bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Encoding of electrophysiology and other signals in MR images
Authors: Hanson Lars G. , Lund Torben E. , Hanson Christian G. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractPurposeTo develop a gradient insensitive, generic technique for recording of non‐MR signals by use of surplus scanner bandwidth.Materials and MethodsRelatively simple battery driven hardware is used to transform one or more signals into radio waves detectable by the MR scanner. Similar to the “magstripe” technique used for encoding of soundtracks in motion pictures, the electrical signals are in this way encoded as artifacts appearing in the MR images or spectra outside the region of interest. The encoded signals are subsequently reconstructed from the signal recorded by the scanner.ResultsElectrophysiological (EP) eye and heart muscular recording (electrooculography [EOG] and electrocardiography [ECG]) during fast echo planar imaging (EPI) is demonstrated with an expandable, modular 8‐channel prototype implementation. The gradient artifacts that would normally be dominating EOG are largely eliminated.ConclusionThe method provides relatively inexpensive sampling with inherent microsecond synchronization and it reduces gradient artifacts in physiological recordings significantly. When oversampling is employed, the method is compatible with all MR reconstruction and postprocessing techniques. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007;25:1059–1066. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
MR colonography with fecal tagging: Do individual patient characteristics influence image quality?
Authors: Kinner Sonja , Kuehle Christiane A. , Langhorst Jost , Ladd Susanne C. , Nuefer Michael , Barkhausen Joerg , Lauenstein Thomas C. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractPurposeTo evaluate if different patient characteristics influence performance of fecal tagging (a new MR colonography (MRC) technique to label stool to avoid bowel cleansing) and, consecutively, MR image quality.Materials and MethodsA total of 333 patients (mean age = 61 years) underwent MRC with fecal tagging. Four segments of the large bowel (ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid colon) were assessed as for the presence of nontagged stool particles, which can impede an assessment of the colonic wall. Ratings were correlated with patients' characteristics including patient age (<55 vs. ≥55 years), body mass index (BMI) (<25 vs. ≥25), gender, and acceptance levels for fecal tagging. Statistical analysis was performed using a Mann‐Whitney U‐test.ResultsA total of 1332 colonic segments were evaluated. Among them, 327 segments (25%) did not contain any visible stool particles. Considerably reduced image quality was found in 61 segments (5%). Best image quality was found in the sigmoid colon (mean value = 1.9), while image quality of the ascending colon turned out to be worst (mean value = 2.6). Fecal tagging effectiveness showed a reverse correlation with patient age. However, all other characteristics did not have a statistically significant influence on fecal tagging outcome.ConclusionMRC in conjunction with barium‐based fecal tagging led to diagnostic image quality in 95% of all colonic segments. Since tagging results were significantly decreased in patients ≥55 years, tagging protocols should to be modified in this group, i.e., by increasing the time interval of tagging administration. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007;25:1007–1012. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Characterization of viral kinetics in patients with hepatitis B e antigen‐positive chronic hepatitis B
Authors: Wu I‐Chin , Chow Nan‐Haw , Cheng Pin‐Nan , Liu Wen‐Chun , Young Kung‐Chia , Chang Wei‐Lun , Chen Chi‐Yi , Tseng Kuo‐Chih , Chang Ting‐Tsung 
Published: April 2007

AbstractA study was conducted during a 1 year follow‐up to characterize the viral kinetics in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐positive chronic hepatitis B and to develop a model of predicting the probability of spontaneous HBeAg seroconversion. Fifty‐seven patients with HBeAg‐positive chronic hepatitis B were enrolled with monthly follow‐ups from three Phase III clinical trial placebo groups. According to serial viral loads, 30 patients (52.6%) with the stationary pattern maintained stable HBV DNA levels with fluctuations of less than 1.5 log copies/ml. Twenty patients (35.1%) with the declining pattern exhibited a spontaneous decline of more than 1.5 log copies/ml without a following rebound of at least 1.5 log copies/ml. The remaining seven patients (12.3%) had the wavering pattern. Both declining and wavering patterns, when compared with the stationary pattern, had significantly higher hepatic necroinflammation in terms of ALT and Knodell scores at the baseline and peak ALT levels during the follow‐up period. The declining pattern had a significantly better clinical outcome in terms of the lowest final HBV DNA and a reduction in the necroinflammatory score after 1 year. Furthermore, the declining pattern had a favorable HBeAg seroconversion rate (40%) compared with the wavering (14.3%) and stationary patterns (0%). A regression equation, incorporating simultaneous serum bilirubin, ALT, and HBV DNA levels, predicted the probability of HBeAg seroconversion with a sensitivity of 76.8% and a specificity of 74.7%. In conclusion, different viral kinetic patterns in patients with chronic hepatitis B implicate distinct clinical significance and immunologic perspective. J. Med. Virol. 79: 663–669, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ongoing subclinical infection of hepatitis E virus among blood donors with an elevated alanine aminotransferase level in Japan
Authors: Gotanda Yuhko , Iwata Akiko , Ohnuma Hitoshi , Yoshikawa Akira , Mizoguchi Hideaki , Endo Kazunori , Takahashi Masaharu , Okamoto Hiroaki 
Published: April 2007

