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Limited Application (limited + application)
Selected AbstractsLimited application of homozygous genotypes in apple breedingPLANT BREEDING, Issue 4 2005L. Vanwynsberghe Abstract Apple is a temperate fruit species with several breeding disadvantages such as the highly heterozygous nature of the genome and a long reproductive cycle. It is expected that homozygous apple genotypes can increase breeding efficiency, but inbreeding is prevented by the gametophytic self-incompatibility mechanism. In this paper, the production and characterization of homozygous genotypes, generated from anther culture in Malus × domestica cv. ,Braeburn', is described as well as their potential for use in breeding programmes. After determination of large scale anther culture efficiency, anther culture-derived genotypes were simple sequence repeat (SSR)-fingerprinted to determine their homozygous nature and confirm their androgenic origin. Their value for breeding was estimated based on growth and fertility measurements. The use of homozygous androgenic genotypes from ,Braeburn' in apple breeding programmes is currently not a realistic approach, partly because of the low efficiency of anther culture, but mainly because of the reduced vigour and severe sterility of the androgenic genotypes produced. [source] Prescription drug misuse: Is technology friend or foe?DRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 1 2009SUZANNE NIELSEN Abstract Introduction and Aims. Prescription drug misuse and related harms have been increasing considerably over the past decade. At the same time, there has also been rapid growth in the use of online and Internet technologies. Thus, it is important that we understand the role online and Internet technologies play in prescription drug misuse. Design and Methods. Published work addressing the role of technology in prescription drug misuse is explored. Topics include: Internet supply, online monitoring of prescription drug use trends and electronic prescription monitoring. Results. Little is known about the prevalence of acquiring prescription drugs from online pharmacies. Prescription drugs are easily accessible through vendor websites, and ,rogue' no-prescription websites have proven difficult to control. There has so far been limited application of real-time monitoring to prevent overuse of prescription medications. Online monitoring of drug use trends may also prove to be a useful and timely source of information about new methods of ,off-label' prescription drug use. Discussion and Conclusions. Technology has the potential to play a more prominent role in facilitating drug acquisition, while also enhancing the monitoring and prevention of prescription drug misuse. As technology becomes more ubiquitous in everyday life, the continued investigation of its relationship with prescription drug misuse becomes even more important.[Nielsen S, Barratt MJ. Prescription drug misuse: Is technology friend or foe? Drug Alcohol Rev 2009;28:81,86] [source] Investigating Burkholderia cepacia complex populations recovered from Italian maize rhizosphere by multilocus sequence typingENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 7 2007Claudia Dalmastri Summary The Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) comprises at least nine closely related species of abundant environmental microorganisms. Some of these species are highly spread in the rhizosphere of several crop plants, particularly of maize; additionally, as opportunistic pathogens, strains of the BCC are capable of colonizing humans. We have developed and validated a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme for the BCC. Although widely applied to understand the epidemiology of bacterial pathogens, MLST has seen limited application to the population analysis of species residing in the natural environment; we describe its novel application to BCC populations within maize rhizospheres. 115 BCC isolates were recovered from the roots of different maize cultivars from three different Italian regions over a 9-year period (1994,2002). A total of 44 sequence types (STs) were found of which 41 were novel when compared with existing MLST data which encompassed a global database of 1000 clinical and environmental strains representing nearly 400 STs. In this study of rhizosphere isolates approximately 2.5 isolates per ST was found, comparable to that found for the whole BCC population. Multilocus sequence typing also resolved inaccuracies associated with previous identification of the maize isolates based on recA gene restriction fragment length polymorphims and species-specific polymerase chain reaction. The 115 maize isolates comprised the following BCC species groups, B. ambifaria (39%), BCC6 (29%), BCC5 (10%), B. pyrrocinia (8%), B. cenocepacia IIIB (7%) and B. cepacia (6%), with BCC5 and BCC6 potentially constituting novel species groups within the complex. Closely related clonal complexes of strains were identified within B. cepacia, B. cenocepacia IIIB, BCC5 and BCC6, with one of the BCC5 clonal complexes being distributed across all three sampling sites. Overall, our analysis demonstrates that the maize rhizosphere harbours a massive diversity of novel BCC STs, so that their addition to our global MLST database increased the ST diversity by 10%. [source] Relationship between legitimation, competition and organizational death: current state of the artINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 1 2004Manuel Núñez Nickel There is agreement among ecology researchers that the concepts of legitimation and competition are partly responsible for organizational selection. Finding adequate measures to