bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Clinical sepsis in neonates is responsible for the lower prevalence of developing allergy
Authors: RYOZAWA MANAMI , MATSUBARA TOMOYO , ICHIYAMA TAKASHI , UMEDA KAORU , FURUKAWA SUSUMU 
Published: January 2007

AbstractBackground: The hygiene hypothesis proposes an association between the change in exposure to microbes and the increased incidence of atopic disease. The purpose of the present study was to perform a prospective epidemiological study of the effect of perinatal infection on the development of allergy.Methods: Eight hundred and ten children were born at Umeda Gynecological Hospital in Yamaguchi prefecture in Japan between April 1997 and March 1998. A questionnaire survey on the development of allergic diseases was sent by mail in 2002. The presence or absence of neonatal infectious disease (clinical sepsis) and maternal complications during the gestational period and delivery, and the incidence of bacterial infection during the perinatal period, were investigated by examining hospital records.Results: Data were obtained for 410 children (51%). One hundred and forty‐eight children (36.1%) developed allergic diseases. Among children whose mothers had allergies, the percentage of children who developed allergic disease(s) was significantly lower in children who had had clinical sepsis in the neonatal period than in those without clinical sepsis (26.1% vs 49.7%, P < 0.03).Conclusions: Clinical sepsis in neonates might reduce the risk of developing allergic diseases in early childhood in children whose mothers have allergies.
Changing trend of neonatal infection: Experience at a newly established regional medical center in Korea
Authors: PARK CHAN‐HOO , SEO JI‐HYUN , LIM JAE‐YOUNG , WOO HYANG‐OK , YOUN HEE‐SHANG 
Published: January 2007

AbstractBackground: The purpose of the present paper was to study the natural history of neonatal sepsis in a newly established neonatal intensive care center that started in 1988 at Gyeongsang National University Hospital 9 (GNUH) in Chinju city, Korea.Methods: Neonates admitted to GNUH neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) between January 1988 and December 1997 were included. All organisms detected on blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures were recorded. Neonatal sepsis was defined as ‘clinical signs suggestive of sepsis with a positive blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid culture during the neonatal period’. Temporal trends and the distribution of pathogens in identified septic patients during the aforementioned period were studied descriptively.Results: Between January 1988 and 31 December 1997, 3327 neonates were admitted to the center. A total of 6.7% of neonates (224/3327) had at least one positive blood culture. The vast majority (62%) of septic cases were caused by Gram‐positive organisms. Coagulase‐negative staphylococci (CONS) were the most common pathogens (24% of all infections, 38% of Gram‐positive infections). The pathogen associated with the highest mortality was Klebsiella pneumoniae (25%, 10/39). Sepsis as a result of Gram‐negative pathogens (especially K. pneumoniae) were involved in outbreaks that occurred for a few years during the study interval.Conclusions: The major outcome of this review was the emergence of CONS in the NICU during a relatively short period of time (10 years) as a common neonatal pathogen. This observation is similar to the experience of other centers over the last two decades.
Microbial community structure of ethanol type fermentation in bio‐hydrogen production
Authors: Ren Nanqi , Xing Defeng , Rittmann Bruce E. , Zhao Lihua , Xie Tianhui , Zhao Xin 
Published: January 2007

SummaryThree continuous stirred‐tank reactors (CSTRs) were used for H2production from molasses wastewater at influent pH of 6.0–6.5 (reactor A), 5.5–6.0 (reactor B), or 4.0–4.5 (reactor C). After operation for 28 days, the microbial community formed ethanol type (C), propionate type (A) and ethanol‐butyrate‐mixed type (B) fermentation. The H2production rate was the highest for ethanol type fermentation, 0.40 l (g VSS)−1 day−1or 0.45 l H2 (g COD removed)−1. Microbial community dynamics and diversity were analysed using double‐gradient denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DG‐DGGE). Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles indicated that the community structures changed quickly in the first 14 days. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the dominant bacterial groups were low G+C Gram‐positive bacteria,Bacteroides,γ‐ProteobacteriaandActinobacteria;α‐Proteobacteria,β‐Proteobacteria,δ‐ProteobacteriaandSpirochaeteswere also presented as minor groups in the three reactors. H2‐producing bacteria were affiliated withEthanoligenens,Acetanaerobacterium,Clostridium,Megasphaera,CitrobacterandBacteroides.An ethanol‐based H2‐producing bacterium,Ethanoligenens harbinenseCGMCC1152, was isolated from reactor C and visualized using fluorescencein situhybridization (FISH) to be 19% of the eubacteria in reactor C. In addition, isoenzyme activity staining for alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) supported that the majority of ethanol‐producing bacteria were affiliated withEthanoligenensin the microbial community.
Methane‐derived carbon flows through methane‐oxidizing bacteria to higher trophic levels in aquatic systems
Authors: Deines Peter , Bodelier Paul L. E. , Eller Gundula 
Published: January 2007

