bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Genomic analysis of heat-shock factor targets in Drosophila
Authors: Birch-Machin Ian , Gao Shan , Huen David , McGirr Richard , White Robert AH , Russell Steven 
Published: June 2005

AbstractWe have used a chromatin immunoprecipitation-microarray (ChIP-array) approach to investigate the in vivo targets of heat-shock factor (Hsf) in Drosophila embryos. We show that this method identifies Hsf target sites with high fidelity and resolution. Using cDNA arrays in a genomic search for Hsf targets, we identified 141 genes with highly significant ChIP enrichment. This study firmly establishes the potential of ChIP-array for whole-genome transcription factor target mapping in vivo using intact whole organisms.
Preparation and Characterization of Candidate Reference Materials for Telomerase Assays
Authors: Jakupciak John P , Barker Peter E , Wang Wendy , Srivastava Sudhir , Atha Donald H 
Published: June 2005

AbstractBackground: Telomerase has been measured in body fluids of cancer patients, and clinical tests for telomerase may have utility as noninvasive, cost-effective methods for the early detection of cancer. However, telomerase activity measured by common methods such as the telomerase repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) and telomerase reverse transcriptase catalytic subunit (hTERT) mRNA by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) varies among laboratories.Methods: We prepared a CHAPS buffer lysate from cultured A549 cells and stored it at −80 °C. Telomerase activity was measured by TRAP/PCR and real-time TRAP/PCR in conjunction with RT-PCR measurements of hTERT mRNA. Activity measured with use of the robot-assisted TRAP (RApidTRAP) multicapillary electrophoresis system was compared with single-capillary and slab-gel measurements in the range 10 to 10 000 cell equivalents.Results: Preparations made after flash freezing and sonication of cells were ∼3-fold more active. Although the slab-gel and capillary instruments detected telomerase activity, the multicapillary instrument was better suited for high-throughput studies. Measurements of telomerase by TRAP/real-time PCR and hTERT mRNA/RT-PCR yielded reproducible titrations in the range 10 to 10 000 cell equivalents (CVs, 1%–8% and 1%–3%, respectively).Conclusions: We have prepared and characterized a candidate reference material that appears to be suitable for use in a wide range of assays of telomerase activity and expression.
Clustering of cardiovascular risk factors in association with indices of adiposity and adipose tissue distribution in adults
Authors: Baumgartner Richard N. , Siervogel Roger M. , Roche Alex F. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThe hypothesis, that clustering of elevated levels of blood pressures, plasma lipids and lipoprotein cholesterols, and serum glucose in men and women was associated with indices of adiposity and adipose tissue distributione was tested while controlling for family membership, age, level of education, income, and smoking as well as menopause (surgical and natural )and the use of oral contraceptives and replacement estrogens in women. The study population included 146 white men and 171 white women, 18–88 years of age, from 4 large kindreds residing in the Dayton, Ohio, metropolitan area. The data were collected between 1977 and 1980 as part of a study of genetic factors in essentials hypertension. Four groups of individuals with similar levels for blood pressures, plasma lipids and lipoprotein cholesterols, and serum glucose were defined for each sex by using a k‐means clustering algorithm. A group was identified in each sex that had higher than average values for all of these risk factors. Membership in this group was associated significantly with age and weight/stature2 in the men, and with age, weight/stature2 and the interaction of age and weight/stature2 in the women, after controlling for level of education, income, smoking, and, in the women, also for menopause, use of oral contraceptives, and replacement estrogens. Group membership was not associated significantly with family membership or with an index of adipose tissue distribution.
