bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Endothelium‐dependent vasodilatation in forearm is impaired in stroke patients
Authors: STENBORG A. , TERENT A. , LIND L. 
Published: March 2006

Abstract.Objectives.  To investigate endothelium‐dependent vasodilatation (EDV) in stroke patients.Design.  Cross‐sectional.Setting.  University referral hospital.Subjects.  We studied 23 stroke patients (65–75 years old) who did not have atrial fibrillation or Warfarin treatment. Forty‐six age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls and another 32 controls matched also for hypertension and medication were used for comparisons.Methods.  Endothelium‐dependent vasodilatation was measured with venous occlusive plethysmography of forearm blood flow during intra‐brachial infusion of acetylcholine. Endothelium‐independent vasodilatation (EIDV) was evaluated by infusion of sodium nitroprusside.Results.  Stroke patients showed significantly lower EDV (P < 0.001) compared with healthy controls when measured with acetylcholine‐stimulated forearm blood flow. The difference between these groups remained significant also after correction for blood pressure, body mass index, blood glucose and cholesterol. There was also significant difference in EDV between hypertension‐matched controls and healthy controls. However, EIDV was significantly reduced in stroke patients (P < 0.01), but not in the hypertensive group, when compared with healthy controls.Conclusion.  An impaired EDV was seen in both stroke patients and hypertensive‐matched controls, while an impaired EIDV was seen in the stroke patients only, suggesting a more severe vasodilatory dysfunction in stroke patients than could be explained by a high blood pressure only.
Clinical implications of hypermucoviscosity phenotype in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates: association with invasive syndrome in patients with community‐acquired bacteraemia
Authors: LEE H.‐C. , CHUANG Y.‐C. , YU W.‐L. , LEE N.‐Y. , CHANG C.‐M. , KO N.‐Y. , WANG L.‐R. , KO W.‐C. 
Published: March 2006

Abstract.Background.  Klebsiella pneumoniae, a Gram‐negative bacillus usually forming glistening mucoid colonies with viscid consistency on the culture plate, is a common pathogen causing various clinical infection patterns. However, little is known about the clinical implications of this mucoid character.Objective.  The purposes of this study, therefore, were to investigate the frequency of hypermucoviscosity (HV) in bacteraemic isolates of K. pneumoniae, and determine the significance of any association between HV and various clinical manifestations.Design.  Retrospective observational study.Patients.  Patients diagnosed with K. pneumoniae bacteraemia at a community‐based university hospital between June 1999 and June 2001 were enrolled in this analysis.Measurements.  Clinical data concerning comorbid diseases and infection patterns was collected. K. pneumoniae bacteraemic isolates were examined for the presence of HV using a modified string test. The clinical impact of HV and risk factors for the invasive syndrome were assessed using statistical analysis. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect magA, a gene related to HV phenotype.Results.  Overall, 200 (64.9%) of the 308 cases of K. pneumoniae bacteraemia were community‐acquired infections. Compared with hospital‐acquired K. pneumoniae bacteraemia (HA‐KpB), community‐acquired K. pneumoniae bacteraemia (CA‐KpB) was more likely to be monomicrobial in nature (83.5% vs. 64.8%; P < 0.001) and caused by HV strains (41.5% vs. 14.8%; P < 0.001). The prevalence rate of magA among HV phenotypical K. pneumoniae strains was 24.1%. Patients infected with HV‐positive strains were more likely to have the distinctive invasive syndrome (i.e. liver abscess, meningitis, pleural empyaema or endophthalmitis) than those infected with HV‐negative variants (37.3% vs. 6.8%; P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age, showed that HV phenotype in K. pneumoniae strains (OR 8.86; 95% CI, 3.70–21.25; P < 0.001) was positively associated with the development of the invasive syndrome in CA‐KpB cases.Conclusions.  The HV phenotype of K. pneumoniae bacteraemic isolates was associated with the development of a distinctive invasive syndrome. Identification of the HV phenotype should prompt clinicians to initiate aggressive investigations for invasive diseases.
Further protection studies using recombinant forms of Haemonchus contortus cysteine proteinases
Authors: REDMOND D. L. , KNOX D. P. 
Published: March 2006