AbstractOngoing subclinical infection of hepatitis E virus (HEV) has not been fully studied. In the present study, serum samples were collected from 6700 voluntary blood donors with an elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level of 61‐476 IU/l at a Japanese Red Cross Blood Center, and were tested for the presence of IgG, IgM and IgA classes of antibodies to HEV (anti‐HEV) by in‐house ELISA and HEV RNA by nested RT‐PCR. Overall, 479 blood donors (7.1%) were positive for anti‐HEV IgG, including 8 donors with anti‐HEV IgM and 7 donors with anti‐HEV IgA. Among the nine donors with anti‐HEV IgM and/or anti‐HEV IgA, six had detectable HEV RNA. The presence of HEV RNA was further tested in 10‐sample minipools of sera from the remaining 6691 donors, and three donors including one without anti‐HEV IgG were found to be positive for HEV RNA. When stratified by ALT level, the prevalence of HEV RNA was significantly higher among the 109 donors with ALT ≥201 IU/l than among the 6591 donors with ALT of 61–200 IU/l (2.8% vs. 0.1%, P < 0.0001). The HEV isolates obtained from the nine viremic donors segregated into genotype 3, shared a wide range of identities of 85.6–98.5% and were 87.3–93.9% similar to the Japan‐indigenous HEV strain (JRA1), in the 412‐nucleotide sequence of open reading frame 2. This study suggests that approximately 3% of Japanese individuals with ALT ≥201 IU/l have ongoing subclinical infection with various HEV strains. J. Med. Virol. 79: 734–742, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A putative new domain target for anti‐hepatitis B virus: Residues flanking hepatitis B virus reverse transcriptase residue 306 (rtP306)
Authors: Wang Yong‐Xiang , Xu Xiang , Luo Cheng , Ma Zhang‐Mei , Jiang Hua‐Liang , Ding Jian‐Ping , Wen Yu‐Mei 
Published: April 2007

AbstractPrevious work showed that conservation of proline at residue 306 (rtP306) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reverse transcriptase (RT) is crucial for virus replication and encapsidation of pregenomic RNA (pgRNA). In this study, the functions of residues flanking rtP306 in HBV RT (rtG304, rtY305, rtA307, rtL308 and rtL311) are presented. Alanine or phenylalanine was used to substitute these residues by constructing site‐directed mutants which were used to transfect Huh‐7 cells. Replication competencies and encapsidation efficiencies were compared between the mutants and the parental viral strain. Substitutions at these residues resulted in marked decrease of replication competency, which was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization of HBV DNA isolated from intracytoplasmic core particles, and trans‐complementation between a non‐replicative defective mutant and corresponding RT mutants. Impaired pgRNA encapsidation efficiency of these mutants was shown as the major mechanism for decreased replication efficiency. Since residues from rt304 to rt311 are highly conserved among genotypes A–H HBV strains, results suggest that rt304 to rt311 in HBV RT may serve as a putative anti‐HBV new target domain. J. Med. Virol. 79: 676–682, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Isolation of therapeutic human monoclonal antibodies for varicella‐zoster virus and the effect of light chains on the neutralizing activity
Authors: Suzuki Kazuhiro , Akahori Yasushi , Asano Yoshizo , Kurosawa Yoshikazu , Shiraki Kimiyasu 
Published: April 2007

