bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Tracking mouse visual pathways with WGA transgene
Authors: Hanno Yoko , Nakahira Masakiyo , Jishage Kou‐ichi , Noda Tetsuo , Yoshihara Yoshihiro 
Published: November 2003

AbstractBy use of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) cDNA as a transgene, we have succeeded in generating a transgenic mouse line in which the visual pathways can be accurately and reproducibly visualized. The WGA transgene was expressed in the retinal rod bipolar cells under the control of mouse L7 promoter. The transgene product, WGA protein, was transferred from the bipolar cells to the amacrine cells and the ganglion cells across synapses in the retinal neural circuitry and further conveyed along the optic nerve to the visual centers such as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the lateral geniculate nucleus, the pretectal nucleus and the superior colliculus. By crossing the WGA‐expressing transgenic mice with the retinal degeneration mutant mice, we analyzed change in the visual pathways by monitoring WGA immunoreactivity and found that the disorganization process of the visual pathways was relatively slow in spite of the rapid degeneration of the photoreceptor cells. Thus, this transgenic mouse line would provide a useful tool for analyzing phenotypic changes in the visual pathways of various mutant mice.
Hippocampal gene expression profiles in passive avoidance conditioning
Authors: D'Agata Velia , Cavallaro Sebastiano 
Published: November 2003

AbstractMany experiments in the past have demonstrated the requirement of de novo gene expression during the long‐term retention of learning and memory. Although previous studies implicated individual genes or genetic pathways in learning and memory, the collective behaviours of the genes is mostly unknown. We have used genome‐scale screening by microarray analysis to examine the hippocampal expression of more than 1200 genes relevant to neurobiology during instrumental conditioning. Training rats on a step‐through passive avoidance task led to unique patterns of gene expression when compared to naïve animals or those exposed to the conditioned or the unconditioned stimulus alone. The newly identified genes afford a quantitative view of the changes which accompany conditioning at the genomic level and enable deeper insights into the molecular basis underlying learning and memory.
Ear of stimulation determines schizophrenia‐normal brain activity differences in an auditory paired‐stimuli paradigm
Authors: Clementz Brett A. , Dzau Jacqueline R. , Blumenfeld Laura D. , Matthews Scott , Kissler Johanna 
Published: November 2003

AbstractSchizophrenia patients have abnormalities of auditory information processing, theoretically associated with dysfunction of neuronal excitation. Auditory paired‐stimuli (S1–S2) paradigms are used to evaluate the nature of these abnormalities. It is unknown whether patients' abnormalities during S1–S2 paradigms are attributable to specific hemispheric differences in cortical processing. The present studies used whole head magnetoencephalography and monaural or binaural versions of the paired‐stimuli paradigm to evaluate auditory processing among 38 schizophrenia and 38 normal subjects. The strengths of auditory‐evoked brain responses over time were quantified using distributed source reconstructions with L2 minimum norm constraint and realistic head models. For left ear stimuli, schizophrenia and normal groups did not differ on either left or right hemisphere activity over auditory cortex. For right ear and binaural stimuli, schizophrenia patients had less activity over left auditory cortex from 80 to 120 ms post‐stimulus but did not differ from normal on activity over right auditory cortex. Additionally, in response to monaural stimulation, schizophrenia patients had significantly less activity than normal over right temporal parietal junction from 60 to 120 ms post‐stimulus. These data are consistent with four propositions about schizophrenia: (i) right auditory cortex is functioning normally; (ii) processing of simple auditory stimuli is abnormal in left auditory cortex, probably specifically in supra‐granular layers; (iii) auditory localization abilities are deficient; and (iv) auditory cortex abnormalities are not a function of deficient hemispheric communication because they are evident early in processing as long as stimuli are delivered directly to left hemisphere.
Oestrogen regulates sympathetic neurite outgrowth by modulating brain derived neurotrophic factor synthesis and release by the rodent uterus
Authors: Krizsan‐Agbas D. , Pedchenko T. , Hasan W. , Smith P. G. 
Published: November 2003