Validity of anthropometric regression equations for predicting changes in body fat of obese females
Authors: Ballor Douglas L. , Katch Victor L. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThe validity of ten popular anthropometric percent fat prediction equations for estimating changes in percentage of body fat for obese females was studied. Thirty‐one obese females (mean ± SEM, %fat = 36.7 ± 1.1%, body mass = 75.6 ± 1.7 kg, age = 32.8 ± 1.1 years) participated in a diet‐only, diet‐plus‐exercise, or exercise‐only program. Subjects lost 2.7 ± 0.3 fat percentage points and 3.0 ± 0.3 kg body mass during the 8‐week study. While many of the equations had acceptable validity before and after body mass loss, when applied to the prediction of changes in body fat none of the equations was acceptable. It was concluded that use of anthropometric prediction equations to estimate individual percent fat change scores results in large errors and is not recommended.
Resistant cross‐ age smoothing of age‐specific percentiles for growth reference data
Authors: Himes John H. , Hoaglin David C. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractResistant delineation, a technique adapted from exploratory data analysis (Tukey, Exploratory Data Analysis, 1977), was applied to smooth age‐specific percentiles for triceps skinfold thickness across ages from 1 to 20 years. Row percentiles were transformed to logarithms to promote symmetry and to render variability more nearly homogeneous across ages. The delineation involved smoothing resistantly the sequences of age‐specific log medians and the sequence of age‐specific positive differences between the “4253H, twice” (Velleman, J. Am. Statist. Assoc., 75:609–615, 1980). The delineation concluded by recombining these smoothed sequences to obtain smoothed percentiles in the log scale. Finally, the logarithmic transformation was reversed, yielding the smoothed age‐specific percentiles. Comparisons of smoothed results from resistant, delineation with the original data indicated a satisfactory fit. Comparisons with published smoothed percentiles, obtained from the same data by a cubic‐spline procedure, showed that the resistant delineation captured the structure of the raw data better than the cubic‐spline procedure. The resistant delineation procedure makes few assumptions of the underlying data, it ensures a proper order relationship among the smoothed percentiles, it is relatively insensitive to isolated unusual data, and it is available in a common software package.
Growth and maturity status of black and white children classified as obese by different criteria
Authors: Malina Robert M. , Skrabanek Michael F. , Little Bertis B. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractWeight, stature, bicondylar and biepicondylar breadths, estimated midarm muscle circumference, grip strength, and skeletal maturity were compared in 111 obese Black and 120 obese White children, 6 through 12 years of age. The children were classified as obese by the triceps skinfold (TSF), body mass index (BMI), or both, and were labeled, respectively as TSF Obese, BMI Obese, and BMI+TSF Obese. The anthropmetric dimensions, including grip strength, were transformed to z scores on the basis of age‐, sex‐, and race‐specific means and standard deviations for a mixed longitudinal sample of children among whom the obese children were indentified. Skeletal maturityu was expressed as the diference between skeletal age (Tanner‐Whitehouse II RUS method) and chronological age. Within each racial group, BMI+TSF Obese are heavier and taller, have larger extremity bone widths, have larger estimated midarm musculature, are stronger, and are more advanced in skeletal maturity than TSF Obese and average nonobese children. Although the number of children classified as BMI Obese is small, their apparently unique characteristic is an especially large estimated midarm muscle circumference compared to other obese children.
Evolutionary, biosocial, and cross‐cultural perspectives on the variability in human biological aging
Authors: Pearson J. D. , Crews D. E. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractBecause of our traditional emphasis on evolutionary processes and the causes of variability, human biologists have contributed to the understanding of variability in human biological aging. The shared interests of human characterized by increased phenotypic variation in later stages of life and by reduced adaptive capacity. The papers in this issue illustrate the unique blend of evolutionary, biosocial, and cross‐cultural perspectives used by human biologists to study the variation in biological aging. The papers present examples of common methodological paradigms such as theoretical/mathematical models, epidemiological studies, natural experiments, and studies of isolated foci of diseases. The principles of human adaptability and the premises of the life‐course perspective may provide the foundation for a conceptual framework that integrates the study of biological, behavioral, and social aspects of human aging. Human biologists can play an important role in refining the theoretical and methodological tools that will be needed to understand the variability in human aging in populations throughout the world.
