bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Primary systemic Sjögren syndrome (SS) preceding systemic lupus erythematosus: a retrospective study of 4 cases in a cohort of 55 SS patients
Authors: Zufferey Pascal , Meyer Olivier C , Bourgeois Pierre , Vayssairat Michel , Kahn Marcel-Francis 
Published: November 2007

That SS and SLE can coexist is well established. The time relationship between the two diseases is however not well known. To determine whether SS can precede SLE, we reviewed the charts of 55 patients with SS diagnosed in our department between 1975 and 1985. All 55 patients fulfilled at least four of the six preliminary criteria for SS developed by the European Study Group for SS. At entry, none met four ARA criteria for SLE and none had anti-double-stranded DNA or anti-Sm antibodies. The mean follow-up was 12 years (range 8-18 years). Four of the 55 patients developed SLE (7.5%). High titres of anti-native DNA antibodies (> 35 IU RIA, normal < 7 IU) appeared in four patients (2-11 years after the diagnosis of SS). Two of these patients fulfilled at least four ARA criteria for SLE; two others had only three criteria. Two additional patients developed anti-Sm antibodies without anti-native DNA antibodies 1 and 10 years after the initial diagnosis of SS, respectively. Both patients fulfilled six ARA criteria for SLE. At entry, anti-SSA and/or anti-SSB antibodies were present in all six SS patients and persisted subsequently. The main clinical events suggesting progression to SLE were pleuropericarditis, glomerulonephritis and focal central nervous system disease. In conclusion, SS with extraglandular components can antedate SLE by many years. Anti-native- DNA and anti-Sm antibodies should be measured when atypical clinical manifestations occur in a patient with systemic SS.
Disease activity, cumulative damage and quality of life in systematic lupus erythematosus: results of a cross-sectional study
Authors: Hanly J.G. 
Published: November 2007

The relationship between disease activity, cumulative damage and self-reported quality of life was examined in 96 patients with Systematic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Disease activity was measured by the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) and cumulative damage by the Systematic Lupus International Cooperating Clinics/ACR damage index (DI). Quality of life was assessed by the Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form 20 (SF-20) self-report questionnaire which consists of six subscales. The study population was predominantly Caucasian (91 %) and female (90%). The mean (± s.d.) age was 42.0 ± 11.0 years and disease duration was 7.5 ± 5.5 years. SLEDAI scores varied from 0-28, with a mean (± s.d.) of 4.8 ± 5.2. The mean (± s.d.) DI score was 0.74 ± 1.06, with a range of 0-5. Subscales of the SF-20 varied from 0-100 and the range of mean (± s.d.) scores varied from 35.0 ± 42.2 to 70.5 ± 28.7. There was no correlation between SLEDAI and DI scores or between SLEDAI scores and any of the six subscales of the SF-20. Likewise there was no correlation between DI scores and SF-20 subscales with the exception of Health perception ( r = 0.34, P = 0.02). These results indicate that there are at least three independent dimensions of health status in SLE, namely disease activity, cumulative damage and quality of life. Furthermore, the extent of inflammatory disease activity and irreversible target organ damage are not the sole determinants for quality of life in SLE patients.
Comparative analysis of cyanobacterial superoxide dismutases to discriminate canonical forms
Authors: Priya Balakrishnan , Premanandh Jagadeesan , Dhanalakshmi Raman T , Seethalakshmi Thangaraj , Uma Lakshmanan , Prabaharan Dharmar , Subramanian Gopalakrishnan 
Published: November 2007

Abstract

Background
Superoxide dismutases (SOD) are ubiquitous metalloenzymes that catalyze the disproportion of superoxide to peroxide and molecular oxygen through alternate oxidation and reduction of their metal ions. In general, SODs are classified into four forms by their catalytic metals namely; FeSOD, MnSOD, Cu/ZnSOD and NiSOD. In addition, a cambialistic form that uses Fe/Mn in its active site also exists. Cyanobacteria, the oxygen evolving photosynthetic prokaryotes, produce reactive oxygen species that can damage cellular components leading to cell death. Thus, the co-evolution of an antioxidant system was necessary for the survival of photosynthetic organisms with SOD as the initial enzyme evolved to alleviate the toxic effect. Cyanobacteria represent the first oxygenic photoautotrophs and their SOD sequences available in the databases lack clear annotation. Hence, the present study focuses on structure and sequence pattern of subsets of cyanobacterial superoxide dismutases.

