bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Factors associated with short‐term clinical outcomes after acute treatment of asthma in a pediatric emergency department
Authors: Benito‐Fernández Javier , Onis‐González Estibaliz , Álvarez‐Pitti Julio , Capapé‐Zache Susana , Vázquez‐Ronco Miguel A. , Mintegi‐Raso Santiago 
Published: May 2004

AbstractOutcomes of emergency room treatment of children with asthma have not been well‐documented. The purpose of this study was to describe the short‐term clinical course of children aged 0–14 years after standard treatment for an acute asthma exacerbation in a pediatric emergency department, and to determine factors associated with follow‐up morbidity. This was a prospective cohort study of a randomly selected sample of children with asthma who required treatment for an acute asthma exacerbation during the year 2002. A clinical chart was filled out by the attending pediatrician during the emergency department visit. Participants were interviewed by telephone at 7 and 15 days after the pediatric emergency visit. The study population included 258 children; 125 of them (48.4%) were <2 years old. Eighty‐nine percent of children reported a visit with his/her primary asthma care provider during the first week after discharge from the emergency department. A total of 185 children missed 1 or more days of school, with a mean of 3.1 ± 2.7 days (range, 1–23 days). Twenty‐nine patients (11%) returned for medical care at the emergency department, 22 (8.5%) of them during the first week after discharge, and 4 (1.6%) required hospitalization. At the first follow‐up control (day 7), 111 patients (43%) reported persistent symptoms and/or difficult breathing, and 157 (61%) were still using asthma medication. At the second follow‐up control (day 15), 53 patients (20.5%) reported persistent respiratory symptoms, and 69 (26.7%) used asthma medication. In children >2 years of age, the percentage of patients with respiratory symptoms on day 7 was significantly lower among those who reported maintenance therapy with inhaled steroids (23.7% vs. 46%, P = 0.006). On day 7, asthma symptoms were more frequent in children <2 years of age compared to older children showed a higher percentage of asthma symptoms (50% vs. 36%, P = 0.014). Children <2 years old compared to older children also missed more days school or day nursery (4.48 ± 4.62 days vs. 2.4 ± 2.19 days). The short‐term outcome of asthma children attended at the emergency department is worse than expected, according to rates of rehospitalization and return for medical care after discharge. Maintenance treatment with inhaled steroids favored a prompt recovery in children older than 2 years of age, whereas the short‐term outcome of children aged <2 years was not influenced by any variable. Pediatr Pulmonol. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A structural pattern‐based method for protein fold recognition
Authors: Taylor William R. , Jonassen Inge 
Published: May 2004

AbstractA method (SPREK) was developed to evaluate the register of a sequence on a structure based on the matching of structural patterns against a library derived from the protein structure databank. The scores obtained were normalized against random background distributions derived from sequence shuffling and permutation methods. ‘Random’ structures were also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the method. These were generated by a simple random‐walk and a more sophisticated structure prediction method that produced protein‐like folds. For comparison with other methods, the performance of the method was assessed using collections of models including decoys and models from the CASP‐5 exercise. The performance of SPREK on the decoy models was equivalent to (and sometimes better than) those obtained with more complex approaches. An exception was the two smallest proteins, for which SPREK did not perform well due to a lack of patterns. Using the best parameter combination from trials on decoy models, the CASP models of intermediate difficulty were evaluated by SPREK and the quality of the top scoring model was evaluated by its CASP ranking. Of the 14 targets in this class, half lie in the top 10% (out of around 140 models for each target). The two worst rankings resulted from the selection by our method of a well‐packed model that was based on the wrong fold. Of the other poor rankings, one was the smallest protein and the others were the four largest (all over 250 residues). Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Free energy surfaces of β‐hairpin and α‐helical peptides generated by replica exchange molecular dynamics with the AGBNP implicit solvent model
Authors: Felts Anthony K. , Harano Yuichi , Gallicchio Emilio , Levy Ronald M. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractWe have studied the potential of mean force of two peptides, one known to adopt a β‐hairpin and the other an α‐helical conformation in solution. These peptides are, respectively, residues 41–56 of the C‐terminus (GEWTYDDATKTFTVTE) of the B1 domain of protein G and the 13 residue C‐peptide (KETAAAKFERQHM) of ribonuclease A. Extensive canonical ensemble sampling has been performed using a parallel replica exchange method. The effective potential employed in this work consists of the OPLS all‐atom force field (OPLS‐AA) and an analytical generalized Born (AGB) implicit solvent model including a novel nonpolar solvation free energy estimator (NP). An additional dielectric screening parameter has been incorporated into the AGBNP model. In the case of the β‐hairpin, the nonpolar solvation free energy estimator provides the necessary effective interactions for the collapse of the hydrophobic core (W43, Y45, F52, and V54), which the more commonly used surface‐area‐dependent nonpolar model does not provide. For both the β‐hairpin and the α‐helix, increased dielectric screening reduces the stability of incorrectly formed salt bridges, which tend to disrupt the formation of the hairpin and helix, respectively. The fraction of β‐hairpin and α‐helix content we obtained using the AGBNP model agrees well with experimental results. The thermodynamic stability of the β‐hairpin from protein G and the α‐helical C‐peptide from ribonuclease A as modeled with the OPLS‐AA/AGBNP effective potential reflects the balance between the nonpolar effective potential terms, which drive compaction, and the polar and hydrogen bonding terms, which promote secondary structure formation. Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Adjacent cysteines are capable of ligating the same tetranuclear iron–sulfur cluster
Authors: Gurrath Marion , Friedrich Thorsten 
Published: May 2004