SUMMARY Significant levels of protection against Haemonchus contortus have been achieved in sheep by vaccination with a cysteine proteinase‐enriched fraction (TSBP) isolated from the gut of adult parasites. Protection is associated with three cathepsin B‐like cysteine proteinases (hmcp 1, 4 & 6). Lambs vaccinated with these proteinases, expressed in bacteria as glutathione S‐transferase fusion proteins, had significantly reduced (38%) worm burdens compared to challenge controls although, intriguingly, egg output was unaffected. Here, a repeat trial with similar results is reported and protection obtained compared to that induced by vaccination with the predicted mature forms of hmcp1, 4 and 6 expressed in bacteria as non‐fusion proteins. Sheep immunized with a cocktail of these non‐fusion proteins had reduced faecal egg counts of 27% (P = 0·17) and worm burdens of 29% (P = 0·01) compared to controls. High levels of host serum IgG were detected in GST‐hmcp and non‐fusion hmcp‐immunized animals, although no correlation with protection could be determined. Sera from these groups bound to the microvillar surface of the gut of H. contortus.
Resistance to Schistosoma mansoni by transplantation of APO Biomphalaria tenagophila
Authors: BARBOSA L. , CALDEIRA R. L. , CARVALHO O. S. , VIDIGAL T. H. D. A. , JANNOTTI‐PASSOS L. K. , COELHO P. M. Z. 
Published: March 2006

SUMMARY Transplantation of the haematopoietic organ from Biomphalaria tenagophila (Taim strain, RS, Brazil), resistant to Schistosoma mansoni, to a highly susceptible strain (Cabo Frio, RJ, Brazil) of the same species, showed in the recipient snails resistance against the trematode, when a successful transplant occurred. The success of transplantation could be confirmed by a typical molecular marker of the Taim strain in haemocytes of the recipients (350 bp detected by PCR‐RFLP). The recipient snails which did not present the donor marker in haemocytes (unsuccessful transplantation) were infected with the parasite. The use of an atoxic modelling clay for closing the hole in the transplantation site reduced significantly the mortality caused by bleeding after transplantation procedures.
Demography, altruism, and the benefits of budding
Authors: Gardner A. , West S. A. 
Published: March 2006

Abstract
It is now widely appreciated that competition between kin inhibits the evolution of altruism. In standard population genetics models, it is difficult for indiscriminate altruism towards social partners to be favoured at all. The reason is that while limited dispersal increases the kinship of social partners it also intensifies local competition. One solution that has received very little attention is if individuals disperse as groups (budding dispersal), as this relaxes local competition without reducing kinship. Budding behaviour is widespread through all levels of biological organization, from early protocellular life to cooperatively breeding vertebrates. We model the effects of individual dispersal, budding dispersal, soft selection and hard selection to examine the conditions under which altruism is favoured. More generally, we examine how these various demographic details feed into relatedness and scale of competition parameters that can be included into Hamilton's rule.
Wheat Cultivars Adapted to Post‐Heading High Temperature Stress
Authors: Tewolde H. , Fernandez C. J. , Erickson C. A. 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThe existence of genetic variation in wheat for tolerance to high temperature stress has been reported but cultivars released for a particular production system often are not characterized. The objective of this study was to identify and describe the characteristics of wheat cultivars adapted to production systems with risks of high temperature during the post‐heading period. Fifteen diverse wheat cultivars and one unreleased genotype were evaluated at the Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Uvalde, TX, during two seasons characterized by daily maximum temperatures as high as 36 °C. Measurements during both seasons included days to heading, days to physiological maturity and grain yield. Large and significant (P < 0.05) grain yield differences were measured among cultivars within each season. Yield varied between 2979 and 4671 kg ha−1 in the first season and between 1916 and 5200 kg ha−1 in the second season. Late planting in the second season delayed heading date resulting in the post‐heading period to coincide with periods of high temperatures. Cultivars that headed early, in general, yielded better than cultivars that headed later within each season with yield reduction of 35.3 kg ha−1 in the first season and 91.0 kg ha−1 in the second season for every 1 day delay in heading after mid‐March. Early‐heading cultivars outperformed later‐heading cultivars because of two distinct advantages: the early‐heading cultivars had longer post‐heading and, therefore, longer grain filling period than the later‐heading cultivars. In addition, early‐heading cultivars completed a greater fraction of the grain filling earlier in the season when air temperatures were lower and generally more favourable. The advantage of earlier‐heading cultivars was also manifested in the amount of green leaves retained to anthesis. Earlier‐heading cultivars produced fewer total leaves per tiller but retained more green leaves and lost fewer leaves to senescence at anthesis than later‐heading cultivars. The results suggest that early heading is an important and effective single trait defining wheat cultivars adapted to production systems prone to high temperature stress during the post‐heading period.
Quality of Ethiopian Durum Wheat Lines in Two Diverse Environments
Authors: Dessalegn T. , Labuschagne M. T. , Van Deventer C. S. 
Published: March 2006

