bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reproductive aspects of the Purple-throated Euphonia, Euphonia chlorotica (Aves: Fringillidae) in southeastern Brazil, and first record of the species nesting inside a vespiary
Authors: Fernandes Perrella Daniel , Davanço Paulo V. , Oliveira Leonardo S. , Sousa Livia M.S. , Francisco Mercival R.
Published: August 2017

Despite the fact thatE. chlorotica(Linnaeus, 1766) is common and widely distributed in South America, the reproductive aspects of the species are poorly documented. Here we present data on 18 active nests found from August to February, between 2007 and 2012. Nests were globular with a lateral entrance, and measured 97.9 ± 14.4 mm in outside height, 110.6 ± 11.6 mm in outside diameter, and were 4.88 ± 2.09 m above ground. They were often supported from bellow and were composed mainly of tiny dry leafs and leaflets, fine petioles, and plumed seeds, all compacted with spider web silk. Eggs were laid on consecutive days or with one day interval, and clutch size varied from 1–3 eggs (2.1 ± 0.6, n = 9 nests). Only females incubated the eggs, but both sexes were involved in nest construction and nestling attendance at similar rates. Incubation and nestling periods were 14 and 21 days, respectively, and overall nest survival probability was 5%. A vespiary used for nesting was not occupied by wasps and nest material was deposited only to form the incubatory chamber. Although nesting near wasps or bees is a widespread strategy among birds in general, nesting inside the nests of social insects is a poorly documented behavior.
Culture-Positive Endophthalmitis After Open Globe Injuries With and Without Retained Intraocular Foreign Bodies
Authors: Banker Tanuj P. , McClellan Andrew J. , Wilson Benjamin D. , Juan Fabiana M. , Kuriyan Ajay E. , Relhan Nidhi , Chen Felix V. , Weichel Eric D. , Albini Thomas A. , Berrocal Audina M. , Sridhar Jay , Gregori Ninel Z. , Townsend Justin H. , Flynn Harry W.
Published: August 2017

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:

To report the visual and anatomical outcomes and microbiologic spectrum of culture-positive endophthalmitis in open globe injuries (OGIs) with or without intraocular foreign bodies (IOFBs).

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

A retrospective, interventional case series of OGIs (n = 718) treated between 2004 and 2015. Patients underwent a management protocol for OGI, including systemic broad-spectrum antibiotics, on presentation.

RESULTS:

Culture-positive cases of endophthalmitis after open globe repair occurred in 2.1% of eyes (n = 15 of 718 eyes); two eyes had evidence of endophthalmitis on presentation. The most common organism was
Staphylococcus
species (five of 17 eyes). An IOFB was present in 6.8% of eyes (n = 49 of 718 eyes). All of these eyes received prophylactic intravitreal antimicrobials. In eyes with IOFB, the rate of culture-positive endophthalmitis after initial globe repair was 8.1% (n = 4 of 49 eyes) versus 1.6% (n = 11 of 669 eyes) in eyes without IOFB (
P
< .01).

CONCLUSION:

Culture-positive endophthalmitis was identified after OGIs more often in eyes with a concurrent IOFB.

[
Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina
. 2017;48:632–637.]
Scleral Buckle Infection With
Pseudallescheria boydii
Authors: Law Janice C. , Breazzano Mark P. , Eliott Dean
Published: August 2017

Pseudallescheria boydii
is a ubiquitous fungus that infects soft tissues and is known to cause ocular disease, including keratitis and endophthalmitis, in rare cases. In immunocompromised hosts,
P. boydii
can disseminate to or from the eye and other organs with lethal consequences. Postoperative
P. boydii
infections have, in rare cases, complicated several types of ocular surgeries in immunocompetent patients, but never for a scleral buckle. The authors present the first case of an infected scleral buckle from
P. boydii
.

[
Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina
. 2017;48:676–678.]
Aspergillus
Endophthalmitis Resulting in Development of Retinal Aspergilloma
Authors: Kiang Lee , Pirouz Ashkan , Grant Scott , Adrean Sean D. , Malihi Mehrdad , Lin Phoebe
Published: August 2017

A 78-year-old immunocompetent man presented with a 3-month history of painless decreased vision and panuveitis with a macular lesion presumed to be due to endogenous endophthalmitis. He had been treated with systemic, intravenous, and intravitreal antibiotics and antifungal agents as well as intravitreal steroids. A culture from a prior vitrectomy had grown a single colony of
Aspergillus
thought to be a contaminant. The macular lesion enlarged and caused a tractional retinal detachment. The patient underwent surgery including resection of what appeared to be an invasive retinal aspergilloma, from which polymerase chain reaction and histopathology confirmed
Aspergillus fumigatus
.