AbstractThe mechanism of the energy‐converting NADH (β‐nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced form):ubiquinone oxidoreductase, which is also called respiratory complex I, is largely unknown due to lack of a high‐resolution structure and the most complicated construction of the enzyme. Electron transport is carried out by one flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and up to 9 Fe/S clusters. The Fe/S cluster N2, which is believed to be directly involved in redox‐coupled proton‐translocation, is located on subunit NuoB (the homologue of the mitochondrial PSST subunit). This subunit contains a conserved binding motif for a [4Fe/4S] cluster with two adjacent cysteines. It was questioned whether these adjacent cysteines could be ligands of the same cluster due to a possible steric hinderance. However, mutagenesis of either of these cysteines led to a loss of cluster N2. We used the known structure of the homologous small subunit of hydrogenases containing a regular cysteine motif to generate an in silico mutant with two consecutive cysteines. Molecular dynamics simulation showed that the conformation of these cysteines does not meet the topological requirements for coordination of a [4Fe/4S] cluster when the protein backbone conformation is kept constant. In comparison, the simulation of a dipeptide amide using a “template forcing” approach resulted in a conformation compatible to an optimal coordination of the two cluster positions in question. Thus, a slight main‐chain conformational change would allow two adjacent cysteines to coordinate a [4Fe/4S] cluster. Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Function‐dependent clustering of orthologues and paralogues of cyclophilins
Authors: Galat Andrzej 
Published: May 2004

AbstractThe 18 kDa archetypal cyclosporin‐A binding protein, cyclophilin‐A, has multiple paralogues in the human genome. Only 18 of those paralogues have been detected as mRNAs or proteins whose masses vary from 18 to 354 kDa, whereas the functional significance of the open reading frames (ORFs) encoding other paralogues of cyclophilin‐A remains unknown. The genomes ofDrosophila melanogaster,Caenorhabditis elegans,Arabidopsis thaliana,Schizosaccharomyces pombe, andSaccharomyces cerevisiaeencode different numbers of the cyclophilin paralogues, some of which are orthologous to the human cyclophilins. A library of novel algorithms was developed and used for computation of the conservation levels for hydrophobicity and bulkiness profiles, and amino acid compositions (AACs) of 303 aligned sequences of cyclophilins. The majority of the paralogues and orthologues encoded in these 6 genomes differ considerably from each other. Some of the orthologues and paralogues have high correlation coefficients (CCFs) for pairwise compared hydrophobicity and bulkiness profiles, and whose AACs differ to a low degree. Convergence of these three properties of the polypeptide chain and apparent conservation of the typical sequence hallmarks and parameters allowed for the clustering of the functionally related orthologues and paralogues of the cyclophilins. The clustering method allowed for sorting out the cyclophilins into several distinct classes. Analyses of the overlapping clusters of sequences permitted delineation of some hypothetical pathways that might have led to the creation of certain paralogues of cyclophilins in the eukaryotic genomes. Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Protein contact prediction using patterns of correlation
Authors: Hamilton Nicholas , Burrage Kevin , Ragan Mark A. , Huber Thomas 
Published: May 2004

