bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of safflower seed extract supplementation on oxidation and cardiovascular risk markers in healthy human volunteers
Authors: Koyama Naoto , Suzuki Katsuya , Furukawa Yasushi , Arisaka Harumi , Seki Tetsuya , Kuribayashi Kanna , Ishii Koichi , Sukegawa Eiji , Takahashi Michio 
Published: July 2008

We previously demonstrated that safflower seed extract (SSE) and its major antioxidant constituents, serotonin hydroxycinnamic acid amides, suppressed LDL oxidation in vitro, decreased plasma autoantibody titres to oxidized LDL and attenuated atherosclerotic lesion formation in apoE-deficient mice. In this report, we examined whether SSE, rich in serotonin derivatives, could affect markers of oxidative stress, inflammation and aortic stiffness in healthy human subjects. Twenty Japanese male volunteers were studied at baseline, after 2·1 g SSE supplementation daily (providing 290 mg serotonin derivatives/d) for 4 weeks, and after a 4-week washout period. Significant reductions in circulating oxidized LDL, autoantibody titres to malondialdehyde-modified LDL, the soluble form of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), and urinary 8-isoprostane were observed after a 4-week intervention. Although there were no statistically significant differences in blood pressure or brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), an index of arterial stiffness, baPWV was lower than baseline in eleven of twenty subjects and was accompanied by a reduction in blood pressure. Statistically significant negative correlations were observed between the extent of initial cardiovascular risk markers (autoantibody titres, 8-isoprostane, sVCAM-1 and baPWV) and the effect of intervention. This suggested that individuals with elevated oxidative stress, inflammation, and/or arterial stiffness may receive more benefit from SSE supplementation.
Genetic variation and covariation of aphid life-history traits across unrelated host plants
Authors: Vorburger C. , Ramsauer N. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractA central paradigm of life-history theory is the existence of resource mediated trade-offs among different traits that contribute to fitness, yet observations inconsistent with this tenet are not uncommon. We previously found a clonal population of the aphidMyzus persicaeto exhibit positive genetic correlations among major components of fitness, resulting in strong heritable fitness differences on a common host. This raises the question of how this genetic variation is maintained. One hypothesis states that variation for resource acquisition on different hosts may override variation for allocation, predicting strong fitness differences within hosts as a rule, but changes in fitness hierarchies across hosts due to trade-offs. Therefore, we carried out a life-table experiment with 17 clones ofM. persicae, reared on three unrelated host plants: radish, common lambsquarters and black nightshade. We estimated the broad-sense heritabilities of six life-history traits on each host, the genetic correlations among traits within hosts, and the genetic correlations among traits on different hosts (cross-environment genetic correlations). The three plants represented radically different environments with strong effects on performance ofM. persicae, yet we detected little evidence for trade-offs. Fitness components were positively correlated within hosts but also between the two more benign hosts (radish and lambsquarters), as well as between those and another host tested earlier. The comparison with the most stressful host, nightshade, was hampered by low survival. Survival on nightshade also exhibited genetic variation but was unrelated to fitness on other hosts. Acknowledging that the number of environments was necessarily limited in a quantitative genetic experiment, we suggest that the rather consistent fitness hierarchies across very different plants provided little evidence to support the idea that the clonal variation for life-history traits and their covariance structure are maintained by strong genotype×environment interactions with respect to hosts. Alternative explanations are discussed.
Do functional traits improve prediction of predation rates for a disparate group of aphid predators?
