bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Overlapping omt1+ and omt2+ genes are required for spore wall maturation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe
Authors: Kakihara Yoshito , Nabeshima Kentaro , Hirata Aiko , Nojima Hiroshi 
Published: June 2003

AbstractBackground: Overlapping genes that are transcribed from the same genomic regions are rare in eukaryotes and to date few detailed functional analyses have been reported.Results: We report here three novel overlapping transcripts that are specifically expressed during meiosis of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. They are denoted as omt1+, omt2+ and omt3+ after overlapping meiotic transcripts. omt1+ encodes a 12‐kDa protein and omt2+ encodes a 11‐kDa protein with homology to the bifunctional mammalian protein DCoH/PCBD. omt3+ does not have a significant open reading frame. The omt2+ transcript overlaps with both the omt1+ and omt3+ transcripts but the latter two transcripts do not overlap. omt1Δ and omt2Δ but not omt3Δ failed to form mature spore walls. The Omt1‐GFP and Omt2‐GFP fusion proteins localized to the outside and the inside of the spore walls, respectively. The sporulation‐specific protein Meu10 and the spore wall components were abnormally localized in the spore walls of omt1Δ and omt2Δ.Conclusion: The overlapping genes omt1+ and omt2+ express functional proteins that participate in spore wall maturation, indicating that gene overlap does not affect the physiological functions of the proteins encoded by these genes. Generation of overlapped RNA may be due to loose regulation of transcription termination during meiosis of S. pombe.
A novel rabconnectin‐3‐binding protein that directly binds a GDP/GTP exchange protein for Rab3A small G protein implicated in Ca2+‐dependent exocytosis of neurotransmitter
Authors: Kawabe Hiroshi , Sakisaka Toshiaki , Yasumi Masato , Shingai Tatsushi , Izumi Genkichi , Nagano Fumiko , Deguchi‐Tawarada Maki , Takeuchi Masakazu , Nakanishi Hiroyuki , Takai Yoshimi 
Published: June 2003

AbstractBackground: Rab3A, a member of the Rab3 small G protein family, regulates Ca2+‐dependent exocytosis of neurotransmitter. The cyclical activation and inactivation of Rab3A are essential for the Rab3A action in exocytosis. GDP‐Rab3A is activated to GTP‐Rab3A by Rab3 GDP/GTP exchange protein (Rab3 GEP) and GTP‐Rab3A is inactivated to GDP‐Rab3A by Rab3 GTPase‐activating protein (Rab3 GAP). We have recently found a novel protein, named rabconnectin‐3, which is co‐immunoprecipitated with Rab3 GEP or GAP from the extract of the crude synaptic vesicle (CSV) fraction of rat brain. Rabconnectin‐3 is abundantly expressed in the brain where it is associated with synaptic vesicles. We have found that two more proteins are co‐immunoprecipitated with Rab3 GEP from the CSV fraction of rat brain. We attempted here to isolate and characterize one of them.Results: We determined its partial amino acid sequence, cloned its cDNA from a human cDNA library, and determined its primary structure. The protein consisted of 1490 amino acids (aa) and showed a calculated molecular weight of 163 808. The protein had 7 WD domains. The protein was abundantly expressed in the brain where it co‐localized with rabconnectin‐3 on synaptic vesicles. The protein formed a stable complex with rabconnectin‐3. We named this protein rabconnectin‐3β and renamed rabconnectin‐3 rabconnectin‐3α. Rabconnectin‐3β, but not rabconnectin‐3α, directly bound Rab3 GEP. Neither rabconnectin‐3α nor ‐3β directly bound Rab3 GAP.Conclusion: These results indicate that rabconnectin‐3 consists of the α and β subunits and binds directly Rab3 GEP through the β subunit and indirectly Rab3 GAP through an unidentified molecule(s).
Thai nurses' beliefs about breastfeeding and postpartum practices
Authors: Kaewsarn Pattaya , Moyle Wendy , Creedy Debra 
Published: June 2003

