bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Semaphorin 3A‐mediated axon guidance regulates convergence and targeting of P2 odorant receptor axons
Authors: Schwarting Gerald A. , Raitcheva Denitza , Crandall James E. , Burkhardt Constanze , Püschel Andreas W. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractSemaphorins are known to play an important role in axon guidance of vertebrate olfactory sensory neurons to their targets in specific glomeruli of the olfactory bulb (OB). However, it is not clear how semaphorin‐mediated guidance contributes to a systematic hierarchy of cues that govern the organization of this system. Because of the putative role that odorant receptor molecules such as P2 could play in establishing appropriate glomerular destinations for growing olfactory axons, we have also determined the spatial organization of P2 glomeruli in semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) mutant mice. First, in the postnatal OB of control and Sema3A−/− mice, we analysed the trajectories of olfactory axons that express the Sema3A receptor, neuropilin‐1 (npn‐1) and the positions of npn‐1+ glomeruli. Sema3A at the ventral OB midline guides npn‐1+ axons to targets in the lateral and medial OB. Absence of Sema3A permits many npn‐1 axons to terminate aberrantly in the rostral and ventral OB. Second, in Sema3A−/− mice, many P2 axons are abnormally distributed throughout the ventral OB nerve layer and converge in atypical locations compared with littermate controls where P2 axons converge on stereotypically located lateral and medial glomeruli. In addition to their radically altered spatial distribution, P2 glomeruli in Sema3A−/− mice are significantly smaller and more numerous than in heterozygote littermates. These data show that Sema3A is an important repulsive olfactory guidance cue that establishes restricted npn‐1+ subcompartments in the olfactory bulb. Furthermore, Sema3A plays a key role in the convergence of axons expressing the odorant receptor P2 onto their appropriate targets.
The C‐terminal juxtamembrane region of the δ2 glutamate receptor controls its export from the endoplasmic reticulum
Authors: Matsuda Shinji , Hannen Rosalind , Matsuda Keiko , Yamada Nobuaki , Tubbs Thomas , Yuzaki Michisuke 
Published: April 2004

AbstractFunctions of ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) are tightly regulated by the intracellular trafficking of receptor proteins. Unlike other iGluRs that are considerably retained in the intracellular component, the δ2 glutamate receptor (GluRδ2) is efficiently expressed on the Purkinje cell surface. To understand the trafficking mechanism of iGluRs, we deleted various portions of the C‐terminal intracellular domain of GluRδ2 and analysed the localization of the mutant proteins in heterologous cells and neurons. Biotinylation assays indicated that GluRδ2 lacking the C‐terminal juxtamembrane region of 13 amino acids (region A) was not present on the cell surface. This mutant GluRδ2 was sensitive to endoglycosidase H, which digests unprocessed high‐mannose oligosaccharides on proteins retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) or cis‐Golgi. Therefore, we concluded that region A is crucial for the transport of GluRδ2 beyond the trans‐Golgi to the cell surface. Because the immunostaining pattern of GluRδ2 lacking region A in cultured hippocampal neurons completely overlapped the pattern of fluorescence emitted by ER‐resident green fluorescent protein, region A is most likely necessary for GluRδ2's exit from the ER. Furthermore, this region is essential for the proper intracellular trafficking of GluRδ2 in Purkinje cells. Region A does not rely on a dihydrophobic motif or positively charged residues to participate in trafficking, but its function is dependent on the juxtamembrane position. Therefore, we propose that GluRδ2's efficient transport to the cell surface utilizes an unknown but general ER exit mechanism, which probably works in close relation to the membrane of heterologous cells and neurons.
Role of taurine uptake on the induction of long‐term synaptic potentiation
Authors: Del Olmo Nuria , Suárez Luz M. , Orensanz Luis M. , Suárez Francisco , Bustamante Julián , Duarte José M. , Del Río Rafael Martín , Solís José M. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractTaurine application in the CA1 area of rat hippocampal slices induces a long‐lasting potentiation of excitatory synaptic transmission that has some mechanistic similitude with the late phase of long‐term potentiation (L‐LTP). Previous indirect evidence such as temperature and sodium dependence indicated that taurine uptake is one of the primary steps leading to the taurine‐induced synaptic potentiation. We show that taurine‐induced potentiation is not related to the intracellular accumulation of taurine and is not impaired by 2‐guanidinoethanesulphonic acid, a taurine transport inhibitor that is a substrate of taurine transporter. We have found that taurine uptake in hippocampal synaptosomes was inhibited by SKF 89976A, a GABA uptake blocker that is not transportable by GABA transporters. SKF 89976A prevents the induction of synaptic potentiation by taurine application. This effect is neither mimicked by nipecotic acid, a broad inhibitor of GABA transporters that does not affect taurine uptake, nor by NO‐711, a specific and potent inhibitor of GABA transporter GAT‐1. In addition, L‐LTP induced by trains of high‐frequency stimulation is also inhibited by SKF 89976A, and taurine, at a concentration that does not change basal synaptic transmission, overcomes such inhibition. We conclude that taurine induces synaptic potentiation through the activation of a system transporting taurine and that taurine uptake is required for the induction of synaptic plasticity phenomena such as L‐LTP.
Synaptic drive contributing to rhythmic activation of motoneurons in the deafferented stick insect walking system
Authors: Büschges Ansgar , Ludwar Björn Ch. , Bucher Dirk , Schmidt Joachim , DiCaprio Ralph A. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA general feature of motor patterns for locomotion is their cyclic and alternating organization. In walking, for example, rhythmic activity in leg motoneurons innervating antagonistic muscles of a joint is primarily antiphasic within each cycle. We investigate which role central pattern generating networks play in the generation of leg motoneuron activity in the absence of sensory feedback. We elicited activity in antagonistic flexor and extensor tibiae motoneurons in the deafferented mesothoracic ganglion of the stick insect by mechanically stimulating the head or abdomen, while recording intracellularly from their neuropilar processes. In most cases, tactile stimulation induced coactivation of tibial motoneurons. However, in ≈ 25% of the trials, tibial motoneurons generated alternating cycles consisting of bursts of action potentials that were terminated by strong inhibitory synaptic inputs. Injection of depolarizing current increased the amplitude of the inhibitory phase of the oscillation, while hyperpolarizing current decreased it and revealed a tonic depolarization of the motor neurons during the bout of rhythmic motor activity. The same results were gathered from recording tibial leg motoneurons during ‘twitching’ motor activity in decerebrated animals. Our results indicate that alternating rhythmic motoneuron activity in the deafferented stick insect walking system results from phasic inhibitory drive provided by central pattern generating networks. This inhibitory input patterns the firing of the motoneurons that results from a tonic depolarizing drive. This tonic depolarizing drive was also observed in tibial motoneurons of the deafferented mesothoracic ganglion during walking movements of the intact ipsilateral front leg.
Rethinking Medical Ethics: A View From Below
Authors: Farmer Paul 
Published: April 2004

