bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Toxicological effects of iron on intestinal cells
Authors: Zödl Bettina , Sargazi Mansour , Zeiner Michaela , Roberts Norman B. , Steffan Ilse , Marktl Wolfgang , Ekmekcioglu Cem 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to investigate whether iron, which is involved in the formation of free radicals in vitro, can initiate cellular injury in human intestinal cells. The effects of various concentrations of iron were studied in preconfluent, colonic‐cancerogenous cells, and also in postconfluent, differentiating cells. Cellular damage was assessed using cell proliferation (serial cell counting), tetrazolium dye (MTT) uptake, lactate dehydogenase (LDH) release and apoptosis studies based on caspase‐3 activities. Also the activities of the major antioxidative enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured after the cells had been exposed to iron. Our results indicated that preconfluent cells were more susceptible to iron toxicity, as assessed by a significant reduction in cell proliferation and MTT uptake in a concentration‐dependent manner compared to the control. However, no evidence for MTT uptake was observed in postconfluent cells. Caspase‐3 activity, an indicator of cell apoptosis, considerably increased in preconfluent cells at high iron levels compared to the control (p < 0.05), whereas postconfluent cells were not significantly affected. LDH release was similar for both groups and was significantly higher than the control at 900 μM iron and above. SOD activities were not affected by iron in either group, whereas GPx was considerably higher in iron‐treated cells in both groups compared with the control (because of relatively high standard deviations this effect was not significant). In conclusion we suggest that iron exerts its toxic effects intracellularly especially in preconfluent Caco‐2 cells, whereas only high iron doses were able to alter the viability of differentiating, enterocyte‐like cells. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Alterations of oxidative–antioxidative status in human cutaneous leishmaniasis
Authors: Vural Huseyin , Aksoy Nurten , Ozbilge Hatice 
Published: April 2004

AbstractEnhanced lipid peroxidation and decreased antioxidant defences have been defined in several diseases. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the oxidative–antioxidative status of patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Concentrations of erythrocyte lipid peroxidation (LPO), as an indicator for the oxidative status, reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) and serum vitamin C levels, as indicators for the antioxidative status, were measured. Seventy patients aged between 15 and 50 years (38 patients had active CL and 32 patients had healed CL) and 40 healthy controls aged between 19 and 50 years were included in the study. LPO and GSH of the patients with active CL were significantly higher (p < 0.001), whereas erythrocyte GSH‐Px and serum vitamin C levels were lower (p < 0.001, p < 0.01 respectively) than those of healthy controls. There was a significant inverse correlation between LPO and serum vitamin C level (r=−0.32, p < 0.05) in active CL. No significant correlation of LPO, GSH, GSH‐Px and serum vitamin C levels in control groups or in the group with healed CL was detected. In the light of our findings it is possible to conclude that patients having CL are affected by oxidative stress, which most likely induces the endogenous antioxidant system. An imbalance between the oxidant and antioxidant systems occurs and the suppressed antioxidants and increased lipid peroxidation may contribute to the progression of the disease. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Amelioration of methotrexate‐induced enteritis by melatonin in rats
Authors: Jahovic Nermina , Şener Göksel , Çevik Hülya , Ersoy Yasemin , Arbak Serap , Yeğen Berrak Ç. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe anti‐tumour drug methotrexate (MTX) induces intestinal mucosa injury resulting in malabsorption and diarrhoea. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether exogenous melatonin could protect the gut from MTX‐induced damage in rats. A single dose of MTX (20 mg kg−1, i.p.) was followed by i.p. saline or melatonin injections (10 mg kg−1, MTX + Mel) for the next 5 days. On the fifth day, intestinal transit was assessed using charcoal propagation. Rats were decapitated and small intestinal segments were fixed for light (LM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) examinations. Other intestinal segments were stored to measure glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and ATPase activity. MTX led to loss of more than 10% of the initial body weight (p < 0.01). Conversely, weight loss was markedly less in the melatonin‐treated MTX group (p < 0.05). Bowel motility was increased in MTX‐treated rats, while the transit index in the MTX‐Mel group was not different from the control group. MTX caused decreases in GSH levels and ATPase activity, with increases in MDA levels and MPO activity. These changes were reversed in MTX‐Mel‐treated rats (p < 0.05–p < 0.001). LM and SEM in the MTX group revealed desquamation of surface epithelium and glandular degeneration, while the epithelium was slightly damaged in the MTX‐Mel group. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that melatonin is capable of reversing MTX‐induced intestinal dysfunctions, indicating that it may be beneficial in ameliorating the symptoms of chemotherapy‐induced enteritis. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Simple verification technique for complex Java bytecode subroutines
Authors: Coglio Alessandro 
Published: April 2004

AbstractJava is normally compiled to bytecode, which is verified and then executed by the Java Virtual Machine. Bytecode produced via compilation must pass verification. The main cause of complexity for bytecode verification is subroutines, used by compilers to generate more compact code. The techniques to verify subroutines proposed in the literature reject certain programs produced by mundane compilers, are difficult to realize within an implementation of the Java Virtual Machine or are relatively complicated. This paper presents a novel technique which is very simple to understand, implement and prove sound. It is also very powerful: the set of accepted programs has a simple characterization which most likely includes all the code produced by current compilers and which enables future compilers to make more extensive use of subroutines. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Checking ownership and confinement
Authors: Potanin Alex , Noble James , Biddle Robert 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA number of proposals to manage aliasing in Java‐like programming languages have been advanced over the last five years. It is not clear how practical these proposals are, that is, how well they relate to the kinds of programs currently written in Java‐like languages. To address this problem, we analysed heap snapshots from a corpus of Java programs. Our results indicate that object‐oriented programs do in fact exhibit symptoms of encapsulation in practice, and that proposed models of uniqueness, ownership, and confinement can usefully describe the aliasing structures of object‐oriented programs. Understanding the kinds of aliasing present in programs should help us to design formalisms to make explicit the kinds of aliasing implicit in object‐oriented programs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Transposing F to C♯: expressivity of parametric polymorphism in an object‐oriented language
Authors: Kennedy Andrew , Syme Don 
Published: April 2004

AbstractWe present a type‐preserving translation of System F (the polymorphic lambda calculus) into a forthcoming revision of the C♯ programming language supporting parameterized classes and polymorphic methods. The forthcoming revision of Java in JDK 1.5 also makes a suitable target. We formalize the translation using a subset of C♯ similar to Featherweight Java. We prove that the translation is fully type‐preserving and that it preserves behaviour via the novel use of environment‐style semantics for System F.We observe that whilst parameterized classes alone are sufficient to encode the parameterized datatypes and let‐polymorphism of languages such as ML and Haskell, it is the presence of dynamic dispatch for polymorphic methods that supports the encoding of the ‘first‐class polymorphism’ found in System F and recent extensions to ML and Haskell. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Vicarious Nucleophilic Substitution of (Chloroalkyl)heterocycles with Nitroarenes
Authors: Florio Saverio , Lorusso Patrizia , Luisi Renzo , Granito Catia , Ronzini Ludovico , Troisi Luigino 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe vicarious nucleophilic substitution of potassium carbanions of the (chloromethyl)pyridines 1a and 1b, (chloromethyl)benzothiazole 1c, (chloromethyl)thiazole 1d, (chloroethyl)thiazole 1e and (chloroethyl)benzothiazole 1f with nitroarenes, leading to nitrobenzyl heterocycles 2 and 4−14 has been studied. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004)
Essential oil composition of different accessions of Mentha × piperita L. grown on the northern plains of India