AbstractTherapeutic antibodies against varicella‐zoster virus (VZV) were isolated from a combinatorial library of human antibodies using a phage‐display system. Purified gH:gL was used to screen the library, and approximately 300 clones were isolated. Eight kinds of Fab‐cp3‐fused molecules (clones 10, 24, 36, 60, 94, 120, 192, and 431) neutralized viral infectivity. After conversion of Fab‐cp3 antibodies to the Fab‐protein A form, the concentrations of antibodies showing 50% inhibition of plaque formation ranged from 0.12 to 400 nM. Clones 10, 24, 94, 120 and 431 neutralized wild strains without showing strain specificity and were further converted to human IgG1. Two clones (24 and 94) were confirmed to react with gH:gL and VZV‐infected cells. IgG of clone 94 prevented spreading of infected cells. Thus these antibodies exhibited the typical phenotype of anti‐gH antibody. Next the contribution of light (L) chains to neutralizing activity was analyzed by comparing the effect of L chain of clones 10, 120, and 192 with the identical heavy chain on their neutralizing activity. The L chain in the Fab form of clone 94 was replaced by L chains of clones 10, 24, 36, and 60 and the neutralizing activity of these replaced antibodies was weaker than that of the prototype clone 94. When the kappa‐L chain of clone 94 was replaced by the lambda‐L chain of clone 24, this antibody possessed neutralizing activity despite the kappa‐lambda class change. Thus, human antibody library against VZV‐gH has been established and characterized the role of the L chain in VZV‐neutralizing activity to engineering further an antibody with stronger neutralizing activity. J. Med. Virol. 79: 852–862, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Prevalence of the most common high‐risk HPV genotypes among women in three new independent states of the former Soviet Union
Authors: Kulmala Satu‐Maria A. , Shabalova Irena P. , Petrovitchev Nikolay , Syrjänen Kari J. , Gyllensten Ulf B. , Syrjänen Stina M. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractType distribution of HPV has been studied in different geographic regions, but the data are scanty from the new independent states of the former Soviet Union. Here the HPV prevalence and distribution of the most frequent high‐risk HPV types among 3,187 women at different risk for HPV and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in Russia, Belarus, and Latvia is reported. HPV detection, type distribution and viral load analysis in DNA samples from cervical scrapes were done with real‐time PCR‐based assay detecting HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 52, and 58. The overall HPV prevalence was 31.2%, HPV16 was the most prevalent type followed by HPV31 and HPV33 group. The overall HPV prevalences in Russia, Belarus and Latvia were 33.4%, 27.5%, and 26.2%. The type distributions were similar in these countries, except for Latvia where HPV39 was the third prevalent genotype. HPV prevalence was highest (40.8%) among women from sexually transmitted disease clinic, followed by 30.9% among gynecological outpatients and 27.2% in screening patients. HPV detection increased with cytological abnormality (P = 0.0001) and lesion grade in the biopsy (P = 0.0001), from 27% to 72% in normal samples to cancer, and from 64% to 77% in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 to cancer. The normalized viral loads varied greatly between and among different HPV‐types. The mean log HPV33 group copies/cell increased from negative for intraepithelial lesions to cancer (P = 0.049). Distribution of the most common high‐risk HPV‐types seems to be similar in these countries as reported in other major geographical regions. J. Med. Virol. 79: 771–781, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Detection of human rotavirus G9P[8] strains circulating in Argentina: Phylogenetic analysis of VP7 and NSP4 genes
Authors: Stupka Juan A. , Parra Gabriel I. , Gómez Jorge , Arbiza Juan 
Published: April 2007

AbstractDuring the surveillance of rotavirus strains that were circulating in Argentinean children from 2000 to 2004, seven rotaviruses were detected bearing the genotype combination G9P[8]. The molecular characterization of the VP7 and NSP4 genes and the RNA migration patterns support the hypothesis that rotaviruses G9 could have been reintroduced into Argentina as a novel G9P[8] strain, rather than represent VP7 gene reassortants from G9P[6] strains that had been circulating previously in this country. J. Med. Virol. 79: 838–842, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Temporal dynamics of human T‐lymphotropic virus type I tax mRNA and proviral DNA load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of human T‐lymphotropic virus type I‐associated myelopathy patients
Authors: Ramirez Eugenio , Cartier Luis , Torres Mauricio , Barria Marcelo 
Published: April 2007

