bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Factor Utilization and Adjusted Productivity Estimates for the UK*
Authors: Larsen Jens , Neiss Katharine , Shortall Fergal 
Published: December 2006

AbstractThis paper derives series for capital utilization, labour effort and total factor productivity (TFP) for the UK from a general equilibrium model with variable utilization and labour adjustment costs. Capital utilization tracks survey‐based measures closely, but persistent movements in total hours worked mean our labour effort series is not as highly correlated with its comparators. Our estimated TFP series is less cyclical than the traditional Solow residual, although a weighted average of capital utilization and labour effort – aggregate factor utilization – and the Solow residual are not closely related.
Morphometric analysis of facial landmark data to characterize the facial phenotype associated with fetal alcohol syndrome
Authors: Mutsvangwa Tinashe , Douglas Tania S. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractProcrustes analysis and principal component analysis were applied to stereo‐photogrammetrically obtained landmarks to compare the facial features associated with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in subjects with FAS and normal controls. Two studies were performed; both compared facial landmark data of FAS and normal subjects, but they differed in the number of landmarks chosen. The first study compared landmarks representing palpebral fissure length, upper lip thinness and philtrum smoothness and revealed no significant difference in shape. The second study added to the landmarks used in the first those affected by mid‐face hypoplasia, and revealed significant differences in shape between the two groups, broadly confirming the FAS gestalt reported in the literature. Some disagreement in the characteristic FAS facial shape between our results and those reported in the literature may be due to ethnic variation.
Pathways to diagnosis of cervical cancer: screening history, delay in follow up, and smear reading
Authors: Priest P , Sadler L , Peters J , Crengle S , Bethwaite P , Medley G , Jackson R 
Published: December 2006

Background  The aim of this study was to determine the most important ways to reduce incidence of and mortality from cervical cancer by a nationally co‐ordinated screening programme.Design  Descriptive study.Setting  The New Zealand National Cervical Screening Programme: a nationally organised and co‐ordinated programme.Sample  Women aged younger than 80 years with histologically proven primary invasive cervical cancer, including microinvasive disease, diagnosed between 1 January 2000 and 30 September 2002. Consent for access to medical records was gained for 371 of 445 eligible women (83%). A total of 359 (81%) of eligible women or their next of kin consented to interview.Methods  Data on events prior to diagnosis were obtained from routine sources, interview, medical record review and slide reread.Main outcome measures  Frequency of screening in the 7 years prior to diagnosis, time from abnormal smear or symptoms to appropriate diagnostic confirmation, proportion of negative smears upgraded to high grade on reread.Results  Half of the 371 participants (83% of 445 eligible women) had not had a screening smear in the 3 years prior to diagnosis, and 80% were defined as inadequately screened. A maximum of 17% of women overall or within any defined subgroup experienced delays in follow up of abnormal smears or bleeding. Only 11% of women overall had had a high‐grade smear, which was originally read as negative.Conclusions  The most important factor in women’s pathways to a diagnosis of cervical cancer was inadequate screening. While delays in diagnosis could be reduced and laboratory performance improved, priority must be given to improving uptake and frequency of screening.
Specific caspase inhibitor Q‐VD‐OPh prevents neonatal stroke in P7 rat: a role for gender
Authors: Renolleau Sylvain , Fau Sébastien , Goyenvalle Catherine , Joly Luc‐Marie , Chauvier David , Jacotot Etienne , Mariani Jean , Charriaut‐Marlangue Christiane 
Published: December 2006

AbstractHypoxia–ischaemia in the developing brain results in brain injury with prominent features of apoptosis. In the present study, a third generation dipeptidyl broad‐spectrum caspase inhibitor, quinoline‐Val‐Asp(Ome)‐CH2‐O‐phenoxy (Q‐VD‐OPh), was tested in a model of unilateral focal ischaemia with reperfusion in 7‐day‐old rats. Q‐VD‐OPh (1 mg/kg, i.p.) reduced cell death, resulting in significant neuroprotection at 48 h of recovery (infarct volume of 12.6 ± 2.8 vs. 24.3 ± 2.2%, p = 0.006). The neuroprotective effects observed at 48 h post‐ischaemia hold up at 21 days of survival time and attenuate neurological dysfunction. Analysis by gender revealed that females were strongly protected (6.7 ± 3.3%, p = 0.006), in contrast to males in which there was no significant effect, when Q‐VD‐OPh was given after clip removal on the left common carotid artery. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated that Q‐VD‐OPh inhibits caspase 3 cleavage into its p17 active form and caspase 1 up‐regulation and cleavage in vivo. Following ischaemia in P7 rats, males and females displayed different time course and pattern of cytochrome c release and active p17 caspase 3 during the first 24 h of recovery. In contrast, no significant difference was observed for caspase 1 expression between genders. These results indicate that ischaemia activates caspases shortly after reperfusion and that the sex of the animal may strongly influences apoptotic pathways in the pathogenesis of neonatal brain injury. The specificity, effectiveness, and reduced toxicity of Q‐VD‐OPh may determine the potential use of peptide‐derived irreversible caspase inhibitors as promising therapeutics.
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams
Authors: Kozlowski Steve W.J. , Ilgen Daniel R. 
Published: December 2006