Summary• Cultural beliefs are important determinants of health care behaviours. Nurses have an important influence on infant feeding decisions and maternal postpartum care, but little is known about the extent to which their practice is influenced by traditional beliefs and/or recent innovations driven by evidence‐based research.• The aim of this study was to investigate Thai nurses' traditional beliefs about breastfeeding and related postpartum care, and their impact on nursing practice.• A survey of 372 nurses working in hospitals and health services in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand was undertaken. Questionnaire items were developed from a review of the literature and exploratory interviews with Thai women. Descriptive statistics were used to represent the incidence of particular beliefs and behaviours. Chi‐square analyses were conducted to determine relationships between demographic characteristics and traditional beliefs and practices.• There were discrepancies between nurses' beliefs and contemporary evidence‐based practices. Many nurses supported traditional Thai postpartum practices such as food restrictions and encouraging hot baths. Some traditional beliefs supported by nurses may be detrimental to women and babies such as ‘lying by fire’, discarding of colostrum, and giving boiled water to neonates. Only half the nurses reported that they encouraged mothers to breastfeed immediately following birth.• The study was undertaken in the North‐East of Thailand, where the population is known to have strong belief systems. Reliability and content validity of the tool would be enhanced through replication studies and qualitative investigations of other breastfeeding issues.• There is a need for professional development strategies such as peer review and mentoring to address inadequate knowledge and outdated practices of some health professionals, as well as continuity of care models to assess quality care outcomes that are culturally appropriate.
Immediate needs of adult family members of adult intensive care patients in Hong Kong
Authors: Yin King Lee Linda , Lau Yee Ling 
Published: June 2003

Summary• Having a family member admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is stressful for the whole family. Stress can hinder family members' coping and thus affect the support that is given to patient. In order to lessen the effect of stress, family members' immediate needs must be identified and met.• The aim of this study was to explore the immediate needs of adult family members of adult intensive care patients in Hong Kong.• The study adopted a descriptive cross‐sectional design. The Chinese version of Critical Care Family Need Inventory (CCFNI) was used to investigate the immediate needs of a convenience sample of 40 adult family members of patients in an adult ICU. Data were collected through personal interviews within 24–72 hours of patients' admission.• Findings revealed that 25 out of 45 need items on the CCFNI that were rated as important or very important. The need ‘to know the expected outcome’ was ranked as the most important.• All the needs related to reassurance were ranked within the top 10 important needs. The top 10 important needs were met by doctors and nurses.• There were significant differences in needs between family members with different gender, experience of visiting ICUs, religious background and characteristics of patients.• The findings suggest that family members perceived reassurance and information support as important. Although this study was limited by using a small convenience sample, the findings could still provide insight for nurses working in ICUs.
Nurses' attitudes towards perinatal bereavement support in Hong Kong: a pilot study
Authors: Chan Moon Fai , Chan Suk Hing , Day Mary Christine 
Published: June 2003

Summary• The purpose of this study is to explore nurses' attitudes towards perinatal bereavement care and to identify required support and training needs for nurses on bereavement care in Hong Kong.• Data were collected through a structured questionnaire, and 110 nurses were recruited from the obstetrics and gynaecology unit in one of the largest public hospitals in Hong Kong.• The majority of nurses held a positive attitude towards bereavement care. A significant difference in nurses' attitudes towards bereavement support was found in terms of demographics, practical experiences and training factors.• The results showed that only 25.5% (n = 28) of nurses had bereavement‐related training. In contrast, 90.9% of nurses showed a positive response to grief training and 90.0% would share experiences with colleagues and seek support when feeling under stress.• The findings also suggest that nurses' attitudes towards bereavement care are positively correlated with bereavement care training needs (r = 0.53) and hospital policy support (r = 0.55).• Hong Kong nurses' attitudes towards perinatal care emphasized their need for increased knowledge and experience, improved communication skills, and greater support from team members and the hospital. These findings may be used for Hong Kong health care professionals to improve support of nurses, to ensure delivery of sensitive bereavement care in perinatal settings and to enhance nursing school curricula.
A prospective, randomized study of ventilator‐associated pneumonia in patients using a closed vs. open suction system
Authors: Salloum Zeitoun Sandra , Botura Leite De Barros Alba Lúcia , Diccini Solange 
Published: June 2003

