bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A National Health Service Hospital's cardiac rehabilitation programme: a qualitative analysis of provision
Authors: O'Driscoll Jamie M , Shave Robert , Cushion Christopher J 
Published: September 2007

Aim.  This paper reports a study examining the effectiveness of a London National Health Service Trust Hospital's cardiac rehabilitation programme, from the perspectives of healthcare professionals and patients.Background.  Cardiovascular disease is the world's leading cause of death and disability. Substantial research has reported that, following a cardiac event, cardiac rehabilitation can promote recovery, improve exercise capacity and patient health, reduce various coronary artery disease risk factors and subsequently reduce hospitalization costs. Despite these findings and the introduction of the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease, there is wide variation in the practice, management and organization of cardiac rehabilitation services.Methods.  A purposeful sample of three postmyocardial infarction patients registered on the selected hospital's cardiac rehabilitation programme, coupled with 11 healthcare professionals were selected. The patients acted as individual case studies. The authors followed all three patients through phase III of their cardiac rehabilitation programme. The research attempted to explore the roles and procedures of a London hospital's cardiac rehabilitation programme through an interpretative framework involving qualitative research methods. Participant observation and in‐depth semi‐structured interviews were the instruments used to collect data.Findings.  Whilst the healthcare professionals were enthusiastic about coronary heart disease prevention, the London NHS trust hospital's cardiac rehabilitation programme had several barriers, which reduced the programme's success and prevented it from achieving National Service Framework targets. The barriers were complex and mainly included service‐related factors, such as lack of professional training, weak communication between primary and secondary care and confused roles and identities.Conclusion.  Although the study has immediate relevance for the local area, it highlighted issues of more general relevance to cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention programme development, such as communication and role and identity perceptions in a multi‐professional working environment and the need to develop a formal training programme for cardiac rehabilitation healthcare professionals.Relevance to clinical practice.  The results of this study highlight the need for increased investment, improved planning and the introduction of a comprehensive training programme for healthcare practitioners in cardiac rehabilitation. Implementation of these actions may reduce many of the service limitations and barriers that currently surround cardiac rehabilitation programmes.
A nurse‐led cardiac rehabilitation programme improves health behaviours and cardiac physiological risk parameters: evidence from Chengdu, China
Authors: Jiang Xiaolian , Sit Janet W , Wong Thomas KS 
Published: September 2007

Aim.  The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a cardiac rehabilitation programme on health behaviours and physiological risk parameters in patients with coronary heart disease in Chengdu, China.Background.  Epidemiological studies indicate a dose‐, level‐ and duration‐dependent relationship exists between cardiac behavioural and physiological risks and coronary heart disease incidence as well as subsequent cardiac morbidity and mortality. Cardiac risk factor modification has become the very primary goal of modern cardiac rehabilitation programmes.Design methods.  A randomized controlled trial was conducted. Coronary heart disease patients (n = 167) who met the sampling criteria in two tertiary medical centres in Chengdu, south‐west China, were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (the cardiac rehabilitation programme) or control group (the routine care). The change of health behaviours (walking performance, step II diet adherence, medication adherence, smoking cessation) and physiological risk parameters (serum lipids, blood pressure, body weight) were assessed to evaluate the programme effect.Results.  Patients in the intervention group demonstrated a significantly better performance in walking, step II diet adherence, medication adherence; a significantly greater reduction in serum lipids including triglyceride, total cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein; and significantly better control of systolic and diastolic blood pressure at three months. The majority of these positive impacts were maintained at six months. The effect of the programme on smoking cessation, body weight, serum high‐density lipoprotein, was not confirmed.Conclusions.  A cardiac rehabilitation programme led by a nurse can significantly improve the health behaviours and cardiac physiological risk parameters in coronary heart disease patients. Nurses can fill significant treatment gaps in the risk factor management of patients with coronary heart disease.Relevance to clinical practice.  This study raises attention regarding the important roles nurses can play in cardiac rehabilitation and the unique way for nurses to meet the rehabilitative care needs of coronary heart disease patients. Furthermore, the hospital–home bridging nature of the programme also created a model for interfacing the acute care and community rehabilitative care.
The Pleistocene easternmost distribution in Eurasia of the species associated with the Eemian Palaeoloxodon antiquus assemblage
Authors: PUSHKINA DIANA 
Published: September 2007