[
Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina
. 2017;48:680–683.]
Implementation Framework for BIM Methodology in the Bachelor Degree of Architecture
Authors: Jurado Jose , Carrasco Oscar Liebana , Agullo de Rueda Jose
Published: August 2017

BIM concepts and workflows offer an unquestionable potential in the academic environment as contributory teaching methodology, so to improve the over-all teaching and learning process in the degree. Therefore, it must certainly develop an optimised implementation format to successfully undertake the challenge of proving capable to adapt to current academic formats and resources. In the Bachelor´s Degree of Architecture at UEM a framework of implementation of BIM methodology has been configured in a first experimental phase with valuable and transposable data. The implementation framework pivots on four main focuses: delimited teaching activities in conventional subjects, integrated project development in interdisciplinary workshops, extracurricular tools training and finally specific postgraduate programs and research projects. This exhaustive arrangement of academic formats outlines a global framework to achieve the highly diverse requirements of a gradual implementation, crystallizing in a coherent and synergic learn flow.
Merging IFC-Based BIM Models: A New Paradigm and Co-Design Support Tool
Authors: Doukari Omar , Naudet Benoit , Teulier Régine
Published: August 2017

Interoperability is a key factor for BIM and helps to simplify the communication and the cooperation between different actors during the project life-cycle. IFC appears as the best option to exchange data between different software platforms. The purpose of this paper is to offer a proposal for exchanging data by merging IFC-based BIM models. We consider a BIM project model like a large system of multi modules where each part represents a structure (building, road, bridge and tunnel) and should be completed by an IFC model. This article presents a numerical tool which allows the co-design step through a Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed in Java language using the IfcToolsProjects libraries. This work is situated in non-automatic merging models being problematic. The proposal is clearly a co-design assistance. This Interface allows the merging of many buildings represented by different IFC files and produces a new IFC-based buildings complex model. The result is fully exploitable without any data loss. The new merging approach avoids the disadvantages of the “linking” function.
An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Government Policies on the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries
Authors: Dosumu Olusegun , Hussain Javed , El-Gohary Hatem
Published: August 2017

This paper explores the effects of government policies on the development of Small and Medium Enterprises in developing countries through the examination of the case of Nigeria. Many research studies reported that SMEs in Nigeria have not benefited from the policies formulated by the government. This paper investigates the impediments to manufacturing SMEs growth and the needed pre-requisite environment for SMEs to benefit from government specific policies. The study adopted a qualitative methodology depending on face to face interviews with 20 SME owners and/or managers in five of the six geographical arears of Nigeria, 20 bank managers in the capital city of Lagos and 20 government officials located in the federal capital city of Abuja. The study unveils unique contextually novel insights, including particularly the distinctive processes and different relationships related to lenders decision. The research findings are consistent with those reported by other scholars in the field, and confirm that government policies and support in the areas of technology, infrastructure and finance affects the performance of SMEs to a great extent in Nigeria.
A Cyber Crime Investigation Model Based on Case Characteristics
Authors: Liu Zhi Jun
Published: August 2017

In the early stages of the digital investigation of cyber crime, digital evidence is inadequate, decentralized and fragmented. Cyber crime investigation model based on case characteristics is presented in this paper, to help determine investigation orientation and reduce investigation area. Firstly, purifying and filtering the digital evidence collected, classification and acquirement of event sets are accomplished. Secondly, a method of imperfect induction is applied to analyze the event sets and construct one or more premises, and combining with the case characteristics extracted from the legal requirements, inference and its reliability are given. Finally, through a case analysis of network pyramid sales, the initial practice shows the model is feasible and has a consulting value with cyber crime investigation.
N-Gram Based Approach for Text Authorship Classification
Authors: Mikhailova Elena , Diurdeva Polina , Shalymov Dmitry
Published: August 2017

Automated authorship attribution is actual to identify the author of an anonymous texts, or texts whose authorship is in doubt. It can be used in various applications including author verification, plagiarism detection, computer forensics and others. In this article, the authors analyze an approach based on frequency combination of letters is investigated for solving such a task as classification of documents by authorship. This technique could be used to identify the author of a computer program from a predefined set of possible authors. The effectiveness of this approach is significantly determined by the choice of metric. The research examines and compares four different distance measures between a text of unknown authorship and an authors' profile: L1 measure, Kullback-Leibler divergence, base metric of Common N-gram method (CNG) and a certain variation of dissimilarity measure of CNG method. Comparison outlines cases when some metric outperforms others with a specific parameter combination. Experiments are conducted on different Russian and English corpora.
Understanding the Adoption of Voice Activated Personal Assistants
Authors: Coskun-Setirek Abide , Mardikyan Sona
Published: August 2017

This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the usage of voice-activated personal assistants (VAPA) which are mobile device applications such as Siri, Google Now, S Voice, Cortana, Alexa, etc. A theoretical framework is proposed based on the relative technology acceptance model constructs in the light of literature. Data are collected from a total of 183 people with a survey questionnaire. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied as the major statistical technique for data analysis. The proposed model has the potential to help technology companies to understand some of the factors influencing user' behaviors and attitudes toward VAPA and improve the technology quality. There are few researches about voice-activated technology adoption in the literature and this is first paper that proposes a research model for acceptance of VAPA.
How Consumer Attitudes Improve Repurchase Intention
Authors: Amoroso Donald , Ackaradejruangsri Pajaree
Published: August 2017