Summary• The objective of this study was to verify the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia in intubated and extended mechanically ventilated patients having endotracheal suctioning by an open vs. closed suction method aiming to decrease nosocomial pneumonia.• Twenty‐four (51.1%) patients received open‐tracheal suction and 23 (48.9%) received closed‐tracheal suction. The inclusion criteria were: surgical and medical patients older than 13 years, undergoing mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours. Additional data were gathered using the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, and details on smoking, alcoholism, diabetes mellitus, renal failure, previous lung disease, and previous use of antibiotics, steroids, H2 antagonists and antacids.• Among the 24 patients having open‐tracheal suction, 11 developed nosocomial pneumonia while of the 23 patients undergoing closed‐tracheal suction, seven developed infection (P = 0.278). Risk factors for nosocomial pneumonia were not significantly different between the two groups. In the final logistical regression model the following variables remained: groups (open and closed) [odds ratio (OR) = 0.014; confidence interval (CI) = 0.001–0.416; P = 0.014] and use of prior antibiotics (OR = 2.297; CI = 1.244–4.242; P = 0.008).• Use of a closed suction system did not decrease the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia when compared with the open system. The exogenous risk factors were the most important for acquiring this infection.
Postoperative cognitive changes among older Taiwanese patients
Authors: Lou Meei‐Fang , Dai Yu‐Tzu , Huang Guey‐Shiun , Yu Po‐Jui 
Published: June 2003

Summary• The purpose of the study was to describe variations in cognitive/behavioural changes during the course of delirium among older Taiwanese patients after elective surgery.• A total of 106 patients assessed four times (admission, onset of delirium, delirium day 3 and delirium day 5) by the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) were included in the analysis to understand the neurocognitive/behaviour change during the course of delirium.• Repeated measures anova was used to analyse within‐subject differences across these four time points for those who became delirious and those who did not.• The findings showed that patients who experienced delirium had significantly (P < 0.01) lower MMSE scores than non‐delirious patients. Scores for the delirious group were also significantly different across the four assessments (P < 0.01) within the group. The subscales of orientation to time, orientation to place, registration and recall were the major changes from time 1 (admission assessment) to time 2 (onset of delirium) for delirious patients. When scores for time 4 (delirium day 5) and time 1 (admission assessment) were compared, the subscales of orientation to time, orientation to place and visual construction showed the least improvement among the subscales at time 4.• The findings of the study suggest that mental status assessments are important during the patient's admission and hospital stay. The repeated assessments can be incorporated into routine nursing care so that problems can be detected and appropriate nursing care implemented.
Finnish nurses' views on their research activities
Authors: Kuuppelomäki Merja , Tuomi Jouni 
Published: June 2003

Summary • The purpose of the study reported here was to describe Finnish nurses' research and publication activities, as well as their views on the availability and utilization of research results in nursing practice. • The data were collected using a structured questionnaire in which obstacles to the utilization of research results were measured with a previously developed instrument. A total of 400 nurses from community health centres, a central hospital and a central university hospital took part. • Most of the nurses had carried out research on their own. Age, experience, training in research and development and other further training, as well as reading the nursing literature, were associated with doing research. Some of the reasons why the nurses had not carried out research were revealed. Publication of results was very rare. There were problems with the availability of research results. • The most common obstacles to research utilization had to do with the presentation of results and the setting. In research utilization, respondents received most support from the ward manager and least support from doctors. • If we want to encourage nurses to do research and increase the utilization of research results, greater effort should be invested in teaching research methodology, in introducing more flexible working hours and in developing other support systems.
Power imbalance between nurses and patients: a potential inhibitor of partnership in care
Authors: Henderson Saras 
Published: June 2003