Authors: Dwivedi Samresh , Khan M. , Srivastava S. K. , Syamasunnder K. V. , Srivastava Archana 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe essential oil composition of four accessions, C‐62, P‐17, C‐45 and C‐59, with control LK of Mentha × piperita, cultivated at the CIMAP Research Farm, Lucknow, were analysed by GC and GC–MS, which resulted in the identiﬁcation of 61, 74, 67, 68 and 55 constituents, representing 99.7%, 99.6%, 99.7%, 92.3% and 91.6% of the oils, respectively. The performance of accessions C‐62, P‐17, C‐45 and C‐59 against the control LK was also evaluated. The yield of fresh material, 17.2, 18.2, 17.5, 16.4 and 18.0 tons/ha, and the production of essential oils, 72.6, 145.5, 80.1, 74.6 and 75.8 kg/ha, was satisfactory. Accessions C‐62, C45 and P‐17 were found suitable for cultivation of peppermint, with acceptable amounts of menthol, menthone and menthyl acetate. It is interesting to observe that menthofuran was also absent in all the four accessions except the control. The essential oil of accession P‐17 was superior over the other accessions, with an almost twice higher oil yield and an oil proﬁle composition comparable to those of other accessions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The components and anticancer activity of the volatile oil from Streblus asper
Authors: Phutdhawong Weerachai , Donchai Arworn , Korth John , Pyne Stephen G. , Picha Porntipa , Ngamkham Jarunya , Buddhasukh Duang 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe volatile oil from fresh leaves of Streblus asper Lour. was isolated by hydrodistillation and analysed through a combination of gas chromatography with FID (GC–FID) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The essential oil was obtained in 0.005% yield as a brown liquid. The major constituents of the volatile oil of S. asper were phytol (45.1%), α‐farnesene (6.4%), trans‐farnesyl acetate (5.8%), caryophyllene (4.9%) and trans‐trans‐α‐farnesene (2.0%). In addition, the volatile oil showed signiﬁcant anticancer activity (ED50 << 30 µg/ml) from cytotoxicity primary screening tests with P388 (mouse lymphocytic leukaemia) cells but no signiﬁcant antioxidant activity (IC50 values of >>100 µg/ml) in a DPPH radical scavenging assay. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Antibacterial activity of Tagetes minuta L. (Asteraceae) essential oil with different chemical composition
Authors: Senatore Felice , Napolitano Francesco , Mohamed M. A‐H , Harris P. J. C. , Mnkeni P. N. S. , Henderson J. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe essential oils from aerial parts of Tagetes minuta L. grown in Egypt, South Africa and the UK were obtained by hydrodistillation. Although they had similar constituents, the oils had different percentage compositions. Dihydrotagetone was the most abundant component of the oils from the UK (34.3 and 54.1%), while the oils from South Africa and Egypt were characterized by a high content of cis‐β‐ocimene (50.9 and 32.0%, respectively). The oils exhibited antibacterial activity, especially against Gram‐positive bacteria. Antimicrobial activity was greater in oils from the UK than in oils from Egypt or South Africa, irrespective of whether the UK plants had been grown in a greenhouse or in the ﬁeld. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for the oil from UK greenhouse‐grown plants were 6.25–25 µg/mL for Gram‐positive bacteria and 25–50 µg/mL for Gram‐negative bacteria, with the lowest MIC of 6.25 µg/mL against Streptococcus faecalis. Oil from plants from South Africa had MICs of 50–100 µg/mL against Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria. The MICs of oil from plants from Egypt against all tested bacteria except Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi were half of the MICs of oil from plants from South Africa. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Synthesis of chitosan–cyclodextrin adducts and evaluation of their bitter‐masking properties
Authors: Binello Arianna , Cravotto Giancarlo , Nano Gian Mario , Spagliardi Paola 
Published: April 2004

AbstractFinding new taste modiﬁers, particularly bitter‐taste blockers (BTBs), is an important goal for pharmaceutical and food industries. Although BTBs have been much sought after, only a few possess a wide spectrum of activity. We prepared, on a gram scale, several macromolecular adducts in which β‐ and γ‐CDs are linked to chitosan through succinyl or maleyl bridges. Their bitterness‐masking power was evaluated on caffeine and bitter natural extracts (artichoke leaves, aloe and gentian) by a panel test using serial caffeine concentrations as a reference scale. The β‐CD–chitosan adduct showed the highest efﬁcacy and the bitterness attenuation was statistically signiﬁcant. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Should the consumption of survivors be included as a cost in cost–utility analysis?