AbstractWe describe a new method for using neural networks to predict residue contact pairs in a protein. The main inputs to the neural network are a set of 25 measures of correlated mutation between all pairs of residues in two “windows” of size 5 centered on the residues of interest. While the individual pair‐wise correlations are a relatively weak predictor of contact, by training the network on windows of correlation the accuracy of prediction is significantly improved. The neural network is trained on a set of 100 proteins and then tested on a disjoint set of 1033 proteins of known structure. An average predictive accuracy of 21.7% is obtained taking the best L/2 predictions for each protein, where L is the sequence length. Taking the best L/10 predictions gives an average accuracy of 30.7%. The predictor is also tested on a set of 59 proteins from the CASP5 experiment. The accuracy is found to be relatively consistent across different sequence lengths, but to vary widely according to the secondary structure. Predictive accuracy is also found to improve by using multiple sequence alignments containing many sequences to calculate the correlations. Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Effect of glycosylation on the structure of Erythrina corallodendron lectin
Authors: Kulkarni K. A. , Srivastava A. , Mitra N. , Sharon N. , Surolia A. , Vijayan M. , Suguna K. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractThe three‐dimensional structure of the recombinant form of Erythrina corallodendron lectin, complexed with lactose, has been elucidated by X‐ray crystallography at 2.55 Å resolution. Comparison of this non‐glycosylated structure with that of the native glycosylated lectin reveals that the tertiary and quaternary structures are identical in the two forms, with local changes observed at one of the glycosylation sites (Asn17). These changes take place in such a way that hydrogen bonds with the neighboring protein molecules in rECorL compensate those made by the glycan with the protein in ECorL. Contrary to an earlier report, this study demonstrates that the glycan attached to the lectin does not influence the oligomeric state of the lectin. Identical interactions between the lectin and the non‐covalently bound lactose in the two forms indicate, in line with earlier reports, that glycosylation does not affect the carbohydrate specificity of the lectin. The present study, the first of its kind involving a glycosylated protein with a well‐defined glycan and the corresponding deglycosylated form, provides insights into the structural aspects of protein glycosylation. Proteins 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An improved thin‐layer chromatography/mass spectrometry coupling using a surface sampling probe electrospray ion trap system
Authors: Ford Michael J. , Van Berkel Gary J. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractA combined surface sampling probe/electrospray emitter coupled with an ion trap mass spectrometer was used for the direct read out of unmodified reversed‐phase C18 thin‐layer chromatography (TLC) plates. The operation of the surface sampling electrospray ionization interface in positive and negative ionization modes was demonstrated through the direct analysis of TLC plates on which a commercial test mix comprised of four dye compounds viz., rhodamine B, fluorescein, naphthol blue black, and fast green FCF, and an extract of the caffeine‐containing plant Ilex vomitoria, were spotted and developed. Acquisition of full‐scan mass spectra and automated collection of MS/MS product ion spectra while scanning a development lane along the surface of a TLC plate demonstrated the advantages of using an ion trap in this combination. Details of the sampling system, benefits of analyzing a developed lane in both positive ion and negative ion modes, levels of detection while surface scanning, surface scan speed effects, and the utility of three‐dimensional data display, are also discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development and validation of an isotope‐dilution electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method with an on‐line sample clean‐up device for the quantitative analysis of the benzene exposure biomarker S‐phenylmercapturic acid in human urine
Authors: Lin Lung‐Cheng , Tyan Yu‐Chang , Shih Tung‐Sheng , Chang Yu‐Chen , Liao Pao‐Chi 
Published: May 2004