AbstractSympathetic innervation of the adult rodent uterus undergoes cyclic remodelling. Terminal sympathetic axons degenerate when oestrogen levels rise and regenerate when oestrogen levels decline. This study examined the role of neurotrophins in oestrogen‐mediated uterine sympathetic nerve remodelling. Oestrogen injection of ovariectomized female rats did not affect uterine NT‐3 levels 24 h postinjection, and increased endometrial NGF protein, indicating that reduced NGF or NT‐3 is not responsible for the oestrogen‐induced denervation. Oestrogen also raised BDNF protein and mRNA in myometrium and endometrium. To assess whether increased BDNF affects uterine receptivity to sympathetic outgrowth, sympathetic ganglion explants were co‐cultured with myometrium. Myometrium from ovariectomized rats induced neuritogenesis in oestrogen‐free conditions, and this was abolished when BDNF was added to the medium. Neuritogenesis induced by ovariectomized myometrium was suppressed by oestrogen, and restored by a BDNF function‐blocking antibody. To determine if target BDNF synthesis is required for oestrogen to suppress sympathetic neurite outgrowth, uteri from wild‐type mice and mice homozygous or heterozygous for recombinant mutations of the BDNF gene were cultured with rat sympathetic ganglia. Neuritogenesis induced by wild‐type uteri was diminished by oestrogen. Neurite formation in the presence of homozygous BDNF mutant uteri was not affected by oestrogen, but was lower than that of wild‐type mice. Uteri from mice heterozygous for the BDNF mutation, who have reduced BDNF synthesis, showed normal neuritogenic properties, but were not affected by oestrogen. These findings suggest that oestrogen alters neuritogenic properties of the rodent uterus by regulating BDNF synthesis, which inhibits sympathetic neurite outgrowth.
Enrichment enhances the expression of sgk, a glucocorticoid‐induced gene, and facilitates spatial learning through glutamate AMPA receptor mediation
Authors: Lee Eminy H. Y. , Hsu W. L. , Ma Y. L. , Lee P. J. , Chao C. C. 
Published: November 2003

AbstractWe have previously demonstrated that the serum and glucocorticoid‐inducible kinase (sgk) gene plays a causal role in facilitating memory performance in rats. Environment enrichment is known to facilitate spatial learning. We therefore examined the effect of enrichment on sgk expression. We also examined the role of sgk in spatial and nonspatial learning and the regulation of sgk expression by activation of different glutamate receptors. Both real‐time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses revealed that enrichment training preferentially increased sgk mRNA and protein levels in the hippocampus. Transfection of sgk mutant DNA to the hippocampal CA1 area markedly impaired spatial learning, fear‐conditioning learning and novel object‐recognition learning in rats, but enrichment training effectively reversed these learning deficits. Meanwhile, S422A mutant DNA transfection prevented enrichment‐induced spatial learning facilitation. In studying glutamate receptor regulation of sgk expression, we found that blockade of N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate (NMDA) receptors in general, and the NR2B subunit in particular both effectively blocked enrichment‐induced spatial learning facilitation, but they did not block enrichment‐induced sgk expression. Upon various glutamate agonist infusions, only α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methylisoxazole‐4‐propionic acid (AMPA) increased sgk mRNA levels significantly in the hippocampus. Furthermore, blockade of AMPA receptors effectively blocked both enrichment‐induced spatial learning facilitation and sgk expression. These results indicate that there is a dissociation between NMDA receptor activation and sgk expression. Enrichment enhanced spatial learning through both NMDA and AMPA receptor activation, whereas enrichment‐induced sgk expression is specifically mediated through AMPA receptors. These results suggest that sgk could serve as a novel molecular mechanism, in addition to the NMDA receptor NR2B, underlying enrichment‐induced learning facilitation.
VEGF is necessary for exercise‐induced adult hippocampal neurogenesis
Authors: Fabel Klaus , Fabel Konstanze , Tam Betty , Kaufer Daniela , Baiker Armin , Simmons Natalie , Kuo Calvin J. , Palmer Theo D. 
Published: November 2003