Result
The sequence conservation and structural analysis of Fe (Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP1) and MnSOD (Anabaena sp. PCC7120) reveal the sharing of N and C terminal domains. At the C terminal domain, the metal binding motif in cyanoprokaryotes is DVWEHAYY while it is D-X-[WF]-E-H-[STA]-[FY]-[FY] in other pro- and eukaryotes. The cyanobacterial FeSOD differs from MnSOD at least in three ways viz. (i) FeSOD has a metal specific signature F184X3A188Q189.......T280......F/Y303 while, in Mn it is R184X3G188G189......G280......W303, (ii) aspartate ligand forms a hydrogen bond from the active site with the outer sphere residue of W243 in Fe where as it is Q262 in MnSOD; and (iii) two unique lysine residues at positions 201 and 255 with a photosynthetic role, found only in FeSOD. Further, most of the cyanobacterial Mn metalloforms have a specific transmembrane hydrophobic pocket that distinguishes FeSOD from Mn isoform. Cyanobacterial Cu/ZnSOD has a copper domain and two different signatures G-F-H-[ILV]-H-x-[NGT]-[GPDA]-[SQK]-C and G-[GA]-G-G-[AEG]-R-[FIL]-[AG]-C-G, while Ni isoform has an nickel containing SOD domain containing a Ni-hook HCDGPCVYDPA.

Conclusion
The present analysis unravels the ambiguity among cyanobacterial SOD isoforms. NiSOD is the only SOD found in lower forms; whereas, Fe and Mn occupy the higher orders of cyanobacteria. In conclusion, cyanobacteria harbor either Ni alone or a combination of Fe and Ni or Fe and Mn as their catalytic active metal while Cu/Zn is rare.
Improved protocols for functional analysis in the pathogenic fungus Aspergillus flavus
Authors: He Zhu-Mei , Price Michael S , OBrian Gregory R , Georgianna D Ryan , Payne Gary A 
Published: November 2007

Abstract

Background
An available whole genome sequence for Aspergillus flavus provides the opportunity to characterize factors involved in pathogenicity and to elucidate the regulatory networks involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis. Functional analysis of genes within the genome is greatly facilitated by the ability to disrupt or mis-express target genes and then evaluate their result on the phenotype of the fungus. Large-scale functional analysis requires an efficient genetic transformation system and the ability to readily select transformants with altered expression, and usually requires generation of double (or multi) gene deletion strains or the use of prototrophic strains. However, dominant selectable markers, an efficient transformation system and an efficient screening system for transformants in A. flavus are absent.

Results
The efficiency of the genetic transformation system for A. flavus based on uracil auxotrophy was improved. In addition, A. flavus was shown to be sensitive to the antibiotic, phleomycin. Transformation of A. flavus with the ble gene for resistance to phleomycin resulted in stable transformants when selected on 100 μg/ml phleomycin. We also compared the phleomycin system with one based on complementation for uracil auxotrophy which was confirmed by uracil and 5-fluoroorotic acid selection and via transformation with the pyr4 gene from Neurospora crassa and pyrG gene from A. nidulans in A. flavus NRRL 3357. A transformation protocol using pyr4 as a selectable marker resulted in site specific disruption of a target gene. A rapid and convenient colony PCR method for screening genetically altered transformants was also developed in this study.

Conclusion
We employed phleomycin resistance as a new positive selectable marker for genetic transformation of A. flavus. The experiments outlined herein constitute the first report of the use of the antibiotic phleomycin for transformation of A. flavus. Further, we demonstrated that this transformation protocol could be used for directed gene disruption in A. flavus. The significance of this is twofold. First, it allows strains to be transformed without having to generate an auxotrophic mutation, which is time consuming and may result in undesirable mutations. Second, this protocol allows for double gene knockouts when used in conjunction with existing strains with auxotrophic mutations.
To further facilitate functional analysis in this strain we developed a colony PCR-based method that is a rapid and convenient method for screening genetically altered transformants. This work will be of interest to those working on molecular biology of aflatoxin metabolism in A. flavus, especially for functional analysis using gene deletion and gene expression.
Cross-sectional analysis of adverse outcomes in 1,029 pregnancies of Afro-Caribbean women in Trinidad with and without systemic lupus erythematosus
Authors: Molokhia Mariam , Maconochie Noreen , Patrick Alan Leslie , Doyle Pat 
Published: November 2007

