bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Conserved Noncoding Sequences among Cultivated Cereal Genomes Identify Candidate Regulatory Sequence Elements and Patterns of Promoter Evolution[W]
Authors: Guo Hena , Moose Stephen P. 
Published: May 2003

AbstractSurveys for conserved noncoding sequences (CNS) among genes from monocot cereal species were conducted to assess the general properties of CNS in grass genomes and their correlation with known promoter regulatory elements. Initial comparisons of 11 orthologous maize-rice gene pairs found that previously defined regulatory motifs could be identified within short CNS but could not be distinguished reliably from random sequence matches. Among the different phylogenetic footprinting algorithms tested, the VISTA tool yielded the most informative alignments of noncoding sequence. VISTA was used to survey for CNS among all publicly available genomic sequences from maize, rice, wheat, barley, and sorghum, representing &gt;300 gene comparisons. Comparisons of orthologous maize-rice and maize-sorghum gene pairs identified 20 bp as a minimal length criterion for a significant CNS among grass genes, with few such CNS found to be conserved across rice, maize, sorghum, and barley. The frequency and length of cereal CNS as well as nucleotide substitution rates within CNS were consistent with the known phylogenetic distances among the species compared. The implications of these findings for the evolution of cereal gene promoter sequences and the utility of using the nearly completed rice genome sequence to predict candidate regulatory elements in other cereal genes by phylogenetic footprinting are discussed.
ACHEROUSIA UND ELYSION: ANMERKUNGEN IM HINBLICK AUF DEREN VERWENDUNG AUCH IM CHRISTLICHEN KONTEXT
Authors:   Kraus
Published: May 2003

AbstractMentioned on a parchment double-leaf kept in Vienna (P.Vindob.G 39756) presenting a fragmentary codex of the so-called Apocalypse of Peter, 'Aχερoυσια λιμνη and 'Hλυσιoν πεδιoν may surprise the reader. How to explain that such classical terms were used in a Christian text? By establishing a general basis of data for the usage and meaning of both elements in (late) antiquity, the aim of this paper is to shed light on the underlying motives and ideas behind the adoption of the Acherousian lake and the Elysion by early Christian authors and scribes, a fact which has rarely received full attention.
AMICI ET SODALES: AN EXAMINATION OF A DOUBLE MOTIF IN PLAUTUS
Authors: Maurice Lisa 
Published: May 2003

AbstractOne of the ways in which Plautus investigates friendship is through his use of the stock characters so central to Roman comedy. Among the twelve stock characters of comedy that Apuleius lists, appears the figure of the sodalis opitulator (the 'helpful mate'), who has not so far drawn much attention. Not only does Plautus use this character frequently, in five of his twenty extant plays he employs not one friend, but two, as a double motif. In these plays, Plautus uses these double stock characters to parody the ideals of friendship which had developed in the literary tradition, and to play with the conventions of drama as part of a metatheatrical approach to comedy. By a doubling of this motif, Plautus highlights friendship, in order to look at other literary or dramatic themes that include the ideal literary friendship, the supremacy of the Plautine slave and drama itself.
LEGAL LANGUAGE IN PLAUTUS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TRINUMMUS
Authors:   Karakasis
Published: May 2003

AbstractThe present article deals with the way in which Plautus uses the legal language and practice of his own day in his comedy, Trinummus, for his literary purposes as a comic dramatist. The paper investigates in the first place some brief references to divorce, the hereditas sine sacris and loans given by slaves, and then examines three main legal problems of the comedy, i.e., mandatum, sponsio and dos. The article argues for the legal character of the mandatum between Charmides and Callicles, as well as for the lack of legal validity of Lesbonicus' and Lysiteles' transactions and examines the way such legal actions are used by Plautus for intensifying the comic outcome. It concludes that Plautus uses legal language as a means for character delineation, character motivation and plot development.
LAMENT IN EURIPIDES' TROJAN WOMEN
Authors: Suter Ann 
Published: May 2003