AbstractDeclining learning and memory function is associated with the attenuation of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. As in humans, chronic stress or depression in animals is accompanied by hippocampal dysfunction, and neurogenesis is correspondingly down regulated, in part, by the activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis as well as glutamatergic and serotonergic networks. Antidepressants can reverse this effect over time but one of the most clinically effective moderators of stress or depression and robust stimulators of neurogenesis is simple voluntary physical exercise such as running. Curiously, running also elevates circulating stress hormone levels yet neurogenesis is doubled in running animals. In evaluating the signalling that running provides to the central nervous system in mice, we have found that peripheral vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is necessary for the effects of running on adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Peripheral blockade of VEGF abolished running‐induced neurogenesis but had no detectable effect on baseline neurogenesis in non‐running animals. These data suggest that VEGF is an important element of a ‘somatic regulator’ of adult neurogenesis and that these somatic signalling networks can function independently of the central regulatory networks that are typically considered in the context of hippocampal neurogenesis.
Partitioned Nature, Privileged Knowledge: Community‐based Conservation in Tanzania
Authors: Goldman Mara 
Published: November 2003

AbstractCommunity Based Conservation (CBC) has become the catch–all solution to the social and ecological problems plaguing traditional top–down, protectionist conservation approaches. CBC has been particularly popular throughout Africa as a way to gain local support for wildlife conservation measures that have previously excluded local people and their development needs. This article shows that, despite the rhetoric of devolution and participation associated with new CBC models, conservation planning in Tanzania remains a top–down endeavour, with communities and their specialized socio–ecological knowledge delegated to the margins. In addition to the difficulties associated with the transfer of power from state to community hands, CBC also poses complex challenges to the culture or institution of conservation. Using the example of the Tarangire–Manyara ecosystem, the author shows how local knowledge and the complexities of ecological processes challenge the conventional zone–based conservation models, and argues that the insights of local Maasai knowledge claims could better reflect the ecological and social goals of the new CBC rhetoric.
Nationalizing Space: Cosmetic Federalism and the Politics of Development in Northeast India
Authors: Baruah Sanjib 
Published: November 2003

AbstractUntil recently Arunachal Pradesh on India's Northeast frontier was relatively insulated from the processes associated with development. State institutions were barely present during the colonial era. In 1962, however, India and China fought a border war in this area: this war, along with signs of unrest among indigenous peoples in the neighbourhood, exposed India's vulnerabilities in the region. Since then, nationalizing this frontier space by extending the institutions of the state all the way into the international border region has become the thrust of Indian policy. The region's governmental infrastructure was fundamentally redesigned to put in place what can only be described as a cosmetic federal regional order with a number of small states dependent on the central government's largess and subject to monitoring by India's Home Ministry. The new regional order has put Arunachal firmly on a developmentalist track, which has enabled India to meet its national security goals, but at a significant cost to the region.
Employment Effects of Minimum Wages: Evidence from a Quasi‐Experiment
Authors: Leigh Andrew 
Published: November 2003

AbstractTo estimate the impact of raising the minimum wage on employment, this article uses a natural experiment, arising from six increases in the Western Australian statutory minimum wage during the period 1994–2001. Relative to the rest of Australia, the employment to population ratio in Western Australia fell following each of the six rises, twice by a statistically significant margin. Aggregating the increases, the elasticity of labour demand with respect to the Western Australian statutory minimum wage is found to be −0.13.
The Labour Market and Inequality
Authors: Keating Michael 
Published: November 2003