In this research, we study factors such as perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and personal innovativeness in order to understand the consumer attitude construct to affect loyalty, satisfaction and repurchasing intention of mobile wallet applications in Thailand. We developed a research model based upon previous research where we propose and examine seven constructs. In general, thirteen out of fifteen hypotheses are supported by variables related to mobile technology adoption, usage and retention with the 461 Thai consumers sampled. Personal innovativeness, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use strongly loaded on consumer attitudes for mobile wallet applications as originally hypothesized. It was found that consumer attitudes are the key factor that drives satisfaction, increases loyalty and improves repurchase intention of mobile wallet applications in Thailand.
User-Based Perspective on Cost as a Limiting Factor to Conference Call Technology Use in Higher Education
Authors: Akotoye Francis Xavier Kofi
Published: August 2017

The use of ICTs in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana, has been described as transformational. However, there is paucity of research on user perspectives on ICTs in institutions of higher learning. This cross-sectional study assessed the perception of students at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana regarding cost as a limiting factor to the use of conference call technology. The complementary log-log regression model was based on a sample of 62 students surveyed in April and May 2015; which sixty-nine percent indicated that cost was a limiting factor. Though Chi-square statistic failed to reject the hypothesis, at the bivariate level, some relationships were statistically significant. Most of these relationships were not robust and disappeared completely when other factors were controlled in the multivariate model. Also, some relationships were absent at the bivariate level and only appeared at the multivariate level indicating that the connection between students' perception of cost and compositional and organisational factors is complex.
Analysis of Turbo Code Behavior with Extrinsic Information Transfer Charts in High-Speed Wireless Data Services
Authors: Lokshina Izabella , Zhong Hua
Published: August 2017

This paper examines turbo codes that are currently introduced in many international standards and implemented in numerous advanced communication systems, and evaluates the process of extrinsic information transfer (EXIT). The convergence properties of the iterative decoding process, associated with a given turbo-coding scheme, are estimated using the analysis technique based on so-called extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts. This approach provides a possibility to predict the bit-error rate (BER) of a turbo code system with only the extrinsic information transfer chart. It is shown that extrinsic information transfer charts are powerful tools to analyze and optimize the convergence behavior of iterative systems utilizing the turbo principle, i.e., systems exchanging and refining extrinsic information. The idea is to consider the associated soft-input soft-output (SISO) stages as information processors, which map input a priori log likelihood ratios (LLRs) onto output extrinsic LLRs, the information content being obviously assumed to increase from input to output, and introduce them to the design of turbo systems without the reliance on extensive simulation. Compared with the other methods for generating extrinsic information transfer functions, the suggested approach provides insight into the iterative behavior of linear turbo systems with substantial reduction in numerical complexity.
Coverage Analysis of Heterogeneous Wireless Network with n-Interacted Transmission Nodes
Authors: Samal Soumya Ranjan , Bandopadhaya Shuvabrata , Dora Saroj Kumar , Poulkov Vladimir
Published: August 2017

In this paper, the coverage performance in Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet) with n-interacted transmission nodes is being analyzed statistically. With HetNets a significant improvement in throughput is expected, but one major drawback in the successful commercial implementation of HetNets is their low coverage probability. The strategies proposed currently for coverage improvement are broadly classified as network cooperation (NC) and interference cancelation (IC). For implementation of all the classes of strategies, it is essential to have real time interaction between the transmission nodes through the backhaul of the network. In general the complexity in the process of the practical implementation of a strategy increases with square of the number of interacting nodes (n). The choice of ‘n' is critical for network designing as it influences many performance parameters and involves the trade-off between coverage and network complexity. This analysis aims to provide the guidance to network designer in choosing the optimum value of ‘n'.
A Model Transformation Approach for Specifying Real-Time Systems and Its Verification Using RT-Maude
Authors: Bendiaf Messaoud , Bourahla Mustapha , Boudia Malika , Rehab Seidali
Published: August 2017

Real-time systems must be properly validated and verified before their manufacturing and deployment in order to increase their reliability and reduce their maintenance cost. Models have been used for a long time to build complex systems, in virtually every engineering field. This is because they provide invaluable help in making important design decisions before the system is implemented. In this paper, the authors propose an approach based on model transformation to apply formal verification techniques to demonstrate the correctness of system designs. At the first step, they describe real-time systems by state chart (machine) diagrams, as source models to generate RT-Maude models (target models). The second step is to use the result models to verify the real-time systems against specified LTL properties using Maude LTL Model-Checker. This approach is illustrated through an example.
Identifying Emerging Topics and Content Change from Evolving Document Sets
Authors: Chundi Parvathi
Published: August 2017

Document sets where the content is evolving frequently occur often in organizations. It is common for oranizations to update the policy documents periodically and for a news story to evolve over a period of time. When a document set evolves, some of the old content may remain unchanged while some other new content may be added. Depending on the amount of changes, users may need to read and/or analyze the new content once again. Evolving content may make it hard for users to track the changes and understand the global view of the change. In this paper, we consider document sets consisting of documents published at two different points of time and develop a measure to capture the change in content between the documents published at two different time points. We divide a document set into two subsets – a subset of documents containing documents published at an earlier date and another subset containing documents published at a later date. We use Latent Dirichlet Allocation to extract a topic and word distributions for each of the two subsets of the document set. We then compute similarity of the set of topics computed for each subset to measure the amount of change in the content. We study the effectiveness of the method on two data sets – a set of privacy policy documents and a set of Reuters news articles extracted from the TDT-Pilot Corpus and present the experimental results.
Social Media and Library Services
Authors: Asmi Nowsheeba Ashraf
Published: August 2017