Teams of people working together for a common purpose have been a centerpiece of human social organization ever since our ancient ancestors first banded together to hunt game, raise families, and defend their communities. Human history is largely a story of people working together in groups to explore, achieve, and conquer. Yet, the modern concept of work in large organizations that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is largely a tale of work as a collection of individual jobs. A variety of global forces unfolding over the last two decades, however, has pushed organizations worldwide to restructure work around teams, to enable more rapid, flexible, and adaptive responses to the unexpected. This shift in the structure of work has made team effectiveness a salient organizational concern. Teams touch our lives everyday and their effectiveness is important to well-being across a wide range of societal functions. There is over 50 years of psychological research—literally thousands of studies—focused on understanding and influencing the processes that underlie team effectiveness. Our goal in this monograph is to sift through this voluminous literature to identify what we know, what we think we know, and what we need to know to improve the effectiveness of work groups and teams. We begin by defining team effectiveness and establishing the conceptual underpinnings of our approach to understanding it. We then turn to our review, which concentrates primarily on topics that have well-developed theoretical and empirical foundations, to ensure that our conclusions and recommendations are on firm footing. Our review begins by focusing on cognitive, motivational/affective, and behavioral team processes—processes that enable team members to combine their resources to resolve task demands and, in so doing, be effective. We then turn our attention to identifying interventions, or “levers,” that can shape or align team processes and thereby provide tools and applications that can improve team effectiveness. Topic-specific conclusions and recommendations are given throughout the review. There is a solid foundation for concluding that there is an emerging science of team effectiveness and that findings from this research foundation provide several means to improve team effectiveness. In the concluding section, we summarize our primary findings to highlight specific research, application, and policy recommendations for enhancing the effectiveness of work groups and teams.
Cosmic variance of weak lensing surveys in the non-Gaussian regime
Authors: Semboloni Elisabetta , Van Waerbeke Ludovic , Heymans Catherine , Hamana Takashi , Colombi Stephane , White Martin , Mellier Yannick 
Published: December 2006

Abstract
The results from weak gravitational lensing analyses are subject to a cosmic variance error term that has previously been estimated assuming Gaussian statistics. In this Letter we address the issue of estimating cosmic variance errors for weak lensing surveys in the non-Gaussian regime.
Using standard cold dark matter model ray-tracing simulations characterized by Ωm = 0.3, ΩΛ = 0.7, h = 0.7 and σ8 = 1 for different survey redshifts zs, we determine the variance of the two-point shear correlation function measured across 64 independent lines of sight. We compare the measured variance to the variance expected from a random Gaussian field and derive a redshift-dependent non-Gaussian calibration relation.
We find that the ratio between the non-Gaussian and Gaussian variance at 1 arcmin can be as high as ∼30 for a survey with source redshift zs ∼ 0.5 and ∼10 for zs ∼ 1. The transition scale ϑc above which the ratio is consistent with unity is found to be ϑc ∼ 20 arcmin for zs ∼ 0.5 and ϑc∼ 10 arcmin for zs∼ 1. We provide fitting formulae to our results permitting the estimation of non-Gaussian cosmic variance errors, and discuss the impact on current and future surveys.
A more extensive set of simulations will, however, be required to investigate the dependence of our results on cosmology, specifically on the amplitude of clustering.
Instability strips of slowly pulsating B stars and β Cephei stars: the effect of the updated OP opacities and of the metal mixture
Authors: Miglio Andrea , Montalbán Josefina , Dupret Marc-Antoine 
Published: December 2006

