bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Analysis of methanotrophic communities in landfill biofilters using diagnostic microarray
Authors: Gebert Julia , Stralis‐Pavese Nancy , Alawi Mashal , Bodrossy Levente 
Published: February 2008

SummaryBiofilters operated for the microbial oxidation of landfill methane at two sites in Northern Germany were analysed for the composition of their methanotrophic community by means of diagnostic microarray targeting the pmoA gene of methanotrophs. The gas emitted from site Francop (FR) contained the typical principal components (CH4, CO2, N2) only, while the gas at the second site Müggenburger Straße (MÜ) was additionally charged with non‐methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs). Methane oxidation activity measured at 22°C varied between 7 and 103 μg CH4 (g dw)−1 h−1 at site FR and between 0.9 and 21 μg CH4 (g dw)−1 h−1 at site MÜ, depending on the depth considered. The calculated size of the active methanotrophic population varied between 3 × 109 and 5 × 1011 cells (g dw)−1 for biofilter FR and 4 × 108 to 1 × 1010 cells (g dw)−1 for biofilter MÜ. The methanotrophic community in both biofilters as well as the methanotrophs present in the landfill gas at site FR was strongly dominated by type II organisms, presumably as a result of high methane loads, low copper concentration and low nitrogen availability. Within each biofilter, community composition differed markedly with depth, reflecting either the different conditions of diffusive oxygen supply or the properties of the two layers of materials used in the filters or both. The two biofilter communities differed significantly. Type I methanotrophs were detected in biofilter FR but not in biofilter MÜ. The type II community in biofilter FR was dominated by Methylocystis species, whereas the biofilter at site MÜ hosted a high abundance of Methylosinus species while showing less overall methanotroph diversity. It is speculated that the differing composition of the type II population at site MÜ is driven by the presence of NMVOCs in the landfill gas fed to the biofilter, selecting for organisms capable of co‐oxidative degradation of these compounds.
Global impact of Vibrio cholerae interactions with chitin
Authors: Pruzzo Carla , Vezzulli Luigi , Colwell Rita R. 
Published: February 2008

SummaryThe interaction of Vibrio cholerae with chitin exemplifies for microbial ecology a successful bacteria–substrate interaction with complex and significant influence on the lifestyle of the bacterium. Chitin is one of the most abundant polymers on earth and possibly the most abundant in the aquatic environment, where its association with V. cholerae has provided the microorganism with a number of advantages, including food availability, adaptation to environmental nutrient gradients, tolerance to stress and protection from predators. Emergent properties of V. cholerae–chitin interactions occur at multiple hierarchical levels in the environment and include cell metabolic and physiological responses e.g. chemotaxis, cell multiplication, induction of competence, biofilm formation, commensal and symbiotic relationship with higher organisms, cycling of nutrients, and pathogenicity for humans and aquatic animals. As factors mediating virulence of V. cholerae for humans and aquatic animals derive from mechanisms of adaptation to its environment, at different levels of hierarchical scale, V. cholerae interactions with chitin represent a useful model for examination of the role of primary habitat selection in the development of traits that have been identified as virulence factors in human disease.
Biochemical and functional characterization of anti‐HIV antibody–ELP fusion proteins from transgenic plants
Authors: Floss Doreen M. , Sack Markus , Stadlmann Johannes , Rademacher Thomas , Scheller Jürgen , Stöger Eva , Fischer Rainer , Conrad Udo 
Published: February 2008

