bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Anti‐inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in Nippostrongylus brasiliensis‐induced pulmonary inflammation
Authors: McNeil Kathryn S. , Knox David P. , Proudfoot Lorna 
Published: March 2003

summaryMigration of L3 larvae of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis through the lungs of the rat, during primary infection, was studied at 24 h, 72 h and 8 days. At 24 h p.i., there was evidence of damage to lung epithelial cells and microvasculature, with increased protein and γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. However, there was little evidence of inflammatory cell recruitment. At 24 h p.i., there was a significant reduction in the inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor α. Superoxide (O2−·) production was also reduced, accompanied by an increase in superoxide dismutase activity. Lipid peroxidation was reduced at 24 h p.i. and L3 larvae were shown to possess high levels of glutathione compared to host lung tissue. Nitric oxide, detected as nitrite, was produced in BAL fluid, and inducible nitric oxide synthase protein was increased by 72 h p.i. There was evidence of peroxynitrite production throughout the infection period with specific protein bands nitrosylated at 75, 30 and 25 kDa. It appears that despite early evidence of lung damage, the inflammation was reduced in response to L3 larvae of N. brasiliensis.
Heterogeneity in the effect of different ixodid tick species on human natural killer cell activity
Authors: Kubeš M. , Kocáková P. , Slovák M. , Sláviková M. , Fuchsberger N. , Nuttall P. A. 
Published: March 2003

summaryTick saliva plays a vital role in blood‐feeding, including manipulation of the host response to tick infestation. Furthermore, a diverse number of tick‐borne pathogens are transmitted to vertebrate hosts via tick saliva, some of which exploit the immunomodulatory activities of their vector’s saliva. We report that salivary gland extracts (SGE) derived from Dermacentor reticulatus adult ticks induce a decrease in the natural killer (NK) activity of effector cells obtained from healthy human blood donors. The decrease was observed with SGE from both female and male D. reticulatus fed for either 3 or 5 days on mice, but no significant effect was observed with SGE from unfed ticks or ticks that had fed for 1 day. These results indicate that the tick anti‐NK factor(s) is only active after blood‐feeding has commenced. Microscopic examination revealed that the first step of NK activity, namely effector/target cell conjugate formation, was affected by SGE. The observed reduction in conjugate formation occurred when effector (but not target) cells were treated with SGE for 30 min, and the effect persisted after 12 h of treatment. Similar but less potent anti‐NK activity was detected for SGE from Amblyomma variegatum and Haemaphysalis inermis. By contrast, SGE derived from Ixodes ricinus and Rhipicephalus appendiculatus female ticks did not decrease NK activity. The apparent absence of such activity in these two important vectors of tick‐borne viruses suggests that control of NK cells does not play an important role in promoting virus transmission, at least for these particular species.
Human Trichuris‐specific antibody responses in vaccinated hu‐PBL‐SCID mice
Authors: Taylor Matthew D. , Else Kathryn J. 
Published: March 2003

Summary Trichuris trichiura is a highly prevalent intestinal helminth of humans with a well‐characterized animal model, Trichuris muris in the mouse. Relating the murine work back to the human infection has been difficult, however, as many of the questions addressed in the mouse cannot be asked in humans. The ability to reconstitute a mouse with a human immune system could help bridge this gap, allowing a human immune response to be studied under a controllable laboratory environment. In this study, we demonstrate that severe combined immunodeficient mice engrafted with naïve human peripheral blood lymphocytes are capable of mounting a Trichuris specific human antibody response after vaccination with T. muris antigens. The phenotype of the response depended on the vaccinating antigen with excretory/secretory antigens eliciting a human immunoglobulin (Ig)G2 response, and whole worm homogenate stimulating IgG1 and IgG2 responses. Vaccination with homogenate also enhanced a human IgG response against a 66‐kDa component of T. muris homogenate in a donor‐dependent manner. This work shows the potential of using the humanized mouse model for studying the immune responses of humans living in T. trichiura endemic areas.