Authors: Bell J.R. , Mead A. , Skirvin D.J. , Sunderland K.D. , Fenlon J.S. , Symondson W.O.C. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractAphid predators are a systematically disparate group of arthropods united on the basis that they consume aphids as part of their diet. In Europe, this group includes Araneae, Opiliones, Heteroptera, chrysopids, Forficulina, syrphid larvae, carabids, staphylinids, cantharids and coccinellids. This functional group has no phylogenetic meaning but was created by ecologists as a way of understanding predation, particularly for conservation biological control. We investigated whether trait-based approaches could bring some cohesion and structure to this predator group. A taxonomic hierarchy-based null model was created from taxonomic distances in which a simple multiplicative relationship described the Linnaean hierarchies (species, genera, etc.) of fifty common aphid predators. Using the same fifty species, a functional groups model was developed using ten behavioural traits (e.g. polyphagy, dispersal, activity, etc.) to describe the way in which aphids were predated in the field. The interrelationships between species were then expressed as dissimilarities within each model and separately analysed using PROXSCAL, a multidimensional scaling (MDS) program. When ordinated using PROXSCAL and then statistically compared using Procrustes analysis, we found that only 17% of information was shared between the two configurations. Polyphagy across kingdoms (i.e. predatory behaviour across animal, plant and fungi kingdoms) and the ability to withstand starvation over days, weeks and months were particularly divisive within the functional groups model. Confirmatory MDS indicated poor prediction of aphid predation rates by the configurations derived from either model. The counterintuitive conclusion was that the inclusion of functional traits, pertinent to the way in which predators fed on aphids, did not lead to a large improvement in the prediction of predation rate when compared to the standard taxonomic approach.
Digestive α-amylases fromTecia solanivoralarvae (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): response to pH, temperature and plant amylase inhibitors
Authors: Valencia-Jiménez A. , Arboleda V J.W. , López Ávila A. , Grossi-de-Sá M.F. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe biochemical properties of the digestive alpha-amylase fromTecia solanivoralarvae, an important and invasive insect pest of potato (Solanum tuberosum), were studied. This insect has three major digestive α-amylases with isoelectric points 5.30, 5.70 and 5.98, respectively, which were separated using native and isoelectric focusing gels. The alpha-amylase activity has an optimum pH between 7.0 and 10.0 with a peak at pH 9.0. The enzymes are stable when heated to 50°C and were inhibited by proteinaceous inhibitors fromPhaseolus coccineus(70% inhibition) andP. vulgariscv. Radical (87% inhibition) at pH 6.0. The inhibitors present in an amaranth hybrid inhibited 80% of the activity at pH 9.0. The results show that the alpha-amylase inhibitor from amaranth seeds may be a better candidate to make genetically-modified potatoes resistant to this insect than inhibitors from common bean seeds.
Unicoloniality inReticulitermes urbis: a novel feature in a potentially invasive termite species
Authors: Leniaud L. , Pichon A. , Uva P. , Bagnères A.-G. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractSocial insects are among the world's most successful species at invading of new habitats. A good example of this invasive ability isReticulitermes(Rhinotermitidae), a prominent group of subterranean termites. As a result of human intervention, i.e. transportation and creation of urban heat islands,Reticulitermeshave been able to invade and thrive in cities located in areas where the natural habitat is normally too cold for colonization. They commonly infest man-made structures where they can cause extensive damage.This study was designed to evaluate the invasiveness ofReticulitermes urbisthat was probably introduced in France from the Balkans. Invasive potential was assessed on the basis of features typical to invasive social insects, i.e. unicoloniality, low intraspecific aggression, high level of polygyny and colony reproduction by budding. The opportunity to study establishment and spreading processes arose after extensive sampling of an importedReticulitermes urbispopulation was performed over the entire city of Domène, France (Rhône-Alpes region).For the first time, genetic analysis showed that the termites belonged to a single ‘genetic entity’ forming a vast colony covering about seven hectares. The colony was structured as an extended family with separate reproductive centres. We speculate that termites were introduced in a single location from which they gradually budded throughout the old town. Based on the absence of aggression among different nests within the colony, we defined this ‘genetic entity’ as a supercolony.
