bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Purohit technique of vaginal hysterectomy: a new approach performed in 214 patients
Authors: Purohit Ram K. 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACTObjectives   To study the feasibility, safety and efficacy of the newly designed Purohit technique for vaginal hysterectomy.Design   Prospective observational study.Setting   Urban private hospital.Methods   The study involved 214 consecutive patients without prolapse. Inclusion criteria were: all benign disease of the uterus with a uterus of up to 20 weeks’ gestational size; patients were also included who had relative contraindications to the vaginal hysterectomy route, and who needed removal of movable adnexal cyst (5–7 cm) or oöphorectomy. Patients with endometriosis were excluded. Initially, vaginal hysterectomy was attempted in all patients included in the study, by means of the Purohit vaginal hysterectomy technique. Uterine arteries were secured by means of the Purohit uterine artery technique.Outcome measures   These were: intraoperative and postoperative complications, duration of operation, need for laparoscopic assistance, postoperative pain, duration of hospital stay and readmission.Results   The mean (± SD) weight of the removed uteri was 191.91 ± 101.52 g (range 40–950). Vaginal hysterectomy was successfully completed in 213 consecutive patients (99.53%), and failed in only one patient (0.46%) in whom laparoscopic assistance was needed to release the upper ligaments. Morcellation was required in 13.55%. Vaginal salpingo‐oöphorectomy was completed without difficulty in all 24 attempted procedures, including two patients with twisted ovarian cyst. Intraoperative bleeding was less than 100 ml in 87.85% of patients; 0.93% required blood transfusion. The mean haemoglobin loss was 0.5 g dl−1 (0.2–4.0). No major electrical injury occurred. The mean (± SD) operating time was 60.6 ± 26.53 min (25–180). Mild postoperative pain was experienced by 98.59% of patients, and the mean hospital stay was 2.7 ± 1 days (1–10). In the second postoperative week, 2.33% of patients developed haematocele above the vault of size 20–100 ml; two patients required readmission for drainage of the haematocele.Conclusion   The Purohit technique is safe, and 99.53% of women with benign disease of a uterus of up to 20 weeks’ gestational size, excluding endometriosis, underwent vaginal hysterectomy, with or without salpingo‐oöphorectomy, carried out by means of this technique.
Spatial Data Infrastructure Requirements for Mobile Location Based Journey Planning
Authors: Smith Jessica , Mackaness William , Kealy Allison , Williamson Ian 
Published: December 2003

AbstractA growing number of services are now being offered over mobile devices. They typically combine positioning technology, wireless technology and spatial analysis methods applied to detailed geographical, time based data to offer services in support of time critical, spatial, mobile decision making. A collection of research issues need to be addressed in the successful delivery of such services that extend beyond issues of sophisticated network algorithms. Specifically, careful attention needs to be given to: (1) people and user environments; (2) access to networks; (3) policy, privacy and liability; (4) standards and interoperability; and (5) data quality. Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is the collective term for these interconnected issues and has been a traditional area of research associated with geographic information science. In this paper the particular SDI requirements for the successful delivery of Location Based Services (LBS) are explored through the development of a prototype LBS for journey planning. The initial implementation and testing of this prototype has revealed that the SDI context is well suited as a framework within which to examine the related LBS issues. From a more technical perspective, the testing has revealed that data structure and the means by which large data sets are mined (in order to gather information to present to users) is critical to the success of timely information delivery over limited bandwidth media.
A GIS‐Coupled Hydrological Model System for the Watershed Assessment of Agricultural Nonpoint and Point Sources of Pollution
Authors: Di Luzio Mauro , Srinivasan Raghavan , Arnold Jeffrey G 
Published: December 2003