SummaryRecent investigations have shown that biogenic methane can be a carbon source for macro invertebrates in freshwater food webs. Stable carbon isotopic signatures, used to infer an organism's food source, indicated that methane can play a major role in the nutrition of chironomid larvae. However, the pathway of methane‐derived carbon into invertebrate biomass is still not confirmed. It has been proposed that chironomid larvae ingest methane‐oxidizing bacteria (MOB), but this has not been experimentally demonstrated to date. Using 13C‐labelled methane we could show for the first time that chironomid larvae assimilate methane‐derived carbon through MOB. Chironomid larval biomass was significantly 13C‐enriched after dwelling for 10 days in lake sediment enriched with labelled methane. Moreover, phospholipid fatty acids diagnostic for MOB were detected in larval tissue and were significantly 13C‐enriched, which encompasses the 13C‐uptake predicted for a methane‐based nutrition. Additionally, chironomid larvae fed on sediment and water‐column derived MOB biomass.
Biogeochemistry and biodiversity of methane cycling in subsurface marine sediments (Skagerrak, Denmark)
Authors: Parkes R. John , Cragg Barry A. , Banning Natasha , Brock Fiona , Webster Gordon , Fry John C. , Hornibrook Ed , Pancost Richard D. , Kelly Sam , Knab Nina , Jørgensen Bo B. , Rinna Joachim , Weightman Andrew J. 
Published: January 2007

SummaryThis biogeochemical, molecular genetic and lipid biomarker study of sediments (∼4 m cores) from the Skagerrak (Denmark) investigated methane cycling in a sediment with a clear sulfate‐methane‐transition zone (SMTZ) and where CH4 supply was by diffusion, rather than by advection, as in more commonly studied seep sites. Sulfate reduction removed sulfate by 0.7 m and CH4 accumulated below. 14C‐radiotracer measurements demonstrated active H2/CO2 and acetate methanogenesis and anaerobic oxidation of CH4 (AOM). Maximum AOM rates occurred near the SMTZ (∼3 nmol cm−3 day−1 at 0.75 m) but also continued deeper, overall, at much lower rates. Maximum rates of H2/CO2 and acetate methanogenesis occurred below the SMTZ but H2/CO2 methanogenesis rates were × 10 those of acetate methanogenesis, and this was consistent with initial values of 13C‐depleted CH4 (δ13C c.−80‰). Areal AOM and methanogenic rates were similar (∼1.7 mmol m−2 day−1), hence, CH4 flux is finely balanced. A 16S rRNA gene library from 1.39 m combined with methanogen (T‐RFLP), bacterial (16S rRNA DGGE) and lipid biomarker depth profiles showed the presence of populations similar to some seep sites: ANME‐2a (dominant), ANME‐3, Methanomicrobiales, Methanosaeta Archaea, with abundance changes with depth corresponding to changes in activities and sulfate‐reducing bacteria (SRB). Below the SMTZ to ∼1.7 m CH4 became progressively more 13C depleted (δ13C −82‰) indicating a zone of CH4 recycling which was consistent with the presence of 13C‐depleted archaeol (δ13C −55‰). Pore water acetate concentrations decreased in this zone (to ∼5 μM), suggesting that H2, not acetate, was an important CH4 cycling intermediate. The potential biomarkers for AOM‐associated SRB, non‐isoprenoidal ether lipids, increased below the SMTZ but this distribution reflected 16S rRNA gene sequences for JS1 and OP8 bacteria rather than those of SRB. At this site peak rates of methane production and consumption are spatially separated and seem to be conducted by different archaeal groups. Also AOM is predominantly coupled to sulfate reduction, unlike recent reports from some seep and gassy sediment sites.
Morphological and genetic differentiation of the acorn barnacle Tetraclita squamosa (Crustacea, Cirripedia) in East Asia and description of a new species of Tetraclita
Authors: Chan Benny K. K. , Tsang L. M. , Chu K. H. 
Published: January 2007