ABSTRACT

The Palaeoloxodon antiquus large‐mammal assemblage was typical of the late middle and late Pleistocene interglacials in Europe. This review examines the assemblage's origins, dispersal and cohesiveness in Eurasia.
During the more climatically equable middle‐Pleistocene periods, the Palaeoloxodon assemblage (or closely related) species occurred across central Eurasia almost simultaneously. In Central and Western Europe, these species responded to climatic changes together as an unvarying interglacial assemblage, whereas in Eastern Europe and Siberia, they occurred in diverging assemblages. The boundary of the Palaeoloxodon assemblage can be drawn roughly from Poland to Romania.
In Central and Western Europe this interglacial assemblage last occurred during the Eemian. During this period many of the Palaeoloxodon assemblage species may also have co‐occurred in south‐eastern Europe and, except for Bubalus murrensis and Hippopotamus amphibius, further eastwards. The extinct species of the Palaeoloxodon assemblage disappeared in Siberia and Central Asia prior to Europe and the Caucasus whereas the extant species were already present in their modern distribution areas.
A quantitative study of faunal associations across Eurasia, following much‐needed comprehensive systematic reviews, would further elucidate the patterns of faunal change associated with local and global climatic changes during the middle to late Pleistocene.
Fire and ice: volcanic and glacial impacts on the phylogeography of the New Zealand forest fern Asplenium hookerianum
Authors: SHEPHERD LARA D. , PERRIE LEON R. , BROWNSEY PATRICK J. 
Published: September 2007

AbstractIn the Southern Hemisphere there has been little phylogeographical investigation of forest refugia sites during the last glacial. Hooker's spleenwort, Asplenium hookerianum, is a fern that is found throughout New Zealand. It is strongly associated with forest and is a proxy for the survival of woody vegetation during the last glacial maximum. DNA sequence data from the chloroplast trnL‐trnF locus were obtained from 242 samples, including c. 10 individuals from each of 21 focal populations. Most populations contained multiple, and in many cases unique, haplotypes, including those neighbouring formerly glaciated areas, while the predominant inference from nested clade analysis was restricted gene flow with isolation by distance. These results suggest that A. hookerianum survived the last glacial maximum in widespread populations of sufficient size to retain the observed phylogeography, and therefore that the sheltering woody vegetation must have been similarly abundant. This is consistent with palynological interpretations for the survival in New Zealand of thermophilous forest species at considerably smaller distances from the ice sheets than recorded for the Northern Hemisphere. Eastern and central North Island populations of A. hookerianum were characterized by a different subset of haplotypes to populations from the remainder of the country. A similar east–west phylogeographical pattern has been detected in a diverse array of taxa, and has previously been attributed to recurrent vulcanism in the central North Island.
Origins and population genetics of weedy red rice in the USA
Authors: LONDO J. P. , SCHAAL B. A. 
Published: September 2007

AbstractWeedy red rice (Oryza sativa spontonea) is a persistent and problematic weed of rice culture worldwide. A major hypothesis for the mechanism of production of this weed in South and Southeast Asia is hybridization between cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) and wild rice (Oryza rufipogon). However, weedy red rice can often be found outside the range of O. rufipogon leaving questions on the origin and process behind weedy rice infestations. In the USA, weedy red rice was first documented as early as 1846 and has continued to affect rice production areas. In this study, we attempt to identify the origin and population structure of weedy red rice sampled from the USA using both DNA sequence data from a neutral nuclear locus as well as microsatellite genotype data. Results suggest that two major accessions of weedy rice exist, strawhull and blackhull, and these forms may both hybridize with the cultivated rice of the USA, O. sativa japonica. Using population assignment of multilocus genotype signatures with principal component analysis and structure, an Asian origin is supported for US weedy rice. Additionally, hybridization between strawhull and blackhull varieties was inferred and may present the opportunity for the production of new weedy forms in the future.
Ecological annotation of genes and genomes through ecological genomics
Authors: LANDRY CHRISTIAN R. , AUBIN‐HORTH NADIA 
Published: September 2007

