bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The combination of plasmid interleukin‐12 with a single DNA vaccine is more effective than Mycobacterium bovis (bacille Calmette–Guèrin) in protecting against systemic Mycobacterim avium infection
Authors: Martin Ela , Kamath Arun T. , Briscoe Helen , Britton Warwick J. 
Published: May 2003

SummarySub‐unit vaccines utilizing purified mycobacterial proteins or DNA vaccines induce partial protection against mycobacterial infections. For example, immunization with DNA vaccines expressing the gene for the immunodominant 35 000 MW protein, common to Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium leprae but absent from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, conferred significant protection against infection with either virulent M. avium or M. leprae in mice. However, the level of protection was equivalent to that obtained with the viable, attenuated vaccine, Mycobacterium bovis, bacille Calmette–Guèrin (BCG). The cytokine, interleukin (IL)‐12, is essential for priming naïve CD4+ T lymphocytes to differentiate into interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ)‐secreting T cells. We have used a novel self‐splicing vector expressing both chains of murine IL‐12 to determine if plasmid IL‐12 would increase the efficacy of a vaccine expressing the M. avium 35 000 MW protein (DNA‐Av35). Co‐immunization with p2AIL‐12 and DNA‐Av35 led to a significant increase in the number of antigen‐specific IFN‐γ secreting cells and total amount of IFN‐γ released, but a concomitant fall in the antibody response to the 35 000 MW protein. This pattern of response was associated with enhanced clearance of M. avium from the liver and spleen of coimmunized mice, and was significantly more effective than BCG or DNA‐Av35. alone. Following M. avium challenge there was significant increase in the expansion of the 35 000 MW antigen‐reactive T cells in the coimmunized mice. Therefore, plasmid‐delivered IL‐12 acts as an effective adjuvant to increase the protective efficacy of a single DNA vaccine against M. avium infection above that achieved by BCG, and this strategy may improve the efficacy of subunit vaccines against M. leprae and M. tuberculosis.
Hyporesponsiveness of murine B lymphocytes exposed to the filarial nematode secreted product ES‐62 in vivo
Authors: Wilson Emma H. , Deehan Maureen R. , Katz Elad , Brown Kirsty S. , Houston Katrina M. , O'Grady John , Harnett Margaret M. , Harnett William 
Published: May 2003

SummaryES‐62 is a phosphorylcholine (PC)‐containing glycoprotein secreted by filarial nematodes, parasites of vertebrates including humans. We have previously demonstrated that pre‐exposure to this molecule in vitro interferes with subsequent B‐cell receptor (BCR)‐dependent activation of murine splenic B lymphocytes. To investigate the significance of this during filarial nematode infection, we now employ mice exposed to ES‐62, at concentrations equivalent to those found for PC‐containing molecules in the bloodstream of parasitized humans, via release from implanted osmotic pumps. Using this approach, we reveal that splenic and lymph node mononuclear cells, and also purified splenic B cells recovered from these mice have reduced ability ex vivo to proliferate in response to BCR ligation. The effect on BCR‐induced proliferation was further investigated with respect to elucidating the mechanism of action of the parasite product and was shown to be associated with impaired signal transduction affecting the ErkMAPkinase pathway. Also, it was found that ES‐62 did not act by promoting apoptosis or by priming for apoptosis following subsequent stimulation, but rather, appeared to render cells hyporesponsive to stimulation. ES‐62 is thus shown for the first time to be a potent modulator of B lymphocyte function in vivo at a concentration relevant to natural filarial nematode infection. This finding considerably strengthens the idea that ES‐62 plays a role in evasion of the immune response during parasitism.
Erectile dysfunction after surgical treatment*
Authors: Mirone Vincenzo , Imbimbo Ciro , Palmieri Alessandro , Longo Nicola , Fusco Ferdinando 
Published: May 2003

