bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Agonist‐inducible platelet activation in chronic idiopathic autoimmune thrombocytopenia
Authors: Panzer Simon , Höcker Lisa , Rieger Miriam , Vormittag Rainer , Koren Daniela , Dunkler Daniela , Pabinger Ingrid 
Published: July 2007

AbstractObjective:  There are only few studies on agonist‐inducible platelet activation in chronic idiopathic autoimmune thrombocytopenia (cAITP).Materials and methods:  We compared agonist (TRAP‐6, ADP, Arachidonic acid, Epinephrine, and Ristocetin) ‐inducible P‐selectin expression and PAC‐1 binding in 40 patients with cAITP (f/m ratio 23/17) with those in 20 healthy controls. Results were correlated with platelet counts, detectable platelet antibodies, and reticulated platelets.Results:  The in vivo activation of platelets determined the in vitro inducible response to agonists. The stronger the in vivo activation the less the number of platelets responding to agonists, as illustrated by the inverse correlation of P‐selectin expression ex vivo and the relative increase after the exogenous addition of agonists. The agonist‐inducible platelet activation was not associated with the presence of detectable platelet antibodies to GPIb/IX or GPIIb/IIIa. Agonist‐inducible platelet activation was also not correlated with counts of reticulated platelets.Conclusion:  Agonist‐inducible activation of platelets in cAITP is affected mainly by their in vivo activation.
Evaluation of the cardiovascular function of older adult Rhesus monkeys by ultrasonography
Authors: Tang Huo‐Ling , Wang Li‐Li , Cheng Gang , Wang Li , Li Song 
Published: July 2007

AbstractObjective  To evaluate the cardiovascular structure and function of older adult Rhesus monkey by utrasonography.Methods  Sixteen monkeys aged from 17 to 20 years and weighing from 8.2 to 15.3 kg, six adults aged 7–8 years and weighing from 8.1 to 9.2 kg. All monkeys were determined to be free from hypertension, hyperglycaemia and cardiac disease. The normal values of index related to heart and blood vessels including structure, haemodynamics and systolic or diastolic function were detected by 2D, M‐mode, pulsed Doppler and tissue Doppler echocardiography respectively under ketamine hydrochloride sedation. Meanwhile, blood pressures were also measured by electronic sphygmomanometer. Each monkey underwent repeated detections in 2 weeks and all data were analysed with statistical methods.Results  Compared with young adult monkeys, the older’s heart rate (HR), the left ventricular diastolic function and the compliance of big artery including right and left common carotid artery, bulbus caroticus, internal carotid artery and abdominal aorta were decreased and the associated indexes changed significantly (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Meanwhile, older monkeys exhibited significant increase in the aorta diameter (AO), amplitude of aortic wall (AAO), left atrial diameter (LAD), end diastolic volume of left ventricle (EDV), stroke volume (SV), left ventricular mass (LVM) (P < 0.05 vs. young adult monkeys); however, cardiac output (CO) only slightly increased but the difference did not reach the statistical significance (P = 0.418, P = 0.644 respectively).Conclusions  The present results demonstrated the profiles of cardiovascular function and structure in the older Rhesus monkeys. Older monkey is accompanied by diminished left ventricular diastolic function and big artery compliance. Ultrasonography provides a means to non‐invasively evaluate the anatomy and function of the heart and blood vessel, and plays an increasingly important role in the drug evaluation against cardiovascular dysfunction.
Melatonin effect on bovine embryo development in vitro in relation to oxygen concentration
Authors: Papis Krzysztof , Poleszczuk Olga , Wenta‐Muchalska Elzbieta , Modlinski Jacek A. 
Published: July 2007