The digital age has crept over the present generation. Digital tools and warehouses are more and more being used by the organizations to manage the collections. Today's librarian faces the problem of managing and sharing the information and delivering it to the right person before it is outdated. In this regard, social media sites have emerged as an important communication tool for the librarians to reach their users and promote their products and services. The present chapter explores various social media tools and their application and usage in the libraries.
The Impacts of Financial Variables on Employment Planning in Turkish Banking Sector
Authors: Dinçer Hasan , Hacıoğlu Ümit , Yüksel Serhat
Published: August 2017

Understanding investors' perception begins with questioning their position on risky assets and portfolio selection strategies in volatile market conditions. In banking sector, the performance of banks relies on operational and technical efficiency levels. In the last decade, stakeholders have been facing the dilemma of whether or not to deploy expensive employment programs with high quality personnel as the effects of these programs on banking performance have not been clearly examined in the literature. In this study, it is aimed to assess the role of financial and non-financial factors on employment programs which contribute to the banking efficiency and performance. Within this scope, the analysis conducts with the annual data for the periods between 1988 and 2015 is tested by using logit model for three different groups of Turkish banks based on ownership structure. Empirical findings demonstrate that (1) internal variables are more significant than the external variables in employment programs of these banks, (2) with respect to state-owned banks, it is identified that higher non-interest income affects the employment decision positively, (3) private banks prefer to have fewer employees in case of any decrease in the total loans amount and (4) financial variables are influential for these banking groups to increase or decrease the number of personnel.
SEMDPA
Authors: Bytyçi Eliot , Sejdiu Besmir , Avdiu Arten , Ahmedi Lule
Published: August 2017

The Internet of Things (IoT) vision is to connect uniquely identifiable devices that surround us to the Internet, which is best described through ontologies. Thereby, new emerging technologies such as wireless sensor networks (WSN) are recognized as an essential enabling component of the IoT today. Hence, given the increasing interest to provide linked sensor data through the Web either following the Semantic Web Enablement (SWE) standard or the Linked Data approach, there is a need to also explore those data for potential hidden knowledge through data mining techniques utilized by a domain ontology. Following that rationale, a new lightweight IoT architecture SEMDPA has been developed. It supports linking sensors and other devices, as well as people via a single web by mean of a device-person-activity (DPA) crossroad ontology. The architecture is validated by mean of three rich-in-semantic services: contextual data mining over WSN, semantic WSN web enablement, and Linked WSN data. SEMDPA could be easily extensible to capture semantics of input sensor data from other domains as well.
An Efficient Intrusion Detection System for Selective Forwarding and Clone Attackers in IPv6-based Wireless Sensor Networks under Mobility
Authors: Gara Fatma , Ben Saad Leila , Ben Ayed Rahma
Published: August 2017

Security in mobile wireless sensor networks is a big challenge because it adds more complexity to the network in addition to the problems of mobility and the limited sensor node resources. Even with authentication and encryption mechanisms, an attacker can compromise nodes and get all the keying materials. Therefore, an intrusion detection system is necessary to detect and defend against the insider attackers. Currently, there is no intrusion detection system applied to IPv6-based mobile wireless sensor networks. This paper is mainly interested in detecting the selective forwarding and clone attacks because they are considered among the most dangerous attackers. In this work, the authors design, implement, and evaluate a novel intrusion detection system for mobile wireless sensor networks based on IPv6 routing protocol for low power and lossy networks. The new intrusion detection system can be extended to other attacks such as wormhole and sybil attacks. The simulations results show that the detection probability is 100% for selective attackers under some cases.
Context-Aware Broadcast in Duty-Cycled Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Jemili Imen , Ghrab Dhouha , Belghith Abdelfettah , Mosbah Mohamed
Published: August 2017

As the energy efficiency remains a key issue in wireless sensor networks, duty-cycled mechanisms acquired much interest due to their ability to reduce energy consumption by allowing sensor nodes to switch to the sleeping state whenever possible. The challenging task is to authorize a sensor node to adopt a duty-cycle mode without inflicting any negative impact on the performance of the network. A context-aware paradigm allows sensors to adapt their functional behavior according to the context in order to enhance network performances. In this context, the authors propose an enhanced version the Efficient Context-Aware Multi-hop Broadcasting (E-ECAB) protocol, which combines the advantages of context awareness by considering a multi criteria and duty-cycle technique in order to optimize resources usage and satisfy the application requirements. Simulation results show that E-ECAB achieves a significant improvement in term of throughput and end-to-end delay without sacrificing energy efficiency.
An Adaptive and Hotspot Aware Taxi Zone Queuing System on Internet of Vehicles
Authors: Dow Chyi-Ren , Nguyen Duc-Binh , Chen Hsi-Chung , Hwang Shiow-Fen
Published: August 2017