SummaryErectile dysfunction is a recognized complication of prostate and bladder radical surgery, although there is significant variation in the reported risk, much of this variability is related to the retrospective nature of most previous studies. Undoubtedly, the quality of life of bladder and prostate cancer patients would be much improved if both normal micturition and potency are preserved, which is the subject of this article. Quality of life studies can delineate sexual function after radical prostatectomy, including the use of sexual aids. Penile erection is a neurovascular event modulated by neurotransmitters and hormonal status. The penis is innervated by autonomic and somatic nerves. Both surgery and radiation therapy appear to affect such a mechanism. Radiation is thought to produce Erectile Dysfunction (ED) by accelerating microvascular angiopathy causing cavernosal fibrosis or stenosis of the pelvic arteries and by accelerating existing arteriosclerosis, leading to vascular impotence. Years may elapse before clinically significant ED occurs. Criteria that influence recovery of erections after surgery include younger patient age, stronger erections before operation, preservation of the neurovascular bundles, and attention to fine details in the surgical technique. Recovery of erections occurs in 68% of preoperatively potent men treated with bilateral nerve‐sparing surgery and in 47% of those treated with unilateral nerve‐sparing surgery.
Suppression of testosterone stimulates recovery of spermatogenesis after cancer treatment
Authors: Meistrich Marvin L. , Shetty Gunapala 
Published: May 2003

SummaryIt is important to develop methods to prevent or reverse the infertility caused by chemotherapy or radiation therapy for cancer in men. Radiation and some chemotherapeutic agents kill spermatogonial stem cells, but we have shown that these cells survive in rats, although they are unable to differentiate. There is evidence that this phenomenon also occurs in men. The block to spermatogonial differentiation in rats is caused by some unknown change, either in the spermatogonia or the somatic elements of the testis, such that testosterone inhibits spermatogonial differentiation. In the rat, the spermatogenesis and fertility lost following treatment with radiation or some chemotherapeutic agents can be restored by suppressing testosterone with gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or antagonists, either before or after the cytotoxic insult. The applicability of this procedure to humans is still unknown. Some anticancer regimens may kill all the stem cells, in which case the only option would be spermatogonial transplantation. However, in some cases stem cells survive and there is one report of stimulation of recovery of spermatogenesis with hormonal treatment. Clinical trials should focus on treating patients with hormones during or soon after anticancer treatment. The hormone regimen should involve suppression of testosterone production with minimum androgen supplementation used to improve the diminished libido.
Male age is not an independent factor to affect the outcome of assisted reproductive techniques
Authors: Kumtepe Yakup , Yakin Kayhan , Kahraman Semra , Sertyel Semra , Vanlioğlu Faruk , Cengiz Sami , Dönmez Ersan 
Published: May 2003

SummaryControversy exists whether advanced male age is associated with poor sperm quality and subsequent failure in the assisted reproductive techniques (ART). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of male age on sperm quality and the outcome of ART as well as the association of male age with other relevant factors, particularly with the female age. A retrospective study was performed in order to evaluate the effect of male age on the sperm parameters in 880 routine seminal analyses. Additionally, sperm parameters were also compared among different age groups in 919 cases with male factor infertility who had been included in an ART programme. The laboratory and clinical results of ART (fertilization rate, number and quality of embryos transferred, as well as pregnancy rates) were compared according to different age groups. The results were also evaluated by one‐way correlation and also step‐wise logistic regression analysis to identify the interactions and correlations between different parameters. There were no statistically significant differences between male age groups in terms of sperm concentration, motility and morphology either in routine seminal analyses or in ART groups. In the ART group, a statistically significant linear correlation was present between male and female ages. Male age was increasing in parallel to female age. Female age was also correlated significantly with ART results. In one‐way correlation analysis, male age was found to be correlated with the pregnancy rate, but not with fertilization rate and the quality of the transferred embryos. However, regression analysis revealed that correlation between male age and pregnancy results was simply dependent on the effect of the female age. Seminal parameters did not reveal a significant change with the increasing male age. The effect of male age on ART results in cases with male factor infertility is not a direct effect but a reflection of the negative impact of the parallel increase in the female age.
Microtubule‐associated epithelial protein E‐MAP‐115 is localized in the spermatid manchette
Authors: Penttilä Tarja‐Leena , Parvinen Martti , Paranko Jorma 
Published: May 2003