Abstract: Melatonin promotes mouse embryo development in vitro. An effect of melatonin on bovine embryo development is described here. Slaughterhouse derived oocytes were subjected to standard in vitro maturation and fertilization procedures. Presumptive zygotes were cultured for 2 days in CR1aaLA medium supplemented with melatonin (10−4 m) or without melatonin (control). Culture was performed under two different gas atmospheres containing physiological (7%) or atmospheric (20%) oxygen concentrations (2 × 2 factorial analysis). After day 2, embryos from each treatment group developed to at least four‐cell stage, were cultured without melatonin until day 10 at optimum 7% O2 atmosphere. Blastocyst formation rates of presumptive zygotes and of four‐cell embryos were calculated for each group. Significant interactions between oxygen tension and the melatonin treatment were found. Out of four‐cell embryos put into in vitro culture after initial incubation in medium containing melatonin, decreased blastocyst rate was observed in melatonin group (47.7%) compared with control (67.7%; P = 0.0327) when lower oxygen concentration was applied. A beneficial effect of melatonin was observed in 20% O2: out of 61 embryos, 42 (68.9%) developed to the blastocyst stage after treatment in melatonin versus 32 of 63 (50.8%; P = 0.0458) blastocysts that developed in control group. In conclusion, beneficial or harmful effects of melatonin on bovine embryo development in vitro were observed, depending on the oxygen tension during the treatment.
Water sorption and electrical properties of a human nail
Authors: Martinsen Ørjan G. , Grimnes Sverre , Nilsen Simen H. 
Published: July 2007

Background/purpose: Water absorption is important for the overall function of keratinized tissues like the stratum corneum and nail. Hence, measurement of water sorption dynamics and water content of these tissues is of great interest.Methods: We have studied water sorption and electrical properties of a human nail in a measuring cell where the temperature and relative hydration could be controlled.Results: We found the amount of absorbed water to be linearly dependent on ambient relative humidity up to about 70%, followed by a stronger dependency. Furthermore, we found that electrical conductance and capacitance are exponentially dependent on the water content.Conclusion: Both electrical conductance and susceptance are good indicators of water content in the nail. The results also possibly indicate that the capacitance is dependent on the mobility of the keratin chains, while the conductance is probably more dependent on water molecule mobility.
Reflectance of human skin using colour photometric stereo: with particular application to pigmented lesion analysis
Authors: Sun Jiuai , Smith Melvyn , Smith Lyndon , Coutts Louise , Dabis Rasha , Harland Christopher , Bamber Jeffrey 
Published: July 2007

Background/purpose: The optical appearance of human skin is highly dependent on the interaction between the illumination (type and position), observer position and the skin surface structure. Different currently available photographic techniques record different aspects of this appearance, each providing its own incomplete description. This limits their usefulness, especially for pigmented skin lesion diagnosis. In this paper a new, easy to use, low‐cost photographic method is described,which aims to generate an efficiently encoded yet reasonably complete representation of skin appearance.Material and methods: A prototype hand‐held camera was developed that rapidly acquires six colour images, each with the skin illuminated from a different direction. A novel photometric stereo processing was used to combine these into a colour image of the skin's diffuse reflectance, independent of the skin surface topography, as well as a separate representation of that topography in the form of a surface gradient image. Images of four clinical pigmented skin lesions were evaluated in comparison with conventional digital photographs by both visual judgement and automated lesion boundary detection.Results: The new colour reflectance images were free from the effects of topographical shading, shadowing and specular reflections. Lesion boundaries obtained automatically from the reflectance images were always closer to the outline drawn by a dermatologist than those obtained from conventional photographs. Finally, recombining the colour reflectance and surface gradient data to form a virtual image of the skin surface that is highly realistic in appearance.Conclusions: The new colour photometric stereo camera produces images of skin and skin tumours in which the reflectance information that is related to subsurface pigment distribution is separated from the surface topographic information. The total information generated by the system, for use in visual or automated analysis, is potentially greater than that for either conventional photography or dermatoscopy alone. Its further development and broader clinical evaluation are warranted to determine its usefulness and role in a wide range of dermatological tasks, including tele‐dermatology applications.
Influence of age and hormone replacement therapy on the functional properties of the lips
Authors: Caisey Laurence , Gubanova Elena , Camus Christiane , Lapatina Natalja , Smetnik Vera , Lévêque Jean‐Luc 
Published: July 2007