AbstractThe objective of the study was to examine pregnancy outcomes in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and population controls in Trinidad. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of adverse outcomes in pregnancies of Afro-Caribbean women with SLE and without SLE. One hundred and twenty-two female adult cases of SLE and 203 neighbourhood age-matched women without SLE were interviewed concerning details of their reproductive history, and the anticardiolipin antibody (ACL) status was established for women with SLE. A total of 1,029 pregnancies were reported (356 by women with SLE, 673 by women without SLE). In women with ≥ 1 pregnancy the total number of pregnancies was similar in women with a diagnosis of SLE and women without; however, a lower proportion of women with SLE had ever been pregnant compared with women without SLE (80% versus 91%, P = 0.002). In multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for maternal age, district of residence, pregnancy order and smoking, SLE pregnancies were more than twice as likely to end in foetal death than non-SLE pregnancies (odds ratio (OR), 2.4; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.2–4.7). This effect was driven by a large increase in the odds of stillbirth (OR, 8.5; 95% CI, 2.5–28.8). The odds of early miscarriage (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.6–3.1) and of mid-trimester miscarriage (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 0.4–9.5) were higher, but were not statistically significantly different, in SLE pregnancies than in non-SLE pregnancies. The odds of ectopic pregnancy (OR, 7.5; 95% CI, 0.9–62.5) and of preterm birth (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.2–10.0) were higher in SLE pregnancies conceived after diagnosis than in non-SLE pregnancies. There was no evidence of raised levels of IgG or IgM ACL among the majority (93/97 women, 96%) of SLE cases who reported sporadic mid-trimester miscarriage or stillbirth, although there was evidence of high levels of IgM and IgG ACL among women reporting three or more miscarriages and three consecutive miscarriages, and of raised IgG ACL among those experiencing ectopic pregnancy. In conclusion, we found evidence for a large increase in risk of stillbirth in the pregnancies of Afro-Caribbean Trinidadian women with SLE (not accounted for by high ACL status). There was some evidence of an increased risk of preterm delivery and ectopic pregnancy in pregnancies conceived after a diagnosis of maternal SLE.
Cancer Risk Management Practices of Noncarriers WithinBRCA1/2Mutation–Positive Families in the Kathleen Cuningham Foundation Consortium for Research Into Familial Breast Cancer
Authors: Dawson Sarah-Jane , Price Melanie A. , Jenkins Mark A. , McKinley Joanne M. , Butow Phyllis N. , McLachlan Sue-Anne , Lindeman Geoffrey J. , Weideman Prue , Friedlander Michael L. , Hopper John L. , Phillips Kelly-Anne 
Published: November 2007

PurposeWomen from BRCA mutation–positive families who do not carry the family-specific mutation are generally at average cancer risk and therefore do not require intensive risk management.MethodsParticipants were female noncarriers from BRCA mutation–positive families who had responded to 3 yearly follow-up questionnaires and had chosen to either receive or not receive their genetic test result. In the former group, undertaking mammography younger than age 40 years or more than once every 2 years, clinical breast examination (CBE) more than yearly, breast self-examination (BSE) more than monthly, or any transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) or CA-125 was considered overscreening. Screening behaviors of women who did and did not know their genetic test result were compared. Logistic regression and nonparametric analyses were performed to identify demographic and psychosocial factors (respectively) associated with overscreening.ResultsOf 325 eligible women, 116 knew their mutation status and 209 did not. For the first group, proportions overscreening were mammography, 53%; CBE, 10%; BSE, 11%; TVU, 7%; and CA-125, 10%. There were no significant differences in screening behaviors between the groups. In those aware of their mutation status, parous women were more likely to overuse mammography (odds ratio [OR] = 4.4; 95% CI, 1.1 to 17; P = .03) and women with one or more first-degree relative with ovarian cancer (OC) were more likely to overuse OC screening (TVU: OR = 6.00; 95% CI, 1.0 to 35.1; P = .047, and CA-125: OR = 6.50; 95% CI, 1.49 to 28.4; P = .013).ConclusionThe reasons for overuse of screening (particularly mammography) by mutation noncarriers require additional elucidation given the potential for harm.
Sustaining Effect of Gold Colloids on the Amorphous Titanium Dioxide Particles
Authors: Takayanagi Mariko , Imai Yoko , Tajima Kazuo 
Published: November 2007