The common intertidal barnacle Tetraclita squamosa occurs in two morphologically and genetically distinct forms in East Asia. The north‐western Pacific form (Japan, Okinawa and Taiwan) has green parietes and the tergo‐scutal flaps are black without any patterns. The south China form (Xiamen, Hong Kong) also has green parietes but the tergo‐scutal flaps are black with two white spots on the tergal and scutal margin. Compared to the NW Pacific form, the south China form has a beaked tergum, a sharper tergal spur and cirrus I lacks serrulate type setae that have four rows of setules. The two forms differ by 15–16% in COI divergence, which is comparable to values for other congeneric barnacle species. The 12S rRNA and ITS1 sequences are also distinct between the two forms. Our results support the conclusion that the two forms are genetically differentiated species. We describe the NW Pacific form as a new species, Tetraclita pacifica. We are treating the other species as Tetraclita squamosa based on the fact that Pilsbry, in 1916, redescribed T. squamosa squamosa using samples collected from south China and the Philippines. Further studies are needed to confirm the identity and geographical distribution of the ‘widely distributed’T. squamosa in the Indo‐West Pacific.
Prognostic relevance of capsular involvement and collecting system invasion in stage I and II renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Klatte Tobias , Chung JinSoo , Leppert John T. , Lam John S. , Pantuck Allan J. , Figlin Robert A. , Belldegrun Arie S. 
Published: January 2007

OBJECTIVETo define the prognostic relevance of capsular involvement (invasion with no penetration) and collecting‐system invasion in patients with stage I (pT1N0M0) and stage II (pT2N0M0) renal cell carcinoma (RCC), by evaluating the outcome of patients treated with nephrectomy.PATIENTS AND METHODSIn all, 519 patients from a kidney cancer database treated with nephrectomy for stage I and II RCC between 1985 and 2005 were assessed retrospectively. The primary endpoint was recurrence‐free survival time. The prognostic relevance of capsular involvement and collecting‐system invasion were examined using univariate and multivariate survival analysis.RESULTSCapsular involvement and collecting‐system invasion were evident in 112 (21.6%) and 39 (7.5%) patients, respectively. Capsular involvement was associated with higher Fuhrman grades and larger tumours. The incidence of collecting‐system invasion was higher in patients with microvascular invasion. The median follow‐up was 49 months. In univariate analysis, patients with capsular involvement and collecting‐system invasion had a worse prognosis than patients without (P = 0.007 and <0.001, respectively). In multivariate analysis, capsular involvement (hazard ratio 1.84, P = 0.036) and collecting‐system invasion (3.78, P < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of recurrence‐free survival. Interestingly, there was no survival difference between patients with capsular involvement in stage I/II and patients with invasion of perinephric tissue (pT3aN0M0).CONCLUSIONSThese findings suggest that capsular involvement and collecting‐system invasion are poor prognostic findings in stage I and II RCC. They should both be considered when planning the follow‐up. A revised pT3a stage including patients with capsular involvement could improve its prognostic validity.
Recycling and International Trade Theory
Authors: Tanigaki Kazunori 
Published: January 2007

AbstractRecently recycling and the production of secondary materials have increased in many countries. However, there is little analysis examining the effects of recycling on comparative advantage, trade, and welfare. In a model with recycling sectors, the author examines whether the Rybczynski theorem is valid, how the price effects are modified, how a recycling subsidy changes the production structure and comparative advantage. It is found that demand has an effect on final goods production and comparative advantage since consumption goods are transformed into recycling inputs.
Argentina: Macroeconomic Crisis and Household Vulnerability*
Authors: Corbacho Ana , Garcia‐Escribano Mercedes , Inchauste Gabriela 
Published: January 2007

AbstractUsing panel data from the Argentine Permanent Household Survey, this paper analyzes which households were more vulnerable to the Argentine macroeconomic crisis during 1999–2002. Results suggest that the impact of the crisis was not uniform across households, which differed in their ability to cope with shocks. In particular, households with more children, and whose head was male, less educated, and employed in the private sector were the most vulnerable, suffering larger than average declines in income. Shocks to labor income were significant, with both unemployment rates and unemployment spells increasing throughout the period, particularly during the peak of the crisis towards the end of 2001. Individuals with low levels of human capital (proxied by education and experience), males, and self‐employed were more likely to lose their jobs. Public sector employees, in contrast, were more protected from the impact of the crisis on employment.
Regulating Availability with Demand Uncertainty
Authors: Strausz Roland 
Published: January 2007