AbstractIn Ethiopia, durum wheat is largely used for production of local fermented and flat bread. Two diverse environments (Motta and Adet) were used to evaluate 15 durum wheat genotypes for grain yield and quality traits. The mean flour protein content of genotypes ranged from 10.1 % to 12.5 % and 6.7 % to 8.1 % at Motta and Adet respectively. The mean mixograph development time was 4 min at Motta and 2.8 min at Adet and SDS (Sodium dodecyl sulphate) sedimentation ranged between 10.7 and 32.3 ml across locations. Flour protein content was correlated negatively with mixograph development time and positively with vitreous kernels and single‐kernel hardness at both environments. Mixograph development time was selected to predict the gluten strength. Flour protein content, SDS sedimentation and seed weight were included in a stepwise regression. A prediction model was compiled that explained 69 % of the variation for mixograph development time.
Nitrogen Partitioning in Entire Plants of Different Spring Wheat Cultivars
Authors: Andersson A. , Johansson E. 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate nitrogen partitioning in entire plants, including roots, of spring wheat in two temperature regimes during grain filling. Six cultivars, genetically different and with varying grain protein concentration, were grown in solution culture to full maturity. After anthesis, half the plants were grown in high temperature (23/17 °C, day/night) and half in low temperature (18/12 °C). Root nitrogen concentration was genetically influenced. The roots had ability to redistribute nitrogen to aboveground plant parts. At maturity the roots contained 10–20 % of the total nitrogen amount in the plants. Harvest index (HI) and harvest index for the entire plant (HItot) for cv. Heta were significantly higher at low temperature than at high. Cv. Heta had a rapid development rate from planting to maturity. Due to slow senescence at low temperature, cv. Kärn II showed lower HI and nitrogen harvest index (NHI) at low, compared with high, temperature. Cvs Kärn II and Sport showed higher nitrogen amount in the roots and shoots at low, compared with high, temperature. A negative correlation was found between NHI and NHItot vs. root weight, total shoot weight and root N amount. Because of the latter correlation, breeding for low root N concentration is suggested.
Response of pea (Pisum sativum L.) to mepiquat chloride under varying application doses and stages
Authors: Elkoca E. , Kantar F. 
Published: March 2006

AbstractGrown as a monoculture, peas (Pisum sativum L.) exhibit severe lodging after flowering and lodging causes yield reductions considerable. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dose (untreated, 25, 50, 75 and 100 g a.i. ha−1) and stage (late vegetative, early blooming and early pod filling) of mepiquat chloride (MC) application on the growth, lodging control, seed yield and yield parameters of pea (Pisum sativum L.) under field conditions in Erzurum, Turkey in 2002 and 2003. Application doses of 25, 50, 75 and 100 g a.i. ha−1 significantly reduced stem height by 5.3 %, 7.2 %, 7.5 % and 6.4 % and increased stem width by 7.5 %, 12.7 %, 12.3 % and 15.7 % respectively, when compared with the untreated control, and thereby reduced the tendency of the crop to lodging. Increases of the seed yield under different application doses of MC ranged between 13.7 % and 20.1 % over the untreated control. However, in all parameters investigated, except for stem width, higher application doses of MC gave no clear advantages compared with the application dose of 25 g a.i. ha−1. Seed yield was also significantly influenced by application stage of MC and application at early blooming stage of crop, MC significantly increased seed yield by 11.4 % and 10.2 % when compared with the late vegetative and the early pod filling stages respectively. Furthermore, the interaction of application dose and stage was significant, and spraying of pea plants with 25 g a.i. ha−1 MC at early blooming stage has the most beneficial effects on the characters evaluated.
Responses of Soya bean Yield and Yield Component Distribution across the Main Axis under Source–Sink Manipulation
Authors: Liu X. B. , Herbert S. J. , Hashemi A. M. , Litchfield G. V. , Zhang Q. Y. , Barzegar A. R. 
Published: March 2006