AbstractNewspoll reported in 2000 that by a margin of 70 to 28 per cent, Australians would prefer the gap between rich and poor to get smaller rather than have the nation's overall wealth grow as quickly as possible. This article examines the reasons for the increase in the dispersion of earnings, and changes in unemployment and workforce participation, which are central to this concern about inequality. The major finding is that the widening dispersion of earnings and changes in labour force status are principally due to changes in the structure of labour demand in favour of more skilled jobs. The article then considers what this changing job mix implies for policy directed to maintaining income inequality.
Non‐Gaussian Filter and Smoother Based on the Pearson Distribution System
Authors: Nagahara Yuichi 
Published: November 2003

The Pearson distribution system can represent wide class of distributions with various skewness and kurtosis. We develop a practical approach of using all types of its distribution system including the type‐IV distribution which was difficult to implement.We propose an easily implemented algorithm which uses less‐memory and performs at a higher speed than other typical methods: using analytic approximation of successive conditional probability density functions for prediction and filtering by the Pearson distribution system in the case of both the system and observation noise being one‐dimensional. By using the approximated probability density function and the numerical integration, we obtain mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis of the next distribution. We decide the next approximated distribution from the Pearson distribution system. We adopt these steps for the prediction, filtering and smoothing recursively. Our framework makes it possible to construct time series models with various noise distributions.We apply our non‐Gaussian filter to the estimation of non‐Gaussian stochastic volatility models of the stock returns. We compare our method with the typical method.
Perceptions of the authority of health information. Case study: digital interactive television and the Internet
Authors: Nicholas David , Huntington Paul , Williams Peter , Gunter Barrie 
Published: November 2003

AbstractAs part of a Department of Health funded project nearly 2000 people were surveyed as to their use of two digital health information services, one on the Web and the other on digital interactive television (DiTV). The website was of a commercial company—Surgerydoor—and the DiTV service NHS based. This paper concentrates on the issue of trust in digital health information. Two of the main findings were that advertising was found to have an effect on trust, though the quality and type of advertising will impact in different ways on trustworthiness. DiTV subscribers who had either used the Living Health channel which carried NHS branded health information or had heard of the service, were more likely to say that the NHS was a symbol of trust for them compared with DiTV subscribers who had not used the service.
Persistent post‐sclerotherapy pigmentation due to minocycline. Three cases and a review of post‐sclerotherapy pigmentation
Authors: Green D 
Published: November 2003

Summary  Background  Post‐sclerotherapy pigmentation, usually overlying the treated veins and independent of any drug ingestion, is common. This pigmentation is brown and represents haemosiderin and sometimes melanin as well. It usually slowly fades over a period of months, only uncommonly persisting for years.Cutaneous pigmentation due to minocycline ingestion is a known but rare adverse effect. It usually appears as a round or irregular shaped patch that is dark blue to black, representing minocycline moieties and iron complexes. Its persistence for years is common.Clinically and histopathologically, these two causes of pigmentation are quite distinct. In the absence of ulceration, minocycline pigmentation koebnerised by sclerotherapy has not previously been reported.Aims  To determine the nature of the pigmentation appearing in three patients who had been taking minocycline at the time, or shortly after, they had received sclerotherapy. Clinically, although this pigmentation had the usual distribution observed after sclerotherapy, it was persistent and appeared dark blue to black.Results  The persistent post‐sclerotherapy linear pigmentation observed in all three patients had the characteistics of minocycline pigmentation.Conclusions  This is the first report of such minocycline‐aggravated post‐sclerotherapy pigmentation. Persistent post‐sclerotherapy pigmentation caused by minocycline is a risk associated with ingestion of this drug. Patients need to be warned of this risk because, unlike post‐sclerotherapy pigmentation that develops in the absence of drug ingestion, minocycline‐aggravated post‐sclerotherapy pigmentation may persist for years.
Laser treatment of rosacea
Authors: Laube S. , Lanigan S. W. 
Published: November 2003