AbstractThis paper introduces AVSWAT, a GIS based hydrological system linking the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) water quality model and ArcView“ Geographic Information System software. The main purpose of AVSWAT is the combined assess‐ment of nonpoint and point pollution loading at the watershed scale. The GIS component of the system, in addition to the traditional functions of data acquisition, storage, organization and display, implements advanced analytical methods with enhanced flexibility to improve the hydrological characterization of a study watershed. Intuitive user friendly graphic interfaces, also part of the GIS component, have been developed to provide an efficient interaction with the model and the associated parameter databases, and ultimately to simplify water quality assessments, while maintaining and increasing their reliability. This is also supported by SWAT, the core of the system, a complex, conceptual, hydrologic, continuous model with spatially explicit parameterization, building upon the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) modeling experience. A step‐by‐step example application for a watershed in Central Texas is also included to verify the capability and illustrate some of the characteristics of the system which has been adopted by many users around the world.
Characterization of the clinical characteristics, electrolytes, acid–base, and renal parameters in male cats with urethral obstruction
Authors: Lee Justine A. , Drobatz Kenneth J. 
Published: December 2003

AbstractObjective:To characterize the clinical characteristics, electrolyte changes, acid–base changes, and renal parameters in a consecutive population of cats with urethral obstruction.Design:Retrospective clinical study.Setting:University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.Animals:Two hundred and twenty‐three male cats that presented consecutively with urethral obstruction between 1997 and 1999.Interventions:None.Measurements and main results:The medical records of 223 cats with urethral obstruction were reviewed for signalment, previous medical history, indoor/outdoor status, body weight, clinical signs, physical examination findings, renal function tests (blood urea nitrogen and creatinine), and blood gas and electrolyte analysis. The majority of cats were relatively stable without serious metabolic derangements. Only 12% (24/199) of cats had severe hyperkalemia (>8.0 mmol/L). Hyperkalemia did not occur in isolation; the majority of these cats had concurrent acidemia and low ionized calcium concentrations. Potassium was significantly inversely correlated with pH, bicarbonate,pCO2, sodium, chloride, and ionized calcium, but positively correlated with blood urea nitrogen and creatinine. Ionized calcium was positively correlated with pH and bicarbonate. Of the animals with a potassium concentration greater than 8.0 mmol/L, 75% (18/24) had an ionized calcium concentration of less than 1.0 mmol/L. Seventy‐nine percent (19/24) of cats with a potassium concentration greater than 8.0 mmol/L had a blood pH<7.20. Similarly, 74% (23/31) of cats with a pH<7.20 had an ionized calcium concentration <1.00 mmol/L.Conclusions:The majority of cats with urethral obstruction presented with mild electrolyte and blood gas changes and were relatively stable, although 12% of cats had multiple, life‐threatening metabolic derangements. Of 219 cats in this study, 205 (93.6%), where it could be determined, survived to discharge from the hospital, supporting the fact that most cats with urethral obstruction survive the acute episode with emergency treatment.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and chronic graft‐versus‐host disease (cGVHD) in salivary glands of bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients
Authors: Souza Leandro Napier , Carneiro Marcelo Antunes , De Azevedo Wellington Morais , Gomez Ricardo Santiago 
Published: December 2003

Background:  The purpose of this study was to compare the immunolocalization of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in salivary glands of bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients with normal controls and between the different stages of chronic graft‐versus‐host disease (cGVHD). In addition, the impact of the immunolocalization of VEGF on the survival rate of BMT patients was investigated as well.Methods:  Labial salivary glands obtained at the day 100+ from 36 consecutive patients, who underwent BMT, were included in the study. The streptavidin–biotin–peroxidase complex stain was used to detect VEGF in the salivary glands. Time of death after BMT was displayed by means of the Kaplan–Meier method for the following parameters: age and gender of the patients, donor gender, acute GVHD, cGVHD staging at the labial salivary glands, primary disease, platelet and neutrophils counts on day of biopsy, stem cell, oral mucositis, parenteral nutrition, oral lichenoid lesions of GVHD, conditioning regimen and immunolocalization degree of VEGF in labial salivary glands. The data were initially analyzed by means of the log‐rank test and then included in the Cox's proportional hazard model.Results:  No differences on the immunolocalization of VEGF in the labial salivary glands of BMT recipients and control group or between the different stages of glandular cGVHD were noted. Both univariate and multivariate analysis of the survival rate showed significance of 5% only for platelet count over 100 × 109/l on the day of biopsy and male donor gender.Conclusions:  Platelet count over 100 × 109/l and male donor gender are positive predictive factors on the survival rate after BMT. In addition, the immunolocalization of VEGF in salivary glands is not altered in BMT recipients at day 100+ and is not influenced by the stage of cGVHD.
Polymorphism of the MICA gene and risk for oral submucous fibrosis
Authors: Liu Chung‐Ji , Lee Yann‐Jinn , Chang Kuo‐Wei , Shih Yi‐Ning , Liu Hsin‐Fu , Dang Ching‐Wen 
Published: December 2003

