bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A measure of perceived stigma in people with intellectual disability
Authors: Ali Afia , Strydom Andre , Hassiotis Angela , Williams Rachael , King Michael 
Published: October 2008

BackgroundThere is a lack of validated instruments measuring perceived stigma in people with intellectual disability.AimsTo develop a valid and reliable self-rated instrument to measure perceived stigma that can be completed by people with mild to moderate intellectual disability.MethodA literature search was used to generate a list of statements. Professionals, individuals with intellectual disability and carers were consulted about the suitability of statements. An instrument was developed containing statements about stigma with accompanying photographs. Test–retest reliability, internal consistency and the factor structure of the instrument were evaluated.ResultsThe instrument was completed by 109 people once and 88 people twice. Items with limited variability in responses and kappa coefficients lower than 0.4 were dropped. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two factors: ‘perceived discrimination’ (seven items) and ‘reaction to discrimination’ (four items). One item loaded onto both factors. Cronbach's alpha for the ten-item instrument was 0.84.ConclusionsThis instrument will further our understanding of the impact of stigma in people with intellectual disability in clinical and research settings.
Services for ethnic minorities: a question of trust
Authors: Appleby Louis 
Published: October 2008

SummaryMental healthcare for ethnic minorities is a government policy priority. However, debate about how services should develop has been overshadowed by public criticism over high rates of admission and sectioning in some ethnic groups, the implication being that racism is rife in mental healthcare. These criticisms are headline-seeking, scientifically crude and unfair to mental health professionals. However, it is true that some minority communities are mistrustful of the services available. We need to overcome this mistrust with a positive message – and a promise of fair treatment.
Autocrine Human Growth Hormone Promotes Tumor Angiogenesis in Mammary Carcinoma
Authors: Brunet-Dunand Severine E. , Vouyovitch Cecile , Araneda Silvia , Pandey Vijay , Vidal Laurent J.-P. , Print Cristin , Mertani Hichem C. , Lobie Peter E. , Perry Jo K. 
Published: October 2008

Accumulating literature implicates pathological angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis as playing key roles in tumor progression. Autocrine human growth hormone (hGH) is a wild-type orthotopically expressed oncogene for the human mammary epithelial cell. Herein we demonstrate that autocrine hGH expression in the human mammary carcinoma cell line MCF-7 stimulated the survival, proliferation, migration, and invasion of a human microvascular endothelial cell line (HMEC-1). Autocrine/paracrine hGH secreted from mammary carcinoma cells also promoted HMEC-1 in vitro tube formation as a consequence of increased vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) expression. Semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that HMEC-1 cells express both hGH and the hGH receptor (hGHR). Functional antagonism of HMEC-1-derived hGH reduced HMEC-1 survival, proliferation, migration/invasion, and tube formation in vitro. Autocrine/paracrine hGH secreted by mammary carcinoma cells increased tumor blood and lymphatic microvessel density in a xenograft model of human mammary carcinoma. Autocrine hGH is therefore a potential master regulator of tumor neovascularization, coordinating two critical processes in mammary neoplastic progression, angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. Consideration of hGH antagonism to inhibit angiogenic processes in mammary carcinoma is therefore warranted.Autocrine/paracrine human growth hormone secreted by mammary carcinoma cells increases in vitro and in vivo indices of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis.
Thioredoxin Binding Protein-2/Thioredoxin-Interacting Protein Is a Critical Regulator of Insulin Secretion and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Function
Authors: Oka Shin-ichi , Yoshihara Eiji , Bizen-Abe Akiko , Liu Wenrui , Watanabe Mutsumi , Yodoi Junji , Masutani Hiroshi 
Published: October 2008