Multistage reaction textures in xenolithic high‐MgAl granulites at Anakapalle, Eastern Ghats Belt, India: examples of contact polymetamorphism and infiltration‐driven metasomatism
Authors: Rickers K. , Raith M. , Dasgupta S. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractHigh‐MgAl rocks occur as xenoliths (up to 2 m in diameter) in mafic granulites at a newly discovered locality near Anakapalle. Following an early phase of deformation, ultrahigh‐temperature (UHT) metamorphism and near‐isothermal decompression, the rocks were intruded in a lit‐par‐lit manner by felsic melts (charnockite), which caused local‐scale metasomatism. A subsequent deformation produced isoclinal folds and the distinct gneissic foliation of the charnockite still at granulite facies conditions.The sequence of multiphase reaction textures in the high‐MgAl xenoliths reflects the changes of physico‐chemical conditions during the polyphase evolution of the terrane; UHT metamorphism (stage 1, > 1000°C,c. 10 kbar) is documented by relics of extremely coarse grained domains with the assemblage orthopyroxene (opx)1 + garnet (grt)1 + sapphirine (spr)1 + spinel (spl)1 + rutile (rt). A subsequent phase of near‐isothermal decompression in the order of 1–2 kbar (stage 2) resulted in extensive replacement of grt1and opx1megacrysts by lamellar (opx2 + spr2) symplectites. The intrusion of felsic melt (stage 3) led to the development of a narrow metasomatic black wall reaction zone (bt + sil + plg3 + opx2,3 + rt) at the immediate contact of the xenoliths and in melt infiltration zones to the partial replacement of (opx2 + spr2) symplectites by biotite and sillimanite and/or plg3, mainly at the expense of orthopyroxene, with concomitant coarsening of the intergrowth texture. The subsequent deformation (stage 4) further modified the symplectite textures through polygonization, recrystallization and grain‐size coarsening. The deformation was followed by a period of cooling and decompression (stage 5,c. 800°C, 4–7 kbar) as indicated by local growth of late garnet (grt5) at the expense of (opx + spr + plg) domains at static conditions.Recently published isotope data suggest that the multistage evolution of the high‐MgAl granulites at Anakapalle followed a discontinuousP–Ttrajectory that may be related to heating of the crust through magmatic accretion culminating in deep‐crustal UHT metamorphism at 1.4 Ga (stage 1), fast uplift of the UHT granulites into mid‐crustal levels as a consequence of extensional tectonics (stage 2), emplacement of felsic magmas in the Grenvillian (atc. 1 Ga, stage 3) resulting in reheating of the crust to high–Tconditions followed by a phase of compressional tectonics (stage 4) and a period of cooling to the stable geotherm (stage 5) still in the Grenvillian.
The ASVIN Project: a study of electronic and printed veterinary science journals in the UK and Ireland
Authors: Davies Bryn 
Published: March 2003

AbstractASVIN was a Research Support for Libraries Programme (RSLP) Funded Project, whose principal aim was to develop better co‐operation between nine libraries in the veterinary and animal health field. The project examined a number of library‐related areas, such as journal archiving, collection development policies, development of a common Z39.50 catalogue interface, grey literature, and printed and electronic journals. This paper examines the latter, whilst also providing a detailed analysis of printed journals held in partner libraries. Comparisons of the nine partner library collections are undertaken with a range of secondary sources, and an ASVIN core list of veterinary journals was developed. It looks at some of the issues relating to e‐journals, expressing the benefits and concerns that many librarians are experiencing, such as licensing arrangements, archiving and general management issues.