Authors: Nyman John A. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractSurvivor costs are those costs associated with a treatment because it extends the patient's life. A controversy exists regarding whether survivor consumption costs should be included in cost–utility analyses. The present paper uses this controversy to motivate a general reexamination of what costs to include in cost–utility analyses. Rather than the ad hoc inclusion rules currently used – a causal relationship between the intervention and the costs, and a proscription on double counting – this paper suggests three inclusion principles based on standard welfare economics. Thus, costs should be (1) included if they represent resources that directly produce the utility that is being measured in the denominator of the cost–utility ratio, (2) excluded if they represent resources that produce utility that is not being measured in the denominator, even though the costs are causally associated with the intervention, and (3) included if they represent resources consumed that are causally related to the intervention, but that have no counterveiling utility gains. These principles suggest important changes in how we account for recuperation time and unrelated medical care. They also suggest that survival consumption costs and earnings be excluded from existing cost–utility analyses. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Does NICE have a cost‐effectiveness threshold and what other factors influence its decisions? A binary choice analysis
Authors: Devlin Nancy , Parkin David 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe decisions made by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) give rise to two questions: how is cost‐effectiveness evidence used to make judgements about the ‘value for money’ of health technologies? And how are factors other than cost‐effectiveness taken into account? The aim of this paper is to explore NICE's cost‐effectiveness threshold(s) and the tradeoffs between cost effectiveness and other factors apparent in its decisions. Binary choice analysis is used to reveal the preferences of NICE and to consider the consistency of its decisions. For each decision to accept or reject a technology, explanatory variables include: the cost per life year or per QALY gained; uncertainty regarding cost effectiveness; the net cost to the NHS; the burden of disease; the availability (or not) of alternative treatments; and specific factors indicated by NICE. Results support the broad notion of a threshold, where the probability of rejection increases as the cost per QALY increases. Cost effectiveness, together with uncertainty and the burden of disease, explain NICE decisions better than cost effectiveness alone. The results suggest a threshold somewhat higher than NICEs stated ‘range of acceptable cost effectiveness’ of £20 000–£30 000 per QALY – although the exact meaning of a ‘range’ in this context remains unclear. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
On large minimal blocking sets in PG(2,q)
Authors: Szőnyi Tamás , Cossidente Antonello , Gács András , Mengyán Csaba , Siciliano Alessandro , Weiner Zsuzsa 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe size of large minimal blocking sets is bounded by the Bruen–Thas upper bound. The bound is sharp whenqis a square. Here the bound is improved ifqis a non‐square. On the other hand, we present some constructions of reasonably large minimal blocking sets in planes of non‐prime order. The construction can be regarded as a generalization of Buekenhout's construction of unitals. For example, ifqis a cube, then our construction gives minimal blocking sets of sizeq4/3 + 1 orq4/3 + 2. Density results for the spectrum of minimal blocking sets in Galois planes of non‐prime order is also presented. The most attractive case is whenqis a square, where we show that there is a minimal blocking set for any size from the interval$[4q\,{\rm log}\, q, q\sqrt q-q+2\sqrt q]$. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 13: 25–41, 2005.
HIF at the crossroads between ischemia and carcinogenesis
Authors: Paul Stefan A.M. , Simons Jonathan W. , Mabjeesh Nicola J. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractTissue hypoxia occurs where there is an imbalance between oxygen supply and consumption in both, solid tumors as a result of exponential cellular proliferation and in atherosclerotic diseases as a result of inefficient blood supply. Hypoxia‐inducible factor 1 (HIF‐1) is central in normal angiogenesis and cancer angiogenesis. HIF‐1 is a transcriptional activator composed of an O2‐ and growth factor‐regulated HIF‐1α subunit and a constitutively expressed HIF‐1β subunit. Upon activation, HIF‐1 drives the expression of genes controlling cell survival and governing the formation of new blood vessels. A better understanding of the regulation of HIF‐1α levels by the receptor tyrosine kinases/phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase signaling pathway and by the HIF prolyl hydoxylases has provided new insights into the development of anticancer and revascularization therapeutics. We will focus on the potential of a new pharmacology for regulating HIF pathways in both, cancer and ischemic cardiac diseases. The consequences of the switch of HIF activation in these two disease states and the signaling pathway overlap that atherosclerosis and cancer angiogenesis share are discussed. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Low‐dose UV‐radiation sensitizes keratinocytes to TRAIL‐induced apoptosis