Abstract
The discovery of β Cephei stars in low-metallicity environments, as well as the difficulty in theoretically explaining the excitation of the pulsation modes observed in some β Cephei and hybrid slowly pulsating B–β Cephei pulsators, suggest that the ‘iron opacity bump’ provided by stellar models could be underestimated. We analyze the effect of uncertainties in the opacity computations and in the solar metal mixture on the excitation of pulsation modes in B-type stars. We carry out a pulsational stability analysis for four grids of main-sequence models with masses between 2.5 and 12M⊙ computed with OPAL and OP opacity tables and two different metal mixtures. We find that in a typical β Cephei model the OP opacity is 25 per cent larger than OPAL in the region where the driving of pulsation modes occurs. Furthermore, the difference in the Fe mass fraction between the two metal mixtures considered is of the order of 20 per cent. The implication on the excitation of pulsation modes is non-negligible: the blue border of the slowly pulsating B star (SPB) instability strip is displaced at higher effective temperatures, leading to a larger number of models being hybrid SPB-β Cephei pulsators. Moreover, higher overtone p-modes are excited in β Cephei models and unstable modes are found in a larger number of models for lower metallicities, in particular β Cephei pulsations are also found in models with Z = 0.01.
Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Indinavir in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Pregnant Women
Authors: Unadkat Jashvant D. , Wara Diane W. , Hughes Michael D. , Mathias Anita A. , Holland Diane T. , Paul Mary E. , Connor James , Huang Sharon , Nguyen Bach-Yen , Watts D. Heather , Mofenson Lynne M. , Smith Elizabeth , Deutsch Paul , Kaiser Kathleen A. , Tuomala Ruth E. 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACTHuman immunodeficiency virus-infected women (n= 16) received indinavir (800 mg three times a day) plus zidovudine plus lamivudine from 14 to 28 weeks of gestation to 12 weeks postpartum. Two women and eight infants experienced grade 3 or 4 toxicities that were possibly treatment related. Indinavir area under the plasma concentration-time curve was 68% lower antepartum versus postpartum, suggesting increased intestinal and/or hepatic CYP3A activity during pregnancy.
Evaluation of Accessory Gene Regulator (
agr
) Group and Function in the Proclivity towards Vancomycin Intermediate Resistance in
Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Tsuji Brian T. , Rybak Michael J. , Lau Kerry L. , Sakoulas George 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACT

Simulated therapeutic vancomycin exposures were evaluated against
agr
wild-type and knockout
Staphylococcus aureus
groups I, II, III, and IV using an in vitro pharmacodynamic model. All
agr
groups developed intermediate resistance to vancomycin after subtherapeutic exposure. The free unbound fraction of the area under the concentration-time curve (
f
AUC/MIC) required to suppress resistance was fourfold higher (
P
< 0.001) in
agr
dysfunctional strains (112 to 169) than that in parent wild-type strains (28).
Clinical Prediction Tool To Identify Patients withPseudomonas aeruginosaRespiratory Tract Infections at Greatest Risk for Multidrug Resistance
Authors: Lodise Thomas P. , Miller Christopher D. , Graves Jeffrey , Furuno Jon P. , McGregor Jessina C. , Lomaestro Ben , Graffunder Eileen , McNutt Louise-Anne 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACTDespite the increasing prevalence of multiple-drug-resistant (MDR)Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the factors predictive of MDR have not been extensively explored. We sought to examine factors predictive of MDR among patients withP. aeruginosarespiratory tract infections and to develop a tool to estimate the probability of MDR among such high-risk patients. This was a single-site, case-control study of patients withP. aeruginosarespiratory tract infections. Multiple-drug resistance was defined as resistance to four or more antipseudomonal antimicrobial classes. Clinical data on demographics, antibiotic history, and microbiology were collected. Classification and regression tree analysis (CART) was used to identify the duration of antibiotic exposure associated with MDRP. aeruginosa. Log-binomial regression was used to model the probability of MDRP. aeruginosa. Among 351P. aeruginosa-infected patients, the proportion of MDRP. aeruginosawas 35%. A significant relationship between prior antibiotic exposure and MDRP. aeruginosawas found for all of the antipseudomonal antibiotics studied, but the duration of prior exposure associated with MDR varied between antibiotic classes; the shortest prior exposure duration was observed for carbapenems and fluoroquinolones, and the longest duration was noted for cefepime and piperacillin-tazobactam. Within the final model, the predicted MDRP. aeruginosalikelihood was most dependent upon length of hospital stay, prior culture sample collection, and number of CART-derived prior antibiotic exposures. A history of a prolonged hospital stay and exposure to antipseudomonal antibiotics predicts multidrug resistance among patients withP. aeruginosarespiratory tract infections at our institution. Identifying these risk factors enabled us to develop a prediction tool to assess the risk of resistance and thus guide empirical antibiotic therapy.
Caspofungin in Combination with Amphotericin B against
Candida parapsilosis
Authors: Barchiesi Francesco , Spreghini Elisabetta , Tomassetti Serena , Giannini Daniele , Scalise Giorgio 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACT

C
andida parapsilosis
has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen. In the present study, a checkerboard broth microdilution method was performed to investigate the in vitro activities of caspofungin (CAS) in combination with amphotericin B (AMB) against three clinical isolates of
C. parapsilosis
. Although there was a significant reduction of the MIC of one or both drugs used in combination, an indifferent interaction (fractional inhibitory concentration index greater than 0.50 and less than or equal to 4.0) was observed in 100% of cases. This finding was confirmed by killing curve studies. By a disk diffusion assay, the halo diameters produced by antifungal agents in combination were often significantly greater than those produced by each drug alone. Antagonism was never observed. In a murine model of systemic candidiasis, CAS at either 0.25 or 1 mg/kg/day combined with AMB at 1 mg/kg/day was significantly more effective than each single drug at reducing the colony counts in kidneys. Higher doses of the echinocandin (i.e., 5 and 10 mg/kg/day) combined with the polyene did not show any advantage over CAS alone. Overall, our study showed a positive interaction of CAS and AMB against
C. parapsilosis
.
Role of Peptide Hydrophobicity in the Mechanism of Action of α-Helical Antimicrobial Peptides
Authors: Chen Yuxin , Guarnieri Michael T. , Vasil Adriana I. , Vasil Michael L. , Mant Colin T. , Hodges Robert S. 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACTIn the present study, the 26-residue amphipathic α-helical antimicrobial peptide V13KL(Y. Chen et al., J. Biol. Chem. 2005, 280:12316-12329, 2005) was used as the framework to study the effects of peptide hydrophobicity on the mechanism of action of antimicrobial peptides. Hydrophobicity was systematically decreased or increased by replacing leucine residues with less hydrophobic alanine residues or replacing alanine residues with more hydrophobic leucine residues on the nonpolar face of the helix, respectively. Hydrophobicity of the nonpolar face of the amphipathic helix was demonstrated to correlate with peptide helicity (measured by circular dichroism spectroscopy) and self-associating ability (measured by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography temperature profiling) in aqueous environments. Higher hydrophobicity was correlated with stronger hemolytic activity. In contrast, there was an optimum hydrophobicity window in which high antimicrobial activity could be obtained. Decreased or increased hydrophobicity beyond this window dramatically decreased antimicrobial activity. The decreased antimicrobial activity at high peptide hydrophobicity can be explained by the strong peptide self-association which prevents the peptide from passing through the cell wall in prokaryotic cells, whereas increased peptide self-association had no effect on peptide access to eukaryotic membranes.
Antiparasitic Drug Nitazoxanide Inhibits the Pyruvate Oxidoreductases of
Helicobacter pylori
, Selected Anaerobic Bacteria and Parasites, and
Campylobacter jejuni
Authors: Hoffman Paul S. , Sisson Gary , Croxen Matthew A. , Welch Kevin , Harman W. Dean , Cremades Nunilo , Morash Michael G. 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACT

Nitazoxanide (NTZ) exhibits broad-spectrum activity against anaerobic bacteria and parasites and the ulcer-causing pathogen
Helicobacter pylori
. Here we show that NTZ is a noncompetitive inhibitor (