AbstractThis article summarizes the findings of an unpublished PhD dissertation, "The Form of Lament in Greek Tragedy" by E. Wright, which provide for the first time objective criteria for identification of lamentation in tragedy. It applies these criteria to the Trojan Women, and argues, on the basis of metrical and stylistic devices, that virtually every scene in the Trojan Women shows the characteristics of lament. The play is, from both the minute technical, and the overall structural, point of view, a lament. This provides explanations for some of the long-standing critical issues of the play, e.g., no unity, no plot, an ill-conceived prologue. The article then considers also how the Trojan Women fits into current discussions of lament as a gendered genre. It replies especially to work on the development of 5th-century Athenian attitudes towards female lament, in which a pattern of increased criticism and restriction, it is argued, is reflected in the changing treatment of lament in Athenian tragedy. The treatment of lament in the Trojan Women does not conform to this perceived development. This suggests that there were still a variety of attitudes current and influential in late 5th-century Athens towards female lamentation.
TREMULOQUE GRADU VENIT AEGRA SENECTUS: OLD AGE IN OVID'S METAMORPHOSES
Authors:   Nikolopoulos
Published: May 2003

AbstractAlthough aging is not a metamorphosis stricto sensu, it is a process that affects the shape of the body. This paper explores the ambivalent representation of old age and its interplay with the ostensible theme of Ovid's encyclopedic poem on bodies changing shapes. Aging in the Metamorphoses is mainly a physiological process, which affects men and women alike, but may be reversed by means of magic. It is also one of the trappings of divinity: gods and goddesses often disguise themselves as old women, in order to deceive or advise humans. Even the poem's narrator, 'Ovid', frequently assumes the persona of the elderly in an act of self-transformation.
THE HOMERIC SCHOLIA ON FOCALIZATION
Authors: Nünlist René 
Published: May 2003

AbstractQuestions related to the point of view within a narrative text are nowadays discussed under the narratological rubric of focalization. An examination of pertinent Homeric scholia shows that ancient literary critics regularly treated questions of focalization, although they neither had a specific term for the concept nor discussed it in its own right. Their interpretations not only deal with the differences in focalization between the narrator-text and the speeches but also include what is now called 'embedded focalization', i.e. the representation of a character's point of view in the narrator-text. The relevant scholia are presented both in Greek and in English translation.
JENSEITS VON RAUM, ZEIT UND GEMEINSCHAFT „CHRIST-SEIN" NACH DEM THOMASEVANGELIUM
Authors: Rau Eckhard 
Published: May 2003

AbstractDie „kleinen Einheiten" des EvThom sind im Kontakt zur Jesusüberlieferung der werdenden Großkirche geformt. In polemischer Abgrenzung von deren christologischen, heilsgeschichtlichen und eschatologischen Überzeugungen begegnet uns hier ein Raum und Zeit enthobener Jesus, der sich denen anverwandelt, die in radikaler Vereinzelung den von ihm gewiesenen Weg ins Königreich einschlagen. Wer dies tut, kehrt zurück in den nondualen, allen Zweiheiten vorausliegenden Ursprung allen Seins und gewinnt dadurch einen Status, dessen Konformität mit Jesus eine überraschende Perspektive für die Frage nach der Ausbildung des spezifischen Profils der Jesusüberlieferung des EvThom eröffnet.
Hemostasis and coagulation at a hematocrit level of 0.85: functional consequences of erythrocytosis
Authors: Shibata Junpei , Hasegawa Jo , Siemens Hans-Joachim , Wolber Eva , Dibbelt Leif , Li Dechun , Katschinski Dörthe M. , Fandrey Joachim , Jelkmann Wolfgang , Gassmann Max , Wenger Roland H. , Wagner Klaus F. 
Published: May 2003