The feeding-fasting nutritional transition triggers a dynamic change in metabolic pathways and is a model for understanding how these pathways are mutually organized. The targeted disruption of the thioredoxin binding protein-2 (TBP-2)/thioredoxin-interacting protein (Txnip)/VDUP1 gene in mice results in lethality with hypertriglyceridemia and hypoglycemia during fasting. To investigate the molecular mechanism of the nutritional transition and the role of TBP-2, microarray analyses were performed using the liver of TBP-2−/− mice in the fed and fasted states. We found that the fasting-induced reduction in the expression of lipogenic genes targeted by insulin (SREBP-1), such as FASN and THRSP, was abolished in TBP-2−/− mice, and the expression of lipoprotein lipase is down-regulated, which was consistent with the lipoprotein profile. TBP-2−/− mice also exhibited enhanced glucose-induced insulin secretion and sensitivity. Another feature of the hepatic gene expression in fed TBP-2−/− mice was the augmented expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) target genes, such as CD36, FABP2, ACOT1, and FGF21, to regulate fatty acid consumption. In TBP-2−/− mice, PPARα expression was elevated in the fed state, whereas the fasting-induced up-regulation of PPARα was attenuated. We also detected an increased expression of PPARγ coactivator-1α protein in fed TBP-2−/− mice. TBP-2 overexpression significantly inhibited PPARα-mediated transcriptional activity induced by a specific PPARα ligand in vitro. These results suggest that TBP-2 is a key regulator of PPARα expression and signaling, and coordinated regulation of PPARα and insulin secretion by TBP-2 is crucial in the feeding-fasting nutritional transition.TBP-2/Txnip is a key regulator of PPARα expression and signaling, and coordinated regulation of PPARα and insulin secretion by TBP-2/Txnip is crucial in fasting response.
Regulation of Pigmentation in Human Epidermal Melanocytes by Functional High-Affinity β-Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone/Melanocortin-4 Receptor Signaling
Authors: Spencer J. D. , Schallreuter K. U. 
Published: October 2008

To date, the principal receptor considered to regulate human pigmentation is the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1-R) via induction of the cAMP/protein kinase A pathway by the melanocortins α-MSH and ACTH. In this context, it is noteworthy that β-MSH can also induce melanogenesis, although it has a low affinity for the MC1-R, whereas the preferred receptor for this melanocortin is the MC4-R. Because β-MSH is present in the epidermal compartment, it was of interest to ascertain whether functioning MC4-Rs are present in human epidermal keratinocytes and melanocytes. Our results provide evidence that the MC4-R is expressed in situ and in vitro throughout the human epidermis at the mRNA and protein level using RT-PCR, Western blotting, and double immunofluorescence staining. Moreover, radioligand binding studies yielded high-affinity receptors for β-MSH on epidermal melanocytes (3600 receptors per cell), undifferentiated keratinocytes (7200 receptors per cell), and differentiated keratinocytes (72,700 receptors per cell), indicating that MC4-R expression correlates with epidermal differentiation. Importantly, increased melanogenesis after stimulation of the β-MSH/cAMP/microphthalmia-associated transcription factor/tyrosinase cascade proved the functionality of this signal in melanocytes, which was attenuated in the presence of the specific MC4-R antagonist HS014. In summary, our results imply an important role for the β-MSH/MC4-R cascade in human melanocyte biology, although the function and purpose of this signal in keratinocytes needs further elucidation.Although a high affinity MC4-R signal in human epidermal melanocytes (3,600 receptors/cell) stimulates melanogenesis via the β-MSH /cAMP/MITF/tyrosinase cascade, the purpose of this signal in keratinocytes remains unclear.
Developmental Programming: Excess Weight Gain Amplifies the Effects of Prenatal Testosterone Excess On Reproductive Cyclicity—Implication for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Authors: Steckler Teresa L. , Herkimer Carol , Dumesic Daniel A. , Padmanabhan Vasantha 
Published: October 2008