A comparison of adapalene gel 0.1% vs. tretinoin gel 0.025% in the treatment of acne vulgaris in China
Authors: Tu P , Li G‐Q , Zhu X‐J , Zheng J , Wong W‐Z 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAim To compare the efficacy, safety and tolerability of adapalene gel 0.1% vs. tretinoin gel 0.025% in a Chinese patient population.Background Although acne vulgaris is a common problem among Asians and Asian‐Americans, little has been published on the specific manifestations, sequelae, and treatment‐responsiveness of this disorder in Asian skin types. Since Asian skin types tend to be more highly pigmented than those of white people of European descent, many Asians share the predisposition toward postinflammatory hyperpigmentation seen in Africans, African‐Americans and other dark‐skinned peoples. It is generally assumed that the efficacy and safety of topical retinoids is the same in Asians as in white people. Tretinoin has been available in China for decades; adapalene became available in 1998.Methods A total of 150 patients with grade II–III acne vulgaris seen at three dermatology clinics were randomized to 8 weeks of daily treatment with either adapalene gel 0.1% or tretinoin gel 0.025%. Counts of total lesions, inflammatory lesions and non‐inflammatory lesions were made at baseline and again at treatment weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8. Global assessment ratings, based on percent lesion reduction from baseline were also made. Erythema, burning, pruritus, scaling and dryness were rated on a 0–3 severity scale.Results A total of 139 patients completed the efficacy evaluation, and 144 patients completed the safety evaluation. Both adapalene and tretinoin produce dramatic reductions in total, inflammatory and non‐inflammatory lesion counts, in the range of 69–74% on average. More than 70% of patients in both groups had complete clearance or marked improvement. In general, irritation was mild, but was both more common and more severe in the tretinoin group vs. the adapalene group. No systemic side effects were seen.Conclusions Adapalene offers comparable efficacy to tretinoin, but is less irritating. It represents a good alternative for the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris in Chinese patients.
Effects of rumen‐protected methionine in a low protein ration on metabolic traits and performance of early lactating cows as opposed to rations with elevated crude protein content
Authors: Kröber T. F. , Kreuzer M. , Senn M. , Langhans W. , Sutter F. 
Published: March 2003

SummaryA 5‐week experiment with 24 multiparous early lactating Brown Swiss cows was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementary rumen‐protected methionine in conjunction with dietary protein reduction on metabolism and performance after 1 week of control measurement. Three rations containing 175, 150 and 125 g of crude protein/kg feed dry matter were supplemented with methionine. The fourth ration, also only containing 125 g of crude protein/kg dry matter, remained unsupplemented. The four treatment groups had a similar metabolic supply of other essential amino acids, protein and energy, as calculated by various approaches. The two low protein rations were, however, slightly deficient in ruminally degraded protein. Treatment effects remained low on feed intake, forage meal pattern, milk yield and fat as well as lactose content. In contrast, the content and yield of milk protein significantly declined only in the unsupplemented low protein ration relative to the initial value. Compared with this ration, the decline in milk protein yield was clearly delayed in the supplemented low protein ration. Blood plasma methionine tended to be reduced without supplementation and to be increased with additional methionine. Supplementation of methionine reduced other plasma amino acids. Plasma insulin, glucose, lactate, ketone bodies and aspartate amino transferase activity indicated a certain liver stress and a somewhat elevated energy requirement with high and particularly with low protein content (when unsupplemented). Methionine improved metabolic protein utilization, followed by the lowest plasma, urine and milk urea levels in the supplemented low protein diet. In conclusion, no major adverse effects were assessed under the conditions tested. Supplementation of methionine may nevertheless be useful in rations with particularly low protein content fed to early lactating cows in order to prevent negative long‐term effects which were only visible here as trends.