Abstract
We have generated a transgenic mouse line that reaches a hematocrit concentration of 0.85 due to constitutive overexpression of human erythropoietin in an oxygen-independent manner. Unexpectedly, this excessive erythrocytosis did not lead to thrombembolic complications in all investigated organs at any age. Thus, we investigated the mechanisms preventing thrombembolism in this mouse model. Blood analysis revealed an age-dependent elevation of reticulocyte numbers and a marked thrombocytopenia that matched the reduced megakaryocyte numbers in the bone marrow. However, platelet counts were not different from wild-type controls, when calculations were based on the distribution (eg, plasma) volume, thereby explaining why thrombopoietin levels did not increase in transgenic mice. Nevertheless, bleeding time was significantly increased in transgenic animals. A longitudinal investigation using computerized thromboelastography revealed that thrombus formation was reduced with increasing age from 1 to 8 months in transgenic animals. We observed that increasing erythrocyte concentrations inhibited profoundly and reversibly thrombus formation and prolonged the time of clot development, most likely due to mechanical interference of red blood cells with clot-forming platelets. Transgenic animals showed increased nitric oxide levels in the blood that could inhibit vasoconstriction and platelet activation. Finally, we observed that plasmatic coagulation activity in transgenic animals was significantly decreased. Taken together, our findings suggest that prevention of thrombembolic disease in these erythrocytotic transgenic mice was due to functional consequences inherent to increased erythrocyte concentrations and a reduction of plasmatic coagulation activity, the cause of which remains to be elucidated.
Elderly humans exposed to concentrated air pollution particles have decreased heart rate variability
Authors: Devlin R.B. , Ghio A.J. , Kehrl H. , Sanders G. , Cascio W. 
Published: May 2003

Air pollution particles are thought to kill >500,000 people worldwide each year. The population most at risk appears to be elderly people with respiratory and cardiovascular disease. As yet, no commonly accepted mechanism has been proposed which can explain the cause of these deaths.Heart rate variability (HRV) was assessed in healthy elderly adults between the ages of 60 and 80 who were exposed twice for 2 h: once to clean air and once to concentrated ambient air pollution particles (CAPS). Changes in HRV were measured immediately before, immediately following, and 24 h after exposure.Elderly subjects experienced significant decreases in HRV in both time and frequency domains immediately following exposure. Some of these changes persisted for at least 24 h. These data were compared with HRV data collected from young healthy volunteers exposed to CAPS in a previous study, in which no CAPS-induced changes in HRV were found.These concentrated ambient air pollution particle-induced changes in heart rate variability in a controlled human exposure study extend similar findings reported in recent panel studies and suggest potential mechanisms by which particulate matter may induce adverse cardiovascular events.
Air pollution and the elderly: oxidant/antioxidant issues worth consideration
Authors: Kelly F.J. , Dunster C. , Mudway I. 
Published: May 2003

The elderly are frequently classified as being particularly susceptible to air pollution. The basis of this increased sensitivity is not known but it is likely that it is linked to age-related impaired function of the lung. However, given this uncertainty and increased impact of air pollution of this section of the community there is a need to explore the mechanisms involved.Gaseous air pollutants such as ozone and nitrogen dioxide, or many of the components adsorbed onto the surface of respirable particles, are either powerful oxidants or capable of generating free radicals. If unabated, oxidants can cause injury to the delicate cells that line the respiratory tract. Small molecular weight antioxidant defences present in respiratory tract lining fluid (RTLF) represent the first line of defence against a range of oxidants that enter the lung. The quantity and quality of the RTLF airways antioxidant network are, therefore, likely to be important determinants of the impact of the oxidant challenge on the underlying respiratory epithelium.As yet, comprehensive information on the distribution and variability of respiratory tract lining fluid antioxidant defences is only available in young, mainly healthy volunteers. Studies undertaken in patients with a range of respiratory diseases suggest that marked changes in the distribution of respiratory tract lining fluid antioxidants can occur. Information is not currently available on the impact of ageing on the respiratory tract lining fluid antioxidant defence network. As several respiratory tract lining fluid antioxidants are of dietary origin, the elderly, who often have different dietary patterns to younger individuals, may have decreased availability of important antioxidants. Given these possibilities, a better understanding of respiratory tract lining fluid antioxidant defences in the aged lung is warranted.
Mechanism of lung injury caused by PM10and ultrafine particles with special reference to COPD
Authors: MacNee W. , Donaldson K. 
Published: May 2003