Measurement of short‐term growth with a new knee height measuring device
Authors: Cronk Christine E. , Stallings Virginia A. , Spender Quentin W. , Ross Judith L. , Widdoes H. Donald 
Published: June 2005

AbstractInformation on short‐term growth (growth over periods of 1 month or less) has potential use in the clinic for treatment of children with growth disorders, and knowledge about patterns of short‐term growth may also contribute to an understanding of growth control mechanisms. Limitations of measurement reliability for most measurements of linear growth have generally confined us to evaluation of growth over periods 3 month or longer. This report introduces the Knee Height Measuring Device (KHMD)The Knee Height Measuring Device is available from Intersciences Development Associates, 3508 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19104 (215–662–0700), patent pending.
, which can measure changes in size of the lower leg of approximately 0.5 mm and thus assist in evaluation of short‐term growth. It is smaller, more portable, and less expensive than the Valk lower leg measuring device (knemometer) and uses a less subjectively biased measurement technique.Preliminary comparisons using a sample of 15 children measured twice at a 28‐day interval of the validity and reliability of a prototype KHMD and the Valk knemometer. Yielded an intraobserver error of 0.295 for the KHMD and 0.206 for the knemometer. Agreement of the two instruments on the presence of detectable growth was 90%. Pearson correlation of growth rates detected by the two instruments was 0.73.After additional alterations improving the design and measurement methodology of the KHMD, 103 children 6–10 years old were measured at 28‐day intervals from January to June and then at 3‐month intervals from June to December of 1988 using the improved KHMD alone. Intraobserver error for these measurements was 0.22 mm. This error was modestly associated with the weight of the child (r=.31) but unrelated to sex, height, or growth in any dimension. Interobserver error for 22 children measured by two observers was 0.33 mm.We analyzed the knee height growth data primarily to test whether monthly growth could be reliably detected by this instrument. Average 28‐day knee height growth was 1.76±0.3 mm, which is three times greater than the 0.5 mm growth detectable with the KHMD. Over any given 1‐month interval, fewer than 10% of the children had growth less than that which could be detected with the instrument. We conclude that the KHMD can reliably detect growth over a 1‐month interval and has potential clinical use for monitoring growth and for evaluating the characteristics and associations of short‐term growth.
Neonatal nutrition and longitudinal growth in baboons: Adiposity measured by skinfold thickness
Authors: Coelho Anthony M. , Rutenberg Gary W. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThis paper reports the results of a 5 year longitudinal experiment that (1) examined growth in adiposity of a group of 48 clinically normal olive savannah baboons (Papio cynocephalus anubis) who were randomly assigned at birth to one of three diet treatments that differed, during the first 16 weeks, in the amount of nutrients they provided; (2) tested the hypothesis that different amounts of food availability during the neonatal period (birth to 16 weeks) had a significant effect on growth and development of adiposity in the subsequent infant, juvenile, and adolescent periods; and (3) evaluated the extent to which underfed (LC) and overfed (HC) subjects were capable of growth canalization. Each diet contained different caloric densities but the same proportion of fat (34%), carbohydrate (55%), and protein (11%). All animals were fed the same volume of formula; however, HC subject were fed 40% more calories than MC subjects, who were fed 40% more calories than the LC subjects. Growth and development of adiposity were assessed by measuring neck, triceps, subscapular, and suprailiac skinfolds weekly from birth to 16 weeks and at 13 week intervals from 26 to 260 weeks of age. We found that during the first 16 weeks of the experiments, baboon growth was strongly influenced by food shortages but not by excesses; however, when the dietary treatment ceased, growth appeared to be strongly regulated by a genetic component (developmental canalization) and tended to return to a more normal growth pattern within a 26 week time frame. Males and females exhibited differences in adipose development in that males did not exhibit residual treatment effects while females tended to retain the effects of neonatal dietary treatments through early adolescence.