Background:  Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), an insidious, pre‐cancerous, chronic disease that may affect the entire oral cavity and sometimes extend to the pharynx has been reported to be associated with immune function. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I chain‐related gene A (MICA) is expressed by keratinocytes and other epithelial cells, and its encoded protein interacts with γ/δ T‐cells localized in the submucosa. The MICA gene has a triplet repeat (GCT) polymorphism in the transmembrane domain resulting in five distinct allelic patterns.Methods:  We analyzed MICA polymorphism in 80 OSF patients and 351 randomly selected unrelated controls by using the ABI Prism 377‐18 DNA sequencer (Applied Biosystems) to analyze the sample DNA PCR products. The number of microsatellite repeats was estimated with Genescan 672 software (Applied Biosystems) with a standard size marker of GS‐350 TAMRA.Results:  The phenotype frequency of allele A6 of MICA in subjects with OSF was significantly higher than that in controls (OR = 3.48; 95% CI = 1.8–6.71; P = 0.0002), as was the frequency of the allele (OR = 2.65; 95% CI = 1.44–4.86; P = 0.001).Conclusion:  The results suggest that allele A6 in MICA might confer a risk for OSF.
Whole-Genome Analysis of Two-Component Signal Transduction Genes in Fungal Pathogens
Authors: Catlett Natalie L. , Yoder Olen C. , Turgeon B. Gillian 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACT

Two-component phosphorelay systems are minimally comprised of a histidine kinase (HK) component, which autophosphorylates in response to an environmental stimulus, and a response regulator (RR) component, which transmits the signal, resulting in an output such as activation of transcription, or of a mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade. The genomes of the yeasts
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
,
Schizosaccharomyces pombe
, and
Candida albicans
encode one, three, and three HKs, respectively. In contrast, the genome sequences of the filamentous ascomycetes
Neurospora crassa
,
Cochliobolus heterostrophus
(
Bipolaris maydis
),
Gibberella moniliformis
(
Fusarium verticillioides
), and
Botryotinia fuckeliana
(
Botrytis cinerea
) encode an extensive family of two-component signaling proteins. The putative HKs fall into 11 classes. Most of these classes are represented in each filamentous ascomycete species examined. A few of these classes are significantly more prevalent in the fungal pathogens than in the saprobe
N. crassa
, suggesting that these groups contain paralogs required for virulence. Despite the larger numbers of HKs in filamentous ascomycetes than in yeasts, all of the ascomycetes contain virtually the same downstream histidine phosphotransfer proteins and RR proteins, suggesting extensive cross talk or redundancy among HKs.
SwoHp, a Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase, Is Essential inAspergillus nidulans
Authors: Lin Xiaorong , Momany Cory , Momany Michelle 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACTThe temperature-sensitiveswoH1mutant ofAspergillus nidulanswas previously identified in a screen for mutants with defects in polar growth. In the present work, we found that theswoH1mutant swelled, lysed, and did not produce conidia during extended incubation at the restrictive temperature. When shifted from the permissive to the restrictive temperature,swoH1showed the temperature-sensitive swelling phenotype only after 8 h at the higher temperature. TheswoHgene was mapped to chromosome II and cloned by complementation of the temperature-sensitive phenotype. The sequence showed thatswoHencodes a homologue of nucleoside diphosphate kinases (NDKs) from other organisms. Deletion experiments showed that theswoHgene is essential. A hemagglutinin-SwoHp fusion complemented the mutant phenotype, and the purified fusion protein possessed phosphate transferase activity in thin-layer chromatography assays. Sequencing of the mutant allele showed a predicted V83F change. Structural modeling suggested that theswoH1mutation would lead to perturbation of the NDK active site. Crude cell extracts from theswoH1mutant grown at the permissive temperature had ∼20% of the NDK activity seen in the wild type and did not show any decrease in activity when assayed at higher temperatures. Though the data are not conclusive, the lack of temperature-sensitive NDK activity in theswoH1mutant raises the intriguing possibility that the SwoH NDK is required for growth at elevated temperatures rather than for polarity maintenance.
pH Response Transcription Factor PacC Controls Salt Stress Tolerance and Expression of the P-Type Na
+
-ATPase Ena1 in
Fusarium oxysporum
Authors: Caracuel Zaira , Casanova Carlos , Roncero M. Isabel G. , Di Pietro Antonio , Ramos José 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACT

Fungi possess efficient mechanisms of pH and ion homeostasis, allowing them to grow over a wide range of environmental conditions. In this study, we addressed the role of the pH response transcription factor PacC in salt tolerance of the vascular wilt pathogen
Fusarium oxysporum
. Loss-of-function
pacC
+/−
mutants showed increased sensitivity to Li
+
and Na
+
and accumulated higher levels of these cations than the wild type. In contrast, strains expressing a dominant activating

pacC
c

allele were more salt tolerant and had lower intracellular Li
+
and Na
+
concentrations. Although the kinetics of Li
+
influx were not altered by mutations in
pacC
, we found that Li
+
efflux at an alkaline, but not at an acidic, ambient pH was significantly reduced in
pacC
+/−
loss-of-function mutants. To explore the presence of a PacC-dependent efflux mechanism in
F. oxysporum
, we cloned
ena1
encoding an orthologue of the yeast P-type Na
+
-ATPase ENA1. Northern analysis revealed that efficient transcriptional activation of
ena1
in
F. oxysporum
required the presence of high Na
+
concentrations and alkaline ambient pH and was dependent on PacC function. We propose a model in which PacC controls ion homeostasis in
F. oxysporum
at a high pH by activating expression of
ena1
coordinately with a second Na
+
-responsive signaling pathway.
Use of cDNA Microarrays To Monitor Transcriptional Responses of the Chestnut Blight FungusCryphonectria parasiticato Infection by Virulence-Attenuating Hypoviruses
Authors: Allen Todd D. , Dawe Angus L. , Nuss Donald L. 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACTHypoviruses are a family of cytoplasmically replicating RNA viruses of the chestnut blight fungusCryphonectria parasitica. Members of this mycovirus family persistently alter virulence (hypovirulence) and related fungal developmental processes, including asexual and sexual sporulation. In order to gain a better understanding of the molecular basis for these changes, we have developed aC. parasiticacDNA microarray to monitor global transcriptional responses to hypovirus infection. In this report, a spotted DNA microarray representing approximately 2,200C. parasiticagenes was used to monitor changes in the transcriptional profile after infection by the prototypic hypovirus CHV1-EP713. Altered transcript abundance was identified for 295 clones (13.4% of the 2,200 unique cDNAs) as a result of CHV1-EP713 infection—132 up-regulated and 163 down-regulated. In comparison, less than 20 specificC. parasiticagenes were previously identified by Northern analysis and mRNA differential display as being responsive to hypovirus infection. A 93% validation rate was achieved between real-time reverse transcription-PCR results and microarray predictions. Differentially expressed genes represented a broad spectrum of biological functions, including stress responses, carbon metabolism, and transcriptional regulation. These findings are consistent with the view that infection by a 12.7-kbp hypovirus RNA results in a persistent reprogramming of a significant portion of theC. parasiticatranscriptome. The potential impact of microarray studies on current and future efforts to establish links between hypovirus-mediated changes in cellular gene expression and phenotypes is discussed.
EAP1
, a
Candida albicans
Gene Involved in Binding Human Epithelial Cells
Authors: Li Fang , Palecek Sean P. 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACT

Candida albicans
adhesion to host tissues contributes to its virulence and adhesion to medical devices permits biofilm formation, but we know relatively little about the molecular mechanisms governing
C. albicans
adhesion to materials or mammalian cells.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
provides an attractive model system for studying adhesion in yeast because of its well-characterized genetics and gene expression systems and the conservation of signal transduction pathways among the yeasts. In this study, we used a parallel plate flow chamber to screen and characterize attachment of a
flo8
Δ
S. cerevisiae
strain expressing a
C. albicans
genomic library to a polystyrene surface. The gene
EAP1
was isolated as a putative cell wall adhesin. Sequence analysis of
EAP1
shows that it contains a signal peptide, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor site, and possesses homology to many other yeast genes encoding cell wall proteins. In addition to increasing adhesion to polystyrene, heterologous expression of
EAP1
in
S. cerevisiae
and autonomous expression of
EAP1
in a
C. albicans efg1
homozygous null mutant significantly enhanced attachment to HEK293 kidney epithelial cells.
EAP1
expression also restored invasive growth to haploid
flo8
Δ and
flo11
Δ strains as well as filamentous growth to diploid
flo8/flo8
and
flo11/flo11
strains. Transcription of
EAP1
in
C. albicans
is regulated by the transcription factor Efg1p, suggesting that
EAP1
expression is activated by the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase pathway.
Recruitment of Tup1-Ssn6 by Yeast Hypoxic Genes and Chromatin-Independent Exclusion of TATA Binding Protein
Authors: Mennella Thomas A. , Klinkenberg Lee G. , Zitomer Richard S. 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACT

The Tup1-Ssn6 general repression complex in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
represses a wide variety of regulons. Regulon-specific DNA binding proteins recruit the repression complex, and their synthesis, activity, or localization controls the conditions for repression. Rox1 is the hypoxic regulon-specific protein, and a second DNA binding protein, Mot3, augments repression at tightly controlled genes. We addressed the requirements for Tup1-Ssn6 recruitment to two hypoxic genes,
ANB1
and
HEM13
, by using chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Either Rox1 or Mot3 could recruit Ssn6, but Tup1 recruitment required Ssn6 and Rox1. We also monitored events during derepression. Rox1 and Mot3 dissociated from DNA quickly, accounting for the rapid accumulation of
ANB1
and
HEM13
RNAs, suggesting a simple explanation for induction. However, Tup1 remained associated with these genes, suggesting that the localization of Tup1-Ssn6 is not the sole determinant of repression. We could not reproduce the observation that deletion of the Tup1-Ssn6-interacting protein Cti6 was required for induction. Finally, Tup1 is capable of repression through a chromatin-dependent mechanism, the positioning of a nucleosome over the TATA box, or a chromatin-independent mechanism. We found that the rate of derepression was independent of the positioned nucleosome and that the TATA binding protein was excluded from
ANB1
even in the absence of the positioned nucleosome. The mediator factor Srb7 has been shown to interact with Tup1 and to play a role in repression at several regulons, but we found that significant levels of repression remained in
srb7
mutants even when the chromatin-dependent repression mechanism was eliminated. These findings suggest that the repression of different regulons or genes may invoke different mechanisms.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Histidine Phosphotransferase Ypd1p Shuttles between the Nucleus and Cytoplasm for
SLN1
-Dependent Phosphorylation of Ssk1p and Skn7p
Authors: Lu Jade Mei-Yeh , Deschenes Robert J. , Fassler Jan S. 
Published: December 2003

ABSTRACT

Sln1p is a plasma membrane-localized two-component histidine kinase that functions as an osmotic stress sensor in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
. Changes in osmotic pressure modulate Sln1p kinase activity, which, together with Ypd1p, a phosphorelay intermediate, changes the phosphorylation status of two response regulators, Ssk1p and Skn7p. Ssk1p controls the activity of the HOG1 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Skn7p is a nuclearly localized transcription factor that regulates genes involved in cell wall integrity and other processes. Subcellular compartmentalization may therefore play an important role in eukaryotic two-component pathway regulation. We have studied the subcellular localization of SLN1 pathway components and find that Ypd1p is a dynamic protein with a role in shuttling the osmotic stress signal from Sln1p to Ssk1p in the cytosol and to Skn7p in the nucleus. The need to translocate the signal into different intracellular compartments contributes a spatial dimension to eukaryotic two-component pathways compared to the prototypical two-component pathways of prokaryotes.