Sheep exposed to testosterone (T) during early to midgestation exhibit reproductive defects that include hypergonadotropism, functional hyperandrogenism, polycystic ovaries, and anovulatory infertility, perturbations similar to those observed in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Obesity increases the severity of the phenotype in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. To determine whether prepubertal weight gain would exaggerate the reproductive disruptions in prenatal T-treated sheep, pregnant sheep were injected with 100 mg T propionate (∼1.2 mg/kg) im twice weekly, from d 30–90 of gestation. Beginning about 14 wk after birth, a subset of control and prenatal T-treated females were overfed to increase body weight to 25% above that of controls. Twice-weekly progesterone measurements found no differences in timing of puberty, but overfed prenatal T-treated females stopped cycling earlier. Detailed characterization of periovulatory hormonal dynamics after estrous synchronization with prostaglandin F2α found 100% of controls, 71% of overfed controls, 43% of prenatal T-treated, and 14% of overfed prenatal T-treated females had definable LH surges. Only one of seven overfed prenatal T-treated female vs. 100% of control, 100% of overfed control, and seven of eight prenatal T-treated females exhibited a luteal progesterone increase. Assessment of LH pulse characteristics during the anestrous season found both overfeeding and prenatal T excess increased LH pulse frequency without an interaction between these two variables. These findings agree with the increased prevalence of anovulation observed in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome and indicate that excess postnatal weight gain amplifies reproductive disruptions caused by prenatal T excess.
Exposure of sheep to excess testosterone in utero disrupts reproductive cyclicity, with postpubertal excess weight gain amplifying the severity of this adult reproductive phenotype.
Single unit responses to skin odorants from conspecifics and heterospecifics in the olfactory bulb of crucian carp Carassius carassius
Authors: Lastein Stine , Hamdani El Hassan , Døving Kjell B. 
Published: October 2008

SUMMARY
Injured fish skin leaks alarm substances that induce the fright reaction upon olfactory detection. The skin also contains a multitude of other odorants traditionally related to other behaviors, but to what extent they are detected upon injury is unknown. We have performed single unit recordings in the olfactory bulb (OB) of crucian carp while exposing the olfactory epithelium to skin extracts from conspecifics and three other species of the carp family,common carp, tench and bream. The aims were to investigate whether neural activity may be induced by different types of skin odorants and how well the odorants from injured conspecifics are distinguished from other species. The OB of crucian carp shows a clear chemotopy as units located in different regions respond to either food-related odorants, to pheromones or to alarm odorants respectively. Units in all regions responded to skin extracts, which indicate the detection of odorants usually involved in reproduction and feeding, in addition to the alarm substances. Among OB units responding to only one of the skin extracts, most were sensitive to conspecific skin extract. Furthermore, pair-wise comparisons showed that the discrimination between conspecific skin extract and skin extract from another species was in general better than the discrimination between skin extracts from two heterospecifics. The findings suggest that identification of injured fishes may be based on different groups of odorants and that the crucian carp olfactory system discriminates well between odorants from conspecifics and those from other fish species.
Functional consequences of tooth design: effects of blade shape on energetics of cutting
Authors: Anderson Philip S. L. , LaBarbera Michael 
Published: October 2008

SUMMARY
Dental structures capture, retain and fragment food for ingestion. Gnathostome dentition should be viewed in the context of the prey's material properties. Animal muscle and skin are mechanically tough materials that resist fragmentation unless energy is continually supplied directly to the tip of the fracture by some device such as a blade edge. Despite the variety of bladed tooth morphologies in gnathostomes, few studies have experimentally examined the effects of different blade designs on cutting efficiency. We tested the effects of blades with and without contained notches and in a`fang' configuration on the force and energy required to fracture raw,unprocessed biological tissues (fish and shrimp) using a double guillotine device. Blade design strongly affects the work required to fragment biological tissues. A notched blade reduced the work to fracture of tissues tested by up to 600 J m–2 (50% reduction). The specific angle of the notch had a significant effect, with acute angles more effectively reducing work to fracture. A bladed triangle matched to a notch reduced work to fracture more than a notch–straight blade pair. Strain patterns seen while cutting photoelastic gelatin indicate that the reduction in work to fracture with triangular and notched blades arises from a combination of `trapping ability'and blade approach angle causing the material to fracture at lower overall strain levels. These results show that the notched blade designs found in a wide variety of vertebrate dentitions reduce the energy expenditure (and presumably handling time) when cutting tough prey materials like animal flesh.
External gills and adaptive embryo behavior facilitate synchronous development and hatching plasticity under respiratory constraint
Authors: Rogge Jessica R. , Warkentin Karen M. 
Published: October 2008