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we argue that lack of access to the fruits of modern medicine and the science that informs it is an important and neglected topic within bioethics and medical ethics. This is especially clear to those working in what are now termed ‘resource‐poor settings’– to those working, in plain language, among populations living in dire poverty. We draw on our experience with infectious diseases in some of the poorest communities in the world to interrogate the central imperatives of bioethics and medical ethics. AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are the three leading infectious killers of adults in the world today. Because each disease is treatable with already available therapies, the lack of access to medical care is widely perceived in heavily disease‐burdened areas as constituting an ethical and moral dilemma. In settings in which research on these diseases are conducted but there is little in the way of therapy, there is much talk of first world diagnostics and third world therapeutics.Here we call for the ‘resocialising’ of ethics. To resocialise medical ethics will involve using the socialising disciplines to contextualise fully ethical dilemmas in settings of poverty and, a related gambit, the systematic participation of the destitute sick. Clinical research across steep gradients also needs to be linked with the interventions that are demanded by the poor and otherwise marginalised. We conclude that medical ethics must grapple more persistently with the growing problem posed by the yawning ‘outcome gap’ between rich and poor.
The Distribution of Biomedical Research Resources and International Justice
Authors: Resnik David B. 
Published: April 2004

ABSTRACTAccording to some estimates, less than 10% of the world's biomedical research funds are dedicated to addressing problems that are responsible for 90% of the world's burden of disease. This paper explains why this disparity exists and what should be done about it. It argues that the disparity exists because: 1) multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies do not regard research and development investments on the health problems of developing nations to be economically lucrative; and 2) governmental agencies that sponsor biomedical research face little political pressure to allocate funds for the problems of developing nations. This paper argues that developed nations have an obligation to address disparities related to biomedical research funding. To facilitate this effort, developed countries should establish a trust fund dedicated to research on the health problems of developing nations similar to the Global AIDS Fund.
Patents and Access to Drugs in Developing Countries: An Ethical Analysis
Authors: Sterckx Sigrid 
Published: April 2004