AbstractHuman T‐cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV‐I) is the etiologic agent of HTLV‐I‐associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). High HTLV‐I provirus load and tax mRNA level have been suggested as predictors of disease progression in patients with HAM/TSP, but little is known about the temporal variation in patients. To clarify the role of high proviral and tax mRNA loads and their fluctuations in the pathogenesis of HAM/TSP, we measured proviral load and tax mRNA in serially collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from nine patients with HAM/TSP during a long‐term follow‐up, by use of real‐time polymerase chain reaction using tax primers. The real‐time PCR quantitation revealed a wide range of variation of proviral loads (7.82–97.13 copies per 100 PBMCs) and tax mRNA (0.20–245.30 copies) among HAM/TSP patients. Patients showed three different patterns of HTLV‐I tax mRNA loads during the course of the disease. Tax mRNA load showed a separate evolution with respect to the disease. The dynamic patterns of proviral load and mRNA Tax expression suggest that only the permanent presence of a basal level of tax mRNA, rather than the tax mRNA load, is related to the development of HAM/TSP. To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal study to determine tax mRNA expression at different clinical stages. J. Med. Virol. 79: 782–790, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Serum levels of anti‐NS4a and anti‐NS5a predict treatment response of patients with chronic hepatitis C
Authors: Desombere Isabelle , Van Vlierberghe Hans , Weiland Ola , Hultgren Catharina , Sällberg Matti , Quiroga Juan , Carreño Vicente , Leroux‐Roels Geert 
Published: April 2007

AbstractIn order to understand better the clinical significance and prognostic value of antibody responses to HCV proteins and in search for parameters that may allow the early identification of non‐sustained responders to therapy, antibody levels were measured against NS3, NS4a and NS5a at baseline in the serum of 120 patients chronically infected with HCV of genotype 1 that were classified as sustained responders, relapsers, or non‐responders to therapy. The capacity of these antibody tests to predict therapy‐outcome was evaluated. While no differences were observed in the anti‐NS3 responses in these different response groups, anti‐NS4a and anti‐NS5a antibodies were observed more frequently and at higher titres in sustained responders versus non‐responders or non‐sustained responders (=non‐responders + relapsers). Based on this observation, a combination of test results consisting of ‘the absence of NS4a (AA 1687–1718) antibody at baseline and the presence of HCV‐RNA exceeding 105 IU/ml after 1 week of treatment’ was identified which predicts non‐sustained response to treatment with 100% certainty. Replacing the HCV‐RNA decision limit by a HCV‐core antigen level of >15 pg/ml resulted in the same predictive value. The proposed algorithm also holds for patients treated with peg‐interferon and ribavirin. In conclusion, in patients with chronic HCV infection, the decision to continue or stop treatment can be made after 1 week of treatment with (peg)‐interferon α and ribavirin. J. Med. Virol. 79: 701–713, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analysis of the complete hepatitis B virus genome in patients with genotype C chronic hepatitis in relation to HBeAg and anti‐HBe
Authors: Zhang KaiYu , Imazeki Fumio , Fukai Kenichi , Arai Makoto , Kanda Tatsuo , Mikata Rintaro , Yokosuka Osamu 
Published: April 2007

AbstractTo investigate the relationship between viral factors and the development of chronic hepatitis B, the entire hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome of chronic carriers at different disease stages were analyzed. Eighty genotype C HBV carriers including 12 hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positive asymptomatic carriers (Group A), 49 HBeAg positive patients with chronic liver diseases (Group B) and 19 anti‐HBe positive patients with chronic liver diseases (Group C) were studied. HBV nucleic acid from serum samples was sequenced directly and compared with GenBank reference sequences HBV X01587 and M12906. On phylogenetic analysis, 76 cases were genotype C2. Of the 76 genotype C2 cases, the nucleotide and amino acid substitution rates in the precore/core region were significantly higher in Groups B and C than in Group A, also in Group C than in Group B. The nucleotide substitution rates in the full genome and the core promoter region were significantly higher in Group C than in Group A, also in group C than in Group B. The nucleotide and amino acid substitution rates in the X region were significantly higher in Group C than in Group A. The amino acid substitution rate in the pre‐S2 region was significantly higher in Group C than in Group B. Deletion mutations were found mainly in Groups B and C. This whole genome analysis of HBV chronic carriers suggested that the nucleotide substitutions and deletions in HBV were closely associated with the pathogenesis of chronic HBV infection. J. Med. Virol. 79: 683–693, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis in Maharashtra and Gujarat states of India, caused by coxsackie virus A‐24 variant
Authors: Gopalkrishna V. , Patil P.R. , Kolhapure R.M. , Bilaiya H. , Fulmali P.V. , Deolankar R.P. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractAcute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis is associated with enteroviruses. Among these, Coxsackie A‐24 variant (CA‐24) and Enterovirus‐70 (EV‐70) are known to cause epidemics and pandemics. An outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis occurred in August–September 2003 in Maharashtra and Gujarat states of India. The present investigation was carried out to determine the viral etiological agent associated with the epidemic. Virus isolates were obtained from 11 eye swabs of conjunctivitis patients using HeLa/ Hep‐2 cell lines. The isolates were characterized by serological and mouse pathogenecity tests, RT‐PCR using enterovirus common primers (VP4‐VP2), CA‐24 specific primers (3C‐proteinase region), EV‐70 primers (VP‐3) followed by sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis. The virus was characterized as a Coxsackie A‐24 variant (CA‐24v) and none of the isolates were found to be positive for EV‐70. Sequencing of the PCR products derived from all the 11 isolates revealed 98.4% (SE 0.20) nucleotide identity within the Indian strains and 98.6% (0.50) and 94.4% (0.30) nucleotide identity respectively with the West Indies and Asian strains reported worldwide. The findings suggest that the outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis that occurred in Maharashtra and Gujarat states of India during August–September 2003 was caused by the Coxsackie A‐24 variant (CA‐24v). J. Med. Virol. 79: 748–753, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Microarray assay for evaluation of the genetic stability of modified vaccinia virus Ankara B5R gene
Authors: Laassri Majid , Meseda Clement A. , Williams Ollie , Merchlinsky Michael , Weir Jerry P. , Chumakov Konstantin 
Published: April 2007