SUMMARYPlasticity in hatching timing allows embryos to balance egg- and larval-stage risks, and depends on the ability of hatching-competent embryos to continue developing in the egg. Hypoxia can slow development, kill embryos and induce premature hatching. For terrestrial eggs of red-eyed treefrogs, the embryonic period can extend ∼50% longer than development to hatching competence, and development is synchronous across perivitelline oxygen levels(PO2) ranging from 0.5–16.5 kPa. Embryos maintain large external gills until hatching, then gills regress rapidly. We assessed the respiratory value of external gills using gill manipulations and closed-system respirometry. Embryos without external gills were oxygen limited in air and hatched at an external PO2 of 17 kPa, whereas embryos with gills regulated their metabolism and remained in the egg at substantially lower PO2. By contrast,tadpoles gained no respiratory benefit from external gills. We videotaped behavior and manipulated embryos to test if they position gills near the air-exposed portion of the egg surface, where PO2 is highest. Active embryos remained stationary for minutes in gills-at-surface positions. After manipulations and spontaneous movements that positioned gills in the O2-poor region of the egg, however, they returned their gills to the air-exposed surface within seconds. Even neural tube stage embryos, capable only of ciliary rotation, positioned their developing head in the region of highest PO2. Such behavior may be critical both to delay hatching after hatching competence and to obtain sufficient oxygen for normal, synchronous development at earlier stages.
A microarray-based transcriptomic time-course of hyper- and hypo-osmotic stress signaling events in the euryhaline fishGillichthys mirabilis:osmosensors to effectors
Authors: Evans Tyler G. , Somero George N. 
Published: October 2008

SUMMARYCells respond to changes in osmolality with compensatory adaptations that re-establish ion homeostasis and repair disturbed aspects of cell structure and function. These physiological processes are highly complex, and require the coordinated activities of osmosensing, signal transducing and effector molecules. Although the critical role of effector proteins such as Na+, K+-ATPases and Na+/K+/Cl– co-transporters during osmotic stress are well established, comparatively little information is available regarding the identity or expression of the osmosensing and signal transduction genes that may govern their activities. To better resolve this issue, a cDNA microarray consisting of 9207 cDNA clones was used to monitor gene expression changes in the gill of the euryhaline fish Gillichthys mirabilis exposed to hyper- and hypo-osmotic stress. We successfully annotated 168 transcripts differentially expressed during the first 12 h of osmotic stress exposure. Functional classifications of genes encoding these transcripts reveal that a variety of biological processes are affected. However, genes participating in cell signaling events were the dominant class of genes differentially expressed during both hyper- and hypo-osmotic stress. Many of these genes have had no previously reported role in osmotic stress adaptation. Subsequent analyses used the novel expression patterns generated in this study to place genes within the context of osmotic stress sensing,signaling and effector events. Our data indicate multiple major signaling pathways work in concert to modify diverse effectors, and that these molecules operate within a framework of regulatory proteins.
Physiological importance of the coronary arterial blood supply to the rattlesnake heart
Authors: Hagensen Mette K. , Abe Augusto S. , Falk Erling , Wang Tobias 
Published: October 2008