Summary• The Patient's Charter identifies the need for nurses to respect patients' rights to influence their care, and contemporary nursing practice advocates that nurses work in partnership with patients. Hence nurses are encouraged to share their power and facilitate empowerment in their patients by giving them information and support.• However, the literature indicates that nurses are not very successful in making patients feel empowered to make informed decisions. This study, conducted in 1998, provides some answers as to why this may be the case.• The aim of the study was to explore and describe nurses' and patients' views regarding partnership in care in hospital.• Using the grounded theory approach, participants were drawn from four hospitals in Western Australia. A purposive sample of 33 nurses and 32 patients were interviewed in‐depth. Participant observation was also conducted and field notes were written. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using the constant comparative method.• The findings showed that nurses viewed involving patients in care as requiring them to give patients information and to share their decision‐making powers with them. With the exception of a few, the majority of nurses were unwilling to share their decision‐making powers.• This created a situation of power imbalance with subsequent little patient input. Factors identified included nurses' beliefs that they ‘know best’, the view that patients lacked medical knowledge and the perceived need for nurses to hold onto their power and maintain control.• If nurses and patients are to work as partners, it is important that nurses make every effort to equalize the power imbalance. One way to do this is for nurses to share and give information to patients readily and to be open in their communication with them.
Fine‐scale environmental variation and structure of understorey plant communities in two old‐growth pine forests
Authors: Frelich Lee E. , Machado José‐Luis , Reich Peter B. 
Published: June 2003

Summary

Although it is well established that nitrogen and light play major roles in structuring plant communities across the landscape, it is not as clear how they structure communities within forest stands. Virtually nothing is known about within‐stand structure of understorey communities of herbs and small shrubs in near‐boreal forests.
We tested the hypothesis that fine‐scale (5–20 m) variability in N and light structure forest‐floor plant communities in two old‐growth mixed Pinus resinosa and Pinus strobus forests in north‐eastern Minnesota, USA.
In each forest, all trees > 1.4 m tall were mapped on a 0.75–1.0 ha area. A grid of subplots 5–10 m apart was established (total n = 147), and N mineralization (µg g−1 soil day−1), soil depth (cm), light (% canopy openness), and percentage cover of all herbs and small shrubs were measured on each subplot.
Cluster analysis showed that the dominant understorey species fall into three groups. Group 1 is unrelated to N and light, and is negatively associated with a midstorey of the small tree Acer rubrum and the most abundant tall shrub Corylus cornuta. Group 2 reaches maximum abundance in places (mostly gaps) with relatively high light, but is unrelated to within‐stand variation in N availability. Group 3 consists of a single species, Aster macrophyllus, and reaches maximum abundance in areas with low N availability and low abundance of Corylus, but higher than average abundance of P. strobus and Betula papyrifera overstorey trees.
N and light have a moderate influence on understorey plant community structure. The plant species do arrange themselves along N and light gradients, but the gradients are likely to be too narrow to allow the degree of differentiation seen at the landscape level. Spatial patterning of the species groups is probably influenced by other factors, including disturbance history, chance and neighbourhood effects such as clonal reproduction.
Resprouting of woody saplings following stem snap by wild pigs in a Malaysian rain forest
Authors: Ickes Kalan , Dewalt Saara J. , Thomas Sean C. 
Published: June 2003