AbstractEcological genomics is a research field that aims to determine how a genome or a population of genomes interacts with its environment across ecological and evolutionary timescales. This matter was the central theme of the symposium on Ecological Genomics that took place at the First meeting of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution, held at the University of Toronto in May 2007. Through their research on a diverse array of organisms, the various speakers illustrated how ecology and evolution benefit from genomics, and indirectly how genomics can benefit from evolutionary ecology.
Rates of evolution of avirulence phenotypes and DNA markers in a northwest European population of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici
Authors: HOVMØLLER MOGENS S. , JUSTESEN ANNEMARIE F. 
Published: September 2007

AbstractThe effects of evolutionary processes in fungal pathogen populations may occur more rapidly and display larger effects in agricultural systems than in wild ecosystems because of human involvement by plant breeding and crop management. In this study, we analysed the rate of evolution in three lineages of a northwest European population of a biotrophic and asexual reproduced fungal pathogen, Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, causing yellow rust on wheat. Pathogen samples were collected between 1975 and 2002 in the UK and Denmark, and assayed for 14 individual avirulence/virulence alleles and up to 234 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primer pairs producing approximately 17 000 AFLP fragments. The large number of fragments and a targeted sampling of isolates allowed a reconstruction of phylogenies in great detail, i.e. no homoplasy and a representation of sequential, evolutionary steps by pathogen samples. A recent, phenotypic loss of avirulence was observed at least once for loci corresponding to P. striiformis f. sp. tritici resistance Yr2, Yr3, Yr4, Yr7, Yr9, and Yr15, whereas Avr6 and Avr17 were lost independently in all three lineages, corresponding to 16 events of loss of avirulence (emergence of virulence). The opposite process, restoration of avirulence, was observed for Yr9 and Yr32. An interpretation of phenotypic changes within lineages as independent mutation events resulted in mutation frequencies from 1.4 × 10−6 to 4.1 × 10−6 per AFLP fragment (locus) per generation, whereas the effective rate by which a mutation from avirulence to virulence was established in the pathogen population, when subject to selection by host resistance genes, was approximately three orders of magnitude faster.
Polyandry in the wild: temporal changes in female mating frequency and sperm competition intensity in natural populations of the tettigoniid Requena verticalis
Authors: SIMMONS LEIGH W. , BEVERIDGE MAXINE , KENNINGTON W. JASON 
Published: September 2007

AbstractEmpirical tests of sexual selection theory generally utilize model systems under laboratory settings, and extend conclusions to evolutionary processes occurring in nature. The biological significance of laboratory findings will depend largely on the mating rates of females and patterns of paternity in natural populations, information on which is generally lacking. Here we use microsatellite markers to provide rare estimates of female mating rates and patterns of parentage in a species of tettigoniid, Requena verticalis, which has been used extensively to test theory on the evolution of male parental investment and its influence on the direction of sexual selection. We found that although the number of males having a genetic representation in the female's sperm stores was higher for females collected late in the breeding season than those collected early in the season, overall the female mating rate was lower than that expected from laboratory observations. Analysis of parentage of offspring produced by females at the end of the breeding season revealed that all males represented in the sperm stores fathered offspring, although paternity was biased away from that expected from random sperm utilization. The data show that the complete first male sperm precedence documented in laboratory studies of this species does not persist in natural populations. Our data provide a solid underpinning for conclusions drawn from laboratory studies of this species.
Coupling nucleotide hydrolysis to transcription activation performance in a bacterial enhancer binding protein
Authors: Joly Nicolas , Rappas Mathieu , Wigneshweraraj Siva R. , Zhang Xiaodong , Buck Martin 
Published: September 2007