SummaryThe stability and recovery of recombinant proteins expressed in plants are improved by fusion to elastin‐like peptides (ELPs). In order to test the suitability of ELP for the production of pharmaceutical proteins, transgenic plants were created that individually expressed the light and heavy chains of the broadly neutralizing anti‐human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (anti‐HIV‐1) monoclonal antibody 2F5, which is being evaluated as a microbicide component. The antibody chains were expressed both with and without a C‐terminal ELP fusion. Crossing these plants in all combinations resulted in transgenic lines producing the full antibody in four formats, with ELP on either the light or heavy chains, on both or on neither. Characterization of the affinity‐purified antibodies by surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy showed that the kinetic binding parameters were identical to those of a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell counterpart lacking ELP. N‐Glycan analysis showed that all four derivatives contained predominantly oligo‐mannose‐type N‐glycans and that the ELP fusions had no significant effect on N‐glycan structure. It was concluded that ELP fusion to the light chain, heavy chain or both chains of a plant‐derived antibody had no adverse affects on protein quality, but had a positive impact on the yield. ELP fusions do not interfere with folding, assembly, trafficking in the secretory pathway or post‐translational modification, but enhance stability whilst at the same time simplifying recovery.
The Italian Case: From Employment Regulation to Welfare Reforms?
Authors: Lodovici Manuela Samek , Semenza Renata 
Published: February 2008

AbstractThis article on the Italian case is based on recent trends in labour market reform. We critically review the reform approach adopted in recent years, mainly centred on marginal legislative reforms in employment contracts. The diffusion of flexible labour contracts, especially among the younger generations and women, together with a welfare system still based on employment seniority and job characteristics, have reinforced the segmentation of the Italian labour market and social inequalities. The absence of a negotiating strategy in introducing reforms has also increased social conflict. These trends ask for a comprehensive reform of the welfare system and for active policies to support labour market transitions, a reform which is increasingly considered in the current political debate.
The ‘Lombardy Model’: Subsidiarity‐informed Regional Governance
Authors: Colombo Alessandro 
Published: February 2008

Abstract This article provides a concise overview of the Lombardy region's experience of government during the past twelve years. During this period, legislative, political and administrative strategic decisions have been informed by a distinctive vision, anchored in the principle of subsidiarity. The main characteristics of the emerging governance model are discussed: its political, juridical and social contexts; its underlying principles; its main policy goals, instruments and initiatives; and its criticalities and challenges.
Help to move on – but to what? Young people with learning difficulties moving on from out‐of‐area residential schools or colleges
Authors: Heslop Pauline , Abbott David 
Published: February 2008

Accessible summarySome young people with learning difficulties go to school or college a long way from home. They live at their residential school or college most of the time. They only go home in the holidays.It can be difficult for young people when they leave these schools or colleges.Pauline Heslop and David Abbott worked on a project called ‘Help To Move On’. They found out what happened when young people move on from their residential school or college.

Most young people had to go back to their home area when they left school or college.
Sometimes going back to their home area caused problems. They hadn’t lived there  for two or three years. Services weren’t set up for them there. They didn’t have any  friends there anymore.
Some young people didn’t know where they were going next. They had to leave  school or college but they didn’t have a place to go to. They didn’t have plans for  things to do in the daytime.
A few young people got good support. Workers listened to what they wanted to do.  They visited different places. They moved somewhere they liked. They knew some  of the people in their new place. They had lots of things to do in the day.
The main thing that young people said helped with all the changes was that there  were good links between their school/college and the places that they were moving  on to.

Plain factsA summary of the research is available in the Plain Facts series. Plain Facts produce research findings in illustrated plain language formats. For a free Plain Facts summary, please contact Marilyn Baker at the Norah Fry Research Centre, University of Bristol, 3 Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TX.SummaryThis article describes research undertaken between 2004 and 2006 about the issues faced by 15 young people with a wide range of learning difficulties in out‐of‐area residential schools and colleges at transition. The process of transition planning was hampered by the distance between the school/college and the ‘home authority’ of the young person; there was a wide variation in who took the lead on co‐ordinating planning for transition; and involvement in decision‐making by the young people was often a passive, rather than active process. Four of the fifteen young people left their school/college without knowing where they were going to move on to. None moved into any accommodation other than the family home or residential accommodation. Half moved on to attend a mainstream FE college, with little or no sense of future progression into work for most. The key messages of the article relate to the importance of continuity to young people, the need for more creativity in minimising the effects of distance, and how vital good forward planning is to help young people ‘move on’.
‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania
Authors: VULLNETARI JULIE , KING RUSSELL 
Published: February 2008