Aims: To investigate the influence of age and hormonal status on some functional properties of the lips of women.Methods: Lips properties were measured and compared through four groups of women (young with normal menses, aged with normal menses, aged and menopaused, aged, menopaused receiving hormonal replacement therapy). The following parameters were recorded: sebum excretion rate on the forehead. On the lower lip: TEWL, mechanical damping, color, tactile acuity. Moreover, capacitance images of each lips were recorded and the mean capacitance measured.Results: Changes in TEWL, mechanical damping and tactile acuity appear clearly linked to age while the increase in lip darkness could be due to hormones. Sebum excretion rate is also clearly linked to hormonal status. Surprisingly, no changes of lips capacitance were detected vs. age or hormonal status. This study confirms that upper lip is more hydrated than the lower one.Conclusion: Most of the parameters measured on the lips have similar variations than the same parameters measured on the skin. Only sebum and color appear being dependant on the hormonal status.
Secreted protein acidic, rich in cysteine induces pulp cell migration via αvβ3 integrin and extracellular signal‐regulated kinase
Authors: Pavasant P , Yongchaitrakul T 
Published: July 2007

Aim:  The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of secreted protein acidic, rich in cysteine (SPARC) on the migration of human dental pulp (HDP) cells.Methods:  Secreted protein acidic, rich in cysteine was applied in the lower chamber of the chemotaxis apparatus and migration was determined by counting the cells that migrated through the membrane. To determine the signaling pathway involved, cells were incubated with inhibitors for 30 min prior to the migration assay.Results:  The results indicated that SPARC induced HDP cell migration in a dose‐dependent manner via extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK). The migration could be inhibited both by the anti‐αvβ3 integrin antibody and by suramin, a non‐selective growth factor receptor and G‐protein coupled receptor antagonists. The anti‐αvβ3 integrin antibody could also inhibit ERK activation, suggesting the possible role of αvβ3 integrin on the regulation of ERK and cell migration. Interestingly, both suramin and SB225002, another G‐protein coupled receptor antagonist, suppressed ERK activation.Conclusions:  Secreted protein acidic, rich in cysteine could act as a chemotactic factor and facilitate migration, possibly through the G‐protein coupled receptor, αvβ3 integrin and ERK. The data support that SPARC could play a crucial role in dental pulp tissue repair by inducing dental pulp cell migration.
The prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in adults from the Turin area
Authors: Pentenero M , Broccoletti R , Carbone M , Conrotto D , Gandolfo S 
Published: July 2007

Aim:  To assess the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions (OML) and evaluate its association with tobacco and alcohol consumption and the wearing of removable dentures in an adult population from the Turin area, Italy.Materials and methods:  A retrospective study, based on an invitational self‐selected screening, was performed on 4098 subjects. It included clinical examination plus biopsies when necessary. Patient history included age, sex, denture wearing and risk habits. Internationally accepted criteria were adopted to classify the OMLs.Results:  Males were observed to have more OMLs (557/2040; 27.3%vs 471/2058; 22.89%). Overall OML prevalence was linked to risk habits and age. Tobacco was linked to leukoplakia, melanin pigmentation, smoker's palate, frictional lesions and papilloma. It was negatively related to recurrent aphthous stomatitis and oral lichen planus. Alcohol was linked to leukoplakia, frictional lesions and median rhomboid glossitis. The tobacco–alcohol association was linked to frictional lesions, leukoplakia, melanin pigmentation and smoker's palate. Denture wearers had an overall higher prevalence of OMLs, in particular candidiasis, traumatic and frictional lesions.Conclusions:  The prevalence of OMLs in Turin seems to be comparable to those in other European studies and emphasize that risk habits and denture wearing have some relationship with the presence of OMLs.
Pain perception in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
Authors: Atik Levent , Konuk Numan , Akay Omer , Ozturk Devrim , Erdogan Ayten 
Published: July 2007