Phase-specific developmental and reproductive strategies in the desert locust
Authors: Maeno K. , Tanaka S. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractLocusts modify developmental and reproductive traits over successive generations depending on the population density. A trade-off between developmental rate and body size and between progeny size and number is often observed in organisms. In this study, we present evidence that this rule is evaded by desert locusts,Schistocerca gregariaForskål, which often undergo outbreaks. Under isolated conditions, large hatchlings, typical of the gregarious forms, grow faster but emerge as larger adults than do small hatchlings typical of the solitarious forms, except for some individuals of the latter group that undergo extra molting. Under crowded conditions, large and small hatchlings grow at a similar rate, but the former become larger adults than the latter. Small hatchlings show a trade-off between development time and body size at maturation, but this constraint is avoided by large hatchlings. Phase-specific, as well as body size–dependent, differences are also detected in reproductive performance. As adult body size increases, females of a solitarious line produce more but slightly smaller eggs, whereas those of a gregarious line produce more and larger eggs. Total egg mass per pod is larger in gregarious forms than in solitarious forms. A trade-off between egg size and number is shown by a solitarious line but not by a gregarious line that produces relatively large eggs with similar numbers of eggs per pod. These results suggest that phase transformation involves not just a shift of resource allocation but also an enhanced capability expressed in response to crowding.
Resistance mechanisms to mitochondrial electron transport inhibitors in a field-collected strain ofTetranychus urticaeKoch (Acari: Tetranychidae)
Authors: Van Pottelberge S. , Van Leeuwen T. , Nauen R. , Tirry L. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractA Belgian field strain (MR-VP) ofTetranychus urticae(Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae) exhibits different levels of resistance to four frequently used METI (mitochondrial electron transport inhibitor)-acaricides, i.e. tebufenpyrad, fenpyroximate, pyridaben and fenazaquin. Resistance factors for these compounds were 184, 1547, 5971 and 35, respectively. A 23.5-fold increase in 7-ethoxy-4-trifluoromethylcoumarinO-deethylation activity suggested that metabolic resistance through elevated levels of cytochrome P450 dependent monooxygenase-activity is a possible resistance mechanism.However, synergism studies with different metabolic inhibitors revealed some contrasting resistance mechanisms between the METI-acaricides. Tebufenpyrad resistance could only be synergized after pre-treatment with the monooxygenase inhibitor piperonyl butoxide (PBO), whereas pyridaben resistance was strongly synergized both by PBO and the esterase inhibitor S,S,S-tributylphosphorotrithioate (DEF). Resistance levels to fenpyroximate could neither be suppressed by PBO nor by DEF. Although METI-acaricides are structurally related, these findings probably reflect a different role of esterases and mono-oxygenases in metabolic detoxification between these compounds. The overall lack of synergism by diethylmaleate (DEM) suggests that glutathione-S-transferases are not an important factor in resistance to METIs.Reciprocal crosses between susceptible females and resistant males showed no maternal effect, and resistance to METI-acaricides was inherited generally as a dominant trait. Backcrosses with F1females revealed striking differences in the mode of inheritance. Although resistance to fenpyroximate and pyridaben was under monogenic control, resistance to tebufenpyrad was under control of more than one gene.
Alcohol sclerotherapy of human immunodeficiency virus related parotid lymphoepithelial cysts
Authors: Meyer E , Lubbe D E , Fagan J J 
Published: July 2008

AbstractObjective:The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of alcohol sclerotherapy in patients with human immunodeficiency virus related salivary gland disease.Study design:Prospective study investigating the effectiveness of alcohol as a sclerosing agent.Setting:Tertiary referral hospital.Patients:Eleven human immunodeficiency virus positive patients with benign lymphoepithelial cysts were included in the study, from July 2005 to September 2006.Interventions:Alcohol sclerotherapy was performed under local anaesthesia, with alcohol infiltrated into the benign lymphoepithelial cysts.Results:Alcohol injection sclerotherapy proved to be an effective, simple, cheap, ambulatory procedure for patients who did not qualify for antiretroviral treatment.