AbstractOlder people have been the main social casualties of the collapse of the Albanian communist system and the ensuing mass emigration of younger generations since 1990. Some have had to forage for survival on a near‐starvation diet, making broth from grass and weeds. For others, remittances from emigrant children ensure adequate material well‐being, but a loss of locally‐based trans‐generational care and of intimate family relations occurs. Rates of emigration have been highest in the southern uplands, where our fieldwork took place. Migration has been mainly to Greece, but also to Italy and elsewhere. Interviews with elderly ‘residual households’ ‐ single people and couples ‐ reveal stories of loneliness and abandonment; cross‐generational rupture of hitherto tight family structures is seen as emotionally painful because of the impossibility of enjoying mutual benefits of care sustained by geographical proximity. Profoundly upsetting is the denial of the practice of grand‐parenting, which the older generation see as their raison d'être. Cost of travel, visa regimes and emigrants’ irregular status conspire to prevent international visits. Finally, we examine various strategies of overcoming the ‘care drain’ produced by this situation, one of which is for older people to try to join their migrant children and grandchildren abroad.
‘This is Our City’: branding football and local embeddedness
Authors: EDENSOR TIM , MILLINGTON STEVE 
Published: February 2008

AbstractIn 2005, with a view to cultivating the loyalties of local supporters rather than attracting new support, Manchester City Football Club launched its Our City branding campaign. The campaign suggests that ‘real’ Mancunians support City and not local rivals like Manchester United, which it implicitly conceives of as a global, non‐local, corporate entity. By building on established fan culture and the myths surrounding the local and the global, City is portrayed as ‘authentic’, ‘cool’ and rooted in a traditional ‘working‐class community’. Contending that football is a revealing field in which to explore contemporary formations of identity, in this article we critically explore the relationship between branding, place and identity. We describe the campaign, explore the myths with which the Our City campaign is aligned and discuss the embedded contexts that constrain the global branding of football.
‘Going to Brazil’: transnational and corporeal movements of a Canadian‐Brazilian martial arts community
Authors: JOSEPH JANELLE 
Published: February 2008

AbstractIn this article I use a case study of capoeira (an Afro‐Brazilian martial art/dance/game) in Canada to bring together sport and transnationality literatures. I show that understandings of transnationality can be extended through both investigating people born and raised in the North, since they play an important role in creating transnational spaces, and attending to the corporeal means that people deploy to connect to a homeland or ‘travel’ to a foreign country. Through adopting a particular racialized/ national style of movement, those who ‘stay put’ in the North can ‘move’ across ethnic boundaries, if not geopolitical borders. Real (international), imagined (virtual and emotional), and corporeal (embodied) ‘travel’ to Brazil are key experiences of the senior capoeirista (capoeira devotee). Sporting activities provide an exceptional window onto transnationality studies, given that ways of moving are fundamental to social, cultural and national identities.
Cross‐cultural civility in global civil society: transnational cooperation in Chinese NGOs
Authors: CHAN STEPHANIE 
Published: February 2008

AbstractTransnational networks and organizations are often hailed as embodiments and carriers of global civil society, yet these assessments remain incomplete due to a lack of empirical research on their internal dynamics. In this article, I investigate whether or not transnational NGOs embody the cooperation across multiple social, cultural and political cleavages central to definitions of global civil society by exploring how multiple memberships are negotiated in the context of their everyday tasks. Using organizational documents and interview data with staff of two Protestant Christian development NGOs in China, I analyse how actors within these transnational organizations successfully manage their multiple memberships in national polities, national cultures, religious communities and a world culture. While multiple memberships exhibit the potential both to enable and to constrain an NGO's organizational tasks, the key to making such ties enabling are staff who act as skilful cross‐cultural brokers. Thus, the type of social capital required to render multiple memberships beneficial and not harmful to the organizations also makes these organizations true indicators of a developing global civil society.
Direct analysis of tau from PSP brain identifies new phosphorylation sites and a major fragment of N‐terminally cleaved tau containing four microtubule‐binding repeats
Authors: Wray Selina , Saxton Malcolm , Anderton Brian H. , Hanger Diane P. 
Published: February 2008