Abstract
We have reported that TiO2 particles prepared in reverse micelles showed high photocatalytic activity in an amorphous rather than anatase state and that the amorphous state changes easily into the anatase state just by irradiating visible light. So we prepared Au/TiO2 complex particles which included Au colloids in TiO2 by the reverse micelle method. We found that Au colloids exhibited the sustaining effect of amorphous TiO2 particles. Moreover, Au/TiO2 complex particles showed higher photocatalytic activity than single TiO2 particles and also could be used repeatedly.
“Interest of State”: James I and the Palatinate
Authors: Zaller Robert 
Published: November 2007

The guiding policy of James I, as King of England and the acknowledged leader of Protestant Europe, had been since his accession one of rapprochement with the great Catholic powers. To this end he had determined to marry his son and heir, Prince Charles, first to a Bourbon, and then a Hapsburg princess. James saw himself not as the leader of a bloc, but as a mediator impartial in the interests of peace. To his mind this was the most exalted function of Christian kingship, and it was his hope that Spain and England, the leaders of Christendom's two camps of faith, could preserve the peace of Europe by acting in concert.Yet James was no dreamer. While courting Spain, he retained hegemony among his fellow Protestants. If he proposed to marry Charles to a Catholic, he had matched his daughter Elizabeth to a Calvinist, the Elector Palatine Frederick V. The latter alliance, however, was to prove to be his fatal mistake, for it sucked him inextricably into the maelstrom of German politics and precipitated not only the gravest foreign crisis of his reign, but a domestic one of ultimately far greater significance as well.Frederick was the leader of the most important alliance of Protestant powers in Germany, the Evangelical Union. He was also one of the seven electors who chose the Holy Roman Emperor. Three of these were Catholic bishops, three secular Protestants, and the last, the King of Bohemia, had for a hundred years been the emperor-designate himself, to wit, the senior male representative of the House of Hapsburg. It was evident, therefore, that any disturbance in the orderly succession to the Bohemian crown would immediately jeopardize the traditional Hapsburg claim to the imperium, and with it the entire European balance of power.
The Welsh and the Anglo-Welsh: Politics and Poetry
Authors: Rees Samuel 
Published: November 2007

The investiture of Charles as Prince of Wales was a magnificently staged pageant, as most of the 500 million people who saw it on television will attest. Two hundred thousand pounds went into the making of the extravaganza of July 1, 1969, an event that Queen Elizabeth had promised to her Welsh subjects as far back as 1958, at the close of the Commonwealth Games at Cardiff. But no date had been set for the Caernarvon investiture until July 1, 1967. Predictably, the timing of that announcement has been seen as politically motivated, as a direct response to the emergence of Plaid Cymru (the Welsh Nationalist Party) as a threat in two recent by-elections in Wales.The investiture ceremony was itself a matter of much contention within Wales. Most Welshmen, to the distaste, even disgust, of the minority separatists, welcomed the event: as a royal occasion, a boost to tourism, and as a state celebration in which they, as Welshmen, were to take pride of place. It was to cost too much, true, but then the Welsh are not alone in questioning the cost of maintaining Royalty. And it is true that Charles was an English prince, but he had behaved himself admirably while a student at University College, Aberystwyth, and had even learned some Welsh during his stay in the Principality. He was, in that respect, the first “English” prince of Wales to identify himself with the Welsh in so intimate and endearing a way. Some memories on that July day, 1969, were directed to the first “English” Prince of Wales, a baby son of Edward I who was born at Caernarvon in 1301 and presented to the Welsh as their prince to replace the defeated Llywelyn. Edward II, it turns out, not only grew up to speak no Welsh, but used French more than English as his own language. It is from this precedent that English monarchs have, ever since, named their first-born son and heir Prince of Wales (it is not itself strictly a hereditary title in the sense of being passed from the Prince to his first-born, but reverts to the crown in the event of the Prince's death; nor has there ever been a Princess of Wales).
Once Again, The Case of Richard Hunne
Authors: McBride Gordon K. 
Published: November 2007