Summary

The lowland rain forest at Pasoh Forest Reserve in Peninsular Malaysia is subject to disturbance by native wild pigs (Sus scrofa). Female pigs snap off woody plants up to 3.5 m tall to construct nests for reproduction, damaging >170 000 saplings km−2 year−2. We investigated the ability of 1808 woody saplings to survive and resprout over a 3‐year period following pig and experimental stem snap.
Most plants resprouted to some degree, but, in understorey conditions, growth of new shoots was slow. More than 90% of stems were alive 3 months after damage, but > 40% had not yet produced a single fully expanded leaf. Mortality at 36 months was higher for resprouting saplings (33%) than for undamaged control saplings (9%). Survival of damaged stems was highly and positively correlated with stump basal diameter. Canopy species consistently showed lower survivorship than midstorey, understorey and treelet species but no differences in survivorship were found for habit (tree vs. liana) or leaf morphology (simple vs. compound).
The number and total length of resprout shoots (TSL) were strongly, positively correlated with stump diameter. Canopy species produced greater TSL but fewer new shoots than did smaller‐stature species. Trees and lianas produced similar TSL at 3 and 6 months, but trees produced more TSL at 12 and 36 months. Simple‐leaved plants consistently had longer TSL than compound‐leaved plants.
Both species and families differed greatly in terms of survival, TSL and number of shoots. Dipterocarpaceae, which comprises 24% of basal area in the forest, and Euphorbiaceae, the most species‐rich family, had especially poor survivorship of damaged individuals.
Our results suggest that elevated pig densities found in small forest reserves such as Pasoh are likely to alter tree community composition as a result of the differential ability of species to regenerate following physical disturbance. Regeneration of canopy tree species, particularly in the silviculturally important and heavily dominant family Dipterocarpaceae, may be particularly susceptible to pig‐related disturbance.
Near‐field Raman spectroscopy using a sharp metal tip
Authors: Hartschuh A. , Anderson N. , Novotny L. 
Published: June 2003

SummaryNear‐field Raman spectroscopy with a spatial resolution of 20 nm is demonstrated by raster scanning a sharp metal tip over the sample surface. The method is used to image vibrational modes of single‐walled carbon nanotubes. By combining optical and topographical signals rendered by the single‐walled carbon nanotubes, we can separate near‐field and far‐field contributions and quantify the observed Raman enhancement factors.
The effects of probe boundary conditions and propagation on nano‐Raman spectroscopy
Authors: Hallen H. D. , Ayars E. J. , Jahncke C. L. 
Published: June 2003

SummaryRaman spectra obtained in the near‐field, with collection of the Raman‐shifted light in reflection, show selective enhancement of vibrational modes. We show that the boundary conditions for an electric field near a metal surface affect propagation of the reflected signal and lead to this selection. The enhancement of certain Raman forbidden vibrations is explained by the presence of an electric field gradient near the metal‐apertured fibre probe.
Electrodynamic interaction between two atoms in near‐field contact
Authors: Broe J. , Keller O. 
Published: June 2003

SummaryA theoretical study of elements of the quantum electrodynamic interaction between two single‐electron atoms in near‐field contact is presented. The framework of the study is an electromagnetic propagator formalism that allows one to describe the near‐field space–time interaction in such a manner that the Einstein causality and lack of photon localizability are manifest. First we set up the atom‐field Hamiltonian in the so‐called G‐gauge, starting from the Coulomb Hamiltonian, and thereafter we show that this leads to a correct propagator description for the retarded part of the transverse electromagnetic field (operator). In the G‐gauge approach, renormalization of the two‐particle energy level structure stemming from the transverse self‐field occurs. The intraparticle renormalization is calculated for a three‐level atom (it is trivial for a two‐level atom), and the interparticle renormalization, which depends on the atomic separation, is determined for two two‐level atoms. The magnitude of the energy renormalization is always finite in our theory because we do not consider the atoms to be point‐like objects from an electromagnetic point of view. Throughout, we relate our G‐gauge formalism to the multipole theory often used in studies of interatomic electrodynamics.
Propagation of surface plasmon polariton in nanometre‐sized metal‐clad optical waveguides
Authors: Onuki T. , Watanabe Y. , Nishio K. , Tsuchiya T. , Tani T. , Tokizaki T. 
Published: June 2003

SummaryUsing a local anodic‐oxidation method with a probe tip of a scanning near‐field optical microscope (SNOM) as the electrode, we have fabricated an oxide core with subwavelength dimensions on metal. The propagation of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP), which is excited at the interface between the oxide core and the metal clad, has been investigated using the same SNOM. Altering the wavelength of input light from 532 nm to 830 nm, the propagation length of the SPP extends from 2 µm to 6 µm. We carried out a simulation of the SPP propagation, and obtained a similar wavelength dependence.