Objective:Pain perception is reported to be altered in patients with depression and schizophrenia. However, few studies have investigated the pain perception in patients with bipolar disorders. We therefore aimed to compare pain sensitivity between patients with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and controls.Methods:Study groups consisted of 30 patients with bipolar disorder, and control groups consisted of 27 patients with schizophrenia and 59 healthy subjects. Pain perception was assessed with cold pressor test (CPT) by exposure to ice-water.Results:Patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher pain thresholds (PTh) than patients with bipolar disorder. There were no differences between the PTh of patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects. However, patients with bipolar disorder had significantly lower pain tolerance (PT) in the CPT than patients with schizophrenia and corresponding healthy control subjects.Conclusions:The higher PTh in the schizophrenia group compared with the bipolar group found in this study supports further investigation of a potential difference in the pain perception between patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Theoretical implications of these findings and possible relevant behavioural and neurochemical mechanisms are discussed.
Lack of association between dopamine D3 receptor Ser9Gly polymorphism and schizophrenia in Han Chinese population
Authors: Chang Hsin-An , Lu Ru-Band , Lin Wei-Wen , Chang Chuan-Chia , Chen Chih-Lun , Shy Mee-Jen , Huang San-Yuan 
Published: July 2007

Background:The Ser9Gly polymorphism in dopamine D3 receptor gene (DRD3) was considered an important factor in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Allele and genotype frequencies of this polymorphism were studied in different ethnic groups of schizophrenic patients. However, the results have been inconclusive.Objective:To determine whether the DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism is associated with schizophrenia or influences its psychopathological symptoms in Han Chinese population.Method:We recruited 256 schizophrenic patients and 285 normal controls matched for gender, age and ethnicity. Pretreatment psychotic symptoms were evaluated with the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) in 128 acutely exacerbated schizophrenic in-patients. Genotyping of Ser9Gly polymorphism was performed with a polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism method and reconfirmed by a direct sequencing technique.Results:No significant difference was found between either patients with schizophrenia or with more homogeneous schizophrenic subgroups and healthy controls in genotype distributions and allele frequencies for the DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism. Similarly, DRD3 Ser9Gly genotype differences failed to reach significance in PANSS global, positive, negative and general symptoms scores. There is a trend (P = 0.064) towards higher PANSS positive symptoms scores in subjects carrying the Gly/Gly genotype.Conclusion:This study does not support the role of DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism in increasing genetic risk for schizophrenia in Han Chinese population. Still, there is a possibility that the DRD3 Ser9Gly variant may reflect genetic variation of severity of positive symptoms in acutely exacerbated schizophrenia. Further studies are warranted to investigate the effect of the DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism in relation to longer time course of schizophrenia, including treatment response to antipsychotics.
Irish Dynamics
Authors: Leslie Shane 
Published: July 2007

At this juncture, St. Patrick’s-tide, 1920, being the hundred and twentieth anniversary of a Union which without uniting Ireland to England has come near to disuniting totally the whole English-speaking world, it is best to consider the Irish question not as theory or sentiment, but in the light of cold dynamics.There is no certainty in political forces ; but the economical approach the status of an exact science. Enthusiasms, hatreds, friendships, agreements, disagreements may be transmuted or evaporated between nations over-night. Journalism can play a great part in creating friendliness or arousing hatred, but, as its name implies, its influence must be ephemeral unless some material event or economic tendency pin it down. A good instance of this was William Hearst’s power to fill the United States with a hatred for Spain, but which required the sinking of a warship to materialize. Idealisms may blaze up for the moment. They may even flicker for centuries like will-o’-the-wisps on the fringe of the world’s thought, but they can never be reduced to practice without the conjunction of economical laws which are as blind and ruthless as those of Nature herself.
The Author's Tool
Authors: Burdett Osbert 
Published: July 2007