On the morning of 4 December 1514, a certain London merchant-tailor, Richard Hunne by name, was found hanging in his cell in the Lollards' Tower at St. Paul's. On the surface this event might seem to be of little concern to anyone except Hunne. However, the death of this moderately well-to-do London businessman became caught up in the agitation against the clergy which presaged the Reformation in England. Indeed, Richard Hunne's case has become, as well, the focal point of a major and long-lasting historical controversy over the responsibility for Hunne's death. This controversy arises out of contradictory and confusing reports of the circumstances surrounding the event and the peculiar actions of the authorities, both royal and clerical, over an attempt to fix the responsibility for the death. One major body of source material, particularly the writings of Sir Thomas More, holds that Hunne had committed suicide and is supported by the decision of a royal court which found those accused of Hunne's death to be innocent. The other, which includes several Protestant chroniclers and writers, holds that Hunne was murdered by the ecclesiastical authorities of London and is supported by depositions from a coroner's inquest into the matter.The alleged facts of Hunne's death, minor event though it may have been, served to fan a wave of excitement in London, particularly since the event fell upon thoroughly receptive ears. The current anticlericalism received a major stimulus from Hunne's death.It is difficult to document the extent to which anticlericalism was present in London, let alone England at large, in the early years of the sixteenth century, but there was a dispute between the parishioners of London and their rectors over such matters as tithes, offerings and mortuary fees.3 In addition there had been some action, in an official sense, against the greatly abused benefit of clergy.
The Anglo-Papal Bargain of 1125: The Legatine Mission of John of Crema
Authors: Hicks Sandy Burton 
Published: November 2007

King Henry I, for most of his reign, exercised unrivaled authority over the English church. Following the Concordat of London in 1107 which formally ended his bitter dispute with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, Henry reestablished effective control over the ecclesiastical affairs of England. During the remaining twenty-eight years of his rule, he assiduously cultivated and generally sustained friendly relations with the papacy while maintaining royal control over the internal matters of the English church.There is, however, a dramatic exception to this picture of royal primacy. In 1125, the papal legate, Cardinal John of Crema, made a spectacular tour of England. During his six-months stay, John exercised greater authority than any other papal legate sent to England during the reign of Henry I. As Austin Lane Poole observes, of the nine legates dispatched between 1100 and 1135, “one only—John of Crema in 1125—was permitted to preside over a church synod or to exercise any legatine authority.” To underscore the unprecedented nature of this visit, neither of Henry's predecessors, William the Conqueror and William Rufus, had allowed a foreign legate to exert such power within England.This paper will examine the events leading up to the legatine mission of 1125 and attempt to explain why Henry sanctioned this rare exhibition of papal authority within his kingdom.
The Basis of the Lord's Decision in the Trial of Strafford: Contravention of the Two-Witness Rule
Authors: Timmis John H. 
Published: November 2007

“Resolved by the majority that the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford should pass as a law.” Thus, on May 7, 1641, the House of Lords enacted that Thomas, Earl of Strafford, should “undergo the pains and forfeitures of high treason by law.”The passage of the Bill of Attainder against Strafford has subsequently engendered one of the perennial controversies of English political and legal history. On one side of the issue, it is claimed that the answer of the judges and the decision of the Lords were warranted by generally-accepted doctrines of law and constitutional theory. The other side claims that the charges against Strafford had no basis in statute or common law, that the abandonment of the impeachment proves the weakness of the case against the accused, and that in going by way of the Bill, the Commons “slaughtered a man they could not convict.”Resolution of the controversy over Strafford's case has been hampered by a lack of historical data because at the restoration Charles II ordered all proceedings of the trial to be stricken from the Journals of the House of Lords. The Journal Manuscripts were rendered almost totally unreadable and, as a result, the official record of the trial has been missing for over three hundred years. Until recently, Rushworth has been the main source for histories of the Strafford trial. However, the usefulness of Rushworth has been marred by many lapses and errors, the most significant being that he was absent for several days at the climax of the trial. Consequently, the conclusion of the trial, the proceedings of which would help to resolve the legal controversy, has been reconstructed from fragmentary sources.