Taxis have a vital role in the transportation system and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) techniques can be used to improve the fuel and time efficiencies of taxis. However, the existing work does not address the traffic congestion that may occur when a large amount of taxis gathers in certain queuing areas. This paper proposes an adaptive and hotspot-aware taxi zone queuing system to deal with the problem while still guarantees the fuel and time efficiencies. The adaptive scheme features data collection, hotspot extraction, an adaptive zone queuing protocol, and navigation services for taxi drivers. Real data were collected from Taiwan Taxi Inc., the largest taxi company in Taiwan. Queuing zone hotspots were identified through the analysis of the collected data. The hotspots represented. A navigation service was based on the proposed protocol. To verify the feasibility of the proposed system, a prototype was implemented. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed scheme outperformed other schemes in reducing waiting time and the average number of taxis.
Smart XSS Attack Surveillance System for OSN in Virtualized Intelligence Network of Nodes of Fog Computing
Authors: Gupta Shashank , Gupta B. B.
Published: August 2017

This article introduces a distributed intelligence network of Fog computing nodes and Cloud data centres for smart devices against XSS vulnerabilities in Online Social Network (OSN). The cloud data centres compute the features of JavaScript, injects them in the form of comments and saved them in the script nodes of Document Object Model (DOM) tree. The network of Fog devices re-executes the feature computation and comment injection process in the HTTP response message and compares such comments with those calculated in the cloud data centres. Any divergence observed will simply alarm the signal of injection of XSS worms on the nodes of fog located at the edge of the network. The mitigation of such worms is done by executing the nested context-sensitive sanitization on the malicious variables of JavaScript code embedded in such worms. The prototype of the authors' work was developed in Java development framework and installed on the virtual machines of Cloud data centres (typically located at the core of network) and the nodes of Fog devices (exclusively positioned at the edge of network). Vulnerable OSN-based web applications were utilized for evaluating the XSS worm detection capability of the authors' framework and evaluation results revealed that their work detects the injection of XSS worms with high precision rate and less rate of false positives and false negatives.
Exploring the Influence of Contexts for Mobile Recommendation
Authors: Zeng Jun , Li Feng , Li Yinghua , Wen Junhao , Wu Yingbo
Published: August 2017

With the rapid development of mobile internet, it is difficult to obtain high-quality recommendation in such a complicated mobile environment, just depending on traditional user-item binary information. How to use multiple contexts to generate satisfying recommendation has been a hot topic in some fields like e-commerce, tourism and news. Context aware recommender system (CARS) imports contexts into recommender to generate ubiquitous and personalized recommendation. In this paper, the basic information of CARS, such as the definition of context, the process of CARS and evaluation are introduced carefully. In order to explore whether contexts have a great influence on recommendation or not, the authors conduct experiments on real datasets. Experimental results show recommender that incorporates contexts significantly improves performance over the traditional recommender. Finally, State of the art about CARS is detailed.
IRF4 Modulates CD8+ T Cell Sensitivity to IL-2 Family Cytokines
Authors: Huang Su , Shen Yingjia , Pham Duy , Jiang Li , Wang Zheng , Kaplan Mark H , Zhang Guangjun , Sun Jie
Published: August 2017

IFN regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is a key transcription factor that promotes effector CD8+ T cell differentiation and expansion. The roles of IRF4 in regulating the CD8+ T cell response to cytokines have not been explored. In this article, we show that IL-2 and IL-15 signaling and STAT5 activation regulate IRF4 expression in CD8+ T cells. Gene-expression profile analysis has also revealed that IRF4 is required for expression of the receptors of IL-2 family cytokines CD122 and CD127. We found that IRF4 binds directly to CD122 and CD127 gene loci, indicating that it may directly promote CD122 and CD127 gene transcription. As a consequence, IRF4-deficient CD8+ T cells show diminished sensitivity to IL-2, IL-15, and IL-7 treatment in vitro. Furthermore, we found that IRF4-deficient CD8+ T cells had lower expression of CD122 and CD127 in vivo during influenza virus infection. These data suggest that IRF4 regulates the sensitivity of CD8+ T cells to IL-2 family cytokines, which correlates with the diminished effector and memory CD8+ T cell responses in IRF4-deficient CD8+ T cells.
A Novel Computational Model Predicts Key Regulators of Chemokine Gradient Formation in Lymph Nodes and Site-Specific Roles for CCL19 and ACKR4
Authors: Jafarnejad Mohammad , Zawieja David C. , Brook Bindi S. , Nibbs Robert J. B. , Moore James E.
Published: August 2017