AbstractTangles containing hyperphosphorylated aggregates of insoluble tau are a pathological hallmark of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Several phosphorylation sites on tau in PSP have been identified using phospho‐specific antibodies, but no sites have been determined by direct sequencing due to the difficulty in enriching insoluble tau from PSP brain. We describe a new method to enrich insoluble PSP‐tau and report eight phosphorylation sites [Ser46, Thr181, Ser202, Thr217, Thr231, Ser235, Ser396/Ser400 (one site) and Thr403/Ser404 (one site)] identified by mass spectrometry. We also describe a 35 kDa C‐terminal tau fragment (tau35), lacking the N‐terminus of tau but containing four microtubule‐binding repeats (4R), that is present only in neurodegenerative disorders in which 4R tau is over‐represented. Tau35 was readily detectable in PSP, corticobasal degeneration and 4R forms of fronto‐temporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17, but was absent from control, Alzheimer’s disease and Pick’s disease brain. Our findings suggest the aggregatory characteristics of PSP‐tau differ from those of insoluble tau in Alzheimer’s disease brain and this might be related to the presence of a C‐terminal cleavage product of tau.
P2X7pre‐synaptic receptors in adult rat cerebrocortical nerve terminals: a role in ATP‐induced glutamate release
Authors: Marcoli Manuela , Cervetto Chiara , Paluzzi Paola , Guarnieri Stefania , Alloisio Susanna , Thellung Stefano , Nobile Mario , Maura Guido 
Published: February 2008

AbstractAlthough growing evidence suggests that extracellular ATP might play roles in the control of astrocyte/neuron crosstalk in the CNS by acting on P2X7receptors, it is still unclear whether neuronal functions can be attributed to P2X7receptors. In the present paper, we investigate the location, pharmacological profile, and function of P2X7receptors on cerebrocortical nerve terminals freshly prepared from adult rats, by measuring glutamate release and calcium accumulation. The preparation chosen (purified synaptosomes) ensures negligible contamination of non‐neuronal cells and allows exposure of ‘nude’ release‐regulating pre‐synaptic receptors. To confirm the results obtained, we also carried out specific experiments on human embryonic kidney 293 cells which had been stably transfected with rat P2X7receptors. Together, our findings suggest that (i) P2X7receptors are present in a subpopulation of adult rat cerebrocortical nerve terminals; (ii) P2X7receptors are localized on glutamatergic nerve terminals; (iii) P2X7receptors play a significant role in ATP‐evoked glutamate efflux, which involves Ca2+‐dependent vesicular release; and (iv) the P2X7receptor itself constitutes a significant Ca2+‐independent mode of exit for glutamate.
Lower Levels of Serum Albumin and Total Cholesterol Associated with Decline in Activities of Daily Living and Excess Mortality in a 12‐Year Cohort Study of Elderly Japanese
Authors: Okamura Tomonori , Hayakawa Takehito , Hozawa Atsushi , Kadowaki Takashi , Murakami Yoshitaka , Kita Yoshikuni , Abbott Robert D. , Okayama Akira , Ueshima Hirotsugu ,   for the NIPPON DATA80 Research Group
Published: February 2008

OBJECTIVES: To examine the association between levels of serum albumin and total cholesterol (TC) and risk of subsequent mortality and future decline in activities of daily living (ADLs) in elderly people.DESIGN: Population‐based cohort study.SETTING: National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non‐Communicable Disease and Its Trends in the Aged, 1980.PARTICIPANTS: One thousand eight hundred forty‐four Japanese individuals aged 60 to 74 randomly selected throughout Japan and followed for 12.4 years.MEASUREMENTS: Decline in ADLs and mortality.RESULTS: After adjusting for other covariates, the multivariable odds ratios (ORs) of impaired ADLs were highest in the lowest albumin quartile (≤40 g/L) for women. The multivariable OR of having a composite outcome of death or impaired ADL for the lowest albumin quartile compared with the highest was 1.56 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.94–2.57) for men and 3.06 (95% CI=1.89–4.95) for women. Serum albumin was significantly and inversely associated with a composite outcome of death or impaired ADLs in the group below the median of TC in both sexes (multivariable OR for 1‐g/L increase in serum albumin=0.88 for men (95% CI=0.79–0.97) and 0.79 for women (95% CI=0.72–0.87)), which was not significantly associated in the group with TC at or above the median.CONCLUSION: In the Japanese general population, low‐normal serum albumin and TC levels are associated with loss of activity during old age, especially for women.
Substitutive “Hospital at Home” Versus Inpatient Care for Elderly Patients with Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Prospective Randomized, Controlled Trial
Authors: Aimonino Ricauda Nicoletta , Tibaldi Vittoria , Leff Bruce , Scarafiotti Carla , Marinello Renata , Zanocchi Mauro , Molaschi Mario 
Published: February 2008