The release of genetically modified crops into the environment
Authors: Conner Anthony J. , Glare Travis R. , Nap Jan‐Peter 
Published: March 2003

SummaryDespite numerous future promises, there is a multitude of concerns about the impact of GM crops on the environment. Key issues in the environmental assessment of GM crops are putative invasiveness, vertical or horizontal gene flow, other ecological impacts, effects on biodiversity and the impact of presence of GM material in other products. These are all highly interdisciplinary and complex issues. A crucial component for a proper assessment is defining the appropriate baseline for comparison and decision. For GM crops, the best and most appropriately defined reference point is the impact of plants developed by traditional breeding. The latter is an integral and accepted part of agriculture. In many instances, the putative impacts identified for GM crops are very similar to the impacts of new cultivars derived from traditional breeding. When assessing GM crops relative to existing cultivars, the increased knowledge base underpinning the development of GM crops will provide greater confidence in the assurances plant science can give on the risks of releasing such crops.
The K domain mediates heterodimerization of theArabidopsisfloral organ identity proteins, APETALA3 and PISTILLATA
Authors: Yang Yingzhen , Fanning Laura , Jack Thomas 
Published: March 2003

SummaryMADSgenes in plants encode key developmental regulators of vegetative and reproductive development. The majority of well‐characterized plant MADS proteins contain two conserved domains, the DNA‐binding MADS domain and the K domain. The K domain is predicted to form three amphipathic α‐helices referred to as K1, K2, and K3. In this report, we define amino acids and subdomains important for heterodimerization between the twoArabidopsisfloral organ identity MADS proteins APETALA3 (AP3) and PISTILLATA (PI). Analysis of mutants defective in dimerization demonstrates that K1, K2 and the region between K1 and K2 are critical for the strength of AP3/PI dimerization. The majority of the critical amino acids are hydrophobic indicating that the K domain mediates AP3/PI interaction primarily through hydrophobic interactions. Specially, K1 of AP3 and PI resembles a leucine zipper motif. Most mutants defective in AP3/PI heterodimerization in yeast exhibit partial floral organ identity function in transgenicArabidopsis. Our results also indicate that the motif containing Asn‐98 and specific charged residues in K1 (Glu‐97 in PI and Arg‐102 in AP3) are important for both the strength and specificity of AP3/PI heterodimer formation.
Reproducibility and repeatability of transabdominal uterine artery Doppler velocimetry between 10 and 14 weeks of gestation
Authors: Hollis B. , Mavrides E. , Campbell S. , Tekay A. , Thilaganathan B. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the intraobserver repeatability and interobserver reproducibility of Doppler flow velocity measurements of the uterine arteries in pregnant women between 10 and 14 weeks of gestation.MethodsIn this prospective study, Doppler velocimetric indices (maximum peak systolic velocity, end‐diastolic velocity, peak systolic velocity/end‐diastolic velocity ratio, pulsatility index and resistance index) were measured twice by the same trained observer in each uterine artery of 63 women. In 47 of these women, a second trained observer then repeated the measurements. In addition, both observers classified qualitatively the blood flow with regard to the presence or absence of an early diastolic notch. The coefficient of variation, intraclass correlation coefficients, within observer and between observers repeatability coefficient and Cohen's kappa coefficient were calculated.ResultsThe best parameter in terms of repeatability and reproducibility in both uterine arteries was the resistance index with a low coefficient of variation and high intraclass correlation coefficient. The other parameters (pulsatility index, peak systolic velocity/end‐diastolic velocity ratio, peak systolic velocity and end‐diastolic velocity) performed poorly with high coefficients of variation on both sides. Agreement between the repeated observations (inter‐ and intraobserver) with regard to the presence or absence of an early diastolic notch was good.ConclusionDoppler velocimetry of uterine artery blood flow is technically feasible between 10 and 14 weeks of gestation. This study demonstrates that this technique is prone to measurement errors. Quantitatively, the resistance index appears to be the most repeatable and reproducible measurement at this gestational age. Qualitative assessment of the waveform morphology also shows high levels of intra‐ and interobserver agreement.Copyright © 2001 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
The genome of the Queensland fruit flyBactrocera tryonicontains multiple representatives of themarinerfamily of transposable elements
Authors: Green C. L. , Frommer M. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractRepresentatives of five distinct types of transposable elements of themarinerfamily were detected in the genomes of the Queensland fruit flyBactrocera tryoniand its sibling speciesBactrocera neohumeralisby phylogenetic analysis of transposase gene fragments. Threemarinertypes were also found in an additional tephritid,Bactrocera jarvisi. Using genomic library screening and inverse PCR, full‐length elements representing the mellifera subfamily (B. tryoni.mar1) and the irritans subfamily (B. tryoni.mar2) were isolated from theB. tryonigenome. Nucleotide consensus sequences for each type were derived from multiple defective copies. Predicted transposase sequences share ≈ 23% amino acid identity.B. tryoni.mar1elements have an estimated copy number of about 900 in theB. tryonigenome, whereasB. tryoni.mar2element types appear to be present in low copy number.