The chemokine receptor CCR7 drives leukocyte migration into and within lymph nodes (LNs). It is activated by chemokines CCL19 and CCL21, which are scavenged by the atypical chemokine receptor ACKR4. CCR7-dependent navigation is determined by the distribution of extracellular CCL19 and CCL21, which form concentration gradients at specific microanatomical locations. The mechanisms underpinning the establishment and regulation of these gradients are poorly understood. In this article, we have incorporated multiple biochemical processes describing the CCL19–CCL21–CCR7–ACKR4 network into our model of LN fluid flow to establish a computational model to investigate intranodal chemokine gradients. Importantly, the model recapitulates CCL21 gradients observed experimentally in B cell follicles and interfollicular regions, building confidence in its ability to accurately predict intranodal chemokine distribution. Parameter variation analysis indicates that the directionality of these gradients is robust, but their magnitude is sensitive to these key parameters: chemokine production, diffusivity, matrix binding site availability, and CCR7 abundance. The model indicates that lymph flow shapes intranodal CCL21 gradients, and that CCL19 is functionally important at the boundary between B cell follicles and the T cell area. It also predicts that ACKR4 in LNs prevents CCL19/CCL21 accumulation in efferent lymph, but does not control intranodal gradients. Instead, it attributes the disrupted interfollicular CCL21 gradients observed in Ackr4-deficient LNs to ACKR4 loss upstream. Our novel approach has therefore generated new testable hypotheses and alternative interpretations of experimental data. Moreover, it acts as a framework to investigate gradients at other locations, including those that cannot be visualized experimentally or involve other chemokines.
Klhl6 Deficiency Impairs Transitional B Cell Survival and Differentiation
Authors: Bertocci Barbara , Lecoeuche Damiana , Sterlin Delphine , Kühn Julius , Gaillard Baptiste , De Smet Annie , Lembo Frederique , Bole-Feysot Christine , Cagnard Nicolas , Fadeev Tatiana , Dahan Auriel , Weill Jean-Claude , Reynaud Claude-Agnès
Published: August 2017

Klhl6 belongs to the KLHL gene family, which is composed of an N-terminal BTB-POZ domain and four to six Kelch motifs in tandem. Several of these proteins function as adaptors of the Cullin3 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. In this article, we report that Klhl6 deficiency induces, as previously described, a 2-fold reduction in mature B cells. However, we find that this deficit is centered on the inability of transitional type 1 B cells to survive and to progress toward the transitional type 2 B cell stage, whereas cells that have passed this step generate normal germinal centers (GCs) upon a T-dependent immune challenge. Klhl6-deficient type 1 B cells showed a 2-fold overexpression of genes linked with cell proliferation, including most targets of the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome complex, a set of genes whose expression is precisely downmodulated upon culture of splenic transitional B cells in the presence of BAFF. These results thus suggest a delay in the differentiation process of Klhl6-deficient B cells between the immature and transitional stage. We further show, in the BL2 Burkitt’s lymphoma cell line, that KLHL6 interacts with Cullin3, but also that it binds to HBXIP/Lamtor5, a protein involved in cell-cycle regulation and cytokinesis. Finally, we report that KLHL6, which is recurrently mutated in B cell lymphomas, is an off-target of the normal somatic hypermutation process taking place in GC B cells in both mice and humans, thus leaving open whether, despite the lack of impact of Klhl6 deficiency on GC B cell expansion, mutants could contribute to the oncogenic process.
Regulation of the Cell Cycle and Inflammatory Arthritis by the Transcription Cofactor LBH Gene
Authors: Matsuda Shinji , Hammaker Deepa , Topolewski Katharyn , Briegel Karoline J. , Boyle David L. , Dowdy Steven , Wang Wei , Firestein Gary S.
Published: August 2017

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) display unique aggressive behavior, invading the articular cartilage and promoting inflammation. Using an integrative analysis of RA risk alleles, the transcriptome and methylome in RA FLS, we recently identified the limb bud and heart development (LBH) gene as a key dysregulated gene in RA and other autoimmune diseases. Although some evidence suggests that LBH could modulate the cell cycle, the precise mechanism is unknown and its impact on inflammation in vivo has not been defined. Our cell cycle analysis studies show that LBH deficiency in FLS leads to S-phase arrest and failure to progress through the cell cycle. LBH-deficient FLS had increased DNA damage and reduced expression of the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase α. Decreased DNA polymerase α was followed by checkpoint arrest due to phosphorylation of checkpoint kinase 1. Because DNA fragments can increase arthritis severity in preclinical models, we then explored the effect of LBH deficiency in the K/BxN serum transfer model. Lbh knockout exacerbated disease severity, which is associated with elevated levels of IL-1β and checkpoint kinase 1 phosphorylation. These studies indicate that LBH deficiency induces S-phase arrest that, in turn, exacerbates inflammation. Because LBH gene variants are associated with type I diabetes mellitus, systemic lupus erythematosus, RA, and celiac disease, these results suggest a general mechanism that could contribute to immune-mediated diseases.
Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome in HIV-Infected Immigrants
Authors: Pérez-Rueda María , Hernández-Cabrera Michele , Francés-Urmeneta Adela , Angel-Moreno Alfonso , Pisos-Álamo Elena , Jaén-Sánchez Nieves , Carranza-Rodríguez Cristina , Pérez-Arellano Jose-Luis
Published: August 2017