The receipt of a bill from a Midland bookseller from whom I had made some purchases first drew my attention to this subject. The details in his bill of the books which had been ordered were written in a beautiful penmanship, and when the receipt arrived it was a pleasure to notice that the terms of acknowledgment were written in the same lettering as the printed name and address of the bookseller at the top of the sheet. Apparently the fount of type had been designed from his handwriting. This delighted me so much that I wrote a letter saying that I had not supposed it possible for anyone to add to the pleasure of an ordinary receipt, until my creditor had done so by presenting me with a distinguished example of penmanship. Thereupon the following letter arrived. It deserves to be quoted as a rare example of a simple, commercial transaction beautifully done. Readers, however, must be content with the substance which, stripped of its beautiful form, reads as follows :“Dear Sir,“Accept my thanks for your kind letter and remittance. Your words of praise gave me great pleasure, and I thank you for them. Caligraphy has been my delight since childhood, and is still my greatest joy and consolation. I get plenty of scribbling now, since I am almost alone in this little book-business, yet compared to the output of authorship my efforts are tiny in comparison.”
The Trading and Industrial Gilds
Authors: Toke Leslie A. 
Published: July 2007

Until the recent publication of Mr. Westlake’s interesting volume upon The Parish Gilds of Medieval England students were apt to devote far too exclusive attention to Gilds of the kind I propose to deal with in this article. There were two main reasons for this preference : firstly, there was much more copious material available concerning the Trade and Craft Gilds ; secondly, they were of a nature that appeals more readily to modern “ practical “ Englishmen. Yet it must not be forgotten that the early and normal Gilds in England were Religious Gilds, Confraternities having primarily a religious purpose, and only as a by-product any sort of social or industrial services.f The Trading and Industrial Gilds were later developments, existing side by side with, and in imitation of, the Religious Gilds. They fall into two clearly marked classes—the Gilds-merchant and the Craft Gilds.A.—The Gilds-merchant. The Gilda Mercatoria, or Merchant-Gild, which is the earlier kind, seems in its origin to have been composed, not only of those who carried on trade from town to town and in foreign countries, but also of all the craftsmen of any sort in each town. We hear of it by name first in the end of the eleventh century. But it is very probable that some at least of the Cnighten-Gilds, of which we hear in Saxon times, were, or developed into, Merchant-Gilds. Certainly that at Canterbury was described indifferently as the Gild of Cnights at Canterbury or the Ceapmann-Gild, and Dr. Gross has shown that the word “cnight” was often used in charters as a synonym of “townsman.”
Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes
Authors: Knox R. A. 
Published: July 2007

If there is anything pleasant in life, it is doing what we aren’t meant to do. If there is anything pleasant in criticism, it is finding out what we aren’t meant to find out. It is the method by which we treat as significant what the author did not mean to be significant, by which we single out as essential what the author regarded as incidental. Thus, if one brings out a book on turnips, the modern scholar tries to discover from it whether the author was on good terms with his wife ; if a poet writes on buttercups, every word he says may be used as evidence against him at an inquest of his views on a future existence. On this fascinating principle we delight to extort economic evidence from Aristophanes, because Aristophanes knew nothing of economics ; we try to extract cryptograms from Shakespeare, because we are inwardly certain that Shakespeare never put them there ; we sift and winnow the Gospel of S. Luke, in order to produce a Synoptic problem, because S. Luke, poor man, never knew the Synoptic problem to exist.There is, however, a special fascination in applying this method to Sherlock Holmes, because it is in a sense Holmes’s own method. “It has long been an axiom of mine,” he says, “that the little things are infinitely the most important.” It might be the motto of his life’s work. And it is (is it not?), as the clergymen say, by the little things, the apparently unimportant things, that we judge of a man’s character.