AbstractAdverse events associated with the use of live smallpox vaccines have led to the development of a new generation of attenuated smallpox vaccines that are prepared in cultured cells as alternatives. The inability to conduct direct clinical evaluation of their efficacy in humans demands that licensure be based on animal studies and exhaustive evaluation of their in vitro properties. One of the most important characteristics of live viral vaccines is their genetic stability, including reversion of the vaccine strain to more virulent forms, recombination with other viral sequences to produce potentially pathogenic viruses, and genetic drift that can result in decrease of immunogenicity and efficacy. To study genetic stability of an immunoessential vaccinia virus gene in a new generation smallpox vaccine, an advanced oligonucleotide microchip was developed and used to assay for mutations that could emerge in B5R gene, a vaccinia virus gene encoding for a protein that contains very important neutralizing epitopes. This microarray contained overlapping oligonucleotides covering the B5R gene of modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), a well‐studied candidate smallpox vaccine. The microarray assay was shown to be able to detect even a single point mutation, and to differentiate between vaccinia strains. At the same time, it could detect newly emerged mutations in clones of vaccinia strains. In the work described here, it was shown that MVA B5R gene was stable after 34 passages in Vero and MRC‐5 cells that were proposed for use as cell substrates for vaccine manufacture. Potentially, the proposed method could be used as an identity test and could be extended for the entire viral genome and used to monitor consistency of vaccine production. J. Med. Virol. 79: 791–802, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Molecular and phylogenetic analysis of human influenza virus among Iranian patients in Shiraz, Iran
Authors: Shahidi Mahsa , Kheiri Masoumeh Tavassoti , Amini‐Bavil‐Olyaee Samad , Hosseini Masoud , Moattari Afagh , Tabatabaeian Mansoureh , Bashar Rouzbeh , Sarrami‐Forooshani Ramin , Mahboudi Fereidoun 
Published: April 2007

AbstractInfluenza is a viral respiratory pathogen responsible for frequent seasonal epidemics. There are currently three major human influenza viruses in global circulation namely A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B. The objective of this study was to determine the human influenza virus genotypes in Shiraz, the capital of the Fars province of Iran. Three hundred patients suspected with human influenza virus infection were enrolled in this survey (2004–2005). The throat samples were cultured and titrated by hemagglutination (HA) assay. Typing and subtyping were performed by an in‐house developed multiplex RT–PCR. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis was carried out for HA gene. A total of 24 samples were found to be positive for human influenza virus infection, 17 H1N1 and 7 H3N2. These results were in agreement with the HI assay. The phylogenetic analysis results revealed that the Iranian H1N1 isolated were close to the A/New Caledonia/20/99 vaccine strain genetically and the Iranian H3N2 isolates were also related closely to the Fujian/411/021 and California/7/2004 vaccine strains. However, a slight genetic drift was found in these isolates. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that both influenza A subtypes A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 were dominant among Iranian patients in Shiraz during the 2004/5 winter season. J. Med. Virol. 79: 803–810, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.