Changes in anthropometric indices of body composition with age in a healthy elderly population
Authors: Chumlea William Cameron , Rhyne Robert L. , Garry Philip J. , Hunt William C. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractChanges in body composition are known to occur with old age, but there is limited knowledge of the normal values rates of change in anthropometric indices of body composition or the distribution of these changes in the elderly. In the present study, 98 elderly white men and 122 elderly white women were followed prospectively for 6 years. These participants were divided into 5‐years cohorts on the basis of age at the start of the study in 1980. Separate linear regressions of triceps skinfold thickness, midarm circumference, midarm muscle area, and weight divided by stature squared on age were computed for each participant. The mean annual changes or slopes for these indices were small for each sex. A loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue was indicated with age, but the effects of compression or measurement error may hamper the detection of changes in indices of body composition in the elderly.
Raymond Pearl memorial lecture, 1988: Evolution of mitochondrial DNA in human and other organisms
Authors: Spuhler J. N. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractWithin the last ten years complete sequencing of mitochondrial DNA in human and several other species, sequencing of nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal and transfer RNAs in many species of bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals, and population studies of restriction enzyme polymorphism in the mtDNAs of insects, mammals and sixteen species of primates produced a wide range of new data and theory in molecular evolutionary genetics. These data support the endosymbiotic origin of the eukaryotic cell, the evolution of the Genus Homo with Pan as the closest related living genus, and the origin of modern Homo sapiens by gradualistic, anagenetic, regional phyletic transformation from Homo erectus.
Molecular micro‐ and macroevolution in the primate alpha‐globin gene family
Authors: Marks Jonathan 
Published: June 2005

AbstractBecause hemoglobin is among the most abundant and accessible proteins in the human body, the molecular basis for its production is arguably the best‐known genetic system in any higher organism. The hemoglobin molecule is tetrameric and consists all developmental stage of two copies of each of two components, alpha‐like (141 amino acids) and beta‐like (146 amino acids). The beta‐like globins are located in a tight cluster on chromosome 11 and the alpha‐like globins on chromosome 16.The alpha‐globin cluster consists of several functional genes and nonfunctional pseudogenes, each the product of an ancient duplication of primordial genes. The cluster therefore affords us a window on the major features of molecular evolution. Within human populations hypervariable regions exist which may serve as useful genetic markers; and unequal crossing‐over creates the most prevalent genotypes of alpha‐thalassemia. Recently a new member of the alpha‐globin cluster was discovered in the orangutan genome and then subsequently in other taxa, including Homo sapiens. It appears to encode a unique alpha‐like globin, and its protein product has yet to be isolated.
Growth of Filipino infants who differ in body proportions at birth
Authors: Adair Linda S. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractGrowth of infants who differ in body proportions at birth was followed during the first 12 months of life. The sample of 2,695 infants from Metropolitan Cebu, in the Central Philippines, was divided into five groups based on a cross tabulation of low‐birth‐weight(LBW) status (2,500 g or less) with low (<10th percentile), adequate (10th–90th percentile) or high (>90th percentile)Rohre's Index (RI). The groups exhibited significant differences in growth patterns. The importance of these groups, which reflect weight and body proportions of the infant at birth as a determinant of attained size at 2, 6, and 12 months of age, was evaluated by using multivariate techniques which took into consideration other factors known to affect growth. Results show that intergroup differences in growth patterns and attained size occur because of (1) differences in postnatal growth potential represented by weight and body proportions at birth, (2) differences in the important biological inputs that affect postnatal growth (such as feeding practices and morbidity), and (3) differences in the effects of inputs on growth. Infants who are LBW but well proportioned are most likely to remain small during the first year of life, while those with a low RI at birth are more capable of catch‐up growth.