SUMMARYThe reptilian heart consists of a thick inner spongy myocardium that derives its oxygen and nutrient supply directly from the blood within the ventricular cavity, which is surrounded by a thin outer compact layer supplied by coronary arteries. The functional importance of these coronary arteries remains unknown. In the present study we investigate the effects of permanent coronary artery occlusion in the South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus) on the ability to maintain heart rate and blood pressure at rest and during short term activity. We used colored silicone rubber(Microfil) to identify the coronary artery distribution and interarterial anastomoses. The coronary circulation was occluded and the snakes were then kept for 4 days at 30°C. Microfil injections verified that virtually all coronary arteries had successfully been occluded, but also made visible an extensive coronary supply to the outer compact layer in untreated snakes. Electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure (Psys) and heart rate (fH) were measured at rest and during enforced activity at day 1 and 4. Four days after occlusion of the coronary circulation, the snakes could still maintain a Psys and fH of 5.2±0.2 kPa and 58.2±2.2 beats min–1, respectively, during activity and the ECG was not affected. This was not different from sham-operated snakes. Thus, while the outer compact layer of the rattlesnake heart clearly has an extensive coronary supply, rattlesnakes sustain a high blood pressure and heart rate during activity without coronary artery blood supply.
Fixed Order Branch-and-Bound Methods for Mixed-Integer Programming: The zoom System
Authors: Singhal Jaya , Marsten Roy E. , Morin Thomas L. 
Published: October 2008

A branch-and-bound algorithm for mixed-integer programming (MIP) is presented in which a different integer variable is designated for branching at each depth in the search tree. This is done in order to achieve economies of scale in solving the linear programming relaxations to obtain bounds for the (MIP) algorithm. This algorithm is the foundation for the zoom software system, which is briefly described. Illustrative computational experience is included. INFORMS Journal on Computing, ISSN 1091-9856, was published as ORSA Journal on Computing from 1989 to 1995 under ISSN 0899-1499.
Approximation Algorithms for the Maximum Concurrent Flow Problem
Authors: Shahrokhi Farhad 
Published: October 2008

The maximum concurrent flow problem (MCFP) is the optimization version of the feasibility problem in multicommodity flows. The objective is to maximize the percentage of the demands which is realizable for all commodities, subject to the capacity constraints. A fully polynomial ϵ-approximate algorithm was developed by Shahrokhi and Matula to solve the MCFP when the edge capacities are the same (the MCFP with uniform capacity). In this paper, we present an ϵ-approximate algorithm for the MCFP with uniform demand (when all demands are equal). Our ϵ-approximate algorithm employs a linear size reduction from the MCFP with uniform demand to the MCFP with uniform capacity and the fully polynomial ϵ-approximate algorithm for the MCFP with uniform capacity. The computational results indicate that the algorithm is efficient. We also present an efficient combinatorial algorithm for the MCFP in planar graphs. INFORMS Journal on Computing, ISSN 1091-9856, was published as ORSA Journal on Computing from 1989 to 1995 under ISSN 0899-1499.
Data Structures and Programming Techniques for the Implementation of Karmarkar's Algorithm
Authors: Adler Ilan , Karmarkar Narendra , Resende Mauricio G. C. , Veiga Geraldo 
Published: October 2008

This paper describes data structures and programming techniques used in an implementation of Karmarkar's algorithm for linear programming. Most of our discussion focuses on applying Gaussian elimination toward the solution of a sequence of sparse symmetric positive definite systems of linear equations, the main requirement in Karmarkar's algorithm. Our approach relies on a direct factorization scheme, with an extensive symbolic factorization step performed in a preparatory stage of the linear programming algorithm. An interpretative version of Gaussian elimination makes use of the symbolic information to perform the actual numerical computations at each iteration of algorithm. We also discuss ordering algorithms that attempt to reduce the amount of fill-in in the LU factors, a procedure to build the linear system solved at each iteration, the use of a dense window data structure in the Gaussian elimination method, a preprocessing procedure designed to increase the sparsity of the linear programming coefficient matrix, and the special treatment of dense columns in the coefficient matrix. INFORMS Journal on Computing, ISSN 1091-9856, was published as ORSA Journal on Computing from 1989 to 1995 under ISSN 0899-1499.