Particulate air pollution (particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm (PM10)) has strong associations with the adverse health events detected by epidemiological studies in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in diverse geographical locations. Transition metals may determine the toxic effects of PM10through oxidative stress which may be injurious as shown by an increase in airspace epithelial permeability and may lead to inflammation through the activation of transcription factors for pro‐inflammatory genes in both macrophages and epithelial cells. Recently, the present authors have shown that particulate air pollution may cause further molecular events that enhance transcription factor activation by causing acetylation of histones leading to unwinding of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) enhancing transcription factor DNA binding and increasing transcription for pro-inflammatory genes.Further, ultrafine particles (<100 nm diameter), which have marked toxicity, may be responsible for some of the PM10adverse effects. The current authors have demonstrated that ultrafine carbon black (ufCB) does not have its effectsviatransition metal-mediated mechanisms. However, ufCB and other ultrafines generate free radicals at their surface as measured by a number of chemical assays and are able to cause oxidative stress to cells and this is likely to be a factor in their ability to cause inflammation. Changes in calcium resulting from oxidative stress within cells may be an additional factor leading to transcription of pro-inflammatory genes.Understanding the mechanisms of the harmful effects of particulate air pollution in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may help in risk strategy for individuals who are susceptible to the effects of air pollution.
Determinants of prognosis of COPD in the elderly: mucus hypersecretion, infections, cardiovascular comorbidity
Authors: Pistelli R. , Lange P. , Miller D.L. 
Published: May 2003

In this paper, the authors update the present knowledge about three risk factors for the prognosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which may be particularly relevant in elderly people: mucus hypersecretion, respiratory infections, and cardiovascular comorbidity. Chronic mucus hypersecretion (CMH) is a common respiratory symptom in old age, the relevance of which is analysed on the basis of data collected during the first three rounds of the Copenhagen City Heart Study. In subjects aged ≥65 yrs, CMH was a strong predictor of the incidence of respiratory infections in a 10-yr follow-up period and it was also a strong predictor of death from COPD (relative risk=2.5). However, CMH was associated with consistently lower forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) values, but not with an accelerated decline of FEV1in this sample of an elderly population.Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are extremely common at all ages, mostly mild self-limiting illnesses at a young age, but severe often fatal illnesses in elderly people already affected by a chronic disease such as COPD. This paper summarises the present knowledge about aetiology, pathology, prognostic relevance, and prevention of ARI. Furthermore, the areas in which further research is needed are listed. Clinical cohort studies clearly support the relevance of cardiovascular comorbidity for the short- and long-term prognosis of elderly subjects affected by severe COPD.In this paper, the recently demonstrated association between particulate air pollution and cardiovascular events is reported to suggest the presence of an extremely susceptible cluster of elderly subjects in the population identified by the copresence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular comorbidity.
Poisoned patients as potential organ donors: postal survey of transplant centres and intensive care units
Authors: Wood David Michael , Dargan Paul Ivor , Jones Alison Linda 
Published: May 2003

Abstract
Background
The number of patients awaiting allograft transplantation in the UK exceeds the number of organs offered for transplantation each year. Most organ donors tend to be young, fit and healthy individuals who die because of trauma or sudden cardiac arrest. Patients who die from drug and poison intoxication tend to have similar characteristics but are less frequently offered as potential organ donors.

Methods
A postal questionnaire survey of all transplantation centres and an equal number of intensive care units in the UK was undertaken. The use of kidney, heart, lung, liver and pancreas transplants from poisoned patients following deliberate methanol ingestion, cardiac arrest presumed secondary to cocaine overdose, accidental domestic carbon monoxide inhalation and industrial cyanide exposure were used as case scenarios.

Results
Response rates were 70% for transplantation centres and 50% for intensive care unit directors. Over 80% of organs would be offered or discussed with transplant coordinators by intensive care unit directors. Transplantation physicians/surgeons would consider transplanting organs in up to 100% of case scenarios, depending on the organ and poisoning or intoxication involved.