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate hospital readmission rates and mortality at 6‐month follow‐up in selected elderly patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).DESIGN: Prospective randomized, controlled, single‐blind trial with 6‐month follow‐up.SETTING: San Giovanni Battista Hospital of Torino.PARTICIPANTS: One hundred four elderly patients admitted to the hospital for acute exacerbation of COPD were randomly assigned to a general medical ward (GMW, n=52) or to a geriatric home hospitalization service (GHHS, n=52).MEASUREMENTS: Measurements of baseline sociodemographic information; clinical data; functional, cognitive, and nutritional status; depression; and quality of life were obtained.RESULTS: There was a lower incidence of hospital readmissions for GHHS patients than for GMW patients at 6‐month follow‐up (42% vs 87%, P<.001). Cumulative mortality at 6 months was 20.2% in the total sample, without significant differences between the two study groups. Patients managed in the GHHS had a longer mean length of stay than those cared for in the GMW (15.5±9.5 vs 11.0±7.9 days, P=.010). Only GHHS patients experienced improvements in depression and quality‐of‐life scores. On a cost per patient per day basis, GHHS costs were lower than costs in GMW ($101.4±61.3 vs $151.7±96.4, P=.002).CONCLUSION: Physician‐led substitutive hospital‐at‐home care as an alternative to inpatient care for elderly patients with acute exacerbations of COPD is associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of hospital readmission at 6 months, lower healthcare costs, and better quality of life.
Holocaust Survivors in Old Age: The Jerusalem Longitudinal Study
Authors: Stesssman Jochanan , Cohen Aaron , Hammerman‐Rozenberg Robert , Bursztyn Michael , Azoulay Daniel , Maaravi Yoram , Jacobs Jeremy M. 
Published: February 2008

OBJECTIVES: To examine the hypothesis that Holocaust exposure during young adulthood negatively affects physical aging, causing greater morbidity, faster deterioration in health parameters, and shorter survival.DESIGN: A longitudinal cohort study of the natural history of an age‐homogenous representative sample born in 1920/21 and living in Jerusalem.SETTING: Community‐based home assessments.PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred fifty‐eight subjects of European origin aged 70 at baseline and 77 at follow‐up.MEASUREMENTS: Comprehensive assessment of physical, functional, and psychosocial domains; biographical history of concentration camp internment (Camp), exposure to Nazi occupation during World War II (Exposure), or lack thereof (Controls); and 7‐year mortality data from the National Death Registry.RESULTS: Holocaust survivors of the Camp (n=93) and Exposure (n=129) groups were more likely than Controls (n=236) to be male and less educated and have less social support (P=.01), less physical activity (P=.03), greater difficulty in basic activities of daily living (P=.009), poorer self‐rated health (P=.04), and greater usage of psychiatric medication (P=.008). No other differences in health parameters or physical illnesses were found. Holocaust survivors had similar rates of deterioration in health and illness parameters over the follow‐up period, and 7‐year mortality rates were identical. Proportional hazard models showed that being an elderly Holocaust survivor was not predictive of greter 7‐year mortality.CONCLUSION: Fifty years after their Holocaust trauma, survivors still displayed significant psychosocial and functional impairment, although no evidence was found to support the hypothesis that the delayed effects of the trauma of the Holocaust negatively influence physical health, health trajectories, or mortality.