‐team of transcriptional responses and ethylene perception. Ethylene signaling is shown to be essential in regulating two traits that are important in the N. attenuata–M. sexta interaction: OS‐induced nicotine levels and floral longevity.