Authors: Qin Jian‐Zhong , Bacon Patricia , Panella Jeffrey , Sitailo Leonid A. , Denning Mitchell F. , Nickoloff Brian J. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe impact of low‐dose ultraviolet light (UV‐light) on apoptotic susceptibility of keratinocytes (KCs) induced by TRAIL is unclear. Skin expresses a functional form of TRAIL, and while sun exposure influences TRAIL death receptors, a role for decoy receptors has not been evaluated. Unraveling mechanisms involving apoptotic sensitivity of KCs is important because skin is the first target of UV‐light, and a site for commonly occurring cancers. Since apoptosis is a homeostatic process eliminating UV‐light induced DNA damaged cells, elucidating molecular events regulating apoptosis enhances understanding of cutaneous photocarcinogenesis. Here we demonstrate low‐dose UV‐light enhances susceptibility of KCs to TRAIL‐induced apoptosis. Low‐dose UV‐light selectively reduces decoy receptors, without influencing death receptor levels. UV‐induced enhanced apoptotic susceptibility was reduced by over‐expression of decoy receptor TRAIL‐R4, but not TRAIL‐R3; or treatment with thiol compound pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), which also enhanced TRAIL‐R4 levels. Besides influencing decoy receptors, low‐dose UV‐light plus TRAIL also synergistically promoted cytochrome c and Smac release from mitochondria. Inhibitors directed against caspases 2, 3, 8, and 9 reduced the synergistic apoptotic response following low‐dose UV‐light plus TRAIL exposure; as did forced over‐expression of Bcl‐x and dominant negative (DN) constructs of FADD and caspase 9. Thus, relative levels of decoy receptors significantly influence susceptibility of KCs to TRAIL‐induced apoptosis with concomitant low‐dose UV‐light exposure; in addition to the apoptotic pathway mediated by mitochondrial permeabilization. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A new method for the screening of solid‐phase combinatorial libraries for affinity chromatography
Authors: Roque A. Cecília A. , Taipa M. Ângela , Lowe Christopher R. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractA new methodology for the rapid assessment of affinity ligands synthesized by combinatorial solid‐phase chemistry is reported. This screening strategy utilizes the target protein conjugated to FITC, and represents an almost universal technique for the preliminary screening of solid‐phase combinatorial libraries. The assessment of a triazine‐scaffolded solid‐phase combinatorial library of ligands, designed to bind to human IgG, was performed with FITC‐human IgG, and the results compared with those obtained by conventional affinity chromatographic screening assays. The effect of different molar conjugation ratios of FITC–IgG (F/P) was evaluated. Independently of the F/P ratio, no false negative results were observed, although lower F/P ratios diminished non‐specific interactions and the number of false positives. The nature of the substituents on the triazine scaffold was not related to the number of false positive IgG‐binding ligands. The reproducibility of the FITC technique, using FITC–human IgG conjugates with low F/P ratio (F/P=2), was also evaluated. The FITC‐based technique proved to be efficient and accurate in the identification of strongly binding ligands (binding >50% of loaded protein, by standard affinity chromatographic assays), and is envisaged as a versatile and cost‐effective method to screen other systems, and evaluate several binding/elution conditions at small‐scale, prior to scale‐up to standard affinity chromatography. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Optimisation of polymeric surface pre‐treatment to prevent bacterial biofilm formation for use in microfluidics
Authors: Davidson Colin A. B. , Lowe Christopher R. 
Published: April 2004

AbstractThe production of a microfluidic device for microbial culture has necessitated the development of techniques for the prevention of bacterial adhesion to a range of polymeric substrates including fluoropolymers such as fluorinated ethylene polypropylene, and polyolefins such as low‐density polyethylene. Treatment of such materials to increase hydrophilicity reduces the incidence of attachment of Escherichia coli during the first 4 h of cultivation, although no decrease in the number of biofilm initiation sites was detected after 16 h. The incorporation of a mannose analogue to block binding proteins on the F1 binding fimbriae was also investigated. The possibility of ensuring suspension culture of bacterial cells in high surface area to volume ratio nano‐vessels is thus facilitated by the correct choice and pre‐treatment of materials used in their construction. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.