SummaryThe bacterial enhancer binding proteins (bEBP) are members of the AAA+ protein family and have a highly conserved ‘DE’ Walker B motif thought to be involved in the catalytic function of the protein with an active role in nucleotide hydrolysis. Based on detailed structural data, we analysed the functionality of the conserved ‘DE’ Walker B motif of a bEBP model, phage shock protein F (PspF), to investigate the role of these residues in the σ54‐dependent transcription activation process. We established their role in the regulation of PspF self‐association and in the relay of the ATPase activity to the remodelling of an RNA polymerase·promoter complex (Eσ54·DNA). Specific substitutions of the conserved glutamate (E) allowed the identification of new functional ATP·bEBP·Eσ54 complexes which are stable and transcriptionally competent, providing a new tool to study the initial events of the σ54‐dependent transcription activation process. In addition, we show the importance of this glutamate residue in σ54·DNA conformation sensing, permitting the identification of new intermediate stages within the transcription activation pathway.
Systematic deletion analyses of the fla genes in the flagella operon identify several genes essential for proper assembly and function of flagella in the archaeon, Methanococcus maripaludis
Authors: Chaban Bonnie , Ng Sandy Y. M. , Kanbe Masaomi , Saltzman Ilana , Nimmo Graeme , Aizawa Shin‐Ichi , Jarrell Ken F. 
Published: September 2007

SummaryThe archaeal flagellum is a unique motility apparatus in the prokaryotic domain, distinct from the bacterial flagellum. Most of the currently recognized archaeal flagella‐associated genes fall into a single fla operon that contains the genes for the flagellin proteins (two or more genes designated as flaA or flaB), some variation of a set of conserved proteins of unknown function (flaC, flaD, flaE, flaF, flaG and flaH), an ATPase (flaI) and a membrane protein (flaJ). In addition, the flaD gene has been demonstrated to encode two proteins: a full‐length gene product and a truncated product derived from an alternate, internal start site. A systematic deletion approach was taken using the methanogen Methanococcus maripaludis to investigate the requirement and a possible role for these proposed flagella‐associated genes. Markerless in‐frame deletion strains were created for most of the genes in the M. maripaludis fla operon. In addition, a strain lacking the truncated FlaD protein [FlaD M(191)I] was also created. DNA sequencing and Southern blot analysis confirmed each mutant strain, and the integrity of the remaining operon was confirmed by immunoblot. With the exception of the ΔFlaB3 and FlaD M(191)I strains, all mutants were non‐motile by light microscopy and non‐flagellated by electron microscopy. A detailed examination of the ΔFlaB3 mutant flagella revealed that these structures had no hook region, while the FlaD M(191)I strain appeared identical to wild type. Each deletion strain was complemented, and motility and flagellation was restored. Collectively, these results demonstrate for first time that these fla operon genes are directly involved and critically required for proper archaeal flagella assembly and function.
Another piece of the puzzle of apoptotic cytochrome c release
Authors: Lawen Alfons 
Published: September 2007

SummaryInvolvement of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP) in apoptosis and PTP structure are highly controversial. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, experiments based on yeast genetics analyse the roles of the three proteins commonly considered to form the PTP, i.e. porin, ADP/ATP carrier (ACC) and mitochondrial cyclophilin, on apoptosis‐like cell death. Whereas knocking out cyclophilin had no effect, the porin‐1 knockout yeast showed enhanced apoptosis, suggesting that porin‐1 has an antiapoptotic role. Loss of the ACC proteins afforded protection against some causes of death, but enhanced death induced by H2O2, suggesting a more complex role for the ACC proteins in regulating apoptosis‐like death in yeast.
YjbH is a novel negative effector of the disulphide stress regulator, Spx, in Bacillus subtilis
Authors: Larsson Jonas T. , Rogstam Annika , Von Wachenfeldt Claes 
Published: September 2007