AbstractExtensive studies have been conducted regarding the source–sink alterations on soya bean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] yield, but limited information is available for the seed yield and distribution of yield components across main nodes under whole‐plant light‐enriched conditions. A 2‐year research was conducted at the University of Massachusetts Agronomy Farm under ambient and light‐enriched conditions for two old and two new cultivars planted with a normal density. A randomized block design was used in each year. Light enrichment was initiated at the onset of flowering by installing a 90‐cm tall wire mesh fencing (mesh hole size 4–5 cm) adjacent to the centre row and sloping away at a 45° angle and was left in place for the remainder of the growing season. Five source–sink manipulations were initiated following the establishment of light enrichment. The yield sensitivity of the two old cultivars to the changes in source strength and light‐enriched conditions during reproductive period was much greater than that of the two new cultivars. The increased yield by light enrichment in various manipulations of source–sink treatments was, in part, due to increased branch contribution. Most pods were produced at the nodes in the middle sections of the plants and appeared in higher node position in new cultivars compared with the old cultivars. Seed number per pod and seed size was quite uniform across all node positions. Seed size of both the old and the new cultivars was responsive to changes in the source–sink ratio and changes in the environment during the growth of the soya bean plant. The results suggested that soya bean plants showed several mechanisms to control or realize their excess reproductive potential in a constantly changing environment.
Routine isotropic computed tomography scanning of the abdomen and pelvis
Authors: Sandrasegaran K , Rydberg J , Lall CG , Hameed T , Hawes DR , Kopecky KK 
Published: March 2006

SummaryFor 30 years, abdominal CT has been imaged and reviewed in the axial plane. It is now possible to carry out isotropic imaging of the whole abdomen and pelvis using a 40‐channel scanner. This allows creation of coronal and sagittal reformats with the same image quality as the axial images. In this study, we present our experience of reviewing routinely coronal and, occasionally, sagittal reformats. We discuss situations where these nonaxial reformats are most beneficial.
Intravenous lobular capillary haemangioma: Ultrasound and histology findings
Authors: Maddison A , Tew K , Orell S 
Published: March 2006

SummaryIntravenous lobular capillary haemangioma is a rare variant of lobular capillary haemangioma. This article describes the ultrasound and histological findings of such a lesion.
Intrinsic measurement bias on computed tomography scout view is unpredictable: Computed tomography pelvimetry using a phantom
Authors: Anderson NG , Fenwick JL , Wells JE 
Published: March 2006

SummaryOur aim was to determine the degree of bias in CT scanogram measurements. We obtained standard lateral and anteroposterior (AP) pelvimetry scanograms of a phantom pelvis after placing ball bearings or aluminium rods to mark bony landmarks. Computed tomography pelvimetry was carried out at the manufacturer‐recommended table height on two commercial CT scanners and at 10‐mm increments up to 50 mm above and below this height. The AP inlet, AP outlet, interspinous distance and transverse diameters were each measured three times for each scanogram. The true measurements were obtained directly from the disassembled phantom. Bias was defined as the difference between the CT measurement and the true measurement. Observer error was negligible. The transverse diameter was overestimated at high table positions and underestimated at low table positions on both scanners (+6 to −10 mm). After correcting for geometric distortion, up to 6 mm bias was still present. The point at which no bias occurred was different for each scanner and did not correspond to the manufacturers’ recommended table height. The outlet was overestimated on both scanners by up to 5 mm. The true inlet measurement was overestimated by 1.2 mm. The interspinous distance was minimally underestimated on both scanners. The measurements on CT scanogram were underestimated or overestimated in an inconsistent and unpredictable fashion, varying from one type of measurement to another and from CT scanner to CT scanner. This has implications for the accuracy and clinical utility of measurements obtained from a CT scanogram.
Update of radiosurgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital
Authors: Roos DE , Brophy BP , Bhat MK , Katsilis ES 
Published: March 2006