Phylogeography of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus reveals substantially reduced population differentiation at northern latitudes
Authors: Edmands S. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractPrevious studies of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus revealed one of the highest levels of mitochondrial DNA differentiation ever reported among conspecific populations. The present study extends the geographical sampling northward, adding populations from northern California to south‐east Alaska. The mitochondrial phylogeny for the entire species range, based on cytochrome oxidase I sequences for a total of 49 individuals from 27 populations, again shows extreme differentiation among populations (up to 23%). However, populations from Oregon northwards appear to be derived and have interpopulation divergences five times lower than those between southern populations. Furthermore, although few individuals were sequenced from each locality, populations from Puget Sound northward had significantly reduced levels of within‐population variation. These patterns are hypothesized to result from the contraction and expansion of populations driven by recent ice ages.
Phylogeography of the Vosges mountains populations of Gonioctena pallida (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): a nested clade analysis of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes
Authors: Mardulyn P. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractThe pattern of genetic variation in the leaf beetle Gonioctena pallida was investigated inside the Vosges mountains using a highly variable 363 bp DNA fragment of the mitochondrial control region. Sequencing of 242 individuals, sampled in a geographical area of 100 × 40 km, identified 61 haplotypes whose genealogy was inferred. The resulting haplotype network exhibits four star‐like phylogenies, two of which may be indicative of a population having recently expanded in size from a small number of founders. Nested clade analysis suggested multiple past expansion events, but also isolation by distance and possibly past fragmentation events, as the causes of the detected geographical associations of haplotypes. These results indicate the existence of effective barriers to gene flow inside the investigated area. Because the oldest demographic events inferred in the nested clade analysis were identified as expansion events, we hypothesize that a small population of founders have expanded not only in size, but also in geographical range from the south towards the north and east of the Vosges.
A molecular phylogenetic analysis of diversification in AmazonianAnolislizards
Authors: Glor R. E. , Vitt L. J. , Larson A. 
Published: March 2003

AbstractWe present a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype phylogeny for AmazonianAnolislizards, including geographical sampling within four species distributed across the Amazon basin (A. fuscoauratus,A. nitens,A. ortoniiandA. punctatus). Approximately 1500 bp of mtDNA encoding ND2, COI and four transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are reported for 39 specimens representing four to five populations of each widespread species, plus eight outgroups. These new sequences are aligned with eight previously published sequences, yielding 914 variable characters and 780 parsimony‐informative characters. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood reject the hypothesis that Amazonian anoles form a monophyletic group excluding Central American and Caribbean anoles, and suggest multiple faunal exchanges among these regions. Haplotype divergence among geographical populations ofA. nitens, whose variation was influential in formulating the Pleistocene refuge hypothesis of Amazonian speciation, is very large (13–22% sequence difference), suggesting that these populations separated well before the Pleistocene. Haplotype divergences among geographical populations ofA. fuscoauratus(3–4%),A. punctatus(4–9%) andA. ortonii(6–8%) also indicate pre‐Pleistocene differentiation within each species, but temporally incongruent patterns among species.