AbstractAn isotope‐dilution electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS/MS) method with an on‐line sample clean‐up device, for the quantitative analysis of human urine for the benzene exposure biomarker S‐phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA), was developed and validated. The sample clean‐up system was constructed from an autosampler, a reversed‐phase C18 trap cartridge, a two‐position switching valve, and controlling computer software and hardware. The sample clean‐up system was interfaced via 1/20 splitting to the ESI source of a triple‐quadrupole mass spectrometer using negative ion mode and multiple reaction monitoring for SPMA and the isotope‐labeled internal standard. A strategy was adopted to acquire pooled blank urine matrix and quality control samples spiked with standards. Validated procedures and data on method specificity, detection limits, standard curves, precision and recovery, sample storage stability, and inter‐laboratory comparison are presented. The analytical system was fully automated. No tedious manual sample clean‐up procedures are required. With the selectivity and the sensitivity provided by ESI‐MS/MS detection, the analytical system can be used for high‐throughput and accurate determination of SPMA levels in human urine samples, as a biomarker for environmental as well as occupational benzene exposure. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Clinical Diagnosis of Metastatic Gastric Tumors: Clinicopathologic Findings and Prognosis of Nine Patients in a Single Cancer Center
Authors: Kobayashi Osamu , Murakami Hitoshi , Yoshida Tatsuya , Cho Haruhiko , Yoshikawa Takaki , Tsuburaya Akira , Sairenji Motonori , Motohashi Hisahiko , Sugiyama Yuka , Kameda Yoichi 
Published: May 2004

AbstractThe clinical features of metastatic gastric tumors (MGTs) have not been well documented. We present a clinical series of nine patients with MGTs. Among 2579 patients with gastric tumors seen between 1992 and 2001, we studied 9 (0.3%) patients with MGT according to a prospective database. The MGTs were diagnosed based on findings in the surgical or endoscopic specimen, and patients with malignant lymphoma or direct invasion from adjacent organs were excluded from the study. MGTs were detected simultaneously with the primary tumors in three and afterward in six patients at 14 to 74 months. The primary tumors included one each of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, signet‐ring cell carcinoma of the breast, large‐cell or small‐cell carcinoma of the lung, renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, squamous cell or epidermoid carcinoma of the uterus, and melanoma. Multiple organ metastases were present simultaneously in six patients. Although six patients underwent gastrectomy, macroscopic eradication of gastric metastatic disease was accomplished in only four, in whom a UICC R0 resection was possible in only two. Five patients were treated by chemotherapy with no apparent survival benefit. A median survival after MGT diagnosis was 170 days (range 16‐892 days) for all cases, 384 days for those who underwent gastrectomy (n = 6), and 27 days for those without active treatment (n = 3) (p = 0.002). The cause of death was multiple organ metastases in most cases. Because multiple metastases are common, the prognosis of MGT is poor even after curative resection. MGT is likely to be a preterminal event, and surgical resection may be useful only for palliation.
Evaluation of Intraoperative Recurrent Nerve Monitoring in Thyroid Surgery
Authors: Beldi Guido , Kinsbergen Thomas , Schlumpf Rolf 
Published: May 2004