Summary  Rosacea is a common condition often resulting in persistent erythema and telangiectasia as well as rhinophyma in a number of patients. Over the last two decades lasers have been increasingly used in the treatment of these permanent changes. The literature is reviewed in terms of the different laser systems, side‐effects and comparison with other surgical techniques.Laser studies on rosacea‐associated telangiectasia and erythema are limited. Copper‐bromide, krypton and KTP lasers have been used with good to excellent results. However, the most commonly applied system is the flash lamp‐pumped pulsed dye laser.Rhinophyma can be treated with a variety of different surgical methods, including laser resurfacing. CO2 lasers are the most widely used lasers, others are the Er:YAG and Nd:YAG lasers. Cosmetic end results are comparable to partial excision with a scalpel or electrosurgery. There does not appear to be an increased risk of infection or scarring, but the conventional surgical methods are quicker to perform and more cost effective.
Telomerase activity and related properties of normal canine lymph node and canine lymphoma*
Authors: Hipple A. K. , Colitz C. M. H. , Mauldin G. N. , Mauldin G. E. , Cho D. Y. 
Published: November 2003

AbstractTelomerase activity (TA) and the expression of p16INK4, telomerase reverse‐transcriptase catalytic subunit (TERT) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were analysed in lymph nodes from clinically normal dogs and from dogs with lymphoma. Telomere lengths were measured in 12 histologically normal lymph nodes. These data were related to the overall survival time of the lymphoma patients given chemotherapy, in an effort to identify prognostic significance of the measured variables. There was no significant difference between TA of normal lymph nodes (n = 16) and lymphoma lymph nodes (n = 6). PCNA expression was significantly higher in lymphoma (n = 30) than in normal lymph nodes (n = 10), but TERT expression was not. Expression of p16INK4was not significantly different between normal and lymphoma lymph nodes. TA and p16INK4expression were inversely correlated within the normal lymph nodes studied. Telomere lengths in normal lymph nodes were consistent with previous studies. No variables examined had any correlation with survival of the lymphoma patients given chemotherapy. The role of p16INK4in the regulation of TA warrants further investigation.
A review of Doppler sonography for the assessment of tumour vascularity
Authors: Ohlerth S. , Kaser‐Hotz B. 
Published: November 2003

AbstractDuring the past decade, the vascular biology of cancer has become a highly interesting research field. To assess tumour vascularity and perfusion, various strategies such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography have been investigated. Over the last years, important advances have taken place in the Doppler technology which dramatically improved its ability to evaluate the vascular system, even small and deep vessels. Doppler sonography provides a non‐invasive means to assess the extent and morphology of tumour vascularity. This information is clinically important regarding diagnosis, prognosis and response to treatment, particularly in connection with the development of novel angiogenesis inhibitors. This article describes the different Doppler technologies most commonly used in human and experimental animal oncology. Based on in vivo tumour models and extensive clinical experience in humans, their significance and potential clinical applications are illustrated. First clinical reports in veterinary medicine are also reviewed.
Nuclear scanning with99mTc‐HDP for the initial evaluation of osseous metastasis in canine osteosarcoma
Authors: Jankowski M. K. , Steyn P. F. , Lana S. E. , Dernell W. S. , Blom C. M. , Uhrig J. L. , Lafferty M. , Withrow S. J. 
Published: November 2003

AbstractThe purpose of this retrospective analysis was to evaluate the use of nuclear scintigraphy in determining the rate of secondary sites of osseous malignancy at initial presentation in dogs with osteosarcoma. Radiographs of suspicious secondary lesions were reviewed and placed into four separate categories: benign lesions; no lesion seen on radiographs; subtle radiographic changes suggestive of, but not conclusive for, metastasis; and metastatic lesions highly suspected on radiographs. Three hundred and ninety‐nine dogs were evaluated by technetium nuclear scanning for suspected osteosarcoma. Three hundred and twenty‐six of 399 dogs (82%) had only one apparent site on the nuclear scan, whereas 72 dogs (18%) had more than one suspicious site on the nuclear scans. Highly suspected secondary metastatic lesions were detected by nuclear scans in 7.8% of cases. Although interpretation of nuclear scans is subjective, this study showed a 7.8% chance of detecting unsuspected osseous metastasis with nuclear scans in canine osteosarcoma patients on initial presentation.