SummaryIn the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis Spx is a key regulator that controls expression, positively or negatively, of several genes in response to certain oxidative stresses that lead to the formation of unwanted disulphide bonds. Here we characterized the yjbH gene and show that it encodes a novel effector of Spx. The yjbH gene is part of the yjbIH operon that encodes a truncated haemoglobin (YjbI) and a predicted 34 kDa cytosolic protein of unknown function (YjbH). Deletion of yjbIH or yjbH has pleiotropic effects and affects growth, sporulation and competence development. Cells lacking yjbIH display a reduced sensitivity to the thiol oxidant diamide and show an apparent down‐ or upregulation of several transcripts that belong to the Spx regulon. Twenty‐two suppressor mutations that bypass the defects conferred by yjbH were isolated. These mutations were identified as six deletions, three nonsense and 11 missense substitutions in the spx gene. Real‐time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) analysis showed that mutations in yjbIH or yjbH do not affect the level of spx transcription. The combined data from the present work show that strains lacking yjbIH or yjbH overproduce Spx under unperturbed growth. The elevated Spx concentration cannot be attributed to an increased spx expression but is likely to result from control at the post‐transcriptional level. YjbH is proposed to affect the cellular concentration of Spx by modulating proteolysis via the ClpXP protease.
A unique Mycobacterium ESX‐1 protein co‐secretes with CFP‐10/ESAT‐6 and is necessary for inhibiting phagosome maturation
Authors: Xu Junjie , Laine Olli , Masciocchi Mark , Manoranjan Joanna , Smith Jennifer , Du Shao Jun , Edwards Nathan , Zhu Xiaoping , Fenselau Catherine , Gao Lian‐Yong 
Published: September 2007

SummaryThe ESX‐1 secretion system plays a critical role in the virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. marinum. To date, three proteins are known to be secreted by ESX‐1 and necessary for virulence, two of which are CFP‐10 and ESAT‐6. The ESX‐1 secretion and the virulence mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we have examined the M. marinum secretomes and identified four proteins specific to ESX‐1. Two of those are CFP‐10 and ESAT‐6, and the other two are novel: MM1553 (homologous to Rv3483c) and Mh3881c (homologous to Rv3881c). We have shown that Mh3881c, CFP‐10 and ESAT‐6 are co‐dependent for secretion. Mh3881c is being cleaved at close to the C‐terminus during secretion, and the C‐terminal portion is critical to the co‐dependent secretion, the ESAT‐6 cellular levels, and interaction with ESAT‐6. The co‐dependent secretion is required for M. marinum intracellular growth in macrophages, where the Mh3881c C‐terminal portion plays a critical role. The role of the co‐dependent secretion in intracellular growth correlates with its role in inhibiting phagosome maturation. Both the secretion and the virulence defects of the Mh3881c mutant are complemented by Mh3881c or its M. tuberculosis homologue Rv3881c, suggesting that in M. tuberculosis, Rv3881c has similar functions.
The Hsp70 chaperone machines of Escherichia coli: a paradigm for the repartition of chaperone functions
Authors: Genevaux Pierre , Georgopoulos Costa , Kelley William L. 
Published: September 2007

SummaryMolecular chaperones are highly conserved in all free‐living organisms. There are many types of chaperones, and most are conveniently grouped into families. Genome sequencing has revealed that many organisms contain multiple members of both the DnaK (Hsp70) family and their partner J‐domain protein (JDP) cochaperone, belonging to the DnaJ (Hsp40) family. Escherichia coli K‐12 encodes three Hsp70 genes and six JDP genes. The coexistence of these chaperones in the same cytosol suggests that certain chaperone–cochaperone interactions are permitted, and that chaperone tasks and their regulation have become specialized over the course of evolution. Extensive genetic and biochemical analyses have greatly expanded knowledge of chaperone tasking in this organism. In particular, recent advances in structure determination have led to significant insights of the underlying complexities and functional elegance of the Hsp70 chaperone machine.