Abstract
I evaluate a new German regulation that requires retail discounters to guarantee the availability of their products in bargain sales. The regulation is meant to prevent loss leaders. Retailers undermine the regulation’s rationale by claiming that rationing is due to demand uncertainty. This paper shows that under demand uncertainty the regulation has ambiguous welfare effects. Effectively, it raises production, which, under imperfect competition, tends to be beneficial. However, the regulation overshoots and decreases welfare if it requires availability for a state of high demand that is relatively unlikely. In this case more sophisticated regulation is required.
Time is a river without banks: a response to Connolly's ‘Frozen time and endless analyses’
Authors: Tresan David 
Published: January 2007

Elle roucoule, coule, couleDès qu'elle entre dans Paris!Elle s'enroule, roule, rouleAutour de ses quais fleuris!Elle chante, chante, chante, chante,Chante le jour et la nuit,Car la Seine est une amanteEt son amant c'est Paris!
La Seine, 2nd verse
Eye‐witness memory and suggestibility in children with Asperger syndrome
Authors: McCrory Eamon , Henry Lucy A. , Happé Francesca 
Published: January 2007

Background:  Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present with a particular profile of memory deficits, executive dysfunction and impaired social interaction that may raise concerns about their recall and reliability in forensic and legal contexts. Extant studies of memory shed limited light on this issue as they involved either laboratory‐based tasks or protocols that varied between participants.Method:  The current study used a live classroom event to investigate eye‐witness recall and suggestibility in children with Asperger syndrome (AS group; N = 24) and typically developing children (TD group; N = 27). All participants were aged between 11 and 14 years and were interviewed using a structured protocol. Two measures of executive functioning were also administered.Results:  The AS group were found to be no more suggestible and no less accurate than their peers. However, free recall elicited less information, including gist, in the AS group. TD, but not AS, participants tended to focus on the socially salient aspects of the scene in their free recall. Both general and specific questioning elicited similar numbers of new details in both groups. Significant correlations were found between memory recall and executive functioning performance in the AS group only.Conclusions:  The present study indicates that children with AS can act as reliable witnesses but they may be more reliant on questioning to facilitate recall. Our findings also provide evidence for poor gist memory. It is speculated that such differences stem from weak central coherence and lead to a reliance on generic cognitive processes, such as executive functions, during recall. Future studies are required to investigate possible differences in compliance, rates of forgetting and false memory.
A novel role of glia maturation factor: induction of granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor and pro‐inflammatory cytokines
Authors: Zaheer Asgar , Zaheer Smita , Sahu Shailendra K. , Knight Scott , Khosravi Houdy , Mathur Satya N. , Lim Ramon 
Published: January 2007

AbstractThe glia maturation factor (GMF), which was discovered in our laboratory, is a highly conserved protein predominantly localized in astrocytes. GMF is an intracellular regulator of stress‐related signal transduction. We now report that the overexpression of GMF in astrocytes leads to the destruction of primary oligodendrocytes by interactions between highly purified cultures of astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. We infected astrocytes with a replication‐defective adenovirus carrying the GMF cDNA. The overexpression of GMF caused the activation of p38 MAP kinase and transcription factor NF‐κB, as well as the induction of granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) mRNA and protein in astrocytes. Small interfering RNA‐mediated GMF knockdown completely blocked the GMF‐dependent activation of p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), NF‐κB, and enhanced expression of GM‐CSF by astrocytes. Inhibition of p38 MAPK or NF‐κB by specific inhibitors prevented GM‐CSF production. The cell‐free conditioned medium from overexpressing GMF astrocytes contained 320 ± 33 pg/mL of GM‐CSF, which was responsible for enhanced production and secretion of TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, and IP‐10 by microglia. Presence of these inflammatory cytokines in the conditioned medium from microglia efficiently destroyed oligodendrocytes in culture. These results suggest that GMF‐induced production of GM‐CSF in astrocytes is depending on p38 MAPK and NF‐κB activation. The GM‐CSF‐dependent expression and secretion of inflammatory cytokine/chemokine, TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, and IP‐10, is cytotoxic to oligodendrocytes, the myelin‐forming cells in the central nervous system, and as well as neurons. Our results suggest a novel pathway of GMF‐initiated cytotoxicity of brain cells, and implicate its involvement in inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Expression of smooth muscle cell‐specific proteins in neural progenitor cells induced by agonists of G protein‐coupled receptors and transforming growth factor‐β
Authors: Morishita Rika , Nagata Koh‐ichi , Ito Hidenori , Ueda Hiroshi , Asano Masahisa , Shinohara Haruo , Kato Kanefusa , Asano Tomiko 
Published: January 2007