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) includes a group of potentially serious inflammatory processes that may be present in HIV-infected patients after initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Paradoxical IRIS is a worsening of symptoms, after an overwhelming response to a previously diagnosed opportunistic infection (OI); unmasking IRIS reveals a previously occult OI. The main objective of the study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical, and outcome data of HIV-infected immigrants, stratified according to high- or low-income countries of origin, who developed IRIS and to compare them with native-born Spanish patients. This retrospective study reviewed all patients with HIV infection admitted to the Unit of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine between 1998 and 2014. IRIS was identified in 25/138 (18%) immigrant patients and 24/473 (5%) native-born Spanish patients infected with HIV. Most cases, 19/25 (76%), were of unmasking IRIS. The time elapsed between initiation of HAART and development of IRIS was significantly longer in patients with unmasking versus paradoxical IRIS. OIs, in particular due to mycobacteria, were the most frequently involved processes. Twenty percent of patients died. The comparison of immigrant and native-born patients found significant differences for both IRIS type (higher incidence of paradoxical forms among immigrants) and for the absence of malignancies in native-born patients. No significant differences were found when the data of immigrants from low- and high-income countries were compared.
Lack of Efficacy of Liposomal Amphotericin B Against Acute and Chronic Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Mice
Authors: Clemons Karl V. , Sobel Raymond A. , Martinez Marife , Correa-Oliveira Rodrigo , Stevens David A.
Published: August 2017

Acute and chronic infection with Trypanosoma cruzi affects millions of people. The current therapeutic options are highly toxic and often not effective. Liposomal amphotericin B (LAMB) has been demonstrated previously to have some activity in murine models. In our studies, higher dosages given multiple times were tested for activity against acute or chronic disease, exploring whether intermittent and brief regimens could be effective, as might then prove useful in human, particularly outpatient, therapy. For acute infection, LAMB 25 mg/kg intravenously (i.v.) given one to three times prolonged survival and caused a rapid disappearance of Y strain trypomastigotes from the blood. However, even four or six doses of LAMB 30 mg/kg i.v., did not result in the cure of Y strain infection, with all mice relapsing after being immunosuppressed with cyclophosphamide. Similarly, chronic infection due to the CL strain was found to be unaltered by 1–3 treatments with LAMB 25 mg/kg. All surviving mice had histopathological evidence of infection in one or more tissues and equivalent antibody titers regardless of treatment regimen. Overall, LAMB at doses up to 30 mg/kg i.v. prolonged survival, but these doses were not curative in the regimens studied.
Predictive Model for Permanent Shunting in Cryptococcal meningitis
Authors: Phusoongnern Woralux , Anunnatsiri Siriluck , Sawanyawisuth Kittisak , Kitkhuandee Amnat
Published: August 2017

Cryptococcal meningitis may have long-term morbidity and requires a permanent cerebrospinal fluid shunt. This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors and create a predictive model for permanent shunt treatment in cryptococcal meningitis patients. This was a retrospective analytical study conducted at Khon Kaen University. The study period was from January 2005 to December 2015. We enrolled all adult patients diagnosed with cryptococcal meningitis. Risk factors predictive for permanent shunting treatment were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. There were 341 patients diagnosed with cryptococcal meningitis. Of those, 64 patients (18.7%) were treated with permanent shunts. There were three independent factors associated with permanent shunt treatment. The presence of hydrocephalus had the highest adjusted odds ratio at 56.77. The resulting predictive model for permanent shunt treatment (y) is (−3.85) + (4.04 × hydrocephalus) + (2.13 × initial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) opening pressure (OP) > 25 cm H2O) + (1.87 × non-human immune deficiency vrus (HIV)). In conclusion, non-HIV status, initial CSF OP greater than or equal to 25 cm H2O, and the presence of hydrocephalus are indicators of the future necessity for permanent shunt therapy.
Accuracy of a Rapid Diagnostic Test (Cypress Chagas Quick Test®) for the Diagnosis of Chronic Chagas Disease in a Nonendemic Area: A Retrospective Longitudinal Study
Authors: Angheben Andrea , Staffolani Silvia , Anselmi Mariella , Tais Stefano , Degani Monica , Gobbi Federico , Buonfrate Dora , Gobbo Maria , Bisoffi Zeno
Published: August 2017

We analyzed the accuracy of Chagas Quick Test®, a rapid diagnostic test, for the diagnosis of chronic Chagas disease through a retrospective study on a cohort of 669 patients consecutively examined at a single reference center in Italy, during a 7-year period. We observed high concordance with serological reference standard but low accuracy for screening purposes (sensitivity/specificity: 82.8%/98.7%) at least in our nonendemic context.
Case Report: Scalp Eschar and Neck Lymphadenopathy Associated with Bacteremia due to Coxiella-Like Bacteria
Authors: Guimard Thomas , Amrane Sophie , Elsa Prudent  , El Karkouri Khalid , Raoult Didier , Angelakis Emmanouil
Published: August 2017

Coxiella-like bacteria have been recently proposed as human pathogens. Using molecular techniques, we detected Coxiella-like bacteria in the blood and serum samples of a patient with a scalp eschar, neck lymphadenopathy, severe urticaria, edema, fever, and arthralgia indicating that this organism can provide systemic complications.
Risk Factors Associated with Blood Exposure for Sporadic Hepatitis E in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Authors: Sazzad Hossain M. S. , Luby Stephen P. , Labrique Alain B. , Kamili Saleem , Hayden Tonya M. , Kamili Nourine A. , Teo Chong-Gee , Gurley Emily S.
Published: August 2017