represent these concepts, however, has been elusive and has been the main obstacle to the development of this stream of investigation. On the basis of the germinal density dependence model, we identify two lines of research, which have generated seven distinct models. This survey shows that there has been a general tendency to use only three variables to measure legitimation and competition, which are often measured together. However, we argue that fruitful results have emerged when efforts have been made to separate both concepts and that there is some potential in using new measures (mass or concentration) which have so far only found limited application in the field of population demography. These findings, together with the inconclusive results of this stream of research, allow us to identify the existing gaps in the literature and comment on directions for future research. [source] A critical review of appropriate conceptual models for use by coronary care nursesINTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 1 2008F. Timmins bns ffnrcsi nfesc rnt rgn phd msc bsc Background:, There is little evidence of the extent of conceptual model use within cardiovascular nursing. Concern exists within nursing that nursing theory and conceptual model use within practice is less than optimal. It is further suggested that there is little evidence of nursing theory occupying its true position as the central tenet of nursing practice and cardiovascular nurses have been challenged to reconsider this aspect of practice. Aim:, The aim of this review is to explore the effectiveness of conceptual models used within cardiovascular nursing to further explore their potential benefit. Methods:, Using key terms, a search was conducted using electronic databases CINAHL and PUBMED; yielding seven papers that fulfilled selection criteria. Findings:, Few papers related to research studies in the area. However, of those identified significant examination and testing of concepts emerged within the studies. Rather than merely using concepts as an organizing framework or a component of the study, theories alluded to were scrutinized and consistently applied. Although studies identified mostly referred to specific testing and examination of aspects of conceptual models, the notion of self-care and support for clients emerges as a strong theme within the review. The relationship between nurse and client seemed to be pivotal in any noted improvements. Conclusions:, The findings have limited application to practice. In the absence of large-scale longitudinal studies, only selected aspects of conceptual models or theory were scrutinized. Further research is required in this area to identify conceptual models of nursing that are most appropriate for cardiovascular nursing care. [source] Insomnia Severity Index: psychometric properties with Chinese community-dwelling older peopleJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 10 2010Doris S.F. Yu yu d.s.f. (2010) Insomnia Severity Index: psychometric properties with Chinese community-dwelling older people. Journal of Advanced Nursing,66(10), 2350,2359. Abstract Aim., This paper is a report of a study to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index. Background., Despite the high prevalence of insomnia in older people and its detrimental impact on well-being and healthcare costs, this problem is almost always undetected and consequently under-treated. The Insomnia Severity Index is psychometrically sound in measuring perceived insomnia severity. However, it has had very limited application in non-White populations. Methods., An instrument validation study was carried out between October 2008 and April 2009. The Insomnia Severity Index was translated into Chinese using Brislin's model and administered to a convenience sample of 585 older Chinese people recruited from three community centres for elders. Other instruments were also administered, including the Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Results., Cronbach's alpha of the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index was 0·81, with item-to-total correlations in the range of 0·34,0·67. Construct validity was supported by its moderate relationship with the Chinese Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and sleep efficiency. The Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index also indicated more severe level of insomnia in older people who reported depressed mood on the Geriatric Depression Scale. Discriminant validity was supported as the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index could discriminate poorer sleepers from normal sleepers. Exploratory factor analysis identified a two-factor structure for the Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index in measuring the severity and impacts of insomnia on the Chinese older people. Conclusion., The Chinese version of the Insomnia Severity Index is a culturally-relevant and psychometrically-sound instrument for assessing severity and impact of insomnia in Chinese community-dwelling older people. Nurses can use this tool to assess older people's perceptions of insomnia. [source] Heterozygosity,fitness correlations and their relevance to studies on inbreeding depression in threatened speciesMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 18 2008CATHERINE E GRUEBER Abstract The majority of reported multilocus heterozygosity,fitness correlations (HFCs) are from large, outbred populations, and their relevance to studies on inbreeding depression in threatened populations is often stressed. The results of such HFC studies conducted on outbred populations may be of limited application to threatened population