ABSTRACTMore than a third of the world's population has no access to essential drugs. More than half of this group of people live in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia. Several factors determine the accessibility of drugs in developing countries. Hardly any medicines for tropical diseases are being developed, but even existing drugs are often not available to the patients who need them.One of the important determinants of access to drugs is the working of the patent system. This paper first maps out some facts about the global patent regime that has emerged as a consequence of the conclusion of the WTO‐TRIPs Agreement in 1994. Attempts to construct a moral justification of the patent system have been based on three grounds: natural rights, distributive justice, and utilitarian arguments. This paper examines to what extent and on which grounds drug patents can be justified. The final section looks at the so‐called ‘Doha Declaration on the TRIPs Agreement and Public Health’, which was adopted by the WTO Ministerial Conference two years ago, recognising the primacy of public health over the interests of patent proprietors.
Promoting Equity in Health Through Research and Understanding
Authors: Starfield Barbara 
Published: April 2004

ABSTRACTDeveloping strategies to reduce inequities in health requires an understanding of how inequities occur, determining the salient factors in their production, and deciding which ones are most amenable to change. The recognition of several principles regarding the manifestations and genesis of inequities can help to decide on strategies. In making decisions, it is important to consider whether the aim is to reduce disparities in the occurrence of ill health or to reduce disparities in the severity (including co‐morbidity, disability, dysfunction and fatality) of ill health. Evidence shows that the major impact on equity of health services, particularly regarding their potential to reduce severity, is attributable to the strength of primary care resources and services in communities and countries. Virtually every influence on the genesis of inequities is determined by the political context in which policy is made. The issue of health services is not different in this regard from other types of strategies.There is no longer any doubt about the pervasive influence of social factors on health. Almost two centuries of descriptive research provides convincing evidence of associations between social structures and relationships and health status in all countries and in all societies; if there is anything new from more recent research, it is that the association is not limited to differences between the lowest social strata and other social strata. Rather, the association is noted throughout the social spectrum. That is, there is a social gradient in health such that, for many if not most manifestations of ill health, the lower the social stratum, the worse the health.The challenge for the future is to understand why this is the case, to create a consensus that these inequalities are unnecessary and unacceptable, and to devise strategies that are both effective and possible. This paper will focus on the first of these aims, in a context that facilitates attention to the second and third aims.
Ethics, Economics, and Aids in Africa
Authors: Selgelid Michael J. 
Published: April 2004

AIDS in the Twenty‐First Century: Disease and Globalization, by Tony Barnett and Alan Whiteside. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2002. 416 pp. US$19.95 (paperback) The Moral Economy of AIDS in South Africa, by Nicoli Nattrass. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2004. 222 pp. US$30.00 (paperback)
II. Caspian Energy: Oil and Gas Resources and the Global Market
Authors: Amineh Mehdi Parvizi , Houweling Henk 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThis article develops several concepts of critical geopolitics and relates them to the energy resources of the Caspian Region. Energy resources beyond borders may be accessed by trade, respectively by conquest, domination and changing property rights. These are the survival strategies of human groups in the international system. The article differentiates between demand-induced scarcity, supply-induced scarcity, structural scarcity and the creation, respectively, transfer of property rights. Together, the behaviors referred to by these concepts create a field of social forces that cross state borders involving state and a variety of non-state actors. During World War II, the US began to separate the military borders of the country from its legal-territorial borders. By dominating the world's oceans, the Anglo-Saxon power presided over the capacity to induce scarcity by interdicting maritime supplies to allies and enemies alike. Today, overland transport increasingly connects economies and energy supplies on the Eurasian continent. The US has therefore to go on land in order to pre-empt the land-based powers from unifying their economies and energy supplies.
III. Nation-State Building in Central Asia: A lost Case?
Authors: Akçali Pinar 
Published: April 2004