SummaryA microtubule‐associated protein E‐MAP‐115 has been originally isolated and characterized from HeLa cells. Because of its predominant expression in cultured cells of epithelial origin, it has been suggested to be involved in the regulation of cell polarization. The present immunocytochemical, Northern blot and in situ hybridization analysis of E‐MAP‐115 in the mouse and rat seminiferous epithelium indicates its distinct association with the spermatid manchette, a unique microtubular structure which appears in the cytoplasm of spermatids at step 8 when nuclear polarization and elongation starts. At steps 15–16 when manchette has been disassembled, immunoreactivity for E‐MAP‐115 disappeared. At immunoelectron microscopical level, E‐MAP‐15 was associated with the microtubules of the manchette. In the Western and Northern blot analysis, a distinct stage‐dependent expression of a single E‐MAP‐115 polypeptide and two mRNA species (3.4 and 2.4 kb) could be identified. MTEST 60, a spermatid‐specific transcript, showed a 100% homology over region of 68–193 bp of E‐MAP‐115 sequence. The reported specific localization of E‐MAP‐115 to the spermatid manchette strongly supports its role as a regulator of cell polarization. This, in turn, supports the hypotheses concerning the dynamic function of the manchette during spermiogenesis.
TGF‐βs: their role in testicular function and Sertoli cell tight junction dynamics
Authors: Lui Wing‐Yee , Lee Will M. , Cheng C. Yan 
Published: May 2003

SummaryTransforming growth factor‐βs (TGF‐βs) are known to regulate multiple physiological functions in the testis, which include spermatogenesis, Leydig cell steroidogenesis, extracellular matrix synthesis and testis development. More recent studies have shown that TGF‐β3 also regulates Sertoli cell tight junction (TJ) dynamics in vitro via the p38 mitogen‐activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway, suggesting that this cytokine plays a crucial role in regulating the opening and closing of the blood–testis barrier (BTB). This in turn regulates the passage of pre‐leptotene and leptotene spermatocytes across the BTB at stages VIII‐XI of the seminiferous epithelial cycle. This review summarizes recent advances of studies on TGF‐βs in the testis, highlighting their regulatory role in TJ dynamics.
Effects of hepatocyte growth factor on urokinase‐type plasminogen activator (uPA) and uPA receptor in DU145 prostate cancer cells
Authors: Nishimura Kenji , Matsumiya Kiyomi , Miura Hidenobu , Tsujimura Akira , Nonomura Norio , Matsumoto Kunio , Nakamura Toshikazu , Okuyama Akihiko 
Published: May 2003

SummaryUrokinase‐type plasminogen activator (uPA) and the uPA receptor (uPAR) are involved in a proteolytic cascade resulting of extracellular matrix degradation. Upstream, uPA and uPAR are regulated by various factors including hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), which stimulates the uPA/uPAR proteolytic system and increases invasion of cancers. We recently demonstrated that HGF induces invasion of DU145 prostate cancer cells into collagen gel matrix. We therefore examined effects of HGF on uPA and uPAR expression in DU145 cells. Effects of HGF on uPA expression in culture medium were determined by Western blotting and fibrin zymography, effects on uPAR expression in cell‐associated protein were examined by Western blotting. HGF increased uPA and uPAR production in a dose‐dependent manner up to 10 ng/mL, while effects of 20 ng/mL were approximately equal to those of 10 ng/mL. HGF stimulated uPA production beyond that in control cultures from 8 h until 48 h after HGF addition. HGF stimulated a uPA/uPAR proteolytic network in DU145 cells, which may be important for acquisition invasive potential by prostate cancer.
The polymorphic androgen receptor gene CAG repeat, pituitary–testicular function and andropausal symptoms in ageing men
Authors: Härkönen Kati , Huhtaniemi Ilpo , Mäkinen Juha , Hübler Doris , Irjala Kerttu , Koskenvuo Markku , Oettel Michael , Raitakari Olli , Saad Farid , Pöllänen Pasi 
Published: May 2003