AbstractNeural progenitor cells isolated from the embryonic cerebral cortex are well known to differentiate into neurons and glial cells, but recent reports have demonstrated differentiation into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) under the influence of fetal bovine serum. In this study, we report that agonists for G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs), including endothelin, lysophosphatidic acid and carbachol, effectively promote the expression of SMC‐specific proteins in the presence of transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β). Incubation of neural progenitor cells with agonists for GPCRs or TGF‐β alone induced the expression of an SMC‐specific protein, α‐smooth muscle actin (SMA), and their combination resulted in incremental increase. Stimulation with combinations of each GPCR agonist and TGF‐β increased the numbers of large, flat cells with thick actin fibers and also caused expression of other SMC marker proteins. Endothelin and TGF‐β enhanced SMA promoter‐luciferase reporter activity at different times after stimulation. The mutation of TGF‐β control element of SMA promoter constructs decreased TGF‐β‐enhanced luciferase activity but not endothelin‐stimulated activity. Transfection of active forms of RhoA and its effector, mDia, strongly enhanced SMA promoter activity, and a dominant negative form of RhoA inhibited endothelin‐stimulated promoter activity but not TGF‐β‐stimulated activity. Whereas endothelin consistently activated RhoA, TGF‐β did not, and a specific inhibitor of TGF‐β type I receptor blocked TGF‐β‐enhanced SMA promoter activity, suggesting involvement of Smad phosphorylation. These results suggest that separate signaling pathways of G protein and TGF‐β cooperatively promote the expression of SMC‐specific proteins in neural progenitor cells.
Nocturnal expression of phosphorylated‐ERK1/2 in gastrin‐releasing peptide neurons of the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus
Authors: Guillaumond Fabienne , Becquet Denis , Blanchard Marie‐Pierre , Attia Joan , Moreno Mathias , Bosler Olivier , François‐Bellan Anne‐Marie 
Published: January 2007

AbstractExtracellular regulated kinase (ERK) signalling is believed to play roles in various aspects of circadian clock mechanisms. In this study, we show in rat that the nuclear versus cytoplasmic intracellular distribution of the phosphorylated forms of ERK1/2 (P‐ERK1/2) in the central clock, namely the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), is proportionally constant across the light/dark cycle while the spatial distribution and neurochemical phenotype of cells expressing these activated forms are time‐regulated according to a daily rhythm and light‐regulated. P‐ERK1/2 was exclusively found in neuronal elements. At daytime, it was detected throughout the dorsoventral extent of the SCN, partly within neurons synthesizing either arginine‐vasopressin or vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). At night time, it was segregated in the ventrolateral aspect of the nucleus, within a cluster of cells 45% of which were gastrin‐releasing peptide (GRP) neurons with or without co‐localization with VIP. After a light pulse at night, expression of P‐ERK1/2 increased in GRP neurons but also appeared in a population of neurons that stained for VIP only. These data show that the GRP neurons are closely associated with ERK1/2 activation at night and point to the importance of ERK1/2 signalling not only in intra‐SCN transmission of photic information but also in maintenance of neuronal rhythms in the SCN.
Isolation and characterization of microsatellites in Neogobius kessleri (Perciformes, Gobiidae) and cross‐species amplification within the family Gobiidae
Authors: VYSKOČILOVÁ MARTINA , ONDRAČKOVÁ MARKÉTA , ŠIMKOVÁ ANDREA , MARTIN JEAN‐FRANÇOIS 
Published: January 2007

AbstractFourteen polymorphic microsatellites were isolated from Neogobius kessleri, a benthic fish of Ponto‐Caspian origin which has been recently introduced into the Middle and Upper Danube River. Number of alleles and heterozygosity per locus in a sample of 32 fish individuals ranged from two to four and from 0.13 to 0.75, respectively. These primers will be useful in determining the population structure of N. kessleri. In addition, successful cross‐amplification was obtained for four related species, N. melanostomus, N. fluviatilis, N. gymnotrachelus and Proterorhinus marmoratus. These microsatellite loci may be useful for the evaluation of the origin of non‐native goby populations.