AbstractWith the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the five Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have entered a period of nationstate building, which had been started to a large extend by the political elites of the former Soviet Union. These republics were not prepared for independence that came to the region suddenly. The former communist leaders of the Soviet era became the new national elites to take their countries by publicly declared goals and policies through the path of independent nationhood and independent statehood. However, it remains unclear whether this top-to-bottom approach will prove successful in the long run. This article discusses nationstate building in the region by first looking at problems of external sovereignty. Second, domestic state building policies and structures, more specifically, the newly formulated official discourse on-building nation- and the political-legal framework to develop that discourse, are analyzed. Then, the limitations of this process with specific emphasis on supranational identities (basically religious identity of Islam), subnational identities (local and/or tribal identities), and ethnic minorities (with a specific on the Russians in these five countries) are examined. It is concluded that the process of nation-state building in Central Asia is not complete yet and that each republic has unique problems that may challenge this process. For the time being, there exist certain frictions between the goals of the official discourse and nonofficial levels of identity that may hinder the success of the nation building process in the region.
IV. Political Processes in Post-Soviet Central Asia
Authors: Akiner Shirin 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe Central Asian republics inherited a high degree of civic order. The challenge that confronts these republics today is whether or not, as independent states, they will be able to maintain order and stability; and if so, by what means will they achieve this. It is unlikely that in the near future these newly independent states will be able to mobilize sufficient resources to sustain the level of development achieved under Soviet rule. Standards in health care and education are showing signs of severe erosion; the general social and technical infrastructure, especially in rural areas, is deteriorating owing to inadequate maintenance and investment. If this regression continues, it is likely to have potentially disastrous political consequences. Pauperization, frustrated hopes, bitter competition for scarce resources, as well as the increasing gap between aspirations and the ability to satisfy them, could provide a fertile breeding ground for intercommunal violence, as has already occurred in Tajikistan. In some areas, particularly in the south, this is finding expression in a militant form of Islam. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, there were many who cherished the same hopes for the Central Asian republics that had previously been held for the newly decolonized world of the 1950s, namely, that it would be possible to launch these states on a smooth process of cultural change, economic growth, and stable democracy. The reality here, as in other parts of the developing world, has already proved to be far more complex. To consolidate genuine political and economic reform will require a fundamental shift in social and cultural attitudes.
V. The Economic and Social Impact of Systemic Transition in Central Asia and Azerbaijan
Authors: Kaser Michael 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe economies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan differ from the other states that quit the Soviet Union in 1991 by their inheritance of poor productivity growth and high demographic pressure for job creation. Moreover, since their incorporation into the Russian Empire during the nineteenth century, their production has been geared to primary goods - cotton and hydrocarbons - that in the 1930s Stalin's policy towards autarky was directed to Soviet domestic consumption. The six countries hence gained independence, but with high export dependency on markets that all suffered severe demand recessions. The corresponding production decline in the six states was modified during the 1990s by diversifying the direction of trade and was not as deep as indicated by the official GDP data by reason of the substantial growth of unmeasured production. That 'shadow economy' goes untaxed and all six states show government revenue inadequate for the social expenditure required to maintain the stock of human capital inherited from Soviet planning priorities and to reverse the widening of income differentials, as well as for capital formation to employ the expanding labor force. Some improvement has resulted from emigration and foreign investment by Kazakhstan, and from foreign investment by Azerbaijan. But that inflow has enhanced those states' dependence on hydrocarbons and the danger of a "Dutch disease." In all six states, authoritarian and corruption-prone governance inhibit foreign investment, though in two, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, state funds have been established so that eventual income from fixed assets replace that from depleting hydrocarbon deposits.
VI. Gendered Transitions: The Impact of the Post-Soviet Transition on Women in Central Asia and the Caucasus
Authors: Ishkanian Armine 
Published: April 2004

AbstractIn this chapter, I explore the impact of the post-Soviet political and socioeconomic transitions on women in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. I review the impact of Soviet policies on gender roles and relations in order to contextualize post-Soviet developments. The central segment, which examines gender roles and relations after socialism, is divided into two sections. In the first section, I examine the impact of local political and socioeconomic transitions on gender relations and local responses to those transitions. In the second section, I discuss the impact of regional/global events and interactions on gender roles and relations. Throughout the chapter, I consider the similarities and differences of the transitions and the responses to those transitions in the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
VII. Sino-Indian Relations: Security Dilemma, Ideological Polarization, or Cooperation Based on 'Comprehensive Security'?
Authors: Radtke Kurt 
Published: April 2004

AbstractGeopolitics in Central Asia are not wholly determined by its giant neighbors China, India, and Russia, but the strategic approaches adopted by these three countries have a major impact on the dynamics of Central Asia. This contribution aims to throw more light on the nature of the strategic and security discourse between China and India as one way to increase our understanding of the context in which Central Asian states operate. Despite globalization, Asian governments tend to cling to static approaches. China in particular emphasizes the role of "large powers" (daguo) in determining the global structure, and regards itself as one of those large powers. Cooperation with other powers demands a minimum level of agreement on common goals for the future global system, but recent emphasis on moral, and thus ideological elements in US global strategies has the potential to reimpose ideological polarization on the global system. Countries in Southeast or Central Asia tend to adopt policies of diversification by strengthening their links with all major global powers, including the United States, hoping to avoid polarization while at the same time staying clear of bandwagoning. This is one of the reasons why the New Great Game cannot simply be described in terms of Great Powers that engage among themselves in maneuvers of bandwagoning and balancing. Sharing concepts such as "comprehensive security" may provide greater leeway for policymakers who do not wish to become prisoners of man-made dilemmas. Nineteenth-century concepts of balance of power seem no shining beacon for policymakers of Eurasia and the United States in the twenty-first century.