SummaryThe activity of androgen receptor (AR) is modulated by a polymorphic CAG trinucleotide repeat in the AR gene. In the present study, we investigated hormonal changes among ageing men, and whether the number of AR CAG triplets is related to the appearance of these changes, as well as symptoms and diseases associated with ageing. A total of 213 41–70‐year‐old men donated blood for hormone analyses (LH, testosterone, oestradiol and SHBG) and answered questions concerning diseases and symptoms associated with ageing and/or androgen deficiency. Of these men, 172 donated blood for the measurement of the CAG repeat length of AR. The CAG repeat region of the AR gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the products were sized on polyacrylamide gels. The repeat number was analysed as a dichotomized variable divided according to cut‐off limits of the lowest (≤20 repeats) and the highest quartile (≥23 repeats), and as a continuous variable. The proportion of men with serum LH in the uppermost quartile (>6.0 IU/L) with normal serum testosterone (>9.8 nmol/L, above the lowest 10%) increased significantly with age (p = 0.01). There were fewer men with this hormonal condition among those with CAG repeat number in the uppermost quartile (≥23 repeats) (p = 0.03). These men also reported less decreased potency (p < 0.05). The repeat number was positively correlated with depression, as expressed by the wish to be dead (r = 0.45; p < 0.0001), depressed mood (r = 0.23; p = 0.003), anxiety (r = 0.15; p < 0.05), deterioration of general well‐being (r = 0.22; p = 0.004), as well as decreased beard growth (r = 0.49; p < 0.0001). A hormonal condition where serum testosterone is normal but LH increased is a frequent finding in male ageing. Only certain types of age‐related changes in ageing men were associated with the length of the AR gene CAG repeat, suggesting that this parameter may play a role in setting different thresholds for the array of androgen actions in the male.
A stereological study of the effects of experimental inguinal cryptorchidism and subsequent orchiopexy on spermatogenesis in adult monkeys
Authors: Zhang R. D. , Peng B. , Deng X. Z. , Wan Y. , Yang Z. W. 
Published: May 2003

SummaryOur previous study demonstrated that experimental intra‐abdominal cryptorchidism in adult rabbits for 13 weeks resulted in severe spermatogenic arrest: type A spermatogonia was the only germ cell type seen in the seminiferous epithelium and its number per testis was reduced by 84%. Seven weeks following orchiopexy, the type A spermatogonial number returned to the near‐normal range in most animals and spermatogenesis partially recovered (Reproduction 2002, 124, 95–105). This study aimed to determine whether inguinal cryptorchidism would produce less‐severe damage to spermatogenesis and whether subsequent orchiopexy would better restore spermatogenesis. Five normal adult male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) underwent bilateral artificial inguinal cryptorchidism. Half a year later, one testis together with the ipsilateral epididymis were removed from each animal and then unilateral orchiopexy was performed on the contralateral side, with the remaining testis and epididymis being removed another half a year later. A contemporary unbiased and efficient stereological tool, the optical disector, was used to estimate numbers of all types of spermatogenic cells in the testis and spermatozoa in the epididymis. Spermatogenic arrest was induced by cryptorchidism at the stage of spermatogonia (n = 1), spermatocytes (n = 2) or early spermatids (n = 1), with the type A spermatogonial numbers per testis being reduced to 14.8–57.2% of the control average; in one of the five cryptorchid animals, however, spermatogenesis remained normal. Subsequent orchiopexy, which was successfully performed on two animals with cryptorchidism‐induced spermatogenic arrest, brought on a full or partial recovery of spermatogenesis. In conclusion, inguinal cryptorchidism induces less severe (in comparison with an intra‐abdominal one) and variable damage to spermatogenesis, which is restored, at least in part, by subsequent orchiopexy.
Interactions between root‐infecting fungi and plant density in an annual legume, Kummerowia stipulacea
Authors: Mihail J.D. , Alexander H.M. , Taylor S.J. 
Published: May 2003