AbstractSurgical exposure of the recurrent laryngeal nerve decreases the incidence of nerve injuries during thyroid surgery. Intraoperative neuromonitoring was introduced to facilitate identification and protection of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. Between February 1996 and June 2002 a total of 288 patients underwent thyroid surgery with intraoperative identification and intraoperative neuromonitoring of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The overall incidences of permanent and transient recurrent nerve palsy (considered as a percentage of the nerves at risk) were 1.4% and 8.7%, respectively. Results were stratified in benign, malignant, and recurrent thyroid disease. Intraoperative function testing revealed a positive predictive value of 33% and negative predictive value of 99%. We concluded that the incidence of recurrent nerve lesions in benign, malignant, and recurrent thyroid disease was not lowered by the use of intraoperative neuromonitoring. Although an intact nerve can be verified by the neuromonitoring, the loss of nerve function cannot be reliably identified.
Vaginal birth after cesarean section: management debate
Authors: Chattopadhyay K. , Sengupta B.S. , Edress Y.B. , Lambourne A. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractObstetric performance of 1847 women with previous cesarean section (CS) during the years 1983 and 1984 were studied. Vaginal birth after cesarean section (VBAC) was attempted in 94% of females with one previous CS, 4% in those with two previous CS, and one among the 70 patients with three or more previous CS. VBAC was achieved in 51% of those with one previous CS. It was successful in 60% of parturients with CS for non‐recurrent causes, 36% of CS for cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) and in 64% of those with a prior vaginal delivery. Uterine scar dehiscence was found in 0.9% of all patients with a previous CS. A failed attempt with Ventouse to achieve VBAC caused maximum maternal and perinatal morbidity.
Intrapartum levels of trace metals in maternal blood in relation to umbilical cord blood values: Lead, iron, copper, zinc
Authors: Sikorski R. , Paszkowski T. , Milart P. , Radomanski Jr T. , Szkoda J. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractThe study was designed to measure the gradients of lead, iron, copper and zinc from maternal blood to cord blood in pregnant urban and rural women. The concentrations of iron, copper, zinc and lead were measured by means of atomic absorption spectometry (AAS) in whole blood of 100 normal parturients and 92 of their neonates. Levels of lead in cord blood were not significantly different from those in maternal blood. This ratio was associated with similar iron and zinc ratios. Neonatal birth weight was negatively correlated with maternal copper levels, whereas cord blood zinc values positively correlated with placental weight. Rural women showed higher maternal to cord blood lead ratios than urban women. The implications of these findings are discussed.
The hemoglobinopathies and pregnancy in Lagos
Authors: Ogedengbe O.K. , Akinyanju O.O. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractThirty‐four patients with abnormal hemoglobin were studied through 42 pregnancies under one obstetrician. There were 30 patients with sickle cell anemia (HbSS), two with sickle cell hemoglobin C disease (HbSC) and two with homozygous hemoglobin C disease (HbCC). There were 39 live births (including one pair of twins), and four perinatal deaths. The patients with HbSC and HbCC had five uncomplicated pregnancies and deliveries. Of the 36 pregnancies in patients with HbSS one aborted at 12 weeks. Intra‐uterine growth retardation (14.3%) and pregnancy‐induced hypertension (14.3%) were the most serious pregnancy complications. No patient had more than one crisis. Only one out of the 10 patients transfused needed more than two units of blood throughout pregnancy. The mean gestation at delivery was 37.5 ± 3.2 (S.D.) weeks. The mean birth weight was 2.7 ± 0.6 (S.D.) kg. The perinatal mortality was 114.3 per thousand live births and there was one maternal death.
Prevalence of urinary incontinence in middle‐aged women
Authors: Iosif C.S. , Békássy Z. , Rydhström H. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractAn anonymous questionnaire was used to interview 946 premenopausal women (age 29–52 years), previously either hysterectomized or laparoscopically sterilized, concerning disorders of the urinary tract. Of the 750 (79.3%) women that responded, 307 (40.9%) admitted to some degree of urinary disorder. The prevalence of urinary disorders was 170/415 (40.9%) for the women with a previous supravaginal or total hysterectomy and 137/335 (40.8%) for the women in the sterilization group. Of the responding women 85 (11.3%) experienced a urinary loss sufficient to necessitate the wearing of a sanitary napkin or change of underclothing several times a day.
Carcinoma of the cervix uteri in Zaria: etiological factors
Authors: Emembolu J.O. , Ekwempu C.C. 
Published: May 2004

AbstractThe study conducted at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria from January to December, 1984 showed that carcinoma of the cervix uteri occurred in 4.18% of new gynecological attendances; 68.9% of the cases occurred in the age range 40–55 years. Early age at marriage (80.0), and at first pregnancy (77.8%) as well as multiple marriages (48.9%) and low contraceptive usage were identifiable associated factors. The parity of the patient did not seem to be of significance. The earliest presenting symptom was post‐coital bleeding occurring 10.8 months prior to attendance for medical advice. However, late presentation (in Stages IIb–IV) in 86.7% of cases was due to illiteracy, shyness, male dominance and non‐recognition of the importance of early warning symptoms.