Dietary change and adolescent growth among the Bundi (Gende‐speaking) people of Papua New Guinea
Authors: Zemel Babette , Jenkins Carol 
Published: June 2005

AbstractIn the 1960's, the Bundi had a pattern of slow growth, delayed maturation, and small adult body size due to malnutrition. Since then, improved transportation, wage income, cash cropping, and migration have changed dietary patterns for the Bundi. The purpose of our study was to assess the effects of this general increase in protein and energy intakes on adolescent growth. The data were collected in 1984. Subscapular skinfold thicknesses among rural Bundi children measured in 1984 and 1967 confirm that nutritional status has improved, although current means for height and weight are still below the NCHS 5th percentile.Rural Bundi measure in 1984 were compared to the 1967 data for differences in height and weight. For both sexes, there were increases in growth status and/or the tempo of growth in height and weight. Urban‐ rural comparisons further contrast the effects of improved nutrition. For males and females, significant differences between urban and rural groups are found mainly in the age range of the adolescent growth spurt. These findings suggest earlier maturation of urban adolescents.Although interpretation of cross‐sectional growth data cannot be conclusive, these results suggest that the tempo of growth is the best indicator of nutritional status during adolescenc.
Seasonality and weight gain during the first year of life
Authors: Pollitt Ernesto , Arthur James 
Published: June 2005

AbstractA comparison is made between weight increments at 0–3, 4–6, 7–9, and 10–12 months of life between infants born in the fall, winter, spring, and summer seasons in Sui Lin, Taiwan. The focus of the study is on (1) whether in a tropical region the effects of seasonality on weight gain interact with the developmental stage of the infant and (2) whether these interactions are partly regulated by the growth history of the infant. The main hypothesis is that the highest growth velocities will occur in the dry, cold months of the year (fall and winter) and the lowest velocities will occur in the hot, rainy months (spring and summer). The highest and lowest mean birth weights were recorded in the spring and summer seasons, respectively. Season had no effect on weight gain during 0–3 months; on the other hand, birth weight and length were significantly related to weight gain during this 0–3 month period. In the last two seasons of the first year, the highest weight increments occurred in the fall and the lowest occurred in the spring and summer. At the end of the 12 months of life there were no weight differences between cohorts.
Variation in body size and shape among South American Indians
Authors: Stinson Sara 
Published: June 2005

AbstractAvailable information on mean adult male and female height, weight, sitting height, and relative sitting height for 62 groups is used to examine the relationship between anthropometric measurements and climate, geographical location, and linguistic affiliation among South American Indians. Results of correlation analysis indicate that height increases from the north to the south of the continent and is significantly negatively correlated with precipitation but is not significantly correlated with most measures of temperature. Only in females is weight significantly correlated with any of the location or climatic variables. Sitting height is correlated with both temperature and precipitation, while relative sitting height is more strongly correlated with temperature, and the direction of the correlation indicates that groups living in colder areas have relatively shorter legs. The interpretation of the correlations for sitting height and relative sitting height is complicated by the fact that the correlations of these measurements change when only the low‐altitude groups in the data set are considered. There are no significant differences in male height between linguistic stocks when the analysis is limited to those stocks represented by at least five groups. In general, there appears to be more patterning in body size and shape variation in South America than there is in terms of genetic variation. The correlations between anthropometric measurements and climate in South America differ in some ways from those observed for other areas of the world.
Effects of maternal drinking, smoking, size, and parity on parent‐offspring birth weight correlations
Authors: Little Ruth E. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractParent‐offspring birth weight correlations are presented by sex of parent and infant. They range from .14 to .16, except for the mother‐daughter correlation, which is .32. This pattern of parent‐offspring correlations varies when the parity of the infant, the size of the mother, and the mother's drinking and smoking status are considered. All parent‐offspring correlations are higher when the infant is parity 2 or more. The mother‐daughter correlations are significantly higher than mother‐son correlations when the mother is above average in usual weight, height, or pregnancy weight gain. When the mother smoked before conception, all birth weight correlations except mother‐daughter are essentially zero. The mother‐son correlation is also very small if the mother was a regular drinker, independent of her smoking status. The complex relationships in this sample demonstrate that interactions with environmental variables must be taken into account in studies of familial aggregation of human birth weight.