management, however, as bottlenecked populations exhibit increased incidence of inbreeding, increased linkage disequilibrium, reduced genetic diversity and possible effects of historical inbreeding such as purging. These differences may affect both our ability to detect inbreeding depression in threatened species, and our interpretation of the underlying mechanisms for observed heterozygosity,fitness relationships. The study of HFCs in outbred populations is of interest in itself, but the results may not translate directly to threatened populations that have undergone severe bottlenecks. [source] Salting-out assisted liquid/liquid extraction with acetonitrile: a new high throughput sample preparation technique for good laboratory practice bioanalysis using liquid chromatography,mass spectrometryBIOMEDICAL CHROMATOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2009Jun Zhang Abstract Acetonitrile, an organic solvent miscible with aqueous phase, has seen thousands of publications in the literature as an efficient deproteinization reagent. The use of acetonitrile for liquid,liquid extraction (LLE), however, has seen very limited application due to its miscibility with aqueous phase. The interest in LLE with acetonitrile has been pursued and reported in the literature by significantly lowering the temperature of the mixture or increasing the salt concentration in the mixture of acetonitrile and aqueous phase, resulting in the separation of the acetonitrile phase from aqueous phase, as observed in conventional LLE. However, very limited application of these methods has been reported. The throughput was limited. In this report, we report a new sample preparation technique, salting-out assisted liquid,liquid extraction with acetonitrile, for high-thoughput good laboratory practice sample analysis using LCMS, Two compounds from an approved drug, Kaletra®, were used to demonstrate the extractability of drugs from human plasma matrix. Magnesium sulfate was used as the salting-out reagent. Extracts were diluted and then injected into a reversed phase LC-MS/MS system directly. One 96-well plate was extracted with this new approach to evaluate multiple parameters of a good laboratory practice analytical method. Results indicate that the method is rapid, reliable and suitable for regulated bioanalysis. With minimal modification, this approach has been used for high-throughput good laboratory practice analysis of a number of compounds under development at Abbott. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Elizabeth I as StepmotherENGLISH LITERARY RENAISSANCE, Issue 2 2009Jacqueline Vanhoutte As a number of scholars have shown, Tudor male subjects were able to arrogate to themselves unprecedented powers by playing gender against class hierarchies. This essay considers how tropes of surrogacy furthered this process of political enfranchisement. As Victor Turner suggests, recurrent tropes are dynamic phenomena, which change meaning over time in a way that reveals the "emotional and volitional dimensions" present in social contexts. The prevalence of surrogate mothers in Elizabethan political and literary discourses reflects such a volitional dimension: writers (e.g. Lyly and Shakespeare), courtiers (e.g., Sir Philip Sidney), and politicians (e.g. members of Parliament) used images of stepmothers in consciously manipulative ways. Because of the ambiguous nature of figurative language, these men posited innovative ideas indirectly long before it became possible to articulate them directly. The evil stepdames of Tudor lore form an important precedent for John Locke's enlightened "foster father," whose acquired authority undermines the divine rights of fathers and kings. Stepmother tropes provided an alternative to the dominant analogies between family and state,analogies that aimed at suppressing disobedience and rebellion and at naturalizing the status quo. While men like Sidney and John Stubbs probably intended only limited applications for their stepmother tropes, this essay shows that these tropes called their monarch's absolute rule into question and justified their own political activity. Elizabethan writers thus contributed to the process of unmooring the English monarchy from divine right ideology, a process that culminated, intellectually speaking, in Locke's insistence on the consensual nature of government. (J.V.) [source] Improving pharmacokinetic properties of adrenocorticotropin by site-specific lipid modificationJOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Issue 9 2003Lei Wan Abstract Although many peptides are potentially good therapeutic agents for treating various diseases, only a few have been developed for limited applications. A major shortcoming is that peptides have generally very short serum half lives. In the present study, we use adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) as a model and explore the potential of combining site-specific amino acid substitution and lipid modification to increase the circulating half-lives of peptides. Phe39 of ACTH was substituted by Cys, which has a free sulfhydryl group that can react specifically with iodoacetamide derivatives of lipophilic groups. The biological activities of lipophilized ACTH(F39C)s were higher than native ACTH. Lipophilized ACTH(F39C)s bound more tightly to human serum albumin and cell membranes in vitro and had longer serum half-lives in vivo than native ACTH. These results indicate that the pharmacokinetic properties of peptides can be improved by site-specific substitution with cysteine residues and subsequent conjugation with lipophilic moieties. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 92:1882,1892, 2003 [source] | ||||||||||||||||