Hume, Malebranche and ‘Rationalism’
Authors: Kail P. J. E. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractTraditionally Hume is seen as offering an ‘empiricist’ critique of ‘rationalism’. This view is often illustrated – or rejected – by comparing Hume's views with those of Descartes'. However the textual evidence shows that Hume's most sustained engagement with a canonical ‘rationalist’ is with Nicolas Malebranche. The author shows that the fundamental differences (among the many similarities) between the two on the self and causal power do indeed rest on a principled distinction between ‘rationalism’ and ‘empiricism’, and that there is some truth in the traditional story. This, however, is very far from saying that Hume's general orientation is an attack on something called ‘rationalism’.
The Irreducible Importance of Religious Hope in Kant's Conception of the Highest Good
Authors: Insole Christopher 
Published: July 2008

AbstractKant is clear that the concept of the ‘highest good’ involves both a demand, that we follow the moral law, as well as a promise, that happiness will be the outcome of being moral. The latter element of the highest good has troubled commentators, who tend to find it metaphysically extravagant, involving, as it does, belief in God and an afterlife. Furthermore, it seems to threaten the moral purity that Kant demands: that we obey the moral law for its own sake, not out of interest in the consequences. Those commentators brave enough to tackle the issue look to the concept of the highest good either to add content to the moral law (Silber), or to provide rational motivation, in a way that does not violate moral purity (Beiser and Wood). I argue that such interpretations, although they may be plausible reconstructions, are unable to account for certain conceptual and textual problems. By placing Kant's thought against the background of medieval theology, I argue that the hope for the summum bonum is irreducibly important for Kant, even where its function is not that of providing the content or motivational force of the moral law. Kant is not only concerned with the shape of our duties and motivations, but the shape of the universe within which these emerge.
On What There Is (In Space)
Authors: Goldstick D. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractDispositions depend on “categorical” facts definitionally and pedagogically. Must they always depend on them also ontologically for “grounding”? Does there really have to be an ultimate “bottom level” of matter, and must it be “categorical”? The concepts microphysics supplies, however, are dispositional in meaning. What predicates aren't? Besides “shaping” and “locating” predicates, predicates expressing degrees of similarity and dissimilarity are nondispositional enough in meaning: but the predication of all these features of things depends upon other features for these to bound and to relate to one another comparatively. Faced with the uncomfortable alternative of “dispositions all the way down” Simon Blackburn proposes antirealism. Possibly, though, predicates' dispositionality or categoricality can be relative to a given level of the organization of matter.
The Equality of Lotteries
Authors: Saunders Ben 
Published: July 2008

AbstractLotteries have long been used to resolve competing claims, yet their recent implementation to allocate school places in Brighton and Hove, England led to considerable public outcry. This article argues that, given appropriate selection is impossible when parties have equal claims, a lottery is preferable to an auction because it excludes unjust influences. Three forms of contractualism are discussed and the fairness of lotteries is traced to the fact that they give each person an equal chance, as a surrogate for their equal claim to the good. It is argued that this can be a reason to favour an artificially-constructed lottery to a ‘natural’ lottery where there is suspicion that the latter may be biased.
“Men Being Partial to Themselves”: Human Selfishness in Locke'sTwo Treatises
Authors: Forster Greg , Ian Parker Kim 
Published: July 2008

AbstractConventional wisdom describes Locke as an “optimist” about human nature; some scholars go further and say that he denied the Christian view that human beings are naturally sinful. But Locke's works, including theTwo Treatises, clearly and firmly hold that human nature has a consistent tendency to desire selfishness and evil. Locke's view of the origin of human sinfulness is unorthodox – he dissents from the traditional doctrine of “original sin” – but on the question of whether human nature is in fact sinful his views are perfectly orthodox, and are in harmony with the Calvinism of the Church of England in his time. Understanding this is crucial to grasping the fundamental problem of theTwo Treaties, which is the need to cope with humanity's selfishness. Locke argues that the persistent moral corruption of human nature is the primary reason government exists.