Summary

Population dynamics of an annual legume, Kummerowia stipulacea, were followed in permanent plots in a mown field for 4 years. There was a large reduction in the number of plants within seasons.
Laboratory studies showed that biotic factors were responsible for seed death in the soil. Using soil from the field plot location, we isolated fungi pathogenic to K. stipulacea seeds and seedlings.
Two pathogenic fungi (Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium irregulare) were used in a glasshouse study of the effects of pathogens and intraspecific competition on plant mortality and growth. Our null hypothesis was that death of individual plants due to disease would be balanced by increased growth of survivors. A factorial experiment was established with five soil treatments (three controls, P. irregulare and R. solani) and seven seed densities.
Inoculation by both R. Solani and P. irregulare led to a reduction in final numbers of plants, with the reduction greatest for populations inoculated with R. solani. Average biomass per plant was reduced with increased sowing density in all treatments except the R. solani inoculation, where surviving plants in high‐density pots may be larger because of the reduced density resulting from pathogen‐induced death. No treatment differences in size hierarchies were evident.
Surviving plants in both inoculation treatments could not take full advantage of the reduced density, and thus total biomass and number of trifoliate leaves per population (a surrogate for seed production) were reduced compared to controls, leading us to reject the null hypothesis. The reduction was more severe at high sowing densities. These results suggest that disease has the potential to reduce seed production and thus plant population numbers, if populations are seed limited. Shapes of yield‐sowing density relationships were asymptotic for all treatments; thus, disease‐induced ‘overcompensation’ leading to fluctuating population dynamics was not suggested.
Yield–density functions as predictors of community structure in a serpentine annual grassland
Authors: Moloney Kirk A. , Chiariello Nona 
Published: May 2003

Summary

Two series of competition experiments involving the four annual plant species Bromus hordeaceus, Calycadenia multiglandulosa, Plantago erecta and Microseris douglasii were conducted in an experimental array of pots located at the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, San Mateo County, California, USA. One experiment was conducted during the 1988‐89 growing season, the other during the 1989‐90 growing season.
A four‐species yield‐density model was constructed using seed yield data from the 1988‐89 experiment. Model predictions were tested against seed yield data from the 1989‐90 experiment. A systematic bias in predicted seed yields was found. As a consequence, the original model was reparameterized to provide a better fit to the observed yields for the 1989‐90 experiment.
Analyses were conducted to determine the importance of potential sources of bias in the original model, including (i) mis‐specification of density effects at low densities due to the parameterization protocol; (ii) interaction effects among competing species; and (iii) year‐to‐year variability in competitive interactions. All three sources had a significant effect on at least one of the species in the experiment, although significant sources differed between species.
Using two forms of sensitivity analysis, a comparison was made between the original and modified versions of the yield–density model to determine how they differed in predictions of long‐term plant community dynamics. Rank order of average densities among species did not differ between models; however, there were several important differences in their predictions with respect to overall community structure. Implications of these results with respect to the use of yield–density models in studying plant community dynamics are discussed.
The present study indicates that the effectiveness of the generally employed yield–density model at characterizing competitive interactions under different environmental conditions depends upon the criteria employed in making an assessment. One possible explanation is that competitive interactions within the serpentine community are highly sensitive to changes in environmental conditions and we found some evidence for this in Calycadenia and Plantago