Fecal contamination of drinking water is associated with large hepatitis E virus (HEV) outbreaks of genotypes 1 and 2 in endemic areas. Sporadic transmission of HEV genotypes 3 and 4 in high-income countries has been associated with exposure to blood and animal contact. The objective of the study was to identify the risk factors for hepatitis E and the genotype(s) causing sporadic hepatitis E in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We selected, from a diagnostic center in Dhaka between November 2008 and November 2009, cases presenting with jaundice and anti-HEV IgM antibodies and age-matched controls were defined as those with no history of jaundice and normal blood test results. Serum samples were tested for HEV RNA using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction followed by a sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. A total of 109 cases and 109 controls were enrolled. The cases were more likely to be male (adjusted matched odds ratios [mOR] 2.2, 95% CI: 1.2–3.9; P = 0.01), or have reported contact with another person’s blood or blood product, or contact with blood-contaminated sharp instruments (adjusted mOR 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1–4.1; P = 0.03) than controls. There were no significant differences between the cases and the controls in terms of reported high-risk sexual intercourse, consumption of undercooked meat, or contact or drinking fecally-contaminated water. The sera from three cases carried HEV RNA, all belonging to genotype 1. Findings from this study suggest that contact with human blood and sharing sharp instruments may transmit sporadic hepatitis E in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Efforts to prevent the transmission of blood-borne pathogens may also prevent sporadic HEV transmission in this endemic setting.
Molecular Epidemiology of Cholera Outbreaks during the Rainy Season in Mandalay, Myanmar
Authors: Roobthaisong Amonrattana , Okada Kazuhisa , Htun Nilar , Aung Wah Wah , Wongboot Warawan , Kamjumphol Watcharaporn , Han Aye Aye , Yi Yi , Hamada Shigeyuki
Published: August 2017

Cholera, caused by Vibrio cholerae, remains a global threat to public health. In Myanmar, the availability of published information on the occurrence of the disease is scarce. We report here that cholera incidence in Mandalay generally exhibited a single annual peak, with an annual average of 312 patients with severe dehydration over the past 5 years (since 2011) and was closely associated with the rainy season. We analyzed cholera outbreaks, characterized 67 isolates of V. cholerae serogroup O1 in 2015 from patients from Mandalay, and compared them with 22 V. cholerae O1 isolates (12 from Mandalay and 10 from Yangon) in 2014. The isolates carried the classical cholera toxin B subunit (ctxB), the toxin-coregulated pilus A (tcpA) of Haitian type, and repeat sequence transcriptional regulator (rstR) of El Tor type. Two molecular typing methods, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA), differentiated the 89 isolates into seven pulsotypes and 15 MLVA profiles. Pulsotype Y15 and one MLVA profile (11, 7, 7, 16, 7) were predominantly found in the isolates from cholera outbreaks in Mandalay, 2015. Pulsotypes Y11, Y12, and Y15 with some MLVA profiles were detected in the isolates from two remote areas, Mandalay and Yangon, with temporal changes. These data suggested that cholera spread from the seaside to the inland area in Myanmar.
Desafios de adoção do livro didático de sociologia e formação continuada de professores
Authors: Cavalcante Thayene Gomes , Silva Anicélia Ferreira da
Published: August 2017

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-3532.2015n13p132Este artigo discute adoção do livro didático de sociologia e a política de formação continuada de professores em uma relação de reciprocidade. O livro didático de sociologia possui características e funções bastante instrutivas para o professor, especialmente no contexto de reintegração da Sociologia nos currículos do Ensino Médio. Pode mediar um discurso científico a um domínio cognitivo apropriado ao Ensino Médio, adquirir função de currículo, ou mesmo como formação ou informação de professores, entre outros atributos. No entanto, a adoção do livro didático pelos professores tem passado por alguns desafios, que envolvem, muitas vezes, questões formativas. Baseado em pesquisa realizada em João Pessoa-PB e Pesqueira-PE, com os professores de sociologia da rede estadual de ensino, durante o ano de 2015, a formação continuada de professores aparece como uma ferramenta política essencial para a adoção do livro didático de sociologia pelos professores.
Escolas militarizadas: a educação na linha de fogo
Authors: Silveira Treicy Giovanella da
Published: August 2017

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-3532.2015n13p155Resenha do livro "O Estado de Exceção Escolar: uma avaliação crítica das escolas públicas militarizadas", de 2016, de Ian Caetano e Victor Viegas.
Estabelecidos e outsiders: trabalhando elementos de história, cultura e sociedade numa obra clássica
Authors: Araujo Marcelo Da Silva
Published: August 2017

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-3532.2015n13p96Originalmente escrito como trabalho final de curso de doutorado, este texto busca colaborar para o desvelamento de uma obra seminal sobre violência, dominação simbólica, discriminação e exclusão, articulando três dimensões essenciais (história, cultura e sociedade) dentro da pesquisa em ciências sociais, notadamente da Antropologia e da Sociologia. Não pretendendo ser uma resenha ou sucessão de comentários acerca do clássico, o artigo propõe-se a pensar que conexões e descobertas se podem fazer em um texto cuja contribuição parece ter sido, após 41 anos de sua publicação, escrutinada ao máximo, revelando, com o olhar focado nas referidas dimensões, outros modos de utilizá-lo no trabalho acadêmico.