SummaryThis is an update of the Royal Adelaide Hospital radiosurgery experience between November 1993 and December 2004 comprising 165 patients with 168 intracranial lesions. Including re‐treatment, there were 175 treatment episodes (163 radiosurgery and 12 stereotactic radiotherapy) at an average of 1.3 per month. The commonest lesions were acoustic neuroma (65), arteriovenous malformation (58), solitary brain metastasis (23) and meningioma (14). The clinical features, treatment details and outcome are described. Our results continue to be well within the range reported in the published work. Radiosurgery provides an elegant, non‐invasive alternative to neurosurgery and conventional external beam radiotherapy for many benign and malignant brain tumours.
Anorexic dis(connection): managing anorexia as an illness and an identity
Authors: Rich Emma 
Published: March 2006

AbstractThis paper explores the ways in which young women ‘manage’ the complexities of the presentation of an anorexic identity, the stigma attached to it, and the relationships that are developed with fellow sufferers. A range of ethnographic data and ‘voices’ are drawn upon, including a small qualitative study within a leading centre in the UK for the treatment of eating disorders. The paper begins by outlining the ways in which for many young women, anorexia is a stigmatised identity which in various contexts comes to be perceived as an irrational and self‐inflicted condition. It was reported by the young women in our study that many of their peers, families and teachers made sense of their eating disorder through a medicalised discourse which focused on visual aspects of weight gain/loss and often stigmatised the condition, reducing it to a position of pathology or irrationality. It is argued that these experiences form a type of ‘discursive constraint’ (Ronai 1994) which many of the young women attempt to resist by engaging with alternative contexts and relationships through which they can construct more positive self‐representations of anorexia or anorexic identities. As is revealed through the various data sources, as these young women negotiate the various discourses which offer them alternative subjectivities, they come to manage anorexia as both an illness and an identity.
Forest‐tree population genomics and adaptive evolution
Authors: González‐Martínez Santiago C. , Krutovsky Konstantin V. , Neale David B. 
Published: March 2006

SummaryForest trees have gained much attention in recent years as nonclassical model eukaryotes for population, evolutionary and ecological genomic studies. Because of low domestication, large open‐pollinated native populations, and high levels of both genetic and phenotypic variation, they are ideal organisms to unveil the molecular basis of population adaptive divergence in nature. Population genomics, in its broad‐sense definition, is an emerging discipline that combines genome‐wide sampling with traditional population genetic approaches to understanding evolution. Here we briefly review traditional methods of studying adaptive genetic variation in forest trees, and describe a new, integrated population genomics approach. First, alleles (haplotypes) at candidate genes for adaptive traits and their effects on phenotypes need to be characterized via sequencing and association mapping. At this stage, functional genomics can assist in understanding gene action and regulation by providing detailed transcriptional profiles. Second, frequencies of alleles in native populations for causative single‐nucleotide polymorphisms are estimated to identify patterns of adaptive variation across heterogeneous environments. Population genomics, through deciphering allelic effects on phenotypes and identifying patterns of adaptive variation at the landscape level, will in the future constitute a useful tool, if cost‐effective, to design conservation strategies for forest trees.
New microsatellite loci for Carcharhinid sharks (Carcharhinus tilstoni and C. sorrah) and their cross‐amplification in other shark species
Authors: OVENDEN JENNIFER R. , STREET RAEYWN , BRODERICK DAMIEN 
Published: March 2006

AbstractTwelve microsatellite DNA markers were isolated in the spot‐tail shark (Carcharhinus sorrah) and nine were isolated in Australian black‐tip shark (Carcharhinus tilstoni). These loci plus 18 others developed for sharks from the genera Negaprion, Ginglymostoma, Carcharodon and Isurus were tested for amplification success on four species of Carcharhinus (including C. sorrah and C. tilstoni) and four other species representing three diverse families. Cross‐amplification was most common within families. Five loci were subsequently tested for polymorphism on 50 C. sorrah and 60 C. tilstoni. The number of alleles per locus was two to 24 and the average heterozygosity was 0.54 (range 0.16–0.87) for C. sorrah and 0.64 (range 0.44–0.78) for C. tilstoni. These loci may be useful tools for genetic analyses of the Carcharhinidae.