K
i

, 2 to 10 μM) of the pyruvate:ferredoxin/flavodoxin oxidoreductases (PFORs) of
Trichomonas vaginalis
,
Entamoeba histolytica
,
Giardia intestinalis
,
Clostridium difficile
,
Clostridium perfringens
,
H. pylori
, and
Campylobacter jejuni
and is weakly active against the pyruvate dehydrogenase of
Escherichia coli
. To further mechanistic studies, the PFOR operon of
H. pylori
was cloned and overexpressed in
E. coli
, and the multisubunit complex was purified by ion-exchange chromatography. Pyruvate-dependent PFOR activity with NTZ, as measured by a decrease in absorbance at 418 nm (spectral shift from 418 to 351 nm), unlike the reduction of viologen dyes, did not result in the accumulation of products (acetyl coenzyme A and CO
2
) and pyruvate was not consumed in the reaction. NTZ did not displace the thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) cofactor of PFOR, and the 351-nm absorbing form of NTZ was inactive. Optical scans and
1
H nuclear magnetic resonance analyses determined that the spectral shift (
A
418
to
A
351
) of NTZ was due to protonation of the anion (NTZ
−
) of the 2-amino group of the thiazole ring which could be generated with the pure compound under acidic solutions (pK
a
= 6.18). We propose that NTZ
−
intercepts PFOR at an early step in the formation of the lactyl-TPP transition intermediate, resulting in the reversal of pyruvate binding prior to decarboxylation and in coordination with proton transfer to NTZ. Thus, NTZ might be the first example of an antimicrobial that targets the “activated cofactor” of an enzymatic reaction rather than its substrate or catalytic sites, a novel mechanism that may escape mutation-based drug resistance.
Cloning and Characterization of the Pyrrolomycin Biosynthetic Gene Clusters from
Actinosporangium vitaminophilum
ATCC 31673 and
Streptomyces
sp. Strain UC 11065
Authors: Zhang Xiujun , Parry Ronald J. 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACT

The pyrrolomycins are a family of polyketide antibiotics, some of which contain a nitro group. To gain insight into the nitration mechanism associated with the formation of these antibiotics, the pyrrolomycin biosynthetic gene cluster from
Actinosporangium vitaminophilum
was cloned. Sequencing of ca. 56 kb of
A. vitaminophilum
DNA revealed 35 open reading frames (ORFs). Sequence analysis revealed a clear relationship between some of these ORFs and the biosynthetic gene cluster for pyoluteorin, a structurally related antibiotic. Since a gene transfer system could not be devised for
A. vitaminophilum
, additional proof for the identity of the cloned gene cluster was sought by cloning the pyrrolomycin gene cluster from
Streptomyces
sp. strain UC 11065, a transformable pyrrolomycin producer. Sequencing of ca. 26 kb of UC 11065 DNA revealed the presence of 17 ORFs, 15 of which exhibit strong similarity to ORFs in the
A. vitaminophilum
cluster as well as a nearly identical organization. Single-crossover disruption of two genes in the UC 11065 cluster abolished pyrrolomycin production in both cases. These results confirm that the genetic locus cloned from UC 11065 is essential for pyrrolomycin production, and they also confirm that the highly similar locus in
A. vitaminophilum
encodes pyrrolomycin biosynthetic genes. Sequence analysis revealed that both clusters contain genes encoding the two components of an assimilatory nitrate reductase. This finding suggests that nitrite is required for the formation of the nitrated pyrrolomycins. However, sequence analysis did not provide additional insights into the nitration process, suggesting the operation of a novel nitration mechanism.
Coproduction of Novel 16S rRNA Methylase RmtD and Metallo-β-Lactamase SPM-1 in a Panresistant
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Isolate from Brazil
Authors: Doi Yohei , de Oliveira Garcia Doroti , Adams Jennifer , Paterson David L. 
Published: December 2006

ABSTRACT

Serious infections with
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
are frequently treated with the combination of a β-lactam antimicrobial and an aminoglycoside.
P. aeruginosa
strain PA0905 was isolated in 2005 from an inpatient in Brazil. It showed a panresistant phenotype that included resistance to β-lactams, aminoglycosides, and fluoroquinolones. The β-lactam resistance was conferred by the production of the metallo-β-lactamase SPM-1. No inhibitory zone was observed when a disk diffusion test was performed with the semisynthetic aminoglycoside arbekacin, raising suspicion of 16S rRNA methylase production. A cloning experiment subsequently revealed the presence of a novel 16S rRNA methylase, RmtD, which accounted for the high-level resistance to all 4,6-disubstituted deoxystreptamine aminoglycosides, such as amikacin, tobramycin, and gentamicin. RmtD shared a moderate degree of identity with RmtA, another 16S rRNA methylase that was initially reported to occur in
P. aeruginosa
in Japan in 2003. This is the first identification of aminoglycoside resistance mediated by a 16S rRNA methylase in South America. This is also the first report to document coproduction of a metallo-β-lactamase and a 16S rRNA methylase, a combination that would severely compromise therapeutic options for the infected patients.