Discussion
The postal survey presented here shows that most transplantation physicians and surgeons and intensive care unit directors would consider those who die following acute drug intoxication and poisoning as potential organ donors. The previously reported literature shows in general that transplanted organs from poisoned patients have good long-term survival, although the number of reports is small. Poisoned patients are another pool of organ donors who at present are probably underused by transplantation services.
Training in data definitions improves quality of intensive care data
Authors: Arts Daniëlle GT , Bosman Rob J , de Jonge Evert , Joore Johannes CA , de Keizer Nicolette F 
Published: May 2003

Abstract
Background
Our aim was to assess the contribution of training in data definitions and data extraction guidelines to improving quality of data for use in intensive care scoring systems such as the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II in the Dutch National Intensive Care Evaluation (NICE) registry.

Methods
Before and after attending a central training programme, a training group of 31 intensive care physicians from Dutch hospitals who were newly participating in the NICE registry extracted data from three sample patient records. The 5-hour training programme provided participants with guidelines for data extraction and strict data definitions. A control group of 10 intensive care physicians, who were trained according the to train-the-trainer principle at least 6 months before the study, extracted the data twice, without specific training in between.

Results
In the training group the mean percentage of accurate data increased significantly after training for all NICE variables (+7%, 95% confidence interval 5%–10%), for APACHE II variables (+6%, 95% confidence interval 4%–9%) and for SAPS II variables (+4%, 95% confidence interval 1%–6%). The percentage data error due to nonadherence to data definitions decreased by 3.5% after training. Deviations from 'gold standard' SAPS II scores and predicted mortalities decreased significantly after training. Data accuracy in the control group did not change between the two data extractions and was equal to post-training data accuracy in the training group.

Conclusion
Training in data definitions and data extraction guidelines is an effective way to improve quality of intensive care scoring data.
Safety assessment of drotrecogin alfa (activated) in the treatment of adult patients with severe sepsis
Authors: Bernard Gordon R , Macias William L , Joyce David E , Williams Mark D , Bailey Joan , Vincent Jean-Louis 
Published: May 2003

Abstract
Introduction
Drotrecogin alfa (activated; recombinant activated protein C) was shown to reduce 28-day all-cause mortality in patients with severe sepsis and to have an acceptable safety profile in 1690 patients studied in the F1K-MC-EVAD (PROWESS) trial. We analyzed all available data on the safety of treatment with drotrecogin alfa (activated) in 2786 adult patients with severe sepsis enrolled in all phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, and in an estimated 3991 patients receiving the drug in commercial use.

Patients and method
Mortality and safety analyses were performed on all available data from adult severe sepsis patients enrolled in seven clinical trials as of 12 April 2002. Trial-specific safety data and spontaneously reported serious adverse events from commercial use were extracted from a pharmacovigilance database.

Results
The 28-day mortality rate for all adult patients who received active treatment in all clinical trials was 25.3% (704/2786). Serious bleeding events during the infusion period and 28-day study period occurred in 2.8% (79/2786) and 5.3% (148/2786) of patients, respectively. Of bleeding events during the infusion period, 43% (34/79) were procedure-related. Fatal serious bleeding events during the infusion period occurred in 0.4% (12/2786) of cases. Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) events during the infusion period and 28-day study period occurred in 0.6% (16/2786) and 1.1% (32/2786) of patients, respectively. Ten out of the 16 ICH events occurring during the study drug infusion period were associated with severe thrombocytopenia (≤ 30,000/mm3) and/or meningitis. Serious bleeding and ICH events spontaneously reported from commercial use (n = 3991) occurred in 0.9% and 0.2% of patients, respectively.

Conclusion
Drotrecogin alfa (activated) significantly reduces mortality in severe sepsis. The efficacy and safety profiles of drotrecogin alfa (activated) have remained consistent over the conduct of multiple clinical trials. The most important serious adverse event associated with drotrecogin alfa (activated) treatment is bleeding. Additional clinical experience indicates that invasive procedures are associated with a substantial percentage of serious bleeding events, particularly those occurring at the start of infusion of the drug. Severe thrombocytopenia (for all serious bleeding events, including ICH) and meningitis (for ICH only) may be risk factors for serious bleeding. However, patients with severe thrombocytopenia and/or meningitis may be at greater risk for bleeding or ICH in the absence of drug therapy.