The Serbian Orthodox Church as a Political Actor in the Aftermath of October 5, 2000
Authors: Vukomanović Milan 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThis study tackles the place and role of the Orthodox Church in Serbian society, state, and political life after October 5, 2000. Owing to its present “symphony” with the state, the church now offers a new ideological framework and value-system for state institutions such as the armed forces and public education. This new role of the church is particularly emphasized in the current legislation. One could probably refer to the “etatization” of the Serbian Church, with some negative consequences for non-traditional religious communities. The relations with the Macedonian and Montenegrin Orthodox churches have also been discussed in this context. In post-Milošević Serbia, religious rights and freedoms have been considerably extended, but there is still a great deal of arbitrariness, even completely partial interpretations of the church-state relations. In the concluding section, this article deals with the church's traditionalist perception of society as narod (the people), with some recommendations as for the possible cooperation between the church and civil society in Serbia.
Ontology (Science)
Authors: Smith Barry 
Published: July 2008

AbstractIncreasingly, in data-intensive areas of the life sciences, experimental results are being described in algorithmically useful ways with the help of ontologies. Such ontologies are authored and maintained by scientists to support the retrieval, integration and analysis of their data. The proposition to be defended here is that ontologies of this type – the Gene Ontology (GO) being the most conspicuous example – are a part of science. Initial evidence for the truth of this proposition (which some will find self-evident) is the increasing recognition of the importance of empirically-based methods of evaluation to the ontology development work being undertaken in support of scientific research. The ontologies created by scientists must, of course, be associated with implementations satisfying the requirements of software engineering. But these ontologies are not themselves engineering artifacts, and to conceive them as such brings grievous consequences. Rather, we shall argue, ontologies such as the GO are comparable to scientific theories, to scientific databases, or to scientific journal publications. Such a view implies a radically new conception of what is involved in the authoring, maintenance and application of ontologies in scientific contexts, and therewith also a radically new approach to the evaluation of ontologies and to the training of ontologists.
Predicting protein function from domain content
Authors: Forslund Kristoffer , Sonnhammer Erik L. L. 
Published: July 2008

Abstract
Motivation: Computational assignment of protein function may be the single most vital application of bioinformatics in the post-genome era. These assignments are made based on various protein features, where one is the presence of identifiable domains. The relationship between protein domain content and function is important to investigate, to understand how domain combinations encode complex functions.
Results: Two different models are presented on how protein domain combinations yield specific functions: one rule-based and one probabilistic. We demonstrate how these are useful for Gene Ontology annotation transfer. The first is an intuitive generalization of the Pfam2GO mapping, and detects cases of strict functional implications of sets of domains. The second uses a probabilistic model to represent the relationship between domain content and annotation terms, and was found to be better suited for incomplete training sets. We implemented these models as predictors of Gene Ontology functional annotation terms. Both predictors were more accurate than conventional best BLAST-hit annotation transfer and more sensitive than a single-domain model on a large-scale dataset. We present a number of cases where combinations of Pfam-A protein domains predict functional terms that do not follow from the individual domains.
Availability: Scripts and documentation are available for download at http://sonnhammer.sbc.su.se/multipfam2go_source_docs.tar
Contact: Kristoffer.Forslund@sbc.su.se
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Identification of Differential Genes by Suppression Subtractive Hybridization: II. Subtractive Hybridization
Authors: Rebrikov Denis V. 
Published: July 2008

INTRODUCTIONSuppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) is one of the most powerful and popular methods for generating subtracted cDNA or genomic DNA libraries. This technique can be used to compare two mRNA populations and obtain cDNAs representing genes that are either overexpressed or exclusively expressed in one population as compared to another. It can also be used for comparison of genomic DNA populations. This protocol describes a method for subtractive hybridization using adapter-ligated tester and RsaI-digested driver DNA samples.